We got up around 8ish, to be ready for our shuttle with Bill, and needless to say, I was hung over. We packed up our stuff, and were on our way by 9:30, although perhaps due to my poor state of mind, I had forgotten to grab our loaf of delicious bread and tea that we had bought. Mer :(. Oh well. We were on the bus to Hamilton, only about an hour, around 10:20, then hung out in the bus depot until about 3:30 or 4 to catch transit out to Raglan, a super laid back surfing town about an hour away.
We got off the bus, and I was disoriented as all get out; I wasn't able to orient myself on the map or anything, but luckily it's so small, and we're so smart, we asked for directions et voila! We checked into the hostel, and for only a dollar more than an 8 bed dorm, we got into a 3 bed! Our next mission was food, so I cooked pasta while Ann went to the store and bought bread and wine (did I mention you can buy beer and wine in the supermarkets?!). Pasta a la Watties is what it is, we chuckled with an Englishman who was eating something similar, but it fills the hole. Then we just hung out. It's a cosy, quaint hostle, everything is centered around a courtyard with a hot tub (in kiwi: spa) and sauna- free to use!- a small lawn with flower beds and a big table. Hammocks are strung up between posts too. Chill night :).
The next day, Ann and I paid $25 each and we rented surf boards and wet suits for four hours. The front desk guy gave us a five minute low-down on surfing, which I mostly remembered when we were out on the water, then we drove (well the English fellow from the night before drove) down to the beach. Thankfully the wet suits were dry this time around, though its always a struggle to get them on it seems. We headed down a hill to the beach, which I correctly predicted I would hate walking up on the way back, figured out a meeting place, then strapped on our leashes and headed out into the surf.
The first wave Ann and I caught, well body boarded, was so much fun! After that it was the huge and lasting challenge of trying to stand up. I was able to get onto my knees okay, but trying to get my feet in the right positions was hard! I'll admit I thought it would be easier because of all the snowboarding I've done, but I suppose you have to be standing up on the board in order for that to be true. I think I was able to get about a second of standing time in the whole 2 1/2 hours we were in the water for- it's a very defeating excercise (also addicting), to try and try and try again so you have to know when to just call it quits.
Back at the hostel, we sat in the spa for twenty minutes: so glorious! Then we played some touch rugby on a field about a five minute walk away. I didn't play the greatest, but I can sure tell I am not as tenacious as I used to be due to my knee. I'm constantly worried about buggering it again (the grass was slippery), but I still really want to play... I know it would be stupidity to play again, but still... I suspect the saying "Those who can't play coach" might come into play at some point.
Anywho, after that, while all of you back home were enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner, I barbequed steak for the first time. One thing that you have to make due with as a backpacking hobo, I'm finding, is that you just don't have the same spice collection you do as at home. I minced garlic and luckily the hostel had salt for use, but no pepper. Ah well. There just so happened to be a chef cooking at the same time as us, so he gave me a few pointers, and to the 'que I went, fearless, returning triumphant! Steak and salad, and beer (I drank half of my 12 pack that night), for dinner, then just more hanging out with people. I started talking to this nice Irish fellow, Terrence, then we moved outside to the courtyard and table, and we met a German guy, and the three of us had a nice chat. Apparently I am accentless, I don't sound Canadian (Terrence thought I was Scottish when he first heard me talk :S) or American or European or Kiwi/Aussie. We had to move inside after 10pm though because that's quiet time, which turned into a hilarious event of trying to play UNO, but we've all different rules, and we were all a bit smashed. Ann and I called 'er around midnight because the next day we were going to take a bone carving workshop!
This was a very neat, hands on activity I am so happy we did, and lucky us, it was just us two! The guy leading the workshop is a master carver, and probably considered one of NZ's best; his work is displayed in both Wellington's and Auckland's museums. There were 8 designs, already cut out of the [bovine] bone, we could choose from, and both Ann and I chose the symbol representing new beginnings and continuity of life. It's a spiral with the tail connecting to it. We had to file the edges round, which is actually pretty tricky in the inner parts (I broke the tip off my file), then we sanded it with a few different grains of sand paper, and Rangi put some Maori designs of waves, again with the continuity theme, in it with his micro sander. We polished them once more with sand paper, and then attached them to black plaited cords. The neat thing about them is that to give them a shine, you rub it on your face for the oils. We finished up just before one, and then we returned to the hostel to wait for Jim and Marcia Bowater, Uncle Chris's friends, to pick us up to take us to stay with them for the night, which is about an hour south-east of Auckland.
Thursday 13 October 2011
Into the Black Abyss
We left Phillip's house early on Saturday morning to take the 7:15 bus to Otorohanga, a small town about ten minutes away from Waitomo. As there is no grocery store in the Villiage of Waitomo, we stocked up on supplies (which are going to last us a while!) before heading out. The bus doesn't go to Waitomo, which is about 10kms from the highway, so we had organized a shuttle earlier in New Plymouth. Our driver's name was Bill, an oldish fellow who was full of commentary on the area as we drove out to Waitomo [why-toe-moh]. Free tour!
Bill took us into the villiage before dropping us off at our hostel for the next two evenings, Juno Hall Backpackers, which is about 1km outside the villiage. It's a small place, though because they get about 600 000 visitors a year, including (apparently) the likes of Katy Perry, Snoop Dog, and Bob Marley, there is some pretty well developed infrastructure ie. a few hotels, a general store, a couple bars.
We got settled in, mainly getting our tents set up and everything important put in The Box (behind the reception desk, it gets locked) before heading down the drive and across the road for our cave tours. Online, we had booked a tour for each of the caves that are operated by the Blackwater Rafting Co. plus a meal afterwards, though when we showed up, the ladies at reception did what they do, and switched our tours around because I guess the one we were supposed to start off on was full? Anywho, so we hopped in the shuttle and we were dropped off at the start of Riakuri, meaning Den of Dogs, and walked down a very cool, forested path to the first cave we toured, called Aruini, named after the Maori who discovered it I believe. It was a big cave, some neat limestone formations, but other than that not really too exciting. After, we walked back up the path to Riakuri and waited for about 45 minutes for the start of the next tour, singing and being ninjas while we waited (moreso I than Ann).
Ruakuri was a neat cave, it went for a long way, and the tour lasted for about an hour and forty five minutes. We saw a few glow worms, some fossils, and more limestone formations. I was pretty hungry when we were done, as was Ann, but we still had our last tour, the Glow Worm cave, to finish. This was amazing. First we walked into the cave, learning some history and interesting geological features of the cave, then it we hopped in an alumminum boat and floated along the river, passing under a glow worm filled ceiling that pretty much just took my breath away. It's like star gazing, when you're eyes get so screwed up from looking at the tiny lights, but you just can't look away because it's so beautiful. Their light is an aquamarine-tealish kind of colour, which they use to attract insects into viscous strands of [poisonous, apparently] thread- you can certainly understand why the bugs would be drawn to them! After our tour was done, Ann and I headed up to the cafe to get our meal, which our stomachs were telling us they definitely needed, only to find it closed and that we had no way back to our hostel. We were lucky and one of the ladies in the gift shop gave us a ride back as she was done for the day and heading our way anyways.
We ate a half sandwhich and made pasta a la Watties, which again didn't disappoint, drank wine and watched the Wales-Ireland and half of the France-England matches before crawling into our tents and getting a good sleep (wishful thinking, damn rooster!) before our blackwater rafting adventure to be had the next day.
Blackwater rafting is probably the coolest adventure thing, probably the only adventure thing, I've ever done! It was a blast! Ann and I got to the reception/meeting point and had some extra time after we'd gotten our meal ticket organized (we were able to get it after all) and rafting waivers signed. I bought the SWEETEST T-SHIRT EVER from the gift shop. It's plain grey, but it says "80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection...Wanna Ruck?" Bahahaha! At first I thought there was only XXL's left, but Ann found a small for me :). Thanks Ann! Anywho, so our one guide, Jah (like jar but don't say the r) got our group together, and we went down to put on our boots, socks, wet suits, and jackets, all of which were wet, making the wet suit especially trying to get on. Suited up, and harnessed, we got a couple group photos taken, and our other guide, Matt, showed up. Everybody ready to go, we piled into a shuttle van and headed out to the start of our adventure!
Before we started the abseiling (rapelling), we were instructed on how to go down in a controlled fashion and practised going backwards down a hill, slow and fast and stopping. After that, we were good to go down the hole into the cave! They call it the Hourglass because you go through a narrow funnel and then it opens up again, like an hourglass. I was near the front of the line, but I was too nervous to go first; I wanted to see it done first. Jah was at the bottom whistling "Don't Worry, Be Happy", which was comforting I suppose. Ann went first, champ! I went second, and boy was that a long 37m down! I wasn't scared, it just took longer than I thought it would to get down to the bottom. We had to wait for everybody to get down which took about fifteen/twenty minutes, so we joined in with the whistling, which of course progressed to singing. Everybody there, we walked along a narrow walkway through a tunnel, spotting a few glow worms along the way, and stopped at the start of a Flying Fox (zipline) which disappeared into the dark. Eek! Waiting my turn was the worst part as of course the anxiety builds up and everybody before me was screaming Bloody Mary. I was buckled in and then away I went! "Jeronimo, jeronimo, jeronimo, POCHAHONTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!!" I screamed. I got some applaus and a laugh from Jah who had harnessed me in.
Once everybody got down, we had a break for some hot Milo (chocolate malt powder) and a granola-bar-square-thing, which was perfect timing! After, we all got an inner tube and had to jump in the COLD water (from facebook, you can see I was really not excited to do this), which of course for me, I hit the water and overbalanced in my tube or something and fell in completely :(. Ah well. We pulled ourselves along a rope up the river until we got to a part where there was a bunch of glow worms! We had to turn our head lamps off, though Ann's wouldn't shut off so she let go of the rope to figure it out, then I let go of the rope to help her, and away we drifted from the group, actually a bit of a way. It was funny, we found our way back, and then we were linked up feet-under-the-person's-in-front-of-us-arms to get back to where we had gotten the tubes from.
It was walking/swimming from here on in, mostly walking. We slid down a 'totally natural man-made slide' before we had a pee break; if you pee in a wet suit, it starts to stink, so we pretty much had to strip down to pee (soo worth it though!). Business taken care of, we embarked on the Drunken Stumble. The riverbed there is really uneven, so there's lots of stumbling, even falling, occuring for mere mortals, though because I am a ninja, I did fairly well :). We continued down the river until we took a sharp right hand turn, almost a u turn, up into a smaller passageway, where upon we came across a pool that had a 2 foot long eel in it! Jah started teasing it, and it bit him actually, so we got out of there ASAP, stopping when we arrived at a waterfall. The only way through was up, so up I went! I gladly went first, scrambling up the slick rocks like Gollum (it's the ninja skills), showing 'em how it's done, like a boss. Sidenote: Climbing in a wetsuit is kind of difficult! After that waterfall, it was only another twenty or so meters through a winding passage until another waterfall! Again, I shimmied up, and after walking probably another thrity five or so meters, we entered the light of day!
That evening, Ann and I walked into town to watch the second half of the Aussie-Bokke game (go Wallabies!) and then the NZ-Argentina game at the tavern, Curley's. They had a special on at their on-site liquor store ($15/6 pack), so Ann and I bought it and went and had one outside at this picnic table that was out of the way. There were some fellow Canadians doing the same thing, so we chatted with them before heading in to watch the game. Wallabies won! First half of NZ-Argentina: All Blacks not playing so good 1st half, Argentina putting pressure on them. To the picnic table for our last beer. Second half: Argentina still playing phenominally, but the All Blacks pull it together for the win.
Our guides had showed up for the start of the All Blacks game, so we mingled after. Ann wasn't feeling the night, so she went home around 11:30pm. Matt's friends were there, fun guys, had some laughs. They taught me what "doug-ey-ing" was (some dance from North America), laughed at me for not knowing what it was. Also got comments on my shirt, of course. The night was called around 1:30am, as that's when the bar closed, so I headed back to the hostel and crawled into my hovel.
Bill took us into the villiage before dropping us off at our hostel for the next two evenings, Juno Hall Backpackers, which is about 1km outside the villiage. It's a small place, though because they get about 600 000 visitors a year, including (apparently) the likes of Katy Perry, Snoop Dog, and Bob Marley, there is some pretty well developed infrastructure ie. a few hotels, a general store, a couple bars.
We got settled in, mainly getting our tents set up and everything important put in The Box (behind the reception desk, it gets locked) before heading down the drive and across the road for our cave tours. Online, we had booked a tour for each of the caves that are operated by the Blackwater Rafting Co. plus a meal afterwards, though when we showed up, the ladies at reception did what they do, and switched our tours around because I guess the one we were supposed to start off on was full? Anywho, so we hopped in the shuttle and we were dropped off at the start of Riakuri, meaning Den of Dogs, and walked down a very cool, forested path to the first cave we toured, called Aruini, named after the Maori who discovered it I believe. It was a big cave, some neat limestone formations, but other than that not really too exciting. After, we walked back up the path to Riakuri and waited for about 45 minutes for the start of the next tour, singing and being ninjas while we waited (moreso I than Ann).
Ruakuri was a neat cave, it went for a long way, and the tour lasted for about an hour and forty five minutes. We saw a few glow worms, some fossils, and more limestone formations. I was pretty hungry when we were done, as was Ann, but we still had our last tour, the Glow Worm cave, to finish. This was amazing. First we walked into the cave, learning some history and interesting geological features of the cave, then it we hopped in an alumminum boat and floated along the river, passing under a glow worm filled ceiling that pretty much just took my breath away. It's like star gazing, when you're eyes get so screwed up from looking at the tiny lights, but you just can't look away because it's so beautiful. Their light is an aquamarine-tealish kind of colour, which they use to attract insects into viscous strands of [poisonous, apparently] thread- you can certainly understand why the bugs would be drawn to them! After our tour was done, Ann and I headed up to the cafe to get our meal, which our stomachs were telling us they definitely needed, only to find it closed and that we had no way back to our hostel. We were lucky and one of the ladies in the gift shop gave us a ride back as she was done for the day and heading our way anyways.
We ate a half sandwhich and made pasta a la Watties, which again didn't disappoint, drank wine and watched the Wales-Ireland and half of the France-England matches before crawling into our tents and getting a good sleep (wishful thinking, damn rooster!) before our blackwater rafting adventure to be had the next day.
Blackwater rafting is probably the coolest adventure thing, probably the only adventure thing, I've ever done! It was a blast! Ann and I got to the reception/meeting point and had some extra time after we'd gotten our meal ticket organized (we were able to get it after all) and rafting waivers signed. I bought the SWEETEST T-SHIRT EVER from the gift shop. It's plain grey, but it says "80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection...Wanna Ruck?" Bahahaha! At first I thought there was only XXL's left, but Ann found a small for me :). Thanks Ann! Anywho, so our one guide, Jah (like jar but don't say the r) got our group together, and we went down to put on our boots, socks, wet suits, and jackets, all of which were wet, making the wet suit especially trying to get on. Suited up, and harnessed, we got a couple group photos taken, and our other guide, Matt, showed up. Everybody ready to go, we piled into a shuttle van and headed out to the start of our adventure!
Before we started the abseiling (rapelling), we were instructed on how to go down in a controlled fashion and practised going backwards down a hill, slow and fast and stopping. After that, we were good to go down the hole into the cave! They call it the Hourglass because you go through a narrow funnel and then it opens up again, like an hourglass. I was near the front of the line, but I was too nervous to go first; I wanted to see it done first. Jah was at the bottom whistling "Don't Worry, Be Happy", which was comforting I suppose. Ann went first, champ! I went second, and boy was that a long 37m down! I wasn't scared, it just took longer than I thought it would to get down to the bottom. We had to wait for everybody to get down which took about fifteen/twenty minutes, so we joined in with the whistling, which of course progressed to singing. Everybody there, we walked along a narrow walkway through a tunnel, spotting a few glow worms along the way, and stopped at the start of a Flying Fox (zipline) which disappeared into the dark. Eek! Waiting my turn was the worst part as of course the anxiety builds up and everybody before me was screaming Bloody Mary. I was buckled in and then away I went! "Jeronimo, jeronimo, jeronimo, POCHAHONTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!!" I screamed. I got some applaus and a laugh from Jah who had harnessed me in.
Once everybody got down, we had a break for some hot Milo (chocolate malt powder) and a granola-bar-square-thing, which was perfect timing! After, we all got an inner tube and had to jump in the COLD water (from facebook, you can see I was really not excited to do this), which of course for me, I hit the water and overbalanced in my tube or something and fell in completely :(. Ah well. We pulled ourselves along a rope up the river until we got to a part where there was a bunch of glow worms! We had to turn our head lamps off, though Ann's wouldn't shut off so she let go of the rope to figure it out, then I let go of the rope to help her, and away we drifted from the group, actually a bit of a way. It was funny, we found our way back, and then we were linked up feet-under-the-person's-in-front-of-us-arms to get back to where we had gotten the tubes from.
It was walking/swimming from here on in, mostly walking. We slid down a 'totally natural man-made slide' before we had a pee break; if you pee in a wet suit, it starts to stink, so we pretty much had to strip down to pee (soo worth it though!). Business taken care of, we embarked on the Drunken Stumble. The riverbed there is really uneven, so there's lots of stumbling, even falling, occuring for mere mortals, though because I am a ninja, I did fairly well :). We continued down the river until we took a sharp right hand turn, almost a u turn, up into a smaller passageway, where upon we came across a pool that had a 2 foot long eel in it! Jah started teasing it, and it bit him actually, so we got out of there ASAP, stopping when we arrived at a waterfall. The only way through was up, so up I went! I gladly went first, scrambling up the slick rocks like Gollum (it's the ninja skills), showing 'em how it's done, like a boss. Sidenote: Climbing in a wetsuit is kind of difficult! After that waterfall, it was only another twenty or so meters through a winding passage until another waterfall! Again, I shimmied up, and after walking probably another thrity five or so meters, we entered the light of day!
That evening, Ann and I walked into town to watch the second half of the Aussie-Bokke game (go Wallabies!) and then the NZ-Argentina game at the tavern, Curley's. They had a special on at their on-site liquor store ($15/6 pack), so Ann and I bought it and went and had one outside at this picnic table that was out of the way. There were some fellow Canadians doing the same thing, so we chatted with them before heading in to watch the game. Wallabies won! First half of NZ-Argentina: All Blacks not playing so good 1st half, Argentina putting pressure on them. To the picnic table for our last beer. Second half: Argentina still playing phenominally, but the All Blacks pull it together for the win.
Our guides had showed up for the start of the All Blacks game, so we mingled after. Ann wasn't feeling the night, so she went home around 11:30pm. Matt's friends were there, fun guys, had some laughs. They taught me what "doug-ey-ing" was (some dance from North America), laughed at me for not knowing what it was. Also got comments on my shirt, of course. The night was called around 1:30am, as that's when the bar closed, so I headed back to the hostel and crawled into my hovel.
Wednesday 5 October 2011
On The Road Again
We didn't get home and into bed until 6am, then it was up at 7am to pack up all of our stuff so that we could meet Kieth at the railway station around 9:30. I was still pretty drunk and my hands were stained red from handling my suspenders, but no matter, everything got taken care of on time and Simon gave us a ride down to the station. We transferred our packs and said our goodbyes to Simon, then it was almost on our way out of Wellington. Kieth had to stop at a DoC office to talk to somebody or whatnot, and I got to go in and meet some of his coworkers, which was pretty fun, they're a good group of people. Then we were lucky and stopped at a cafe to grab a coffee and a sandwhich/breakfast before getting on the road to Palmerston North. Uncle Chris' friends in Auckland have friends there, so that's whom Ann and I were going to stay with- oh important note! Hilary had decided to start her WWOOFing early (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), so she was onto Mangawaka with Kieth.
On the way up to PN, I sat in the front seat, chipper (read: drunk) as a squirrel, keeping Kieth entertained, while Hilary and Ann passed out in the back seat. We stopped at a couple of Kieth's friends house, one to drop off some traps, the other to have a tea with, before Ann and I got out near the library in PN. Another important note I've forgot to mention: on Saturday morning, I noticed my right ankle really start to hurt, then by this time the pain had transferred to my left foot. I believe I've pulled a muscle, probably from playing touch, but man oh man, I am not inclined to do any walking right now :/. Ann's foot is also bothering her. Anywho, so we got to the library around 1pm and set up shop, staying there for about 3 hours until we were both so hung over and tired that we had to get to the Peterson's house or else we weren't going to leave our spot. We called a cab, because our feet just weren't up to the task of walking what's actually a decent walk.Their house is a big, old one probably from the early 1900's, and Ann and I had the top floor room, each getting our own little bed. Ann passed out for about an hour, while I stayed up, like a ninja, and chatted with the kids, James, 14, and Christie, 10. It was a bit awkward because they were a bit shy (but apparently, I am not so bad at making conversation!), but it was fine. Sam is a rather funny guy who works at the Massey University with livestock, trying to figure out how an ewe's condition during pregnancy affects the lambs, particularely their mammory glands, and what he called 'fetal programming'. It's kind of exciting research because I guess what you learn from sheep can be applied to humans as lambs and babies weigh the same, among other things (and obviously you can't experiement with people, so they've got to do it somehow!). His wife, Catriona, also works with sheep at the University I believe. We stayed there for two nights, Monday night and Tuesday night, enjoying relaxing days to catch up on sleep and writing. Sam took us around the country side on Tuesday afternoon to look at his property outside of the city (it sits on a hill, breathtaking view) and also to see some of the only tracts of native New Zealand bush in the area. We saw HUGE trees, I can't remember the names just now, but Sam said "just wait until you see the Kaori trees in Northland (north of Auckland), they make these ones look like jokes!" The river that runs through the city is also an interesting geological feature in the world as it runs through the mountain range into the sea; most rivers run down from the mountains, not through to the other side of them. I also got my iPhone unlocked! Hurrah! Now all I have to do is get a SIM card, et voila, I will have a working phone!
We decided to leave PN on Wednesday afternoon on the bus (both Ann and I have bought ourselves Flexi Passes) and head to New Plymouth to see Mount Taranaki, an active volcano that is more or less the only giant mountain around. Both Ann and I have couchsurfing, so we are staying at a really, really posh house by the sea with a man named Phillip Grant, his wife and his son. Seriously Mom, you would like a lot of the things in this house! He picked us up from the bus station, and then we dropped our stuff off and went for a walk along the beach, snapping photos of surfers and waves and sunshine. We got hungry as we walked, so we stopped at a cafe and grabbed a small snack. On the way back to Phillip's house, we were caught in a bit of a downpour, but that was okay as I geniunely like being outside in the rain. We got back to the house, dried off, then went upstairs and chatted and watched TV with Phillip and his partner, having a glass or two of wine and a cup of tea, before calling it a night around 10ish.
On the way up to PN, I sat in the front seat, chipper (read: drunk) as a squirrel, keeping Kieth entertained, while Hilary and Ann passed out in the back seat. We stopped at a couple of Kieth's friends house, one to drop off some traps, the other to have a tea with, before Ann and I got out near the library in PN. Another important note I've forgot to mention: on Saturday morning, I noticed my right ankle really start to hurt, then by this time the pain had transferred to my left foot. I believe I've pulled a muscle, probably from playing touch, but man oh man, I am not inclined to do any walking right now :/. Ann's foot is also bothering her. Anywho, so we got to the library around 1pm and set up shop, staying there for about 3 hours until we were both so hung over and tired that we had to get to the Peterson's house or else we weren't going to leave our spot. We called a cab, because our feet just weren't up to the task of walking what's actually a decent walk.Their house is a big, old one probably from the early 1900's, and Ann and I had the top floor room, each getting our own little bed. Ann passed out for about an hour, while I stayed up, like a ninja, and chatted with the kids, James, 14, and Christie, 10. It was a bit awkward because they were a bit shy (but apparently, I am not so bad at making conversation!), but it was fine. Sam is a rather funny guy who works at the Massey University with livestock, trying to figure out how an ewe's condition during pregnancy affects the lambs, particularely their mammory glands, and what he called 'fetal programming'. It's kind of exciting research because I guess what you learn from sheep can be applied to humans as lambs and babies weigh the same, among other things (and obviously you can't experiement with people, so they've got to do it somehow!). His wife, Catriona, also works with sheep at the University I believe. We stayed there for two nights, Monday night and Tuesday night, enjoying relaxing days to catch up on sleep and writing. Sam took us around the country side on Tuesday afternoon to look at his property outside of the city (it sits on a hill, breathtaking view) and also to see some of the only tracts of native New Zealand bush in the area. We saw HUGE trees, I can't remember the names just now, but Sam said "just wait until you see the Kaori trees in Northland (north of Auckland), they make these ones look like jokes!" The river that runs through the city is also an interesting geological feature in the world as it runs through the mountain range into the sea; most rivers run down from the mountains, not through to the other side of them. I also got my iPhone unlocked! Hurrah! Now all I have to do is get a SIM card, et voila, I will have a working phone!
We decided to leave PN on Wednesday afternoon on the bus (both Ann and I have bought ourselves Flexi Passes) and head to New Plymouth to see Mount Taranaki, an active volcano that is more or less the only giant mountain around. Both Ann and I have couchsurfing, so we are staying at a really, really posh house by the sea with a man named Phillip Grant, his wife and his son. Seriously Mom, you would like a lot of the things in this house! He picked us up from the bus station, and then we dropped our stuff off and went for a walk along the beach, snapping photos of surfers and waves and sunshine. We got hungry as we walked, so we stopped at a cafe and grabbed a small snack. On the way back to Phillip's house, we were caught in a bit of a downpour, but that was okay as I geniunely like being outside in the rain. We got back to the house, dried off, then went upstairs and chatted and watched TV with Phillip and his partner, having a glass or two of wine and a cup of tea, before calling it a night around 10ish.
Canada vs New Zealand
Let me start this out by saying wow. And wow again. We started out the day getting our costumes and such ready, then took the bus into town around 1ish to grab some grub from the grrocery store then head to the stadium. I had yet to eat anything, so Ann and I bought a loaf of bread, and because beer is $7.50 each at the stadium, we bought a six pack of Tui tall boys for $13. We sat in the trainstation and wolfed down the bread, then headed to the bathroom to be the classy, classy ladies that we are to skull (aka shotgun) our beer. This was Accomplishment #1 of about 3 of the night, as I have just barely begun to enjoy beer, let alone be able to down it like a boss. After about two and a half for me and 2 for Ann, we put our third one behind the garbage can in the hopes it might still be there after the game, and headed, somewhat drunk, to the stadium.
It was a great walk there, everybody was so jovial and happy! Got some pictures with All Blacks and Canadian fans (note: our costumes were AWESOME!), and even the newspaper people wanted pictures of us! We went to Ann's and Hilary's seats first, which turned out to be only one row and a couple seats apart, then I headed to mine across the stadium, stopping at the beer station along the way ;). I thought I might be able to find them in the crowd, so that we could all wiggle our bums at the camera at the same time, but I wasn't. No matter, I ended up sitting beside this Kiwi dad and his 7/8 year old son, whom I had a friendly cheering match with. I was a lone spec of red in a surrounding sea of black, which was a bit comical when they sang the anthem as I was the only person in about three rows to be belting it out. I stayed in my seat, which was actually a really good seat, for about half of the first half, until Ann came and got me as there was an empty seat beside hers. So away we headed, both pretty toasted at this point, back to her seats. It was a ridiculous time, the two of us, cheering at the top of our lungs, for our team. I've already decided that I'm going to every World Cup after this one, and following Canada around, because cheering for YOUR team is just the best, you're so much more intense, so much more enthusiastic. It was great! I'm actually pretty proud of the boys because we got points on the board, and FIRST at that! Also, I've decided that I am going into physio, so of course I will be following the Canadian team around because I'll be one of their physios! :D
We left the stadium, and on the way out met up with some of the people we'd played touch rugby with. Ann and I were eager to get to the train station bathroom and see what had become of our beer (sadly it was gone), and get to McDonalds to ensure we would be able to last all night, so we said we'd meet up later and headed on our way. McDonalds was deliciously greasy and gross, just like it ought to be, and after, we headed to a pub called Betty's to meet up with our friend Tony, whom we had met on Matui-Sommes Island the week before. We watched the Rugby League Final there and drank water (pacin' ourselves, Accomplishment #2!). For those of you that don't know, Rugby League and Rugby Union are two different sports, Union being the Rugby World Cup game. This was the first time that the NZ Warriors had made it to the Final, so of course they turned off the RWC match to watch it. Unfortunately the Warriors didn't win, but it was still a good game to watch. It's a much quicker game than Union, it seems, and you need to have more of a head for the game I would say. After that, we said good bye, and headed over to The Establishment- oh The Establishment :)- as that's where Hilary and the other Canadians were.
Mom, you've always told me that timing is everything, and boy, are you right! Ann and I show up there, get ourselves a drink and head back to the table, then what do I see when I look out the window, but the Canadian Team Bus and all the Canadians getting out of it! :O! Talk about turning into a 14 year old girl! So I elbowed my way to the front of people at the door, and saw them come in! Kleeburger came in and Hilary, Ann and I got a picture with him, which due to the drunken state of the photographer turned out blurry.
Before we parted, I asked "May I please touch your beard?"
He looked at me. "Go ahead," he said.
And oh man, I sure did! I got both hands in there and HANDLED it, and it was GLORIOUS!!! Surprisingly soft too. Accomplishment #3, and the pinnacle of my Rugby World Cup experience 2011, DONE, like a boss!
So all the Canadians went upstairs, and to get there you had to have a special band, which only special people got, so I went into the throng of people on the dance floor to shake what my momma gave me. I tried to talk to the bouncer, who was a good looking Maori. I felt bad for him because he had started doing bouncer stuff at 9am and wasn't off until 2am so I bought him a Redbull. Due to the nature of our costumes, my bum was slapped quite a few times, though apparently the beard was the most drawing thing about the outfit. I ended up dancing on this chair, and then giving out these maple leaf tatoos to many people in jovial Canadian fashion, trying to stick them onto people's cheeks, first by using beer then as my drunkeness progressed, licking them to their faces. At this point, some of the Canadian players came down, and I laugh at myself to say that I was licking one of their faces, trying to get this tatoo to stick. He was like "Eww gross!" But I thought it was hilarious, who wouldn't? Anywho, so a little while later I ended up talking to this chick who had a band, and she got me upstairs! Kleeburger was gone at this point, so I couldn't get a better photo :(, but I still had a blast! My costume was a huge hit, and I boogied for about an hour I'd guess up there, until I was bored. I didn't ask most of the players for pictures because I didn't want to be that person who's flakey and that because, sadly, I don't know who most of them are (though I do know they're all really good looking!). I ended up talking with the forwards' coach for a few minutes, which was cool to get a different perspective of the game. I also saw the bus driver and gave him many accolades for his good driving skills :P.
I headed back down stairs, and started partying it up again. The rest of the night is a blur, I have some photos, but the rest of it was a lot of dancing and more drinking and more bum touching. Ann and I stayed until 5am, or when the bar closed, both of us really happy and stoked on an amazingly awesome and wonderful night.
It was a great walk there, everybody was so jovial and happy! Got some pictures with All Blacks and Canadian fans (note: our costumes were AWESOME!), and even the newspaper people wanted pictures of us! We went to Ann's and Hilary's seats first, which turned out to be only one row and a couple seats apart, then I headed to mine across the stadium, stopping at the beer station along the way ;). I thought I might be able to find them in the crowd, so that we could all wiggle our bums at the camera at the same time, but I wasn't. No matter, I ended up sitting beside this Kiwi dad and his 7/8 year old son, whom I had a friendly cheering match with. I was a lone spec of red in a surrounding sea of black, which was a bit comical when they sang the anthem as I was the only person in about three rows to be belting it out. I stayed in my seat, which was actually a really good seat, for about half of the first half, until Ann came and got me as there was an empty seat beside hers. So away we headed, both pretty toasted at this point, back to her seats. It was a ridiculous time, the two of us, cheering at the top of our lungs, for our team. I've already decided that I'm going to every World Cup after this one, and following Canada around, because cheering for YOUR team is just the best, you're so much more intense, so much more enthusiastic. It was great! I'm actually pretty proud of the boys because we got points on the board, and FIRST at that! Also, I've decided that I am going into physio, so of course I will be following the Canadian team around because I'll be one of their physios! :D
We left the stadium, and on the way out met up with some of the people we'd played touch rugby with. Ann and I were eager to get to the train station bathroom and see what had become of our beer (sadly it was gone), and get to McDonalds to ensure we would be able to last all night, so we said we'd meet up later and headed on our way. McDonalds was deliciously greasy and gross, just like it ought to be, and after, we headed to a pub called Betty's to meet up with our friend Tony, whom we had met on Matui-Sommes Island the week before. We watched the Rugby League Final there and drank water (pacin' ourselves, Accomplishment #2!). For those of you that don't know, Rugby League and Rugby Union are two different sports, Union being the Rugby World Cup game. This was the first time that the NZ Warriors had made it to the Final, so of course they turned off the RWC match to watch it. Unfortunately the Warriors didn't win, but it was still a good game to watch. It's a much quicker game than Union, it seems, and you need to have more of a head for the game I would say. After that, we said good bye, and headed over to The Establishment- oh The Establishment :)- as that's where Hilary and the other Canadians were.
Mom, you've always told me that timing is everything, and boy, are you right! Ann and I show up there, get ourselves a drink and head back to the table, then what do I see when I look out the window, but the Canadian Team Bus and all the Canadians getting out of it! :O! Talk about turning into a 14 year old girl! So I elbowed my way to the front of people at the door, and saw them come in! Kleeburger came in and Hilary, Ann and I got a picture with him, which due to the drunken state of the photographer turned out blurry.
Before we parted, I asked "May I please touch your beard?"
He looked at me. "Go ahead," he said.
And oh man, I sure did! I got both hands in there and HANDLED it, and it was GLORIOUS!!! Surprisingly soft too. Accomplishment #3, and the pinnacle of my Rugby World Cup experience 2011, DONE, like a boss!
So all the Canadians went upstairs, and to get there you had to have a special band, which only special people got, so I went into the throng of people on the dance floor to shake what my momma gave me. I tried to talk to the bouncer, who was a good looking Maori. I felt bad for him because he had started doing bouncer stuff at 9am and wasn't off until 2am so I bought him a Redbull. Due to the nature of our costumes, my bum was slapped quite a few times, though apparently the beard was the most drawing thing about the outfit. I ended up dancing on this chair, and then giving out these maple leaf tatoos to many people in jovial Canadian fashion, trying to stick them onto people's cheeks, first by using beer then as my drunkeness progressed, licking them to their faces. At this point, some of the Canadian players came down, and I laugh at myself to say that I was licking one of their faces, trying to get this tatoo to stick. He was like "Eww gross!" But I thought it was hilarious, who wouldn't? Anywho, so a little while later I ended up talking to this chick who had a band, and she got me upstairs! Kleeburger was gone at this point, so I couldn't get a better photo :(, but I still had a blast! My costume was a huge hit, and I boogied for about an hour I'd guess up there, until I was bored. I didn't ask most of the players for pictures because I didn't want to be that person who's flakey and that because, sadly, I don't know who most of them are (though I do know they're all really good looking!). I ended up talking with the forwards' coach for a few minutes, which was cool to get a different perspective of the game. I also saw the bus driver and gave him many accolades for his good driving skills :P.
I headed back down stairs, and started partying it up again. The rest of the night is a blur, I have some photos, but the rest of it was a lot of dancing and more drinking and more bum touching. Ann and I stayed until 5am, or when the bar closed, both of us really happy and stoked on an amazingly awesome and wonderful night.
Friday and Saturday
So the past few days have been decent. Friday saw us having a relaxing day, going into town around 10am to run some errands ie. picking up some last minute things for the Canada vs All Blacks game on Sunday. We also played touch rugby again, with more Canadians this time, which was fun, though a bit more competitive. Afterwards, we headed to The Establishment for a beer with our new friends, then to the grocery store to buy some chicken and celary for the stir fry we were going to make for dinner. We got home around 7:30ish, having a late supper, though a good one. It was to bed earlyish that night, I tried to figure out my iPhone business, but alas, I got too frustrated, and gave up around 11.
Saturday morning, we went into town early because the All Blacks, or some of them, were going to be at a Telecom shop. Telecom is a communications company, I think one of the biggest ones in New Zealand. Anywho, so we got there and waited in line for about an hourish, during which time, Telecom employees came down the line asking for two females to do a push up contest. Hilary and I of coure volunteered, and in the end we both got a black Telecom/All Blacks beanie! Saweet! So after that, we just went back to Simon's to get our costumes for the Canada vs NZ game ready; some components needed shapes drawn and painted in. We got home and internetted a little bit, I tried to get my iPhone figured out, but alas no dice, then worked solidly on the awesomeness that was to become our outfits for the next day's game. Saturday's game started at 6:30pm, so we showed up around 5:30ish. I ended up sitting beside, again, a really attractive Kiwi fellow, and a couple of his friends. He made me laugh, and actually explained the rules of cricket to me once it was clear that Tonga was going to win (also, he referenced quidditch while doing so, I gave him a high five). I got pretty drunk during the game, and after Kiwi Sam invited me to a couple house parties, but alas he went one way in the crowd and I went another to find Hilary and Ann, so I am not so sure I shall see him again. Sigh.
Ah well, Ann had met up with Roxy, a fellow player from PG, and we all walked to the bar together. Em phoned me along the way, which was very great to talk to her, on Ann's cell phone- speaking of phones, Roxy mentioned calling Rogers and getting them to unlock my iPhone for me! It was a pretty tame night, we called 'er in to take the 11:30 bus back to Simons in order to save ourselves for the sure awesome that was to be the next night. So mote it was.
Saturday morning, we went into town early because the All Blacks, or some of them, were going to be at a Telecom shop. Telecom is a communications company, I think one of the biggest ones in New Zealand. Anywho, so we got there and waited in line for about an hourish, during which time, Telecom employees came down the line asking for two females to do a push up contest. Hilary and I of coure volunteered, and in the end we both got a black Telecom/All Blacks beanie! Saweet! So after that, we just went back to Simon's to get our costumes for the Canada vs NZ game ready; some components needed shapes drawn and painted in. We got home and internetted a little bit, I tried to get my iPhone figured out, but alas no dice, then worked solidly on the awesomeness that was to become our outfits for the next day's game. Saturday's game started at 6:30pm, so we showed up around 5:30ish. I ended up sitting beside, again, a really attractive Kiwi fellow, and a couple of his friends. He made me laugh, and actually explained the rules of cricket to me once it was clear that Tonga was going to win (also, he referenced quidditch while doing so, I gave him a high five). I got pretty drunk during the game, and after Kiwi Sam invited me to a couple house parties, but alas he went one way in the crowd and I went another to find Hilary and Ann, so I am not so sure I shall see him again. Sigh.
Ah well, Ann had met up with Roxy, a fellow player from PG, and we all walked to the bar together. Em phoned me along the way, which was very great to talk to her, on Ann's cell phone- speaking of phones, Roxy mentioned calling Rogers and getting them to unlock my iPhone for me! It was a pretty tame night, we called 'er in to take the 11:30 bus back to Simons in order to save ourselves for the sure awesome that was to be the next night. So mote it was.
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