Go West, Young [Wo]Man

We stayed with our friend Aaron, the head of Signology (the sign making department at Woodford) in Brisbane whilst we figured out what we were going to do next, which at first sounded like fruit picking in Stanthorpe, about 3 hours south, so I bought a car, Norrington, to get us there. Then it turned into heading out west to Perth as Ann has a friend who lives there, and he said to come stay for free until we figured out a job. So off we went!

Which leads to Cool Thing Number Two: Driving from Brisbane to Perth along the southern coast. I can say it was the longest, flatest, straightest drive I've ever endeavoured to take, but also completely worth it as I've seen not only a country, but a continent! And we had our iPods plugged in. We drove from Brisbane, Queensland down into New South Wales, stopped for the night at one of the many, many rest stops, before continuing into Sydney to pick up our bank cards that we'd ordered more than a month previous. I can faithfully say that if I can navigate through Sydney and the CDB, I can probably drive anywhere in the weste- well actually no, if I can get through Melbourne, then I can drive anywhere in the western world! More on that later. After the stress of driving through the CBD, Ann and I headed to the iconic Bondi Beach to soak up some afternoon rays and enjoy a dip in the Tasman Sea, as well as meet up with our friend Dan whom we'd met in Queenstown. It was a nice little visit, and before we knew it, we were on the road again, this time making it all the way to the Australian Capital Territory aka Canberra the capital, so I could look at the Parliament buildings, which werent that exciting and I only ended up driving around them. But still, I saw them!

The next day we pushed onto Melbourne, picking up a hitchhiking couple, one of them German and another an Aussie. They were nice and polite, and actually slept for much of the way. It felt nice to help some fellow travellers out. In Melbourne, we hoped to meet up with our German friend Melanie that we'd met Zorbing in Rotorua, NZ, but she unfortunately had some visa issues, so was actually back in Deutchland. She gave us her friend Roxy's number, and after successfully navigating the CBD and the hook turns* and having a shower at a pool, we met up with her and a group of her friends at the Queen Street Night Market, which only happens on Wednesday evenings during the summer months- timing is everything, as they say! It was pretty busy, and there were heaps of stalls selling food, clothing, jewelry, leather bound journals, artists sketching charicatures...the list goes on! There was also live music, and a stall that was selling sangria. We wandered about the market for a few hours, enjoying the company and atmosphere, until it closed down around ten, then it was out of Melbourne to the just before the start of the Great Ocean Road, one of the most scenic drives in the world!

It's not hard to see why they call it as such, although surprisingly, it doesn't always wind along with the coastline (causing uninformed backpackers to think they are a bit lost and must have taken a wrong turn somewhere...). It is pretty stunning though, pictures to follow this post soon. We took a small detour to "Australia's Most Significant Lighthouse" but didn't pay the $17 to tour it because we're backpacking hobos, however on the drive back to the main road saw all these cars parked on the side of the road, so we stopped, and low and behold, there were wild koalas hanging out and having a snooze in the eucaplytus trees! It's apparently pretty rare to see them in the wild, so it was a treat that we got to see even one, let alone three of them! We continued on our way, stopping for pancakes for lunch (I was craving them) before stopping at probably the most photographed spot, besides Uluru and the Sydney Opera House, in Australia: The Twelve Apostles (which there's apparently only 8 of). Of course, I snapped the iconic photo, and then Ann and I backtracked slightly, heading down to the bottom of this cliff to a really nice beach to chill and get out of the car for an hour or two. I fiddled around with my camera, figuring out the settings a bit better, and then before we knew it, the GOR had ended and we were in a small town called Port Fairy. We bought some bread and a cold bevvy each at the general store, then headed to a beach/scenic lookout to park the car for the night. We went for a walk that evening after sunset, taking one of the trails that meandered away from the lookout point, eventually coming upon this really wicked spit of a cliff that, to stand at the edge of, with the wind howling around you and the waves crashing into the cliff base, filled you with awe of the power of nature.

The next morning we were woken up by a Victoria Parks guy, asking us to move on because we weren't supposed to be camping there. Ah well, but at least we didn't get a fine! We passed Cheese World in Allansford, and decided to turn around and check it out due to our shared love of cheese! And there was free cheese tasting too... But I swear, it's because we love cheese so much! They had a few really good varieties, tomatoe and cracked pepper, garlic and cracked pepper, good cheddars, fruit cheeses, etc. AND they sold wine as well! And it was decently priced! So we bought a couple cheeses and a bottle of Yellowtail, checked out the cheese/local museum they had, and continued driving. And driving. And driving. We crossed into South Australia. And kept driving. Pine forests lined either side of the highway, if it wasn't for the high temperature, I could easily have been in Canada. It's actually quite a beautiful stretch of countryside, from Portland in Victoria to Adelaide in South Australia, I would have loved to stay in the area and explore. But alas we kept pushing onward! We spend the night at a rest stop just outside of a little town called Beachport, about 400kms south of Adelaide, enjoying a beautiful sunset and our wine and cheese. The next day we made it to Adelaide, a half way marker on our journey, around 2pm, and spent the next six hours in a McDonald's getting our online Responsible Service of Alcohol certificates. For bed that night, we drove out of the city and parked at a lookout, gazing down at the spread of city lights, refelcting on this crazy adventure we're on.

It was up and away again as our next destination, while only about 100kms away, was probably the most anticipated one, at least for me: the Barossa Valley. Aka wine country! I love wine! And one of only two things I knew I wanted to for certain do whilst I was in this country was take a wine tour through the Barossa. And I did just that! I tasted over 50, but no more than 80, different wines while I was there, it was so worth it! If I ever do another one, I'm going to make sure I break a full day tour up over two days, as you're pretty pissed in the afternoon, even if you've had lunch. After enjoying a few days there, we took Norrington into get serviced before we embarked on the Nullarbor, possibly the world's longest, straightest, most boring, and factually one of the most dangerous highways in the world; there is a 146.6km straight stretch at one point and all you see for miles and miles is scrubby bush, with the an odd road killed 'roo or two on the roadside, just to give you an idea. From Adelaide to Norseman, the western gateway to the Nullarbor, nothing of great import or excitement happened. From Norseman, we turned south to drive along the Southern Highway, and then cut up to Perth. We spent Australia Day, January 26th, in a medium sized town called Albany. We enjoyed a few ciders, and hung out at the community event outside their rec centre for the afternoon, Aussies decked out in I <3 OZ shirts and flags. The festivities finished with an impressive fireworks display, and we drove out of town to yet another rest stop.

And then we reached Perth! Finally! After more than 5000 kms, over 1000 photos, a 146.6km straight stretch, 16 bottles of water, 12 1/2 bottles of wine, 11 nights spent sleeping in our car, 5 state/territory lines, 3 phone calls from concerned friends, and one hot, sweaty journey later, we arrived in Perth! I completed my first legitimate road trip, and now I am thinking that I might just drive around the north coast back to the East Coast, if it should so tickle my fancy!

We stayed at Ann's friend's (Michael) grandfather's house for about two weeks, trying to get work organized for ourselves, and by stayed, I mean that's where we spent 98% of our time. It started to drive me crazy around the end of week two, and having bought my WWOOFing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) book when we were in Brisbane, decided to try that out whilst I awaited potential employers' responses to my applications. Ann, having sent out numerous applications and getting few bites, decided to fly back to Brizzy to try her luck there. I wish her all the best.

I ended up going to an outlying area of Perth called the Perth Hills to help out at a horse riding school. Although I really enjoyed being around the horses and getting my hands dirty again, it unfortunately it wasn't a good fit for me right at this time, so I decided to leave after only five days to have a bit of a sit down with myself and figure out what it is I'm even doing in this country... at this point, besides priority numero uno of getting a job, I'm thinking I want to do five things here, which are, in no particular order:

get my SCUBA ticket

cage dive with great whites, which I am terrified of, which is precisely why I want to do it

take the train between Darwin and Adelaide, and maybe have some kind of Outback experience in the middle

check out Tasmania

learn to sail and sail in/to the Whitsundays

It's long enough to be short, short enough to be long, and has enough in it that should keep me occupied whilst I'm here until December, I reckon. There might be some things added, and some things removed, but that's what it stands at :). And that's all the updates I have for now!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!

I've been in this country about two and a half months now, and in that time, I've managed to do two pretty cool things I didn't thing I'd be doing when I left Canada in September.

The first: I spent from December 11th-Jannuary 5th at the grounds of the largest folk music festival in the Southern Hemisphere, the Woodford Folk Festival. There were over two thousand performances and something like one hundred and sixty thousand patrons over the course of 6 days. I found out about Woodford from Michelle, the Canadian girl I met in Samoa at Lalumanu Beach. Ann and I rocked into Sydney on a Wednesday, sent out our volunteer applications on a Thursday, got a call on Friday to come up (Woodford is a couple hours north west of Brisbane, which is 15 hours bus ride north of Sydney), and hopped on a Greyhound overnight, and then another bus once we got to Brizzy, as the locals call it, before finally getting to Woodford. We did two weeks of set up, getting free meals and accommodation on site, Ann was part of the Visual Arts department, and so, was helping paint and build things, while I did Organisers and Performers Camping, which basically entailed figuring out camping areas and helping artists get there. For a number of reasons, this turned out to be a lot more complicated that it should have been, and I wouldn't be lying if I said I was so relieved when the festival finally started, so I'll say it: I was so relieved when the festival finally started! And wow, what a time that was! There were so many amazing acts and performances I had the privelage of seeing- I got to go on the Mystery Bus!- including Xavier Rudd, who although I really enjoyed his music and the performance, there was one point he got a bit political, namely against mining, that left a bit of a sour taste on my tongue. Of course, when you're surrounded by a bunch of hippies, you keep your mouth shut. I also got to watch Gotye, Owl Eyes, Husky (in the Mystery Bus), Tin Pan Orange, Hanggai, a phenominal Canadian R&B artist Matt Anderson, and so, so many more. These artists I've mentioned are definitely worth checking out!

Ah so the Mystery Bus, what is it? It's an old city bus that's been turned into a venue. Being such a small stage, there's really only room for two mics and the singers and a guitarist/drum box percussionist squeezed into the corner. The mystery of the Mystery Bus is that they don't schedule or announce artists who're going to play for it, you just show up for the ten minute set.

Basically, it was a week of living in Wonderland. There's a lot of work that goes into it to making it look and feel really top notch, and it was quite sad when it was all said and done. But then, it was time to move on!

Samoahhhh!

As I wrote this post quite after the fact, the majority of it is very brief, and, um, to the point. Good for a quick study break ;).

Day 1 November 22nd

My time in Auckland was fine, I slept decently at the airport (can't say the same for the Christchurch airport, bastards...). Got up around 4am to be down and in line for 5am, which seems like it would be alright, but then you must remember that everybody else is also going to be there two hours before, and it really doesn't help when you're standing in the wrong queue. In my defence, the day previous the Airport Information guy had told me to  stand in that particular queue. But all is well that ends well. I had to book it to the gate, sans breakfast or an opportunity to buy a camera charger, but I made it in time to exchange a bit of currency and buy a sandwhich before boarding the plane, of which I was one of about four super white people.

There was only one other guy in my row of seats, a Samoan guy, Paulo was his name, who pretty much offered me a place to stay before we got off the ground; I've heard about how legendary Samoan hospitality is, but really? Awesome! He's a pastor in one of the villages inbetween the airport and Apia. We chatted a bit, though I slept for a majority of the flight. And then we were there!

I was all smiles disembarking the aircraft: I made it to the South Pacific! Woot Woot! (It always kinda seemed like something older, more established people do). I cleared customs and claimed my bag, said goodbye to Paulo as I had arranged to meet somebody from Couchsurfing already though I hoped to get in touch and do a homestay, and headed out into the heat (sidenote: I was wearing my Canadian rugby jersey, yoga pants, and my runners...it was supposed to be raining) to hop on a local bus, bogged down with all my crap, politely declining the multitudes of "You need a taxi?". It just so happened that the bus was pulling up as I got there, which is fortunate because, well, Samoa is an island, and according to Lonely Planet, it's quite comfortable running on island time, so I could have waited for a long time for the next one.  I hopped on and the locals made room for me, Dude, and Little Dude (my packs).

The local bus is such an experience! First of all it's like a wooden school bus with out galss in the windows and they BLAST redone-in-polynesian-songs! Everybody was staring at me, obviously as I'm kind of alien like to them, the little kids on the bus, giving me smiles and laughing with me. A fellow, hilariously named Paradise (seriously!), started chatting me up and asked me if I was married and if I wanted a Samoan boyfriend or husband! hahaha! Even just walking down the street I get smiles and "Hello!"s. It's a bit bizarre, and all I can do is laugh.

I got into town, to the bus station/flea market and was super confused and disoriented. I was supposed to go to the Clocktower for 2pm to meet Calixto, so I just hopped on another bus that the locals assured would get me to my destination (turns out I probably could've just walked to it). I ended up getting off by the police station and then grabbing a taxi to the Tourist Information Center so I could take a breather, figuratively and literally speaking; it had air conditioning, bless it's little inanimate soul, and I have never experienced heat/humidity quite like that before.

The girl at the desk was pretty concerned that I didn't know where I was staying that night (still to be confirmed for sure if I could stay with Calixto's host), so she kindly let me leave my bag there whilst I went to the clocktower to meet Cali. I stopped in at a supermarket, maybe one of the only ones in Apia, so therefore the country, for a "refridgerated" Coke (thankfully the bars have operating coolers) and an icecream, before continuing to the corner to wait for Cali. I felt a bit pressured, maybe it was the heat, so I bought a lava-lava, or basically a cotton sheet with tropical floral design on it, for WST$10 (Western Samoan Tala), which was fine because I knew I would want one anyways as it's still pretty traditional in the villages for women to be covered up. Men also wear them too. Anywho, so I waited, then Cali rode up on a bike, thinking he was late, though because my iPhone was still set to NZ time, I thought he was early. He confirmed that yes, I could stay with his host tonight, but that we were supposed to wait for a German Couchsurfer. So we did,  and we did...and we did. I got a Samoan SIM card in the meantime as Cali had said it was worth it, which I'd say it was. This girl didn't show up though, so we said screw it, I went and got my bag, and I took a taxi to Supy's, where we chilled out, then we went to a bar and met up with Supy and his friends Blakey and Troy. They were all very nice people, we had a good time enjoying the local brew, Vailima, over some good conversation.  Supy and Blakey are in their third and final year with the Peace Corps, an American volunteer organization, and Troy is 4 months into his 1 year stay in Samoa with an Australian NGO. We hopped bars to a newly opened one, enjoyed the sunset and played chicken with the rain. During one of the forays inside, I met Tony and Catherine, a kiwi couple contracted by the Samoan Finance department for 4 months. They had ordered a huge platter of battered fish, fresh tuna I think it was, and kindly shared with us as we exchanged stories. As everything closed at 12, we headed home shortly after, but not before getting some drunk Micky D's, which I can assure you, even in a developing country, still tastes the same as it does back home. I PTFO'd, unfortunately not before I was able to get the mosquito net untangled, waking up in the middle of the night with a bad tummy to the sound of a terrential downpour....man when it rains in Samoa, it POURS!

November 23: Woke up with a million little red bites from mysterious and unknown critter, took bus to Matautu, almost didn't get to, but snorkelled and saw giant clams (they really are giant), stayed at Jenny's, had an interesting supper of hot dogs, bread, salad w/watercress, potatoes, all girls slept in one room, boys in the other as per Samoan tradition.

November 24: Did Waterfall Hike at Jane and Olsen's, adventure as no safety ropes, warm rain, refreshing water to swim in that got cooler the farther upstream we went, fresh coconut+banana+pinapple=yum!, jumping off waterfalls, feet cramped up about 3 times, I pansied out of the bigger waterfalls and jumps, but so did Cali, so it was okay.

November 25: Stayed in Apia, went to help volunteer at sports complex, but arrived too late, picked up some garbage instead and then enjoyed a delicous orange snowcone, met Juanita. Went to Fiesta later that night, got reasonably drunk, home and sleeping in a hammock by about 11:30/12am.

November 26: Rented car and drove to Lalomanu beach, did Piula Cave Pools on the way, Cali was unsure if we should pay for two nights, so we just booked one (silly man), was surprised in a bad way to see we shared a matress, but it worked out, he was a gentleman, met part of the crew ie. Michelle, Josh, Rob and Rachelle, then Sonja and Axel (all excellent people). Fia fia night. Some good looking Polynesian boys.

November 27: Did To Sua Ocean trench, stayed Lalomanu Beach. Took Michelle, Josh, and Katherine with us, met Ben With a Pen, enjoyed some drinks, watched the Kiwi school group do their cultural performance, the middle 3 school boys were especially into it.

November 28: Did a Turtle Cruise to Lamau Island, saw one on the way out to the island, snorkelled and saw some amazingly beautiful sea life and coral, lost camera in the reef :(, sunburned back, hiked the hill, very muddy and not worth it, slipped on the way down and got dirty.

November 29: Took the ferry to Savai'i, chatted with Rob, used tarp, rogue wave splashed Michelle, stayed at Tanu Beach Fales, Peter the taxi driver: super nice guy, amazing stars and moon out, free bananas, free coconut upon arrival, self serve at the store; honesty system, staff played Polynesian tunes and sung well into the night.

November 30: Hung out on the beach, went for a walk, sunburned my legs and stomach...so I matched all over?, ate at the fale place next door, which took forever, green salad=red cabbage and some carrots...?, that night I sang and played the guitar, was nervous, didn't sound my best, but they liked it anyway. The Samoans are so happy and funny.

December 1: Peter drove us around Savai'i. Stopped at Canopy Forest, Lover's Leap: saw a shark and turtles swimming, Afago Blow holes: tried and failed several times to get a coconut to shoot up, Afa'a Afa waterfall: authentic jungle vine swing, refreshing dip, a VERY large shrimp, then back to Saleopologo: market, bought cocao beans and souvenirs. Fia fia night at Tanu, then dance, then beach party and midnight dip in the sea.

December 2: Got up around 6 am and took some amazing photos of the sunrise, also some artsy ones. Packed up after breakfast, and took local bus to ferry. Cute kids selling banana chips. I bought some, and juice, and a fan. Ferry back to Upolu, got a ride to Supy's from some randoms. Spent a couple hours at Supy's, then partied with Juanita and her sister.

December 3: Up around 7:30, into town to get a Vailima tshirt, then back 'home' to Supy's to shower and pack and get a shuttle at Aggie Gray's Hotel to the airport. Had to have proof of onward ticket out of NZ, trouble connecting to the internet, thought I might miss my flight, but got it all figured out, refreshing coconut afterwards... they're always refreshing! Sorted Little Dude while waited to board. Good bye Samoa...I never will for-ge-et you...

The Ride of the Rings

Tuesday night Ann and I went out for free beer (we booked more than $300 at the travel desk in the hostel) and a vegetarian pizza, which we added italian sausage to :P. I had booked a horseback ride through some of the Lord of the Rings shooting locations for the next day, supposed to be instead of doing the bungee, so it was an early evening and up before 8 for my shuttle out to Glenarchy, about 20 minutes away, and the stables. My morning horse's name was Bombey, a nice thoroughbred, about 15.2 hands high. I rode english for the first time since selling Yukon 8 or 9 years ago! I had to laugh at myself at how I had to actually concentrate on my form and posting correctly and all of that, since in western riding you sit everything. My guide, Laura, and the other girl, Flora, a make up artist working on The Hobbit, and I had a good time since we were all experienced riders- we got to canter! Bombey, and Eden, Flora's horse, were both ex-track and so, had a bit of a race a few times, but once we realized that Bombey should go in front, it was smooth sailing! The scenery was amazing too! I galloped past the Misty Mountains, and trod through that river Arwyn uses her elf magic on in the first movie. It was awesome! Then the weather kicked in and, since I was dressed only in a tshirt and my raincoat, I got pretty chilly. I was happy when the roughly 3 hour ride had ended, said bye bye to Bombey, and we went for lunch at the creativley named Glenarchy Cafe before my next ride through even more scenery. This was a much bigger ride, and I got to ride Elvis, one of the horses used in The Return of the King! He was a gentle fellow, I let him pick his own way, basically I just sat on his back and snapped photos. We rode past the place where the Fellowship is stopped in the elf queen's forest in the first movie, and where Borromir died, and also the plain where Sauromon's tower is! The area has been used for other movies too, including Willow, Wolverine, and The Lovely Bones. Also, we rode past a part of The Hobbit set they were getting up to snuff to start filming there the next day! I can't legally say anything more than that, so I will leave it there... Orlando Bloom was actually in QT for filming too, and Flora had informed me that the whole Hobbit crew was going out on Saturday night, which was exciting to learn about. Anywho, that ride was a bit shorter, only about 2 hours, but still, so worth it. I'm really glad I did it. I love horses. I love the feeling of being on their back, of flying with them; you're free. It's something I need to get back into for sure, I will definitely look into getting work with them in Australia.

There's the most amazing busker in QT: Mathias the Piano Man. What busker has got a piano as his instrument, on a trolley/wagon?! And he plays so beautifully, I don't know why he isn't making music for commercials or video games like Final Fantasy or something. You people should check him out, I think he's on Facebook and Youtube.

Besides a bit more partying, that's pretty much me in Queenstown. I really enjoyed my time there and I know I want to go back, when I get my working holiday visa for New Zealand, hell maybe get a job at that stable! Come Sunday morning, Ann and I parted ways as I am headed to Samoa on Wednesday for 12 days and she's staying to explore more of the South Island. I'm excited to get some solo travel experience under my belt, but it feels strange to be alone, after being with the same person for the last two and a half months, pretty much constantly. I'm actually quite, pleasantly, surprised at how well we get along, seeing as I didn't know her that well before we came on the trip; I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. But I'm glad how it's all worked out :).

Samoa will be very interesting and new, for sure. It's still retained much of it's tradional polynesian culture, and as a backpacker, it's surprisingly affordable- $400 return airfare? yes please and thank you!- with their budget accommodation being similar to what I pay here in NZ. I have made a bit of an itinerary for my 12 days, but I don't know that I'll stick to it all even, so we'll see! I have a Lonely Planet book, so that will help me out, but I also think I will get input from locals and that. It's going into the rainy season, so I don't really expect it to be a sunny, and tropical paradise, at least not all the time. It's not a big deal if it's not because it's just as much a part of life there as the dry season, and plus, I won't get sunburned! Although I do have loads of sunscreen with me anyways :). And that's all I have for now! I will post once I return from the South Pacific!

Taking the Plunge

Wow! Well Tuesday was spent mostly hungover, but that night Ann and I had some vino and a Big Al (so huge!) from Fergburger, and she and this Irish chick that worked there started talking about the Nevis Bungee that Ann was due to do the next day, and I said "Fuck it! I'm going to do it!" I was pretty terrified when I woke up the next morning, but you know, once you say you're going to do something, you'd better do it (right mom?)... So, tail between my legs, I headed down to the travel desk and booked the same package Ann had, not that I told her that of course- I told Ann that they would only let you book the day before, and so I was coming to watch her jump and act as a moral support. My plan would have succeeded too if the bungee guy, while we were waiting to take the, er, gondola/cage thing out to the bungee pod, hadn't asked who was jumping and who wasn't; I had a ticket to jump of course, so he was confused as to why Ann was telling him I was only watching. I gave him some razz, more so in an attempt not to think about the fact that I was going to jump off a suspended platform 134 meters high into thin air. How insane does a person have to be to pay money to be utterly terrified? I know I say that I'm a bit crazy, but sometimes I wonder if I really am...

The ride out to the pod isn't very calming. Though you're clipped in by your harness, the thing sways in the wind, and you can see right down to the valley bottom courtesy of a grated floor and railing! Once we were inside the pod-again, not calming; glass floor- you were stuck in this very uncomfortable state of anxietyand HOLY SHIT, WHAT AM I DOING?! while all the other jumpers go ahead of you. Unlike the Auckland bridge, there weren't that many people, so I was only waiting for maybe ten minutes, but man, did it feel like ages! And then it couldn't be long enough, once your turn comes up. Poor Ann, hers was the last one!
They sit you in this chair while the jumper jumps, and literally, my hands were shaking like a polaroid picture. I told the guy "You have to tell me when to stop shuffling forward, because I'm not looking down!" And that, my friends, is the secret of bungee: don't look down. Because once you do, you're hooped; you've given your brain that millisecond of time it needs to process the fact that this isn't natural, and you need to GTFO now! But I didn't look down! I just looked out, and on the countdown, I thought 3, 2, 1, BUNGEE! and leapt off into nothing. And fell. And continued falling. It was only 8.5 seconds of free fall, but I can sure tell you it felt longer than my 65 seconds with skydiving. Then I bounced baaaaaaack up, and then plummeted back down towards the earth. Oh yes, I was screaming at the top of my lungs the whole way, you can hear it in the video. I was reeled in upside down, uncomfortable, but such is life when you mistime pulling the cord that brings you up rightside up. I could hardly stand up when they got me back in the pod, my legs were shaking so bad and I was so relieved to have the whole thing done and over with, plus the adrenaline high I hadn't experienced with the Auckland bridge was hitting me full force! It was amazing, I actually contemplated paying for another jump.

Then it was Ann's turn, poor Ann. She was actually nervous as well, which suprised me since she's the adrenaline junkie out of the two of us. But she did it, she jumped! We highfived and cajoled and such afterwards, relief and adrenaline- mostly adrenaline- driving us forwards to do the Nevis Swing, aka the biggest swing in the world! That wasn't scary, it was just fun! The guy getting us strapped in was a Canadian too, so that was kind of cool. He'd even heard of departures! I was wearing my t-shirt ;). We got harnessed in together, and upsidedown!, annnnnnnd then we swung! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D And that was that. That's bungee jumping. I think I prefer skydiving, it's a bit more scenic, less pants-poopingly scary, and lasts longer, but I would say that it was definitely worth it and I would probably do it again. Moreover, I'm quite proud of myself for doing it because I knew I would be terrified and I had the chance to back out (I could've actually paid the money to just watch),and I really didn't think I would actually jump, especially not on the first countdown, but I didn't and I still did it; I conquered a bit of fear that day, kicked it right in the arse, scored a million tries against it; I won against myself.

Queenstown!

I've fallen in love with the place, that much was clear after Ann and I booked a room and stored our luggage at Nomad's Hostel around 10:30am, pretty much right downtown Queenstown, and then took a walk about until we could get into the room at 2pm. It's breathtakingly beautiful here: the snowy tips of the Remarkables mountain range rise like the spine of some ancient dragon from Lake Wakatipu. Queenstown is nestled between the lake and mountains, and it really does offer everything else that New Zealand does, only it's all conveniently in one place! There is so much to do here, it's ridiculous! And expensive... I'm fairly certain it would break my bank if I was here any longer than a week! Anything that you could think of wanting to do- hiking, adrenaline activities (obviously, it's not nicknamed the Adventure Capital of the World for nothing!), drinking, fine dining, partying, historic tours, fishing, camping, etcetera, etcetera.
Ann and I grabbed a coffee and some free wifi at Patagonia Chocolates (I'm such a caffiene addict...), and browsed the local crafts market that was on while we waited to get into our room. We had a Fergburger for lunch, which if you haven't heard of it, it's simply the best burger. In the world. Everything about it is perfect, and it's not just a meal, it's an experience.

First off, the thing is massive, and the bun is everything a hamburger bun should be- fresh, toasted but still soft, and tasty. Then, depending which Fergburger you ordered (there's quite a range, from the classic 'Fergburger' to the 'Tropical Swine' to the 'Big Al'), the fillings they put in are spot on; the lettuce is proper and crisp burger lettuce, the tomatoes are juicy, the cheese is melted to just the right degree. The garlic (?) mayo (called aioli here) and their special sauce do nothing but compliment the features and the main star of the whole show: the patty. This isn't any pathetic Macka's (McDonalds) hunk of mystery meat, this is the epitome of a fast food patty, if you could even class Fergburger as fastfood; it's real ground beef, seasoned just right, and prepared fresh each day. Aside from the burger, the staff jovially bounce along to the cool alt-techno-pop-dance tunes blasting just over the din of the crowd gathered (there's always been one every time I've walked past and enjoyed a burger), a perfectly oiled machine of team work that keeps this essential Queenstown experience going. Simply put, if you come to New Zealand, you have to come to QT, and you've got to have a Fergburger, you would have a very lame experience if you didn't.
Saturday night saw us out on the Big Night Out pub crawl (I love how organized these things are here, prizes, bands, "free" drinks and pizza!). We took one of our new roomies, Myles from England, out with us, and boy did we have a great time! He's a real sport, and we danced and laughed and made fun of eachother, eventually getting Fergburger for our late-night-drunken-munchies. We headed back to the hostel at 3, played pool (I lost), and then PTFO'd. Sunday was nice and relaxed, we got ice cream, sat on the beach, skipped stones, booked bungee and skydiving (!), went for a hike and played EXTREME SKINNY, SKINNY, WAKA at the top. In general, just hung out for the day and night, settling down for a Kill Bill marathon in the evening.

Monday was the skydiving. I wasn't terrified at all, in fact, I was just P-U-M-P-ED the entire time! We had to wait ages (we booked the 2 o'clock jump, didn't end up jumping until after 4:30), but man was it worth it! I opted for the photo and DVD package, which I know is a money grab, but whatevs, pretty worth it I think. It was an absolute beaut' of a day, not a cloud in the sky, sun glinting off the lake, completely picture perfect scenery to look at on the ascent to the heavens. I was laughing and smiling, so excited to jump out of the plane at 15 000 feet. I will admit, though, I did get nervous when the door slid open and I wrapped my legs under the edge- you have to make yourself like a banana- "Am I ACTYULLY going to jump out of this plane?" I thought before one rock, two rock, four rock and we were out! Your mind doesn't quite know what's going on for the first 3 seconds after jumping out of the plane, or rather being pushed out by your tandem guy. [Handsome] Greg was my tandem instructor. It's so surreal, being up in the air watching the earth race towards you in slow motion. I know that's a paradox, but that's really how the 65 seconds of freefall felt! When the parachute went up, it yanks up upwards, the harness wrenched up so that part of it was, er, obstructing my inspir-and-expiration. That's what happens when you are on the smaller side of human height, and your tandem is on the other I suppose. It was fine though, Greg pushed it down so that it wasn't choking me so much, and I enjoyed the cruise down to the landing site; Greg wheeled us in tight circles, I stuck out my arms like a bird, simply reveling in the experience. Touching our bums down, or rather sliding, left me with an amazing feeling, it was just awesome. Definitely in the Top 5 Best Experiences of My Life, probably in the Top 3. I know I'm going to have to go again, it was over all to quickly. Skydiving is defiitely going to be a thing of repetition for me! Good thing I work in mining :P... Though who knows, maybe I'll be that person who takes the photos one day ;).

Monday night, we went out on the Nomad's Bar Crawl, Tramp, tacky, and/or bad taste themed. Out of 130 people, Ann and I were the only ones who dressed up, but what ev's, we had a ball, especially with our new friends, Myles and Danielle, his travel buddy, also from England. They're so much fun, and they're going to be in Sydney when we are, so we'll definitely meet up then too! We went to five bars, and inbetween our 3rd and 4th one, they had a contest, 2 for 1 bungee, and the winner was the first person into the lake from the start of the pier, clothes optional. The girls, or rather girl, that girl being me :D, had a sooner starting line than the boys, and I made it to the railing first, but slowed down. A few boys jumped in, before I said "Ah fuck it!" and jumped in anyways. That water was COLD AS. I ran back to the hostel to change before heading to the next bar and carrying on with the evening, which was grand! Called 'er a night around 3 am, happy with the night's random and awesome and drunken string of events.

Headed South

We have made it to the South Island! Albiet a bit later than we intended to, but I'll admit I am rather pleased with how things have turned out. The ferry ride over was a bit of an ordeal- I lost my adaptor, bought a new one, lost it in the hour it took to walk to the train station, buy groceries, and get to the ferry terminal >.<, not to mention our 2 o'clock sailing was cancelled and we were put on the 6 o'clock [read: 7 o'clock because the Interislander is apparently always late...] crossing, which of course they inform us of at the 'reasonable' hour of 8:30 am (pfft, when you're a backpacker, the day doesn't really start until 10:00am, 12 if you went out the night before; everday is a weekend!). The point is, we did make it to Picton, around 11pm, and us, being the seat-of-our-pants travellers that we are, of course didn't have a hostel booked or nothing. I was expecting, and rather hoping, to just pitch a tent on any available stretch of grass, but the nice shuttle lady ensured we had a hostel room for the night, a 6 bed dorm all to ourselves!, by calling the nice hostel lady to let us in. Picton's a small town, it actually quite reminded me of Smithers, very quaint, very nice, and when I come back to NZ, I will be sure to spend some time there!

We ventured forth in the morning for internet before catching our train, the Tranz Coastal, to Christchurch at 1:30. What a train journey! You have the Kaikoura Range on one side, and the sea on the other! Unfortunately for us, our train ran over a sheep (or a large rock, but a sheep sounds cooler, and really, how the hell would a big rock end up on the tracks? There was a large thud! in any case), so we had to stop for about half an hour/forty five minutes while they took out the broken down carriage (an air hose was broken on the brakes apparently). After that it was smooth sailing- I really do love train journeys, plus Ann let me play the happy photographer with her camera- until our arrival in Christchurch. We saw some of the devestation of the February earthquake- their still in the process of taking down unstable buildings, mostly old, architecturally interesting churches and the like. In fact, one nice man, who was helping us get to the grocery store, was a bit frustrated with the whole process as he had been transferred down from Wellington to help rebuild the roads and since his arrival four days previous, had done literally nothing as his boss wasn't the most, er, go-getter of types. It's too bad, really. All in all, it was pretty staggering to see that kind of destruction; buildings, half torn apart, their innards just there, for the world to see, not sure if it's from the earthquake or the cranes standing still beside them. The whole Central Business District is cordoned and fenced off, which of course, there are no signs saying what street is a closed off/a dead end >.<.
We left ChCh, as I've seen it referred to, on the Tranz Alpine train, "One of the Greatest Train Journeys of the World", on the Saturday. It's not hard to see why it's called this, really; the scenery takes a dramatic and simply breathtaking turn as you move westward across the South Island to Greymouth. It is a lot like BC here, with the snow capped peaks and that, but it just doesn't seem real, it seems like a card board cut out. The mountains rise sometimes like jagged teeth, at others like an oblong pregnant woman's belly, from the idyllic river valleys, sometimes from canyons carved out over the aeons. You can't help but feel small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, a great reminder that you are, in fact, still a mere mortal with an expiry date. It's refreshing. Unfortunately Ann's camera had died, probably from my overenthusiasm of the previous rail trip, so I took mine out. It's not that it doesn't take good pictures or anything like that, it's just slow, and by the time you've turned it on and gotten the settings set up, your photo-op has already raced by. Ah well, it's shock proof, water proof, dust proof, cold proof, and best of all, BEER proof! We got to Greymouth around 1:30pm, and fortunately caught a free shuttle to our hostel, Noah's Ark. The rooms were animal themed (not surprisingly), we got the sheep room, and after perusing the interwebs on our complimentary data (I <3 free internet!), we met up with a couple Canadian boys from back home that Ann knew. Well really, they're from Haida-Gwaii, but it's all the same when you're that close, relatively speaking. We enjoyed a good tea, and contemplated doing some karioki that night, instead opting to play a Kiwi game called "Skinny, Skinny, Waka" and have a jam session. Basically you roll 3 beer caps in your hand, calling out what you think it's going to be, Skinny standing for the S on a Steinlager cap (writing up), and waka being the Maori word for canoe, so cap upside down. You have to call it exactly, or else you have to drink. It was a good night, with many laughs, and we called 'er around 2am, after I spun some fire poi that one of the guys had- WICKED!

Ann and I left Greymouth the next day, intending to, gasp!, hitch hike to Franz Josef, a town about 180kms south. I know you wont be thrilled to hear that, Mom and Dad, but it did work out okay :). We started walking from the town center around 10:30am, down the highway to get to a good hitch hiking place. We then came up with the insane idea to just walk the 40kms to the next town. Normally, with out the ~80lbs of gear and food between us, not a big deal, but oi, that was a mission and a half! We stopped for lunch around 1:30 at a bus shelter just outside city limits, I'm guessing we walked around 4-5kms, then resumed our march. Shortly afterwards, we stuck out our thumbs and it wasn't long, relatively speaking, before a nice elderly couple stopped and gave us a ride to the Kumara Junction, probably about 15kms down the road. We walked another kilometer after that, probably, before taking a rest (hey the sun was out), and waved at all the drivers passing by before a young Aussie couple stopped and took us all the way to Franz Josef, luckily where they just so happened to be going. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I won't ever hitch by myself, but it just goes to show that it can be okay to do so if you've got a buddy!
We had thought we were going to go for a glacial hike, but it was a bit steep and really, we can go up Hudson's Bay if we reaaaaally want to walk on a glacier, so we took the bus to Wanaka the next morning, Monday. Wanaka was really quite nice, we ended up staying there until Friday. Situated right on Lake Wanaka, this pretty little town is very relaxed and easy going, with a quaint little street that quite reminds me of Main Street. I will say I was taken a bit aback upon walking into the book store to see Christmas garland and bobbles bedecking the ceiling on the bright, sunny, and green day. We did a kayak and a hike and went to Puzzling World over the course of the four days we were there, Puzzling World was very enjoyable, there was a big maze and optical illusions rooms, and tables with puzzle games on them- all in all, a great way to spend a very sunny and hot afternoon (unfortunately I got a wee bit of heat exhaustion).
From Wanaka, we went to Cardrona for a night- Ann has a friend in Canada who's parents own a resort there, so we got a good deal on a really nice room for the night. In the morning, we packed all our stuff out to the road and stuck out our thumbs, once again, and after only 5-10 minutes, got a ride with a nice lady and her young daughter to... Queenstown!!!

Auckland, Cape Reinga, Paihia, The Final, and Beyond

Well the last two weeks have been busy, busy, busy! Also, I am going to be much less detailed in my posts as something Jim said to me really hit home: By putting my stories up on the internet for you, I'm letting you know what's going on, but then I won't have any stories to tell when I get back because you'll already know them all...

Anywho, so after Jim and Marcia's for that one night, we were off to Auckland to stay with Keri Dias, a girl from Smithers who now lives here. That night we went on an international pub crawl, 4 bars, 4 drinks, for $10.  It was a lot of fun and quite the way to break Auckland in; there were games they put on, much drinking and dancing, and in the group of us that went, we had a bucket list for the night that involved things like getting peoples' numbers and writing them on our bodies or getting drinks bought for you. I, in true Cavallin fashion, crossed off quite a few of the tasks, and I am pretty sure I won! Not surprisingly, we spent Friday hungover.

Saturday was the first Semi Final, between France and Wales. Ann and I painted our faces, or rather I painted our faces, saying WALES across our cheeks, each letter in the colour of the Welsh flag. I shall just say there's always a problem when you paint your face looking into a mirror... The atmosphere on the way to the match was good, though during was a bit boring as our section wasn't very cheery, and they stopped selling beer at 10:30, wtf?! That's okay, I got a yummy hamburger and took many ketchups and some tartar sauce from the canteen. Hey, I'm a backpacker, and it was free. Plus the lady at the till thought it was hilarious. The Welsh unfortunately didn't pull through, but ah well, can't do much for that, stupid French, you can blame 'em for everything! :P

Afterwards, we went out with Terrence, an Irishman we met in Raglan, and a met up with a bunch of other Raglan people at this bar called Degree. It was pretty happening, so we stayed there for the entire night, Ann calling 'er a night earlier than I (who knew I was such a party animal?), and me eventually sneaking away with this hombres awesome tophat! It's black with a white fern, but it's a legitimate fabric tophat. Score! There was a group of dudes dressed in black jackets and these hats, most of them super wasted, so I used my ninja skills and got it off one of the guys, who then found another one by the end of the night, so I just kept it. They probably brought extras because they're such legit kit, you could never have too many AB hats! I ended my night around 5am that night, and basically spent all of Sunday in bed/being a bum before heading down to the Fanzone at Cooks Wharf to watch the AB-Australia semi around 7ish. It filled up by 8, the game started at 9; it was pretty packed. It was amazing when the All Blacks scored, EVERYBODY jumped up and started screaming/cheering and hugging and high fiving. Ann and I went out afterwards, back to Degree, but it was wayyy too crowded, so we decided to make the ridiculously long walk to the Ponsonby district to meet up with our Wellington friend, Michael, and his brother. It took us about an hour, we both considered going back, but stuck it out, which was good because it was a reletively decent night. The bar was cool, good vibe, and the drinks good and legitimately made; none of this shot of x, press the button for the mix crap; the bartender took lemon, mashed it with a pestal in the glass, added ice, then shot, then mix, then sugar (?), then garnish and straw. Legit.

Monday saw us meet up with Terrence, whom had decided he also wanted to head up to Northland and Bay of Islands to scuba dive, so we rented a car, Irma. Oh man, driving on the left side of the road is a bit of a headache, honestly I felt like I was learning to drive all over again! Basically, I'd try to turn on the turn signal, but instead would get the windshield wiper! At least the gas pedal was on the same side as back home... Terrence knew i was a bit nervous of driving, so he drove us all the way to Paihia, which was a super windy drive. I'm just going to say it because it has to be said, but their road engineers are terrible over here! Also, their speed limits are ridiculous! They change very frequently, so as soon as you've sped up, you have to slow down, and then as soon as you slow down, you have to speed up -_-. Eugh!

Anywho, so we got up to Paihia, a super nice and chilled out town for the week. On Tuesday, we went up to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point in New Zealand. It's quite beautiful with the lighthouse and you can see where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean merge, although I honestly thought the wind was going to blow me away! Pictures are on their way, although Ann has posted some on her Facebook.  After we had our fill of the Cape, we went sandboarding on this massive dune! 90 Mile Beach was somewhere in the vicinity, which is actually only about 70 miles long and famous for it's sand dunes, but we never got there. It was a bit of a hike to the top of the dune, this thing was huuuge! And at the top, it was a bit gulp!-enducing. My first run was hilarious, I ended up falling off the boogie board about halfway down and rolled, rather ungracefully (my MO, it seems), all the way to the bottom. It was fun, and funny to watch I'm sure, sand got EVERYWHERE- my mouth, ears, eyes, nose etc.- but I got up and did another run, albiet slowing myself down with my feet quite a bit. We called 'er a day soon after, and barely made it back to civilization as poor Irma was running on fumes, but thankfully we were able to eek it to a gas station, and back to Paihia.

Wednesday, Ann and I just hung out in Paihia, poked around a local market that had been set up for the cruise ship patrons that were in town for the day and explored. That night, we went out for dinner for the first time, aside from buying drunk McDonalds or what have you, to a rib place. Yum! Of course, not as good as home, but it was such a good meal: a big plate of ribs, a platter of assorted finger foods ie. kebabs, battered fish, wings, samosas, two drinks each, dessert, and a glass of port (ooo la de dah! :p). Talk about thoroughly satisfied! Thursday, Ann and I took a boat tour around the Bay of Islands, over the course of which we learned some of the history of the area- it's where white man first established a colony, where NZ's first capital was, and the first white man was born in NZ. We got to see dolphins, so cool!, and the Hole in the Rock, which is a tunnel through an island that's the last bit of land before the Pacific Ocean. That was neat, we also saw some interesting lava flows- straight up and down- which got me thinking about rocks, damn you geology! That night, Ann and I made a large pot of sangria, which I more or less drank half of, and as a result, was rather witty and hilarious; "As a backpacker, sangria kills two birds with one stone: you get drunk, and you don't get scurvy!" We went out to a sports bar for karioki and rocked the house down! The next morning, however, I did not feel like such a rockstar...

We had planned to go see the Kaori Forest and the Father of the Forest, the oldest tree in NZ, approximately 120km away in the morning, but didn't really get on the road until about 1. It was a great day for a drive, even if the roads are super windy and annoying to drive on.  As it turns out, we couldn't find it. The forest wasn't very well marked, there might have been two of them or something, and we wanted to be back to watch the bronze final at 8/8:30, so we said "Screw it!" and drove back to Paihia, stopping for 1/2 an hour at some natural hot pools, perfect for my tired little body. We watched the game at a bar across the street, then headed to bed for an earlyish start the next morning to get back to Auckland.

Saturday night was tame, didn't go out in preparation for Sunday night and the Rugby World Cup 2011 Final, which was INTENSE! I seriously considered splurging for a ticket, but thought the better of it thankfully, and predrank at Keri's- I am the facepainting master, apparently- then went to a fanzone down the street. It was the most amazing thing when NZ scored, EVERYBODY got up screaming and shouting and hugging. The last ten minutes were so incredibly quiet and tense, but oh man, when the end whistle blew, to see the tears of joy down some Kiwi's faces and the general jovial atmosphere, the cheering, hooting, hollernig, "ALLLLLLL BLAAAAAAACKS!", high fives, smiles, laughter, everything, it was AMAZING. Of course, we went out and got liquored, had a great time, stayed out 'til the cows came home, and were super tired and hungover, but happy, the next day.

We had thought to leave on Monday, but that didn't happen due to our state, and so spent the night in Auckland again [partying], this time on a yacht, as one of Ann's hostel roomies from Wellington had made some sweet as connections the week before! First time I've ever been on a boat like that, man it was cool! I wished we could have sailed it, but then that was probably not the greatest of ideas. Tuesday, we got out of Auckland and headed to Rotorua. Once there I discovered I had left my wallet at Keri's house (damnit!), but thankfully I still had my passport and a decent amount of cash. Wednesday saw us go ZORBing, which is basically rolling down a hill in a hamster ball, adding water to the mix if you like. Only a Kiwi would think of such a thing! On top of being so much fun, it was a bit special to me because in departures, thebesttvshowintheworldthatIcouldgoonforeverandeverandeverabout, they go ZORBing at the same place. On Thursday, we went to a place called Paradise Valley, which is a nature reserve, only slightly more bad ass because there are [native New Zealand] lions there! Ha who ever would have thought that my first encounter with the large cats would be in NZ? We got to pet the cubs, and then watch the adult ones feed- their roar is scary, and super loud! That night, we went to a hangi (Maori feast, where food is cooked in the ground) and Maori concert. The food was delicious, I loooove mussles!,  though because of a gas leak we weren't able to see the hangi :(. There were a bunch of people at our table, a few from OZ, a couple from Spain on their honeymoon, and a British guy. We had good conversation and a few laughs during dinner. The concert was cool, they had such beautiful voices, and they did poi and at one point, got some ladies up to try it, and some men up to haka. After, it was back to the hostel to get our stuff as Ann was headed to Taupo (toe-poe) and I, back to Auckland to grab my wallet and some other stuff we had forgotten.

Friday was a long, long, looooong day, spent mostly on the bus. I left Rotorua at 8:30 am, got into Auckland at 12:15, caught a cab to Keri's to grab my stuff, and was back on the 12:45 bus to Taupo, which arrived at 5:45. -_-. I slept much of the way, but of course, it's never a restful sleep on a bus, so I was pretty blah for the rest of the night. The next day, with two other people from our hostel, we went sailing! I got to get a bit hands on, hoisting a sail and helping to jibe (move the back sail from one side to the other), and even manning the helm for a bit! It pretty much confirmed to me that I definitely want to get more experience on a sailboat. We sailed out to this big Maori carving which is actually only 30 years old, a gift to the people of Taupo from two Maori brothers. It's a beautiful piece of art. After, we went to Burger Fuel, an amazing burger joint, for some post-sailing munchies, then back to the hostel to hangout, playing two games of RISK (which me, being a ninja, I totally kicked ass at!) inturrupted by a very difficult game of Trivial Pursuit- the Canadian version is hard enough, but the New Zealand version?! It's tough. After I conquered most of the world, but alas due to Mission Cards didn't secure the win, we called 'er a night, Ann and I planning on catching the bus back to Wellington so we can get to the South Island ASAP! 

Surfing in the R-A of GLAN (Raglan)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Napier: Canada vs Japan

The next morning (Tuesday), I was up around 7 to catch some free brekky and pack up my tent and my backpack. I was happy that I had enough time left when I was finished to hop in the shower as I didn't know what my accommodation for the night would be and was starting to become a smelly individual. Mike showed up just after 9 o' clock, and as soon as we got our packs into the trunk, we were off!
He's a really funny guy, this Mike. He's 32ish, with a wife and two young kids, but still a very fun guy to be around. The drive was good, a bit long (four and a half hours to travel 300km) and we had to go through the really windy stretch again, our stomachs (especially the next day!) weren't too happy about it. We made a few stops along the way, including the Tui brewery, but we made it to Napier around 2, enough time to try and find accommodation at a hostel, which there wasn't any, no surprise. We checked out this campsite in the middle of town, where they did have room, but it was $27/night, and I, for one, didn't really plan on sleeping too much and I was able to keep my stuff in the trunk of the car, so I backed out. Ann and Hilary decided to spend the night there, and after she got her tent set up, Hilary, Mike and I went to go find a park for the car, and see if we could get into this Irish pub that had gone "loonie" so to speak. Ann had wanted a shower, so she stayed behind at the campsite and we were going to meet her at the pub. However, it was much too crowded, and so we just decided to go to the stadium.

There were heaps of people, many dressed up in costumes, walking there, fans bantering at eachother, I photobombed some people, it was fun. After we'd gone through bag check, Hilary and I headed to the merch' tent to pick up a Canadian jersey. I was in line first and unluckily, there was only one game jersey, the one we both wanted, left! Because I was already wearing my '03 RWC Canada jersey and she only had a red tank top, I let Hilary have it. They have them at stores and will be at the Canada vs NZ game, so I didn't mind giving it to her. I bought some beer- Heinekin tastes awful out of a can- on the way to our seats, and we painted faces while we waited nervously for Ann to show up as we knew she wasn't going to be a happy camper; there was a communication breakdown re: cell phones, so Ann didn't know to go straight to the stadium. Anywho, she arrived, before kick off, I painted her face, and we both got right into the game, her unhappiness very soon forgotten in our chanting and screaming. She had also procured a Canadian flag, which we drew a beard on with black face paint.

It was a great game to watch, a close game, and the best thing ever to be cheering for the home country. I was yelling at the players, taking so many photos on Ann's camera, being an entertaining and happy drunk, supporting Canada, openly admiring KB's beard (it's seriously so magnificent, even Santa Claus would be hard pressed to replicate a beard of that magnificence!). Our boys played well, with heart, but they couldn't sneak the win, finishing the match with a 23-23 draw. After the end whistle blew, the Canadians walked around the field, and so Ann and I, jumped up and down, waving our bearded flag at them. They all pretty much smiled and waved (some of them were soooo hot!) and took a team photo, then walked to the other side of the field and mingled with the Category D fans. Mer :(. Ah well!

The walk back to the car after the game was just as fun and jovial as getting there; people were laughing and cheering, although boisterously drunk (or more so)! We got back to the car, and drank some Tui, bought earlier at the brewery, on the beach and BS'd until we were ready to go out. First we went to that Irish pub, The Rose, but it was PACKED and we had to wait in line for ever, where we met some guys from Williams Lake, of all places. Luckily Mike knew somebody who was on the patio, so we just waited until the bouncers weren't looking and woop! snuck in! Like I said, it was packed, so we chatted with some Frenchies, then peaced to The Blue Water, a bar/hotel(?), about an hours walk away- which you can bet we cabbed! We went there because we heard that that's where the Canadians were. They were, but they were upstairs, which you weren't allowed to go to because of that fact. No matter, we met more Canadians hanging out, and Phil Mackenzie, the #13 (Inside center), came down. I couldn't work up the courage to talk to him, parce que je suis un petit poulet, but I did eventually say hi, after Steve, one of the new Canadian guys we were with, started talking to him. It was just a hello, but no matter, we were enjoying ourselves. It was hilarious: so Mike had ordered a big bottle, 750 mL aka a two-six, of Speights, but the bartender had given him a little glass, a sippy cup really, to drink it with, whereas I, a small, blonde girl, ordered a giant mug of Tui. Hehe!

After we were done with The Blue Water, we headed to the Thirsty Whale, a bar/club about ten minutes walk away. It was a good atmosphere, and it was here that I met more Canadian players, and some Japanese players as well. I was fairly drunk when we got there, but somehow, magically almost, people just kept buying me beer. Sidebar: I drink so much beer, like pretty much every day I have at least one. Beer gut is forming, must do some preemptive excercise! Eventually the four of us had split up, Ann and Hilary having gone home around 1/1:30am, and Mike and I were off doing our own things respectively, though we had agreed to meet at the door when the bar closed. Anywho, so during the odd hour and a half, I ended up bumping into Matt Evans, the Canadian fly half (#10) who has a very Cary Elwes-esque handle bar moustache, though I was a bit rude and said "What's with the 'stache?" Obviously he didn't like that, and cut our conversation short. I continued on my way and ended up hanging out with some really tall Canadian gents (not players) who were props. They picked me up a la scrum, and then we got some more people in on it, possibly-probably some Japanese players (I was pretty intoxicated) and had a scrum in the middle of the dance floor! Ha ha! Good sports! Then the Japanese guys were trying to get me to do a shot, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach it, so I cheersed them with my beer, or rather, "Kumpai!"d. After that, I probably went to the bathroom, and then made my way back to the bar, trying to find Mike. I ended up talking with a couple Canadian players, Jamie Mackenzie (the other brother) scrum half, and the number 22- sorry man can't remember your name- who came in for Pritchard during the game. After we finished our conversation, I continued on my search for Mike, who I correctly thought had left, then returned to the bathroom- apparently this is the most calm place in a bar- where I met this other Canadian chick who was very kind and said I could catch a ride with her to wherever I needed to go (which I didn't know where that was!). I can't wait until I get my iPhone situation figured out, having the maps will be invaluable in situations like this! Anywho, I returned for one last look around, then found Steve whom I caught a cab back to the waterfront with around 3am. Mike was in the car, thankfully, and so he and I BS'd for a few minutes before we both PTFO'd. It was a ridiculously fun night, and in the morning I was in definite need of some coffee before we drove the 4 hours back to Wellington.

Mike dropped us off at the Te Papa museum. After all our stuff had been expelled from the trunk (passers by wondered how it all could fit in the trunk), we said our goodbyes and thank yous, and parted ways. The girls and I headed to the library to get on the internet, which unfortunately didn't work on our laptops because the connection sucked. When we were done, Kieth picked us up and we headed to his house to spend the night.
We picked up some steak, and I bought a new adaptor, which I am happy to say does not fall out of the wall and my plugs stay in. Once home, I plugged in my computer, then went down to the kitchen to help prep dinner, peeling potatoes, chopping onions, etcetera, etcetera. I was feeling pretty grungy and gross, and also majorily hungover, so I hopped in the shower before we ate. When I came back down, I was pretty surprised to learn that I was in charge of cooking the steak- I know, right?! For those of you that know me, my prowess in the kitchen doesn't equate to much. It turned out to be a pretty swell evening, good food, good wine, good people. Matt, the ranger from Matui-Sommes, stopped by for a few minutes too. After dessert, we headed upstairs to watch some Leonard Cohen before calling 'er a night around 10 to get some very much needed sleep!

Thursday, well today, was a very relaxing day, up around 9, and we had bacon and eggs for breakfast! They cut their bacon in circles over here as opposed to strips, but it still tastes the same, so yum! Heh I whisked the eggs this time, and they didn't drop! I seemed to have redeemed myself! Although later, I spilt tea all over myself, so maybe not... Ranger Matt came over for breakfast which was nice, after which Ann and I headed out for a walk along the beach in the sunshine and suprisingly gentle wind! It was glorious, I snapped some great photos, and we collected some shells to make necklaces out of. After about an hour, we headed back to Kieth's to pack up our things before heading out to Simon's house. We met Simon on Saturday at Kieth's, and he lives closer to Westpac Stadium than Kieth, so we've decided to bunk here for the weekend. Once we got here, we got internet figured out, and Ann and Hilary went to the grocery store to buy some food while I opted to just chill out and get some much needed catching up done on my writing! I guess they got side tracked by a Dollar Store because they came back with a ton of red and white stuff for the Canada-NZ game! I can't wait, it's going to be so much fun!!!! And that's all I have for now! I will update all on Monday morning with plans and such, as that's the day we're planning on starting the trek up north to Auckland and beyond!