Tuesday morning, bright and early, me and em jumped on the kiwi bus up north to the Bay Of Islands. We pretty much just slept on the bus and booked our activity which was swimming with dolphins Wednesday afternoon. We only stopped a couple of times which was in Whangerei and a Cafe to get some food along the way.
We were staying in the Pipi Patch in Paihia again. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as good this time round so me and em just stayed in the room until it cleared up abit so we could walk to the supermarket. That night we had the BBQ and as I feared Bex who I kind of stood up the last time I was here was cooking it. I was supposed to go down to reception the morning I was leaving last time I was here, to get a job and she was getting up purely to give me a reference. She seemed a little annoyed when she saw me but that was understandable. The food was quite nice and we stayed for the pub quiz afterwards where we came last despite actually having more points than the team next to us but the quizmaster was pissed though haha.
We woke up this morning to glorious sunshine and looking forward to the dolphin watching. After about an hour of cruising around the Islands in the bay we came across a pod of about 10 dolphins and were allowed to swim with them.
They get bored really easily so wern't around us for long but luckily I managed to get right up close and personal (arms length away) twice and the second time, I could hear them singing as they swam past. It was such a sureal experience but I loved it. Tonight we just made a dodgy stir-fry and retired to the room to watch yet another movie. We leave 3pm for Auckland tomorrow so we're just going to go on a short walk and chill the whole day until we have to get the bsus.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
1 week in Auckland
Tuesday I just chilled out really on the sun deck catching the rays with a little hot tub session thrown in there. There was free food and beer down at cassette so i folded on the sober front and justified it as only drinking 3 times a week now.
It was a quality night to be honest, got 2 free beers with the code word "vibrator bunny" and free nachos. Left to go back to fusion for happy hour and got chatting with a few people and persuaded them to come back to cassette. I didnt get too drunk and just danced the night away with my mates and a couple of girls, standard.
Wednesday, me and Gerry made pizza and again just chilled out all day. The lads from the room went out so It was just a quiet night in the room, watched a couple of movies and went to bed.
Thursday was the beach trip, there was abit of a crew that went down there. the sun was scorching so we got a game of touch rugby on the go and retired back to the hostel.
Friday i went out to the west coast again but this time to hethbells, the weather was gorgeous and we stopped off to see another kauri tree in the wildlife reserve then onto a waterfall. I got a bit drunk on the bus (as did everyone else) and decided that the best course of action would to get into naked drunk mode which involved jumping into waterfalls naked and walking round with my arse out. standard. the bunch of people we had going was a good mix. Met some really nice canadians and americans out there and promised to meet up with them in sydney.
Saturday morning I went down to travel shop with Emily whos now staying in our room to book the same kiwi pass as her so I could get my travels under way. It was a spur of the moment thing half way through drinking games in the room the night before. We leave Tuesday for the bay of islands and I cant wait! Afterwards we went the rugby and unfortunately the Blues lost but that meant lots of drinking would follow!
Me and Gerry for no reason what so ever decided to go out in the girls clothes (standby for some good photos on facebook!) It was a funny night and we only went to Fusion and Cassette but the looks we were getting was hilarious!
Today, Me and Emily just chilled out with Livvy her friend from back home. We went to the park for abit but Livvy had to leave as she flies out to Brisbane tomorrow.
Mine and Emily's last night before we travel was pretty mild in comparison to most nights, we just watched a movie and went to bed.
It was a quality night to be honest, got 2 free beers with the code word "vibrator bunny" and free nachos. Left to go back to fusion for happy hour and got chatting with a few people and persuaded them to come back to cassette. I didnt get too drunk and just danced the night away with my mates and a couple of girls, standard.
Wednesday, me and Gerry made pizza and again just chilled out all day. The lads from the room went out so It was just a quiet night in the room, watched a couple of movies and went to bed.
Thursday was the beach trip, there was abit of a crew that went down there. the sun was scorching so we got a game of touch rugby on the go and retired back to the hostel.
Friday i went out to the west coast again but this time to hethbells, the weather was gorgeous and we stopped off to see another kauri tree in the wildlife reserve then onto a waterfall. I got a bit drunk on the bus (as did everyone else) and decided that the best course of action would to get into naked drunk mode which involved jumping into waterfalls naked and walking round with my arse out. standard. the bunch of people we had going was a good mix. Met some really nice canadians and americans out there and promised to meet up with them in sydney.
Saturday morning I went down to travel shop with Emily whos now staying in our room to book the same kiwi pass as her so I could get my travels under way. It was a spur of the moment thing half way through drinking games in the room the night before. We leave Tuesday for the bay of islands and I cant wait! Afterwards we went the rugby and unfortunately the Blues lost but that meant lots of drinking would follow!
Me and Gerry for no reason what so ever decided to go out in the girls clothes (standby for some good photos on facebook!) It was a funny night and we only went to Fusion and Cassette but the looks we were getting was hilarious!
Today, Me and Emily just chilled out with Livvy her friend from back home. We went to the park for abit but Livvy had to leave as she flies out to Brisbane tomorrow.
Mine and Emily's last night before we travel was pretty mild in comparison to most nights, we just watched a movie and went to bed.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Easter
The past week hasnt been too eventful during the days. I went back to Waiheke Island again for the day on Tuesday and drink filled! which was nice then Friday we went to Piha Beach stopping off at sacred maori waterfall where the waters full of nutrients so they used to bath there after battle to help heal wounds. I can't imagine them staying in long as its fucking freezing! But I was in there with just my boxers on which couldnt have helped. Saturday I went to watch the Blues vs Bulls Super 14 game. I think I'm beginning to be a lucky charm for the Blues as they won against another team they were expected to lose to!
Now for the nights out...
Well I think I didn't drink on a couple of nights. One night I went out with Matt, Dave, Anna and a couple of their mates. Anna got too drunk for us to be allowed in anywhere so we just went back to the hostel to chill out.
For Easter everywhere closed at midnight on Thursday for Good Friday so we grabbed a shed load of booze and went up to the roof to drink in the jacuzzi until reception found out and kicked us all out and back to our rooms!
Friday night, Me, Lewis, Jason, Sharon, Raks, Leanne and Chris went to a flat party. Thinking it was going to be massive we all thought we would play a game where we all had alias's and a different back story and we had to try and hold it all night. We all met in Vegas where Lewis was playing poker and it just grew from there. We all pulled it off which was hilarious, especially considering I was a hobbit, there was a hotel manager, professional poker player, winemaker, stripper, backstreet boys cover band and all sorts.
Saturday was fairly mild in comparison. After the rugby I met everyone up in the kitchen. The welsh boys were back and we kinda got a bit rowdy, jumping onto the kitchen top singing anti-german songs all night, ooops.
Its Monday today and im starting a sober week and gymming it hard before I start travelling properly which I'm hoping will be just over a week away. Carly left this morning which was a downer as shes been a good friend and a great laugh in the few weeks I've known but hey, gotta get used to leaving people behind, I've got 2 years of it to do!
Now for the nights out...
Well I think I didn't drink on a couple of nights. One night I went out with Matt, Dave, Anna and a couple of their mates. Anna got too drunk for us to be allowed in anywhere so we just went back to the hostel to chill out.
For Easter everywhere closed at midnight on Thursday for Good Friday so we grabbed a shed load of booze and went up to the roof to drink in the jacuzzi until reception found out and kicked us all out and back to our rooms!
Friday night, Me, Lewis, Jason, Sharon, Raks, Leanne and Chris went to a flat party. Thinking it was going to be massive we all thought we would play a game where we all had alias's and a different back story and we had to try and hold it all night. We all met in Vegas where Lewis was playing poker and it just grew from there. We all pulled it off which was hilarious, especially considering I was a hobbit, there was a hotel manager, professional poker player, winemaker, stripper, backstreet boys cover band and all sorts.
Saturday was fairly mild in comparison. After the rugby I met everyone up in the kitchen. The welsh boys were back and we kinda got a bit rowdy, jumping onto the kitchen top singing anti-german songs all night, ooops.
Its Monday today and im starting a sober week and gymming it hard before I start travelling properly which I'm hoping will be just over a week away. Carly left this morning which was a downer as shes been a good friend and a great laugh in the few weeks I've known but hey, gotta get used to leaving people behind, I've got 2 years of it to do!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday - Drink,Drink,Drink
so i went out and about with kiwi dave. I have pretty much no memory so this is going to be short. i remember being in the suburbs bars and then macdonalds at 6 in the morning, back to bed then i woke up saturday. saturday night i was a good boy, i just went to bed and watched a movie. sunday, well sunday. Started at about half 6 on the roof outside the kitchen with a few peeps from the hostel and before you no were playing ive never and drinking games. next minute we're breaking onto the roof of the building next door and drinking til 2 in the morning before going to maccies and getting thrown out for being too loud. monday, pretty chilled day. ended up in the jacuzzi til 11 drinking with marc another scouser, leanne from cambridge, lewis from manchester, sharon from holland and the yank. all in all, pretty drink filled i think
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Friday 26th March - Back To Auckland
So i spent Thursday just chilling out most the time. I had lunch with the Austrian girls in the hostel and when 4 oclock came I went to meet Paul for a couple of pints. It was really nice to see him and again and catch up on what both of us had been upto the past few weeks. We're planning on travelling down on the Stray bus together in a couple of weeks time so that should be pretty cool.
The irish girls came past just before Paul left telling us they had to be rescued from the boat they were on as the mast collapsed! So they were starting drinking early aswell!
I had dinner with them next to the hostel about 7 and then headed into the bar for a few drinks that night. 1 olock came and we had to leave for our rooms to our dismay!
Today I spent the day on the beach reading a book and listening to my music waiting to hop on the stray bus back to auckland at 1 oclock. Our driver was Juggs but didnt tell us why which was wierd. We only visited 1 place on the way as the route was pretty much the same. It was a waterfall just outside Whangarei, this one was far more impressive than the one on the way up but was more widely known about. We rolled into Auckland about half 6 and I managed to check myself back into the room I had before I left so im pretty set again for the next couple of weeks before Paul comes back. Heading out tonight with Kiwi Dave and them about 10 so that should be good!
The irish girls came past just before Paul left telling us they had to be rescued from the boat they were on as the mast collapsed! So they were starting drinking early aswell!
I had dinner with them next to the hostel about 7 and then headed into the bar for a few drinks that night. 1 olock came and we had to leave for our rooms to our dismay!
Today I spent the day on the beach reading a book and listening to my music waiting to hop on the stray bus back to auckland at 1 oclock. Our driver was Juggs but didnt tell us why which was wierd. We only visited 1 place on the way as the route was pretty much the same. It was a waterfall just outside Whangarei, this one was far more impressive than the one on the way up but was more widely known about. We rolled into Auckland about half 6 and I managed to check myself back into the room I had before I left so im pretty set again for the next couple of weeks before Paul comes back. Heading out tonight with Kiwi Dave and them about 10 so that should be good!
Wednesday 24th March - Sandboarding
After a pickle in the morning about whether or not I was booked on the bus, they eventually caved in and let me go even though I was supposed to booked on anyway.
I'll let you no know, the driver was a cunt and im suprised he has his job as his customer service is wank. All the stray people fell alseep most of the time except when we went onto ninety mile beach to catch some photos. There isnt much to say about this day trip as none of us really enjoyed it that much. The 2 things I did enjoy was sandboarding off the huge dunes they had and then going to most northern tip of the country to see where the Tasman sea and Pacific Ocean meet creating some cool whirlpools. Didnt do much this night due to hangover and being shattered!
I'll let you no know, the driver was a cunt and im suprised he has his job as his customer service is wank. All the stray people fell alseep most of the time except when we went onto ninety mile beach to catch some photos. There isnt much to say about this day trip as none of us really enjoyed it that much. The 2 things I did enjoy was sandboarding off the huge dunes they had and then going to most northern tip of the country to see where the Tasman sea and Pacific Ocean meet creating some cool whirlpools. Didnt do much this night due to hangover and being shattered!
Tuesday 23rd March - Stray Bus
I had to get up at 7am to make sure I was on the bus for 7.45am, luckily I went to bed early so this wasnt too much of a problem. Our driver was Sue and like all Stray drivers had a nickname... Dent. We left Auckland for the Bay Of Islands to the north. We drove over the harbour bridge which was pretty cool. I fell asleep most of the way, waking up for our little half an hour stops to take pictures. Firstly at this little suburb outside Auckland beginning with 'O', aparantly house prices have gone up for $25,000 to $250,000 because of how popular its got. The beach was pretty cool to look at but far too cold to go on! Next stop was breakfast in Warkworth about 1 and a half hours outside Auckland. This was a tiny little town but had a gorgeous cafe to eat and drink in. We picked a good cafe as the barista's were amazing and not in the way they made coffee!
We hoped back on the bus and off the main road up to the North and onto gravel tracks through the hills. We stopped at a Kauri tree which was 14m in circumference and thousands of years old which was cool.
Next stop was a small waterfall with nautral spring water pools at the bottom of it.
At the bottom of the waterfall was a small rainbow aswell which was awesome. I can imagine that only the locals could know about this waterfall as the track to it wasnt very used and the entrance wasnt very visible. We hoped back on the bus to go Ruakaka beach. We were supossed to go to a marine reserve but due to a small cyclone off the coast of Fiji the visibiltiy would have been poor. Sue had said that this was her favourite beach but never brings Stray here, so again, another beach most tourists don't know about.
The sand was golden and so soft and the water was so clear aswell. I booted a rugby ball into the water and swam after it only to realise that you can still stand up in
it about 50m into the sea!
Next stop was Whangerei but there wasnt much to do here but grab some food from the cafe. On the way to paihia we got a flat tyre which meant we were stuck in the middle of nowhere for 2 hours twiddling our thumbs but it was a good way to get to know everyone on the bus. There was another brit lad called Chris, 2 Austrian girls I had met already in Fusion Ellie and Cira, 3 Irish girls, a dutch girl and 2 german girls.
We got back under way eventually stopping at Waitangi where the treaty of Waitangi was signed and New Zealand was born. We trundled into Paihia, checked in and got some kip before the nights activities. The Hostel is surrounded by sub-tropical trees with other buildings just popping up between them. We had a pub quiz that evening and we split into 2 teams...
'Fat Kids Are Harder To Kidnap' and 'Chris's Cocksuckers' good classic pub quiz names. We all ended up getting abit too drunk that night and getting back to our rooms about half 4 even though we knew we were up at 7am for our bus.
We hoped back on the bus and off the main road up to the North and onto gravel tracks through the hills. We stopped at a Kauri tree which was 14m in circumference and thousands of years old which was cool.
Next stop was a small waterfall with nautral spring water pools at the bottom of it.
At the bottom of the waterfall was a small rainbow aswell which was awesome. I can imagine that only the locals could know about this waterfall as the track to it wasnt very used and the entrance wasnt very visible. We hoped back on the bus to go Ruakaka beach. We were supossed to go to a marine reserve but due to a small cyclone off the coast of Fiji the visibiltiy would have been poor. Sue had said that this was her favourite beach but never brings Stray here, so again, another beach most tourists don't know about.
The sand was golden and so soft and the water was so clear aswell. I booted a rugby ball into the water and swam after it only to realise that you can still stand up in
it about 50m into the sea!
Next stop was Whangerei but there wasnt much to do here but grab some food from the cafe. On the way to paihia we got a flat tyre which meant we were stuck in the middle of nowhere for 2 hours twiddling our thumbs but it was a good way to get to know everyone on the bus. There was another brit lad called Chris, 2 Austrian girls I had met already in Fusion Ellie and Cira, 3 Irish girls, a dutch girl and 2 german girls.
We got back under way eventually stopping at Waitangi where the treaty of Waitangi was signed and New Zealand was born. We trundled into Paihia, checked in and got some kip before the nights activities. The Hostel is surrounded by sub-tropical trees with other buildings just popping up between them. We had a pub quiz that evening and we split into 2 teams...
'Fat Kids Are Harder To Kidnap' and 'Chris's Cocksuckers' good classic pub quiz names. We all ended up getting abit too drunk that night and getting back to our rooms about half 4 even though we knew we were up at 7am for our bus.
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