Aussie McBlog

Friday, November 11, 2006: Auckland (Devonport)

Our last full day in Auckland. We had a leisurely start and breakfast over Starbucks. We had no definite plans but we knew we wanted to explore a bit rather than just sit and watch the world go by.

Eventually we found ourselves at the harbour, which was quite beautiful if you could put out of mind the commercial dock rubbish. We ate our lunch on a bench: more peanut butter and bread and fruit. We wondered what people must think of us. Then we realized that we didn’t care.
We bought some tickets to go over to Devonport, which is a historical area of Auckland that’s just across the harbour. The ferry ride was fun; from the water, Auckland city is even prettier. It’s a big city, full of shiny buildings, but it’s not so intimidating that you feel overwhelmed by it.






Yeah, you know, I don’t think I would be looking too impressed either, if I were a 12-year-old kid still being held captive in a carrying case. OK, so maybe he’s not 12, but still you catch my drift.

As soon as we landed at Devonport, we hopped on the little old tour bus with possibly the craziest old man tour guide in the entire history of the universe. Devonport has quite a story, and it is a quaint little area. If by quaint you mean home to the very richest on the North Island. But, to be honest, we were a little too busy giggling at this old man. He was muttering nonsensically and rambling on quietly about various things, all the while driving about 10km in the same gear.




Mmmm… grass.







He took us to the top of a hill where we frolicked for a bit, and then back down the hill where we frolicked some more. Then it was all over and we hung out in Devonport for a while. They had some amazing used bookstores and some amazingly overpriced souvenir shops.

Then we were back on the ferry and back to where we started. Overall, the tour gets an A+ in my books simply because of the crazy old man, and I think Karana would agree.

Back at Base, Karana went up to our room and I went to the travel agency to book the next leg of my tour. I got the bus pass that I was looking for, but unfortunately the tour I wanted to do was completely booked. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that really ended up being a great piece of news.

We treated ourselves to Burger King for dinner--in New Zealand they call it Burger King, but in Australia it’s Hungry Jack’s. Needless to say, we were impressed at the notion of not having to eat peanut butter on bread again.

Karana returned to Base and I went to find a computer so I could figure out my plans. I booked a flight from Cairns to Melbourne but nothing else was adding up so I decided to wait until I was back in Australia to deal with it all.

We had some awesome roommates that night at Base--8 other girls--and we spent the rest of the evening giggling over things that only girls would appreciate before calling it a night. There were a few girls needing to get up stupid early, so lights were out before midnight.


(fin)

posted by Sara @ 9:13 AM 0 comments

Thursday, November 10, 2005: Paihia to Auckland

After our super busy day of cruising in the sand-bus up to Cape Reinga, Karana and I settled in with Dumb and Dumber and then bonded with our new roomies, a trio from the UK. The Welsh guy amused me; he had met a girl from Vancouver and was wondering how easy it would be to go there and find her, knowing only her first name. I laughed at him for about three hours (kidding).

The next morning, Karana and I spent a good while trying to figure out what to do. Paihia has just about anything crazy that you want to do. Crazy Kiwis will do anything you can think of. We pondered over skydiving, but it was just too expensive. Boo for everything being so gosh darn expensive. Boo tourist traps. Boo.


(coolest boat-thing EVER)

In the end, we settled on a $5 ferry ride to Russell Island so we could have a wander. Huzzah for cheap! When we landed we thought it would be fun to hire one of the many paddle boats that we had seen lying on the shore, but do you think we could find the guy who rented them out? Of course not. We went to the information desk, where the lady kind of smiled sympathetically and informed us that the guy showed up once in a while, one or two times a week, when he felt like it. I think hearing that was worth the disappointment of not being able to paddle around like idiots in the bay.







After looking for all of the free entertainment, we went for a hike up to the top of Russell Island, which involved meandering through people’s yards (really, they need to mark the damn trail better!), and Karana explained the process of the rush to me (she’s in a sorority at her home uni). It all sounds very complicated. If I were in a sorority, I would haze everyone constantly, just for fun.



We plodded back down and sat in the shade on the beach while we had our lunch. At this point I have to mention that we had been carrying around a bag of bread and a tub of peanut butter, as well as some fruit that we picked up from a crazy old man on the side of the road. Best kiwis and oranges I’ve ever had.



Just as we arrived back at the dock, the ferry was sailing away. We had an hour to wait, and we killed the time by playing stupid games and just generally embarrassing ourselves/annoying the people in our vicinity.

Made it back to the Pipi Patch safely and waited around for our new driver to whisk us back to Auckland. Cane was nice, though I tried to ignore him as he rattled on about this and that. I continued to be toured out, and both Karana and I found ourselves getting a little bit annoyed. What a couple of moody ladies we are! At least we weren’t getting annoyed with one another.



After checking back into Base, we watched some TV and went to sleep in a room full of new roommates.

posted by Sara @ 5:40 AM 1 comments

I've been so bad!!!

Gah! School is an evil sucubus that is stealing all of my free time!

But I'll back back into the swing of things soon!

Adventures to follow! I promise!

posted by Sara @ 11:28 AM 1 comments