Time has gone waaaaaay too fast :-/
But to conclude (in the true fashion of an ex-Eng Lit student), my New Zealand tiki-tour has been awesome. I've had my ups and downs since I've been here but staying has been worth every minute. I've met some truely wonderful people who I hope to stay in touch with for many moons to come, learnt a lot about myself, (Did you know that I'm an awesome chick? Nor did I. But I do nowwwww. I've also learnt that I shouldn't be allowed to reverse cars. Ever. Thank god for expensive car insurance) life in general (not about budgeting though which I was really hoping to get the hang of. Damn my money spending abilities) and done some fuckin' awesome shit. Yeah, it's been good.
So now I'm waiting at Auckland airport departures lounge for my flight to LAX. I now officially have very little (if any) money and there's so much duty free crying to be bought. It's painful.
But anyways. It's been memorable NZ, loved every minute.
Peace -x-
Thursday 4 August 2011
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Roadtrippin' With My Favourite Ally
Just dropped my mum at Queenstown airport after a couple days of delay and now I have the rest of the day in QT before I drive up to Blenheim tomorrow (yay....)
I've had an amazing time, we managed to fit so much cool stuff in that I never would have been able to do.
After an initial panic about the weather when we were up in Kerikeri, we've had the most amazing weather up until about two days ago when antartica decided to dump heaps of snow on us (the worst snow NZ has seen for 16 years, so I'm told) which caused mums flights to be cancelled which sucked. But at the same time I had more time to show my mum this beautiful country :)
So since we got a lot done instead of paragraphing everything I'll give y'all a bulletpoint run down (laziness I know)
Peace -x-
I've had an amazing time, we managed to fit so much cool stuff in that I never would have been able to do.
After an initial panic about the weather when we were up in Kerikeri, we've had the most amazing weather up until about two days ago when antartica decided to dump heaps of snow on us (the worst snow NZ has seen for 16 years, so I'm told) which caused mums flights to be cancelled which sucked. But at the same time I had more time to show my mum this beautiful country :)
So since we got a lot done instead of paragraphing everything I'll give y'all a bulletpoint run down (laziness I know)
- Auckland
- Saw a relative who really didn't seem that keen on seeing us... but never mind, got it over and done with.
- Villa Maria Winery + Cellar tour - got pretty mashed because the tour guide was giving us very very generous helpings of 'tastings'.
- Found a nandos and got mum hooked. Drove around Auckland for at least 2 hours trying to find a way in... I hate Auckland driving.
- Kerikeri
- Paihia and the Bay of Islands - It was raining and mum was still pretty jetlagged so didn't really do much there... nevermind :P
- Cape Reinga and the awesome beach (Tapotupotu Bay) we had the beach all to ourselves. Amazing. Never seen water so blue.... Cape Reinga was windy as but still fairly enjoyable when we weren't worrying about blowing away :)
- Kauri trees and pub time - took mum to see the old trees (she likes trees) and the pub for karaoke, fun but left quite early :P
- Auckland again
- Booked into Rydges for the night (I REALLY hate Auckland lol) which was lovely, and went to nandos (again) and had pina coladas in the skytower. Fun times.
- Rotorua
- Saw all the free steam coming out of the ground. Was fun but didn't smell half as much as I remember.....
- Hells gate - saw lots of smelly steam stuff and bubbling mud, went in the mud pools and the sulphur pool which was AWESOME but messy and smelly as to be expected :P
- Rainbow Springs Wildlife Park - I can now say i've seen all 3 types of kiwi - kiwi people, kiwifruit and kiwi birds. I can die a happy woman.
- Fat Dog - possibly the best cafe in all of New Zealand.
- Wellington
- Didn't spend long here but we saw Te Papa which was fun, wish I had more time there :)
- Nelson
- Winery Tour - got hammered, tasted some awesome NZ produce. 'Nuff said.
- Franz Josef
- Glacier heli-hike - truely amazing. The guide said they'd just had the biggest snow dump he'd ever seen so it was more like a snow playground than a glacier tour ;)
- Lake Mapourika - is it morbid for me to think that this is a place that I'd like my ashes to be scattered when I die? (Photos on facebook) one of the most peaceful places i've ever been.
- Wanaka
- Boat tour of the lake - was just me and my mum so saw what we wanted and got a lot of info out of the guide. Bloody cold though.....
- Got my mums credit card cut off. Money panic started....
- Queenstown
- LOTS of drinking. Too much drinking. Battle scars obtained.
- Canyon Swing - lots of fun but a bit of a let down if i'm honest.....
- Bungee Jump - hardest thing i've ever done. Awesome though, recommend it to anyone with strong bowels and bladder control.
- Doubtful Sound - Absolutely amazing scenery, and so peaceful. Loved it!
- Harry Potter 7 Part 2 - cried 3 times in 2 hours. :P
Peace -x-
Sunday 3 July 2011
End of the Kerikeri Chapter (Kind of)
Kia Ora!
It's been a while since I last made a post but there hasn't really been much to say... but I'm on the road again and for the purposes of continuity (and the fact I'm alone in a hotel tonight) I'll make a good effort to update y'all, my avid readers <3
Last time I posted I was living at Hideaway Lodge. At the end of May I got a much better offer and moved in with Craig, who I met while out drinking one evening. For reasonably low rent and my much needed cleaning services I got my own room and a shower which was less likely to be covered in puke every time I walked in. Happy days.
I still worked at Kerifresh and remained the 'honey' that made the tea for a few weeks after I moved (Before the comments start, yes, people actually called me a honey, total shocker right?). Since I spent lots of time out on smoko I now have beautiful nicotine stains on my cigarette holding fingers. Kerifresh will forever be stained in my memory.
Then end of season came around and I was psyched up to give up my night-shift job as tea lady and go on the line so I could continue seeing the people I spoke to every day and become friends with. After I actually did one day on pre-grade citrus (watching a belt of moving mandarins and removing the rotten ones from the line as they went past) I made the decision that I wasn't motivated enough to even go there.... Applied for a couple of other jobs but no success in that front as I was only expecting to stay in Kerikeri for another couple of weeks, so naturally I gave up and decided to do what I do best - sit on my ass and watch daytime TV for a fortnight. Total bliss. Jeremy Kyle and Hell's Kitchen was all I needed to see me through (don't be hatin', you guys know that even though I'm a lazy fuck I'm just too awesome to hate ^_^)
And that's really all there is to say. I will miss Kerikeri and all the awesome people I've met in the time I've spent there, from the ones that have been there the whole time to the ones that only walked properly into my life a few days ago and all the ones in between. I won't ever forget my time with you guys. You've made the work part of my time in NZ totally worth every minute. <3
And now? Well I'm sat in Auckland in a scabby hotel, but both of those things are okay because in 12 hours time my mum lands at the airport. Time for travels to commence again. I'm so excited.
Watch this space. Peace -x-
It's been a while since I last made a post but there hasn't really been much to say... but I'm on the road again and for the purposes of continuity (and the fact I'm alone in a hotel tonight) I'll make a good effort to update y'all, my avid readers <3
Last time I posted I was living at Hideaway Lodge. At the end of May I got a much better offer and moved in with Craig, who I met while out drinking one evening. For reasonably low rent and my much needed cleaning services I got my own room and a shower which was less likely to be covered in puke every time I walked in. Happy days.
I still worked at Kerifresh and remained the 'honey' that made the tea for a few weeks after I moved (Before the comments start, yes, people actually called me a honey, total shocker right?). Since I spent lots of time out on smoko I now have beautiful nicotine stains on my cigarette holding fingers. Kerifresh will forever be stained in my memory.
Then end of season came around and I was psyched up to give up my night-shift job as tea lady and go on the line so I could continue seeing the people I spoke to every day and become friends with. After I actually did one day on pre-grade citrus (watching a belt of moving mandarins and removing the rotten ones from the line as they went past) I made the decision that I wasn't motivated enough to even go there.... Applied for a couple of other jobs but no success in that front as I was only expecting to stay in Kerikeri for another couple of weeks, so naturally I gave up and decided to do what I do best - sit on my ass and watch daytime TV for a fortnight. Total bliss. Jeremy Kyle and Hell's Kitchen was all I needed to see me through (don't be hatin', you guys know that even though I'm a lazy fuck I'm just too awesome to hate ^_^)
And that's really all there is to say. I will miss Kerikeri and all the awesome people I've met in the time I've spent there, from the ones that have been there the whole time to the ones that only walked properly into my life a few days ago and all the ones in between. I won't ever forget my time with you guys. You've made the work part of my time in NZ totally worth every minute. <3
And now? Well I'm sat in Auckland in a scabby hotel, but both of those things are okay because in 12 hours time my mum lands at the airport. Time for travels to commence again. I'm so excited.
Watch this space. Peace -x-
Monday 16 May 2011
Life in Kerikeri
Kia Ora!
Been a while since i've updated so i thought i'd bore you a little bit with my life since I left Taupo and moved up to Kerikeri.
I basically left Taupo because although I was enjoying my job and house-sharing, my hours kept being cut and I was already in debt, so not enough to pay rent or do much of anything useful money-wise really. I got an email about Mandarin picking in the north and decided sweet as! That's where I want to be :-)
I've been staying at Hideaway lodge for about a month now, which is basically a working hostel. It's nice, lots of people here to meet (even if about 80% of them are German....). Met a couple of really nice people. Awesome. Spend a lot of time in a broken down caravan drinking, smoking and watching films (almost like home).
The other part of my time is spent working. I've had 3 different jobs since i've been here. For the first four days I was kiwifruit thinning (picking bad kiwifruit off the trees) which was okay but got a bit monotonous. After that I did 1 day packing kiwifruit and that was more than enough for a lifetime, so I spoke to a friend and he got me a job making tea in a different packhouse. For once I actually really enjoy my job. Lots of different things to get on with, always someone to talk to (met loads of awesome people through it) and the best part is I don't have to worry about a supervisor. Apart from a bit of trouble with my boss last week I pretty much don't have a boss. Lovely. At the moment I'm working nightshifts (5pm-2am, which might be extended to 5pm-6am... we'll see) which suits me down to the ground since i'm generally a night person anyway.
So settled down up here in Kerikeri and hoping to stay until the end of June when mother dearest comes out. 7ish more weeks (yay) and after that it's back to travelling around until I go home.
And that's about it really... not much to report apart from that.
Peace -x-
Been a while since i've updated so i thought i'd bore you a little bit with my life since I left Taupo and moved up to Kerikeri.
I basically left Taupo because although I was enjoying my job and house-sharing, my hours kept being cut and I was already in debt, so not enough to pay rent or do much of anything useful money-wise really. I got an email about Mandarin picking in the north and decided sweet as! That's where I want to be :-)
I've been staying at Hideaway lodge for about a month now, which is basically a working hostel. It's nice, lots of people here to meet (even if about 80% of them are German....). Met a couple of really nice people. Awesome. Spend a lot of time in a broken down caravan drinking, smoking and watching films (almost like home).
The other part of my time is spent working. I've had 3 different jobs since i've been here. For the first four days I was kiwifruit thinning (picking bad kiwifruit off the trees) which was okay but got a bit monotonous. After that I did 1 day packing kiwifruit and that was more than enough for a lifetime, so I spoke to a friend and he got me a job making tea in a different packhouse. For once I actually really enjoy my job. Lots of different things to get on with, always someone to talk to (met loads of awesome people through it) and the best part is I don't have to worry about a supervisor. Apart from a bit of trouble with my boss last week I pretty much don't have a boss. Lovely. At the moment I'm working nightshifts (5pm-2am, which might be extended to 5pm-6am... we'll see) which suits me down to the ground since i'm generally a night person anyway.
So settled down up here in Kerikeri and hoping to stay until the end of June when mother dearest comes out. 7ish more weeks (yay) and after that it's back to travelling around until I go home.
And that's about it really... not much to report apart from that.
Peace -x-
Thursday 31 March 2011
Te Aroha
Hi avid blog readers and occasional stalkers :)
Got a bit of time to kill so I thought I'd give y'all a run down of the last few weeks. I last wrote on paddy's day - just after i'd written I got a phonecall from my current employer asking me to come in for an interview, where he offered me the job (woop-de-woop).
After that I got back to find Jessi (who had been going on about paddy's day for ages, bloody irish) pretty mashed already after consuming about a 1/3 of a bottle of tequila and a full bottle of lindauer. Bad move. We didn't end up going out for paddys day. But I DID do a lot of drunk texting/phonecalling and we might have almost got kicked out of our dorm room. Bad times. But fun was had by all.
Next day we drove up to Auckland (joined by Simon), and stopped off in Rotorua again. Very uneventful as I think we were all tired/hungover. Then on to Auckland. Almost ran out of petrol on a very long country road on a very hot day. Scary but we avoided it.
Auckland was a painful few days. Stayed in the worst hostel in the world - management was awful and the cleaners clearly didn't know the meaning of the word 'clean'. Bloody glad to be out of that one. Didn't do that much in Auckland... lots of bumming around sorting Jessi out. Drove her out to catch her flight :( and drove back down to Taupo the next morning.
And now i'm house sharing and working for a few months. Very little touristy stuff going on at the moment and it'll probably be the same for the next few months so... Go perve on someone else's blog :)
Peace -x-
Got a bit of time to kill so I thought I'd give y'all a run down of the last few weeks. I last wrote on paddy's day - just after i'd written I got a phonecall from my current employer asking me to come in for an interview, where he offered me the job (woop-de-woop).
After that I got back to find Jessi (who had been going on about paddy's day for ages, bloody irish) pretty mashed already after consuming about a 1/3 of a bottle of tequila and a full bottle of lindauer. Bad move. We didn't end up going out for paddys day. But I DID do a lot of drunk texting/phonecalling and we might have almost got kicked out of our dorm room. Bad times. But fun was had by all.
Next day we drove up to Auckland (joined by Simon), and stopped off in Rotorua again. Very uneventful as I think we were all tired/hungover. Then on to Auckland. Almost ran out of petrol on a very long country road on a very hot day. Scary but we avoided it.
Auckland was a painful few days. Stayed in the worst hostel in the world - management was awful and the cleaners clearly didn't know the meaning of the word 'clean'. Bloody glad to be out of that one. Didn't do that much in Auckland... lots of bumming around sorting Jessi out. Drove her out to catch her flight :( and drove back down to Taupo the next morning.
And now i'm house sharing and working for a few months. Very little touristy stuff going on at the moment and it'll probably be the same for the next few months so... Go perve on someone else's blog :)
Peace -x-
Wednesday 16 March 2011
Lake Taupo
Quick blog just to update my regular readers.
Did a bit of WWOOFing and didn't stay that long due to it being pretty crap really. I've applied for a couple of jobs here in Taupo so hopefully i'll hear back from them before much longer.
Currently in Taupo with Jessi, doing a lot of chilling out (theres a suprise, never really do much of that). Yesterday I went on a ridiculously long walk and did this super awesome skydive. Photos and a video as proof, go check out the links on facebook! Happy days.
Tonight is paddy's day so lots of alcohol will be consumed, then i'm renting a car with Jessi and driving down to Wellington then up to Auckland to drop Jessi off at Auckland airport on the 23rd ( :( )
Then back down to Taupo to start job hunting.
Apart from that, not much else to report really. Just making the most of the fact i'm an unemployed traveller really. Go check out the stuff on facebook of my skydive. Really.
Peace -x-
Did a bit of WWOOFing and didn't stay that long due to it being pretty crap really. I've applied for a couple of jobs here in Taupo so hopefully i'll hear back from them before much longer.
Currently in Taupo with Jessi, doing a lot of chilling out (theres a suprise, never really do much of that). Yesterday I went on a ridiculously long walk and did this super awesome skydive. Photos and a video as proof, go check out the links on facebook! Happy days.
Tonight is paddy's day so lots of alcohol will be consumed, then i'm renting a car with Jessi and driving down to Wellington then up to Auckland to drop Jessi off at Auckland airport on the 23rd ( :( )
Then back down to Taupo to start job hunting.
Apart from that, not much else to report really. Just making the most of the fact i'm an unemployed traveller really. Go check out the stuff on facebook of my skydive. Really.
Peace -x-
Wednesday 9 March 2011
Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty
Hi guys,
It's been a week since I last posted. This is very strange - doesn't seem that long at all....
When I last checked in I was in Auckland trying to find something to do. Visited the Skytower and Albert Park, both of equal loveliness. I also spent a while looking at jobs and general things that I could/should be doing. The plan was to get back on the Kiwiexperience bus last Saturday but it turned out that there were no open seats until Sunday, so with the extra day I did some well needed laundry (interesting, I know) and then got a ferry over to Waiheke Island.
Waiheke Island is a very tranquil place, but I definitely got the rich hippie vibe. As in, you have to be loaded and totally barmy to want to live there. For sure. I walked around for a bit - saw the touristy shops and wondered down to the beach. After walking about a mile up the beach it started to chuck it down and I almost got swallowed by a wave which was quite amusing. Wondered back up the beach (it was warm rain) and came across a group of people shifting the sand around into a kind of walkway - after chatting with one of the guys for a bit, I found out that someone was supposed to be having a beach wedding. Somehow I feel their efforts were probably in vain. It was a lovely walkway though. That's about all I have to report from Auckland though, not much to do there really....
Jumped on the kiwiexperience bus at 8.20 on Sunday morning. Getting quite accustomed to these early starts..... The bus driver's name was Buzz and he was (I thought) very stereotypically Maori - lots of tattoo's and Maori jewellery. Lovely guy, though. Stopped off at the Kiwi Experience office to pick up our official tickets and then made our way down to Thames for lunch. Thames is apparently famous for being a very industrious mining area around 200 years ago, but it didn't really reflect this in the modern scheme of things. Lots of art deco houses. From there it was on to Hot Water Beach near Hahei, which (unsuprisingly, as far as the name goes) is famous for the fact that if you dig deep enough in certain areas of the sand, you hit pools of hot water.
After that it was on to our destination for the evening - Whitianga (which is prounounced Fitianga, feel I should inform you that all place names beginning with 'Wh' are actually prounounced with an 'F'. Weird eh?) which is more commonly known as Mercury Bay - where Kiwi's go on holiday. It was lovely, but by this point I was getting a bit sick of beaches really. Shame. Chilled out in the hostel - 'Turtle Cove Backpackers' which was run by a lovely old lady who made us all Spag Bol. First *proper* meal for ages. Ace.
Another early start (7.30) had us on our way to Rotorua - Geothermal (and Maori, apparently) capital of New Zealand. On our way down we stopped in Paeroa, famous for the invention of the drink 'Lemon and Paeroa' or L&P, when the locals took the spring water and added lemon to it. Then some clever soul carbonated it. Happy days. Large statue of an L&P bottle there to commemorate this. From there it was on to Matamata, or Hobbiton (if you will). Basically it was a town associated with the Lord of the Rings films, and you could see a sign that said Hobbiton and a very interesting statue of Golem, but to actually see Hobbiton it was an extra 100$ or so. I thought not.
Finally got in to Rotorua and was greeted by the lovely sulphur smell that Rotorua famously has to offer. Checked in to the hostel then walked around for a bit - lovely city centre and surrounds. Then the in the evening we did the famous Tamaki Cultural evening. Picked up and driven round to the Tamaki Maori tribe village, where a group 'chief' was picked to represent our bus load. From there we were led into a ring of people (200ish). The five elected chiefs stood near the middle of the circle. After a few minutes, the maori tribe appeared and did the traditional challenge and peace offering. One of the five chiefs had to accept this offering calmly and decently, which was difficult as the warriors were bulging their eyes and sticking their tongues out.... From there we were invited to have a walk around the traditional Maori village, where various roles that tribe members would have played were re-enacted by the Maoris that greeted us. We were then invited to watch our 'Hangi' retrieved from the ground. (Hangi is basically a full meal cooked underground with hot rocks. Pretty awesome. Then an hour or so of entertainment, Maori style - traditional songs, dances, stories and of course - the Haka. Very entertaining but also educational. Then, it was eating time. Massive all-you-can-eat buffets with our Hangi - chicken, lamb, stuffing, potatoes (sweet and normal) and a wholleeee variety of different veggies. And then the pudding. Pavolva, which although the Kiwis claim is theirs - I have recently learnt that it is actually an Australian desert. Controversial stuff.... All in all, probably the best 89$ I have spent culture-wise so far. Entertaining and educational and a generally interesting evening was had by all.
Tuesday was spent exploring the geothermal areas which didn't have an entry price on them. Walked around Lake Rotorua past steaming holes and bubbling mud pools. Very odd to watch mud boiling but at the same time really interesting... not everyday that you see some boiling mud. The rest of that afternoon/evening was spent looking and applying for WWOOFing work (willing workers on organic farms) and on the alcohol, naturally. Tolerance is rising sky high....
Yesterday was another washing morning, which was needed. Then went off Zorbing, which is definitely something I will be doing again. Nothing like rolling down a hill in a ball full of water. Then in the afternoon, walked round the thermal park opposite the hostel which I was staying in. Spoke on the phone with a WWOOFing host who has agreed to take me (Yay!) so, as of tomorrow I will be staying with a host family and doing a few hours of work a day in exchange for my keep. Should be an interesting experience.
Apart from that, there's nothing much more to report. Today has been a very slow day - running out of steam and need a decent night's sleep I think.... Found a nandos so that will be my dinner tonight. Happy days.
Peace -x-
It's been a week since I last posted. This is very strange - doesn't seem that long at all....
When I last checked in I was in Auckland trying to find something to do. Visited the Skytower and Albert Park, both of equal loveliness. I also spent a while looking at jobs and general things that I could/should be doing. The plan was to get back on the Kiwiexperience bus last Saturday but it turned out that there were no open seats until Sunday, so with the extra day I did some well needed laundry (interesting, I know) and then got a ferry over to Waiheke Island.
Waiheke Island is a very tranquil place, but I definitely got the rich hippie vibe. As in, you have to be loaded and totally barmy to want to live there. For sure. I walked around for a bit - saw the touristy shops and wondered down to the beach. After walking about a mile up the beach it started to chuck it down and I almost got swallowed by a wave which was quite amusing. Wondered back up the beach (it was warm rain) and came across a group of people shifting the sand around into a kind of walkway - after chatting with one of the guys for a bit, I found out that someone was supposed to be having a beach wedding. Somehow I feel their efforts were probably in vain. It was a lovely walkway though. That's about all I have to report from Auckland though, not much to do there really....
Jumped on the kiwiexperience bus at 8.20 on Sunday morning. Getting quite accustomed to these early starts..... The bus driver's name was Buzz and he was (I thought) very stereotypically Maori - lots of tattoo's and Maori jewellery. Lovely guy, though. Stopped off at the Kiwi Experience office to pick up our official tickets and then made our way down to Thames for lunch. Thames is apparently famous for being a very industrious mining area around 200 years ago, but it didn't really reflect this in the modern scheme of things. Lots of art deco houses. From there it was on to Hot Water Beach near Hahei, which (unsuprisingly, as far as the name goes) is famous for the fact that if you dig deep enough in certain areas of the sand, you hit pools of hot water.
After that it was on to our destination for the evening - Whitianga (which is prounounced Fitianga, feel I should inform you that all place names beginning with 'Wh' are actually prounounced with an 'F'. Weird eh?) which is more commonly known as Mercury Bay - where Kiwi's go on holiday. It was lovely, but by this point I was getting a bit sick of beaches really. Shame. Chilled out in the hostel - 'Turtle Cove Backpackers' which was run by a lovely old lady who made us all Spag Bol. First *proper* meal for ages. Ace.
Another early start (7.30) had us on our way to Rotorua - Geothermal (and Maori, apparently) capital of New Zealand. On our way down we stopped in Paeroa, famous for the invention of the drink 'Lemon and Paeroa' or L&P, when the locals took the spring water and added lemon to it. Then some clever soul carbonated it. Happy days. Large statue of an L&P bottle there to commemorate this. From there it was on to Matamata, or Hobbiton (if you will). Basically it was a town associated with the Lord of the Rings films, and you could see a sign that said Hobbiton and a very interesting statue of Golem, but to actually see Hobbiton it was an extra 100$ or so. I thought not.
Finally got in to Rotorua and was greeted by the lovely sulphur smell that Rotorua famously has to offer. Checked in to the hostel then walked around for a bit - lovely city centre and surrounds. Then the in the evening we did the famous Tamaki Cultural evening. Picked up and driven round to the Tamaki Maori tribe village, where a group 'chief' was picked to represent our bus load. From there we were led into a ring of people (200ish). The five elected chiefs stood near the middle of the circle. After a few minutes, the maori tribe appeared and did the traditional challenge and peace offering. One of the five chiefs had to accept this offering calmly and decently, which was difficult as the warriors were bulging their eyes and sticking their tongues out.... From there we were invited to have a walk around the traditional Maori village, where various roles that tribe members would have played were re-enacted by the Maoris that greeted us. We were then invited to watch our 'Hangi' retrieved from the ground. (Hangi is basically a full meal cooked underground with hot rocks. Pretty awesome. Then an hour or so of entertainment, Maori style - traditional songs, dances, stories and of course - the Haka. Very entertaining but also educational. Then, it was eating time. Massive all-you-can-eat buffets with our Hangi - chicken, lamb, stuffing, potatoes (sweet and normal) and a wholleeee variety of different veggies. And then the pudding. Pavolva, which although the Kiwis claim is theirs - I have recently learnt that it is actually an Australian desert. Controversial stuff.... All in all, probably the best 89$ I have spent culture-wise so far. Entertaining and educational and a generally interesting evening was had by all.
Tuesday was spent exploring the geothermal areas which didn't have an entry price on them. Walked around Lake Rotorua past steaming holes and bubbling mud pools. Very odd to watch mud boiling but at the same time really interesting... not everyday that you see some boiling mud. The rest of that afternoon/evening was spent looking and applying for WWOOFing work (willing workers on organic farms) and on the alcohol, naturally. Tolerance is rising sky high....
Yesterday was another washing morning, which was needed. Then went off Zorbing, which is definitely something I will be doing again. Nothing like rolling down a hill in a ball full of water. Then in the afternoon, walked round the thermal park opposite the hostel which I was staying in. Spoke on the phone with a WWOOFing host who has agreed to take me (Yay!) so, as of tomorrow I will be staying with a host family and doing a few hours of work a day in exchange for my keep. Should be an interesting experience.
Apart from that, there's nothing much more to report. Today has been a very slow day - running out of steam and need a decent night's sleep I think.... Found a nandos so that will be my dinner tonight. Happy days.
Peace -x-
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