North Island

February 17, 2010

It has been an eventful past week and a half. After having my own private Super Bowl party I cooked up some fried noodles and caught up with John and Stu. I had wanted to see Tara, John’s niece, to see how she was doing but she was in the hospital for another round of chemo. Apparently the tumor is not shrinking the way they had wanted it to and it looks like they are going to have to take her leg. She’s an amazing girl though and has a really good attitude about everything.

Fruit picking was supposed to start on February 20th in the Nelson region and I had signed up for it when I went through Abel Tasman last time. So I figured that I had enough time to go up to the North Island and get back to the Nelson region just before February 20th. I called up Stray and a bus picked me up the next morning.

We headed up the east coast again and stopped in Kaikoura. I signed up to do the whale watching but it was cold and rainy and the boat didn’t go out. I went for a run instead and that night our bus went across the street for the pub quiz. We didn’t do very well but it was fun. The next morning we were off to Picton to catch the ferry over to Wellington. The ferry took 3 hours but they played a couple of movies and the time went quite fast.

After we were dropped off at our hostels we headed over to Te Papa, which is a natural history museum. I learned all about the wildlife, geological formations and history of New Zealand. Very interesting stuff. The next morning we were off to Auckland and after twelve hours of driving had a meal and drink at the pub. We went out barhopping that night and had a grand old time.

The next morning we headed out toward Hahei. When the tide is out they have a hot water beach where you can dig holes in the sand and sit in your very own hot pool, heated by the geothermal activity in the area. We then went over to Cathedral Cove, which was absolutely gorgeous. I went for a run on the way back and we had a big group BBQ that night.

Next up was Raglan, surfing capital of New Zealand. I didn’t feel like spending money on surf lessons so I just went down to the beach for a while and sat in the sun. We stayed at a really cool backpackers that night called Karioi Lodge. The rooms are set up on a hill with awesome views of the ocean. They also have a free low ropes course and flying fox.

Our driver’s name is Metro (really cool guy) but we also have a trainee on our bus named Nick (Stray nickname TBA). Basically when they hire a new driver they send him around the country on one of the buses to learn the ropes. They also have to do some crazy stuff including a naked flying fox at Karioi Lodge. So after dinner that night, when it got dark, we all went out to watch the initiation.

The next morning we headed to the Waitomo caves. They have a half price deal on a trip called Haggas Honking Holes where you get to abseil down an underground waterfall, climb up rock faces and see glowworms. The glowworms look really cool and when we were underground our guide told us about what they really were, cannibalistic shagging maggots with shiny shit.

After we were done caving we headed over to Maketu for our culture stop. We stayed at a place called Uncle Boy’s Cabin. After eating some traditional food we went next door for a performance. Since we were a visiting tribe, the local tribe had to make sure that we came in peace. They attempted to scare us with spears and loud shouts before laying a twig in front of our chief (the eldest male on the bus). If the chief picks it up it means we come in peace. If the chief steps over it, it means we want war. If that happened I think it would have been a good idea for all of us to run and get the bus out of there as soon as possible.

Luckily our chief decided to pick up the twig and we greeted the local tribe by shaking hands and touching our noses. They then performed a few songs for us before splitting up the men and women. The women learned the poi song and dance while the men learned the Haka, which is meant to scare other tribes. We then performed our dances for each other. The boys were quite amazing and got really into it. That night we sat outside for a few drinks and then all slept on the floor of the performance room.

The next morning it was off to Rotorua. The smell there is awful (think rotten eggs) but there is a really cool rafting trip that a lot of the group did that includes a 7-meter waterfall. Since I already did white water rafting when I was in Africa I passed and instead went on the internet for a few hours and made some phone calls. After everyone was back on the bus we headed to Taupo. I was hoping to do a skydive there but the weather was quite bad. Instead I went for a run and went out for burgers. Then the group decided to head out to the pub for a pub quiz. The questions were tough but we had a very smart group with us and we ended up winning the quiz and getting two pitchers of drinks for free.

This morning we left Taupo at 7 am. We were hoping to do the Tangariro crossing, which is rated as the best 1-day walk in New Zealand and possibly the best in the world. Unfortunately it was raining yet again and the walk was cancelled.

I really don’t have a plan for the rest of my time here yet. The fruit-picking place didn’t call me back so I started calling them about two weeks ago. They didn’t answer the phone so I left them lots of voicemails. Finally they emailed me back saying that there were no jobs available. I applied for a few other jobs that were listed on the backpacker’s board, and although I heard back from one, it doesn’t sound very promising. I head to Wellington tomorrow and then back down to the South Island. I’ll figure the rest out later. Miss you all!