"value for money"

WHOA! It has been an awesome and hectic few days! I can't even believe it's only been 4 days since I left Auckland on the Stray bus...

Auckland on a thursday:

That morning I got up at 6:30am to pack my shit and catch the Stray bus (see www.straytravel.co.nz) heading south. I could've slept longer because it was a half hour late (but that gave me time for some breakfast seeing as I spent my time staring at the bottom of the top bunk wondering why I so frequently have weird dreams). Once on the bus, we drove around to pick up others at others hostels, the headed to Mt. Eden for our "welcome to Stay" speech. Our bus driver was Nick, and it was his first trip (ha ha...). Next we headed over to the Stray office to get a quick tutorial on how to manage our trip online. Then we got lost.

No really, we were lost and we hadn't even left Auckland.

We obviosuly did figure it out, found the office, did the tutorial, and were on the road to Hahei, via Thames!

Then we got lost again.

Nick missed the turn somewhere and drove for 20 minutes before realizing it. So we made our own route through the country. I thought it was really funny so I felt pretty chilled-out about it aside from being hungry. I felt sorry for the driver though, I'm sure he felt like a bit of a tit. We did make it to Hahei in time to do some sea kayaking in Cathedral Cove, which was really beautiful! We even got hot chocolate and cookies once we got to the cove. It was perfect. That nice we visitied Hot Water beach where geothermal pockets under the beach heat up the water in the sand. When the tide goes out you can dig a hole and the water that fills it is hot! Really, it was so hot in some places that a few of use recieved some minor burns (myself included). That night the tide didn't go out until about 10:30 so it was really cool hanging out on the beach in the dark and running into the ocean when it was too hot. Ah... just thinking about it now makes me smile fondly...

Hahei to Raglan (friday):

Early start that morning, on to Raglan - the surf capital of NZ. I don't think we got lost. I actually don't remember for some reason. No... we didn't. I was originally thinking I'd stay in Raglan for a few extra days and surf more but I changed my mind so that I could get a deal on another activity somewhere else the next day (I'll explain it later). The place we stayed at was a little ways out of town, and absolutley gorgeous. Nestled in the rainforest, 5 min walk to the beach. My surfing lessons started pretty much as soon as I got there. First we did practicing on dry land then headed down to the beach. Raglan is known for having the largest left hand break in the world. That means that when a wave comes in, instead of folding over itself and crashing down, it rolls itself into a nice tube-like shape which is particularly sweet for surfing (or so I'm told). I swallowed a large portion of the Tasman Sea that day, but it was totally worth it. I want to do it again right now. It was an instant kinda love - the kind that makes me think I don't want to come home for school. The kind that makes me think I'll move to Australia's Gold Coast... I do have pictures, but I don't have them with me at the moment to put on the computer now, so you'll have to wait a bit. Anywho... Raglan... love it.... maybe going back soon....

Raglan to Maketu, via Waitomo (saturday):

The reason that I didn't stay in Raglan for longer was that I could get a huge discount on a caving adventure in Waitomo. Since I'm quite short on cash at the moment I opted to continue with Stray. Waitomo is known for its glowworm caves - in fact, I think they may be the only reason the "town" exists. It seemed like another Franz Josef in that sense. Maybe that's why I started considering applying for a job there and staying? (I know, it's like I enjoy being miserable or something...). I signed up for the Haggis Honking Holes (google it) which is a 4 hour trip into the depth of the earth! I don't remember how deep were were but this seriously pushed my sense of security. I was very nervous about the abseiling and squeezing my fat ass through rocks. I was also acutely aware of how difficult it would be to get a body out of the caves... just saying. But it was an amazing experience and I'm soooooooooooooo glad I did it. I don't have any pictures but I will never forget it, and I still am considering applying for a job there (yes, I'm serious. I was even chattng up one of my guides to find out more)(I know, I know...).

We did not stay in Waitomo, so that afternoon we headed off to Maketu for a Moari cultural experience at an overnight stay in a marae.

You'll never believe this - we got lost. Twice.

I'm a very lucky girl because I had the opportunity to go to a real Marae when I was working in Franz Josef. This was the same idea but less formal (also less impressive as the other building in terms of the carvings and stuff). They also had a concert for us, sang some traditional Maori songs, did the Haka (google "All Blacks Haka") then taugh the men how to do the Haka and the ladies how to do Poi (google it, I'm not explaining it). I had a really good sleep that night (oh, that was just last night!).

Maketu to Now (today; aka sunday):

I woke up to the thumping sounds of ABBA blaring in the kitchen next door to the marae. I, for one, woke up smiling. Some of the others did not. As I ate my meager breakfast I was informed that there had been a huge earthquake in Chile. Due to the aftershocks, that meant that there was a Tsunami warning for certain parts of New Zealand including where we were staying. Thus, we all packed up quick and left at a respectable pace.

Then got lost.

Today I did some white water rafting on the Kaituna river with a grade 5, 7 meter waterfall. SWEEET! It was really cool and again, I was very nervous. We had a really great time thanks to this one guy (who I can't stand) who was a total disaster. A walking calamity really. He was a man-child who was ill prepared for taking care of himself in the real world. Yes, that is hostility you're sensing from my tone, but I do mean it when I say that we had a great time thanks to him. It was just so funny when he did the opposite of nearly everything the guide told him to do. We all gave him a hard time in a joking way, but I did feel rather sorry for him just incase he was taking it harder than he showed. I had to laugh sometimes to stop myself from pushing him out of the boat, I won't lie. I hope he figures it out one day, or meets a really awesome chick who can take care of him... So back to that 7m fall - our boat flipped completely upside-down and we were all tossed out! I was half under the boat but found my way easily out. It was great, we all came up with big smiles and got back in, then continued on our merry way. I will have pictures of this at some point but I'm waiting for them to be emailed to me which could take some time.


And that's it. I'm in Rotorua now for a few night or possibly longer. I could go to the East Cape or I could go get a job for a few weeks. Who knows? Wish I did... I guess I'll know soon enough.