OK so it's definitely time for an update! Although not much is new :). I am still working at Degree in the Auckland Harbour. But everyone is quiting and there are so many new faces. The season is very slow...not many tourists so instead of having five to ten staff on like in the summer there is usually only one person and a manager. So it kinda sucks and I'm not getting many hours so its hard to save money to travel. In the summer I was getting around 8 to 12 hour shifts at least 5 days a week or more, so around 30 to 40 hours a week. Now I get around 3 to 6 hours a day, if I'm lucky, and it works out to only about 20 to 25 hours a week or less. I have been searching for other jobs for a while but no one is hiring travellers. It is the recession and they are only hiring Kiwi's.

On July 4th my work decided to have Fourth of July celebrations and went all out. We covered everything in red, white, and blue. There was a candy floss machine and slushy machine. We sold "American" hot dogs...they didn't taste American at all lol! There were flags and balloons everywhere. All the staff got to dress up and they even played "American" music. The boss kept asking me and Aimee (we are both from Canada not USA) for input on what was American or not, it was fun! Work even bought cowboy hats for all of us to wear. There were red, white, and blue jello shots even! And during the afternoon we had a live singer come in and sing some "American" songs...he wasn't so good but it was a good day to be at work!

In other news, we moved to the flat next door. Yep I never told anyone all the crazy stuff our old flatmate did. We thought he was normal when we first moved in...you will remember reading about Jeremy and how we all went to Bethels and Piha Beach when we first moved in, as well as a "family" BBQ. Well it all kinda started with our Flatmate Tanja. Jeremy and Tanja never got along....they always butted heads about everything, the cleaning list wasn't done the day Jeremy wanted Tanja to do it, or she didn't clean her mess in the kitchen. He would say things to her to aggravate her and get her to fight with him. We all thought they just didn't get along. Then it started getting worse. She left her light on...in HER room with the door shut and somehow the light went under the door and under his door and woke him up really early in the morning, so he shut the power off to the whole house to make a point?! Then when Guido (our Italian flatmate) moved out Jeremy withheld his bond (deposit money...they call it bond here). He made up a story that he never received the rent money even though Guido went to the bank twice to confirm the money was transferred. So Guido never got his money back. Then it started getting more and more heated with Tanja...Jeremy purposefully stole Tanja's shower time in the morning...she works at 8am and always showers when she gets up. Jeremy doesn't work till 11am at the earliest and he got up early...saw where she was headed and jumped right in front of her into the shower and shut the door in her face. Then he started asking us all for our keys to our rooms...he told Tanja that if she got locked out there was no spare key so we couldn't get back in. But then he was going in our other flatmate Matt's room (the Mexican). He actually left the spare key in the door one day! Matt confronted him and Jeremy's excuse was he could see the light from the heater and didn't want the place to burn down...but the light on the heater could not have been seen with a closed door....hmmmm?! It escalated to such a point that Tanja had to move out. She found a free room next door and was gone. We thought the tension was going to be over and breathed a sigh of relief...but it continued. Jeremy started doing to Matt what he had done with Tanja...getting mad about dishes not being done right after he was finished eating. One day he started slamming doors and stomping around everywhere trying to piss us all off. He would vacuum on Saturday mornings at 7am knowing everyone was asleep still and blare the t.v. And one day he came home and seemed very angry. he slammed the front door when he came in and started throwing his things around on the kitchen counter. Matt asked "What's wrong man?" and Jeremy totally lost it and ended up throwing a plastic bag at Matt and storming off??!!?! Who throws plastic bags at people when they are trying to make sure your OK. After this day Jeremy would do everything in his power to try to make Matt fight him. Matt is the most chill guy ever and never lifted a finger even when Jeremy was right in his face pointing fingers and saying you better watch your back! Well that was the breaking point. We all tried to sit down and talk with Jeremy and find out why he was so angry all the time. He would not let us talk and blamed all of us. anytime you tried to get a word in he would cut us off. We finally came to an understanding and thought Jeremy was going to be better but a few days later it all continued. Matt could not stay there any longer. We were all avoiding Jeremy...hiding in our rooms all the time, it was not healthy. So Matt was basically forced out and we decided we were not gonna be able to stay either. I was afraid to be in the house alone with him. So we gave him 1 week notice and said we could not stay under the circumstances. We found a room next door with Matt and it has been so peaceful here. But Jeremy has withheld our bond now. He said we needed to give two weeks notice not one even though the room is in better shape then when we got it. We tried to fight for it and even got the landlord involved but so far Jeremy has kept our $400 and Matt's $300 so $700 in total!!! We are still gonna try and get the money back but not sure how. Kiwi laws are much different than home's.

So since all moving out life has been better. We did have to say goodbye to Tanja on Sunday. She was done her work term and had to go back to Germany. We all went out on Friday night and then had pizza and rented movies on Saturday. Matt, Nate and I took her to the airport and said our goodbye's. It was sad to see her go...it seems we had been through so much and we were like family sticking together. I shed a few tears and told her to come visit Canada next and then we will come to Europe :) Then on Tuesday Matt left to go travel Asia. We made him dinner Monday night and said goodbye again with promises to visit Mexico to visit him. It's sad to see all our close friends leaving but very cool to know when we travel anywhere we will probably know someone there and can stay with them and they can show us all the sights. Plus we are never really that far with Facebook and Skype at our fingertips!

So enough with all the negative! Nate and I have tickets to the next All Blacks game on Saturday the 18th! They play the Australia team and it should be a really good game! I still have really no idea whats going on and don't understand the rules ha ha. And before the game I booked another boat trip for us. This time on the Whale and Dolphin tour boat. It should be really cool and I am very excited! Hopefully it doesn't rain that day.

Also thought I would mention its winter here. It rains almost every day! and not just drizzle it flat out pours cats and dogs! It rains so hard here that when you wake up in the middle of the night to the rain on the roof it sounds more like you left the t.v. on a snowy station and it's on full blast! If it rained like this at home I think the streets would be flooded! But when it rains it seems to get warmer. And everything is so lush...except for some of the trees lost their leaves. Its strange to see palm trees all full and green and then the bare branches of a tree right next to it! And the Kiwi's are so funny. They bundle up with big winter jackets and boots and shiver. I wear only my spring jacket and whenever I feel its cold I think back to -40 winters and smile. I would take this winter over any back home. Coldest it gets is around 12 in the day so definitely can't complain! And when I tell everyone here what winter is like in Canada their eyes pop outta their heads! Ha ha ha I would like to see a Kiwi survive a Canadian winter and then tell me its soooo cold here lol!

For Canada day we were supposed to go to a haunted house called Spookers. It's normally $80 but Nate got it half price with his work. There ended up not being enough people to go so it was cancelled which was disappointing. I heard it was really cool. Instead we decided to try and do something more "Canadian" :) So since there is no snow here and we wanted to go snowboarding we decided to head over to a place just outside of Auckland called Snowplanet. Its an indoor ski hill! We talked Matt (the Mexican) into going....he was very skeptical. Said he tried it once and hated it. He is a surfer and prefers the waves but we dragged him anyway. Patrick and Matt's friend joined us. We went night boarding since it was on sale. Only $26 for lift passes and $16 for board and boot rentals. We got to board from 7pm till 10pm. It was actually pretty fun. We weren't sure it was going to be that great since it isn't a real ski hill. Obviously it wouldn't be that big. But I was impressed by the quality of the snow and how much energy it must take to keep it cold in there. I think having lowered expectations really made it better. There were two t-bar lifts on either side, a little bunny hill for the learners and even some jumps and rails. And Matt ended up having an awesome time. It was only his second time and he was already taking jumps by the end of the night. We were proud to have talked him into going. And it turned out to be an Awesome Canada Day!

This and that...

So I have been trying to build up the motivation to blog about the South Island trip but I just can't do it...there is too much to write about so everyone who wants to read about it can go read Nate's rendition of the tour http://www.kiwinadian.blogspot.com/

So lately we haven't been up to much. The winter season has started and it rains most days. The coldest night we have had so far got to around 2 degrees. Nate got up that morning to frost covering the ground. It was supposedly one of the coldest nights recorded in Auckland for a long time. The days usually get to a high of between 14-16 degrees, which for winter isn't bad at all considering winters I'm used to range around the -40 mark! So to keep warm we bought a little floor heater. The flat does not have central heating and no fireplace so it can get pretty cold at night. I think we take central heating for granted...once something is taken away you really learn to appreciate it.

I probably should bring everyone up to date on the past few months though. We have taken a few small trips here and there. The first trip after the South Island was sailing. I get free admission on the America's Cup sailboats and The Whale and Dolphin boats through my work so I booked a sailing trip for Nate and I.

We went on a Saturday. The weather was beautiful and the wind was perfect. we were loaded aboard and given a safety talk, apparently no one has ever fallen off the America's cup...Nate and I thought if we did we would be famous, but they said we would all be losers ha ha! We were worked hard on the sailboat. We had to grind on the grinders to get the sail up, which is actually allot of hard work. and the wind was quite strong so the boat leaned over really far a few times...if you were sitting on the edge you could reach out and skim your hand over the water! And the boat being over so far you had to climb to get to the other side. Nate and I even got to steer the sailboat. The instructors would tell you to point the bow at a certain object and try to keep us going towards it. With the waves though, it could be a bit tricky. And at the end Nate got to go below deck and help put away the big sail.

A few weeks after the sailing trip we decided to check out Waiheke Island. It's about a 35 min ferry ride from Auckland. The island is only around 93 sq km and covered in vineyards. Apparently there are 26 vineyards and 26 art galleries and craft stores...very impressive for such a small space of land. Nate and I went on a short bus tour which showed us the multi-million dollar homes and vineyards scattered around. We got to stop at the two main beaches, Palm Beach, and Onetangi. We had ice cream at Onetangi beach where a wasp chased me almost off a little cliff, and then headed to Oneroa (the main village). We walked around a few little shops and then stopped at a little restaurant for some amazing fish and chips. We walked down to a little sandy beach afterwards where we found an interesting chair carved out of an old tree stump. We did a sweep of the beach for some cool shells and then headed back to the Ferry and home.

Our next big trip was to Cape Reinga and Ninety Mile Beach. We went with our flattie Tanja and two of her work friends, Katja and Svenja...both from Germany. We all piled into the little car strait after work on a Friday and then drove the 3 or so hours to Paihia. We stayed at a really cool backpackers called the Mousetrap. The first day we were up at 6am to catch our tour bus. we drove around the little town picking up other people from different hostels and hotels and then made our way to the sand dunes at Ninety Mile Beach. To get to the dunes our bus driver had to drive through a little sandy river for a good 5 mins. He said if he stopped, the bus would get stuck, so he drove like a crazed man and at times I thought the bus might tip over lol! Now it wasn't all that warm when we arrived and the wind was very strong. everyone changed into their sand boarding wear, which for me was my bikini and a rash guard (kinda like a t-shirt for those wondering). Most of the other ppl just wore shorts and a t-shirt...smart because it really was very cold in a bathing suit. We grabbed the boards and followed our bus driver up this huge sand dune. The wind was so strong here it nearly blew you back down. The sand was being whipped at my bare legs and it felt like being slapped over and over. Once at the top I could barely open my eyes. The driver directed us down the hill one at a time and told us to be mindful of the drop at the end and aim for a grassy patch...well I could not see any grassy patch so tried to go really slow. To go slow you had to dig your bare feet into the sand which didn't feel so great after a few seconds of barrelling down the hill. And then the driver starts yelling to lift your feet so you can go fast...I was not gonna do it lol! And neither did the other girls. Nate was the only one who plummeted himself down the dune at reckless speeds. I only went once, the sand and wind was too much...and most of the ppl on the bus ditched after one run as well. Nate went a few more times as well as some others but no one really lasted, and the bus driver ended up being on the hill alone...he was hardcore!

After the sand dunes we drove to a little beach where we ate our lunches and took a breather. Some ppl went swimming and I really considered it but the wind was just too cold. We took some photos and explored a little, then everyone piled back on the bus and we headed for Cape Reinga. When we arrived it was the windiest yet. Tanja and I could lean our full weight into the wind and not fall over! We took the path down to the lighthouse, about a 10 min walk, where people were walking on an angle, to stand upright was impossible! The wind was so strong I am amazed no one was blown away! Once on the path the view was breathtaking! This is the point where the waters of the Tasman sea meet the Pacific Ocean. In stormy weather the waves crashing together can get up to 10m high! Looking out over the endless ocean gives a real end-of-the-world feeling, and the Maori consider Cape Reinga the jumping off point for souls as they depart on their journey to their spiritual homeland. We were not aloud to have food or drinks here out of respect for the dead. There is an 800 year old pohutukawa tree at the very tip of the cape where the souls are believed to slide down its roots. After getting some really awesome pics we headed back to the bus. This is when it started to rain...pelting down with help from the crazy wind. We made it to the bus just before the downpour! Next stop was Ninety Mile beach.

We drove through the river again to get to the beach where the coast stretched out for miles! The bus stopped and we went searching for clams. The driver found some right away, pulled it right outta the sand, ripped it open, and offered it to Nate...who, reluctantly at first, ate it! He said it was like chewing on sea water...very salty. We then dug up some of our own clams, but didn't eat them. Then the waves came crashing in and my pants got soaked lol! Back to the bus. We drove along the beach for about an hour or more...it was like the beach never ended. One point of interest was a car that had been half buried in the sand by the tides. You can only drive on the beach when the tide is out...someone must have drove out and then didn't realize the tide was coming in and got stuck ha ha!

On the way back to town we stopped in a little fishing village for the best fish and chips I have ever tasted! we pre-ordered from the bus so they were ready for pick up when we drove in. I am not really a fan of eating fish and so shared with Nate, but I wish I would have had my own that's how good it was! We then made a stop at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom (a little tourist store) which was mostly tacky and overpriced. Here 50,000-year-old kauri stumps are dragged up from swamps, which they fashion into furniture, woodcraft products, and tourist junk. Inside there is a huge kauri log with a spiral staircase carved into it that takes you up to the second floor...pretty cool!

Finally we made it back to the hostel where we made some spaghetti and had hot showers. The next day we took a car ferry across to a little town called Russel. They had a small country music festival sort of thing going on and we witnessed a man singing in the street while his band played from the safely of the sidewalk. We walked in and out of some cool little art shops and Nate and I grabbed a delicious smokey and bun from a street vendor. We then drove to the end of Long Beach Road to check out a spot a very close friend of mine told me to see while I was here. Alison said it was one of her favorite spots in NZ and I knew it had to be a must see. When we got there it didn't look like much, just a small beach. We got out of the car and went exploring. We climbed some rocks on the shore...the tide was out and there were lots of little pools teaming with life. And the water here was so clear. We all wished it wasn't so cold so we could go snorkeling. After the beach we made our way back to the car Ferry and started the drive back to Auckland. It was a very Windey road and I ended up getting really car sick. Being squished in the back of the car didn't help so I switched someone for the front seat. We continued the drive, wanting to stop and an old Kauri forest but we couldn't find the one we were looking for. we found a different one and the others left me in the car to recover while they checked it out. That's when it started raining really hard again and there was a bit of thunder. I started thinking about what would happen if they didn't come back. Nate had the car keys and my cell phone was dead so I had no way of contacting them or anyone else...luckily they finally showed up soaking wet lol! And we made the drive home.

This past weekend I caught my second NZ cold...not fun! I went to work on Friday anyway since that night was one of my co-workers going away party. Lily is heading back home to Germany and I wanted to see her before she left. I told her I would only come for a drink or two but ended up being out till 2 in the morning lol! She was fun to work with and will be missed. Hopefully someday we'll go to Germany and visit all the ppl we know there lol!

Anywho, now all my blogger fans are up to date...until next time :)

Coromandel

Ok so its about time for a new post...its been so long since the Coromandel I don't even remember everything...

So over a month ago Nate, our roommate Tanja, her co-worker Dacs, and I decided to rent a car and drive about two and a half hours out to the Coromandel. We hummed n hawed over which rental car company to go with, left it to the last minute and almost didn't go at all. So who should save the day at the very last minute...thats right, me! I called around, wasted all my vodaphone minutes, had to figure out how to use the house phone (yeah thats right its not so simple as in canada, there are no dial tones, and it rings funny, plus you can only dial local numbers in auckland.) Luckily the last call I make has a car and for cheap too! Only $39 a day!

So early Saturday morning, Nate, Tanja and I caught the bus and made our way to the rental car place. It was one of the worst bus rides of my life! The night before was Tanja's birthday and we all went out and partied even though we knew we had to be up the next morning. I nearly yacked a couple times, but managed to keep it down...puking on the bus in front of all those people would not have been cool and Nate and Tanja would never have let me live it down. Finaly we get to our stop after what seems like eons and eons. Dacs only lives a block away from the rental place so met us there.

We waited some more at the rental place for them to get all the info they needed and then bring the car around. Tanja decides at this point she will drive first...scary! As we are pulling out onto the busy street the car stalls. She gets it going again and drives out into the middle...the street is very busy and she has to wait...well there is a huge semi coming strait for us! Nate and Dacs are turning white in the backseat and praying we dont get hit...at the very last second Tanja lays on the gas, cutting off another car, but saving us from imminent danger and possible death. We get onto the highway where we reach excessive amounts of speed, Tanja didn't know the speed limit and is used to unlimited speeds (however fast your car can go) in Germany! We quickly inform her its only 100! and to slow down. Lol!

The car ride after this point gets much better...for a while. We dont have cruise so after about an hour Tanja hands over to Nate. From here the highway turns into a windy hilly road that makes all our stomachs turn all over again! Luckily I brought my gravol, and once again save the day :).

Finaly we make it to our first stop...hot water beach. We didnt bring any shovels and weren't sure where to dig so we just walked down the beach and checked it out. This is one of the four most dangerous places in NZ in terms of drowning numbers, although this may be because of the huge number of tourists that flock here. Most people just come to dig holes into the sand and burn their bums. The tide also happened to be in when we arrived, and it was cold and rainy so we decided that we would come back another day.

Our next stop was Cathedral Cove. Cathedral cove (which apparently appears in the second Narnia film), is famous for its gigantic limestone arch and natural waterfall shower. It was so beautiful even in the drizzle! We had to walk 35 mins on a muddy trail but the views we saw were spectacular! Nate and I were both in flip flops and somehow Nate managed to get the back of his shorts covered in mud splatters...ha ha! Tanja was smart and wore runners, while Dacs on the other hand likes to dress like he is going to the bar 24/7...so he was wearing riddiculous high tops that he refused to tie up and a leather jacket. I was so scared he was gonna twist his ankle and we would have to carry him back up the trail. We all made it safe though. Once at the cove we went directly through the limestone arch. We got some great pics of the arch and of a giant stone standing in the surf. We walked back through the arch, where there were lots of other people, and we had to wait our turn to get pictures with the waterfall. The walk back up was almost all uphill and there were alot of stairs. There was a little forest walk that we took that veered off the original trail we walked down. It had some pretty cool little paths through the bush and some really neat flowers and foilage.
Our next stop was Coromandel Town. We took the "309 road"(the scenic route) that had a few cool stops along the way. One being the Kauri Grove. This was a 10 min walk to thirteen 600-year-old giant Kauri trees that escaped the carnaige of 19th century logging. The biggest tree has a 6m circumfrence! and the four of us could not even reach all the way around it! These trees are the widest in NZ but not the tallest...they were pretty amazing. The second stop was the Waiau falls. It was only about a one min walk from the road through a pretty patch of forest to a 10m high falls. It was one of the first waterfalls I have seen in NZ and I thought it was pretty great.
Once we reached Coromandel Town we went strait to the Lion's den backpacker's to check in. It was pretty cool. The hostel was african and north american themed. Our room was called the zebra room. All the beds had zebra print covers and there were african paintings and some cowboy hats. there were 3 single beds, a bunk and a tiny loft called the crows nest that slept one in our room. The room had patio doors leading outside to a little area with a picnic bench and a hammock. After checking in we headed out to find some dinner. We found a cozy little cafe/restaurant that had a few tables left. I ordered a steak, Nate and Dacs had lamb shanks and Tanja ordered a pizza. Everyone's food was delish except Tanja's. They had run out of pizza bases and ended up making her the smallest pizza I have ever seen lol! Tanja always seems to have bad luck with food portions when she goes out with us ha ha!

After our dinner we headed back to the hostel where we made tea and chatted with some of the others staying in our room. One guy was from Germany and the other was from Ireland. In total there were 8 people staying in our room. It was an early night since we were all tired from our trekks. I remember the irish guy coming in and climbing up to the loft...he hit his head on the roof lol! And the only person that snored was Dacs...tiny little Dacs...one guy told us in the morning that he was ready to throw his pillow at him lol!

The next day we decided to drive to the pinnacless walk. Its about a 6-8hour walk with return! Tanja wanted to be home early to work on an assignment though and again Dacs was not really dressed properly for a hike. We decided just to walk to the swing bridge which was about an hour with return. The bridge was really cool. More like some wire suspended across a river with enough room for you to put one foot in front of the other. Only one person was aloud on at a time. Once on the other side we walked a bit further up the trail to a viewing point where you could see up the mountain to a waterfall. On the way back down we decided to cross the river over the rocks instead of the bridge. I was so sure one of us was going to fall in. I was the last across and almost slipped. Thank god I made it though cause I had the camera!

After our hike we hopped in the car for the drive home. Dacs really wanted to drive. Now at the beggining of the trip we all had to give our licences...Dacs forgot his so wasnt supposed to drive because if something happened the car wasnt insured under him. Well he had been asking Nate over and over so Nate finally gave in. The road back to the highway was gravel and just wide enough to squeeze two cars side by side. Well Dacs apparently with his 24/7 pimp bar style is also a race car driver...he was racing down those windy gravel back roads like there was no tomorow. We were not in a hurry to get back and could not understand why this kid had to drive so fast. You could not tell if there were cars coming around the next bend or not and I was ready to scream at him to pull over. We caught up to another vehicle on the road and I thought thank god he will have to slow down now, but no Dacs rode this guys ass until they had enough room to let us squeeze by and then we started the mad dash again! Finally we made it to the open highway and he seemed to settle down a bit. Then he got tired of driving and Nate took the wheel again. I was never so happy or relieved!

We made it back to Auckland around 4pm sunday. Then Dacs says to Nate to drive to his house, we can pick up his car and then drop off the rental and he will drive us home...WHAT?! If Dacs had a car this whole time then why did we rent a car in the first place!? So we drop the car off and get a ride home from Dacs...in his beamer...with leather interior...did I mention he has the seat so far leaned back that there is no room for my legs in the back seat. He's so bad ass!

All in all it was a really great way to spend the weekend and I am glad we went...what an adventure :)

Rangitoto and other treks

A few weeks ago Nate, Tanja, Guido, and I (Tanja and Guido are flatmates of ours) took the bus out to One Tree Hill. Nate and I were there before at the brazillian BBQ we went to, but never got to actually go up to the monument. We left the flat around noon and walked downtown to catch the bus. It dropped us off a ways from the hill and we had to walk through some suburbs to get there. We decided we must live in the wrong part of town since everyone in this area seemed to have a pool. We finally found the park entrance and made our way to the base of the hill. On the way up we found herds of sheep. Tanja and I decided we wanted our picture with them but they kept running away when we got too close...so then Tanja decided to chase the sheep instead which was fun to watch. After the sheep chasing we headed up the rest of the way. At the top we decided to try and get a group photo...a lady decided right at the wrong time to step in front of our camera and we got a superb picture of her err chest. We did a retake that turned out much better. We hung out on the hill for a bit, just enjoying the views of the city, then made our way down the opposite side. We found the spot where we had the BBQ at and then a neat little cafe where we ordered water and some tiny sandwiches that just made us more hungry. Tanja was craving icecream and ordered this $11 icecream that was the smallest portion I have ever seen! Ha ha it came out in a tiny little cup...just one tiny scoop. After the cafe we headed for the nearest road we thought we could catch a bus from...to go back the way we came would have been a long trek...but it turned out to be long anyway...the road we found had bus stops but none that had buses that ran on sundays. We walked for a while and found another main road where we caught the bus home. We got some fantastic group "family" looking photos and saw some amazing sights so it was all worth it...except for the icecream part lol!

This past friday Patrick (Nate's Irish friend) and Mike (from Zimbabwe) both got good news...Patrick got NZ citizenship and Mike got an extended 2 year work visa....cause for drinks. Plus it was Ryan's (also from Zimbabwe)birthday! So we went to a bar/cafe called liquid and drank them out of beers lol! They usually close at 4 and are more of a cafe...well we were there till about 8 and cleaned them out ha ha ha. After Liquid we went next door to Bungalo 8...a bar with much more beer than liquid! We danced for a bit but I find the bars here play really crap music. Most play techno dance music...not so great to dance to...at least not for me. We went strait home after and went to bed. It was around 2am NZ time. The bars usually are open till around 5-6am!

Also on the past weekend there was a little festival in downtown Auckland...they closed down part of Queen street...which is the main street and set up a huge stage. We went shopping in the little booths they had set up and looked at some neat maori carvings and stuff. Then Nate and I got a wood fired pizza...it was delicious. We met up with Tanja and some of her work friends and our new flattie Marlene from Germany. We did some more shopping on Queen, and I finaly found a cool hat that doesnt look so dumb on me and a rash gaurd to wear over my bathing suit...(the strong waves are no match for string bikini). After shopping we went back to the stage and We watched a traditional Maori dance called the Haka. We listened to a few other bands playing before we headed home for dinner.

All weekend it was supposed to rain and we had originally planned to go to Coromandel up north but we didnt want to deal with rain the whole trip...well obviously it didnt rain since we were outside most of the weekend and the weather was beautiful so instead of wasting the last days of summer inside we decided on sunday to check out the island called Rangitoto. Its only a 20 min ferry ride from Auckland. Just a bit of info for you from my travel book....sloping elegantly from the waters of the gulf, Rangitoto (260m), the largest and youngest of Auckland's volcanic cones, provides a picturesque backdrop to all the cities activities. It erupted approximately 600 years ago. This island made for a great day trip! Its harsh rocky slopes hold a surprising amount of flora! The walk to the summit only took us an hour and I only had to stop to rest once! At the top we were rewarded with sublime views of the Auckland coast. We ate our lunch that we packed while enjoying this view amongst many other tourists. Afterwards we trekked down to the lava caves where we stumbled around in the dark trying to see with the digital camera screen (which I should mention, didnt work at all) but it was great fun! The trek back down was much easier and there was really no one else around so it was like we had the island to ourselves.

For the rest of the week both Nate and I have been planning our trip to the South Island. Nate's Mom and Sister are coming here on April 3rd and are touring around with us until the 12th! There is so much to do and everything seems to be really epensive. So its been hard to choose from all the amazing things. We are starting in Christchurch. We fly from auckland on the 4th and arrive in Christchurch around 9. We are renting a car and driving 3hrs to Lake Tekapo. From there its another 3hrs or so to Queenstown. We plan to spend the first day there. There is supposed to be alot of thrilling activities here like bungie jumping, canyon swings, zorbing and much more! From Queenstown we are gonna head to Milford Sounds and take a ferry tour and maybe check out the underwater observatory there. Then back to Queenstown for the night and then off to Fox Glacier for some hikes and amazing views. We will probably stay the night there and then head to Hokitika Gorge. Then back to Christchurch for a day and a half. This is just a rough plan...everything will depend on the weather and what Nate's mom and sis wanna do. I wish we had more time so we could see the whole island but I think its gonna be an awesome trip and I cant wait for Lynne and Whitney to get here!

This weekend we are finally going to Coromandel! I booked the car today and we pick it up tomorrow morning at 9. We plan to go to the Coromandel beach where there is a huge archway thats supposed to be spectacular. We are gonna go to hot water beach and burn our bums in the sand holes we will have to dig. Then maybe check out the nearby rainforest.

So a few things to note to keep up with my little trend I got going...no one seems to wear shoes around here. There are alot of people just wandering around shops and down queen street, in the super market, you name it, with bare feet. It just seems strange since I am used to the signs "no shirt, no shoes, no service" Even parents let thier kids go shoeless. Its starting to get a bit chilly here since fall has officially started so maybe people will wear shoes now...we will see. Nate wanted me to mention there are many caveliers here...but they are Toyota made! Same look and everything just Toyota not Chevy. Tylenol is called panadol rapid. They dont have tumms...just gaviscon and quickeeze lol!

O and I will leave you with a little surprise Nate and I found in our room a few weeks ago...isnt she cute?!

Finally another post!

Ok I know it has been FOREVER since my last update! I should be able to update more now. The reason for no update for so long was because after we moved into our new place the internet was down to dial up speed! In NZ if you download more than 10GB they either make you pay for the additional downloads or switch you to the super slow speed that takes 30 minutes to bring up a page...surfing the net is practically impossible and uploading pictures not possible. But our new month started yesterday so now we have fast internet again!

So our new place is pretty sweet! Its alot closer to our work and we dont really have to take the bus or train to get downtown now, we just walk everywhere. We have 4 other flatmates, Jeremy who is from Christchurch, Cornelius from Germany, Tanya also from Germany, and Guido who is from Italy. Everyone is super nice and easy to get along with. Cornelius is really tall and towers over us all. Our house is a town house with five bedrooms. Nate and I have the master bedroom since we share. Our room is awesome...you walk in and there is a huge two storey window which we can just see the sky tower from. Our closet and storage is on this floor...then you walk up the stairs to our little loft where we sleep, its sweet. And when we moved in I started calling it the tree house. The reason for this is because you have to walk down alot of stairs to get from street level to our place, and it has a huge garden. So many pretty flowers. And our bedroom is technically on the third floor, above our other flatties.

Soon after we moved in we took another trip out to Piha beach and Bethels beach (very near Piha). We spent the day on the opposite side of Piha beach this time and had a whole new view of it. I wandered around and took some pics while the guys played catch. They went swimming without me and Cornelius went outside the flagged swimming area...a lifegaurd had to go get him cuz he didnt hear them calling him ha ha! We suntanned for a bit then went swimming. The rip this day was very strong and we had to be careful not to go to far out because the sand under you seemed to drop right off at one point and the waves would just engulf you. After swimming for a while we decided we had enough. As we left the water we noticed a comotion, a teenage boy was dragged from the water unconscious. The lifegaurds did CPR on him for what seemed like ages. Finaly an ambulance showed up and it looked liked he was awake and alright. The ambulance got stuck in the sand on the way back and all the lifegaurds had to help push it out. Now everyone is probably worried about me swimming...well we are very careful, we swim only in designated areas and we dont go very far out and we all stick together, no one swims alone! After the beach we drove to another spot and went on some hiking trails. We found some really great views and got great pictures of the coast and some other beaches and cliffs. We had our very first bbq that night with all our flatties back at the flat. it was very good. We had steak and sausage, corn on the cob, some salads and garlic bread. We went to Bethels beach on the sunday, it was much prettier than Piha, which Nate and I both thought was breath taking when we first saw it. Bethels has less parking it seems and way more beach areas. There is a freshwater stream that flows to the ocean which was very warm. There were a few houses scattered amongst the hills around and I thought how great it would be to have that view every morning when you awoke! We found a really cool cave at this beach and I found the largest sand dollar I have ever seen! And yes I kept it :) On our way back we were trying to find a short cut home and asked directions. A local told us that we should check out these sand dunes not far from us, we had nothing else to do and decided to go check it out. So glad we did! The pictures dont do it justice you really had to be there! We walked along a little river that lead to the dunes, then on to a fresh water lake called Wainamu. As soon as we reached the dunes Jeremy and Nate found some cardboard and decided they were going to sand board. It didnt work out so well...the sand was to fine and not packed enough but it was funny to watch them. After the sand boarding we walked about half an hour to this lake. It was really beautiful and worth the walk that seemed to go on forever and ever. The guys all went in but I didnt have my bathing suit on anymore so didnt. Jeremy and Nate covered themselves in sand and did some canon balls into the water. They said it was much warmer than the ocean, which always seems so cold. That night Jeremy made us mussels and linguini...my first time eating mussels...not sure I like them that much.

So I am still working at Degree Bar and getting crap hours. I feel like I always work and never see Nate cuz he works days and I work nights. I talked to the managers and they said they will try to give me more day shifts but it seems whenever they do its a split shift so I work 12-4 and then 6-10 or I end up working all fricken day...the other day I was there for over 9 hours! My feet were killing me! I have been applying for other jobs but have not got any call backs. The other thing that sucks is that I make no tips....some travellers still tip so I may go home with $20 but NZ'landers dont really tip. At home I was rolling in the dough, probably bringing at least $100 a night! So serving here really has no perks. Plus I dont make overtime! I worked for 10 hours and 45 minutes last night and I wont make anything extra...I am looking into whether this is illegal or not. My flat mate Jeremy thinks that you have to be full time and have more than 40 hours before they pay you overtime! I'm looking for a new job...have dropped off resumes...but I relized today that the number I have as my contact (cell number) is backwards! Frick all the resumes I have dropped off have the wrong friggin number! What a waste of time! So I will have to backtrack and drop off my resumes again :(.

A few weeks ago we went camping with some friends to whananaki....thats pronounced fananaki....any word with a wh is pronounced with an f or ph...its strange. So anyways our campsite was really awesome. We were only about 20 metres from the sea! The first day Nate and I burned. We both wore sunscreen but 15 is not strong enough over here because there is no ozone. So we bought some 30 but were still burnt for the rest of the trip. We pretty much suntanned and swam for the whole trip which was awesome. On the first day we were playing Bocci Ball...they call it Patong I think, or some other wierd name...anyways its the game where there is one small ball and each person gets 2 large balls, the person who throws their ball the closest to the small one wins. Well It was Nate's turn to throw the small ball, he threw it and it went a little far...all the way to where some sea gulls were hanging out. Well they snatched the ball! Must have thought it was food or something lol! Nate started running down the beach after it ha ha ha! The gull ended up dropping it a few yards from where Nate threw it but on a bunch of rocks. There were four of us scouring the rocks for about half an hour and Patrick found it! It was the most hilarious thing ever that a gull stole our tiny bocci ball and we actually found it! We got to finish the game and I won :) and Nate in a close second, Go Canada!!! At the end of the day Nate and I went for a hike. We found a really cool beach and ended up spending our next 2 days there. on the first beach there was really no shade, but this beach had tons of trees so we could keep our sunburns out of the sun. We dragged everyone over to this beach the next day, which was a little bit of a climb to get to but very worth it. We played cricket, where Nate tried to lose another ball. This one got stuck up in a tree. Luckily Shayne (one of the guys we were with) is a monkey and a pro at tree climbing. He got up real high and spotted the ball and shook the tree till the ball fell. That night some people that live on the campground lent us two boogie boards and we all took turns on them. On the last day we packed everyting up and had a last swim, then headed back to Tiana and Ryans house for a bbq. We needed to finish some of the meat we still had. It was a great end to a perfect weekend.

On friday Nate got tickets to le Grande Cirque, which is like Circus Ole. I had to work on saturday which was Valentines day so we celebrated on friday instead. It was really good! My favorites were probably when this balerina balanced on her toes from a dudes shoulder and then the top of his forehead! And a clown who was the host really got the audience involved in everything. He had one guy juggling hankerchiefs, and tried to get another to blow up a gigantic balloon. Also there was a dude somehow climbing a ladder that wasnt propped up or held by anyone, I was so sure he would fall...then he added two girls on his shoulders and still climbed it! Afterwards we went to a bar and had some beers. Then on to a place called Burger fuel for some of NZ best burgers. It was actually pretty tasty but the burgers were gigantic and I was glad that I was sharing with Nate.

This weekend I have work off so I am trying to convince Nate to go to Coramandel, which is supposed to be one of the best beaches in NZ. There is a huge archway there that is supposedly on the second Narnia movie...and I'm not certain but this spot might also be in the Lord of the Rings. We have invited a few friends but no one seems to be interested so might just rent a car and go on our own. Crossed fingers...

So since I noted a few things last time that I thought were interesting, I thought I would add a few more. Everyone says "sweet as bro". or "wow thats far as!" or "i'm tired as". Lots of ppl here also say Mate alot, like "you alright mate?" and friends are called your mates. Bar age is 18 and kids can be in the bar until 10pm as long as they are accompanied by an adult. Flash lights are called torches. peppers are called capsicums. reciepts are called dockets. interact is called eftpos, and if you call it interact or debit no one has a clue what you are talking about. Dryers are almost non exisitant...we hang our clothes to dry. And I have not seen one screen...all the windows are push out and the "mozzies" eat me alive at night (its too hot to close the window). No one asks where the bathroom is its "where's the toilet?" which seems more vulgar to me for some reason. 7up or sprite is actually referred to as lemonade...i thought this was strange. They dont have real iced tea here...at least not in restaurants. Root beer is not even heard of really and gingerale tastes sorta like mold and is darker in color. The most popular soft drink is "lemonade" with lime cordial and bitters. The weather here can change in an instant. It was +35 with the humidex last week and the next day it was rainy and only got to +14 or something. There are many more but thats all I can think of right now...

Living in Auckland

Ok ok so its been a while since my last update and lots has happened. Lets see where to begin...Xmas I think :)

So for xmas Nathan and I went to our friend Patricks for a bbq. Patricks friends, Mike(from South Africa) and Marie (from France), joined us. Nate and I picked up some santa hats from a dollar store we found that had light up stars and everything! We had a huge feast: steak, corn on the cob, two different kinds of sausages, burgers, chips, mushrooms and onions for the steak, two different kinds of salads, cheese cake, icecream, and plenty of NZ beer and wine. We played christmas music and even sang some songs while Patrick strummed his guitar. Patrick even got us some gifts - Candy for everyone! After the BBQ Nate and I walked down this street that has almost every house decorated with lights. I think everyone and their dog was on this street that night to see the decorations. There were cars backed up for blocks just to drive down and have a look. I was glad to be walking and not stuck in a traffic jam. And the best part...no snow! It did feel a bit odd without the snow and family, but it was a nice change to have the sun.

A few days after xmas, our roomie Jason drove us out to Rotorua (about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Auckland). It was so great to get away from the city and see a bit of NZ because up until this point we had only seen Auckland and we were getting a bit antzy. We went Luging as soon as we arrived. It was so much fun! Everyone got their own little cart that you control by pulling a bar (closer to brake and farther to go fast) It rained off and on and Nate and I were riding the chair lift and got caught in it...we were soaked! But it was definately worth it! Some of the tracks got a bit slippery and I came around a bend and found Nathan burried in a sand pit just off the road. Ha ha, he was going a bit fast and didnt quite make the corner! He had sand everywhere! After the Luge we had some hot coffee to warm up and then headed for Hells Gate, which is a geothermal reserve. The smell of sulfer was very strong here. We walked through the park and got to see many different types of hot pools, a hot waterfall called Kakahi Falls (the largest hot water fall in the southern hemisphere), and lots of boiling mud. after Hells Gate we went to the Polonesian Spa. They had 6 different wading pools of varying tempurtures. The sulfer pools are supposed to be very good for healing. We tried them all and found our favorite then just soaked for a while. After the spa we went to a pub for some drinks and food, I tried to order a ceasar and they had no idea what it was!!! I told them the ingredients and they didnt even have clamato juice! What the heck - one of the most popular drinks I made at the bar in saskatoon and they have never heard of it! I decided if I bartend here I will have to start the ceasar trend...and I think maybe I could even name the drink after myself!!! ha ha ha

For new years we were a bit worried about not finding anything to do. Both our roomies were away visiting family and friends, and Patrick went to the Bay of Islands. But then Mike and Marie asked if we were doing anything and would we join them...so we did. We went down to the Viaduct Harbour and had some pints at an irish bar named O'Haggins...there was a band playing there that was really good. The singer never took a break and sang lots of different music, very crowd pleasing. It started pouring rain while we were there and they had to close all the decks. Luckily it didnt last long. Around 11 we decided to change bars and headed over to the Waterfront bar. There was a long line but it moved pretty fast. We got in had some tequila shots and bought some beers...but it was almost midnight so we stashed our drinks in plant pot, lol, got stamps and headed out to the harbour where we counted down and watched the fireworks off of the Sky Tower. It was a great way to ring in the new year! We went back to the Waterfront after, found the beer we stashed (Nate's brilliant idea by the way :P) and danced our faces off! It was a great night! The cab ride home cost us $16 and the driver would'nt even let us tip him!

During the week we had a really hot day but taking the bus down to the beach sucks. the best one would take almost 3hours to get there so we decided to suntan on our deck instead. The sun here is way more powerful than at home, the ozone is very depleted here and even with sunscreen on we noticed we were starting to burn so we only went out for a few mins at a time. Well Nate was sitting on this rickety old wooden chair out there and came in for a drink, I decided I would go back out and proceeded to sit in the chair. Well it practically exploded when I sat in it! I was shocked and Nate came running out to see what happened and then burst out laughing, he helped me up and then ran to get the camera. He thought it was so funny that he was just sitting in that chair and it was fine and then wee little Terra comes along and takes it out! Well you should have seen the bruise I had a few days later...it looked like someone hit me in the thigh with a 2 by 4 ha ha ha!

About a week after new years, and my chair episode, Jason let us borrow his car and we drove out to Piha, an iron/black sand beach with wild surf and strong undercurrents; so much so that it has its own reality T.V. show called Piha Rescue. It's only about an hour drive from our place but no buses go there. The roads were very windey and hilly...kinda like driving in the mountains back home. And the view coming down to the beach was spectacular! The sand was very fine but black, and hot from the sun. We were not sure about going in the ocean but so many people were so we figured we would try it...totaly worth it! It was really cold at first and hard to get used to but the waves were so high and we were swimming around in no time! I am sure I flashed a few ppl as my top was not very well equipped for such strong waves lol! I didnt want to get out but we had to to warm up. While warming up this guy started running around in a lime green mankini just like the one on Borat! ha ha ha! We went in again and then had to start heading home shortly after. We had agreed to Pick up our other roomie Aaron at the airport...he was coming back from Australia where he went over christmas, but we will definately be visiting Piha again!

We also had a chance last week to head over to the Auckland zoo. Its about a 45 min walk from our place so we walked instead of taking the bus. To bad we didnt look at the weather forecast cuz on the way it started to rain a bit. And man I am gonna be in such good shape when I get home...its so hilly everywhere so its up and down all the time and some hills can get pretty steep! So at the zoo, which was pretty sweet by the way and not anything like the zoo in saskatoon, we got to see a real live kiwi bird! Our first Kiwi bird it was so exciting! and he was alot bigger than I thought a kiwi bird would be...it was about the size of a rooster. We also got to see some lions, sealions which were very loud, a kangaroo who we almost ended up hiding next to from the rain, emu's, a wallaby, flamingos, cheetahs, aligators, hippos, a rhino, zeebra's, giraffes, elephants, meekats (which had a pretty awesome enclosure that you could go under, there were tons of little kids running thru the tunnels too so it was a bit crowded lol), spider monkeys, and some tigers but they were hiding from the rain so we didnt get to see them. On the way home we found a cool park called Western Springs. This park had so many roosters hanging around it was ridiculous. I tried to chase some other kind of bird that was everywhere and it ran into the bushes, but as I turned around it came running back out after me...Nate got it on video ha ha ha! Then I got a video of him running through a field of sleeping geese. We thought they would all take off in startlement but they just ran in front of him instead and he got his bare feet covered in goose poo ha ha ha ha!

Not much else interesting to report. Nate and I have been looking for jobs for the past week or so. Nate had an interview on thursday and another interview today and was hired at HP - AKA microsoft! and HP is right in the Viaduct Harbour so he will get amazing views of sail boats and ocean everyday. Then I dropped some resume's (they call them CV's here) at some restaurants on the opposite side of the Viaduct and I had an interview today too! I am starting at a restaurant/club called Degree tomorrow evening. They said they have lots of different hours and I can have a night to try it out to see if I like it.

Nate and I have also been looking for a new place to live since the place we are in was only temp over the xmas holidays, so far we have not found anything good. Alot of the apartments here are like tiny shoeboxes. One we looked at only had a single bed and they wanted us to pay more because there are two of us! What a rip! And almost everyone charges extra for two ppl. And all the good places dont have a bed so we would have to buy one. We have a place lined up to look at tomorrow which is right downtown, and then another on wednesday. We are crossing our fingers and hope to find something close to the Viaduct so we can just walk to work.

So in closing I would like to name some things that I have noticed are different from home. Like I mentioned before resume's are called CV's. Lots of cleaning products are exactly the same but named different, lysol is called dettol and Mr Clean is Mr Muscle. They call mosquitos mozzies for short instead of skeeters like I call them. Patio doors are called ranch sliders. They drive on the wrong side of the road and its so weird to sit on the passenger side and not drive, I keep trying to look at the mirrors to see behind me. Even ppl walk on the opposite side when passing eachother. A cooler is called a chilli bin. flip flops are jandals. And they dont have pennies, everything is rounded to the nearest 10 cents.

Auckland Life

Having a lazy day today so thought it would be a good time to update everyone. The house is great! Aaron and Jason have been working alot and have been busy at night as well so we have not seen much of them. Jason brought home a xmas ham from work so we have been eating alot of ham sandwiches! Aaron has two boys, Jarod who is 8 and Ethan who is 5. They stay with him every second weekend and this is one of the weekends. So we have been hanging out with them today. They invited us to have supper with them tonight...spaghetti and meat balls or as they call it "spog" for short. And Jason went to Melbourne for the weekend with work and wont be back till sunday.

Nate and I have taken the train into the city center almost everyday this week. We wanted to sign up for our NZ bank accounts and IRD #'s (thats like our social insurance # at home). So yesterday we went down to the hostel we stayed in when we first arrived and they gave us some forms to fill out. We headed over to the bank and got our accounts set up. Then to the post shop where we sent our forms for our IRD's away, we should get our numbers in 10-12 business days. We got our resume's updated and gave them to Nate's friend Patrick who knows a recruitment agent. She said there wont be many jobs right now because of xmas so it may be a few weeks before we find anything. But it shouldnt be hard for me to find a job bartending since there are many bars and the kiwi's like to drink :). Nate did apply for a scuba diving job and is really hoping to hear from them.

During the start of the week we walked over to the Domain...its a huge park near the city center. It has a museum in it, cricket fields, flower gardens, and a duck pond just to name a few! The park is so big that when we walked through it took us about two hours and we completely missed the museum! I guess its about 80 hectares in size. We are planning on going back since the museum is supposed to have some great cultural shows about the Maori.

On thursday we walked over to Mt Eden which is Aucklands highest cone 196m (dormant volcano). The trek up was tough but the view was amazing and very worth the climb! There you could see the whole city, the harbours, and the ocean. It was breathtaking and I could have stayed up there all day. There were cows up there too! So you had to watch where you stepped. The symetrical crater (50m deep) is known as Te Ipu Kai a Mataaho (the food bowl of the Mataaho, the god of things hidden in the ground) and is highly sacred so you are not aloud to enter it. They also want to preserve it so you have to stick to the little pathways around it. On the way down there was a very steep slope with lots of dirt...I decided this would be a trecherous area for me and assumed if I took the path I would slip so I took the grass...Nathan must have thought differently cuz right after I had this thought he took the path and fell flat on his ass ha ha! he scraped his arm and was covered in red dirt but otherwise ok. Too bad my camera wasnt out to document the fall!

On friday was when we finaly got our bank accounts and stuff set up. We decided we wanted pizza for lunch so we went to Dominos near Base (our first hostel) and got a large pepperoni and a litre of coke. We headed over to Albert park which is on the city's eastern flank. It is right next to the University. We ate our deliciously greasy pizza and then just layed in the grass and enjoyed the sun.

Last night we went to the Grasshopper (which is a thai restaurant) where we met patrick and some of his work friends for a birthday. We had some spring rolls and a deep fried banana with cocunut ice cream...very tasty. From there we went to the bar where we met up with Pat's friend Mike and some others from south africa. We ended up going to three diff bars, The Zeppa, Sail St bar, and then the Lennon bar near the Viaduct Harbour. It was a fun night which we ended with a McDonalds cheese burger and fries. The cab ride home was a bit pricier than it would be in canada...I think we payed just under 20$ for a five min ride! But it was that or sleep on Pat's couch.

Only 5 days till Christmas here! We are planning on going to the beach and then to Patricks for a BBQ! Never had a BBQ at xmas so it should be good. Then we plan to find some good deals on boxing day. We already have a few stores downtown that we plan to go to for sales.

Thats about all for now. If I dont update again, well Merry Christmas everyone!
Terra