well i’m on my way…

Monday morning I started making plans: I booked a bus, a few nights in a hostel,  and a train (actually, the train the creator of Lord of the Rings took that made him decide to film the movie here).  I didn’t feel so lost anymore. 

My friend Gareth, whom I met in Cairns, his sister Jennette, and their dog Gunner picked me up to head to the beach.  Murawai Beach isn’t accessable by public transport, so it’s pretty much only locals that visit.  It has to be the most goregous beach I’ve seen so far-with the lush green all around, black sand, and a coast that goes on forever, until it got too misty from the sea foam.  Now black sand is beautiful to look at, with its sparklyness and unique color, but damn is it hot!  I’m pretty sure I burnt the bottoms of my feet while running across it.  The color of the water wasn’t really altered by the sand, which for some reason I was amazed by the fact.  The water was scary in a magnificent sort of way.  Most beaches I’ve encountered so far have had flags on the beach showing the swimmers where to swim between, depending on currents, rips, and other scary things that common people don’t know about.  The guard at this beach had to keep on moving the flags, and was moving them quite often.  After we baked in the sun, we all went in and I learned why the flags kept on moving.  After reaching about thigh-deep, I had to bend over a bit, and walk with all my might to walk even deeper.  I was pumping my arms like a power walker and everything!  A wave would come, and no matter how hard I tried to walk forward, I’d get pushed backwards.  It was cool and I was laughing, but it was kind of scary.  For a bit I let the waves take me where they wanted, but then I realized I was outside of the flags.  I now know how important the presence of the flags is for everyone’s safety.  If I thought the current was strong before, it was nothing compared to what I was feeling at that moment.  I kept a clear head, and walked parallel to the beach and headed back into the safe area.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the water, looking at it, being in it, but I have respect for it.  And if someone says not to swim in an area, I won’t.  Espeically now that I’ve felt the difference.

Gareth had to go to a martial arts class, which he’s casually serious about, (Is that an oxy-moron or what?!?!) so they dropped me off mid afternoon.  I went back to the cemetary and might have picked up something-it could have been the glare from the sun…It’s wierd how my mind tries to find a scientific reason for matter instead of instantly assuming it’s a ghost.  Years ago, I would have disregarded any reason other than that it has to be a ghost.  It’s a shame what 10 years can do to the imagination.  Or beliefs.  :(  I didn’t stay long after my possible discovery and returned to the hostel while the sun was still high.  I was so wiped out from the waves I instantly fell asleep once I got to my room.

Gareth and Gunner picked me up to check out the north shore area Tuesday morning.  We went to Davenport and checked out some old Navy remnants-some dating back to the late 1800s.  It was a mass of underground tunnels and a bunch of storage rooms, and actually pretty cool.  Gunner is a Weimerheimer (sp?) and very friendly, and gave me a chance to see how Kiwis interact with eachother.  Kiwis are super friendly to begin with, and even more so with eachother.  After checking out the actual town of Davenport we drove up to Mt Eden, another extinct volcano and the highest point in Auckland.  The view was nice but after climbing up to high points of the city and checking out the view, it doesn’t do much for me anymore.  Gareth dropped me off, I read for a bit, and made it an early night.

If I’ve been informed correctly, today is Ash Wednesday.  I’m not going to church, but I am giving up Tim Tams for Lent.  Actually, I’m giving up anything made by Arnott’s (the brand who makes Tim Tams) and ice cream.  I’ve been eating quite a lot these, and neither my clothes nor my budget is appreciating this.  If I gave up drinking last year (which I was doing a lot of a year ago), I’m sure that a few sweets will be no problem this year.  But, I have one problem:  I don’t know when Easter is!

Is was pouring down rain my first full day in Auckland.  Ugh.  I miss Australia already!  I tried to take a walk to the supermarket-what would normally be a 20 minute walk ended up taking me nearly an hour.  Between stopping under awnings and fighting with my inside-out umbrella I ended up getting soaked, which was strange because every few minutes the rain would change.  It would alternate between a downpour and a soft rain.  But every time the rain let up a bit, the wind would take over.  I was bent over trying to walk against the wind.  It was insane!  I ended up hanging out in the hostel most of the day.  I couldn’t be bothered to deal with the rain.   I went out with my roommates to a bar, didn’t stay out late, but did ask the busker (street musician) to play some Bob Dylan for me when I noticed his harmonica stand on his collarbone.  I had to give him a dollar and he played “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright”.  Great stuff.

On Saturday I went with my German roommate to walk around the city and go to the top of the Auckland tower to check out the view.  The weather here is very intermittent-rainy one hour and clear blue skies the next.  It had been raining for quite a while when we got to the top (53 stories I think?) so the views weren’t that great, but it was neat to see all of the extinct volcanoes around the city.  Lisa (the roomie) was afraid of heights, so it took her a while to get off the wall in the center.  I, on the other hand, was all up on the windows looking down, thinking to myself, “This isn’t that high…” Parts of the floor were glass instead of concrete and it was very entertaining watching everyone else afraid to step on it and then warming up to the idea of looking down below.  Lisa wouldn’t go near it, and of course, I took a photo of my feet suspended above the city below.  Lisa went back to the hostel and I hopped on the $1.60 bus that goes in a big circle around the city.  It was a good way to get an overview of the different areas of the city.  I went out with Lisa and a few other people from the hostel.  The bar we were in sucked;  some of the people we met were going to another bar that had a cover, but myself and a few of the other people are on a budget, so we went to the bottle shop (liquor store) and picked up a few bottles of wine and drank at the hostel with more like minded people.

I woke up after 6 hours of sleep ready to do some walking.  I walked 2 hours away from the city to check out Mt Roskill, the only reason being our names so similar!  I sat at the top and surveyed the land.  Today was clear so the sights were much better.  I checked out my map and realized I wasn’t too far from One Tree Hill, the exact hill U2 named their album after.  I also heard of a Coast to Coast Walkway that was supposed to be a nice scenic way of seeing the city.  I tried finding it with no luck for a while, but stumbled across it a few times while taking city streets to the tourist sights.  After checking out the view from the top of One Tree Hill, I realized that it was pretty much the same view I had from the Auckland tower, except today the skies were clear.  I saw quite a few sheep and lots of people trying to run up this hill-or ex volcano if you will. 

I realized that I was on the same street of a burger joint a friend had recommended to me.  She claims this is the best veggie burger she’s ever had and still gets cravings for it-and she was here in Auckland years ago.  So I ordered it, not knowing what was on it.  When they handed it to me, I thought they were handing me a brick.  I opened it up and examined the contents:  avocado, fried egg, lettuce, tomato, onion, shredded carrots, beetroot, pineapple, hashbrown, mushrooms, and salsa-all on like a French burger bun…yum!  It was so big it was hard to eat-it’s unfortunate that I could never get a bite that contained everything.  But it was so good!  So if anyone’s ever in Auckland, go to Alligators.  

By then I was exhausted (I’d then been walking for 7 hours) so I started heading back towards the city.  I stumbled across Harley Davidson (it was one of those days where you find everything you might be looking for) but being Sunday it was closed.  Near my hostel, I noticed a few old looking headstones popping out from beind a fence.  There was a huge sign advertising Symonds Street Cemetary that told about this history of it-it was really only used from the 1840s-1880s, so it’s a prime example of the Victorian headstones, not to mention a great way to research family lineage.  The cemetary is set on the side of a hill, and this hill is covered in beautiful foilage-palm trees, other trees unidentifiable to me, but massive with lots of brances and huge leaves.  I felt like I was in a rainforest (and technically maybe I was).  I have never seen a more beautiful cemetary.  If it was open, I’d change my mind about being cremated and want to be buried here. 

For those of you who don’t know me, I kind of have a thing for old cemeteries and ghosts.  I love walking around, inspecting the headstones, looking at dates and names and inscriptions.  And the afterlife has always interested me.  I spent a summer of my teen years hanging out in one of the most haunted places in the United States, if not the world-an old cemetary called Bachelor’s Grove.  Those of you who do know me, you know damn well I flipped my camera to black and white and started taking crazy amounts of pictures.  I think I took 100 but I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet.  I’ll let you know if anything comes out.  (The supernatural is known to appear through other forms of media-aren’t usually seen by the naked eye.)  I found a set of stairs and began descending them, until I got that instinctive feeling in my gut, not afraid of ghosts, but it was very near dusk, I had no flashlight, and I could hear branches falling off trees around me.  I promised myself I would come back in the daytime.  I think I spent over an hour there.  What an awesome day!   

When we flew over New Zealand, I was taken aback by how green it was.  Australia is so dry, and Victoria has been in a drought for the last eight years (hence all the fires).  The lush jutting (as opposed ... [Continue reading this entry]

So I made it to the airport earlier than the suggested 120 minutes and checked in.  Or, attempted to.  It somehow slipped my mind that one needs proof of exit to enter New Zealand-or I thought that my flight home ... [Continue reading this entry]

I checked out of the greasy hostel and practically ran to the cleanliness of the YHA.  I couldn't check in til 1 so I did some laundry and just hung out, mindlessly watching the news and reading Lord of the ... [Continue reading this entry]

I'm condensing the last week into one post, so I'll only give you the highlights:

The first day, Monday, we headed south and west, away from the fires and closer to the coast.  We followed the Great Ocean Road which is ... [Continue reading this entry]

So after a painful week for Victorians and generally Australians, I am back in Melbourne.  There are people everywhere with buckets asking for donations for the fire victims, market vendors are advertising they will donate percentages of their profits made today, and ... [Continue reading this entry]

On Friday I had the best/worst breakfast of my life (after the avo and cheese of course) today: pancakes and berries smothered in maple syrup and vanilla ice cream.  Yum!-although I did feel a bit sluggish for the rest of ... [Continue reading this entry]

I don't know if this has reached world news yet, or if it will, but if you have heard about the bushfires in the state of Victoria, Australia, I want you to know that yes, I am in Melbourne, where ... [Continue reading this entry]

I'd first like to share that I'm sitting in the comfort of my friend Cameron's apartment.  I met Cameron on my last day in Beijing; he was in search of a camera and I for something to do besides look at more temples.  Staying ... [Continue reading this entry]