well i’m on my way…

I woke up at 630 not too hungover to be picked up for the far north tour.  We saw some really big trees (I was sleeping for the explanation) and the lighthouse at the northernmost tip of New Zealand.  The Maori belive that this is the place where the dead leave the world for their eternal life.  What was amazing about this place is that you can see both the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and can actually see a difference.  At the time, the Pacific was a sparkly blue and holding true to its name, much more peaceful than the grey Tasman.  We drove down to the Pacific side to eat lunch and swim.  I forgot my suit so I rolled up my shorts as much as possible but still got soaked.  The waves were as intermittent as they were in the Southwest corner of Australia and got me when I wasn’t looking. 

There were some sand dunes nearby that we could boogyboard down so we got some quick instructions and tredged up the dune, each step becoming one step backward as the sand was falling as we climbed.  After finally making it to the top, I lied down on the board on my stomach, pulled the front of the board towards me, and pushed off.  It was fun going down (but not at all unlike sledding I would do at home, minus the snow) but when I hit the bottom I released the board from my hands and ended up knocking the wind out of myself!  Once I caught my breath, I was able to laugh at myself, but decided that once was enough, and watched all the boys have fun. 

After that, we headed for the 90 mile beach (which isn’t even 60 miles long) to park in the sand, hopefully not sink, and swim in the Tasman.  Well, actually, we weren’t allowed to swim here as the current is bad, but of course I got my feet wet.  We drove down the beach, which is technically considered a highway and saw some fisherman in raingear waist deep in the water and some half sunken vehicles.  It was very cool to see the crazy waves flying by as we drove past.  The tour was probably over around 7, so I’m guessing I went to bed at 9 that night, so extremely tired.

I woke up before my alarm and got ready, not feeling too bad.  I left the hostel an hour and 15 minutes before my bus was supposed to leave, but I had about a 20 minute walk ahead of me and I like being early.  I got to the bus stop and was hoping that I would get to do some swimming and sunbathing in Paihia, a tourist town north of Auckland that’s the diving board for the Bay of Islands when I remembered that I left my bathing suit at the hostel-hanging in the laundry room!  I checked my iPod (my only clock) and decided to attempt to run back and get it.  I don’t think running would have been possible with a 30 pound bag on my back on these steep hilly streets, but I did make it to the hostel and back with ten minutes to spare.  Phew!

The bus ride was about five hours long, through pretty scenery of  green rolling hills and extinct volcanoes all covered in cows.  I thought that New Zealand was the sheep capitol of the world?!?!  But cows are cute, so I wasn’t too disappointed.  The sun was shining when we pulled up in Paihia and the walk to my hostel was along the beach, so my first thought was to come back as soon as I got situated in my dorm.  I walked up to what’s probably the most out of the way hostel in Paihia and fell in love.  It’s a smallish hostel with probably about 40 beds.  The dorms and common area enclose a very plant-y courtyard.  I walked to the end of the courtyard to reception and started talking to the owner when I heard a very loud “meow” behind me.  I looked, not believing that a cat could meow that loud, and could only find a parrot.  Rocky, the bird the place is named after, meows and makes camera clicking noises!  Crazy!

I went down to the beach and just layed (or is it lied?) there, soaking up the sun and loving my life.  There were a few tiny islands in the bay, and boats dotted the horizon past the other port town across the way. 

The next day I found myself sitting in the courtyard with a few other inhabitants of the hostel.  We were all solo travelers and created a group instantly.  Anders, a navy officer from Denmark was going to some sulfur baths a half hour away by car and wanted to know if anyone would join him.  Robyn from England looked at me while he wasn’t looking and said “I’ll go if you go”.  So we changed into our suits and headed out.  Not long after we got out of the carpark he mentioned that he was once married, but he’d just ‘buried her’-in a joking way.  Robin and I looked at eachother as if asking “What have we gotten into?” and he explained about his divorce, while not getting into messy details.  He ended up being a really funny guy. 

After driving awhile, wondering if we were ever going to find the place (Anders had drawn a half-assed map from the actual map at the hostel) we stumbled across it.  We parked the car and obeyed the sign that read “Pay at house first”.  A woman came out and we gave her $5 to spend in these pools as long as we wanted.  The sulfur pools were in a fenced in yard across the way from the house.  There was an eggy smell in the air, which could only be from the sulfur pools that we were about to immerse ourselves into.  These “pools” were like hot tubs dug into the ground, each bordered by slabs of wood you could rest your head on.  Each pool was a different temperature from the next, and being a fan of hot tubs, I instantly entered the hottest one.  The steps going in were made of the same wood bordering the pools and were slippery.  The floor of the pools was natural, a kind of black sandy mud that you could rub all over your skin.  Even though it stunk, it felt so good.  Anders got a headache so he went to take a nap in the car while Robyn and I hopped from pool to pool, checking out the temperatures.  I couldn’t stay very long in the hottest one.  What the coolest part about these pools was that it’s not really a touristy thing, at least for this part of the country.  We met a few locals and learned about the benefits of the sulfur (good for your skin) and not to shower for a day afterwards for the full effect.  I wasn’t sure if I could handle the smell on me, but I did end up not showering.  While we were chatting, it started pouring.  Instict would tell a person to get out of the rain when outside, but it seemed silly since we were already sitting in water.  It was oddly fun to be sitting in a hottub in the pouring rain, getting soaked from all directions.

 After we didn’t see Anders for a while and remembered that our purses were in his car, we decided to get out.  He was still there and listening to the weather on the local radio.  We left quickly as the heavy rains were coming our way.  After driving through some crazy rain on crazy winding roads we made it back to the hostel where everyone was inside the common room, debating on which movies to watch.  We ended up watching Lord of the Rings The Two Towers and made a huge list for the next day as it was supposed to rain all day again.  

It actually never rained the next day, although everything was wet and grey.  Robin, Canadian Chris, and I took a walk around Paihia being silly.  We stumbled across a school with a really cool playground and played on the monkey bars and went down the slides.  We wandered down a residential street and once we got to the top of the hill, realized that they were all gated houses and were really disappointed, since the view of the bay was blocked by the foilage.  We saw a home with a few goats in the yard, so we started playing with the goats!  They didn’t believe that I loved goats that much.  We found an antique shop where Chris made friends with the owner while I stuck my nose in some old books.  We were walking back towards town when two 15 (I’m guessing?) year old boys walked by with ice cream.  Robyn and I made yum noises and turned around to look at the ice cream, wondering where they got it from.  Chris was certain the boys thought we were checking them out, not their ice cream.  We found the ice cream and I ended up getting a Sundae with Hokey Pokey (vanilla with honeycomb chunks), the best Chocolate I have ever had, and Apple Pie ice creams with caramel instead of fudge.  Yum!  We visited the free art gallery and as soon as I walked in I spotted a painting of the Grand Canyon!  What?!?!  Thankfully that was the only American landscape and the rest of it was local or Maori. 

On our way back to the hostel, we decided it was a drinking day so Robyn and I split a bottle of Bacardi and picked up a 2-liter of coke.  We shared our alcohol with the Belgian ex-couple Jonas and Ine and went to the bar when that ran out.  The bar had a video DJ and played his songs in a loop-I’m pretty sure we danced to Beyonce’s “Put a Ring on It” at least twice, maybe even three times.  We left when it got too hot and crowded and headed for the beach to check out the stars, which are nothing in comparison to what I saw in the outback, but blow away any stars I might see from home. 

So Wednesday after I informed you of my life I went to the Auckland Museum with my English roomie Helen.  The museum was actually really good, with lots of Maori artifacts and commentary on the culture.  There was also a really neat volcano exhibit too-I got to sit inside a fake house and experience what (is thought) would happen if a person survived a volcano eruption in the city of Auckland.  We went into the city and I bought a pair of North Face pants for future tramps around NZ for $60-that’s a little bit over $30 USD!  Holy cheapness!  

Upon returning to the hostel I ran into some guys I had been hanging out with-Andy, Ido (but we called him Penguin), and Sideshow (short for Sideshow Bob; I never got his real name, only a nickname from home which is actually Hebrew for the “N” word).  Andy’s from England and left home two years ago to work in Australia and now trying to get work in New Zealand.  Penguin and Sideshow are from Isreal, just got out of the army, and are traveling for six months or until money runs out.  I’m guessing they’ll run out of money long before their alloted time of six months.  They were playing pool and drinking beer so I busted out my leftover bottle of wine from a few nights before.  Helen came down and we put on someone’s iPod and danced around the hostel basement and outside, I’m sure to many people’s entertainment and even more people’s annoyance.  Since I was leaving the next day, we were all dramatically hugging and telling eachother “I hate goodbyes” and promised that we’d meet up for St Patricks Day with some more people from the hostel who had already left.