Hello, is this the creepy residence?: 23/9/2011

I'll tell you now, this will be a long post, so make yourself a cuppa and settle in for the long haul okay?

Well well well I have been busy! So I'll start from the very beginning (a very good place to start...)

After I left McDonalds on Wednesday my first trip was over to the Britomart Transport Center, where I got myself an A-pass that got me unlimited travel on the buses and the Devonport ferry for $15 a day. In hindsight, this wasn't the best investment. In fact, a trip on the bus costs $1.80 and I didn't do more than 3 trips a day. Oh well, you live and you learn. I then went over to Vodafone NZ and got myself a SIM card. Pretty tidy deal really, $40 for $20 credit, 2500 texts and 50MB of 3G, so I was happy with that! And they don't run out until I actually use them, no time limit.

Boring stuff out of the way, I headed over to the Auckland Museum, which had been advertised as free but they wanted a $10 'donation'. I didn't really mind though because it really was interesting. The trip there was nice in itself, getting the bus was relatively simple and it was nice just to wander through Auckland domain to find the museum. It was cold though, 9c, I was not prepared for it. Lots of things about the Maori, artifacts and reconstructions, as well as lots about the other aspects of New Zealand history, it was a really good basis to start the 10 weeks I have here. Here's some of the highlights;

A teeny tiny piano that I want for my own.

A 90's child's bedroom as an exhibit - that's not history!

New Zealand Girl guides

A Maori Hut

Just a little eel...

Just in case you were wondering

And a little tree frog.

When I was done here I headed back to the hostel to check in. I'd spent a surprising amount of time in the museum, so it was around 3pm by the time I actually got into my room at Nomads Fat Camel. I was tired, but I didn't want to sleep because I needed to keep the right pattern to get rid of any jet-lag. So I sat down to watch a movie on my laptop, that's just fine. The danger came when I decided I was cold and needed my quilt. I was asleep within 10 minutes. I woke up at 10pm with a horrible headache and a full dorm room. A dorm room full of BOYS! I made myself go back to sleep with a couple of tablets, I was determined to get a good sleeping pattern. When I got up in the morning, I think the guys were as surprised to see me sitting there straightening my hair as I had been to see them the night before. The thing about New Zealand right now, is that because it's the Rugby World Cup, I'm outnumbered by men by about 5 to 1 everywhere I go.

I checked out of Fat Camel, but had to wait for my laundry to finish, which had to be done with no detergent since there wasn't any to buy. Finally the drier finished too and I went to put my backpack in storage at the other Nomads hostel, just called Nomads Auckland. As soon as I got there I could tell it was much nicer. Chucked my stuff in the luggage room and headed off to Devonport, a short ferry ride from the wharf. I'd looked up a place called North Head, where Auckland once had a military base type area. It's very northern so was perfect for defending New Zealand's shores. The ferry over to Devonport was really nice actually, although only 10 minutes it gave a nice view of the harbours on both sides. When we got off the ferry, I followed the knitted barriers round to the shore. (Jessica Smith, I don't know if you read this, but if you do these knitted cute things reminded me of you and something you might make!)

I headed the direction which I thought was north and passed some fish and chip shops (yay!), a tourist information building and a very interesting tree...

With hindsight, it's clear that I should have just gone and asked for directions in Tourist info, but I had faith, albeit incorrectly, in my sense of direction. When I'd climbed the fifth hill (what? Don't just that I was tired, Norfolk is very flat!) I decided it was time to whack out my phone and make use of this internet I'd bought, enter Google Maps. I'd been walking South. I readjusted my direction and set off for a nice walk through Devonport, which was actually heating up by now. About 40 minutes later, I arrived at the base of North Head. I really can't put into words quite how beautiful the climb up North Head was, the view was truly breathtaking. I hope the pictures I've taken (and the eBay camera) can do it justice. Also, note the scary tunnels set into the beauty.

Hmm where does this lead?

They weren't kidding...

It really did take all my courage to get through this tunnel, with it's twists and turns, but it was the only way through.

View of Auckland from the Summit

The whole experience of climbing up there was amazing, apart from the fact that I had the wrong shoes. It's brilliant how alone you feel up there, even though there are other people climbing it, I didn't see anyone else for a good two hours, which made going through the tunnels all the more scary. It also made enjoying the views all the more personal and special. I walked back to the harbour on a bit of a high.

Then I came back down to earth when i realised I hadn't bought any food. So I traipsed off to the supermarket to buy.. noodles. Got back to the hostel to cook them in the rooftop kitchen, which offered amazing views of the Auckland skyline again. Got chatting to some guys from Wales and even had a cup of real tea! I dropped my noodles back in my room and went down to the bar. Turns out there were some kids staying at the hostel on a field trip from Samoa, and when me and another guy got in the elevator there were three of them in there, all with red hoodies on, hoods up and masks on. Excellent. Now I'm not scared of three 12 year olds, but when the guy got off the floor before mine, I was a little annoyed. So I look at this one kid, and kinda chuckle at him thinking he's all this and he says to me "You're going to die..." - excellent. I laughed at them a little more, but being the jumpy person I am, jumped a little when one of them made a sudden movement. Damn my jumpiness, I'd lost the power by then, and they rolled around laughing, little bastards. I welcomed a glass of rosé at the bar, even if it did cost me £6 - it's expensive to drink in NZ! I read my book for a while, but soon struck up conversation with two Irish guys and we sat and watched the rugby and talked about travelling. Turned out that they were on my bus in the morning!

I tried to get an early-ish night because I had to be up at 6 to get my bus, but it was not to be. Firstly, all the Samoan kids were on my level in the hostel, and were apparently having a party. I finally got to sleep when the 9 men that I was apparently sharing a dorm with stumbled in drunk... but they settled down quite quickly. Just as I'm drifting off again, the guy in the bunk above me starts snoring, with the loudest and deepest snore I've ever heard. There was no more sleeping for me. Apart from that, the fact that they refused to use the ladders and jumped from the bunks to the floor was very annoying. Needless to say I made sure i made a lot of noise when I got up and ready at 6am.

The Magic Travellers Network bus picked me up at 7.55am outside the Fat Camel. I soon got to know the people on board, mostly Irish, but 2 other British people and a Candian girl. Our first stop was the summit of Mt. Eden.

The crater from when Mt Eden, like most of Auckland's mountains, was an active volcano.

Our next stop was Thames, where we all stopped for a pie (the local fast food) and a cup of tea, and got to know each other a little better. We then carried on to Paeroa, the famous birthplace of L&P, which has since been bought out by Coca-cola, of course. Here I am under a massive L&P bottle, which was previously a promotional rocket.