Kids and Kiwis

We spent 2 nights in Hamilton with some of Flo's family friends and their 3 kids which was pretty nice - especially the nice homecooked meals! They had a cat with a funny squashed face who reminded us of Helen. We went to the Hamilton Gardens one day which has loads of different types of gardens like Chinese, Japanese, American modern, English etc. and that was quite nice. In the evening of our last night, we had a 'weird competition' where everyone had to make themselves look as weird as possible. Obviously minimum effort required from us both...

The next morning we were supposed to get a bus to Rotorua but they messed up my booking and so we had to wait for ages for the next one. nightmare. But we finally got there and were greeted by a nice whiff of rotten egg smell. mmmmm. Wasn't quite sure if it was Flo or the sulphur...very much debatable. Anyway we got a bus to Te Puia to look at the geysers, mud pools and hot springs - I thought there were incredible! The groups of Chinese tourists there added to the fun factor. A LOT. There was also a Kiwi house which you could go into full of people oohing and ahhing but you literally couldn't see anything because it was so dark. Everyone went mental when they saw a little bit of a beak of one of the kiwis and kept pointing and making amazed faces, it was weird. But we did actually see one in the end when we went in again. wahey. I learnt loads of fun facts about them like did you know that kiwis are the only birds that have both working ovaries? WOW. fun fact. Did you know that females weigh 2.5-3kg whereas males weigh 2-2.5 kg? MENTAL. After that excitement we went back to some more of Flo's family friends flat and went in their hot tub! fun. Completely smelt of rotten egg afterwards. Yum.

The next morning we went to the Skyline to go on the Luges. We got a gondola up to the top of the hill and there were 3 tracks - scenic, intermediate and advanced. We sped through them all, nearly running over many little children on the way and it was so much fun. You could go so fast as well it was great. We got to wear gorgeous helmets and everything. FIT.

That afternoon, we got a bus to Taupo with the hopes of doing to Tongariro Crossing - apparently the best one day walk in NZ, but the weather was really bad so they cancelled all trips for the next few days. Gutted. We stayed 2 nights and went to the Taupo thermal pools with some nice Irish girls we met, went rockclimbing with a funny instructor who smelt really bad and we saw The Boat that Rocked one evening - so good.

Seriously hoping the weather gets better soon. Pretty fun few days though.

Cats and Parrots

On Friday morning we got up ridiculously early because of our jetlag, and after having probably the best breakfast of my life we got a bus on to Paihia in the Bay of Islands to try and catch some of the glorious weather we expected when we got here. Sadly this did not happen. The highlight of the bus journey was probably a massive sign across an entire field saying 'Jesus is Lord'. After that novelty had passed, we went to find our hostel - the Pickled Parrot and just wandered round and chilled out for the rest of the day. We talked to a really weird German lady that was staying in our room who basically put a downer on our entire trip by saying how bad the south island was going to be at this time of year and how everything would be closed. Great, good one.

The next day in the morning I was getting so annoyed because there was a cat in our hostel and it had been sitting outside miowing for literally an hour. So I went outside but there was no cat - it was actually the parrot who had learnt to immitate the cat! Ha ha. It was so naughty and annoying as well and would sort of chase you around the hostel and it bit on of Flo's buttons off. After all of this morning excitement, we went kayaking. We met our instructor Kent who reminded me so much of Peter from Family Guy and another guy called John who came with us as well and they were both Canadian. It was such a great day - we kayaked through loads of Mangroves and then to the Hararu Falls which was really cool. We had a really nice coffee break on an island in between which was really fun. In the evening we hung out at the hostel and the weird german lady we met (Nicole) turned out to be really funny and we also met a hilarious german man called Eric who was really weird.

The next morning we got up at 7:15 to go on a bus tour to Cape Reinga, the highest point on New Zealand. We very nearly got on a bus full of old people but then luckily found the right one. Our guide was called Spike and would not stop talking ever and you couldn't really tell whether he was speaking Maori of English a lot of the time as he talked as though he were singing a song. He also cracked many a hilarious joke and constantly said 'sweet as..'. He also constantly took the piss out of the old people tours - even when we had to take 5 old people onto our bus because theirs was too crowded. hilarious. We stoppen in the Ancient Kauri Forest where there were massive trees and then at Kauri Kingdom where they make loads of cool things out of them. then we drove along 90-mile beach which was incredible. Especially with Spike's driving of hundreds of miles an hour. Then we went sandboarding at Te Paki Stream which was INCREDIBLE. It was literally so much fun the sand dunes were amazing, especially after the rain. We then stopped at where the Tasman sea meets the pacific ocean which was pretty cool and then finally we got to Cape Reinga and got soaked because it was pouring with rain. On the way back we had some delicious fish and chips which is apparently the best fish and chips in the world. hmmm. So yeah it was such a great day. In the evening it was still raining so we just sayed in the hostel with the germans and also met a group cos nice English people who we also talked to.

We're now back in Auckland, about to get a bus to Hamilton.

2 day flights and 4am treks

After saying our goodbyes at Heathrow on Tuesday evening, we finally got on our 25 hour flight after loads of waiting around and stuff. EXCITING. I was already so tired after making myself get up so early that morning to start packing. Yuck. So obviously we were put next to about 3 screaming babies that just would not shut up for so long. They kept screaming one after the other in different tones like a little song, except horrible. NIGHTMARE. But finally they decided to be quiet so it was ok. I was sitting next to these two girls (flo was across the isle) who kept waving next to my face in the middle of the night - turns out they were trying to wave at one of the babies and one of them kept taking photos of it. It was weird. And they didn't really speak english so just kept repeating "cuuute, cuuute". I was just like hmmmm yeah shutup.

But anyway, the flight was actually really good - they had such good movies I obviously couldn't go to sleep because I had to get my money's worth and watch as many as I possibly could. I watched Slumdog Millionaire which I hadn't seen before - so good, and loved all the M.I.A. in it! and I also watched Twilight and then loads of TV. The food was also so good. Managed to get a little bit of sleep as well before we arrived in Hong Kong.

Waited around in HK Airport for ages, but there were some really nice comfy chairs so it was ok.
Got on our flight to Auckland, really tired by this point. But had to watch more tv. Watched 21 which was really good and then Marley and me which was shit. Nothing happens, what a waste of movie. Got a little bit of sleep but not much before we arrived in Auckland at 9am New Zealand time on Thursday morning which is around 10pm English time.

We got a shuttle bus to our hostel which was nice and quick and lay about for a while as we were quite tired from our flight. Did some organising things like hostels and buses. SNORE. Then went for a nice walk round the shopping centre and had some lunch. Then we decided to climb Mount Eden at about 3pm which is about 4am English time as we still hadn't slept properly. Fun. There were some amazing views from the top of the entire city - wicked. Back at the hostel now before dinner. Planning to go the Bay of Islands tomorrow at the top of New Zealand - should be good hopefully.

So far it is really good, although really not as hot as I thought it would be. Shame. But it is really nice here, very green and un-crowded. Like it so far. Will write more after we get to the bay. Massively jet lagged now might go to bed soon.

Oh yeah, something that is so weird about Auckland is that it is full of Chinese people! They are literally everywhere it's bizarre. They are quite into oriental food and things as well - there are restaurants everywhere and loads of signs are written in Chinese as well. crazy stuff.

Leaving tomorrow, don't want to pack...

Hello all you losers who've decided to read this...not quite sure if this is really sad or really cool but hopefully it will give you something to read when bored. So I'm leaving tomorrow - MENTAL. Can't believe it's finally here - I have been looking forward to going away for so long, but i'm now much more sad to leave than I thought I would be. But I am actually really glad to be leaving as I am a bit sick of everything and really just want to get away and do exactly what I want to do. I realise that was a bit of a contradiction, but whatever.

For those of you who don't know, I'm going to be travelling to New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Morocco and France. I'm gonna try my best to keep this blog going as I think it would be an awesome way to remember my gap year, and also let everyone know what I'm up to.

Maggie x