By Popular Demand: The Itinerary

I was trying to get this added in its own section, but alas, el Blog defeateth moi :P

Given the vast array of languages I am confronted with day by day, its a wonder I can string together vaguely normal sentences!

Itinerary (subject to MAJOR change):

1 February: London – Los Angeles

1 February: Los Angeles – Auckland [overland via ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE if I can make it!]

25 March: Christchurch – Sydney [overland via Byron Bay to Cape Tribulation]

11 May: Cairns – Perth [trip up Western Coast to Monkey Mia & Ningaloo Reef]

19 May: Perth – Bali (Denpasar)

26 May: Bali (Denpasar) – Singapore [Side-trip to Malaysia, maybe...]

1 June: Singapore – Bangkok

15 June: Bangkok – Hong Kong [overland via Shenzhen and Shanghai ]

1 August: Beijing – London

The last flight will happen unless I overcome my fear of long periods of isolated incarceration and opt for a train from Beijing to Moscow - despite being told this is an absolutely AMAZING journey - (me + train) x 9days = not happening!

Massage Wellington (brief, concise, why waste energy?)

I got my first in early this morning! I had my first ever Thai Chair massage given by an Australian in New Zealand :P Ever since sledging (just say no), my back's been twinging... could possibly also have been as a result of 8 hours on cramped buses... but I personally like to blame the sledging! So I thought, here I am, no water, no rafting, lots of time to waste, no sense in reflecting, sitting quietly, contemplating the scenery yada yada yada... gimme a goodlooking man with strong hands!

Anyway, been there, done that, didn't really help my back but I almost fell asleep in the chair! Best sleep I've had in ages.... :P

So onto Wellington - arrived quite late. Rest of the bus is going onto the ferry for the south island tomorrow morning. I'm staying for a few days to explore. I suppose I'll have to go to the "most famous museum in all of NZ". Even I - culture barbarian that I am - cannot avoid it!

Rafting here I come!!!! (NOT)

Today we drove from Taupo to River Valley - a puspose built hostel in the lower south of the North Island.

Driving out of Taupo we went around the lake and stopped at Tongariro National Park for a short (1.5hrs) loop walk past some waterfalls. Tada! (picture left) Then we stopped by another waterfall so those with no further will to live could jump off it and go for a swim! Funnily enough, getting into my swimsuit and jumping off a cliff into freezing water when it was drizzling while having the rest of the people on the bus watch and hope I make an a$$ of myself didn't appeal.... guess it would have made a nice "first time I..." notch on the belt. Oh well! Anyway, TADA! for the picture of the falls that I took while fully clothed, waiting for the people to jump and make complete a$$es of themselves. :)

Then onto River Valley! River Valley is essentially a hostel in the middle of nowhere, by the side of a river. The reason for its existence is to provide a center from which you can go rafting on the river. BUT, minor glitch -- no water = no rafting.

Dang it.

Never mind, I've rafted before, it wouldn't have been a first anyway... So, instead, I booked the only wood-burning sauna in the place, and proceeded to sweat it all out for nearly 1.5hrs. The Danish girl I was travelling with bravely tried the shower ooutside labelled as "cold water therapy" - it was freezing! So then we got into a rhythm of sauna/shower/sauna/shower. It was great, but I think I caught a cold... So my "something new / first" for the day was a wood-burning sauna under the stars!

Did I mention that the exhaust wasn't working properly and the smoke came back into the sauna instead of being expelled outside, thus making us smell like "smoked human" ? Ah well, minor detail! Might explain my "smokers cough" though... hehehehehhe

Party till you drop! Literally.

Urgh.... urrgggghhhhh.

Last night a group of us went out into Napier to find the hip, happening, party scene of this Art Deco town. Since we couldn't find it (because it doesn't exist), we went to the Irish pub instead and played drinking games. I joined in with diet coke and later even expanded with one cocktail. Following the imbibing of courage by all, we braved the local latino tunes bar (which was empty) and proceeded to spend quality time until 4am dancing to all manner of tunes... except Latin music?! (Picture: Bianca, Kelly, me!)

This morning, the rest had to leave early on the 9am bus back to Taupo. I had elected to stay on for 2 days to explore Napier(and do laundry). Bianca (also Dutch) stayed on in Napier too - so we decided to do some sightseeing. The combination of high heels, late night and bruising my ankle "forced" me to find another mode of transport than the usual bicycle. Enter new thing for today: the Scooter! It was meant to be: Hot Pink, retro, enough space for 2!

We toured Napier, saw lots of art Deco buildings, beachfront promenade, blue skies and red skin. It reminds me a bit of Miami South Beach! We got lost, saw a lot of farmland, visited the Chocolate factory (horrible chocolate though!), picknicked in a park and just had a great time.

This is what holiday is all about. I love scooters.

Incommunicado - The East Cape Experience (Part 3: 8 hour drive to Napier)

After a nice refreshing sleep of about 3 hours, I jumped out of bed to begin the hike up the hill. Leading the way with my hot-pink mini maglite, most of the party was able to avoid stepping in the free-range cow, sheep, pig, horse etc manure. We made it up the hill in record time and spent the next 1.5hours freezing and huddling. Unfortunately it was really cloudy, so after 1.5 hours freezing at the top of the hill and watching a band of cloud turn pink, we (the more intelligent specimens in the group) made the informed decision to wait no longer and go have a shower back at the dorms. Not 5 minutes after we left, the sun burst through and apparently the people who toughed it out got absolutely wonderful pictures. Fine. Great. Wonderful! So, here's the best of mine, you'll just have to admire the cloud!


OK, I'm not a fan of long plane journeys, train journeys, car journeys etc. I pretty much like instant gratification. However, after an 8 hour bus journey along windy roads in the middle of nowhere, I say "that was surprisingly fun!".
Here's why.

We left Rangitukia and headed out onto the highway to encounter several large groups of sheep wandering along the HIGHWAY. They were all running ahead of the bus, slowly, and there was no way around them. Suddenly, up ahead, another car approached from the opposite side and the sheep turned around EN MASSE and started charging our way. It was great! I managed to get one picture and cool little film of the Wave of Wool.

We then stopped at the Longest Pier which runs 660m out into the ocean. At the end of it, our busdriver took off his pants to show his grey underwear and leapt off the end of the pier. 5 minutes later, he climbed up a pilon with a load of fresh mussels he had plucked right off the pier! (he's the guy on the left -->)

The rest of the trip went by surprisingly quickly as we used iPods ot DJ on the bus soundsystem, made stops here and there and generally had fun with everyone on the bus. I might just suggest that to BA on the way home: "How about I go to the cockpit and play some tunes from my iPod so everyone can sing/scream/hum along, then we can play 'I spy something beginning with...' and if you could just land in Moscow for a tiny potty-break to stretch our legs, that would be grand". Nope, I don't see it happening either. Long Live the East As bus!

Incommunicado - The East Cape Experience (Part 2: eastender Farm Stay at Rangitukia)

The next day we left the fish cemetary earlier and headed down the coast towards the next stop, Rangitukia. The East Cape is truly beautiful, especially if you have the time to explore, stay a while and relax. The kiwi experience if more of a cross between that and a Japanese sightseeing tour.... get out, take a photo, get on, drive... then spend hours in some remote location relaxing (or battling cockroaches - will get to that a bit later on.

We passed some idyllic but sad places, such as the tiny church situated on a bay where 3 prominent rugby players were buried. They were brothers and died in a car crash on a local highway on the way to their mother's birthday party. Very sad story which made the place seem surreal. And the tiny but PACKED convenience store that is the local supermarket at another town made up of about 6 houses (the store was sad because it charged me $4 for a bottle of water...).

FINALLY we arrived at the Eastender Farm Stay - basically a collection of wooden outhouses that housed dorms, toilet, shower, large room with kitchenette. Very basic, but somehow charming (for one night, everything is charming!). They had free-range pigs, dogs, horses, cows, sheep, goats. One male goat seemed to really take a liking to me and started "polishing" his horns on my legs. Each time I tried to leave, the thing would chase me down and commence polishing once more. I'm not normally scared around animals, but he had large pointy horns and they obviously needed to be polished to perfection, so I just let him get on with it.

So my first today was.... HORSE RIDING & BONE CARVING. Yup, never having ridden a horse before, and not had the urge previously to make jewelry out of dead cow's legs, I decided that I'd better do two firsts today and cover my bases for the coming days.

I got a lovely horse called Shady - a name open to different interpretations. She (mostly) did what I asked her to do, and most importantly, I didn't fall off! We had a great understanding, she would stop to graze when she was hungry, stop to drink when she was thirsty, and then trot to catch up with the others knowing I would expertly cling onto her mane shouting WHOAAAAOAOOAOAOAAA with little effect.

When we returned after a 2 hour trek, and I was once again able to walk normally, I headed off to the "shed" to do bone-carving. I had to wait my turn as only 3 people could carve at once and the other people on the trip seemed OBSESSED with every little detail. Some took 4 hours to complete their little pendant. By the time I was allowed to start, 10pm, the place was eerily dark except for inside the shed and most of the others had gone to bed. I finally finished around 11:30pm being told I must be a natural (yes, persuader - had the expert finish it off and polish it for me while I played ping pong with cockroaches). Two girls stayed upto keep me company and we spent another few hours headbanging to very loud rock music in a shed in the middle of nowhere. LUCKILY, I brought my mobile phone so we had a torch to light the way back to the dorm accross the farm yard. Another plus point - we didn't have to spend too long in the uncomfortable beds when we got in around 2am because there was a hike planned to the summit of the surrounding hills to catch the sunrise at 5am. Who needs sleep!

Incommunicado - The East Cape Experience (Part 1: Te Kaha)

No phone, no internet, so no news. I'm backdating this to show true dates as time otherwise has little meaning for me!

I spent the majority of the past week completely incommunicado. I went on the East As trip with Kiwi - which basically does a giant loop around the eastern cape of the North Island. This is where many Maoris live and few tourists go. I wonder why, its beautiful. All highways in NZ appear to be 2 lane only, one going one way, the other... going the other way. Duh. The roads in the East Cape are no different, they just have a lot more bends as they snake around mountains and beaches, and less cars.

First stop was a Family Homestead at Te Kaha. An idyllic spot, situated on a virtually private cove and beach, with a hot-tub overlooking the bay. The family that run it are Maori and were very friendly. We had one toilet and one shower for 30+ people, but somehow it was comfortable. I would have stayed longer, but for 2 things...

1) They had a walk in fridge with "freshly" caught fish. I wish I could describe the smell - it was truly gagworthy. The fridge was located just 1 metre away from the door to the dorm, and my bed was neatly situated top bunk next to the door... thus the aroma accompanied me in my dreams. I made the rash decision of simply refrigerating everything I had in my grocery bag... drinks and snack... let's just say that I don't think blueberry & rotten fish muffins will ever catch on. Best way to diet - stick it in their fridge!

2) The guy who runs the place calls everyone "Chay". After hearing hundreds of Chays compressed into just one evening, I was heartily sick of Chay. I would have garotted the next person to utter Chay after we left...

The Homestead has adapted some songs with lyrics to fit their own location... classics include "Welcome to the Homestead at Te Kaha" to the tune of Hotel California, and "Naked in the Hot Tub baby this evening" to the tune of Hot Stuff. Yes... some were better than others. The singalong was followed by the "International Idol" competition where everyone had to introduce themselves, choose a solo or team performance and commence singing. After 6 "Hi I'm X, I'm from X, and I don't know what to sing, but definitely not solo"... it was my turn. So, having been told I must do one new thing a day, and not sure if sleeping next to a fish cemetary would count, I decided to be the FIRST to do a solo. Hey, I got free lemonade all evening for my trouble... :P Of course I didn't win the competition as I was completely blown out of the water by a Dutch girl, Bianca, who was a Tina Turner in disguise!

Floatplanes ROCK!

Today I did a float-plane flight over lake Taupo, Mount Tongariro (aka Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings), Mount Ruapehu (highest volcano in NZ) and another one I've forgotten the name of. I'm so incredibly bad at the names here! If something starts with WH is pronounced FFFF... so WHAKAPAPA... :/ Been to Waitangi, which is completely different from Whitianga and going to Te Kaha tomorrow, not to be confused with Te Anau in the South. Fish is pronounced "Fuhsh" and there's a Maori name and explanation to everything. The "Back to School" feeling gets a little overwhelming at times, but HOW COOL IS THIS?!?!?!?! :P Awesome, I reckon! (trying to get the lingo while I'm here).

But I digress, back to the float-plane flight! Basically, it means a plane that takes off and lands on water - in this case lake Taupo. I got the choice seat next to the pilot... so I could take a close-up pic of the Fuel Gage nearing "E" ! Apparently the gage was broken.... hmmmm.

The views were amazing. I saw the Tongariro Crossing ( the free trip everyone else takes, meaning a 7 hour hike up rocky hills and down steep inclines). I'm glad I took a small plane though because:

- 1 saw all 3 volcanoes

- I got to sit in the cockpit of a neat little plane

- I've got unrivalled photos and video

- I didn't spend 7 hours slogging through inhospitable terrain to still see nada and break my thumb (yes, several injuries in the party that went from my bus)

I think that comes under "smart decision". :) I've now posted images - even though photos are never as good as the real thing.

Almost the greatest thing of the trip is meeting different people - met an Irish girl who went surfing with me, met an Argentinian girl who went on a hike, met a German girl that used to make cigarrettes for a living and just had dinner on my own only to be joined by a Kiwi couple wanting to know where my accent is from! :) Everyone's really friendly (apart from the English teenage girlies whose sole purpose for being here is to shag the busdriver... how they will look back and cringe...especially since the topless photos they pose for are proudly displayed in the Irish pub for all to see).

Marisa over and out - will be travelling to the remote East Cape and staying in bunk-houses on family farms for the next 3 days. I can't wait... for the Marriott at the other end of the NZ rainbow! :) hahahahahahaha

Starry Starry Night (courtesy of the Maggots at Waitomo)

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. or maybe "Ooooooooooohhhhhh, Aaaaahhhhhhhh" is better. Not sure.

I took the granny tour - had my fill of wetsuits, white water and "me against the water" type of activities for a while! The granny tour was a walking tour through the caves followed by a slow boat ride in absolute darkness through the glow worm caves. It's amazing, like looking at a magical starry sky, but better. I couldn't take any pictures inside because the little maggots (yes, they call them worms, but they're maggots) die when exposed to light. Everyone was completely silent... eerily so... it was like a Disney ride the way you experienced them as a little kid, when magic was possible and Mickey was real.

Ok, enough of the schmalz. It was good, ok? Don't go black-water rafting, go take the granny tour! Hip hip hooray for grannies worldwide making the tour possible! :)

Rest of the trip went by really fast on the way to Taupo (central volcanic plateau... quoting my Lonely Planet - thanks to Arthur!)

We passed by Huka Falls - really powerful waterfall fed from a huge lake - apparently its kayakable as 3 people did while we were there, but there is no way in HELL you'd ever get me on there. You could feel the vibrations as the water crashed down. Thanks to the sledging (yes, still in shock) I have a whole new respect for large amounts of water flowing through passages carved out of rocks. Amen. :)

Vrrrrrrroooooooom... watch the sheep! (and shave a bunny???)

Yeah! Get a motor, couple of wheels, crash helmet, hills, mud and sheep and I'm happy! Well, sort of.

Drove from Rotorua (thermal wonderland yada yada yada) to Waitomo (caves with glow-worms) today. Saw the oddest thing on the way - rabbit shearing. I kid you not, they grab the poor bunny, tie it up by its four little legs and strrrretch it out for shearing. Apparently the fuzzballs don't get hurt in this endeavour, but still, the poor little mite (Minnie in this case) looked like it was majorly hyperventilating. Could of course also be that it was hot (it was 32C and the bunny is wearing what makes the equivalent of a human XL Angora sweater) - that's the story the proprietors told us anyway!

I elected to do an activity when we arrived - Quadbiking through the hills and valleys around the caves. Quite possibly the most awesome activity I have EVER done. Beats Skydiving for value for money (quad lasts 2 hours, skydive about 40 seconds), surfing because I didn't get knocked in the schnozz by the bike, sledging because NO ONE SHOULD SLEDGE...ever... :)

Luckily, everyone else was boring and stayed at the hostel to start getting drunk (ok, their rafting was moved to the morning and there was nothing else to do... but still...) So it was just myself, a German girl from another tour company, and the guide (4th generation original Waitomo citizen). We got overalls, gumboots, a helmet and a 2-minute explanation of the quadbike and off we went! Those things are FAST! At first we went slowly up and down craggy hills and rocky paths, but soon got comfortable and were zooming up and down hills, chasing sheep! I even saw 2 wild boars... I have the pictures to prove it - if you squint the two brown blobs do look like boars! I'll upload something as soon as I get to a normal PC somewhere.

The best thing was being told to go into fourth gear and gun it down a hillside in order to make it up the other side. What he didn't say was that it was basically another massively steep slope on the other side... I made AIR! My bum left the seat, the quad floated and I was laughing my head off. Unlike sledging, I was positive I wouldn't be dying that day! Or maybe I'm just getting used to the dangerous activities on offer everywhere :) Big Red Quadbikes in Waitomo - if you ever make it here, forget about the black-water rafting and just head for the hills!

Freaky Volcanoes... does anyone smell THAT?!?!?

Rotorua, the Magic Kingdom of volcanic activity in the North Island... and a really, really bad smell... For those Dutchies amongst you - smells sort of like Erwtensoep (Pea Soup) gone beyond off... for those non-Dutchies out there - smells sort of like Pea Soup gone beyond off. :)

Does make for some nice photos though! Yesterday, after the sledging massacre, I took a walk around town... Bubbling hot pools where water is being pushed up boiling through the earth's crust - with some funky colour combinations too. The pools are all over Rotorua town, and the lake went from clear blue with ducks swimming along to milky white water thick with Sulphur around the bend (nada duckies).

You can play "Spot the Marisa" in the photograph showing the white lake! Hint: I'm the wildlife waving from the rock furthest away! This morning we went to visit the local geyser centre, as you do, and some bubbling mud pools, hot water pools used to BOIL food for parties, and were just in time to see one of the geysers erupt spectacularly!

The day I drank a river...

Hah - fooled you people who thought this would be about partying etc. Nope, I went "sledging". This means taking a thick boogie-board with handles and going down the same rapids that other people raft on. In my case, I chose the Kaiteri river near Rotorua (thermal hotspot of New Zealand) with grade 5 rapids.

Let's just say that I have never been so terrified - I actually burped because I inhaled so much water - and I would not recommend it to anyone but those that are tired of life! Well, maybe if you're 6'3" , are an olympic swimmer, have built-in body armor, and can't get "oomph" from anything else life has to offer.

They tell you - hold the hell on no matter what - jeez. I went down the first rapid, hit a massive wave, got sucked under, twirled about, hit some rock - hard, inhaled some more water, got sucked under again, got dragged into the rocky wall, got hit by another sledger out of control, and then blissfully drifted to an eddy (calmer patch) at the side. FIRST rapid... I just wanted to get the hell out, rather than hold the hell on! (that's me in the picture gasping for air!!!)

I got the picture CD, but since that's somewhere in the massive orange suitcase, I'll have to upload at a later date so you can view my shame. They actually MADE us swim against the river at the last rapid so we could SMILE at the photographer perched just above us. **Found the CD, and that's me "posing" below...

Problem: there's a grade 6 rapid around the corner and "no one goes around the corner today". Well, Marisa went around the corner because Marisa was tired from "posing", so Marisa had to be pulled back by 3 guides before completing the "round the corner". The guides were amazing and I truly think I owe them my life... and they owe me my money back as I did NOT enjoy (all) of it!! :P

My face is on FIRE!

today I left Auckland for Whitianga on Mercury Bay (Coromandel Peninsula... slightly up and to the East). Loooooong bus drives around winding roads... bleh! But still managed to fall asleep... something about being on a bus just has a hypnotic effect on me!

We drove down to Cathredral cove and I had a deja-hear of "Normally we..." when the guide explained it was closed all week due to a movie being filmed there! But, LUCKILY, the weather was bad so we could go see it. A leisurely.... picture me with tomato-head-grace... hike up and down the cliffs later, there it was... beach with statuesque rocks. I took a picture since it was an effort to get there! :)

Fly like a bird... or a really large sack of flour...

Whooopeeeeeee - or in my case more "AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH".

Did my first Skydive today at the Bay of Islands (back in Paihia after surfing) and got the (embarrassing) DVD to boot! Will be showing in global cinemas soon.

Got up nice and early, collected at the hostel, taken to the airfield, strapped into particularly unflattering suit, given 10 seconds of instruction -- literally "when we drop, put your legs to the right of the wheel, cross your arms, arch your back" -- and then taken up in a mini plane!

Had a nice scenic flight to 10,000 feet before they were close to drop zone and saw a massive cloud. It was 6,000 feet high apparently and the tandem master said "I'm not jumping into that". So, out of solidarity with Juan, I agreed I also was not jumping into THAT. Went back down, very fine landing!

20 minutes wait and I was up again, so to speak. Up to 12,000 feet... then he just kicked open the window on one side of the plane, moved me to the edge, I teetered on the side of the door with legs out into nothingness thinking "rationally, I should be clinging onto anything that's attached to the plane"... but 5 seconds later I was FLYING! What an awesome feeling.... twists to the left, twists to the right, camera in the face and SCREEEEEAAAAM :)

I love the free-falling bit, the parachute-cut-your-personals-with-the-strap-and-numb-your-arm I could happily have done without. Amazing view of the 144 islands... sure I saw every single one of them. Landing was not quite textbook, of course. Not sitting, not standing, DRAGGING because the "wind was wrong". I gathered some nice grass souvenirs from the landing strip in my shoes and my knee was somewhere behind me and underneath the instructor. I can walk, I can jog, I can JUMP for excitement so all good.

Not sure I want to go skydiving again, but I DEFINITELY want to learn to fly! Result, one step closer to PURPOSE for life ongoing. :)

Now hobbling through Auckland again! Wehey - absolutely beats sitting behind a desk!

My shoulders are mush and my nose is crushed

On the 7th, I took a bustrip up North to(ward) Cape Reinga... most Northerly point of New Zealand, where two oceans meet, yada yada yada. Well, never made it because the RAIN (recurring theme) had washed out a bridge we needed to cross, the 90-Mile-Beach (which is 60.5 miles, but a Dutchman measured and named it originally...) was one massive mudpool. The driver took us on the beach with 4 other buses in a convoy for safety. As it turns out, not a foolhardy decision. We had to pull one bus free from the mud!

The entire trip the commentary ran "Normally we'd take you up North to see Cape Reinga. Normally we'd take you to the Kauri Forest. Normally we'd drive along 90 Mile Beach and stop for photos. Normally we'd have lunch on the beach. Normally we'd stop at...." But apparently this amount of rain was not normal!

So, I figure, if I HAVE to get wet, might as well make it count and learn to surf. Hence, I booked myself into a 3 day/2 night surfschool experience at Isobar Surf in Taupo Bay(http://www.isobarsurf.co.nz/index.html). There are only 2 learners here - myself and a girl I met on the KiwiExperience bus. So practically private lessons! The place is really relaxed, with surfers dropping by to discuss swells, winds, breaks, rips and fins... a language possibly more difficult to comprehend than Mandarin!

Nicki started us on learner boards... polystyrene covered, one fin, "softer" boards that won't hurt as much when they hit you. After our first 2 hour lessons, I was given a "real" board as I seemed to be in control of my learner board. It handled really well, and I dubbed it "Fred". Well, Fred just about knocked me out. I wiped out, didn't cover my head with my arms and got knocked right in the schnozz. Bleeding nose, chocking on saltwater, grazed all over from being dragged accross the ocean floor... I emerged pathetically onto the beach. It's not broken, just hurts like hell. Since the best thing is to get right back on the horse so to speak, I grabbed Fred and went back in. Status of accomplishment: I can get up on my knees no sweat... stood for about a second and then fell off, got two feet on the board and sank when the wave ran out.

A natural I am not, but a complete hopeless case neither! Yeah! After 2 hours yesterday in pouring rain, 4 hours today in the sunshine (its baaaack!), my shoulders and arms are killing me, 3 out of 10 toes have cuts on them, my nose is "tender" to say the least...but I ALMOST STOOD ON THE BOARD. At this point that feels awesome. :) I know tomorrow I won't be able to get to the bathroom, let alone surf... but they won't take pity on me and just send me out anyway!

Rain, rain, and more rain... did I mention RAIN?

Remind me why I came to New Zealand? It obviously wasn't for the sunshine!
Left Auckland after a day of acclimatisation to go to Paihia in the North near the Bay of Islands. Amazing countryside - hills and valleys... everything a Dutch girl isn't used to. Not hot, not cold, just right... until it started to rain. Arrived in Paihia around mid-day to pouring rain. I booked a kayak excursion, but had to cancel that when I was told "the guides won't want to take you out. You wouldn't get very far with this swell anyway...". So like a sheep I joined the rest of the herd on the Excitor boat (http://www.excitor.co.nz/main.html) - basically an expensive drag-boat type of monster that races and bumps accross the waves towards the Hole In The Rock... which is a hole in a rock funnily enough. The boat is uncovered and I elected to take the last of the hazardous "extra excitement" seat in the front that came with a seatbelt... which turned out to definitely not be an unnecessary luxury. Bruised and battered, soaked to the bone, but picture of hole in the rock richer!


First night in an 8-person dorm at a hostel called the Pipi Patch. All good and well, great people, lots of laughter - until sleepytime. 2 were battling it out for World's Loudest Snore... since they tied for first place, they just elected to go in tandem for the rest of the night. I tried iPod, earplugs, ipod + earplugs - yes, it is possible - but no result. Bleary eyed I awoke to yet more rain today.

The rain just got worse and worse! Waitengi Day (New Zealand Treaty between Europeans and Maoris) was a washout...everything I wore ended up wet. 2 pairs of shoes didn't survive - feeling very fortunate that I am incapable of travelling light and thus have a further 5 pairs to choose from (excluding the high-heeled strappy sandals that are not classified as shoes). Its so bad that you're soaked as soon as you step outside! Since this is meant to be a positive blog, on the upside, means I don't need to wash my hair! Result :)

Oh. My. God.

Arrived this morning really early (7am) flights went surprisingly well. Even 24hours in a plane with 2 hours break inbetween weren't enough to bring me down... so we get to the hostel and can't check in until 1pm. Walk about, buy some sunglasses (of all the things to forget) and basically bum about until the check-in deadline hits. I got to my room with no windows (obviously...what was I thinking) to find its quite large and has a fridge! Wehey! Then I pull back the blanket to reveal... sheets covered in brown/red stains... ick. Sleepingbag decision obviously not without hickups. Open my suitcase to find my shampoo has exploded including all over my toothbrush... foaming at the mouth has a whole new meaning! And so travel beginneth. :)