That is what I’ve heard, and if that’s true, I’m pretty excited for the rest of my NZ trip. I arrived here two nights ago and am already beat down and exhausted. That does not bode well for me lasting through a month at this pace!
So, back to the beginning. When I tried to book my Auckland hostel, I realized that everything was practically booked solid. I was faced with the rather unpleasant situation of having to stay in a mixed dorm (read, girls and boys). That meant two things. 1) Smelly socks and 2) chances of a death-by-snoring was imminent…for me anyway (or for the boy I would have to kill). I arrived in my room to find four 20-22 year old boys sitting around on the floor drinking beer. Of course I was the only girl in the room. We’ll creatively call boy number 1 “Brazil” (cause he was, in fact, Brazilian. What he lacked in English skills, he more than made up for in sheer bulk (he was on the…um, heavy side). We’ll call the second one “Frenchie." I shouldn’t have to tell you why, and his English was even worse than Brazil’s. The other two were also Brazilian, and collectively, they could say "hello, it is my birthday." You can imagine how the initial introductions went; the whole affair took about 20 minutes to get through.
Well, I wanted to go out (it was 2 hours earlier for me, as I was on Australia time) and these guys were going to the hostel bar next door so I figured I’d roll in with them and hopefully find some English speakers to chat with. The night officially kicked off with me challenging two British plumbers to a pool game (which I promptly lost). After that, the guys I came in with were headed to the harbor and I really wanted to see that area while I was in Auckland. At that point, they were nice enough (even though trying to talk with them gave me a massive headache) and I figured, oh why not, I could always go back to the hostel bar and wander about if I didn’t like the harbor. Out motley crew arrived at a pretty fun irish pub, but I was beginning to grow bored of their company (and of the lascivious stares of Frenchie), and wanted to leave to go somewhere else. But--oh no! Frenchie decided he wanted to stay at the pub and left me with Brazil. Great. When there were two of them, I didn’t feel bad about ditching them, but now there was only one so I was stuck. I figured it would be prudent at that point to go back to the hostel and call it a night, but luckily, when we returned, we met a group of Swedes who spoke lovely English and were quite entertaining, and figured out immediately that I was a damsel in distress. So I went back out with them, and Brazil sullenly went back to the hostel. We all went back to the irish pub and it was so much more fun having a group of people to hang out with rather than one lone random (which is effectively what I was, so I guess I shouldn’t be knockin' em). But then, who wandered over to the table? A very drunk and very solo Frenchie (who had opted to stay at the bar earlier in the night). Oh man, was he wasted. The following ridiculousness ensued:
Frenchie (insert VERY heavy pepé le peu accent): Why you not talking to me?
Me (very slowly): It’s hard to understand you and my voice hurts form having to keep repeating myself above the music.
Frenchie: Eh?
Me: (repeat above sentence)
Frenchie: Eh?
(and around and around)
Frenchie: But I want you. I WANT YOU. You understand?
Me: (Praising the lord for my good fortune) Yes, I understand. I don’t want you. Sorry.
Frencie: Why not?
Me: (Looking for the fastest, least vocal-chord splitting way out) Cause I can’t understand you.
Frenchie: But, we can, eh, maybe understand each other in another way!
Me: (Entire table wet from me spitting out my drink upon hearing such poetry).
Thank god for the Swedes, they ushered me right out of there... and off to another bar, where I stayed till 4am. It was only 2 my time, so no worries right? Well, the next day was practically a wash. I did however, meet up with the swedes for lunch the next day and we went to the sky tower which is the tallest building in Auckland. I saw people base-jumping off the top and decided that I too, wanted to base jump. It was expensive, but the rush I got leaning over the edge and letting go was almost worth it. (You’re attached to a cable and you jump or dive off the edge…not exactly bungee jumping, but sort of like that). I got to go a second time for free, and because they didn’t stop me in midair the 2nd time for a photo, it was pretty much a free fall. I screamed all the way down. And the view from the top was really outstanding. So it wasn’t a total waste of a day…I didn't bother buying the pictures; I'll wait for skydiving to burn that cash.
So that night was a Saturday, and I wanted to go out so as not to waste my last night in Auckland, but my 27-year old body was not having it, so I tried to go to sleep at 11. That didn’t work out so well…the basement bar was hopping and was blasting music till 2am. It was a miserable experience trying to sleep in those conditions. I woke up the next morning, exhausted beyond belief, for a day trip to one of the islands, but ultimately didn’t feel like going alone, so I went back to the hostel to go back to sleep. On the way back, however, I met up with some other randoms I had talked to briefly the night before who were on their way to the beach. I convinced them instead, to come to the island with me, so we spend the day mountain biking around Waiheke (a beautiful island off the coast of Auckland). It was a VERY challenging ride…the island had the audacity to not be flat) and I am now totally and completely spent. Good thing they didn’t want to go kayaking after the ride, because I was dead set on doing it. Had I pushed myself to do it, it might have been the death of me. Pictured below is sexiness incarnate.
I had to be up at 6 am the next morning for the start of my New Zealand tour, so I was tucked in at 11 pm sharp. I had heard the unfortunate news the day before that the tour I booked for the entire month I'll be traveling in NZ is full of 18 year olds. Well, it was true. Apparently there was another tour company that caters to the slightly older, 25-35 age range, but I had NO IDEA. So I'm now in NZ in the far north in a hostel with kids who I think, still have baby teeth. They are now in the bar playing drinking games and I am so not in the mood. Who knows, later, there might even be a pimple-popping contest. Needless to say, I'm a bit perturbed that the entire bus is a decade younger than I am, but I guess I'll try to make the best of it.
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