So it's been couple of days again and I haven't had the time to write on my blog. So I'll give you a quick rewiev on these last few days.
We spent two days in Taupo, but since it was the easter holiday weekend, there wasn't that much to do here. We arrived Thursday afternoon, a bit before 4pm and I spend that day (what was left of it) looking for a dentist that could see me because I'd had horrible toothache for the past week or so. Finally found one, rushed to get there as I only got 30min to find the place before they closed and got some antibiotics to help ease the pain. It's ok now btw, in case someone is interested :D Will need to say dentist later on in Auckland though.. Next day was Good Friday so didn't do much on that day either. Slept in late, had a really nice breakfast at a cafe nearby and then strolled around the town and went to the movies :)
From Taupo we drove to River Valley. We stayed in this lodge that was like between the mountains there, at the very bottom next to the river. It was really cold out there with outside bathrooms and all. It was like camping actually :D I woke up at like 5am to go to the toilet in my t-shirt and was so freaking freezing... We had a really good barbeque on the evening when we arrived there and all and all I must admid that the food was super good. Just for food, I might have wanted to stay for another night too :D
Next morning we went on a 2hour horse trecking trip. That was pretty cool, nice surroundings and all that. Was a bit scary though as the hills were pretty steep and the horse was walking like right on the edge... I had to concentrate a bit too much just to controll the horse and for that reason didn't have much time to fully enjoy the sceneries. But I still liked it :) And our tour guide was complementing me the way I handled my horse so that was nice to hear :)) Like at one point we went down again on this very steep hill and she said (when I found my way down) that it was very well done as usually that horse is running down the hill instead of walking very slowly. I just thanked her for not telling me beforehand :D
From River Valley we went to Welligton where I spent two days. Again, still the easter weekend so not much to do there. Noticed right away why they call it a windy city, that it truely is. It wasn't really warm and welcomming either, not like other places where you immediately feel that it's nice to be in. There was few things I wanted to do in Wellington and one of them was to take one of the LOTR tours :D BUT as it was an easter monday, the Weta caves (as they call the studios) was closed. It's only closed for 4 days in the entire year and this happened to be one of them! So dissapointed... Then I thought I might as well take the cable car up to the botanic gardens just to spend some time there, BUT when I got to the cable car station, there was a lady there who told me it was broken. It would have taken an hour or two to fix it so I didn't want to stay and wait for it. So all I did in Wellington was wondering around the city, went to the Te Papa national museum for few hours and in the evening we went to the movies with some guys from our bus. But I do not feel too bad, as I'll probably visit Wellington again when I head down to south island for my tour, part 2, later on this year. I'll do the LOTR tour then, that's all I want from that city :D
That's about all I have to say for now, I'm currently in Taupo but only for one night. Tomorrow heading back to Auckland to finally look for that job and sort some things out like the social security number (that has hopefully arrived already) and to look for a place to rent. It would be sooooooo nice to get out of these hostels. Kind of had enough already. Miss my own peace and quiet place and own kitchen so I can start cooking my food again instead of going out every day. Ok so see you later alligators!!
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Waitomo and the Glowworm caves
So it's Wednesday 20th April and today we arrived to this very small town called Waitomo. There's really not that much to do around here, there's not even a supermarket or an ATM in this town. Can you believe that :D So I got to go to the caves this afternoon to see the glowworms. That's pretty much all you can do in this place, go to the caves.
So we got there, got our wetsuits on (yep, looking redicilous) and helmets of course, took out our tubes and head out to the caves. I was a bit scared when we got there, to the caves, as it was a very tiny place and I'm a bit (maybe an understatement, a LOT) claustrofobic so I almost got an panic attact, but I managed to calm my self down as everyone else was so exited. So we head further down to the caves and it was a bit rough path as you never knew just how deep the water was where you land your foot at. And the rocks were very sharp too at some points. So that was a bit scary. Then there were like 3 points where you stopped and you put your tube againts your bum and jumped like your back first on to the river. So water splashing everywhere when you landed and got up in my nose too :D But drifting on your tube and watching the glowworms was awesome. They are so cool creatures!
There was also this one point where they asked us to turn off the lights we had on our helmets and we had to draft along the river in total darknes. I didn't like that bit as we got smashed against the rocks some times and it scratched my hands (again, very sharp rocks). I was pleased to know though that other people were all around me, so that was calming me down :)
All and all, I would recommend the trip, but maybe only for those who do not have serious issues with claustrofobia :D It was fun afterall, drafting down the river in the caves in a tube, watching glowworms. It was a good day. We'll just have to see what tomorrow brings :)) See ya!
So we got there, got our wetsuits on (yep, looking redicilous) and helmets of course, took out our tubes and head out to the caves. I was a bit scared when we got there, to the caves, as it was a very tiny place and I'm a bit (maybe an understatement, a LOT) claustrofobic so I almost got an panic attact, but I managed to calm my self down as everyone else was so exited. So we head further down to the caves and it was a bit rough path as you never knew just how deep the water was where you land your foot at. And the rocks were very sharp too at some points. So that was a bit scary. Then there were like 3 points where you stopped and you put your tube againts your bum and jumped like your back first on to the river. So water splashing everywhere when you landed and got up in my nose too :D But drifting on your tube and watching the glowworms was awesome. They are so cool creatures!
There was also this one point where they asked us to turn off the lights we had on our helmets and we had to draft along the river in total darknes. I didn't like that bit as we got smashed against the rocks some times and it scratched my hands (again, very sharp rocks). I was pleased to know though that other people were all around me, so that was calming me down :)
All and all, I would recommend the trip, but maybe only for those who do not have serious issues with claustrofobia :D It was fun afterall, drafting down the river in the caves in a tube, watching glowworms. It was a good day. We'll just have to see what tomorrow brings :)) See ya!
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Evening out in a Maori village, Rotorua
Hello again everybody! I haven't been able to write in few days as travelling with Kiwi bus seems to be being in a constant hurry :) We do so much during the day, like take stops here and there so it's always a bit late in the afternoon when we reach our destination. It's fun that you get to see places on the way too, but then you're a bit tired when you find your next hostel...
So what have we done, we were at this little town called Whitianga yesterday, it's in Mercury Bay. Lovely place, but I wouldn't want to live there, maybe just a tad too small for my taste :D On the way there we went to Hot Water beach. That was cool. The sand there is really hot, like you couldn't really walk on it and what people do there is dig up a hole, it fills up with hot water and then you let some water from the ocean to mix up to make your own little pool there. Pretty nice, there were lots of people there in their little sand pitts. Our crew (so people from the bus, we travel with same crowd pretty much all the time) dig up a hole as well, but there wasn't enough time to dig a big one, so they managed only to sink their feet in to it :D
So Whitianga was nice, but didn't really do much there. We had some nice dinner, spagetti bolognase that the keeper of the hostel made for us and we only paid for like 3,50eur for it. So it was nice to hang out with the people from the bus that evening. Next morning we head out to Rotorua. The town it self is not that bad, a bit bigger so I almost got lost trying to find an ATM and a shoe shop as my flip flops broke, they like fell apart completely for some reason :D But here comes the story that I really wanted to share with you guys...
We headed out in the evening to this little Maori Village, where we had a really good show put out for us and a dinner, hangi, that was prepared under the ground. I will honestly never forget this evening as it was simply AMAZING!!! Like I was totally blown away by their dancing and singing and I find Maori culture really facinating. It was definately worth every single dollar I spent on it and I'd do it again in a hartbeat if offered. I actually almost cried at few points as it was so touching, silly me, I know :D They showed us also their village and told us how things were done in the old days. And that dinner, oh boy, it was yammy!! It kind of tasted like smoke, which was a bit odd, but all and all, so good. They had chicken, roast, fish, kumara (this sweet potato), potatoes, carrots, salads and desserts. The meal it self had been cooking for 3-4 hours under the ground, so you can probably imagine how good it was :))
Pictures will be posted in facebook as soon as I have some time to spend on my computer again. Time flies when you're having fun out here so excuse me for not updating my facebook like every single day. I try as I know my family and friends will be worried if I don't, but try not to freak out if you don't hear from me every day. Once I get back to Auckland and will find a job, I have more time to hang out in fb and chat with you guys :)
Got to go now, bus will be leaving soon, next destination: Waitomo. Cheerious!!
Love,
Suvi
So what have we done, we were at this little town called Whitianga yesterday, it's in Mercury Bay. Lovely place, but I wouldn't want to live there, maybe just a tad too small for my taste :D On the way there we went to Hot Water beach. That was cool. The sand there is really hot, like you couldn't really walk on it and what people do there is dig up a hole, it fills up with hot water and then you let some water from the ocean to mix up to make your own little pool there. Pretty nice, there were lots of people there in their little sand pitts. Our crew (so people from the bus, we travel with same crowd pretty much all the time) dig up a hole as well, but there wasn't enough time to dig a big one, so they managed only to sink their feet in to it :D
So Whitianga was nice, but didn't really do much there. We had some nice dinner, spagetti bolognase that the keeper of the hostel made for us and we only paid for like 3,50eur for it. So it was nice to hang out with the people from the bus that evening. Next morning we head out to Rotorua. The town it self is not that bad, a bit bigger so I almost got lost trying to find an ATM and a shoe shop as my flip flops broke, they like fell apart completely for some reason :D But here comes the story that I really wanted to share with you guys...
We headed out in the evening to this little Maori Village, where we had a really good show put out for us and a dinner, hangi, that was prepared under the ground. I will honestly never forget this evening as it was simply AMAZING!!! Like I was totally blown away by their dancing and singing and I find Maori culture really facinating. It was definately worth every single dollar I spent on it and I'd do it again in a hartbeat if offered. I actually almost cried at few points as it was so touching, silly me, I know :D They showed us also their village and told us how things were done in the old days. And that dinner, oh boy, it was yammy!! It kind of tasted like smoke, which was a bit odd, but all and all, so good. They had chicken, roast, fish, kumara (this sweet potato), potatoes, carrots, salads and desserts. The meal it self had been cooking for 3-4 hours under the ground, so you can probably imagine how good it was :))
Pictures will be posted in facebook as soon as I have some time to spend on my computer again. Time flies when you're having fun out here so excuse me for not updating my facebook like every single day. I try as I know my family and friends will be worried if I don't, but try not to freak out if you don't hear from me every day. Once I get back to Auckland and will find a job, I have more time to hang out in fb and chat with you guys :)
Got to go now, bus will be leaving soon, next destination: Waitomo. Cheerious!!
Love,
Suvi
Friday, 15 April 2011
Day tour to Cape Reinga
Got another early wake up call this morning as the bus to Cape Reinga departed at 7.10am in front of the hostel. Now I must say about this hostel first that it's so much nicer than the one in Auckaland as instead of being one big multi-storey building, our 'rooms' here are actually like little cabins. So there's shower and toilet in here, instead of going out the hall to find one, it's just so much nicer this way. And there's two seperate rooms with 4 beds in each, at least this second night here, I'm alone in the room, yey :D Ok, back to the bus...
Our first stop was at Puketi Kauri forest, where we went for a nice 5 minute walk around the forest to check out these huge Kauri trees. Then we drove on to this small village called Taipa, where we stopped to have our morning coffees at a local bakery and also grabbed some lunch from there to take with us. Then we head out to the 90 mile beach. It's actually just 65miles long, but it was named buy some farmers who just estimated the distance of the beach. They never bothered to change the name once they found out the correct number, in kilometres it's over 90 anyways so kind of right after they changed in to metric system :D Ride along the beach was pretty cool, sometimes we hit the water too so it was kind of surreal to be driving IN the ocean :) The bus we were on was especially build to do that beach drive so it was no ordinary city bus.
After getting of from the 90 mile beach we got to a place called Te Paki where the Giant sand dunes and quick sand stream is. We actually drove on the quick sand stream and were lucky not to get stuck and sink in to it. No not lucky, just with a good driver who know we'd be fine as long as we didn't make a stop while on the quick sand :) So this is the place where we got off again and took out these small boards and head out up on the dune in order to surf it down :) That walk up there was really hard and I had to stop several times to catch my breath again. That's why I only came down once as I couldn't face the coming up part again :D It was really cool I must say, it was over really quickly, but so much fun. You had to lay on the board on your belly facing the direction you were heading, so down. We all had sand absolutely everywhere afterwards. I was digging it out of my ears, all over my face and I had some sand in my hair too. But it was worth it.
After sandboarding we head out on this little beach where we had our lunch. Some of the guys went swimming, but I didn't go, the waves were coming down pretty hard so I would have had problems out there. After lunch we drove up to Cape Reinga, the northernmost place in New Zealand. We had the opportunity to plan a tree there (had to donate small amount of money to do that, about 10eur) which I did. I picked the most beautiful spot I could find up there and I planted my little tree in memory of my friend Heini who we lost in August 2009. My little tree is named Cosprosma Repens and I got the gps coordinates for it, so I can find it with Google Earth and see via satellite on how it's growing, pretty neat right :)) I can show you guys when I get home where exactly my little tree is. I also like the fact that I've now left something behind in New Zealand, something that will keep on growing well after I've left the place :)
After that we walked down to the lighthouse and saw the spot where the two oceand meet, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. You could actually see the white waves there coming from two different directions.
And before I forget, I wanted to also tell you that Cape Reinga is very spiritual place for Maori people. It's the most sacred place in the country. This is the spot where they believe their spirits will come to move on after their bodies have passed away. Their spirit will travel here after one year after their death and take one last journey back to be with their ancestors. The spot where the two oceans meet is their passing way to the other side. Our tour guide, who was Maori, played this wooden whistle when we were about to leave the place (they play it when they're leaving from somewhere, they play it in the funerals for example) in honour of his mom who passed away few years ago to let her know he's close to her and will follow her to the other side one day too. Was hard not to cry...
After Cape Reinga we head back out to 90 mile beach as the tide was still out and that was faster way out of there than the other route. We had a quick stop at this place where they make furniture and all these other lovely carved things (like wooden jewellery and statues and such) from Kauri trees. Not the ones standing in the forest as you're not allowed to cut those down, but they dig up the trees that have been sinken in to the ground after a massive tsunami brought them down like hundreds of years ago or something like that. After that we went to have fish and chips at this lovely place in yet another small town called Mangonui.The BEST fish and chips I've ever had. This place is famous of it's fish and chips and mainly because the fish they serve is always fresh. Not more than a day old. Soooooooo yammy! This probably ruined all the other fish and chips for me :D Well maybe not, I just love them... :)
And here we go then, we head back to Paihia and arrived here around 6pm. Day well spend on a bus with a brilliant driver who told us all the lovely stories about Maori people and a lot about New Zealand history too. Was well worth to spend that extra (about) 40eur on this day trip :))) Pictures are already on facebook so please do have a look, I always like reading the comments you left on my pictures :)))
All good, tomorrow is another day here in Paihia, I'll let you know again what I've been up to ;) Good night for now and see ya! <3
Our first stop was at Puketi Kauri forest, where we went for a nice 5 minute walk around the forest to check out these huge Kauri trees. Then we drove on to this small village called Taipa, where we stopped to have our morning coffees at a local bakery and also grabbed some lunch from there to take with us. Then we head out to the 90 mile beach. It's actually just 65miles long, but it was named buy some farmers who just estimated the distance of the beach. They never bothered to change the name once they found out the correct number, in kilometres it's over 90 anyways so kind of right after they changed in to metric system :D Ride along the beach was pretty cool, sometimes we hit the water too so it was kind of surreal to be driving IN the ocean :) The bus we were on was especially build to do that beach drive so it was no ordinary city bus.
After getting of from the 90 mile beach we got to a place called Te Paki where the Giant sand dunes and quick sand stream is. We actually drove on the quick sand stream and were lucky not to get stuck and sink in to it. No not lucky, just with a good driver who know we'd be fine as long as we didn't make a stop while on the quick sand :) So this is the place where we got off again and took out these small boards and head out up on the dune in order to surf it down :) That walk up there was really hard and I had to stop several times to catch my breath again. That's why I only came down once as I couldn't face the coming up part again :D It was really cool I must say, it was over really quickly, but so much fun. You had to lay on the board on your belly facing the direction you were heading, so down. We all had sand absolutely everywhere afterwards. I was digging it out of my ears, all over my face and I had some sand in my hair too. But it was worth it.
After sandboarding we head out on this little beach where we had our lunch. Some of the guys went swimming, but I didn't go, the waves were coming down pretty hard so I would have had problems out there. After lunch we drove up to Cape Reinga, the northernmost place in New Zealand. We had the opportunity to plan a tree there (had to donate small amount of money to do that, about 10eur) which I did. I picked the most beautiful spot I could find up there and I planted my little tree in memory of my friend Heini who we lost in August 2009. My little tree is named Cosprosma Repens and I got the gps coordinates for it, so I can find it with Google Earth and see via satellite on how it's growing, pretty neat right :)) I can show you guys when I get home where exactly my little tree is. I also like the fact that I've now left something behind in New Zealand, something that will keep on growing well after I've left the place :)
After that we walked down to the lighthouse and saw the spot where the two oceand meet, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. You could actually see the white waves there coming from two different directions.
And before I forget, I wanted to also tell you that Cape Reinga is very spiritual place for Maori people. It's the most sacred place in the country. This is the spot where they believe their spirits will come to move on after their bodies have passed away. Their spirit will travel here after one year after their death and take one last journey back to be with their ancestors. The spot where the two oceans meet is their passing way to the other side. Our tour guide, who was Maori, played this wooden whistle when we were about to leave the place (they play it when they're leaving from somewhere, they play it in the funerals for example) in honour of his mom who passed away few years ago to let her know he's close to her and will follow her to the other side one day too. Was hard not to cry...
After Cape Reinga we head back out to 90 mile beach as the tide was still out and that was faster way out of there than the other route. We had a quick stop at this place where they make furniture and all these other lovely carved things (like wooden jewellery and statues and such) from Kauri trees. Not the ones standing in the forest as you're not allowed to cut those down, but they dig up the trees that have been sinken in to the ground after a massive tsunami brought them down like hundreds of years ago or something like that. After that we went to have fish and chips at this lovely place in yet another small town called Mangonui.The BEST fish and chips I've ever had. This place is famous of it's fish and chips and mainly because the fish they serve is always fresh. Not more than a day old. Soooooooo yammy! This probably ruined all the other fish and chips for me :D Well maybe not, I just love them... :)
And here we go then, we head back to Paihia and arrived here around 6pm. Day well spend on a bus with a brilliant driver who told us all the lovely stories about Maori people and a lot about New Zealand history too. Was well worth to spend that extra (about) 40eur on this day trip :))) Pictures are already on facebook so please do have a look, I always like reading the comments you left on my pictures :)))
All good, tomorrow is another day here in Paihia, I'll let you know again what I've been up to ;) Good night for now and see ya! <3
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Greetings from Paihia, Bay of Islands!
So I arrived today to little town called Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Now when I say little, I really mean little. There's like one mainstreet, where most of the shops are and then there's one road going along the beach and that's it. I think the bus driver said that the population is 4,500 but I couldn't get google to confirm, google said it was less than 2,000 which seems about right to me. But there's like 144 islands in Bay of Islands area, so I think it depends on what parts do you count as Paihia and what not.
There's not much to tell about today as I really didn't do much. Weather was a bit dodgy, was dripping a bit here and there, so I just strolled around the town, went for lunch and walked on the beach. There was also farmers market in town today, so I had a nice crepés with nutella for dinner :D Do you know what it feels like when you try to eat and there's about 10-20 seagulls gazing at your food? Not very nice I can tell you. I was sure they were going to attact me at any second. But they didn't, good seagulls, nice seagulls. Please don't peck me.
I decided on the bus, on our way here, that's I'd do the Cape Reinga tour as well, even though it's not included on my bus pass (just means I have to pay extra again). Our driver made it sound so nice and once I'm up here anyways, why not. So that's tomorrow, heading up bright and early again, departure is at 7.10am. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight and not like last night, hardly slept at all. I think I'm just too exited when I'm about to go somewhere so I kept on waiking up all night long. 'Is it morning yet? Can I get up now? Is it time to go already?'
Oh and I met some nice people today, I got one 'roommate' from Chile and another from Germany. I also met some Brittish at the bar this evening, had few pints with them. It's nice to meet people from all over the world, but sadly their plans are usually so different from yours, so you might only get to spend like a day or two with them. Like these current roommates of mine, they are both leaving tomorrow. Oh and if you think you're envious of me, you should here the travel stories that the other backpackers have here!!!! Man, I'm envious of them :D Some of them have been travelling for months and to more than just one country. That would be so cool to do, but I guess that just needs a lot of saving first. Or a very rich relative. I have non. No, just kidding, I'm not that envious actually, I know I couldn't live a hostel life for very long. I mean it's ok for now, but I really do want to find a job in order to be able to afford to rent an appartment, or a room actually.
Well anyways, I guess I need to sign off now and get some sleep before tomorrows big trip, so see ya later alligator (if there is anyone reading these anyways.. ;)) !!
There's not much to tell about today as I really didn't do much. Weather was a bit dodgy, was dripping a bit here and there, so I just strolled around the town, went for lunch and walked on the beach. There was also farmers market in town today, so I had a nice crepés with nutella for dinner :D Do you know what it feels like when you try to eat and there's about 10-20 seagulls gazing at your food? Not very nice I can tell you. I was sure they were going to attact me at any second. But they didn't, good seagulls, nice seagulls. Please don't peck me.
I decided on the bus, on our way here, that's I'd do the Cape Reinga tour as well, even though it's not included on my bus pass (just means I have to pay extra again). Our driver made it sound so nice and once I'm up here anyways, why not. So that's tomorrow, heading up bright and early again, departure is at 7.10am. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight and not like last night, hardly slept at all. I think I'm just too exited when I'm about to go somewhere so I kept on waiking up all night long. 'Is it morning yet? Can I get up now? Is it time to go already?'
Oh and I met some nice people today, I got one 'roommate' from Chile and another from Germany. I also met some Brittish at the bar this evening, had few pints with them. It's nice to meet people from all over the world, but sadly their plans are usually so different from yours, so you might only get to spend like a day or two with them. Like these current roommates of mine, they are both leaving tomorrow. Oh and if you think you're envious of me, you should here the travel stories that the other backpackers have here!!!! Man, I'm envious of them :D Some of them have been travelling for months and to more than just one country. That would be so cool to do, but I guess that just needs a lot of saving first. Or a very rich relative. I have non. No, just kidding, I'm not that envious actually, I know I couldn't live a hostel life for very long. I mean it's ok for now, but I really do want to find a job in order to be able to afford to rent an appartment, or a room actually.
Well anyways, I guess I need to sign off now and get some sleep before tomorrows big trip, so see ya later alligator (if there is anyone reading these anyways.. ;)) !!
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Heading up North!
So I got sunburned today, I was sitting in the park, reading a book for about 3hours and of course I got sunburned in few places (hands mostly). Why does that happen, like every time? There are always little spots you just don't think of to spread the stupid lotion on to and that's where you get burned of course. For me it's the skin underneath the top shoulder straps, so when the shoulder starps were not in their place the whole time, that's when my pale white skin was exposed. Not that anyone cares (just needed to share anyways), except me who has to put on the heavy backpack tomorrow, that's gonna be painful.
Ok so about tomorrow. I'm gonna start using the bus pas I bought for Kiwi Experience busses and head up north to Bay of Islands/Paihia. I got room there booked, in a hostel of course, for 3 nights and then I'll come back to Auckland for a day and after that head down south. My original plan was first to get here and start looking for a job immediately and then travel, BUT I realized that because it's so lovely weather now and might not be so nice in a week or two, so I'll do the traveling part now and then look for a job. And anyways, I have to wait for about 2 weeks to get my social security number, so there's no point looking for a job now as I can't get any until I got that number.
So the new plan now is to tour around the north island for about a week or two and then look for a job. Hopefully I'll be able to find something, earn some money and then do the south island travelling in a few months or so. The bus pass I got will cover both islands, north and south, pretty much goes around the islands and I can stop where ever I want on the way for as long as I want.
That's it for now, I'll be posting from Paihia next time to let you know what it's like up there :) :) kisses and hugs to all my loved ones *mwah*
Ok so about tomorrow. I'm gonna start using the bus pas I bought for Kiwi Experience busses and head up north to Bay of Islands/Paihia. I got room there booked, in a hostel of course, for 3 nights and then I'll come back to Auckland for a day and after that head down south. My original plan was first to get here and start looking for a job immediately and then travel, BUT I realized that because it's so lovely weather now and might not be so nice in a week or two, so I'll do the traveling part now and then look for a job. And anyways, I have to wait for about 2 weeks to get my social security number, so there's no point looking for a job now as I can't get any until I got that number.
So the new plan now is to tour around the north island for about a week or two and then look for a job. Hopefully I'll be able to find something, earn some money and then do the south island travelling in a few months or so. The bus pass I got will cover both islands, north and south, pretty much goes around the islands and I can stop where ever I want on the way for as long as I want.
That's it for now, I'll be posting from Paihia next time to let you know what it's like up there :) :) kisses and hugs to all my loved ones *mwah*
The Story so far...
Took me a while to get this blog started, but here we go, my very first blog ever :) I need to quickly tell you what has happened so far (not that I even remember all, like what did I do that and that day...) to get you up to speed. So I left on my little adventure on 1st April, 2011. My plane departed from Helsinki-Vantaa to Amsterdam where I changed planes and flew to Hong Kong, where I arrived 2nd April.
Hong Kong was pretty cool city. I really liked that it had mountains and tall skyscrapers like everywhere you looked at. Really nice scenery. People there were not so friendly though, I think it's because everyone seemed to be in a rush all the time, like if you went to take a metro or something, there were people just pushing you out of their way in order to get there first. So this is not a place I'd like to live in, not even visit again to be honest. But I did do all kinds of cool stuff while I was there. Like travelled on the worlds longest outdoor escalators, went up to the mountain on Lantau Island with the Ngong Ping cablecar to see the world's biggest Buddha, took a tram up to Victoria Peak in the evening (I was going in the afternoon, but had to queue to the tram for 1hour 40min, so it was already dark once I got up there) to see Hong Kong in the dark, that was breathtaking!! Absolutely amazing view from up there <3 So that was pretty much the mainpoints from Hong Kong, check my pictures from facebook if you haven't already :) :)
So I spend 4 days in Hong Kong, I left there 6th April and early in the morning of 7th, I finally arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, my new home <3 Passport check and customs were surprisingly easy, I thought I'd get interviewed or something, but no, nothing. They asked for my workvisa, but didn't even look at it properly. I guess it doesn't make a differens at that point, you can't get a job in the country if it's not sorted out, so it would be kind of your own fault if there was something wrong with it.
So it was Thursday when I got here, was so tired that day due to lack of sleep on the plane getting here from Hong Kong, so I slept through the entire day. Now I must admid again, it's a bit blurry what I did on which day (I should check my facebook status for every day so far ;D ). Friday I just strolled around the city, trying to get familiar with the surroundings, visited the Sky Tower, took some photos from up there and so on. Saturday I went for Dolphin and Whale watching adventure, spent the entire day at the say which was just LOVELY!! I highly recommend this. Dolphins were swimming just next to the boat so I got tons of pictures of them and we even saw a whale!! We actually followed quit a bit on that whale, so everyone got a good look at it, it was just massive!
Sunday, what did I do on Sunday... oh yeah, I was walking around the city pretty much the entire day. I also went to Auckland Museum, got my private tour with Russian guy named Alex, couldn't understand half of what he said, so wasn't that good experience. Was ok, but I think I'm just not a museum going person after all ;D On Monday I took this Auckland city tour, that was free for me, as I purchased this Kiwi Experience bus pass (I get to travel around the country with that one), that was pretty nice. We went up on this volcano, Mount Eden, which was pretty awesome as you could see the entire city from up there. We also go to take this bridge walk, under the harbor bridge, so we had our helmets and harness' on and we took a stroll under the bridge. There were few people there doing bungy jumps as well, but I didn't dare. I would never... :) Then we went to this small village to have some lunch, fish and chips, and came back to the city. In the afternoon I did some important stuff like opening my bank account and applying for the social security number which I need to wait now for about 2 weeks and only when I get it, then I can apply for a job.
Then we've finally reached until today, this I can remember what I did, I went to the zoo :)) Correction, I got a bit lost first with the bus and then I went to the Zoo :D It was a nice zoo I must say, not as big as Dublin Zoo for example, but it was nice anyways. It was gorgeus day again so why not spend it at the zoo, getting some suntan and entertainment at the same time :))
Ok, I believe this was it the, the story of my trip so far. Everyone still with me? No one is asleep? ;) hihih
Better get used to my long stories as they tend to always work out that way once I get exited. So I better sign off for now, I'll be back once I got more news for you, see ya!! *mwah* <3
Hong Kong was pretty cool city. I really liked that it had mountains and tall skyscrapers like everywhere you looked at. Really nice scenery. People there were not so friendly though, I think it's because everyone seemed to be in a rush all the time, like if you went to take a metro or something, there were people just pushing you out of their way in order to get there first. So this is not a place I'd like to live in, not even visit again to be honest. But I did do all kinds of cool stuff while I was there. Like travelled on the worlds longest outdoor escalators, went up to the mountain on Lantau Island with the Ngong Ping cablecar to see the world's biggest Buddha, took a tram up to Victoria Peak in the evening (I was going in the afternoon, but had to queue to the tram for 1hour 40min, so it was already dark once I got up there) to see Hong Kong in the dark, that was breathtaking!! Absolutely amazing view from up there <3 So that was pretty much the mainpoints from Hong Kong, check my pictures from facebook if you haven't already :) :)
So I spend 4 days in Hong Kong, I left there 6th April and early in the morning of 7th, I finally arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, my new home <3 Passport check and customs were surprisingly easy, I thought I'd get interviewed or something, but no, nothing. They asked for my workvisa, but didn't even look at it properly. I guess it doesn't make a differens at that point, you can't get a job in the country if it's not sorted out, so it would be kind of your own fault if there was something wrong with it.
So it was Thursday when I got here, was so tired that day due to lack of sleep on the plane getting here from Hong Kong, so I slept through the entire day. Now I must admid again, it's a bit blurry what I did on which day (I should check my facebook status for every day so far ;D ). Friday I just strolled around the city, trying to get familiar with the surroundings, visited the Sky Tower, took some photos from up there and so on. Saturday I went for Dolphin and Whale watching adventure, spent the entire day at the say which was just LOVELY!! I highly recommend this. Dolphins were swimming just next to the boat so I got tons of pictures of them and we even saw a whale!! We actually followed quit a bit on that whale, so everyone got a good look at it, it was just massive!
Sunday, what did I do on Sunday... oh yeah, I was walking around the city pretty much the entire day. I also went to Auckland Museum, got my private tour with Russian guy named Alex, couldn't understand half of what he said, so wasn't that good experience. Was ok, but I think I'm just not a museum going person after all ;D On Monday I took this Auckland city tour, that was free for me, as I purchased this Kiwi Experience bus pass (I get to travel around the country with that one), that was pretty nice. We went up on this volcano, Mount Eden, which was pretty awesome as you could see the entire city from up there. We also go to take this bridge walk, under the harbor bridge, so we had our helmets and harness' on and we took a stroll under the bridge. There were few people there doing bungy jumps as well, but I didn't dare. I would never... :) Then we went to this small village to have some lunch, fish and chips, and came back to the city. In the afternoon I did some important stuff like opening my bank account and applying for the social security number which I need to wait now for about 2 weeks and only when I get it, then I can apply for a job.
Then we've finally reached until today, this I can remember what I did, I went to the zoo :)) Correction, I got a bit lost first with the bus and then I went to the Zoo :D It was a nice zoo I must say, not as big as Dublin Zoo for example, but it was nice anyways. It was gorgeus day again so why not spend it at the zoo, getting some suntan and entertainment at the same time :))
Ok, I believe this was it the, the story of my trip so far. Everyone still with me? No one is asleep? ;) hihih
Better get used to my long stories as they tend to always work out that way once I get exited. So I better sign off for now, I'll be back once I got more news for you, see ya!! *mwah* <3
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