How to spend your redundancy settlement

I’m going to start off with two apologies. Firstly – If any words are missing a “h” its not my fault. The “h” key is a little dodgy. Secondly – I know I’m crap and apologise for my lack of updates in the past.

19^th November – The flight to Auckland from Santiago was rather uneventful. I had to fly Via Buenos Aires and had a 11 hour layover there which was shit but meant that I could catch up on some sleep and my diary that I hadn’t written for approximately a month. Oooh there was soo much to write. Hopefully I’ll be able to remember so that I can put it on here soon.

21^st November – The main event of the flight from Santiago was that I crossed the date line causing me to never experience the 20^th November 2010. It just didn’t exist for me.

After landing I got the short Airport transfer to the centre of Auckland. I had managed to book my bed for the day that didn’t exist but luckily the hostel didn’t mind and changed my booking for free. After dumping my bags I went and found the Magic bus office and booked my tickets. Magic bus is a hop-on hop-off tourist bus that drives around New Zealand and you simply hop on and off were ever you please and can stay in those places as long as you want.

The girl in the Magic bus office had told me that Devonport was nice so I headed to the dock to get some Jandals (flip-flops to you and me). My trusty flip-flops that had got me around 90% of South America were showing signs, in the shape of chunks missing etc, that they should probably be replaced. It was a sad time. I then went and got an amazing ice cream and my boat ticket. TBH I think that I could have stayed there all day eating ice cream, the memory of the flip flops was long forgotten.

Once in Devonport I went for a walk. I had noticed that there is a “Cheltenham” in Devonport so decided to head towards there.  I headed up a dormant volcano, small hill, and surveyed Devonport. My conclusions were, “Small” and “Village-y”. I then went to Cheltenham and took some obligatory pictures.

By this time lunch, and my stomach, was calling. I went to a nice bar that was serving very nice meatball subbs. As I was tucking in none other than Rosie Gray, from the actual Cheltenham, walked past me, this really is a very small world. She was about to go to a food festival in Auckland so we got the ferry together and I went with her.

I then headed back to my hostel. In my room I met a number of girls including Sharon who studied at the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham, Seriously the links to Chelt today in edging on ridiculous. After a good chat I ended up crashing on my bed at about 6:00 and slept straight through.

22^nd November – Woke up early to catch my Magic bus to Pahia. After leaving the “City of sails” over the harbour bridge we headed north, passing bright pink sheep, for 45 minutes before stopping for breakfast in a nice café. I had met a Dutch guy called Arjen on the bus and we ad been chatting most of the way. After breakfast we continued on our trip up to Pahia. When we arrived I checked in to my hostel and booked on a 4 hour dolphin watching trip through The Bay of Islands. Soon after leaving the harbour we were told that Killer Whales had been spotted in the bay so we quickly headed towards that sighting spot. When we got there we saw about 6 whales. I took a load of photos but unfortunately they weren’t jumping out f the water so only saw their backs and noses.

After watching the whales for a while we went through the whole in the rock and then to a really nice bay where we went onto the beach for a quick drink. We then sailed around the islands for a wile before heading back to the port. In the evening the passengers from the bus went to a BBQ at one of the hostels so we all had a few drinks and a good chat. A bit later on a few of us also went off to a karaoke bar for a short sing.

23^rd November – When I got up I went and met Pam and Becky who I met the night before. We had decided to rent kayaks so we went and got a few out. When we got on the water we decided to go to the town of Russell that is across the water. Russell was the original capital of New Zealand and is now a small quaint town. When we arrived we dragged our kayaks onto the beach and went to get a sandwich. I got a beef sandwich as I had been craving horseradish. After lunch we went back to Pahia which was much harder in this direction as we were going against the current.

In the afternoon I chilled out in Pahia and the hostel. Two Irish girls checked into my room so I had a chat with them before getting Fish and Chips (pronounced fUsha n’ chUps) and joining them at a pub quiz. I have an early start tomorrow however so left before the quiz had finished.

24^th November – Today I am going on a trip to Cape Reinga (pronounced Ray-An-Ga) in the far north of the island. Our guide for the day was a Maori called Rob who was very funny and a really good guide. Our first major stop was the very north of the cape. This is where the Maori people believe that their souls leave New Zealand and dive into the sea when you die. There is a really nice lighthouse at this point and the obligatory signs to major world cities. We then went to a nice beach in the eastern side of the cape to have our lunch and a dip in the sea.

In the afternoon we went to the sand dunes at the top of 90 mile beach and went sand boarding. It was really good fun but one girl did stack and went about 2 meters along the sand on only her face. I dubbed this “extreme exfoliation” tbh I don’t think its going to catch on and make me much money. We ten drove over some quick sand, and rob had the coach sideways, before going on to 90 mile beach and driving down it. The beach is a classified road and it’s quite funny because the road running alongside the beach has a 50 kph limit while the beach is 100 kph. On the way back we stopped off for fish and chips. In the evening I just passed out on my bed at about 6:00.

25^th November – Today I leave Pahia and return to Auckland. Our route went via Opononi on the west cost and Waipoua Forrest where “Tane Mahuta”, god of the forest, a giant Kauri (pronounced Cory) tree that is approximately 200 years old is. Once I arrived in Auckland I checked in and went into town With Becky to buy the book “Shantaram” (btw this book is amazing!!! Read it!!) and in the evening we went to watch the new Harry Potter film.

26^th November – Left Auckland for Rotarua. On the bus I met a guy called Nathan who seams cool. We started by going to Mt Cook which has good views out over Auckland. We then went to Paeroa where the “World Famous in New Zealand” lemon and Paeroa is from. This is a Lemon fizzy water drink that’s really nice and should defo come to the UK in the future.

After a few obligatory photos with a giant bottle we moved on to Hobbiton where Lord of the Rings (no never seen even 1 minute of them) was filmed and the new Peter Jackson film The Hobbit is about to start filming (probably finished and out on DVD by the time you get to read this as I’m so crap at updating this blog).

We then continued on to Rotorua. You know when you’re in Rotarua by the smell. It is home of natural hot mud baths and these small of sulphur (rotten eggs). I was staying in a non Magic bus affiliated hostel called Crank and it was really cool (also it was run by a very friendly Argentinean couple who wanted to know about where I went and what I thought of Argentina). It was also running a very good accommodation/cultural experience/mud pool deal that couldn’t be missed.

Soon after arriving I departed for my cultural experience. I went to a place owned by the Maitai tribe/family to watch the show and experience their traditional cooking. The evening started by selecting a “Chief” for our “Tribe” (marquee). We then went to have a look at the “Hangi” which is a traditional Maori way of cooking under the ground on hot rocks. On my table were two Dutch guys that I had actually met on the bus, an Australian girl called Brooke, who happens to be in my room I discover as we get back to the hostel, and a Canadian couple called Danielle and Darrell who are also in my hostel.

We were then taken to see the show. It started near a small river where we were shown how the Maori’s sailed and some of their fighting songs in the boats. We were then led to the staging area where we were shown dancing, fighting, training and traditional leisure activities (before the Xbox arrived). We were also shown a number of “Haka” dances which are really cool. Once the show was over we returned to our marquee to eat an amazing meal of everything you can think of and tons of it. After dinner we were taken on a glow worm walk in the dark and had a number of the plants described to us and beliefs/medicines the Maori’s attached to them.

After everything was finished we were bussed to our hostel however myself along with Broke, Darrell and Danielle decided to go and get a drink before bed.

27^th November – today was a free day in Rotarua. Firstly I decided to take advantage and have a lie-in.  I then pottered around and did travel admin sort of stuff. At 1:00 I was collected and take to “Hells Gate”. This is where the hot mud baths are. After walking around the mud pools that you can’t get in, they would burn or melt your skin right off, I got into the mud bath and covered myself with smelly mud. In the evening I went with Brooke, Danielle, Darrell and a new roomy called Lennie for dinner in a bar across the road before everyone went climbing in the rock climb centre at our hostel. I had a go on the free climb wall, no ropes just mats on a big overhang, and actually managed to complete tie course. Yay to me. I did however manage to kick the wall as I was climbing barefoot and started bleeding. Oops. After we went to the Pig and Whistle for a quick drink before I left early leaving the others to it.

28^th November – I left Rotarua today on the Magic bus to go to Taupo. We were first taken to a Californian red wood forest. Then we went to the Lady Knox Geyser. This is pretty cool. You sit in the outside ampetheatre and one of the park rangers puts some chemicals down the spout of the geyser and then it goes mad and spurts water out about 3 stories high into the air. We then went to the Huka falls and did a walk along the side of the river. We were then taken to Taupo and to our hostel to check in. I then went for a walk with Nathan and we went to have a look at the lake. The lake is massive and is in fact larger than the whole country of Singapore. In the evening the whole bus were going to a pub so we went along and had dinner and a few drinks.

29^th November – Had a free day in Taupo so got up late and went to the supermarket to get some food for the next few days. I then went wit Nathan to town and we watched the Ashes. In the afternoon we watched “New Jack City” in the hostel and then cooked some dinner and chatted to our new room mates Cameron and Alex for the rest of the night.

30^th November – Have another free day in Taupo so got up late again. After Skype’ing home we went for a walk around Taupo and went to the beach. Unfortunately my hayfever was really playing up so I ended up going back to my room and read for the rest of the day. In the evening we finished the spag bol we had cooked the previous night and then went to the pub with Cameron and Alex as it is Cameron’s birthday. In the pub they had a movember competition on and were giving out prizes for best mo etc. They also had a pub quiz but we didn’t do very well.

1^st December – Jumped on the Magic bus as am leaving Taupo. Firstly we went to Waitomo where there are some famous caves with glow worms. We then continued on to the national park. However it was a rather hot day and when we were almost there the bus over heated and stopped working. It was ok though as after 10 mins of cooling down we were back on our way. We then went to a couple of Lord of the rings locations including Mt Doom. This all means nothing to me as I have never seen Lord of the rings. After checking in to my hostel I got chatting to some people in the kitchen area and we went for a quick pint before bed.

2^nd December – Spent the morning in the hostel as my train isn’t until lunchtime. The train was taking me back to Auckland and it was a nice train with some pretty views. We also went around the Raurimi spiral which is quite a cool piece of engineering. I arrived in Auckland at 7:00 so cooked some dinner before grabbing a drink with a German guy called Stephan that is in my room.

3^rd December – Got up early and skyped mum as I go to Fiji today and I don’t think that the islands will have internet. Afterwards I packed up and checked out and went to the airport. The flight was nice and I was sat next to two big Fijian guys and we chatted most of the way. We were greeted to Fiji in the airport by a bula band singing and dancing which was quite cool. I then headed to a hotel and booked onto an island hopping pass. I then went to the pool and met an English brother and sister called Fraser and Chloe. We went and got a pizza for dinner and then I crashed.

Please find photos at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136150&id=286602040&l=2ced7a9fcf