Yesterday I finaly got to have a bit of a long lie. I really didnt want to get out of my warm bed into the absolute freezing cold of my room but I thought I had better give my mum and Ashley a call. I had a catch up, got myself ready and then Paul took me into Dunedin, where I had flown into a few days before, about an hour from Kaka point. Since he had no work he had a chance to show me around himself so we went and seen the sights, joined by his friend Amy since she was bored.
First we headed into "the octagon", the kind of central area, and went to a Scottish pub that Paul knew of. Had myself an Irn Bru which was awesome, it had been way too long. Next we headed up a massive hill to a viewpoint over Dunedin and the surrounding area, it totaly reminded me of the Millars back home, but on a bigger scale. There were some awesome views to be had up top, lessened a little by the mist that was everywhere but still quite impressive. After some photos we headed back into the city and toward the University campus. The buildings are all really old and stuff, kind of like Chirstchurch so it was cool to check out. We then headed over to what is apparently the steepest street in the world. It was crazy steep and we decided to give driving up a shot which might not have been the best of ideas. Half way up the car in front of us stopped and we had a bit wheelspin trying to get away from it. We managed to get to the top though. We felt accomplished.
Worn out by all the sight seeing we drove over to see Gabby, another of Paul's mates, who was working. Turned out she didnt finish for another hour so we found ourselves a pub or two and had some beers. Gabby came over, we had a few more beers and then we set off to get some tea before our big night on the town. On the way we stopped at some weird Korean place and I tried a feijoa, a fruit that they seem to have lots of over here. It was pretty tastey.
Pizza was on the cards for tea, Hell's Pizza. Its a chain pizza place (I think) thats kind of weird and gothic themed, but they had gooooood pizza. I had some form of veggie pizza, what was on it I really cant remember, and then afterwards we had a dessert pizza; pizza base with berry coulis, banana and chocolate, yum yum yum yum yum.
We drove to Gabbys flat, where we would be staying for the night to save time in the morning, ate tea, I had a bit hair straighten, a few more beers and then we headed out. To kick off our night we were going for a game of Lazer Quest (or NZs equivelent). We met up with some of Gabby's mates from Uni and there were a few girls already at the place so we had decent team sizes. We watched some lame video that explained the rules, stuck on our lazer vests, picked up our lazer guns and were taken around the "arena" so we knew what we were doing. Basically each team had a "generator" that needed to be shot 3 times in a row to score. When you shot someone on the other team their gun became disabled for like 4 seconds or something.
We were taken to our starting points and the game began. The arena had 2 floors so we had people above our generator at a window, defending. I was being a hero and attacking. It was so so so so much fun and I will definitely be doing it again when I get home. I came 2nd on the scoreboard too, aw yeah.
It was time to go out for a drink. Paul was desegnated driver for the night so he took us over into the city center. The rest of the night was spent in a couple of clubs in the city, having some pretty amusing conversation and getting very drunk. It was a properly awesome night out, best I've had in a long time! Dunedin is where it's at.
At one point a few of us decided it would be a good idea to go to a nearby Chinese which did deep fried milk as a speciality. We went in and ordered some and then somehow ended up sitting down at a table and ordering a full meal. It was pretty good but the milk was terrible, it was like snot.
As the early hours of the morning were drawing in, we headed home and I slept like a wee baby on the couch.
A few hours later I was woken by the sound of my alarm. I had a horrible hang over, was knackered, scruffy as hell and I had about 10 minutes before I had to leave for the airport. I got up, grabbed my stuff and Paul took me over to the airport. My flight wasn't too bad, I sat and tried to sleep for most of it, hoping that the people next to me didnt notice how bad I smelled.
An hour an a bit later and I touched down in Auckland where my uncle Alberto was waiting for me. We got into has car and headed over to Piha, about an hour north of Auckland, where he lives. He's having work done to his house right now so they're staying at a friends house. It is very very nice though. Piha is stunning for a start, it has a really nice beach and a big rock thats pretty famous. The house they're staying at is pretty much right by the beach. It has a lot of glass so you get amazing amazing views out over the sea. Sunset before was very impressive.
I cleaned myself up once I'd arrived, which I was definately in need of. Later Alberto took me over to their house, where the work is being done, and showed me all of it. It too is such a nice house. It's in a bit of a state right now because of all the work going on everywhere (they had a 3rd floor put ontop of the house), but when it's finished it will be absolutely amazing.
Tonight we met up with a friend of Alberto and Berend's and had tea at the local bowling club, where I witnessed a pretty heated discussion about the local communities politics. It seems that everyone definitely knows everyone elses buisness here, and they're not affraid to have a wee bitch about it.
Tomorrow I'm thinking I might just chill in Piha, maybe take a walk around if its nice enough. All in all, I've had an awesome few days with both of my Uncles and met some really cool people. I so cannot believe that I only have 1 full day left in the country. As I'm sure I've said before; I will be very sad to leave, but I cant wait to see everyone back home.
