hello! this is alison tippetts travel blog. if u have an interest in reading about my trip so far this is where to do it. if not then feel free to leave...i wont tell. anyways the trip started off very well. i flew uneventfully except for a nice chat with the man next to me on the plane from atlanta, after thanking him for the flames hockey team...he was very confused, we soon parted ways. i then landed in the San Fransico airport feeling very excited to see it for the first time.
After managing to look like a complete tourist i wandered around looking for my gate for about an hour. after reciving no help other than a machine i sat down next to this aussie man. we started chatting to waste time for the next flight i dreaded the flight knowing that it was 16 hours long and i had read 2 of the 3 magazines i brought.
the flight landed at 5 am auckland time, i got on the bus to my hostel and arrived. i checked in quickly and went to bed for about 6 hours but i couldent help but look totally shocked driving from the airport to the hostel as it was so beautiful in NZ and everyone was driving on a different side of the road, i thought we were going to crash several times and my bus driver ran at least 3 reds, maybe its more of a guideline here....
i met a girl named claire at my hostel and we became fast friends. she was heading to Buenos Aires soon and was staying for 1 night. soon after we met jeff also from england. after drinking lots and ending up at several different clubs we went to one called cassette 9 and it was alot of fun. we had teapots full of booze and got totally smashed, around 1 am i went into the room to look for calla and as she describes it (as my memory seems to have failed me) i whispered her name then "exploded" through the door to greet her and jumped on her reeking of booze. i was just happy she made it. after a 60 hour flight and airport adventure i would be dead too but she came out and met my new friends and then we passed out, or at least i think we did but calla seems to have a different story involving the mauri people, ask her as i dont remember.
the next morning lots of nice clothes shopping and we ended up in chinatown, auckland looks just like vancouver in many ways just different accents and more english people. we came back to the room and got ready to go out again
The next day was the rugby game, blues vs the top rated bulls. i was in auckland so i went with the blues the local team. rugby as it turns out is way more exciting than candian football. they have no pads and play doesnt stop when the hit the ground and if someone gets injured they just sort of play around them so the game is much more fast paced. i hope canada gets professional rugby one day i would love to watch the games there too. we came back to the bar for 2 for 1 drink night and not surprisingly got very drunk. i met my friend liam there and we went for a nice walk around auckland downtowns as we had to leave it the next day. by about midnight the bars were closing and i couldent find calla. me and liam went for a j and when we came back she was gone. i was worried, but knew she was a smart girl and could hold her own, i went to bed around 2. at about 5 am calla woke me up and after informing me she stayed up all night in the common room and was still drunk (i was as well) we packed in the dark and said goodbye to our friend rachel. we went to a burger king which was open thank god and then found the bus station not far away.
We hopped on the bus completely hungover and dead to the world hoping to sleep, the bus driver had other plans. forgetting it was 7 am and everyone was trying to sleep he proceeded to tell us all the history of new zealand and auckland and the backstory behind the shrubs to the left of the bus etc etc... he diddent seem to realize how much everyone on the bus hated it too as he would ask a question and recive no response whatsoever he continued anyway. we laid in out seats in the fetal position moaning and when we reached waitomo we couldent do the glowworm caves that day, the bus driver took one look at us and said we should stop drinking so much.
waitomo is very gorgeous and rural with lots of little black sheep and open space, but with one bar, no atm and no grocery store we knew we couldnt stay long. we felt able to do the caves the next day. they were remarkable, something you have to see to belive. we put on wetsuits and our tour guides took us through and we had lights on our heads, it was hard not to touch the stalagtites and stalagmites inside and i think me and calla set back about 5,000 years of cave growth when several small peices broke off because of our helmets. it was totally dark inside and the gloworms let off a nice teal bluish colored glow and they had long threads they use to trap prey. glowworms is just a marketing scheme because they really are maggots and the glowing part? thats their poo. but if they told the truth no one would come there; the caves are formed by water falling onto limestone and after thousands of years have evolved into these dark ever changing caverns full of water, at one point when i was standing something slippery swam in between my legs...only mine... and i dont want to know what it was. once we saw these massive spiderlike creatures that lived on the roof at the exit of the cave i think we were happy to get out. it was completley surreal though seeing how these creatures evolved to life anywhere, no matter the conditions.
We missed our bus to rotorua (cost us 3 hours off the flexipass and about 100 dollars but SOOOO worth it) and found another one that drove us thankfully as we were outta food outta cash and out of options for another hostel. vowing to not let our drinking get in the way of stuff again we made it to crash palace. haha good times in roto. the hostel had a big bowl full of candy in the foyer and constant soft reggae in the background so we all knew what type of hostel this was :P
me calla and our freind iris visited all the animals in the agrodome, we noticed somewhat poor treatment of the animals and it was sad to see the working dogs chained to poles instead of able to wander around. sometimes people need to realize that the animals are what make you money in that industry and they should be treated as such. i took some pictures of the border collies for dad and we we went zorbing which is a big plastic hampster ball u get in and roll down a hill and it was so much fun! we could only do the wet zorb as it was too windy for the strap in one we had only tee shirts and jeans and it was freezing cold. i now know what its like to be a sock in a washing machine. iris was coming back to roto and could do it when the wet zorb wasnt the only option so she opted out. getting on the bus after was interesting as we were still dripping and freezing but then once we showered it was much better. going to the pub, again we fell victim to it closing at 11 but it was ok as we drank fast and went to sleep. we had a bus ride to Taupo however and i was so excited to skydive, something thats been on the top of my bucket list since i was 5.
i was totally excited for the jump and when the day arrived we got to the skydive place and met my tandem master, he was very good at explaining what to do, and we flew up in the plane me and calla were so excited. the only part i got a bit scared was just before the jump as we hung outside the plane and posed for a picture, i looked down into the ground below looking over a dormant volcano and a huge lake scene.....then we jumped! it was completly amazing, you flip a couple times then you spread your arms out and just fall. the wind was hitting us so fast it was difficult to breathe at times and i thought i would lose my contact lens. once i fixed my goggles, we kept falling. eventually the chute was pulled and i was a bit sad we only fell about 40 seconds but it was amazing! mike gave me controls of the chute, he regretted that decision immediately as i couldnt hear a word he was saying and started steering like a crazy person. he finally took the controls back most likely totally terrified but i still had a hard time hearing him, turns out i went a bit deaf from the pressure changes and when we floated down to the ground swooping over houses and trees i felt a bit like a bird must feel. once we landed i looked over and saw calla alive and well! i was so happy to see her but i still couldnt hear anything and after a confusing half hour one of my ears came back and i even misheard the cameraman and when he said to throw the hats we wore in the air, i just threw it at him. he wasnt impressed but calla and everyone else had a good laugh.
after waking in taupo for the second day we got on the bus to wellington and it was a long ride but there were a few nice people to talk to. i got a nice picture of the sunset outside of wellington and we found our hostel and unpacked and went straight to the bar. wearing our dresses and all made up we were ready to dance after so many relaxing nights. we found out liam our friend from auckland was here too and so we hung out for a bit, after he went to bed me and calla kept drinking and dancing, there were so many guys in there we had to beat them off with a stick, i had no idea how exhausting it is to get hit on this much and me and calla were almost getting sick of it by the end of the night. it was a great confidence boost dont get me wrong but all we wanted to do that night was dance and not yell over the loud music that we were from Canada, yes it was lovely and where are you from? britain? well of course you are everyone here is.... etc etc. wellington is a windy but very pretty city, in the daytime we went shopping on cuba st. which had tons of second hand stores so we got lots of new clothes for cheap and at night we went to a comedy club and the comedians were quite funny, alot of their humor was centered around booze and pot haha, gotta give the people what they want i suppose, after that they opened the mike to kareoke and after a couple more drinks i got up and sang "because i got high" by afroman. the audience loved it, again just giving the people what they want. i realized this is the 3rd time ive sung it in kareoke now, once with katie, once with jaime and katrina and now in nz......i love that song.
chilling in windy wellington right now trying to will the rain to stop, it was so windy today it was incredible, we went to a museum that had an alice in wonderland exibit and it was kinda cool, very small but we also got to see one on a ship that crashed into the wellington harbor in 1968, judging by the wind today im not shocked to see that happen. we also saw a couple of exibits on "teenage deliquency" and public outcry over things like loitering and foul language. it was kinda odd but interesting to see the history of a country thats not your own.
Were heading to the south island tommorrow and have to be up at 6 30 am to catch the ferry than the bus but when we make it to kaikora we can sleep then. we stayed up all night for no particular reason, it just seemed smart. after sleeping for like an hour we woke up and immediatley regretted that desision, . once we arrived in kaikora we saw how many seals there are on the rocks and they were all adorable, chubby and cute. we arrived in this nice little beach town and our hostel (which im positive the movie the shining was filmed here as it looks identical to that hotel.) were glad there is no elevator here as im sure it would be full of blood. everytime we walk down the hallway we expect to see twin girls standing there asking us to play. we spent the day at the beach with some new friends simon and katie (also from england) who were into art and they showed us how to make nice sculptures and pictures by arranging different shells. the next day they took us on a nice bush walk and we found a papaya tree and once we shook a fruit loose we SEVERLY pissed off one of the local birds who chased us around and chirped at us for about 20 minutes, after we were sick of getting dive bombed by this tiny bird we escaped the bush and wandered onto the beach. we gathered more shells and took pictures of the local seals sleeping in the sun, they diddent seem to mind us walking right up to them. they are so chubby and cute but then we had to leave to catch the next bus to christchurch.
arriving in christchurch we were amazed (though we shouldent have been given the name) at how many churches were there. theres one across from our hostel in fact and we keep getting woken up by the church bells. the first night we mainly relaxed and hung out with our new roommates dan, mike and don john and they told us that the middle aged girl in the top bunk next to mine and above don john was up all night...umm giving herself a treat. don woke up becasue the bed was shaking and dan and mike woke up due to the noises, i have no idea how me and calla slept through it but thank god we did. poor don was up half the night. we went to the hostel pub for cheap drinks with our new roommates and after getting totally smashed went back to the room and passed out around 5 am. then next morning greeted us with super loud church bells that went on for seriously 15 mins each and did that seemingly every hour or so. it was horrible, like dont they realize not everyone goes to church and needs to sleep away thier sinful behaviour? but afterwards we thought it was over housekeeping came in and started vacuuming. it was horrible on our headaches. dan and mike had already left for dunedin and me calla dj and paul (another roommate that was watching football all night) went for breakfast. he told us that last night someone threw a drink at the tv and it no longer works, so much for watching movies all day. we arrived there and found our hostel that was in fact a windy old house with lots of bedrooms.
we woke up the next day completley stoked that it was 420 (which is marijuana day) so we celebrated the only way we knew how....by smoking out of an apple bong and going to the cadbury chocolate factory for a tour. we first used the apple then had an epic conversation about sinks having babies with the taps being the parents... we got a few stares, we soon realized that 4 20 is not as big here, its all about j-day which is may 4th, dont worry that will be celebrated as well... we werent sure what to expect when we walked in to the chocolate factory but after seeing an incredible tower of chocolate bars in the foyer (remember we were baked) we soon realized that this is the place where dreams are made. we started the tour seeing a chocolate spinning machine moving real chocolate around and it smelled wonderful inside. we couldent walk 10 feet during the tour without getting another peice of chocolate and the tour guide gave us lots of sympathy candy, usually for answering one of his questions right, calla got one for standing next to him and being the most convinient one to give it to, and i got one for yawning.....he must not have had high expectations of us.
speaking of high we continued our dazed and confused adventure through town and made it back to our hostel and watched animaniacs, that day we managed to make a few strange friends and had some great conversations, none of which we remember....uhh what was i talking about? oh never mind.
waking the next day we took a cab to the penguin place and again it was a house, but this time we got it all to ourselves as no one else stayed there, after playing with all of the random dogs scattered about we went for a nice walk down to the beaches there where we saw lots of little crabs, im scared of crabs so it was a neat experience to see them up close. i realized that they are way more scared of us and even when we approached them they all ran away or went into the fetal position....ahh the fetal position, it has saved us alot during our drunken times.
awaking the next day we went to the penguin conservation center which was right on the property, so THATS what that big keep out sign was for.... we looked at all the cute little yellow eyed penguins but since it was a wildlife perserve we went through disguised camoflauge tunnels so as not to disturb the yellow eyed penguins in their habitat, we diddent actually get to hold them but i think thats for the best (there are only 4000 of them left in the wild) and we got to see them in their natural habitat. they were simply amazing and we even saw a few napping seals along the way. returning to our hostel there wasnt that much to do as the otago penninsula is totally beautiful it is also virtually impossible to get anywhere unless u have a car.
awaking the next day we came back to town and after taking a city bus to the world steepest street, (the photos we took diddent really do it justice) we marvelled at the people that drive their cars on it (your not supposed to but of course they do anyway) and park on it and how their e-brakes must be complete shit. we almost missed another bus causing us to have a conversation about our priorities and how they need to shift, nothing came of it of course were still not gonna change like a senior stuck in thier ways we are stuck in the ways of failure. its ok weve accepted it :) we were totally starving as we had eaten nothing but bread and canned fruit at 10 am the driver stopped finally at 4 30 and gave us 10 minutes! knowing we werent allowed hot food but we couldent eat that fast we stuffed our food into our bags and went on the bus. the driver smelled it when he went to count everyone and kept saying "is that a pie?!" "who has a pie?!" "someone has a pie!?".....um actually they were burgers but we diddent want to argue because when your trying to smuggle stuff its better to be quiet, belive me. we held up our water bottles and shrugged and he walked away and when the bus started we ate faster than an alligator at a handbag factory and were quite surprised no one ratted us out or he diddent smell it. oh well, arriving in queenstown its amazing how many bars there are and its such a party town, we kind of liken it to banff in alot of ways but hopefully the STD rumors arent true.....we cant belive how fancy it is for the price and there is everything we need very close by like grocery stores and bars and an atm....what more could we need?
So after waking and eating a small breakfast we decide to do the bungee jump, the cheapest one available as money is becoming an issue. we sign up and say good luck to our roommates that are doing a different jump and we head off. we arrive at the place and i was so excited i ran the whole way up to the place and put my harness on right away. after what feels like a long time i stand on top of the bridge super excited! its been said that everything in your mind tells you not to jump when your on the end of the bridge, oddly enough i never got that....i wonder what that says about me, i lept off the end as quick as i could and it felt incredible! not quite as intense as skydiving as you fall alot longer and have more of a sense of death in my opinion but it was amazing! after the rope stretched and it brought me back up and down and up and down i knew why so many people loved this, i was rescued by people in a raft who unclipped me and brought me to shore (it was located over a river) and i ran back up to watch calla, she jumped also and said she was so happy she did it. props to her for doing it as she dosent like heights. we decide to celebrate when we get back so we go to fergburger this amazing burger place everyone raves about from auckland, wellington, rotorua and christchurch all told us to go, i can see why as the burgers were amazing! better than peters and thats saying something.
we go back to the room and get ready and we play a drinking game called pyramid with me and callas box of white wine, it was so much fun but by the time we finished the game to go to the bar i couldent see right, i was kicked out of the bar pretty soon in for throwing up in the bathroom and i went outside and passed out in a flower bed. soon after i was woken up by a savior as she picked me up while i was hugging my purse and laying in the fetal postion and got me back to the hostel and put me in some room with a bottle of water. i woke up later not knowing even if i was in the right building and once i found out i was i went back to the room. we all got woken up by bagpipes and a marching band outside our hostel which was horrible and then we got woken up by housekeeping needing to vacuum and then one of our roommates puking, i dont remember being at the bar or throwing up in a flowerpot in the lobby (apparently dan has a picture of this) and according to our friend dan i was missing for about 2 hours before he saw me in the lobby and i have an extra bar stamp on my hand that no one else has....wierd....or who this person that saved me was but i certainly owe her a beer.
we were extremely hung over and calla told me that she has no idea either as she threw up on the bar itself and then got kicked out, she slept in an alleyway and was also saved by someone (i wonder if it was the same person) and she had a cut on her face. she lost her wallet at some point in the evening with her money, credit cards and her passport. after we shit a brick (we have a flight to melbourne in 3 days!) calla went to various places she thought it would be and i went to the police station, thankfully it was there. not just the passport but her credit cards and money as well! only in queenstown, as if this happened in canada we would have been completley fucked. im so thankful to the girl that saved me and the person that found callas wallet, but sadly we have no idea who they are.
I FOUND JESUS!.....so to speak, she walked up to me and looked familiar and asked me if i was feeling better, i lept into her arms! i was so happy i gave her a pack of cigarettes, its the least i could do, not like i was gonna use them anyway. she said she found me faceplanted in a mulchbed near the hostel, dan said i was gone for about 3 hours after the bar so we have no clue what happened. ah good old goon. anyways the girls in my room were sick too all from the demon drink and we all spent the day drinking water and going to fergburger. i went for bar trivia with the others.....they recognized me at world bar and i denied ever going there, after all i dont remember so it diddent happen right? but we ended our adventure in queenstown by going out the last night (not smart) then getting up early for the bus back to christchurch, hmm seems to be a pattern. it was a long ride but we were shocked at how much the leaves had changed color, it was like canada again. we decided to save money by sleeping at the airport as our flight was at 6 am so i used the old bag from our box of goon (cheap wine) as a pillow and an old towel as a blanket, we got maybe 2 hours of sleep and nearly froze to death. we boarded our flight hating our lives and we flew to melbourne! so ends the adventure of new zealand! next story is Australia, thanks for reading! im shocked you made it this far..... i diddent. now that mine is read go read callas! its much better....
