Travelling South

After our first night in Auckland we decide to head South.  Joe makes the good point that Auckland is a big city that feels like any other big city in the world.  We have travelled half way across the world - we’re here to see things we wouldn’t normally be able to.

First thing we do in the morning is stock up on the free breakfast offered at the hostel.  We have a long day ahead and need some energy. We check out, and carry all of our luggage across town to the rental car place. Luckily the trek was downhill, but nevertheless I was exhausted.  Along the way we pass through the University of Auckland, which is where I will be attending school. It is a pretty area and I am excited I will be able to attend school in a big city. However charmed I am passing through the nice small towns in New Zealand, I would probably get bored anywhere but Auckland.

Joe and I opt for the cheapest car possible (but we did get the $10 a day insurance, if it helps you sleep better at night, Mom and Dad).  She’s small and a bit shaky, but she runs well.

I like driving so I had volunteered to be the hero of the trip, braving the wicked left side of the road in this godforsaken country.

Within ten minutes I was completely lost, and one fellow had even taken the time to slow down next to us, give us the finger, and kindly suggest I “Learn to fucking drive”. Normally I would have felt self conscious at such an insult, but coming from someone with such a jolly accent, I shrugged it off with a laugh.

Luckily, our GPS has adapted well to New Zealand, and instead of taking the major roads from place to place, it can show us the shorter routes, which often lead to magnificent back roads.  On the way to Raglan from Auckland, I was awestruck as the beautiful scenery would dramatically change.  One second we would be entrenched deep in an evergreen forest, and literally within seconds submerged in a tropical surrounding, deafened by the chirps of magnificently colored birds.

Raglan is a cool little beach town.  Joe was interested in the surf here, but the first day we didn’t have any time to check that out, as we found a really cool little estuary spot that seemed to be the happening place in town.

Everyone was jumping off trees and bridges into the warm water here. Joe, the brave and adventurous one, was quite gung ho about doing this. I, on the other hand, was admittedly timid. However, while scoping out the places to hop in, an 8 year old Maori boy comes up, asks us where we’re from, and upon hearing Californian immediately assumes we are the daring type, and shows us just where to hop in.

It was a very calm day at the beach, the people here are quite mellow - it seems like they have a sense of calm by nature - the same sense of calm many “yoga-types” in California try to force.

The day was topped off by Joe successfully preforming a backflip of sorts off the bridge (Video to be uploaded shortly).

 We headed back to our hostel, which is a lovely little place, and quite affordable.  Drank some NZ beers, ate some bread, and made plans for tomorrow.