Raglan Part Deux

The hostel we chose to stay in is awesome.  Our travel book recommended this place called the Raglan Backpackers, and we have learned to trust the book thus far.  It is filled with unusually friendly international folk and they have everything from a free sauna to free kayaks. Joe and I showed up early this morning to check in (we were up early, we slept in our car, it was a terrible idea) and they set us right up.

It was pouring all day so it was definitely a stay-inside kind of day.  Hostels are sweet for saving money not only because they are a cheap bed, but they also offer kitchens, and preparing your own food here is about 1/5 as cheap as buying it in a restaurant.  I tried some eggs and lamb sausage this morning, and the sausage was phenomenal.

Joe and I then proceeded to play rummy for a bit, as it was really coming down outside.  Of course Joe won, but we both felt victorious when a delightful Texan girl brought us both cookies she had baked.

As the weather cleared a bit we decided to take advantage of the free kayaking and paddled for an hour or two in the beautiful estuary here (sorry no pictures, the camera isn’t waterproof).  Upon our return we hopped in the hot tub and sipped some kiwi beer with the other residents.

Meeting other people has been the best part of the trip so far, as so many people come to New Zealand for no other reason than to explore a land the rest of the world knows very little about.

Later in the night we prepare some food, talk with Italians, Germans, Danes, Dutch, Canadian, Swiss, and Americans over cheap beer and wine watching the sunset. It reminds me of the great feeling of content I get during Tahoe sunsets with my family.

Just about everyone in the hostel then heads downtown to a bar called the Yot Club, for an event called “Sunday Sessions” - essentially a big reggae and dubstep dance party till the wee hours of the morn.

Joe and I have an absolute blast - the foreigners are hilariously fun on the dance floor, and there was no shortage of kiwi girls to dance with (we were informed they like to have their fun).  Joe and I tore up the dance floor, in retrospect we either looked like awesome carefree Californians or strange drunk Americans.  Either way, we were able to find girls who liked our style.

Joe and I plan to check out the glowworm caves due East in Waikato soon, and eventually make our way to the white sands of the East coast in Rotorua (with hopefully better surf for Joe).  From there, we’ll either get too content and never leave, or head South to the capital, Wellington, which has a reputation of one of the largest bar to people ratio in the world.  Either that means a great party city or empty bars.

I’m very glad we opted for a rental car, as sleeping in a van would not allow us to visit these wonderful hostels and meet all of the people we have. It is hard to bring girls back to your dorm-style hostel accommodation though, but we’ll find a way to work around that...

It’s still raining, and although it isn’t cold, we get a bit frustrated with everything being so wet. It looks like it’s going to clear up from wind coming in - but that means the waves conditions are pretty poor for Joe.  Luckily we’re both here for long enough to wait it all out, and the locals are telling us things will get much better.

Raglan

Today is our third day in a row in Raglan, and Joe and I are worried we’ll never leave.  It’s charming as hell here, and we love the people we’ve met. At the hostel two nights ago, one of the attendants was a lovely girl from Michigan who spend three years in Santa Barbara studying at Brooks, so we had quite a bit in common to discuss.

Waking up yesterday, we headed to Manu Bay, a “legendary surf spot with the longest left in the world.”  It wasn’t.  So we headed a bit further along the on-and-off paved road to Whale Bay, where Joe and I headed out of the car and crawled along rocks to a really cool secluded beach.  I would have rather enjoyed a roll in the sand, but Joe kindly declined my offer and we headed back to town.

I purchased a fruit cake at the grocery store for $3.50, which was amazingly filling and cheap (food and drink here are disgustingly expensive). Then, taking our bagged spaghetti prepared the night before, we drove the long dirt road to Mt Karioi.

It was pouring, but we braved the elements, and the 2.5 hour trek to the top was rough, muddy, and fun as shit. We met an Auckland engineer named Cody on the way up, who was originally form Victoria, Canada.  We stuck with him the whole hike, and afterwards he recommended checking out a hot spring about 25 minutes out of town.

On the 28th minute out of town, I turn to Joe and say “I’m scared, is this guy going to rape us?”  However, we soon reach the springs and warm up in the delightful sulfur scented pools (note we were cold as balls, it was raining this whole time). It was awesome.

We then head back to Raglan with Cody, get some grub at a place called Vinnie’s, run by a guy from Brooklyn. The portions are smaller here and the food is more expensive, but good nevertheless.

On our way out of Vinnie’s, Cody engages an attractive blond in conversation, we find out she’s from Colorado, and I ask her to join us for some beers. There were too many beers to remember her name, so lets call her Daisy.

Daisy takes us to this awesome sports bar that has $12 pitchers (normally a beer is about $8 at the cheapest anywhere else).  Joe and I are pumped, and the Kui pitchers keep flowing.  Cody doesn’t mind buying more than his share of rounds, and Joe and I aren’t going to argue.

We talk to Daisy for a while, she is a freelance graphic designer who works part time at Vinnie’s and also helps clean up at a hostel to pay for her accommodation at Raglan (It seems common for travelers to come her in the summer and just find easy jobs like that, its busy season and Raglan is a very small town).  Daisy’s friend then enters, not even gonna try to remember her name, but Joe was into her and she seemed keen on him.

The bar scene here is jolly, the old Kiwi’s are hilarious, getting really heated into the Cricket match on TV and the billiards game in the room.  The night is capped by Joe finding some Danes and singing drinking songs with them, in Danish.  It was a beautiful, blonde sight to see.

Tired as hell when the bars finally close (it’s a 3 hour time difference), Joe and I just sleep in our comfy little car, and wake up in pouring rain. We were going to head east to the glowworm caves today, but decide to wait out the rain and stay one more day in cozy Raglan, which means we have to put up with one more day of people asking us “What the hell are you guys doing in Raglan?”

Things I'm Still Getting Used To

Thing’s I’m Still Getting Used To

1) Driving on the wrong freaking side of the road.  Following Cody yesterday I was driving on the right side for about 15 seconds before I realized it and was scared as hell

2) In America, liquor and food are served cheap and in great portions. Here, it is the opposite. Instead of just “pre-drinking” before going to the bars to save some cash, we may have to start “pre-eating” before going out to a meal.

3)It’s been pouring a lot, and this is supposed to be peak weather season. I very much so hope it improves

4) I do not understand the rules of Cricket or Rugby.  I intend to learn Rugby, but Cricket seems blasphemous against my American baseball-based heritage.

5) People drive insanely fast here.  The roads are narrow, windy, and one-lane, but the speed limit is usually 100 km/h (65 mph), whereas back home you would never see such roads anything about 40 mph.  I’ve had to pull over several times to let others pass

6) The 3 hour time change is a bit rough at night, as Joe and I get pretty tired early still.  They have daylight savings time as well here, so the time change will actually be 5 hours in a few months when both the US and NZ change.

7) When saying the letter “Z” here (they say it a lot for some reason), they never say “zee”, only “zed”.  Its not important but I chuckle every time.

There are a lot of Americans here, and each one I meet is just as interesting as the one before.  New Zealand is not a typical tourist destination for Americans, so it is fascinating hearing the reasons why everyone has travelled across the world to visit here.  It also seems that a lot of young Americans come here with no jobs, no home, and only a backpack filled with clothes, intending to start a new life here. It has the exciting feel of a new frontier of sorts.

Joe Hoppin Off The Ol' Bridge, Mate

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.

Observations From Our First Night

1) Everything is on the left here. In the US, we not only drive on the right, we walk on the right, escalators are made on the right. When you and a person on the street are walking towards each other, they will veer right. Not important but interesting

2) Auckland is a LOT like San Francisco.  It is trendy, it is a bay town, hilly, has a few colleges in it, filled with international influences, and the weather is very similar.  “Big Day Out”, their huge music festival going on this weekend, seems identical to Outside Lands

3) There is sushi everywhere. Joe suggested sushi to them may be like Mexican food in California - as in both are hugely popular based on the proximal nations and immigrants.

4) People are friendly here. Walking alone some would loudly say “How’s it goin mate!” I’m having trouble deciphering if their enthusiasm is merely mocking my lost tourist expression.

5) Auckland has a lot of cool musical offerings.  Joe and I opted out of going to “Big Day Out” tomorrow (although I would have loved to see what remains of Iggy Pop), but Joe was giddy when we saw an advertisement for a Queens of the Stone Age concert in Feb (they are his favorite band)

6) Things are expensive here. Obviously, because the exchange rate favors us, a $7.90 Subway isn’t as exorbitant as it sounds, but other things (necessities like soap) are pretty pricey.

Arriving in Auckland

The flight from Nadi, Fiji to Auckland was great! Air New Zealand is super fancy, super friendly. Both Joe and I are glad we get them for a nonstop on the way home

We arrive into Auckland around 2:30, and sail pretty smoothly through customs. They questioned some cava root I picked up in Fiji, but no major problems occurred. They did inquire why Joe was here, which is a question I’m sure he’s getting sick of by now.

We take a bus to Auckland and immediately start to look for a place to stay tonight.  Little do we know every hostel in Auckland is booked this weekend, because this concert called “Big Day Out” is going on here.

Down on our luck, we start to actually look at maps and travel books.  While waiting on the street bench, an older Asian man walks by and strikes up a conversation with Joe about his bodyboard.  We proceed to ask him if he knows of any living quarters nearby, and without hesitation he says, “I have free time, and I know of 4-5. Follow me!”

Now I’m thinking, “Great, he’s going to lead us into some alley and we’ll be stuck living a life of prostitution.” To my great surprise though, he simply walks us around, shows us 4-5 hostels and gives us directions to more, shakes our hand, and walks away.  Kiwi hospitality is already promising.

Feeling a bit like the Virgin Mary, we struggled carrying our many bags through the streets of Auckland, sweating in the 75 degree weather and slight humidity.  However, we finally find a place that will take us, and although its a bit more expensive we get a single room to share (as opposed to a multi bed room). Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose.

The room is nice, we have a great view of a brick wall out our window.  Upon moving in, Joe says, “Hey, lets actually make plans tonight.”  I reluctantly agree, and we get set up with our internet connections (top priority). 

First night in Auckland will probably be pretty quiet, and we’re thinking about getting out of the city by tomorrow, because hostels will be impossible to find space in the night of “Big Day Out”.  Buying a van suddenly looks a bit less attractive when we see the price tags posted in the hostel, but renting a car or van looks ridiculously cheap, if we decide to do that for a bit.