Tuesday 29th - Thursday 31st August 2017
Tuesday
After the somewhat stressful boat journey over, a lady took us to our hostel, La Boheme Sister. The set up is so cool! It's almost like staying in a treehouse. It was too early to check in, so we headed out to check out the island, and have a browse around the shops for a wee bit. We headed back at around 10, and our room was ready for us. I was very excited to see air conditioning! It makes a huge difference! We then got changed and headed down to the beach to get some sunbathing and swimming time in. We were going to walk around to where the swings are, but decided we would do that later. After a couple of hours of not really doing a whole lot we went and grabbed chicken burgers from the nearest bar then returned to repeat the morning! However, this afternoon we managed to pick a spot next to a devil fish that kept swimming into us and biting us as we were getting out the water! It was very annoying but also quite amusing. We went back to the hostel as he sun was going down to get changed and hen we grabbed dinner at the closest place. The plan was to meet Emma's friend Tyler, but we didn't hear back from him so after a bit we decided to head back to the hostel. I don't really have the money to go out drinking and we were both super tired as well... we seem to have got into a sleep pattern of waking up early and going to bed early! Typically after we had gotten changed into pjs he messaged emma but she didn't fancy going out either so we just watched greys anatomy.
Wednesday
As Emma wanted to catch Tyler after his morning dive, before he left Gili T, we went to the beach closest to our hostel this morning. The beach is much nicer as there's less coral, but the current in the sea is so strong it just drags you away... doesn't really make for a relaxing dip in the sea! Just before lunch we bumped into him and Emma said her goodbyes. Then we headed back down to the beach we were at yesterday before grabbing a beer at the sunset beach and having a little photo shoot haha!
Thursday
We checked out the hostel this morning and chilled on the beach before lunchtime. We had to get our boat at 3, but had to check in at 2 so spent an hour sitting around in the stifling heat before grabbing the boat back to padangbai!
Showing posts with label boat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boat. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Sunday, 19 March 2017
Matacawalevu Island and Drawaqa Island: Bula Combo Pass
Sunday 5th March - Monday 6th March 2017
We got up early today to go to church, on Sundays they don't run any activities so it was nice to have something to do to pass the morning!
Breakfast was really good, I had weetabix, apples and the most delicious custard slice I've ever had! It just melted in my mouth! We were leaving to go to the church at 8 so I just about had enough time to brush my teeth and sort my bags out before getting the boat round to the part of the island the village is in.
We walked up an extremely muddy path and eventually came to the church. This village is Catholic, but the majority of the churches in Fiji are Methodist. The ceremony was beautiful, everyone sang the hymns with the most amazing harmonies and it brought a tear to my eye not gonna lie! It was so nice having communion - it's been a while! Everyone is so friendly and kind, Fijians have such a wonderful way of life!
We then went down to look at the primary school, I was surprised to see Jolly Phonics stuff in class 1&2! It brought back good memories of working at nursery!
We then wandered around the village for a while, Jacob (he's part of the family that runs Long Beach Resort) carrying his baby sister Cara, showed us around for a bit. Although it felt like he was just taking us places to kill a bit of time! He showed us a whale tooth in one of the houses, not entirely sure why but it was cool! There was also a hideous looking spider with a bright green body that he pretended to flick on us. He also told us we weren't allowed to take photos, before wetting himself laughing! Let's just say he likes a joke!
We then got the boat back round to the resort, and brought or bags round to the main but. It just started to torrential rain again and it was only 2 hours before getting true speedboat out to the big boat so we prayed it would stop soon!
For lunch we had spicy tomato pasta which was good, although it tastes like something I would've made for myself at uni! The sun came out for a bit but the clouds were still looming and the wind had picked up a bit. This made the ride in the small speedboat less than fun... I thought it was bad yesterday, well it had nothing on today! I just plonked myself in the middle and prayed I wouldn't fall in!
The ferry ride wasn't much better, the rain came in and the waves rocked the boat a fair bit - it wasn't as bad as the ferry from Wellington to Christchurch though! We had a covered boat to get to Barefoot Manta Resort which was good! Two girls greeted us on the boat who are volunteering at a nearby school for a month which seems cool!
Barefoot Manta is more expensive than the other resorts, it had a set meal plan of like $90 a day and wifi is $24 a day so I won't buy it today, and probably won't tomorrow unless it's raining all day again! Hopefully the sun will be out so I can get back to sunbathing and swimming! Emma got wifi straight away so I had a wander by myself for a bit. The island is stunning. They have three beaches, but sunset beach is my favourite. There are so many crabs it's crazy!
I then had an early shower as the weather still isn't great so I didn't fancy a swim this evening, but as it finally stopped raining I sat on the bench just outside our Bule and read for a bit until it was dinner time. We were a bit early for dinner, as Emma wanted to use her wifi, and when we got there hey we're doing a hermit crab race. This time we got to pick our own crabs and decide on the number, we had two rounds and a final. Emma's crab won the first round and mine won the second! So either way one of us would win! In the end, my crab won but it was for a double kayak so it worked out perfectly!
Everyone we met had said that the food at Barefoot Manta was the best out of all the islands so I was super excited for dinner. However, I didn't find it to be that exciting! The pumpkin soup and pineapple upside down cake was amazing but the main course was mediocre - a super chewy beef patty with a jacket potato and veg.
We had met a load cool people here so we actually didn't go to bed straight after dinner for a change! We chilled out, playing cards (well I watched as there were so many people playing already!) and went for a night swim which was amazing - there was a storm at the same time and the lightning lit up the whole sky making it look like somewhere out of a movie.
We got up early today to go to church, on Sundays they don't run any activities so it was nice to have something to do to pass the morning!
Breakfast was really good, I had weetabix, apples and the most delicious custard slice I've ever had! It just melted in my mouth! We were leaving to go to the church at 8 so I just about had enough time to brush my teeth and sort my bags out before getting the boat round to the part of the island the village is in.
We walked up an extremely muddy path and eventually came to the church. This village is Catholic, but the majority of the churches in Fiji are Methodist. The ceremony was beautiful, everyone sang the hymns with the most amazing harmonies and it brought a tear to my eye not gonna lie! It was so nice having communion - it's been a while! Everyone is so friendly and kind, Fijians have such a wonderful way of life!
We then went down to look at the primary school, I was surprised to see Jolly Phonics stuff in class 1&2! It brought back good memories of working at nursery!
We then wandered around the village for a while, Jacob (he's part of the family that runs Long Beach Resort) carrying his baby sister Cara, showed us around for a bit. Although it felt like he was just taking us places to kill a bit of time! He showed us a whale tooth in one of the houses, not entirely sure why but it was cool! There was also a hideous looking spider with a bright green body that he pretended to flick on us. He also told us we weren't allowed to take photos, before wetting himself laughing! Let's just say he likes a joke!
We then got the boat back round to the resort, and brought or bags round to the main but. It just started to torrential rain again and it was only 2 hours before getting true speedboat out to the big boat so we prayed it would stop soon!
For lunch we had spicy tomato pasta which was good, although it tastes like something I would've made for myself at uni! The sun came out for a bit but the clouds were still looming and the wind had picked up a bit. This made the ride in the small speedboat less than fun... I thought it was bad yesterday, well it had nothing on today! I just plonked myself in the middle and prayed I wouldn't fall in!
The ferry ride wasn't much better, the rain came in and the waves rocked the boat a fair bit - it wasn't as bad as the ferry from Wellington to Christchurch though! We had a covered boat to get to Barefoot Manta Resort which was good! Two girls greeted us on the boat who are volunteering at a nearby school for a month which seems cool!
Barefoot Manta is more expensive than the other resorts, it had a set meal plan of like $90 a day and wifi is $24 a day so I won't buy it today, and probably won't tomorrow unless it's raining all day again! Hopefully the sun will be out so I can get back to sunbathing and swimming! Emma got wifi straight away so I had a wander by myself for a bit. The island is stunning. They have three beaches, but sunset beach is my favourite. There are so many crabs it's crazy!
I then had an early shower as the weather still isn't great so I didn't fancy a swim this evening, but as it finally stopped raining I sat on the bench just outside our Bule and read for a bit until it was dinner time. We were a bit early for dinner, as Emma wanted to use her wifi, and when we got there hey we're doing a hermit crab race. This time we got to pick our own crabs and decide on the number, we had two rounds and a final. Emma's crab won the first round and mine won the second! So either way one of us would win! In the end, my crab won but it was for a double kayak so it worked out perfectly!
Everyone we met had said that the food at Barefoot Manta was the best out of all the islands so I was super excited for dinner. However, I didn't find it to be that exciting! The pumpkin soup and pineapple upside down cake was amazing but the main course was mediocre - a super chewy beef patty with a jacket potato and veg.
We had met a load cool people here so we actually didn't go to bed straight after dinner for a change! We chilled out, playing cards (well I watched as there were so many people playing already!) and went for a night swim which was amazing - there was a storm at the same time and the lightning lit up the whole sky making it look like somewhere out of a movie.
Nacula Island and Matacawalevu Island: Bula Combo Pass
Saturday 4th March - Sunday 5th March 2017
It had rained through most of the night - so at least it was a bit cooler! We had a continental breakfast
at 8 and as the weather was still overcast we just chilled out watching Grey's again! As we were
going to Long Beach Resort today, we had to checkout at 11, but at around 10 someone came to get our bags which was a life saver! He had my bag on his back and Emma's on his front... Christ he must've been strong as we have not packed light!!
I was feeling a bit funky... (probably either the curry, gone off coconut or water!) so I asked for plain food for lunch. The others had fish curry so I just had the rice and an apple and orange segment which was nice but I could've done with a bit more! The curry smelt amazing but I didn't want to risk it!! We just chilled out on the deck before our boarding call came, at around 1.
The speedboat was crazy this time round! There were 6 of us and all our luggage so I don't know if that's why it felt rockier or if it was because the sea was choppier I don't know! But there were a few times where I was a tad scared for my life! The water was so clear and shallow though so I could see all kinds of fish which was awesome. I tried to concentrate on them to distract myself from the feeling like we were going to fall in!
It only took us less than an hour to get to Long Beach Resort, and we hadn't filled in our accommodation pass yet so it was touch and go for a while if we were even going to get in there! Eventually it all got sorted - literally seconds before our boarding call which was lucky!
At first sight, long beach isn't as stereotypically pretty as Oarsman bay lodge, but it's beautiful in its own way. There are loads of palm trees and there are various rock formations around, plus coral in and around the water. The bay is pretty shallow, we got in at low tide, and we were warned not to go in snorkelling or swimming as a girl got stung by a stingray a few days ago - not that there was enough water to go swimming in anyway! We were greeted by a gorgeous dog called Toni (he has a longer name but I can't remember it!).
After checking in, we were taking to our dorm, a room with about 8 beds and one bunk bed. I was on the top bunk and I noticed that there were bugs crawling all over my bed. At first I thought they were bed bugs but then I noticed a trail of them going through the window and to an ants nest outside. I mentioned it to the owner and luckily she sorted it all out as there were none in my bed when I went to sleep!
It had started to get quite stormy, so after chilling out in the hammocks reading for a bit, we were forced to wait under the shelter whilst the torrential rain poured outside. A few people were drinking Kava, and we were invited a few times but as it wasn't a proper ceremony and just for tasting I politely declined! I've had enough Kava to last me a lifetime!! Whilst we were waiting for the rain to die off, a little boy came up to us - he had followed us around whilst we explored the island a bit and has seemed to take a liking to us! He can't have been more than 4, and his English wasn't great but he understood a basic amount. He pointed at my phone so I showed him the camera and he took a few selfies before having a look through my photos. He kept clicking off it then going back on, and every time I tried to help him look at different photos he told me off! It was pretty funny! After a while an older man came and took him away - he started crying but I didn't know what they were saying so didn't want to get involved!
After a while the rain had gone and we went back on the hammocks as they dried off reasonably quickly. I finished the book I was reading - Diary of a Fat girl by Moira Mugweni - it was a very easy read but quite amusing, I enjoyed it! I then went for a walk down on the beach with Toni, and he was loving life trying to catch the fish in the sea! By that time, food was nearly ready so we went to get ready (definitely made sure we had enough insect repellant on!!) and went to sit down for food.
Dinner was good, but I've definitely had better! We had potatoes and BBQ chicken or fish, and the most delicious vegetables I have had for a while! I think they boiled them and mixed them together with mustard and something else but they were so tasty!
At long beach they only have electricity for a few hours in the morning and evening, so we headed back to get ready so we wouldn't miss out on the water and light! Most people decided to have an early night - when there's so few people here and I'm so tired I'd rather get up early and go to bed early!
It had rained through most of the night - so at least it was a bit cooler! We had a continental breakfast
at 8 and as the weather was still overcast we just chilled out watching Grey's again! As we were
going to Long Beach Resort today, we had to checkout at 11, but at around 10 someone came to get our bags which was a life saver! He had my bag on his back and Emma's on his front... Christ he must've been strong as we have not packed light!!
I was feeling a bit funky... (probably either the curry, gone off coconut or water!) so I asked for plain food for lunch. The others had fish curry so I just had the rice and an apple and orange segment which was nice but I could've done with a bit more! The curry smelt amazing but I didn't want to risk it!! We just chilled out on the deck before our boarding call came, at around 1.
The speedboat was crazy this time round! There were 6 of us and all our luggage so I don't know if that's why it felt rockier or if it was because the sea was choppier I don't know! But there were a few times where I was a tad scared for my life! The water was so clear and shallow though so I could see all kinds of fish which was awesome. I tried to concentrate on them to distract myself from the feeling like we were going to fall in!
It only took us less than an hour to get to Long Beach Resort, and we hadn't filled in our accommodation pass yet so it was touch and go for a while if we were even going to get in there! Eventually it all got sorted - literally seconds before our boarding call which was lucky!
At first sight, long beach isn't as stereotypically pretty as Oarsman bay lodge, but it's beautiful in its own way. There are loads of palm trees and there are various rock formations around, plus coral in and around the water. The bay is pretty shallow, we got in at low tide, and we were warned not to go in snorkelling or swimming as a girl got stung by a stingray a few days ago - not that there was enough water to go swimming in anyway! We were greeted by a gorgeous dog called Toni (he has a longer name but I can't remember it!).
After checking in, we were taking to our dorm, a room with about 8 beds and one bunk bed. I was on the top bunk and I noticed that there were bugs crawling all over my bed. At first I thought they were bed bugs but then I noticed a trail of them going through the window and to an ants nest outside. I mentioned it to the owner and luckily she sorted it all out as there were none in my bed when I went to sleep!
It had started to get quite stormy, so after chilling out in the hammocks reading for a bit, we were forced to wait under the shelter whilst the torrential rain poured outside. A few people were drinking Kava, and we were invited a few times but as it wasn't a proper ceremony and just for tasting I politely declined! I've had enough Kava to last me a lifetime!! Whilst we were waiting for the rain to die off, a little boy came up to us - he had followed us around whilst we explored the island a bit and has seemed to take a liking to us! He can't have been more than 4, and his English wasn't great but he understood a basic amount. He pointed at my phone so I showed him the camera and he took a few selfies before having a look through my photos. He kept clicking off it then going back on, and every time I tried to help him look at different photos he told me off! It was pretty funny! After a while an older man came and took him away - he started crying but I didn't know what they were saying so didn't want to get involved!
After a while the rain had gone and we went back on the hammocks as they dried off reasonably quickly. I finished the book I was reading - Diary of a Fat girl by Moira Mugweni - it was a very easy read but quite amusing, I enjoyed it! I then went for a walk down on the beach with Toni, and he was loving life trying to catch the fish in the sea! By that time, food was nearly ready so we went to get ready (definitely made sure we had enough insect repellant on!!) and went to sit down for food.
Dinner was good, but I've definitely had better! We had potatoes and BBQ chicken or fish, and the most delicious vegetables I have had for a while! I think they boiled them and mixed them together with mustard and something else but they were so tasty!
At long beach they only have electricity for a few hours in the morning and evening, so we headed back to get ready so we wouldn't miss out on the water and light! Most people decided to have an early night - when there's so few people here and I'm so tired I'd rather get up early and go to bed early!
Monday, 13 February 2017
Taupō - The Big Tiki
Friday 10th February - Saturday 11th February 2017
We let Rotorua with mixed feelings as we have now started to say goodbye to a few people on the trip and over the next few days lose quite a few of the group, but we were certainly not going to miss the smell!
On the way to Taupō we dropped off the people doing jet boating and then went to Huka falls. The falls were stunningly beautiful (feel like I'm saying that about everywhere!) but we didn't stay there long.
We let Rotorua with mixed feelings as we have now started to say goodbye to a few people on the trip and over the next few days lose quite a few of the group, but we were certainly not going to miss the smell!
On the way to Taupō we dropped off the people doing jet boating and then went to Huka falls. The falls were stunningly beautiful (feel like I'm saying that about everywhere!) but we didn't stay there long.
We then had about an hour in the town before going skydiving! I originally wanted to do the 9,000 jump but when I got there I decided to do the 12,000 jump because why not! It was honestly the best experience of my life. I didn't really feel nervous going up in the plane, and, as I was last, I watched everyone jump out and still felt fine! Everyone said it was sitting on the side of the plane that made them scared, but it wasn't until I felt the sensation of falling at over 200km that I started to think... why the hell did I do this!! But as soon as I caught my breath I started to enjoy it and then my instructor let me pull the parachute out and that's when it started to get truly amazing! He also let me pull on the parachute doing different turns and stuff and I loved it so much! Still not sure about a bungee yet though!
So for the rest of the afternoon my adrenaline levels were sky high, which resulted in me not eating that much and consequently getting drunk particularly quickly this evening... not that I'm complaining! Most of us went to Katie and Alec's room for pre drinks before the boat party. We played a few games, painted our faces and took a lot of photos!
The party was Hawaiian themed and was a cruise for around 3 hours on lake Taupō and included a BBQ. The food was delicious, we got free drinks, did a bit of 'fishing' and a lot of terrible dancing! But the highlight for me had to be jumping off the boat... something I would never have done sober!!
When the cruise had finished, we all went out to a few other bars for more drinks! When eventually we decided to go home, a few of us decided to walk to save a bit of money. Baring in mind we were still damp from jumping in the lake, as well as the fact it had suddenly gotten freezing, in hind sight it wasn't the best idea! We were freezing by the time we managed to find our way back!!
This was the best day of my entire life.
Saturday, 11 February 2017
Waitomo - The Big Tiki
Tuesday 7th February - Wednesday 8th February 2017
Our next stop on the road was Waitomo. There didn't seem like an awful lot to do here apart from the caves, so we definitely made sure we saw them!
After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we made our way down to the caves. We made our way through a series of caves whilst our tour guide told us about its history and about the formations before making our way to see the glow worms through a small crack. It was super cool to see them up close! We then made our way down to the boats in the cave with over 10,000 glow worms. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos in there so all I got was a photo of the outside!
Our next stop on the road was Waitomo. There didn't seem like an awful lot to do here apart from the caves, so we definitely made sure we saw them!
After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we made our way down to the caves. We made our way through a series of caves whilst our tour guide told us about its history and about the formations before making our way to see the glow worms through a small crack. It was super cool to see them up close! We then made our way down to the boats in the cave with over 10,000 glow worms. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos in there so all I got was a photo of the outside!
By the time we made it out of the caves, it was super hot so we chilled out at the hotel for a bit before going for a walk to the lookout over the village.
This evening we had a BBQ included in our tour and it was the most delicious food I had eaten for a while. There was tons of salad as well as beef sausages and steak. I ate so much I felt very sick all evening but it was so worth it. We then went down to the bar down the road and had a few drinks which led to a very weird conversation between Emma, John and I about survival tips... and ended up in us talking about how we would sleep in a cow!
Waitomo was pretty cool, but would not want to stay longer than a night here as there wasn't masses to do!
Friday, 3 February 2017
Auckland
Friday 27th January - Wednesday 1st February 2017
The journey from Heathrow to Auckland all seems like a distant memory now, but that was certainly not the case. With the total travel time adding up to over 30 hours and my sleeping time adding up to around 6, this proved to be problematic. I have never felt so rough after a flight, but it was mingled with the occasional burst of adrenaline and excitement - all in all a rather strange feeling! But it was all so worth it. At the moment, our plan is to spend a week in Auckland, 19 days travelling round both the North and South islands, 2 weeks in Fiji and then settling down somewhere, getting a job for around 4 months before heading home... via South East Asia for around 2 months.
Our first few days in Auckland were pretty much spent familiarising ourselves with the city and sleeping! We are constantly drawing similarities between Auckland and GuiYang... not sure if this is due to New Zealand being closer to Asia? We went to a few cool places; Silo Park, Auckland Domain and the sky tower to name a few.
The first hostel we stayed at was called Base Backpackers and we were in an 8 bed dorm on the ninth floor. Luckily we had a relatively quite room, and have met some really interesting people already! Everyone here is so friendly, it reminds me of my first year of uni where everyone is in the same position and looking to meet new people! Thankfully we had breakfast included here, as part of our Job Search New Zealand package, so that made the first few days easier as we just stuffed ourselves full in the morning! I really enjoyed staying at Base, the staff were all super friendly and it was clean and right in the centre of the city. The only super annoying thing were the lifts... they took ages to come and, more often then not, one or more of them was not in use. Adding to this, for some unknown reason you can only get the stairs all the way down to the ground floor or to the 3rd floor but not to the others? Not sure why!
We happened to be in Auckland for its birthday weekend, so there was loads going on in the city. They had buskers from all over the world, fireworks and a laser show with the Auckland symphony orchestra (they call themselves 'auckestra' which is brilliant) and they opened up the port for free tours and kind of like a mini carnival type thing which was cool! Unfortunately, we managed to get quite burnt on our first day... factor 20 wasn't cutting it! The weather just feels like an English summer so it is easy to forget that the lack of an ozone layer means that the sun affects us more than usual!
After three nights at Base, we then moved on to Frienz hostel... you can't miss it, it's bright pink! This hostel is slightly cheaper as we're in a 14 bed, and we really struggled at first as there's no air con so it's really hot and sticky! But it didn't take long for us to get over it... not that we had a choice! The hostel is honestly one of the cleanest places I've ever stayed at... they clean it at least 3 times a day and the place constantly smells like cleaning products. The staff don't appear as friendly as Base at first, but they are super helpful! On one morning we came back to the room to see that some girls said that one of the guys in the room had weed all over the lockers whilst he was drunk in the night and they were quick to sort that out! We were just grateful it wasn't near us!!
We then had our Job Search orientation on Tuesday, postponed due to the bank holiday! I think I'm probably going to apply for Au Pair jobs... as that's where my experience lies! Although there are a fair few jobs that look interesting! We also signed up to 'wwoofing' which, if you don't know, is basically volunteering on farms and other places on exchange for a place to stay and food! It seems like a really interesting way to see rural New Zealand so excited to try it out!
Wednesday was a particularly interesting day. I started the morning opening my New Zealand bank account, which took way longer than anticipated. We then walked to Mt. Eden and on the way got stopped by some Scientologists for a free screening about the first Dianetics book. I've always been intrigued by Scientology (don't worry mum, not to be one just to learn more!!) so we decided to check it out on the way back. Mt. Eden was a heck of a trek but sooooo worth it. The views are insane! We also bumped into Lisa, who is also doing the Contiki tour, so it was lovely to meet her!
All in all the first few days in New Zealand have been awesome, and I'm very excited for the rest of my time here!
The journey from Heathrow to Auckland all seems like a distant memory now, but that was certainly not the case. With the total travel time adding up to over 30 hours and my sleeping time adding up to around 6, this proved to be problematic. I have never felt so rough after a flight, but it was mingled with the occasional burst of adrenaline and excitement - all in all a rather strange feeling! But it was all so worth it. At the moment, our plan is to spend a week in Auckland, 19 days travelling round both the North and South islands, 2 weeks in Fiji and then settling down somewhere, getting a job for around 4 months before heading home... via South East Asia for around 2 months.
Our first few days in Auckland were pretty much spent familiarising ourselves with the city and sleeping! We are constantly drawing similarities between Auckland and GuiYang... not sure if this is due to New Zealand being closer to Asia? We went to a few cool places; Silo Park, Auckland Domain and the sky tower to name a few.
The first hostel we stayed at was called Base Backpackers and we were in an 8 bed dorm on the ninth floor. Luckily we had a relatively quite room, and have met some really interesting people already! Everyone here is so friendly, it reminds me of my first year of uni where everyone is in the same position and looking to meet new people! Thankfully we had breakfast included here, as part of our Job Search New Zealand package, so that made the first few days easier as we just stuffed ourselves full in the morning! I really enjoyed staying at Base, the staff were all super friendly and it was clean and right in the centre of the city. The only super annoying thing were the lifts... they took ages to come and, more often then not, one or more of them was not in use. Adding to this, for some unknown reason you can only get the stairs all the way down to the ground floor or to the 3rd floor but not to the others? Not sure why!
We happened to be in Auckland for its birthday weekend, so there was loads going on in the city. They had buskers from all over the world, fireworks and a laser show with the Auckland symphony orchestra (they call themselves 'auckestra' which is brilliant) and they opened up the port for free tours and kind of like a mini carnival type thing which was cool! Unfortunately, we managed to get quite burnt on our first day... factor 20 wasn't cutting it! The weather just feels like an English summer so it is easy to forget that the lack of an ozone layer means that the sun affects us more than usual!
After three nights at Base, we then moved on to Frienz hostel... you can't miss it, it's bright pink! This hostel is slightly cheaper as we're in a 14 bed, and we really struggled at first as there's no air con so it's really hot and sticky! But it didn't take long for us to get over it... not that we had a choice! The hostel is honestly one of the cleanest places I've ever stayed at... they clean it at least 3 times a day and the place constantly smells like cleaning products. The staff don't appear as friendly as Base at first, but they are super helpful! On one morning we came back to the room to see that some girls said that one of the guys in the room had weed all over the lockers whilst he was drunk in the night and they were quick to sort that out! We were just grateful it wasn't near us!!
We then had our Job Search orientation on Tuesday, postponed due to the bank holiday! I think I'm probably going to apply for Au Pair jobs... as that's where my experience lies! Although there are a fair few jobs that look interesting! We also signed up to 'wwoofing' which, if you don't know, is basically volunteering on farms and other places on exchange for a place to stay and food! It seems like a really interesting way to see rural New Zealand so excited to try it out!
Wednesday was a particularly interesting day. I started the morning opening my New Zealand bank account, which took way longer than anticipated. We then walked to Mt. Eden and on the way got stopped by some Scientologists for a free screening about the first Dianetics book. I've always been intrigued by Scientology (don't worry mum, not to be one just to learn more!!) so we decided to check it out on the way back. Mt. Eden was a heck of a trek but sooooo worth it. The views are insane! We also bumped into Lisa, who is also doing the Contiki tour, so it was lovely to meet her!
All in all the first few days in New Zealand have been awesome, and I'm very excited for the rest of my time here!
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