The gateway to the west coast

I left my heart in Queenstown. 

What is with my major obsession with this city anyways? I have no clue really, it could be the amazing people, nightlife, and scenery.  Tons of great hikes right out of my door step. Hundreds of cool activities surrounding me. Also its a very young crowd, the population of people under 40 is unreal. Leaving Queenstown put a very bitter taste in my mouth. I really just was not ready to leave yet.  I was all set up with a place to stay, a job and some really cool friends.  I wish I could have stayed another few months.  I suppose I could always go back.  I loved the feeling of normality, the fact that I could call a friend and meet up for lunch. Its kinda funny, because most of the time I want to run away from the every day routine. 

this is the view from my deck

And as every traveler knows the relationships you build while traveling are strong and quick.  Spending 3 days with someone could make them your new best friend only to have to say goodbye the next day.  Spending weeks with someone makes them even that much closer.  

But, lets talk a little more about my time in Queenstown.  The first day I got there I met a few girls who wanted to check out the night life, and that we did! After a great night out I got strep throat, searched for a job, got fired as you all know and then spent the next few days in bed.  From there I got a couple new jobs and started working for my accommodation at a small hostel. 

From there it was all a blur of long work hours and fun with friends.  The scenery and day hikes around Queenstown were killer!  Walking to work in the mornings I saw some of the most spectacular sunrises. Staying out late at night allowed me to see the most incredible view of the stars.  

I still don't know why I am really that obsessed, its such a small town (only 20,000 people) but, its full of good fun.  

So when my boss offered my job back to me if I will come during winter season my wheels started turning…. we shall see…. 

Hostel Life

Hostels.

Hostels are what make my trip possible.  They provide a very inexpensive place for me to rest my head, cook my meal and meet hundreds of new friends.  I am so grateful that they exist so that I can travel with out fear. I know that they will always be my safe haven when I am sad, sick or lonely.  They are filled with travelers much like me and I can always find a soul to confide in. 

They can be a great place to catch your breath

or a good place to party 

However, and I'm sure that all of you knew that was coming, I am getting tired of some parts of the hostel life. I have to side track bit and tell you about the Kiwi/Stray bus tours so that you understand this full story. The Kiwi and Stray bus tours are two different companies that travel around New Zealand with large busses packed full of young travelers.  They make it possible for people to see a lot of sights in a short amount of time with out having to do much planning yourself.  The concept is great, the kids that take the busses love them. As an outsider however, I HATE them. They always rock up to the hostel later in the day hungover, drunk or pre drinking. Screaming with their girl friends about who the slept with the night before and how drunk they were. Then they proceed to take over the bathroom to plaster on their makeup and tease their hair. All of this in preparation of whatever the bus may have planned for them that night.  Now getting on with my story, last night at BASE hostel Wanaka three busses pulled up.  My room was then invaded by 6 dudes from the Kiwi bus. The guys themselves were alright, nice enough, currently showering off their hangovers and starting their pre drink for the night before.  A tornado had hit my room and it was insane.  They were having a fake bachelor party and one of them was the groom another was the stripper.  They also had to only wear plastic garbage bags that night. I left and went out to the movies, it was just a little too much for me. 

*Side note! The movie theater was amazing!! They had couches, wood fire pizza, cheap soda and an intermission where you could buy freshly baked cookies!!!

When I got back to the room they were gone, so I stepped over all the beer bottles and garbage bags and headed to bed. Around 2am one of the Irish men came back into the room.  He proceeded to sit on his bed and poke me until I woke up. Then, he asked me what I was up to, "sleeping"

How was your night, "fine". He told me all about his night and then asked if he could sleep in my bed because it was his "last night there" 

SERIOUSLY?!

NO sir you can not come into my bed. He crewed back into his own bed and passed out.  

Needless to say I am excited that I am about to get a break from the hostel life for the next month. Its going to be much needed.

Instant new friends  

So, I got fired

Have you ever HATED your job? Have you ever been fired? 

Welp, I just got fired from a job I hated; on my first day. . . at lunch break. 

This one is a record breaker! How could I even be mad?! This is amazing, the universe knew that I hated that crap and took care of it for me.  My third day in Queenstown I got called in to do a trial shift of 4 hours (very normal thing to do in NZ) and after applying a ton of places I was so excited.  I was panicked about money and knew I wouldn't feel any better till I had made a few bucks.  So, I walked in all bright eyed and ready for action. Well, as bright as I could still be while nursing an ongoing two day hangover.  I should have known when I first set eyes on the place to run away.  But, no greed had gotten the best of me and the job sounded easy. So, I pushed aside the bean bag chair that was holding open the door, said hello to the dog and walked into a madhouse. There was kids everywhere in dirty chairs at dirty desks eating crap food and drinking soda. Half of me was so grossed out and the other half of me was wondering if they gave away the soda for free.  Still very disoriented I sat down on a sticky red pleather couch and hoped that this place wasn't just a front for a porno businesses.  I was the only girl in a group of 7 and half of the boys were wearing sweatpants. Things only got better, we got called into an office where a man talked at us for 45min and then told us to start to try calling people.  We were sent to a dirty computer with a script and were told to put on head phones.  These head phones were so gross, the other people who had been using them looked like homeless traveling carnies and yet I still stayed.  I used my strikingly bubbly personality to knock my sales out of the park.  I had this, I could do this, for $15ph I could chat with people on the phone and sell something that had to do with mortgages.

 They asked me to come back the next day and I agreed.

I woke up the next morning very sick, I had come down with strep throat and could barely move.  It was from those headphones! I know it! My system was already low due to the hangover and then I walked into that cesspool and BAM strep throat.  So what did I do? I went back into that place to try and grind out my first days work.  And what happened you ask? Well, I think that we all know. I could hardly talk, smile, or move.  I didn't sell a darn things and the managers kept telling me to perk up.  I tried, I really did but, there was no way in hell I could turn things around.  So, at lunch break I got called into the office. 

"Am I fired?" was the first things I said 

"yes sorry" was all that he could say.

He was really put off by my laughter, smiles and repeated thank you's, even more put off when I asked if they had any gift cards to the bars laying around that I could have. He was in such shock that he gave me a $30 voucher to the bar.  Pressing my luck I asked for another, of course that didn't happen and I laughed my way home.  Walking out of that dump felt amazing, did I mention they didn't have toilette paper?! Or that there was no soap to wash your hands and the sink was full of dirty dishes? Did I tell you that half the people were barefoot and wearing sweatpants? 

Fate had stepped in that day in a major way, In total I spent 6 hours there before I was fired and it was a terrifying 6 hours at that. 

Sometimes getting fired on your first day can be a good thing. 

Later I took that voucher and bought many many drink for myself and my buddy Danielle. Not sure It was worth it but it did lead to a great night out and a good story for later.

Coromandel

Alright ladies and gents, you need an update on my life. Im I right or am I right?

So, after cheating death with my adventures into the cave I hoped on a bus and safely made it to Auckland. Once there I watch the Seahawks win the super bowl (HELL YES!!), made some new funny friends and set off to rent a car. 

Headed to the rental car agency with no fear and little plans. Once there the extremely relaxed lady told me a few horror stories that made sure I was terrified while leaving the lot. My biggest fear was that I would crash before even leaving the lot. Second biggest was that I would pull the car out into the wrong lane and crash right in front of the lot. Neither happened thankfully and I was on my way!

I decided to head to hobbiton, it sounded like a place one must go while in NZ.  Incase you don't know its the set of the hobbits town from the Lord of the Ring series.  Honestly it really is not my thing but, people were all telling me how awesome it was.  So I hoped in my little red toyota, eyes filled with fear and jumped on the highway. Two tense hours later I stopped at a McDonalds to make sure I was going the right direction. Thats when I realized everything in the car was Japanese. The navigation systems itself only showed roads in Japan and only spoke Japanese. Well shucks, thank god for iPhones! I downed my first McD's in years, gripped the wheel and flew to the shire.  After about 3 wrong turns and a panicked turn around for fear of running out of gas I made it.  

McDs is super fancy here

I paid the girls $75 for my ticket and set out to see small lumps of grass with doors in it.  So this hobbit place cost like 4million to build.  Im pretty sure that I could have built it myself for less then a mill. It was really neat to see, thats the exact place the movie was filmed. But, it just wasn't floating my boat.  I thought the best part of the tour was driving through fields of sheep and the sheep like to play chicken with the tour bus ha! I did take lots of photos just incase any one was more excited than me…

After leaving the shire I needed to find a place to sleep. I headed towards the bay of plenty and found a cool campground just north of Mnt. Maunganui. While checking in the woman asked me question after question and she finally figured out I planned on sleeping in my car and only eating peanut butter. This situation sounded amazing to me but really freaked her out. So, she called over one of the resident campers and explained my "situation" and asked him to look after me. As soon as I was able to park my little red lady bug he came over with a beer and informed me that he and his son would be cooking dinner.  I chugged the beer and turned down dinner, not that his pony tail or eye brow piercing was turning me off from the situation, I just needed to rest after all the stress of driving. 

Whilst eating my peanut butter and honey sammy in the front seat of the car there was a knock on the window. My new buddy had come to get me because dinner was ready and he told me eating alone in my car was just sad.  We all sat on the front porch of his "home" that was really just a small shed with room for a bed, TV and sink. His 16year old son and I drank a few beers, ate spaghetti and watched the sunset. By that pointed I felt my chances of getting raped and murdered growing as it got darker so I headed back into my car locked the doors and put towels over all the windows. Then proceeded to have the worst nights sleep of my life. Waking up just as my friends were headed off to school/work I slowly crawled out of the car, unable to fully move my spine into its proper position.  Thankfully this campground had hot springs!!! They didn't even small bad! Holler!! After staying in the hot springs for far to long I decided to start my day.  

I headed up the coromandel peninsula towards Whitianga. On the way I stopped at a ton of fruit stands that people had in their front yard and purchased way more fruit than any one person should consume in 3 days.

I also stopped at hot water beach, where the hot spring water flows up from the sand and is very hot!

Some random man laying in the hot sand

My favorite however was Cathedral cove, I had no clue that it was such a long walk there but it was well worth it.  After hiking for about an hour you pop out on this amazing beach! I wish I had known it was such a long walk from the car, I would have brought snack and a towel. But, thats what you get when you think you know everything and refuse to read a guide book. 

Feeling exhausted from my car sleep and all the driving up and down the small mountains along the coast I decided to sleep in hostel that night. I stopped at the first place I saw "the cats pajamas" considering that I don't get along with most cats it should have been my first sign.  But, I am stubborn and didn't listen to my instincts.  The place was a filthy mess, it smelled horrible and everyone was fat and German. I wanted to go back to my car and cry but, I stayed there anyways. To help cheer myself up I went out to a nice dinner on the waterfront. 

The next morning I woke up at 7am and ran out of there as fast as humanly possible.  The weather had turned to crap so I drove straight to coromandel town, parked my car and sat in it for 2 hours trying to decide what to do.  One thing I find challenging when you have all the options in the world and no plans is making a plan.  I couldn't decide a darn thing. I was a lost sheep, I would go to one beach loose interest then go to a park get bored go to a store, Finally I decided on a hostel and checked in to the YHA where I ate some fruit and then wandered around the town.  Later that day my I met my roommate a 40 year old tornado of a woman. She was an English lesbian traveling alone who liked to party.  She later talked me in to going to the local pub for a beer. One beer turned into 7 and before I knew it we had 15 new friends I was singing "never ever" on the mic for karaoke night. If you didn't know already, now you know that is the only song I will ever do karaoke to.  We danced all night with our new Kiwi friends.  Most of them were barefoot, missing teeth and over the age of 50, two of them kept falling down and one lost his shoes.  They were winners!!! Realizing I was going to have to be the adult in the situation I rounded up my middle aged friends and led them all back to the hostel.  Where I fell asleep and they continued to dance and drink wine to some music I had never even heard. 

Here are my barefoot friends helping each other off the floor

The next morning I was off again in my little red speed racer.  I said my good byes to the old people recovering on the couch, ate 2 bowls of fruit and headed out on the highway with no clue where I was going.  The weather was still touch and go and I really had no clue what to do so I started to drive to Thames.  I got there and it sucked, I had some coffee and walked to some shops. One shop I stopped at was filled with 80 year old women and even they didn't know of anything good to do in Thames! That was that I was getting the hell out of there and contended to drive back into Auckland where I spent the night and caught my flight the next day to Queenstown.

More Fruit!!

Abbey caves

Currently sitting here in Queens town with strep throat. YUCK! So, I thought I would catch you up on what has been happening along the way.

After leaving Bay of Islands I decided to stop in one of the towns on the way to Auckland so that I could cut my bus trip in half. Therefore reducing the chances of me possibly throwing up on some poor lad next to me. The place I choose to stop in was Whargarei, pronounced FAN-gu-Ray. 

I suppose any day that I have to take a bus turns out to be a bad day.  This time I got off the bus stop and had 2 hours before I was able to check in at my hostel. So, I put the name in my maps on my phone and saw it was pretty close. I decided I would be able to walk the distance with all my stuff no problem. So walked along the marina and up a hill (again?@*&!!) to this adorable little hostel. Only to find out it had changed owners about 5 months prior and the new hostel was miles away.  The owner of Honey Hostel turned out to be one of the nicest people ever!! She gave me tea and told me to wait while she got ready and she would take me to town.  So I waited, drank my tea and fought off my tears. How do I always do this?! You may think that you are the kind of person that is always right, or always knows the way until you are alone with no one to second guess you! I need someone to second guess me!! 

*this guy waited with me 

The lady drove me back into town where the man from the hostel I was actually supposed to be at picked me up. He drove me way out of town to a weird hostel/camp ground. The cool thing about the YHA hostel was that it was just a 2min walk from the falls.  

The next day myself and 2 other girls ventured out to find the Abbey caves with a goal of seeing glow worms.  After about a 2 hour walk we got to the caves and were terrified.  The cool and scary thing about them is that there is no guide, no lamps, stairs or handrails. You just see the sing and then crawl in…

The caves all have small creeks running trough them and since we were there during summer the water was only up to our mid calves at the deepest. So we took off our shoes and hiked trough barefoot. There is also eels and crawfish in the water, ha!

This is the entrance that you have to crawl into

This is how the glow worms catch their food, long sticky strands. I couldn't get any pictures of the glow worms because you can only see them in the pitch black.

So, let me repeat myself, we walked in the hot sun for 2 hours to crawl inside pitch black caves that have glowing worms and eels. cool.

Really it turned out to be amazing! I am so glad that we went and when we were leaving I the talked old man volunteering into giving us a ride back :).

Paihia and the Bay of Islands is the most beautiful thing I have seen so far in New Zealand. Even the day that it rained it was amazing. I must say it was worth the horrible bus ride. 

All week I have been so lazy just going to the beach, swimming and going to get ice-cream in town. The hostel it a bit of a party place and Im feeling lame. All I want to do is go to bed so I can kayak 

in the mornings before the wind picks up. 

I also went over to Russell one day, its a short $6 ferry ride. It at one point was the capital of NZ and then apparently it went to hell. It became the place that pirates went for beer and hookers. I went up one of the churches to see the bullet

holes from actual pirates!!!

Then I went along a walking track and saw a kiwi bird. They are pretty rare to see I am told, so I was very excited that I got to seed one in the wild.

Oh yeah, I also ate some fish and chips and sat on the beach to get some photos of the sun set. It was a very difficult day.

Alright you guys, I AM OLD. Now I know that you are all going to tell me that I'm wrong. But, really traveling around like this in these hostels with all these 19year old makes me feel old. LAst night I went to the pub for a drink with a few girls and when I got back to our room there was 9 girls playing kings up on the floor. A young me would have been so excited, the old me just stepped over them to brush my teeth.

Oh and I managed to make it the whole bus ride home without trowing up at all!! It was grand. 

Bus to bay of Islands

Did I say it already? Because, I will say it again "I freaking over packed like a mo-fo"!!!!

I have recently moved from Auckland to Paihia, Bay of islands via bus (holy hell thats another story).

Any who it took me 30 flipping min. to zip my bag.

 And I'm not talking 30 min to pack, I mean to close the darn bag!! 

So, what do I have too much of? 

NOTHING

 I really do not have that much stuff and I really want everything.

The obstacle stands in my transition from NZ to Asia. When I packed it was for all climates and locations. I had to make sure that I had everything I would need for a full on 6 months. I guess I could say that I'm over prepared. But you know that one time when you really wish you had clear nail polish, scissors and duct tape to save your life for some unknown reason. Well no fear I have it all for you! 

Leaving a pair of sandals, the wrong camera charger, a tank top and alarm clock behind I managed to somehow zip up my turtle shell and get on my way. 

All in all I think all my bags weigh about 75lbs! Holy balls 75lbs thats crazy right?! I had to take a city bus to the bus station and he left me at the bottom of a hill and said 

"Its all right lovie, its just up that there hill".

 He could tell from the fear in my eyes that I was just not understanding. 

"NO worries doll, this is as close as you will get aye. Just pop up that hill and take a right"

How bad could it be right? I can do this right? 

Im not really that fat I can handle caring half my weight up a hill.

WRONG!

All sorts of hell no wrong!!! 

I died a thousand times that day, 400 of them were on that hill (I will get to the rest later)

I started up the hill, mind you it was just 2 blocks up a small hill. But, you would have thought I was climbing Mt. Everest.  I was breathing so hard, straight panting. People were stepping away from me I was so crazy. Other people were giving my small sympathy laughs that really only made it worse. Half way up I had to take a 5min rest because I didn't think I was going to make it. 

After about 20 min I made it the 2 blocks to the top of the hill to the bus depot.

I OVERPACKED O.K. geeeeez get off my case.

So, on to the bus I go. I HATE taking the bus. It all stems back to when I threw up on a girl on a school bus in 7th grade. I have always gotten car sick and that morning mom wanted to try out some new protein shake. Lets just say that she never made me drink that again. 

The fear is real, I may puke on a bus .... again! 

So, on to the bus for 4.5 hours, I can do this, I just climbed Mt. Everest. I got this.

A nice young New Zealander sits next to me. He has on a lovely sleeveless tank top full of holes and removes his fanny pack to he can sit next to me. All he wants to do is flirt we me and all I want to do is puke on his face. At one point a few hours in he says that Americans are alright and you cant blame the individual for the dictatorship (say what?!?) 

At that point I aggressively put my headphones back in and turned toward the window (this is where I died 100 more times). The first thing a see when I look out the window is a man stretching on his porch. Hands above head, wearing an old T-shirt and fishing cap, with no pants! Yep you heard me no bloody pants. Full on shrubbery, lots and lots of bush in his yard with a little shrimp in the middle. Kill me now, I had just seen old man penis! 

By the time we made it to the rest stop I was puking. It was all too much, that bus ride was a killer. 

However I made it! Pretty much sitting here on a rainy day in paradise. Straight up tropical paradise, there is a reason they call this the bay of island. Its so beautiful, today was my first day here and all it did was rain. So I have yet to venture too far out and see much. Im sure I will have more to report soon.

**** Side note... As I'm writing this there is the most adorable Japanese girls sitting next to me. With the cutest little skirt and cutest bangs and cutest laugh eating the worst smelling food ever!!! What the?!