Our First Week In New Zealand

She says:

First day (Monday) : It was full of confusion, excitement and anxiety, what would be allowed through immigration and what would be denied? I am a bit of a worrier so the longer it took for our luggage to get to the luggage carousel the more I worried. I made a deal after 20 minutes of waiting that as long as Ryan didn’t have his luggage also, then I would try not to worry too much. Surprise, Surprise, as soon as my luggage came out, Ryan miraculously found his. Immigration in the end wasn’t too bad for us, they only pulled us up on Ryans walking boots and they then cleaned them for him, which he didn’t complain about. We had to wait for all our group to join us and then it was the struggle of finding our transport to the hostel, which was a parlaver. Our instructions given to us were all wrong and so when we found our taxi he threatened to make us each pay 50 dollars for the wait. Luckily, we talked him down ( who turns up to pick you up when you land)? Then we had to check in to our hostel, find our room (We both got top bunks 😦 ), had a meal, explored the local area before an early night.

Day two: Bunk beds are horrible, being the top bunk is torture, as none of the ladders are lined up correctly making it a mammoth task of climbing over the railing and onto the ladders, bruising lots of body parts. Today was a day for exploring, we walked over 15000 steps. We found the harbour, went to the museum and learnt a little about Maouri culture. This day was great as a catch-up day to relax and recover, but it was also a culture shock. It was difficult for me to just go with the flow of , we will leave around 10, then not leaving till gone 10:25. The best part of Auckland is seeing that they have preserved much of their green spaces, so you can find trees that are over 300 years old all over. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in the welcome dinner as it was ONE Taco.  So, we had to get a dominoes later on, but on the plus side a medium dominoes is only 5 dollars, so £3.

Day three : Orientation Day or The most pointless day to have as no ones knows what is going on. We had our bank meeting today where we discovered that even though we had sent all our details ahead and our accounts had been set up, we still had to wait for a bank card. ( It’s not like we want to access the money in our accounts). We then met with travel experience promoters who all tried to convince us to take their plan. The day concluded with a walking tour, which lasted 10 minutes of them showing us where local amenities were e.g. the shops. Which we had all found already.

Day four : We headed to the Bay of Islands today, which took us about four hours on a KiwiExperience Coach. The coach driver was amazing, giving details about all the places we passed through. We visited a beautiful Waterfall on the way and Pickett went for a wander.  We lost Pickett.   Were hoping he is still exploring though . We then ventured on to Paihia, where we were staying. It is beautiful, loads of greenery, small town, and loads of beach space. Also the hostel was much nicer here as we got our own ensuite between six, rather than sharing showers with the whole of a floor, 50 people potentially. Also, we got a free bbq, which after a day at the beach, was needed. The night was finished off with a game of water pong, which Ryan convinced me we needed to do, as there was a 100 dollar bar tab at stake. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it past the Semi-finals.

Day five : An early start today for another four hour journey up to Cape Reinga, where two seas meet ( the Pacific and the Tasman sea). On the way we went and explored a forest with trees as old as 600 years, saw the beautiful north and went dune surfing . A very sandy activity, lots of exercise but great fun.

Day six: A day at the beach. Followed by the best experience we have done so far. THE ROCK BOAT. The boat was a bed and breakfast hostel and started the evening off with all of us trying to hit the duck Lee with a paintball gun, I of coursed missed all three shots but Ryan swears he hit it once. It was then followed by fishing, which ensured I went to the opposite end of the boat. When the anchor was lowered we were away from Paihia next to a small island. After an amazing dinner we got to go night kayaking which is the second most scariest experience of the whole trip, as there was no light except from the boat. But Ryan after much persuasion agreed to go in a double with me. Turns out that the Bay of Islands have Florescent micro-organisms, so when we kayaked, the bottom of our boat glowed. It is the most magical thing to see. Words cannot describe how beautiful it was. The night was ended with night swimming ( I was pushed in), so then we also glowed .

Day seven: The end of our IEP package and time to return back to Auckland. Time to knuckle down and decide what we want to do for a job and where we want to go next and how.

Until next time folks.

He Says

After Vicky’s thorough itinerary of the past week, i’m not really sure what there is left to say! The first 2 or 3 days of the Bunac adventure in Auckland really had me doubting whether going with a company was a wise decision… As we got almost nothing from it, and none of the staff seemed to know which way was up. No bank accounts, so no access to funds for the first week; nobody knew how many nights accommodation we were booked in for at the hostel, some activities had apparently just “disappeared” off of our week of things to do… It was all a bit shoddy.

But ANYWAY.

On around day 4 we finally did the first event worth noting in this blog, we travelled up to the Bay of Islands. The scenery up north was stunning. 50 mile long beaches, crystal blue water, thriving vegetation and wildlife… oh and enough sun to burn you to a crisp in 15 minutes of not wearing any sun cream. I learnt that the hard way (RIP skin on my thighs).

The following day we spent travelling to the most northern point of the county (among other things such as dune surfing), which was actually on the same latitude as Sydney (I think that’s a cool fact?). It was pretty cool seeing the green of the Tasman sea collide with the Pacific Ocean, although I think I was expecting the waves to be bigger or something, as I was a little… underwhelmed. But the scenery was nice, so there’s that.

After 14 hours on a coach over 2/3 days, I realise that I DEFINITELY get travel sick. Maybe a campervan is a better option for me at this point?

If there’s one thing I can agree with the girlfriend about in her post, its that the Rock cruise is AWESOME! Paintballing, fishing, alcohol, rock music, and glowing while you swim? Perfect.

If anyone from the Rock Cruise is reading, I need a job! 😉

Anyway, now back to what accounts for civilisation down in these parts, and I guess the job hunt should start…

Wish us luck!