WHANGAREI

Friday, 22nd March 2013

Fun Fact #3: Sweets are called lollies in Australia and New Zealand

Checked out of the hostel on Friday morning. Was getting a coach up to Whangarei at 4pm. Whangarei is in the North of New Zealand and is pronounced Fa-nga-rei, but I've just been saying 'Wangaray', 'Wan-garry', 'Fan-garry' and 'Fongorray'.

Check out was at 10am, so I had a good 5 hours to kill doing nothing. Left my suitcase in the hostel luggage storage and walked to Auckland Metro Centre, which is just a short walk up the road. Because I'm cheap and don't want to pay $4 for WiFi in the hostel, I just use the free WiFi in the Metro Centre. Think I'm meant to pay for something while i'm there to use the WiFi, but I never bother. After checking my spam emails and looking at food & cat photos on Instagram, I walked down to the harbour. Sat down, wrote my Auckland blog post and left to get lunch. Decided to go to Wendy's for fast food. Never been there before, so I was curious to see what the food tasted like. I ordered the Baconator Mushroom Melt with a strawberry sundae. THE BACONATOR! I've had a lot of takeaway burgers since I left England and this was by far the best takeaway burger I have ever eaten. If you've ever seen The Simpsons episode when Homer eats the Ribwich burger, it was like that. Even the chips were amazing and the sundae was the thickest sundae I've ever tried to drink. Good job they don't have a Wendy's back in England because I would never leave.

I somehow managed to make it until 4pm and got on a coach to Whangarei. I was traveling there to stay with Aunty Limmy and her husband Adrian, who are friends of the family. Once again she is technically not my real Aunty, I just have to call her that because it's a Chinese thing.

On the coach journey up there I had a nap. I should have been looking at the lovely scenery outside, but I was tired from not getting much sleep the night before. When I did wake up, I looked out the window and saw a man wearing socks and sandals.

Adrian picked me up from the coach station and when we got back to the house it started to piss it down with rain. I just laughed.

Adrian and Aunty Limmy are really nice and are great to get on with. I love staying with family friends because you always get lots of free food. They cooked Roast Lamb for tea and it tasted lovely. It's also nice to have your own room and space to relax. You just don't get that when you stay in hostels.

On Saturday we went to Matapouri Beach. Walking around when suddenly a wild Pokemon appeared. It was actually a Pukeko bird, but I like to think of birds as types of Pokemon, because i'm weird.

Like Australia, everyone in New Zealand is really friendly. Almost everyone we walked passed on the beach said hello. If I said hello to someone I didn't know in England, they would most probably tell me to feck off.

Had another burger for lunch. Wasn't as good as the Baconator but it was still really nice. After the beach we just went back to the house. Had steak an chips, caught up on Ant and Decs Saturday Night Takeaway & then went to bed. On a side note if you haven't seen the latest episode of Saturday Night Takeaway watch it because they perform 'Let's get to Rumble' and it's amazing! "Watch us reck the mic. Watch us reck the mic. Psyche!"

This is the second time I've been to New Zealand now. The first time was 9 years ago in 2004. Couldn't remember much of it because my memory sucks. However on Sunday we went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds and I actually remembered something. At home, we have a photo of me and my sister standing next to a statue there. When I saw the statue again 9 years later, I had to get a photo next to it. It was really surreal.

Afterwards we went to Paihia. Had the world famous lamb and kumara pie from a place called the Upper Deck. This was the best pie I've ever eaten. I rarely eat pies so that statement doesn't really mean anything. Still really good though. Got on a ferry to Russell beach. When we got there I went swimming. The sea was nice but it was a pebble beach. When I got out of the water I must of stepped on a broken shell or a bit of glass because I had a cut on my foot. I also had a little sea termite or something bite my ankle. It looked like a see through giant woodlice. The little bloodsucking bastard.

On Monday, me and Adrian went kayaking. We went to a place called Urqurts. It was the nicest place I've seen so far in New Zealand. It looked a bit like the shire in The Lord of the Rings. Everywhere you looked, looked amazing. The place we kayaked to was really nice and peaceful. Felt like my arms were going to fall off when I was paddling. Didn't realise it was so much hard work. When we finally got to the place we were paddling to, I was exhausted. After picking up a lot of pebbles to take back home with me, I put on a wetsuit and went snorkelling. Water leaked through my mask and was going up my nose. Couldn't breath properly for a bit and felt like I was going to drown... which was fun. I took a spear gun into the water with me but I couldn't catch any fish because they are surprisingly fast. Had a great time but I don't think I'll go kayaking again for a while. On the way back home I saw a car with a personalised registration plate that just said 'CATS'. Apparently you can have anything you want for your registration plate in New Zealand, as long as it available and within reason.

Since I got to Aunty Limmy and Adrian's home, I've eaten soooo much food.  I didn't want to waste any food, so I ate everything that was put on my plate in the 3 days I was there (it's just impolite to waste free food). At night we went to a Tai restaurant. When we got back I could hardly move because I ate so much. Watched TV for the rest of the night and went to sleep.

Tuesday morning I got a coach back to Auckland. Going to miss staying with Aunty Limmy and Adrian. No more free food or clean clothes until I get back to England now.

Whangarei or 'Whunge' as my sister spelt it on Facebook, is a lovely place. In fact everywhere in the north of New Zealand is lovely. It's like being in the countryside, with the beach and sea only a 2 minute walk away. Perfect place to have a holiday home.

I checked back into the same hostel and was put into room 1103, the room next to the one I was in before. Met my new roommates. There was an American girl, a Dutch bloke and a German girl. When I met the German girl at night she was drunk. She said she was only here because she met someone in a hostel in Melbourne, who was now in Auckland (more on this later).

Walked around for a bit and saw a women with a sign saying "Free Hugs". I hugged her just to get a photo. I ended up in a record shop called Real Groovy, which I loved. They pretty much sold everything a like there. Walked outside and saw a man looking for something in a pile of rubbish and a man wearing a dress. Kept on walking and wondered into Myers Park. Was really peaceful there apart from the couple to left of me that couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Later, after finding some graffiti, I stopped to take photos. When I turned around to take more photos, I accidentally kicked a cat in the face. Felt really bad about it afterwards.

So after kicking a cat in the face, I went to Sal's Authentic New York Pizza and ordered an 18" Pepperoni pizza. Cost me $28 but was worth it.

Later...

German roommate came back at 6am with a bloke. I'm assuming it was the same person she met in Melbourne but I'm not sure because I missed the last episode of 'The Hostel' soap story.  Anyway, when they got back they discreetly started having sex. At least they were trying to be quite about it, but seriously?! There were 3 other people in the same room ffs ಠ_ಠ

The next day I went to the Auckland Museum. Took lots of photos and was really interesting.

Then more stuff happened, like travelling back in time, but that's another story.

To be continued...

(No cats were (seriously) harmed in the making of this blog post)

AUCKLAND

Tuesday, 19th March 2013

One thing I forgot to mention in the previous post was that on Sunday night we went over to Gaynor's sisters place. She wanted to show me her bird. The bird was a type of parrot and cost $7000!! She only paid $4500 for it because she knew the owner. That's a lot of money for a bird. She justified it by saying that Lily (the parrots name) would live for 60-80 years. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

When I got back from the beach on Monday I looked like a lobster. My arms, chest, face and legs were burnt. Once again I didn't put enough suncream on after I got out of the sea. You think I would learn from my past mistakes. For the rest of the day I just relaxed and watched Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on Keith's laptop. One thing I do miss is English TV and humour. The Australian sense of humour just isn't funny.

Really grateful that Keith and Gaynor let me stay with them. Australia is a lovely place and I'm going to miss it.

Woke up on Tuesday morning in pain because of the sunburn. Was my own fault so I just have to deal with it. At least I will look nice and tanned when it's healed. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that bollocks.

Flight to Auckland was with Air New Zealand. Got there 2 hours early and I still nearly missed my flight. Went through security checks and was sitting outside gate 20 for a good hour. I didn't realise you had to go around and do more security and passport checks. Airports do a good job at making you feel like a terrorist. They make you feel like you've done something wrong. They looked at me and asked me to step into this tube looking thing and have a full body scan. I know its just a precaution but it is just a bit obsessive. A grumpy security guy also took my lynx off me. Should have put it in my suitcase. My flight was at 11:45am and boarding was at 11am. Me being the idiot I am was still waiting in the line at 11:30 to show my passport to get into the departure lounge. Ran down to gate 20 thinking I had 10 minutes before the plane took off. When I got there, they weren't even boarding. Plane was delayed for half an hour. Had a sigh of relief and sat down with my heart beating faster. Think I would have laughed at how stupid I was if I missed the plane. In my defense the airport isn't well sign posted, but I should have known better.

The seats inside the plane were all black and looked quite smart and modern. None of the funky patterns you normally see on plane seats. The safety announcement video had Bear Grylls in it (for those that are wondering, no they didn't show him drinking his own piss). It was actually really well done for a safety video. Something different and creative. The in-flight entertainment was also very good. They were showing The Hobbit. I'm sure that only came out in the cinema like last month? (It was probably released last year and I just can't remember)

The people I sat next to were both very friendly and talkative. If you ever come to Australia you will notice that the majority of people are really friendly. When I was walking back from the beach on Monday, a random man walking in the opposite direction just looked at me and said G'day and walked off.

The elderly bloke to the right of me joked about spraying some perfume on his hand in duty free and said sorry if he smelt like a woman. He laughed and stiffed his hand about 10 times.

The food was alright. Had chicken and rice and had to use plastic cutlery.

Arrived in Auckland at night. Got on a $16 bus to the hostel I was staying at in the city. Sitting on the bus I was thinking I have no idea where i'm going. Luckily the driver stopped right outside the hostel. Checked in and was staying on the 9th floor. The first roommate I met was from Korea. The 2nd was from New Zealand. She was a 24 year old stripper. The 3rd and final roommate was from Saudi Arabia. All of them were nice and easy to get on with.

The room had no shower or toilet. There was one male shower down the hall for everyone on the 9th floor to use. It was one of those annoying showers where you had to press the button every 10 seconds.

I nearly broke my finger opening the locker underneath my bed because I wasn't sure how it opened. By the time I put all my stuff away it was about 8pm. Was staving so I went to Burger King across the road. Here's another fun fact for you, Burger King is called Hungry Jacks in Australia.

Woke up on Wednesday morning and I had no idea what to do for the rest of the day. Was contemplating getting a haircut but decided against it because I hate getting haircuts. Bought my first ever Dunkin' Donut for Breakfast and then just walked. I soon found out that Auckland has a lot of McDonald's. Saw about 5 of them in 5 minutes of walking.

Ended up going to the Sky Tower. If you ever go traveling buy a STA Student Travel Card. You'll save a lot of money on attractions. I paid $18 to up to the Sky Deck, which is 220 metres high.

DID YOU KNOW?
Sky Tower is as tall as 37 buses laid end-to-end.

Annnyyyyyway, when I got up there I did the standard tourist thing and took photos. I think the most interesting thing I saw up there was a 3 year old with a mullet! It will cost you $220 if you want to Sky Jump from 194 metres. After taking a lot of photos of my shoes, I left and went to the Sky City Casino. Ended up wasting $10 in 10 minutes, while the guy sat next to me spent $20 and won $800. Lucky bastard.

For the rest of the day I just sat on a deck chair in the 'Festival Garden' and read my book. Sitting by myself, with empty chairs next to me, made me start to miss my family and friends back home. I think one day in Auckland is enough. There just isn't that much to do here if you're traveling alone. I'm probably wrong and there is still a lot to see and do but I just haven't realised it yet.

Went down to the harbour at night and listened to music. They have these really comfortable seats there. On the way back to the hostel I went into the supermarket. I saw someone that looked exactly like Patrick Stewart.  Don't think it was him but you never know.

Thursday morning I changed my mind and got a haircut. Sat there in silence for 20 minutes, paid $20 and left. Went to the Auckland Art Gallery in the afternoon. Was free entry and you were allowed to take photos. They had some good pieces of art there and some shit pieces. There was a radiator piece of 'art', which I just found weird. I didn't even bother taking a photo of it. Spent a good 2 hours there because the place is never ending. Was something to do an I did enjoy it.

At night I met up with Miff and his mate. Miff was the guy I met in Melbourne, who lives in New Zealand and is from Portsmouth. We went to the Casino. Ended up spending $50 on food, cider and roulette. Miff took out $500 to gamble with. He ended up putting $200 on black and losing it all, the crazy bastard. At the end of the night we put $8 on Roulette numbers and ended up winning $120. Was a great night.

When I got back to the hostel, a member of staff knocked on the door. He was looking for Dean Lord. I said yeah that's me and he said I needed to check out. I explained to him I had booked another night and that it was alright to stay in the same room. He said I needed to go to the reception. In the lift he said I had an interesting Surname. He asked if anyone had called me 'Me Lord' before. I laughed, he laughed, it was all very hilarious ಠ_ಠ. Got to the reception and I was asked to move rooms. Got my stuff and went to room 1104. It was a smaller room with no windows. Took me 5 minutes to find the toilet. Had to go back to the reception and ask for housekeeping because my bed had no pillow case or blanket. The room I was in was just below the bar. At 3am all I could hear was Trance music. It was 30 minutes of:

OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH. UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT. BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE.

One last thing before I end this incredible exciting post.

I'm never sure if tap water is safe to drink aboard, so I normally carry around a bottle of water.

TOP TIP #1: Instead of spending $3 each time on a new bottle of water, save yourself the money and look for a water fountain.

Next update will be about my time in Whangarei. I'll be there for 4 days so I should have something to talk about.

ADELAIDE

Thursday, 14th March 2013

Woke up at 5:30am on Thursday to get a train to Adelaide at 8:05am. Waking up at 5:30am was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Maybe because I went to bed early the night before and had a good 7 hours sleep. Checked out of the hostel, got a Krispy Kream donut from 7eleven, and then got a tram to the station. The Overland train I was on was nice. I had a seat with plenty of leg room. It felt like I was on a site seeing tour because each time we stopped a women would describe the area we were in and what it was famous for. Also i've never been on a train with a dress code before. I had to be attired in neat, clean casual clothing.

11 hours later I arrived in Adelaide. When I got there I thought Adelaide looked boring. It was the complete opposite to Melbourne. Even the hostel I was staying at was a bit boring. Everyone would just be sat around in silence, brainwashed by the television. After I said hello to my roommates I went looking for food. There wasn't much choice. Couldn't find any takeaway places in the area I was staying at. I ended up going to the pub and paying $18 for a burger and pint of Cider, which was lovely.

On Friday morning I walked to the Zoo. On the way there I stumbled across what seemed like an abandoned amusement park. I've never been to an amusement park in the morning before. It felt really weird as no one was there. Took some photos and quickly left. Walking through the parks in Adelaide reminded me of walking through the Promenade in Cheltenham. It all looked very similar. One difference here is the type of birds. I just thought of the birds as types of Pokemon. Instead of Pidgey (English flying rats a.k.a Pigeons), Adelaide has Pideotto birds (a nicer looking Pigeon with spiked up hair).

Got to the Zoo and paid $22 for entry. Would have cost $31.50 if I didn't have a student card. Not sure if it was worth it really. Just gave me something to do. I did get to see a sleeping Giant Panda, a sleeping Kangaroo and a sleeping Lion. Exciting stuff.

After the zoo I'd planned to walk back to the hostel but half way there I found the city centre and some civilization. Before finding the city centre, Adelaide felt very isolated with no sign of life. I finally found something interesting to look at... Random people and shops!

After walking through town I came to the conclusion that Adelaide is weird. There was a weird 'derp' looking statue, an old man with jet black hair and the biggest comb over I've ever seen, an elderly women who dressed  like she was in her 20's and a night club that had the comic sans font for its logo!? Even the street performers were weird. There was a man from Europe that dropped his pants for money (well actually he escaped from cling film and chains and his trousers fell down at the end). Another bloke who was in this 'performance stage' was at first walking around the crowd shouting at people. He then notice me on my iPhone and sat next to me and hugged me. When I started to walk away he shouted pleased don't leave. So I went back, took a photo of him about to crowd surf and then left. Just weird. Really really weird.

I also saw a big issue seller wearing a Mario hat, which I thought was pretty cool. I asked him if I could take a photo but he said no because he wanted to protect his privacy. After eating Nandos at night I started walking back. Once again I stopped half way to watch more street performers. This time it was for Adelaide Fridge Festival. The first performer I saw was a bloke called Tony Roberts. He put his head and shoulders through a tennis racket and then was chained up. He escaped in 2 minutes. I was impressed so I give him 20cents. Generous I know. After Tony, a women appeared dressed as a Canadian. She just ran around shouting go Canada (did I mention that Adelaide is weird?). Spent a good 12 hours walking around before I got back to the hostel. Was a good day.

MOSQUITO'S!!! Instead of flies there are Mosquito's in Adelaide. Fucking Mosquito's! While staying in the hostel I woke up on Saturday morning with about 30 bites on me. Bastards. They've officially made it onto the things I hate list.

After checking out of the hostel I was picked up by a women called Gaynor. Gaynor is married to Keith and Keith is an old friend of my Dads. They were kind enough to let me stay with them until Tuesday. Didn't do much for the rest of the day. At night I ate Kangaroo for the first time. It was really nice and just tasted like beef. Saw some wild Kangaroos on the way home as well.

I found out that Oz Comic Con was happening over the weekend in Adelaide. Couldn't have come at a better time really. Keith an Gaynor dropped me there on Sunday morning. Before we left, Keith made a full cooked breakfast and Gaynor also made me a packed lunch, which was really nice of them.

Oz Comic Con was amazing. Spent $20 to get in and then spent $40 on 3 Adventure Time Vinyl figures, $20 on a Legend of Zelda Triforce cap, $10 on a Vegeta poster, which I got signed by Dragon Ball Z Voice actor Christopher Sabat and a Street Fighter 2 & Venom comic for $1 each. Money well spent. In the afternoon I went to the Jason Momoa, a.k.a Khal Drogo from a Game of Thrones, panel. He was really funny and was wearing a Pantera Cowboys From Hell shirt which was cool.

Walking through the main area I was using my phone to check internet prices and I heard this bloke say "I fucking hate people using their phones here" I looked up and said sorry mate. He was walking back to his wife and two kids. He clearly didn't want to be there and was obviously made to go by his children. I walked away and he gave me an evil look. Prick.

William Shatner was a special guest here. I didn't get to meet him but I did get to see him from about 20 metres a way while he signed autographs. It would have cost me $80 to get a photo with him!

At the end of the day I sat down and watched some Cosplay. Wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when I saw this over weight guy dressed up as Mario walking onto the stage alone. He must of been about my age. When he got onto stage he said 'it's a me Mario' in a fake Italian voice and left... Palm to face.

Got a lot of great photos and had an amazing day. Makes me want to go to San Diego Comic Con even more now.

Today I had a nice and relaxing day at Maslin Beach. Apparently it was Australia's first ever nudest beach. When I got there it was just me. Saw a few people walk pass occasionally, but other than that the beach was empty. It was lovely. White sand and crystal clear sea. Could have stayed there all day.

Fun fact #2: Australia has an Emu and a Kangaroo on their Coat of arms to symbolise a nation moving forward, reflecting a common belief that neither animal can move backwards easily.

Tomorrow I will be leaving Australia and flying to New Zealand.

More extremely fun facts and updates later.