last words from NZ

Well it is officially my last day in New Zealand as I have to get up at Sparrow's Fart tomorrow to drive out to the airport, drop off my hire car (of the non-squealy break variety) and catch my plane to Melbourne. I will be very sad to leave but am informed that Australia is fab too, so will maintain a stiff up lip and bid NZ a fond farewell.

When I left off I was in Queenstown about to head back to Auckland the next day and since then I have been pretty rubbish at updating so here is a topline summary of what i have been up to since my last update.

Well my 1 evening in Queenstown I indulged myself and went to the cinema to see a film called River Queen (stars Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland and lots of great Maori actors that we won't have heard of back home, and is set round Whanganui so was great to see the river and the beautiful scenery around there captured on film).

I really loved the hostel that I stayed at which was called Bumbles,so had a lovely night's sleep with no major snoring action from any of my dorm mates. The next day I pottered round Queenstown, wrote lots of postcards, sorted out some stuff on-line and treated myself to a nice pizza at Winnies. After that I took my now incredibly noisy braking car to the airport, packed myself up like a mule and said farewell to the Nissan Pulsar that had taken me around so much of the South Island (noisily in the end but always safely). My flight to Auckland, via Christchurch, went very smoothly, giving me lots of time to read, which was lovely. I arrived in Auckland at 7pm, so after the car rental company had closed, so armed with a description (white, nissan sunny) and the reg, I searched the airport car park, not looking dodgy at all! I found the car, with the keys and car park ticket in the glove compartment, as promised. Amazing that it was still there. Can you imagine leaving a car unlocked with the keys in the glove compartment in Heathrow? Surely it would never be seen again.

After inadvertantly taking the scenic route to Sam & Tom's (OK I know that Mount Eden isn't on the way to Ponsonby but I got confused and made it in the end once I spotted a familiar Starbucks), I made it in time for a lovely Chicken and honey dish that Sam had prepared (umm yummy, home cooking went done a treat I can tell you). I had a lovely evening with them both, before as workers they headed to bed and I watched Madagascar on DVD, giggling like a child. I want a pet penguin now! I am sure that the cats won't mind.

The next morning I drove to the Coromandel Pennisular, specifically to a small town called Hahei. I found a nice hostel, secured myself a bed for 3 nights before going for a wander. 2 swedish girls and a brit, staying in our hostel mentioned that they would love to visit Hot Water beach, but you need a car to get there,so we went on our outing together in time for lowtide (which is when you can dig in the sand to get to the hot water springs below, while the cool sea water washes in to cool you down). Of course there was only a very small area with the hot water under it and a lot of people with shovels. We had a good time though, sinking our feet in to the warm sands and laughing as kids were getting annoyed by the waves destroying their carefully built pools.

The next day I walked from Hahei, along a lovely coastal pathway to Cathedral Cove beach, which is gorgeous. This was my official first full day on the beach in ages. I sat in the soft sand, reading a Dennis Lehane thriller, soaking up the sunshine before I got so hot I had to go jump in the waves and have a swim to cool off. It was great. I read the whole book in one day and feel completely lazy & sun drenched.

I had been hoping to go sea kayaking the next day but the weather was starting to turn (big swells, although no sign of the rain that the forecasters kept threatening us with) and it was a little overcast. I headed to the nearby town of Whitianga to check my e-mails, have a nice spot of lunch and generally potter around. I was back in Hahei for late afternoon, lounging in the beautiful hostel gardens reading another cheap thriller (which I again finished in one day, gripping stuff).

Thus ended my time in the Coromandel, as the next day I got up in the morning, said goodbye to my dorm mates (Henrietta from Germany in particular, who was a great help when I couldn't find my purse, suffice it to say, we found it but that was a pretty nerver wracking 30 minutes) and headed Aucklandwards, as I needed to go through Auckland on the motorway to get to the other side and head to Russell in the Bay of Islands, as that is where I was meeting Sam & Tom for the weekend. The journey took about 7 hours including lunch stops and the ferry crossing from Opua to Russel, so i had time to check in to the motel, watch Tootsie on TV and go buy some food in before Sam & tom made it just before 10pm, in time for as late dinner and some wine & chat.

The next day when we woke up it was clear that it wasn't going to be a problem that Sam hadn't brought her swimmers as it was very overcast and definitely not beach weather. Instead we headed off to Waitangi, which is where the treaty was signed that effectively created New Zealand and established it as a country. It was a great place to go with the Treaty house being a really interesting place to visit and the grounds were lovely. Plus I got to see a Maori war canoe, which was huge, the trees used to make it must have been enormous, with one tree making up a huge section of the canoe. It was great to explore round there before heading in to Pahia so that I could check my e-mails quickly (was checking to see if my accommodation was sorted in the Cook Islands, which it has been with a 23 night stay at Vara's all confirmed where I will have my own room for a great rate so no snorers for a whole 3 weeks! it will be heaven).

That evening in Russell (a beautiful town, that is hard to imagine ever was called the Hell Hole of the Pacific, due to all the sailors, prostitutes and general debauchery that was present there some 170 years ago) we went for a lovely meal at Gannetts, drank some nice wine and had a good chat, enjoying ourselves despite the fact that the tail end of Cyclone Wattie had hit and there was torrential rain outside.

The next morning (sunday) we woke to discovered that the rain hadn't stopped for a second since the evening before and was still going strong. I think the word used on the forecast was "lashing" which was a good description for it. So we had a lovely breakfast at Sally's before heading back towards Auckland going along the old Russell road rather than the ferry. Fun driving in heavy rain along very windy NZ roads! It definitely put my driving skills to the test, but I made it back in one piece, so that has to be a good thing! The cup of tea that Sam made, once we made it back to their house has to be the nicest I ever had! The rest of the Sunday was lazy, watching the Commonwealth Games and My Big Fat Greek Wedding on the TV before getting an early night.

So now it is Monday and I am relaxing at Sam & tom's. Ruthie is over at the moment sorting some stuff out on-line and any minute now I am going to sort out lunch. I just want to chill out and pack all my stuff up before my 5am start tomorrow. It will be so sad saying goodbye but having had such a wonderful time in NZ, I know that I will be back one day. Maybe not as soon as I would like (it is a long way to travel) but this is definitely a country that I want to visit again (although doubt that I will have as much time as I have had this trip!)

Next update will be from Australia. I will get to find out if they say "sweet as bro", "choice" and "awesome" the way that they do here! My hostel is booked in Melbourne so all I need to do now is find it.