Goodbye Auckland...Hello Curfew

Friday 1-22-10

So today we decided to eat breakfast at Dunkin’ Dounuts as I have never had donuts there before. So we went downstairs and I realized I forgot my battery for my camera downstairs. So I went back up the elevator and got my camera. Then, as I was about to board the elevator again, I realized I forgot my jacket. So I went back to the room and got my jacket and was ready to go, finally.

We went to a bus stop, because we had tickets to go on a free bus tour. I don’t know where to get the tickets, but Alison was able to get the tickets in her building. We waited a while, but there was no one else there. We kind of felt silly waited for this free bus tour by ourselves. Eventually, someone else came along, who was also from California. She actually had the same exact phone as us. She was saying that her phone was so simple it was almost to complicated for her. I almost had to laugh at that statement.

So the bus arrived and we boarded. We went a couple blocks, and the driver pulled over to pick up a couple of people. As he pulled over, a guy started running away from the bus. Then we heard a loud BOOM! Then we saw a light post wavering and something shattered. The bus driver hit the light post and shattered his side mirror. Not a good start of the day.

Well, after a while the bus driver headed out and a guide would point out landmarks. The first stop was the skytower. It is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Apparently Australia used to have the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, but New Zealand added a wire or pole or something to it to make it taller. So I guess the Australians are a little bitter about it. We watched a couple people bungi jump (or jump down, I really don’t know how to describe it, because it isn’t bungi jumping. Then we were on our way.

We passed several volcanoes. We were told that one volcano is dormant, but it will erupt in about 50 years, and when it does, it will take out all of Auckland. Apparently there was a prankster a while back who (on April Fool’s Day) got tires up the volcano and set fire to them in the form of the words APRIL FOOL’S. Of course all of Auckland panicked thinking it was the volcano erupting. Well,

We went to Savage Memorial. Across the way is a plane where Maori people live. Apparently the government made them move there, because the area was not as well kept and the Queen was coming to visit. They wanted the area to look nicer so they made the Maori people move. Then, the government was going to move them again, and the Maori people protested. The government got fed up and arrested over 200 people, but the Maori people took it to court and won. So the government gave them back their land, compensation, and an apology. So the people there are very wealthy, and the cheapest of the houses in that area are $9-10 million.

In this picture, is a black building with a pole sticking up. It is a skeleton structure. The guide told us the parts, but I don’t remember. Anyway, it is a meeting place and a place for funerals. When there is a funeral, they all sleep in the same place for three days, with the body. So we went outside and took pictures. It was sunny, but suddenly started raining, so we went on our way quickly. The other picture is of me and Alison on Mount Eden overlooking the city.

Then we went on Mount Eden. The scenery was beautiful. There was a big crater that we looked down on. In the center of the crater it said JESUS. It is actually upside down in the picture, so I had to flip it right side up. We couldn’t go to the other side. So we saw JESUS today.

Then we went to a pub for lunch. Alison and I ordered wedges, which were potato wedges, cheese, and sour cream. While we were waiting, our guide gave us the wedges with bacon. Alison and I were the last to get our food, so we were eating the wedges fast and burning our mouths from the heat of the wedges the guide gave us. When we got our order, we filled up fast with the fries, and could not finish them. But we were really thirsty. I discovered a pitcher or water and noticed someone using it. I asked if it was free water and he said yes (for all I knew it was free vodka). I downed three glasses.

Afterwards, we went to the Auckland Harbour Bridge where some people could Bungi jump. We had to put our stuff in lockers, put on hard hats, and a harness. We actually walked under the bridge and attached the harness to a cable on the right side. There were handrails, but it was so windy. The wind blows so hard, you push against the wind. Then the wind would calm down while you were still pushing. So you would have to gain your balance again. So I was nervous, because I held the harness with my right hand and my camera with my left, but my elastic attached to the cap was stretched out and loose. I thought it was going to fall off.

We got to a stopping point and the girl in front of me looked down for a second and really did lose her hat. One of the guys from this place said adamantly, “That’s $40.” They even made her go down a separate way when we were going to see the bungi jumpers. She actually got a better view, but she had to go by herself. This is Alison and the California girl who lost her hat on the kind of scary bridge.

We had to climb really steep steps up to the platform. There were 6 jumpers and 4 got wet. We saw all the preparation and the initial jump. After that we couldn’t see anything until they came up.

Then we had to go downstairs backwards and reattach the cables. We walked back across the bridge. This time, I held my harness with my right, and my camera and my hat with my left. I was not going to pay $40 for my hat! Then we went back and saw a couple of the jumpers on video. I saw myself in some of the videos and felt stupid. Especially when in one of them, I had something in my mouth and was trying to discreetly take it out without using my hands. Yeah, it was on video! So much for discretion.

Then we went to a shopping place. No one bought anything and we were all ready to go back to the bus for more sightseeing. We were all of the same mind. Well, there was no more sight seeing, so Alison and I went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was pretty with Stain Glass windows and all. Then we went to Victoria Park, which was actually right across the street from the shopping place we were at earlier. We walked around and saw an amazing playground with equipment we had never seen before. We wanted to play on it, but there were a lot of kids and people.

Then we came back and had Subway for dinner. Believe it or not, Subway is around every corner and is the cheapest food here.

We went back to our room, and the key didn’t work. When you want to go up to a certain floor in the elevator, you have swipe your key and it will bring you to the floor you want. Well, I did that and it turned red. It would not go where I wanted it to go. So we stayed in the elevator trying to figure out what to do. Alison swiped her key. Then I tried to push 10 (our floor) and accidentally pushed the alarm. It made a loud noise but stopped when I realized what happened. The door opened and we got out quickly. Then we pushed to go up again, and the door opened, but we still couldn’t make the keys work. People on other floors were pushing for the elevator, so our elevator was going up and down without our control. Then a lady wanted to go to the 10^th floor, so we finally were able to go to our room. But of course our keys didn’t work, so we couldn’t get in our room. So we went to the receptionist. Of course this was the only time they ever had a line and it was a LONG line. They had to extend the keys (which they supposedly did when we extended our stay, but obviously didn’t).

When we got back to the room, both roommates were there. One was new and really bubbly. He kept talking and talking and Alison and I just wanted to go to bed. They left after a while.

So then we were able to go to our rooms. It had been an interesting day and we were exhausted, but we still had to pack for tomorrow. To give us motivation, I took out Turkish Delight I got from my mom for Christmas (from London). I also had what I call sponge candy from my flights to Tahiti and New Zealand. They felt and kind of tasted like sponge to Alison and I. They were not very good.

It took us a while to get stuff organized. We got everything ready, but I was really nervous. I could only have 20 kg for check in (which I already probably had over 23 kg from the flight) and one carry on and a personal item (like a camera). I decided they would accept my laptop as a personal item.

So the water in the sink never turns off. No matter how hard you twist the handle, there is always a stream of water. Also, in our room (on the top floor) it frequently sounds like a body hits the roof. I don’t think I would like to go and check. We were told that there has been no deaths of skydiving or bungi jumping. Still…

We set both our phones, heard both guys come in at different times. When the chatterbox guy came in, I heard him stop in front of me. When I opened my eyes, I thought he was staring at me, and it scared me. I realized that although he was standing in front of me, he was looking down. Still unsettling though. Then he would kind of chuckle to himself for some reason about every 15 seconds. Then he tried to open the safety storage with great difficulty and ran some appendage in a metal pole and quietly said “OUCH!” I almost laughed, because I could relate, seeing how I did that multiple times. Then he spent quite a while doing something on his laptop.

Saturday 1-23-10

So…we got up and got ready pretty fast, got our luggage, went to the reception…and no one was there. I went around and found someone who was surprised no one was at the counter, so she checked us out. So then we went down the elevator and mad the long trek to the train station. I was exceptionally slow as I dragged a suitcase in front and one in back of me, had a backpack, and draped the laptop case as I waddled along the streets. We go to the train station at 6:00 am, but it wouldn’t open until 6:30. So we stood there for ½ hour and took off our jackets, as we were really hot.

As we waited, we tried to engage in conversation, since people would try to talk to us, and it was kind of creepy. One guy was telling me how beautiful my eyes were and asked if I wanted to trade. Plus…it was still dark.

So when the gates opened, we went down to the escalator. The first bag was fine, but the second bad had something that stuck to the step and was starting to get dragged down. It made a horrible sound when I got off. Then…there was another escalator…the same thing happened again.

We went to the front of the train and registered. They didn’t even weigh the luggage. The guy pretended to injure his back when he lifted my big bag, but he didn’t say anything. What a relief. So then we found our seats and read all the info we could.

Then…it’s a 12-hour scenic ride to Wellington.

We were in our seats for a while, but we decided to walk to the viewing area. We were in the back car, so we had to open a door, then open the door to the connecting car (which was frightening in itself), then open the next door, then open the door to the next car. We had to do this three times, and waddled the whole way, thrying not to fall on people. It wasn’t easy.

We got to the scenic viewing area that was open on two sides. There were people there, but we got to one side. Unfortuantely, the other side was much better. Alison and I tried to take pictures over their heads. It was kind of scarey when it rocked. You felt like your were going to hit something coming by.

Then we decided to go back. On the way back, when I was about to open the door, the train leaped and rocked. I lost my balance. I tried to catch myself from falling with the wall on the left side. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a wall, but a bathroom door that opens when you push. So of course the door flings open and I start falling in. Both my hands flew out to the doorframe and I stood hunched over the toilet. Very attractive!

We somehow got back to our seats and waited. We were hungry by 9:00 (well, actually earlier), but waited. We couldn’t stand it any longer at 10:50, so we ate our lunch (Subway).

We were told that we would get to the national park at 12:50 and have ½ hour to explore. At 12:45, we were stopped waiting for a signal. It should have taken a couple of minutes, but the people couldn’t contact the park. They kept apologizing to us and said they should be there. An hour later, we left and got to the national park. It was cold and raining, but we (along with everyone else on the train) went straight to the bathroom. When I finally go tin, the toilet paper dispensers were empty. I found a roll eventually, picked it up, and automatically dropped it on the floor. I took off the pieces that touched the floor and got out of there as quick as I could.

Then we walked a bit before boarding the train. We couldn’t see anything well, because of the cloud cover.

So back in our seats we sat. We got so hungry, that we decided to get something at 4:15. We got pasta, which tasted really good at first. When our hunger subsided, so did the quality of the food. The lady, who we bought the food from, said we should go to the viewing area. So we did, and saw canyons, rivers, waterfalls, and the like. It was really beautiful.

We were late coming into Wellington. We got our baggage and walked to a taxi. It charged 10 cents every 5 seconds, so we were praying we wouldn’t hit any red lights. It came around $15 to get to our hostel. Then we had to drag our luggage up the stairs and walk to the front desk. Of course everyone was staring at us (since everyone else only seems to bring a backpack). So we were already embarrassed. Plus, we were recently told an ACDC concert was in Wellington. So we went to the front desk to check in and ask if there was any room available through the weekend. She said no. We asked if we could store our luggage if we left and came back. Again…no. She also said there was pretty much no room anywhere we would try to stay because of the concert. So we went to the elevator, and a guy came with us. We went in, and he tried to help me and squeezed in corner. He was friendly and we tried to be friendly too, but we were just not in the mood to talk. Of course his floor came up first and he was in the back. So he was practically tripping over all of our luggage to get out. Then we got to our all girls sanctuary floor and tried to open the door to the rooms. Of course the sign says (close the door quietly) and it just slams no matter how quiet you try to be. We got to our rooms half crying and half laughing at the ridiculousness of our situation. We are homeless.

We were so mortified and desperately tried to think of what we could do. I was given a number of a family who lives in the Lower Hutt area. Even though I was even more mortified to do this, I tried calling the number just to see if there was some way we could stay at their house until we could find something else. I called, and it was wrong. I tried several things but it would not put me through. I later found out they were in the States anyway, so they would not have been home. It was just so embarrassing. So now we are really stuck

Later, Alison and I tried to find Churches nearby thinking maybe we could even find a family to house us for a while. We walked around and soon found out it is a MAJOR party city. It was said to be the safest city to walk at night, but it did not feel safe at all. Everyone was drunk it seemed and there was a guy who was acting…different.

We found a Methodist Church. We looked for more, but things were looking creepier. We quickly returned to the hostel and went online to check availability of hostels. The only thing that was available would cost us almost $6,000, because it was a 32 private be hostel. Obviously we could not afford that. So now we are considering going to Christchurch.

We went in the elevator to go back to our rooms, and it made a horrible noise and then jumped. Then it started to go up a level and did that same horrible noise and jumped again. Then the door opened (even though no one wanted on or off). So we went up the remaining levels by the stairs. We do not trust this elevator.

We then went to our sanctuary and took showers. As soon as we were done, someone was there cleaning the bathroom. Of course it was a guy in our all girl’s sanctuary. So we quickly retreated to our room and started laughing hysterically at our luck. We got our clothes out for tomorrow and of course they were all wrinkled. I went back to the bathroom to use the hairdryer they had. Of course it wouldn’t work, so I went back to the room to write about the day’s events.

Outside was scary. There was loud noise and music like a karaoke event or something. We also heard emptying of glass bottles in a big dumpster every 15 minutes or so. Meaning a lot of alcohol was being consumed. We constantly heard sirens. We even could hear girls next door drinking and clinking their bottles together.

When our roommate came in, she kept opening and shutting the lockers which were right under me. She also accidentally kicked my feet while going up to the top bunk. I miss Auckland!