Farewell North Island (Mar 18 - 21)

My second last day in Auckland was Berni's last day there. And that night she had to go pick up her hat from some random place and that took a long time. So I said my final goodbye to Berni. She said "This is the longest time I've spent with a guy I didn't know".. and that made me actually think, yea we didn't know each other and we just traveled together for like a week. Awww, travel buddies for life.

My last day in Auckland was pretty sweet. I finally decided to go up the Sky Tower which was great. I was initially being a snob saying "Pfft, I've been up the CN Tower, now THAT is impressive"... but we don't have the same views obviously, and you can't see three different volcanoes going up the CN Tower. Unfortunately at this time I was without a camera so you won't get to see what I saw, but take it from me, it was quite nice. I saw Mt. Rangitoto[pic], Mt. Eden[pic], and Mt. Wellington[pic]. I also watched the sun set and got some full moon action while I was up there. Very nice evening.

After that I went back to the hostel and chilled at the bar for a while, and met a girl named Barbara from Austria. We decided to go for a walk around the city to find a better bar and happened upon the Auckland Arts Festival. So we stopped in there for the evening and enjoyed some live music and drinks. It was a pretty cool vibe, lots of young successful socialites sipping wine and having conversation. There was also a camera that you moved around in front of and it created swirling images on a huge screen; this was pretty cool. I stayed for a few hours but then had to go because I was catching an early train (7:30am departure) the next morning. So I said goodnight to Barbara and to Auckland for the last time.

I woke up the next morning at 6:30am, because I had to be at the station early for check-in. Luckily the station was only about 5 minutes away and I mapped out my route the day before just in case I got lost in my half sleeping state. So I stumbled out of bed, dragged on my clothes and walked in the dark to the train station.

Taking the train was a GENIUS idea, it was really relaxing and I got to see all kinds of nice scenery; there was also commentary along the way, I took one of the maps on the menu for a souvenir (scissors coming in handy once again). The train went Auckland -> Pikekohe -> Hunty -> Hamilton -> Te Awanutu -> Otorohanga -> Waitomo -> Te Kuiti -> Taumarunui -> National Park (Mt. Ruapehu) -> Onakune -> Wairu -> Taihape -> Marton -> Fielding ->Palmerston North -> Levin -> Otak -> Paraparaune -> Poriua -> Wellington...oh I didn't mention the train ride was 12hrs?..yea. Most of those places were EXTREMELY small towns, but the people seemed nice enough, most of them were waving as the train went by which was cool. The highlight of the trip was seeing Mt. Ruapehu. It was kind of bitter sweet because I never got to go up and see everything when I was in Taupo, but at least I got to see it; but it just made me want to go up there even more. It really made everything else I've seen (mountain wise) just look silly in comparison. This was a real mountain, I was actually impressed, it was the biggest thing I think I've ever seen.

Along the way I saw the first black sheep I've seen in New Zealand, and some other sheep that have black faces; up until this point I had only seen one kind of sheep in NZ, but there's a TON of them. I decided not to engage in any conversation while on the train, there was a lady from Alberta sitting in front of me talking to a couple from England and another girl from England. I just wanted to chill and watch the hills roll by; the sound track of my journey was Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes, Metric - Grow Up & Blow Away, MGMT - Congratulations (first time listening to this whole album, it was really good. I especially liked I found a Whistle and Brian Eno), and K-os - *All songs*. (Sidenote: There was a gangsta guy sitting behind me and for the last few minutes of the journey he was singing Lonely by Akon..pretty hilarious)

I called ahead to a place called Downtown Backpackers, none of the hostels in Wellington were rated over 65% in the BBH book and once I got to DT Backpackers (which was rated the highest at 65%) I found out why. It had a very detached vibe, not very friendly, and it was kind of old inside but not in a homey kind of way, like a run down hotel. I slept in a dorm with 24 beds in it, so yeah.. I wasn't too impressed with this place but I was only there for one night so it was alright. The best part about this hostel was it was located right outside of the train station and a $2 shuttle away from the ferry, so it was very convenient. That night I wanted to go out (sitting on a train for 12 hrs I needed a drink), I went for a walk around but it was Sunday night so nothing was really going on. I went back to the hostel to have a drink in the bar and met two Dutch guys (Sidenote: Jonathan DeGuzman used to play for their favorite soccer team in Holland, so when I told them we were from the same place and I had to play against him they were pretty impressed. Oh and they were both martial arts masters... one taekwondo black belt and the other was a judo champion in holland.. so yea, good to know).

Long story short I decided to hit the town with these guys and the night went something like this: First bar met some more Dutch guys, then left with some Danish guys and a local (Sidenote: This guy was a Mauri and he was CRAZY, he kept saying I'LL SHOW YOU THE REAL KIWI EXPERIENCE, HEY... he was funny though, he told me he's never seen a water fall before and all that stuff is just for tourists LOL), we almost ended up in a strip club but it was too expensive, then ended up at an Irish bar and stayed there for a while with some more locals. One of the guys knew a bunch of weird facts about Canada. The Dutch guys and Danish guys left but I stayed there to chat it up with the locals, ended up speaking some french and making out with some woman who had just come back from an MGMT concert.

Woke up the next morning feeling alright, I stored my bags at the hostel and went for a walk along the harbor (really nice houses across the water [took some pics on twitter] and free wifi!) to Te Papa Tongarewa. Te Papa was really cool, nice building by the water and some really interesting exhibits inside. I spent about 6 hours in there just wondering around, it was really cool. While there I got a new idea for my super-awesome "I've traveled the world" tattoo. (Go to my twitter page to see some highlights from the museum, scroll down to where it says "A walk through through Te Papa" and go up..I also named all the exhibits, just for you guys!) I had my ferry booked for 6:25pm so I had to get something to eat. I went to a really nice Fish & Chips place down Cuba st. ... Wellington definitely gets cool points for Cuba st, very trendy cool there with nice boutiques and oddly dressed people roaming around.

After that I got my bags from the hostel and hopped on the ferry. The ferry ride was very nice, I watched the sunset at the front of the boat and we traveled through Queen Charlotte Sound, which was really nice, but it was getting dark so I didn't get the full effect. Finally I arrived in Picton at 9:00pm-ish, and was off the North Island. We had some great times North Island, but now I must see what the south has in store for me. I'm sure I'll be back one day, goodbye and thanks for the memories.

Peace & Love