"Live the moment"

How do I sum up the remainder of my New Zealand adventure into one post???? This is going to be a long one, so grab a coffee, or a “flat white” get comfy and get reading…..

All right, at Rotorua I realized that I only had another week in New Zealand. It went unbelievably fast and I still had a few things on my list I wanted to do. My plan of attack initially was to only see the northern part of the North Island and I am so glad that I stayed with it. When I talk with people who spend one day in one town and then another whole day of travel to spend one more day in the next, I think… ‘what are you really taking in?’.

I took a bus from Rotorua to Whangarei (pronounced Fang-a-ree) so that I could do some diving. I ended up in this hostel late in the evening and as I walked into the commons area I spotted across the room one of the Irish girls from Auckland – Patricia! I can’t tell you how happy I was to see someone familiar and also so much fun. This girl is nothing but shits and giggles and all around just fan – friggin’ – tastic. Turns out she was going diving the next day and that was specifically what I was there to do as well. I hadn’t heard from the dive company that I had emailed, so the plan was that I was just going to go with her and plead my way into the dive trip. The next morning I did just that, but I didn’t have to plead very hard. They were more than happy to take another paying customer as they had plenty of room. Now for most people that don’t know this, the Poor Knights is considered to be one of the world’s top ten diving sites in the world by Jacques Cousteau. And it didn’t disappoint us. The fish were massive and the dive itself was amazing. I have to admit, I am not much of a cold-water diver. All the extra gear and weight is a bit of a pain in the ass and getting in the water at first is very shocking.

Patricia and I napped when we got back to the hostel (turns out we were sharing a room – what are the chances!). Being that it was a Saturday night and our last night in town before she went South and I, North, we planned this to be an official bar night. We ended up taking along with us a German guy and another stray Irish man - Blair, who turned out to be quite funny. How do I even begin to describe the club action in wee Whangarei? I think we spent most of the night walking through this town looking into all the bars before realizing there really was only one place that was ‘happening’ (for lack of a better word) and it was appropriately called ‘Danger, Danger”. Not because of the scantily clad women, or the bad music, but maybe because of the lack of …. Ambiance??? Not sure what was missing. Maybe people our own age? Maybe better music without the massive screen that played the video while playing the top 40 song. Maybe official go-go dancers in the suspended cage and not regulars lined up for their slot. It’s a tough call. I spent most of the night wondering what was up. It had a country feel in the bar that made me think that any minute now the locals were going to stop bumping and grinding to hip-hop and start 2 stepping to “my achy breaky heart”. No really, it felt just like that. The highlights of my night??? I would have to say that it was just hanging out with fun people (the Irish seriously are fun), discovering (a little too late into the evening) that the neon green drink special served in the glass beaker was amazing, and actually meeting a local who drove around with his back window shot out. In Canada we call this a ‘hick town’. I wonder what the New Zealanders call it?

With much good-bye fanfare, I left Patricia for Paihia with Blair in tow. How to describe this guy??? Well, I can tell you he is witty and very smart (except that his chosen major was American History – WTF???) and he would probably tell you he is very entertaining. I may have to agree, but I would never do that it front of him. I guess, for the short bus ride North, I would have to say that I was entertained with fantastic conversation but had to stay alert with how quick he could be – it can actually be tiring always having to be ‘on’. Once we got to Paihia and got settled in, we headed off to a Museum with grounds that was the birthplace of New Zealand. It was where the English and the Maoris signed a treaty and decided to live as one country in 1840. This is where maybe my inability to travel with others kicked in, as Blair was museum-ed out and didn’t want to look at old buildings and glassed in artifacts and I could seriously stare at wood all day long. We parted ways for a short while so he could “slow down and live the moment” and I went for a quick walk (only 1 KM) back to Paihia. Funny, we both met up in town… guess I just took a different route to “the moment”. I was thinking how bizarre it was that a semi-complete stranger was telling me that I needed to slow down and “enjoy the moment” when any one at home could have told him that I have a black belt in sucking back time to do nothing. I live 3 months of my winter away in Thailand, lying on a beach doing nothing – every year! I don’t even own a watch. There isn’t a person who knows me that can say that I have never had them wait while I lived a moment or two. Maybe I have started to lose myself on this trip? I need to find my way back!

I awoke the next morning in anticipation for 6 days of sailing. I arrived at Great Escapes only to be told that none of their boats could go out because the forecast was calling for heavy winds and a gale. Fair enough. I spent the day in Russell learning more about early New Zealand and I was able to find another museum to wander through. Now without boring you all with the details of the next 6 days, I will just try to tell you this. Sailing through the Bay of Islands was the highlight of this trip. I saw some amazing birds, dolphins, flying fish; amazing scenery… there is just so much. I will post some pics, but they don’t even do it justice. What also made it fantastic was that the owners of the company, Terry, his wife Cindy, Lucy and Dave made dealing with Great Escapes memorable. They were so happy to bend over backwards to make things work out and they even had me over for dinner a few times. Who else does that? Island Cruising, of course, but this post is about New Zealand.

I was only too unhappy to see my travels through New Zealand draw to a close once I got to Auckland. So, back to another long Emirates flight (that will, at least, be safe from bombings!), as I will leave you with my list of top 5 in no particular order….

5 things I wasn’t keen about in New Zealand…

1. Phone calls were freaking expensive! There is no competition so it was 70 cents to call a landline and if you called a cell phone, it would cost you (at a pay phone) $1.20 a minute. One person who owns a cell told me that his average cell bill was $700 a month and that was normal. With Vodaphone having the monopoly, New Zealanders just accepted it as another huge expense they have to pay. Very much like what Canadians would do. Just look at the rising cost of fuel we all pay with minor grumblings.

2. Meat Pies. This is the national snack. They have other things like pizza and kebabs like we do, but meat pies are in every shop and convenience store. All wrapped and warmed for quick consumption. They really are gross. And so bad for you!

3. No hot guys. The Irish girls and I had to agree, there is a drought in this country and we aren’t talking rain. Not sure where they have gone or if they even exist, but if I encountered someone hot in New Zealand, they had a foreign accent.

4. Eating out was expensive and getting to a grocery store was a mission in it self. It was almost cheaper to eat out, as the grocery stores weren’t all that cheap. I was shocked to notice that local made goods such as cheese, milk or bread - was expensive.

5. The car rental companies “hire” you a complete lemon for $45 a day unless you get it for a month or more. When I say lemon, we almost rented a car and it was 10 yrs old and literally falling apart, I mean LEMON. Good thing there was a flat in the tire that we discovered as we drove off the lot. We had to quickly turn around to switch up cars only to have to wait in line with other people wanting to do the same. We bussed from Auckland.

And now… The 5 things I LOVED about New Zealand.

1. The dual flush toilets. For number 1, and for number 2. Saves tons of water per day and I don’t recall seeing a toilet that wasn’t one. Sometimes North America can be soooo behind. Oh and clean, clean, clean.

2. Loved that the Maori culture is celebrated in New Zealand and also recognized. Makes me think how different Canada could have been if the early settlers had signed a treaty early on with our Natives instead of trying to snuff out their culture, driving them into residential schools or reserves or just killing them.

3. Loved all their adrenaline sports. There wasn’t a shortage of things to do at all in New Zealand. I wish I had more time… and money.

4. Loved their transportation system. Not only in the city of Auckland, where there is a free bus for tourists, but also it was cheap and easy to bus through New Zealand.

5. Loved how laid back it felt. Just like home. And it's so green! Man, it made me miss the Island.

Just another note before I take off and post this sucker… but I had a lot more than 5 things to love about New Zealand, but for balance sake (it was hard for me to come up with 5 things I wasn’t keen on..) I had to limit the list to the magical 5.


Back to the Thailand grind… SIGH…. Miss you all and keep the emails coming!