Sad times, the group has been split up already!
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2011
1
108
289
Trip End
Sep 06, 2012
Where I stayed
Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Sunday, February 5, 2012
The drive from Rotorua was going to take around 3.5 hrs, so we should have enough time to explore Auckland, or a small part of it anyway.
On the journey up, we stopped at a very small village called Tirau. It is obsessed with corrugated iron, as you can see from a couple of the photo’s. Lovely little town where all the buildings are made out of the iron. Stopped for a quick coffee break before we hit the road again for Auckland.
We finally got to Auckland around 1 pm after a few hiccups with our hostel. Said our goodbyes to HP, as he is now off for a few days, but I actually get back on his bus again on Thursday, so happy days! Most of our group that had formed over the past few days was about to split up as most people who get to Auckland have now finished theire bus journey. We lost the Dutch boys who were such good fun. I was going to be losing Becky & Denise tomorrow as they are not doing the Bay Of Islands, so they have another night in Auckland before they head back down south.
We dumped our bags in our room and decided to go for a walk around the city. We walked all the way down to the wharf which looks pretty impressive. Nothing like the ones in Sydney or Melbourne, but still very attractive and felt really nice. Helen had her Lonely Planet guide with her, so we did one of the self walks around the city which took us up to Albert Park where there was a Chinese lantern festival happening to celebrate the Chinese New Year. There were loads of performances, nic nak stalls and food stalls. It was quite ice to just walk around slowly and take it all in.
It’s a shame we didn’t get here earlier as I would have liked to have caught a ferry over the some of the islands here, but it was too late in the day. I’m not going to have time when OI get back to Auckland either as we get back quite late in the evening. Ah well, another excuse to come back and travel some more!
Later that evening, the girls decided that they wanted to try out the Ice Bar in town. I have never been to one before but they look like fun. I was so tired I was dead on my feet and felt like saying I was going to stay in, but hey, this is our last night together so need to make an effort.
It cost $25 to get in and you get given a big Puffa Jacket and thick ski gloves to wear as it is really cold in the bar. For that $25 you also get a free drink. We all had a cocktail as they were the most expensive at $14 each. I was slightly disappointed when we got in there as I thought it was going to be a big bar, well in fact it was tiny. There were a couple of other people in there and they left not that long after we got in there. The room was full of ice seats, with fur covers on. The bar was completely made out of ice, in fact, everything was made out of ice apart from the floor and the ceiling. We even had a game of darts, whch is actually quite hard when wearing ski gloves!
The cocktail we had was amazing. It was called Cool Kiwi, which was Vodka based with Kiwi liquer. Hmmm, it was really yummy. We only had the one drink though as there was no way I was paying $14 for a drink. They even had you over a barrel as you weren’t allowed to take your own photo’s. Company Policy! The reason being is that they take photo’s of you and then sell them to you at $8 a go! Cheeky monkey’s! I bought one though as it was memories to bring home with me!
We left there around 10.30 pm and headed up the hill to Base where I had free beer vouchers. We stayed in there for just the one and then headed back to the hostel as Helen and I were being picked up at 7.50 am to head off to Pahia.
It was a great night and I glad I made the effort to go out. Sad to say goodbye to the girls, however, I’m sure they will meet great new people, just as I will once I get on my new bus!
Another night without much sleep though. Got to bed around 12.30 to 5 hrs sleep for me! Sweet as!
