Johnno, Micky and Mo!

  Auckland, New Zealand
Sunday, September 19, 2004

I'm currently sitting on one of four machines on a mezzanine floor above a cafe near the harbour. I've been using this place quite regularly now and have started to build up a bit of a rapport with the family that own and run the business. They are of oriental origin and like everyone else here, very friendly. They run upstairs now and again and bring me a coffee 're-fill' with a smile, then go about their business in their usual sprightly, energetic manner. On the occasion that I attend 'Machine 1', I can glance down from the top floor over at the coffees and snacks being served and out on to the traffic passing the cafe outside.

Well I'm currently on 'Machine 1' and have just glanced down and caught something with my eye that has just made me chuckle. There is a small book secretly tucked away at the back of the coffee machine where the 'waitress of the day' makes up the morning's batch of filter coffee. It has a yellow and orange cover and in big bold black capital letters emblazoned right across the front it boasts:- 'Begin a hot, steamy love affair now!'. It looks very well used and after establishing who the potential readers are, I've spent the last few moments chuckling to myself as I've uploaded some pics.

Oh yeah, another little minor detail - occasionally, the odd, random small bird will fly in from outside and sit itself down next to you. If you get up or move it will still sit there un-threatened and quite contented, taking a short break from it's hectic day. Then when it decides to leave it will hop (not fly) on it's fragile little feet down the stairs and then fly back out in to the outside world. Even the birds are friendly here!

Yesterday was quite eventful. I finally met up with 'Johnno' at long last after months of MSN messenger. Like a few of the others who you'll get to hear about at some point, I'd met Johnno on the New Zealand 'backpackerboard' website. The Backpacker Board (BB) is a very useful, resourceful service that allows you to look up and share information, tips, concerns and gain encouraging and very helpful responses from it's enthusiastic, like-minded registered population. Johnno is a bit younger than me and from the part of Scotland North enough to have an accent classed as 'foreign'.

I'd finished catching up with the travelogue this morning and went back up to Base to meet him. As is with most people, he was completely different to how I had imagined! I took him round Auckland central to some of the main points of interest I'd previously discovered that I thought might be of use to him.



We had walked some distance up Queen St, the main 'culture strip' for a while until we arrived at the theatre. There we discovered the open market that was on in the square. Johnno bumped in to and quickly introduced me to 'Morag' who he'd met just earlier as she was sharing the same dorm. The market was great - an extremely talented live duo played very passionately in the centre of the square, surrounded by lots of different stalls offering anything from ancient Maori carvings and traditional gifts, to fabric and food stalls. I sampled a tray-full of the local veggie Pakora while Johnno, Mo and myself walked right up and across 'K Rd' and in to Ponsonby, to check out the fine cafe's and restaurants it is popular for.

Later on back at Base, I finally met 'Micky' who had arrived that morning. Micky was the one who I was supposed to meet at Kuala Lumpur airport for a couple of hours before we flew off in opposite directions. I had tried to call at the agreed time of 'just after nine' but never managed to get through. Well after meeting Micky, it was clear now what actually happened. Micky's phone never got connected so ended up getting the information desk staff at KL airport to put an announcement over the airport tannoy asking if 'Scottwoz' could report to the nearest information desk please! Well this was news to me but hardly surprising considering my condition during my brief stay at Kuala Lumpur airport.

Micky is a right bundle of laughs with a typical 'saafend' accent. I had requested to move rooms anyway from 302 across the hallway in to 305. So now I was sharing a dorm with Johnno, Micky and Mo. There was also a young Chinese lad from Germany in one of the lower bunks. He too seemed excitably friendly.

Johnno wasn't though. He really was feeling worse for wear. He'd been backwards and forwards to the bathroom being sick and was not improving. He'd managed to track down a doctor round the corner from Queen St. In kind support and as we were all chatty and in the introduction phase anyway, we all accompanied him on the short walk through the city to the doctors. Much to his disappointment, Johnno discovered that the building was locked up. After he'd swore for a while and calmed down, we went back to Base and Johnno enquired as to the whereabouts of the local hospital. He booked himself a taxi and ventured over.

He stressed he was fine and had got my number if he needed us so Micky, Mo and I ventured over to a local kiwi bar we had spotted on one of the back streets on the way to the doctors, to carry on with our acquaintance. Johnno was okay in the end and returned with a long list of drugs he had to acquire from the local pharmacy in the morning - not that he was too impressed with the bill!

Micky and Mo were great, easy to get on with and very like-minded.