Bay of Plenty of Islands
Trip Start
Jul 14, 2009
1
40
Trip End
Mar 19, 2010
Paihia, North Island, New Zealand
Friday, March 19, 2010
On my second day there, I took a short ferry ride to another small town called Russell, the first capital of New Zealand. I managed to spend over an hour exploring here, and got a great chicken burger as well. As I was walking to the longest beach in Russell (Long Beach), a German traveller came and joined me. We exchanged the usual backpacker small talk, and after a little while on the beach a retired couple from Australia who my friend had met earlier came up to us. They told us that there was a fishing boat coming into town soon and that they had a catch worthy of being officially weighed, which I guess is a big deal. So we made our way down to the pier and met up with the Australian couple again. As we watched them weigh a giant swordfish, the couple offered us a ride back to town in their campervan to see a few different things than we had seen on the ferry over. It was an interesting day, and not at all what I had expected. Those are the best days.
After Paihia, my only remaining stop was Auckland, where I left myself with just two days to explore. Auckland is a small town, two days should be plenty, right? I arrived on St. Patrick’s Day, obviously not having anything planned. As I wandered Queen St. looking for lunch, I ran into a friend I had met back in Christchurch, and she had a plan. We quickly hopped on a bus in search of an Irish bar where a friend of hers was playing some traditional Irish jigs. After enjoying a beer, some Irish tunes, and some drunk old people, we headed back into the city center and looked for more St. Patty’s festivities. Eventually we found ourselves in yet another Irish bar, with an expectedly rowdy crowd. As we had a drink we met a guy from Wales, I think, who told us that he was with a group on an informal bar crawl. The rule they were playing by was that at each bar the group had to gain two more people before heading to the next, and we would be the two at this bar. While the group didn’t manage to stay together all night, we had a good time. Yet another day of unexpected adventure.
I spent my last day in Auckland, the last day of my trip, seeing as much as I could on foot. Also I had my final meat pie, and it was possibly the best one yet.
Then I bought a ukulele and went home.
255 days, 18 countries (19 if you count the Vatican), 16 flights, 56 hostels, and 2 beards. Yes, 2.
Its been fun.
