It's not that I haven't been on the internet this week. I have. I've just been far too busy. Conversing. With a certain art teacher. So, inbetween doing that, here's what we've been up to...
Friday: Drove back to Auckland from Keri Keri so that Eve could get her hair done. As we hit town Lady Lazer Babski started to smell. Bad. Like it was dying. Figuring it was the brake pads that needed changing (those A-Level motor vehicle studies weren't a waste of time after all) we resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd probably have to cough up a fortune in the morning. Checked in to X Base hostel and got twisted (factor 8) at Indie night. Duncan finished the night off with his nose in a book about Disneyland. Eve finished the night off with her nose in the hot tub. I finished the night off with my nose in the DJ box. Rock. And. Roll.
Saturday: So, did I mention the Lazer's a heap of junk? No? Really? Took it in to the garage and whilst the burning smell is just a bad oil leak that doesn't need worrying about (erm, alrighty then) the ACTUAL problem is the back wheels. They were about to blow off. "You're driving around in a death trap," says the nice man who then explains that the simple choices are get it fixed, or die. For a tidy sum of three hundred dollars. Which also means no car until Monday. So we agree to get it fixed and are left stuck in Auckland. Which we hate. We eat Burger King and go to bed.
Sunday: Heard the terrible news about Pretty Alice's sister and so the day was pretty much a write off. There really are no words, Alice. I am so, so sorry. We haven't stopped thinking about you this week. Felt really rubbishy. Plus we were stuck in snoresville Auckland with no wheels. Just wanted to be at home, with my friends. But I wasn't. Boo. Watched Duncan spend a shed load of money (digital camera numero 3) and then hauled ourselves to the cinema to see Snakes on a Plane. Eve spent the entire movie convulsing next to me and admitted when we left that she has a snake phobia. It wasn't what she expected. Snakes on a Plane. Is it just me?
Monday: The Babski's better! Praise be! Picked up the car and got the hell out of Auckland. Hoo. Rah. Drove to the coast of Coramandel, or something, where we stayed in a YHA right on the seafront. With Miaowsens. Finished the night off with a trip to New World ("every moment red letter.") Our favourite NZ past-time. Fact.
Tuesday: Dunner's 27th birthday. On previous birthdays I've spoiled him. Johnny Rotten. It's true. A surprise treasure-hunt style trip to the Globe theatre, every games console imaginable, games, consoles, games, consoles - that kind of thing. So this year, when he's away from his family and friends and favourite places I got him...nothing. Not even a card. As well as being Journalist of the Year (still holding the title, people) I'm also Worst Friend of the Year. Sorry mate. So yeah, after I'd showered Duncan with a whole load of nothing we hit the hot water beach, a beach where you dig a hole and boiling water bubbles up which you then enjoy, spa stylee. Except we hadn't taken a spade. Or anything to dig with. So we nicked someone else's and pretended we'd done the hard work ourselves. Nice.
Headed off to Rotorua where whilst belting it along the road guess who gets a flat? So, did I mention the Lazer's a heap of junk? No? Really? Being a girl I just stood on the side of the road and whimpered (clearly those A-Level motor vehicle studies were a waste of time after all), Eve managed to point in a kind of I've-seen-someone-do-this-before kind of way and Duncan's gay. So we were pretty screwed. But Birthday Duncan managed to save the day and changed his first tyre. He's reported to have said "I now feel like a man."
Checked in to a hostel in Rotorua (which smells of egg), had a dip in the swimming pool (that's right), and then Duncan cooked us dinner (on his birthday. I truly deserve my award.) Finished Duncan's birthday night off in the Lava Bar, which was like being back at uni. Got hit on by some red-neck Kiwi. Duncan told him I was his sister to deter him. It didn't work. So we ended up going to bed early. Happy birthday dear Duncan, happy birthday to you...
Wednesday: Was a right sunny day, weren't it? Totally lusho. Duncan and I wandered in to town where we met a tiny dog called Cookie and I bought him a new spike piercing in a desperate attempt to redeem myself. That and some sweets. I think it worked. Then came the zorbing. You roll down hill in one of those hamster balls. Full of water. I didn't do it, obviously, but Eve and Duncan did. And they loved it. So that was all good. Plus we also ran in to fit Tom who we'd spent time with in Brazil. Turns out he knows Eve too. It's a small, small world.
That night (you'll like this, dad) some guy at the hostel gave us a trout that he'd just caught. But not just any old trout. A trout that was the size of 2 new born babies. Total. It was unbelievable. So I washed it, stuffed it with a whole load of lemon and herbs and garlic and stuff and baked it. And it was A-mazing. I was very pleased with myself. I can cook. So I ticked this skill off on my list of 'things I have to master before I get home to make me marriage material.' The next skill I have to master is how to make grown-up table talk. So I'm going to read Eve's Noam Chomsky book. They'll be crawling over themselves to marry me.
Thursday: More sun and I'm starting to like New Zealand a little more. A long drive via the coast and we arrive in Gisborne where our friends from Cornwall, Ollie and Sarah, have a house. Hot Cai (also from Cornwall) bleats on about this place ALL the time (top surf spot. Gnarly. Sick. Filth. And all that) so we felt like we should visit. Plus it's near where Whale Rider was filmed. And I loved it. From the off. Sat in the sun on the decking, drank some cider, played cards and ate a pizza. With Miaowsens two and three. Probably the happiest I've been in New Zealand so far. Amazing. Watched Ghostbusters and hit the sack.
Friday: Dragged Eve and Duncan up and over the hill on a mission to find Ollie and Sarah's house (sorry guys.) Found it. Posed outside for pictures. Walked. Walked. And walked some more. Lots of forrest. Horses. Beaches. That kind of thing. Felt really ratty (sorry guys.) PMT seems to come round a whole lot quicker whilst travelling (sorry guys.) Not a lot else happened in Gisborne. Ate some lasagne and watched Silence of the Lambs with a Canadian called Will. And that was that. But the tan's back. In force. So it's all good.
Saturday: Okay, so there's this town called Napier that was pretty much destroyed by an earthquake (or a fire. Or something) and the whole place was completely re-built over the space of, like, a year. In the 50's. Or something. (Can you tell I paid attention when I was being told about it?) So anyway, yeah, the whole town is Art Deco style. It's mad. So we checked it out. Felt like we were in Back to the Future. Plus all the kids (who happen to be hot skaters) have totally retro cars, like chrome Cadelacs. Yeah, I liked it. Could have spent longer there especially as the sun was beating down and the boys were easy on the eye, but we had to press on - Lake Taupo bound.
To celebrate our darling friends Mango and Shilpa's wedding in the UK (seriously dudes, you can't possibly imagine how gutted I am that we had to miss your special day) we went out for an Indian meal and raised our poppadums. Which was pretty good. Splashed out on naan and everything. The night was ended in the noisiest dorm room ever. Like nothing I could ever describe in words. The room was above a night club and my bed was actually shaking from the base. You know if you sit on a speaker in a club, that kind of sick feeling that buzzes through you? It was like that. We couldn't even hear each other talk. Until 3am. Not amused.
Sunday: So Sunday had been all over the news. Apparently the sun was due to be super hot and dangerous because of the ozone. Or something. (Maybe I should forget the Chomsky and just pay a bit more attention to Newsround.) So I slip, slap, slopped. I slipped into something a little more revealing, I slapped on some tanning oil and I slopped myself out on the grass at every given opportunity. Unfortunately I'm loving the real tan look. I'm sure I'll be a leather-faced Lennox by the time I'm 30.
Had a great day. Did loads of stuff. Checked out Huka Falls, went to a honey farm to watch bees do their thing (that was to pacify me), got ecucated at a volcano activity centre (that was to pacify Duncan), ate prawns at Prawn Park and then walked around a steamy geezer place called Crators of the Moon. It was meant to be just like being on the moon. Hmmm, yeah, that's right - with all that foliage. Just like it. But it was pretty cool all the same. We then hit the road for a 5 hour drive through the hills and volcanoes to Wellington. Sunburnt. And happy.
