Auckland (again) and Waiheke Island

Hey folks,

So the last week has seen us spend some more time in Auckland generally just socialising i.e. drinking far too much. We managed to met up with Jacquie's brother's (Johnny) girlfriends' (Lou) best friend - Emma. Emma and her friend Chris have been in NZ for about 5 months now and are leaving Auckland to travel to the South Island and then head of to Oz so we were keen to catch up with them while they were around. We meet Emma for a few drinks last Thursday and then she invited us to the house where they live on Sat for a leaving party they were having. What a bizarre night that turned out to be, we arrived there with a couple of bottles of wine and a crate of beer - thinking we'd be there all night we got stuck straight into the sauce. The house they live in is a long term hostel so they share it with about 30 other people from everywhere around the world, the people were all friendly and we were invited to take part in the house celebrations for someone leaving - this involves taking a large water melon, hacking it in two, scooping out the insides so you have 2 big water melon cups then filling them up with beer, wine and vodka (what a nice combination) and then downing it. See below for Chris and Emma's attempt :-


So everyone was well plastered by the time the manager of the hostel announced that we were all going to a karaoke lounge (note this is not a bar, but a private sound proofed room in a building with a huge screen and sound system). Now anyone that knows Jacquie would be aware that she can't stand a karaoke, but amazingly after the nasty half melon cocktail you couldn't get her of the damn mic - i'm serious she was hogging the mic for the whole night and now she loves it. Here's the pic to prove it as well :-


After that it was a drunken walk to the K'road area of Auckland for more drinks this time in a gay bar of all places. All in all a cracking night and the chance to meet some interesting people and have a damn good laugh as well.

We spent a day checking out the Auckland Domain which is another huge expanse of land with loads walks, ponds, trees etc. In addition it's also home to Auckland museum so we decided to check it out and very glad we did to as it's got a lot to digest from Maori culture, to NZ nature, history, the volcanoes (we didn't realise that Auckland is still sitting on active volcanoes) and the highlight was a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition with realised models of his most famous inventions culled from his extensive diaries. A great day out although i did manage to get devoured once again by the damn insects that roam around on some of the more tropical of the walks. Oh and before I forget we were there a day after Burns night (an annual Scottish celebration) and would you believe they have a statue of Robert Burns in the domain - I tell you the Scots get everywhere.


On Tuesday we left Auckland hopped on a ferry and within 35 minutes we were on Waiheke Island (what people around here call a sub tropical paradise) and it certainly has a lot of beaches to choose from, about 20 vineyards a general arty farty pretentiousness about itself.


Seeing as there were only 2 hostels on the island we decided to go for the one that was advertised as being closest to a beach so we hopped on the bus and made our way to Onetangi beach. The bus dropped us off and told us we had to climb some stairs to get to the hostel, bloody hell some stairs there was about 150 steps up what felt like a vertical cliff - this was not good fun with our travel and day packs. When we got to the top the hostel was there but the place was dead - nobody around (kind of weird considering the hostels we've been used to so far in NZ) it was only later that we worked out that this is a working hostel where everyone is here with summer jobs and therefore it's only busy at night, and they are so tight nit that that they don't speak to people who are only passing through - twats. So we spent the day on the beach, then the evening eating noodles (that's all we had since there was no shops anywhere - actually there was nothing anywhere here a total ghost town) and vowed to leg it early the next morning. Next day we checked into the other hostel which was close to civilisation (well as close as you can get on this island). This hostel was so cool, it was described as being in the bush and I'll be honest I wasn't too sure what that meant - well I do now. It meant that you get of the bus with your packs, walk down a main road for a bit then you walk down some some stairs on a nature trail which after 5 metres suddenly becomes a forest walk with heavy undergrowth, the sound of insects everywhere and then suddenly a large house just appears. The hostel is right in the middle of this beleive it or not :-


Seeing as it's summer and the place was busy me and J and to share a single room which made for a cosy night under the mosquito net that they supply in the room (it is the middle of the bush after all and the little blighters get everywhere). The hostel itself was amazing the staff were so friendly and the whole atmosphere of the place (it has a pool with a hot tub that you can use till 11pm at night) was superb everyone just chilling out and having a great time. We spent the day on another beach messing around on the rocks (me annoying hermit crabs, Jacquie collecting shells) before returning home for some food and wine in the rather spectacular surroundings of the bush hostel. It's amazing that your experience of a hostel can totally shape your experience of a place, if someone had asked me a day before what I thought of Waiheke Island I'd have said it was a pile of shite full of up your arse tossers, but ask me now and I'd say the place was superb, easy to to relax in and I only wish we had spent a few more days there.

So back in Auckland today for 1 night and then tomorrow we leave to go on a "magic bus" and actually start seeing the sights of NZ properly and perhaps find the one ring that rules them all.... Stay tuned y'all