I missed a couple days... Ummmmmmm oops. Haha.
Two Days Ago
I got lost. A couple times. Haha. Well not really lost but confused and in need of a map. Originally I wanted to go shopping but I couldn't find the bus shuttle to the big mall. I asked about 3 different people where to catch the bus and they all told different places so I just went home. Later when I got the guts to leave the hostel I attempted to make my way to the Auckland War Museum. After a brief (30 minute) unintentional detour I found my way to the museum. However it was too late to go through so I watched some cricket, suntanned, checked out a duck pond and some pretty flowers. In all it was a great day of wandering and relaxing and just enjoying the sun.
Yesterday
Boom. I saw stuff. Tourist Julia was in full motion. I met a guy named Stephano from Italy and the two of us adventured for the whole day. First we went to the Auckland War Museum. It's an extremely impressive building. (See facebook for pictures) We watched a Maori cultural performance. The show was incredibly informative, entertaining, and loud. There were roughly 4 women and 4 men who performed. They did weapons and fighting demonstrations, game demostrations, and a bunch of songs. I'll potentially upload some movies of the performance that I took (no promises though). Stephano and I wandered through the museum. There were three levels to the museum and we averaged about an hour and a half per floor. There were exhibits on the Maori culture, the history of the pacific, wars, and land and sea creatures (amoungst many other things). In total we walked about that museum for 5 hours. Then we walked downtown and saw an outdoor display of aerial photography. There were pictures from all the regions of the world (only 2 or 3 from Canada, apparently we don't have anything cool to look at). The photographer is from France and it was quite interesting to see how he chose to portray other countries, but even more interesting to see how he portrayed his own. There were 2 picutres from France, one was of a junk yard full of semi crushed cars and the other was of a nuclear power plant. Two of the most disgusting sites for his own country. Canada was portrayed fairly well though seriously under-represented. We then went to the Sky Tower and got a birds eye view of the city. It's absolutely massive. Even from such a great height we couldn't see the edge. We were able to find the area our hostel is in though. That was pretty cool. The view of our hostel was blocked by some taller building so we weren't able to see that actual building. After the Sky Tower I convinced Stephano to go buy groceries with me even though we both just wanted to go home and lay down. I think buy that point we have been walking for 7.5 hours straight. We were both so tired that we just grab some food at Countdown (their version of a superstore kinda thing) and then some Domino's Pizza and went home. In total we walked at least 9 hours straight. Oh, also that night I stayed at the YMCA Hostel because I had been to slow to book a room at K'road and they filled up. The YMCA was nice. I wasn't there much. I had a dorm for 4 people but there was just me and an asian girl there. Now I'm back at K'road again for the next couple nights and then I'm off to work.
Today
I checked back into K'road while it rained outside. Stephano and I had planned to go to Rangitoto Island to hike up a volano but decided against it because of the rain. I ended up just hanging out in the common area and showing my friends Laura and Adil the Impossible Quiz (from AddictingGames.com, remember that game... so addicting). They had never seen it before and it killed a solid 4 hours for us. Haha. By the time noon rolled around it was beautiful and sunny and dry outside so Laura and Stephano and I went for a walk through the Auckland Domain (the park where the museum is) and suntanned (I'm a touch burned... :(... ). When it was raining we had thought that we would go bowling in the afternoon but because of the sun we decided to stay outdoors. We ended up in the park as a second choice to the beach (we changed our plans to go to the beach because by the time we thought about it the bus had just left and wasn't going to come back for another hour so it was no longer feasible). When we got back from the park (around 6) Remco had made an appearance and offered to take me and Laura to the beach in his car. I was pretty stoked cause that meant that I was going to get to swim in the ocean. Can I get a "whoop whoop"? We got underway and they foolishly put me in charge of the map. We miss our beach. But! We ended up at another one and got to "swim" in the ocean. The entire swimming area so ridiculously shallow never even reaching my waist but we still had alot of fun. When we got out the sun had gone done, we didn't have any towels or changes of clothes, so we sat freezing on the beach eating chips til we were frozen dry haha and then went home. All in all it was a great time. The ocean is far saltier than I ever expected. I'm still to innocent and uniformed, but I think I'm getting smart... hopefully... haha. I spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the hostel talking about movies, serial killers, Canada, The Exorcist, and Hitler. Twas interesting to say the least.
Anywho's. That's been the last couple of days. Tomorrow Stephano and I are going to Rangitoto (hopefully its sunny, I don't want to climb a volcano in the rain). I'll keep you all posted.
Hugs and Punches.
Julia
ps. sorry about any grammar or spelling or whatever mistakes, it's late and I'm tired. Please excuse my failings.
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