KE Wellington to Taupo, 3rd, 12.30pm. So Saturday night was a quiet one. We just watched TV on the netbook, whilst Fiona and Ellie went out on the town.
Sunday morning I woke up early and ended up arriving at church early. It was an hour long service, held by Bishop Richard. I sang my first hymn in Maori, and I hope my pronunciation was okay. They invited me to stay for a buffet lunch in honour of a woman called Lindsey, who had been giving sermons for the last six week, having come over from a church in Picadilly, London, and was going back the next day.
There were some toasts, quiche, cucumber sandwiches, and pineapple chunks. I talked to various people, then I made my apologies and left. On my way back, I got distracted by a shopping thoroughfare – Cuba Street. I wandered down it, and got into conversation with a Hare Krishna devotee. I do this whenever the monks are out in the streets of Cambridge too, because of my studies of Hinduism. Plus they’re always nice people, though oddly blind to the big silver cross hanging round my neck.
Anyway, I popped into a WHSmith equivalent store, where I was surprised to find actual WHSmith branded merchandise. They didn’t have the type of mechanical pencil I was looking for, but they directed me back in the direction I had come from to a large warehouse-like stationary shop. They didn’t have what I was looking for either, and the helpful young man I asked said he didn’t recognise the example I showed him. I decided that they hadn’t made it this hemisphere yet, so gave in and bought a different type.
I realised at this point that I had been gone a long time, and I was hurrying along when I passed another church. Now, at the Baptist church in 1770 I picked up a devotional that has a little Bible-orientated pep-talk paragraph for each day, and a set of Bible readings for each day (with the goal of reading the whole Bible in a year) that I had been enjoying using daily. But it is quarterly and that edition finished at the end of April. I had hoped to pick the next edition at church that morning, but they didn’t have it.
So when I passed this other church, I decided to see if they had it. I was met on the steps by a man of Maori descent in a tradition grass skirt. I asked him if the church was open, and he said there was service going on. I told my dilemma, but he didn’t recognise the devotional. He called over another guy, but he didn’t know it either. He did run into the church to check the leaflet table, but no luck. I asked what other churches were around, and they sent to a Presbyterian church.
This one surprised me. At noon on the Sunday, the whole thing was locked up like a fortress; not even the church office was open. My search was a bust. So I headed back. I arrived at 1pm, where an impatient Aiden turned me straight around again to go out and explore Wellington, the capital city. First on the list was Mt. Victoria Lookout. Bit of a slog for me; I was still suffering a full-blown cold. At the top I sat on a big rock and got my breath back. It was quite a nice view. The city spread out behind us, and ahead was the curving harbour out to the Cook Straight, that we had arrived into the day before.
We made our way down a different route to end up on Oriental Parade. We followed that around the waterfront onto Cable Street. On our way along, Aiden had a go on a kids playground climbing wall; he did better than my attempts. And we bumped into Lindsey, who was making the most of her last day on the Island of the Long White Cloud. Further along, we bumped into Fiona and Ellie, who were wandering the streets taking in the city. Our eventual destination was the cable car terminal. We bought tickets, hopped on, then at the top got out into the botanical gardens. We saw a good portion of them, including the rose garden, then got the cable car back down.
My knee was hurting again by this point. I have no idea what is wrong with it, whether I pulled something or wrenched it or something. It hurt in Nelson, but then didn’t again until a week later. I mean, I was in fine on the glacier of all things, so I can’t find a trigger for it. Anyway, we got back to Base, and swiftly decided to go the cinema. Here’s the thing about Wellington; it is obsessed with film. The industry seeps out of the walls. There are so many cinemas, including the one across the road from us where the LOTR had their premieres, and a big statue of a camera on a tripod down the street.
We got McDonald’s in the complex foodcourt, followed by dessert at an ice cream sundae bar, where I had a nice conversation with the vendor. We went to see Just Go With It, which was enjoyable. Enough of the Adam Sandler stupidity to make it funny, but not too much to make it daft, and some nice serious stuff between him and Jennifer Aniston; plus a sidekick with a German persona that reminder me strongly of my friend Will (though I don’t think he would be flattered by that comparison).
When we came out my knee was killing me. I took the lift down from the room to the kitchen, and I was sharing it with a group of guys. The lift stopped at every level between, and one of the guys, Red Hoody, laughed and blamed a friend of theirs, who had run down the stairs and pressed the butons. I was a bit pissed, so when he pointed him out the kitchen, I gave him an earful (not the slap his friend suggested). The only thing we did that evening was the laundry.
Yesterday, I slept in until 11am. I’m only just today getting better through this cold, so the lie in was necessary. We went out to Te Papa, the national museum, which is free. It was pretty good, lots of interesting exhibits, and interactive things to play with. We got out of their about lunchtime and got McDonalds. We then asked at Base reception for directions to the WETA Cave, and had to take two buses to get to it. This is another example of the film industry presence in New Zealand, one of the biggest in fact.
WETA is an industry leader in cinema special effects, and it has lots of claims to fame, including LOTR and Avatar. It makes props and armour and costume and prosthetics, does digital effects including CGI and animation – it does pretty much anything. The Cave is the only public part; the workshop is full of secret stuff for upcoming movie, plus dangerous movies. The Cave has lots of collectible figures, plus examples of the famous props. There is also a 20minute video about the company (which is why I now know so much about it). It was pretty cool to visit, and very impressive.
Two buses back into town and we headed to our last stop. One of the three parliament buildings is famous for its design, which looks like it was sketched out on the back of a cigarette packet. It’s called the Beehive – guess what it looks like. We got there just in time for the last tour, with a nice young guy with a beard called Ben, who had the strangest accent, which I learnt when I asked him came from his being born in Norfolk to an English mother and Scottish father then living most of his life in Wellington. So the BritKiwiScot showed us around and told us some very interesting things in an engaging and entertaining way. The best part was being in the main debate chamber (green chairs). The Kiwi government is so small – only about 150 members.
When we left, it was raining a little. I got sucked into Saving Private Ryan on my way past from the kitchen. I had to miss some when I went to get Dominoes, but after giving Aiden his, I took mine back to the TV. After eating,
Aiden came to tell me he was going to the cinema with Ellie. I happily watched the rest of the film, then headed back to the room to enjoy full reign of the netbook for a good few hours. I managed to watch a good portion of the wedding on Youtube. Once the two movie-goers got back, I packed, then went to bed.
So it’s half one now, and we just dropped Aiden off at the sky diving place. This morning hasn’t been that interesting; we got picked up by Bods (woo!) had a McDonald’s breakfast, and passed a few interesting places including the venue of the World Gumboot Throwing competition, and the peak that was Mt. Doom in LOTR. We’re just arriving in Taupo. Aiden was very excited disembarking.
Rotorua hostel, 5th, 4.30pm. I stayed on the bus and got dropped at Urban Retreat, where I checked us both in. I dumped our bags in our room, then looked at the map to do what there was to do for the next few hours to myself. I saw that there were two churches in town, so I went on another hunt for this devotional. The first one wasn’t open, but the second one had a nice old lady, and an old man practising on the organ. I looked at the leaflets, and found a copy of the old edition of the devotional. Success! I now know that NZ has it, which is good news, even though I still haven’t found the latest one.
I then went the post office. I didn’t give a thought to the fact that as I walked the quiet streets of Taupo, my friend was probably throwing himself out of a plane. Back at the hostel, I sat down with my ereader and a cup of hot chocolate (one of our best buys), and so sat in the communal dining/bar area until Aiden came in, eyes gleaming. He was wearing a brown hoody with Taupo Skydiving designs on it, which suited him.
He was still very excited about his skydive. I was astonished to find he had spent a stupid amount of money on extras, but I suppose it is his to spend. He showed me the pictures (which are far from fetching) and then we shared a jug of PIMS until he went on the computer and I went back to reading. He then went out for a snack and came back with a brownie. We needed more food, so we headed to PAK’n SAVE, a big yellow supermarket that buys in bulk, which feels very American. We then had dinner, and spent the evening relaxing in the room. After a shower, I went to bed.
Yesterday dawned, and I got dressed, had breakfast and made lunch. I got back to the room to find Aiden still asleep! I shook him awake, warning him our pickup time was in two minutes. Apparently he had said “Wake me up at 7” whereas I heard “I’ll be up at 7” so I thought he had set his own alarm.
Mo’s house (Glen Eden, Auckland), 6th, 7.30pm. He wasn’t best pleased. He rushed around, and we ended up fine for when the bus arrived. For some reason I was down as ‘Kylie’ on the list, but it didn’t seem to matter. We were in a small minibus, then halfway to our destination, Waitomo, we swapped to a bigger minibus, which had ‘East As’ on the side. (East As is an add-on that KE do, so the Waitomo Wanderer borrow that one instead of having their own). As we set off, there was a little confusion over which caving tour we were booked for, but it got sorted quickly. It had been a fast decision the day before – such a lapse in knowledge and forward planning is uncommon for me otherwise.
Once we had paid for the caving tour at the office, we got in another bus for a 5 minute drive. Our guide was a lovely woman, who had been with the company for the 22 years they had been doing the caves. I got the impression that she was an expert, experienced geologist and caver, which was impressive. Our group was small; two women from San Francisco, a Canadian woman, and a British couple, all at least thirty (the Yanks were probably in their fifties).
The caves were amazing. We spent about two hours going through them. There were stalactites and stalagmites, some amazing rock formations, a big spiral staircase, and orange and blue lights along the floor. We saw glowworms! Little spots of light on the walls and ceiling, then our guide shone her big torch on them, and we could see the dangling lines below them.
Hostel Paihia, 7th, 6.30pm. She told us about their habits, like the fact that the fishing lines are coated in poison. We doubled back on ourselves and returned to sunlight. We got dropped off in the little town and tried to fill three and a half hours until the bus back to Taupo. We got a map from the ‘i site’ and were told of the three hour walk. We decided against it, even the weather was shaping up to be almost spring-like. At ‘the General Store’ Aiden bought lunch, we both bought scones and Cokes, and I got out my sandwiches. Once we had finished lunch, we went over the road to the park area. We sat a while on a bench, enjoying the sunshine, though having quite a heated discussion, then gave into temptation and swung on the swings. Aiden persuaded me to compete for the title of ‘Best Shoe Chucker’ which was a juvenile yet quaint pastime. It soon got tiring, so we decided on a more adult venture, and went to the pub. The remaining time was spent playing pool.
Back on the ‘East As’ bus, then the shuttle, then onto the computer for the sweet joy of free internet. Dinner for me was a cup of soup. Aiden joined Fiona and Ellie for frozen cocktails, and I excused myself to go watch trash American comedy in the TV room. Apparently the group went to the pub for a while, but I was oblivious until Aiden came to find me.
The morning of the fifth, we breakfasted and made sandwiches, and found that Driver Guide Toddy did not have us on his list. No worries though apparently, we got on the bus all the same. We were in Rotorua within the hour, including a stop to admire the stinking mud pools. And stinking just about covers Rotorua itself; the aroma of sulphur infused the whole town. We booked our Tamaki Tour for that evening, then checked into Hot Rocks Base. We got wireless internet, then jumped in the geo-heated pool. It was like a bath! It was lovely. But an odd experience.
Dried, we headed for the Governent Gardens, which were small and unimpressive, containing a group of Chinese tourists who were very interested in a game of boules some old men were playing. We ate our sarnies on a bench, eyed hopefully by a couple of seagulls. We then went down to the lakeside, and back the a small park across the road from the hostel, where we looked at more bubbling mud. Then we had downtime in the room.
I managed to get hold of reception’s phone to call Kiwi Experience, and the woman we hoped to stay with in Auckland, Mo, mother of my father’s work colleague. Getting hungry, we made some hot chocolate, and conversed with some girls in the kitchen until it was time to be picked up for our cultural evening.
Our driver of the ‘waka’ (originally a canoe, now meaning any transport) was Dennis ‘the Menace’, and he was lovely. He gave us a rundown of the evening, with special attention to the protocol of the welcoming ceremony. He called on the men of the tribe (ie the people in the waka) for a chief to step forth, and Leeds-born Italian immigrant second generation Jon-Luca took on the role. When we arrived at the reconstruction of a Maori village from the 1600s, the 5 tribes (ie waka loads, ie bus loads) gathered in a semi-circle around the courtyard in front of the gates. We were warned not to laugh, or move, or smile. Singing and chanting men in tradition dress and tattoos stood on the top of the walls as warriors came into the courtyard and danced around, making intimidating advances, facial expressions and noises at the line of 5 chiefs, many of which rugby fans would recognise from the haka, like a protruding tongue, and bulging eyes.
Finally, one warrior placed a twig on the ground and pointed with his spear at one of the chiefs. He looked the youngest (Jon-Luca was 25, and the other three were middle-aged men). The chosen one stepped forward, bent and picked up the twig, then stepped back. He looked terrified. Having shown that our tribes came in peace not war, we were invited across the threshold by the wailing women. It was an astonishing experience, and thrilling to witness. We then spent 15mins wandering around village, stopping outside some of the huts, where a tribesman or woman would explain an element of the culture, and activities of the village.
There was carving, dance and warrior exercises (one of which I had a go at), hunting, and food storage. Then we all gathered round the cooking pit, where we watched the hangi (‘feast’) being brought out of the ground, where it had been cooked by white hot rocks. Ushered into the meeting house, we then enjoyed a wonderful concert of traditional songs, dances and the haka, including a lovely love duet. It was incredible, hearing musical signatures alien to my ear, listening to the strange foreign words of the Maori tongue, and watching the performers, all in traditional dress, made from furs and grass weavings, with tattoos on arms, legs, and faces.
After dinner, 7.30pm. Then we feasted in the dining house. It was a buffet, with chicken, lamb, stuffing (of all things), as well as fish, mussels, sweet potatoes, and other delights, followed by trifle and hot custard. As people started finishing, they got the guitar out again, and sang some more songs, this time Western ones that many people joined in with.
On the drive back, Dennis tried to keep the party mood going, but no one wanted to sing. Aiden, embarrassingly, took the microphone and attempted a singsong as well, but only thought to try kids nursery rhymes. He didn’t succeed. And he forbid me from singing a song on the mic – “No one likes the music you sing.” We had some quiet chat in the dorm once we were back, then it was bedtime.
Yesterday was an up and down day. It started up – we got a lie in. Aiden went swimming, but I stayed under that duvet as long as I could. Got some breakfast, then finally got some emails from Mo, a big up. I had been having trouble getting hold of her; neither of my emails had provoked a response, and when I had rung her the day before, I had been forced to leave a message. But the three emails I read that morning explained that her computed had been being fixed.
Our bus was late, so we had to stand in the rain, and it was white, rather than green. This was a down moment. The driver was possibly called Kane. Another moment opposite to up came when we organised our buses, to discover there was no bus on one of the days we had hoped to travel. So a little rearranging was in order – God bless pencil. Aiden was also complaining of a crick in his neck.
It was still raining when we stopped in Matamata, a place known as Hobbiton, as it was where Peter Jackson did a lot of Shire filming. Aiden bought a cookie (an up moment for him, I suppose). We argued about the way up to eat it – icing underneath, or on top? Okay, so it wasn’t much of an argument, more of a discussion to see off boredom until the bus driver came back to let us out of the rain. Between Matamata and Auckland, we watched a film. It was the children’s animated story of a villain, ‘Despicable Me’ with a great voice performance by the guy from Evan Almighty doing a Russian accent. It was funny, and heart-rending in equal measure, and I enjoyed it (from the chuckles next to me, I think Aiden did too). Definitely an up moment.
But it was not to last. Unbeknownst to us, as we giggled at the antics of the small, yellow minions, and Russel Brand’s deaf mad professor, ahead lay a very big down. We had a ten minute stop at the Kiwi Experience headquarters, and then we got off at the Base hostel. We went to reception (on the 3rd floor, what the hell) and then through to the phones, because we weren’t checking in. I needed to get hold of Mo. We spent about $10 doing so. She left work a minute before I rang there (as Aiden ate a bacon sandwich). Then I left a message on her mobile. A very dispirited and grumpy Aiden went to get lunch, a McDonalds that didn’t cheer us.
I then phoned again, and got hold of her. She told us to get a train; it was 4 o’clock, and she said if we couldn’t phone once we got to the other end, she’d just come down at 5.15. Once I put the phone down, Aiden said to call her back and check if she’d bring us into the bus in the morning. Luckily, she said she would. Aiden was still not convinced, wanting to stay at Base. But I wanted to meet this woman who had offered us her home, plus it would save us a whole night’s accommodation in the long run.
We walked the ten minutes down the road to the station, bought tickets, and got on a train within minutes. It was a half hour journey, and we were only waiting five minutes when a woman waved at us from the car park at Glen Eden station, and confirmed that she was Mo. She was a colourful character. She chatted non-stop the whole evening. We stopped to buy veges (as they spell it in NZ) then piled out of her small car to be greeted at the gate by Flynn the very affectionate and enthusiastic black Labrador.
We were very happy to have rooms to ourselves, for the first time since waking the fly to Singapore, especially as they contained queen-sized beds, and though dinner took a long time to cook, we chatted to Mo and used her computer, and I rang our contact for Auckland when we return, making the arrangements as sound as I could. We ate fried chicken, piles of sweetcorn, peas and broad beans, with mashed potato. It was wonderful grub. I had a shower, and as I emerged from the bathroom, Aiden went to bed, sort of early. Mo and I stayed up chatting. I had a great evening; we got through the downs to finish on a great up, and it felt like I was back on tour again!
It was a grisly 5.30 start this morning though. We all had Ready Brek and fruit for breakfast. Then Mo drove us to the Base, and we said our goodbyes. We waited about half an hour on the pavement, then onto the bus we got, with Driver Guide Jared (bald). The breakfast stop was the Honey Café, where you could see the inside of the hive, and have a free honey tasting. I took a good spoon of Manuka, to stave off another cold like the one I’m just over. Aiden and I shared a Millionaire’s Shortbread.
Along the way, Jared gave us a bit of commentary. Then when we got to Paihia, the Bay of Islands, he gave us a quick tour, as it’s only small. We checked into the Pipi Patch Base (I don’t know why some of the Base’s have names and some don’t), and found our room to be a bit strange. We thought it was 4 bed when we first got in the door, but round the corner was a door leading to another room with 2 more bunkbeds. We’re in the second room, and though there are some blokes in the front room, we have essentially a private room for the night. And it’s ensuite, which is so nice to have.
We went to Countdown, and bought groceries, having a serious talk about money on the way. Lunch was a success; Aiden was very pleased with his cheap frankfurters. Yes Dad, I know I’m talking about food. We used the computers briefly, then watched TV. Aiden then attempted to fix his bag, the handle’s mechanism being broken. He actually did as well, using paper and sallotape.
We went out for a walk, which took about an hour, to a lookout over the harbour. On the way up, we were surprised to pass the two ladies from San Francisco whom we had met on the cave tour. At the top, I didn’t look at the view until I had my breath back, but it was pretty. I enjoyed an apple and some chocolate. Once back at the hostel, Aiden put a hole in his belt, because his jeans will not stay up (the boy has no hips), and I started scrapbooking. Dinner was an attempt at soft boiled eggs that turned into hard boiled eggs, but it was alright. Aiden had a shower, I sent some emails, and now the boys in the front room have returned and are playing music. Aiden wants the netbook now.
9.30pm. I ran out of sallotape for my scrapbooking, which is not good. Must remember to get some more. We’re just watching a TV show on the netbook, and Aiden has gone to have a snack. I know it’s not very late, but we couldn’t be bothered to go to the bar, or talk to the guys in the next room, so it’s a quiet night in, plus I’ll probably go to bed early. I did get up at 5.30 for pity’s sake. The church isn’t far in the morning, so I won’t have to get up too early to get to the service.
Hostel Paihia, 9th, 11.30am. Yesterday was very good, until the early hours of this morning. But I’ll get to that. I was up for church, and quickly dressed and got breakfast. When I glanced at my watch over my coco puffs (so much worse than the UK coco puffs by the way) I was astonished to find that it read ten minutes before my alarm. It had slowed. I put it forward to the correct time, and it seems to have kept up. I don’t know what happened.
Church was nice; it was just a little one but there was a relatively large congregation. The sermon was about Red Cross Day. I chatted to a few women on the way out, but decided against going to tea at the local café. Back at Base, I made a small picnic, and then we went on a walk to a waterfall. It took us half an hour to get to the entrance to the track, and then we were off. It was perfect weather; about 23 degrees, with a blue sky, and enough shade on the track to keep us comfortable.
It was quite an easy track, because there wasn’t a lot of uphill struggle. I still got a little hot and sweaty, but I didn’t lose my breath. It took us about 75 minutes to get to the falls. Aiden attempted to work out our pace, using the kilometre markers, but the map’s lack of detail hindered him. About 10 minutes from the falls, we stopped a group of 3 girls coming in the opposite direction to ask how far it was to go. This turned into a small discussion, as travellers do; I was recognised from church that morning, and they asked us about bungy jumping and sky diving.
We ate our picnic on the edge of the falls, literally on the rocks over it. Occasionally there was a rainbow in the spray. It was a nice location to eat. On the way back, we were a lot more chatty; I suppose the fact that the subject was Aiden’s favourite (IT) was a major reason for this. My knee started aching, but once we got back (after stopping at Countdown for some sallotape and a muffin for me) we had some downtime, which helped the pain. I finished my scrapbooking, and Aiden watched Glee on the netbook.
Aiden ate an early dinner. With access to the netbook, I watched two Disney movies in succession. When the second was done, I went and made dinner. Sitting down in the lounge/dining area, I caught the end of the film Team America, and met Andi, as we were sitting next to each other and made amusing comments about the film we were watching. He offered me sorbet. Once the film was finished, and the entire room emptied, he suggested we finish the sorbet over another film. I was happy to agree, because he was a fun guy.
We decided on Ice Age 3, because I wanted to see it, and Andi agreed that it was a travesty that I hadn’t already seen it. As Andi went to get the film going, Aiden wandered in, talked to me for a moment, and then wandered out. I found out later that he ended up getting rather tipsy in the bar, which had interesting consequences. But again, I’ll get to that.
Andi and I had a good time watching IA3. We did as we had before, making little comments about the action and the characters, mostly that made us giggle. When it finished, we just stayed where we were on the sofas, and chatted. The conversation turned from films to lots of other topics, which flowed easily and naturally from one to the other. I had a ball; it was so nice to exchange ideas with someone new, and actually discuss topics intellectually, on equal level, with a great deal of respect, something I haven’t done on this trip apart from with David, who I never really had the opportunity to talk to properly. It was a little surprising to find that Andi was 29, and he had thought I was at least 21, but the 10 years was no barrier.
We had a cup of hot milk, and then we were booted out at half 12. I was shocked to find it so late; we had chatted for about two and a half hours! I had a wonderful time. I was annoyed to find that he was the local horse trek guide; if only I had decided to trek in Paihia! It would have been a blast. But, sadly, we went to bed.
2.45pm. Now I was surprised to find Aiden not in bed when I got back; I worked out that he must be in the bar. Just as I had got comfy, he got back, and he was not alone. He had a girl with him, a girl I later found out to be Bobbi, 25, an African American travel journalist. I heard the sounds of them get into bed together, try as I might not to hear, and then they were using the computer. I thought, maybe this isn’t the situation I assumed.
But minutes later I realised that I was wrong, and it was definitely going to happen. I grabbed my duvet, and thank God there were two separate rooms, because I could close the door on them, and still have somewhere to be. Also luckily, there was a blanket on the small armchair that came with the room. I laid that out on the floor between the two other sets of bunkbeds, and using the bathmat from the shower as a pillow, managed to get some uncomfortable sleep. I was very angry that what had been a blissful evening with Andi had turned into a nightmare night.
When the light of dawn penetrated the wafer-thin curtains, I woke, and got back into bed. I must have woken the other two, because I soon heard the little miss leave for the walk of shame. I went back to sleep until 10.30 this morning.
I dressed and had breakfast, then Aiden and I set out for the ferry. I tried not to be too pissed off about the night on the floor, but I couldn’t help a few comments slipping out over my cereal bowl. He found great pleasure in telling me the tale of how they had met the night before, and talked about computers and photography, and gone for a walk on the beach. I let me him babble and silently fumed.
The ferry was across the harbour to a town called Russel on a peninsula that curls round to face Paihia. After ten minutes on the front deck, in the glorious sunshine of a blue sky day, we arrived. We picked up a map of Russel, and within fifteen minutes had seen all there was the see in the town. We saw the first church in New Zealand but didn’t go in, passed over the Russel Museum, and took no interest in the traditional police house. We then headed for the walks in the area. It was a loop walk, both on road and tracks, with detours to a lookout, which had a spectacular view of the Bay of Islands, with the sea sparkling in the sun; and down to a tiny, miniscule bay.
I was sweating like a sinner in church by the time we got back to the wharf. Right now, I’m sitting on my bed, having walked back from the ferry about half an hour ago. I just hope last night is not repeated.
Hostel Paihia, 10th, 11.15am. Well, the night before last was not repeated! At least, the worst bits weren’t. After I stopped blogging, I watched Beauty and the Beast. Yes, more Disney but I felt like it. After that, about quarter to five, I grabbed the pot of hot chocolate and headed for the kitchen. I was very pleased to meet Andi again when I got there, and I will admit I had been greatly hoping for that chance. Once greeting each other warmly, we both immediately offered each other food (he had pasta) and drink (I had hot chocolate).
And so, as if scripted, we smoothly fell into the easy conversation we had enjoyed the evening before, in the kitchen over the snack. He was very sympathetic when I told him about my awful night, and admonished me for not knocking on his door for help. There were free beds in his dorm, for pity’s sake. You can imagine my reaction, and my agreement that I had been a bit thick.
We wondered into the living room, and sat down to watch the film that was on (The A-Team), but quickly just carried on chatting. I had to stop at one point and go make pasta for Aiden and I. Later in the film, Andi decided to cook some potato wedges, and invited me to join him. I said yes. So we talked as he fried. We were talking about everything and anything, without any hesitations, not even interrupting, just drifting back and forth between us with complete ease, but still actually passing new ideas, and really getting our teeth into the subjects. It was beautiful! A blissful meeting of souls.
This didn’t stop after the wedges. (Sidenote: As I type, Aiden has put on the film that was on when I sat down next to Andi the first time, and we just got to the part that we started talking about. Ah, good times. I’m so happy it happened.) The A-Team had finished, and when we ended up back in the lounge, someone put on a Kiwi film called Boy. We started out meaning to watch it; Andi said it was good. But side comments to each other about the film, turned into more conversation about the film, and it just evolved back into an easy conversation about anything and everything.
Andi was a grazer, so we ended up back in the kitchen for a snack, and just stayed there, chatting away. The sun set, and it was a while before we realised we should put the light on, rather than talking to each other’s profiles. We were kicked out at midnight, and Andi suggested he show me Paihia at night. So we went for a walk under the stars. Okay, that sounds romantic. It wasn’t that kind of atmosphere; we had a connection based on a meeting of complimentary passions, and a way of thinking; most of our opinions matched, and even when they didn’t, we simply discussed the differences, and how they were often just two ways of looking at something, each legitimate and reasoned out.
We were on the same wavelength, and we embraced finding someone else who we could simply be ourselves with and say anything, knowing it would be considered with due respect and interest. It had an element of emotion I suppose, because we found pleasure in each other’s company, we liked each other, but it was mostly a pleasure based not on attraction, but intellect, understanding, similarity, matching passion and sympathies, respect, acceptance, and many other things in a similar vein.
We wandered round the town, through the deserted, shadowed streets, along the shore of the dark water, and then Andi took us to a lookout over the bay. We stayed up there for quite a while, our voices quieting but our conversation maintaining intensity, both of us sharing stories and details of our lives, as felt natural. In time, Andi suggested it was starting to get cold, and I looked at my watch. It was 2am! We decided to head back.
But we were so deep in dialogue we kept going round the block. We passed the hostel twice, before we realised what we had done. At 3, we really headed back, but it still took 15 minutes to say goodbye, because it just descended into more chat. But after exchanging contact details, and admitting how much we both wanted to carry on the next day (but we couldn’t because I was leaving and he was working), and also see each other again, because we recognised our connection, we finally went to bed. If we had met a day earlier, he confessed he would have asked me to delay my bus. And I confessed I would have done my best to convince Aiden to let me.
This morning, I was woken by Aiden, who reminded me that we had to check out, which I had completely forgotten when I fumbled my way into the room at silly o’clock. I had a quick shower and packed, because I obviously hadn’t the night before. As I had breakfast, Aiden went on the computer, then I followed. We went to get a snack at the bakery, then came back to this lounge, and Aiden put on a film.
Hilary’s house, 11th, 10.30am. Today has gone a lot smoother than our last visit to Auckland. Aiden had plans to spend some time with Bobbi today, but it fell through. After he had finished his film, we went out for lunch, to a café round the corner called Alfresco’s. It was a nice lunch, but out of ignorance we ordered a portion of chips each, and they were huge; we only managed about quarter each. When we got back to the hostel, I don’t know what Aiden did to kill the time before the bus, but I enjoyed the sunshine on a bench outside, plugged into my ipod, book in hand.
We collected our bags, and Aiden was weirded out to find our Driver Guide was Fly (don’t know the spelling), a petite woman. Bus was loaded, we were seated, and off we went, leaving Paihia, when I really didn’t want to. It had been such a surprise to have one of the best experiences of the whole trip in the little town. When we arrived, we had thought it would be quite boring, and we were annoyed that the bus timetable meant we had to spend more time than we had planned. But my word, was that fate or what! I moped about leaving Andi behind, and then welcomed the distraction of the film The Holiday that Fly put on.
We came into Auckland over the harbour bridge, and got a magnificent view of the nighttime city with all its twinkling lights. We were dropped off opposite the Kiwi Experience head office, and as we made tracks to cross the road, I was hailed by name. Hilary was already there. It was really nice to finally meet her, being my distant cousin. She and her husband Gordon took us back over the bridge to their house, and she showed Aiden and I to our separate rooms – oh the luxury! I have a queensize bed and an ensuite bathroom.
Dinner last night was steak casserole, and Hilary and I discussed the family connection. We spent time putting together a family tree, and I had the pleasant surprise of being shown pictures of my grandmother age 2! Very weird. Hilary’s son Greg came over, so I got to meet him, and Aiden had a fun time talking to him about technical stuff, as they put up Hilary and Gordon’s new massive TV. By the time it was installed, and I had gone over all the pictures, it was 10pm, and I was exhausted, after my late night with Andi. So I was first to go to bed.
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