Back to the Beginning

In case you were wondering, Sontsa had traveled with the Kiwi Bus to try and find more work somewhere. She had only decided to come to NZ as of Nov or Dec last year, so she had very little time to save money before she left Finland to come here. Although a backpacker can get by on very little money & still see a lot of amazing sights, you need a LOT of money to actually do the different activities that one must do to truly experience NZ (ie: caving, skydiving, bungee jumping, hang gliding, jetboating, etc.) Since I had known I was coming to NZ for about 7 months before I came out, I was able to save a little bit more money. Therefore, I was ready to do some more traveling while Sontsa found some more work for a couple of weeks.

So, exactly 2 months after I first arrived in New Zealand, I went back to the city where I had begun my journey: Auckland. It was so strange to be back where I started & to remember how different things were when I first arrived as compared to 2 months later when I returned. I first came to Auckland after a long journey from the U.S. completely alone, excited, nervous, and pretty much clueless. I returned a confident backpacker with new friends from all over the world scattered throughout NZ, a much better feeling =). So, after the bus dropped me off from Waitomo, I walked down to the Auckland Ferry Building and met back up with Greg, one of the Frenchmen that Sontsa & I had met in Napier. He had been working in a vineyard in Waiheke Island for 3 weeks and was ready for a break as well. Plus, his dad and step-mom were in NZ from France on their own 3-week exploration of the country, so we met up with them on their last few days in NZ before they headed back to France. They didn't speak much English at all, but I was able to communicate with them through Greg and by using hand gestures. They were absolutely lovely & I thoroughly enjoyed their company. =)

On Sunday, we all walked down by the harbour, checked out the numerous yachts, grabbed some beer at a pub and looked at all of their pictures from their trip, then ate in one of the Sky Tower restaurants for dinner. The view was spectacular and oh...my...THE FOOD! It was a backpacker's dream!! It sure beat the hell out of my diet over the past 2 months! On Monday, we all took a road trip about 3 hours away to another familiar city to me, Whangarei. We went to the grocery store, bought a bunch of picnic food, then Greg's dad found a perfect spot on a hill overlooking the beach for us to have our picnic. It is crazy how much of a place you can miss out on when you are traveling by bus and not by car. I had been to Whangarei before with Sontsa & Brigita, but realized that I had only seen a tiny bit of the city since the three of us didn't have a car to properly check the place out. Anyway, during our picnic, I ate quite a few foods that I would never have normally eaten: raw tomato, smoked salmon, mussels, and a small NZ fruit called a fejoia. I didn't want to be seen as a picky American eater, so I just ate it all haha. As it turns out, fejoias are really good! Wish we had them in the U.S.

After our picnic, we went to Whangarei Falls just a short drive away. The waterfalls were stunning! Then, we stopped at a beach called Waipu and walked around, collecting shells and enjoying the scenery. Oh, and we saw a DOUBLE rainbow! That's right...not just awesome, but crazy awesome. After we arrived back to Auckland that evening, we had dinner at a really nice restaurant near the harbour. We drank some nice red wine, I had lamb that was melt-in-your-mouth good, then we had a chocolate dessert that was just to die for....mmmmm. Without a doubt, I know it will go down as the best meal I will have had the whole time I'm in NZ. The next morning, Greg & I said goodbye to his dad and step-mom before they flew back to France. It was so nice to spend time with them...made me miss my family back home (more than usual of course)! Greg & I spent one more night in a hostel in Auckland, then headed off on the bus to Raglan on Wed. I will update more about Raglan & Waiheke next time!