More Auckland Moments with Marie

The next day, I met back up with Marie late afternoon after doing more job searching and we walked around town and went into some shops. One shop in particular, Real Groovy, became a favorite! I had passed by it many times before, but had never gone in until I was with Marie. What a mistake to have waited—it was brilliant! It had a wide array of fantastic and unique CDs, DVDs, records, books, cards, band memorabilia, old and new clothes, vintage stuff, and more!! Marie went on a full-blown shopping spree and got some really great stuff =) We also went into some of the op shops on K Road (short for Karangahape Road). The K Road area is known for its eclectic collection of shops, cafes and art galleries. Plus, it is a big part of Auckland's bohemian scene, with many venues for alternative music and fringe art. That night, I hung out with Marie at her hostel and met a few new people, including Lysann from Germany. She was a complete sweetheart and so much fun! It was actually really great to be back in a hostel environment, as odd as it is for me to admit that. Hostels were all I knew for 4 months and they are just such wonderful venues for meeting new people. The Frienz staff and people staying there usually went to this place called Cassette every Tuesday night. Starting at 9:00 pm, Cassette gave people working and/or staying at hostels each a voucher for a free drink, plus you could get free freshly baked pizza! Seeing as it was Tuesday, Marie, Lysann and I decided to join.

Cassette was really awesome—nice restaurant by day and cool bar/hangout by night. Instead of wallpaper, paint, or boring picture decor, one entire wall of the bar was made up of folded-up pairs of jeans. Pretty sweet. We all hung out there for a while, eating some free pizza and chatting. At one point, the three of us went out on the balcony and within a few minutes, I saw a couple familiar faces. It was Francois and Manuel from Surf N Snow, the Auckland hostel I had stayed stayed in before! I was soo excited to see them and catch up!! Now, I have seen them many times since then, as Tuesday nights at Cassette have become something of a regular occurrence =) After a while, Marie, Lysann and I walked down to another bar called Danny Doolans, a popular Irish pub on the harbour. Our time there consisted of being chatted up by a couple of random people—first it was an Indian guy who basically quizzed me on my intelligence, then it was a really drunk Kiwi girl named Kimberly who wanted to take us all to Mount Wellington the next day for an “amazing view of the city.” Haha. After leaving Danny Doolans, we stopped at one of the many kebab shops around the city so Lysann and Marie could feed their late-night cravings. Then, it was back to the hostel for the girls and back to the flat for me.

The day before Marie was scheduled to fly out, we had another random Starbucks bench moment. While sitting there chatting, we began to notice that a group of people wearing white jumpsuits were gathering near the intersection in front of us. After a few moments, their numbers increased to a group of about 15 on one side of the intersection and another group of about 15 on the other side. By this time, in addition to wearing the white jumpsuits, they had also put on white plastic masks. We just sat there watching them in confusion. As soon as the crosswalk lights turned green, all 30 of them RAN out into the middle of the intersection, attempted to lay out a white sheet on the ground, then proceeded to fling neon-colored paint onto one another from small squeezable paint bottles. They did this for the full 30 seconds in which the crosswalk lights were green, then as soon as their time was up, they proceeded to RUN back off the street (fully multi-colored by that time). From there, they quickly disappeared into a white van that then immediately left the scene. The only evidence that remained of their presence was some brightly-colored pavement and people with incredibly baffled expressions. Onlookers, including myself and Marie, were just left bewildered. Haha…ridiculously random.

That evening, we met up with a couple of Marie’s Dutch guy friends Jamie and Valentijn whom she had met during her travels around New Zealand. They were in Auckland for the same reason as she: to catch a flight the next morning to go back home to the Netherlands. Sadly, they were both being forced to go home months before they had planned, purely because of financial reasons. It made me realize that I could be another one of those stories if I didn’t find a job soon. Nonetheless, the four of us hung out at Starbucks for a bit, then decided to go check out the Globe Bar down the road. Globe Bar is attached to the Base Hostel, and it doesn’t maintain the best reputation in comparison to the other bars in Auckland. For one thing, you can barely hear one another talk because the music is so loud. Still, the four of us stayed there for a little while hanging out and practicing the delightful sport of people-watching. We didn't stay out too late though since the guys' flight was scheduled for really early the next morning.

After saying goodbye to them, Marie and I of course finished our evening chilling on the bench again in front of Starbucks until really late. The next day, I met back up with her to see her off before she got the bus to the airport. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself when I initially saw her walking toward me from her hostel, dragging behind her the most MASSIVE suitcase I think I have ever seen. She originally came to New Zealand with a proper backpacker’s backpack, but after accumulating too much stuff, she ended up purchasing that mammoth of a suitcase to fit everything in haha. I walked with her to the bus stop, the same one I had walked Sontsa to just a couple of weeks prior. Before the bus came, I wrote in Marie’s travel journal to commemorate some of our moments together in New Zealand. Then, within a few minutes, the bus pulled up and it was time for me to say goodbye to yet another friend. I was so thankful that we were able to spend so much time together in Auckland before she left though. She is such a sweetheart and I have no doubt I will be seeing her again in Europe one day as well. =)

Cheers,
Ash