Melbourne

Leaving New Zealand, my Mom and my Aunt was not all that easy for me. It was difficult to say goodbye to all of it. When I first arrived in Melbourne I wasn't all that happy. Sad to leave my Mom and the hostel was filthy, even more so because I was used to nice hotels at this point. But I bounced back the next day and ended up having a wicked room with some pretty sweet roommates. I was in a 8 bed dorm and all of us got on quite well and have been exploring the city and hanging out ever since.

Last time I was in Melbourne I never made it to St Kilda, so the day after I arrived my friend Matthew took a few of us down to the beach there. It's quite a beautiful place and the closest beach to Melbourne. About a half hour out of the city centre. You can also see Penguins at night there, which I have yet to experience.

The Australian open was in Melbourne when I arrived and one of the girls from my room used to be an avid player so we checked that out as well. I really wanted to see the Williams sisters as they are the only tennis players I know but the court was so busy and there were lines at every entrance to get in. Apparently there was a streaker at this match as well, he ran across the court and up to Serena and gave himself a good shake as she covered her face. I miss all the good stuff : )

The Big Day Out was hitting Melbourne that week as well, on Australia day, which is a one day event with heaps of bands, we have very similar festivals at home. Instead of going to the Big Day Out a few of us decided to save some money and go see Serj Tankian, lead singer from System of a Down. The concert was awesome, so glad I got to see him live and up close without getting moshed around to much.

The rest of my days have been filled up visiting the galleries and museums in Melbourne, a lot of walking around. A few of us went to the Botanic Garden to watch Pulp Fiction in the park, which was pretty awesome. I moved hostels to the one that I stayed in last time I was in Melbourne. The weather for 4 days was 43 degrees, which for me is much like -30 as you don't want to do anything in that kind of heat.

Yesterday I met up with my friend Steve who I met in Thailand. It was awesome to see a familiar face. He took me to his place and we hung out in the pool for pretty much the whole afternoon. I can't remember the last time I was so happy to see a pool.

Melbourne has been quite the city. Yet again it doesn't disappoint. I've met some pretty great people here. There is so much going on all the time, concerts, art, theatre...you name it Melbourne has it. So many people out and about at any given hour. My job hunt is going alright, I did work one night but I really didn't like it at all so on I go with my search. Hopefully I land something soon or home I come.

Write soon!

Kaikoura photos

Pictures

Random photo in Christchurch

Wine tour photos

Beach in Dunedin

Dunedin/Queenstown/Christchurch

Gardens at Lanarch Castle

Cadbury Factory

We headed to Dunedin from Wellington. We decided to fly as the trip on ferry/bus would've taken ages. Dunedin is a pretty cool little town. Full of history as it New Zealand's oldest city. We had a hotel room by the ocean, which was amazing. The hotel room though was more like a apartment from the early 1900's, renovated of course. I liked it a lot, but mom and Aunty had expected something completely different so it took them a day or two to get used to it. We were up early the next morning to head down to the Cadbury factory for a factory tour. Luckily, we got in as it was quite busy. It was a pretty cool tour and we scored a ton of chocolate, which is what I need I'm sure. My mom and Aunt also bought about a years worth to bring home, because chocolate is so hard to find in Canada ;). That afternoon we visited the Lanarch Castle. This castle began construction in 1871. William Lanarch built this castle for his first wife, who died shortly after. The castle was beautiful, creepy, but beautiful. Lanarch ended up killing himself after his third wife was suspected of having an affair with his son. There is some strange history behind this castle and that made it all more intriguing. Apparently Ghostbusters (tv show) just did a episode on the castle and it should air soon. They said that they found a man roaming around, possibly William Lanarch...who knows!! The lady who bought the castle in the 60's I believe, is still dedicating her time to the garden and renovations and just recently moved out of the castle although she still owns it. She must be off to have bought it in the first place, really! I loved the castle, absolutely loved it. Aunty and mom got a good chuckle because I was quite freaked out in the house with all the ghost stories that were told to us, but it was my aunt that couldn't sleep that night thinking of Lanarch and all the strange history in that house, it didn't help that we were sleeping in a lovely but creepy apartment/hotel.

Our next stop was Queenstown. Queenstown is New Zealand's version of Banff. A skiing town, very transient and lively for being so small. Nestled in the mountains, this place was so picturesque and comforting as it reminded me of home. We did a lot of walking here. The weather was pretty warm. Mom, Aunty and I decided to do a wine tour as this area is great for the vineyards. This for me was most interesting as mom and Aunty don't drink. I thought for sure I may have to carry them out, although I did wonder who would carry me out. Sure enough, very little food in us and we hit the wine before we ate. I'm sure that they both felt the booze, I know I did! The vineyards were awesome, the wine was great and we shared a ton of laughs that afternoon, nothing to do with the wine of course. We spent a few days here and safe to say we all had a great time.

After a 8 hour bus ride, we arrived in Christchurch. We decided to spend 6 days here as we have been on the move so much lately that everyone needed to chill for a bit. Christchurch is a great city and we are enjoying it very much. Although my least favorite city we have visited so far, it's still great. Well, we have been making the most of it.  We have been walking heaps. We visited the amazing Christchurch art gallery, markets galore, mom and I visited the Oranga Zoo which was pretty cool and soon it will be the start of Buskers week where Buskers (street performers) from all over the world come to perform. So it's quite lively here right now. We went to a hilarious play last night called "Le Cage aux Folles". It is the same script as "The Birdcage" with Robin Williams. It was so funny, one of the best plays I've ever seen. Today we took a day trip to Kaikoura, having no idea what this town was like or what we could do there. It turned out to be amazing. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed some much needed beach time as well as Albatross watching. Albatrosses are the largest sea birds in the world with an average wing span of 3.5 metres. We we lucky to see quite a few up close, as we had food in a bag hanging off the back of the boat. That food attracted a lot of birds, luckily we didn't get shit on. Our skipper did throw some food into the water but wasn't able to get it out as far as he wanted and water and whatever else splashed up and landed right in Aunty's mouth...it was quite the moment!! We were so lucky to witness a pod of dolphins up close. What an amazing experience and I'm so glad mom and Aunty were able to see them before they leave!

The next day we plan to have no plans and see what's going on in the city as it's our last day together. My New Zealand trip is coming to an end. This is always a sad time when travelling and made worse because I am having to say goodbye to my Aunty and my Mom. I am heading back to Melbourne in hopes of finding a job and making somewhat of a life there for myself for a few months. It may not pan out and I may be home in a month. If it does work out, I am not sure when I'll return.

I've had the most amazing time with my Mom and Aunt. We have laughed so much and so hard at times that we cried. They have both been the breathe of fresh air I was in need of and it's going to be hard to say goodbye.

Write soon!!

Photos from Wellington

Turanga/Roturua/Wellington

Mitai village dinner

Mom and Aunty with their Polynesian mud mask on

Mom at the Museum hotel

After Auckland we all headed out to Turanga which is a 4 hour bus ride. Mom was looking forward to it so I took her pillow as I knew I would be sleeping the whole way. We arrived in Turanga and the weather was lovely, always a bonus. We decided to walk to our hotel as the guy told us it wasn't far. Well maybe not, but I had about 40 pounds on my back never mind the other luggage. We finally arrived, dropped our stuff and hit the town. Turanga is a beautiful place to visit. We spent most of our time walking around aimlessly, window shopping, eating, and checking out some movies. It was a relaxing place to visit for us.

Our next stop was smelly ol' Roturua. I had been there already with Karl but because it's such an active town, being built in the middle of a volcanic crater, I thought they would both enjoy seeing it. Roturua was great. We went to a Maroi dinner at the Mitai village. I had already gone with Karl but found it just as interesting the second time. It sure helps that they have a few cute boys that work for that family, one of whom mom decided to take about 10 photos of throughout our 15 minute walk after dinner. Quite embarrassing to say the least. We shared some good laughs, especially when my mother decided to answer for another family during the head count on the bus, accidentally of course. I hope they still aren't waiting at the village for their ride home. We also visited the Polynesian spa, one of the top 10 spas in the world. We entered the different mineral pools, it was quite beautiful. Smelly but gorgeous views.

I can't say that any of us were terribly sad to leave the notorious Roturua scent and head to Wellington, where we had the most lovely boutique hotel booked. We flew from Roturua, as the time to take the bus was much to long. There was absolutely NO security at the Roturua airport, which was quite strange. We arrived at our hotel early in the afternoon and I have to say the hotel was amazing. We had a apartment hotel, with a full kitchen. The hotel used to be across the street and they moved it to make room for Te Papa, the Wellington museum. The weather in Wellington was terrible, but it didn't stop us. We were out both days, all day. Aunty and I got a pedicure at the salon on the corner, mom had a massage. We visited Te Papa museum, which was amazing. We had an fabulous dinner at Monsoon Poon, a Thai infused restaurant with just an amazing vibe. The next day we were out from 9:30 am - 7 pm. We joined a guided city walk for 2 hours, brushed up on some history in Wellington. Ended up at a amazing old church from the early 1900's. It is only used now for weddings etc. meaning they have no mass and it's just lovely. We visited the Parliament building, as Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. We walked for a few hours through their lovely Botanic Gardens, and eventually headed back for dinner and we slept like babies. Wellington was amazing and I'm sure we could've had another day there. But time is tight and we had to move on. Our next stop is Dunedin, a city that is located on the southern tip of the south Island. We are flying there, thankfully, as again the distance by bus was terribly long.

I'll write soon on that city!

Photos from Mt Tangariro and Christmas

Our Christmas Lodge/dinner and gifts

Mt Tangariro photos

Roturua/Auckland

Karl and I decided to stay in Roturua for New Years as I wasn't feeling the best and didn't feel like packing up and moving on quite yet. It was actually a pretty good spot to ring in the New Year. We went for a nice Indian dinner, checked out the town fair that included live bands down by the lake before heading to our room to ring in the new year in our thermal pool. I will admit that it was my first sober New Years in, well, years. I just wasn't feeling up to drinking. But regardless, I had a great time.

Before we left this area, we decided to check out Wai-O-Tapu which is also called the Thermal Wonderland. It's about a 75 minute walk around the thermal wonderland and it is just that. Wai-O-Tapu is associated with volcanic activity dating back about 160,000 years. Many different hot spots, boiling mud pools, geysers etc. It was quite spectacular to visit, even with the intense smell of sulphur.

We headed out to spend our last few days in the Auckland area, as I was meeting my mom and Aunt at the Auckland airport for January 4th. We did manage to get in on more good hike up to a beautiful waterfall, but other then that the next few days were fairly relaxed as the weather was cold and rainy and we both were quite tired from the previous few weeks.

My mom and Aunt were scheduled to fly into Auckland on January 4th so Karl was driving me to the airport at 6 am to meet them and take us back to our hotel...yes HOTEL! I was, of course,
extremely excited to see them. I was up early and ready to go well before 6. After an hour of waiting, out comes all the faithful Canadian backpackers with their flags sewed onto their bags..so I knew the Vancouver flight had landed. Than I spotted them, my mom and Aunt and the tears started to flow. Yes it was a girly moment for sure and a bit embarrassing as there were heaps of people at the airport but the feeling was overwhelming and I couldn't really help it. Off we all were to the Hyatt hotel in downtown Auckland, my first hotel in months. We walked a lot, explored some areas where we would like to spend more time. We took a boat cruise around Auckland, visited the amazing Auckland Museum, viewed the beautiful city from the Sky Tower, visited an island off of Auckland, enjoyed a lovely horse carriage ride, enjoyed some meals at amazing restaurants, took complete advantage of the pool in our hotel...it was a great three days.

Our next stop is Turanga, about a 4 hour bus ride from Auckland.

I must say, exploring the city with my mom and Aunt was by far my best experience so far. It was completely surreal having such familiar faces with me and we've been having a blast since.

Write soon!