Many apologies for not updating since I arrived in Auckland, however, my circumstances have been changing frequently and so I kept putting it off until I thought I had reached a point of stability...and then something else would change. So, in the absence of what could even vaguely resemble stability I am simply going to update you about what I have been up to since I got here.
My first week (and in fact most of my time here so far) was/has been largely dedicated to finding a job and finding a nice hostel that I would be happy to stay in for the potential three months of my stay here. I am now on my third hostel and I think I have found a good’un (which actually isn’t bad going seeing as there are A LOT of hostels in the centre of Auckland). The job hunt has been slightly more difficult and slightly less successful than I hoped it was going to be, but I am currently working part-time at a sandwich bar, which isn’t ideal, but it’s money and if I can get full time work there then I’ll be able to save a lot of money each week which will of course be going on fun and adventures either here or in Oz, so watch this space!
Now I have updated you on the more boring end of things I will tell you about the nice stuff. It appears that I have arrived in Auckland at a good time of year because a vast number of the once annual events seem to be going on and this generally means big festivals and lots of fun. The first one of these was Waitangi Day, which marks the signing of the treaty between the Maori’s and the white settlers that declared New Zealand to be a founded country. There are celebrations for this all over New Zealand and one of the biggest is at Mission Bay which is just outside Auckland. So, on a beautiful sunny Sunday I walked to Mission Bay with a couple of friends I had made at the first hostel I stayed in and we went to the festival that was there, just by the beach, with great live music, amazing food, lovely weather and of course...the beach!
The next of these annual events was the Big Gay Out which is New Zealand’s largest annual gay event. Now, this may sound like it is going to be a massive thing, but bear in mind that the population of the whole of New Zealand is only 4.2million and it is not renowned for its gay scene! However, having said that, once again the weather was absolutely gorgeous (are you getting bored of me saying that yet?!) and there had been a lot of effort put into making it a busy event, so while there weren’t a massive number of people there and it was fairly small it was really good fun and there were some really good music acts and some very funny comedy acts, so no real complaints for a free event in the park on a weekend!
The most recent event was the Chinese Lantern Festival, which happens in Auckland every year to mark Chinese New Year (for those interested 2011 is the year of the Rabbit and people born in this Chinese zodiac year are supposedly very artistic but also timid and prefer to be behind the scenes of things...just in case you were interested – funnily enough, this is not my Chinese zodiac sign...who would have guessed?!). For this there was a big festival in Albert Park, which is right in the centre of the city and actually right next to my current hostel. As you may have guessed there were massive displays of beautiful Chinese lanterns all over the park, as well as music and a lot of amazing Chinese food...mmmm!! Last night was the closing of the festival and there was a big firework display for it. Unsurprisingly most of Auckland’s 1.2million people population turned out for this and after attempting to battle with the crowds in the park my room-mates and I figured that we would probably have a more enjoyable and less stressful time watching the display for our seventh floor window in the hostel. So back we headed and boy did we make the right decision. I love fireworks anyway, but if there is one thing better than going to see them in a big crowded park surrounded by lots of people going “Oooooh!” and “Aaahhhh!” it is watching them through a massive bay window while you lie in bed! Trust me, if by some stroke of luck any of you ever get the chance to try this you will understand the joy that comes from watching a really great firework display...live...but in the comfort of your own (kind of) bed!
The other very nice thing I have got to do since I have been here was to take a day trip to Waiheke Island which is about 40 minutes on a ferry outside of Auckland. I decided to do this one day a couple of weeks ago just because I had the time and...yes, you guessed it, the weather was lovely! Once I got there my original plan was just to walk around the island for the afternoon and enjoy the beaches and the sunshine. However, when I got there I saw that there was a bike hire stand and after an extensive discussion with the man at the stand he managed to convince me that this would be the best way for “a young fit girl like myself” (his words, not mine) to see as much of the island as I could in a day. I seriously doubted my ability to be able to do this given my appalling level of fitness, but I was actually pretty successful! There were a few shakey moments, in addition to a few hills that I had to push the bike up, but all in all it was a good day and I am glad I hired the bike. And specially for you doubters out there I took a picture of both the bike and me geared up to ride it, obviously I couldn’t take a picture of myself actually riding the thing, that would be very dangerous, but I wanted some evidence of the fact that this is not a little invented tale of mine!
And that pretty much brings you all up to date I believe. The one thing I must mention, and this will only be significant for some of you, is a small but very amusing pair of details regarding one of my current room-mates (who, for the record, I have chosen to stay with, she is not just someone random who I was put in a room with). She is a lovely girl...she just so happens to be from Liverpool and a croc wearer! Ordinarily, in my book, someone like this should be locked away, in a dark room and left there, just to save the rest of society the indignity of having to admit that there were people like this within it. And, if I am honest, sometimes when she is telling a long story which contains more uses of the word “like” (“likchche”) and the phrase “don’t get me wrong but” (“don ge mi wrong, bu...”) I do wish I was deaf. However, in spite of her croc wearing scouse ways , she is lovely, and against all of my firmly established prejudices, we are friends. But I do stand by my beliefs, people who wear crocs outside of their own houses should have their feet removed as punishment, and scouse people should not be allowed to breed! Simple as! At this point I am going to remind myself never to give Leanne the address of my blog, I don’t think it would go down very well!
Right, I am going to go now.
Love to everyone back home. I hope this entry provided temporary distraction/amusement from whatever else it was that you should have been doing.
Big love!!
