ALIE'S BIG DAY

ok so
where to start
it's been a while since my last post

today was a HUGE day for me
absolutely HUGE
but i'll get to that later
must go in order

we left auckland and went to Whitianga for four nights
if you're Moari or just plain hardcore, you can pronounce Whitianga as "Fi-tee-ahn-ga"
our bus driver was just plain hardcore

so anyways
Whitianga was pretty nice
we stayed in a hostel that was right on Buffalo Beach and so spent a lot of time reading and just gazing out at the ocean
we rented a car one day and drove around to Hot Water Beach (which was crazy busy and kindof a let down... except that we found this one spot where you could bury your feet into the sand and feel that the sand/water about a foot down was SO HOT... pretty cool), and Cathedral Cove which was AMAZING. and there were these HUGE waves and we swan and i had some major knocked on my butt, thrown around, will-i-ever-come-up-for-air moments. it was the best wavey ocean swimming i've ever experienced.
then i was supposed to spend one day on a kayaking trip around mercury bay but for some reason it was cancelled... but i didn't find out until i'd already taken a ferry across this river with my New German Friend.
so she and I just wandered around instead
and we saw donkeys
and turkeys
and horses
and cows
and baby cows
and sheep
and some crazy beaches
and hiked up some cliffs
and met some old Kiwi ladies
and it was basically the most random day ever

then after Whitianga, we went Wwoofing near Thames
and it was pretty much the funniest four days ever
we lived in a little "caravan" (like a campervan thinger) on the property of this really really old kiwi couple
and they were so nice and so hilarious an always fighting in that old couple way
and basically we think that the only reason why they are wwoofers is cause the lady wants people to talk to
she basically kept up a constant narrative ALL THE TIME
and so sometimes you were part of the "conversation" but sometimes she wasn't even in the same room but she was still talking
mostly we just smiled and nodded a lot
and the husband was so funny and very deaf and i spent the whole first day RACKING MY BRAIN to figure out where on earth i know him from...
....who does he look like???
a "Guess Who?" character? yes, of course... but that's not it
a Rahl Dahl drawing? ...sortof...
BUT, then at dinner, I FIGURED IT OUT:



wait for it

TREEBEARD

holy moly he was EXACTLY like Treebeard from the Lord of the Rings
everything from the way he looked, his features, his mannerisms
it was absolutely uncanny
i almost pooped my pants when i realized it
then i told Mim later when we were back in our CARAVAN and we laughed for like four hours
he was a pretty cool guy though too. he has a degree in pretty much every subject, including anthropology. so he was giving me all kinds of ideas for my thesis. thanks dude.

but anyways
we fed chickens (err... "choocks"), repotted trees, carried brush and weeded gardens, and helped with the cooking
mostly we didn't actually have to work that much
and they grow all their own fruits and vegetables so it was pretty much the best food i've ever had in my life

but anyways
now we are in Tauranga
and if you pronounce that how it's spelled then people will look at you like you are a nob
you have to pronounce it in a really exagerated "TOW-rrrrrrrron-ga" way. and roll the r.
so funny

anyways
so we have been hanging out here for a while
and then TODAY I HAD MY BIG DAY!!!!!

here is what is so big about it
1. i bought a tankini swim suit thing
it's the first time since i was like six that i've owned a REAL normal human being bathing suit. and i am actually gonna wear it. crazy things DO happen. it's very nice and black and simple and i need to do some serious tanning before i can wear it without a paper bag on my head
2. I BOUGHT A CAR!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEAH THAT'S RIGHT!!!!
it's a 93 mazda clef (four door sedan) and it's dark red. and it's the biggest ugliest hunk of junk in the world. but the AA checked it out and it only needs a couple service repairs and otherwise they said that it's a fine car SO I BOUGHT IT. i got it from the friendliest car dealer at all. and he didn't radiate any slimeyness.
you see... i decided while we were it Whitianga that i wanted a car. i got to looking at maps of all the places that i wanted to go and i realized that it just isn't conceivable to do it by bus. it's slow and it hurts my back and it means that we just don't have access to a lot of cool places. also, i hate schedules, remember?
SO
i had this major confused-alie-what-am-i-doing-with-my-life-do-i-really-want-a-car moment/day
and i called m' mom n dad
and i decided to buy one

so then when we got here, post-wwoofing, i started looking. and i was getting stressed out and not finding anything and beginning a major freak out. so then i just MARCHED (you shoulda seen the marching) into this car dealership and i was like
"do you have any cheep cars?"
amd the guy was like "how cheep?"
and i was like "fifteen hundred dollars"
and he was like "ummm well... no, but i have this trade it... but it's about 2500"
and so i looked at it
and it wasn't cool or cute or lovely like any other car i'd ever seen
and it was ugly and big
and everybody kept saying to get a car from Turner's auctions
but that was so confusing and i couldn't figure it out

then i had another confused-alie-what-am-i-doing-with-my-life-do-i-really-want-a-car-and-where-should-i-get-it-from moment

and then i decided that i wanted it
and i am not cool or cute or lovely so why does my car need to be?
i am solid and functional and rounded around the edges
and so that is what my car should be

so then i marched back
and i LIED
and i said:
"well... i've seen some other cars that are a lot cheeper but not quite as nice, but they do have less mileage on them. but i like this one. but i really don't want to pay over 1500"
(TRUTH: i hadn't seen any other cars even close to as good or as cheap. i was willing to pay around 3000 to just GET SOMETHING THAT I LIKED)
and so i convince him to give it to me for 2000
(though, of course, he was probly lying too, and so he was still ripping me off, but not by as much, so it's ok) (also, we was like the nicest person in the world)
so i said i wouldn't buy it till the AA checked it out
so he set up the appointment for the car for me
so then i went down there today after it was done and got the report (cept first we went to the WRONG place, another car service place really far away and we walked there and it was so hot and sunny and then i realized it was the wrong place once we were there buy the guy there was so nice and got the girl who works there and drives people around (like after they drop their cars off to be repaired) to drive us to the right place... even though we weren't even his customers or anything)
and when we got there, the mechanic man was so nice
(i've decided that Kiwi's are the friendliest people in the world)
and he said that it needed a few service stuff - oil things, but not urgently and the engine was good and everything else was fine.

SO I BOUGHT IT

yeeeeeeeeeeah i did!

i am SUCH an adult

i own my own car

yes i do

and it's red

and i want to name it, but that is something somewhat un-adult

and i can't come up with anything even remotely good or clever

but anyways

so we are gonna drive away tomorrow morning

not sure where we are going exactly

but it doesnt matter because we have a car!

yeeeeah!


ok so
i have not much else to say
and my time is about to run out
and i haven't emailed my parents yet

check ya lata skatas

BOOURNS

k so
sad news
i can't get the pictures to work
apparently this computer just can't handle my outstanding photography
i guess i will try again in a couple weeks... or... sometime... when there is cheep/free computer access again

but, i DID add a link to nicole's travel blog... just over there to the right
i take no responsabilites for discrepancies between the two :P
we are leaving here (auckland) super early tomorrow morning
and heading up the coromandel penninsula (still dunno the spelling of that)
we're gonna stay in a place (that i can't spell or pronounce) near Hot Water Beach for four nights and then we are gonna WWOOF at a place near Thames! yeeeeah.
i am stoked for that but actually nervous as stink too
but not as nervous as when i actually had to make the phone call to the place
eep
(ummmm i can't be bothered to explain wwoofing right now.... google it if you care, it's pretty neat i think... but we'll see)

after that i dunno
so
i bid you all adieu

i got a new watch today and it's a huge piece of garbage
oh well
it was very cheep
and it'll do a fine job of preserving my watch tan, if nothing else

feelin a lil' homesick right now
jenny, i miss you
must stay busy
time to cook dinner/read/watch the news with that guy over there

hasta luego

I MISS PAIHIA

k so
i am a tool
it's "Kaitaia", as in "kay-tay-a"
whatever
either way it was pretty much just a part of the highway where there is stuff that isn't fields with sheep
but the hostel we stayed in was snazz
as was the trip up to the Cape
bad weather though, torrential tropical downpours
crazy lightening storms
SO COOL

AND WE DID LAUNDRY!!! YEEEEEAH

then we went back to Paihia for three nights
and it was wonderful
and we made lots of new friends
then we had to leave this morning and i am sad
and i miss paihia and the argentinians and the quebec guy and the cute blond british guy ((it is weird here how you get to know people and where they are from and why/for how long/since when they are in NZ, and what they are cooking, and where they worked and what they do all day, etc etc, but the whole Name Exchange thing just doesn't happen)) ((mostly Mim and I just call people by their hometowns/countries.... or in the case of cute blond british guy, i come up with fitting descriptions))
but oh well
must keep truckin

we are back in auckland now and we are staying in a hostel in Parnell which is like a district of auckland that is just beside the CBD, but not actually IN it... very trendy... i will never be upwardly mobile enough to fit in here... but i am ok with that (ps they say "CBD" here instead of "downtown")
the big hostels downtown (like where we stayed last time we were here) are fine but kinda scary, impersonal and institutional
BUT, this place where we are now..... it is like.... oh how can i describe it.... it is like a Queen's Ghetto House that has been decorated by a kindergarted class on an LSD trip. there is just no other way to describe it.
funny story: when we got it here it was kinda late so the office was closed
so mim is wandering arond with her backpack that is like seven times the size of her
and i am there trying to wheel my painintheass over these rocks and this boardwalk thinger
trying to figure out where we are supposed to go
then this guy (who has been watching us wander around and being all "this way?" "i dunno, that way?" "i dunno, down here?" "i dunno, over there?") who is sitting in this little door thing inside the hostel is like
"oh, to check in... call this number"
and we are like "suuuure ok yes... we have no phone"
and the guy is like "use this phone"
and so i phone the number and the same guy who i made the booking for this place with is like "ok go inside, go all the way to the back until you find a yellow fridge. inside the yellow fridge is a roll of tape, and inside that is a key. that's the key to your room. room 2."
and i just like "ok, for sure dude", thinking: that makes so little sense that i actually think he must be serious, cause you can't make stuff like that up
and sure enough, three yellowish fridges later, THERE'S OUR KEY

then we went for dinner at a snazzy indian place where the waiter kept mummbling and talking to me like he was saying earth-shatteringly important things and my head was actually a door knob instead of a head.
and again, we debated and probably failed the Proper-Way-To-Go-About-Paying Test (ask for the bill? go up to the cash? ask for the bill then pay at the cash? tip? no tip? how big of a tip? so many unknowns)
but the food was good
and then we searched for a supermarket but found every single other store in the world instead
so we shall be having left-over indian food for breakfast
but at least we know where to go shopping after that
fine by me

and now we are sitting here, indulging in tea, pods (the best candy ever), and FREE INTERNET
HOLY CRAP
EMAIL ME!!!

and there is a huge stereo on the other side of the wall from where i am sitting and sometimes it is pumping "Faithless" which is pretty much the best backgroundmusicband this century, so i am happy

cept speaking of music: my ipod has DIED
in a tragic, horrendous, scarring incident whereby it was plugged into a socket which delivered TWICE the voltage to which it was accustomed
i take no responsability for this
(really, it's not my fault, the little plugger-in thing says it can handle up to 240 volts... but apperently not)
there is an apple store just up the street so i think i will take it there tomorrow and see if they can nurse it back to health
it has done this flashy broken thing before and i can't remember how i fixed it, but i remember it being easy
.... but just incase, who would like to donate to the "Alie Needs A New Ipod" fund? mom? dad? jen? friends? collegues?

ok there was something else horrendously important that i was gonna bust out here but i totally forget what it is

but if you think that means that i will leave you alone, then you are sadly mistaken

i am reading Alias Grace now and NOBODY EVER TOLD ME THAT IT TAKES PLACE IN KINGSTON!?!?!
it's so weird. nothing cool ever takes place in kingston!
and this one part, the guy is describing the "bleak flat look" of wolf island and how he has to see it from his office and i am like "yup i feel ya... guess what the Hinn faces?"

but anyways
we are here for three nights then we're gonna go check out the coromandel peninsula (which i have OBVIOUSLY spelled wrong and which i am not even gonna TRY to pronounce)
where we will spend even more time on beaches and being lazy and reading books

BUT we are both getting slightly weird feelings from not DOING/LEARNING/HANDING IN anything ever... so we are gonna buy a "teach yourself spanish" book tomorrow
and learn spanish
....basically, we are PURPOSEFULLY forcing ourselves to learn as if in school... who woulda thunk it?

ok my tea is cold and i still haven't even emailed The Jenny

probably i will post again soon cause there is still that thing that i am totally forgetting that i wanted to mention, and also: FREE INTERNET

OH WAIT I REMEMBER:

1. are you still a vegetarian?

YUP. so far so good. and Mim is too, so the grocery shopping/eating out is very straight forward

2. what is the time change?

ummmmm ok to figure out home, i ADD 6 hours, then subtract a day. to figure out Vic, i ADD 3 hours, then subtract a day. so ummm... just flip that around.... sounds easy eh? eh? eh? for someone who moves through timezones a lot, i am surprisingly inept at doing the conversions.

3. could you please buy like three replacement watches and set them to all the different time zones like watch 1) auckland, watch 2) kingston, watch 3) victoria?

could you please pay for them? that would actually really help me out. cause apparently i really suck at adding 3 or 6 hours and then subtracting a day. and just think of the triple watch tan i could have!


...and yes, i will post pictures... and maybe even soon... i have only taken like 7 thousand so far.... maybe while i am here actually... cause remember: FREE INTERNET!

g'night e'rybody

SUNTANNED AND SMILING

ok so
that last post was laaaame
i didn't even spell Paihia right
oops
oh well
sorry bout that

anyways
we are in paIhia now and it is absolutely AWESOME here
it's so sunny and warm and lovely
and nobody wears shoes much, just sunscreen and hats
and everybody is friendly and tanned
AND ME TOO!
i have pretty much the best tan ever
and my watch broke today cause i wore it snorkelling, and holy moly watch tan!
it's so pretty and clear and defined
i love watch tans
and i miss my watch
how will i know when to do my embarassing back excercises???

so anyways
we've done all kinds of touristy stuff here
such as lying on a plethora of different beaches
kayaking all day yesterday
sailing trip, with some swimming and some snorkeling, today
and a lot of just chillin around our hostel here, which is the coolest place that i have ever stayed
the rooms are these cute little cabiney rooms with only five beds and they are clean and colourful and smell really good
and the kitchen is this big room attached to a tv room that opens right up to outside and the doors are always open, cept at night
and there is this little shady courtyard with lawn chairs and a bbq
and there are a whole bunch of argentinian boys here who have been here for a couple weeks and have jobs and basically live here
and they are so friendly and their english is so weird because it is new zealand accents on top of argentinian accents
speaking of accents:
i basically am totally incapable of understanding people with non-North American accents
it's terribly embarassing
i can't even understand the kiwi guy that owns this place, or a scottish guy who talked to me when he saw my mtb shirt
and i was talking to some italians who are staying here and i had to get them to repeat everything (but in my defence, their english wasn't great in general... but still)
and then on top of that, there are lots of non-english-first-language people who have learned english here, so they have Kiwi accents on top of foreign accents
and basically, when they talk, Mim and I are like "ummmmm yes..... ok.... yes sure"
cause i seriously can't understand a thing
it's very embarassing

but anyways
enough about that

i saw my first preying mantis in the shower on wednesday! SO COOL!

and i have the silliest little sunburns
cause basically if you don't put sunscreen ALL OVER (Charles would have this totally under control), any little bit that you miss (ex: the insides of your ears, your hairline, your knuckles, your toes, your ankles, etc) gets buuuuurned
and then there is me who burned my fingers cooking dinner last week
and they are still peeling
haw haw haw

anywho
tomorrow we are leaving here and going up to Kataia (which is pronounced "Ka-tay-a" - which i was not told until having said "Ka-ta-ya-hee-a" about twelve times)
just for two nights
we're gonna take a tour up to Cape Reinga, which is where the Pacific ocean and the Tasman sea meet
i think
or something like that
the most northern tip of NZ
apparently their is a light house there
oooooo
aaaaahhhh

ok
must go
me and mim are drinkin tea and reading our books at the picnic table ouside the kitchen
and internet here costs a small fortune
just a small one, though
ciao for now
(i hate it when people say that)