It was sad leaving Sydney. But hey, I'm now in New Zealand and enjoying jumping from town to town, hostel to hostel. The flight to Auckland was uneventful save for our retarded late passenger. About half an hour before we landed, the girl sitting next to me introduced herself, so I talked with her for the rest of the flight (Caitlin was behind me, and conversation as such is difficult), and once we landed went round the Duty Free to buy a load of spirits and things. This girl, Page, had been working in NSW for 8 months, and was now going home after all that time. It's weird talking to people who have been away for so long; my 2 and a half months will pale in comparison.
Auckland was boring...or uneventful, to say the least. Caitlin and I spent 3 nights with her family friends (Andy and David), and I planned everything I was going to do in New Zealand. We also rented Schindler's List and Pulp Fiction, and had two nights of tears and laughter. Joyful. So, Wednesday 10th we both went to Sky City Coach Terminal and got a bus to Tauranga (Tow-wrong-ah), where, once we arrived, we went our separate ways for the time being.
Caitlin was visiting her Dad's side of the family, and I had now started actually travelling! So I started my travels by walking in the wrong direction to the hostel, but sorted myself out quickly enough. Loft 109 Backpackers was boring, and they charged $2 for sheets, so being a cheapskate come night time I put on lots of layers of clothing and covered myself with a towel. Anyway, we arrived at 11:30 a.m. and given that I had a whole day ahead of me, I thought I'd do the usual thing I've been doing, and walk everywhere. Tauranga has almost nothing to see during the winter, and that day was particularly special because there was literally nothing to see. The rain fell so hard and fast that everything was white. I had to keep taking shelter because I got soaked to my skin in seconds, and when the wind had dried me a little, and the rain stopped pelting down, I'd make a break for it. Eventually I became so used to being a walking sponge that I stopped the shelter lark, and set off for Mt Maunganui, which was a lot further away than I had anticipated.
So I walked across the harbour bridge, got splashed by a thousand cars, and walked through the most uninteresting town I've ever been in; Tauranga is pretty much the only industrial port in New Zealand, so there are factories, warehouses, and a huge port all the way from the town centre to the mountain. Not a fun journey. Arriving at the mountain was nice enough. I stopped at a Burger King just before I decided to climb it, and what a classy joint! It was decorated like a 50s diner, and played old classics to suit the posters and photos on the wall of Elvis, Buddy Holly, Marilyn Monroe, etc. They also did free refills of drinks.
Bargain. Obesity aside, the mountain was pretty cool. I started walking along a path that led to sets of stairs and so on all the way to the summit. The rain had lifted there, but the clouds still lingered, and when I reached the top the view was totally uninspiring. I sat at a bench and dozed off for 5 minutes before a German backpacker called Alex came up to me and said hello. And then the clouds cleared and we had a great view of the town and beaches and it was generally a lovely view across Tauranga and the Pacific. So I took some photos, ran back down the mountain, and got a bus back to the hostel.
After a slightly cold sleep, I checked out in the morning, leaving my bags there, and went for a short walk, and what do you know, it was actually a nice day. I decided to walk south this time, and saw some different mountains, which was nice, but I got bored after a while, so saw Terminator Salvation at a cinema just around the corner. It was a pretty good action film, and the special effects were great. I don't understand which "tender scene" Christian Bale could have freaked out in though...there weren't any scenes worthy enough of his intense concentration and characterisation.
Anyway, Tauranga was a bit lame, though I'm sure the beaches are great in the summer. Apparently it's a big place for surfing, sooo...that's great! I got on an InterCity bus at 3 in the afternoon, and headed for Rotorua. No offence to Tauranga, but it was a bit rubbish.
No comments:
Post a Comment