North Island

There is seriously too much to type on here with a $1 for every 15 minutes internet cafe.  It would probably be $50 after I finished so I'll try to skim through the most of it.  


After leaving Auckland, Peter and I arrived in the Bay of Islands.  This place was amazing.  It obviously had some islands.  That night we met two other backpackers, Brooke and Stiina.  They invited us to go kayaking the next day.  The next day we all went kayaking on this barren island and picked up mussels from the shore.  That night we cooked them in a 5 star dinner...especially compared to most backpackers meals that consisted of a can of beans.  That night everyone got drunk and jumped in the ice cold ocean.  It was pretty cinematic.  The next day we drove to the west coast and saw these Avatar-like huge trees while listening to the soundtrack to Avatar.  It was comical.  Brooke left that night as Peter and I gathered clams in the shallow waters off the coast.  Suddenly, this seems like we're back in the caveman days...gathering food and wandering deserted islands.  That night Peter, Stiina and I had steamed clams.  There's something amazing about finding your own food and cooking it.


We said goodbye to Stiina the next day and left Bay of Islands.  Our roommate Shay came with us.  Shay was from the UK and had the work visa just like us.  We all drove to Mercury Bay in Coromandel.  This place was very low key.  At this point all we were drinking was New Zealand wine since it was so good and cheap.  The next day we got free kayaks and paddled out along the limestone coast.  It was amazing seeing these cliffs reach out into the sky while under turquoise waters.  In the afternoon we saw the awesome Cathedral Cove, which might be the best beach I've ever been to.  Shortly after we went to Hot Water Beach where we dug holes in the sand to dig out the sometimes boiling thermal waters that hid under the sand.

Shay, Peter and I left the next morning and made it to the sulfur smelling Rotorua.  We walked around this park next to our hostel that had a shitload of mud pools.  It was annoying that there was so much trash in them though.  Whats the point of chucking a bottle in mud?  That night we drank way too much and blacked out from all the wine.  The next day we tried to sober up before going on some class 5 rapids.  We whitewater rafted off a 7 meter water fall (21 feet).

The next day we left Rotorua, leaving Shay behind.  We tried to make plans to meet up in Wellington later in the week.  Peter and I arrived in Taupo a few hours later.  Yesterday we hiked 25 km's/12ish miles up a mountain that had 5 different ecosystems.  Today I am still feeling that hike.  Now we head to Waitomo Caves to see some Glow Worms before heading to Wellington for the weekend.

New Zealand

So these last 4 days I've been staying in Auckland.  It's a pretty ordinary city but if you take a ferry to one of the surrounding islands it's pretty amazing.  I felt like I'm in a modern day shire when we arrived at Waiheki.  Waiheki is a great day trip if anyone is ever in Auckland.  The beachs are in these little nice protected coves with odd looking water with spots of purple that look like wine.  They've actually found a way to turn water into wine here I guess.  Peter and I grabbed a beer and chilled on the beach.  I actually fell asleep for a few minutes before waking up to a chilly breeze.  The weather is still a little bit cold here.  It's in the 60's in the day and 50's at night.  I'm hoping it warms up a little more in the next few weeks.

Today we got a car, which was a huge relief.  It's a gold Honda Accord that we are calling the Gold Nugget.  We will head up to Bay of Islands in a few and really start the journey.  It's not fun being stuck in a city when you know that the surrounding area is middle earth so the Gold Nugget is our ticket out.

The odd thing about New Zealand so far is that I haven't met a lot of locals.  Auckland is saturated with backpackers and I might as well be in England because Brits are ubiqitous here.  Australia had a lot more locals but then again Australia has a population of 20 million opposed to 4 million here.  3 million of that might be sheep...  Anyways off to Bay of Islands.

Goodbye Australia

So my last day in Australia consisted of watching the Redskins lose 59 to who cares and saving an abandoned dog.  When I went to the beach before the game I found this dog who was alone just sitting in the shade.  He quickly came over to me and layed down.  It was pretty much the saddest sight I'd seen in a long time.  The dog was all ratty looking with dried out fur from the ocean salt.  I sat with the dog for 20 minutes hoping his owner would return but nothing.  There was no way I was going to ditch this dog or it would follow to me for the rest of my life.  I walked with it on the beach looking for it's owner but still nothing.  Finally, some people with a car said they'd drive it to the shelter, which is better than being all alone on a beach in the sun.  I hope they don't gas their animals here.  I also hope that the owners get the dog back and treat it well.

After the game I walked to Coolangatta and ate thai.  The people made me wait 3 minutes for their happy hour.  Is it really that big of a deal?  3 minutes?  Assholes.  I would have gone somewhere else but there wasn't anywhere to go.  I walked back to the hostel on the beach and went into deep thought.  The trip wasn't even halfway through but the thoughts of what I was going to do with my life returned.  Still clueless on the other side of the world. 

Today I'll fly to New Zealand and meet Peter in Auckland.  I'm excited to have a constant friend to hang out with again and also a car.  I've been stranded here for over a week and am ready for a change.  Still need to decide if I want to extend my flight.  Need to figure that out fast.

Koalas and Kangaroos

If you read the last post about Marcus then you obviously know I'm still alive.  It was odd...we never actually ran into each other again.  That's fine with me!

So, this week I've been slowly getting over something called "Walking Pneumonia."  I've been coughing up blood, mucus and anything else sinister.  I finally went to the doctor a few days ago and got some antibiotics.  I've been taking it easy all week.  Usually I go to the beach, walk a few km's and come back.  These last two days the hostel has completely emptied out.  I've been in an 8 guy room and I'm the only one in there!  Loneliness definitely sets in when there is literally no one in your hostel besides 2 snobby (or less likely shy) French girls, a couple of Asians who can't speak English well and an old guy.

Yesterday as the loneliness hit its peak, I decided to swim in the ocean.  Unfortunately, there were heaps of jellyfish.  There were blue bottle ones that looked like something from outer space, ones that looked like ice cubes and even one with tiger stripes.  Tiger stripes + Jellyfish can't equal something good.  Later that day I received an email from Axel with his number.  He had got a new place about 2 km south so i walked there and we had a beer.  It was good actually having a conversation with someone again.  He's a good guy.

Today I decided to go to this wildlife sanctuary.  I spent about 5 hours there checking out all the animals.  The Kangaroo park was amazing.  There was about 100 Kangaroos just lounging out and you could feed and pet them.  FACT: Kangaroos are soft.  There you go...we all learned something today.  I went into a sub-section of the park and found Tree Kangaroos, which are the cutest things on Earth.  Sorry for saying "cute"...not manly enough.  Uh...*cough* Nascar...Football!!!!  Yeah!!!  There we go...back to normal.

I saw the Koalas and read about how they are dying out.  It made me so mad.  200 years ago there were 10 million and now there are about 100,000.  I hate humans.  It made me think that I could pursue a career as an environmentalist.  I hear they get paid big time.  Hmm...sarcasm doesn't work in text.  But atleast I'd be doing something good for the world...plus I could kind of have a pet Koala...I'd name it Koala.  Creative.

I came home today and whoaaaa..there is now 1 more person in my room.  This hostel is getting packed.  Again...sarcasm doesn't work in text.  I only have 2 more full days here until I shoot over to New Zealand for phase 3 of this journey.
3 more days till New Zealand. 

Adelaide/Gold Coast

So we drove straight to Adelaide and unfortunately the person we were going to crash with bailed.  We ended up getting an over priced hotel with a tv that only seemed to play Two and a Half Men...I'm pretty sure that means it should be free.  The next morning we woke up and went to the beach.  It was cloudy so there wasn't a lot to do.  We gambled on pokies a little bit (made $20) and started heading back to Melbourne. The stops to see relatives along the way were a lot more fun than Adelaide since I got to meet more locals.  I even got to hold the biggest crab I've ever seen in my life.

We got back and took it easy the next few days.  I was heading to Gold Coast at 7:30 AM on Sunday and James was planning on going out the night before for his bday.  We all went out to Fed Square and basically drank all night, got a taxi home at 5 AM and I grabbed my bags and left.  Already being up for 24 hours, I didn't feel too good when I had to wait in line to check my bag.  I got on the plane shortly after and flew away to Gold Coast. 

It was only a 2 hour flight so I didn't sleep much.  I landed in Gold Coast a zombie.  I grabbed my bags and walked out of the airport.  It always feels like you're doing something wrong when you walk out of an airport instead of catching a ride.  I walked about a quarter mile and found my hostel. 

Before, I had been a little nervous of my first time backpacking alone but today I was too tired to have emotions.  I met my two roommates shortly after, Marcus and Alessandro.  Marcus was from Australia and Alessandro was from Italy.  Alessandro wanted to be called Axel.  Probably after the rockstar?  I didn't go to sleep so I ended up staying awake for about 40 hours.  There was something definitely off about Marcus.  I could quickly tell he was a compulsive liar which should have brought up more red flags.

The next day I wandered Gold Coast and ended up running into Marcus.  He had been drinking all morning and was getting drunk fast.  He convinced me he had won $3000 at the pokies but suddenly only had $100 dollars...more red flags.  We went to the casino and he proceeded to bet $5 a spin on the slot machines.  Luckily, he won but I would quickly realize that a drunk schizophrenic with money was a lot worse than a broke drunk schizophrenic.  Marcus had convinced himself that the other people in the casino were out to get him so we left.  There's not enough red flags on earth for this guy...

Axel was quickly getting tired of Marcus as well.  Marcus would constantly wake Axel up in the middle of the night to see if he wanted to smoke a cigarette (Axel's cigarettes of course).  Marcus went out the next night and drank more and more with the money he had won.  I wouldn't call it an exaggeration if he drank close to 30 or 40 drinks throughout the day.  He came back a mess.  He had blown all his money, bought some fake looking silver necklaces and shoes.  He kept turning on the lights and calling drug dealers just mumbling "Ya...Ya...Nahhhhh".  I'm pretty sure it was just an answering machine.

He kept listening to the same rap song on loop.  The song had great lyrics of course.  A thousand "niggas" and "bitches n' hoes" and you have yourself quite a refreshing take on the world.  I watched as he just ate it all up with a glaze of sweat on his face.  The same old loop replaying and this guy just surrendered to it.  It's sick how that music is targeted towards insecure guys like that.  On a lighter note, I couldn't help but be envious of one aspect with Marcus.  The guy has around 30 drinks and I didn't see him go take a piss once.  If I have a teaspoon of beer I'm going every 15 minutes...  My bladder must be the size of a shot glass.  Is that sick that that's what I think about when I see an alcoholic with severe problems?  Yes... 

The next day, Axel and I changed dorm rooms while Marcus was out drinking and gambling...at 11 A.M.  As I write this Marcus still hasn't returned.  Yesterday he pawned off a $2000 laptop for $400 and lost it all.  I imagine he was pawning everything else off today as well.  That is the recipe to get robbed if you ask me.  Axel and I prepared for a shit storm when Marcus returned but then Axel got a random job offer from an old lady.  She wanted Axel to plant trees on her farm 30 km away.  It was good because unlike me, Axel was here to make money.  He described the situation in Italy, which was very disappointing.  It reminded me about America.  The old lady offered to drive him there and let him stay the night at their Asian house on a farm.  It sounds like an adventure but there's one big problem...   Now it's all on me with Marcus when he returns.  We'll see what happens...till next time.

Melbourne

For the last week I've been in Melbourne walking around and exploring.  There's nothing like being on your own in a foreign city and wandering.  I think I walked about 10 miles the first two days.  I found this amazing Asian bakery called Breadtop, which sells a lot of mini things like cheeseburgers.  Ordinary things are funny when they are mini.  Things are about double in prices here so just going to McDonalds is going to be costing you about $10.  If you live in Australia it's alright since minimum wage is $15 an hour but most people are making around $20.  If you are American you will pay.  This country seems to be "socialized" but everyone is living pretty good.

Halloween here is slowly coming along.  It's nowhere near the level it is in the US.  We found one place that was celebrating it - a gothic club.  I walked in and immediately thought I was in the Fifth Element with all the neon people and glowing eyes.  "Ahhh..here we go..Halloween", I said.  Then one guy replied "It's like this everynight here."  So Melbourne has a Fifth Element bar 24/7.  We proceeded to get trashed and have a good time.  I had some absinthe, which tasted like blackout.  Since Australia is great..the last call was at 5:30 A.M. and we stayed till pretty much then, stumbled home, grabbed some McDonalds and passed out.

The next day consisted of recovery and gambling.  I dropped some cash the night before so I was hesitant on losing but I came out ahead.  After getting Thai and some candy I actually made money on the day - $4.  I am now addicted to pokies (slot machines to us Americans) and will most likely be gambling everyday from here on out.  It was nice knowing you. 

Getting ready to go on a roadtrip up into south central Australia.  It's called Adelaide but I thought "South Central Australia" sounded way more hardcore.  After we get back I'll jump on a plane to Gold Coast and will stay at a hostel 1 block from the beach.  Eventually I'm going to get to New Zealand...I hope...

Down Under

We'll the journey has officially begun.  I landed in Melbourne yesterday in high winds.  I thought how shitty it would be if I ended up dying in a plane crash in the last minute of a 16 hour flight.  Atleast have it crash during the first hour...  Don't leave me high and dry on a plane for 16 hours next to a guy with face melting body odor and 2 shitty movies (Dinner for Schmucks/The Back-Up Plan).  I thought movies were supposed to make it go by quicker?  I'm pretty sure the script for Dinner for Schmucks was just a thousand pages with paint drying on them.

Met up with James after a few dogs smelled my bags for drugs.  We drove through Melbourne and then he dropped me off at his place while he went to work.  Extremely jetlagged, I managed to watch the Giants neuter the Cowboys and stay awake.  I walked the dog through this wildlife preserve and saw wild parrots.  That's when you know you are somewhere good.  Instead of rats and pigeons, they have green and red parrots littering their land.  I'm crossing my fingers that I see a parrot-rat hybrid come out of their sewers.

Got back from the walk and watched Jeopardy with James' parents while we drank some beers.  I felt chuffed (proud) when I answered Jordan correct.  Not Michael Jordan...the place with Petra...obviously...(roll eyes).  It was 9 pm and I was a zombie.  I felt bad because we were watching an extremely depressing documentary on the corruption in China and I was just dosing off.  So insensitive...  I think I had been up for 24 hours straight but atleast it got me on Australia's time zone.  For your information when it's 9 a.m. on a Wednesday in Australia it is 6 p.m. on a Tuesday in NYC.

On a serious note, I feel amazing about coming here.  The fear and pressures to stay home and get back in the rat race are gone.  I know I made the right decision.  Life is about experiences.  Life is too short to let the fear control who you are.