East As
Hi!
There has of course been a grievously long break in my posts - this because Mum was down in NZ and we were travelling and stuff and I couldn't be bothered. So while many exciting things happened, I shall not talk about them here, because I'm certain to forget half of them anyway.
Since she left, however, I have been doing exciting things all of my own, and those I will talk about! Namely, from Friday 14th I have been doing the East As tour around the East Cape. This is actually a very fortunate happening; I nearly didn’t do the East As tour, because even though I’d booked I wasn’t on the pickup sheet. Fortunately I idly asked the guy at the hostel reception if he knew what time the pick up was, and he called Kiwi Experience to find out, and the bus driver happened to be only a couple of hundred metres away at the time… So it all worked out and I got on the tour anyway.
It was so cool! The driver, Rex (74 years old, called from his own company to give Kiwi a hand when one of their own drivers abandoned them) was a legend, and the people on the bus were so much fun. There were fewer of us than on the rest of the country, so we had a much easier time getting to know each other.
The first thing we did upon leaving Rotorua was to stop so each and every one of us could hug a particularly sacred tree on the grounds that if we did we’d have good weather even though the forecast said rain; this actually worked surprisingly well, although the tree did not save us from other problems The first drama happened early, when the back doors of the bus opened and allowed one of the bags to drop silently onto the road (not mine, thankfully). It was recovered after about an hour of running around, calling Kiwi Experience, talking to police, and many tears on behalf of poor Rachel, when the driver whose car it had fallen on took it to the police station.
That night was less dramatic, though amazingly cool; we got taken to this tiny hostel in Te Kaha with a hot tub overlooking the sea and a glorious swimming beach, and so we spent several hours chilling out there and recovering from the emotional day. It was a wonderful time: we eventually got twenty people into the quite small hot tub, and when we got too wrinkly to continue we went inside and played drinking games until silly o’clock in the morning. I do not think I have ever been that drunk, and nor do I plan to repeat it. Losing many of my clothes around boys who have cameras is very likely to haunt me later.
The next day (hangover free for me, though many were not so fortunate) was also pretty awesome. We relocated (very sad to leave the hot tub) to the East Cape, and walked up to the lighthouse. That night we stayed on a local converted farm. There we did bone carving, each making a pretty necklace (they’re really cool!) They also offered horse riding, which was really fun - galloping along the beach! The next morning (I went possum shooting with two of the guys the night before, and got a rabbit, so it was an unhappily early start) everyone got up early to see the sunrise. My and three of the other girls who’d really enjoyed the ride went riding up to see it instead; sadly it was cancelled on account of the clouds. We had a good ride anyway, even though it ended rather nastily when my over excited horse galloped into a dip rather than trotting around it and managed to toss me off with great drama. I was fine, of course, except for the pain and self pity, and after we returned we were moving right along.
First we went Whangara, where the Whale Rider was filmed; we went to the marai there, and sang a song Rex had taught us, Po Artarau. The lady there was very pleased; apparently not many of the drivers teach their passengers to sing in Maori. The marai was beautiful, of course, and we learned many interesting things, but we didn’t stay very long before we went on to Tolaga Bay.
From Tolaga Bay we went Rocksliding, which was incredibly fun! It was a long drive to get to the place, where we kitted out with wetsuits, boots and boogie boards, but it was well worth any effort. There’s a sort of waterfall, a long smooth rock slope with water running over it; you lie down at the top and slide gleefully down it at great speeds. I was afraid that it would be painful after the fall that morning, but even though there were occasional crevices which made the ride more exciting it was absolutely fine (though everyone ended up getting whiplash at the bottom, where the head jerked as you skidding across the pool of water). It was like the coolest waterslide ever; we all did it loads of times. The boys were all trying to do silly things with it - going down on their knees, or backwards, or spinning around and round - but I was more cautious. The whiplash was bad enough, haunting me all the next day.
That night - our last night as a group, seeing as Kiwi Experience recently shortened the East As loop - we had a big party, with the usual large quantities of alcohol, cross dressing and nudity. It was great fun, and I carefully did not get quite as drunk as I did the first night (perhaps that was unfortunate; it only made the nudity more embarrassing.) The next day, somewhat sleep deprived and dazed, we embarked on the last day of the tour.
That was very quiet, mostly just hanging out as we drove back to Rotorua. I’m really sad that I won’t be sticking with the rest of them on the rest of the Kiwi Experience tour - I want to do it all again! We bought Rex a present and a card, and sang him Po Artarau, which he was very touched by - he said that we’d been wonderful, and he would have happily done the tour with us for free.
I and four other girls who got off in Rotorua spent the rest of the day just chilling out; there’s a hot pool at the hostel, which was nice for the whiplash. It was St Patrick’s day, but none of us went out - catching up on sleep was more important!
Not really much to say, now. I’m heading back up to Thames, were I plan to embark on a loop of the relatives to pick up any stuff I’ve left behind there. I’ll then try to set up some kind of base in Auckland as I try to do as many more activities as I can reach before time and money abandon me. I’ll keep people posted on them, but until then, farewell!
There has of course been a grievously long break in my posts - this because Mum was down in NZ and we were travelling and stuff and I couldn't be bothered. So while many exciting things happened, I shall not talk about them here, because I'm certain to forget half of them anyway.
Since she left, however, I have been doing exciting things all of my own, and those I will talk about! Namely, from Friday 14th I have been doing the East As tour around the East Cape. This is actually a very fortunate happening; I nearly didn’t do the East As tour, because even though I’d booked I wasn’t on the pickup sheet. Fortunately I idly asked the guy at the hostel reception if he knew what time the pick up was, and he called Kiwi Experience to find out, and the bus driver happened to be only a couple of hundred metres away at the time… So it all worked out and I got on the tour anyway.
It was so cool! The driver, Rex (74 years old, called from his own company to give Kiwi a hand when one of their own drivers abandoned them) was a legend, and the people on the bus were so much fun. There were fewer of us than on the rest of the country, so we had a much easier time getting to know each other.
The first thing we did upon leaving Rotorua was to stop so each and every one of us could hug a particularly sacred tree on the grounds that if we did we’d have good weather even though the forecast said rain; this actually worked surprisingly well, although the tree did not save us from other problems The first drama happened early, when the back doors of the bus opened and allowed one of the bags to drop silently onto the road (not mine, thankfully). It was recovered after about an hour of running around, calling Kiwi Experience, talking to police, and many tears on behalf of poor Rachel, when the driver whose car it had fallen on took it to the police station.
That night was less dramatic, though amazingly cool; we got taken to this tiny hostel in Te Kaha with a hot tub overlooking the sea and a glorious swimming beach, and so we spent several hours chilling out there and recovering from the emotional day. It was a wonderful time: we eventually got twenty people into the quite small hot tub, and when we got too wrinkly to continue we went inside and played drinking games until silly o’clock in the morning. I do not think I have ever been that drunk, and nor do I plan to repeat it. Losing many of my clothes around boys who have cameras is very likely to haunt me later.
The next day (hangover free for me, though many were not so fortunate) was also pretty awesome. We relocated (very sad to leave the hot tub) to the East Cape, and walked up to the lighthouse. That night we stayed on a local converted farm. There we did bone carving, each making a pretty necklace (they’re really cool!) They also offered horse riding, which was really fun - galloping along the beach! The next morning (I went possum shooting with two of the guys the night before, and got a rabbit, so it was an unhappily early start) everyone got up early to see the sunrise. My and three of the other girls who’d really enjoyed the ride went riding up to see it instead; sadly it was cancelled on account of the clouds. We had a good ride anyway, even though it ended rather nastily when my over excited horse galloped into a dip rather than trotting around it and managed to toss me off with great drama. I was fine, of course, except for the pain and self pity, and after we returned we were moving right along.
First we went Whangara, where the Whale Rider was filmed; we went to the marai there, and sang a song Rex had taught us, Po Artarau. The lady there was very pleased; apparently not many of the drivers teach their passengers to sing in Maori. The marai was beautiful, of course, and we learned many interesting things, but we didn’t stay very long before we went on to Tolaga Bay.
From Tolaga Bay we went Rocksliding, which was incredibly fun! It was a long drive to get to the place, where we kitted out with wetsuits, boots and boogie boards, but it was well worth any effort. There’s a sort of waterfall, a long smooth rock slope with water running over it; you lie down at the top and slide gleefully down it at great speeds. I was afraid that it would be painful after the fall that morning, but even though there were occasional crevices which made the ride more exciting it was absolutely fine (though everyone ended up getting whiplash at the bottom, where the head jerked as you skidding across the pool of water). It was like the coolest waterslide ever; we all did it loads of times. The boys were all trying to do silly things with it - going down on their knees, or backwards, or spinning around and round - but I was more cautious. The whiplash was bad enough, haunting me all the next day.
That night - our last night as a group, seeing as Kiwi Experience recently shortened the East As loop - we had a big party, with the usual large quantities of alcohol, cross dressing and nudity. It was great fun, and I carefully did not get quite as drunk as I did the first night (perhaps that was unfortunate; it only made the nudity more embarrassing.) The next day, somewhat sleep deprived and dazed, we embarked on the last day of the tour.
That was very quiet, mostly just hanging out as we drove back to Rotorua. I’m really sad that I won’t be sticking with the rest of them on the rest of the Kiwi Experience tour - I want to do it all again! We bought Rex a present and a card, and sang him Po Artarau, which he was very touched by - he said that we’d been wonderful, and he would have happily done the tour with us for free.
I and four other girls who got off in Rotorua spent the rest of the day just chilling out; there’s a hot pool at the hostel, which was nice for the whiplash. It was St Patrick’s day, but none of us went out - catching up on sleep was more important!
Not really much to say, now. I’m heading back up to Thames, were I plan to embark on a loop of the relatives to pick up any stuff I’ve left behind there. I’ll then try to set up some kind of base in Auckland as I try to do as many more activities as I can reach before time and money abandon me. I’ll keep people posted on them, but until then, farewell!