February 13, 2009

Yes, it has been a while. But it has been a few intense and roller coaster weeks and I couldn't write until it had worked itself out and things began to settle down. Finally, we are back in Mt. Maunganui, and I am able to sit and rethink everything that has happened and write.

First, I have to tell you about something that I totally forgot to tell you about last time.  Blues, Brews, and BBQs. It's a really big festival that EVERYONE goes to! People come from everywhere to go. It's a big park with a stage and every type of beer sponsor is there. The entry fee includes a mug and you just sit and listen to music and drink beer and eat a lot of food. It was so much fun. Ari, Rocky, Chris, and I walked down there and spent a while tasting Feijoa beer and Hemp beer and all kinds a weird stuff. We ate ostrich, and crocodile, and kangaroo!!! :) Crocodile tastes like chicken and kangaroo tastes like lamb. hahaha.  Later we were joined by Rick, Matt, and Sarah and everyone proceeded to dance, drink, play cards, and just have a righteous time. Rocky got peeved at some new zealanders who sneered at the paella she bought that was actually very well done. Other than that, it was amazing at how drunk people got and how few fights there were. It was amazing...shocking.

Since then, I have been working at least one day a week at the backpackers and it's been really great. We said goodbye to Rocky and have just been going along our merry old way. Then we got news from Mitch that he had decided that he wanted to come back to the Mount and then go home. We all had our ups and down about it, but Ari and Chris drove down to Taupo and National Park to pick him up and bring him back here. I got an e-mail that night from Ari saying that they were doing to do the Tongariro Crossing again the next day and the come home. And Mitch had already changed his plane tickets. 1 and a half weeks later he would leave us. I was shocked. And sad. But he feels that he needs to go home and that his time here is over. If that is what he needs, then I am happy for him and wish him luck. 

The boys arrived back and we spent the next couple days hanging around the house, having feasts, being mellow, having intense games of putt-putt golf, and drinking with friends. The surf finally picked up a bit and the boys spent many a day catching as many ways as possible. The surf got awfully flat..I mean so flat the tides hardly were noticeable. So the fact that the surf came up and the waves were choice for Mitch's leaving was awesome. Two weekends ago I arranged a sailing trip through a company at work and we all went. Me, Ari, mitch, Chris, Rick and Jess, along with four other random people and the skipper. It was really a ton of fun. The skipper also had a little dingy and we sailed two hours to a nearby island. Once there we fished, boated closer to the island on the dingy, snorkeled along the reefs, ate, drank, and were merry for a long while. It was SOO much fun. We had so much. We were having so much fun we lost track of time. We took so long getting back, we made Chris 3 hours late for work. He only had 3 more shifts left anyway. They were phasing him out because they only hired him for the peak season over new year's. 

This past Wednesday, Chris, Ari and I went on a road trip to explore the south end of the north island. We left in the afternoon after much drama of getting out the door and headed towards the west coast and New Plymouth. We ended up at the Pukekura Festival of Lights and it was SO cool!!!! Ari and i went on a row boat ride down the lake at sunset, then we all wandered the park at night to look at how the park was all lit up. We went to watch an aerial show. Turns out it was mini remote controlled helicopters and cars that people would fly all over everywhere and do tricks with them!  It was super ridiculous and funny. It was a really cool experience. 

It wasn't until later that we realized that we were at the most expensive property on the New Zealand Monopoly board. 

The next day we drove to Mount Taranaki and decided to walk to Dawson Falls. But it didn't quite go as we expected. As Chris was trying to back into an imaginary parking spot on the side of the road, he drove the car into a very big ditch and after a scary scrape noise I got out to observe a flood coming out of the bottom of our car. We were kind of in the middle of nowhere, but only about 20Kms from the main road and it's luckily a popular tourist spot. I tried calling AA (for the third time since we bought the membership in December...a wise buy I must say), but alas, after a frustrating "you're breaking up. what color is the car??" The woman on the other end of the phone just hung up on me. Did I mention it was about 100 degrees and i was hot, sweaty and cranky?? At that moment we decided to hike up the mountain a little way to where we had heard there was a cafe in the hopes that someone there would be kind and let us use a phone. Luckily at that moment, a very cute old British couple drove buy and were so nice to agree to give us all a ride to the cafe. So, they cleaned out the back of their car, we piled in, and after two twists in the road we were there...doh.  We could have walked in like 5 minutes. Oh well. The nice DOC man there let us use his cell phone. No idea why his worked and mine didn't. I was able to get a woman on the phone and tell her where we were and try to explain what may have happened and then I got off the phone to tell the boys and the conversation went like this:

Alissa: The woman said they'll send someone, but if it's deemed an accident, they won't cover it.

Chris: So, we should just say we hit the car with a rock on purpose? 

Ari: What?! No. Wait? An accident? No, Chris, like...an ACCIDENT. (while smacking his fists together)

Chris: Oh, right.

I laughed so hard I had tears. Poor Chris felt so bad he could hardly think straight.

So, we walked back down to the car, walked to the falls, saw the falls, and then magically my phone rang. It was the tow company and the conversation went like this:

Woman: How *crackle crackle* many people?

Alissa: Three

Woman: Three??? *Crackle crackle*

Alissa: Yes, Three.

Woman: We can't fit three. 

Alissa: What do you mean? *Crackle crackle*

Woman: We can't fit three.

Alissa: So, what do you do in that situation?

Woman: *Crackle crackle* *talking to someone else* *crackle crackle*

Alissa: Can one person stay in the van as it's towed?

Woman: ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

Alissa: Okay, I just had to ask. Sheesh. So, what do we do???

Woman: You can try another company. 

Alissa: Ma'am, I had to go up the mountain to get reception to call AA, I can hardly hear you, I don't have the energy or the time to call another company who will have to come from even further away.

Woman: well, you can call a taxi.

Alissa: Fine. Ma'am, can you call a taxi for us because I have no reception and no numbers for a taxi in this company?

Woman: You want me to call a taxi? 

Alissa:  Ye. That way the taxi and the tow truck come at the same time.

Woman: Oh, that makes sense. We'll see you soon.

So, we hiked back up to the car and waited. We had managed to drive the car out of the ditch and onto the regular side of the road. As we waited we decided to tell the tow guy that we were driving, heard a loud thug, got out to check and saw the flood of anti-freeze looking liquid.  Therefore, not an accident...it's the road's fault!! haha

So, the taxi gets there,the tow truck gets there, and we all get into the taxi. That woman was shady! She's apparently the only taxi in the area and was in a hurry because she was flying out of town like an hour later. The problem was that she was such a small town taxi that she didn't take credit card for what she judged would probably be a $100 taxi ride. We asked if she could take us somewhere to get cash. She said she could take us to the main town, but she'd have to take the long way when there's a short-cut to the mechanic. But she had to get to the airport and another guy was coming on duty as her replacement. So then she came up with a plan that she could take the short-cut to the mechanic, drop off Ari and I, then take Chris into town to get money, then take Chris to the replacement guy, and then the replacement guy could bring him back to the Mechanics and Chris could pay him. All of which sounded like a nice gesture at first, but then she made some comment about a higher cost and we realized she was seeing that her meter wasn't really going that high and was just trying to get more money out of us. So, we went to the mechanic, and talked to them. Lucky for us they were able to give us cash out. Chris went to the woman with $77 and some change. When we got out of the taxi it was $77.10. When Chris got to the taxi it was $78 and some change. Chris said "All I have is $77 and some change. She said "Oh, 70 is fine." Chris said "wow, thanks!" and handed her the 77 as a gesture. She then responded "no, I mean 78 is fine." Chris said "sorry, that's all we have." and she grumpily took it and left. What a sleaze!!

Anyway, they did some tests on our car. Couldn't find anything! They were just going to write it off as overheated. So I scrambled to figure out a way to tell them that we really scraped it bad without telling them what really happened. So, I insisted they lift it up and look around. And we all got to get under it too! It was very interesting. And there was NOTHING! No scrapes, no tears, nothing. Our oil was low so they said it may have been that, but then I told them we are 2000Kms over our oil change and it was greenish yellow not sludgy black. So, they said well, your overflow is empty. Was it steaming around your overflow? I said yes. They said, you probably hit something that popped up and the overflow was already hot, so it boiled it over. We'll put some oil in it and see what happens. I paid $7 for a liter of oil, signed the AA forms to charge AA and hit the road at 140 kms. Before that point we were struggling to hit 100kms. It's amazing what a little overheating, and empty overflow and a liter of oil to your oil starved car will do.  

We hauled it and made it all the way down to Wellington no problems. Wellington is a really cool town. It reminds me of San Francisco a lot. 

I have another Chris story. We're finding that a lot of stories lately end or start with "Poor Chris." We really like the guy a lot. But he's had some unfortunate events lately.

Chris is 23 with a baby face. So, we get to Wellington, find Rocky, and seriously need a drink. So, we go to the first bar. Rocky's dressed to go out, Ari's in normal clothes, I'm in oil stained sweatshirt and cut-off jeans, and Chris is in a polo shirt and nice jeans. We group outside the first bar and decide it looks good. Rocky walks in, Ari walks in, I magically walk in even though i look like I belong on the streets. Chris goes to walk in and the bouncer's arm is immediately out and pulling him back "ID please!" 

Chris gets IDed everywhere he goes. 

That night we slept in the car by the park. It was an amazing night's sleep. I think we were all so exhausted from the debacles of the day we just needed to shut our eyes. 

The next day we went to Te Papa Museum-a free museum. Why can't big cities figure out that if you have a free museum that is nice and well-kept and interesting, people will come, and people will donate...

We saw the world's biggest squid! :0  It was really cool!

We went to a festival and watched music and hula-like dancing. We ate at Mr. Buns Cafe-never eat at Mr. Buns Cafe.

That night we decided to leave to try and get back to Tauranga for Mitch's last New Zealand Saturday. 

Oh, but not before Nando's!! I saw that there was a Nando's in Wellington and I was over the moon! I used to go to Nando's in Spain all the time and I got super nostalgic that there was one here! So I insisted we all go! And i was amazing and delicious. And then I realized the menu had other locations. And then I realized there is one right here in Mt. Maunganui that I have driven by almost every day and never realized.  DOH!!!

So, we left Welly at 7:15pm and hauled bohiney (legally) back up to the Mount. We got back at 1:15am. A record I believe. Rocky stayed in the car. Oh, i forgot to mention we left Chris behind because he's going to work in the South  Island for a couple months and we brought Rocky back with us. 

Ari and I went to the Bier Haus (our regular spot) to see if Mitch and the group were there. We saw Mitch...we saw Rick, but they didn't see us, We went to the bathroom, came back out and they were GONE! it was like a magic disappearing act! So, we wandered and then drove home. We got a block from our house and saw a guy walking with an enormous bag of food.  good 'ol drunk mitch had decided he was hungry, hopped a cab home and had the guy drop him at the burger king. So we sat up and talked forever and crashed out. 

The next few days was just a lot of hanging out, relaxing, surfing, not doing much of anything but just being together. Wednesday morning we drove Mitch to the airport, had our last meal, and sent him on his was. It was a sad moment.

So, we cheered ourselves up by going to see Nana. Nana is always good for some serious laughs. Nana, Ari and I went to dinner and then went to meet up with Gentiana and some other people from IEP for drinks at the Viaduct downtown in Auckland. We were WAYYYY to sober for the crowd and the people with pink cowboy hats following every word that came out of their leader's mouth. And every time a slower song would come on and she would scream "HATS ON YOUR HEARTS PEOPLE!!! SHOW SOME FUCKING RESPECT!!!!!" And they would all do it and sway to the music. I couldn't stay. I couldn't stop laughing right in her face. 

The next day Ari and I went and hiked Rangitoto Island It's an old volcanic island. And the #2 best spot on the NZ monopoly board. We have decided to make sure that we've gone everywhere on the monopoly board:

Te Puke Kiwifruit $600K-CHECK

Ohakune Carrot $600K-no check

Picton Ferry-no check

Larnach Castle $1M-no check

Waitangi Treaty Grounds $1M-CHECK

Te Papa $1.2M-CHECK

Queenstown Ski Fields $1.4M-no check

Lake Taupo $1.4M-CHECK

Cape Reinga Lighthouse $1.6M-CHECK

Port of Tauranga-CHECK

Mt. Cook $1.8M-no check

Milford Sound $1.8M-no check

Fox Glacier $2M-no check

Moeraki Boulders, Oamaru $2.2M-no check

Golden Bay $2.2M-no check

Ninety Mile Beach $2.4M-CHECK

Dunedin Railway Station-no check

Art Deco Buildings, Napier $2.6M-CHECK

Mt. Maunganui $2.6M-CHECK

Waitomo Caves $2.8M-no check

The Square, Palmerston North $3M-no check

Cathedral Square $3M-no check

Cable Cars, Wellington $3.2M-CHECK

Rangitoto $3.5M-CHECK

Pukekura Park Festival of Lights $4M-CHECK

I will continue to update this list as necessary.

Rangitoto was awesome and the views were amazing. But it was like walking in a freakin oven. We took the ferry out there and explore the hike up to the crater, walked through lava caves, walked the rim of the crater, and then took a bush walk back down the volcano, and took a very exhausted ferry back. It was a lot of fun and really cool, but very exhausting.

The next day we went with Nana to the most awesomest concerts and they were all free!!!

First we went to one by Mission Bay and listened to some music, saw the tiniest ferris wheel. Imagine a mini-theme park for children that is transportable. There was a tower of death that was about 10 ft. tall and a ferris wheel and one of those ships that rocks back and forth and at the highest point it was also about 10 ft. tall.  It was hilarious. It was one of those things that's like an optical illusion. You stand next to it and you feel like you're a giant. And we got to feed all kinds of animals and I got attacked by a sheep. It has been my goal to pet a sheep in NZ. I finally did and it got so excited it pulled a dog moved and hopped it two front legs right on me to get at the cup in my hand.  My white skirt was not pleased. But I was. 

Then we drove out the parking lot and some little kid plying a parking attendant reached in my window, grabbed my hand and drew a red "X" with permanent marker. I asked what it was for and he said "to get back in."  I couldn't stop laughing. I was permanently marked with a scarlet "x"!!!

Then we drove to the middle of no where just south of auckland to a field outside the Manuka concert center. More stands of pineapples lopped in half with ice cream piled on top, mini-theme park rides, air-brush tattoo stands, fake bloody make-up stands, and no farm animals. Did you know that 1 in 5 NZ adults has a tattoo??

There, at that amazing concert did I see my new heroes. P-Money. Look it up... "Everything" PNC, David Dallas, Vince Harder, and the headliner: TIKKI TANE!!!!!

Look them up, they are AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Since then we've come home and slowly been getting used to still having three, but it's Rocky instead of Mitch. But it's been good. Working, surfing, relaxing. The weather has been disgustingly hot and muggy as all heck! But it should pass and get nice again relatively soon...I hope. Ari has probably gotten a job working at the surf shop a couple days a week or something like that. So that's good. And in the next two months we have the following: Ari's mom and sister, then ari's mom leaves, then my mom comes, then ari's sister leaves, then williams and kelly come, and then williams and kelly leave and then my mom leaves. Any one else want in on the exciting rotating door that is our lives????  We love it! 

We miss everyone!!!!!  And love all lots and lots!!!

I know this is a long update and it's because I haven't updated in a while. I will try to be better!!

xoxo

Alissa