So Long to Godzone

Last night in Auckland tonight, and decided to do a bloggy night instead of getting plastered. Figured should save some energy for Melbourne, where Tadhog and I are headed next. A review of the past couple days:

6/9: Went up to Kahoe Farms hostel further north from the Bay of Islands. As soon as we got out of Paihia, the sun appeared and we finally got the warmer weather I'd been hoping for. The hostel was a brilliant place, owned by an Italian guy who made us the only good pizza I've had since arriving in NZ, and let us play on his X-box for much of the night. It was sweet as.

6/10: Drove up to Cape Reinga, one of the northernmost points of the North Island, and saw a few beaches along the way, including Ninety Mile beach, which is not actually 90 miles long (more like 90 km), but is still pretty awesome. It's got giant sand dunes that you can toboggan down, and Tadhog and I did just that. Only once though, since we were borrowing the toboggan and didn't feel like hiking up the sand dune more than once (it was really kinda steep).

6/11: Drove back down to Auckland. Armed with the knowledge that I gained from my last visit (that Auckland's CBD is a little on the bland side), we opted to stay in Ponsonby, a nearby suburb which is about a 25 min walk from the city centre, and is a lot cooler than the CBD. The hostel's much nicer than the YHA I was in before, too.

6/12: I take my car to the backpacker's car market for attempt 1 at selling it. Since I put a fair amount into maintenance while I owned it, I decide to offer it for the same price I bought it at. However, since there are very, very few backpackers opting to arrive in NZ this time of year, a grand total of 4 people show up all day. This was a very boring and disheartening day for me, so I shan't write about it further.

6/13: I try taking the old girl to a local car fair. The locals scoff at the price I'm selling my car for, but one expresses interest at a severely discounted price. After a couple of hours, I agree to it since it's better than a) nothing and b) waiting around for another day and a half doing the same thing, and probably not getting a much better price for it. He feels a little bad for me I think since he takes me back to his house for tea and biscuits. Or maybe he didn't feel bad and that's just how they end transactions in NZ. In the afternoon, Tadhog and I go visit One Tree Hill (the namesake of the U2 song, which in turn I think is the namesake of that show on the WB). It's got some awesome panoramic views of Auckland, though it no longer has a tree at the top (was cut down in 2000 by a Maori activist for reasons you can partially read about here). At nighttime we go to a bar to see the All Blacks (national rugby team) play France. We're accompanied by a bunch of French people from the hostel, so they're in quite a better mood than most of the bar when the French eke out a narrow victory. Do a small bit of drinking around the town, then go home.

6/14: Yeah, I haven't actually done that much today besides a bit of shopping and seeing The Hangover with Tadhog. Kind of lame for my last day in NZ, I know, but I needed a break.

So tomorrow, I leave New Zealand. I'm going to miss this place a lot, and will be back some day. But, looking forward to my time in Australia, and the fun adventures and challenges that will await me back home.