Taupo and Wellington

On our way out of Rotorua the bus stops at a beautiful redwood forest were we have a little walk, then it's straight to Taupo. The famous thing here is the Alpine crossing, but our driver warns that this may be not be happening, as it's pretty cold and pretty windy. Once checked in to our hostel, I make some dinner and chat with some of the other travellers, including a Canadian girl who'd been travelling 3 years! Wish I has thought of that a few years ago. 

The next day Heidi and I have some kayaking booked. During breakfast we learn that the Alpine crossing was in fact cancelled, meaning that many travellers would have to stay an extra night in Taupo. Wellington, where we will be spending a long time, is not that far from Taupo, so we can always come back for this and a few other activities. This morning, however, we're going kayaking down the river. We shoot off to the kayaking place and meet our guided, a young American guy whose been in the country for a few months. Once down by the river, he takes us and another couple through a few basic pointers, and we're on the river. At Heidi's request, we're in a two seater kayak which to my mind is a perfect recipe for arguments. With guidance we get to grips with steering and that, and even develop a system of communication that seems to work (Left! No, go left, paddle right! Etc.). The river is rather beautiful, and near the end of the stretch we stop by a hot spring. I have a little dip just to experience it, but no one else is keen so I don't get too involved. Whilst the kayaking was good, I could have happily done it for a bit longer. Still, it was a nice taster and maybe next time we can go solo!

The random tandem

Billy no mates in the hot pool

We wonder round Taupo for a short while, visiting amongst other place the All Blacks shop where Heidi gets very tempted by baby clothes for her nephew born earlier this year. After reminding her that he has doubled in size since we last saw him and that he would hulk out of most of the clothes on offer, we wonder round some more. We walk down the waterfront but it's so windy, even the birds are struggling (much to my amusement). We have a boat trip planned for the evening but when we arrive we find that it's been cancelled because it's too windy. Gutted.

The bus makes a handy spot to Tongariro national park. We stop for some snaps of Mount Doom (not it's real name, but whatever) then do an awesome 2 hour walk to a waterfall which is pretty stunning.

He was right, you can't walk it

Quite high

The next stop is in a place called River Valley. This is essentially a lodge in the middle of nowhere offering two activities: white water rafting and horse riding. We do want to do white water rafting, but we are quickly running out of money and it's a bit pricey. fortunately the activities are early in the morning the next day, so we only have to hang about for a short while before we're back on the bus and heading to Welly.

Earlier on in our NZ trip we quickly realised that if you are planning to work, most places will expect a commitment of at least 8 weeks. So we decided to enjoy our tour of the North Island, but then look for work when we get to Wellington, where we will spend approximately 3 months. This excites me. I have never lived in the middle of a big city and by all accounts Wellington sounds like a sweet place to be. We arrive at Base hostel, have a bit of macaroni and cheese and hit the hay. 

We decided that for our first day in the big city, we should go our separate ways and do a bit of exploring. I can't even remember where I went other than the waterfront, but it was a good thing to get our bearings and know roughly where certain places are. I find Cuba Street, a high street populated with coffee shops, record shops, bookshops and all things hipster. I know I'm going to like it here. When I go back to the Hostel for lunch I bump into Heidi who had the same idea. 

After this we start a mission that consume the next few days - getting some clothes together for an interview. The next day we head to an outlet store a bit out of town but it is pissing it down with rain all day. Luckily I do manage to get 2 fairly decent fitting shirts, but that's all. We discovered a Welsh pub in the city centre that, amazingly, shows all the Welsh rugby games at ridiculous o'clock. To get round the 24 hour drinking laws, they have to sell tickets to this. We want to see Wales play Argentina at 6 in the morning, so we plan an early night Saturday. However, we didn't get much sleep because of a large group of seriously anti-social LADS who only seemed to go out for 2 hours. It was by far the worst hostel experience yet, and I can't imagine it being topped (touch wood).

Anyway, we watched the rugby and after a day staying awake, we finally turned in for a good night's rest. Then, at around midnight, Wellington's 3rd biggest recorded earthquake began shaking our seemingly fragile hostel. It's a hard experience to describe, not least because I was understandably dazed having just woken up. It shook the hostel for about a minute, after which people began to populate the hallway. The general idea seemed to be to get out. And so a hundred or so travellers filled the streets, where we waited for a few hours for the all-clear to go back inside. We tried stealing some wi-fi from Burger King for updates, where we learnt there was a "Tsunami threat" (this is different to a warning). After we eventually were allowed back in Heidi and I packed some things just in case we would have to make a sudden departure. We stayed awake for a few more hours, keeping tabs on the tsunami threat, but around 5 went back to sleep. We later found out the earthquake had hit 7.8 on the Richter scale.

The next day the council put out a warning not to walk around the city, as loose glass could be falling. So we stayed in housebound, only to venture to Burger King for some dinner. There were aftershocks all week. As I write this, some three weeks later, we just had a large aftershock shaking our hotel. 

As the city eventually opened up, I completed my interview ensemble, and pushed on getting my CV to recruitment agencies and employers. I had two interviews the following week, the second one of which opened up an interview on the Friday...for which I was awarded the job. I won't say who it's with, but it's admin support for a large charity.

This blog will undoubtedly take a different direction for the next 3-4 months as I talk about life in Wellington. As we are essentially living here, I might vary it rather than just relaying my experiences as that might get a bit boring. I'll do my best, folks, and Ill try to update once a week!

The beehive a.k.a Parliament

Next time: I don't know I'll come up with something.

Hobbiton and Rotorua

The Kiwi bus makes two stops between Waitomo and Rotorua. The first is Karangahake Gorge, which is quite stunning but unfortunately the walk is cut short by a locked gate. Oh well, onto the next stop: Hobbiton!

A wee bit of context: Whilst location scouting for the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the late 90's (I know right), Peter Jackson and his crew settled on farmland close to the small town of Matamata for the setting of Hobbiton, the home of Bilbo, Frodo and the other Hobbits. The farmer who owned the land agreed and the film crew set to work building the 'holes in the ground' wherein the hobbits live. After filming the set was dismantled, and only the shells of the holes remained. Yet, people would travel from around the world just to stand in Hobbiton and see these modern relics. At the end of the naughties, PJ came back with his crew and rebuilt the set for the disappointing Hobbit trilogy. This time, however, they decided to leave the set as is and charge people to enter, thereby making *loads* of cash.

The bus drops us off at the gift shop which is fine and we also grab a bite to eat. Another bus then takes you to the set, complete with a video introduction from Peter Jackson. The famous score from the films is also played. We're introduced the site by an impressively enthusiastic tour guide, who takes us through a path and suddenly...we're in Hobbiton. That's the path that Bilbo runs out of shouting 'I'm going on an adventure' and that Frodo and Gandalf ride in on. Stepping into the fictional world is very awesome. This isn't like a Universal studios reconstruction, this is the real deal, and the attention to detail is quite amazing. We walk around all the various hobbit-holes, including Bilbo's own Bagend, and our tour guide gives us lots of interesting factoids. The tour ends at the pub for a ginger beer. The village feels bigger in the films, but I guess that's just movie magic. As a result, the tour is quite short but it was a great experience nonetheless. We head into Rotorua, find our hostel and hit the hay.

Bagend

To be fair, they are designed for Hobbits

Rotorua is famous for a number of geothermic sites, so we make a booking through a discount website to go to a site called Wai-O-Tapu. It's first thing in the morning, so we get up and go straight to the information site. When the driver arrives, he asks us if we booked through bookme, to which we say yes. He then asks how we did this. We're not sure how to answer this question. It turns out that the deal wasn't meant to be on the site this month. He then asks us what we think he should do. I'm not sure what he expected us to say so I suggested he just let us on the bus and speak to bookme later, to which he agreed.

On our way up to the site we stop at a bubbling mud pool. It's just the first of many cool geothermic things we see today. as we're leaving I notice a girl I sort of recognise. I hear her name, Heidi, from one of her friends. "Excuse me, you're not from Evesham, are you?" I ask and all three look at me in disbelief. Turns out I worked with this Heidi in a cinema around 3 years ago. Crazy small world. 

We go up to the site for a short explore, before it's time to see the Lady Grey Geyser erupt. They trigger the eruption by adding some natural soap to the Geyser. It's a gradual process but eventually the slight bubbling turns into a full erupting, and the foamy water goes several meters in the air, and this goes on for quite some time. We then go back to walk around the rest of the park. It's full of boiling water pits, crazy coloured rocks and lakes and gaseous mist. It's a somewhat other-worldly experience which we both enjoy.

A right geyser

The champagne pool didn't taste as advertised

Lovely beach?

When we get back into town we go to the i-site to research more things to do. We have heard about the Buried Village, which is part museum and part actual site of a village that was decimated in a volcanic eruption. We think this sound good, like a sort of mini-Pompeii and so we ask the best way of getting there. The cheapest way is to rent a car. I was reluctant to rent a car whilst travelling, but Rotarua is a fairly quiet place so I put my driving worries aside and go for it. I pick up the car and drive it back to the hostel (after getting used to the automatic transmission in the parking lot) and we make a plan for the next day.

The first thing we drive to is the Ogo. Ogo is zorbing. I don't think there is a distinction, I can only think that there's some copyright issue. This particular Ogo is one where the smaller sphere has some water, thereby keeping you (roughly) in one place as the larger sphere tumbles down a straight track on a hill. It's a great thrill. After this, we head to a maze. I still don't know why we went to a maze, but we did. We have some time to kill before our booking at the buried village, so we decide to take the car out to some of the lakes out of town. We go to Lake Tarawara and begin walking round. Little did we know that the full walk is 5-7 hours long, and we have to head back after 45 minutes to make our slot at the Buried Village.

The village begins with the museum, where alarm bells started. It's an impressive museum, don't get me wrong, but there's so much detail about the eruption and the lives it affected I can't help feel they're reaching. We start walking around the alarm bells get louder. Essentially there really isn't much of the village other than a few holds in the ground where houses once stood and a few stones. They've rebuilt some shacks to show what they would have looked like. The walk ends up being quite nice, with an impressive waterfall at the end, but we can't help but feel a bit ripped off by this. As attractions go it was a fairly pricey one (something they like justifying by saying it's "privately owned")...I could have gone on the Ogo again! To make up for the disappointment we drive the car about a bit and visit some of the other lakes around the area. The scenery here is particularly beautiful and even just driving (which I normally don't enjoy) is a treat. 

We then had a very chilled weekend in town. We went to the cinema (The Accountant, 6.8/10) and watched the rugby with a fry-up breakfast. Attempting to upload all my photos I managed to deleted roughly two weeks worth of photos from my camera which I'm very upset about. I keep telling myself the trip isn't the photo album (or vice-versa) but I've wiped Hobbiton, my Ogo video and loads of great panoramics. As mentioned last post, the snaps above are from Heidi's camera and my next post should be back to mine.

Next time - Taupo and River Valley.

Mission Bay, Hot Water Beach and Waitomo

(Note: On trying to upload all my photos and videos, I accidentally deleted about two weeks worth of them. I was livid. The photos below are Heidi's)

On returning to Auckland we stay in a different hostel in the middle of town. We get back on the Sunday, with a plan to sort out our bank account (which we started in Paihia) and Tax numbers the following day. However, we quickly find out on Monday that it's a public holiday, and the bank and post office will both be shut. We opt to do precisely nothing instead. On Tuesday we get this admin sorted out (which included a lengthy trip to a dreadful post office) then go to our new temporary home in an area of the city called Mission Bay.

We are staying the rest of the week with Mike and Eva. We discovered the couple on Cultural Exchange, which is the sister website of WWOOF, and is so similar you wonder why they need to be separate (something to do with the organic farming element). On locating their house through the rain, we're met by Eva, a super friendly French lady with excellent cooking skills. She gives us some tips for the surrounding area and some things in Auckland we missed. The deal for accommodation is the same as WWOOF - we are asked to do a few hours of work every day. We get up late Thursday morning and get to it. I'm on the power washer, cleaning the patio and driveway whilst Heidi sweeps. We then go on a jaunt to better  familiarise ourselves with Mission Bay. It's a very nice, chilled area and feels like a small town of itself, rather than a district of the city. The centrepiece is its sprawling beach, facing out towards the volcanic island of Rangitoto (more on this later).

When we get back we briefly meet Mike, but then I'm heading out to check out Mission Bay's art deco cinema to see Woody Allen's Cafe Society. It's pretty great. Mike and Eva have gone out so when I get back from the cinema, Heidi has cooked dinner. When Mike and Eva get back they set out a deal - we can have Friday off if we work a full day Saturday whilst they are there. 

After a few hours work the next day (Thursday) we go into the centre of Auckland and go to the art museum and the Auckland Domain, which is a Giant park. Not much to say here, to be honest. On our full day off we take the ferry to Rangitoto Island. This is Auckland's latest Island, being only 600 years young. It's a steep walk to the top (and it was pretty hot) but the views from the top were stunning. It's an interesting walk as well, seeing plant life trying to grow through the volcanic rock.

At the top of Rangitoto

The main highlight of this week was Mike and Eva themselves. We felt so comfortable in their home and this was due to them both being incredibly warm and friendly to the two backpacking strangers who'd emailed them a few days before. On Sunday, they had friends over for lunch whilst Heidi and I went to the cinema (Doctor Strange this time, 7/10) and by the evening, they were quite inebriated on red wine. It's the first time on the trip I've been a bit sad I'm not drinking, because I would have loved to have joined them.

Many, many months ago whilst planning the trip we booked a hop-on hop-off bus ticket with a company called Kiwi Experience. Monday is the first day we'll be hopping on one of these buses at 8.30 in the morning. Journey number 1 is to Hot Water Beach. The idea here is that because the Earth's crust is so thin, the water just under the sand can be quite hot. So, by digging a small hole in the ground you can make your own hot pool on the beach. This is easier said than done, not least when there are only a few places you can dig and 100 people are trying to do the same. Still, we do manage to get the gist (I think I burnt my foot at one point, occasionally it feels like stepping on an oven hob). Later on in the day, the coach takes us down to Cathedral Cove. This includes a great coastal walk. Cathedral Cove is a rather beautiful spot, as is a smaller area Heidi and I venture to called Stingray Bay. Unfortunately this turns out to only be a name because it's actually a delta we don't see any stingray. As it's Halloween, Heidi and I watch Friday the 13th for the first time back at the hostel.

Inside Cathedral Cove

Journey number 2 on the Kiwi Experience is to Waitomo Caves. On the way here we stop off at a gorge for a walk but after a short stroll we come to a locked gate. It was still very pretty. The caves at Waitomo are quite famous, and numerous companies have taken advantage of these natural wonders. For the more adventurous, you can do black water rafting, ziplining, tubing and abseiling in these caves, but the thing we're most interested in is seeing the glowworms. We're booked on a tour at 3. We're part of a small group and take the journey through the hilly countryside to the first of two caves. We're led in by our tour guide, hard hats with headtorches equipped, into the cave. After a short walk, we're asked to switch off our headtorches and we begin to see the glowworms...thousands of them. At this point they look like hundreds of small LED lights in the ceiling of the cave. We head further into the cave and hop aboard a small dingy, which floats down the river. Once again, we're asked to turn off our headtorches so that our eyes adjust. Our guide then smacks the side of the boat loudly and the cave lights up with thousands of glowworms. Now they remind me more of space, tiny flickers of light amongst the darkness.

After floating up and down the river for a bit we head to the second cave which is a natural showcase of interesting rock formations. I can't really say much more about this as I'm no expert, but it was pretty cool. After we're dropped back off we go to the pub where we eventually have an overpriced dinner (seriously, there is very little in Waitomo) then head off to bed.

Mancave

Next time - Rotorua (including Hobbiton!)

Paihia

The bus journey to Paihia is a fairly long one, and we arrive at our hostel in the evening, after the office has closed. There is, however, a welcome note with our key tapes to the door. We decide to have an early one. The next day I meet Brian, who runs the hostel with his wife. We chat about our plans, which is to get on a boat around the Bay of Islands. Brian seconds a recommendation we've already had, which is to do the 'Cream Trip' which lasts the entire day. Heidi did now have a great nights sleep, and the boat leaves at 9.30, so I book it in for the next day.

Whilst Heidi catches up on her sleep, I take a walk. A map I got off Brian suggests there's a walk that starts not far for the hostel, and goes along the coast. When I get to the start, however, there is nowhere to walk. I have to go along the road for the first part, until hitting the road, then up the side of a small cliff. The scenery around Paihia is very pretty - the Bay of Islands consists of roughly 140 individual Islands and you can see a few of them from here, as well as a big chunk of mainland. Nice boats and yachts pepper the view. Despite being a holiday destination of choice, we're here just before the season really kicks off so it's fairly quiet.

When I get back to the hostel, I get Heidi up and we decide to get the ferry over to Russel, a small town which is on the mainland, but on the other side of the bay. It's very pleasant, to the extent it almost feels fake (it isn't). I then head to the top of a big hill which has a bush walk down it. We sit on a bench watching some oldboys scan the beach with metal detectors. The plan is to wait till they find a big treasure chest, then make our move. But they don't seem to have much luck so we hop back on the ferry.

On Russell Beach

Bush walk

Russell from afar

Back in Paihia, we go the supermarket to get some food. We've been cooking our own food since Walkworth, conscious of our rapidly decreasing funds. Cooking whilst travelling requires you to make meals with as few ingredients as possible. It's one of those examples where limitations actually make you more creative, like special effects in 1910's cinema. The supermarket here, fortunately, has a lot of discounted meat so we pick up some sausages for tomorrow's lunch.

We board the Cream Trip boat at 9.15 the next day. Despite thinking Paihia is quiet, the boat is packed. I imagine in summer you have to book this more than a day in advance. We are given a map of the Islands we'll be passing by, and we're given a commentary by our skipper. The area is brimming with history, Russel was basically the first capital of New Zealand. We pass by many Islands with just one or two houses on them. "What if you hate your neighbour?" I think. Bet that's awkward. At one of the Islands, someone on the boat passes a lady on the pier a large bag - this person has their post delivered by the Cream Trip.

For an extra 15 dollars you can pay to swim with dolphins on this trip. It's something we decided not to go for (this time) and opt for the bird's eye view instead. Not long into the trip, our skipper hears word of some dolphins and changes course towards them. However, she warns, they have their young so there will be no swimming with this lot. What follows is quite incredible. I can't say how many were in this group (is it a school?) of dolphins, but it was more than a few. It sounds like projecting, but they do really seem quite thrilled by the presence of the boats (there's another boat, which is a tour specifically more marine wildlife) as they jump up alongside them. Later we see a few really jumping high out of the water, which is a sign of showing dominance. Trying to get pictures is very difficult, so eventually I just let the moment happen around me. There's genuinely a bit of magic about it.

My best dolphin photo

At lunch time we stop off at one of the islands to have lunch. We eat our sandwich's, then climb the very steep hill on the mountain for some incredible views of the islands. Once again, the panoramic mode on my camera comes in handy.

See?

One of the big attractions of the Bay of Islands is the Hole in the Rock. Unlike the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, the Hole in the Rock is exactly what you think it is - though it is a rather impressive display of natural scenery. As we approach, our skipper warns us we might not be able to go through the hole, as it depends on the tide and winds, and what have you. Then we go through it. (Alright, Stephen King I ain't but it's quite difficult to fully articulate the tension one feels between being told you might not go through a hole in a rock, and going through a hole in the rock. I guess you had to be there.) Shortly after this our skipper takes us to a cove where she claims we may see some more aquatic wildlife. Like a seafaring Poirot, her hunch is entirely correct and we come across what I can only assume was a family of seals. I say family because there were two big ones and a baby. One of the big ones was frolicking in the seaweed whilst the other two sunbathed, and wondered why a boat full of tourists were so interested in their day to day lives. 

The aptly named Hole in the Rock

On our way back the boat speeds up and my cap flies off my head off into the Pacific Ocean. I'm a bit annoyed, mainly because it came from a fishing hut in the Middle of Nowhere, Chile, and therefore not easy to replace. I have a bit of a sulk but try and not let it ruin the day. 

The next day we try and do some admin - our original plan was to go back to Auckland for the weekend, but it's a public holiday and Australia is playing the All Blacks in the city Saturday night, so we struggle to find a hostel. Instead, we book a few more nights at Brian's place, which is fine because it's the nicest hostel we've been in thus far.

We had a fairly chilled week in Paihia - which is my way of saying we only really did a few more things worth writing about. One thing you tend not to see on travel blogs is the sheer amount of admin and time killing that, I can only surmise so far, is fundamental to long term travel. Either that or I'm doing it wrong. Part of it, I guess, is travelling with someone else. You can't wake up and decide you want to move on, it has to be a joint decision. This is, so far, actually working to my benefit because by bouncing ideas and talking about the plan, you actually end up with a better idea of what you want to do. 

On Friday I was chatting to a gent in our hostel who recommended going up to the Waitangi treaty grounds. This is 'New Zealands most historical site' for reasons you can Google because I'll only botch it up here. It was something I had read about, but I assumed it was beyond walking distance. Not only this, but the price for entry, plus a 'culteral performance' is $40 each. However, my new single serving friend informs me it is only a 40 minute walk from the hostel, and after a quick look online I manage to book discounted tickets for Saturday. Our uneventful week is turning around. 

The walk up to the grounds is a great one along the beach, and when we get to the grounds it's around 11.20, and our guided tour is booked in for 12. We walk round the museum which, as far as museums go, is actually pretty good. (We've been pretty lucky with museums so far). The museum covers the Treaty of Waitangi, again please refer to the Internet if you are interested, but rest assured it's an important piece of NZ history. What I personally find interesting is that when the British came here it's a slightly more complicated narrative than the usual "Empire coming over to conquer and wipe out the indigenous people". (though there is a bit of that) Partly this is because the Maori people aren't indigenous to New Zealand, and partly because there does seem to be a lot of effort in creating a working relationship between the two peoples, though it didn't always work out (The treaty is actually still in dispute some 170 years later by some Maori).

We're taken through the grounds by a tour guide who gives more history and laughs. After the tour is the cultural performance. This starts with the selection of a chief, which I was warned about. Luckily, an oldboy in the centre of crowd started edging away from our host, which is as much volunteering as walking forwards. We found our chief - Chief Jeff.

After the welcome ceremony, which involved Cheif Jeff accepting a gift from a Maori 'Warrior' we're ushered in to the building for the performance. What follows is traditional  Moori singing and dancing, and of course a haka. When it's over, everyone is offered to take pictures with the performers, but I always think that kind of thing is a bit weird so we give it a miss and have our picnic in the sun. We finish our Saturday at the local pool bar to watch the rugby, luckily New Zealand thrash the Wallaby's!

War Canoes

Sail away, sail away

Next - Auckland Part 2

Auckland and Workworth

We fly from Singapore to Sydney overnight, then hang around in the airport for a few hours then it's another 4 hours to Auckland, so we get into the city in the evening. We find our hostel easily enough and, after a steak I was craving, settle in for an early night. We're woken up a few hours later, however, by people in the room's common area at around 2a.m. We were aware there was a pub crawl tonight. The next day we're both pretty tired, but we have a new place to explore and a few things to do. We walk around and make some purchases before heading back to the hostel. Chilling there, we meet a British lad called Gary who is very friendly, if a bit loud. We meet a few more people and get some tips - a lot of people have been n the country for months.

We have another early night but are once again woken up in the early hours. This time I can't get back to sleep. My tablet's out of battery, so I head to the common room where there are many books people have left or swapped out. I'm about to give up as nothing is peaking my interest until I see the last book on the bottom shelf - The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick-Up Artists by Neil Strauss. It's something I've wanted to read, plus I have it on Kindle so I can continue it if need be. I sit down in our common area, thinking that after a chapter or two I'll be tired enough to go to sleep. Several hours of reading and speaking with fellow insomniacs and other nocturnal beings (plus a 5.30am trip to burger king) I finish the book. As a result, Saturday is a bit of a write-off. We go out in the morning for a wonder and to buy a few things but when we get back at midday, I fall asleep for a few hours.

I'm curious as to what Auckland's nightlife is life, and so I find a Techno night on the Saturday at a club called Neck of the Woods. I head out around 10pm, and when I get there there's not many people. I grab a drink then take a seat. After a while I head to the toilet, and when I get back two guys are at my table. I manage to spark up a conversation, the two are actually part of a group of five, and we get on quite well. We start dancing as the dancefloor grows, but just when I start really enjoying myself, one of my new single-serving friends is ejected out of the club for having a line of cocaine in the toilet. Gutted. 

I dance for a few hours then head back to the hostel. Pre-empting another sleepless night I stay in the common area until everyone goes to bed. On Sunday we have a busy one starting by the big walk up Mount Eden. This is the previously volcanic mountain just beside Auckland. We walk up and get some great pictures of the city - you can see for miles from here. The crater in the centre, considered sacred, is also very cool. In the afternoon we go to watch the UFC in a nearby sports bar which is great. We round the day off by heading a bit out of town to the Stardome Observatory. The museum bit is free but we pay to see a night show, both of which are very interesting. I can't remember any fun facts, sorry.

Big City, Cloudy Skies

Crater

By Monday we're just killing time so we go to the cinema to see Pete's Dragon, which is pretty great. Monday night I have another jetlag/insomniac experience and this time read Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale. In case you didn't see the DiCaprio film, it's about the world's greatest impostor, who posed as a pilot  (amongst other things) and made hundreds of thousands of dollars in cheque fraud. Once again, I read it cover to cover. The common theme between the two books is perception equals reality. Or reality equals perception. Or something.

On Tuesday we are moving north to our first WWOOFing experience. WWOOF is an organisation that allows hosts, mostly organic farms, to advertise placements for work in exchange for accommodation and often food. We are staying with Jo, a British woman with a multi-faceted business - It's a health clinic, horse riding centre, accommodation and art gallery. She needs some help painting the inside of her house. It's in a place called Workworth (pronounced walkworth) which is described by our guide book as someway you stop on your way somewhere else (I'm paraphrasing, but not much). Also staying with Jo is Pauline, a french lady who is having horse riding lessons from Jo.

We get to work shortly after arriving at the house and do a few hours. The next morning we do the same and it's clear I'm coming down with some cold I've caught, presumably from the hostel. Jo then takes us for a tour of the area, including a bush walk where we see an 800 year old tree, the first cement works in New Zealand, plus an organic food shop where we buy some 'healthy' cakes.

The next day my illness has gotten worse - It's full blown manflu. We work our normal 3 hours (with a generous tea break) then I crash out. In the afternoon we head out to McDonalds. This might sound terrible, but free, unlimited wifi here is rare and McDonalds provides. We do a few things online then head back.

View from our lodge

This photo was actually taken at night, that's the moon in the background

After another day of working and chilling, we go out for some pizza's at a real nice place called the Saw Mill. Heidi and I have the Big Ben, which has roast beef on it. It's pretty marvellous.

On Friday, we're painting Jo's bathroom. During the tea break, it's clear that we won't finish it today but Jo asks us if we want to finish it, and she'll pay us for our time. We agree and we finish before 2pm. Later in the evening, I find a note from Jo saying that the painting is all done now and we can leave either tomorrow or Sunday. This is a bit surprising as she had originally suggested the work would take 10 days, but Heidi and I accept this as the life of the WOOFer and decide we need to make a plan tomorrow.

On Saturday Jo takes us to the farmers market in Matakana. This is pretty cool, and again the focus is on organic food. We buy a super healthy smoothie to walk round with. After a lengthy chat with the lady selling a huge variety of loose leaf tea (we don't buy any because we'd need an infuser!) we meet up with Jo and Pauline at a cafe. After this, we go back to the organic food shop from the other day because they're having a launch event. We get some free samples, buy some curry powder, and are dropped off at Mcdonalds on the way back. Here we make some bookings, then walk back to Jo's in the rain. 

We're leaving in the evening on Sunday, so in the morning I ask Jo if there's any jobs Heidi and I can do. Heidi focuses on getting our room and kitchen clean, whilst I move some logs and wash Jo's car. Jo drops us off at around 4 and we wait around for our bus to take us north....to Paihia!

Singapore 2

Whilst researching more things to do here, I come across the ArtScience Museum. This is the one that looks like a giant metal flower. Initially, I'm put off the price but the exhibitions on are so interesting to me I eventually decide resistance is futile, and on our third day here I head there by myself giving Heidi a chance to have a lie in. The museum's open when I arrive, so I take some rather good snaps on the Helix bridge (named because it looks like a strand of DNA).

I love my camera's panoramic mode

The three exhibitions were as follows:

1) The permanent exhibition which was all about how art and science intertwine. This was less interesting as it initially sounded, and consisted mainly of cool interactive pieces like projections that would react to you touching them and stuff. A lot of stuff geared for kids here.

2) An exhibition on big data. This was more interesting. This was a simultaneously a history of our information age to the present day and a collection of art pieces that use data. I learn quite a lot here, including how Singapore is attaining to be the first "smart city" using live data feeds to improve people's lives.

3) An exhibition showcasing original works of M.C Escher. You know Escher, right? The guy who did crazy stairs? I don't know a huge amount about art but I know I like him so this was a big win.

Flight plans around America in a single day

TMI

Self-reflexive self-portrait

I head back to the hostel to get Heidi and we head back out to the Botanical Gardens. Botany is not an interest of mine, but we soon see why it's such a draw for tourists and locals alike. First of all, it's HUGE so it would never be difficult to find your own spot to chill. And it's also very pretty. On our walks around we see several fairly large lizards also out for a jolly. The gardens is free except for the orchid gardens, but we've been told they're worth the 5 dollar admission. I would agree, albeit just.

Chillin'

I take my botany selfies a bit more seriously than Heidi

We were looking forward to chilling at the gardens some more, but they are quite far out of town and we need to get back as we want to catch a light show that we missed the night before. We also want to check out Orchard Road, which is the main shopping street here. There are 30 individual shopping malls here. It rivals Dubai.

We go back to Marina Bay Sands Mall which is nearby the Gardens, and also contains the DC Superheroes cafe. Unable to resist, we shell out and get some ice cream and a drink here. This is our dinner. Whilst waiting, I read a Batman comic because it seems appropriate.

The service wasn't so Flash-themed

When we eventually back to the Supertree Grove, we don't have to wait long until the show. The show changes on a monthly basis, and this month the theme is musical theatre, so the trees light up to the sounds of Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, et al. I'm not usually impressed by this kind of thing but I had a smile on my face the whole time - The Supertree Grove is Super Impressive.

Trippy

When we purchased our zoo tickets it included 4 separate parks - The main zoo, the river safari, the night safari and the bird park, so on our final morning we decide to hit the bird park. Like the zoo and night safari, a tram takes you round but there are places to walk as well. The variety of species is once again vast, from flamingos to owls and some seriously big birds of prey. 

Pingu

Too many E numbers

Heidi and a giant bird

Showing off

I know it looks like this owl is winking at me, but actually I woke him up by accident.

We were hoping to see Chinatown before leaving but our next flight is in the early afternoon so we have to give it a miss and head straight to the airport. We both loved Singapore and know there is so much we didn't do - The Battlebox, Chinatown, Little India, Sentosa Island...but we agree that we will have to come back some day.

Next Stop - Auckland!

Singapore 1

We land in Singapore in the evening. Learning from our mistake in Dubai, we catch the metro to the stop nearest our hostel. The hostel is in Kanpon Glam, which is the Arabic area of town. It's a pretty happening place on a Saturday night, when all the restaurant seating floods out into the street, as does a market. We check into our hostel, we're staying in what is advertised as a 16 bed dorm but is really two 8 beds next to each other. We go out and, as we're in the Arabic area of town, eat at a Turkish place. We order Lahmucun which is a Turkish pizza - the tomato sauce base is replaced with ground meat. It's pretty tasty and very filling. We decide to hit the hay shortly after.

The next day we wonder round the city. It's a pretty amazing place. We eventually find ourselves in Raffles Place, which is a mall. My parents had recommended the food court. The food court is impressive, with just about every Asian cuisine you can think of on offer. We have a Thai meal which was pretty good if a tad small. We then head out to Singapore Zoo. The zoo is one of major attractions here as it prides itself on having completely natural enclosures and no cages. It's also huge. We walk around for a few hours, there are animals here I've never  heard of (the only names of which I can remember are the sloth bear). We also head to the 'River Safari'. We didn't really research this, and thought it was a boat trip. It turns out to be an additional, slightly smaller river-themed zoo. We manage to get the last boat ride but we don't see anything on it. We see a little bit more of the river safari, including a large aquarium with manatees in, but we have to cut it short because we have booked in a 7.45 slot at the Night Safari.

The Night Safari is yet another zoo, but as you might guess is nocturnal. Low level lighting allows you to see another large variety of animals. The main route is via tram but there are trails you can walk through. We do the tram ride then a few trails, but tiredness takes over and we skip the last few. On reflection, we probably should have started the day at the main zoo (you could easily spend a whole day at the zoo) but it doesn't matter too much - we've had a great day. We've seen thousands of different species from all over the world in just a few hours.

Best Sign Ever

Simples

Oh, the huge manatee!

The next day we get up a bit late, probably due to all the walking we've done. We haven't done a museum yet during the trip, so we head to the highly recommended (via tripadviser) Asian Civilisations Museum. This is in a great spot right by the river, and turns out to be well worth it. We see a few exhibitions on religion (we're both Religious Studies graduates) plus an exhibition showcasing artifacts recovered from a 9th century shipwreck only a few years ago. It's most Chinese porcelain, which is all in pretty good nick considering it's been in the ocean for over a millennium. I was a little disappointed they didn't have any parts of the wreck, but maybe I just need to manage my expectations better. Elsewhere in the museum, they are two large 3d oval shapes, one white one black hanging from the ceiling. A security guard walks over to me and asks if I am hungry. Confused, I say no. He then asks me if I know what the oval things are. I also say no and he points me in the direction  of the description on the wall. Turns out the shapes are two massive grains of rice. I now get the joke.

Ricely done

Down by the river

We have a quick drink and Heidi decides to go back. I want to explore a bit more, so I do a walking route suggested by our guide book. This starts at a large church we have seen before, and goes past the Parliament building and a bit more of the river. During the walk I head into 'The Arts House' because there's an exhibition about Chairman Mao's cultural revolution which, luckily, is free. The exhibition is full of photos taken by Li Shenzhong, who was hired by the government as a photographer but was also taking pictures for the underground resistance. It really is a chronicle of human misery, with pictures of people being walked through the streets will placards round their necks listing their 'crimes'. There's a huge photo of the hundreds of thousands of people who attended Mao's funeral - this being the man who had more people killed than Hitler. 

My walk ends up at Merlion Park, where I get a great view of the Artscience Museum, which looks like a metal flower, and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which looks like a boat parked on three skyscrapers. I head back to the hostel to pick Heidi up and we go out to Lau Po Sat - a food court in the centre of town. The building feels like a Victorian Train Station and the choice is even more overwhelming than at Raffles Place, but generally has a less corporate vibe. We eventually decide on a stall called Wok OK and each have a really tasty, and cheap, stir fry. After dinner we go to the Gardens by The Bay. 

Gardens by the Bay aren't just gardens by the bay - although there is a bit of that. At the heart of the gardens is Supertree Grove, a collection of giant energy converting structures that light up. We take a convoluted route into the gardens (including a long stretch where we didn't see anyone else). When we reach the supertrees, we find that we've missed the last light show at 8.45. The trees are still impressive, mind. We walk around the gardens a bit longer then head into a mall that we need to go into to get to the metro. It's in this mall I spot the DC Comics cafe. As the name suggests, this is a cafe (and shop) populated with DC Superheroes merchandise and themed food and drink. It looks like it's just closing up so we note it for later.

ArtScience museum and Marina Bay Sands Hotel

A big, floating baby

SuperTree Grove

Nerdgasm

Next time: More Singapore!