Arrived in Wellington

Thursday 7th October 2010

MP3 track of the day: LDN - Lilly Allen

Weather: A sunny and beautiful day

I had a reasonable lye-in, until my alarm clock woke me up. I got ready pretty quickly and left Taupo YHA. The hostel was quite nice but lacked a lot of basic requirements. The good points were that the beds were really comfortable; I've slept better here than at any other place on this tour. The staff are really friendly and helpful. The bad points are that the hostel is a prefabricated building that, when you get up to use the shower in the morning, is freezing. Also the rooms are tiny, so much so that to get the fourth bed in our room they had to build it up on stilts so that it slightly over hung the bed next to it (difficult to explain, if anyone is that interested ask me on my return and I'll draw a picture). What is more annoying is that there are very few electrical plugs anywhere within the entire complex; trying to charge anything is a nightmare, oh and there is basically no where to lock your stuff in your dorm ... but apart from that.

I was actually quite sad to leave Taupo; the little city had grown on me during my brief stay and I do think it's somewhere that I could move to (though maybe I should see Taupo in the winter first). I boarded my bus to Wellington and we left on time.

Whilst on the bus I met a British couple who I had seen in Fiji (this wasn't the first time I had met some people I had seen in Fiji; I met a group of Scandinavian lads yesterday in Taupo that I saw in Fiji), and so we told each other our tales and epic adventures. The bus driver was a jolly fellow, but he didn't half go on. For about the first twenty minutes of the journey he was talking about something or other (I lost it after five minutes and there were others trying to prize the windows open to get out) which included tourist information. It also included him talking about the water dispensed from coffee machines and that how it wasn't boiling water anymore but steam, or something or other.

Anyway just after the driver had stopped talking he got a call on his mobile; yet again his voice came over the microphone. Apparently we had to turn around because the keys to another coach, stuck at Taupo bus station, were in his back pocket ... he didn't make many friends on this journey.

Running forty minutes late we made the best of it and headed towards Wellington. The day was beautiful and I looked at the mountains that I climbed yesterday and cursed, hardly any cloud at all, a perfect day.

We continued and I looked out into the British countrysi ... sorry I mean the New Zealand countryside, it looks so similar here. During our first pit stop I chatted to a Japanese guy I met two days ago on the shuttle bus that took me from the 'Craters of the Moon' to the dam. He has been studying in New Zealand for three years and soon has to return to Japan, but wants to stay here.

Back on the bus I sat down next to the lady I had been sitting next to for the entire trip; the bus was pretty packed and so no one had two seats to themselves. I hadn't said a word to this lady and so I decided that this had to change. Once I got chatting to her it turned out that she was very pleasant and that she had been on a group exchange to Belgium and that she wants to join the army.

Soon her stop came and she got off the bus, it wasn't long now until we reached Wellington. We arrived thirty minutes late and the driver, once again, apologised. The British couple, that I met in Fiji, and I decided to walk to our hostel from the bus station as our directions said that it was only 1.5km away.

Someone had been out with their elastic tape measure again as this was definitely not 1.5km. Also I don't think I packed my bag correctly as one side seemed heavier than the other and it was starting to hurt. Once at the hostel I checked in (£10.50 per night bargain); another YHA and this one seemed very nice indeed. On the reception desk there was a 'curry night' special; $9.95 (almost £5) for a curry, rice and bread. Having not had a curry yet (thinking about it, this is my first take away curry ever and the first curry on any travelling trip I've done so far), and seeing whether Alex's and Sarah's statement of ' New Zealand doesn't do good curries' is true, I decided to part take. I order my curry and it was due to arrive in an hour, fantastic.

With an hour to spare I took my stuff to my room, unpacked and met my room mates. There are two girls here from Nelson (probably my next stop) for a gig tonight; one slightly strange guy from Australia looking for work, an English guy I didn't really meet as he was heading out as I came in, and then there is a German girl who is sleeping directly below me in the bottom bunk. Apparently this German girl is quite good looking so we will have to see.

One thing I didn't like about this girl already was that she had spread her stuff all around the bottom of the entire bunk giving me nothing to padlock my bag to. I decided to just put my bags in an area where there wasn't much of her stuff and I headed out to get my curry.

Alex and Sarah are right, the curry wasn't up to UK standards however it was warm, filling and slightly tastey. After the curry I had a nice long shower before heading to the supermarket to pick up breakfast and some shampoo as I had just ran out. Getting back to the dorm I noticed that my bag had been moved away from the bed and the clothes, that were on top of the bag, were now on the floor and that my other bag was lying on it's side. I bet the German girl had moved my bags to get to some of her stuff and hadn't put them back ... I was disliking her more and more.

It's a shame I had to go shopping for shampoo as that $7 had just pushed me over my daily budget ($21.00 for the night, $9 for the curry, $38 for the bus ride, $5 internet and $10 for my breakfast and shampoo = $83.00, $3.00 over) but never mind.

If the weathers good tomorrow I'll visit the botanical gardens followed by a walk around the Parliament buildings and then the city itself. If the weathers bad, 'Te Papa' museum, apparently the best in the whole country, will be investigated.

Toodle Pip