New Plymouth

Well still here and lucky that we stayed. We payed for 3 nights wehen we arrived and then woke up to cloud and rain and thought, too bad that we payed for 3 nights. We then drove to the info centre and were informed that gale force winds were in the forecast for tomorrow and that to get to the top of the mountain right now you need ice crampons and lots of experience in ice climbing. So since we have neither of those than i guess that that was out of the question. So we decided to do the only thing that you can do outside when it's raining... surfing. So i picked up the board from the hostel (which was a 6'2 board and skiiny as well which i soon found out that i really wasn't ready for), jesse rented a board and a suit and we heard to the beach by town. Man was it ever stormy, it was as if the gale force winds were already here and at some point it was truly dumping rain. but hey gotta make the best of it and with a wetsuit on, all you need to do is keep active and your fine. So i did a bunch of skimming and some attempt at surfing and we battled it out. Where am I, Tofino? No, New Zealand during the summer time. Which everyone who we have talked to have described it as the worst summer they have ever had, hehe. There are even macdonalds commercials making fun at it. Well we returned to the hostel and as we get there and have kunch what does it do? Gets totaly blue skies and sunny. Wow, so we chowed down, jumped in the car and hit a beach about 15km out of town. Wow it was so nice to get some sun. And the skimming was ridiculously good. We got some good pics and vids and will try to get some up when we are at a regular computer. But didn't get back till 8pm, long day at the beach. But that's kinda what we are here for so its good.
That night we tried going out the bar, but things were kinda quiet, except one place which we soon figured out was a work xmas party, which we learned was called something like a chrstmas "bang"or something. We decided that we would tell the time by how many buttons were undone on the guys dress shirts. each one meant an hour. hehe
We woke up with sunny skies and were happy but then fell back asleep for a bit and then woke up again and it was cluody, boo. So we ventured out, picked up two boards, a longer one for me this time, in the rain and headed to the beach. after some surfing and getting pounded, i switched to skimboarding which i can do very well to make me feel better. After a nice skim session and some lunch, the sun began to peak through and it turned into a nice day. so moer surfing, got out once past the whitewater, that stuff it really hard here sometimes. but it was another great day ont eh beach nonetheless. tomorrow we get somewhere between here and wellington and then its to wellington for new years! man time goes by fast
take care everyone

Waitomo Caves-New Plymouth

Aight well no pictures quite yet as that isn't possible on this computer so that will have to wait. We are now in New Plymouth where we we supposed to be enjoying the beach and the surf. we may still enjoy the surf but it is raining and stormy, so less enjoying the beach. i gotta say that we didn't expect weather like this here, i mean its supposed to be summer. Many people that we have talked to have said that this isn't normal which is just perfect. Oh well. We arrived at Waitomo caves, go t a place and went to try to book the caving tour. But of course it's chritsmas the next day so things aclosed stupid. So we booked for the next day and then headed to Raglan, a surf beach abotu 1.5 hours away for the day. Many other people had the same idea but had secured there boards and such the day before as things are closed on christmas. Weird. We hit the beach anyways and at least it was rather warm. So i got the skimboard out and it was the first ever skimboard Christmas experience for me, so that's was sweet. And it was fun watching all the other people surf too. On the drive back we hit up some waterfalls which were pretty cool and then back to waitomo caves for the night in the hostel. This time whe we returned there was 2 bus tours there, including a contiki tour. I am reminded very quickly why i wouldn't like to be on one of those tours. The drmam, and childishness of some of the people is a little too much for me. I guess i'm not 19 anymore but still, i don't think that i was like that tnen anyways. The caving was pretty cool but of course a little too hyped up. BUt there were some really neat formations and so many glow worms on the walls and ceilings so that was actually my favorite. Such amazing creatures, they only need 2-3 bugs for food for their wholel lives! We are now in New plymouth, gonna hit the surf today and hopefully the weather turns for the better as we were planning on hiking the 2500m volcano. Think summy for me. see ya

Pakiri Beach-Auckland

ok So there are a bunch of things here to talk about. OK so after Paihia, we went to Pakiri beach, a stop on the way back to auckland. Beautiful beach but it was getting stormy. good thing we have a tent, hehe. it was nice to have a nice relaxing time though after the chaos of Paihia. (On the last night there, we went to the bar that closes at 3am and they had fooseball!). The kinda weird thing about Pakiri is that it's in the middle of nowhere and ye the security is the craziest i have ever seen! gate with sharp stuff ont hte top of the fence, and unfriendly staff. Not going there again. But we arrived in Auckland, found a place, went to this pretty lame aquarium, well it's nothing compared to vancouver(except for this conveyor belt thing that took you around this track and your surrounded byt the tank with sharks and fish and stuff. And they had penguins. But that was that day

I will now descibe to you a night in Auckland. This was very interesting. I was trying to meet up with my friend Lisa who was arriving in Auckland that night(which didn't happen unfortunately), so after dinner we go to the Globe bar, the one that we heard was good for travellers. A little early as it's more a club so we sti down at the bar to have a few pints. Time goes by, a few more and people are trickling in. Now before we even knew it, we were kinda worried but thought it would get better, we were suddenly surrounded by guys and one of them i think was hitting on Jesse and rubbing his leg up to his. Now i have been to gay bars before and even there there are more women than here. It was scary so we left. (gonna maybe send the lonely planet to tell them to update the type of bar that is). So then we go down to the warf as we here there are more bars there. Well these aren't bars but posh nightclubs and are turned away instantly,( well Jess was wearing sandals but i don't think the bouncer wanted to let us in anyways.) So we continue back to the hostel district to on bar at the bottom of a big hostel. Now this is another thing we learned is that people here in Auckland get really drunk and really early. We arrive to this place that is total chaos, there is this guys who is dressed up in a santa suit, which really soon turns into only santa pants, people coming to talk to us but can't form sentences, and this wa maybe at 11:30pm. Amazing. So we had a few more there and moved on. At this time we decide to walk back but on the way run into this bar and decide to go in. This place turns out to be a japanese bar full on with japanese music and one white guy there, drunkinly dancing ont he dance floor. We only had one there are returned home. So that was our night in Auckalnd, we learned that it wasn't our scene at all.

We spent a night in Tauranga, one day on the beach and climbed the hill. The surfing sucks oin the east side so were moving to the west and gonan do some underwater caving in a few days. Merry Christmas to all, it's christmas eve here but there are no present under the tree. we don't even have a tree. But that's ok, i don'tmind at all, it's been kinda nice to be away from that chaos, although i miss being with the fam around now. I wish all a merry xmas wherever you are.

Paihia boat cruise

hey there, well not much has passed from here, just went on a baot cruise around the islands. it's a little different than the boat cruises you find in vietnam and much more expensive but that's the reality when you travel in a developed country. the scenery is still gorgeous. just thought i would put up some pics.

NZ-Ahipara and Paihia

hey there, in Paihia now. The internet actually works here and is quick. things are much more catered towards travellers here. we actually have me other people like our age and stuff. Not very good weather though which is unfortunate. but oh well, gonna try to make the best of it. Ok not sure what i wrote on the previous blog so some may overlap but i'll try to fill some blanks. So we were in Ahipara, and drove up to the cape which was neat. We did some sand dune boarding down what they called Psyco alley or something so then we invented psyco gap which is where you have to aim between a rock a tree at the bottom, hehe. it was fun, always trying to make things more interesting. We then drove down the creek, another thing that you would never get a way with in canada down to the beach. it was really cool going down the beach, kinda wish we had a litte more intense car then we could go all the way but oh well we got the idea. The next day after another quiet night we figuerd that we would hit the beach again and that our sunburns had recoverd enough. so Jesse went and got a surf board and we headed out. so nice. i love the beach, especially where the skimboarding is so so good. and no wetsuit needed and the surf is fun too. we then drove to Kaitia where we saw a cool museum with the curator who loved canada. and again, so funny when you tell people where you are planning to go next and they are so shocked, "wow that's like a 2 hour drive away!" hehe silly new zealanders and there small distances. we then dorve to Paihia and were pleasantly surprised to see that there are like other tourists here and lots of restaurants, etc... so here we got a hostel room, luxury. beds and pillows and such. cool though good change. today we did pretty much nothing, woke up when wewanted, talked to people and ate and had a nap and then went for a long walk around and got some groceries for dinner. that's about it. tomorrow gonna try to do a cruise but weather dependant, it was pouring here for a lot of the day(another reason for the laziness). it's gonna be fun going to a bar tonight that closes at 1am! yah! take care everyone

New Zealand intro

hey there, this will be quick and with no photos at the moment as the internet is slow and expensive. i know i thought this was a developed country too! anyways, we are in Ahipara now on the north coast. we went to the very tip of NZ today and did some sand boarding as well. it's quite nice here with beautiful scenery but very different type of travelling. with the car there is almost too many options of things to go and places to see so we are just flying by the seat of our pants, or boardshorts for that matter. also things are for sure not catered towards tourists at all. there are minimum restaurants, which is fine as we are camping and such and there is many things that are still closed as the busy season really hasn't started yet. but it will soon. very soon, hehe. we did 2 days in Piha, a small surf town with amazing views and incredible skimboarding (so glad i brought it) one afternoon of surfing and we were both very sunburned. but that was of course our fault as we didn't head the warnings that we received and lacked the necessary sunscreen. oh well, got the laugh at the pharmacy as we bought a large bottle of aloe vera gel. we are off to the bay of islands next and hoping that the sunburn goes away so we can go back to fully beaching it. oh yeah here they have a national highway that's on the beach! it's crazy. we drove on it but couldn't go all the way as only one entry was suitable for our little car, hehe. ok gotta go more to come soon i hope, take care everyone
aaron