Day 7 - Waiheke Island

The north island is blessed with many scenic small islands. We decided to visit one off the coast of Auckland called Waiheke Island.

At the very moment we stepped off the ferry, I sensed that something was amiss about the island. Uh huh, THE ISLAND. It's that feeling when you just know that something is not quite right though everything seems fine.

Like any other tourists, we got a map of the island and wondered which road to head next.

Soon enough, a middle-aged Kiwi guy approached us and asked, "You guys seem a bit lost here. I've got a van just right there, I can take you up to the village for $2 a person. And from there, you can just take another bus to wherever you want to go."

We looked at each other, thinking the same thing, "Does this guy sound dodgy or what?"

Janice, being the big sis among us, spoke up: "Actually we prefer to walk around by ourselves."

Dodgy guy: But it's a long way up, and you might get lost. It's only $2 a person...

Janice: Erm. Actually we wanted to do a bit of kayaking just by the ferry, so we won't be able to go up to the village just yet.

Dodgy guy: Kayaking? Oh... I actually have a few kayaks at my house just by the other side of town. I can bring you guys there. It's only $35 per person. Wait right here... I'll just get my van ready." (rushes off to his van)

Us: Let's just ignore that weird guy.

(few minutes later...)

Dodgy guy: Hey, I was looking for you guys. Let's go!

Janice: Ermmmmmm. Actually we're waiting for a friend to arrive quite soon. Sorry but no thanks.

Dodgy guy: Alright, fine then. (walks away, probably thinking: dang, I almost got them to believe me!)

After he left, we decided to walk up to "the village" ourselves. Guess what, it was only a 10 minute walk! Bloody dodgy guy claimed that it was very far away. Anyway, "the village" turned out to be just like any other small township with tourist shops and a beach just nearby.

Thank goodness we found a visitor's info centre and got more information about getting around. We also asked the lady working there if she knew about any other kayaking services around besides the one we saw near the ferry station. Why am I not surprised to hear that it's the only registered kayaking business on the island? This proved that the dodgy guy was running his own little illegal, dodgy, tourist-cheating business.

A little while later, Kang arrived with food! We went down to the beach to have lunch and had the biggest, most value-for-money ice-cream. Hehe. Later, we went kayaking for $50 per person (bit pricey), *the guy was a bit odd too!*. Bit disappointing as I expected a better view.

2 hours later, we walked quite a distance to Mudbrick vineyard for some wine-tasting and to buy some wine home. The cute wine guy looks tipsy to us, and on the table was a bottle of *cough* alcohol *cough* labelled with coke. Ah, the ultimate job where you get an awesome view of the island and enables you to drink whenever you want to.

Finally, we headed back to Auckland around 6-ish, totally drained out of energy, and also glad to leave the dodgy island. All in all, it was an interesting experience, but visiting it once is enough. ;P

Green green grass all the way.

Th typical feet together photo.

Sandy beach.

Lavender + a honey bee.

Post-kayaking; the 50-dollar photo proving that we went kayaking.

Unripe grapes at Cable Bay Vineyards.

Mudbrick vinyard; after the 2 km walk up and down hills.

View from mudbrick vineyard; notice the ray of sunlight in the middle of the sea.

Day 6 - Chillin' out

On Sunday, we rested.

Ellise was nice enough to take May and I to her church, Harbourside Church near the harbour bridge (hence the name). They have the greatest music team ever! haha. The worship leader played hammond, the bassist was a girl who wore guy's attire and completely rocked the church. Preacher was so cool too! Envy envy!

The four of us girls got together again during the afternoon and strolled around Albert Park and the city central, taking lots of pictures, of course.

That night, Lulu took us to Auckland's (supposedly) most popular place to have bubble tea (pearl milk tea). Part of the reason was because one guy who works there is so cute that Jay Chou (if I'm not mistaken) went there and said that he can be famous because of his good looks. Sure enough, there were girls dressing like ah-lians all over the cafe, waiting to talk to that "cute" guy. Blah. However, the bubble tea was HEAVENLY.

Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra: From Russia with Love.

The picture we took with Mahatma Ghandhi ;P

Luvin the colours.

One of the many ornaments at Albert Park.

Bubble tea!

Different now

Woke up this morning, and instantly I knew that things would be different.

Part of the reason was because I was awaken by the buzzing of an incredibly huge honey bee flying around just few centimetres above my head. Eekness. Thanks goodness it was smart enough this time to fly out through the window instead of bumping its way against the window pane.

Then there was LIGHT!*For the first time this week!*

Is that a good sign or what?

Today, finally, my phone connection is restored. Yay to internet connection in my own room!

Today, finally, I got a job! Woohoo. It's definitely not a glorious job, but I did my very best convincing the employer to employ me (hence the exegerrated cover letter), and it paid off! If you're interested, it's a position of a motel cleaner, pay is $10.25 before tax. Oh well, it's the experience that counts.

Icy summer

For the 2nd time this month, I was forced asked to move again. This time, to the main hall of Studholme College. Apparently we had to let the big shots aka families coming for their kids' graduation ceremonies stay in the posh flats. Meh. So here I am, in the smallest room possible, with a hideous view of trees covering Jane Malthus (my ex-flat), the kitchen sucks, and did I mention the (lack of) water pressure made it a nuisance to shower?

What's more, our lovely *chokes* office administrator is a bit slow in getting the phone lines reconnected. Which means no phone and internet connection in our rooms. Which means I have to use the computer room for its facilities *thank goodness for broadband*.

And the complaining continues...

I am still jobless.

Yes, my friends. I guess I was too confident about getting a job here in this ghost town during summer. Still, I'm searching high and low for the perfect job to make my cv look good, and also to stop my parents' nagging of wanting me to return home sooner.

Speaking of summer, this week has been everything but summer. Constant rain, temperature below 10 degrees, hail *eeks! no snow though*, and icebergs sightings. Imagine this: icebergs as big as 2km floating all the way from the south pole to good ole Dunedin during summer. The clever people are making business by offering helicopter rides to the icebergs for NZ$250 per person. A couple is even serious about getting married on one of those icebergs.


Next thing you know, pigs can fly.

Day 5 - Swanson Visit

The Day when it rained cats and dogs.

On Saturday, we decided to go visit Sarah at her farmhouse at Swanson, a suburb about 1 hour away from the city. It took us a 45 min train ride, 15 mins of bus ride, 15 mins of wondering what the hell are we doing stranded at a train station somewhere between Britomart and New Lynn, 15 mins bus ride back to where we should be headed to, and 10 car ride courtesy of Sarah's dad to their house.

After that was 2 hours of oooh-ing and ahhh-ing at her 3 dogs. The first who had most attention that day- Molly as she was due to give birth that day. The black labradoodle (cross between a labrador and a poodle) sure enjoyed the attention we gave her. Then there was Rouge and Jack who had to be kept outside the house.

The bad weather meant that we could only stay indoors. Later, we went shopping at the huge Northgate mall and I finally had a try of Auckland's famous donuts- Dunkin Donuts! They sell more than 10 types of donuts, each with different toppings and fillings, including chocolate mint, lemon and custard, normal glazed, chocolate glazed and so much more. A must try if you're visiting Auckland.

Molly, a soon-to-be mother for the 3rd time.

Sarah + Molly; spending quality time.

Night scenery; the skytower.