I caught, gutted and cooked my own fish!!!

After a very restless night in my dorm, some of the bunks were very creaky and woke me up every time the person sleeping in them rolled over, I was up to go kayaking with my new friend Emily. We were taken out onto the Bay of Islands in a 'waka', thats a Maori (native New Zealanders) canoe. Ours could have sat 6, but there was just me, Emily and our guide, called Mick, or Nick. It was a fantastic morning, totally not what we were expecting, but still brilliant.

We got soaked as soon as we got in as there is a drop off on the beach that he didn't tell us about and we ended up, up to our necks in water. It was pretty hilarious, probably mainly for anyone who was watching. Firstly, we headed over to find a pipi patch. A 'pipi' is kind of like a clam. Mick (or Nick) made us jump out of the waka and dive down to the sea bed to collect them. We were completely not prepared for this as it hadn't said anything about it on the flyer. But we did it anyway and it was totally hilarious. Unfortunately, Em and I were not very good at collecting pipi's, we kept finding empty or dead ones. After climbing, very ungracefully, back into the boat, Mick (or Nick) sang a Maori song to make the sun come out. It did, but I'm not sure whether that was due to the song or whether the clouds had been moving in that direction anyway. Once we were back paddling we put a fishing line out and tried to catch some fish. After following some birds around for a while (birds hunt for the smaller fish near the surface of the water and the bigger fish swim around underneath to eat the small fish, so you have to follow the birds) we ended up catching 3 fish! They were actually pretty big, I caught two and they were a bit tricky to reel in as there was no turny thing on the line like on a fishing rod. We gave one of our fish to some other kayakers who were having less luck than us fishing and named our two dead fish Harry and George.

We pulled our waka up on a little island beach and Mick (or Nick) had Em and I gut the two fish we had kept. This, was very weird, and kind of gross. We ate the smaller fish (Harry) sashimi style with soy sauce and wasabi. We didn't have a knife so we had to improvise with sharp mussel shells. Em and I can now survive on desert islands as long as we can catch fish! I can't remember the name of the fish but they were very meaty white fish, kind of like the Groupa we had in Dubai or Monkfish I think. We saved George for when we got back to the hostel. The kayaking was awesome, I definitely want to do more later on in the trip, it was so much fun. The bay we were in was huge but although it was salt water it was very calm and easy for us the paddle around.

When we got back to the hostel we had just enough time to fillet George (yes, I filleted a fish by myself) and bake him in the oven in some garlic and olive oil. The fish was very nice, very meaty and very filling. Then we were back on the bus to travel down to Auckland. We arrived in Auckland abotu 6.15 the evening. I really like the hostel we are staying at, it's much more social than the one I was staying at before. It has a lot more character because it's kind of all over the place and on lots of different levels and there are big open common areas. Em and I have ended up having a 6 person dorm to ourselves, well we did before we went out for dinner, it might have more people in now.

We went for dinner in the food court below the hostel. The food was amazing. There was a Thai food shop! So I got my favourite Massaman curry and some spring rolls. It was so nice but I couldn't finish it all! After working out a rough itiniery for out trip south Em and I headed to the bar below our hostel. We have been very restrained and limited ourselves to having the one free cocktail that was given out a 9pm. It was quite hilarious, apparently it's ladies night which means all the women get a free drink, and if the guys wanted a free drink they had to give the bar staff their shirt. It was great. But as we are both pretty knackered, have to be up at 7.30am, and want to save money for partying in some of the other towns, we have dragged ourselves away from the bar. I'm going to be heading to bed pretty soon.
xx

I had forgotten how much horse riding hurts

This morning at the bright and early time of 7.15, I had been awake since 6am anyway, I joined the Kiwi Experience bus. It's a large green bus which took us to Paihia, in the north of New Zealand. The driver arranges your accommadation for the night and gives you lots of options of things to do for the next day or so. They also stop for either morning or afternoon tea :) I am very much in favour of this.

We arrived in Paihia at about midday and booked our activities for today and tomorrow. Me and the girl I was sitting next to on the bus, Emily, decided to do the same things. This afternoon we went on a 2 hour horse trek. It was very laid back. They were just trekking ponies that follow each other. My horse made it more interesting for me by clearly being disliked by all of the other horses and it kept either trying to bite the other horses or having the other horses try and kick it. Because I was an 'experienced rider' at one point I was allowed to hang back with one of the guides (my horse was not happy about this) and then got to gallop to catch the others up.

The scenery was quite stunning, we were riding through quite dense forests at one point. Although, the forests are quite odd. They have fir trees that would belong in any English forest, and then every now and then there will be a palm tree or a plant that looks tropical. It's like the vegetation can't decide what it's doing. At one point in the ride we were at the top of a big crater (another inactive volcano) and the views out over the bay of islands was amazing. It really is a lovely place.

So now I'm back at the hostel, aching, and struggling to sit on anything that doesn't have a cushion. Tonight there is a bbq at the hostel, steak and sausages and baked potato, I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow I'm going kayaking around the bay for 4 hours, hopefully the weather will be good. We get to catch and cook some fresh mussels for lunch and get free wine. Yay! Emily and I are getting a bus back to Auckland tomorrow afternoon so we can head south the day after.

(There are a lot of people who are so good and buy food and cook it at the hostel rather than going out for food. I've brought some cereal for breakfast but I think that will be the extent to my attempts at saving money)
xx

I walked up a volcano

I don't think I've quite cracked the whole jet lag thing yet. I woke up at 5am, kind of dozed until 7.30 and was out by 8.30 again. There was a really big fun run through Auckland on this morning. Apparently it is one of the biggest fun runs in the world, about 70,000 people did it today or something. It's 8.4km (bit of an odd distance) round several of the bays in the city. I really wish I'd known about at and brought my running stuff, it would have been brilliant to do.

Instead I found a cafe to have a smoothie and some toast for breakfast. Marmite here is quite nice but it's a little sweeter than marmite at home so it's just not the same. After that I headed over to the pier and brought a ticket to go to Rangitoto Island. It's about 20 minutes by boat away from the main city. Rangitoto was formed about 600 years ago by an erupting volcano, it's dormant now but apparently new volcanoes could appear around Auckland some time in future. Not a particularly comforting thought. Pretty much the whole island is crumbling lava rocks but there are still lots of trees and vegetation growing. It's amazing to see all the green growing out of black rocks. I cut off the main path on to one that wasn't used as much and there were some really lovely flowers as well. It took me about an hour and a half to get to the summit because of my little detour, I ate my lunch whilst looking out to Auckland and all the little islands dotted around the harbour. Although, at one point I had to get up and move fairly quickly as a swarm of wasps decided they liked the look of my sandwich. After lunch I had a walk round the crater edge, the crater is almost a perfect cone and is also covered in trees, it's kind of weird. Then I started to make my way back down. I went via a section called the lava caves. I was able to walk through a long, quite dark, and at one point very low cave that had been formed by the lava flow. It was pretty cool, although a bit dangerous as I couldn't see the floor at a couple of points. My last bit of walking was right on the coastline where there a some little huts called baches. I found them kind of eerie. They used to be holiday homes between the 30's and 70's but none of them are used now. It looks like the set for a bad horror movie, probably involving lost backpackers.

I got the boat back to the mainland and have just been chilling out at the hostel and putting off re-packing. I'm leaving at 7.15 tomorrow morning. Normally this time in the morning would make me feel horrible but I know that I will probably fall asleep stupidly early tonight again and be awake at 6am so it's not so much of a problem.

I've discovered that cadbury's dark chocolate bars are called 'energy' rather than Bournville here. I think this is probably an excuse for me to eat more of it as it's branded as being good for you :)
xx

I walked and walked and walked...

I didn't make it until 7.30 for dinner last night, I think I was asleep by 7pm. Today I've been exploring Auckland. I was awake and out by about 8.30 this morning. It seems that shops are fairly flexible with opening times in the morning but I found a coffee shop to have a coffee and some breakfast. It's been sunny most of the day but it's trying to rain at the moment which I'm quite unimpressed with.

I've walked miles and miles, all round the city. I started off at the harbour, there is some kind of big boat race on today, it's called the Louis Vuitton trophy so there's lots of people around, and then went to see the sky tower. You can pay to go up to the top but the views are supposed to be as good from one of the islands that I think I'm going to go over to tomorrow so I didn't bother going up. Then I went over to a park where there is a little market. There were lots of arty trinkety shops and I wanted to spend lots of money. I managed to refrain though as I don't want to have to carry loads of stuff for 4 weeks. I can go back :) I had a bit of a break and sunbathed in the park for an hour and read my book. After that was more walking and lunch in a little Japanese restaurant, there are Japanese restaurants everywhere. Then I walked up to another park and through some of the quirky little shopping arcades.

It's only 4pm but I'm starting to feel tired already, don't think I'll manage a late night tonight but I might at least manage dinner.

There are lots of people wearing green, being drunk and pretending to be Irish wandering around as it's St. Patrick's day next week and there is a parade or something. It's kind of weird.

xx

I spent a long, long time on planes

I've arrived in Auckland safe, sound and slightly delirious from sleep deprivation. I did sleep a little on one of my three flights but it probably only amounted to 2/3 hours. I've been awake about 46 hours. I think, my concept of time and date has gone completely out the window, NZ is 13 hours ahead.

Not having done a majorly long flight (most have been under 9 hours) for several years, I'd forgotten just how long they actually are. The flight from Dubai to Melbourne was nearly 13 hours, after a 7 hour flight from Birmingham and followed by another 3 hours afterwards to get to Auckland. I packed in watching 5 full movies, watching parts of 3 others and eating lots and lots of food.

I'll give a more detailed description of Auckland tomorrow when I'm in more of a state to take it in. At the moment my eyes hurt when I take my sunglasses off and I'm exercising a lot of restraint to not wear them inside. First impressions of the city are of a mixture of seemingly old fashionedness and very modern. There are some clearly very new high rise buildings and transport stations but some of the streets and architecture seem very dated. The weather is warm, but a bit cloudy.

My hostel lacks character but will certainly do a more than adequate job. I have my own room and bathroom for the next 3 nights and they provide a free meal every night. Dinner isn't served until 7.30 so I have to try and stay awake for another hour and a half. It might happen as long as I remember to open my eyes when I blink.
xx

I was impulse buying, alot

So it's my last day in Thailand and I have been shopping. Impulse buying is so not good for me. But a lot of the purchases are presents.

Yesterday I managed to get a few hours in the sun at the hotel before heading out in to Kanchanaburi to go to the World War II cemetary and a the Thai-Burma railway museum. It was all quite sobering to learn about the building of the railway and to see all the graves. I can't imagine having to do hard labour in the heat here. I have a hard enough time just walking around in it.

Once I was done looking around I headed to the bus station to get a bus back to Bangkok. The bus only took 2 hours, but I ended up at a tiny bus station in Bangkok. I managed to get a taxi but the taxi driver was probably the most incompetent taxi driver I have ever come across. It took me 2 hours to get to my hotel and he moaned so much about the traffic that in the end I just made him take me to the sky train station. It took a while as he tried to take me to the subway first. I was close to murdering him by the time I got out. Once on the skytrain, it was easy to get to my hotel.

The hotel I'm at is odd. Very nice, but odd. It swees to be decorated in arabic/maybe morrocan style, which terracotta tiling and dark wood. But the room was nice, air conditioned and the bed was huge and very comfy, especially in comparison to the rocks I've been sleeping on.

This morning I was up and out early to go to the weekend market to finish up my shopping. It is boiling today, I swear it's hotter than the last time I was here. I'm back at Khao san road at the moment, going to go for a last massage and then head back to the hotel to get a taxi to the airport. Home time.

xx

I went to the bridge over the river Kwai

I'm getting very irritated with slow internet and shit keyboards. I do find the signs that say 'fast internet! 2Mbs!' quite amusing though. Apparently they have gaming at the place I am now, but as it takes a minute just to load facebook I very much doubt you would get far in any game.

Anyway, I left Koh Tao yesterday. On the back of a moped again, much to my dismay. No catastrophies though and I arrived at the pier still on the bike. Always a bonus. I took a 2 hour boat to a town called Chumpon, where I had to wait an hour for the bus to take me to Bangkok. Quite bizarrely for Thai transport the bus arrived into Bangkok 2 hours early. This was annoying as it was 3am. Two guys I had been talking to on the bus also had time to kill so we hit up a bar on Khoa San.

At 5am I decided there would probably be buses to Kanchanaburi by the time I got to the bus station so got myself a taxi. Getting buses is so easy here, and so cheap. No problems getting a ticket when I got to the station and it only cost 77 baht, about 1.50 or something. Ace.

I got to Kanchanaburi for about 8.30 to the first real blue sky and sunshine I've seen in a few weeks. Therefore, after checking into a nice little hostel on the river I had a nap firstly in the deck chairs and then in one of the hammocks. It was quite relaxing.

This afternoon I took a walk to one of the main tourist attractions in the town. The bridge over the river Kwai. It was originally built in world war II by British, Australian other various POWs under awful conditions. I'm going to go to a museum tomorrow and get more details. The bridge was slightly further than I thought it would be from my hostel. Maybe 2 miles. I'm fairly certain that most of the locals thought I was crazy, Thai people don't walk anywhere. But I am slightly adjusted to the heat and I don't melt quite as much as I used to when I walk around. This evening seems quite pleasant actually.

I'm hoping the weather will be nice tomorrow morning so I can sunbathe a little before doing a last bit of sight seeing. Plans for tonight are to go and find somewhere that doesn't look like a brothel for a massage and then a trip to the night markets.
xx