bay of plenty

I checked out of the hostel on Saturday morning, stowed my enormous bag at the travel shop for a couple of hours, and set out for something to fill a couple hours before the bus to Tauranga. I'm glad I took the time to find the stop for the Naked Bus because it was on a block where only one storefront had a street number visable and there was no sign or anything to indicate that was the bus stop. I happened to see a sign for a shuttle to the aquarium and it listed the same address as the Naked Bus stop, so I crossed my fingers that I'd found the right spot. Thankfully, when I showed up lugging my enormous, heavy bag there were two buses lined up and one was indeed the one I needed.

In the meantime, I was looking for some breakfast/lunch because the bus ride would be three hours right around lunch time and it's never fun to arrive somewhere new famished. I noticed some tents ahead and happily discovered the Saturday farmers' market. I had a beef empanada from one stand and a ham and cheese croissant from another, both delicious.

The farmers' market was breakfast, I got on a bit of wifi at the travel shop, and then I figured I needed something for lunch before heading for the bus. I decided to try out The White Lady bus parked by the hostel. It looked and smelled good, but I hadn't tried it before because a cheese burger is NZ$10 and it's only take-away. To get a burger, fries, and shake is NZ$20! But the burger was admittedly quite juicy and tasty, though I might skip the carmelized onions if I did it again.

I slept intermittently on the bus and awoke to rolling pastures with cattle and sheep. I snapped photos as best I could from the bus, but the countryside was lush and green and again reminded me of Oregon, especially when the sun gave way to clouds and rain. 

I've been well spoiled in the lovely Bay of Plenty. Nikki was waiting there for me when the bus arrived in Tauranga. Phil and Nikki have a beautiful home and the whole family was very welcoming. That night they had friends over to watch the All Blacks rugby match and Nikki served up melt-in-your-mouth slow-roasted lamb and the most wonderful cous cous with orange zest and pistachios. Sunday was fathers' day here. After Nikki and I took a walk down the beach and strolled back with a coffee, Phil and Nikki took me to "the Mount," i.e., Mount Maunganui. We walked the breathtaking trail around the base of Mauao, the volcanic focal point of town. Phil spotted a fur seal splashing just offshore, so I'm hoping I'll see more when I return for another walk there. For dinner we had a Kiwi barbeque, Phil grilled up incredibly tender beef kabobs and Nikki made a red and green cabbage slaw and a chickpea salad I couldn't get enough of. I felt bad that they were constantly feeding me so well, so on Monday I walked to the grocery store for provisions. When I got back to the house I made chicken with apricot sausage, white wine parmesan risotto, and baby spinach sautéed with olive oil and garlic.

On Tuesday I took the bus to Tauranga, checked out The Strand (little shops and restaurants, though it seemed sleepy by day), then hopped the bus on to Mt. Maunganui. At that point it was almost 2:00pm and I was famished, so lunch was the priority. Astrolabe turned out the most amazing burger, paired with a Mac's Black beer. Yum! I don't know if it's the meat, the seasoning, or both, but burgers in the Cooks and New Zealand are the best I've ever had. And those who know this runner-girl know she's a "bottomless pit for food" and likes a good burger and fries. I don't know how I'll suffer through American burgers after this trip.

I walked the main strip of boutiques and window-shopped and then headed for the challenge of the day: the summit of Mauao. It was not an easy trek up, but I did take the more gradual route up and then the steep stairs down. The views from the top were worth the effort to get there. I was impressed by all the folks getting in an afternoon trail run on those hills. Folks were also out paragliding. Rain was just around the corner, so I'm glad I seized that clear, sunny day to tackle the Mount.

I'll be back in Papamoa soon, but yesterday I bussed over to Rotorua, so now it's time for a couple days in the geothermal hot spot of New Zealand!

I seriously dislike icloud so I've had to come up with another solution for photos. (P.S. I tried switching to Flickr but the interface is nightmarishly bad. And I would spent hours setting albums to be publicly viewable, and then they still wouldn't be. Basically anything to do with Yahoo sucks so I deleted the Flickr account, and will have to come up with another solution. C'est la vie.)

cafe culture

Monday: I made it in time for the walking tour from the hostel, but the guy who leads the tour was sick and as the girl in the travel shop said "the weather is rubbish" so they cancelled it. It turns out that I had basically already covered their walking tour with my big loop yesterday, anyway. I do still want to pop by the fish market, even though I'm allergic, just to see it. I thought about making today the zoo day but the zookeeper talks today don't cover the NZ birds and reptiles, so I'll wait for tomorrow. 

I hopped on a city link bus to Karangahape Road (a/k/a K'Road), which has vintage and second-hand shops, cafes, tattoo parlors, and sort of a general counterculture element. Apparently Ponsonby Road is the more upscale hipster hangout and K'Road is slightly "shabbier." When I got off the bus I went into The Paper Bag Princess and found a pair of second-hand jeans for NZ$9 and a cute short-sleeved top for NZ$4. I only have one pair of long pants on the trip since I thought I'd spend 99% of my time in a bikini. The farther south I head from Auckland the colder it will get, so the jeans will come in handy and I won't cry if they get roughed up climbing or caving, but I would cry if I wrecked my fav yoga pants. I should get a long-sleeved t or a sweater, but I wasn't completely in love with any I tried on, so I'll keep looking. 

I turned down Queen Street for a couple blocks and saw a noodle shop packed with Asians. All the other spots I passed were empty, so I headed back to try ShaolinKungFu Noodle. I should have trusted my gut that the meat would not be up my alley, but I got a huge lamb noodle bowl. The broth and noodles were great, but the lamb was gray, flavorless, and mostly gristle. I wish I'd gone with either lamb and fennel potstickers or a tofu and veggie noodle bowl, but c'est la vie. I feel like as much broth splashed on my fav t-shirt as made it down my throat, so now I'm worried the top will be stained. Eating huge flat noodles and broth with chopsticks isn't exactly easy or neat, at least for me! I felt like all the Asians were staring and laughing at this white girl fumbling with her chopsticks and noodles, and wanted to scream "You had your whole life to master chopsticks, give me a break!" But I'm sure none of them even noticed me as the cacophony of all the different conversations bounced off the walls. 

I stopped into a tattoo studio (www.otautahitattoo.com) that is by far the fanciest I've ever seen, so I tend to think it's outside my budget. Since a cafe culture is big in Auckland I figured my trip to these neighborhoods would be a good time to stop for coffees along the way to rest, write, and people watch. Coffee seems pricey to me here, but I think I've at least figured out that what I am looking for is a "long black" with some hot water added. I settled into a comfy couch for a long black at Alleluya Cafe and enjoyed a bit of free wifi. 

K'Road was full of cute, eclectic shops reminiscent of Portland.  I wandered up a narrow stairwell to Dreamhands Tattoo (www.www.facebook.com/dreamhandsnz) just to browse around. They told me to make myself comfortable, sit down and browse the books for ideas, and brought me a cup of green tea. One of the artists, Liam, was sitting at a table sketching and gave me some great tips for travel. He turned me onto Naked Bus, which is a cheap bus line for me to hop around the country, but doesn't involve any nudity. He's from the south island and got online to show me a beautiful national park at the north end of south island near his home town. Everyone makes it sound imperative to see Queenstown, but it's a long haul to get all the way down there and the budget is just too tight. But it would be cool to take the bus down north island and hop the ferry across to be able to see a bit of the south island. I wanted to see portfolios of the work from folks at Dreamhands so I begged off getting anything right then and headed to Ponsonby Road.

The same things at a second-hand store (called an "op shop" here) might cost NZ$20 on K'Road, but NZ$100 on Ponsonby. It's just obviously posher and while the shops were cute, they were too pricey to even be worth much window-shopping. It was a dreary rainy day so although the very large park on Ponsonby, possibly the oldest in the city, was tempting, I figured I should find a nicer day for walking through it. I popped into a pub for a beer and was shocked to find bar stools at the bar. It really makes a bar so much more welcoming.

Friday: When I got back to the hostel on Monday evening and mentioned I might go back to K'Road the next day to see about a tattoo, one of the girls in my room asked to come along. On Tuesday we went back to Otautati since I was feeling I should do some traditional moko Maori ink, though I was very tempted to see what lotus flower work Liam at Dreamhands might be able to do for me. I had to make an appointment, and make a NZ$50 deposit, to come back on Wednesday to see the artist at Otautati. The traditional Maori patterns are generally hand-drawn right onto you, ensuring that each one is unique and that it flows with the shape of your body. I explained what I was looking to do and why it was meaningful to me. He drew on a piece but it was a very big solid-looking piece and definitely not what I had in mind. 

I really like the idea of a piece on my upper neck along the hair line, but the very old butterfly simply had to be covered as part of that. I came back again on Thursday to see what the artist had come up with, but again it just wasn't capturing what I was after or covering the butterfly. It's a pretty design, but not what I was after.

I decided there just wasn't a good fit and I'd pass. Luckily my friend Elsa who came along for these various appointments decided she definitely wanted a turtle, so they just applied my deposit toward her tattoo and I got my cash back. I went back to Dreamhands hoping to chat with Liam about a small cover for the butterfly, but he wasn't there at the moment. Another artist there said he could definitely do a lotus and use a leaf to cover the butterfly, but they were talking about NZ$300, which seems really expensive for what I envision as a small neck tattoo. Anyway, the large cover I need to do should match with it, so it would be best to have the same artist do all that work in the same style. It would have been nice to get a Maori fish hook (matau) with fern spirals (koru), as those designs have a lot of meaning for me, (safety over water and rebirth), but I think it just wasn't meant to be on this trip. Perhaps when I get back to the Cooks I'll go back to Polynesian Tattoo in Rarotonga, where I felt the artist would work well with me and was much less pricey than in Auckland.

I sat with Elsa for almost two hours while her turtle tattoo was drawn on but she felt bad having me spend my last day in Auckland sitting there with her. I felt bad to leave her without someone to distract her during the painful bit, but I headed out. I grabbed a quick lunch of beef curry over rice for NZ$4 at a cafe on K'Road that serves two choices every day for lunch at that price and all the money goes to help fight homelessness. Elsa and I grabbed lunch there yesterday, too, and it was good, a nice portion, and the price was right! Then I walked through beautiful, lush Western Park and mugged for selfies in front of the trees.

Off to the zoo! I had to get online to figure out a bus to get to the zoo, and the stops and routes are not very clear. But I finally found the bus I needed. A whopping NZ$4 one-way to get there, plus the zoo will be NZ$28, and just three+ hours to see the zoo, but better than just wasting my last day in town. I generally dislike the idea of animals in cages and that aspect of what zoos are about, but more and more zoos play an important role in wildlife and habitat conservation, through both education and breeding programs. Auckland Zoo appears to be very involved in promoting conservation and was also the most "open" zoo I recall visiting. There are a lot of areas (not the lions and tigers, duh) where animals are free to walk around though people are directed to stay on the path. So wallabys and lots of birds could hop, stroll, or fly on over to investigate the goofy humans. 

I didn't get to see any kiwis, which was disappointing, but they are just too shy and noctural. The very cool blue penguins were hiding under an overturned row boat to stay out of the rain, but the seals were playing and goofing off tirelessly. The zoo has virtually no feeling of traditional cages or wire, with lots of natural materials and beautiful Maori design elements incorporated throughout. It was heartbreaking to see signs that said along the side "gone forever" and on the front listing the all-too-numerous native New Zealand species that are now forever gone. 

rainy days

I got in a little over 12 miles running this morning and then hoped to head for the zoo. Unfortunately, it being a Sunday, I think the buses run less frequently and I wouldn't have more than a couple hours at the zoo. At NZ$28 to get in, I want to make sure I have plenty of time to walk around and while I'm really only interested in going to see the native flora and fauna, since apparently some very large percentage of New Zealand's bird species are unique to New Zealand, I wouldn't have made it in time for the zookeepers talk on NZ birds.

All I'd had to eat thus far was a Clif bar and some shot bloks on the run, so I'm pretty famished. I wandered down very cute Vulcan Lane, full of little cafes. I finally settled on Vulture's Lane, a craft beer pub. I think my pint of dunkelweizen, which is quite smooth and lovely, will be a staggering NZ$9 or so a pint, and I ordered mac and cheese with sausage to go along with it. I thought the burgers in the Cooks were crazy expensive at NZ$8.50+, but they were twice the size and twice as good as the one I paid NZ$15 for at Sandbar on Waiheke. The burgers here looked good and enormous, but the mac and cheese was a good call, comforting, and fair at NZ$10. It's blustery and cold out, so I sat right next to the little fireplace and got all toasty warm.

I needed to figure out where to wander about and the tourism authority magazine I was browsing mentioned that the Auckland Art Gallery is free of charge. The bartenders pointed me in the right direction and I walked just a few blocks up to the art gallery. I took about an hour and half to walk through then headed to adjacent Albert Park. The park is quite lush and beautiful. From what I've seen so far Auckland is a beautiful city. One of the things that has made me love it as a runner and pedestrian is that there are water fountains and clean, safe public restrooms all over. They were conveniently located along my waterfront running route (likely for beachgoers in summer) but I also spotted ones in Albert Park. I could definitely see myself living in New Zealand, which is pretty rare for me to say.

I walked up past the Sky Tower and made a large loop around the Central Business District. I went into a pub but as I've found too often here, there was a long bar with no bar stools. It's very unwelcoming to someone on their own because I don't want to take up a large table or couches by myself, but I also want to be comfortable. It'd also be nice if the atmosphere were more conducive to meeting people, though, alas, I haven't actually spotted any hot Kiwi guys yet. I strolled back out the other side and headed to the grocery store a couple blocks away. I needed some food for breakfasts, though I'm nervous about putting it in the communal fridge at the hostel. Prices in the grocery store are, of course, far more reasonable. In theory I could cook all my meals at the hostel, but not eating out in a new city seems a crime to me...dining out is the best way to experience the city, its flavors, and people watch. I'm not here to shop and there is only so much window-shopping I can take since it simply enhances the feeling of poverty. But if I'm just famished and need to eat, I'd rather grab something at the grocery store and save a bit than eat junk. I had possibly the worst quasi-Mexican food ever at Mad Mex a few doors down from the hostel. And I sure didn't come half-way around the world to eat fast food I can eat back home (and I don't want to break my fast-food-free streak going all of 2014 so far). Eating out also provides a place to sit and study maps and travel information, write these blog posts, and just not be sitting idle on my bunk in the hostel, which would be totally depressing.

On the way from the grocery store I stopped at another pricey pub with no bar stools. It looked more happening and inviting from outside. The hot mulled cider was good on this cold day, but I'll find a better value for my money for dinner tonight. Since I have no idea where I'm going once I check out on Wednesday, I think perhaps this evening I should start looking at the bus and train options and whether I can afford to grab a hostel in Waitomo and then in Rotorua. I could so sink into a geothermal hot spring or mud bath after I have to run 14 miles next weekend. So, we'll see. It's all up in the air, which is nice and nerve-wracking at the same time, but I do prefer to be able to just set my own agenda as I see fit and go with my whims. So it's really only budget that constrains me, so I just have to be especially creative. 

Good news: the bar attached to the hostel has a deal for backpackers at the hostel where if I buy any pizza at regular price, I get a jug (about 2.3 pints) of house beer "free." I had expected to buy the NZ$12 jug of beer anyway, so for it to come gratis with my NZ$11 Hawaiian pizza was a no-brainer. I could defintiely have eaten a medium pizza rather than just a small, but for tonight it will do just fine. The atmosphere is pretty cute and my room actually looks down onto the rooftop bar area where I'm sitting. 

On my run this morning I passed Okahu Bay, which was my 3-mile mark and turnaround on earlier runs. I passed through Mission Bay, Kohimarama Beach, and hit my turnaround point at St. Hellier's Bay. From downtown until Okahu there were only a handful of other running or cyclists on the path, but from Mission Bay onward there were a lot of folks out, running, biking, walking dogs, and even kayaking in the cold and wind.

off for a sail

Got in another run along the waterfront this morning and took some great photos. Unfortunately, stopping along the way to snap photos meant I got back from the run too late to make the walking tour from the hostel so I'll try to catch the one on Monday. I extended my room here at Nomad's for another 4 nights, so I'll have time to check out the city a bit, go to the zoo, and take the ferry over to Waiheke Island for winery tours and tripping around for a day out there. I haven't settled on what I'll do after that though I definitely want to see the Waitomo Caves with the glow worms and might even try to get to Queenstown if possible since so many people have said it's a not-to-be-missed place. Still need to sit down and sort the tight budget to see what I can swing.

Yesterday I passed a Korean restaurant with just Asians at the tables and a "top ten cheap eats" sign on the door. I decided to give it a whirl for lunch since it was right around the corner and I needed to get laundry done before going on the sailboat races this afternoon. For NZ$13 I got a plate of rice with spicy pork and vegetables, along with four small bowls of sides. I know one was cabbage and another bean sprouts (in a light vinegar dressing reminiscent of German cucumber salad), but all of it was delicious. And I manged to eat all but a couple grains of rice using just my chop sticks.

This afternoon I went out for the Friday night Rum Races in Auckland harbor on a Hanse 43 docked at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, somewhat "home" of the Americas Cup (so just don't mention this past year). I've only been racing a handful of times and it's not fundamental to my nature, but I always try to look at it as an opportunity to learn and I was thrilled at the chance to get in some sailing after so much sailing disappointment on this trip. I forewarned that I wasn't good for much but rail meat, and mostly did alright at that other than two tacks where I didn't scramble quickly enough and found myself somewhat hopelessly on the low side unable to pull myself across. The second time I had been poised to launch myself quickly to the other side during the tack but waited a nanosecond too long and the fulcrum swung against me. I began sliding backwards, head first, with little to grip to keep from sliding ever closer to the lifelines and the cold waters below. I shouted for help and scrambled to grab onto other crew to pull me up to the high side. Wet decks, a sharp heel, and gusting 30 knots or more; I was grateful those guys managed to pull me across that slippery foredeck quickly! Many thanks to Zane for bringing me along and to the owner, Kim, and all the crew for having me out. I've now seen Auckland from likely the two best vantage points, the water and the sky. And despite my not being the best rail meat out there, we came in first place with our handicap! 

One of the things I most like about New Zealand so far is that it has such great and varied outdoor activities. From mountains to beaches, geothermal hot springs and caving, sailing and surfing, the rugged terrain lends itself to an outdoorsy lifestyle and mentality that I like. It reminds me a lot of Oregon, but with good weather instead of endless gray drizzle.

Now It's only 8:00PM on a Friday night and I think I need a proper dinner (I inhaled chips, crackers, and brie aboard--it's embarrasing being a bottomless pit for food but when running this girl is always ready to eat). I'd like to freshen up and try to find a place to settle in for some wine and dinner and see if I can find some hot floppy-haired Kiwis out here, but I'm pretty exhausted so that may have to wait for tomorrow night.