We are in Auckland! We got here yesterday, and leaving Rotorua wasn't....the worst thing in the world. Day of, we could smell the Sulphur at our airbnb. I had to pack (again) and grab the car from where we've been parking it. Not sure if I mentioned it, but there was like no parking at this place. The first day, when we arrived was fine. No one was there except us. We unpacked and then had to leave for our dinner, but the little parking that existed was surrounded by ceramic lawn ornaments. Trying to turn around in that tiny frickin lot without running over any of them, or hitting the fence, or my car, or anything was a nightmare. And that was when it was just me in the lot. When we got back from our dinner that night there were two other cars in that lot. And the owner had told us, We "could park on the grass, you might have to pay though". ???? I'm sorry? Might have to pay? Hell no. It sounded like I'd get a ticket, and I don't want to get a ticket abroad. So we parked like a block over and walked, but that did mean I had to get the car on our last day. Really not that far to go, but just one of those minor things that added up to me not liking the place. The two things this place really had going for it - the beds were actually super comfy. And there was a cat. Other than that, not a fan. Like, it wasn't just the driveway and parking that had too many tchotchkes. It was everywhere. The hall, the rooms, the bathroom, the kitchen, the entrance. I'd try to take a shower and would be watched by a whole pod of dolphins....and mermaids....and seagulls....and an actual bug. Course taking a shower was already an ordeal. The water smelled like sulfur and was hot for all of 2 minutes. The sulfur smell couldn't be helped, but cold showers sucked. And on one of the nights a spider just waltzed across me and my laptop. So suffice it to say, I was so excited to leave that place. I liked Rotorua, even with the sulfur smell, but I was very over the teacups with eyes staring at me. (A whole set. On the shelf across from my bed.) We stopped at the Saturday market before we left, and it was a small thing, but had several food vendors and some stalls of people selling stuff. It was a gray day, but started off sunny enough. We left for Auckland which was more than a 2 hour drive - not a bad drive. It wasn't scenic, but it was straightforward. And we stopped in a place called Hamilton. Another sort of disappointment honestly. The town was pretty commercial, and the Gardens we stopped in were nice, but the other tourists were sort of blind to others. Several families just straight-up ran into Sarah, and a pram almost ran over my foot. It was one of those days where pretty scenery didn't really save the day. So we continued on, and made to our Auckland airbnb at like, 3 on the dot. My god is this place amazing.. Like, on it's own, it's amazing, but then compared to the last place? *mwah* Perfect place to end our trip. We had enough time to chill, shower (no bugs! no eyes!) and get dressed for Dinner and Skybar! We ate at a place called "East". Turns out it was some vegetarian asian fusion place, and I had some fantastic soba noodles. And a drink of orange and lychee and vodka. Then we went to the Sky Tower which is...what it sounds like. It overlooks all of Auckland. It's really high up. People bungee jump off that thing. (I will absolutely not be doing that.) But we had a great time having drinks up there and dessert. We could see the Auckland Harbor Bridge from our table, and it's lit up at night. And despite the gray day it wasn't enough to cover the view. Unlike today. Today was nothing but rain - even though we had decided we'd go ahead and do a wine tour of Waiheke anyways. We had gotten so many recommendations from people to go see it, so we booked a wine tour and went, even though the forecast called for rain. And the forecast was right. But, while it was a pretty constant drizzle, it was just that. Not enough to make you immediately run for shelter, but definitely enough where you'd be much happier under a roof with a wine glass in hand. Oh hey! Perfect! The honestly worst part of today was being harrassed by a bee. We visited three wineries. Mudbrick Te Motu
Obsidian plus a place for lunch but I get in the van after Mudbrick Feel something by my ankle Start to brush it off realize it's a bee The bee was still on my shoe and that's when I panicked Sarah got the bee off and it was kinda just on the floor for a bit I think either she or I had dazed it by knocking it off me but then it shook itself off and started flying again by us And, I'm not shy about this, but if you haven't seen it for yourself, you might not remember, or it doesn't stick out in your mind as a fact about me, but I have a terrible phobia of bees. Really anything that stings, but bees and wasps? As Sarah said at some point on this trip "It's a miracle you get out and hike as much as you do if you have such a thing about them." AND SHE'S NOT WRONG I wish I was kidding when I said I fucking lost it Sarah's POV though: Emily has discovered a bee on her, and has frozen. I will brush it off. She seems scared, but is doing well enough. My POV: Sobbing in the back seat of the van, very very quietly Anxiously looking over to see where the bee is at and turning away in fear whenever it moves in any direction closer to me. The couple sitting in the row in front of me - according to Sarah - did not notice. Because she did not notice. They noticed the terror - but not the sobbing. So yay? It was rough. I didn't hear a single word our tour guide said between Mudbrick and Te Motu - I'm sure it was fascinating, but I got nothin. My brain was lazer focused on trying to not get stung. And I've heard all the things before "Don't bother them, they won't bother you" and whatnot My phobic brain does not care I hold my breathe, and freeze if I can't run away And boy did I but once we got to Te Motu, we got the bee out of the van, and the rest of the trip was great! great wines, great scenery, great conversations (we had a great group, but all from the States!) A surprising number of quality engineers of some kind but everyone seemed well traveled and well versed in a multitude of subjects and all cat people And only the one couple noticed me freaking out, and were very chill about it. Or Sarah's right, and I kept my freaking out mostly internal. And after lunch, the rain stopped a little bit - enough for us to walk on the beach outside the restaurant, but by the time we got back to the ferry, it was coming down again. We liked Waiheke, and getting on the ferry was a surprisingly easy process (especially compared to Stewart and God forbid the Picton to Wellington one) but we definitely would have liked it more on a....not rainy day. I'd say sunny day, but really just any day were we don't get rained on. The ferry was about 40 minutes each way, the round trip was surprisingly cheap for walk-ons and they had a ferry like, every 20 minutes. We actually got to Waiheke pretty early in the morning because we weren't sure how tough it would be to get one, and ended up an hour early for our tour. (It's okay, we had some delicious chicken pies and croissants from the cafe at the ferry terminal.) and getting back was just as easy. just. got in line, then grabbed a seat, 40 min later we were back on the mainland. And then the rain was really on. So we....kinda called it. Went back, and then just worked on our suitcases, prepped what we could wear/wash for the next 2 days and had some.....MCDonalds! Bad choice. But we had to see how different it tasted to a.) American McDonalds b.) Other New Zealand Food
and the result was bad across the board AND we had to wait in a little parking spot around from the drive in and the line was backed up and we had heard that this mcdonalds was really bad for getting your order wrong and then they took a *while* and when we finally got our food there was a slight back-up in cars, but there was still space to go around we get our food we double check we got everything as we wanted (check) and the woman behind me honked! And honked again! it was kinda funny how insistent she was *because she hadn't gotten her food yet* We should have eaten somewhere else, but at least we know now. And we're planning on having one last really nice meal tomorrow It's our last day! Can you believe it? I mean, we also sort of have the 5th? But we need to be at the airport by like 3:30 So tomorrow is our last true hurrah in Auckland.
It's gonna be good!