Waiheke Island: 3-5 September / Auckland: 6-8 September

Carrying my large backpack, small backpack, and messenger bag is quite the task. First it is hard to repack everything and have it fit again when they are all busting at the seams, but I made it work! :) My first ferry ride was great! Love all the different ways of transportation!

So I finally got out of Auckland. I stayed at a very small hostel here called Kina Backpackers. It is run by a husband and wife,  Erin and Luke, who have three children under the age of five. Wow. They were very hospitable and so nice. Luke picked me up from the ferry station and another girl, Dina, who is studying in Auckland who is originally from the Congo but moved to Texas three years ago. Such an amazing person!

Kina Backpackers

The first night, Dina and I went into the Waiheke "downtown." We took a short walk to the bus and took it into town. We had no clue what to expect. We weren't expecting a rainy, windy, cold night though, which it turned out to be! So we were both starving and didn't know the town so we just walked, or ran at times to warm up, up and down the main street and found a place. Some very nice people worked there. We got some good food and drinks to warm up! But then they were closing and they accidentally told us the wrong time the bus came and we had to wait outside in the weather for about 30 minutes. Made it back to Kina though!

This is the view I woke up to in the morning.....

....not bad right? Erin and Luke made fresh homemade bread for the backpackers too, for free! Love free stuff. 

On Saturday, 4 September, Dina and I decided to go to Rocky Bay on the island and go for a hike and go for some wine tasting. The hike was again, not what we expected. All the information a local map gave us was the location of it, not what the terrain was, how difficult, or how long it was. But we still decided to go with it! Since it was raining the whole night before it was quite the muddy trek! It was very hilly and tight, small trails at times. But it was totally worth it!

View from a beach along the trail

It was a very nice, muddy trail, but we made it to the much needed vineyard called Tu Whau! We had a few tastes and then went on our way. After a long morning and mid-afternoon of hiking we went back into town. There we had some much needed food and went to some art galleries. I was getting tired of spending so much on food so I finally purchased some food at a small grocery store. I got some bananas, bread, peanut butter, and jelly! Some good food to make for any meal of the day and easily transportable! I believe I will be living off of this for most of my time here in NZ!

That night we went to a restaurant on the beach close to our hostel. We were right next to the bakery being displayed so we had to get a piece of chocolate cake with some white filling and strawberry sauce on top. Yum. No more needs to be said. :)

The next day, Dina and I walked along the beach and then headed to the Forest and Bird Onetangi Reserve at the end of it. Again, it was a very difficult to read trail. This one wasn't muddy as the one before, but it was for sure harder to navigate. It looked like we were in the jungle! Very hard to tell where the trail went at times. Should of brought a machete. :P

It was a very nice hike though and again we made it out safe! After the hike we caught the bus back to the ferry station and back to Auckland. Dina and I went to her place so I could use the internet, for free because it costs money everywhere you go, and she was nice enough to let me spend the night on the couch there, for free! :) Thanks Dina!!

The morning after I went back to IEP to meet a girl I knew that was coming to NZ from Minnesota, Nicki. I worked with her sister at MPR this summer and she introduced us and we planned on meeting once we were both in NZ! So that day we went to the top of the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, and I showered her around the main areas of Auckland. I stayed in a different hostel that night called Nomads because ACB was not for me to say it nicely.

The next day Nicki had IEP orientation and she introduced me to one of her hostel roommates who is also through IEP, Felicitas from Germany! That afternoon we went to a happy hour and met some more people! Needless to say it was a very long night and have many memories; BlueSTONE Room, Globe Bar, cross dressers, tea pots, firemen, more tea pots, Spice Girls. :)

Outside Cassette
 Left to Right: Bastian (Germany), Me, Erik (Norway), Feli (Germany), Bobby (USA),  Nicki (USA)

The next morning, Nicki and I had to be out of our hostels by 10 am. We made it! Troopers! Nicki and I talked earlier about going north of Auckland to go to the Bay of Islands and Bastian and Feli decided to join us too! Best decision ever.

We booked a bus ticket on Naked Bus and that afternoon we were on our way to Paihai in the Bay of Islands!