Aotearoa (New Zealand)

(11.11.08 On board Flight 163 Auckland to Rarotonga 8pm)
Next morning (10.29.08) Jamie woke me up at about 8am and asked me if I wanted to catch a ride into the city with him. I was a little confused since I never mentioned that I wanted to get into the city. I told him I’d probably just hang out for a little bit and check emails then make my way to the city. He then let me know that CSer’s aren’t supposed to be left home alone. I got up and quickly got dressed; he was leaving in 15minutes for a meeting. We drove near the city then parked and walked the rest of the way. Jaime headed to his meeting and I found a café where I used the internet for a few hours. My friend Alessa that I paddle with at Hawaiian Canoe Club sent me an email telling me that her sister, Hina, was in Auckland because her boyfriend, Kingi, lived there and they were both paddlers as well. She gave me their numbers and told me to hook up with them. I called Kingi and he told me to stop by his work for a cup of coffee. When I arrived he was pretty busy trying to finish a project so I jumped online again til he finished up. We went to a café next to his work and joined his mother for a cup of hot cocoa. Kingi offered to let me join them for a training session on Saturday morning with his crew that was going to Rarotonga. They were also 4 paddlers short for their 9 man crew so this would be an opportunity for me to meet the other boys to see if I could join their crew. After our cocoa I took a cab back to Jaime’s house. I found a post on Couchsurfing.com from a girl that was looking to rent a car and explore the north island so I called her up. When I got her on the phone she told me she just booked a bus tour an hour before I called her! She said she could get a 50% refund if she cancelled and might be willing to do so if it seemed right. She let me know she was meeting some CSer’s for dinner later that night and I could join if I wanted and we could feel each other out. I talked to Jaime and Ben, another CS’er staying at Jaime’s house, about dinner and they decided to join. Jaime’s girlfriend Charmaine also came. At dinner we met a few other CSer’s that were staying in Auckland and I had a few minutes to talk toDaphine about possibly exploring the island together. She seemed nice, however she was French, and something about her just didn’t seem right to me. I sensed she was a lil too strong willed and maybe it would be a bad idea to travel with her for 10 days. So ultimately I told her it would probably be best if she took her bus in the morning. We returned to Jaime’s and went to sleep. Next morning (10.30.08) I slept in til around 10:30. Jaime was the only one home and we had an opportunity to hang around the house together. He was really “keen”, that’s what Kiwi and Aussies say, to get into something but I just wanted to figure out how I was gonna get out of Auckland. I had left my drivers license in Nha Trang Viet Nam, but Travis mailed it to Kingi’s house for me. I was torn on whether I should wait for it to show up or take a bus tour. I had also just booked a ticket for Rarotonga on the 11th. I figured even if I didn’t get in with Kingi’s crew I’d be able to find a crew to jump in with once I got to Raro. I spent the majority of the day on the internet searching for couches on Couchsurfing.com all over the North Island. I also borrowed Jaime’s bike and went to a meeting. Later that night there was a Couch Surfing Gathering at the Wine Cellar and Ben and I decided to check it out. When we arrived there were only about 8 people from CS there and it looked pretty lame. I sat for about 15 minutes then dug out to get some food. When I returned the bar had filled up and there were about 20 CSer’s there. I made my way around the crowd and spoke to people from Germany, Canada, NZ and Oz. I ended up meeting Steph from Canada, who had just arrived to NZ a week earlier for beginning a year long vacay. She was eager to get out and explore as was I. My only probably was I didn’t have a driver’s license. We discussed the idea of renting a car together and driving around the North Island and next thing you know we were making plans to meet the following morning to check our options for a car. Next morning (10.31.08) I woke and rode a bike to a meeting and then into town to meet Steph. When I got to her hostel I couldn’t remember her name so I had to talk someone in the internet café into letting me use their account to check an email from her so I could get her name. Once I got her name I went to the front desk but they wouldn’t give me her room number. Instead they left a note on her door for. In the note I told her I’d meet her at 2pm back at the hostel. In the meantime I rode my bike to the Police Station to pick up my passport which I had accidentally left in a cab the night before. Back at the hostel Steph rented a bike and we took off to check on Sleeper Vans. We checked 4 different places and decided to rent a “Wicked” Van for 55$ a day. I was able to talk her down to 50$ a day and give us our first day for half price. We made our reservation starting on the following day and headed to the Auckland Museum. The Auckland Museum was really well put together. They had a very large cultural exhibit representing most of the Pacific Islander cultures. There was another section devoted exclusively Maori Culture. Upstairs they had a couple war exhibits, and exhibit on volcanoes and one on Dinosaurs. We spent the remainder of the day there until they closed at 530pm. We rode back to the hostel and I went to the café to sort out couches for trip. On my bike ride to Jaime’s I saw several groups of trick or treaters walking the streets so I stopped to take my Halloween pics with them. Once back home I found that Jaime and Ben had already left for the Halloween party so I stayed home and watch a movie with his other two roommates.