Suze Vs The World

A very sad day...Helen and I left our little shack in Rotorua, which has been our home for the past month. We are now in the Coromandel in a little place called Tairua, about half an hour away from Whitianga where we had planned to go. We booked ourselves into a lovely little hostel called the Pinnacles Backpackers on the main street.
Helen and I were still recovering from the sunburn we had got while at the Mount last weekend and now it started peeling which meant it was itchy so we were flaking everywhere! Nice! We decided after peeling all over the floor to make a swift exit and hit Tairua town!

 

As usual we got chatting to lots of different people and had a great night of dancing and visiting the few bars Tairua had!

 

 

Prior to the sunburn incident we had been invited by our friend Tommo (I say "our friend," we have actually only met him once and the only way we know him is due to Helen chatting to a girl who sold her a jumper in a shop in Manchester who gave her a list of contacts in New Zealand!)from Auckland to stay in his Bach in the Coromandel. We had got it into our heads that a "bach" was a tent and because my legs were so swollen that I couldn't walk properly I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to stay in a tent. So, Helen text him and said that my sunburn was too painful to stay in his tent! Then a few days later we read in our guidebook that a "bach" is actually a holiday home - how stupid did we feel! We spent the few days leading up to coming to the Coromandel trying to hint to Tommo that I was much better but we were finding it difficult to find a place to stay! Unfortunately, we think we may have been uninvited!

 

We arrived in Whitianga and began phoning round all the hostels but everywhere was booked up. We realised we had our sheets from our duvet covers and so the only thing we could think of was to sleep on the beach and build a den! Eventually, we got booked into a hostel called Bushcreek Cottage but were warned that it was quite far out and we would need to get a taxi.

 

After the twenty minute taxi drive and a $30 bill we arrived at Bushcreek Cottage, set in the middle of nowhere! We had absolutely no idea how we were going to get back into town the next day, especially with our big rucksacks! We went to pay for our accomodation and got very excited when we saw a sign saying "shop" as we had no food and shops if they existed around there would be miles away. The owner of the cottage Ann, asked if we wanted to buy some food, we took a look at the shelf which had a tin of beans, some soup and some noodles and took what was there.

 

Helen asked about signal from a mobile phone and she led us to the top of the hill and said we needed to position ourselves near the washing line to get a signal. We went back inside the hostel and cooked a feast of beef instant noodles and cup a soup. We were unable to drink water from the tap because it was filtered from the river and so we had to boil the water and refridgerate it, so there we were putting a pan of water in the fridge for the morning!

 

We decided against having showers at the cottage because you were only allowed a maximum of five minutes so there would be enough hot water for everybody. Going to the toilet was an adventure, it was outside and most of the time covered in spiders - yuck!

 

We went for a walk around the beautiful surroundings of the cottage, there was a gorgeous river which you could swim in on a nice day. We ended up getting bitten by little creatures so decided to head back to the cottage and get an early night. There was no heating in the cottage because it was built in the 1800's so we were absolutely freezing!

 

Although we had to contend with the cold, lack of food and water and being miles from anywhere, it was quite an adventure and all we could do was laugh!

 

After returning from the Bay of Islands, Helen, Hayley and I decided to return to Auckland for a couple of nights before facing the reality of working and living in Rotorua!

 

The night started off quite civilised in a lovely little pub called the Palace, just off the  main street. We met up with Amy, (who is living and working in Auckland on a placement for the year) Jonathan, Erin and one of their friends (can't remember her name!) Amy and I decided to start on the White Russians (so yummy - kahlua, vodka and milk) and then we all decided to walk to another few bars near the Viaduct.

 

I felt a bit woozy but I stress - I was not drunk!! We were walking down the hill and I slipped over on one of the hazardous drains, and skidded along the pavement and winded myself! It was quite dramatic actually - I screamed and everything, blood was dripping from me and it was all tingly!

 

Amy and I started walking back to her flat to get some plasters and cotton wool but saw a hotel and called in and asked for the first aid kit. There was a grumpy old bat on the desk, who couldn't have cared less if i'd dropped dead in front of her! Luckily a nice chap helped us and gave us everything he could find to mend my finger.

We then headed back into town and carried on with our night. Turned into quite a good night considering the dramatic fall I had at the beginning of the night!

Helen, Hayley, Nick, Jerome and I spent Christmas Day on the beach at Mount Maunganui. We bought a little BBQ and spent ages trying to light it because of how windy it was! We also did a Secret Santa where we spent $10 on one person so that everybody gets a present.

 

There were some random things turning up! It's amazing what you can get for $10! I got Helen a table tennis set (which we tried to play on the beach but the ball kept flying away!), lots of chocolate (which melted on the beach!), a photo album containing pics of her best bits of New Zealand so far (including highlights from the drunken night in Rotorua!) and a truly bargainous hair removal thing bought from the $2 shop! Nick's presents to Hayley included a ceramic money box (hardly light when you're backpacking!) and an old lady blouse he bought from a charity shop!

 

We spent about eight hours on the beach, cooking the BBQ, going in the sea and generally lazing about. We then walked up to the top of the Mount, which had some fantastic views and took some amazing pictures. Helen and I walked to the bottom of the Mount together but got lost! It was getting darker and darker and then Helen was telling me comforting stories about people getting killed in the Mount which helped! Finally we reached the bottom and we were in so much pain and realised that the eight hours we'd spent on the beach might not have been such a great idea! We got back to the hostel and tried to climb up to the top of the bunk but it was a struggle because our legs were so swollen. It was 24 degrees outside, yet I was freezing and had to put my coat on under the duvet! I've never experienced pain like it, we both had to stay in bed on Christmas Day night because we couldn't physically get out of bed!

 

Meanwhile, Hails was out with the rest of the hostel and returned back in the early hours scrambling up to the top of her bunk muttering, "where's my phone gone, oh... no I've left it downstairs" She just kept giggling!