warpus
In pork I trust
It made for a perfect break from all the walking.. You sit down in a nice comfy couch for 5-10 minutes and enjoy the show
Five weeks in New Zealand
- Thread starter warpus
- Start date
It made for a perfect break from all the walking.. You sit down in a nice comfy couch for 5-10 minutes and enjoy the show
warpus
In pork I trust
Day 28 - Second day in Auckland part 3 & The Long Journey Home
It turns out I took a bit of a panorama video from the summit of Mt. Eden that shows you how nice of a view of the city you get :
Link to video.
The crater of the now extinct volcano:
The crater is considered sacred according to Maori beliefs
After spending a bit of time resting on the summit I decided to abort the coast to coast hike and then leisurely head back downtown using some sort of an alternate route. Why? Well, I was actually kind of sick of walking.. plus I had taken my sweet time anyway and it was doubtful I would have been able to walk there and back before sundown. Either way, I found a place for dinner along the way, and ended up back downtown a bit later.
The next morning I checked out of my hostel and bummed around downtown for a bit, then took a shuttle to the airport. My flight was over 2 hours late.. We got on the plane on time, but the AC system just wouldn't come on.. so they couldn't taken off - and the overly fat lady sitting beside me kept complaining, shifting around, sweating, and just generally being annoying. I felt a bit of her pain, but I doubt she felt any of mine..
We arrived in Chicago late and I ended up just barely not missing the connecting flight to Detroit. After that I had to wait a couple hours for a pre-arranged shuttle to take me back to London, Ontario, along the way paying a brief visit to the friendly folks at the world's friendliest border. Two hours after the border crossing my dad picked me up from the shuttle bus terminal and drove me home.
Right before we get out of the car he turned to me and said: "A couple things at your place have changed". I opened the front door and all the walls in the foyer were gone.. and parts of the ceiling. And the carpet on the stairs. I would have been shocked, but I was exhausted. Apparently the toilet upstairs burst and messed everything up, affecting my bedroom upstairs, the bathroom upstairs, the stairs, the foyer, the livingroom, the stairs to the basement, and the entire basement. The floor me and my parents JUST put in before my trip.. a project that took us a month to accomplish (we were very precise).. was all gone.
My insurance was going to cover everything except for a $1,000 deposit.. Phew.. I went to sleep and woke up the next morning very confused about my whereabouts, and even more confused about the fact that half of the carpet in my bedroom was missing and that I could see planks of wood instead. I was used to waking up at random hostels, but this room looked too giant to be a hostel room. Where was I? Was this home? Why was the carpet missing? Why was I so tired? These are some of the things that went through my head in those first couple very confusing seconds..
I ended up having to fight with insurance over the whole cleanup of this mess, because the company doing the renos messed up a couple times and .. well.. the worst thing that happened later was that the ceiling they put in in the livingroom and foyer ended up cracking in several spots.. and they didn't want to fix it. I fought them for a long time and one day got very invaluable advice at a bar from a drunk lawyer. That was the turning point! I ended up getting the ceiling redone from scratch.. which was annoying - but now it looks awesome.
My tour of New Zealand was a very memorable trip, but it didn't feel like it was really over until that ceiling was fixed. If you're curious which company messed up so bad - I don't mind mentioning their name, because they can go to hell. It's WINMAR, and you should avoid them if you can.
Thanks for following my thread, looking at my pictures, and reading my silly tidbits. It was fun reliving this trip and now as I sit here writing about the return home, it saddens me a bit that it is all over. I miss New Zealand and one day I want to return - maybe to walk a couple more great walks? The Kepler Track is something I might want to do one day.. Plus all the other things I missed!
Who knows when I'll be able to return.. All I know is that one day I will. I fell in love with New Zealand and I will never forget my experiences there.
It turns out I took a bit of a panorama video from the summit of Mt. Eden that shows you how nice of a view of the city you get :
Link to video.
The crater of the now extinct volcano:
The crater is considered sacred according to Maori beliefs
After spending a bit of time resting on the summit I decided to abort the coast to coast hike and then leisurely head back downtown using some sort of an alternate route. Why? Well, I was actually kind of sick of walking.. plus I had taken my sweet time anyway and it was doubtful I would have been able to walk there and back before sundown. Either way, I found a place for dinner along the way, and ended up back downtown a bit later.
The next morning I checked out of my hostel and bummed around downtown for a bit, then took a shuttle to the airport. My flight was over 2 hours late.. We got on the plane on time, but the AC system just wouldn't come on.. so they couldn't taken off - and the overly fat lady sitting beside me kept complaining, shifting around, sweating, and just generally being annoying. I felt a bit of her pain, but I doubt she felt any of mine..
We arrived in Chicago late and I ended up just barely not missing the connecting flight to Detroit. After that I had to wait a couple hours for a pre-arranged shuttle to take me back to London, Ontario, along the way paying a brief visit to the friendly folks at the world's friendliest border. Two hours after the border crossing my dad picked me up from the shuttle bus terminal and drove me home.
Right before we get out of the car he turned to me and said: "A couple things at your place have changed". I opened the front door and all the walls in the foyer were gone.. and parts of the ceiling. And the carpet on the stairs. I would have been shocked, but I was exhausted. Apparently the toilet upstairs burst and messed everything up, affecting my bedroom upstairs, the bathroom upstairs, the stairs, the foyer, the livingroom, the stairs to the basement, and the entire basement. The floor me and my parents JUST put in before my trip.. a project that took us a month to accomplish (we were very precise).. was all gone.
My insurance was going to cover everything except for a $1,000 deposit.. Phew.. I went to sleep and woke up the next morning very confused about my whereabouts, and even more confused about the fact that half of the carpet in my bedroom was missing and that I could see planks of wood instead. I was used to waking up at random hostels, but this room looked too giant to be a hostel room. Where was I? Was this home? Why was the carpet missing? Why was I so tired? These are some of the things that went through my head in those first couple very confusing seconds..
I ended up having to fight with insurance over the whole cleanup of this mess, because the company doing the renos messed up a couple times and .. well.. the worst thing that happened later was that the ceiling they put in in the livingroom and foyer ended up cracking in several spots.. and they didn't want to fix it. I fought them for a long time and one day got very invaluable advice at a bar from a drunk lawyer. That was the turning point! I ended up getting the ceiling redone from scratch.. which was annoying - but now it looks awesome.
My tour of New Zealand was a very memorable trip, but it didn't feel like it was really over until that ceiling was fixed. If you're curious which company messed up so bad - I don't mind mentioning their name, because they can go to hell. It's WINMAR, and you should avoid them if you can.
Thanks for following my thread, looking at my pictures, and reading my silly tidbits. It was fun reliving this trip and now as I sit here writing about the return home, it saddens me a bit that it is all over. I miss New Zealand and one day I want to return - maybe to walk a couple more great walks? The Kepler Track is something I might want to do one day.. Plus all the other things I missed!
Who knows when I'll be able to return.. All I know is that one day I will. I fell in love with New Zealand and I will never forget my experiences there.
Great trip. Great recap. 
Zardnaar
Deity
Things have changed a bit in the last 8 years. Looked great
We should start a petition.Hey! Why doesn't anybody do threads like this anymore?
I’m heading to New Zealand for three weeks in May, I can be the (un)lucky volunteer?Hey! Why doesn't anybody do threads like this anymore?
I’m heading to New Zealand for three weeks in May, I can be the (un)lucky volunteer?
Take lots of pics.
Have a good time.
warpus
In pork I trust
Oh yeah? What's changed?
Hey! Why doesn't anybody do threads like this anymore?
I could start up the next one. But which one? Norway, Japan, or Nepal?
I’m heading to New Zealand for three weeks in May, I can be the (un)lucky volunteer?
Have fun!! Are you doing any hiking?
Zkribbler
Deity
"The crater is considered sacred according to Maori beliefs"
I see the word "tapu," which I assume means the same as "taboo" in Tahitian and "kapu" in Hawaiian.
I see the word "tapu," which I assume means the same as "taboo" in Tahitian and "kapu" in Hawaiian.
Chronological order?
The one I'm most interested in is Norway. But as Cutlass says, we are interested in all of them.
To start with, it would mean doing a search for your posts, and some of them are archived at this point because they're in one of the serial threads. I think those are still searchable, though.
A bit, I’m not sure of the exact itenerary yet (it is through the university) but there will be at least a couple days of wilderness activity.
Zardnaar
Deity
An extra half million people, housing crisis (saw my 1st homeless perosn here last year), mass tourism with freedom camping (Europeans literally crapping everywhere), and intensive farming has wrecked the east coast rivers in the South Island.
Interesting Kea documentary on Netflix as well, they are in trouble perhaps 3000 left in the South. We used to go up to the Mount Cook area as a kid to see them, full of tourists now.
Those mountain lakes you posted earlier (the small ones) we call them Tarns used to swim in them in the 90's mid winter once.
Last edited:
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
It seems that Photobucket wants more of your money....
Zardnaar
Deity
It was working last night sigh.
Similar threads
