Off we go - on the bus at 8am and cruising down towards Wellington.
Doesn't it sound nice - cruising? =)
Well, it wasn't! =(
(okey now afterwards it's just a funny story, but right then and there it was mostly annoying until it got to the point that all we could do was laugh really..)
I'm in my usual seat, second row from the front, on the left side of the bus, by the window (hey - I can shorten that to btw =)), and when we dropped off two girls after half an hour, this guy IN HIS FORTIES (why - i don't know...) moves up from a couple of rows down, proclaiming loud and clear to everyone in the bus that the front seat is his favorite seat!
ummh, okey, so what?
for a lot of people that's their favorite seat as well - having a clear view of everything and all - I alway place myself right behind that seat 'cause I'll still have the view, but I won't block the seat for those that are car sick, etc etc. (plus it's almost always taken anyway when I get on...)
So this guy turns round straight away starting up a conversation with me - and let me tell you, at 8.30am the day after the Tongariro Crossing, you don't really want to talk to anyone, you just want to sleep, or sit by yourself and slowly drifting off - so I tried to be polite and answer but still not encouraging him. I could tell pretty quick that this man was not all there - there must have been some screws loose, or maybe he's got AD/HD I don't know - and the rest of the journey only proved me right...
After letting me off the hook (once I've yawned enough and stared out the window after answering his questions - sounds rude, but I'm sorry, when you're too tired, you're too tired..), he turned to the driver instead. And ohmigod! he could talk a lot of bullshit I'd tell ya... And he never, ever, ever, ever shut up...
If you've never been on one of these organised bus tours in NZ before I can tell you a little of how it works - the driver has a microphone and works as a guide as well as a driver, so once every now and then he (so far I've only had male drivers) will tell the rest of us about what we're passing, stories from long time ago, or recently. It's really nice, and often it's a lot of funny facts as well as informative - but the rule is: When the driver's on the speaker - no-one talks! Once he's turned on the music we're good to go again, talking to each other, coming up to the driver etc etc.
Well, this guy, from Florida I should say, either didn't know the rules, or completely ignored them - thinking they didn't apply to him. 'Cause as soon as the driver would say something on the microphone, this dude answered and talked back all the time - as if the driver had a private conversation with him.. Like when we passed a military area, Florida-man would start telling the story about how his sister had just moved in to a completely new house with her husband who's in the military, and how they live in the military 'field' or whatever you call it when the officers, lieutenants and their families live on the grounds etc., and how the his father was in the military and when he grew up blablaBLA...
So the driver ended up getting interrupted every single second, and I don't know why he didn't asked the man to wait until he was off the mic, but when he started answering the guys questions or just agreeing ('aha', 'oh I see', 'that's nice') - the rest of the bus only heard what the driver said - and it's not that fun listening to half a conversation that you're not involved in, especially if you'd just like the driver to spit out the info he's about to tell y'all so that you can go to sleep again.
In short - it didn't take long for the entire bus to get really frustrated with Florida-man, wanting to throw him off the bus, or stuff his feet in his mouth...
We didn't actually see anything in particular on the way from Taupo to Wellington - it's such a long drive that there's really no time for a lot of excursions. We drove along Desert Road and tried to look out for wild horses that roam the hills around the road - they are offspring from some horses the people there lost a couple of houndred years ago, and nowadays the people organise 'horse collecting rounds' every year - everyone who needs a horse, or who just want to help out, get together and catch a bunch of wild horses (the government think that it's not good for it to be too many wild horses in the woods, so they need to keep the numbers down a bit). Then in town (Taupo I guess), you can come along and collect a horse, free of charge! Neat!
After a while, I couldn't take Florida-man any longer - when he started asking the driver why the trees are all bent down, and then answered straight away himself "is it because of the wind?" - I had to move..! (Da! What d'ya think?! Where on DESERT Road and we've just heard about how windy it is...) So I joined Christian in the back of the bus for a while, and then sat down with Femke and (I can't spell her name.. something Enne?) to learn some dutch =)
We got to Wellington around around 5pm and the driver took us up to Mt Victoria for a windy view of the city, and we passed the Parliament Building and the Beehive (something to do with the government but the buildning looks like a beehive), before letting me off together with Peter.
But from here, I was going on an adventure - so I left Peter behind and made my way up behind KFC - I was going couchsurfing! =)
Couchsurfing.com - such an amazing site!
Create a profile and search for people in the town/city/village you're going to travel to - if you find any nice people, send them a message and ask if you can crash on their couch for a couple of nights - or, as we say it, 'surf' their couch.
It's all about making the world a better place - opening up and don't be afraid of strangers, meeting new people, making friends, learning a lot about the world =) (so it's not about getting free accommodation - it's about getting to know others)
So I had received a 'yes' from Dan, that I could come and surf his couch for two nights.
And even if it's all about trusting people a lot more, I was really nervous when I got to his house - it's a bit exciting to stay at a complete strangers house =) I knew Dan was at work, but I met all his roomies - two girls (one of 'em from Germany) and another guy - and they guided me to the pub where Dan was playing poker after getting off work.
It was soo much fun! Dan, and his friend Todd, invited me to play a game of poker - and oh well, I was still in the game when they lost and got out..! I even beat some more people that play poker every night - and since I'd started by saying "I don't play poker so I don't know anything", they were a little bit upset when I continued to win... (you'd be so proud of me, Emelie!)
Although, eventually I got a bit cocky and carried away - so I ended up loosing, and before long I was out of the game - but it was great anyway =)
It turned out the night was only starting, 'cause Dan and Todd took me on an amazing pub round! They knew about all the small, special and exclusive places that LonelyPlanet never mentions - in one pub we got our drinks from one of the worlds best bartenders, he's won a lot of awards and when he makes a drink, he doesn't make it - he creates it! - it's like a piece of art! - and ohmigod it was delicious! All I ordered was a glass of white wine, well, I don't know what he did but there was no wine in that glass - a whole lot else though, and the taste was like wine, only better! We went to a total of three of four pubs, I don't really remember.. And well, I didn't pay for anything =D
I did pay the day after anyway - a tiny tajny bit hungover that is...
Friday:
Went down town, and who do I run into after five minutes - if not Peter?! =)
We had some falafel/kebab, and some pancakes, before exploring Te Papa (The National Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa means "Our Place", or "Our Home").
Te Papa had a giant squid on display - but it was a little bit shrunk compared to how it used to be, and a bit slimey and faded - although I really enjoyed the movies they showed about how they found it in a fishing net on one of the fishing boats a couple of years ago - there you could really see how huge it was from the beginning, and bright red too!
Later Friday evening, I cooked my (in)famous shrimp stew for Dan and his roomies, as a small thank you for letting me stay there.
I realise now that I don't have any pics from the poker night, the pubs, or Dan and his room mates at all - I do have one pic of the couch though - super nice I'd tell ya! Slept like a queen! (hope you don't mind Dan that your couch is modelling for my blog)Bye bye Wellington - see you some other time!
And Dan - if you, or Todd, or any of your friends, ever come to Sweden - my couch is always available!
See ya!
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