My final, epically long, NZ post.

I woke up alone on the floor the next morning to the sound of the rain outside. Dane, Julian and I had planned on going freebording all day, but considering the weather that wasn’t going to happen. It began to brighten up around midday, so we took the opportunity to skate around 7km to Mission Bay, down Queen Street and along the water front. We got an ice cream and a Burger King there, which was far from appetising, and as we were doing so the rain came again. However, this time it came sideways with a massive wind blowing against. We had to skate back, and became soaking wet very, very quickly. The skate back wasn’t as enjoyable as the skate there, and once we got back to Dane’s we spent the rest of the day drying out, and I decided what to do for the rest of my time in NZ (about 8 days).

I decided to head south to Taupo, and then after talking to Nat who’s skated NZ I decided to spend three days skating the desert road (which very thankfully didn’t happen – to be explained later!), and then heading back to Auckland for a few days.

The next morning, after a little issue with the bus company after me writing down the wrong number for my ticket, I was on the bus to Taupo. I got off not really knowing where to go, and met a Canadian girl in the same boat. Taupo is pretty small, so we wandered for a couple of minutes until we found a backpackers. It as really not the season for travelling over there, a 100+ capacity hostel only had about 8 of us that night.

Steph (the Canadian girl) and I spent the evening wandering around the town, which didn’t take too long and got some food. The town was pretty at night, and very quiet. Taupo is south of Rotorua on a massive lake, and not somewhere we had gotten to on our whirlwind tour of the North Island. At the book swap in the hostel I found a book which was set in Piddletrenthide, around 15 miles from my home in England. It was damn odd to be reading about somewhere so close to home, yet being so far away. That was pretty much it for the day, not overly exciting but great to see somewhere new nonetheless.

The next morning Steph and I got breakfast and walked around the town some more. I finally bought a jade necklace for myself (which you’re not meant to do – you’re meant to get given them, but seeing as I’m not Maori, I figured its not my tradition, so what the heck!), and at around 1pm I got the bus to Turangi, which is a town south of Lake Taupo.

My intention was to skate the dessert road from here for the two following days, so I went to the information centre to talk to them about it. They basically told me in no way, shape or form should I do it, even though I said it’d been done before! In hindsight, I’m so glad I didn’t do it, but at the time I was looking forwards to doing it, but became pretty damn nervous at this point! I checked into a hostel there and spent the day skating around the town and did a small walk, until it started to rain and I returned to the hostel.

I knew Lizzie (who I met in Palmerston North) was going to be going snowboarding with a friend around the time I had from then until the end of the trip, and she had said that I was welcome to come with them. After some thought about the skate, and how I was really turning against the idea, I gave her call, and thank goodness they were leaving the next day from Palmerston, about a 3 hour bus ride away! I was then pretty damn happy, a) as I really had gotten scared about skating the road, and b) I was looking forwards to travelling with her and her friend.

My coach left in the afternoon, so the next day I carried on with the walk I was doing. The weather wasn’t much nicer, but at least it wasn’t raining. It was also super windy, and the dessert was shut off in the morning due to the conditions – so glad I didn’t start to skate it! After walking I spent a lot of time just wandering about. The town of Turangi itself is tiny, hardly even a main high street, but that’s fairly typical for a lot of the NZ towns. There’s so little in the country that even the smallest of towns is fairly important. For those people reading this in Bridport (if there are any), our town is far bigger than a lot of the big towns in NZ, and that’s only about 15,000 people including all of the villages.

I got on the bus that afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed the few hour journey. It spent at least an hour climbing the rugged terrain to the top of the pass, along it for an hour, and then dropped back down the other side. There was nowhere at all to camp on the road, and the winds were absolutely howling, hideous stuff to be out in! The whole time I was on the bus I was bloody grateful that I wasn’t out skating in it. I went past the three volcanoes again (see previous blog for info on them), and then down into Waiouru, a very small army town where I would’ve ended my skate. It had nothing there, proper tiny! Another couple of hours of coach ride, and I was in Palmerston North. An interesting thing to note, on a stop I looked at houses. In the small town I was in you could buy a bungalow for £40,000. Mad cheap.

I got into Palmerston at around six, and looked around the town for a while whilst waiting for Lizzie and Mariel to say their goodbyes to everyone and come pick me up in town. A couple hours later they arrived, in a huge, white, very old and beaten estate. It was a damn good job they got that, as with everything they owned there was only just enough room for me, my bag and Roxanne (the longboard!).

With me all packed in we drove north for a couple of hours until we got New Plymouth (via a Thai restaurant for more food). We got to a backpackers called the Missing Leg, which was pretty much a house just to ourselves! Sadly the fire wasn’t lit when we got there (around 9.30pm), and it was pretty cold. We ended up cooking, playing with a hackey sack and getting an early night.

The next morning we got up and headed into New Plymouth fairly early. After a natter with the guy at the information centre we headed to local snow store and rented some gear. It wasn’t the best gear we’ve ever used to say the least! The board range was very limited; in fact I was lucky to get one just about big enough for me… We loaded everything back into the car and headed to the ski area on Mt. Taranaki.

On the way to the resort (and I se that term loosely here!) we unloaded everything that was in the boot asides from the ski stuff, and it was a damn good job we did. Road up started progressively turned from normal road to a steep, very windy, snowy, icy road. Lizzie, being the pro at driving in these conditions as she’s at uni in VT, got us up it to the car park, where there were about 4 cars. Nice quiet day on the mountain!

The walk to the mountain from there took around 30 minutes, up a hill and then around a ravine, it was pretty cool actually, if a tad annoying at the time. There was a cable car thing to take boards across, but it didn’t seem to be working at the time and we didn’t want to leave our stuff on there and just hope it would take it across!

The mountain was actually pretty small, and had no trees at all which is so different to anywhere else I’ve snowboarded. The snow layer wasn’t very deep either, and by the end of the day there were a lot of grassy clumps all over the slope. The riding was sweet, cheap lift passes and beautiful weather. There was only one lift we could use however, so not exactly masses of mountain available to us due to the small size of the resort. There was a lift higher up but you needed a belt tow clip thing, and none of us had one or really wanted to rent one. We finished around 3pm after getting tired of doing the same few runs, and headed into town to return our gear. We also picked up some food, and headed back to our hostel/awesome lodge and settled down for some cooking and drinks.

That night we got the fire lit, and spent an enjoyable sitting around, eating, drinking and playing a board game (can’t remember what it was for the life of me… Monopoly maybe?).

After a much warmer nights sleep we went into town in the morning and walked along the beach for a while whilst deciding what to do. We decided to play in the park for a while, decision well made!

We then drove for a few hours (but felt like forever) to Ohakune, a town south of the desert, and which had several resorts close by. We got in, managed to get a 4 bed room in a hostel to ourselves, and went out for some Italian food. After dinner we headed back and watched LOTR3, which took forever. We all fell asleep at some point during it, and at the end of the 3 hour epic we were all very ready for bed.

The next day turned into a pretty epic fail. We got up early and went and rented some gear, all good. You could either get a shuttle up to the resort or drive, and you drive you needed chains which you could rent part way up the mountain. We decided to drive and headed up to the car park where you could rent chains. It turned out that although it was still early a lot of people had the same idea, and were waiting as well to get chains. Problem being the rental hut wasn’t open and it didn’t look like it would be for a while…

After a while of waiting we decided to just go back to town and get a bus up, and it turned out we were damn glad that we did. After the point where you needed snow chains the road got really steep, the visibility dropped right down as the wind was so strong, and it was just plain awful. The wind was so strong that we could feel it buffeting the bus around, kinda freaky really. With the wind so strong it also meant the ski conditions were absolutely awful. Every lift was shut out asides from the beginners slope due to high winds. We bought a lift ticket for the beginner’s area, and as soon as we saw it we instantly wished we hadn’t. About 300 people crammed onto a small beginner slope…

We took one run and the girls instantly sad no. Seeing as we’d made the effort to get here I took a couple more before giving up. It was so crowded that it was quicker to walk back up the hill than take the lift, no fun. We all headed back to the ticket room, where Lizzie very nicely complained enough that we all got our money back for lift tickets, stoked! There was a guy next to us who’d had his pass for more than an hour, and they were refusing to give him back him money which was pretty shitty, or even a part discount.

We got onto the next bus back and went back down to the far sunnier and less windy town. It was still pretty early at this point, so I returned my ski stuff, got a bit of my money back as it was still early in the day and I’d hardly used it, and then worked out a bus for me the next day. I had two more days in the country at this point and needed to get back to Auckland the following day to all of my stuff packed away before my flight the day after that.

As the weather was ok down in the town we went for a walk for a couple of hours out in the countryside, and headed back in the dark. Nothing overly exciting, but it was a cold, beautiful autumn day and great to be outside. We got back into town and got stuff for tea. I have no idea what we cooked, but whatever it was I can remember it being good! Lizzie and I watched se7en, Mariel wrote her diary/read, and then we all slept.

The next morning Mariel and Lizzie woke up early and went up to the mountain. I later found out that the weather was lovely on the mountain, and that they had an awesome session, too bad I had to miss it getting a bus back to Auckland!

Before I got the bus I had a few hours to kill, so I began by taking a walk along the river running by the town. As I got back I noticed a church service was beginning in a small church nearby, so I went along to it. I was feeling very emotional at this point; leaving everyone, leaving the country, and so forth, and I cried a lot during the service. The service itself was really nice, a small affair made up mostly of the elderly, and a few middle aged people. I felt God had truly blessed me by allowing me to go to NZ and meet the people I did.

After the service it was time to get my bus, which then took up the rest of the day. I got into Auckland at around 7 that evening, went to Dane’s and began to pack everything away. I went to bed late that night, intending to get up early the next day to walk around Auckland Domain, go to the art gallery, and see a bit more of the city before I left the following evening.

Dane was working really hard for Uni (exams were coming up), so I didn’t see masses of him that evening. The next morning I woke up at 8, and headed out to the wintergarden. The weather was cold and crisp, a lovely last morning. The garden was beautiful, there were very few people there, and I spent some time wandering around, doing some sketches, and taking it all in. From there I ambled to the art gallery where I was meant to meet Julian, who never showed up….

The main gallery was closed for renovations, so I ended up in the temporary one, which had a few Colin McCahon paintings there which was the main reason I wanted to go there. The paintings were great, but better still there was an amazing pancake stall just outside the gallery, which absolutely incredible. A couple of pancakes later and I wandered back to Dane’s.

It turned out no-one was in, so I just hung out and waited for a bit until people came back. Dane still had a lot of work on, so he just came back for lunch. Dane, Julian and I went down to McDonalds on Queen Street, which was ironically where we all got food when I first arrived in New Zealand. It was a little surreal, as this was the place I first came to with Dane, Julian, Josh and Matho, and it just made me realise how quickly my time in NZ had gone by, and how sad I was to be leaving.

Dane headed back to uni and Julian and I walked around Queen Street. I bought some very bright, very stripey thermals which I think are awesome (apparently no-one else in England does)! And that was most of the day gone. I had one thing I wanted to do before I left; go up the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere (apparently). None of the others particularly wanted to, so I went up alone. I went up about 30 minutes before sunset and stayed up there for over and hour, watching the world get dark and the city lights go on. It was fairly cloudy and overcast, but it was my last sunset in NZ, and it was beautiful.

I came down from the tower into the night and headed up Queen Street to Dane’s. I picked up my bags and said my final bags to him, Julian and Rebecca and made my way to the bus stop. A final farewell, and I was on my way to the airport, and home.

The baggage allowance for my flight was 20kg, which I was fairly nervous about. I was taking three longboards home with me, as well as a lot of clothes, shells, and general stuff I somehow accumulated. Luckily I was also allowed a backpack and a laptop bag, so I had some room to put the heaving items into my carry on. I had one box for the boards and padding, and my rucksack, which turned out to weigh a combined total of nearly 25kg. A bit of weight shedding later (including throwing away some old trousers and tent pegs), and I was down a couple of kilos.

I decided to take some time off and wandered around the airport. The only place open to get food was McDonalds (they seem to be getting a regular mention here, which is very strange seeing as I probably haven’t even been to one more than ten times!), so I got an apple pie and sat down with a trolley full of bags and a box. I started chatting with a Romanian girl called Diana who was getting the same flights as me to get back to England, so it turned out I had a travel buddy the whole way home!

She also has a mass of luggage, so after the food we headed over to the scales and commenced repacking. Eventually I managed to get my bags down to 20kg, but had made myself a fair few kilos heavier in the process! My coat was full of shells, my laptop bag was crammed, as was my backpack, Diana was wearing one of my jumpers as she was cold (every little helps!), and I had my skate helmet and hiking shoes hanging from my laptop bag, as they were too heavy to get in my checked bags.

Our flight was leaving at around 5am, so we both sat and waited for our gate to open before going through customs. After some very uncomfortable sleep for a couple of hours we checked in and headed to the departure lounge. I was slightly nervous as I had a lot of shells in my pockets and thought they might stop me, but it turned out to be fine.

We got onto the plane and I promptly fell asleep, for most of the 9 hour flight to Brunei, in between watching 'He’s Just Not That Into You'. I got off the plane to find Diana waiting for me, and we headed through customs to the main part of the airport for out massively long layover, which lasted most of the day. We decided to go on a tour of the city which included a river boat to see monkeys, and going to the national museum, a giant mosque, and a shopping mall.

The tour included the two of us and an English couple of about 65 who were headed to England also, who now live in NZ, and have been for a long time. We drove down to the river and got on a long, thin boat, which was absolutely awesome. Brunei has a giant river village with schools, stores, the works. We drove up through the village and out in the main estuary which was shrouded by dense mangrove on either side. There was quite a bit of pollution in the water, which I guess was fairly expected as the river village was just nearby. We started to head down side paths, and eventually nosed into the forest. We sat there in the silence for around 15 minutes, sweating, and listening to the sound of the forest. Monkeys were scattered here and there, none overly close though. It was a whole different world in there. We mosied back out and continued upriver until we got to a low bridge we could not get under, and then turned and headed back to the city.

The museum was next on our whirlwind tour of the city. It was dedicated entirely to the sultan, and was full of gifts to him, and his chariots.

From there we headed to the old and new mosques in the city. They are huuuuge! Sadly we couldn’t go in them as it was the time of prayer. Apparently there’s a 3.2 tonnes gold statue of a lamb in the new one, and all of the domes are covered in 24 carat gold, which makes up a LOT of gold.

What was probably the best part came next; the mall. First stop, the food court. Food was crazy cheap, so we piled up with masses of it. I ended up with a three tiered milk, syrupy black stuff and iced tea drink in an old fashioned ale glass, a soup with tofu, eggs, noodles and chilli and Diana got Tum Yum (seafood soup). All for about £4. Then on to milkshakes. They had some of the oddest flavours, such as sweetcorn and yam, but sadly they’d run out of them and I had to settle for Oreo. Bad times.

A lot of wandering around the shopping mall ensued, with buying of stuff such as knock-off sunglasses which were a mix between boots and sandals (for Diana I hasten to add), and an I <3 Brunei shirt. You could buy some strange stuff as well, such as Nazi memorabilia matches and whatnot, not overly sure who buys them…

Before we left for the airport it was back for more food, this time rice and sweet beef for less than £1. I wish food here was that cheap. Our mall adventure over, we headed back to the airport where we took a walk for an hour in the crazy hotness that is Brunei. There was the weirdest fruit ever on a tree. It was the size of a rugby ball, green, spiky, and only one on the whole tree.

Four hours later and a quick shower each and we were headed to Dubai, and then onto England. I sat next to a guy who was loud, but very interesting. He’d ran over 300 marathons, raised over £250,000 for charities and has and MBE. 8 hours later and we arrived in Dubai, possibly the most expensive airport ever, where a single hot chocolate costs US$7. A bottle of vodka was only $12 though….

The layover was only an hour long, so we were soon back on the plane, England bound. A couple of hours sleep, and a lot of sitting later we arrived; nearly 5 months after leaving and I was back in England.

Diana and I cleared customs then stood watching as our baggage slowly rolled around to us. A couple minutes later and we emerged into the main area of the airport. At the end I could see a woman waving frantically; the first I’d seen of my mum in such a long time! Diana and I said our goodbyes, and I ran to hug my mum and sister. I was finally home.


Thus ends my final marathon text entry, only 7 months after being back, and almost a year since I first left. My time in NZ was absolutely fantastic, made especially fantastic thanks to the friends I met over there. We just met again in Boston, and it was truly special. I hope we all meet again soon, wherever it may be.

If people have read all of this, I’m very impressed!

Catch you all later,

Rob x