And so it's the beginning of the end for my time in the great New Zealand. We got to the ferry terminal, checked in and had a good reminisce on the good times we had in the last month before boarding. By the end of our stories we were rolling around laughing, even though we had all been there and heard the stories hundreds of times before.
The crossing was fairly boring with the usual kiddies animal-loving Disney films (Cuba Gooding Jr had scooped low with his latest crappy kids film). Despite the ridiculous amount of catch-up sleep I had since Queenstown I still found my head bobbing as I fell in and out of consciousness in the big leather sofa. As Heather, a lovely girl from Cambridge pointed out, people end up just sleeping on transport because there's nothing better to do. That's partly right but I just find the low hum of the engine and the rocking motion so soothing that I end up sleeping whether I need to or not.
We arrive in Windy Wellington at about 6pm, surprisingly minus the wind. It was odd to find ourselves back here after three weeks and although we ha only spent two nights there on the way down, i felt like i already knew the place back to front. We were staying in Nomads the time which was just down the road from Base. It was ok as far as hostels go, made better by the fact that I managed to swindle the room down to 6-bed dorm from a 10-bed and we got a free meal each evening. Just a warning to all who go there though, the small blonde girl at reception, as nice as she is, will take forever to serve you so prepare yourself with snacks and maybe even a sleeping bag if you go to stand in line.
We dumped our bags and Irene and I paid Base a visit to see if we could recover some of the stuff we forgot on our way down. As usual the girl behind the desk was incredibly unhelpful to the point where she almost sounded sarcastic when telling us there wasn't anything logged in. Talk about abusing power. We chilled out that night watching movies and pigging out, making sure we were bright-eyed and bushy tailed (quote Cranium) for the following night.
The next day I was Miss Productive. Went for a run, bought a new charger, sorted out my Fiji trip, got de-fuzzed and climbed mount Victoria (more like a big hill than an actual mountain). On a clear day like that we got some awesome photos from the lookout point which was surrounded by a wood and a small park. I love cities like that - you can have the shops, bars and restaurant at your disposal but there's always a place you can go where you can relax and completely forget you're in a big city. We sat on the grassy hill in the sun, with the trees towering over us and talked about all manner of things like love, family and what we want out of the future. All very deep and meaningful really.
By about 5:30 it was time to get ready to meet the Swedish girls and brian o'brien, have our free meal and head out. Due to a number of reasons that put me on a proper downer, I was in no mood to do things by halves. We started in Base bar, had as many cheap drinks as possible before moving onto the other slightly overpriced bars that lined the streets on Wellington. Gradually throughout the night we said goodbye to the legendary Swedish and Brian O'Brien but along the way we picked up a few other Stray bus users. One of which was the lovely Micah (actual name Matthew but he seemed pretty ashamed of this) a red-headed, surfing, bar-tending Californian who was working as a photographer for Stray. There you go Micah, I told you I'd get you in my blog! I also completely blame you for how much I drank that night.
I crawled into my room at 5:30 having not slept a wink and needing to pack my bag for the 12hour bus journey. Thus started the day from he'll and the hangover to end all hangovers. I could've died on that bus. I was in desperate need of sleep but I felt so sick and my head was pounding so badly that every time I closed my eyes I was fighting back a wave of nausea. All I could tell myself was never, ever again. And I meant it this time. We stopped at Bull, the national park, and some other place a can't remember and I think in total I managed to squeeze in an hour of sleep. By the time I reached Aukland I was on my last legs. We checked into nomads fusion, the sister hostel to the Fat Camel where I stayed when I first arrived in Aukland. It wa almost double the price and in my opinion not worth the extra money for the sake of one night. The kitchen was so dirty your shoes stuck to floor bu the views from the top floor were great and rooms were spacey enough.
Instead of going to bed which exactly what my body was screaming at me to do, we went and met Justine, the welsh lass that left us at national park. We went for Mexican food, a beer in the bar attached to the hostel (i had water) and had the kind of girly chat that made me feel as if I was right back at home with the girls. After that i had a good chat about life in general with Micah who was also staying in the hostel. Despite the hangover from hell it was the perfect way to send my last night in New Zealand. Like Wellington, it was odd to be back in Aukland after everything I had done, seen and experienced since I had been here last. I really didn't want to leave but I know there always next time.
The next day I felt like pants still (damn two-day hangovers!!) but mustered up enough energy to go for a run, go souvenir shopping for ma and pa (I won't tell you what I got just in case they're reading this) and sent the prezzies off at the post office. By that point it was time to say goodbye to Irene, my best friend on this stray bus. We had both gone through our ups and downs through the trip together and I thank her for making it as brilliant as it was. After our hugs and well-wishing I went to meet Mike again for lunch again before my flight. We had a tasty and quite posh two course meal, at mikes choosing, and I even managed to force down a glass of wine (it was part of the lunchtime special before you judge me). It was a clear sunny day and as we drove to the airport I stared out the window and wished I had longer in his beautiful country. I said my farewells to the lovely Mike, scorning him for not yet being on Facebook, checked in my bags, and with a heavy heart boarded my plane for Nadi.