Finally in Australia, it's just been one of those days.

Welp, I am finally in Melbourne city. Today was a very long, special day. It seemed like one of those days where everything tries to go wrong. The poopy thing is, truthfully, the majority of it was my own fault, which just kills me. So, I was supposed to take the bus from Hamilton to Auckland International Airport, and at some point I was supposed to get off the bus and get on a new one. I fell asleep with my ipod on and woke up in some strange town outside Auckland. Rad. I had to pay a fun amount to take a cab back to the Airport, off to a great start. Once I finally get to the check in counter I find out my bags combined weight is 10 kg's (over 20 lbs) over the limit. So I play around for 30 minutes putting more clothes on, stuffing things into my carry on and putting shoes on my bloody feet. Apparently Parker and I got fleas while we were camping, and in my sleep I have been itching my feet until the bleed. Its attractive, I know. Anywho, I finally get it close enough and I had to beg the manager to let me by, he looked at me like he felt bad for me, like I was a bum. Which honestly at this point, I kind of do look like a bum. Anyway, after that get pulled aside at security, probably for looking like a bum. Went through my stuff, and whatever, got cleared. So at this point I am stressing on if I am even going to make it or not. I make it on the plane, the flight was grand, no complaints there. But once I get off the plane and go through immigration it turns out I filled out my visa for Australia wrong. I didn't put my middle name, which evidently is a big deal. So I have to go to a special place and talk to a lady who scolds me about how I need to fill out all the correct information. Which I now know. So I make it through, and I am just ready to get to my hotel room for the night and veg. I make my way out to the zoo that is the taxi line, and have to do a 200 yard obstacle course holding all my heavy bags in 80 degree weather, so I am just drenched in sweat now, looking more like a bum. And once I make my way to the cab line, all the taxi drivers decide they don't want me in their car because I have a surf board. I tried to reason with them and tell them it would fit and they all denied me. So I wait around for a while and finally get a handicapped van, which fully suited my mental abilities for the day. So I tell the nice Indian man that I am going to the Atlantis Hotel (he really was Indian, I am not being racist, he made me play a guessing game in the van and I guessed all these obscure places and he finally told me India). He has no idea what I am talking about and starts freaking out at me asking me where it is, what their phone number is and what area it is in. I have no idea, and so he runs out of the car and goes and asks some of his buddies in turbans and we get it all sorted. But, apparently the hotel, which I was referred to by the internet due to its good price and relative closeness to the airport, is actually a $70 cab ride away. Awesome, thank you Google, you jerk. But oh well. I talked him into giving me a discount, and got his information to drive me tomorrow. So that worked out. Overall though, I knew I would make it here. All that stuff didn't really get to me that much, it was how expensive it was all getting and how fast money goes when you don't have your head on straight. That frustrated me. But I made it and that's all that matters, no real harm done, except to my funds... bastards. I always start thinking about what better things I could have spent that money on too, had I not been an idiot. Oh well, at least the last couple days in NZ were great. Parker and I got some really fun waves in Raglan, surfed some really fun break that we had to paddle across this massive estuary, and walk about 10-20 minutes (i have no perception of time anymore) to this break that was empty and firing. It was the day before the big swell hit actually and everywhere was just flat and wind blown, so we went to this place and had a blast. Paddling back across after the surf was a real battle though. Nobody wanted to say it, but it was a full struggle. Luckily the current was minor, or else I would have just washed out to sea, game over. We also scored Indicators, which is the outside point break in Raglan. Pretty crowded, but there were enough waves to go around. I had some really fun ones there. Over all it was awesome. Spending time with Andy and his family (Thank you again so much for the hospitality, taking me to the doctors/hospital and letting me stay for so long, I really appreciate it) and meeting up and staying with Parker who I really had not gotten to hang out with much since high school. It was pretty funny to talk about high school again, because I mean, I never do. Some funny memories. The fleas aren't that fun though.. But thanks again to you Parker, glad we got to party, surf and hang out again. All the other friends I met in NZ too really made the trip a blast. So thanks everyone! I hope you guys read this. Its like 4am in the states right now, and only 11pm here. I am going to go out and check out Melbourne now. Adios!

(ps I will create another photo album for the second leg of the NZ trip and post it on here for you guys, soon)

Exploring NZ still.

Hello, I am still traveling in New Zealand. I have left Mt. Maunganui and have been traveling around a lot the past week or so all over the east and west coast. A friend of mine from high school, Parker, who went to school here for a semester and was back over here living for a couple months, met up with me last week and we took his van all over the east coast following this fun swell that came through. We got numerous places just empty and firing. We ended up driving up to Whangapoua and staying with a friend of Parker's who has one of the most incredible houses on this hill over looking the tiny town of Whangapoua and this jaw dropping view of the estuary (see above picture). By far one of the most impressive pieces of real estate I have seen. The family ended up being from Laguna, well originally from NZ but moved to Laguna 30 years ago or so and now lives in both places, and they were phenomenal. Super hospitable and mellow, they took us fishing and scored some massive 15 lb Snapper (mine wasn't, I caught the babies and threw them all back), as well as fed us some deluxe meals. We stayed there for about 3 or 4 days total, but in that time we did a few sneaky surf missions. We had this one wild 20 minute hike out to this point break in Whangapoua that was about a foot or two over head and had amazing shape, slabbing right on the rocks pretty much. The take off was sketchy but the wave itself was comparable to Hawaii. On the other side of that same point break, was this secret little beach break cove called New Chums. The waves where double the size as the point break and it was heavy. The paddle out nearly killed us, literally unable to paddle out right near the break. We fought to get through it way longer than we should have then ended up back on the beach after a set wave wiped us all out. We had walk down 100 yards or so from the main peak and paddle out and once we were out it was even crazier than we had thought. My first wave was a set wave and literally doubled up and I had a full stand up barrel for about a second or two before taking the worst beating of my life. The whole bay started closing out and it was basically just suicide after a while. Nobody else seemed to enjoy it as much as I did though, it really reminded me of home. Big close out barrels at gravels or links, it felt like home for a little, just with warmer water. I am not going to go through and list all the other places I scored, but I will just say that we got this very amazing and wild A frame that wrapped around this tiny island in this bay as well as the most barreling, off shore, unpopulated break in the middle of no where. This wave Waikawau was one of the coolest areas I have been too. I took a ton of photos because it is basically too cool to describe. It was like being lost on another planet and no ocean in site, and then you wander over this weird sand dune and stumble up an untouched, unpopulated beach with the most perfect waves possible. So basically, the past couple days have been amazing, surfing wise. I am now in Raglan hangin out. We have done some little camping trips since we have been here too, as well as scored this wave that doesn't break too often. Parker was telling me how lucky I am to be in Raglan for about a day and score that wave, and I reminded him that I was also lucky enough to be in New Zealand for a week and get bit by the only poisonous thing in New Zealand... We also had an unsuccessful surf mission to this other really sneaky secret break where we were almost mauled by cows. I didn't think cows were that gnarly, but apparently we did something to piss off these cows and they were not happy. You feel somewhat helpless and small when a heard of 30+ cows start to crowd you and walk very fast towards you, looking at you all weird. I was holding my surfboard up at them as if it would save me, and it seemed to work, it freaked them out. Parker just used me as a shield. But it is all good, we were not mauled by cows but I did take a mild beating from an electric fence... I haven't had a meat pie in a couple days, but I have been eating a lot of cookies. Cookies and Chicken Katsu. It really fuels me for the day. Raglan is a pretty funny area, it's like a full little hippy town where everyone surfs. Pretty much exact opposite from Mt. Maunganui, but it is just as fun. Each place is so different and awesome in its own way. I am kind of sad I didn't get to see the south island on this trip because of the medical fiasco, but I will be back for sure. I leave here in four days though and fly to Australia, which I am very excited about. I am off to go surf and play more around here, but I will try to update again soon, or when I get to Australia! Adios.

It's raining so I figured I should update you guys.

Hello, as the title of this states, it's raining outside right now and a little stormy. I just got back from a walk to the surf shop to look at this board again that I have been drooling over the past couple days, and pick up some fresh bread from the bakery. I was going to get a new kind of meat pie today, but it was only 11 and if I have one now I will be hungry again in like 2 hours and probably end up walking back down to get another one. I have kind of done a complete 180 from my eating habits at home. I really haven't been health conscious at all, and its showing a little. I am filling in quite nicely, and frankly I'm into it. I know that when I get to Bali and south east Asia I will loose all my weight again. So I figure i will just live it up now. I also had not gotten any exercise in about a week from that stupid spider. Yesterday was actually my first day back in the water, and the waves were pumping over at Matakana Island. We took Andy's boat over at around 5 and surfed till about 8 and had a blast. The only way to get there is by boat so you pull up and outside the break is littered with all sorts of boats, which is cool because you can really tell when the good sets are coming. All the boats get lifted super high. I love pulling up to surf when your in a boat, you really just get to jump into the line up without having to paddle out through the breakwater and whatnot. And I like to do backflips off the boat when we pull up. It really felt good to be back in the water though. Hopefully the weather dissipates and the wind dies a little, or turns off shore, so that we can go out there again today. The swell is supposed to build through the week so by Friday I think its supposed to be 6-8ft, but we shall see. I am always weary of surf reports, i like to believe they are telling the truth, but they are usually always lies.

In other news, my face is healing up very nicely! Thank you all for your prayers, they really did help. There are no visible scars on my face, I cant even see any marks from the surgery now. The inside of my mouth has a massive scar, about an inch and half long or so from where the doctor had to go in and clean the infection and venom out. It feels real weird when I run my tongue along it. There is still a small bit of swelling but its basically just scar tissue now that will break up in a short amount of time. The numbness isn't that bad either, I just cant feel if there is food on my face or not.. which is stressful all in itself. If i go on a date and I am still numb there I will be so self conscious wondering if there's food stuck to my face and I will become a compulsive face wiper. I met with the doc yesterday actually and he said the infection is all gone and I am good to go. He also told me that I may be more susceptible to infections from spiders than most people (duh) and that next time I should really try to get to a doctor sooner next time (double duh). I actually tried to get into the doctor the day after I felt it growing and New Zealand had some weird public holiday and all the freakin doctors offices were closed!! And the next day I went in and went on a puny antibiotic that didn't do anything and i think just fueled the fire in my face. But oh well, it all ended up working out. I was only really laid up for a few days. When i was feeling better I started goin on walks on the beach around the mountain and through town. We got some golf in and went fishing one day with some friends over at Matakana. So it really wasn't that bad. The surf was actually not too goo the whole time I was out too, it just picked up yesterday. I must admit though, being able to fully clean my teeth again and eat normally is amazing. I could only clean the right side f my mouth for a while and it was driving me crazy! I could not fit a toothbrush in the left side, it was too swollen and painful. And eating using my whole mouth again, such a dream come true. I pulled the last of the stitches out on my own because they were killing me while I was eating, as much as those dang tubes. But I am back, and back on the meat pies. I think I am going to go for the chicken Alfredo today, or possibly a mince and cheese. I feel like its too late in the day for a bacon and egg, so I should go with a more time-of-day appropriate. I might go to an all new bakery and see what gems I can find. Or i might just get a kebab again. Who knows. All I do know is that the person who told me the food in New Zealand was no good could not have been more wrong.

Ps. Here are some photos from the first leg of the New Zealand segment of the trip!

Enjoy!

All is good.

Saw the doctor again today, got the tubes taken out of my cheek and everything is healing up nicely. My face is numb still (as it should be for a couple months apparently) but I would definitely rather have that than the horrible pain that I was having before they cut me open. But yup, no worries fans. Your prayers really helped, so thank you everyone. But continue to pray please, because I am sure I will need many more. I finally got some exercise today as well. Went for a nice little 3 mile walk through the city and along the beach. And of course needed a nap soon after. I have had some good naps lately actually. Might be from the pain pills though... either way I have been getting in some solid snoozes. It feels so good not having those stupid tubes in my face anymore!! I know they were crucial for drainage but they were miserable. Eating was such a hassle and accidently biting them was not fun. I have been whipping up some killer, easy to eat meals though. A lot of pan seared and bbqed veggies. I've been grilling them up with a little bit of ham leg as well, with a splash of brown sugar. Pretty tasty. The veggies and fruits here are so fresh and amazing. Actually I am getting hungry now... so hopefully I continue to heal up well and will be able to get back into the water soon! Thank you all again for your prayers and caring. Time to cook!

Doc says I'm lookin alright.

Just saw the doc and he tells me everything is looking pretty good. It was supposed to be a 30 minute surgery, but ended up taking closer to an hour and half. He did an extremely thorough clean out and took extra precautions for other infection. He said I should be doing good in no time, as long as I avoid anymore spiders with my face. Tomorrow the tubes should be coming out, but the stitches will stay in for a few more days. Doc told me that I should regain feeling in my cheek and lips within a few months, so I wont be a total goober forever. The swelling should go down in a few days as well hopefully. I look like I got rocked by Mike Tyson in his early years, or maybe even his later years, he looks like he still has it. I am just glad it all seemed to work out so well, and I was able to jump into surgery so fast. I'd rather it happen here where the doctors are awesome and the hospitals are super clean than in somewhere in Indo.. I just really have to avoid spiders and creatures in Indo, and Australia and everywhere else actually... I am going to purchase a biohazard suit to do the rest of my exploring in as to avoid any further unfun exposure to dangerous creatures/things. I am actually not that upset about the bite or the surgery and whatnot, it's the fact that I cant go exploring around more of New Zealand because of it. I have about 2 weeks left here and I mean best case in a week I will be good enough to go out, in which case i might just cruise around the north island for the week before flying to Aus. I will definitely be coming back to NZ though. Regardless. I love this place. Anyway, keep praying for me please. I need all the help I can get.

I have felt prettier.

Well, That funny little bug bite ended up being pretty bad. I have spent the last 3 days in the doctors, and in bed. And Yesterday went in to see the doc and had to be rushed into emergency surgery to get my face cut up. Apparently the White Tail Spider is becoming increasingly toxic and in some cases, limbs have had to be amputated. Fun fact I learned yesterday pre-surgery. So anyway, I spent all day yesterday, since 8am going from doctors, to hospitals, to specialists, to oral surgeons. Finally at about 530pm or so NZ time I went in to get cut open. The surgeons had to cut open the inside of my mouth as well as some minor cuts through the outside of my cheek. But they believe they have gotten most of the infection and toxins out of me. I am Actually getting ready to go back to the doctors in a moment and hopefully hear that I am doing dandy. I feel so much better from yesterday already, even though I have tubes coming through my face and mouth. Still feels better than the pain that infection was causing. Pretty wild experience so far I would say, hopefully this is the last trouble I will have with this. Praying for it. I said quite a few yesterday and I think my angel had an eye on me. Anyway I will update you all on my status once I return. The funny thing is though, that all I can eat is fruit now, and I wasn't too big on it really before, but now I love it. I have been eating Kiwi's like they are some hip new trend, and I don't even know the other fruits, but they are all tasty. There are a ton of really delicious and all organically grown fruits and veggies here in NZ, which is awesome. I told Andy's family I would cook for them tonight since they have been taking such good care of me and putting up with specialness... Anyway, I will keep you all updated! Pray for me!

An eventful first week in New Zealand.

Well hello friends, it has been quite the eventful week in the old NZ. I've got to surf at least once every day, been camping, discovered the best tasting beer I have ever had (Monteith's Summer Ale), done a fair bit of hiking and exploring as well as get mauled by the only dangerous thing in New Zealand. The surf has been pretty fun, the water is pretty much like Hawaii, a tad bit cooler due to the wind at times, but its usually just trunks or maybe a vest. The beach is just a short walk down the street, and there are a bunch of other breaks around as well. We have been surfing the main beach at Tauranga a good amount, and have got some pretty fun waves. Really fun on the low tide, and little bit hard to work on the high tide but still very fun. There are all sorts of people out surfing too, its pretty good people watching in the surf break. A lot of girl surfers, way more than in California, and there's a fair amount of older gentlemen, super young rippers and Maori guys that are out of control. Literally. Had a few near death experiences in the water with people falling out of the sky. The people here, in and out of the water, are so nice! They are always very nice and friendly. And being in such a small town they fully remember your name. I've had an obsession with the kebab place down the street and the lady fully knows me now. A New Zealand Turkish kebab is much different than what we call kebabs in the states. Here they aren't little meats and veggies on a stick. No, better, full plates of meats and veggies, toppings and sauces. You can get the wrapped in pita or flat bread, just on a huge plate or some other ways that have weird names and I haven't tried yet. But they are so good. I could easily live on kebabs. I have been getting this avocado sauce with a garlic aioli on mine. So good. And I will usually go with chicken, some carrots, hummus, lettuce if I'm feeling sassy, couscous, and the sauces of course. Meat pies are also a new found gem for me, as well as ginger beer (which isn't even alcoholic, but its delicious). The eat pies are exactly what you would imagine, a little pie, with different meats inside, and maybe some cheese or veggies. They have them everywhere. I even bought one from the gas station on the way camping and it tasted just as good as the one I had from the bakery! They probably aren't the best thing for you, but after a surf, they make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The "gourmet steak and cheese" are my favorite so far, but they have these chicken alfredo ones down at the gas station that I really want to get into soon! Camping was another awesome adventure. Got to see some amazing site, and scored some really fun waves at Hot water beach and my new favorite place to say "Whangamata." (WANG-ah-mah-tah). All the places we have surfed have been beach breaks too, which is nice after Tahiti and fearing for my life on that reef. We went to this place called Cathedral Cove also that was his like 45 minute hike down this mountain to a gorgeous enclosed beach. The hike down was so pretty, and once we got to the beach, that was unbelievable. So pretty and serene. I have actually been doing a lot of hiking since I have been here. I feel like an old man half the time though, if I hike too long or run too much my knees go south and I gimp around the rest of the day. But I love it. Some friends from California were out visiting NZ for a couple days and we hiked to the top of Mt. Maunganui. The view over the whole peninsula from the top was unreal, and looking off the side of some of the cliffs on top of it was terrifying but so beautiful as well. Looking down like 2,000+ feet to the water and nothing really protecting you. Pretty heavy, but so pretty. The sites and land here is unlike anything I have ever seen, but if i had to call it I would say its a mixture of Hawaii, Santa Barbara and Laguna with a fraction of the population. There is so much beautiful undeveloped land here. And some of the ranches on these massive plots of land are the coolest homes I have ever seen. There are a lot of very modern and contemporary designed homes here that are so cool looking, and what looks like a lot of newly made homes. Not really what I was expecting to see, but there are quite a few and each one is cooler than the last. The camping trip Andy and I went on was incredible too, driving around the country side here, you see so much green open land, rolling hills, sheep and cows, as well as some of the most picture perfect landscapes and ocean scenery's I have ever seen. Pictures could never do it justice, though I tried. I took so many just out the window of the car that ended up not looking as cool as it did when it was happening. I still have not really gotten used to sitting shotgun on the left hand side of the car. It really weirds me out, and crossing the street is always a scary experience... looking left when I should look right, and vice versa. Overall though our camping trip was great, driving up we surfed Whangamata, took a nap on this little beach under some trees with nobody else around and let the wetsuits dry, checked out Cathedral Cove, surfed Hot Water Beach and set up a perfect little camp site near the ocean. he day after the swell kind of died, but we still got a couple waves back at Whangamata. The Waves we got at Hot Water Beach were probably the most fun I had so far. And looking in from water at the landscape there was something special. It was exactly like what I had imagined NZ to look like and more. The sun was setting behind the mountains and the green rolling hills were glistening. And speckled few and far between on these amazing green hills were amazing ranches with a few cattle looming around the hillside. I don't feel like my description does it any justice, it is just something you have to experience.

So anyways, apparently there are no real deadly creatures or animals in New Zealand, not even any really poisonous things here, besides the white tailed spider. They are supposed to be very rare though, and only around during summer time for a little bit. And sure enough I got a nice little bite from one of these little guys. I won't go into much detail about describing how it looks, but I will just say my face looks like some one cut a tennis ball in half and shoved it under my skin in my cheek and corner of my mouth. Super attractive... I can see the corner of my mouth when I look down. Not to mention it is one of the most painful bites I have ever had. I can't really even open my mouth, or smile. Eating and brushing my teeth are horrible tasks at this point. I had to go to the doctor today and he knew immediately what it was. But I guess I just had a bit more of a reaction to it. Anyway I got set up on some antibiotics and some pain meds to get me through. Hopefully it is gone by Tuesday. I am going to try to head down to the south island by myself this week and rent an RV to scope out the beautiful areas down there. It is supposed to be prettier than the North Island, and I cannot even fathom that because it is truly breath taking here. So hopefully I avoid spiders and further injury and can embark on my south island travels soon! So until later, goodbye!

ENZED

Hello, I am currently in Mt Maunganui in ENZED (New Zealand). Had a bit of a journey getting here though. Amazingly enough though, the food situation (and by food situation I mean spending ridiculous amounts of money on extravagant meals at the hotel thinking Air NZ was comping everything) ended up working out really well. They ended up picking up all of my food costs anyway, so I only got charged for drinks. Which was still a decent amount, but still not as much as my meals. I thought there was some sort of error on my bill, and almost said something to the lady at the desk, then I realized I had won. The big dinners, and breakfast where completely wipes off the final bill! I only had to pay for drinks and internet usage, which wasn't too bad, considering I thought it was all going to be free... The Last day at the hotel was pretty funny. I finally used my coupons from Air NZ to get food (unfortunately I slept through breakfast, so I was starving by the time lunch rolled around), and amazingly enough the lunch coupon was for this beautiful restaurant right on the water. The voucher was good for a starter, main course and a dessert, but no drinks unfortunately. I ordered a big flamboyant fruity cocktail anyway that spared no stereotypical fruity tropical drink accouterments. I was practically sipping out of a tiny tropical rain forrest, but it was delish, and I bet nobody thought I was weird or gay. Anyway, ordered a starter salad that was super good, followed by a massive steak with fries and some unbelievable red wine reduction sauce and a like tropical hearty A1 type sauce, they were both incredible. So after this glorious meal I decided I deserved a little chocolate, so I ordered this fancy little chocolate mousse brownie ice cream deal. I would explain it more, but it wasn't on the plate long enough to remember what it looked like. I remember the brownies and the mousse were coated in like a chocolate shell, and the ice cream was near it. The best part was all I had to sign off for was the tropical forrest drink. Stoked. So anyway I meander back to my room holding my belly after this massive meal and my key doesn't work. I make my way to the front desk and tell them my key doesn't work and I am checking out soon and the French manager lady starts goin off at me telling me my check out was at 10am and I am supposed to be out of there. So I just kinda smiled at her and apologized, told her I was just going to go back in and grab my stuff and get out. This was at about 12pm and my flight isn't till 530pm. Apparently there was a big wedding party coming in or something. The French lady was freaking out, I was loving it. So anyway I convince her I am just going to go grab my stuff and end up staying in the room for another 2 hours. Started watching Eurosports in French again, took a bath, took a shower to wash off the bath bubbles, played with the hair dryer, crawled back in bed and eventually packed very slowly. Karma kinda got me though, I threw a pair of wet board shorts in my bag not really thinking and got all my t-shirts wet in my bag, didn't find that fun fact out till today. So yea, anyway, I check out, get this amazing bill, and Air NZ sends a bus to pick me and 3 other people up at the hotel to take us to the airport. For you that have never been on Air New Zealand, fly it. By far the best and coolest airline I have ever been on. Full 8 inch touch screen monitors in the back of every chair, with tons of music, Tv shows, movies, games, rugby matches, and tons of other stuff. And you can plug your ipod in via USB and watch anything on your ipod on the touch screen. And the wine is free. The flight flew by and was amazing. I was super tired, but didn't want to sleep because I was having so much fun with the Tv screen. Once I arrived in Auckland I was lost. Amazed I made it through customs, and biosecurity and all that, I wandered outside to find a taxi. It really threw me off that the flow of traffic was going to opposite way. And when I eventually got a cab the guy was kind of caught off guard when I tried to climb into his drivers seat (thinking it was the passenger side). The ride to my hostel was pretty awesome, even though it was at night, it was still so pretty. I finally got to my hostel at about 1130 or so, got all checked in and met my roommates. 2 Canadians and an Irish guy. Didn't really get to talk to the Irish guy much, he left super early in the morning. The 2 Canadians were funny, one was french Canadian from Quebec and was a real talker, and the other was from Alberta and super nice. I caught her saying "Eh" a couple times but couldn't catch her saying "aboot." And apparently not everyone in Canada wears all denim all the time. I was in was more denim than both of them combined. Anyway, I got to the hostel super late and they invited me to go out with them to this bar down the way a little. I accepted and had an amazing night of people watching and celebrating my arrival in ENZED. So all yesterday morning rolls around and I wake up and learn all about how the hostel shower situation works, the whole thing kind of reminded me of college. So pretty much all day yesterday I spent walkin around Auckland, grabbed some pretty delicious meals, no kebabs yet tho unfortunately, but did have my first meat pie. A chicken, egg and asparagus pie. It was mind blowing. With a big glass of orange juice, full on breakfast of champions. I was so fueled. I am so stoked on how far the dollar goes here, compared to Tahiti, it doesn't feel like I am burning through my money as fast now. I got to meet up with Andy a little later, a friend of mine who I am now staying with, who was in Auckland for a concert all day, and ended up hitching a ride up to Mt. Maunganui, where he lives, with him at like 11:30 at night. We didn't get here till about 3 this morning. We were driving his Dad's panel van as well, because we had to nab a mattress from his sisters house on the way back down from Auckland, so classic. Picture this super tall, white, 12 seater van just flying down the empty road with a mattress blacking all rear view, too funny. It might have just been so awesome because I was delirious and a little over served, but oh well. How he stayed awake during that drive is beyond me. I think I fell asleep 3 times trying to talk to him and keep him awake. But we made it, and it is so beautiful here. Unlike anything I have ever seen. We are a short walk from the surf, which I am about to go do in a moment, and fortunately enough there are some little waves coming in! Its been kinda stormy here the past 2 days, but looks like the sun is actually peaking out now kind of, so I am going to go play outside!