Mt. Manganui + Auckland Round Two

Friday we got picked up by the bus and went out to Mt. Manganui, which is on the east coast of the North Island. It is a beach town with a very amazing beach. We got there in the afternoon and walked around on the beach for a long time, about 3 hours I would guess, definitely was a long walk on the beach. And I liked it. Ha ha ha. I was hanging out with the German girl from before and a new Irish girl, as most of the other backpackers I had been chillen with had continued on to the South Island instead of heading back north. We were pretty tired from the hike still and had a quiet night of watching American Beauty and cooking the most lazy meal I can think of – instant noodles with crackers and cheese singles, and museli (granola) bars for dessert. Most everyone else around us was cooking this elaborate stuff, chopping vegetables and such, we were just like eh this is good, ready in 3 minutes!

Next day we headed back to Auckland. We got to stop at the harbor bridge and do a walk across it to see cool views of the city and watch someone do a bungy jump from the AJ Hackett Bunjy off the bridge. After that our driver dropped us off at the CBD and I went and walked around the Victoria markets before Alex picked me up in the afternoon. We chilled out at his house and had dinner and then went over to one of his mate’s places for a house party. It was a lot of fun, reminded me of hangouts back home. He has a good group of friends, they’re all really nice and fun to hang out with. They had a DJ rig set up at the house and one of the guys was showing me how to use it and switch up tracks, it was neat. The Australia vs. New Zealand rugby league championship game was on, and NZ was not favored to win but they did by over 10 points, everyone was really excited about it, especially since it is such a big rivalry. About 11, most everyone and us took off to this dance party/DJ event at Vector Arena called Deep Hard n Funky. It was sweet, there were a bunch of different guys spinning and they had three different areas set up with trance, house, drum n bass… was a lot of fun and a real good night, good way to finish off my trip down under, just danced a lot. We got home and slept til the afternoon and then got up and he dropped me off at the airport, which was another experience because I was there when the All Blacks came back from Australia. There was a huge crowd there to greet them all chanting ‘New Zealand!’ It was really neat to be there at the same time. I left Auckland at 7:30pm and got into San Francisco at 10:30am the same day. Time change is insane for that flight, I got to go back in time. This was for sure an amazing year, such good times and met such awesome people, doing an exchange year was pretty much the best decision ever. In conclusion, Australia and Australians are sweet as. And New Zealanders too. Just heaps good really, I will for sure be back!

Pix: Mt. Manganui beach, first pic is the Mt. Manganui, and the sign on the toilet at the AJ Hackett bunjy place

I guess this is the end of my Down Unda blog, it's been fun to write, hope you all enjoyed it whoever checked it out. I might try to keep something else up, it's pretty cool to look back on all this stuff, so I'll post the link if I ever get around to starting a new one.

Actually, here is the link if I get around to writing in it. I figured I would just reserve the address and see what happens. If I am struck with any genius thoughts, I will record them here. Peace1love.

http://slowerkarate.blogspot.com/