:: BEST DAY ::

This day was incredible! I got up at 8am and organized my stuff, I found that my dad put the book Crazy Love in my bag!!! So I went down stairs ate granola, read Crazy Love and listened to NeverShoutNever and Owl City. I had a little time before meeting Cassandra to go to Devonport, so I went to a store to replace my converter that goes from NZ plugs to US plugs that someone STOLE yesterday :( I also found a store that was all maps!!! AND THE HAD GEOLOGIC MAPS of all of NZ!! As well as a book on the minerals of NZ :)
Cassandra and I headed down to the docks to get on a ferry to Devonport. Devonport is an island of the north coast of the north island. It was a beautifully sunny day. When we arrived Cassandra freaked out because she forgot her lonely planet book, which turned out to be the best thing. In order to get some sort of map we went into the i-site. Inside was an elderly Kiwi man who assured us that al we needed was this simple map of the immediate surrounding area that had numbers of interesting things to see. We did the first few (they were boring), then we got really off track to find a sweet beach that we thought we remembered from another map being “just around the corner”. After awhile we found it and it was awesome! [I wish I could put up all my pictures so you could see everything!] We walked out REALLY far and it was still up to our shins. I found a starfish. Cassandra found a crab and a dead Monarch butterfly. There were purple shells everywhere. Along the far side of the cove we were in we saw cliffs and rocks, so we went to explore. With our backpacks we walked a long way around this point to another beach.
GEOLOGY NOTE: There was a new(ish) lava flow from the last time Mt. Victoria blew up...very rough, dark basalt. Along the the cliffs there was a coarse sandstone and a clay based sedimentary rock/sediment. The layers shifted as we walked until they were VERTICLE!! And I took a picture of a really good syncline. Some of the layers looked volcanic and weathered much slower than the other layers. This caused fins to form of this type of rock. It was very iron rich because it oxidized and looked like a piece of metal all purple and orange. It was so awesome and fun to climb around on. I was totally over my head geology wise...so much interesting stuff and I have no idea about the surrounding geology that would have caused such formations.
Once we reached the other beach we had to figure out where we were and find out how to get to Mt. Victoria. Mt. Victoria is the highest place around, it used to be a military area so there is a bunker and a huge cannon thing. Great place to take pictures. We found it, hiked it, took a bunch of pictures, met a cute kid (approx age = 3) from South America and talked in Spanish a bit and ate a not ripe peach right off a tree. When we were on top we heard a band playing, so on our way down we decided to find them. We followed the sound of the Proclaimers to a cottage-looking “Art Space”. An Art Space is where artists can go and use a room to practice. The door was open... so we walked in. The first room was a big dance floor, then a room with a sink was next, then a hall way with a bunch of studios on either side...we walked down it to find the origin of this rocking out. In the very last room there were three guys, two guitarists and a drummer. They had just lost their singer and he took some of their lyrics, so they were practicing for their new singer who was coming the next day. They played two songs for us and they were really good. The guitar solos were so epic and the drummer was solid! They are the Beautiful Collision. Watch for them they will be the next big thing from New Zealand. As we left they said we were their two biggest fans, lol, maybe their two only fans as well.
As we were hiking back to town, we passed a French food shop. Cassandra is a foodie, so we went in. The sign on the door said “Fresh Rabbit” and there before us was a fresh rabbit....awesome. Seriously, salad is what food eats. Cassandra explained to me that there was so many Julia Child type food. Then we spotted a pastry cart and it was over. After a lemon tart and a chocolate mousse tart, we were ready to trek on. The next thing we came upon was a quaint restaurant with very good looking, not expensive food. I got a salmon quiche...yummy. Next we found the best book store ever! [at this point we both decided that if we were staying in the Auckland area we would stay in Devonport. It is so quaint/artsy/beachy/foodie and awesome.] Looking into shops and art galleries as we go, we headed towards the dock. We found a fruit market and bought Kiwi Berrys....small kiwi like things, no hair and you eat the whole thing...new favorite snack.
Swimming was one thing we wanted to do, to make that happen we found the nearest beach that was deeper then our shins and jumped in. The water was a little cold at first. It was 4:20. High tide was 4:30. Our stuff on the beach got all wet. Dang. Then we dried off in the sun until a big gray cloud got in the way. Then we ran to get on the ferry. The top, open level of the ferry was empty so we stood at the front rail with the wind in our faces whipping our hair into a mess, it was great! :)
We headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready to meet Cheryl at 8. Cassandra had met two sisters Teresa and Lauren. They are from Canada too. Haha. Lauren is older and going to be in NZ for 8 months and Teresa is younger than me and she’s here for 6 months. They are going to pick fruit then work at ski lodges during the winter. :) We made it to Cheryl’s hostel. She said there was MUD WRESTLING down the street at the Camel Bar and right then a dude came up and started telling us about this epic event...then he mentioned that they still needed two girls...and there was NZ$1200 dollars worth of prizes. Teresa and I said “Heck yeah! We’ll do it!” .... hahaha so we went back to the hostel to get clothes we could get dirty and came back to the Camel. In the middle of the room there was a tarp with a kiddy pool in the center that was full of geothermal mud from a hydrothermal area of NZ from a spa. Supposedly it is good for your skin. Teresa and everyone else decided to get a beer before the even to get stoked and calm the nerves. I didn’t....I was already SO stoked and not nervous!!!!! Bring it on! They gave us goggles and knee pads. (They also mentioned taking off our jewelry and not wearing it for 3 days because it will turn back...I put my rings on later and now they are all black...no joke). There were 7 girls competing. The mud smelled like sulfer, which smells like rotten eggs. The rules: Everyone has a band on one wrist and one ankle. Whoever gets them off first, wins. No biting. No scratching. No kicking. (all of which happened to either Teresa or I). ..... I was first against a small scrappy girl from New York. It was so crazy! Cassandra took a ton of pictures of my camera, don’t worry! [[She ripped of my anklet from Mere from two(ish) years ago...that’s a pretty epic way to go, it had a good life.]] I WON!!! I had mud in my mouth and EVERYWHERE... The rest of the prelims were not so muddy as NY and I. Then it was Teresa and I, semifinals. Bring it Canada! Ahahaaha it was so crazy we were being so intense, no holding back. It was a tie because we went for SO LONG....it was a really good match ... she won by applause. Then she wrestled this other girl who was big and gross and Teresa kicked her butt!!! It was incredible!!! They told us to go clean up then come back for our prizes. Our hostel was about a 10 min walk through downtown. We got a few funny looks and comments to say the least. I met my new room mates covered in mud. They think I’m insane. I was probably the most polite person covered in mud they had ever seen though. I got mud everywhere. It took forever to get it all off. I got it in my eyes and it hurt so bad. I threw away the clothes. Cleaned up my mess. Found Teresa and Lauren followed the mud foot prints back to claim our prizes!! Teresa got a TON of stuff...free skydiving, bungee jumping, spa, .... I don’t even know what all was in there. I got $50 off transportation with Magic transportation and a free AeroJet boat ride!! :) I glad Teresa won because with school I wouldn’t have time to do any of that sweet stuff. Team North America (which is what we all decided to be) rocks!
Then we went and got lamb pizza because we were starving and tired from the workout. As we were sitting there this crazy kiwi guy pulls up a chair and says “I’m lost. I’m looking for the intersection of stunning good looks and great personality, but I think this might be it.” Hahaha I was so funny! He left pretty soon after that.
They wanted to celebrate, so we went on a sort of wild goose chase for a cool irish pub with local music...it was closed. Then we ended up in a sketchy part of town (but this whole time we were very safe, we were all together and on the main streets.) They told me I was going to pass out on my 21st birthday and be an alcoholic if I don’t let them teach me how to drink. We discussed a “Canadian Drinking Program for Jena in NZ” lol I graciously declined. Hahaha. They are really nice and they found out that we can joke about it, but they aren’t getting me to drink anything. We walked back to the hostel and went straight to bed.
What a day!
I think I should write a guide book....”Auckland in Three Days with Canadians”, best seller. ;)