Eeeeeeee!!

Once again, I have faaar too much to write and struggling to remember everything!!
Easter weekend was lonely – Tairua was full of families and couples escaping Auckland for the weekend, but it was beautiful all the same. I got some fishing equipment and spent most of the weekend trying to catch a fish…. What did I catch? A star fish!!! Hmmm… so I put that back in the water. Sadly, there was a ban on digging for seafood on the beach, so that easy option was out, ha ha! The hostel I stayed in was GORGEOUS and I had the most amazing sea view from the dormitory I was in. I shared with a swiss girl on the first night and 3 germans on the second night. They were all really nice! I treated myself to some fish and made another fish casserole which has become a bit of a favourite! I left Tairua on Easter Monday and had a long ass trip to Paihia in the Bay of Islands via Auckland. I left at 8am and arrived paihia at 7.30pm. The hostel was nice but I was sharing with the rudest, noisest bunch of boys ever! They came in at 3am and then got up at5am, both times playing music, turning the lights on and talking at full volume!! Anyway the following day I asked to change rooms, and who should I be sharing a room with but Louise, who I met in Thames! It was nice to see her again and we realized that we both had a similar itinerary for the next week or so! I did lots of wandering around and cycling around Paihia, I got the ferry across to Russell and walked up to the flagstation on the top of the hill which has gorgeous views of the area. I also went on a dolphin swimming trip but unfortunately, the pod of dolphins we found had a baby in it so I wasn’t allowed to swim! Was very disappointed about that but am planning on going swimming with sharks (ill be in a cage) tomorrow instead. I left Paihia on Thursday and went to Oponouni for my first experience of couch surfing – I had decided to give couch surfing a go and so looked for people in the northland and found ‘the land family’ who sounded cool and like there’d be lots of fun stuff to do as they try to be as self sufficient as possible and they are in the process of building an eco home and currently living in a semi converted shed. So… Shantina (the mum) Nikki (5th daughter) and Bento (german couch surfer) picked me up from the bus stop in the clapped out car and took me to their place…. 15 minutes drive up a mountain which felt a bit like being on a rollercoaster. When I arrived, the boys (Hamish, Flynn and Scotty) had made a possum pie with last night’s result of hunting with a bow and arrow. I did try a tiny bit but made an effort not to get any meat because I’ve heard most possums in NZ are riddled with diseases!! I went and helped varnishing doors in the house that they are building which is going to be GORGEOUS!!! They have designed all the doors and windows themselves which are very detailed and very pretty and there are loads of nice touches to the house – too many to go into detail but I have photos! Shantina, Bento, Nikki, Scotty and I then went to see a friend of theirs up on another mountain who wanted to show us some films on Buddhism – one of them was cool and interesting, the other film was a bit namby pamby and I nearly fell asleep! In the evening, Shantina made tuna fish casserole with rice and we all sat round the huge wooden table and ate and then watched a film on the laptop (no tv, but they have a laptop!!) called Hear no evil, See no evil or maybe it’s the other way round, lol! It was funny anyway! I settled down for the night on a teeny mattress I was sure was riddled with all sorts of bugs (and later found out was because I got bitten by bed bugs!) I was woken after a couple of hours by the cow mooing really loudly through the hole in the plyboard of the shed and then at about 3am, a spider crawled into my ear – one of my worst nightmares!!!! I wasn’t sure what it was but managed not to panic, pulled it out and found my torch and it was a spider!!! Ewwwwwwww!!!!!!!! I had difficulty getting back to sleep but was woken at 6am by a very cute little Flynn wanting me to go help milk the cow. So I did. After we’d had breakfast we all went to the community veggie patch and spent the day harvesting kumara, melon and pumpkin and pulling up the dried corn. I met people from the community who were nice and not quite as crazy as the land family!! In the evening, we had leftover tunafish casserole with mashpotato and grated carrots and then Shantina, Bento and I went to ‘Muso’ which was basically a gathering of loads of musically minded people in another shed on a different mountain! There was lots of singing, guitar, drum, violin, ukulele and percussion playing and I was put in charge of a bongo drum, wooohooo! It was a great evening when we got back we found all the kids and Simon (the dad) huddled up watching skippy the kangaroo! We watched a few episodes and went to bed, I slept a bit better having worked harder than most people at the veggie patch as I didn’t have a spade so I dug with my hands! It was definitely an experience staying with the land family. There was no bathroom at the land’s place… just a mini shed with a hole in the ground and a hole in the wall and a mass of spiders. One night I had to walk into the woods in the pitch black to get to said hole in the floor and one of the jack russells came in through the hole in the wall and I got such a fright I nearly had a heartattack! So there was no washbasin or shower, just a dirty tin bucket. I felt pretty grubby when 3 days was up and was looking forward to a bathroom with normal bathroom facilities and a mirror! I met up with Louise on the bus from Oponouni to Auckland and she’d had a great time in a hostel in Oponouni. The bus made a stop at a huoooooge 2000 year old kauri tree which was brilliant to see and then we arrived in Auckland about 5pm. I am currently staying with Shane which is wicked! Yesterday I went with Louise to Waiheke island – we spent the whole day in vineyards and got a little tiddly and then Shane picked me up from the ferry terminal on his motorbike – a 1800cc chopper… whoooooaaa, it was way cool!!! Shane is being a very good slave, cooking my dinner and looking after very, very well. We have been reminiscing about embarrassing and funny old times and having a giggle, its nice to have his company. We went and saw his boxing doctor today who gave me some antimalaria tablets and some antibiotics and antinausea tablets for India. Then I went into the city centre and bought some crayons, board pens, plasticine etc for the teaching project in India and got the train back to Shanes which is where I am now typing to you!! Tommorow I’m going swimming with sharks and then we’re going to Gav’s for dinner and at 3.30am I shall get a taxi to the airport for my flight to Mumbai via Brisbane! Am starting to feel a little scared about india now and worried that I’m underprepared for the project – no sample lesson plans or anything and learning nepalase and bangledeshi is going BADLY! Ah well, I shall fly by the seat of my pants! I don’t think I’ll have much access to the internet while Im in india so the next update you get from me may be when I am hoooome! (25th May). Although Im having an awesome time, I am really looking forward to getting home, seeing my family and getting huge hugs and seeing my friends and seeing Milly!