The Amazing Race: The Harrington Leg

Hello everyone!

So the four days in Australia with the parents were great except that we only had one day of sun. It poured the day we went out to Bondi beach so we really didn't get the true experience of that. We saw the Opera house and the Harbour Bridge on a ferry to the zoo, and also went to Manly which is a town on the other side of the harbour from Downtown.





A cutesy Red Panda! Aw

It was the process of getting to Bali that was our insane adventure. We got to the airport at Sydney and found out we were in the wrong terminal, and so had to catch a shuttle bus to domestic instead of international because we were being routed through Melbourne first. So we get there and get on our flight and were told that our baggage would be transferred to Bali for us.

Our flight to Melbourne was about an hour long but was delayed about half an hour, giving us only one hour in between landing and taking off again on our flight to Bali. We were told we had plenty of time. We wanted to make sure our baggage would be transferred because we heard an announcement on the plane that said it wouldn't. So we asked a guy coming off the plane and he said that Domestic flights don't get transferred but he wasn't sure about international so he sent us to the help desk. The help desk said they would, so we wandered off to go check in and get our boarding passes for the next flight. Dad went to wait at the baggage carousel to make sure he didn't see our bags. Mom and I asked at the check in counter to see if they knew, and we were told we were at the wrong terminal and that our flight was closed. He said, "Hopefully they're holding the flight for you, you should run."

So begins the amazing race. I took off back downstairs to get dad, and mom didn't realise I had done that. I find him and we start running back and find a distraught mom because she hadn't seen where I went. We all start running through the middle of the airport to get to the international terminal and as we were running we heard our names paged over the intercom. We get to the counter and I asked the woman if she could give us any confirmation about our bags, and she said they would be transferred. So then we try to rush through security and we get to our gate and found out the plane hadn't even started boarding yet! But it did shortly after that.

We had no time to grab anything to eat or anything so we paid out the nose to have a meal on the flight. We got to see the movie Stardust, and I finally had a window seat! Although the flight was mostly during the night, I did get to see the sunset from the plane.



We got to Bali at 10pm local time and Ryan met us at the terminal. So the whole family is together again for the first time in 1 year. We've been having a great time relaxing on the beach and catching up, despite constantly being pestered and asked if we need "transport?"

Dad, Ryan and I did a bit of surfing, and today we've been looking through the markets and saw the Memorial for the bombings that happened in Bali in 2002. Tomorrow we leave for Ubud where it will be a little less touristy and we're going to try and get mom out river rafting. We'll see how that goes.

That's all for now, unfortunately I don't have many pictures from Bali yet, but here's a picture from the sunset last night.



Who knows when I'll be able to update next, internet is slow and spotty here. I'll be sure to try though and put up lots of pictures of our travels.

Bye for now!

Surf's Up!

Hello again everyone! Sorry about the lack of posting, but I was busy learning to surf! Acutally it was because internet was slow and expensive in that small town (surprise) and so I waited until it was cheaper.

I'm back in Auckland now and getting ready to fly out for Sydney on Tuesday. (Your Monday) From there it's four days in Sydney with my parents, and then we fly to Indonesia to meet up with my brother for our 3 week family Christmas present. Yay!

Anyway, the last few weeks have been great. I ended my time with my friends in Wellington and travelled all the way back up to just south of Auckland to a small town called Raglan. It's pretty much the surf capital of New Zealand, and I went there with the intentions of becoming a pro surfer. Well maybe not pro, but at least learn how to stand up on the board...

I'm proud to say I think I did pretty well! I booked a five day surf course package, which gave me accomodation, a lesson, and 4 half day board and wet suit rentals. First off, the hostel was absolute heaven on earth. It was almost a restort to me, as it was out of town, set on a hill with scattered cabins connected by bush lined paths. They had a free zipline, ropes course, free pool table, cable TV, great facilites, and only 4 bed dorm rooms. It was like a soul retreat and so peaceful and relaxing I ended up staying for 8 days instead of five.




Pictures of the hostel

The day after I arrived I got up in the morning for my surf lesson and got a lucky surprise. I was the only person who had booked the morning lesson that day, and so I ended up getting a 1-on-1 lesson for the price of a group lesson! Super lucky. After about a half hour going over types of waves, surfing safety, and practicing getting up on the board (on the ground), we headed down to the beach to actually get out on the water. It was great having the instructor all to myself because he was able to cater the lesson to me, and after every run he'd tell me the mistakes I made and give me tips to improve. By the end of the lesson I was getting up to standing almost consistently, and even got in a few runs all the way to shore. I was really proud of myself and super excited to come back and practice the next day.

By the end of my four days of rentals I had moved on to a bit shorter of a board (which makes it more of a challenge) and was getting up and riding in almost every wave I caught. Of course these weren't huge waves, maybe 4 to five feet ones. I tried to get out further to try and catch some bigger waves, but I couldn't figure out how to dive under the crashing ones one the way out and kept getting battered around. A few times I managed to get out there though, and had a lot of fun with some bigger waves and trying to get up on them before they crashed. I did it ONCE, and it was so awesome, I felt like a movie star or something.

I'm no where near a pro, that's for sure, but I had a great time and can at least have some fun out there if I rent a board in Australia or Indonesia or something. My next task is to really work at getting up on the waves before they crash rather than after, and work on trying to turn on the board so I can ride along the wave instead of straight into shore with it.

The beach was a beautiful, huge, black sand one called Ngarunui (Nair-oo-new-ee), and was a few minutes drive away from the hostel. They had two free shuttles to the beach and back every day, so it was really easy to get down there to practice. I wish I could have stayed longer, but alas I had to leave to come back to Auckland.




Pics of Raglan and the beach from a 1.5 hour hike I did behind the hostel



Well, since these are my last few days in New Zealand, I think I'll impart a little more Kiwi culture onto you all. Time for a language lesson! Bold stuff is the kiwi, non bold is the interpretation. :P

Jandals - flip flops
Courgette - Zucchini
Capsicum - pepper, as in green pepper, red pepper
Aubergine - Eggplant
Sweet as - Cool, awesome
Bro - Friend, mate. Often used in conjuntion with 'sweet as' to become "Sweet as, bro!"
She'll be right - It's ok, it will work out, things will be fine
rattle your dags - get a move on, hurry up
Sunnies - sunglasses
Togs - bathing suit
dag - humorous person, joker, comedian, hard case
good on ya, mate! - congratulations, well done
piker - slacker, a person who gives up when things get difficult
dunny - toilet, bathroom
wop-wops - out of the way location, the boonies
arse over tit - head over heels
Yeah, nah - a polite decline, as in no thanks

The words 'bugger' and 'piss' are also very commonplace down here. A party is a 'piss-up,' and 'bugger off' is heard instead of go away. I can say it's been like learning a second language pretty much and I'm sure I constantly have had a confused look on my face. I'm sure it's going to be 10 times worse in Australia....
But I can be proud to say I introduced 'giv'er' to my few Kiwi friends. Whether they'll use it or not is another matter. Haha.

And so everyone, that's all I have to say from New Zealand. I'm looking forward to seeing my family and moving on to other countries but I'm pretty sad to be leaving here. It's a beautiful country and I've had a lovely time. Thanks for all the notes and comments, and hopefully I have just as much to say about the other places I visit. Miss you all, hope the new year is going as well for you as it is for me.

Bye for now!


Wellington