clo_again

I have Disapproval (I want to find that glaring baby 'DISAPPROVAL: YOU'LL KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT" macro to link to there but I don't want to open all the Google pages to find it, as will be explained shortly) for my hostel's wifi system. Every other hostel I've been in has had a time-based system, so you pay for how long you're on and get unlimited access in that time. Simple. While writing long LJ entries, I could simply log off then log back on to post. If wanted to Google the weather tomorrow, I could go through a million weather pages as long as I did it quickly. Sorted.

Except in this hostel (which in every other way is wonderful, so I'm a little bitter that they come with a BUT) operates a per-megabyte system. Which means EVERY SINGLE PAGE I LOAD, including for LJ comments, to upload pictures to Facebook (which ate a comparatively huge chunk of my credit yesterday so y'all can wait for pictures for a few days. Especially since my hostel in Franz Josef potentially has FREE INTERNET *glees*) logging into LJ eats my credit. It's insane. I might actually just stick to the hostel's own computers which are $2 for half an hour (cheaper than the north island!) but they won't let you put photos on them. Sigh.

I'm mainly sulking because the ferry trip yesterday somehow turned from a grey, slightly bumpy ride into a sunshine-filled turquoise millpond of prettiness, and today I did a four hour (it turned into five and a half hour walk when we hung out on the beach for ages because it was so beautiful) walk through Abel Tasman National Park, so I have many pretty pictures waiting to eat my internet.

(There's a guy playing guitar and singing about searching New Zealand for chocolate pudding, because we get free chocolate pudding here every night. This hostel is *hilarious*.)

Tomorrow I am going horse riding for the first time in seven years. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES. Possibly involving bruises.

I have to post this quick now before GNW downloading eats my remining megabytes and I can't buy anymore until tomorrow because reception is closed. Woe for silly internet.

When people said that New Zealand eats money, they really weren't joking. I was just going to do the (free!) museum today but in the lift last night I spotted a poster for this LotR tour including Weta and... yeah. They actually pick up outside the museum though, so I'm figuring on a couple of hours museuming and then the tour and then some shopping to actually find somewhere that sells NZ jumpers/sweaters because it's really getting cold. Everyone keeps telling me to buy thermals for the south island.

Worse, I think they're actually serious. Where do you even buy thermals from? I don't exactly live in a country where you ever need them.

On a different note entirely, I ordered Paul McDermott's The Forgetting of Wisdom three weeks ago. Thought to ask my parents this week if 'anything had arrived for me recently' and was told no, nothing. Sent an email back basically along the lines of !!!!!!!!???????

And this morning they emailed to say "Well a book called The Forgetting of Wisdom arrived for you a week ago, is that what you meant?"

...And my parents were worried about me on my trip. You know what, I think they should spend more time worrying about the fact they have no clue what's going on.

Now I have to apologise to a nice Amazon marketplace seller for telling her the book hadn't arrived. Sigh. At least I hadn't asked for a refund yet, just double-checked when it was posted, so it is just a matter of grovelling a little.

Parents. There're no words.


(On yet another note, I'm staying in the YHA in Wellington and it's lovely. My view is out across the harbour and kicks ass, plus the beds are the most comfortable of any hostel so far. Nice hostels ftw! I'm a bit sad that I'm only here the two nights but tomorrow I head to Nelson. And in Nelson there's the shop of the jewellers who designed the One Ring for LotR... and they make replicas. No I'm not planning on emptying my bank account at all.

:DDDDDDD)

A picture post for those not on my Facebook or who'd rather check it out here.

So today I went to Hobbiton (rather, a farm near Matamata owned by the Alexander family but really, Hobbiton.

( Here be hobbitses precious. Rather rained-on and soggy hobbits... )

After getting back from Hobbiton slightly soggy despite the massive umbrellas they kept on hand for obviously such days, and very excited about The Hobbit film after spending the whole forty minute bus trip talking about it and the fact that they're actually making two films, The Hobbit and then a second film about what happens between Hobbit and Rings, which I did not know and is VERY EXCITING :DDD, I was kind of tired and didn't want to do much. However, the tour bus had come in on a different road than I'd been along before and I'd noticed a park with lots and lots of steam rising from it really close to my hostel. So, since I'm leaving in the morning and I hadn't yet seen any hot springs or boiling mud or anything that Rotorua is supposedly famous for, I stuck on my raincoat and went along.

Now, you have to understand that I find this place entirely batshit. I cannot imagine why anyone would look at boiling mud and think it's sensible to build right next door to it. So I went into the park stepping warily in case of sinkholes and thinking of Centralia which I've found both fascinating and terrifying ever since I first stumbled across it (probably I think, in reference to Silent Hill which used the idea of the town abandoned due to a coal fire. Yes I was thinking of Silent Hill too and twitching considerably even though I haven't even played/seen it). Anywhere that has steam rising from the ground cannot be safe, really. And as I walked around the admittedly impressive park, with steaming ponds and lakes (one complete with ducks), deep holes in the ground from which the sounds of boiling water could be heard or worse, boiling mud, puddles in the path that steamed, a distinctly unpleasant smell and more-than-slightly alarming orange tape around a few areas where apparently the ground had subsided into a sinkhole and they hadn't had time to build a proper solid fence yet... all I could think was 'I'm so freaking glad that I'm leaving here tomorrow.'

I'm not saying it wasn't an impressive park. It's not just everywhere you can wander in and see mud bubbling happily away while clouds of thick steam rise through autumn trees. But what gets me, especially when I stumbled through the steam along a wooden path to find myself on boling mud flats with dead trees and water that would probably burn my fingers off if I touched it, was this place is in the centre of town. There're houses and hostels and shops built all around the edges of this park. From the orange tape, clearly new sinkholes and hot pools open up on occasion.

Who in their right mind would live next to that? I have no idea, same as I have no idea why people would want to stay in Centralia. You couldn't pay me to live here in Rotorua. Seriously.

( Have some pictures of why )

I need to pack and book my Uluru trip which I still haven't done, so I can cancel my disappeared card... and all I want to do is watch another episode of Good News Week (the two latest podcasts downloaded today, hurrah!) I'm tired and it's lovely to have the hostel room to myself for a bit so I can watch stuff without headphones. Eh. Maybe one more episode. Then productivity. Probably.

I really enjoyed Hobbiton today. I bought a LoytR location guidebook from the little shop after and it mentions the horse riding stables I'm doing my day's riding with (I need to call them soon and give them card details; must remember!) There's also apparently a superb LotR shop in Queenstown. I might've got a bit excited over that. LotR shop! :DDDD Awesome!

And now productivity. Yes.

So today the sun came out and there was much Yay! Me and another girl off my bus tour went on an exploration around Whitianga, which is a little seaside town in the Coromandel Peninsula.

( Read more... )
Then we caught the ferry back hoping for some sunset pictures over the beach nearest our hostel but it was facing the wrong direction so we gave up and came back. Now I'm going to have a cup of coffee, a two some TimTams and relax with Bloodhound which I still have to finish. And then maybe watch some Primeval (ggrr) or some New Zealand telly.

It's been a good day. :)

I'm off any second now (should've gone six minutes ago according to my internal deadline but I added an hour onto that to make room for me doing exactly this) to check out of my hostel, head to the train station and go about catching my NZ flight. This is me about to navigate an airport totally by myself for the first time ever. Hm.

On the plus side I am packed and ready to go pretty much on time. Hurrah! On the down side, the cold I caught at the weekend (which by the way? I got soaked to the point of dripping in Sydney and walked twenty minutes to find a Starbucks, was extremely sleep deprived for about a week, then hit Queensland's ridiculously warm climate after being cold and damp in Sydney, then ran around excitedly for two entire days... there are reasons why, other than the fact I have never been to Mexico and Australia so far seems free of pig-related illnesses, that it's not swine flu) is flailing its germful little arms in a last attempt to make me cough. I suspect sitting on a plane full of people and coughing right now is an excellent way to get myself quarantined. Hm. Maybe I should pick up some more cough sweets.

I'm pretty sure falln left yesterday convinced I was riddled with swine disease. Sorry falln! I had fun despite the coughing. :D Inmate meetups ftw!

And now I really have to go. Hopefully the next time I post will be tonight from Auckland. Fingers crossed.

I miss Photoshop like whoa. I keep trying to make icons and staring mournfully at the resulting fuzzy. There will be an icon blitz in June, yes indeed. Just in time for my paid account to run out but eh. I'll see about scraping the pennies together to extend that.

Heading to Brisbane tomorrow with acityofwonder for fun and sightseeing (and probably shopping. Especially if my card actually gets here which by the way universe, would be lovely! *touch wood*). Just from googling for them, Brisbane is proving to have an inordinately large amount of secondhand bookshops within fifteen minutes walk of my hostel. This is... tempting. Only the thought of carrying my backpack from the airport to the shuttle in Auckland on Thursday (and worse, potentially for 45 minutes in Wellington to the ferry terminal which I am determined must be wrong/must be covered by a bus) is stopping me planning out my route to visit all of them. Oh and Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce is out on Wednesday, so guess what I'll be buying...

I've just checked the times for Wolverine showings at my nearest cinema in Brisbane and it's actually got one showing Tuesday evening. Hm. Wonder if I could get a ticket? If not I'll just head there Wednesday but I have nothing else planned for Tuesday night so it'd be handy.

I can't believe I'm going to be in New Zealand in four days. I mean, four days. Where did my month of Australia go? Not that I'm not crazy excited about New Zealand (YES MOSTLY BECAUSE OF LORD OF THE RINGS, SHUTUP) but Australia! :( At least I'm coming back.

At least my Uluru trip is planned and just needs booking in the morning. Then it'll all be done. And if my card turns up I can breathe a sigh of relief and get on with enjoying New Zealand and buying way too many tacky souvenirs. :D

So in the last few days I've discovered that Good News Week has a Facebook, has a website where you can watch the episodes and Paul McDermott's video blog online, and you can download the entire series for free on iTunes. Oh, and: the Jason Byrne/Paul McDermott mime from Melbourne Comedy Festival IS ON YOUTUBE. :DDDDDDD

Never watch Australian comedy in public places, because the sounds you make trying not to laugh are probably worse than actual all-out laughter.

(For the non-Aussies on my flist, the guy giving the head is the one I want to steal from Australia. And still might, before I leave! ;) )


In Australia news that ISN'T about Good News Week or Paul McDermott or DAAS (I know, shocking), ( I HELD A KOALA YESTERDAY! )

The tiger show at Dreamworld was pretty spectacular too, even though we only caught the end of it. The keepers were actually running around the - well, it wasn't a cage because there was a moat instead of bars which meant the pictures came out fantastically - instead the 'pen' with the tigers, a massive white one and one half-white/half-orange and getting them to do tricks for treats. So unspeakably cool to see a tiger jump on command because those suckers jump high. I will post some pictures when I'm not feeling quite so lazy.

Speaking of which, I should actually go shower now. I think a week of running around Sydney like a headless chicken, plus an uncomfortable 18hr bus trip, plus Dreamworld yesterday has proved too much. Definitely indulging our urge to laze today. :)

Bad news: my new debit card still hasn't arrived. I was kind of expecting it to be here waiting for me, so I'm twitching a little more each day it doesn't show. Fingers crossed for Monday because I'm so tired of worrying about stupid money all the time. Dear Nationwide, your card replacement policy sucks. Lots of hate, Clo.

I just had kangaroo steak as my last meal in Sydney. It was extremely excellent and I have to find somewhere in the UK that sells it, because wow. It probably wasn't even the nicest it could be because the restaurant was only average. Mmmmmm. Next: emu/crocodile. Although I'm doubtful that they'll measure up.

Found the ABC shop easily in the Queen Victoria building. Actually wish I'd gone in there before now, because it was so beautiful inside. I couldn't see the DAAS dvd on the shelf so I had to ask and, while he searched through the drawer behind the counter, I noticed a flyer taped to the desk with a very familiar name and picture:

"DYLAN MORAN: TALK AND SIGNING HERE MAY 4TH"

I go halfway around the world only to be stalked by Dylan Moran (not complaining. Except about the fact that I'm not here on May 4th). No wonder I'm not homesick yet.

...A little bitter that I've missed him by only two weeks though. Sigh. It's the only thing that could've made Sydney more awesome.

But then he handed me my DAAS dvd and all was shiny with the world. I just barely restrained myself from hugging it in the shop. mayakitten, you are so very evil. ;)

Okay, it's now almost 5pm and I swore to myself I would leave on the hour so off I go. Hopefully I'll make it to the bus without collapsing under the weight of my bag; I really have to sort through it in Brisbane and maybe post some stuff home. New Zealand souvenirs on top? Will make it actually too heavy to carry as it is.

Right. Off.

Today made me realise just how happy I am to be in Australia.

I left a little later than I planned to catch my Blue Mountains bus; I meant to leave 6:45am (had to be there for 7:15am) to give myself time to get lost but I ended up scrabbling to find change for the vending machine and I left 7am instead. Figured fine, Googlemnaps said eight minutes so...

Yeah. George Street is the longest street in existence. For about ten minutes I suspected Googlemaps was right when they said it'd take 222 days because I was watching the numbers creep up on the buildings and it was fifteen minutes before I even got close. I ran the last five and made it only five minutes late which was okay! We waited another ten minutes for more people but gave up and left (they caught the train up and joined us later instead; at least I made the bus!)

The Blue Mountains were... lovely. We spent about an hour and a half looking for wild kangaroos not too far from Glenbrook. I wasn't too bothered because I'd seen them with chickybee32 but I was surprised by how many people on the tour hadn't seen them until I remembered how far we'd driven to find them. The whole "KANGAROOS ARE EVERYWHERE" notion I had before I got here? Yeah, not so much it seems. But we eventually spotted three under some trees and took sneaky photos and then a tree dropped a branch almost on our tour guide's head which was hilarious because for something that can't move, that tree had pretty good aim. We stopped giggling at the "Do not sit under trees with dead branches!" signs after that.

Then we did the Wentworth Falls and the Three Sisters and... it was perfect. I got chatting to a girl from Milton Keynes who flew all the way out here for *two weeks* and every time she said she was already homesick, it made me realise I'm totally not missing home yet and I'm glad she was the one leaving on Monday. It also made me think I might be a bit inconsolable at the airport in June. chickybee32, you're the one I'll be crying over so you have been warned! Maybe I'll be desperately missing Casper by then, I don't know but today it felt like I'd never want to leave. Everything; the scenery, volunteering to let the tour guide paint stripes on our faces with red ochre because no one else would (he also talked about Aboriginal symbols which gave me an idea for a tattoo that I think I might actually get when I get back to the UK), the people I was chatting to who'd been all over everywhere, knowing I still have all of New Zealand and more Australia to come... I was so happy to be here, I couldd've cried.

Of course, it's entirely possible I was high on eucalyptus fumes. But the point stands! It was an awesome day!

On the way back I planned to grab a shower and head down to Darling Harbour for food and to catch Monsters vs Aliens at the IMAX but after I'd stopped at the supermarket for washing liquid because we got very muddy today (I also kept the face stripes the tour guide gave us until my shower but no one in the supermarket so much as looked at me oddly. I was disappointed) and got back, had a shower... I really didn't want to go out again. So instead I'm sitting on the big couch in the lounge of the hostel with peanut-butter toast, TimTams and coffee, a confirmation number for a tour of Sydney Opera House tomorrow written on my hand and one of the guys I met on the walk yesterday who I just realised reminds me of Colin Morgan reading On the Road next to me while a girl and a guy I know from the walk are sitting around on their laptops. It's cosy and comfortable and I know I can trust them to look after the laptop for me if I feel the urge to move, say to get more coffee.

Tomorrow I'm doing my Opera House tour, then later me and the-guy-who-is-not-Colin-Morgan are heading out to the Botanical Gardens and hopefully seeing the sunset over the coast then finding "bats the size of cats" that I've been reliably informed live in the Gardens. Then I may head down to Darling Harbour for dinner.

I'm so happy I'm in Australia right now. The only thing that makes today more perfect is knowing that tomorrow looks pretty awesome too.

( couple of Blue Mountains pictures because Scrapbook decided to work for me again )


I'm really tired so I may go fetch more coffee. Mmmmmmm.

I just Googlemapped directions to the place I have to catch my Blue Mountains bus trip for tomorrow, namely 804 George Street, Sydney, expecting a trip of around five to ten minutes. But no!

224 days, 11 hours.

Because Googlemaps gave me directions - walking directions - to 804 George Street, Sydney, Canada. Via Japan. Walking.

Well done Googlemaps. Take a cookie.

~

I'm still pissed about Primeval but I need to run to Starbucks for breakfast before I go on my walking trip to Bondi at 12pm, so comments'll get answered tonight. I'm still mad at actors in general. What happened to loyalty? Do you see authors getting bored halfway through a book trilogy and saying "No, screw this! I'm off to write something else with my new floppy hair!" (I'm paraphrasing). Possibly. But not the good ones. Yet an actor abandons a show for no apparent reason (that I've seen; I will stand corrected if anyone points one out) and everyone's all "Oh good for you! Don't want to be typecast!

Yeah well Henshall, I'd never heard of you before Primeval and I suspect I won't in future either. Share Googlemaps' Cookie of Fail complete with the Chocolate Chips of Stupidity.

...I will now stop ranting on this matter and go to Starbucks. Yes.