Dazed and Confused - Days Thirteen & Fourteen

I woke up in the morning feeling pretty good. The medicine Bernard's Mom gave me seemed to be working. He drove me to the airport and we had a good chat along the way about Catholicism and life in general. I ended up getting there really early. The line was huge for my flight. After about 30 mins standing there I realized they weren't even checking my flight yet, but I was about halfway in the line now and didn't want to leave only to come back later to a massive line. So when I got to the counter the lady told me to wait over by the first class area. That was nice...after waiting an hour I got to sit down until it was time to check my flight. Then I was one of the first ones called up!

The flight was good. Getting used to the whole process by now. Landed in Auckland and went to get my bags. The customs guy was giving me a bit of a hard time. I guess it would have been nice if I had a place I was going that night, but I didn't have a firm plan for what I was doing. I bought a NZ travel guide and figured my first stop would be Waitomo. When I told the customs guy that he was like, "Good luck finding a place to stay." That kinda spooked me a bit, but whatever. Then after him I got pulled aside by another guy and asked a ton of questions about nonsense. He was just trying to rattle me, but this guy was actually polite so I didn't mind so much.


I decided before I left for down under to rent a car. It was waiting for me somewhere, but I didn't really know where. It took me awhile to find the place, until I got directed to a sign outside where I had to wait for a shuttle. I was getting a little worried, cause it was getting late and I knew the place was closing soon. Finally the shuttle came and the guy told me to come on but I wasn't too confident in what he was saying. Eventually he dropped me off at this hotel and I'm like, are you sure this is where I pick up the car?!? It didn't seem right at all.

I went inside and the lady didn't give me much assurance. She just told me I had to wait. But thankfully after about 20 mins she had car keys for me!!! I was freaking out, thinking I wasn't going to get my car, but looking back it wouldn't have been so bad to wait a day, haha, I had no itinerary really.


And here's my baby. This car would be my one faithful companion the remainder of my trip. But the problem is this...after getting off the plane I could feel the sickness coming back. I took some more of those pills, but something just wasn't right. When it came time to take off in the car, I probably shouldn't have.

Haha, I was soooo out of it. I could hardly concentrate and figure out what I was doing. On top of that add the fact that I would now be driving on the opposite side of the road, something I had never done before. And, ON TOP OF THAT....I was driving standard, with my LEFT HAND!!!! And oh yeah, roundabouts are everywhere and they have different rules about right of way (which to be honest, I don't think I ever really understand).

And, haha, I have no clue where I'm going. What a great start! Well, I decided to drive around the back roads a bit first just to get the hang of driving. Oh man, I was completely dazed. Eventually I made my way to the highway and headed south for Waitomo. The scenery was incredible!




It was like being in Lord of the Rings. That's all I kept thinking, it was so cool! I pulled over a few times just to take it in. And the thing was, it was so deserted. There were hardly any cars on the road (it was around supper time). I stopped into a grocery store and picked up a few things. My stomach wasn't doing so good, so I was eating pretty light.

I figured I might not be able to find a place to stay in Waitomo this late, I was feeling really bad and it was still quite a ways, so I decided to spend the night in Hamilton. The motel I stayed at was run by a really nice guy. He looked just like Jackie's Uncle Ron. I should have taken a picture.

I was happy to get some rest and just being in NZ was really exhilirating. The night got even better when I turned on the TV and discovered Lost would be on soon! Haha, it was one of my favorite episodes. That night I slept okay, but had to make frequent trips to the bathroom. This would continue the whole 7 more days I was in NZ :P

The next day I did a bit of shopping and got some toiletries. I was also getting sick of my shaggy hair so I got a haircut, can you guess where??? Great Clips! Unfortunately they didn't have my phone number in their database like here.

In the food court they had a Sushi place which was really good and then I saw the movie I Am Legend. Let me just say, that movie was dumb! Haha, I liked it until they introduced the zombie people. They were ridiculous. The major problem I had with the movie was this:


The whole time Will Smith is saying these creatures are evil, they're selfish, they aren't conscious, they just kill, etc, etc...so he takes one to experiment on, and another zombie guy is freaking out. He sets up a trap for Will, he even comes out in the light, he does everything he can, because Will has stolen the zombies girlfriend. And how does the movie end??? Will Smith cures the lady and kills the zombie guy...but that whole thing wasn't resolved, the zombies did care about something. Anyways, I was kinda happy to find out later that the original ending is much different (and makes way more sense in my opinion). Click here if you want to see it.

So after the movie I made my way to Waitomo. I came to this little tiny place on the way there and discovered they had a Kiwi House...unfortunately they closed just as I got there!!!!


What a bummer. I walked around for a bit and had a little hike. The weather was so nice.


I regret not getting to see you!

I contemplated spending the night there, but instead I went all the way to Waitomo. There was a hostel there and it was sweet. I figured I'd have to share a room with a bunch of people, but I got my own room for a cheap price! I went to the internet cafe down the road and did some emailing. When I got back to my room I realized I totally left my wallet there!!! I ran back and thankfully it was still there.

I was so sick that night. I really wanted to do this caving trip and I hoped I would be fine for it the next day. That whole night I was up every hour going to the toilet. I watched most of Super Troopers on my iPod. That was nice having that there.

And that was the end of Day Fourteen...