Day 94: My travel buddy has left!

So yesterday Clem came over for a rather random dinner of salad, mushrooms and pea and mint soup (basically like pea puree, definitely going to have to master making soup), and we chilled and watched the Book Thief and all we could do (well me) was point out how they had seriously diverged  from the original story line in the book which was extremely frustrating. I don't recommend watching it if you have already read the book, but maybe its just me. Anyway we suddenly realised it was getting late and managed to make a dash for the last tram to take Clem back to her hostel for her flight to Sydney which left early this morning! So now me and Clem won't see each other until July when we head off to Cambodia and Vietnam. I think her plan was to see her step brother in Sydney then carry on up the coast but you will have to check out her blog for more details which you can go to here.... invariablyclementine.blogspot.com.au  Its going to be very strange not spending all our time together. I think over the last 3months we spent only 3 nights away from each other!!

P.S. sorry Clem, this had to be put up

Day 92: Hockey match vs St. Kilda

So today we played our third round against St Kilda and sadly lost our first match so far. It was quite funny as Shortty was playing on the other team (we used to play together at school) and ended up scoring the winning goal! Also before every match all the girls used to shout go the Dee's and I could never understood what it stood for until I found out were actually called the Melbourne Demons, I think shouting MCC with a gum shield in is just asking a bit too much. Clem, even though she was suffering from the previous night, came to watch and took some photos so photo credits go to her! I play number 9 so see if you can spot me in the photos.

Day 90: Melbourne!

So on the 31st March we flew into Melbourne, which is where I will be for the next few months. So far its all going pretty well, the suburb I live (Thornbury) in is just north of the centre and the people I'm living with are all so lovely. Also there is the most incredible Greek/Italian food market about 5 minute walk away, so I can now actually eat some proper food rather than pot noodle (basically what we ate for a month in NZ). Also, we have won both our first and second round matches at the hockey club I play for (MCC). The first one was on Saturday 5th and it was about 24 degrees (not ideal) and I was rather unfit (but surprised myself that I was actually able to stay on for as long as I did), anyway it was again Doncaster and we beat them 2-0. The next round was this Tuesday where we played at the state hockey centre in the pouring rain and came back from 2-0 down to win 7-2 again Footscray. Yesterday, Clem and I had a wander around the CBD and came across loads of little streets bursting with cafes and restaurants and other little tucked away places. Also I have this amazing blue beach cruiser bike which I cycle around everywhere on!

The beach cruiser

500g wasabi peas, completely addicted to these!

breakfast

Minion cakes are everywhere!

My favourite flowers 

Day 80: Blues match and Kodaline

Over the weekend we got to watch the Blues against the Highlanders, where the Blues won. The warm up to the match definitely didn't have anything on the Crusaders match which was amazing, but it was a pretty good match (from my vague understanding of rugby and according to the people next to us!). We also had a pretty funny evening on Saturday at some Irish bar. Then on Sunday we had a bit of a nightmare as we are both using travelling cash cards to try and save some money with ATM fees etc, but they decided to block us from getting any money out today so we had about $5 between us for the majority of today which was interesting to say the least. Then both our cards randomly unblocked themselves this evening to our relief. Anyway this evening we went to see an Irish band called Kodaline, and once we got there I realised I only really knew one of their songs and definitely didn't know what any of them looked like. But they turned out to be incredible, and we almost considered trying to get tickets to see them in Melbourne as well!! They were so so good and it was definitely one of our better "planned" ideas we have had so far. (Usually when we plan things they turn out to go really badly, but when we don't plan anything something exciting usually happens!!)

 

Good cure for a bad headache!

This is what appeared when we tried to get $20 out

Packing time-not going well

This video was NOT filmed by me, it was a super crazy fan, hence the loud screaming and appalling singing

Day 78: Last day with Percy!

We drove down from Whangerai to Auckland today and dropped off Percy, our van, back at the garage and said our farewell, sad times!!

Day 77: Dolphin watching round 2

So yesterday we saw zilch "sea mammals" so we re booked with our free tickets, and this time we went on the boat where you have the chance to swim with the dolphins. Only problem was we had to wake up much earlier to do this trip, Clemmie was not happy with me when I woke her up this morning. Anyway we made it on time and got onto the boat and soon were out going around the Bay of Islands again. It took about an hour and half of searching but we soon found a huge pod of dolphins with a little 2 week old baby with them, which was so amazing to see, but meant we weren't allowed to swim with them. To be honest I wasn't tooooo upset as the weather wasn't amazing and the sea looked seriously cold. We spent around half and hour cruising next to the pod whilst the swam along and played around in the water next to us. Animal conservation laws state you are only allowed to spend a certain time with a pod of dolphins before you must leave so we moved on in search of a pod we could swim with. We were travelling for another good hour before coming across some more fins diving through the water, but by this time it was almost 12, and another conservation law lets the dolphins have a "lunch break" from 12 until 1.30 where no boats are allowed to be around the dolphins. So sadly (or not so sadly as the sea was freezing) we didn't get to swim with the dolphins but we got to see them finally!!

this morning's sunrise!

Day 76: Dolphin watching round 1

So today we are in Paihia and in the  morning we took a boat trip around the Bay of Islands and got to see the hole in the rock and various other islands, but sadly no dolphins or whales etc, so we think we might go tomorrow as they give you another ticket if you don't sea any sea mammals, which doesn't ever expire! But we did get to see lots of beautiful views!