Day #4. Auckland (again)

My morning started off wonderfully!  I got to skype my honey!!!!!  :D :D :D  It was amazing to hear his voice.  I know it's only been 5 days and I'm pathetic but DEAL with it ;)  Then I sat on the beach for 30 minutes in the beautiful dewey morning air and read my book while waiting for the bus.  Then I got on the bus and met a cute family with a precious little girl named Marcella who had a mini cast on her arm big pink sunglasses.  Then I took out my camera and looked at pictures of my boo, and also started taking pics of Marcella and her cute pink kitty shoes.  Then I got off the bus to catch the ferry.  And once on the ferry, I reached into my backpack and..…… my heart literally stopped beating, and then went briefly into v-tac.  My camera wasn't there.  I left it on the bus :( :( :( :(  Expensive mistake.  A $270 mistake.  I debated for a while whether to replace it with a disposable one.  But I just couldn't.  This is my "trip of a lifetime" and I'm not documenting it with some hanky panky fake camera!  So I went to the local Dick Smith and bought another Cannon PowerShot.  I'm still kind of bummed about losing my camera.  But there is still a glimmer of hope.  I was told to call the lost-n-found tomorrow morning and see if they have it.  Keep your fingers crossed!  If it's there somebody is going to get a nice Christmas present when I get home!  No Melissa, not you (stop saying "thank you", I can hear you saying it all the way across the ocean!!)  You already have a camera.  GOSH.  hehe.

After such a rough morning I decided to take it easy for a while and stroll around the Parnell district of Auckland.  Such a lovely town!!  Old Victorian buildings, lush green shrubs and trees, flowers, cafes, very expensive shops where a pair of panties costs 100 dollars.  I resent the fact that the shop attendants looked down their noses at me when I walked in and they didn't even say hi!  Was it because I was wearing flip flops and carrying a bright blue beach bag??  I soon tired of "shopping" as I have absolutely no money to shop with anyways.  Instead I treated myself to a most delectable lunch at the Alphabet Bistro.  I had read about the place in my travel book!  It's a small cafe with an outdoor patio that serves things like peach pancakes with raspberry coulis and fresh bruschetta with goat cheese and caramelised onion.  I ordered the sweet corn, zucchini, and spring onion fritters with tangy tomato relish and cool sour cream sauce.  It was, of course, exquisite.  After that (and a nice glass of Marlborough region Pinot Gris) I was once again in a fantastic mood, almost like I had been after the skype call :)

The Parnell Rose Gardens were my next stop, but for some reason, when I got there my legs just felt like jelly so I had to sit down.  I'm not used to constantly walking from 8 am to 7 pm every day!!!  I sat under a gazebo and crashed the picnic of an elderly couple from London.  They were eating cheese sandwiches and throwing bread crumbs to the birds.  We started talking about this and that, and somehow we ended up talking about healthcare and politics, Obama and Blair (most of which I know nothing about, really).  At any rate, they very much dislike Blair and are quite curious what America is going to do about healthcare.  Darned if I know!  They are also quite upset about the New Zealand immigration policy.  We said goodbye and I continued my trek through the rose garden.  It was pretty nice, but Portland's is waaayyy better.

I finished my Parnell visit off with a scoop of Swiss-made caramel ice cream in a lace-thin homemade waffle cone.  Kids in NZ are stylin', let me tell you.  I saw 2 mohawks today on toddlers.  They're all like little Kingston Stefani-Rossdale's and Madox Jolie-Pitt's (Gwen Stefani's boy and Brangelina's kid in case you didn't know).  This kid at the ice cream place had little black converse, black skinny jeans, a button up faded blue checker shirt, and the mohawk!!  Deeennngg.  I saw him grab his mum's purse and run off screeching, "Mom thanks for the moneeeeeeyyyyy!!!!"  They sure start young in Parnell…..

After that I hopped on a bus and took it down to Victoria Park near the Auckland Harbor Bridge.  Watched a few cricket games that were going on… one adult and two kids games, had NO idea what was going on.  They pitch really weird in cricket.  The guy actually gets a running start and swings his arm around twice like how girls do in softball.  I was hoping to get over to the Harbor Bridge but was told you can't actually walk there.  You have to take a tourist bus.  Well nevermind then!  I hate tourist buses.  They're crowded and hold you to a schedule.  I always make my own tours.  I only take buses to get from point A to point B.  Like Magic buses!!! :)

Tomorrow morning will be my 1st ride on the magic bus.  I think it's gonna be a long ride,, like 6 hours or something.  I'm back at the Nomad Fat Camel again for the night.  They had parmesan mac'n'cheese for our free meal, which wasn't half bad.  But I made a supermarket run on the side for some fresh produce!

Plan: tomorrow = Rotorua, the sulpher/hot springs/mud bath area.  I hear it stinks but they have killer mineral pools!

Budget:  $33 hostel from yesterday, $27 hostel for tonight, $2 bus fare, $24 Alphabet Bistro, $6 ice cream, $12 produce, and the very unexpected expense…. new replacement camera ringing in @ a whopping $270