This morning I went into town to run a few errands - I had to return Shelley's bike, mail a package home (Mom & Dad, please let me know when you get this!), and drop a few of my extra items off at the op shop (secondhand store). On my way in, I think about every other car honked at (Jack - Shelley's Husband, Hunchy, Owen, Jono, Shelley) me to say hi as I now know a lot of the people from town. It was a really great feeling on my last day to see that I really did get to know Coromandel. I spent 2 months there and I met a lot of the people, made a lot of friends, and made a little spot for myself amongst the local scene. What a great summer!
When I was leaving the cafe I was told I had the best smile (thank you Mom and Dad for the braces) and had the best customer service. What a great couple of compliments! I told them all that they can come visit me in Paris or Tokyo or Dubai where one day I'll be managing a restaurant. After saying goodbye to the crew Jess drove me to the bus to the ferry. I have more stuff than when I arrived in Coromandel Town but I did a good job of packing it all well. I only have one additional bag than when I arrived and that was filled mostly with the gum boots I'm taking to the dairy farm I'm going to next weekend. Because I store my stuff all around everywhere and am not the neatest person I think the girls I was living with thought I had more stuff. Either way, they were very impressed I got everything packed as well as I did. (I was a bit surprised too but not as surprised as them).
Here are a few Thank You's to those people who made my summer what it was:
Anyways, thank you again to Jess and Michal for hosting me this summer, I had a truly great time in Coromandel Town and am extremely grateful for the opportunity to spend the summer there. Thank you to Katie and Sandy and Alex and Mel for a fun summer working in the cafe. Thank you to Phoebe and Patricia and Alanna for being my best friends for the summer of 2013/2014! Thank you to Elli and Alice and Lars and Henry and Marcus and Paul for being a great group of friends for the summer. Thank you to Kana and Terri Ann and Aimee and Taylor for being so much fun to work with at Top Pub and putting up with my complete and total inability to ever hand out raffle tickets on Thursday nights. Thank you to Julieanne for the opportunity to work at Top Pub - this could be just the opportunity I needed to get a job in Queenstown. Thank you to Hunchy and Skinny and Owen and Betty and Pete and Kath and Neville and Steve and all the other locals at top pub for being so nice to me even though I didn't always remember what you drank or if you were or weren't in the handle club. Thank you to Shelley for taking me under your wing while I lived in Coromandel Town and helping me with so many things. And thank you to everyone who I didn't mention here for making my first two months in NZ so great that I've decided to stay another 4 - 10. (Oh and thank you to all of the nice people who picked me up when I was hitching. I literally never could have done many of the things I did without you!)
Okay so I took the ferry to Auckland. The water was choppy at times but overall it was a good ride. Here's a few photos of the city as we were coming in:
The city.
Rangitoto - a volcano I'm going to try and hike one day.
After landing, Terry came and picked me up at the pier and took me back to his and Mimi's house in the suburb of Henderson. I met their daughter, Rosie (23), and son, Kelsey (26). We had a great dinner on their back deck which overlooks a beautiful creek and I now have a semi busy social calendar. Rosie and I are going to the Auckland War Memorial Museum tomorrow. On Saturday she is having a party at her flat that I will be attending. Sunday I am going to the beaches with Heydon, a guy who gave me a ride once.
I am so happy to be staying here with Terry and Mimi. It is so nice to be at someone's house where I have my own bedroom, my own bed, nice pillows, a shower where I can leave my shampoo and conditioner bottles between showers, a bathroom that only a few people use. I can't even tell you how nice the double bed that I'm laying in now feels after sleeping in a cramped bunk bed for the last 2 months. This bed is actually so nice I took a picture, here it is:
To those of you back home this might not look like much but the things you learn to appreciate when you're traveling. I saw those pillows and it made me smile. I thought to myself, it is going to be so nice to lay my head down on two nice pillows vs. the one shitty pillow I've had since December 13th. Small things can really make all the difference.
Okay, that's all for now. I need to get some sleep so I'm well rested for the museum tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing well back home.
Best!
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