Birthdays Were the Worst Days, Now We Sip Champagne When We Thirstay

For Sam’s Birthday, we decided to be classy as and go to the Auckland Race Cup. People here go all out with giant hats and fascinators (flowery/feather hair clips). So Sam, Elyse, and I got all dressed up in floral dresses with big hair pieces and fancy shoes, and set out for the races in style!...by bus. 

Once we got there, there was a Stella Artios photo shoot going on where you could pose for model shots. I’m not gonna lie I look pretty awkward in most of them, so even if I wasn’t 5’2 I still don’t think a modeling career would have ever been in my near future. 

Stella Photo Shoot

The races itself were a blur due to Sam’s dad treating us to three bottles of champagne across the world thanks to American Express. After weeks of studying the races, the horses, and their jockeys, we developed an extensive, fool-proof system of picking horses that we thought were going to win and I shall share it with you here: Coolest name = winning horse. It’s a mathematical fact. 

 After the races, we went home to take a nap. Then the real birthday celebration began! I made Sam some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for her birthday (which I burnt to pieces, but it’s the thought that counts right?) and we put a candle in one of the cookies and sang happy birthday. 

 Then we headed down to fox’s for our “pregame.” Every two weeks, Fox’s has to clear the beer lines, so they empty all the remaining beer out of the kegs and put them in jugs and the employees get to drink them – one of the perks of the job. People from work came in and we sat around, drank, and even introduced them to flip cup! I don’t see it catching on in NZ any time soon sadly. We went out on the town after that and had a very fun night filled with birthday shots, which is why the day after Sam’s birthday, March 10^th 2011, is basically a missed day in our lives. We never made it out of bed. Okay, well that’s a lie. I got up once to open the door for the pizza delivery man. 

Beer Lines

UNI ORIENTATION WEEK!!

Woo! It was just the beginning of classes at Auckland Uni, which means Orientation Week where they set up booths in the quad to sign up for clubs, get information, they play music, and give away ice tea, ice cream, and coupons, etc. You may be asking yourself, ‘But Nicole, didn’t you graduate already? Why are you excited about Orientation Week when you have no reason to go?” And to that I would respond with two things. 1.) They don’t know I’m not a student there and 2.) If you reread the beginning of this paragraph, you’ll notice I said they “give away ice tea, ice cream, and coupons.” 

So yeah, Sam and I crashed Auckland Uni Orientation for free giveaways. And it was amazing. We also got a new sticker put on our student ID to show that we are current students so now we get discounted movie tickets and things like that. Sure, I had to put down a fake name (Nicole Rivers) and student ID number but I was already long gone before they figured that out....We also got lunch on campus at this place we used to love there, Strata. Embarrassingly enough, even at a school that big, we ran into three people we know. It was really good to see them, but I’m sure part of them was judging us...And by part I mean all.

When One Door Closes...

We all know the old motto ‘When one door closes, another one opens.’ While in this case, I’m adapting that slogan to ‘When one plane departs (without you on it), go drinking on Waiheke.’ Just wait. It’ll catch on soon enough. Sam, Jenna, and I were supposed to fly to Christchurch and then drive to Queenstown after our camping trip. We planned to hike Franz Josef again as last time we were here, it got cancelled due to poor weather. I packed the day before and got everything ready, being the responsible adult that I am. And then we decided to go out the night before...and we missed our flight. Yeah. 

Jenna still went to Queenstown the next day and stayed until she had to go home, but Sam and I had work and it didn’t make sense to go with that first day lost because our time would be cut short. That’s when our manager Ashley invited us to go to Waiheke with her and two of her friends. Sam and I had done Waiheke last time we were here and it was one of the best days of my life and one of the main reasons I wanted to move back to New Zealand, working on the island at the winery Mudbrick. (Obviously, I didn’t consider the 40 minute ferry it would take to get there every day so that didn’t end up happening.) But we still got to visit there once again! 

We rented a car this time instead of doing a guided tour which was nice because we got to see everything at its own pace. It was surreal to see Mudbrick again (the first winery we went to of course). It was just as beautiful as I remembered it. We also got to see a few new wineries like Wild on Wahieke. We found a beach later on and just hung out for a bit before heading back home. Ashley also invited us out to a BYO Italian dinner – the first time I’ve had real Italian food in months! It was a really nice day and made me feel better about missing the flight. I think the ultimate lesson learned here is that I’m just not meant to climb Franz Josef...and maybe not drink the night before a flight? After all, the whole point of the complimentary drinks airlines offer is to get drunk ON the plane, not BEFORE. Well, lesson learned then.

On a side note, we have rebooked our flight to Queenstown. Wish us better luck this time around...

Glamping: Combination of Glamour and Camping

Believe it or not, I went roughing it out in the woods, leaving all necessities behind except for a tent, some sneakers, and a flashlight. I caught fish and cooked my own food by campfire which I started myself by rubbing two sticks together. I became one with nature, just (wo)man and the wilderness....

 

Alright, I may have also brought my makeup, a book, a few outfit changes (you never know what occasion may arise), iPod, my Little Mermaid towel, flip flops, pillows, a car....I think you get the gist: I’m high maintenance and my idea of “roughing it” is only being able to bring an over-packed duffle bag to a camping ground that has on-site kitchen and bathroom facilities.

The camping trip idea has been something I’ve been dying to do, much to Sam’s dismay. After living with me for the last 4 years, I think she realized I may be in over my head. But I was determined and when her friend Jenna from back home came to visit it seemed like the push we needed to finally go ahead and do it. We also invited two other girls Becks, a German exchange student who we met through a mutual friend, and Elyse, another American who we also met through a mutual friend.

Of course, true to form, we didn’t book ANYTHING before the trip. Monday morning (the day we were leaving) Sam called a car company and they had a car for us, we picked up a tent from our friend Kasey (luckily her flatmate had one or I don’t know what we would have been sleeping in), and we got a map and were on our way. You may have noticed that we didn’t know exactly where we were going or where we were staying yet. Minor details. 

Luckily Sam drove and we found our way there pretty easily for the most part (also making a pit-stop at a winery and having a glass each...) Right when we got to Mount Maunganui, we got a little confused about how to get to the campsite and it took all five of us studying a map to figure it out.

Everyone at the winery

Team effort of trying to figure out the map

When we showed up to the campsite, the lady informed us that someone had just cancelled their beachfront lot so we got a spot right on the beach! It was so beautiful. We set up our tents and set out to find food (at the supermarket.) We got some dips and bread and ate on the beach until it got dark. 

We went to bed pretty early because we planned on getting up at 5AM to climb the mountain and watch the sunrise. I obviously did not come up with this idea and was a little worried I would be cranky in the morning since we all know I am not, nor ever will be, a morning person. But getting up early was no problem (probably because I never actually slept due to the ground being so uncomfortable) and we were on our way! The hike up wasn’t bad at all and once we got to the top, we just relaxed and waited for the sun to come up. It was probably the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen in my life.

Mount Maunganui at 5AM

 After coming down from the mountain, I think I was delirious from lack of sleep and still in an active mode for some reason so I decided to tag along with Becks who was going down to the beach to “work out a little.” What I didn’t know that Becks is actually a legit fitness instructor and after running on the beach for about five minutes, she had me doing all these crazy exercises like sprints, frog jumps, push-ups, sit-ups, I think one was even called the Spiderman! There was even a stop watch involved...I couldn’t move my legs for the next week after that.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing – we went to the beach and laid out (I got a little bit sunburned unfortunately) so when we got back I stayed inside and read “I Know This Much Is True” – good book! 

We decided to stay over one more night since we enjoyed it so much and I got less sleep this night than I did the night before if possible (mainly because someone was hogging all the covers...Sam). Unfortunately, I had class the next night so I left early with Elyse to go back to Auckland. But I finally got the camping trip out of my system and I’m glad I did it! I’m also glad to be sleeping on a mattress once again...