Sunday, June 19, 2005
Free stuff
Soundtrack: “Holes In The Wall” by The Electric Soft Parade
Thursday 9th June. I went on a free Kiwi Experience tour around the area surrounding Auckland, basically, because it was free. Kiwi Experience is one of the tour companies operating around NZ catering for the 18-25 party market, colloquially known as Shag Buses. The other main companies are Magic Bus and Stray, and I’ve come to hate them all with a vengeance. More of that later.
So, this free tour, then. We went to see the marae (Maori village type thing) at Auckland Uni, to see the views from the hills out of Auckland, to see a 900-year-old tree, and to have a free barbecue at the hotel across the road from the Lions’ training ground. We then went to Shelley Beach beside Auckland Harbour Bridge, and to dockside. There is a crazy amount of boats in that city – it isn’t called City of Sails for nothing.
Sean and Rich were working in Fox’s that night, so we all went down for the pub quiz, which we managed to miss by an hour. Martin and I worked out that Regis the Crazy Maori Bartender had been giving me a) double shots and b) a $1.50 discount on top of it. Yay for good old Steph charm. I had an earlier night as I had to get up very early the next day. I said my goodbyes, packed, and went to bed.
Thursday 9th June. I went on a free Kiwi Experience tour around the area surrounding Auckland, basically, because it was free. Kiwi Experience is one of the tour companies operating around NZ catering for the 18-25 party market, colloquially known as Shag Buses. The other main companies are Magic Bus and Stray, and I’ve come to hate them all with a vengeance. More of that later.
So, this free tour, then. We went to see the marae (Maori village type thing) at Auckland Uni, to see the views from the hills out of Auckland, to see a 900-year-old tree, and to have a free barbecue at the hotel across the road from the Lions’ training ground. We then went to Shelley Beach beside Auckland Harbour Bridge, and to dockside. There is a crazy amount of boats in that city – it isn’t called City of Sails for nothing.
Sean and Rich were working in Fox’s that night, so we all went down for the pub quiz, which we managed to miss by an hour. Martin and I worked out that Regis the Crazy Maori Bartender had been giving me a) double shots and b) a $1.50 discount on top of it. Yay for good old Steph charm. I had an earlier night as I had to get up very early the next day. I said my goodbyes, packed, and went to bed.
