Day 56: Auckland, New Zealand (last day, ah the memories)

Well, here I am nearing the homestretch of my trip. New Zealand was amazing for a bunch of reasons:

1. The landscapes were spectacular. If I live long enough and I become rich, I'll be back to do three things in particular: tramping (no, not picking up cougars at sketchy bars, but this is New Zealandese for hiking) as they've got some of the best treks in the world through the mountains. Search for the "milford track" and check out some photos online... skiing because this is the first place in the world I've seen a triple black diamond, also they have "club" ski fields where only 20 or 30 people go per day (not very commerical at all, the lifts are basically the same as they used to use in the caveman days, and they actually are called 'nutcrackers', no pain no gain eh?)... and golfing, its dirt cheap to play a round, I felt ripped off playing for $11 in the center of Christchurch, apparently the best courses in New Zealand only charge $40-60 for green fees, not too shabby at all.

2. The touring and partying... I gotta say that I partied much much more here in NZ than Australia, mainly because I hopped on some tour buses (first with Contiki, then on Stray using the deal I basically had to strip for), met and got to know a bunch of people around my age, and just hit the bars, clubs and common rooms (yes, just like partying in the common room of residence in university) of the the cities, towns and even villages of the places we went. The biggest party nights were with Contiki, we lit it up everywhere we went, and those on the bus will remember the pool competition (I got soundly beaten by a local chick named Christie in the first round! I mean ruined, I didn't even sink a ball), the wild nights out on the town in Queenstown jumping from place to place and feeling for some reason like I was hanging out at Western University the whole time (??), the toga party up at Lake Ohau, definitely the last night with contiki in Christchurch where we were actually turned down (do we look 17??) trying to buy a bottle of champange to celebrate the end of an adventure, the Stray uno game on Stewart Island, and hopefully tonight out on the city here in Auckland for one last hurrah (for Tiedje, its pronounced 'huzzah') with my Italian bella Simona!

3. The skiing... (see 1) I say skiing, not snowboarding because I think I'm back on skis after a 6 year hiatus. I hired (rented) a pair on my last day on the slopes and fell in love again... the 12 years or so of toughing it out on skis as a kid payed off, cause I felt comfortable and confident after just 2 or 3 runs with them. Also, I kick ass too! I would definitely race myself on a board for money any day... and like I said, they have triple black diamonds here (although the ski fields I went to didn't have any).

Well, here are some photos for enjoyment for now, I'm off to Fiji tomorrow (Aug 30th) until Sept 6th. At that time, I fly back via LA to Toronto, land around 6am, and start up my career with Altera around 9 or 10 am that day. Its the price you pay for the trip of a life time, and I'm ready to speak in C++ again after having to speak English for these 2 months (or 3 if you count Europe!).

Keep on sending me comments! I especially like the ones from people trying to sell me a fake university degree or help me consolidate my debt :)





View from the Sky Tower (Auckland's CN Tower)... note the blatent copying of the glass floor.










"Hey big boy! Nice view of Wellington in the background. However, I've seen that shirt in about three hundred other photos..."













Snowboarding at Coronet Peak outside of Queenstown... the night before it dumped like 30cm of powder for us to cruise on all day... this was before I fell in love with skiing though!