Finally got Internet again so this will be more of an info dump, sorry best to just skim.
Well we did laundry folks, it’s a miracle. And we did it like peasants, in the most adorable way. It is very uncommon for people to have dryers so you hang dry everything on a line, and it is so cute! However it did take us an entire day because you have to stick around just incase it decides to rain, and rain pops up all the time!
So about that whole just getting into people’s cars thing at a train station, yeah we did that. It turned out great 0 abductions and 2 new friends, Mike and other Mike. We went to Papakura to look at vans and Mike picked us up and took us to his home. They gave us the keys to a van, took no identification or anything, and said “go have a test drive, have fun, the beach is that way”. This was also our first time driving on the left side of the road, which we told them and they were still ok with us taking the van. We literally could have stolen this van and driven away and no one would be none the wiser. We didn’t do that we brought the van back like the decent people we are!
"right side suicide" how we remember to stay LEFT!
The beach where we could have driven off with the van.
No one around but sheep to stop us from stealing the a for mentioned van.
We didn’t end up buying this van, shame I know, but Mike and Mike said we could come back anytime to work for them, they actually pay dollars. They also said they could get us in a helicopter for the Milford Treck (thanks Papa Blaze for the suggestion by the way)! We got dropped off at the train station and made our way to Mungawhau or in English, Mount Eden. It’s the highest volcano in Auckland.
Mount Eden rim.
The next day Ian picked us up from Onehunga to take us to his place to stay for a bit. Again we just got in a strange person’s car and went to stay with him. Mags and I are essentially professional hitchhikers at this point. We got in contact with Ian from a backpackers website, Mags had emailed him when we were still in the States for a job. We were supposed to be his first WWOOFers (we are not actually WWOOFers, people who work on organic farms for in exchange for food and a place to sleep because we have not paid to be part of the organization, but that’s fine). However somehow time lines got mixed up and he already had someone staying, João (pronounced Jon, kind of…more accent though) with him, but he said he would take us anyway because we were the 1st to contact him. So we were off to Port Waikato.
P.S
Sorry for such lengthy posts really thought I would get bored of this but everyday is just full of excitement in New Zealand!
P.P.S
Can someone please put WhatsApp on Amanda's phone. It can't be this hard it takes 5 people max. 4 to tackle her and 1 to download the freakin app.