From Aio Wira to Leigh

I can't believe its already been two weeks! It feels longer but it also feels much shorter.

Our stay at Aio Wira started out pretty slow because there were no guests staying at the centre. We took the chance to explore the bush a little around beautiful west Auckland.

Just before Lake Wainamu is a huge black sand dune in the middle of lush forest.

I highly recommend the Auckland City Walk. It is a very easy walk and quite popular, even with the locals. You get to see several huge Kauri trees, including the King Kauri, which is well over 1000 years old! Many many critters live in its branches.

King Kauri!

During these two weeks, my boyfriend and I had the wonderful opportunity to learn what NOT to do when buying a used car. What the drama! In New Zealand, the website TradeMe is like the kiwi version of Kijiji. We decided to buy a car to use during our stay because it really is the best way to travel around. The buses only go so far. But being naive and excited, we bid on a car without checking it beforehand. We really were expecting someone else to bid on the car as well but lo and behold, no one did and we won it! Yippee.... Honestly, I had bad feelings right from the bid, but we were now legally bound to buy the car. We exchanged the money and keys and dropped off the owners near a train station. It was raining, it was really dark, and this was going to be our first time driving on the opposite side of the road. We started the car, drove a few meters, and then smoke started billowing out from the hood!! It turned out we were driving with the parking brake on, shesh! Let me tell you now, this car was not intuitive. We had to google how to release the brakes and how to open the hood. After the car cooled down and the smoke went away, we managed to drive all the way back to Aio Wira from Newmarket, Auckland. But so weird, our fuel gauge was dropping, and fast! What is wrong with the car!?!

We finally got the car checked out, and it turned out it needed major repairs (no fuel leak though!) that would end up costing as much as we paid for the car. Eek!

Oh the lessons we have to learn the hard way sometimes. It was a car drama filled two weeks, but no worries, my boyfriend and I did eventually land a sweet ride and junked the old one (it was showing rapid deterioration so we didn't want to keep using it). This time we had the car checked out beforehand, and got the owner to put on new tires! While buying a car can be quite expensive, this one should have a decent resale value when we have to leave the country. As long as we don't crash. :P

Toyota Camry!

With all that aside, our two weeks at Aio Wira came up and it was time to move to our next adventure. We decided to spend a night in Auckland to give us a chance to explore the city a little bit. We booked a room at K Road City Travellers. It is located at the intersection of K road and Queen street, two of the most happening streets in the city! The room itself was simple but clean, and it came with unlimited high-speed wifi! The room did smell like Chinese food, but that was because there was a restaurant right across the street.

Right beside K hostel is a vegan friendly cafe called Revel. We snagged some snacks which turned out to be really filling and really delicious!

Mint slice and dark chocolate slice

Not far is a cute little shop called The Curelty Free shop which is an all-vegan store. It's filled to the brim with vegan goodies. We decided to try two Nice Bars: cola (made with cola nut), and chocolate. I was so excited, I forgot to take a picture. :P

The next day we drove to the Auckland Domain. The Domain is a large park area within Auckland that contains the Museum, the War Museum, the winter gardens, a cute little duck pond, and tons of space for a soccer field and other things. It is a huge and beautiful park that anyone going to Auckland should visit. It is also close to Parnell Village and Newmarket, both shopping attractions.

Sandpaper vine

An orange from the Sensory gardens

We're slowly moving up the North island. Right now we've just moved into a little studio room outside of a small fishing village called Leigh (pronounced more like "lee"). We're helping our hostess with lots of gardening and setting up her home security system. The views are lovely and with the bay so close, its quite windy as well. We're still adjusting, but its nice to not have to go outside to go to the bathroom. :) The luxury!

On a side note, I am simply floored at how cheap kiwis can be here. I guess it seems silly, but 9 big kiwis for $1.06?! With all those car expenses, I think I'll just live off of kiwis for a while!

9 BIG kiwis!

Hello New Zealand

After 23 hours of travel, we arrived in Auckland at 6am. Our plane was the only one so the airport was eerily empty but customs and security checks moved really quickly. In fact, I've never encountered nicer air port security in my life! New Zealand is very strict about bringing in potential contaminants so the security man washed my flip flops for me! They have never been cleaner!

We took the air bus to Britomart train station and no,  despite the name, it is not a supermarket. :P

There really is a huge gap between the platform and the train

Because it was a work day, people bustled about getting to work or school. The two of us, with giant backpacks, stuck out, but we weren't a rare sight. The people we interacted with, all the way from Airport customs to a cashier, were used to backpackers.

We grabbed the train to Aio Wira, a vegetarian yoga retreat center just outside of Auckland. It is lush and gorgeous here.

It's hard for native Albertans to believe this is the start of winter!

It's been almost a week now and we're fitting into life here at Aio Wira. We've baked cakes, cleaned nasty hair out of drains, weeded like no tomorrow, and cozied up to blazing fires at night with a cup of tea.

Fellow woofers playing cards

My boyfriend and I did manage to get into the city for a bit to set up our New Zealand bank accounts. We stopped by a mall to have lunch. The sushi is so interesting here! I wasn't allowed to take a picture, but each individual piece is lined up in a display case for you to pick and choose as you please. There were a variety of choices ranging from vegetarian sushi, different types of rice, takoyaki, gyoza, and fried things.

Fresh macadamia nuts from a local market

Being out in the bush, there are a lot of choices when it comes to bush walks. 10 kms down the road is Bethell's Beach. It's all black sand! We ended up going on a stormy day, but I'm sure its stunning on days of better weather.

Bethells Beach - all black sand!

It's only been a week but it feels longer! I also think I'm starting to pick up local words and accents, completely unintentionally. Maybe by the end of this year I'll speak just like a native Kiwi.

Working Holiday Visa

Did you know there is a really awesome opportunity for persons under 30 or 35? It's called a working holiday visa and it allows a person to stay for up to a year in another country, sight-seeing and working around. There are many countries that offer this visa to encourage travel for younger people.

I wanted to share this because it seems like not a lot of people know about it and it's what I got to allow me to travel to New Zealand for a whole year! There is an age maximum so I'm going to take advantage of it until then. :) The really great thing about this visa is that it allows you to work and earn money while you travel. When you're gone for a year, it really helps to find ways to refill the coffers.

There are many ways to make some cash while travelling. WOOFing is really popular in Australia and New Zealand. WWOOFing stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. In other words, you put in a few hours of hard physical work for some pay, and sometimes, a place to sleep. With Woofing, you don't need a work visa. But what if you see a great opportunity to earn some cash waitressing or, say, baking? That's where the work visa comes in. No need for under-the-table deals. :D

My life in a backpack!

Working holiday visas generally last for a year and cannot be regranted, but there are some exceptions. New Zealand, for example, will grant a second one (for persons under the age max) if you go through SWAP.

I'll be heading to New Zealand soon and my plan is to continue posting about my adventures there. (Is anyone else excited to see what a kiwi grocery store looks like? No? Just me?) From reading around, it seems wifi in kiwi land isn't as reliable, nor as freely available, as it is here but I'm sure I can make it work. What are my plans? I have no idea! In fact, I only just confirmed a place to stay for my first two weeks in Auckland a few weeks ago. We'll just have to see from there. :P

I also want to share some resources I've been using to help prepare for this trip:

Nomadic Matt - a great travel blog from a professional traveller. Matt gives great tips, price brackets, and highlights for many destinations. He also gives really good advice on how to save up money to travel in the first place.

Work Away - one of many websites that helps to connect travellers with locals. Locals post an ad about what kind of help they need around their property in exchange for accommodation and sometimes food.

HelpEx - another help exchange website

Make Every Dollar Count - a great article about ways to save money while abroad, like using specific debt cards and credit cards for fewer fees

Working Holiday Starter NZ - a company that specializes in helping people through the working holiday process and supporting them throughout the year

To say I'm excited is a major understatement. This is going to be amazing and I want it to start right now! I hope you will enjoy a glimpse of New Zealand throughout my adventures. :)