Stray Cat Strut

Wow, a lot to catch up on.

Also "Stray Cat Strut" = good song by the band Stray Cats, lead singer Brian Setzer of the "Jump, Jive, and Wail" Brian Setzer Orchestra. But enough about that.

On Thursday, October 30 at 8am I hopped onto the Stray bus. Stray is a company that sponsors "off the beaten path" tours around New Zealand, taking you directly to a variety of activities, often that most tourists aren't even allowed to do, and typically for a modest discount. The tour is set up so that you buy a pass designated a particular route around the country, and you have 12 months to complete the route as many times as you want, hopping off the bus anywhere you want, including literally telling the driver to stop the bus while on a random highway, and hopping back on the next bus coming through whenever you're ready. A similar company called Kiwi Experience does the same thing with larger busses and is known as more of a party bus, whereas Stray does more outdoorsy cool activity stuff, which is what I wanted. I'll summarize each of my Stray days thus far.

Stray Day 1:
Hopped on ~25-30 seater bus containing 2 Brits, 2 Danish girls, 2 French girls, 2 Americans (+ me), and about 15 Germans. Germans are everywhere. Headed to Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, which is a beach where you dig a hole only a couple feet deep (at the most) that fills up with the steamy hot water just beneath the ground, and you have your very own hot tub. After laying in their for awhile, burning my back on the occasionally scalding water and briefly diving in the cold ocean, we headed to Hahei. I opted for a sea kayaking trip with 5 others. The weather was beautiful and the tide was low, which meant we could stick closer to shore getting better beach views, seeing a few caves, and spotting a few sting rays including one large one that swim directly beneath my kayak. A brief stop at Cathedral Cove for coffee and cookies made by our very knowledgeable, very fun and friendly guide, before heading back. At this point I had been on the tour for half a day and in New Zealand for one week, so naturally I dropped my camera in the water and broke it. Fortunately the battery and memory card remained intact. That night we had a group BBQ at the small, not-very-good hostel followed by a beach bonfire.

Stray Day 2: Oct. 31, 2008
Began heading towards Raglan. Stopped on the way in Paeroa, famous for the L&P (Lemon & Paeroa) soft drink, with the slogan 'world famous in New Zealand', and a decent but not great taste. Found a Coin Save, which is basically a cross between a Dollar Store, costume shop, and Salvation Army. Being Halloween, about 6 of us bought some cheap costumes. I opted for an afro clown wig and 6 stick on mustaches, making this the single greatest purchase of my entire life. One girl bought a set of mini-Digimon characters and distributed them to all costume wearers so that anytime someone yells 'Digimon!' you must present your character, the idea being that whoever is last must chug a pint or something, a rule which at no point was enforced. Raglan is known for surfing, but after a hefty sum the previous day I decided to pass. Went for my first NZ run on the unforgiving hills near our hostel. The hostel included the Flying Fox, a short semi-fun zipline, sauna, pool table, ping-pong table, foosball table, bigscreen TV, and a ropes course I didn't get to see. We all had fish and chips for dinner, the first of what I'm sure will be many times while I'm here, and then donned our costumes and downed a few beers back at the hostel. The night was actually pretty tame, but good for bonding I suppose. I also watched my first rugby game while Ed from Hull, England tried to explain the rules to me. I wish it were more easily viewed in the US.

Since my half hour of internet here in Taupo is about over, I'll have to end here. But with a pretty empty schedule tomorrow I'll try to catch up on the rest of my trip. So long Americans.