Swimming “with the fishes”

Unfortunately, after my long flight and 36 hours of no sleep, I started to feel rundown again and awoke my second day in New Zealand to my friend the ‘fever’ again. Damn it! We went straight to the doctor who diagnosed me as much as I could have myself, wrote out a prescription for another antibiotic, and sent me on my way.

After a day of resting up at the Hamilton’s Cliffside home, I was on a big, cushy bus on my way north to the Bay of Islands, a beautiful area and popular tourist destination on the backpacker trail. I stayed at the Peppertree Hostel in a four bed dorm room with its own bathroom. Prices in New Zealand are the highest I’ve experienced on my trip so far, so I decided to try the dorm thing again since a single room, even at the hostel, was more than $50 a night.

Peppertree turned out to be great. There was a super large kitchen complete with dishes, pots, pans and three fridges for all your ‘save money and cook here’ needs. Outside there were outdoor picnic tables and grills under a trellis of twinkling Christmas lights. And there was a lounge area with couches, a TV and DVD player. Everything was spotless and constantly being cleaned. The folks staying there ran the gamut—from dreadlocked backpackers to families with kids in tow. It was a great mix of travelers which debunked all assumptions that hostels are just for the under 30 set.

I shared a simple room of 2 bunk beds with two pretty, yet unfriendly, girls from Israel who, although were fluent in English, proceeded to speak Hebrew most of the time they were in the room. The third girl in my room was probably nearing 50 and was from France. She’d actually dislocated her shoulder on some adventure trip in India and ended up changing rooms because climbing up to the top bunk was quite a challenge. The bottom bunk is prime real estate and I wasn’t giving mine up!

For the first time on my trip, I really was not meeting anyone aside from a few ‘hellos’ at my hostel. It’s the busy season here, so there are a lot of people milling about, but maybe too many for me. Because I spent the last month with friends in Chile and Argentina, had I lost the ability to be outgoing? Was I just feeling sick and anti-social? During the first part of my trip, I had already met so many friendly folks and made so many new friends. Where were the friendly Kiwis (New Zealanders) that I heard all about? Now, anyone who knows me well, will tell you I am extremely independent and like to be alone, but am very good chatting with strangers (probably thanks to my producing job). I do cherish my alone time and spend a good bit of time in Chicago alone…or at least wanting to be alone, but I also am very good at meeting new people and have made many new good friends over the last year.

My last day in the Bay of Islands, I took an all day boat tour that went out and around many of the islands and through what they call the “Hole in the Rock.”

But the absolute best part of this trip was getting to swim with dolphins. We spent the first part of our day sailing around the large bay hunting for the smart sea creatures. Luckily we came upon a large ‘pod’ of about 40 dolphins. They were having a great old time–swimming in pairs, jumping out of the water, and swimming right up to and under our boat to get a good look (and laugh) at us staring at them.

Feeling somewhat relaxed after our leisurely cruise up to this point, it was somewhat shocking to now be yelled at to “get ready!” and “Go! Go! Go!” when it was time to jump off the boat and into the cold water. Oh yeah, did I mention how freaking cold this water was? It was the coldest water I have ever swum in…ever. Just during the ride around the bay, I was already shivering and had put my socks on—socks and sandals (I was starting to look like a German tourist)—a great look, but I don’t care when my toes get cold fashion goes out the window. We put wet suits on, but wet and freezing is just not a fun combo. I hit the water and felt like I was swimming with the Polar Bears in Coney Island—except that I wasn’t naked. I had to calm myself down once in the water to breathe slower through my snorkel as my adrenaline was pumping and my body was shivering so much that I could see hyperventilation on the horizon. Luckily for me, a playful dolphin twosome swam right underneath me and before I knew it, our guide was yelling at me to get out of the water. It was a quick adventure, but probably best since I was about to get Hypothermia.

Aboard the boat cruise, I met a petite, cute blonde gal named Caroline from the UK. Ironically, she and I had a lot in common as far as what propelled us to go on our respective ‘trips around the world.’ Her dog had died recently and she too had broken up with her long term boyfriend about 6 months ago. She had also sold off a property in order to travel the globe. Unfortunately for her, her father had also died and she and her mother were estranged. She was actually traveling for 2 years with hopes to end up buying some property in Spain and do horseback riding tours. We ended up going for a drink later that night at a local watering hole and it was nice to get out of my ‘alone time’ for a bit.

For some reason, the next day my Israeli gals warmed up a bit and invited me to ride with them in their rental car back to Auckland. I was about to say ‘yes’ and cancel my four hour, $30 bus ride when Simon, the hostel manager talked me out of it.

“Never trust backpackers,” he said. “They say they will take you, but then along the way they will see a pretty waterfall and have to stop or just decide last minute to go a completely different direction.”

He had a good point and since I had no time to spare and had to catch another bus within an hour of arriving, I decided he was right. I guess saving a little money (although I would pay them gas money anyway) would do me no good if I never got there. Plus, I was already worried the girls would get lost, or worse, weren’t too good with driving on the ‘left’ side of the road. So, the next day I was back on the bus onto my next destination, the thermal, yet smelly, wonderland of Rotorua.