My new definition of a work day

Today is a "work" day for me, and as you will see, it's quite a different work day than most of you have (lucky me). I'm in Auckland City and I'm doing some chores before starting off on my next Magic bus trip tomorrow morning. I went to pick-up a Magic Bus handbook to help me figure out the rest of my time in NZ and found a cheap Internet cafe where I made my first Skype call for free. Seriously, what did people ever do before the Internet?

I am then going to buy laundry detergent and do some well needed laundry. I am overdue and have started using the sniff test to figure out what to wear in the morning. Sorry if this grosses anyone out, but at least I still shower every day! (some people don't you know...)

Anyway, I thought I'd take this cheap Internet opportunity to give you some impressions about my time in NZ so far, as well as living the life of a backpacker.

• Kiwis (New Zealanders) are really very friendly. I haven't met a single rude person as of yet. As an example, I was heading up a hill to a great viewpoint when visiting the town of Russell on Friday, and this nice lady stopped her car and offered me a lift. She says she always picks up people at that spot, cause she sees so many people turn around when they are only halfway up the hill. It would have taken me the better part of an hour to get up there (because of my superior athleticism and great walking speed ;-) ) and instead, she dropped me off 3 minutes later.
• I don't know what I really was expecting weather-wise, but it's colder and wetter than I thought it would be. I'm not bothered by it, but if I had known I maybe would have brought something warmer than a hoodie with me :-)
• I also wasn't expecting it to look tropical in places. The far North for example, could easily pass for the Carribean (maybe if it were a bit warmer).
• Even though I am supposedly perfectly bilingual, I still have to ask everyone to repeat everything they say at least twice. My brain is slowly starting to adapt to all these different accents, but it is taking time.
• It seems to me that most travellers I have meet are either from the UK or from Germany. There are some other nationalities as well of course, but not in so many numbers as those two.
• It really is a very small world. I've met people in Paihia earlier this week and then passed by them on Queen Street (i.e. the Main) in Auckland. It seems like there are more backpackers in the country than there are residents.

As for life on the road, here are my impressions:

• La "poule de luxe" is truly dead and buried for now. No more 5-star hotels for me.
• Sharing rooms with 4 or 5 other strangers is not as hard as I thought it would be. It was awkward the first day, and even weirder the first time I shared a room with 3 guys and no other girl, but you get over it real quick.
• I try to spend as little time possible in the actual hostel rooms. They are so tiny, you can't even sit up straight when sitting on a bed. I only go there to sleep.
• Even though I'm on my own, I am almost never alone. There are always other people around, no matter where you are. Privacy is a thing of the past...
• I already have a love/hate relationship going on with my backpack. It's getting better organized every day, but I never seem to find what I'm looking for right away. And although carrying it is OK for short distances, putting it on is not easy.
• Most people I've met at hostels are in their twenties, though some are older. Lots of young couples and people travelling on their own.
• Some travellers look like they could whip-up a 5-course gourmet meal from crumbs they find in hostel kitchens, but I am certainly not one of them. I don't cook much at home, so do you think cooking in a hostel is going to be any better? And how exactly do they carry all that food around with them when going from one place to another? I actually had cereal AND 2 glasses of milk for breakfast on Friday, only because I didn't want to waste the little pint of milk I had bought earlier. And the small block of cheese I had bought the day before and put in the mini fridge in my room suddenly had 2 sets of teeth marks in it the next day. They weren't mine, since I am civilised and used a knife when I had some.

That's it for now. I have been on the Internet for 3 hours already, and only managed to upload 50 pictures. They are in flickr now if you want to see them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtwjanie/sets/72157602749647327/