Australia & New Zealand Adventure Part VI: West Coast of North Island, Bay of Islands and back to Melbourne

Yes, I am finally back in the world of sun, heat,

heat, no rain, lovely sun, more heat, and yes!..shorts

with NO gloves, hats, shivering at night and rivers of

water in the tent (last letter....)

Oh I love it here, yes I do, I love it!

Not that our last week in

New Zealand

didn't have some

distinctive, somewhat wet, yes, memories....

As soon as we arrived back in the North Island, it

seemed the gods were just not with us at all, and it

poured from the heavens the way it only does in

Biblical tales. In fact, on arrival in the Bay of

Islands (supposedly famous for white beaches lapped

with crystal clear blue waters) we slammed right into

a cyclone, complete with horizontal rain. Trudging

through mud and puddles with 3 packs on our backs to

the youth hostel we all but fell over laughing our

heads off - it was that or cry! After a month on the

road, I needed serious re-humanizing. For those of

you not familiar with re-humanization, it basically

involves the warming of the body with numerous hot

showers, the wearing of comfy slippers and loungey

clothes, hours spent in reckless comfort watching

feel-good soppy movies, and reading, writing journals

and eating yummy comfort food full of chocolate,

caramel and copious amounts of tea....Yes,

re-humanization is as important as sex. (oops...did I

say that out loud?)

Actually, we ditched the bus and spent our last few

days enjoying the above mentioned process. The sun

peeped out on the last day; but I already had plans

for my day....Yes! it was the oscars,

New Zealand

style. Those of you who know me well enough will

realize that this event is as close as I get to being

religious these days. I broke into a posh motel, put

on my biggest smile, and asked to "borrow" their

lounge to watch SKY. It was great, complete with all

necessary products for the continuing re-humanization

effort, with added alcohol just for fun. Every thing

was great until

Sean Penn

won for Best Actor, and I

got so excited that management had to shush me because

I was disturbing some of the guests....whoops!

Back at the hostel it was discovered to my joy (sheer

in nature complete with streaming tears) that there

was a karaoke contest to be held that night! Well, my

peeps, did I enter? I THINK SO. I sang about eight

songs! It was fantastic, even the DJ took a liking to

me and asked me to sing with him. And I won...which

is always nice, right? Free drinks all around that

night.... I met a fabulous gay man called Tim that

night from Hobart. I just loved him instantly and we

stayed up half the night singing through the entire

score of Phantom of the Opera in the hostel car park.

Too much fun.

ANYWAY, we took a bus back to

Auckland

, hopped on a

bus, hopped on a plane, hopped in my friend Phil's car

and before we knew it, we were in

Melbourne

!

Now, I know there is a huge rivalry between

Melbourne

and Sydney - so i was most curious to discover what

the fuel behind the fire might be.As it turned out,

I'm sorry, there really is no competition - Sydney is

so WHERE ITS AT! However, in M's defense, it really

is a completely different city with a totally

different vibe, and I loved it all the same. G and I

were spoiled rotten by Phil (whom I met at my hostel

in Rome in September) who even gave up his own room

for us. More re-humanizing ensued for the next four

days.

Giovanna and I putzed around the city for a few days

stopping every few hours for the obligatory espresso

beverage and cake....We met up with a few people we

had met in NZ and had a wonderful time. Highlights of

my time in Melbourne include a wonderful day out with

Phil in the

Dandenongs

- a national park of towering

mountain ash trees, beautiful. The afternoon was

highlighted with a totally scrummy stop at the English

tea room "Miss Marple's" where I suffered self-induced

sugar coma (my ass has also been suffering from the

side-effects of previous bouts of this condition).

Yesterday was the start of the Mooma Water Festival in

Melbourne

. It was FABULOUS and TOTALLY AWESOME DUDE!

I went to a sand sculpting competition, watched a

water skiing competition and listened to an open air

concert that focused on world music. There was a

group from

Croatia

who only used strings and a

clarinet, and they were completely hilarious!

Fireworks at such a close range I felt sure my clothes

would catch fire ended the splendid evening....

Giovanna and I left this morning at a ridiculous hour

of the O Hundred variety. We are taking a 3 day tour

to Adelaide along the

Great Ocean Road

; another update

will follow in a few days, no doubt.

Loving it here, missing home though, and all of you!

Anita