I almost thought about not blogging tonight but then I decided it would be worth it and more beneficial than watching Live Free or Die Hard for the eight or so time in my life.

It is funny what life will hand you when you open yourself up to embracing opportunites. I certainly am continually surprised.

Last night I went back to the Hostel and cooked dinner and watched some movies with the 4 other people staying at the Hostel. Seriously it is crazyempty. They even closed one of the bathrooms. The place is nice enough but the area near the rooms feels like a hostpital with blank white walls in the halls, bedrooms, and bathrooms. It’s clean but defintely not a homey feel. I feel asleep very quickly last night and slept really really well.

Got up this morning and took advantage of a free breakfast of toast, jam, coffee and tea. As many of you know I stuck with simply the Jam and toast. I then got dressed and headed towards the bus stop. It was easy enough walk and I soon got on the right bus and headed to the airport.

Well not the actual airport but the aircraft museum near the airport. It was nice because the bus driver didn’t know what I was talking about so I asked some cabbies and they pointed me in the right direction. Not after I had gone to the observation deck and snapped a few picks of the Q3 being unloaded on the tarmac.

The museum was nice for what I was expecting (not much) and I basically got a personal guide for 3 hours. I was the only person in the museum area, although the cafe was extremely busy. Apparantly there food is very good, it looked delicious! The museum had a wide area of planes and cars and such and I was very happy. I then went out back (literally another hanger) and looked at a collection of war memoriabial (sic) that had been collected by one man and his son.

This part was neat as well due to the fact that all the machines were in working order. Very cool.

I then caught the next bus (hahaha Tech reference) out to the Mountain. Ohhh while waiting for the bus I went in the airport and got a scorching hot pie and proceeded to burn my tongue. It was hella hot.

I got to the Mt. Wanganui information site and it was close due to unexpected circumstaces. Luckily this is not an active volcano or I might have been wary (jk but no really.) I proceeded to walk along one of the marine areas toward the Mount. I climbed up the mountain which was a combination of pasture, beach, rocks, and forest. It was fairly steep and stopped a few times along the way (I really need to increase my cardio or something) but I will blame that mainly on the pie.

I got to the top and was treated to specacular views of Tauranga, the Pacific, and leisure island. I just wish it had been sunnier. Had my peanut butter sandwich snack and then talked to some Germans for a good half hour. They were nice, brothers who were spending 2 weeks touring the country. Always good laughs with the germans.

I then headed down the Mount towards leisure island, which used to be an island but now is just kinda an extension of land that is connected with sand from dredging the harbour. Tauranga is the only harbour that is safe in all weather conditions (very opposite of Wellington ). The island was cool and I clambored among some rocks and had a nice sit and read while I watched the waves and a fisherman.

I then headed back toward the Mount and towards the base track. It was around 4 in the afternoon so it was starting to get a bit nippy. The walk around the base was nice and I did some rock exploring and looked for shells. I only found one I like but ohh well.

I then walked towards a small marina which had an ice cream shop and got a cone and sat and watched the sunset on a picnic table by the waterside. It was nice, very peaceful.

Also this area reminds me a lot of Florida and the beaches would be beautiful in the sun. There was a lot of tourist and home development and the city had a much older mean population due to a variety of factors. The people seemed very active though as there were a lot of older couples going for walks.

I caught the bus back and it was a hella long loop around the city. At one stop I moved towards the fron (I was the only one on the bus) and began talking with the driver. We were having a slight verbal feeling out match but I was determined not to lose. At first he seemed very abrasive giving short answers in a sort of dismissive way. But we were going to be sitting there for another 10 mins (we were way ahead of time bc there were no stops) I kept going. Eventually we overcame whatever that break was and he shared with me lots of stories about his life so that was cool. He even went a little out of the way to drop me off at the pak n save to get groceries. Although it was a little further out of town than I had origninally wanted to go. So that was nice.

Shopping went easy, bread, Doritos, Almonds (a budget buster), muesli bars, and apples. Without the almonds would have been under 10 bucks. Typical backpacker food.

Then began the walk back towards the hostel in the dark. I was in a fairly good mood after being rewarded for my effort with another kindness and passed a  guy walking around a car in a used car dealership. He was feeling the tires and had a clipboard and some papers in his hand. I thought he was the owner or a worker so I causually said “If you want to steal it you should probably just break a window!” I thought it was funny.

It turns out that he was not the owner or an employee just a crazy guy. He starts talking to me about how shit the cars are and blah blah blah. I had broken walk to say my comment and it was really awkward. I could tell the guy was a bit wacko as soon as he started talking so I proceeded to keep walking. As I kept walking he was yelling at me. It was really wierd.

Luckily he didn’t follow me and I made it back safely to the Hostel. I cooked dinner (pasta and sauce like the previous 5 nights (I really gotta get some protein in my diet)) and then headed here to talk.

I just had a good skype conversation with Graham and then wrote this blog.

Overall I feel very satisfied and think I am ready for a 10 hour bus ride tommorrow!

Still thinking about ya!

-Mathias