It’s the last night in New Zealand. It’s below -20c in Montreal.
We got to Auckland for lunchtime. I booked a room at the Mercure Windsor hotel again while others went to Nomads Auckland and other various hostels.
I spent the afternoon eating cheap sushi and filling out a grand total of 17 postcards. I’m really bad at writing postcards, and with 17 to fill out, I wish I just had a stamp that said “Having a great time!” and that’s that.
Besides, it’s really not the message the counts right? It’s the picture, and that foreign stamp that counts. If it was the message, then I could have just sent emails. I also threw out a lot of stuff that I had collected but didn’t need back home. Toothpaste, a large towel, febreeze, etc. My bags didn’t feel that much lighter mind you, but hopefully with some careful packaging, I can get everything as carry on again.
For dinner I went to the International Food Court where there is a chinese noodle place that makes really good fried noodles, with lots of vegetables and meat and very little grease, as well as a bowl of broth.
The plan was to meet up at Nomads Fat Camel bar for one last party night before Tavis and I went home. I also had a chance to say good bye to some of the folks I met from my first week in Auckland. This bar is really cheap too. $5 NZD pints of beer, about $3 canadian.
Most of my group decided to stay indoors because “it’s cold” but I scoffed at them. This time tomorrow I’ll be back home. The low is -10c, with windchills reaching -20c, and snowing. Being outdoors will soon be a thing of the past. We stayed there a few hours before heading to another place on Fort St. called Union.
Union had $5 pint specials for people who were staying at Nomads. Luckily, Tavis had a spare key he gave me so I just claimed I was from Nomads. A british fellow, I don’t remember his name now, brought out a pack of cards and taught us what is probably the best card game I’ve ever seen.
He called it Horseracing. The idea is, you bet on which of the four aces will make it ten steps first. To make it more interesting, you put a column of ten cards to represent each step. When the last ace hits a step, you flip the card, and the suit of the card will send the matching ace back one step. Then you just use the remaining cards to move the aces. Draw a heart, move the ace of hearts one step, so one and so forth.
But to make it even MORE interesting, the bets turned into Truth or Dare. Bet a truth or a dare. If your ace wins, you get to decide the dare and/or question for the other three aces. Suffice it to say, what happens in Auckland, stays in Auckland… until you need to blackmail someone.
Many drinks flowed that night. By midnight though, we decided to change places. Bad idea. The only spots open had long line ups of people far too young, so I grabbed some Burger King and called it a night.
It was… an enlightening way to end my vacation I suppose.
It’s thursday now, my flight is at 7pm. I’m hopping on the 3pm shuttle bus, and that is that.
