Quote:
Originally posted by warch
Cool. What were you doing in New Zealand?
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I went to New Zealand in 1999 because I was bored and I had a little money (OK, not much money, but I did have credit cards). I got a work permit through a student exchange program, ended up staying for 3 months and only worked 3 days during that time. I found the American dollar stretched just enough so I didn't need to work while I was there. I wanted to stay longer, but my visa ran out and I finally ran out of money too.
It was a lot scrunched into 3 months, so I don't want to get into all that. All I can say is Kiwis are the friendliest people you'll ever meet, and their country has EVERYTHING you'd want to see in nature (volcanoes, hot springs, mountains, beaches, glaciers... OK, so they don't have a desert).
I'd say One Tree Hill and Rangitoto Island is what you want to see in Auckland. Also on the North Island, Rotorua and Waitomo are not to be missed. Rotorua has hot springs, but I appreciated it more because that's the best place to experience Maori culture. Waitomo has a lot of caves to explore. Also, the best (and ONLY) 7-hour hike I've ever been on is at Tongariro National Park - it's called Tongariro Crossing.
Also, visit the South Island, or Kiwis will give you hell about it ("Didn't go to the South Island!??? That's the beast there ees!!") Did I mention the accent? I had trouble understanding it the first couple of weeks. It's like the Aussie accent but all the vowel sounds are screwed up.
Back on topic: I don't think I'd go to a rugby party. That would take courage and maybe a little masochism on my part.
While I was in NZ, there was a news story about a bloke who threw his infant across the room, because the rugby match on the telly angered him. Only in NZ (the child died). I guess sport fans are "the dark side" of the country, especially when they're drunk. I think I mentioned before, the bloody fistfight that I saw between a Kiwi and a Brit over a rugby match. This, of course, can be avoided by not staying in dodgy $12/night hostels. And probably staying out of dodgy bars during the World Cup.
Sorry about that last paragraph. I can't say enough GOOD things about the country. I even made a video (
enzed.mov, 1.9 MB) about it, and it's also included in an interactive thing I did (
world, shockwave).
(EDIT - replaced "sadism" with "masochism" - I always get those two mixed up!)