Waiheke Island

Since we had another full day left in Auckland, we decided to take the ferry to Waiheke Island. The ferry left every hour so after breakfast, we walked down to the marina, purchased our tickets and hopped on the 12:00pm ferry. It was a 35 minute ride which gave us an amazing view Auckland.

We considered renting bikes but once we saw that you could get an all day bus pass for $9, we figured that was a better deal. First, we wanted to do some wine tasting. The island has 23 vineyards and the hot, dry microclimate is supposed to create amazing bordeaux reds, syrah and rose. There were three wineries conveniently located next to each other and right near a bus stop, so we chose those to visit. The first one was "Wild on Waiheke" which also had their own microbrewery and offered archery and skeet shooting along with your drinking. I really wanted to do both until I realized that you weren't using real bullets or arrows which made it just stupid. The wines were all $2/taste so Alyssa and I each ordered three to start with. It was hands down the worst wine I've ever had. We ended up drinking them like shots just to get them down and then paid our bill. It was a beautiful location but I can't understand why anyone would drink that wine.

We walked down the road to the next winery which was "Te Motu". It was a beautiful walk through the grapevines which we loved.

This was was clearly a much smaller winery and we did the tasting standing at a small bar in the restaurant. The guy who did the tasting was very nice but not that knowledgeable. The wine was better than the last winery (but really what wouldn't have been) but I still didn't really like any of the three we tried.

The third winery was "Stonyridge". We purchased our tasting and lounged on their sunny deck overlooking the rolling hills below. This was definitely the most upscale of the three wineries and people kept arriving via helicopter which we thought was pretty funny. The wines were a bit better but there was still nothing I'd want to buy a glass of and certainly not for $18/glass.

Since we weren't overly impressed with the wine, we decided it was time to head to the beach. We grabbed the bus and headed to "Onetangi Beach". It was a beautiful beach and thankfully it wasn't too crowded. We spent a few hours sunning and reading before deciding that we needed another drink. We headed to the little beach bar overlooking the beach. Alyssa got a glass of wine which she actually liked and I tried one of their local "Hop" beers.

It was getting later in the day, so we decided to make our way back to the harbor to catch the ferry to Auckland. Luckily the bus times are synced with the boat so right when the bus arrived we were able to get on a ferry and head back. The walk back to the hostel was a little chilly since the sun was setting, so we wrapped ourselves in our towels for warmth which made us appear a little homeless. We had stuff left over to make sandwiches at the hostel so once we got back, we made dinner and went to our room. That hostel has a very weird vibe. It's not the hostel's fault, it's the people who are staying there. No one seems friendly and they are very cliquey. Once upstairs, Alyssa read for a while but I was still feeling really jetlagged so I went to bed although it was barely even 10:00pm.

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Auckland

Our plane landed in Auckland at 4:00am New Zealand time, but it was 1:00pm the day before in Brazil so our bodies were really confused. We quickly went through customs and got our bags. We had decided that our best option in New Zealand was to rent a car, so we talked to some rental car places at the airport but they were the more expensive companies like Hertz and Avis and we knew we could get a cheaper price elsewhere. We decided just to take a taxi to the hostel and worry about renting a car later in the day. I had thought getting out of the airport would take a while but we actually made it to our hostel by 5:00am. We were staying at "Brown Kiwi" in the Ponsonby district of Auckland, which actually was a very upscale area. Our hostel did not have anyone working at reception until 8:00am and there is no free internet in New Zealand, so we pretty much had nothing to do. The hostel had given us the door entrance code so that we could drop our bags off and hang out for a few hours if we wanted, but we decided to go walk to the city center to see if we could find an open cafe with internet.

As we walked, the sun began to rise behind the city and it was a really beautiful view. The "Sky Tower", which is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, was definitely the focal point of the Auckland skyline.

After walking for a while, we found a coffee shop that offered an hour free wifi with purchase. We decided to use our wifi passes back to back so that we would have two hours of research time and the other person could peruse the Lonely Planet or the handful of tourist brochures we had picked up at the airport. First thing, we knew we needed to figure out the car rental. The best deal we could find was A2B car rentals, but we were a little confused about how to organize the ferry from the north island to the south island with the car. It seemed that a lot of the ferry tickets were sold out, so we thought maybe it would be better to do one rental on the north island and then a different rental on the south island. We decided rather than book online, we would walk to the car rental office that was about 20 minutes away.
When we arrived at A2B, it turned out that they couldn't rent us a car for the journey because we would be dropping the car off at a different location and they wanted all of their cars to remain in Auckland. They also told us that one of the ferry boats had broken so there was going to be practically no way to ferry our car across. We were really annoyed that we had walked all the way there and there was nothing they could do to help, but luckily there were quite a few other car rental places in the same area. We went and talked to Apex next, but the lady working there was completely useless and the quote they gave us was more than the one we had gotten from Budget Car Rentals. We decided to try one more place before throwing in the towel. The guy working at Jucy Car Rentals was extremely nice and walked us through all of our options a few times. We ended up getting the "El Cheapo" car (yes, that's really what it's called) and booking a ferry for 2:30am a week later that would take us to the south island. I was a little nervous about having to drive a stick shift that would now be on my left side, not to mention driving on the other side of the road but I was also a little excited about the challenge. Alyssa would not be driving since she cannot drive stick so it was all up to me.
After finalizing the car, we walked back to the hostel. I think that New Zealand is the most active country I have ever been in. Everyone was up early running or doing crossfit classes at the gym or doing boot camp in the park- it was nuts! I've never seen so many people work out.

The walk to the center of town is down hill from Ponsonby and the climb back up to the top was not that enjoyable, but I was trying to man up and fit in with the exercise focused Kiwis. We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to get some food for lunch. We had decided to cook as many meals as possible in New Zealand since everything is so expensive and we thought we could make sandwhich and salad items last for multiple meals. Once we arrived back at Brown Kiwi, we were able to check in and get our room. We were in a four person girls dorm that looked a lot like it was someone's bedroom. It was kind of homey in a way.

It was still early in the day at this point and though we had already accomplished so much, we decided to make the most of our day. We thought it might be a good idea to get haircuts since our hair really needed it. We had wanted to get them in South America but were afraid that we might not be able to properly communicate how we wanted it cut in Spanish. As we searched for a hair salon, I saw a waxing place and decided it would also be a smart move to get my eyebrows waxed. Back in LA, I would wax them every two weeks and since it had been four month since the last waxing, I was beginning to look a little like Frida Kahlo, lol. The waxing cost $18, which is exactly what I pay in the US, but apparently here they don't like to wax the top of your brow, only the bottom, so I would have to tweeze the top later. The girl didn't do the best job, but they were definitely improved nonetheless. We found a hair salon just down the road from there and they were able to take us both without an appointment. They wanted to cut a lot more off then either of us were going to allow, but I let my guy cut three inches off. I have to admit, my hair is SO much healthier now. I didn't quite realize how shaggy it must have looked. With that task completed, we decided to go to the grocery store to pick up food for dinner that night and hang out at the hostel for a few hours. We had read in Lonely Planet that the best time to go to the Sky Tower was at sunset, so we would head down there around 7:00pm so we could be there in time.
Walking up and down the steep hills into town was getting to be a bit tiring and although it was good exercise, my calves were definitely sore. We walked to the Sky Tower which is located in a giant center called Sky City. It reminded Alyssa and I of being in Vegas. It had a giant casino, tons of clubs and restaurants and a very nice hotel. They were all decorated for Christmas which I loved but still find strange since its so hot here.

We bought our tickets for the tower and were able to get the student price using our U of A CatCards (I have no idea how long I will look "college aged" but I will continue to get student pricing as long as humanly possible!). We took the elevator up the 60 floors which always makes my stomach sink since I am scared of heights and the front and the floor were glass so you could see how high you were going.

The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere and cost New Zealand $85 million dollars to construct. We had an amazing view of the city from the sky deck although it was cloudy so we didn't get much of a sunset.

We headed back to the hostel after sunset, prepared our chicken and salad for dinner and headed to bed since were exhausted from a full day of exploring without any real sleep.

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Flight to New Zealand

Our flight wasn't until 3:00pm, but we were going to take the public bus to the airport and since it was an international flight we would need to be there early, so we planned to leave the hostel at 11:00am. We ate breakfast, packed up and said our goodbyes to Matilda. We had run out of Brazilian money so we had to make an ATM run in order to pay for the bus. The guy at the hostel had told us to wait on the street nearest the beach but didn't give us any indication of when we could expect the bus to arrive, so we weren't sure how long we may be there for. We waited for a while and then asked some people just to make sure we were in the right place. I was really beginning to worry about the time and considered taking a cab but finally the bus came. It was over an hour drive to the international airport which was longer than we had anticipated but we made it just after 1:00pm which was still good timing. We waited in line for the LAN check in but when we gave the lady our ticket confirmation number, she said there was an issue with our tickets and sent us over to customer service. The customer service agent worked on our tickets for about 20 minutes, never communicating to us what was wrong. I was of course freaking out that we didn't have seats on the flight but finally she said everything was fine and printed our boarding passes. After we got through security, we had just enough time to buy a quick sandwich before boarding the plane. We flew to Santiago, Chile first which was about a four hour flight. The flight was fine and they played a few movies that were bad but kept me entertained.
Once we landed, we had a six hour layover so we found a coffee shop with internet and camped out to figure out our plan for New Zealand. We really got a lot done and by the time we boarded our flight, we had mapped out exactly where we wanted to go and how we were going to get there.
The flight to New Zealand was 14 hours and we were seated in the middle four person row. Alyssa got the aisle but I was between her and a very sweet old lady. I don't think the lady had ever been on a plane before as she clutched her purse and jacket the entire flight, including as she slept and couldn't figure out how to recline her seat. I helped her figure things out as best as I could but she spoke Portugese and no English. The flight wasn't too bad except that my audio system for my tv was broken so I couldn't hear anything that was being said in the movies I watched and ended up reading the Spanish subtitles. I was able to get a little bit of sleep and when we landed in New Zealand at 4:00am, I was actually pretty rested and ready to go.

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Back to Rio

We had to be up early to pack up and check out of our hostel to make the 9:00am ferry back to Rio. The guy who owned the hostel was there to say goodbye to us which was very sweet. We grabbed coffee and some breakfast at the cafe and then hurried to meet Matilda at the ferry since I had the ticket voucher for all three of us. It was an hour long ferry, during which I blogged the whole time in an attempt to get caught up before I got back to Rio so I could upload them before my flight to New Zealand.

Once we landed, we piled into a big van with 15 other people and began the drive back to Rio. What had taken us only three hours on the way there took close to five on the way back due to some horrible traffic. It was really hot out and with the lack of airflow in the car I was about ready to kill someone. We had pre-booked a room at the El Misti hostel thinking that they only had one Copacabana location, but as I looked at the address on our reservation slip, I realized that they must have another location because the address was different from where we'd stayed before. Turns out they have four locations just in Copacabana! I was annoyed because I was having my credit card mailed to the other location, but luckily it was just down the street. We checked in and got our room assignments, once again in the three story bunk beds. Matilda was staying in our room as well as a gay couple. One of the gay boys was from the US and made it clear right from the start that he was gay so that "we would be comfortable sleeping in the same room as him". That made me laugh, since we've stayed in countless rooms with random men, but it was nice that he thought that might make us feel better. Come to find out, Alyssa says she does sleep better in female dorms. I, on the other hand, could care less who is in there as long as they are quiet.

We decided the first order of business would be to get some lunch. We walked down toward the beach and showed Matilda around a bit so she could get her bearings since she had never been to Rio. We ate lunch at a cafe chain we had tried before which was good but a little overpriced.

After lunch, we headed back to the hostel to do some research on New Zealand. There was so much to plan and we really had not done anything yet. We also needed to buy our tickets for our flight from Australia to Vietnam to meet Jessica for Christmas, which we should have done months before. That took forever since all of the flights that we had originally looked up were no longer available. This El Misti was more of a bed and breakfast, so they provided us with a coffee and cake hour which aligned itself perfectly with our research time.

Alyssa had made plans to have drinks with a guy we had met a few nights before but I was content to stay in, skype some friends and family and work on my blog. I did venture out with Matilda to an Asian restaurant for dinner at around 10:00pm, since neither of us had eaten. She is a really wonderful girl and was great to talk to. After we got back, I continued working until around 2:00am, determined to finish everything before I left. It was good timing because Alyssa got back just as I finished up and I didn't want to go to sleep before she was back anyways. Sadly we didn't get much sleep though because the guys staying in our room had gone out drinking and were very loud when they came in to the room, turning on the lights and banging around. Maybe staying in a room with women is better...they are generally more respectful and don't snore.

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Abraaozinho Beach

Today we met Matilda for coffee at "Paes e Cia" bakery before we headed out for the day. We thought that we would probably have to hike again since it was supposed to rain but as we sat there, the sky cleared up and the sun came shining brightly through. We also met four guys from the UK at the coffee shop and they decided to come to the beach with us for an hour while they waited for their transfer off the island.

Once the boys headed off to catch their boat, we decided to move away from the beach close to the dock so that we could swim in the water. We walked about a half hour down through the jungle until we got to the more secluded beach called "Abraaozinho". Here we swam in the cool water and sun bathed for hours.

There was a little bar on this beach, so we moved over to the shaded tables and had a beer, with the water coming up to cool our feet.

After many peaceful beach hours, we headed back to town. We needed to book our boat transfer for the next day back to Rio and make sure we could book a hostel for the following night in Rio as well. There was very little internet access on the island, so booking anything online was practically impossible. Luckily, the hostel we had previously stayed at in Rio had a sister hostel on the island so they were able to book our reservation and transfer for us. Once we were set for the next day, Alyssa and I grabbed some Acai bowls and headed back to the hostel to relax for a while.
Once the sun set, we decided to head out for dinner. There was a restaurant on the beach that had been recommended to us by some Americans that we had run into in Angra dos Reis, so we decided to try that place first. The restaurant didn't really have a menu, just a set BBQ that seemed really expensive. We decided to go in search of a different option. As we walked around, the Argentinian boys who were staying in our hostel spotted us and invited us to join them for dinner at "Lonier and Garoupas". They had just ordered so Alyssa and I decided to split a fish entree and got some drinks that were served in giant glass ice cream cups. On the island, all of their menus are priced for two people and if you want a half portion, you only pay 60% of the total price. Our fish was delicious and the boys got a seafood platter that could have fed 8 people, so we tried theirs as well. There was a singer/guitar player performing in the restaurant who was really good. We were all amused whenever he played an English song and would sing along, which he seemed to enjoy.

It was obvious that Angel was very into Alyssa, especially when he insisted on buying our dinner. I headed back to the hostel with Marcos after dinner while Alyssa and Angel went to the beach to have another drink. I was amused to get a free dinner without having to do anything- what luck! We stayed up chatting until they got back home and then I set my alarm for early the next morning since our boat transfer would leave the island at 9:00am.

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Rainy day on the island

When we woke up, we introduced ourselves to the guys sharing our room. They were two very nice Brazilians, one of whom thankfully spoke English. It seemed that most everyone at the hostel was checking out that day since the holiday weekend was over and the only people who would be left were two Argentinian boys named Angel and Marcos.
After looking at the weather forecast, we knew we were destined for rain but we were determined to make the best of our short island trip. We packed out rain gear and headed into town to the small bakery we had seen the day before to get breakfast. The island was still completely packed with people for the holiday weekend and the amount of people in the bakery was insane. We got into line, unsure of how to order because there seemed to be many different lines for different things. Finally, I was too overwhelmed by the chaos and we decided to go somewhere else. We wandered around the island but there weren't really any other breakfast options, so we decided to get coffee and Acai bowls at the only cafe we could find with a table. After we finished there, we went to each grocery store trying to put something together that we could take for lunch on our hiking trip. Sadly, the stores were sold out of pretty much everything (including bread!) so we just got some apples and oranges. By the time we circled back around the bakery, it had been over an hour and a half so the amount of people inside had dwindled down and we felt like giving it another shot. We were able to order some turkey sandwiches to go, which were perfect for the trip.

As we set out, it was really raining hard. I wish I could have taken a picture of the torrential downpour that we were hiking through, but I didn't want to get my pack wet in an attempt to retrieve my camera. It was a steep hike up and down through the jungle mountains and with the rain, rivers formed in the paths and were flowing against us. I kept picturing that scene in Jurassic Park where Dennis is trying to escape with the Barbasol can of dinosaur DNA and his jeep crashes and he has to try to struggle up the mountain with the water coming down on him...and then he is eaten by a velociraptor. It was a lot like that, minus the dinosaur. It was quite the adventure and definitely was not a dull hike. Our main objective was not to slip and fall as all of the locals had told us not to do the hike because it was too dangerous in the rain. We chose not to listen and decided we would be fine- what else were we going to do on a rainy day anyways?

When we finally reached our destination, "Lopes Mendes Beach" 3 1/2 hours later, the downpour had not let up. We couldn't find any shelter, so we sat and ate our sandwiches the best we could under some sparse trees. There had been three dogs that we had picked up along the way that insisted on following us for the duration of the hike there and back. We weren't quite sure why they were coming with us but we were amused by the company.

We stayed at the beach just long enough to take a picture and then turned around and headed back. We were a little disappointed because we had heard how beautiful the beach was and I'm sure it would have been if there was some sun, but we were so wet and the weather was so bad that we couldn't really appreciate it.
The dogs followed us almost all of the way back to town (another 3 1/2 hours) before two of them stopped in one of the smaller towns and only one continued on. As we entered Abraao (which was the island city we were staying in), other dogs started to challenge our dog as he was clearly not in his territory. We were upset by this and threw rocks at the other dogs who were attacking Little Black (which is what we had named him over the course of the day). Finally, we chased them off and Little Black ducked into a nearby restaurant where some locals started feeding him.
We were soaked and cold when we returned to the hostel but apparently we now had to move rooms. We were relocated to the 6 person dorm which meant that all four people staying at the hostel were now in the same room, lol. It was ok though since we had already met the boys staying in the room and knew they were nice. We took hot showers in an attempt to warm up and the hostel owner brought us some hot chocolate. The guy who owned the hostel was so nice and giving- we really loved staying there. After our long journey, we were tired and very hungry. We headed into town to try the "Kebab Lounge" that we'd been eyeing. The place was packed and no tables we available, so Alyssa asked two guys if we could share their huge four person table. They said yes and though they were French, they luckily spoke English. We each ordered the kebab and split a large beer while chatting with the French men about their lives back home and our travels. I like French people a lot but something about French men makes them always seem very effeminate, which makes me laugh. The kebab was not at all what we expected- it was basically like a burrito except it had no flavor at all. We had been expecting meat and vegetables like a kebab in the US, lol. We asked the waiter for some hot sauce so we could liven the food up a bit and he brought us two different ones, warning us about how hot they were. To us, they were not hot at all and we ate all of the sauce he brought which he seemed surprised about. They really just don't use a lot of spicy seasoning in South America which Alyssa and I are usually on the lookout for. After we finished dinner, we were completely unsatisfied so we went on a quest for some dessert. The crepe place had just closed when we arrived, so we stopped at the little dessert cart by the ocean and split a homemade chocolate bar with nuts.

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Ilha Grande

I was instantly in pain when my alarm went off. It was 9:00am but I had gone to sleep just three hours before and my head was throbbing due to lack of sleep. I knew I had to be awake to figure out our transfer to Ilha Grande (which was scheduled for 10:30am) and pack up my stuff. As I lay in my bed checking my emails, the lady who works at the hostel came in the room to see why we weren't ready to be picked up. After the arguments that had occurred the night before between myself and the night manager about the transfer, I was certain that they would not be picking us up and I had confirmed a different transfer online. She seemed very upset that we didn't think the transfer she set up would be coming and kept asking why I didn't trust her and why I'd didn't believe her. Finally I felt so bad that I relented and agreed we would take her transfer. The problem was that it was coming to get us at 9:30am (she had originally told us between 10:00-10:30) and we still had to pack and find an ATM to get cash because there were no ATMs on the island and not everyone there takes credit card. I woke up Alyssa and we frantically packed up our things, trying our best not to wake the other 7 people still sleeping in the room. We then went on a search for an ATM. The one in the supermarket across the street from our hostel refused our cards so we had to walk about ten more blocks until we found a Citibank. With cash in hand, we returned to the hostel, paid Kevin the money that we owed him from the night before and jumped in the van that was there waiting for us. We were both exhausted and hungover so we tried to sleep in the van during the two hour ride to Angra dos Reis.

Once we arrived, we were told in Portugese that we would need to wait until 3:00pm for our ferry to the island, even though there was one that left at 1:00pm. It was 12:15pm when we arrived and the thought of sitting in the heat for a few hours was miserable. We tried to pay extra to purchase the earlier ticket, but instead accidentally upgraded to the faster boat that also left at 3:00pm. When we found out that "fast boat" means it takes 45 minutes instead of the 50 minutes that the other boat takes, we asked for a refund and decided to wait for the "slower" boat. We were able to hide our bags behind a counter in an abandoned restaurant and then set out in search of some lunch.

We originally sat down at a restaurant but when they didn't bring us menus after 10 minutes, we left and found one of the lunch buffets that we like. The guy who worked there was very friendly and spoke some English so we were able to get food and drinks without any issues. The place had no a/c so we sat near a fan, desperately trying to cool ourselves down. Thankfully the food was good and I had a couple of Cokes in an attempt to rehydrate myself. After lunch, we decided to go sit in the abandoned cafe so we could make sure our bags didn't get stolen. The cafe was right on the water, so we could watch all of the people down at the beach. As we sat there, some people walked by who we recognized. We had met them when we had lunch on the Brazilian side of Iguazu falls- so random! They had just left Ilha Grande and were waiting for their bus to Rio, so we chatted with them for a while about the different things we should do own the island. Finally 2:30pm rolled around and we made our way to the boat. We were the only ones on the boat (it seemed that everyone else had paid for the fast boat which still blew our minds) so we spread out and slept during the hour ride to the island.

When we arrived, we found that the island was packed with people because of the holiday weekend. I had directions for how to reach the hostel, but they were very confusing so we wandered around town for over 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get there. It is extremely frustrating when you are tired, hungover, hot and carrying a 50 lb backpack not to be able to find your hostel. Finally, we were able to get correct directions from a local and we were on our way.

The hostel was not on the main strip but instead up the hill a little way. It had a beautiful view of the ocean and surrounding areas though which we liked. We we put in a 4 person dorm even though we had paid for a 6 person dorm because the place was completely packed and we were told we'd have to change rooms the next night.

We got settled in and lay down for a few hours to rest. During this time, I was desperately trying to use the internet to book a hostel in Auckland, New Zealand since we would be flying there in a few days, but since the internet was so bad, booking anything was slow going. Finally we decided to walk around town and grab a snack. As we emerged onto one of the main streets, we saw people gathered around a cart. The carts served delicious meat sandwiches as well as tons of desserts. We decided to split one of the steak sandwiches which was so good!

We then walked around town, getting an idea of where everything was located. We stopped to talk to one guy who was feeding a baby bird that he had found and it turned out he was a travel guide. He gave us some pointers on what we should do on the island, but also confirmed our fear that it was definitely going to rain the following day.
We headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready for dinner. There we met a guy from Denmark named Casper and invited him to join us for dinner. We went to a cute little restaurant right on the beach with great lighting and ambiance. I was really too tried to hold an interesting conversation but luckily Alyssa had woken up a bit and was very engaging. I was fairly certain Casper was wishing this was a dinner for just the two of them anyways, so I was more than happy to pay minimal attention to the conversation and more attention to our beautiful surroundings.

After dinner we headed back to the hostel for some much needed sleep. When we arrived, there were two guys already asleep in our dorm. They had come back after we had left so we had never met them before. This was the first time that we had slept in a room with people we didn't know and I felt a little uncomfortable as a result and made sure my things were all locked up just in case.

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