A city away from the city

After almost 3 months of living in Auckland, without a job, it was time to make a move. I was running out of savings so I had to make some decisions. I needed a new place to live and I needed to start earning some money. I had to start all over, again.

First I went to Hastings for a while. A small, nice and peaceful town on the south east of the North Island. I tried getting a job fruit picking, one of the most popular things to do in New Zealand, it was just before the apple season started. But the farms were too far away and I didn't have a car, I don’t like driving. So it made it almost impossible to reach, it was time to change plans.

I made some phone calls to some of the people that I've met, checking how was the situation where they were living. Someone told me straight away come here I've got you a job, so I had my next destination.

The thing with New Zealand is that you have 3 main ways of travelling. One, you can hire one of those hop on hop off buses that take you to different destination; everything is schedule, a lot of young people, a lot of partying. Two, you can buy a car, they are really cheap, or you can rent one, or a campervan, and travel around on your own terms; this is the best option in my opinion, the distances between towns are not that long so it’s cool.

 And three, you can take the bus or the train. The problem with this is that the buses stop every 2 or 3 hours for a toilet break or just a break, so that adds a couple extra hours to your trip. Also the only night bus I found was from Auckland to Wellington. To get to some cities you would need to combine more than one bus ride and, depending on the distance, the timetables would not match so you will have to stay overnight in between towns. Bus tickets are not cheap either but the ride is worth it, you can enjoy the beautiful landscape, the rivers, the hills, the sheep and cows; that makes it not that bad.

So before making a move to my new location in the South Island, I decided to make a stop in the country’s capital, Wellington.

I arrived at midday and soon after I decided to go for a walk. I went along the sea side, I walked along the beach and refreshed myself by getting my feet wet. It was time to relax and enjoy.

Wellington has incredible architecture in open spaces. While I was walking I could see amazing designs, bridges, sidewalks, everything with a twist, to make it more interesting. No matter where you look you are always going to find something.

Afterwards I went to the national museum, the Te Papa Museum. Another astonishing building next to the sea, impossible to miss. Once again, I learnt more about the Maoris and the Islanders of the pacific, as well as the diversity in their fauna. It’s an amazing place, it’s interactive, I love when I can be part of what I'm learning. But hey! That’s just me, I'm a big geek.

Eventually I got tired and I went back to the hostel where I met 3 Argentinian guys from Rosario, Pablo, Miguel and Corcho(Andres). We spent some time chatting and talking about our working holiday plans, they were working in farms and making good money. They waited with me until midnight and they wished me Happy Birthday, my first birthday alone.

The next day it was time for something new. We took a cable car, I think it was my first time, unless I took one when I was a kid. Such a short ride but so much fun. It was a really steep way up, but it was totally worth it.

When we reach the top we were in the Wellington Botanical Gardens. Botanical gardens are one of my favourite places to go visit in every city I go to, if I have the chance. From the top you can appreciate an incredible view of the city and of the sea. So then we started our way back down through paths with incredible vegetation, colourful flowers and just peace and quiet. It’s amazing how you can have this in the middle of the city.

We then went to the rose garden. OMG so beautiful. Roses of every colour, shape and size, I had no one they were so many options. There is one in particular that called my attention, the black rose. So gorgeous, but yet so dark.

I only stayed here for 2 days but it was perfect. Wellington is the stop that everybody does to cross from one island to the other. So if you are there just spend a couple of days, may be a little bit longer. It’s a great place to that a break from the city in the city.

New Zealand it has something that makes it such a charming place. When you are there you feel safe, you feel welcome, people are so friendly and nice that it makes you suspicious. At least the people that I run in to, they have the kindest heart.

The thing with this country is that it’s so big in comparison with the amount of people living there that it seems that it’s empty. Where ever you go is peace and quiet with a beautiful green hill on the background. You can’t get stressed here is pure nature. Just the perfect place to think about your life.

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Welcome to Aotearoa

After we landed Lucia went with her boyfriend and I made a new friend, Martín, a guy from Buenos Aires, that was also by himself.

We stuck together for the first 4 days, it was nice having someone in the same situation. I was not alone. We opened bank accounts, applied for the National Insurance number and bought cellphones. Like that we were ready, we only needed to get a job.

I ended up staying in New Zealand, or Aotearoa in Maori, for a year and it was an amazing time, I loved it. For the first 3 months I lived in Auckland, which is not the capital but it is the biggest city.

One of the things you can do while you are here is visit Mount Eden, less than an hour walk from Auckland Business Centre. This is an inactive volcano with a summit at 196 meters. From here you get an amazing view of the city, I definitely recommend it. Around this mountain you have the Mount Eden Domain, they call Domain to the parks, a massive park where you can go an enjoy a sunny day. I went there with my friends Carlos, a translator from Catamarca, Argentina; and Guillaume, a French guy that lived in Chile for a bit and was living in the same hostel as me.

Far away from home

If you want to go to the beach you have to go visit Mission Bay, only 7 kilometres away from the city. You can take a bus or you can go walking. We use to do that and just enjoy the view off the coast.

On the way to Mission Bay

In New Zealand you can find walks to do almost everywhere, it's an outdoor country with a lot to see. So with my friend Sol, an accountant from Mar del plata, Argentina, we did the Coast to Coast Walk.It's a 16km hike across Auckland from one coast to the other, from the Waitemata to the Manukau. We walked pass a lot of amazing landscapes.

We took a bus and we started from Onehunga, the other coast.

After that we arrived to One Tree Hill Domain, the landscape here is unbelievable. It has a 183 meters volcano with 3 craters. Going up there was long but it was definitely worth it.

We then reached Mount Eden, but we didn't go up the summit because we've been there already. Soon after we had the Auckland Domain, but I'll talk about it a later. We finished in Albert's Park, located really close to the hostel where we were staying, a great park to chill in the middle of the city.

As you have probably realised by now, New Zealand has a lot of volcanoes. On my first weekend I went with Martín and 2 other guys to Rangitoto Island. We took a ferry and we, once again, started the walk up to the summit. But this one is 260 meters, on a hot day, it wasn't easy but we made it.

View from the summit

A place that should be in your list is the Auckland Domain, a 75 hectares park, where you can find the Auckland War Memorial Museum. I used t love going to this park, doing the different walks to reach the museum, it's very nice.

The museum is definitely worth visiting, I've been there at least twice. It has a lot of Maori history, from New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. It also has exhibitions of how the old classrooms looked like, how some towns looked like, you can see a lot of animals and they have, of course, a big war section.

Lovely kiwi

There was one thing that called my attention. On one of the section, on the walls they had panels full with names of people that died during the war, to commemorate them. But then I found a blank panel, at the bottom it read "Let these panel never be filled". Something so simple but so true, such a strong phrase.

As I said before, I lived in Auckland for 3 months. So I had a little family here, some people I keep in contact with, some I don't anymore but for that time, at the beginning of this trip, they helped me stay strong and not get home sick, I'm always going to be thankful for that.

Carlos, Clarisa, Me, Sol and Nacho

Aotearoa, is a country with a lot to offer. Everything is so green, bright green, it's amazing. But even though Auckland is the biggest city you can't feel the stress, it's not noisy, is chilled. You can find amazing parks all around the city, just to relax and forget about the world. I was definitely right, my dream came true and it wasn't what I expected, it was much more.

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Dreams do come true...

The people that know me or the people that met me while travelling know what happened next. But for you guys that don’t, let’s continue the story.

The day after I paid my spot for the visa I had to go to the embassy and hand over my xray. But when I got there what I saw wasn't what I was expecting.

Hundreds of people where outside the building, it seems that I wasn't the only one that had some trouble. A lot of the people were saying that they couldn't paid but they wanted to pay there. Some where demanding their place because they already had the ticket. As I said last time, if you didn't pay you didn't have a spot confirm and the 1000 visas were gone in 14 hours (remember I told you I got mine after 10 hours).

So after 3 hours of waiting I gave them my xray and now it was time to wait AGAIN. By Monday some of the people I met were getting replies already, but nothing for me. Once again I was freaking out, checking and refreshing the page ALL THE TIME.

It was Wednesday, I logged in like I've doing for the past couple of days and I saw it, finally, my confirmation. I was going to New Zealand =).

So the count down began, just 20 days left. I had to make sure I had everything, plane ticket CHECKED; medical insurance CHECKED; visa CHECKED; money CHECKED. I packed EVERYTHING that I owned, I was leaving for a year but I had a feeling I wasn't coming back (but shhh don’t tell my mum that). I had one massive suitcase and my 60L backpack, plus my smaller backpack with my laptop, super important to keep in touch.

My mum planned an amazing surprise party for me, she invited all of my friends and, OH MY GOD, I even had a bouncing castle (I love bouncing castle but lets be honest, who doesn't?).

The time went by and the date arrived. I was so nervous and excited. My first solo trip to a place that I've been wanting to go for almost a decade. I knew this was going to change everything.

I said goodbye to my parents and my sisters, they were already arguing who was going to get my room. It was a direct flight, Buenos Aires – Auckland,  just 11 hours away from starting my new life =).

I've got on the plane and on the sit next to me there was a girl, Lucia, a solo traveller that during her trip through South America met a kiwi guy that became her boyfriend and now she was going to New Zealand to be with him.

We took off and soon after that my dream flight would become a nightmare. It was raining outside and that gave me a weird feeling in my belly. We were up in the sky for a little bit when the turbulence started. I never being scared when it happens, I usually scared my sister when it does. But this time it was difference.

The plane was shacking badly, me and Lucia starting to get scared so we started talking and talking non stop. I remember graving the side of my seat with all my strength. And suddenly we saw something that freaked us out, it looked like a lighting hit the wing.

I kept checking the interactive map that shows you where you are. I remember thinking” I can’t believe I'm so close to my dream, this place I've been waiting since I'm 12 and I'm going to die on Argentinian ground”. So close yet so far away.

Luckily after the longest 2 first hours of trip, the turbulence stopped and I stopped  being dramatic and enjoyed the rest of the flight.

With this plane, we took the Polar Route, basically the plane goes down to Antarctica and then back up again to Auckland. What was cool about that is that when we reached the southest point on one side I could see pitch black and on the other one I could see a beautiful sunrise.

The rest of the flight went smoothly  and after 11 hours of sitting down we finally arrived to our destination.

That’s when it hit me, I was alone, on the other side of the world and whatever happened next, it was on me.

The beginning of a new chapter was about to start. So wish me luck.

Once in a life time ;)

A few years ago I reached a point in my life when I just needed a break.  I finished university and I was working really hard but I didn't feel like I was going anywhere. I was tired of everything and everyone and I made a decision, I decision that was going to change my whole life.

I decided to leave everything and go pursuit my dream, travelling. Back at home saving  money was hard, the currency exchange wasn't helping so I thought that the best thing to do was to move somewhere else, work there for a while and like that, I would be able to save money and go travel the world.

First, I had to check my options. I couldn't go to do one of those work and travel deals to the USA that they offer in the travel agencies because you need to be a student. Australia was another possibility but I was never really interested in going there (now things are different).

Until I found the best place for me, NEW ZEALAND.  When I was 12 I watched a documentary about the fauna in this country and I promised myself I’ll go to this far far land one day. So this was my chance, the opportunity to kill two birds with the one stone.

New Zealand has a working holiday visa programme with Argentina and over 30 other countries. This visa allows you to work and travel the country for up to a year, you shouldn't take a permanent job, you can even study for 3 months and it has different requirements depending where you are from.

The difference with this visa is that is not like the ones you apply to to go to the USA, for example. Basically you just apply for a visa, you don’t have a job offer or anything. So that means that it depends on you when you arrive to find work. You go there with a chance and nothing else.

During a whole year I saved every penny for this.  I studied and asked as many questions about it as possible so I was prepared. They didn't ask for much, at the begging you just need to fill up a form and just pay the fee. Oh and because I'm from Argentina I also needed to present and X-ray to show that I didn't have TB.

After you've done all that and you get your place, you should buy your plane ticket, travel insurance and you need a certain amount of money. They specifically say so because you may not get a spot in the scheme or you could be rejected because of not fulfilling the requirements.

But I was young and stupid and thought that “OF COURSE I'M GOING TO GET IT”. So I bought everything in advance, I even quitted my job. I just needed to wait for the date and get what I thought it was, already, mine.

The day was getting closer, but  first it was Chile’s turn. Everybody applied for it, everyone was online and they made the website crash.  Because of this, the date for the Argentinian visa got postponed a couple of weeks. I was extremely excited and nervous.

The day finally arrived. The places opened on the 29^th October 2009 at 8 in the morning, Argentina’s time. I was sitting in my computer ready to do it. I logged in, went to the application link, filled up the first page, saved it and BOOM.  The page crashed, it said that it had too much traffic. So I tried again, filled up the first page of the application and when I tried to save it, same thing happened.

After my tenth attempted I started to panic. I realised I had a ticket out of the country in 20 days and, what if I didn't get the visa. What was I going to do? I couldn't not go, I didn't want people to think I failed. I decided that even if I didn't get it I was going to go and travelled around there until I run out of money, yes yes that sounded like a plan.

Time kept passing by and I couldn't get pass the first page. The worst thing was that I had the Embassy website opened and I could see the numbers going down. Argentina has 1000 places a year for this visa, and they were, at least, a hundred places per hour given.

My parents were with me, my dad took I day off to be there (Yes they are amazing). I was crying and didn't know what to do, I was hysterical, I didn't want to wait another year to apply for it. I was sitting on my bed with my laptop on one side and my sister’s laptop on the other, trying to see if any worked. Four hours had passed and I had made no progress.

My mum kept insisting that I should use my dad’s computer. I was certain that it wasn't going to work, mine was all new it should be better than a windows 98 one.

After over 6 hours I decided to give it a try, I had nothing else to loose. So I sat in my dad’s office logged in, filled up the first page, saved it and OH MY GOD, I was on the second page. I couldn't believe it, that entire time that old computer was the solution.

I filled page by page with my mum on my side double checking if I was miss spelling something. I always ask someone to check when I'm filling up important papers.

Almost 8 hours later, I finished completing my form. The last and most important step was in between me and my dream, paying the visa. You needed to pay it and to get the confirmation for your place to be saved.

So I put all my credit card details, pressed confirm and… Oh no, not again. It didn't let me pay. I tried a few times but nothing. I started crying, AGAIN, I was so close but yet I had nothing. But while I was crying my eyes out, hating the universe, my mum called the credit card company. They said that they rejected the payment because it was made from a foreign website. As soon as we confirm it was us they authorize it and told us that in five minutes we could try again and everything should be ok.

Those were the longest 5 minutes of my life. I put all my details once more and pressed confirm. Then I read the phrase that was going to change everything. YOUR CARD HAS BEEN ACCEPTED.

After 8 hours of torture, I finally got my place and I couldn't be happier.

The visa wasn't mine yet. But I’ll tell you what happened in the next post , this one got long.

I think every traveller should live abroad, or may be another city, once in his life time. Doesn't need to be for a year it could be for a month or less. But experiences like these are the once that make you appreciate what you have and realise how much you care about your family and friends. It opens your mind. It makes you see the world in a different way.

Thank you for following and see you soon ;)

What's left to do when rain interferes with your plans? EAT

Welcome back people, hope you had a great week. So let’s finish the story I was telling you.

Well, as you can imagine after such a long first day and first night, I woke up the next morning a little hangover. Went down stairs got my breakfast and then went back to bed.

By the time I woke up, again, the weather had changed and it was going to continue like that until my departure. It started getting colder and windy and that made me a little bit lazy to be honest.

I spent more time with Ornella, tried some more octopus, some clams and even more cod, one of the specialities. I tried some Port wine, I did it because it was one of the things that I HAD to try. I'm not a big fan of wine but for my surprise, I liked it. It has a very sweet taste, is perfect to have it while eating dessert or something like that.

Then we spent more time with the guys and I got to meet Susan, a lovely Taiwanese girl with whom we enjoyed a lovely evening telling jokes and stories.

It kept raining and my clothes never got dry. I didn't have a rain jacket or proper shoes, not even an umbrella (I really don’t like umbrellas). So I spent most of the time chatting with fellow travellers in the hostel and trying new food.

I'm recommending every single one of you guys to go visit the Leitaria da Quinta do Paço (Check it out). Daniela, the tour guide, told us about it, it’s supposed to have the best éclairs, a long pastry with a dough like the one they use in profiterole filled with Chantilly cream and with topped with icing. This bakery was inaugurated on 1920 and until now, it uses the same recipes. Everything that they use it’s homemade, the butter, the cream, custard and that makes it a million times more delicious.

The first time, I had a mini berry éclair with Port wine and it was fantastic. Then I went back and had some lunch because they also offer a lunch/dinner menu. For dessert I chose Pastel de Natas, traditional in Portugal. It’s an egg tart pastry and because it was homemade, it had a smooth taste that was just indescribable.

By Tuesday morning everybody was gone and I was by myself again. The rain stopped for a bit so I went for walk through the little streets and along the riverside. Such a beautiful city, I would have loved to do the boat cruise across the 6 bridges but it was foggy so you couldn't appreciate the view. But I’ll leave it for the next time.

Yet again, the rain surprised me so I went back to the hostel. There I met the wonderful Dali, a Mexican girl that lives in Denmark that came to Portugal looking to do some kite surfing. Oh and she also travels with her surfboard.

I took her around the city like when I went on the tour. Once again, we finished in the Éclair bakery. Dali enjoyed a mini éclair and a glass of Port wine while I tried the Bola de Berlim, a pastry similar to a doughnut filled, in this case, with an awesome Chantilly cream with an espresso.

Then we went to the Porto Cathedral, its architecture is a mix of Baroque and Gothic, another MUST for your visit here. There is a small part that you can go and see the tiles for a fee.

All around the city you are going to be able to see this blue tiles on the walls with some incredible designs. Only important buildings, wealthy families houses and churches use to have them because they were hand painted. This wall tell religious stories or sometimes history. Another place where you can find them is in the São Bento Railway Station.

Porto is registered World Heritage Site by UNESCO, that’s why the façade of the buildings, the height of the house are more or less all the same, is like they are stop in time. But that is what makes it such an interesting and stunning city. I love the old looking buildings for some they look “ugly” and “dirty”. For me they tell you a story, they are the proof that there was a past that needs to be told.

There is a lot more about Porto, a lot more to see and a lot more to tell. Next time I’ll try to go during the summer so I can enjoy the sun and swim in the sea. And who knows, may be I try to blend in the crowd and take some surfing lessons. But that’s going to be another story.

So I’ll keep you posted and I hope you all have an amazing week. If you like my blog, share it with your friends, you can also follow me on Facebook. See you soon =).