and it gets worse.
The morning after our long and grueling journey to see the spirits leap forth from the earth, Marshall and I had a scheduled event with some dolphins. Specifically, we had scheduled a dolphin watching tour of the Bay of Islands. The weather was too harsh to go to the famous Hole in the Rock, but it cleared up nicely inside the Bay, and we did get to see some cute bottle nose dolphins.
Next comes the sad part. Children, avert your eyes.
In the event we find dolphins, we get the option to swim with them, but in this case the dolphins were not "playful enough" and so we weren't allowed to. I know, sad stuff.
But the rest of the boat ride was lots of fun, and afterwards we made our way back to Auckland. However, nothing went along as planned.
When I wanted to go on an adventure, this is not what I wanted. I am still in the process of shock, and so to me none of this is funny. To you, however, it could be. One day, I'll probably look back and laugh. But right now, I can't. I just. Can't.
Let me preface this by saying that nobody was hurt even a little bit. So it's all okay.
On the way back to Auckland, Marshall and I were in a car accident. We were turning into a gas station and got clipped by another car. Again let me say that nobody was hurt, although our car's bumper was completely ripped off the back end. This was by the design of the engineers, to protect the rest of the car and the passengers. It worked. However, it did mean that the car was no longer drivable, and we were still 2.5 hours north of Auckland.
The police wouldn't come because nobody was injured, and they only show up if people are hurt. Which I think is weird and lazy on the part of the police department. But whatever. Moving on, the other car bent out their bumper with a crowbar and went on their way, while Marshall and I dealt with the living nightmare that is Jucy rentals.
Despite paying the full coverage insurance, Jucy rentals left us stranded at this gas station, refusing to give us a new car or at least get us from the spot of the accident. At first, they wouldn't even answer the phone. After getting the go-around for hours, we were finally hung up on. A tow-man came to get our car, but wouldn't take us anywhere. So we sat at a gas station for 4 hours. We had to cancel our dinner reservations (which were with Kirsten stop the SkyTower in Auckland), and finally were able to book a couple spots on the NakedBus from Whangarei to Auckland. Whangarei was still a half hour drive from where we were stranded.
And that's all the bad part, because now we get to talk about how great Ramon (RAY-mon) is. Ramon owns the gas station (or at least works at it) and he is seriously the nicest guy ever. He made me tea and Marshall coffee, let us stay in the garage of the gas station, let us use the business phone and internet, and then after he closed up shop at 6, he gave us a ride to Whangarei. You don't meet people like that everyday, but when you do you know you're blessed.
We exchanged emails, and hope to talk to him soon.
Today, we rented a car from Budget, because we know at the end of the day, they are American owned and therefore will provide a better service. We got a sports car and are now in Rotorua, at the first hotel to give us unlimited free wi-fi, and bathrobes! This is one of the nicest hotels I've ever staying in.
Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Today we went to Hobbiton on the way to Rotorua, but that's for a different post.
Have a great night everyone! Don't crash your cars!
Side note: People just lounge in their rugby shorts all day. Just something I noticed when the tow-man and a dairy farmer both came into the gas station wearing their rugby shorts. And neither had been playing rugby.
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