Ready to go
Another day in New Plymouth. Andy and I played some pool and I made general preparations to head to the south island. Time to move on.

Tungi
I awoke around 8.30 with Stuart tapping on the car window. We headed down to the river together with the large procession and managed to get a spot pretty close to the large barge with the family on it. We watched as the Maori Canoes, the Wakas, were paddled into place on the river. A call went out to any men who knew the Haka to jump onto the barge and perform it while the wakas went by. A huge crowd of men gathered and began to chant the ever famous "KA MATE": The All-Blacks Chant. The energy was incredible. Every man threw themselves straight into it. The Wakas began their procession down the river and we watched as all 9 canoes passed us. The Queen's coffin placed on the third one and flanked by two others. The Haka continued for the entire hour that it took for the Wakas to pass us without faltering or losing energy.
We then headed to the buses to head to the burial hill. We arrived and climbed up to a vantage point so we could see the arrival from the river. We saw several Maori warriors, traditionally dressed in grass skirts, face tattooes and holding wooden weapons. They began to chant and dance to welcome the coffin as it arrived on the pier and was brought to the hill. The attached ropes to the coffin to help drag it up the steep incline as several warriors crowded around to lift it above their heads. There must have been ten thousand Maoris standing on the hill and as the coffin arrived they began to chant in unison. Slapping their thighs and raising their hands. We watched as the coffin was taken to the top of the hill. We went higher for a while until we were told that the family wished to be left alone. We headed back down the hill and washed ourselves in the river to purify ourselves after being in the cemetary.
Stuart and I then headed back to the car and drove up, both of us feeling completely drained by the experience.

Maori Queen; Dame Dame Te Atairangikaahu
I headed back up to New Plymouth the night before so i could meet Stuart and plan the next day ahead of us.
Stuart and I headed off early to get up to the Marae as soon as we could. We battered up the road with no incident and arrived at the meeting house fairly early. We took some seats and watched the family and friends paying their respects through stories, songs, dance and Hakas. The atmosphere was heavy and silent and seemed to radiate a mix of pride, sorrow and respect. We watched for a couple of hours and the crowds were then given the chance to show their respects. We walked to the coffin. We could see her through the glass panel. I bowed low. Stuart got on his knees and kissed the Kiwi cloak that adorned the coffin.
We walked on feeling more than overwhelmed. We went down along the family and gave each one a Hongi (traditional Maori greeting where the noses are pressed together and the breathe of life is shared). We were dazed for the rest of the day. It passed like a blur and I eventually went back to our car to get some sleep.

Random meetings
Now Playing: Anything I can since I have my 'pod back!
Scooted down to Wellington on the bus and arrived in the rather nice YHA there and made ready to meet Anna. I wandered down into the lobby and bumped into Laura and Jenny who I met in Paihia and Auckland. We chatted for a bit until I bumped into a very old and familiar face: Alison, a girl I use to Breakdance with back in Aberdeen around 5 years ago. It was a pretty random meeting. As I was talking to her I bumped into Anna, the girl I was actually meant to be meeting in Wellington. Quite awesome the three random meeting in one go. Anna and I then headed out for a walk up to the botanical gardens to have a look around and then went for some food. Was cool to see her again. We came back to the hostel and randomly bumped into Jenny in the TV room. We all chatted for a bit then Anna and I said Goodbye and she hit the sack.

Ipod Recovery
Well, after the awesome owners of the hostel had helped me out I managed to recover most of my music, some of video and none of my documents. Go figure. I’m pretty pleased with what I got back plus I stole some music off the PCs at the hostel. I guess I am now ready to move on from New Plymouth. Although I will have to come back since I want to pay my respects to the Maori Queen and Stuart said he'd give me a lift to the place.

Stunned silence
I have the best parents ever... that is all I have to say.

Even more Grr...
Bit pissed off today. My Ipod isn’t ready yet, and they didn’t even call me to try and let me know. I’m getting a little sick of this. And to be honest, the way they are talking, I doubt I'll get any data back.

Another day waiting
Took a pretty chilled out day. Did a light gym session then took a walk around town checking out the park properly. Is a really odd place. But really cool to hang in. Chilled in the evening with the guys from the hostel and said bye to Anna and said we’d meet again in Wellington.

CRAZY GERMAN GIRL!
Hit the gym this morning then chilled out until I got a pleasant surprise in the evening. Anna, the Crazy German Girl, who I met in Paihia, arrived in the hostel. It was really cool to see her again and we sank some whiskeys and a few beers and went for a quiet walk down to the waterfront. It’s always awesome meeting folk again and hopefully we can meet in Wellington.

Grr
I put my Ipod in to get fixed 5 days ago after being told that it would only take 2-3 days and now I am being told it won’t be ready till at least Monday. I like New Plymouth and all but I really want to move on and I don’t like the way this store is giving me really vague details.
So I am just continuing to chill with the locals and do exercise.