Trip to Russell!

The day commenced with us taking photos of our drinks around breakfast (this was my breakfast)

Following this myself and three friends went to the town of Russell. Russell is a small town with a population of 816 as of 2006 according to Wikipedia. The ferry across was about 10-15 minutes long and cost $10NZD ($6.78CAD) round-trip. We all headed out to the ferry around 10:30AM and were lucky enough to find a boat boarding when we got to the wharf. It was a nice scenic boat ride across with lots of photo ops (some of which just consisted of leaning over the bow and reciting lines from Titanic, not pointing any fingers).

When we got there we wandered around going up and down the beach and little further up away from the beach taking in the sights and taking a million and one photos along the way. There was a little a church and a police station the still acts as both a police station and a house that looked like a church. In addition to this we saw some wildlife. We started off with some really bold ducks that got so close to me looking for food I actually had to back up to fit them in the frame of my camera. We also got some photos of a butterfly.

After we figured we'd seen what we needed to see of Russell we went for lunch at Sally's Cafe. I had a Fish 'N' Chips (no surprise) and a Steinlager which cost a total of $22NZD ($14.91CAD). We all sat and chatted and the Swedes and the German made attempts at each others language. Good fun was had by all especially me because I felt about as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle during the language exercise as my accent is not conducive to working in Swedish or German. It was definitely a fun lunch. The food was great and very reasonably priced. 

After lunch we went and grabbed ice cream from a place that had an "Icecream Burger". None of us were brave enough to order one. I had an ice cream sundae. It was $6.50NZD ( $4.40CAD) which if you have been to a Baskin-Robbins lately you will know is a steal. We all sat on the wharf and ate our ice cream and waited for the boat to take us back because everyone but me had to catch a bus at 3PM at the hostel. 

We ended up taking the "Fast Ferry" back which can get to Paihia from Russell in probably less than 5 minutes. When we got back to Paihia we spent a few minutes in the town as the girls wanted to shop a bit and I needed to look for a memory card reader. Upon returning to the hostel the others gathered their luggage and we all exchanged facebook info and then they boarded the bus for the journey back to Auckland. Once more I am alone, the downside to spending long periods of time in one place. On that note I may try to meet up with some of them in Australia.

That wraps up today's post. It's 8:21PM now here on Sunday night and I still have not made dinner or eaten anything since lunch. Off to make pasta!