July 3, 2008
The Tiny Town of Dargaville
I managed to get up “early” this morning! I had a quick breakfast of a lin yong pow and waited for the MainCoachLine bus to come pick me up. True enough it wasn’t a bus, but it was a van with a trailer. I didn’t get a photo. I didn’t really have time to take as we were hurrying to put my things in and I got onto the “bus”.
We were quite on time; I was very surprised. They picked me up about 8.30am, and we were scheduled to arrive at Auckland at Quay Street at 9.30am, which we did. We had a full coach of 11 passengers, and we made our way northbound to Dargaville. I fell asleep most of the way, I guess I was just too tired. From what, I don’t know. But I slept 🙂
There wasn’t much to see along the way anyway, except a lot of green. We did make a stop at a restaurant called the Swinging Cow, but I didn’t eat there; I only made the washroom stop.
There were a pair of ladies in front of me, one of whom was the mother of a baby girl and a toddler boy, and I assume the other lady was her sister or at least a relative. The boy was very very cute, with a hair of golden curls; and while he initially was rather well-behaved, towards the later part of the journey (especially after the stop) he became very hyperactive and hysterical and screechy. Finally as we dropped off a passenger at the stop before Dargaville, the lady who wasn’t the mother retrieved the child carseat from the trailer which contained all our luggage, and strapped the child down. The child was surprisingly good and willing to be strapped in, and for the rest of the journey was very quiet.
We were scheduled to arrive at Dargaville by 12.45pm, and we were on time. It’s so unusual for me, given how “Malaysian time” everything is back home (for the uninformed, it means being late is just a Malaysian way of life).
Jin had told me to wait at the Blah, Blah, Blah cafe, so I walked over to it which was just around the corner from my drop-off point. I thought that Jin’s break was at 12.30pm (she was still at work in school) as she had passed a message through my aunt last night when I was out to dinner, so I decided to wait outside instead of having tea inside as I didn’t want to make her late for her next class, if she had one. I waited until 1.30pm before she finally arrived, but I didn’t mind as I got to enjoy the sun for a bit. When she came, she had an errand to run and sat me in Blah, Blah, Blah for a cuppa, and then she drove me to her home before she went back to school for her last class of the day.
I fried myself two eggs and had a cup of tea, and worked on my photos (for my blog). I also got a bit trigger happy in her house.. but I won’t post the photos here. Except for the pot stove which is really interesting and new to me 🙂
Jin came back, and wanted to let me use her Internet access but she didn’t know what the password was. I eventually figured out her router settings using her laptop, found her password, and connected myself to her broadband. She made a Chinese meal with rice, omelette and pak choy, and her American friend Suzie came over to discuss with her about the 4th of July party tomorrow. Suzie also helped to light up the pot stove in the living room before she left for home, as Jin wasn’t very good at it 😀 But she managed to keep the fire going though.
I also met Jin’s husband, Matthew who is a charming man (and looks much better than in his photo). He went out with his friends later, while Jin drove me out in her new car (woohooo!!!) to the Warehouse where she bought some supplies, and extra pillow, and a birthday present for me – a warm woolcap which would cover my ears from the cold!!
On our return, Jin and I pored through the brochures as well as looked up online for our trip the coming week. Jin turned in early though because she was exhausted. Me? I’m here in front of my laptop blogging about my uneventful day at Dargaville…
11:35pm
