"We missed Simon, we missed Simon and Garfunkel, we got Garfunkel!"

It's a quote that Kate told me from Dharma and Greg, don't worry, I didn't miss Simon, I didn't miss Simon and Garfunkel, and I did see Garfunkel!

Yeah, the concert was alright, not as good as I expected.

HAHAHAHAHA, I'M KIDDING!!! No, it was amazing, it was everything I dreamed it would be and more. But I guess I should cover the first part of my trip, eh!? Don't worry, it'll be short, and then we can get to the details of the concert, which was totally the highlight of the trip/my life.

I arrived in Auckland in the eventimes, so I just hung out at the hostel that night.

The next day, I went to the Auckland Museum and the Art Gallery. Auckland Museum: okay, a little bit disorganised. Art Gallery: Win! Recommended. Then I wandered around Auckland, and made plans for going to the Coromandel Peninsula.

Since I didn't really have the time for a whole organised group tour thing, I really had to pick one place to go to, and I picked Hahei because that's where Cathedral Cove is. The rest of the day in Auckland was pretty much spent going, "So this is Auckland..."

When South Islanders, and even non-Aucklanders from the North Island describe Auckland, you are like, no, it cannot be that bad. What could possibly be so wrong about Auckland. And that's just it. There is nothing wrong with Auckland. It is totally fine. But it's a little bit dirty and not very pretty and sometimes it's hard to pass the time if you're just a poor student who is traveling for a few days. I guess, what it comes down to is, it's nice for a city, but it's sort of a hole compared to the rest of beautiful, beautiful New Zealand. A third of New Zealand's population lives there, and yeah, it's okay, but it's nothing special and after that first day, I was sort of over it.

So then I went to Hahei! This is going to sound strange, but the bus ride there was fantastic. It was really great. I just sat there and thought and dreamed and I wasn't bored, or tired, or antsy, I just sat there and watched New Zealand go by and thought to myself. When I arrived in Hahei, it was late afternoon/early evening. So again, the timing of it, I just hung out at the hostel (which was not really a hostel, it was this couple's house, but it was listed in BBH and it was the cleanest place I've ever stayed, so, yeah) and read American Gods and puttered around.

The next day, pouring rain. POURING RAIN like you would not believe. It was my one day in Hahei, and I had picked Hahei because of Cathedral Cove, and come hell or high water, I was going to go. So, the high water kept up its end of the bargain, and I kept mine. In the pouring rain, I went to Cathedral Cove, and then, because I was already soaked and could not get any wetter, I walked all around Hahei. All told, it must have been... four hours, maybe? I got back, took a shower, and spent the rest of the day writing in my journal, studying lingustics, finishing American Gods, and drinking tea. Maybe it sounds lame, but it was awesome.

The next day, I returned to Auckland, but again only for a halfday, so I didn't go the volcano or anything. I went to Albert Park and wandered around a little bit. Albert Park was very pretty.

When I went back to the hostel, I got this text from Kate, asking me where I was. I answered, that I was in Auckland, in a hostel in Parnell, and Kate replied, "me too," and I was like, does she mean in Auckland or at the hostel or what? and then as I was responding, Kate walked in the room!!!!!

Kate is so awesome.

The next morning, I walked with Kate around Parnell and then saw her off at the bus. Then I wandered around a little on my own. I went to find the arena, and I got really excited standing there, it sort of hit me right then that I was going to see Simon and Garfunkel. It was one of those scream off the top of the mountain feelings, so I just stood there for a second. I had my eyes closed when it occurred to me that it was raining a little bit, but then the sun was still warm, and I thought, there should be a rainbow! When I opened my eyes, there was a rainbow right in front of me! I'm magic!

Okay, so. The concert! I was standing outside in line, and there was this couple next to me, and the woman asked me if I was there alone. I said that yes, I was, because nobody wanted to come up from Christchurch, and she was like, Christchurch! She seemed a little shocked that I would come all the way from Christchurch, but I met another guy on the airport bus who had done the same, and the guy next to me at the concert was from Wellington. Anyway, she may have also been thinking, what is this twelve year old doing at a concert by herself???

When I got inside, I bought myself a poster. I wanted a t-shirt, but one, they were about a million dollars, and two, the ones that had tour dates and locations on them were normal Ts, and I wasn't convinced it was going to fit me (they had some girls fit shirts, but they were pastel colours, and they were generic Simon and Garfunkel shirts, without the dates or locations). So, I bought a poster, which has all the tour dates and locations on it. This poster... Okay, I'll get to that.

I went and found my seat, and I was there super early, but eventually it all filled in, and here was how it went. Nondescript people in front of me, uptight middle-aged guy who was half of a couple to my left (we'll call him... Herbert, going by Herb), younger Wellingtonian to my right (we'll call him Geoffrey), entire row of younger (younger than Geoffrey but older than me) friends behind us. Okay, so shockingly, not all Simon and Garfunkel fans are as pure of heart as I am. The people behind us were A-HOLES. They were clearly drunk, talking a lot, dropping their plastic beer bottles, singing along very badly and loudly (there were parts when we all sang along, and it was good fun, but they were completely obnoxious). At the beginning of the concert, Herb was like, can you keep it down? And one girl was like, we're at a concert, we're having fun, that's what being at a concert is about! Which, okay, yes, but let's face it... besides me and a handful of other people, they were the youngest people at the concert. They were surrounded by middle-aged and even elderly people, and I think they should have gotten a clue and toned it down a little bit.

Anyway, about two thirds of the way through, things came to a head and there was a lot of yelling going on... it was in the middle of a song I didn't know (one of two, not counting the song that Art Garfunkel wrote and the song they performed at the talent show in the sixth grade :p), so I wasn't that upset by it, but it was a little bit frazzling. Basically, Herb yelled at them, they yelled back, Herb's wife backed him up by shouting, SHUT UP! at them, and Geoffrey jumped in and said, go to the bar if you want to talk! and then the guy behind Geoffrey, who had this gravely voice straight out of a movie, told Geoffrey that if he didn't shut up and enjoy the concert, prick, he'd punch him in the back of the head, to which Geoffrey shouted, yeah, you want an assault charge!? So that was a little disturbing, but just a hiccup in an otherwise STELLAR evening.

OKAY! So, they came out and sang Old Friends, because that was the name of the tour, and then jumped straight into Hazy Shade of Winter. Unfortunately, I don't remember all the songs or in what order, but I do know those two. They played many great songs, many of my favourites, including I Am An Island, but they did not play my favourite favourite, which some of you may know is Punky's Dilemma (Kellogg's cornflake and English muffin song, yes), nor At the Zoo, nor Poem on the Underground Wall. But that is so okay, because here is the thing... they still sounded amazing. They did not sound like two old singers at all, they sounded just like Simon and Garfunkel, and I was giddy the entire first half.

After many songs together, Garfunkel soloed for a little while and then Simon soloed for a little while, to give each of them a break as there was no intermission. Garfunkel sang For Emily Wherever I May Find Her, a song he wrote himself, and another song. Paul Simon sang Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard, Boy in the Bubble, and Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (no Gumboots, but he was so entertaining...). Then they came back together and did more songs together. They finished with Bridge Over Troubled Water, during which I tried to call Mom, but I could not figure out how to make a call to the U.S. (I thought I had it figured out, but then it wouldn't go through, so apparently not), and then they did three encores.

They did Cecelia and The Boxer in one encore, Sound of Silence and Leaves That Are Green in the second encore, and 59th Street Bridge Song for their final encore. Leaves That Are Green really got me, with the opening lines... "I was 21 years when I wrote this song, I'm 22 now but I won't be for long. Time hurries on, and the leaves that are green turn to brown." After he sang "I'm 22 now," Paul Simon stopped and chuckled and said, let me think about that for a second.

I did forget to mention that shortly into the concert, they described meeting each other (as the Chesire Cat and the White Rabbit in the same sixth grade production of Alice in Wonderland) and playing their first song at a talent show when they were eleven or twelve, I think. The song, the song was about this girl they (well, "he" as the voice in the song goes) wanted to meet up with after school, and it was like, want to meet at three, oh wait we don't get out till three thirty, and it was adorable.

When we got out of the concert, I had my poster rolled up, and it didn't rain on the walk back to the hostel! The next day, I had to carry it all around because I'd already checked out of the hostel, and I was looking after that thing like it was a Verticolli hairbrush. It started to rain while I was in the Auckland Domain, where it always rains, and I dropped everything to get a plastic bag and put the poster in there... I kept rearranging my grip on my bag and, I later realised, walked on the outside of it at all times :p It made it back here safe and sound, and I might frame it when I get home.

More info than you want, but here are the songs, in some semblance of the correct order, that I have and that they sang (they sang that song I didn't know, Bebop a lula, the song from sixth grade, and the song that Art Garfunkel wrote, too, but I don't have those):

Old Friends
Hazy Shade of Winter (love!)
I Am a Rock (also love!)
America
Kathy's Song (Garfunkel sang solo accompanied by Simon on guitar)
Scarborough Fair
The Only Living Boy in New York (always reminds me of Devon)
Mrs. Robinson (preceded by a montage... the montages of the two of them were great, and that one ended in the clip from the Graduate)
For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her (just Garfunkel)
Boy in the Bubble (just Simon)
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (possibly my second favourite Paul Simon song? Although I do love Me and Julio)
Homeward Bound (mildly upsetting because I was feeling a heavy New Zealand inertia at the time)
El Condor Pasa
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Cecelia
The Boxer (they put in the booms!)
Sound of Silence
Leaves That Are Green
59th Street Bridge Song

That last day, I had the most delicious veggie burger I have ever eaten in my life (okay, I'll face it... it was one of the best burgers I've had in my life period, veggie or not. Although that one time Dudley made those burgers at the house... may be number one). Burger Fuel. Jay, if you come to Auckland... Burger Fuel. Also, I have a phone and a Lonely Planet for you. I don't know if you even know I have a blog... will somebody tell him?

MY LITTLE TOWN. That was the name of the song when the fight almost broke out in my row! And A Heart in New York was Garfunkel's third song.

And then I came home! I've been studying, along with watching some movies and getting some new music (so much new New Zealand music, I'm so pumped for it!).

And that is all! The summary is:

Read American Gods
Love Simon and Garfunkel
Buy more than muesli bars when going on a five day trip

Oh, and something that occurred to me on this trip: I assume Art is short for "Arthur." So, Arthur Garfunkel, Arthur Read, and Arthur Dent. I think we can all agree that Arthur is a winning name.

Now I have to go study, but I wanted to share my trip!

I arrive back in Juneau on the 27th. I arrive back in Rochester late August some time. I'll see you all sooner or later :)