Second, this is going to be a loooong post so hope you are willing to read. :)
Well I survived my roadtrip around the North Island of New Zealand. We tried to go to as many places as possible and feel like we did a good job but there is still so much we were not able to see. So where to start…we left last Monday the 7th. Five of us went, my friends Carla, Alexa, Ben and Suzanne. We rented a sweet station wagon and decided to name him Frodo. 1. Because we are in New Zealand and Lord of the Rings was filmed here. (If you did not know that, shame on you!). and 2. Because our car did not like driving up hills and Frodo Baggins seemed to complain a lot about carrying the ring up hill to the mountain. We left Auckland headed Southeast for Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. Driving on the left side of the road was really weird at first but we started to get used to it quickly. The only difficult parts are turns and roundabouts because they go the other way! We all felt like we had taken a trip back in time since our car had no CD player and not even a cassette player. The radio barely worked so we kept ourselves entertained by counting sheep and singing random songs. We had no GPS, simply a map of New Zealand. I loved the freedom of no time limit or stops. We could pull over whenever we wanted to for scenic outlooks and make random stops where we felt. We stopped for lunch in Matamata, also known as Hobbiton. We tried to drive through the movie sets of Lord of the Rings but they wanted to charge +$100….no thanks. So we continued on and made it to the Bay of Plenty. After checking into our hostel we wandered around the town and went into random shops. Our hostel owner told us about a fish market near the water that was known for the best fish and chips in all of New Zealand. And wow was she right. The Fush n’ Chups (as NZ people say) were DELICIOUS. I thought San Francisco was my favorite but these melted in your mouth and were so fresh since it was caught that day. We made friends with a local woman and asked her why the Bay of Plenty was named the way it was. She claimed because it had plenty of everything: beach, sun, food, bars, etc. We agreed with her answer!
View from our Hostel. Not bad I'd say?
One of the Volcanoes near the Bay of Plenty
Beach!
More beach!
The next morning we headed off to our next stop in Rotorua. Rotorua is known for their geothermal systems. The closer we got to the town, the stronger the smell of sulfur. It was kind of gross at first but I got used to it eventually. Our first activity was to hike around the Waimangu volcanic valley. The scenery reminded of a Jurassic Park movie. We came across lakes and craters that were steaming and looked magical. Rivers bubbled and boiled and the smell of sulfur was a little overwhelming at times. But it was definitely one of my favorite hikes. Nature is so cool! Haha.
Where's the dinosaurs?
After hiking we had to go Zorbing. What is that you may ask? Well, it’s kind of a ridiculous activity that you would only find in New Zealand. Basically, you roll down a hill inside of a giant ball filled with water. It was hilarious! I went with Suzanne and we laughed the entire time. It was like being inside a giant washing machine. My friend Ben took pictures of Suzanne and I inside the ball so once he puts those on Facebook I’ll put a few on here.
My official Zorbing Certificate
The hill we rolled down!
Suzanne and I at the top of the hill in the Zorb
Woooo!
You can kinda see us here
View from inside the Zorb after we made it downhill
I couldn't stop laughing!
After dinner we decided to do one more activity to conclude our trip Rotorua. We decided to relax after our long hike and soak in the sulfur baths. It was an interesting experience. There were seven different baths, all different temperatures. The best part was the baths overlooked Lake Rotorua and at night it was a gorgeous sight. It was definitely a great day and one of my favorites.
Next stop, the wine country of Hawke’s Bay to the city of Napier. We arrived around lunch time and wandered the cute town. We found a little café with delicious pannini’s and I splurged on an amazing slice of cheesecake. Then it was time for wine tasting! We went to two different wineries that were very nice. The best part was tasting was free! Then we headed to the chocolate museum for chocolate tasting and bought some amazing truffles. Our last stop was at the beer and cider brewery for more tasting. All in all it was another great day as our trip seemed to continue to get better and better.
One of the prettier wineries, Mission Estates
Wiiiine!
Our finally destination was Hamilton. On the way we stopped for lunch at Lake Taupo, New Zealand’s biggest lake. It was a long day of driving and our longest yet. We decided to go to bed pretty early because the next day was going to be our most adventurous yet!
Lake Taupo
Lake Taupo again
Friday was the day we had all been waiting for. We got up very early and headed to the Waitomo Caves, also known as the Glowworm Caves. We booked a tour with a company called Rap, Raft and Rock which I HIGHLY recommend if anyone ever visits. We were surprised to find out it was just our group with a guide and no one else. It definitely made the trip more personal and fun. Our guide drove us back in the hills to a little shack so we could suit up. Our outfits consisted of a wetsuit, pants over the wetsuit, boots (called gummies), a wetsuit jacket and helmet with a headlight. We laughed at ourselves and felt like spacemen. Then our guide drove us a little further to the actual middle of nowhere. He had us practice abseiling for about five minutes and then told us it was time to go. I was a little freaked out when I saw the giant hole and cave entrance we had to rappel down. But our guide was really friendly and joked a lot with us so that helped. Before I knew it, it was my turn and I was rappelling down about 30 meters suspended in mid air. I could not believe what I was seeing or doing. The cave entrance was beautiful and mysterious all at the same time. It almost looked fake it was so cool. (I’m so used to fake caves and rocks like at Disneyland! Haha) Once I reached the bottom, I had to wade across some water and wait for our guide to join us. He told us to turn on our headlights as we walked down the into the dark cave. The whole time there was water about knee deep (sometimes waist for me!) but it was really cool. Our guide had us crawling through tiny holes in the cave walls and most of the time we had to army crawl. It was so awesome. There were no bats in the cave but plenty of Wettas (GIANT New Zealand crickets) and Eels in the water. Our guide had us sit on a pile of rocks and told us to turn off our headlights and look up. I was amazed at the sight. The glowworms above were beautiful. Their lights were light blue and looked like stars. Our guide told us they did this to attract bugs. He made a loud banging noise and the glowworms shown even brighter because the noise created vibrations similar to insect wings. We turned our lights back on a got a closer look at the worms. They were actually larvae that created sticky strings of web that hung down to catch prey. We all felt like we were in the middle of a Discovery show! It was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. After the glowworm lesson we walked back through the cave where a pile of inner tubes were sitting. Our guide told each of us to grab one and jump on. We all attached inner tubes by grabbing onto the feet of a person behind you. It was so fun! So we went black water rafting. It’s pretty much what it sounds like. Pitch black floating in the water, going down waterfalls. We all laughed and had a great time. Our guide made games out of it, we had races and jumped off rocks, it was a blast. When it was time to head back we had to rock climb to get out. I found it a little difficult because the big boots and mud made it hard for me to find footing but I made it out! At the end of our trip we got soup and talked with our guide for a bit.
We're ready!
Cave entrance, view from the bottom
Here I go...
Weeee!
Into the dark we go
This is too fun!
Us with the glowworms
A better picture of the glowworms
This is what they look like up close in the light
We felt like a bobsled team, little did we know our guide was about to push us down a water fall backwards
We didn't make it over very well...haha
I made it out!
Us and our guide, Marc
Saturday, the next day it was time for us to head back to Auckland and catch our flight to Christchurch. We said goodbye to Frodo and the North Island and set off for the South. The airport security thought we were all nuts chugging our water bottles before boarding and bagging liquids. I asked if I had to take off my shoes and the guard said, “Why? Are your shoes uncomfortable?” They even let you go through security without a boarding pass and a pat down. Definitely interesting. We arrived in Christchurch around 9pm and made it to our apartments. I unpacked and went straight to bed since my lack of sleep seemed to finally catch up with me. This morning I went grocery shopping which was an adventure all on its own. No more brand names I recognize or even food for that matter. Tomorrow is the international orientation for my school so I am really excited to meet more people and potential classmates. School starts next Monday...what is that? Thanks for reading, bye! :)
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