This past week I took another road trip, this time around the North Island. We left from Wellington and headed up the East coast towards Napier on our first day, stopping at castle point. The weather was pretty crappy the entire trip but every once in awhile, we would get a break in the clouds and when we stopped at castle point we got a little bit of sunshine which was nice. Castle point is just a lighthouse but of course the surrounding area is gorgeous and there is a little walk up to the lighthouse that my group did. Then we got back into the car and headed to Napier. It was the Queen's birthday weekend so finding a place to tent the first night was kind of a nightmare. Apparently, England doesn't even celebrate the queen's birthday but New Zealand does and the whole country shuts down just like it did on Easter. But eventually we found a spot and slept pretty well after a long day of driving. After Napier, we headed towards Taupo but the rain kept us from hanging out there so we just did a little shopping, I finally recieved my Pounamu greenstone from Chelsea so that was really exciting! According to tradition, you can't buy yourself a greenstone, it has to be a gift so we kind of cheated and I described in great detail what I wanted mine to look like and Chelsea gave it to me on our trip! I feel a little more kiwi everyday! After Taupo, we headed towards Rotorua where it all started at the beginning of my trip. We spent a night in Kiwipaka which is the backpackers my Australearn group originally stayed at my first week in New Zealand. It was exciting to be back there but it wasn't quite as exciting as the first time we were there. The weather was crap again so we just hung out inside, played cards and got some fish n chips.
The next day on our way out of Rotorua we stopped at the Redwood forest which was really cool because I've never really seen Redwoods before. They imported 150 redwoods from the U.S. as an experiment a few decades ago to see how well they would grow in New Zealand conditions and they definitely flourished. The forest was beautiful and we took a nice half hour walk. After the forest we headed up towards the Coromandel peninsula and found a really nice new backpackers to stay at for really cheap. We ended up there for two nights because the price was so nice and we got up to coromandel a lot quicker than we had expected so we needed to waste a day. We got to coromandel late that night so we just went to bed and got up early the next morning to head to Cathedral Cove. If any of you have seen the chronicles of narnia, Cathedral Cove is in the beginning of the movie :) We spent quite a few hours there because the weather was fantastic and we were the only ones on the beach which was also really nice. We made a sand castle, had a PB&J for lunch and just kind of hung out. It was a really nice lazy day. After Cathedral Cove we stopped at a few more little beaches on the way back to our backpackers, ended up at Cook Beach where they have a fun little tree swing that we hung out on for an hour or so and then had another chill night at our backpackers.
The next morning we woke up early and headed to Hot Water Beach where you dig a hole in the sand, it fills with hot water and you sit in it just like a hot tub. It has to do with the hot springs in the area but you can only dig the holes at low tide so that's why we had to be there so early. My group wanted to make a hole big enough for the four of us so it took probably half an hour to dig a hole big enough and deep enough for us to sit in. Luckily, it's not peak tourist season so there weren't as many people as there usually would be but it was still really cool. After hot water beach, we headed up the Northland past Auckland to Mangawhai where we stayed at another nice backpackers and played cards with some german guys. The next morning we did a 3 hour hike to see the beach at mangawhai and then headed to Auckland. I dropped my two big bags off at the airport so I don't have to fly them from Wellington to Auckland and then we kept on our way to Raglan. It was of course raining the entire time we were driving but we got to Raglan a little after dark, checked into our backpackers and then just watched a movie. It was really nice to relax, it had been a big driving day. We ended up stayed two nights in Raglan, and during the day we relaxed in the hot tub, walked around town, watched a movie and did Yoga with one of the surfer guys that worked at the backpackers. It was nice to just have a calm day without driving. The second morning, we woke up, checked out and headed to New Plymouth to see the All Blacks game! The All Blacks are the New Zealand national Rugby team and this year New Zealand is hosting the Rugby world cup so you see All Blacks stuff everywhere. We got to New Plymouth in the afternoon, went and set up our tent for the night and then got ready for the game. I found an All Blacks sweatshirt on sale so I wore that and we bought some face paint to really show our pride. The stadium was packed and they played Ireland, who they haven't lost to in 24 years or something crazy like that. Well, they ended up beating Ireland 66-21 but it was still exciting to see the famous haka before the game and experience the atmosphere of a Rugby game compared to American Football or baseball.
The next morning we woke up and headed back to Wellington. It was a great trip and this morning I took my last final for New Zealand. I can't promise my grades are going to be fantastic but I definitely passed all my classes which is good news! The whole study part of study abroad was a challenge for me but it was still amazing.
This experience has changed my life and taught me so many new things! I learned about the Maori culture, I went to my first Rugby game, I tried new food, met new people and had the time of my life. This was the greatest thing I have ever done and I will never forget about my time in New Zealand. I hope my blog was informative and considering I'll be home tomorrow...maybe we can just talk in person if you have any questions! I bought a really nice photo album that I want to put together sometime this summer so hopefully I can show you all the pictures that go along with the stories!
I think this is it for my New Zealand blog. I might update it in a few weeks to talk about how I'm feeling being back home. They told us the reverse culture shock was going to be much worse than it was when we arrived in New Zealand. I already know that is going to be true considering everything that has changed in my life in the past 4 months.
I hope to talk to you all soon and keep checking back for a post-New Zealand update!
