roadtrip!! Auckland-Paeroa-Hot Water Beach

This week is our study week before exams start.  We thought before we started studying it would be nice to go on a roadtrip, especially since it wasn't supposed to rain and it ALWAYS rains here.  We rented a car and decided to go to the Coromandel Peninsula.  Our first stop we actually got to on accident, but we ended up seeing the famous L&P bottle.  L&P is a NZ brand soda and it was started in the town of Paeroa.  So we took some pictures and got in our little green car and headed to the Hot Water Beach.  We got there at high tide so we didn't get to see the pools, but at low tides these pools form that you can swim in and they have really hot water.  I think we'll go back again some point and make it for low tide.  But the beach was still so gorgeous.  We had to climb a bunch of rocks and then on the other side it was one of the prettiest beaches I've ever seen.  It was really cold but other than that the weather was perfect.  And the sky and the clouds in New Zealand are amazing.  I'm not quite sure what it is, but they look so much prettier here than back home.  It was getting pretty cold and we wanted to set up our campsite before it was dark, so then we headed to Cathedral Cove!

We just back back, so once I upload more pictures I'll write about the rest of my trip!  i miss everyone back home!!

Sky Tower

My flat mates and I went to have dinner at the Sky Tower last week.  It's this really tall building that has a rotating restuarent at the top.  Sitting next to me is Kate from Germany, across from me is Sara from Sweden, and next to Sara is Lydia from North Carolina.  Sara and Kate are only here for a semester so we thought we'd have a nice dinner before they left.  It was really yummy and such a clear night.  I didn't realize how huge Auckland really was until I saw it from so high up!

In case the video doesn't work...

The outside of the museum, me with an elephant, and some of the Maori performers!

Maori Haka

During orientation back in February, our orientation leaders took all of the study abroad kids to the Auckland Museum.  We went to a Maori performance and got to see them perform songs and dances.  This is a video from the Haka, the traditional Maori dance.  It was used primarily as a war dance, but there's lots of different types.  If you look closely you can see how the guys stick out their tongues and make their eyes really big, the Maori used to do that to scare their enemy.  The New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks do the haka before every game!  There was a class offered this semeter where you got to learn a whole bunch of Maori danes, including the haka, and lots of Maroi songs and then the final exam is a performance.  I really wanted to take it but it's not offered next semester so I guess I'll have to learn the haka on my own! 

gorgeous day

                                  me reading by the lake in Queenstown on the South Island.

Milford Sound

One day we took a day trip for Queenstown out to Milford Sound.  We took a 4 hour bus, went on a cruise, and then took the bus back.  Everything we saw looked like a postcard! Even the long bus ride was fun because we drove past such awesome scenery.  lots of sheep!!  the cruise reminded me a lot of a boat trip al, dad, and i took when we were in Kauai.  everything here is just so green and lush and ENORMOUS.  i think we might go there again when my parents come to visit.  our bus driver said that it's even prettier when it's raining because you can see a lot more waterfalls.  check it out!!  oh, and all the seals laying on the rocks reminded me so much of Jake!!

Franz Josef Glacier

hi everyone!  i've been suuuuper lame about doing this whole blog thing, but i promise that i'll start updating it more.

these are some pictures from my trip to the south island when we went to Franz Josef glacier.  this has been my favorite thing i've done here so far.  we did a half day hike up the glacier, and the view from the top was so beautiful.  we had to wear huge boots and then attatch these spikes called crampons so that we could stick in the ice.  some parts had carved stairs, which were definitly made for people with bigger legs because some steps were quite a climb for me.  you looked out over a huge valley and could see for miles and miles.  and we got put in the advanced hiking group, not by choice, but it ended up being really cool because at the end of the glacier hike instead of taking a flat hike over rocks to get back to the bus, we went on this CRAZY hike through the forest and we had to climb rocks and really old, shaky ladders.  the ladder parts were kind of scary, but the hike itself was really fun.  and our guide was super cu

te!

as far as our clothes go...we had met people in our hostel who had gone on the hike the day before.  it had been a really sunny day and 

they said that even though they were hiking on ice it was really hot and they didn't even need their jackets.  so for our hike we wore our running shorts thinking that would be smart...it wasn't. it was freeeeeezing and so we had to wear these huge jackets they gave us, but they were so big that they covered our shorts and it pretty much looked like we were hiking a glacier naked.  people would walk past us and kind of do a double take because we looked so ridiculous.  but it kept us laughing during the whole hike!

Queenstown

After Christchurch we took an 8 hour bus ride down to Queenstown. Queenstown is where Bungy jumping was invented. It was pretty cloudy most of the days but still really pretty. Queenstown is by a huge lake so we spent a lot of time talking walks and reading on the beach.





















One night we were watching tv at our hostel and saw tons of smoke so we went outside and there was a maori man preparing a hangi. They make this HUGE fire and then let it die down and bury food underground and it cooks overnight. So we stayed and watched him--the whole thing took about 2 hours. After the food went in he covered it with wet sheets, and then we got to help him cover the whole thing with dirt. We smelled like BBQ for the rest of our trip, but it was such a cool thing to do.

Christchurch

Our first stop was Christchurch.  It's a cute town with lots of little shops and places to eat.  we found a really fun Irish pub that had a 12 person band playing which was a lot of fun.  We had initially planned to stay for a long time, but there isn't a whole lot to see beside stores, so we stayed two nights and then were on our way. we also made the mistake of ordering mexican food one day.  i'm missing good mexican food already!!

i'm back!

i just got back from a 2 week trip around the south island.  it was beautiful.  much cooler on the south island which was nice.  here's a map of the south island!  the blue line isnt the route I took, it was just one of the better pictures i found

Rangitoto Island

The second day Lucy and Marieka and I went to this AMAZING island called Rangitoto Island.  We took a ferry and then went on a pretty intense hike up a volcano.  The view from the top was really pretty, you could see the whole city.  It was reallllly hot so once we clibed back down Lucy and I jumped into the ocean.  The water is super clear and a gorgeous turquoise color.