Day 15: BAY OF ISLANDS BAABBBYYYY!!!!! the hostel life

We woke up early to catch the "Naked Bus" to the Bay of Islands, which is about 4 hours north of Auckland. And don't worry guys, thats just the title of the bus company. Get your minds out of the gutter.

It was a beautiful ride! The New Zealand countryside is truly incredible. (Some friends did not exactly enjoy the twists and turns of the road though; student night in Auckland can have that effect...)

After arriving in Paihia, we settled into our first hostel. A few people were already occupying it. Apparently they had been working for the hostel for several months to get a free room. Slightly awkward at first, but they ended up being very nice. Except for their scraggly little black cat named Panther. He was slightly vicious. We were very careful not to let our feet dangle from our beds. That was just asking to get pounced on.

Anywho, our groups split up after we all claimed our beds. Amy, Lizzy, and Emma headed straight for the beach while Sara, Brett and I went for a long hike to Haruru Falls. It was about three hours in total to walk from our hostel to the trail and then to the falls. We had a nice walk through the "bush" as the Kiwis call it.

The falls were pretty big. We quickly found out that it was a very large tourist site. A hotel resides just down the road, so we decided to take the main road back to the hostel. Prroobbably not the best decision.... we didn't realize we would be walking on a main highway... but we made it back safe and sound, no worse for wear.

The hostel had a hot tub as well as a bar, and we decided to enjoy both. We met up with some other friends who were in the Bay of Islands from our Global Links trip and hung out at the bar for a bit. Went to bed early with dreams of skydiving in our heads!

Day 13: Rangitoto Island

Down by the bus station, called Britomart, is also where you go to catch a ferry to the many different small islands around Auckland. My friends Sara, Brett and I decided to take one to Rangitoto Island for the day.

It was about $28 round trip and well worth the money. We enjoyed the short 20 minute boat ride to the island. I was very excited to hike Mt. Rangitoto, as I had heard it was much more of a climb than Mt. Eden. Rangitoto is also an inactive volcano, and has massive amounts of dry volcanic rock fields all around the island. (I snagged some to bring home. Hopefully customs lets it through. Fingers crossed!)

We enjoyed our hike up the mountain, and viewed the massive crater of the volcano at the top. What I found most interesting about the top of Rangitoto was an old World War II look-out building. Apparently, some of the New Zealand Military was based there to keep eyes on Auckland and to house some American troops. It was a very cool site with an incredible view. Sara, Brett and I really enjoyed our day exploring the island and its history.

Days 9-12: Beach, Roomies, and Lantern Festival

The next few days we spent exploring Auckland. I met my other two roommates in addition to the two UVMers I already had. Dylan is from Wellington, New Zealand which is the capital. Its at the very southern tip of the north island. Alex is from Hong Kong. They are both exceptionally nice.

Me reading Game of Thrones on the Beach

A few days after we moved in was Dylan's 18th birthday. Since the drinking age here is 18, as Americans we were really excited for him. Most of us will be turning 21 here, so its pretty anti-climactic. So as his brand new friends and roommates we took it upon ourselves to actually celebrate his coming-of-age. Needless to say, we had a blast.

For the other days, we soaked up the sun and hit up the local beach, which takes about 15 minutes to get to by bus. The beach is called Mission Bay. It was definitely no Maunganui Beach, but it was still nice. Almost reminded me of North Beach in Burlington. Almost.


FUN FACT #12: Auckland's transportation system sucks. It costs me about $3.40 to get anywhere, and I almost never arrive on time. What ever you do, don't count on the bus.

One evening was the very famous Auckland Lantern Festival. It is celebrated every first full moon after the Chinese New Year. There are some performances as well as authentic crafts, but what we enjoyed most was the food vendors and the actual lanterns. We bought cheap Thai food and walked around the park while viewing the incredible display of lights. I took some really amazing pictures, but I am only putting up my absolute favorites. On the last day of the weekend, there was a firework display off of the Sky Tower in the middle of the city. The whole weekend was wonderful.

Day 8: Mt. Eden And A New Friend

Mount Eden is a very old and inactive volcano that resides in Auckland. But no worries, it is very very very inactive. It hasn't blown in hundreds of years. (I'm not going to die Grandma, promise.) We were told that one of the first things you have to do in Auckland is hike Mt. Eden. They were right.

FUN FACT #11: The crater of a volcano is considered sacred to the Maori people of New Zealand. So if you're ever down here, don't walk down into the crater. You WILL get yelled at. Just don't do it.

Although it isn't necessarily what I would call a "hike"(more of a leisurely stroll... I'm from Vermont people) it had an amazing view of the city. I went with quite a few of my friends on a very hot day, and we had a blast.

After we returned from Mt. Eden, I met up with a friend of a friend. My best friend, Marisa, works at a summer camp on Lake Dunmore in Vermont called Songadeewin. A few of her fellow counselors happened to Kiwis. Her friend Sam lives in Auckland, and we decided to hang out.

Sam picked me up in her awesome purple car in front of the bus station and we headed to her house in the suburbs outside of Auckland City Central.  We became instant friends, so much so that her roommate thought we knew each other for years instead of fifteen minutes. Sam brought me to her house for dinner, and I met her family. They were so nice and very funny. We ate chinese food and pizza, which instantly made me feel at home. They made fun of my accent for a while... I never knew how weird I say some words. Like "mirror". That one was a definite crowd pleaser.

When we finished dinner, Sam took me to her "touch" match. When she first said it, I had no idea what she was talking about. But essentially, it is like 2-hand-touch football except they play rugby. She was in a co-ed league with a bunch of New Zealand cops. There was so much scoring, I couldn't keep track, but I think Sam's team won. It was really cool to watch.

Sam brought me back to my apartment, and my friends and I went out for the night. Overall, a very great day: saw some beautiful sights and made an awesome friend. 

Day 7: The Wonders of the Asian Market

Sarah, an Early Education major from UVM, is in our Global Links group. Her boyfriend also happens to be studying abroad here as well, and he had been in Auckland for about a week before we arrived. And boy did he know some interesting stuff.

"The Asian Market," he tells us. "It's got really cheap food." We literally forced him to take us there, and we spent an hour marveling at the prices.

30 eggs for $7.00!!? A bushel of bananas for $1.60??! 75 cents for an ear of corn!!??

THIS PLACE IS MAGIC. MAGIC I TELL YOU!

From that point forward, Sarah's boyfriend was known as Uncle Brett because of his vast knowledge and street wisdom as well as acute navigation skills. Go Uncle Brett!

FUN FACT #10: Expensive is an understatement when it comes to alcohol here. Kiwi's have never heard of a little thing called a "handle". "You know, its about 2 liters of vodka. Its so big you generally need a 'handle' to hold it. You know what I mean?" "2 LITERS!!?? WHAT THE...?" is usually the response we get. A fifth here is usually about $35.00  Awesome. I can now legally drink, yet now I can't afford it. Thanks New Zealand.

That evening, we checked out Auckland after dark. I won't go into details, but we had a great time. More explorations tomorrow!!

Day 6: Goodbye Rotorua, Hello Auckland!

We slept on the bus ride back to the city and unloaded the bus for the last time. I found out I would be rooming with my two friends who also happened to go to UVM; Carrie and Emma. We were really excited and immediately moved in.

After exploring the city, finding the supermarket and the New Zealand version of Walmart (known as The Warehouse) we were whooped. Especially after looking at the prices here!

FUN FACT #8: New Zealand has no pennies here. Everything is rounded to 5. Super awkward when I  stuck out my hand waiting for my 3 cents change and the cashier looked at me like I was an idiot. It was like I had "Ignorant American" stamped on my forehead. My bad.

FUN FACT #9: The exchange rate here is $1 U.S. to $1.21 N.Z. But wait, lets not forget that New Zealand is an island, and therefore has to have almost everything imported. Holy. Crap. Stuff is expensive here. Groceries, cleaning supplies, you name it. MASCARA IS TWENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS HERE!!! Thank you Santa for that extra supply in my stocking this year. And don't get me started about alcohol, you really don't want to know.

Anyway, it was a rather low key day, other than the workout my wallet got. Excited for new adventures in the big city!

Day 5: Farming, Maunganui Beach, and Maori Village

The least intimidating bird ever

FUN FACT #6: Before the arrival of humans, New Zealand contained absolutely no mammals. There was wild plant life and birds. Thats it. The Kiwi bird, (for which New Zealanders are named after) is a flightless, nocturnal bird that has nostrils at the end of its beak to help it locate bugs underground because its eye sight sucks. It lays the largest egg in the world in proportion to its body. Essentially, the Kiwi bird is really weird and slightly stupid because of how defenseless it is. When mammals were brought to New Zealand, dogs ate almost all of them and they are now an endangered species. And for whatever reason, New Zealand decided to name themselves after it as well as put it on their money. No wonder no one ever tries to fight New Zealand. They are wimpy as hell. Maybe we should have done like Ben Franklin said and been a goddamn turkey and then no one would bother us. Anyways....

Lizzy and I... having soooo much fun...

So for our community service, my Global Links group was brought to an organic wild plant life farm. What we did was learn about indigenous plants of New Zealand. This farm's goal was to create a habitat that looked the same as it did before the arrival of humans and make a safe environment for New Zealand's original bird population. We sat in a Kiwi field (the fruit, not the bird) and repotted flax plants and learned about the cultivation of the kiwi fruit. We also walked around the farm and helped grown/almost adult flax plants by weeding around their bases. Truth be told, it was kind of dull, but supposedly we did enough work in one day that would have taken the 2 caretakers a couple weeks to do. Sweet-as Bro.

Emma and I in the Kiwi Vines

After the farming, we got to do something we had all been looking forward to for some time. DA BEACH!! About a half hour drive from the farm was Maunganui Beach. It got its name by the volcano that looms over it, called Mt. Maunganui. This was the first beach I had been to in New Zealand, and it certainly did not disappoint. It. was. phenomenal. My friend Amy and I ran straight into the water. At about three or four feet in, the water was already up to my neck. It was bright bright blue and absolutely gorgeous. We walked around  the beach and went on some very high cliffs overlooking the water. Many people jumped, but as I am not the most confident swimmer, I chose to sit that one out (you're welcome Mom). Also, sharks freak me out. Just sayin.

Upon our return to Rotorua, we quickly showered and changed and were off to the Tamaki Maori Village. Keep in mind, this was not an actual Maori village, but more of a re-creation of what today's Maori people have been told it looked like from prior generations. They dressed in traditional garb and spoke Maori to us, but everyone was still a Kiwi and obviously knew English. Essentially, they make money off of tourists like us while still preserving their culture and are able to share it with others. On the bus ride, they informed us that we would be watching a traditional exchange of peace offerings to allow us into the village. Our bus chose one of our Global Links kids to be a chief, and he stood before everyone in the village square with some other chiefs from other buses as some Maori "pleasantries" were exchanged. Those "pleasantries" consisted of a lot of yelling, screaming, scary faces, and some stick twirling. All was spoken in Maori, but it was very cool to watch.

Following the ceremony, we were led around the village and shown what life had been like prior to Europeans. We learned about their wood carvings, war preparations, games, and basket weaving (made with flax!!) We also learned another variation of the Haka and watched a full performance later. After the exploration time, we gathered to watch the unearthing of our dinner. 

FUN FACT #7: Traditional Maori dinner is called "Hangi". The food is wrapped in flax plants (again with the flax!) and buried underground with white hot stones to cook for three hours. It is a rather complicated process, but in the end, the food is delicious. 

We ate our Hangi in a giant hall and feasted for a long time. The food was awesome, definitely the best New Zealand food I had had since coming here. But lets face it, nothing comes close to a Debbie Rodolfy Sunday night dinner. 

Our bus ride home was incredibly entertaining. Our Maori old lady bus driver made someone from every country come to the front of the bus sing a song from their country. U.S.A sang Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" until we couldn't remember the words anymore. Amy and I were cheered to the front of the bus and were forced to do another rendition of Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" to the many horrified looks of ancient looking British people saying "Bloody 'Ell".

This was our last night in Rotorua, which we spent at the Lava Bar next to our hostel and we said goodbye to our fearless leader, Tyme.