My first couple of weeks!

Hey everyone!  Sorry for such a delay in getting this thing up and running.  As you can imagine, I have been very busy with two orientations (and a little traveling in between!).  So, let me apologize in advance for what is sure to be a long post.  Now that I am settled in my New Zealand dorm, I should update this regularly! Now I'll just start from the beginning:

The flight was long as! (By the way, "as" is a kiwi term to add onto adjectives to elaborate on something)  I was really bored most of the time, but luckily I don't have to endure that long of a flight for another couple of months!  I met two girls who were on my flight that were part of my program and I got really close to both of them in the first week of orientation.  Their names are Tara and Renee; Tara is staying in Auckland with me so I'm glad I already have a friend here!

Adjusting to New Zealand doesn't seem like it should be that hard at all.  Really, the only thing different is that the cars drive on the left side of the road and everything here is way more expensive than back in the states.  I was excited to finally be going somewhere where the exchange rate worked out in my favor, but I quickly learned that even after adjusting for the exchange rate I'm going to have to budget more than I thought.  Also, I did not anticipate that the weather would be so temperamental.  It is blisteringly hot one hour and the raining the next.  I am not used to having to reapply sunscreen so often either.  If I don't use at least SPF 30 and I go out in the sun for as little as 20 minutes, I will have a hideous burn.  Other than that, the people here are really nice and the supervisors of my program are extremely helpful.  I was kind of bummed that I made a bunch of friends during my orientation that were going to different uni's, but I still have a good group here in Auckland and people to stay with when I travel the country!

After my orientation I began my tour of the North Island with a bus company known as the Kiwi Experience.  As a lone traveler, I was a little nervous, but I soon realized that nearly everyone else on the bus was in my shoes.  Unfortunately though, there was an extreme overflow of people on the bus and eight other people and I got put in a small nine-seater van for the first couple of days.  In the long run, this didn't bother me at all because i became really close with the people on that bus and we're already talking about planning a reunion trip!

Mercury Beach!

Our first day, we drove from Auckland to a place called Mercury Beach, which was absolutely gorgeous!  I have never seen water so blue in such a tropical setting.  There were islands everywhere out in the distance and not too many people on the beach.  In the simplest of terms, it was perfect.  After our first beach stop in Mercury Beach we drove to another beach, known as the hot-water beach.  At this beach, there is a tiny area where the tectonic plates of the earth create friction and heat rises to the sand, so people can dig up the sand and make their own hot baths essentially.  You really had to look for the hot areas though, for we had to dig in about ten different spots before getting hot water.  And when I say hot, I mean it was HOT (or hot as!).  At one point, the sand was boiling ever so slightly.  I could barely sit in it because I was afraid of getting burns!

The next day, we went to a place called Rotorua.  It was not the best smelling place, the entire city just reeked of a scent which words cannot describe.  Thankfully, we didn't spend much time there.  On the way to Rotorua, we stopped at some old gold mining caves where cart-tracks were still laid down and there were tunnels going every which way from a couple hundred years ago.  There were also parts of the caves that were absolutely pitch black.  This was actually my favorite part because when there was no light, it allowed us to see hundreds of glowworms on the ceilings and the walls.  This was spectacular to see, and it meant that I wouldn't have to pay to see them later in our trip.  Also on the way to Rotorua, we stopped in Matamata, AKA Hobbiton, where they filmed Lord of the Rings.  We didn't get to see any set stuff (there was an added fee if you wanted that tour) but we got to see the sign and a Gollum statue!

Our next stop was a little town with population 36, called Waitomo.  Waitomo is famous for their glowworm cave tours and caving excursions, neither of which I did, for I wanted to save my money for other adventures.  There were lots of people that skipped out on these though, so I had company.  On the way to Waitomo, we stopped at a place called Agroadventures, where one of my friends Jess and I did a speedboat thing.  It was really fun, the boat went from 0-100 kmph in 6 seconds or something ridiculous like that.  There are also only 7 licensed drivers in the world!  I also had my first New Zealand pie on the way there.  It was absolutely delicious (I got the butterchicken pie) and the bakery we stopped at had so many options! I think I may have found my new favorite New Zealand food. 

Our next stop was Lake Taupo.  I was especially excited for this place because we were staying here for two nights, which meant that there would be loads of things to do.  At 8 am the first morning we were there, I put on a giant red jumpsuit and got ready for a skydive!!!! I fell from 15,000 feet which meant about a minute of freefall and then a good amount of time gliding in a parachute enjoying the beautiful scenery.  It was hands down the best thing that I have ever experienced, the feeling of freefall is unlike any other!  Later that day, Jess and I also impulsively signed up to do a bungy jump!  My body was on an adrenaline high all day.  We jumped over a beautiful river from 47 meters in the air.  I was definitely way more scared before the bungy than I was before the skydive.  Funny how things work out that way.  But it was still really fun and I received a discount coupon for a second jump if I ever make my way back down there!!



Next stop was a little tiny town called River Valley.  We stayed at an "adventure hostel" right on the river which was awesome for swimming and playing volleyball.  I also did white water rafting while we were there (on the day of my birthday!) which surprisingly wasn't as hard as I had expected it to be.  we were on the river for a full three hours before we made it back to the lodge and went over a lot of fun rapids!

Dressing up for a tranny party for my bus driver's birthday in River Valley

The day of my birthday we left River Valley for Wellington, New Zealand's capitol city.  I was pretty bummed that we didn't get to spend much time there (we arrived at 6:30 pm and had to leave at 8 the next morning), but that just gives me a good excuse to go back!  Not only was it my birthday that night, but it was also my and many other's last night with the Kiwi Bus (I was going back up north while most of my friends were going on to the south island).  Needless to say, that night was quite the celebration.  I was happy that I had found people to spend my birthday with, and surprisingly it was one of my best birthdays ever despite turning 21 in a country where that age is completely insignificant!