The Royal Wedding and Piha

THE ROYAL WEDDING

Half way through the trip I met up with my roommate at UBC. She is doing her exchange in Auckland, so I got to stay with her in her university residence, which is always a good time! On Friday afternoon, on behalf of the wedding, we decided to go for afternoon tea in the garden, which was rather lovely. Turns out the Royal Wedding was part of prime time television in NZ, as it was playing at 7:00 pm. We ended up playing a Royal Wedding drinking game that night, which was pretty comical. Examples of some rules were: drink when you see Posh and Becks or Elton John, drink when you see a ridiculous hat, drink when you see an all-matching outfit, etc

TRIP TO PIHA 

Piha was amazing. It’s a small coastal settlement located only half an hour from the city. It has a really cool atmosphere – it feels so rugged and isolated. Definitely one of my favorite places thus far. I will always remember it, as it was the first place I EVER WENT SURFING! Funny how I live in Australia and the first place I ever surfed was in New Zealand. 

Piha <3

We rented wet suits and boards from a local company and got an awesome deal. We then headed down to the beach and the water was freezing! At least if you’re in a wet suit you automatically kind of look the part - until you get into the water, and you can’t figure out how to carry your board across the waves without it smashing into you. Surfing is frustrating. It is definitely a sport designed for patience… something I sort of lack when it comes to some things, such as yoga. My friend was an excellent teacher. She took me onto the beach and we did a few practice waves and got the technique down. 

Ready to Go! 

Looking the Part

It was a great experience, but a challenging one. I hate sucking at something! I am determined to try again, hopefully in Australia when it’s warm. The weather was interesting. For a while there was a bit of thunder going on… so that was a bit worrisome. That’s when I decided to head in… All of the really good surfers go later on…. or really early in the morning. Well, I think it depends on the beach actually. But it was packed. When the sun came down, it was simply stunning. 

Post-Surf 

Sunset 

Piha is by far one of my favorite places. We went for a little walk along the rocks, which was, hands down, the most painful experience for my feet EVER. I was with a bunch of adventurous people who apparently have feet of steel, so I couldn’t be a baby and express just how painful it was. I felt as though I was stepping on knives. Got some great photos though… Now for a pedicure!

SO PAINFUL!! 

Overnight Trip to Rotorua

I LOVED ROTORUA! It was so awesome and there were so many things to do. It was about a three hour drive through the beautiful rolling hills of New Zealand to get there… and the car ride went super fast. Saw lots of sheeeeep! It was a mixed day when it came to weather… but the views were stunning along the way. We did LOTS of things – more than I could have even imagined!

AGRODOME

My family had told me that we would be going to the “Agrodome,” but hadn’t told me what we would be doing there, or what it was. They said it was better to be a surprise, and boy were they right! It was the quirkiest and coolest thing! So it’s pretty much a  real New Zealand farm, with sheep and dogs and the whole nine yards, but they put on a show – a sheep show. So pretty much what happens is there are 19 rams that are introduced (all different breeds) and the host gives you a run-down on the differences between them. Who knew there was such a variety in sheep? It completely changed my opinion of them. He talks about their origins and the product for which they are famous. Then, there is a live sheep shearing demonstration! He discussed how sheep shearers are not paid on an hourly basis, but are paid by the amount of sheep they shear, making about $3.50 a sheep. Cool, hey? Then he brought out a bunch of amazingly trained sheep dogs, and whistled at them telling them go right or left or every which way.

                                                                        The 19 breeds.

My favorite picture, ever. Honestly the cutest lamb I've ever seen!!! 

My Certificate of Udderance 

Milking a Cow 

I was so into the show. In fact, I was so into it, that I ended up volunteering to milk a cow. My hand was up in the air before I even knew what I had got myself into… It turned out being pretty cool. Not really what I expected. I was the last of the three volunteers to have a go… so I argue that she was a bit dry by the time I got to her (which explains my poor/average milking skills).  The “teets” were smaller than I expected and there really is a technique to it. I was afraid to hurt her because I didn’t know how sensitive the area was. Turns out you can be rather harsh with your hand movements. I got my “certificate of udderance”. What a show.

Te Po

That night we went and freshened up for our big Indigenous evening experience! It is similar to what a luau would be in Hawaii. It was a fantastic way to get to know the Maori culture and I had a great time. There was story telling, entertainment and Maori cuisine. We got to see a full “haka” dance – which is the famous dance that the All Blacks Rugby team do to psych out their opponents. See the link I've attached below. Even the schools have their own haka dances. They’re really intense, but they’re really fun to watch. It’s really hard to explain, so you can just see for yourself:

The face 

One of the most recognizable things about the Maori culture is the face that they make when they’re performing. I can’t remember the correct Maori term for it… but it’s when they stick out their tongue and widen their eyes. It’s quite scary to be honest. We then attended an AMAZING buffet. It was food galore and it was delicious – all sorts of fish, meat, salad, bread and an amazing dessert table. After the dinner, you head down to the world famous “Pohutu” geyser. We could barely walk because we were so full, but I forgot about how full I was when we got down to the geyser. Looking at a geyser under the stars, while sitting on warm rocks (due to the thermal activity) and drinking hot chocolate was a truly memorable experience.

The Haka Dance:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-lrE2JcO44

RAINBOW SPRINGS

Rainbow Springs is a Kiwi Wildlife park. Please note that New Zealanders are called kiwis because of the birds, not because of the fruit. Kiwi birds are just called “kiwis”- the fruit is called “kiwi fruit”. That explains why I got a few weird looks when I claimed that I “loved to eat kiwi, especially with the skin”. Of course, I was referring to the fruit, but to them, I was the Hannibal Lecter to their endangered national icon.

At Rainbow Springs, we did the “Kiwi Encounter,” which is a special tour that teaches you all about the kiwi. You learn all about kiwi egg collection in the wild, incubation, hatching, and then raising the kiwi to be released back into the wild. It was really cool to learn about just how endangered they really are. It’s interesting because their population decline is due to the introduction of possums that were brought over from Australia. Before possums, they had no predators. Darn possums ruined everything – they eat the trees and are a national pest! The eggs aren’t protected by the mother because the mother never had to before, because there were no predators. The mom pretty much has the eggs and then takes off. Crazy town. It’s the dad who does the incubating. It’s kind of sad because with this kiwi conservation program, they go into the wild and take the eggs from the dad. Granted this increases their survival rate from a mere 5% to a whopping 70%... but it’s just kind of sad to think about the dad coming back and not having his babies. Considering kiwis are nocturnal… we got to go into a dark room and see a couple in their little habitat.

To be completely honest, the birds are not that cute. Sure, they’re somewhat endearing… but “cute” is a stretch. They have no wings because they’re flightless… but I feel like wings are a key element to a bird. You be the judge.

WAI-O-TAPU (THERMAL WONDERLAND)

This place was very very cool. It’s a thermal area of land that is covereved with collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mud, water and steaming fumaroles. The area is associated with volcanic activity that dates back about 160,000 years and it’s located on the edge of the largest volcanic depression within the Taupo Volcanic Zone. The area has tons and tons of colors due to the different mineral elements. For example, orange is due to antimony, white is due to silica, yellow is due to sulphur and purple is due to manganese oxide. The whole area smells like rotten eggs because of the hydrogen sulphide in the area. It’s a large park and we did the whole walk, which is about 3 km. I got to play tour guide, which is always fun. I saw some things that I didn’t even know existed…  It was like Disneyland, for geothermal activity. 

HUKA FALLS

Huka Falls was beautiful. It’s the most visited attraction in all of New Zealand and I know why.  It's a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains famous Lake Taupo. The water is crazy fast and ice blue. Lake Taupo has no wildlife in it because the fish can’t travel upstream! The water is too strong – about 200,000 liters flowing per second!! The canyon itself is only about 15 meters across, which explains the force. We did the “huka jet.”  If you’ve ever been to Niagra Falls, it’s similar to the Maid of the Mist in that you get to go up to the waterfall, but different in that it’s a small jet boat that whips you around. Everything in NZ is extreme and adventurous!! I was sitting right behind the driver, which I thought was a good idea. Turns out it wasn’t, as I ended up being on of the wettest people on the boat. He would drive straight towards trees and then turn on the last second away from them, all the way up the river.  It was an awesome experience. 

Our Driver 

NEW ZEALAND WHIRLWIND - Some Highlights!

THE PIPELINE

We went for a lovely walk along a pipeline that connects a few of the beaches on the North Shore. It was so beautiful and the first time I had seen a New Zealand coast. The best word I can use to describe New Zealand is “picturesque”. Every photo was post-card quality. It was stunning. The tide was coming in, so we ended up getting a bit wet on our walk, but it was awesome. On the right, you had cliffs of old rocks, with layer after layer and on the left, you had  a view of a volcano and the ocean. It was a wonderful first impression.

Just as I was talking about Willy, this puppy came around the corner! What a wonderful coincidence. Willy is with you, wherever you go. 

SKY TOWER

As a true tourist, we went up the Sky Tower, which gives you a great sense of where everything is in Auckland (what’s north, east, south, west, etc). There was a beautiful view of the Auckland Harbor Bridge and I got to see a lot of the main attractions from a bird’s eye view, such as the stadium for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The Sky Tower itself is over a thousand feet high, so you get a really nice view. A few fun facts from the pamphlet: the tower itself weighs the same as 6,000 elephants and it’s the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand. Apparently, they light it up according to the holidays, etc. For example, they make it red and green at Christmas, and black when the All Blacks (rugby) are playing a test match.

NORTH HEAD

North Head is volcanic hill located on the North Shore. When you go up to the top, you get AMAZING views. It was mainly used by the military for coastal defense, so there are tons of old bunkers and tunnels on it. It was blown away by the views. I loved how diverse the view was, from cottage-like houses and beaches to the sky scrapers of downtown Auckland. 

EASTER DINNER

I was lucky to eat some of the BEST meals staying with my family, including Easter dinner. I woke up to some delicious chocolates that morning and was very happy to be spending Easter with family. Appropriately, we had lamb… with mint sauce! Apparently mint sauce/jelly is the thing to have with lamb – who would have known? We also had roast pumpkin, kumera (a sweet potato from NZ that I became obsessed with), and my new favorite – PAVLOVA! It was so delicious, and better yet, it was covered in golden KIWIS! Very fitting. There are two types of kiwis, and I’d only ever had the green ones before this trip (the green ones are furry, the yellow ones are not!) They taste pretty different, but I really enjoy them both.  I like the green ones better for taste, but I love how the golden ones aren’t furry. I’ve always ate the skin on kiwis, which is apparently weird? I argued that it was a Canadian thing, but turns out its just an Emily thing. Whoops.

ANZAC DAY

April 25^th is ANZAC Day in New Zealand and Australia. It’s equivalent to our Remembrance Day. It’s to honor the Australian and NZ army corps that fought in Turkey during World War I. We went to the museum, which was really cool. I got to learn about  the history of New Zealand and it was a really special day at the museum, as it is a war memorial museum. I also learned about how Auckland is built on volcanoes. Here’s a good descriptive quote:

 “New Zealand is a land straddling the boundary of two of the Earth’s great tectonic plates, beautiful but vulnerable to the forces of nature. In Auckland, those forces lie deep beneath the surface of the land, forming a volcanic hotspot under the city”. The Auckland Volcanic Field has about 48 volcanoes within an area of 360 square km. Who would of known?

Overall, it was a really nice day – we had ratatouille for dinner and sweet chilli mussels – YUMMY! It ended up being a rainy night, so we grabbed a couple of movies and got cozy in the living room. One of the movies was called “Boy” and it’s a New Zealand movie. I highly recommend it. It’s about a young Maori boy who lives on a farm and takes care of his brother and cousins, and his relationship with his corrupt dad.  

Here's the trailer: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqfR8g-Qow

Interesting Flight to Auckland

I was lucky enough to travel to New Zealand over the mid-semester break to visit friends and family. The flight from Brisbane to Auckland is only 3 hours, which is peanuts in comparison to a flight from anywhere else in the world to New Zealand! Turns out my flight ended up being not that short… but we’ll get to that.

I was a bit embarrassed when I was travelling, as I had this bruise on my nose. I can’t say it was from a really cool story or anything, because it really just wasn’t. Here’s what had happened: I was sitting in my bed a couple nights before, typing on my laptop. My laptop was on my thighs, with my knees bent. I went to adjust my pillow and ended up throwing my knees forward, and the laptop smoked me in the face. Try telling people you have a bruise because you hit yourself in the face with your laptop – not cool. Anyways, I arrived early at the airport. Gave myself enough time to grab a hot chocolate and take a peek around duty-free. It was a beautiful morning and I was so excited to be travelling!

So now for the interesting part: A man in the first row on my flight had a heart attack about an hour into the flight (flight is 3 hours long). So, technically, we were closer to Brisbane than to Auckland. It was pretty serious and people on board were pretty worried. We ended up having to turn around and fly back to Brisbane. Considering it would only be an extra half an hour to fly to New Zealand than to return, it was a pretty serious situation because they chose to turn around. Can’t say I’ve ever busted a u-turn in a plane before. The funny thing was that I was doing my homework and reading an article on the medical prescription of heroin for heroin addicts… when the intercom asked everyone on board if there was anyone who was a doctor/nurse/involved in the medical profession. The lady (who was annoyingly reading over my shoulder for the last hour) gave me a sort of nod… as if I was involved in medicine in some way due to my heroin article. It was flattering, but not a chance!  Anyways, we ended up flying back to Brissy, staying on the plane while it refueled, and heading back. I was starving by the time we got there!

I ended up arriving in Auckland 6 hours later… so much for peanuts. It was so nice to be picked up by family. We went out for a delicious thai dinner and headed back to their place on the “North Shore” (crazy because that’s the name of where I live in Vancouver!!) I felt right at home. After a nice cup of tea, I slept like a baby after all of my airplane drama.