Bay of Islands

KIA ORA

Tuesday, February 18th to Thursday February 20th

Twenty Loyola University students departed JFK International Airport and were off to Auckland, New Zealand with a layover in Los Angeles, CA. The safety video on Air New Zealand was a rendition of Lord of the Rings and the stewardess danced down the aisles pouring wine. After 18 hours of flying we finally arrived in New Zealand. When we arrived in Auckland we were all equally excited to see sunshine after leaving a polar vortex and we were all equally grimy looking. Our bus driver, Sonny, brought the eight of us living in Carlaw to our new home for the next five months. I have a single in a four person apartment. After checking in (and thankfully showering) us twenty Americans met up with Jay, our advisor, for a tour of The University of Auckland and Auckland. The city is so clean that you can walk around barefoot! Without letting jet lag set in and running on adrenaline, Ryan, Maggie, Caroline, Pat, Mickey, Avery and I all went to dinner at the Brewery. At dinner I discovered that ketchup is a lot sweeter in New Zealand. We then met up with the rest of the group randomly in the city and we all contemplated on going to this sketchy Asian karaoke place. Instead, we went to Cassette and then headed home to our new dorms.

Friday, February 21st

We departed Auckland and were off to Cape Reinga for our first Loyola-sponsered field trip to the Bay of Islands. We spent the bus ride taking in the scenery and then headed to the beach once we arrived at the hostel. The hostel consisted of three bunk beds to a room and a communal shower. there was also a pool and dodgy hot tub that Maggie, Caroline and I proceeded to go in. That night we all sat around picnic tables playing games (each with our own bottle of wine) and began to learn more about the people we would be surrounded by for the next few months. Some of us walked down to a bar that had a live band before we tucked into our bunks for the night.

Saturday, February 22nd

Breakfast was bacon and eggs (unfortunately the bacon is not like it is back home ie, crunchy). We headed out to a Sand Safari where the bus drove us down 90 Mile Beach. Our bus got stuck and needed to be towed. When we arrived at the sand dunes we were handed a boogie board and given a quick demonstration of how to sand board. Climbing the dune took some effort but the view at the top and the ride down instantly became worth it. The first ride down was a little nerve wracking because there had been some wipeouts (ie. Dave) and the second ride down I ate an entire mouthful of sand. On our way to the gum mining place we stopped off at a beautiful viewpoint of Cape Reinga. The gum mining place was cool but I honestly still don't know what gum is and there was a tree that was worth millions of dollars chilling in the ground. As we headed back to the hostel we stopped off at a famous Fish and Chips place where I discovered a new found love for aoili sauce.

all 20 of us

Sunday, February 23rd

We went to the Treaty Ground of Waitangi where the British and Maori people had their business deals about the land. Apparently the translation between Maori and English mean different things and there is still debate to the day about what is right and what is wrong. We got to see war boats that could hold at least 150 men. Each war boat has it's own tribe symbol. Women were not allowed to go on the boats and they couldn't even touch them (how rude). When we arrived back in Auckland, I discovered that one of my roommates had moved in. Her name is Jess and she's a Kiwi! After chatting for a bit I realized I'm never going to have any idea what the temperature outside is or how to cook. The Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion will never make any sense to me. A group of us went to Countdown (the grocery store) and then cooked some dinner that made up for the the gross mayonnaise soaked sandwich that we had on the bus. 
Side note: The peanut butter is more sticky here but all the other food is delicious and tastes so fresh.