o0O0o what's that smell? - eggs
Thursday, April 24th
All 20 of us hopped on the coach bus for our last Loyola-sponsored trip where every meal was paid for and we lived like kings in our hotel suites. On our way to Taupo we stopped off at the Glow Worm Caves. We took a tour of the caves and looked at all the different caverns. Then we took a boat tour where we got to view thousands of green glow worms in pitch black and complete silence. Of course when the tour guide crashed the boat I laughed but at than that, it was a spooky experience. We weren't allowed to take any photos so I grabbed some from the internet :) We then made our way to Lake Taupo which is a famous lake in New Zealand. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day but there were beautiful mountains that we could see the next morning. That night I had lamb for the first time since being in New Zealand, it was delicious.
Friday, April 25th
We visited Huka Falls which was water from Lake Taupo. Afterwards we went on the Huka Jet. We got to wear really cool outfits and rode around for 30 minutes. We skimmed wicked close to cliffs and did 360 degree spins in the water. We got to ride right up to the base of the falls which was awesome. We visited Waimangu Thermal Valley where we took a tour of the geothermal valleys. It was so cool to see all the smoke rising up from the lakes and random areas of the valley. Our guide told us about a man who stuck his foot in once and his skin swelled up and peeled off! After the tour we made our way to Rotorua where it constantly smells like eggs. That night we went to the Mitai Village where we got to have a traditional Maori hangi (dinner), cultural performance and a guided bush walk. I couldn't stop laughing during the performance because of the crazy eyes and tongues.
Saturday, April 26th
The day started off with a guided visit to Te Puia which is an area filled with geothermal vents and even the famous Pohutu Geyser. There were also TONS of chinese toursits. Our guide told me that when the geyser goes off they call the pathway "the Chinese highway" because they run in a mob towards the geyser. A lot of people in our group took photos of the Chinese people taking photos and it became quite the source of entertainment. We even posed in pictures like them! When we we saw the hot mud baths and Kiwi exhibit they would shove their way to the front like nobody's business. We also got to see the wood carving and weaving which was really interesting because it was a school for Maori descent. Then we were off to the Agrodome Sheep Show where we got to see 19 breeds of sheep! I didn't even know there were that many and I didn't know sheep could be trained. At one point during the show, three dogs were running along the backs of the sheep. By the end of the show the sheep were all asleep too! We got to see a sheep get sheered (the most bizarre and uncomfortable looking thing I've seen). Volunteers got to hand milk a cow and only children were allowed to feed baby lambs. Our supervisor, Jay, advised me to jump up to volunteer for the sheep because they normally only take little kids. Needless to say, I got right up there, got picked (even after the presenter told me kids only) and got to stand on stage with them. When we were handed our bottle of milk the presenter told us it was a race to finish the milk. I pretended to drink it but the little kids all started to drink it. The little boy next to me had milk all down his shirt and the saddest face. I asked him if he liked it and he said "no, it was gross and warm". Then the little babies came out and there were three goats and one lamb. I got to feed the lamb! After lunch and watching a lot of the boys in our group was to catch sheep in an empty field, we were off to zorbing. For those of you don't know what zorbing is, you're trapped inside a giant plastic ball that rolls down a hill. Our group did liquid-zorbing so we ended up getting soaking wet. I went with Hannah and Taylor in our zorb and we laughed and hamster rolled the entire way down the hill. We changed our clothes and headed to Rainbow Springs where we got to see a bunch of Rainbow, Brook and Brown trout. We even got to see the famous New Zealand silver fern. We got to see endangered birds such as the Kiwi and got to see the center where the kiwi conservation was. After learning about the eggs and incubating process we had time to play on the playground and ride on the log flume. That night after dinner we went to the Polynesian Spa to swim in the mineral pools. There were about six pools, all different temperatures and each one served a purpose such as skin, muscles, relaxation etc.
Sunday, April 27th
On our last day of mid-semester break and the trip, we rode on the Skyline Gondola to the top of Mount Ngongotaha where we got to see an amazing panoramic view of Rotorua. We rode on the luge down the mountain which was so fun and fast and took a ski lift back up to the top of the mountain to have lunch. After having lunch with an amazing view it was time for us to head on back to Auckland.
Only in Bali is a Doodey Hose Appropriate
Friday, April 11th
Mickey, Pat and I departed Carlaw and walked to UniLodge in the pouring rain to meet up with Avery, Maggie, and Caroline at 2:30am. We took the super shuttle to the airport and when we arrived we found out that we needed Australian visas for our layovers. We had enough time to spare so this became a minor bump in our long day ahead of us. Our layover in Melbourne, Australia was only one hour long and when we arrived we still had to go through customs and get our bags. In customs 4 of had been stopped and had to wait in a long line. When the 6 of us finally made it through we had to let about 15 crew members go ahead of us. When we went to check-in we were informed that we had been kicked off our flight to Adelaide. We had to create an alternative itinerary and were headed off to Sydney. Thankfully we would have a three hour layover to grab lunch and have some downtime. Just kidding! We sat on the runway for more than an hour and when we arrived in Sydney we had to wait in a transfer center to take a bus to a different terminal. By the time we reached the international terminal, our flight was on final call. Thank goodness people are so friendly because they let us go first. We ran sprinted through the terminal and a man with a walkie talkie asked us our information and names and told us to run as fast as we could to see if we could make it to our gateourn. On the painful journey to the gate our names were called over the loud speaker and one by one we arrived at the gate and got to board. I was on the verge of throwing up and all of us were drenched in sweat, without water (thanks security!) and starving. Pilot Brad took us to Bali and when we arrived it was nice and hot. The car service picked us up from the airport and bought us to our villa. We were informed that our 3 bedroom villa was overbooked for the night so we had to stay in a one bedroom and two bedroom villa instead. That night I found the biggest cockroach in the sink. Welcome to Bali.
Saturday, April 12th
When we moved into our new villa it was so much more spacious and had less lizards climbing on the walls. We had direct access to the pool which was a plus. After settling in we walked around the shops. This is when I learned how over-complicated Indonesian money is and how to haggle with the vendors (as the week went on I got better). After a nice breakfast in a 5 star resort we rented mopeds. It was both scary and fun at the same time. In Bali there are no street signs, stop lights, stop signs or basically any rules to the road. We rode down alley ways to Legian Beach (it looked like temple run). The petro was stored in Absolute Vodka bottles and cost 70 cents per liter. On the beach there were tons of vendors selling hats, sunglasses, ice cream, bracelets, elephant statues etc. The water was like a bathtub. We walked over to a restaurant for dinner and hung out on bean bags enjoying the live band. We planned to meet up with the rest of the group but plans fell through so it was an early night and our cab driver got lost on the way home!
Sunday, April 13th
Today we headed off to Finn's Beach Club Resort. Our driver picked us up and when we drove through the gates we entered into the nicest resort I've ever seen. In order to go down to the beach we had to wait at the resort. We could swim in the infinity pool or lounge on the chairs. We even recieved complimentary drinks for waiting so long. Finally we made our way down a set of stairs where we waited for a gondola to bring us down to the beach. The water looked like glass, that's how clear it was. We spent the day snorkeling, kayaking, paddleboarding and enjoying the warm weather of Bali.
Monday, April 14th
Our driver picked us up and brought us to Ubud. I learned some Balinese too! "Aku cinta kamu" means I love you. Our driver, Joe, pointed out cool places for us to go and if we wanted to check it out we just had to tell him. We stopped off at market where I bought some gifts. We went to a silver store where we got to see the process of making silver jewlwey. I purchased a pretty ring. Tiny Balinese people have tiny hands too! You could even get your ring resized right there if you needed. We went to the Sacred Monkey Forest. Mickey bought bananas and handed them out to all of us. I don't know why but Marco and I though they were a snack and started to eat ours...I put a bushel of bananas in my bag and made my way through the forest. As we got deeper into the forest and saw all the monkeys, I immediately regretted putting the bananas in my bag. A monkey climbed up me and pulled my shorts down, one sat on my head for a very long time and pulled my hair. And then a monkey came at me teeth out and I gave it a nice little punch, ran away, and handed the bananas to Pat (who got bit moments later). One monkey stole a bag of chips from Jenna's bag and Mickey got threatened in the monkey temple. Besides all the monkey attacks, the baby monkeys were so cute. I walked in there loving monkeys and walked out loving them too, but I definitely would never go there again. After the monkey forest, Joe brought us to a rice field. We had lunch with an amazing view. I ordered chicken fried rice and actually received a ball of rice and a fried chicken haha. On the ride home we witnessed a Balinese wedding. There were people playing drums and holding cloths above their heads. That night everyone came to our villa and we went to dinner on the beach as group.
Tuesday, April 15th
We rode elephants! Me and Maggie's elephant's name was Andrew. He was 24 and single. Elephants mate for life and he still hasn't found his.
Wednesday, April 16th
We spent the day at Dreamland Beach. At one point I thought I was in a dream because I ran into Abi Malin from Newtown who was studying abroad in Perth, Australia! The waves at the beach were huge, almost too big to play in. Instead we hung out by the infinity pool and had lunch.
Thursday, April 17th
We headed back to Legian Beach where we spent the day. We had a nice dinner on the waterfront as the sun was setting. On our walk home a group of girls selling bracelets followed us down the alleyways. When I told her to go away she mimicked me and then proceeded to scream some jibberish in Balinese...basically there was almost an alley fight haha
Friday, April 18th
We went to the all-inclusive resort where Sarah, Jenna, Kat and Anna were staying. We spent the day hanging out by the pool and beach. Afterwards we went to get fish pedicures. It tickled so much when the fish would go in between your toes. Then us girls got manicures and pedicures while the boys got massages. Then we went out to our last official Bali dinner.
Saturday, April 19th
The last day in Bali started off with a massage at a 5 star hotel. I got the Balinese massage and it was great. Then we rode around on mopeds, stopped off at the beach and went shopping before heading off the airport at 7:30pm. Our flight departed at 12:20am to Brisbane, Australia.
Sunday, April 20th
Easter Sunday was spend in Brisbane, Australia during a 9 hour layover. We had met an Australian couple in the Bali airport who suggested going to Southbank during our layover. There was a Ferris wheel, man made beach, playgrounds and many places to eat. There was also a little market that had fun things to look at like magic tricks, ice cream made out of nitrogen and fun nick-naks.
