A Smorgasbord of Activities
Exploring Auckland
May was a fun month to explore the city I've been living in for so long. Normally on the weekends we're traveling, however, with all the essays/assignemts in May a lot of us stayed close to the city. Some days we went to K-Road to browse around thrift shops. One day I ran into the Royal Family (just kidding it was only Claire, Anna and Tommy)! I also explored more towards the harbor where it's really nice to grab brunch. I also discovered a little piece of heaven when I went to the milk and cookie bar with Hannah and Caroline. The bar is called Moustache and you can order any freshly-baked warm cookie with a glass of milk. I will definitely be going back because they didn't even ID me! Also, there is a museum in walking distance from my apartment building. Me and Ryan decided to go check it out and we got in for free because it was after 4pm. We checked out the Wildlife Photography Exhibit which was amazing and had such mind-blowing pictures of animals. Some of the boys had gone golfing one day and when they came back I ran into them and I got to join the in New Zealand's first indoor trampoline park! The floors were covered in trampolines and could do flips into foam pits of play dodgeball.
Beer Olympics
On a random Saturday, Kat and Sarah put together Beer Olympics for the 20 of us. We were randomly assigned to our teammate and there were ten teams. Throughout the day we played various games. It ended up being such a fun afternoon because everyone got really into their costumes. Tommy and I were Djibouti (an African country pronounced jA-booty) we decided to be pirates "argh gimme yer booty". The countries involved were the Bermuda Triangle, Germany, USA, Cuba, New Zealand, Japan, Panem (hunger games), India and Ireland. Cuba (Mickey and Jenna) captured the gold but don't worry, as a third world country, Djibouti was pumped to get the silver.
Waiheke Vineyard
One random day Mickey, Ryan, Pat, Pat's brother and I ventured off to Waiheke to explore. We ended up renting a car which worked out nicely because we were able to explore parts of the island that we hadn't seen in previous visits. I was in charge of the map and direction and surprisingly we didn't get lost once! We went to Enclosure Bay where we climbed on the rocks and explored the beach. A lot of the vineyards were closed but we ended up going to Stonyridge Vineyard to do a wine tasting. We were able to select our wines and we chose: Bubbly, Sauvigon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pino Noir. Afterwards, we drove towards the isolated areas of the island. In Omaru Bay we stopped off at a pier and met a man who was fishing with his golden retriever. The man spotted out a Mano-Ray which was huge! We then drove around the rest of the perimeter before catching the sunset at Onetangi Bay and catching the ferry.
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.
