Burnt Bums and Waitomo Caves

So as the sun rose and came brightly through our giant sunroof in the van, I woke up after the most uncomfortable night of sleep to see where we had travelled to the night before. We had slept in the parking lot of Hot Water Beach, but because it had been so dark when we arrived, I had no idea what it looked like. For the most part, it was like any other beach, but the real attraction was far to the left by an outcrop of rock. There was where the hot water from the thermals below ground bubbled up to the surface.

The other group had gone ahead and were already sitting in a shallow hole they had dug as their own personal jacuzzis. I joined them but quickly burnt my bum (yes, the kiwis refer to their bottoms as bums) and had to find a spot that didn't have the hot water bubbling up. Most of the group ended up laying where the water came up from the ocean so they didn't get too hot. At one point I attempted to take a group shot but couldn't stand in the right spot because the sand and water was burning my feet! It was definitely really odd to see steam rising from the sand and watching the waves bubble with boiling water.

After dragging a couple of people away, we got back on the road to head to the area of Waitomo. This was one of things we were anticipating the most because Waitomo caves meant blackwater rafting and glow worms. They were also the caves used in the Planet Earth: Cave episode. After a long drive, we got to a cheap campground where we met quite possibly the nicest kiwi couple yet. Peter was from New Zealand but Linda was from Minnesota and had met him online. They offered us electricity, use of the kitchen, showers, even air mattresses and permission to sleep inside the kitchen if we didn't have tents all for only $10. We swapped stories with them over quesodillas (we were severely missing Mexican food) and eagerly were looking forward to the following day.

Because the caves only did tours of 6, 3 people went in the earlier group while the rest of us went to visit the kiwi house. It was right against the campground and was the very first kiwi house in New Zealand. They were also responsible for breeding and exporting kiwis all over the world. We saw the only large spotted kiwi allowed in captivity and realized that they are fairly awkward looking birds. Then we went to check out the caves.

We arrived at the office then drove another 10 minutes to get to a dressing station for the caves. This meant peeing for the last time for another 4 hours, wearing the most uncomfortable (either too big or too small) overall wetsuits, harnesses,a helmet, huge white rubber rain boots, and a wetsuit jacket. Let me just say, we were all looking really sexy about then. We did some practice abseiling (where you release yourself on a rope down in the cave) before doing it for real. I refused to go first but was still really nervous when it was my turn. Our hot cave guide Mike told me to step off the ledge to hang 90 ft in the air and I think my heart jumped into my throat. I took a step...and didn't move at all. Turns out I wasn't so heavy that it wasn't that hard to control the speed I went down. I took my time absorbing the beautiful scenery of green plants pushing through the cave walls and the river below me.

Once I was at the bottom, I had a good chance to really look around. The main entrance to the cave was more like a crevice than a cave. It was about 90 feet deep and at the bottom had a river. The river ran through a cave to the left and the right and ahead to the left was the area we abseiled down and the right was how we would get out. This was a slight incline with the rock broken away to reveal small ledges where we would eventually have to rock climb out. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.

When we were all down we picked up black intertubes and walked into the caves in the stream. At once, you could see a tiny light of green and then there were more and more lights. We turned off our head lamps and looked around at thousands of green glow worms covering the entire ceiling of the cave. We sat down and looked up at what looked like the night sky with stars of green. Turns out that glow worms are actually larvae or maggots and use sticky threads hanging down to capture food. The light is used to attract insects and they do this for 9 months before they pupate then reproduce and die. We also saw and eel swimming around before we sat down in our intertubes and floated or blackwater rafted down the stream back to the entrance.

Here we ran into the other group and started a water fight, which resulted in me slipping on a rock and landing directly on my thigh while taking down Joanna as well. I have to say, definitely one of my most impressive bruises. We did some more floating before we got to some sections that had tiny holes off to the side. Our guide then asked us if we wanted to try squeezing through them. I did a couple, but Cayla went crazy and went through some of the ridiculously tiny holes. After a hot drink, some story swapping, and some chocolate at the end of the cave, we floated once more under the lights of the glow worms to the entrance.

This was the part I was fearing the most. We were supposed to climb out in oversized rubber boots filled with water, up a slippery rock face and trust that our guide at the top would hold on if we fell. Everyone else did just fine getting up, but there was a certain outcrop that was looking like it was going to cause me some problems. I did alright till I got to the part where I had to pull myself by my arms. I then got to be the only person in the group to fall as I slipped and hit my side against the rock. The adrenaline got me the rest of the way up, and despite being really cool to do, I was a bit shaken inside.

We made it back to the office where we enjoyed some soup, bought pictures of our adventures, and then push started the car out of the parking lot. I do have to say I think my greatest accomplishment was only falling 6 times the whole 4 hours we were down in the caves. It was definitely one of those things you had to do in New Zealand and was worth all the bruises.

Cathedral Cove

So one good thing about not having internet and therefore being unable to update the blog with my travels of the North Island was that I finally got caught up on my actual journal. It's definitely a good thing too because I never would have remembered all the amazing things we saw and did without it and the pictures I took. We began our road trip on Feb 9th, with a sedan (soon to be called The Mazda) and a giant janky van (which was the car I road in). Our plan was to leave for Coromandel Peninsula in the morning and do both Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach in that day. Of course plans change, and we didn't leave till much later.

The drive to Cathedral Cove was beautiful and we were finally beginning to realize that we were in fact in New Zealand. Auckland had been great but it was a city and didn't compare to the amazing green hills filled with giant trees and fern forests that we saw on the road. We arrive at Cathedral Cove and then spend the next 45 minutes finding a way to fix the window. On the way to the cove, the driver window regulator (the thing that makes the window go up and down) broke and the window fell down into the door. Thank god our driver Cody, was a mechanic and very non-chalantly began to rip the door panel off, pull out the regulator and demand we find sticks to hold the window up. This began a search for what ridiculous items can we stick into the door to hold this window up. The end result was sticks, a rubber sandal, McDonalds cup, a newspaper crumpled up and a block of concrete...and some travel brochures jammed at the top for friction.

This meant that it was fairly late as we actually started down to the beach front. Cayla and I were so excited that we ran almost all the way down to the water, only stopping to take pictures and when the flip flopping sound of my sandals got out of control. As we hit the stairs heading down to the beach we looked up and saw a giant rock in the middle of the water and a smaller island farther out. To our right was 3 caves and a waterfall and to the left, a giant hole in the limestone where the water had made a tunnel to another beach. We screamed "WE'RE IN NEW ZEALAND!" as we spun around on the beach, ran like crazy people, and immediately went into the water. I think we scared the couple on the beach, but we really didn't care. It was the first time I had felt like I was truly in New Zealand.

The rest of the group finally made it down and we all explored the beach. Sarah was halfway up a cliffside and we checked out one of the caves. The other half was jumping of the island and some of us were heading through the hole in the rock to the other beach. It turned out that this was the same location for Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian when the Pevensies first arrive in Narnia again. It definitely felt like a different world. We decided to head back up to the car as the sun fell and attempted to find a campground. We ended up at the parking lot for hot water beach, our location for the next day and slept in the car. Cayla and I were definitely thankful for the Tylenol PM or we would never have fallen asleep. I've decided it was quite possibly one of the most uncomfortable nights of sleeping ever and after that, refused to sleep in the car.

Lincoln at last

Yay finally at my new home for the next semester. It's been quite a journey to get here and I will definitely fill it all in. So far I've uploaded about 400 pictures from the past week on the road on facebook, and over the next few days will post a section on each day on the road. For now, I'm going to enjoy being stationary for a while and begin exploring my new home. Till then, check out the pics!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=156745&id=665896295&l=5cf96f18a6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=156750&id=665896295&l=adcb9da96b

The End of Orientation

The end of orientation is here, and parting is such sweet sorrow. Corny I know, but I really enjoyed getting to know everyone from EAP. It felt like such a quick time we had to meet each other before we all separate to our various universities. While I believe all us South Island students will have a chance to see each other, I hope that I will also be able to see people on the North Island before heading back to California.

On Saturday night, the whole gang left to go out together. Of course, it didn't really last long and quickly broke up into two groups. My group went to a club we went to the previous night which was fairly large. However, Saturday night is the night to go out and the place was packed. None the less, we had an amazing time just being all together and dancing the night away. The other group went to a colorful gay bar and experienced kabobs (more like falafels than food on a stick). We all returned much earlier than the locals seeing that the streets were still packed as we walked back at 2 am.

Sunday was our first day of sleeping in and most people took advantage of it. We had a few lectures about EAP information and a Q&A session. After afternoon tea, Cayla and I got our NZed cellphones and had to rush down to the harbor to catch a ferry to Devonport. We had an excellent dinner at Duders and left in style in a double decker bus to drive back over to Auckland. After a few days of late nights, early breakfasts, and some serious walking/tramping (hiking) it was finally time for me to have an early night in.

This morning was the official end of EAP orientation and everyone began their adventures before school starts in a week. A lot of people are backpacking around the north island, some rented cars and are driving to the south island, and there are also people doing bus tours. We successfully bought an 8 seater van and a 5 seater sedan to fit our crew of 10 people. Our general plan is to head to Coromandel Peninsula (east of Auckland) and then move south from there. We hope to reach Wellington on the 13 and arrive in Christchurch on the 15th. From there, us Lincoln kids have orientation beginning on the 16 which I've been told most likely will include paintballing. Anyway, until then, I can't guarantee any updates. I will try to keep the pictures on facebook updated so check those out!

Things are starting to get crazy...

So as the title states, its starting to get crazy. I don't know what I was expecting from orientation. I certainly didn't think I was going to be doing things every day, all day. We have had a lectures every day about the differences between the New Zealand english and the American english. Another lecture was about the politics of New Zealand, which was long but definitely useful information. Some time between all these lectures, we managed to go to a Maori cultural show at the Auckland museum, went to a botanical garden, and played capture the flag. That doesn't even include going out every night. I will admit, being that most of us are not 21, this is our first experience with being able to go out and we are taking full advantage of that. Its exhausting, but really, how many opportunities like this will I have?

Today was one of the most exciting days. It began early after a very late night out with a couple of friends, kiwis (what people from New Zealand are called), and an Australian. We traveled to the island of Tiritiri Matangi known for having a unique amount of endangered birds. It also is one of the homes of the blue penguin, which is one of the smallest penguin species. We took a ferry from Auckland for an hour and a half and arrived at a beautiful, tropical island. The ocean was the perfect blue and so clear you could even see the algae at the bottom. We then took a guided tour of the island, had lunch at the top by the lighthouse, and then headed for the beach. The beach consisted of smooth black stones and a huge variety of seashells. Since it was a nature reserve, nobody could remove the shells so it had built up quite a collection. It was really nice to just be in the water and have a second summer knowing back home it was pouring rain. Theres something unbelievably amazing about floating among sailboats and looking up at a cliffside filled with so much green that the paths are completely hidden. There's trees hanging off the side shading the beach and looking like any second they may release their hold of the mountainside. It is a scene I will forever treasure and be so thankful for the opportunity to experience a place out of another world. Since tonight is Saturday night and we don't have a morning session tomorrow, I think all us EAP kids are going out. It's going to be a long night.

Heres a link for the Facebook pics Ive been taking. These are the beginning of the trip so far.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154153&id=665896295&l=bcc3a9c1d8
And this is the link to the album for Tiritiri Matangi.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154708&id=665896295&l=c36068f98c

A day on our own

Kia Ora!

So on our first night in Auckland, Cayla and I ordered our first beers in a restaurant. Being that we are not 21, it was kinda a big deal and we were very excited about it. And for once, I didn't get carded! Apparently here I don't look like I'm younger than 18, which is a change for once. We had really great pizza at the Turkish Cafe, open 24 hours before heading back to the hostel. We attempted to go out that night but unfortunately failed miserably in our search for a bar or club.

The next day was our last day before our orientation began on the 4th. While we originally picked the hostel thinking we could walk to Grafton Hall where we were staying for orientation, we ended up getting a cab. It was worth it in the end since we then had enough energy to go on an adventure. We did a walking tour out of my Lonely Planet New Zealand guide and walked down the very popular Queen St. It had a mixture of old european architecture with some really crazy geometric modern buildings. As we travelled downhill towards the ocean, I began to think of Auckland as a mix between NYC (because of all the little stores lining the street) and SF (because it is quite hilly). Our escapade finally led us to the harbor which reminded me a lot of Long Beach harbor because of the many sail boats and yachts. It even had restaurants set up in a similar way as Shoreline Village.

After an exhausting walk back uphill to Grafton Hall, we had a delicious dinner and began to meet some of our fellow EAP people. EAP is for all the UC kids that are studying abroad in New Zealand. We planned on going out after dinner, but the sun doesn't set until a bit before 9, so it ended up being extremely late when we finally began to head out. We were out till 1:30 before we finally headed back in.

Today we started orientation with a breakfast early in the morning. We then had an introduction and split up based on our university locations. After chatting up all the fellow Lincoln University and Canterbury people, we had tea time. Tea time is quickly becoming one of my favorite new zealand things, though I feel like it could be more useful in the afternoon. Its around 10-10:30 and there are scones, fruit, and of course tea. Basically, we do a lot of eating, and I'm enjoying it a lot. After tea time, we heard some information about the outdoors of New Zealand. A lot of it consisted of various tramping (hiking) locations and other similar outtings. We heard a bit about various sports in New Zealand, (xc was not mentioned) and it made me wish I had enough room in my suitcase for my soccer cleats. We currently have freetime before a lecture on "Do we speak the same language" about the slang of New Zealand, and then we are having a BBQ, which are fairly common in the summer (southern hemisphere is in summer right now). Soon, Cayla and I are leaving to hike to Mt. Eden to have a view over all of Auckland. Can't wait for the BBQ after that.

The Journey Begins...

So this journey begins at LAX where I met up with Cayla who had fortunately gotten the same flight as me. As all airport procedures go, it was full of long lines before we got to our gate. Fortunately, Cayla and I were able to get seated together for the very long 12 hour flight. Of course, I had been dreading this flight for a while now, considering the unbelievably long time I was expected to sit in one place. However, I am easily swayed by one thing, food. Despite leaving at 11:30 pm, we had a delicious dinner on the plane complete with dessert, tea, and cadbury hot chocolate. Then followed a goody bag with snacks. After dinner and watching Julie and Julia, Cayla and I both had some tylenol pm and ended up waking up 6 hours later for breakfast. Not nearly as good as dinner, but all the same, best plane meals I've ever had. An hour later, we had landed. Overall it was one of the best flying experiences I've ever had.

After landing, there was another series of ridiculously long lines for customs and the biosecurity check. They take invasive species seriously in New Zealand. We had Piper the beagle getting into all of our bags to make sure no one brought in fresh fruit or plants. Finally we got out of the airport and into the humid and overcast land of Auckland, New Zealand.

While riding the Airbus to our hostel, I was looking around and taking it all in. One of the first things anyone will notice is, similar to England, everyone drives on the left side of the road. Next I was amazed with the amount of diversity New Zealand has. There was a surprising amount of Asians and Indians, and my Lonely Planet Guide said that 20% of Auckland is Asian. This of course equals a large amount of sushi restaurants. So far though, Auckland seems fairly similar to any other city. It's hilly like San Francisco, it has crisscrossing freeways like LA, and it has Victorian houses like Santa Cruz. Its not that I'm saying its not beautiful, we drove by a beautiful lake and everything is quite green, its just not exactly what I expected.

We finally got to our hostel which to my dismay was upstairs. I am already hating my giant blue suitcase that is filled to the brim. Thank god the guy who checked us in volunteered to help me get my two 50 lb suitcases upstairs. So far Cayla and I dont have roommates in our two bunk bed room. But the beds are extremely comfy (or perhaps I'm just so tired I dont care) and they have free Wifi.

We had lunch at a sushi restaurant across from the hostel, which knew about California rolls but didn't have any available. Then the exploring began. We walked up and down K road and saw some very interesting stores. The Cruelty Free store was definitely a favorite with really awesome environmentally friendly products. We then found Myer park in the middle of the city where I found a MYNAH BIRD! If you don't know, those are birds found all over Hawaii. I guess I should have figured that as they are both islands in the Pacific, they would probably have similar fauna. Anyway, we trekked back up the hill, and had smoothies under our hostel. So not too much exploring in the first day, but we still have all day tomorrow before orientation on the 4th.

Fun Facts
So while Cayla was waiting for me to get to the airport, she noticed some people checking a lot of band equipment. Turned out it was for Taylor Swift who was on our flight. We didn't get to see her (she was probably in first class upstairs...yes our plane had two floors) and probably boarded early. But Cayla did get a guitar pick!

Also, I completely missed out on February 1st. Because of the time change and leaving at 11:30 pm on the 31st,and the 12 hour flight, we arrived in New Zealand on February 2nd at 8:30 am. For those who don't know the time change, New Zealand is a day ahead of California minus 3 hours. So its currently 5:06 pm Feb, 2nd and its 8:03 Feb 1st in California.