Coromandel

On a whim, Jenna and I decided to rent a car and head up North for the weekend. We left Auckland Sunday morning and drove just over 2 hours to reach Coromandel. The weather was questionable the entire way there. We drove through torrential downpours that forced us to pull off to the side. But then no more than 15 minutes later it was perfectly sunny with no clouds to be seen. We stopped a few times along the way to take in the scenery. Once again… it was breathtaking.



We found a cute little hostel to stay at for the night. We had a 10 person room almost completely to ourselves with the exception of one other girl. It had a little kitchen for us and our own bathroom and showers.



After looking through some tour books we came across Cathedral Cove and set out to find it. The hike took about an hour each way but it was so worth it. The trail goes through cow pastures that overlook the ocean. Even from the top of the hike (it was all downhill) you could see the bottom of the ocean. The water was magnificent. We got to the beach and I could not help but go swimming, even though it was only about 60 degrees out. I got out to about my shoulders before it hit me and I realized how cold the water was.




The beach itself was beautiful and there was a waterfall off to the side. We walked through Cathedral Cove to the other side which was just as nice. I will be forever spoiled by New Zealand’s beaches.






After spending the night we woke up early to watch the sunrise over the beach in front of our hostel. About halfway through it started to downpour, leaving us both soaked.



We had originally planned to stay another day but decided it would be best to head back since the weather was supposed to be miserable. We had hoped to visit the hot sand beaches but unfortunately that did not work out. At low tide, when the water goes out you can dig holes in the sand which fill with hot water from below. They are almost like mini spas. But since we already bought the shovels and buckets we have an excuse to go back and try again.

Canyoning!

Yesterday we went canyoning. It was probably the most fun I have had since being here. We found a company to pick us up in the city. We drove about 45 minutes out into the middle of nowhere. We suited up and hiked about an hour up the side of a mountain. There was no real trail and since it has rained the past three days it made it quite slippery. This was by far the hardest part. Everyone was falling and sliding down. It was one of those 2 steps forward, one step back situations. So after climbing to the top the fun started. There were 18 waterfalls that we used to get back to the bottom of the mountain. The first one was about 15 feet tall and you jumped off into the water below. It was once again FREEZING! We had a few more jumps like that.



Others were too tall to jump off of so we had to repel ourselves down. We were completely on our own for this and it was a lot harder than I expected. Especially since the water was rushing over you making it difficult to see. About half way through I lost feeling in my hands which made climbing and moving that much harder. We did three repels in total.



The last option was water slides. Since all the waterfalls are formed from hardened lava some are really smooth. These you would slide down like a water slide. The guides were really fun and pushed us past our limits. They made us go down on our backs head first. It was sorta scary not being able to see what was coming or when you were going to hit the water, but it was definitely worth it.





We stopped for lunch about half way through then continued to the bottom. All of the pools below the water falls are filled with fresh water eels. They were about 3-4 feet long and I tried really hard not to think about swimming with them even though the water was clear enough for you to see them besides you.



This was by far the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. I am certainly feeling it today.

Activitiy Weekend 6-8 August

Hello Hello!!

Last weekend was the Activity Weekend for our program! It was great to get away (and have everything already paid for!) The director here (my second mother at this point) picked us up Friday afternoon and we drove to Waitomo which is about 3 hours south of Auckland. We dropped off our bags at a cute hostel and headed to a park for a quick hike. Here hiking is called “tramping.” So we wandered through the woods for about an hour. It turns out that this was the same spot that we were going to doing our blackwater rafting through the next day. It was gorgeous!



We headed back shortly after since it was getting dark. The sunsets around 5:30 pm here still so the days are quite short. Waitomo is a really tiny town with only one pub/ restaurant so we headed out and grabbed burgers and chips(French fries.) After we got back our group rested in the hostel in front of a cozy fire and watched movies for the night.

The next morning we woke up early to go blackwater rafting. I volunteered to go on the earlier trip. It turned out to be 5 kids from my program and 10 other people from Brazil who spoke absolutely no English. It made for a really interesting trip. Blackwater rafting consists of tubing through caves in complete darkness underground. Keeping in mind that it is winter here, you can imagine how cold it really was. They gave us wetsuits and helmets and I wore 3 layers of thermals underneath but it was still quite chilly. The water was about 40 degrees. So we climbed through parts and rafted through others. These caves were filled with glowworms which was super cool until we found out that that they were actually maggots that glow in the dark. But it was really neat to lay back and see nothing but tiny little glowing specs above us. They looked almost like constellations in the sky. After coming out of the caves they gave us bagels and soup and we took warm showers.






We all hopped back in the van and headed off to Raglan. It is almost halfway between Waitomo and Auckland. It’s a cute little beach town. We stayed at the sweetest hostel ever. It reminded me of a summery beach house. Since it was raining we didn’t get to do anything so we wandered around the town for a bit.We cooked dinner as a big group and then watched a movie before going to bed. Sunday morning we woke up and got ready for our surf lesson! This was probably the highlight of my weekend since I have wanted to surf for ages. We had a dry land lesson first before we headed to the beach. The beach itself was absolutely gorgeous. The water was freezing, but not nearly as bad as the caves were.





The instructors were so friendly and helpful. The water was a bit rough but I managed to stand up on my 4th try! We stayed in the water for about an hour and a half. Although, we had to keep getting out and walking back down since we were being dragged by the undertow.


(Yes, that is actualy me!)

All in all it was a great weekend!

Weekend Trip to Lake Taupo

This weekend a group planned a last minute trip to Lake Taupo. It is about 4 hours south of Auckland. We chose Taupo with the intention of Skydiving. It is supposed to be the cheapest with one of the best views so we booked our jump time and rented a car. It was so nice to get away from the city for a little bit. The drive down was nice. Everyone was so excited for skydiving that the time flew. We checked into our hostel, which was surprisingly nice and grabbed dinner in town. Then the five of us headed to the bar downstairs. Go figure, we were the only people in there. So we played pool for a bit and went back to try and sleep. But our room faced the club next door which played music until 3:30 so we really didn't sleep very much.

We got up early and visited the Aratiatia Rapids which were about 10km away. We got there just as they released the flood gates so the water was rushing through. It was crystal clear and a really pretty color blue. There was a trail that we followed to the top. It led us to a scenic overview which was breathtaking.



Next we visited Huka Falls. I was expected this amazing waterfall but quickly realized it was not at all what I thought. Instead it was rather small but really intense. The water rushes through at 30,000 gallons a second.



We headed back to the hostel since we were scheduled to be picked up at 2pm to skydive! But when we called they asked us to call back in a half hour since they were not jumping due to the weather. This went on for about 2 and a half hours before we were picked up in a long white limo! We signed our lives away and watched all the safety videos. We were all set to jump before they called us off again due to the weather. It was a complete disappointment. So we rescheduled for the next morning but the same thing happened. That night the weather was still miserable so we decided to go see Inception. It was such a great movie, go see it if you haven't yet.



Needless to say, we still have our vouchers so we will be heading back to Taupo soon.... hopefully with better weather next time.

Devonport...

Since we have a week before classes start a few of us decided to explore a bit outside of the city. We caught the ferry over to Devonport. It was only about a 10 minute ride. This was one of the cutest towns I have ever since. It was absolutely picture perfect. We found a cute little cafe and had lunch. For all of you who were teasing me about not having a cheeseburger here... I finally found one and it was on of the best burgers I have ever had!


We then wandered our way to the base of Mt. Victoria. It was incredibly steep but the view was worth it. It was neat to look back on the city. From there the skytower looked so small. But the view from the other side was even better... you could see out over the water to all the other small islands. We met a girl from Virginia who was backpacking through NZ on her own so we invite her to join us for the day. It turned out to be so much fun.


I added a bunch more pictures to Snapfish, so check them out!

Rotorua!

For the next day of Orientation we travelled about three hours south to Rotorua. It is known for its geothermal landscape and really rich Maori culture. As a whole Rotorua is established in the middle of a caldera, or a collapsed volcano. Everyone there compares it to Yellowstone. Everything here is gorgeous, but it smells so strongly of sulfur that it is hard to enjoy.

Our first stop was to a farm show. This was one of my favorite parts of orientation. Since sheep are so popular here (there are more sheep than people throughout all of New Zealand) we learned all about the different kinds and what they are used for. We watched a Kiwi (New Zealand native) shear a sheep, and I got to bottle feed a baby lamb!


This picture looks fake, but all of these sheep are real! They walked them up one by one and we learned all about each one. The one all the way at the top is the Merino and that is where all of our wool comes from.


This little guy was so friendly and hungry!

After the farm show we went to Rainbow Springs. This is a touristy sanctuary for birds and trout. Its named after the thousands of Rainbow Trout that live in the natural springs.


Although they look small in the picture they were actually HUGE... The woman said they were about 18-24inches long.

We ended the day by heading to a mineral spa... however, it still smelled like rotten eggs. This "spa" was right next to our hotel for the night. They built pools around natural hot mineral springs. This turned out to be a great bonding experience for our group. Having done it though, I can't say that the smell was really worth it.



On the third day of Orientation we got up early to check some more geothermal parks. We stopped on the way to check out bubbling mud. The mud itself isn't actually hot. It begins to bubble an gurgle as the gasses are escaping through the ground... Again it still smelled terrible.




We drove a little bit further to see the Lady Knox Geyser. We were luck enough to see it erupt. The eruption itself was neat. The Geyser would erupt naturally every 24-72 hours. However they have found that if they add soap to the top of the geyser that it will erupt on Que. So within minutes water was shooting up almost 60 feet in the air!




After touring around another park for about 2 hours and inhaling all the sulfur that we could stand to smell we hopped back on the bus and went ZORBING! It was about 40 degrees out, but we all suited up and climbed inside the ball in groups of two or three. They fill it with a little bit of warm water and then roll you down a huge hill. It sounds silly, but it was a blast. I do not think I have ever laughed so hard. Here are a few pics:






We ended the night by going to a Maori Cultural show. We watched them perform and we learned all about their culture. Then they prepared a meal for us in their traditional way. They cook everything underground in a fire pit, almost like a barbecue. It was surprisingly good!

If you have the chance youtube Maori Haka... It is pretty neat!

The next morning we drove back to Auckland and moved into our new places. There is plenty more to come!

Hello!

Hey Everyone,
I thought that a blog might be the easiest way for me to keep in touch with everyone. So I will do my best to keep you updated with my travels and experiences!
So my trip thus far…

After flying for close to 24 hours we landed in Auckland where we met up with Kate and Jane (They are the program directors here, and SUPER nice.) There are 17 of us going through the Arcadia program. I am the only actual Arcadia student; everyone else is from around the country. So we dropped our bags off at the first hotel and grabbed a quick shower. Since we landed at 6am the goal of the first day was to stay up as long as possible and beat jet lag. So we started by walking around the city. Auckland is unlike any other city I have ever seen. For starters it is unbelievably clean. There is no gum or cigarette butts on the ground and everyone is very friendly. They showed us Alpert Park as we wondered around.


This is a tree in Alpert Park. Almost all the trees here look like this. SO different!

After we got lunch, we hopped on the bus and headed over the harbor bridge to North Head. North Head is a dormant volcano that served as a military base some time ago. The beach below was absolutely breath taking and the view from the top was even better.


This is the beach you walk across to get to the bottom of the hill.


This is a few of us posing from inside a hollow part of the hill.


And here is a view from the top! Unfortunately, pictures do not capture the real beauty.

So after climbing back down we headed over to the sky tower and rode to the top. The view from here was even better. As you walk around the top you can see every direction... including straight down through the glass floors. This was so neat!


... A view from the top!


We ended the first day with pizza at a really nice pizza restaurant. Most of us were shocked by how small the pizzas were. We ordered large pies and they were what we could consider personal pies, or appetizers in the US. After dinner we went back to the hotel and we were asleep by 7pm! I don't think I have ever been so tired in my life.

I am hoping to update this as exciting things happen. For those of you who do not have it, here is my email address: amcilv2526@comcast.net

I will be uploading all my pictures to this site for you to see, so check it out!
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/share/p=127121278996063218/l=1651661027/g=3322457027/cobrandOid=1000/otsc=SYE/otsi=SAER