July 24-26: A weekend away from the city

After class on Friday, a group of ten (1 kiwi, 1 Norwegian, and 8 Americans) headed out of Auckland on a somewhat spontaneous weekend trip. We rented two cars and just drove (on the left side of the road!) to the coast, with no set plans. We arrived late and found a nice hostel on Buffalo Beach. No restaurants were opened so we ate a petrol station dinner of grilled cheese and chips. While many were tired and wanted to get to bed, my Norwegian friend Mads (pronounced like Motts) and I decided to take a short trip to town to observe the Whitianga nightlife. We just sat in the corner of a bar and watched these interesting "townies" bust hilarious moves on the dance floor... it was obvious that we were far from Auckland.

After a good night sleep in the hostel, we set out early to hike to Coromandel Cove. This place cannot be described in words and my pictures barely do it justice. We couldn't have picked a better "Winter" day to go; the soft sand, warm water and blue skies were the perfect end to our first week of class. 

There are supposed to be more sheep than people in NZ,

but I swear I've seen more cows

A cartwheel on the beach is a must-do

After we hesitantly left the cove, we checked into our second hostel, had a nice lunch of fish and chips (or fush and chups as kiwis like to say), borrowed a shovel from the hostel and drove to reach Hot Water Beach at 3 p.m. for low-tide. When the tide goes out, people head to the beach to dig holes in the sand and allow them to fill up with warm water creating natural hot tubs. Some volcanos made underground reservoirs of superheated water and over time, this water can escape to the surface. There are two hot springs at the beach that release water as hot as 147º Fahrenheit, so some spots were too hot to sit in, but once you dug the right hole you never wanted to get out.

Digging our pool at the beach

Audrey, Mads, Emily and Annie enjoying the beach

A few friends leaving at sunset

That evening, we returned to our hostel which was much different from the last one. With no heat and ten rickety beds crammed into a long corridor, we made the best of it, endured the cold night and headed home in the morning. We had a nice scenic ride and stopped at an organic cafe on the beach for lunch and ice cream and were able to snap a few more pictures of the scenery before going back to the bustling city.

Our room at the hostel

Ice cream at the beach

Overall, the trip was a huge success and it just makes me want to travel more and see as much of New Zealand as I possibly can. I have promised myself that many more weekend trips will happen throughout the semester. This one was just a small taste of what we can experience.

A photo Paul took of me looking out the window.

There is so much to see and do here, I wish I could grasp it all.

Five obvious ways why New Zealand is GREENER than the U.S.:

1. Every toilet I have seen has two flushing options: half or full. The half flush is for liquid only and uses less water than a normal flush. This feature has recently been added to certain bathrooms at Appalachian, but NZ is ahead of the game by having these toilets generally in all bathrooms.
2. It has become increasingly trendy to use reusable shopping bags in The States, but the popularity of these bags is overwhelming here in Auckland. Every type of store offers them and some even give them out for free after making a purchase. It is almost unlikely to see a person walk into a grocery store not holding a cloth bag.

3. All wall outlets are equipped with switches to turn on or off when the outlet is being used. When you are not using a plug in the socket, just flip the switch to conserve even the slightest bit more electricity.

 4. Speaking of switches, even the microwave and stovetop must be flipped on to use. It is strange for me to not rely on the microwave to also serve as a digital clock, but the concept of completely shutting down the appliances is sensible.

 5. In some public restrooms, instead of offering paper towels or an electric hand dryer, they have cloth towels that come out of a dispenser. When you want to dry your hands, just pull down a clean piece and the used towel will roll back up into the box. At first, I wasn’t sure how to approach this device, but it does not use any electricity and creates no waste. A picture of this will be added soon.

Rugby is Sweet As!

Saturday arvo, I went with some chicks and blokes and walked full tit through the big smoke to watch some footie. The All Blacks (New Zealand) were playing the dodgy Wallabies (Australia) so we skulled some plonk and Steinies with other scarfies and headed into the stadium. The place was chocka-a-block and although our seats were a little far from the pitch, we could still see the scrums, mauls and rucks clear as. After the AB’s crushed the knackered Aussies, we put on our jumpers and skited the entire walk home. The whole experience was good-as-gold… just as much fun as gridiron.

 And yes, that is English...sort of.

Kia Ora!

I have now been in New Zealand for 10 days and have yet had the opportunity to update this blog. I would really like to post more frequently, but with so much to experience and New Zealand's sparse internet access, I have not been sticking with it. So lately, I have been lying in bed at night with my L.E.D. headlamp (thanks Dad!) and attempting to write out my adventures by hand. There is so much to say about my time here so I may have to cut some of it short, but my beautiful corner view of the big city out of this quaint coffee shop will hopefully make it easy to keep working.

July 5th

Once I arrived at the gate in LAX airport, I met up with a few Australearn students who I recognized from Facebook. A group of about five of us sat on the floor near the terminal and shared our fears and excitement. As time slowly passed, more joined the circle and by boarding time, we had expanded into a group of 15 who dominated the floor of the terminal.

We all split up to board the plane and when I arrived at my seat, I was so pleased to find out I had three chairs all to myself. After a surprisingly delicious airplane dinner, I played a movie on one of my three personal screens and made a comfy bed out of my three pillows and three blankets and soundly slept the first half of the trip.

I woke up and finished a book I had started in The States: Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? It is a vulgar story about a Lonely Planet guidebook writer's adventure during a trip to Brazil. As a journalism student going abroad, it was the perfect read to spark my enthusiasm about the trip.

July 6th

This day never existed for me. I completely bypassed

 it to arrive in Auckland on the 7th. How crazy is that??

July 7th

We arrived at the airport at about 6 a.m. and met our Australearn group leaders and some more students bringing our group to a total of 24. We all hopped on a bus and drove about two hours to Rotorua (known to some kiwis as Rotovegas). We stayed in KiwiPaka, a nice hostel popular for backpackers and thrill seekers. After exploring the town and attending a brief orientation, our jet-lag kicked in and put most of us into a deep sleep by 8 o'clock.

July 8th

We awoke this morning to a large, hot breakfast to begin our jam-packed day of excitement. It

began with zorbing, an activity that words cannot even describe. Kristin, another Australearn student, and I decided to ride together. So, we put on our bathing suits and hopped into a big, clear plastic ball filled with warm water and rolled down a grassy hill. This was not a delicate ride as we slipped and slid all across the narrow inside of the ball, but needless to say we got to know each other very quickly. When it was over, they dumped us out, soaking wet and freezing but with huge smiles across our faces.

Later that day we returned to our hostel to meet Maori instructors to learn the Haka. The Haka is a traditional Maoria war chant to perform before entering a battle. After much practice, the girls put on long skirts, halter tops and headbands while the boys wore loincloth-esque attire for the final performance. No one held back and we all stomped and screamed and chanted as loud as we could and always finished with a laugh. We're going to an All Black rugby match TOMORROW, so it will be great to see them perform the chant and actually understand what is going on.

That evening, we went to the Tamaka Maori Village to learn about the tribal culture and enjoy a traditional Hangi feast.

July 9th

This day was another one filled with New Zealand adventure. We got on the bus that morning and took a short ride down the road to go caving. We each had to choose between a wet or dry cave tour. Even though it is Winter here, I could not pass up the opportunity to absail (or repel as it is known in The States) down underground waterfalls. I joined one of the groups that chose the wet option and suited up in a wetsuit, helmet and galoshes (or gumboots as kiwis would say) before trekking to the cave opening. The beginning of the cave was tough and you really had to trust the others in the group to guide you step by step down the dark, tight passages. We were underground for about three and a half hours squeezing through tiny holes and crawling through the streams of water. The best part of the trip was absailing down a 30 foot drop, turning off our headlamps and looking up at a ceiling spotted with green glowworms. The whole experience was unlike anything I have ever done and if I can manage to not spend all of my money by the end of the trip, I may go back to do it again.

A few of us suited up and ready to go!

Swimming underground

Absailing down a waterfall

During the return drive to Kiwipaka, one of our Australearn orientation leaders surprised us with a stop to see an Angora Rabbit being sheared. This was the biggest bunny I have ever seen and it produced the softest fur. Now that I have seen a rabbit sheared, I have decided that I definitely need to shear a sheep before I leave New Zealand.

July 10th - 17th

During our time in Rotorua, everyone was so anxious to get to Auckland where we could unpack and stop living out of our suitcases. Once we finally got on the bus to head there, many of us felt knots in our stomachs and were apprehensive about seeing this new city that we would call home for the next five months. Once we finally arrived, the excitement kicked in again when we saw our flats. All of the Australearn students are spread across the 13 floors of the Wellesley Student Apartments. Each flat has five bedrooms and one bathroom with two toilets and two showers. The five people also share a fully equipped kitchen (with a microwave/oven combo... who even know those existed?), a common area with a couple couches and a T.V. and a beautiful floor-to-ceiling view of the city. I currently only have one flatmate, Samantha from New York. Although she is from the U.S., she did not come with Australearn. Our other three flatmates are Kiwi girls who have not yet returned from their holiday break, but I am eagerly awaiting their arrival.  

Wellesley Student Apartments

common area

my room

The view from the window

I have been spending my days in Auckland exploring the city and trying to get settled. I like to describe Auckland as the New York City of New Zealand. The streets are always crowded with people from all over the world. I'm glad I am experiencing the city life, but I also cannot wait to get out and travel to the remote parts of NZ. 

While I would love to continue writing about all of the friends I've made and sights I've seen here in Auckland, I would rather get out of this coffee shop and go experience more!

If anyone is reading, please comment to let me know you're out there!

En Route.

Currently sitting on the floor in the LAX airport. It's 9:50 p.m. east coast time, but only 6:50 here. This is my first time traveling between time zones and I must admit that it is thoroughly confusing. My flight doesn't leave for New Zealand until 10:30 p.m. so I'm now going to find ways to amuse myself and hopefully meet up with some of the other Australearn kids to meet my new friends for the next 5 months.

Hopefully these posts will get much more exciting and detailed within the weeks to come.

p.s. I'm learning to love airports. Everyone is in quite a rush and I feel important pretending to know what I'm doing and where I'm going (someone even asked ME for directions!). I wish everyone had a stamp on their forehead of their destination. It would cure my curiosity, but also ruin the guessing-game I like to play.

iTravel

Although my plane leaves in two days, I am not even slightly prepared. I can’t even say that I’m mentally prepared because my mind cannot seem to weigh any feelings of excitement/nervousness/readiness/fear. I’m hoping it will hit me all at once in the airport.

While it will be okay to mentally prepare myself at the last minute, I should probably work on my physical preparation (i.e. packing) pretty soon. I recently purchased a set of luggage that my mom describes as being put in the store just for me to buy it. It’s true, these lime green, rugged, High Sierra pieces just scream my name. Along with luggage, I also bought an R.E.I Ventruri Backpack to use as my carry-on as well as on weekend trips and tramping. I’m hoping they will contend with my tendencies to over-pack.

The only thing that I have successfully packed is my iTunes. I’m satisfied that my updated playlist with keep me entertained with new material during my 20+ hour trip. I’ve also picked through my music to create a “Travel” playlist with songs to get me in the mood to [for lack of a better word] GO!

Here are my Top 15 Travel Songs:

 1. Ramble On – Led Zeppelin

  I may not be “goin’ round the world to find my girl” but the song represents a sense of freedom, spontaneity oh and, rock and roll.

 2. New World Man – Rush

After following some friend's obsession with 'Tom Sawyer,' I have grown to love Rush's greatest hits. This is such a perfect song for being young and traveling while choosing to make mistakes and to learn from them.

 3. Don’t Stay Home – 311

 311 will always represent summertime in Manassas and while the song reminds me of home, it encourages you to never say no and sit at home when the world is waiting.

4. The Adventure – Angels & Airwaves

"Here I am and here we go, life’s waiting to begin."

5. Taste – Animal Collective

Animal Collective is one of my more recent obsessions. This song on their newest album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, deals with someone still remaining to be themselves without having everything (music, posessions, clothes) that make them who they are.

6. The Long and Winding Road - The Beatles

This is such a typical travel song, but it's The Beatles and it's about being on the road, so it's perfect.

7. Time Turns Elastic – Phish

This is a new piece from Phish that moves through segments exploring each part of the world and nature while being out on his own.

8. The World at Large – Modest Mouse

 The song is about drifting and getting to a new, unfamiliar place. “If the world’s at large, why should I remain?”

 9. My Love Goes With You – Mishka

I learned of Mishka after writing an album review for The Appalachian. This peaceful, reggae song from 'Above the Bones' encourages you to find love, truth and free time for yourself within everything you do, wherever you are.

10. Road Trippin – Red Hot Chili Peppers

This is such a cliche travel song, but I definitely needed some Chili Peppers in the mix. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to "go get lost."

 11. Godspeed – Jenny Lewis

While the girl in this song is encouraged to leave because of the abuse she is receiving, I still just love the encouragement to keep going but to “keep the lighthouse in sight.”

 12. Such Great Heights – Iron & Wine

This song is a cover of The Postal Service, but Iron & Wine’s version kicks its ass. No one can tell you to quit your adventure when you want to keep going: “They will see us waving from such great heights ‘Come down now,’ they'll say. But everything looks perfect from far away…”

13. Movin’ On Down the Line – The Black Crowes

This song is about keepin' on while letting go and moving on.

14. Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show

This song travels up and down the east coast and just reminds of North Carolina.

15. How Bizarre - OMC

This hilarious 90's hit is by OMC, a one-hit-wonder Maori group from Auckland, New Zealand. So, it was obviously necessary to include this in the list.