Last day in New Zealand

We went to Starbucks before the movie last night. Outside of the US pretty much the only people that go to Starbucks are tourists. You'll rarely see locals enjoying a Tall Mocha Frappuccino or a Venti Soy Latté at Starbucks. Nope, just lots of tourists. The reason is of course because they have free Wifi, which is a valued commodity for tourists. We needed Wifi to figure out what to do the next day, so Starbucks was a good place to be. 

New Zealand is the land of the bungee; it originated here. I bungee jumped in Rjukan (Norway) once like five years ago, and I honestly thought I was plummeting to my death. Isabelle did it over the Victoria Falls when she went traveling in Africa. Sydney hasn't done it (yet at least). Isabelle has been talking about wanting to bungee jump again for a long time, like since we were traveling in Asia. I haven't entertained the idea of doing anything remotely similar to bungee jumping much. That was, until last night. 

There we were, the three tourists in the Auckland Starbucks. We started talking about the famous Auckland Sky Tower that we had passed a few times. It's a beautiful structure; it reminds me of the Seattle Space Needle (though I have only seen it in pictures). Well, it turns out you can jump from this beautiful tower. Who would have thought? The SkyJump is New Zealand's highest jump, and you rush through the air at around 85km/53miles per hour and fall for about 11 seconds. The jump is a whopping 192meters/630feet. It can be described as base jumping while attached to a wire. Just the thought of it made my heart race.  

I think you know where this story is going. "If your friends jump off a bridge, then would you do it too?" Well, yes. I can't miss a thrilling experience. If they jump, I jump. Isabelle said she was going to do the SkyJump, and I couldn't not do it if she did it (and she totally knew this, she's so sneaky). The SkyJump website advertized that it is not the same as bungee jumping. There is no hanging upside down, and you land gently on your feet on the landing platform. I said I would be open to everything while I was studying abroad except bungee jumping... So Isabelle and I booked a jump for the next morning at 10:15am before I could rethink it and change my mind. 

Sydney knew she wouldn't enjoy it, so she didn't book it. Very smart choice. It's important to know your limits, especially when you have people around you who aren't afraid of anything (i.e. Daredevil Isabelle) or who are very easily persuaded (i.e. me). I've been very nervous for many of the activities that I've done, but deep down I've known that I would enjoy doing them. I just have to stop overthinking everything, and just do it. 

There was no turning back after booking the jump. Well, technically there was... But I didn't want to lose the $180 I paid. It's amazing how having paid money for something will make you do things (like jump off high buildings). 

We woke up early, had breakfast, and made our way to the Sky Tower. It wasn't a far walk, only about 10 minutes from our hostel. We signed away our lives for the zillionth time, and promised not to sue if anything went wrong. A nice guy from Northern Ireland, Neil, got us geared up in a space-like suit and a super tight harness. My suit was waaay too short for my legs, and I looked ridiculous. Not the most attractive thing I've worn, but I wasn't too concerned with that at the time. I was going to jump off a building soon! 

We went up to the 53rd floor, where two nice girls met us at the SkyJump. On the ride up, you could see out over the city from the elevator. I was (of course) questioning why in the world I keep doing this to myself. Why, why, why? 

The girls explained what was supposed to happen. First, they hooked up a GoPro camera to my wrist, so I could film myself doing the jump. Everything has to be documented! As for the jump details: they would double check my harness, hook me up to the wire, take me to the ledge, and count down from three. All I had to do was let go of the rails I would be holding on to, that was it. I didn't have to dive towards the ground (like I did for bungee jumping). It seemed simple enough. By the time I was out on the ledge, I had forgotten which hand was left/right, what I was supposed to do, and was questioning the how secure the harness was. Oh yeah, I was cool as a cucumber. Happy to have captured that on film. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to upload the video of myself, but here you can see the SkyJump promo video: 

The jump wasn't as bad as I expected (few things are really as bad as I fear). When they counted down, I just let go, and suddenly I was on my way towards the landing platform. The view was incredible. Jumping from such a high spot in a city was very thrilling, and I was screaming the whole way down. I thought it would be more like bungee jumping, however, you're not really free falling towards the ground. You can tell that there is wire holding you back (not that that was a bad thing). Thanks to the lovely Sydney, who was at the landing platform waiting, Isabelle and I got some pictures of us falling and landing.

See that little black dot in the sky? That's Isabelle! 

A big thumbs up for our last adrenaline-rush activity in New Zealand. 

Look who we met in the lobby on our way back to the base: a super happy Tower Man!

Our next activity for the day was a walk up to Mt Eden to see the spectacular views of the city and its surroundings. This is the highest of the volcanos in Auckland, 196meters/640feet high. It was a nice walk from the city. I think it took us about an hour to get to the top. We sat at the too for a while, enjoying some fresh fruit and vegetables that we bought. So relaxing! 

Beautiful views of the city.

There was a giant, well-preserved crater that was 50meters/164feet deep. 

After our walk to Mt Eden, we took the 12-minute ferry boat to Devonport, a harborside suburb of Auckland. We were starving once we got off the boat, so we went to find a café in Victoria Street. Thanks to my great navigation skills, we took a very roundabout way of getting there. But we made it, and we found a nice café as well. There were so many beautiful Victorian era houses. The neighborhood was just grand. I would have loved to live here. The views of the city were gorgeous. 

It rained a little today as well (we were pretty lucky most of the day though). We've seen quite a few rainbows on this trip. 

In the evening we went to the Sky Deck to get a view of the city. I love going up to these places in the evening. It's so nice seeing all the twinkling lights of the city from up above. 

They had an area where you could see straight down to the ground. Hard to believe that Isabelle and I were looking at this just a few hours ago, and getting ready to jump! 

This was our last full day in New Zealand, and we spent our time wisely. We fly home to Sydney early in the morning tomorrow. We will have a few hours at home before we need to head back to the airport to go to Cairns. We have to leave the city at 5:30am to get to the airport on time... Time for some sleep! 

Love, 

Suzy 

Return to Auckland

Today we drove our last bit of our journey from Hamilton to Auckland. In total we have driven 876km/544miles this week. It has been the perfect amount of driving, about 1-2 hours each day. It has been such an eventful week. We went caving in Waitomo, went hiking in the Tongariro National park, white water rafted in Turangi, visited an animal farm and thermal pools in Taupo, went zorbing in Rotorua, were hobbity on the Hobbiton movie set, and stayed in a 4-star hotel in Hamilton.

I'd say Isabelle and I did a pretty good job driving, if I do say so myself. We didn't crash, or even have any "close calls", and we managed to return the car in the same condition as when we first got it. It really didn't take long to adapt to being on the other side of the road. We took turns driving, and that worked out well. I almost preferred driving; that meant you didn't have to sit in the passenger seat, and be in charge of the music. When in charge, you question every song, and really start doubting your taste in music. Do they like this song? Are they singing? Why aren't they singing? Should I switch? Should I wait to switch? Why aren't they singing?! Oh, so nerve-wracking being the DJ. 

Sydney was the perfect passenger; she always sat in the back (despite being offered the front seat many times), and was happy as a clam. We initially thought that Sydney wasn't able to drive the rental car because she was too young. As it turned out, she could drive here. As long as you had a license, you were good to go! Isabelle and I have been mentally preparing ourselves for driving on the opposite side of the road since we booked the rental about a month ago. Sydney wasn't too keen on driving, so we just pretended we didn't hear the info about her being able to drive. 

We returned Charlie (the 2000 Nissan Pulsar) and Bertha (the GPS) to Snap Drive Rentals at around 2pm. It was sad... Sydney and Isabelle almost cried (hah, just kidding).

 Standing in the car rental reception was so weird; it seems like we just got here. It's surreal that a week ago we were getting all our ducks in a row, and getting ready to leave for New Zealand. In two days we will be getting on a flight back to Sydney, rushing home to repack our backpacks, and heading back to the airport to catch a flight to Cairns to meet up with some other friends. 

The nice rental guy, Mark, drove us to the Domestic Terminal so we could take the bus in to the city center. After a quick 40-minute bus ride, we got off at Queen Steet, and made our way to the hostel we booked. We checked into Jucy Hotel (did they misspell "juicy" on purpose?). It isn't as spacious as our airport-of-a-hotel-room we had at the 4-star hotel last night, but it certainly will suffice for the next two nights. I love the nice, high ceilings. We also have more than enough sleeping space; we have two twin beds and one queen bed. We voted that Sydney got the queen bed today since she has been sitting in the back seat this whole week. 

I wonder if Sydney will take advantage of the extra space, and sprawl out like Isabelle did last night... 

After a quick nap, we went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Not very much was open today seeing as it is Easter Sunday. The pulled pork sandwich, chicken parmagiano, and burger were good though. Food was highly appreciated and needed after a long day (i.e. we were all getting a little food-deprived and cranky). 

As we were looking for stuff to do in Auckand brochures and on the internet, we realized our clothes have hindered us in doing some things. We're all dressed like we're about to go to the gym, so we can't really go to any place that is even remotely fancy. We thought maybe we'd see a show here in Auckland, go to a comedy club, or even just have a nice dinner. But alas, our attire would make us stick out like a sore thumb. It's mainly our shoes that give us away; brightly colored Asics don't screen "I dressed up this evening!" If we had flip flops and a sweater, the running tights could possibly pass as black pants. Packing light does have it's downfalls... It also has it's perks though. On the bright side, we've only had a small backpack to keep track of. Also, it only takes about 2 minutes to get ready in the morning. There's not very many choices that need to be made, and the big decision is between wearing the Macquarie hoodie or the Nike running half zip. It's amazing we still smell so good (we smell like a fresh bouquet of flowers, of course). 

Due to our backpacker wardrobe, we went to yet another cinematic adventure this evening. I don't think I've ever been to the movies three times in one week before. I guess there's a first for everything! We saw The Grand Budapest Hotel this evening, and we enjoyed it. 

Tomorrow is our last full day in New Zealand, so we are going to make the most of it. We have a few fun things planned!  

Love, 

Suzy 

Taupo & Rotorua & Hobbiton

Are you having a hectic or bad day? Llamas are an instant pick-me-up! They are such happy creatures (though Sydney tells me they sometimes spit on you). Doesn't it look like this llama is smiling? We were smiling, too! 

The llama took a selfie. 

Yesterday (April 18th) we went to the Lilliput Farm Fun & Animal Park in the morning. We have been doing adrenaline-rush-provoking activities since we got here, so we thought it was time to do something a little more relaxing. What could be more relaxing than an animal park where you can pet and feed adorable animals? 

Sydney's mom asked her if Isabelle and I were going to the animal park just to make her happy. The truth is, the animals made us pretty happy as well. 

I made a lot of new friends yesterday thanks to this bucket of food pellets. 

I had them eating out of the palm of my hand (literally). 

"Say what? You used food to lure me over to take a selfie?" Yes, yes, I did. 

Isabelle and Sydney became pretty popular as well. 

The runner up for cutest farm animal was this adorable sheep. Look at how content it looks with its head in the fence. It reminds me of a stuffed animal I have; my fluffy sheep named Ulla (which means Wooly in Norwegian). Poor Ulla, she didn't get to come traveling with me. 

There were lots of different animals on the farm: bunnies, cats, horses, goats, pigs, emus, and lots of birds. They were all pretty friendly (except for the goats that tried to eat Sydney's hair). We were a little skeptical of this pig... I think he felt the same way. 

Invasion of the duckies.

We regret not getting this miniature horse as a souvenir. It would be a great way to get to and from class at Macquarie, wouldn't it?

Pretty sure this park is meant for little kids... But we still had a good time!

As summer is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn and winter are the seasons of the Southern Hemisphere. In other words, don't expect me to be too tan when I come home in July. 

After getting our cute-animal-fix, we went to the thermal pools at Taupo DeBretts. We initially were going to splurge and get some spa treatments, but it turned out they were fully booked all day. Oh well... That saved our student budgets some money! The thermal pools were relaxing enough. They had two big mineral pools outside with small waterfalls and hydrotherapy spots, in addition to 12 small, indoor private pools you could go to. The water in the pools ranged from 38-40Celsius/100.4-104Fahrenheit. 

While we were soaking in the outside pool, we met a little girl around 10 years old. She was adorable, and looked just like a younger, more freckled Sydney. She was from NZ, and was there with her family on vacation. She went on to tell us about how her twin sister was just playing on the slide, and wouldn't play with her. When Isabelle said that she always wanted a twin when she was younger, our new little friend said she wouldn't recommend having one. Sydney asked her if the two of them are similar. To which she replied "Well, we share a bedroom, and both of us like blue. We don't like pink. I guess we're similar". Kids are so cute. 

The place itself wasn't the fanciest. I think we were all expecting something more along the lines of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. However, it was still very nice to just sit and soak in minerals for a bit. Our skin feels silky smooth after just one visit (placebo effect, perhaps?).

Yesterday was Good Friday. That meant that places added an additional "public holiday surcharge". Also, you couldn't buy an alcoholic beverage without buying a full meal. Interesting! I guess a Norwegian can't complain about weird rules like that. It's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black. 

We had an amazing lunch at Dixie Brown's, followed by coffee in a park area. We had a great view of Lake Taupo. Unfortunately, no cliff diving allowed here.  

Our next stop on our adventure was Rotorua, located approx 80km/50miles from Taupo. The weather fluctuates quite a bit here; one minute it will be sunny, the next it's raining heaps. Very unpredictable. It seems that every time we have to get out of the car with all stuff, it starts pouring. No exception yesterday. Lots and lots of rain! 

A rotten egg-y smell greeted us when we drove in to odoriferous Rotorua. Nothing like the smell of sulfur to welcome you to the city! The abundant geothermal activity from the geysers, hot pools, and mud pools are what causes the town to smell. 

We checked in to a 6 bed dorm at the Rotorua Downtown Backpackers. The receptionist, Kat, was super helpful. We got to Rotorua around 5:30pm, and were trying to find something fun to do. Everything was either fully booked, closed, or unsuitable for rainy weather. Sooo... We went to another movie. We couldn't just sit in our dorm staring at the wall. Rather, we walked 10 minutes from our hostel, and paid money to stare at a screen and see the movie Noah. 

We got up early this morning to check out, and get on the road. I feel the coffee cup reflected our need for more sleep. 

Today was the day when we were finally going to go Zorbing. We had been looking forward to this since we booked our tickets. 

Zorbing is pretty simple; you just climb into a big inflated ball and roll down a hill. It may sound strange (it is), but it was SO fun. The plastic ball is double walled, so the "zorbonaut" doesn't get hurt. One can choose between the dry version (zorbonaut is harnessed it), or the hydro version (water is put inside the zorb and the zorbonaut can slide around). We chose the hydro version for two reasons: 1) rolling down a hill in a ball going upside down a lot would likely make us nauseous, and 2) if we did the hydro version we could all go in the same zorb. 

You could chose between three different courses:Fast Lane, Zig Zag, and Drop. We only did the Fast Lane because we thought it would be more fun to go together. 

To get in the zorb, you literally have to run and dive in. It looks so ridiculous when people run, dive, and disappear in the zorb, it feels even more ridiculous when you're the one diving in. 

After our first ride down, we decided the one trip just wasn't enough. Round 2, here we come! 

We went to see the geysers at Te Puia, but quickly realized that we didn't feel like spending $50 on the entrance fee. It would have been worth it if we were going to take advantage of the tours they offered, but we really just wanted to pop in, see the geysers, and pop out. No geysers for us... 

Kiwis (a nickname for people from NZ) are extremely friendly and helpful. I didn't think Australians could be beat on the friendliness-scale, but I think perhaps the Kiwis surpass them a little. After we decided not to go in to Te Puia, a guy that worked there came over and told us about Redwoods Forest, a beautiful place where you can go hiking. He said this would be perfect for us; he noticed we were wearing athletic clothes (the same clothes we've been wearing the past week...). So off we went to the Redwoods Forest! 

It wasn't too far from the city center, and there were lots of different trails. It we had known about this place, we probably would've planned for a longer hike. We went on the Waitawa Walk, which was only about a 40 minute walk. 

The trail was clearly marked, along with signs telling us not to litter and to "love our trees".

Syndey, Isabelle, and I always obey the signs that are posted. We love the trees! 

It was such a beautiful area, and we were so happy the guys told us about this place. 

There were mostly fir trees in the forest, but we also saw the occasional palm tree here and there. 

After our great walk in the forest, we headed to Hobbiton to visit the famous movie set. We were originally going to stay another night in Rotorua and go there in the morning. However, due to the lack of vacancy in any hostels/hotels in Rotorua, we had to get moving. It was a beautiful drive. 

The 12-acre Hobbiton movie set was created by filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson to depict the homes of the hobbits. It is a major tourist attraction for film fans and tourists. 

I'm not the biggest fan of the Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, but I must say... It felt good to be hobbity for a few hours. There is a total of 44 little hobbit holes in Hobbiton, and all are dug into the hillside. Hobbit gardens and orchards surround the little holes. 

Me being hobbity, and chopping wood (I guess hobbits need to chop wood, too). 

Sydney was naturally very hobbity, and immediately knew what to do with the broom. 

Gorgeous surroundings, indeed. I feel the urge to watch all the movies now. I think I've only seen the two first Lord of the Rings movies, and that's it. I read the book when I was in 7th grade though. 

The Hobbiton tour was great (albeit a little pricey at $75 per person). Our guide had lots of fun facts for us (none of which I can remember in my current sleepy state, unfortunately...). 

We drove to Hamilton after our tour. This was the only place we could find a place to stay. As the Easter holiday is a busy time of the year, we went for a room at a nice 4-star hotel instead of a hostel (this was really our only option). Luckily, it was only about $50 per person, so that's not too bad. We'll survive! 

When we checked in to the Hamilton City Oaks hotel, we got a big surprise: our room was HUGE! This panoramic pic doesn't accurately depict how big this room is. There's one king size bed, two twin beds, a tv, a desk, and even a dining table with three chairs! 

Isabelle and Sydney were very excited about our room (and the fact that they could belly flop onto the beds without the chance of hitting a top bunk). 

Tomorrow we're driving to Auckland, and returning the car. In fear of jinxing it, I must say, I'm amazed at how well it has gone driving on the opposite side of the road. You get used to it very quickly! Tomorrow will be our last day with Bertha. It will be sad to let her go, but I'm sure she'll be a great help to some other travelers. 

Okay, this post has been long enough (if not too long). Time to call it a break. Good night from Hamilton!"

Love, 

Suzy