New Zealand (a little late!)

Happy 2013- I forgot to say it before!!!

Hot Water Beach, Hahei, New Zealand

It's been over a month since I wanted to write this blog entry. Life happened. 

Driving on the WRONG side of the road!!

New Zealand: Awesome. We spent 1 night in Auckland and then got out of the City of Sails (as beautiful as all the boats were) as fast as possible.  We went up to Whangarei, which wasn't really where we thought it was, but we got some good hiking in there and got to see glow worms in the forest at night and rode on some water bike type things.  Then we took a bus to Rotorua, where we went to a Maori Village (kind of cheesy, esp after living in Samoa for months), checked out a geothermal park, walked around Rotorua a LOT, did ziplining in a virgin forest, and stayed with an AWESOME couchsurf host!!!  From there we went up to the Coromandel Peninsula around New Years, went to some beaches, and saw Cathedral Cove after renting a car (I got to drive on the left side of the road!!)

We had some outstanding food on the trip (which really just means FRESH VEGGIES which I have been craving since stepping foot on this rock of an island), including some amazing local seafood.  We also had a fantastic time celebrating New Years with some Aussies and Kiwis in this tiny motel bar in Coromandel Town.  New Zealand reminded me SOOO much of Burlington, Vermont and all the kinds of people that live there.  Especially the area around Coromandel (other than it being on the ocean).  It was full of nature-loving, tree-hugging hippies and I loved it.  The people in New Zealand are so connected to the land and most of the people I talked to had such stories about their actual life experiences- working on farms, sheering sheep, going hunting, amazing outdoors adventures, etc.  If you've never been to NZ, it's "SWEET AS".  Put it up there on your list of places to go, especially if you are at all like the Cleaver Family.  No doubt I'll need to go back there someday. Pictures are on facebook, but here are a few as a highlight of my trip.

Pretending to be in The Sound of Music at the falls in Whangarei

hiked to the falls in Whangarei

top of the falls

On our glow worm adventure at night!

Nature walk near our hostel in Whangarei

Geothermal Park "Hell's Gate" in Rotorua

Maori warriors would bathe here after war to remove the tapu of war.

active volcano!

Raina in front of the Steaming Cliffs

It's a great moisturizer, exfoliant, and sunscreen!

The Maori actually cooked pigs in these pools... kind of like a Samoan umu!

On the way to Coromandel: BEAUTY.

Hike in Whangarei

Maori Carving

At Lake Rotorua

Mud bath at Hell's Gate!!

Silver Fern- the symbol of New Zealand!

Ziplining through the canopy!

Putting what I want to do with my career into action:
Marine reserves!!

Cathedral Cove

Pic I took of Raina in a cave at Cathedral Cove!

Little crabby friend in tiny crevasse

Maori warrior..../actor......

One of the reasons I love New Zealand....the farmers
know what to do on their days off.....yes those are boat trailers

This was so cool. This hill must have one day been at sea level because there were seashells in the soil at the top of the hill!!

Riding Mac's 4wheeler (Mac was the 3year old son of the
couchsurfer we stayed with in Rotorua). 

Where we spent New Years Eve. HAH!!
A little different than years past in the Hub.

Cathedral Cove - me, Agnieszka (someone we met from Wales), and Raina!

Me and Mac!!!

Shellfish farms! Green mussels I believe...

the New Zealand version of coffee! So fancy after living in Samoa!

sulfur flatts in Rotorua

Marine geology is AWESOME

sunset from our hostel in Coromandel!

Our trip ended with our flight into Upolu (Western Samoa) where we found out (by way of a paper, hand-written sign) that the airline back to AmSam was broken (which means the pilots didn't feel like flying or their contract expired or something and they felt no need to let us know).  We spent two days sitting and waiting in airports with no money, food, or water.  But the bus ride around the island was pretty! 

view from the road, getting a ride from airport to the other airport

Fale in Upolu

And THAT was winter break!!!