New Zealand and Fiji

New Zealand is beautiful.

Our hostel was in the heart of the city and we shared a room with 8 other people, one of whom was very chatty with me and looking to hang around with someone during her time in Auckland. Travelling around in hostels sometimes invites you to befriend people like this as many travel on their own and make spontaneous plans with people they meet on the way. However, by the time our flight got in I was tired and hungry so I was not in the mood to entertain 8 other people! We explored the city a little bit, admiring the Maori statues that were dotted around and of course took a trip to the supermarket to look at all of the food. The similarities to Brisbane were uncanny; the streets, shops and atmosphere all resembled the Australian city that we had first visited. However, as our journey through New Zealand progressed, I was surprised to see how different to Australia it was. First of all, the people were more friendly and were happy to come up to us and speak to us. I loved this because meeting people from different countries is always interesting and makes for great conversation.
On our second day we went to the Auckland art museum where there was lots of Maori artwork to look at. One room displayed life-like  paintings of a Maori tribe, some in authentic clothing and some in posh suits, and paintings of a Kiwi family. A painting of a Maori woman showed her with a tattoo stemming from her upper lip and running down to her chin. Later on in our journey across the North island we saw many women with this same tattoo idea, different patterns but the same position. 

Our third day in Auckland was spent taking the ferry from the harbour to an island called Waiheke. This island was about 23km long, covered in beaches, hills and vineyards and was idyllic. We hired bicycles and used these to transport us around some of the island. We met a man who lived on the island when we were sitting on the beach and he said that people living there hardly ever went back to mainland unless they needed something. He said that some people commuted to Auckland as it was only an hour's journey on the ferry, but most worked as builders or farmers as a lot of rich people from overseas had houses there and it was getting more popular.
The island was my first chance to see New Zealand countryside as Auckland, of course, is a city. There were a variety of green plants con trees and everywhere I looked I could see hills covered in them. New Zealand was exactly how I expected it to be. 

We got the bus to Rotorua the next morning. This apparently was also a city. A city with about one estate and one main road with shops on. How Reading is not yet a city and this place was, I have no idea. Rotorua was different to any place that I had been before as it was much more out in the country than Auckland. There were less tourists there and many more Maori people which made the place a lot more interesting as it felt more cultural and authentic. Rotorua is home to the hot sulphur springs and the mud baths, so this was on our agenda. Unfortunately I was ill on the day we arrived and spent the whole of it in bed. Being ill when you are as far away from home as possible is not ideal and I got very homesick that day. However, the next morning we went white water rafting and zorbing which of course kept my mind off feeling under the weather.
Water rafting was amazing. The four of us shared a raft with 3 other instructors, one of whom loved to jump out of the raft and onto the cliff rock surrounding the river and then jump out on the people on the other rafts. He was actually the most qualified instructor which explains his confidence in the water. He really was mad. We went down 3 waterfalls along the river, the first two completely covering us in water and flooding the raft. The third one, on the other hand, was so high that as we went down it, Nathan and I were thrown out of the raft and into the river, paddles in hand! We had been tool that this would happen and so we were prepared, I just tucked myself into a little ball and waited to float to the surface. Once I was up I swam over to the raft and was pulled in by one of the instructors. It was very cold but really fun. The whole experience lasted about 45 minutes and we were able to swim along part of the river too, holding onto the raft by the outside and floating down a tiny waterfall. The river was beautiful, surrounded by trees and a cliff edge it looked like something from the rainforest. I would definitely do it again.

Later on that afternoon we took the bus into the middle of nowhere to try out zorbing. Zorbing is where you get into a giant blow up ball with water in it and get rolled down a steep hill. It sounds crazy but it was so much fun. We all went down separately and rolled down the zig zag track which tossed me from side to side leaving me very disheveled by the time I got to the bottom.
We then went back to the hostel which was called Cactus Jack's. I found that privately owned hostels are often better than the chains (such as base or nomads) as there are less people there, there is a more friendly atmosphere, and they are better representatives of their surrounding town/city.
One thing that really struck me when I flew into New Zealand was how cold it was. Annoyingly I left my only jumper in the flat in Neutral Bay just before we left to get our flight and so I was left shivering with only a cardigan and quite a bad cold throughout Auckland. Thankfully, Matt leant me his jumper until I found a new one, but it was strange going from wearing shorts bye tshirts every day to snuggling up in a jumper. The weather in New Zealand is similar to England in that the shade was very cold but in the sun it was boiling hot. This didn't happen in Australia as even in the shade it was humid and left me sweating. 

The BBQ we had in Cactus Jack's

The day after our extreme activities we decided to take advantage of the hot springs and mud baths at Hells Gate, the reason why Rotorua is famous.We walked around a large area where there were many natural hot springs and mud baths, taking in the beautiful and almost magical view and gasping at the signs informing us of how hot the springs were as some of them reached hotter than 100 degrees. We then took a relaxing bath in one of the mud baths that was heated to 40 degrees. The pool had a bucket full of wet and slimy mud and we were encouraged to rub it onto our skin as it acts as a very strong moisturiser. We then moved onto the water hot spring and spent an hour in there. This is when everything started to smell of eggs as the pool was full of sulphur. We were unable to get the smell out of our towels for quite a while, and Matt's clothes still smell of egg now! 

 

We then travelled to Taupo on the bus and I spent the afternoon catching up on TV programmes at the hostel. We spent the next day walking to a waterfall, which was disappointing to look at, but the walk was lovely and the river was beautifully and turquoise. We then went into the river which was at the start of the walk to the waterfall, and it was a natural hot spring. It was the strangest feeling as some of the water was freezing cold, but the closer we got to the mini waterfall in the pool, the hotter the water became. We took some underwater selfies with Nathan's GoPro and enjoyed varying the temperatures of the water we were sitting in. 

Recently we have been doing a lot of extreme sports that always leave me wondering whether I am insane for doing them. Right before we jumped out of a plane I was scared for my life, as when we went down the waterfalls when white water rafting. This morning was the start of more of these feeling as Matt, Nathan and I had booked to do the Taupo Cliffhanger, a swing over a massive canyon that dropped you from very high up and swung you over the water. Nathan and I went first, and I was very nervous. Thankfully the 2 men in charge of the "swing" took great care in making sure we were attached to all the right ropes and securely fastened. This eased my nerves a little but as I looked down and around me I quickly began to question my sanity again. The man releasing the harness told us where the camera was to smile at and pointed Heidi to us so that we could smile for a last photo wit her. As we looked round to smile and wave at Heidi, the instructor let the harness go and we dropped unexpectedly towards the canyon. My stomach felt like it completely left my body and I was left unable to make any sound at all. Nathan, on the other hand, was screaming enough for the both if us as we fell towards the water. The first few seconds was free fall as we were not at the point where the rope was to hold us and swing us, but once the rope took our weight and we began to swing we took in the view and enjoyed ourselves as Nathan repeatedly exclaimed that he felt like a bird. 

Matt on the Taupo Cliffhanger

We then headed off to Wellington, the place where I would be spending my birthday! I loved the place as it was a big city with built up areas and there was a lot to do. We entered the hostel scared for our lives as we were greeted by rowdy guests who seemed to be less like backpackers and more like squatters and a very dark pool room with smashed windows. It all turned out to be fine though, and we met a very lovely girl from our room who we became good friends with. On the first night, we went to a pub to have a drink and played a lot of cards. We then walked down the main highstreet full of pubs, clubs and places to eat. We were approached by another very strange man who was also intoxicated (as they always are) and were left wondering what our night out for my birthday would be like in such a city. On the second day, we explored Cuba Street, the coolest street in Wellington, and Nathan and I both got tattoos (not matching ones!). I got a little paper plane near my heart to remind me of travelling, and Nathan got a tree with a DNA helix for the trunk. We then shopped for a dress for my birthday and planned what we would do for the night.

THE DAY OF MY BIRTH HAD ARRIVED!!! I skyped my parents and sisters in the morning, even though it wasn't my birthday yet in England, and walked into the 8 bed dorm that we were staying in where the others had blown up balloons, laid down a trail of sweets, and prepared a mini buffet of cakes for me. I opened the presents they gave me and popped open the bottle of champagne that they had bought. Needless to say that the poor man who was asleep in the dorm was not happy to have been woken up by Matt playing Sean Paul for me at 9 am as I entered the room and was even less amused at the shock he received when the cork from the champagne bottle almost hit him on his sleepy little head. He did not talk to us again other than to very happily say good bye to us when we left Wellington. We all went to The Crab Shack for lunch, which I was very happy about. I had a cocktail in a jam jar for my drink and a delicious meal. We then went ice skating on the outdoor ice skating rink by the harbour and skated for well over an hour and a half. I was enjoying myself very much by the time we had to leave, happy that I had not fallen over once and was doing laps without holding onto anything. It was also lovely to do out in the sunshine and the exercise kept us warm from the cold New Zealand breeze. We then went for a night out and moved around to a few different clubs during the night. I had a great time with Heidi, Matt and Nathan, but of course it was also a bit of a sad day because I was unable to be with my friends from home who I have spent all my other birthdays with. 

That was pretty much it for Wellington, and we took a 13 hour coach back to Auckland where we were flying to LA from. When we got to the airport, however, we were told that our connection flight to Fiji was going ahead, but that our flight to LA from Fiji was delayed. This meant that we were able to stay a night in Fiji, all expenses paid, with a free dinner and free room each. The hotel was very posh and I enjoyed the stay very much, even though the early flight change meant I hardly got any sleep. We did not get to see any of Fiji in the daylight, as we arrived and left in the dark, but admired what we could when we could. We were also greeted in Fiji by a band of banjo players singing in Fijian, which I wish happened everywhere we flew to. I got on the plane to LA very excited to be in the States. As Miley said, "I hopped off the plane at LAX, with my dream and my cardigan." ;)