Visit from a familiar face!

Even though I was a little bummed my south island trip was so short, I was so excited to get back to Auckland and see Kurtis! For those of you who are reading who don't know, Kurtis goes to UW-L with me and is studying abroad in Perth, Australia (also through AustraLearn). He was flying into the Auckland airport around 4pm, and I told him I would wait for him since I was supposed to be getting in around 11am. Well when I got to the Christchurch airport on Monday morning, I was surprised to find out that my flight was delayed because of the fog. About an hour later, my flight ended up getting cancelled. As I was waiting in line at the service counter to re-schedule, a man was coming around asking us where we were heading and update us on the status of the flights. When I told him I needed to get to Auckland, he said all the seats were filled for the day and that I would have to find somewhere to stay for the night. That was the first time during my whole trip that I started to panic a little. Kurtis and I had been trying (and failing) at getting eachothers' phone numbers to work, my phone was dying, and I didn't know what flight he was on. But when I finally reached the service desk, they immediately set me up on an 11am flight which would be leaving in about a half hour! So I made it to Auckland around 1:00 all calm, cool, and collected :) While waiting for Kurtis, I found a new hobby. Sitting at the arrival gate of an international airport. Seeing people anxiously await the arrival of their loved ones and then witnessing both their reaction and that of their friend/lover/family member literally brought me to tears almost everytime. I don't even get that choked up in sad movies!! Anyways....Kurtis finally stepped into the arrival gate around 5:15, and we headed back to the city, swapping stories and catching up during the 45 minute bus ride. Reuniting with the friends I met here next week when we all get back from break will be awesome, but seeing a friend all the way from home that you've known for a few years now and being with them in a different country is such a comforting feeling! Kurtis had previously told me 3 things he wanted to do when he was in Auckland. Eat at MexiCali, go to Minus 5 bar, and go whale watching. We did the first two of those within the first couple hours he was in town.

Minus 5 is more of an attraction than it is a bar. It's completely made of ice, and with your entry ticket, you get a "free" vodka drink served in a glass made of ice. It was pretty cool inside, and a fun place to chill...teeheehee :) They give you jackets and gloves to wear, but because of the freezing temps, you're only allowed to stay in there for a half hour. We also weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the bar, which was lame because they could take a picture of you and then you have to pay $25 for one pic! So we just took a couple through the windows once we were outside. The rest of the night, I took him around to a couple local bars and pubs that I go to, and started talking about plans for the rest of his stay.

The next morning, we went to K-Road for an uber yummy and cheap breakfast (belgian waffles with fruit and ice cream on top!) From there, I had to take him to the Domain and show him some of the crazy trees that I love so much.

Around noon, we headed down to the harbor to jump on the catamaran to go whale and dolphin watching!! It was a beautiful, sunny day out and the captain was a riot, which made the 2 hr ride out to sea pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, we never saw any whales, but we did get to see heaps of dolphins!! We also were boating around the EAC for awhile, which I thought was pretty cool.



Once we were back on shore in Auckland, we tried finding a rental car because we decided we wanted to take a road trip to Lake Taupo. We stopped in a travel agency, and asked what they could do for us. The lady told us we would be wasting our time on going to Taupo because there wasn't much to do there, and that we should go to Rotorua instead. I told her I had already been there, but I would also be willing to go back with Kurtis. She gave us tons of brochures on all sorts of other things to do in Rotorua and booked a car for us to pick up the next morning. The rest of the night, we spent planning the trip with my friend Elza who would be joining us on our adventures!

We had an early start to our day, and headed down to pick up the rental car...and hoping it wasn't a manual. Sure enough, it was, and since Elza's the only one who knows how to drive manual but refused to drive since she just got her license right before she came to NZ, we asked if they had any automatics. Luckily, they did and after purchasing some insurance, we were off. The car was in my name, and I said I'd be the only one driving, just to save time and paperwork. It didn't take more than a minute and 2 streets before I almost got us in an accident. After that, all was good and I quickly adjusted to the whole driving on the left side thing :) Also in the car with us was my friend, Sherri who we were taking to her house a couple hours away, and her friend Casey, who is actually from Montana. Even though it wasn't my home, it felt great to be in someone's home. I could relate to that "ahhh i'm home" feeling that I'm sure Sherri had when she stepped inside to find a half eaten rabbit that her cat had left for her. We didn't stay long, and Sherri wanted to take us to the gorge by her house where you can jump off a cliff into water. Elza, Kurtis, nor I wanted to jump considering we had another 2+ hrs of driving and we didn't want to be cold and wet for it. So Sherri jumped right away, and then it was Casey's turn....

Ha, considering he has the whole macho rugby player look going for him, it was obvious how nervous he was for it considering he kept walking up over the edge, then walking back, and so on and so forth. A couple older folks were across the river on the other side harassing him to jump and telling him to stop being a chicken. But it took a good 10 minutes, and then Kurtis just spontaneously jumping in, for him to say "Well now I have to do it"...and he did.

On the road again, and I was so glad Kurtis was a great navigator because I had some difficulties with some of the back to back roundabouts. Some old guy gave me some unpleasant looks and words...but Kurtis said it didn't count because he was toothless. We finally made it to our hostel around 3:30, where I had booked us for a night stay at Kiwi-Paka! It was actually kinda nice to be back there, even though it didn't seem nearly as long as 2 months since I was there last with the whole AustraLearn clan! We went into town to have a little meal at Nando's, and then headed back to get ready for a Maori village performance and hangi dinner. We went to a different one than the first one that I went to, and it was interesting to notice the differences between the two. We learned more in this one, as they explained things during the performance, but the first one seemed more authentic and they took it more seriously. I did enjoy the food at this one more though!

A traditional Maori hangi is prepared by digging a hole in the ground, making a fire in the hole, placing stones in the pit, then placing covered baskets of food on top to cook for several hours.

Once we came back, we just layed in our room and talked all night. We had a four person room, but we were lucky enough to be the only ones there for the night.

On Thursday, I woke up before the other two and drove to the store to get some stuff to make breakfast. When I got back, Kurtis and I made some delicious french toast with yogurt and bananas on top. While checking out, we talked with the reception lady who was incredibly helpful and friendly. She booked us a tour at the Wai-o-Tapu thermal wonderland which was about a half hour away and was a place to see the geothermic activity up close. It was there that we lost Elza for a few hours, who somehow managed to sneak in without her ticket while Kurtis and I were buying jade for eachother. I tell ya, those Latvians are pretty illusive. After realizing that there was no way for her to leave without us, Kurtis and I wandered through the set paths, and were amazed at some of the things we saw.


We were at the very end of the tour, when Elza jumped behind us, and we were all relieved to see eachother. From there, we headed down to Taupo so Kurtis and I could tandem bungy jump!!! It took us about 45 minutes, and we first stopped along the Waikato River to see the well-visited Huka Falls, which is a glorious blue color and quite a violent looking current.

From there, we found our way to the bungy site and it was kind of funny, because as soon as they gave us the forms to fill out, Kurtis and I both hesitated a little before signing our lives away. But we signed it, and got our tickets and then anxiously waited in line to watch others throw themselves off a ledge into the Waikato River. It was pretty chilly that day, and part of me really didn't want to touch the water, but I figured I wouldn't get this opportunity again anytime soon, so we decided to get wet. (Taupo Bungy is NZ's highest water touch). For some reason, I was thinking it would be less scary because I was hanging on to someone. WRONG! It was so much more terrifying in the day light...with your eyes open...seeing the water get closer and closer. But it was AMAZING at the same time!! And I am officially a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie :) After that, we headed back to Auckland and I was relieved of driving duties, as Kurtis wanted a shot behind the wheel. We got back pretty late, and Kurtis' flight left at 8:50 the next morning, so we didn't do much of anything before calling it a night. I was telling him that I wish he had more time here because he didn't get to see nearly any of the amazing and beautiful places that I've seen so far, but he assured me that he really had a great time and had already fallen in love with New Zealand!

bungy jumping with school spirit :)

So another successful adventure down, and now I'm packing yet again for the last part of my break. Tomorrow, I head off to Sydney to visit another UW-L friend studying abroad, meet up with some friends from high school who have been studying in Wellington for a year now, and also explore some of the city with a friend I met on my first trip to Rotorua, who's also studying in Wellington!! As excited as I am though, I'm almost just as excited to come back next week and see everyone and hear their stories...and not live out of my backpack for awhile! Other than that, no compaints and I'm just a happy girl having the time of my life :) Much Love!!!