Rotorua and Auckland

Rotorua. Definitely one of my favorite places in New Zealand. Eoin and I were fortunate enough to get to visit this place three times. Our third visit was with Mike, and was very enjoyable. No visit to Rotorua is complete without Zorbing, and we all went rolling down the 200 meter hill. For those of you who don't know what Zorbing is, imagine being inside a hamster ball with warm water that is rolling down a hill. Super fun! Mike and Eoin each went seperately and then Eoin went again with me. I am a bit of a wuss (if you didn't know) and did not want to go Zorbing by myself. We also went luging in Rotorua. Just like in Queenstown, there is a skyline gondola with a luge run at the top. Unlike Queenstown, the tracks are much longer (2 km I believe) and there are more to choose from.

We definitely took advantage of all that we could while in Rotorua. My favorite part of our time in Rotorua this time was Mitai Village. Mitai Village is a reconstructed Maori Village that gives tours during the day and at night gives guided walks, hangi (a traditional meal cooked in the ground), and a cultural show.The hangi was chicken, lamb, potatoes, kumara and stuffing that is placed in the ground over hot rocks and covered with blankets and left to cook for three hours. It was delicious! While we waiting for the hangi to finish cooking, though, we watched a show about the Maori culture. We saw several examples of how Maori warriors trained for battle and used weapons. They also sang us several songs, and did a very impressive haka. A haka is a chant usually done before battle to intimidate the opposing side. The All Blacks do a haka during their rugby games. If you have time, look it up on YouTube...very cool stuff!After dinner (which was amazing!) and dessert (which was also amazing!) we went for a brief night walk through the village and saw some glow worms and eels. Ooooooo!

The next day I had a migraine, which was no good. So, unfortunately we didn't do too much exciting until later in the afternoon. We went to Waikite Hot Pools which is a place we had gone before. It is a bunch of hot tubs and pools that are filled with natural hot spring water. For $12, you can relax in hot pools with amazing views all around you. I enjoyed relaxing and Eoin enjoyed pretending he was stranded in the ocean and hung onto the decorative rocks for dear life.

If you ever find yourself in Rotorua and don't know what to do...Zorb, Luge, visit some mud pools and go to Mitai Village. You will not regret it.

After our time in Rotorua, we headed to Auckland. While there we didn't do too much as our funds were running low and Mike was headed home. We did get to go to the Auckland Museum which was pretty interesting but not as impressive as Te Papa. We also saw Wolverwine! Amazing! The cool thing about seeing Wolverine was that large portions of it were filmed in and around Queenstown. Eoin and I recognized a few places and that was really neat. This entry is really rushed, but that's mostly because we leave for Fiji in two days and I wanted to make sure I didn't leave you all hanging!

Right now we are in Whangarei (pronounced: fawn-guh-ray). It's not very impressive and there isn't anything to do. The job situation is looking pretty grim, and while I have applied to about 6 places I haven't heard back from anyone (except Glassons and they turned me down! Jerks!). So I don't know what the situation will be when we get back from our holiday in Fiji, but I will keep you posted!

Next update...Fiji!!!

Eoin's Dad visits and we walk the Routeburn Track

It's funny how I can go weeks without anything exciting to update about and then all of a sudden have so much to say. I feel slightly disorganised with this blog entry so bear with me, please. I have a feeling this will be quite a long entry.

Eoin's dad arrived in Queenstown on March 11th (Wednesday). Thursday and Friday are my days off, so the three of us did some touristy things together. On Thursday we did the Lord of the Rings safari tour in Glenorchy. I am not a huge LOTR fan so it was mostly just some nice scenery that I was looking at. We stopped in a few places that were important for the film, though. We saw where the cast and crew met every morning for make-up/costumes/food as well as the spot the elephant battle began. I think Eoin got more out of it than either David or I, but I can't say that he was particularly impressed with the tour either. After the tour, we did some grocery shopping and went home to make some delicious fajitas. Amazing.

On Friday we hopped on the TSS Earnslaw (the boat I also went on with my mom) and cruised over to Walter Peak Station. Walter Peak used to be a working farm with sheep, cows, and deer and is now a tourist attraction. We had a barbecue lunch, which was amazing (and worked out to be only about 10 dollars with our locals discount!) and saw a sheep herding and shearing presentation. The rest of the week I had to work, but I did manage to get up to the luge one last time with Eoin and David.

Here I am posing with a sheep!

All in all, Eoin and I definitely enjoyed eating at restaurants and having astronomical amounts of food in the flat. We don't need to go grocery shopping for the rest of our time in Queenstown (except for little things of course but really, that doesn't count!).

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The start of the Routeburn Track

For the past three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) Eoin and I have been out in the Aspiring National Park and Fiordland National Park hiking the Routeburn. Putting it nicely, I was not excited at all about this trip. I am so un-outdoorsy its not even funny. I sucked it up (eventually) and trudged along for 3 days in the alpines of New Zealand. It was a lot easier than the Tongariro Crossing, but there were still some steep sections and lots of narrow paths with long drop offs if you miss stepped. The scenery was amazing- rugged mountains with glaciers, waterfalls and moss covered trees all around.

Walking on the track. Day two.

We averaged about 4-5 hours of walking each day with water breaks and lunch thrown in. We spent the nights at huts situated along the trail. Our first night we each had our own bunk on a bunk bed. The second night we shared a platform with two other people. It's a bit odd but there was enough space that it wasn't too awkward. We were in bed by 9:30 at the latest each night, and on the trails by 9:00 AM each morning.

Not a very attractive picture, but this is me walking along the waterfall.

As much as I hate (and I do mean hate) hiking the Routeburn wasn't that bad. My legs are definitely sore today, and my feet are a bit tired but I had an "okay" time. (I am not saying I had "fun" though haha).

One thing I noticed on the hike, though, is the vast difference between Americans and people from other countries. While on the hike, there was a group of four Americans, roughly our age that were staying at the same hut as us. They were talking rather loudly and I overheard them talking about how the hike the next day was "only" 10 miles and that one of the girls could "run that in an hour". They planned to finish by noon the following day, and wanted to be the fastest ones on the track. They were complaining that the trail wasn't challenging enough and it was too easy.

Meanwhile, while they were rushing through the Routeburn, everyone else was going at a nice slow pace, enjoying the outdoors, taking in the scenery and having a good time with their friends. No other place I have been as had such competitive people as the Americans. It's not about finishing the quickest, or being first. It's about the overall experience. If you can run a mile in 6 minutes, that's great, but did you look around while you were running? Did you have fun? Did you take it all in? If you can run a mile in 10 minutes I bet you see more than the person who ran it in 6. Being fast, first or the "best" does not make you a better person. In fact, I felt embarrassed by the group of Americans in the hut. I feel that people everywhere get the impression that we ( Americans) are "too good" for them. We aren't. We just like to think we are better.

I could go on and on about this, and maybe its "anti-American" (which is a stupid term anyway), but no other country, that I have been to, parades their patriotism as extremely as we do.

Alright, enough babbling. I need to get showered and dressed and off to work. Today is Otago Day (which is somewhat like Independence Day but on a smaller scale and only in the Otago County) so I get paid time and a half!

Miss you all!