THE BIG NZ - PART 1

wow, i can't believe i got home from new zealand nearly 3 months ago! egad! sorry for the lag on the trip recap. i came back with more than 1000 photos to sift through, plus blogger was giving me all kinds of formatting problems, so composing the post took forever. (sorry for the weird spacing, etc.)

but, better late than never, right? so without further delay, here we go...

- DAY 1 -

i left lax at 8 pm on wednesday, december 26th and 13 hours later, i arrived in auckland just before 6 am on friday, the 28th.


i got a shuttle into the center of town and after a trip to starbucks i was on my way, suitcase and all, to go canyoning in the blue canyon, an hour out of town. it was by far one of my favorite adventures...

that evening, i met my aussie friend anna at our apartment rental for the week. we dumped our stuff and after some very excited hellos, we made a run for dinner and hit the sack early so we could stock up on sleep... since we figured we'd get none for the remainder of the trip.

- DAY 2 -

today, we rented a car and hit the road to see the view of the city from one tree hill...

we picked up a little history at the howick historical village...

and then we headed out to woodhill forest, near the tasman sea, to ride some quads....

- Day 3 -

today we walked over to the huge city park called auckland domain to visit the auckland museum to see the maori cultural performance...

- Day 4 -

today was new year's eve. woohoo! we started the day with a sail around auckland harbour...

and later, i made my first bungy off the harbour bridge. we were the last group of 2007 to jump, and apparently a very rare all female group as well. (see previous post for all bungy and canyon swing videos.) i was first to jump...

that night, we set out to ring in the new year in style, so we hit the clubs and watched fireworks shoot from the skytower. hello 2008!!!

- Day 5 -

on new year's day we headed down to the waterfront to explore the new zealand national maritime museum. we got free tickets with our sail the day before. it was... uhh... interesting...

we spent the rest of the day trying to wake back up after the museum, so we wandered the city, shopped for souvenirs, and took lame touristy photos...

- Day 6 -

this was our last full day in the auckland area, so, we elected to hitch a ferry over to one of the islands and explore the vineyards of waiheke island...

3 wineries and an olive oil shop later, we headed back across the bay to prepare for our dinner at the top of the skytower. we actually nearly skipped the trip up the skytower all together. originally, we had planned to do the skyjump, a cable-guided leap off the top of the tower. but once we saw it, we weren't that impressed... certainly not $195 worth of impressed.

luckily, we found out later that although a roundtrip ticket to the top costs $25, you can book a reservation at orbit, which gets you to the top for free, and you just have to spend $30 per person on dinner. the food was fabulous, priced reasonably and provided you with a 360 view of auckland for a couple hours.

we considered ourselves pretty lucky that we stumbled onto that dinner opportunity. it was one our best memories from the trip!

- Day 7 -

today we packed up our stuff, bid farewell to our beloved apartment and hopped on a bus (headed to the bay of islands) with 48 other happy travelers.

auckland even thanked us on our way out...

on our way to the northern end of the north island of nz, we stopped briefly for a quick walk through the parry kauri forest so we could admire the great kauri tree.

back on the bus, we got to know the group a little better and worked out our timeline for the first few days of the trip. we rolled into the city of paihia later in the afternoon. we dumped our gear at the hotel and headed to the marina for a jetboat ride to the hole in the rock.

that night , the majority of the group herded into a local club where we got to know each other a little better and danced the night away.

- Day 8 -

today, anna and i reluctantly spent the day apart, since i was heading out on the water for the day with sail nz, and she preferred to hang out on land. it did, however, give me a good opportunity to get to know some of the great people on my tour better.

we spent the first half of the day on a dolphin watching boat and cruised the harbor looking for a group to swim with. they have a rule that you can't swim with them if there is a baby in the pod (for various reasons). good rule, i think. so... no swimming with dolphins, but lots of good photo ops (although capturing jumping dolphins on film can be challenging)...

midday, we swapped over to a catamaran and headed for the beach. we kayaked and played in the sand while the crew cooked up lunch. after eating, we took the catamaran out for a sail.

it was a wonderful day, and the fun wasn't over yet. reunited with anna, we headed out for dinner, where she and i won a free drink for kicking off the karaoke. woohoo! and we even ran into a pack of my own kind...

a few drinks with the skydivers later, anna and i split from the group and headed to the club we were at the night before where one of her favorite nz bands (the exponents) was playing. (unbelievable luck!) it was our last night together, so we made the most of it!

- Day 9 -

having a long bus ride and a tearful farewell with anna ahead of me, i was not excited about this day. we had a smooth ride back to auckland where we took one final photo together with our tour mascot (barbs, the blow up sheep... don't ask) and said a very sad goodbye to one another.

back on the bus, i wiped my tears and tried to focus on the fun ahead. no time to rest, there was blackwater rafting in my future. we pulled into waitomo late in the afternoon, got checked in to our hostel and headed to the caves (with inner tubes in hand) to go see some glow worms.

- Day 10 -

up early and on the bus, we headed out for a big day in rotorua. we started off at the agrodome sheep show...

then, those of us wanting to roll down a hill in a giant hampster ball called a zorb did so...

then we road the skyline gandolas up to the top of mount ngongotaha and luged down the side of the mountain...

we continued our day at the te puia cultural center to check out some maori arts and crafts and the thermal pools...

the day isn't over yet... we checked into our hotel and got ready for our traditional maori feast (hangi) and cultural performance, which was held in the very sacred, errr, conveniently located ballroom of our hotel...

after the show, we spent the rest of the evening enjoying the very stinky, but very soothing hot springs at the polynesian spa next to our hotel.

*** HALF WAY DONE! - TO BE CONTINUED ***