Our last leg of our journey was in New Zealand! I was pumped. We weren't sure if we should go because of our limited time and the fact that there is so much to do in NZ, but I knew that I would regret not going while here in Australia and there wouldn't be time besides this trip. So we went!
Like I mentioned before Thursday was travel day. And our hostel was just funny. I slept terribly that first night just because you can hear literally everything on the entire floor...
Friday, July 11 - We woke up really early to catch our shuttle pick up for our tour. We absolutely did not want a repeat of what happened for the Blue Mountains haha. So we got picked up and while it was still dark outside started our drive. Our driver was very knowledgeable about everything under the sun, but as a result he really liked to talk haha and since I didn't sleep much the night before I fell asleep a few times during the first leg of the trip. It was awesome though because we drove through Hamilton and it was like something inside of me suddenly woke up when the driver started talking about Temple Hill, and then there was the Hamilton Temple! Sweeeet! I was meant to wake up so I could see it! We couldn't get great pictures because we were moving, but that's ok. The first stop we made was at the Waitomo caves. These are some underground caves where thousands of glowworms live! That was way cool to take a little boat on the river down there and just float under the glowworms. Following this we went to the Agrodome where we saw a sheep get sheared and many other animals. I'm glad I wore my beanie and boots because it was raining and I got to walk around in some mud! Finally we drove to Te Puia where we saw a Maori cultural presentation (the Haka?? MY FAVORITE THING). Then we saw the geyser, some bubbling mud pool, and some other cultural things. Pretty cool stuff. The day consisted of lots of bus time but it was beautiful scenery! New Zealand is very green.
New Zealand sunrise
Hamilton temple
Glowworm caves!
Feeding some sheep.
Ba ba black sheep?
Maori presentation
Geyser
Saturday, July 12 - We didn't have any solid plans for today. It was kind of a bad thing because we weren't really sure what to do. I really wanted to go somewhere out of Auckland and see more scenery, but the weather wasn't fantastic and we didn't want to rent a car and get stuck in a storm when we didn't know the area at all. So we mostly just walked around a lot today. We walked over by Auckland University, went to an art gallery, ate lunch at the top of the space needle (which was AWESOME! delicious food and great view on top of the clouds), then we walked around some more and decided to see a movie because the weather was unpredictable, and hey, we love movies! We saw Jersey Boys and it was pretty good. Popcorn tastes pretty delicious in New Zealand as well!!!
NZ national bird is the kiwi.
Auckland
I love taking pictures of churches.
Walking around.
University clock tower...this one definitely beats BYU.
Eating lunch with our 360 degree dining experience!
Sunday, July 13 - Today was our last day of vacation. We didn't fly out until evening, so we went exploring more. We were going to take a ferry ride out to a volcano island, but the timing didn't work out for when we needed to be back by. So instead we took a bus to Mt. Eden and climbed to the top of that for some more pretty views of the city and some more exercise! It's been funny, on this trip waiting for public transportation it makes me feel like a missionary again because we spent so much time doing that...waiting...waiting...waiting for the bus to come. Got to share some of that experience with my mom on this trip haha. After Mt. Eden we had to go to the airport and say our goodbyes for another couple of months. I'm really happy Mom came to visit me and that we got to travel around together and have lots of adventures together! You always see the highs and lows of someone while traveling because of different situations that arise. I'm glad my mom gets me and that she loves me despite my imperfections! :)
Walking up to Mt. Eden
View from the top. Mt. Eden is the highest natural point in the city.
Obviously some people cannot read signs...
Hahaha
So long New Zealand!
I was sad to not have more time in New Zealand or that it was not the summer. If I ever come back I will definitely go to the South Island and maybe do some Lord of the Rings tour stuff haha. But all in all I had a wonderful trip over there.
The whole trip was awesome. It had its ups and downs, but I am so happy I was finally able to see more of Australia and be able to do touristy things that I had been wanting to do. It was a very full 2 weeks!! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment