New Zealand!

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog, but I have been crazy and it is really hard to find time to blog between long car rides, squishing in as many activities as I can and sleeping! Not to mention we have to pay for internet everywhere we go (and wait for available computers) which can be annoying. Also, I will try to post my pictures soon, but time is an issue, but also getting internet access on my own computer to upload pictures is difficult. I might have to wait until I'm in Dunedin in just over a week!

Anyway, I've done a TON of stuff since I last updated you all so I'll just get started!

To finish off my trip in Australia about 18 people from my tour went up to Cape Tribulation, which is a rainforest north of Cairns. We stayed at a really nice resort in the middle of the rainforest, had some tours, jumped in a couple croc free rivers, saw some cassowaries in the wild (third largest bird next to ostrich and emu and endangered species), and got rained on a lot! The rain kind of ruined my camera actually, but now everything is working except for the backlight on the screen - which is a little annoying but not bad since we have my parents' camera here now. After Cape Trib we went back to Cairns where I stayed for the night and for dinner on my last night in Australia I ate an "Aussie Special" which included kangeroo and crocodile!!! It was actually delicious! Kangeroo is like a very tender steak and crocodile is kind of like chewy chicken!

The next morning I got up at 3:45 am to fly to Auckland where I met up with my parents! I didn't really get to spend time in the city because we went straight to my parents' friends' cottage in Coromandel, but I'm sure I'll get the chance to go back! Coromandel was beautiful - the cottage had a beach view and was a 2 minute walk from the beach, which was absolutely gorgeous! It was also nice having my own room for once and eating some home cooked meals! In Coromandel we went on a hike to this beautiful beach that really reminded us of being in Bermuda - the water was such a nice colour! Later we went to a place called hot water beach - at low tide you can dig in the sand and find steaming hot water to bathe in because there is geothermal activity underneath the sand! It was very cool, but the sand could get REALLY hot so you had to be careful!

After Coromandel we drove to Roturua, where we went to a geothermal area and saw a bunch of volcanic pools or whatnot - they are all different colours and give off steam. Because of all the sulphur Roturua actually stinks like a ton of rotten eggs, which is kind of gross. We also went to the Agrodome where we saw a corny but fun sheep show (there are so many different types of sheep! Actually really cool if you like sheep at all...and for about 10 years of my life I had sheep wallpaper and a sheep themed bedroom (not my choice) but maybe it made me take an extra interest in sheep....okay I'll stop with the sheep. We also all rolled down a hill in a Zorb (big round blow up ball with water inside) which was hilarious and very fun. AND we went to a Maori (the natives here) Hangi (they cook traditional food in the ground and put on a reenactment show for you - which was actually CRAZY - they are such good actors...I actually can't even explain they do this crazy thing with their eyes and tongues and they're so serious the entire time! It was a big day.

The next day we went through the Waitimo glow worm caves in tubes. It was cool, but caves are scary really, and we saw an eel! Yikes. Then we drove for a ridiculous amount of time to get to Wellington at the bottom of the North Island. We drove 8 hours that day, which seems like a lot but it is VERY different from driving in Ontario!!! No straight roads - everything is very windy and cliffy, and narrowy, and slightly scary I won't lie. Seriously I though the roads were windy the first day, and then they got worse and I thought that was the worst, and then they got worse, and then they still got worse when I didn't think it was possible...now I know when it comes to New Zealand and windy roads anything is possible!!!!!

Moving on from the roads...from Wellington we went across to the South Island on a very scenic 3 hour ferry ride to Picton. From there we drove to Nelson - which was a very scenic drive - we got out to hike and take pictures a couple times but it was also THE MOST WINDY! It was crazy actually. Nelson is really nice though - we are staying at a really cute B&B and the restaurants both nights have been delicious! Yummy in my tummy. Today we got up early to go on a sea kayaking/ hiking trip in Abel Tasman Park, which was absolutely gorgeous! It was a beautiful, hot day which made it even better. We kayaked to this island that had sea lions and penguin-like birds (they were like penguins but they can fly...so pretty much better than penguins), then we kayaked to a beach and "sailed part of the way (held our boats together and put up a sail with our paddles) which was really cool. We landed at beautiful beach, had lunch there and then went on a 2 &1/2 hour hike!!!! Yikes - it was cool though....and I did it in bare feet!!! Which may sound a little weird but 1. The other option was flipflops which aren't fun to hike in 2. Hobbits walked in bare feet 3. Apparently some students in Dunedin go to class in bare feet so I'm getting good practice 3. New Zealand doesn't have snakes!!! (so great) so no worries there 4. Our guide walked in bare feet so when in the land of sheep do as the kiwis do! Seriously, it kind of hurt though. The hike was awesome though - our tour guide was really enthusiastic and we learned that 80% of animals and plants in NZ are unique to NZ, which I thought was pretty crazy. You bio kids would absolutely go nuts here for sure!

So that is pretty much everything I have to report - I hope it makes up for the lack of it during the past little while! I'll just end off with a couple lists.

What I know about NZ so far:
1. GORGEOUS
2. You think of sheep when you think of nz but they actually have a lot of cows too
3. SHEEP
4. no snakes
5. not really any bugs!!! This is awesome - there aren't really mosquitoes or any of the crazy insects they have in Australia - there are insects but they generally don't bother you
6. Maori used to be cannibalistic
7. WINDY ROADS - I know I've said this but I don't know if you realize the extent of it

What I know about Dunedin so far:
1. According to every kiwi I've talked to Otago is known as the crazy party school...baha
2. Dunedin has the steepest street in the world!!!! Apparently someone died trying to roll down it in a barrel, which is sad so I will stay outside of barrels when I visit it
3. Dunedin has a sketchy student ghetto!!!! I will feel so at home coming from Queen's!!!!
4. Good surfing...and I know how to surf now!!!!! sort of...yay!
5. PENGUINS

Okay, one last thing I forgot to mention - I had my first bad icecream experience...I never though icecream could be ruined, but it was in a sad sad small town on the way to Roturua. It was a sad day. I ordered "gone fishing" (chocolate icecream with fish shaped chocolate) and so did my dad. It was actually so gross we threw it out. Sad. I'm pretty sure it was between 5 and 10 years old though...it tasted powdery...hopefully it won't turn me off icecream forever...baha no it definitely won't but still it was a major event in my life that needed to be reported.

That is all for now! Love you all!