New Zealand trip, day 9: Surf Highway with the Germans

Sunday, October 9

Julia works with a couple girls from Germany who wanted to do a day trip and invited Julia and two of her flatmates to join them. (Side note: I think the term "flatmates" makes so much more sense than "roommates." Unless you actually share a room with your roommates, they're really housemates or apartmentmates . . . a.k.a., flatmates. Why do we just use the term "roommates" in the States?) And Julia picked Josh and me to go with her!

                                          

Caroline and Stefanie bought a car here, so they have a little more freedom when it comes to travelling. They were excited about driving down Surf Highway 45, and we were just along for the ride, so we were cool with whatever. The Surf Highway stretches for 105 km (65 miles) south of New Plymouth, around a bump in the coastline created by Mt. Taranaki (map). Contrary to what the name might suggest, it actually winds through farmlands much more than it trails along the coast. But there are frequent brown signs that say something like "Surf Beach" or "Scenic Lookout" and point toward the coast. So our basic mode of operation was to drive along through the farmlands until we saw a brown sign, then follow the brown sign, get out and walk around the beach, then pile back into the car and hop back on the highway. It was a lot of fun! We took jumping pictures on one beach, picnicked on another, played Frisbee on yet another, and took pictures on/of all of them. At the place labeled "Scenic Lookout," we could look down and see waves coming in from multiple directions and colliding with each other. As in, waves from one direction would be perpendicular to waves from another direction. It looked bizarre but really cool!

On the way home, we took an alternate route around the other side of Mt. Taranaki. Then we filled up the tank, settled up on petrol (that's what they call gas here) money, and the Germans dropped us off at the house. We've spent the evening eating and chilling with the flatmates, and we've got a load of laundry going so we can pack up and head out of New Plymouth tomorrow morning.

New Zealand trip, days 7 and 8: New Plymouth

Friday, October 7

Today we just hung out in New Plymouth, did laundry, processed pictures from the trip, etc. I took over 450 pictures on the trip to the Bay of Plenty, so just touching them up and slapping a border on them in Photoshop is taking a long time!

                       

At some point in the afternoon, Josh and I set out for a walking tour of New Plymouth. It's what we had planned to do on Monday before leaving for the Bay of Plenty, but the rain encouraged us to make bread instead. New Plymouth is a cute little town on the coast. And it has some gorgeous parks. About halfway to town, we ran into Julia who was coming home from work, so she joined us for the rest of the outing. When we got into town, we walked up and down Devon Street--most of the shops and things are on Devon Street, and I read somewhere that Devon Street is the longest main street in the North Island (possibly all of NZ--I don't remember). Along the way, we stopped in a bakery because Julia was hungry, and I got a bottled lemon, lime and bitters. Growing up, we used to have these drinks semi-regularly, but I had never seen or drunk the bottled version. It was okay--reminiscent of the LL&B we drank in PNG (or made at home in the States), but kinda just tasted like Sprite.

We took the long way back to the house and went through a substantial park. If my home city was half as pretty as New Plymouth, I think I would be much healthier because I would want to walk around outside a LOT. Highlights of the park:

The magical waterfall starting to flow again
after I pushed the button.

• The Fernery - Basically a large greenhouse with every kind of NZ fern and flower imaginable. There were multiple levels (maybe only two, but it felt like more), lots of rooms, and fountains with dry ice smoke. Extremely serene and lush. Because the floor was covered in wood chips, it smelled a little bit like we were in a huge (clean) hamster cage. I went a little crazy with picture-taking.
• The Waterfall - When we approached the waterfall, there was water falling from it . . . because that's what waterfalls do. Then a nice man came up and talked with us for a few minutes. Then Josh pointed out that there was less and less water coming down the waterfall. The fall is obviously human-made, so I just assumed they only had the water on during certain times of the day, and it was late enough in the day that it was time to turn it off. It seemed weird, but whatever. But no! It's not just on until a certain time of day. There's a button. A magical button. And when you push it, the waterfall turns back on! It's kind of amazing, really. I mean, where besides New Plymouth could you have the power to turn on a waterfall?

Our evening was pretty relaxed. We made pasta and roasted veggies for dinner and watched a few episodes of Community, which I had never seen but am a little hooked on now.

Saturday, October 8

Today was another low-key day. Julia and I walked in to town to go to the farmer's market that they have every Saturday. We met up with Josh who came from teaching an RPM class, and shopped together for fruits, veggies, eggs, and pita bread. People in New Zealand don't refrigerate their eggs. It's kinda weird, but obviously okay. Then we walked back to the house.

It's interesting to see reactions to rain in various locations. Back home, if it even so much as sprinkles, people break out their umbrellas and sprint from point A to point B, so as not to mess up their hair or get wet. Here, you just kinda deal with it. When it rained on us on the way to the farmer's market, Julia and I did pull out my umbrella because it was raining medium hard. But when we got a light rain on the way back, none of us even bothered getting out our rain gear. It just wasn't a big deal.

Next, Josh and I rode "our" (his and Julia's) bikes up the Coastal Walkway. It's been five years since the last time I rode a bike, so it was a little unnerving to hop back on one and promptly ride through town--on the streets--up hills--to get to the walkway. The Coastal Walkway is exactly what it sounds like it would be. It's a 10 km-long walkway winding up the coast of/near New Plymouth. We passed walkers, skateboarders, parents pushing strollers, children on tricycles, and fellow cyclists. Toward the beginning, it rained on us, but we pressed on and rode all the way to the end and back. And about a third of the way into the excursion, the sun came back out to play. As with everything else we've done here, the view was stunning. Toward the beginning, the sky was gray and the sea bluish-gray and rocky. When the sun came back out, the sky got a little bluer, and the sea a little sparklier. By the end of the ride, my legs were dying but, like everything else we've done, the experience was totally worth the physical discomfort.

In the evening, all the roomies went into town to watch the Irish/Wales game (Rugby World Cup) while I stayed home and enjoyed having the house to myself. There's a takeaway place just around the corner from the Cat Biscuit house, and rumor has it that their fish and chips are the best in town. How convenient! So I called in my order, hobbled down to the corner, and picked up my first ever fish and chips. I also got a crab stick because it sounded interesting. The meal was excellent and included so much food that I couldn't finish it all.

Next week, Josh and I are going to travel some more around the North Island, ending up in Auckland for my return flight on Saturday. So I spent part of the evening looking for Lord of the Rings locations we could potentially visit. What I was most excited about was visiting Hobbiton since they still have much of the set and props set up. But the tour of the set is closed until some time in November, so it's not worth going there just to look at the active sheep farm and go to the Shires Cafe. At this point, it looks like we'll spend some time in Wellington (there are a number of LOTRish things there, and it's the capital so should be cool), then go up north to the area north of Auckland (Josh has heard it's really pretty up there). From my Googling this evening, I discovered that the mountains we saw from Taupo included Mt. Ngauruhoe which starred as Mt. Doom in LOTR. Who knew!?

And that's it for days 7 and 8. I have a lot of pictures from days 6-8 (including video of the boiling mud), but internet restrictions make 2:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. the prime time to upload pictures, and that just hasn't worked well for me. So stay tuned. Pictures will be coming eventually!

New Zealand trip, day 6: Elusive penguins, non-elusive blueberries, boiling mud, and home

Thursday, October 6

Today was the last day of our trip to the Bay of Plenty, so we were sure to pack in as many fun activities as possible along the 6-ish-hour drive home to New Plymouth. First we had peanut butter honey oatmeal again, took some coin-operated showers, broke camp, and bid Matata farewell.

Colby and I are a little obsessed with penguins, and I shared with the group that some friends of mine had seen penguins during their stay in Tauranga last summer. So we pulled out The Lonely Planet book last night and searched for a place near Tauranga where they might have gone to see the penguins. The most promising entry was for Whakatane Beach, which promised 25,000+ dolphins as well as a lot of kinds of birds, including little blue penguins. Sadly, The Lonely Planet led us astray, and there were no penguins or dolphins, but the beach was quite lovely. And we found Gandalf the Grey's staff! Best. Driftwood. Ever.

Hiking out on the jetty at Whakatane.

Josh with Gandalf's staff.

While not seeing penguins at Whakatane, we asked some locals about the penguins, and they said we needed to go to Pukehina. But Pukehina was too far out of the way, so we had to satisfy ourselves with Gandalf's staff in lieu of little blue penguins.

After a quick  lunch, we went out in search of blueberries. This time, fortunately, we were successful! We visited Mamaku Blue, a blueberry farm and winery. Remember the Huka Honey Hive from a few days ago? Well, Mamaku Blue is the Huka Honey Hive of blueberries. They had blueberry chocolates, blueberry wines, pure blueberry juice, blueberry (and gooseberry) jams and chutneys, blueberry bath products . . . you name it! Like the Honey Hive, there were lots of free samples--my favorites were the blueberry and gooseberry chutneys. I also purchased blueberry ice cream in a waffle cone. It was basically vanilla ice cream with frozen (farmed there, of course!) blueberries stirred/mashed in. Simple and amazing!

Next on our itinerary: the Wai-O-Tapu Mud Pool. Have you ever seen boiling mud? I certainly hadn't until today. The Wai-O-Tapu website has this to say about the Mud Pool:

This was the site of a large mud volcano which was destroyed through erosion in the 1920′s. It now represents one of the best opportunities to experience the unique character and sounds of erupting mud in New Zealand where the activity is always guaranteed.

The best words I can think of to describe the Mud Pool are "weird," "fascinating," and "smelly." There were several vantage points that overlooked a large pool of boiling mud. The mud didn't boil as rapidly as water usually does, but there were constantly numerous bubbles surfacing and plck-ing all over the pool. And, of course, there was a steady stream of sulfuric steam rising from the mud. One of the prettiest features of the pool was the surrounding foliage. Over time, enough mud had splattered so that ferns and branches were painted a light gray--almost white. Even though it was mud that they were covered in, they looked so delicate.

When we had satisfied ourselves with the number of photos and videos we had taken, we hopped back in the van and headed home to New Plymouth. From Wai-O-Tapu, we didn't really stop except for dinner, because we didn't want to get back super late. Here's a map of our basic route today.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip, with lovely people and a variety of fun activities!

New Zealand trip, day 5: Mt. Maunganui

Wednesday, October 5

(I just noticed that the day of my trip matches the day of the month. As in, today is day 5 of the trip, and it's October 5. That makes me really happy.)

This morning marked another first: I used a coin-operated shower! Our camp grounds are equipped with exactly one shower, and it costs 50 cents for 7 minutes. It involves quite a bit of strategy. First, because you only have 7 minutes. Second, because the coin box is around the corner from the shower, your time starts as soon as you drop in a coin, and you should probably be clothed while running to the coin box and back. It was probably somewhere around 50 degrees outside--which meant 50 degrees inside the shower stall--which is a sure way to wake oneself up in the morning.

After my shower, Josh and I went out on the beach for a little while, then I took off on my own, walking down the beach. I'd never spent that much time alone on a beach. It was very soothing. Since it was still fairly early in the morning, there was no one else out there except a couple joggers. The only sounds were the waves, the wind, and the birds. Sigh.

For breakfast we had oatmeal with honey and peanut butter. Which tastes amazing while camping, though I doubt I'll ever make it at home. Oatmeal is just one of those things that I always want to like, but really only do like when I'm camping.

After breakfast, we loaded up and set out for Tauranga. On the way, we stopped for lunch because Neal wanted Subway, and the rest of us went to a bakery. I got a meat pie that reminded me of the meat pies we ate in Papua New Guinea while growing up. Since we were stopped in a town, we went out in search of a hat for me. I actually brought one to New Zealand but managed to leave it in New Plymouth with my swimsuit. But since we were going to be outside a lot, and since there's no ozone layer over New Zealand, I thought a hat would be good. We found one, I bought it, and we pressed on.

Mt. Maunganui rests at the very tip of a peninsula (here's a map; the green thing labeled "The Mount" is what we hiked), so the mountain is surrounded by water on three sides. Which provides a very different experience from most mountain-climbing. There are stairs built into the mountain to make the hike up easier, and by the time we reached the top, I had developed a severe hatred of stairs. Since I am not the most physically fit person on the planet, my thighs were not happy with me--and my calves were starting to complain about the long walk on the beach this morning. BUT the view from the summit was stunning and absolutely worth the burning legs. We hiked down the other side of the mountain, which had a road completely void of stairs, and which gave us a whole new set of beautiful scenery for the way back down. We hiked through a lot of sheep pastures and were far more intrigued by sheep than the average person. We were even assigning personalities to a handful of the lambs and mama sheep.

We hung out in the parkish area along the beach for awhile, then decided to walk around on the nearby Moturiki Island, which has been made into a peninsula so you can get to it on foot. It also made for some pretty pictures and backdrops for random conversations. Basically everywhere in New Zealand makes for pretty pictures and backdrops. At one point, Josh ended up throwing his Frisbee into the ocean so, logically, had to climb down the rock wall into the water to retrieve it. He succeeded, and the Frisbee was saved!

Before driving back to Matata and our campsite, we stopped at an Indian restaurant in Tauranga for dinner (India Smart, I think). It was delicious, and we all tried bites of each other's food, which made it even more delicious!

Normally when I go on trips, I have a significant role in planning them. This road/camping trip has not been that way at all, which was hard for me the first day or so. Less than 24 hours after arriving in New Plymouth, we were packing up for a trip to somewhere (I didn't really know where), with people I didn't know, and with an itinerary that no one told me about in specific terms. For awhile it really frustrated me, and then I got frustrated at myself for being frustrated that I wasn't in control. But as the trip has progressed, I've realized that my frustration wasn't really about control as much as it was about just knowing what was going on. Don't get me wrong--I've thoroughly enjoyed all the activities the team had planned, and I'm going to be happy with anywhere someone takes me in New Zealand. But last night on our girls walk along the beach, we talked about the plans for today. And I must say, just knowing what we were planning to do helped me enjoy it that much more. And it made me feel less like a control freak, which made me happier with myself (not that I'm completely dropping the control freak descriptor, because it definitely still fits at times!). And that concludes Wednesday.

New Zealand trip, day 4: Huka, Huka, Huka

Tuesday, October 4

One nice thing about jetlag is that my body clock is so confused that it doesn’t know when to get a caffeine headache. At home, I have to get coffee almost immediately after waking up—particularly if I sleep in—lest a massive headache sets in. Here, however, I can wake up an hour and a half before everyone else (I’m also a morning person when I go 17 time zones ahead) and just lay in bed, drifting in and out of sleep, waiting for the others to wake up, with no fear of a caffeine headache. I kinda like this whole 17-hour time difference.

We had to be out of the hostel by 10:00 a.m., and I think we only barely made it. Since my phone is stuck on Los Angeles time since that’s the last place where it connected to a cell tower, it’s annoying to subtract four hours and add a day every time I want to know what time it is, so I don’t look at the time very often. Note to self: buy a watch for the next international trip. We went to a crepe café for breakfast, and I tried a chicken, gouda, cranberry, and avocado crepe. One thing I like about this group of friends is that we share bites of our food. So I also got to sample several other people’s crepes. Theirs were good, but mine was gouda!

Then we walked around Lake Taupo, took pictures of ducks and swans, and continued to other activities. First up after Lake Taupo: Huka Falls. The website for Huka Falls has this to say about itself: 

The Waikato River, normally up to 100 metres wide, abruptly narrows to just 15 metres as it crosses a hard volcanic ledge. This of course causes a huge volume of water to collide together, forming a spectacular visual feast of powerful falls and rapids. Around 220,000 litres per second of pours over the cliff face, and then rushes under a pedestrian bridge (great photo opportunity here!) The water then bursts out of its rapids, over the 11 metre falls, and back into the Waikato River. 

Basically, a whole lot of water squeezing through a narrow space. The best part was that the water was this beautiful, foamy, ice blue color.

Next we drove to the Huka Falls Spa Park, where there’s a natural hot stream. Sadly, I left my swimsuit in New Plymouth, so I just stuck my feet in and watched the others play in the hot water. Best part about HF Spa Park: the zip line. It was small and simple, but fun and free! After everyone had had their fill of swimming in the hot water, we loaded up and proceeded to the Huka Honey Hive. This place had every kind of honey product imaginable—honey soap, honey fudge, honey wine, honey lotion, honey ice cream, and of course different flavors of honey. Fortunately for us, there were lots of free samples. They also had a glassed-in hive of honey bees, so you could watch them work. Bees are kind of incredible. Also, I would feel really stressed if I ever lived in a bee hive, because it looked really chaotic and crowded in there.

Grass in New Zealand is awesome. Where I come from, walking barefoot is extremely painful. The grass is dry and somehow sharp, most grass is also heavily seasoned with stickers, and the ground underneath is hard and often rocky. In New Zealand, however, the grass is plush, and the ground beneath is cool, moist, even spongy. Here, walking barefoot feels is soothing and freeing.

Next, we drove to Matata (not to be confused with Hakuna Matata) to set up camp for the next couple nights. It was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever camped. To enter the site, we drove over a small lake-ish-looking body of water with lots of reeds. The camping area was a flat, grassy field stretching along the lake reeds. On the side opposite the lake-ish water was a dune, and over that dune was the Pacific Ocean. We arrived late enough in the afternoon that the lake and ocean were misty and gorgeous. While the guys did manly things (i.e., throw a Frisbee and swim in the really cold ocean), we girls took a walk down the beach. We were walking along, talking about random things, when we looked up and saw a seal! A real live seal not in a zoo! She was just hanging out on the shore and hobbled into the water while we scrambled for our cameras. That was the highlight of the evening, so I’ll stop there.

Here’s a Google map to give you an idea of where we were today.

New Zealand trip, day 3: Road trip

Monday, October 3

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and somewhat back on track as far as a sleep schedule. Josh had planned to give me a walking tour of New Plymouth, but it was cold and rainy, so we stayed in. To be honest, I was more than okay with this, because a lazy, cold, rainy day is truly one of my favorite things. Especially after the 30-some-hour trek I had had through airports, shopping centers, and bus stations. Plan B for the day was to make bread. By the time we were ready to make bread, though, it was late enough in the day that we didn't anticipate having time to make it before packing up the rental van and heading out for our three-day trip to the Bay of Plenty. Fortunately, we executed Plan B-1/2. I remembered a friend telling me long ago that beer bread is a quick bread that resembles more traditional yeast bread. So we looked up some recipes and whipped up a loaf. It was so good that Josh ran to the store for more butter so we could immediately make a second loaf. If you have never made it, I highly recommend it! You stir up the ingredients, pour into a pan, and bake for an hour. No kneading, no rising. And it turns out fluffy and delicious. Here's the recipe we tried (we mixed in the butter rather than pouring it on top). I don't care for beer as a drink, but I devoured this bread. In conclusion, plan B-1/2 was a huge success.

Pretty soon it was time to load up. Colby, Cheryl, Josh, and I piled in to the van, picked up Natalie (roommate) from work, picked up Neal (friend) at the hostel where he works and lives, and headed east. Here's a map of our general route. We wanted to get to Taupo in time to get a room at a hostel, so we drove straight through without stopping for dinner. Like the bus ride yesterday, this drive was beautiful but long. Four-ish hours later, we arrived in Taupo, found a hostel with a room for six, and settled in for the night.

This was my first time to stay in a hostel. I had learned about them in high school German class and heard lots about hostels from all of Josh's travels, but had never gotten to experience one first-hand. We got a six-person room with three bunk beds, equipped with basic sheets, warm comforter, and pillow. There was also a bathroom in our room, as well as communal bathrooms with more showers down the hall. There was also a communal kitchen and internet room down the hall. So, fairly basic. Nothing fancy. Cheaper than a hotel.

Just to clear the air . . . yes, there are guys and girls living in the Team Cat Biscuit house; no, there is nothing inappropriate going on among the roommates. I was a bad traveler and didn't take many pictures today. The only ones I did take were of Team Cat Biscuit's porch, and they aren't that good.

New Zealand trip, day 2: Friday into Sunday

Sunday, October 2

I spent the rest of Friday in the LA airport and boarding the plane to Auckland. It turned out that J was indeed an aisle seat--which made me look stupid when I asked the Qantas guy if there were any aisle seats open instead of the seat American Airlines had assigned me--but was ultimately very welcome news and worth looking stupid in front of a complete stranger.

I've decided Qantas is my favorite airline, for these reasons:

• The employees are exceptionally friendly and helpful, from the customer service over the phone to the flight attendants to the captain. They all seemed genuinely interested in doing what they could to serve us.
• They have a rule against Furbies.
• They gave us a menu and meal schedule at the beginning of the flight. It was so nice to know we'd get dinner in the first 3 hours, "Refresh" (a bag of goodies) shortly after that to get us through the night, snacks throughout the night as needed, and breakfast within the last three hours of the flight. And the food was good and decently nutritious! And getting a goodie is just plain exciting, no matter who it comes from.
• They gave me a miniature paddle with which to stir my tea.
• They gave us lots of presents throughout the flight. It started with a blanket, pillow, toothbrush and toothpaste, headphones, and blindfold in each seat. Later they gave us meals, the Refresh bag, and periodic snacks, including an apple.
• Their in-flight magazine featured parts of the world other than the Caribbean.
• The pillows were actually substantial. Mine was almost too fluffy.
• They have cool accents.
• I even remember liking them when I was little. I think they gave me a coloring book and crayons, and probably a pin, too. (Do you sense a theme of gifts?)

Saturday flew by. Literally.

Sunday morning we touched down in Auckland. The hallways leading into the baggage claim and customs area are really cool. They have big murals of different naturey scenes and have complementary nature sounds playing in the background. Another section was decorated to imitate a rugby stadium and included audio of cheering fans.

I had to write my country of birth on my immigration form, and the immigration guy seemed excited that I was born in Papua New Guinea, and we struck up a conversation about PNG while he stamped my form and passport.

In the Auckland airport, I used an ATM for the first time in my life, so I could pay for a bus ticket to New Plymouth. I hopped on the airport shuttle bus which brought me to Manukau City Centre, basically a mall. Have you ever walked into a mall, after not showering and not really sleeping for 36 hours, pulling two suitcases and carrying a backpack? I have. It feels a little weird, and I got some strange looks. But it was a comfortable place to grab a kebab to eat and camp out for a few hours while waiting for the bus to New Plymouth.

Then I hopped on to an InterCity bus to New Plymouth, where my brother and the rest of Team Cat Biscuit live. Before this trip, pretty much all I knew about New Zealand was that it's beautiful. Auckland looked okay, but didn't live up to the country's reputation of beauty (mostly because it basically just looks like a city). But once we got out into the countryside, I saw why New Zealand has this reputation. I wouldn't let myself fall asleep because the view was stunning. We drove through rolling green hills with vibrant green grass--the kind that almost looks fuzzy--dotted with grazing cows and sheep. My favorites were the lambs who had been sheared but still had woolly legs. It was kinda like bellbottoms for sheep. After several hours we went through a tunnel and were suddenly surrounded by lush, green mountains. There were a few rocky cliffs, but mostly they looked like massive piles of trees and ferns. Then, around another bend, the Pacific Ocean appeared . . . steely blue water with white foam.

Here's a picture from where we stopped for dinner. I took quite a few
pictures from the bus, but it's hard get not blurry ones. More will be
going on Facebook later, as I have time.

The bus ride was almost seven hours in all, and only the last hour or so was too dark to see out. So, although it made for a grueling day, it was a great way to see a good chunk of the north island. We finally arrived in New Plymouth at 9:00 p.m., about 45 minutes late, and Josh and Julia were there to welcome me and usher me into a cab (another first!). In a few minutes, we were home at last and feasted on vegan lasagna, roasted vegetables, and apple pie that Colby and Cheryl had made. Then I took a shower and went to bed--two highly welcome things after 36 hours of travel.