The Sweet As Life

After my earlier failed attempt to post something about NZ itself while in Auckland, I'd like to say "greetings" from NZ! It's now been just over a week since I left Tampa for New Zealand, and this trip has been honestly amazing.
I arrived in Auckland on Sunday afternoon and was greeted in the airport by Paula from GV. After waiting a couple of hours for little Arrington to return from a playdate, Paula, Grant, Arrington and I went walking along Milford Beach, literally "hiking in flipflops" (to possibly steal from the name of Stu and Maggie's blog). Although there had been a large storm earlier in the day, the beach was still beautiful and so different from any beach I've ever seen in the US: volcanic rocks, actual surf, and surrounded by mountains! That night the children showed me their journals of visiting the US and going to summer camp this past summer, which ended with Arrington resolving to put a picture of the two of us into her journal and Nicholas giving me a Mickey Mouse SillyBand. Looks like you can take the girl out of Florida, but you can't take the Florida out of the girl.

On my second day in Auckland with the Hannah family, Paula, Arrington, Nicholas, and I went up on Mount Victoria, an extinct volcano near Paula's parents' house. The top of the volcano is dotted with dozens of metal toadstools and the remains of a former gun fort, something I wasn't quite expecting to find on the top of a volcano, extinct or otherwise. After dropping Nicholas off at a laser tag birthday party, Paula, Arrington, and I went to pick up some supplies for Paula's classroom and to visit Grant at work before stopping by the lake near the school Paula works at and where Nicholas and Arrington attend. While I knew to expect riding on the other side of the car and the road and the cultural differences, I had totally forgotten about New Zealand's black swans, which were all of the place.

The next day Paula took the kids and me to the Sky Tower, which is the highest point in the Southern Hemisphere. The view from the top shows nearly 52 miles away on a clear day, and there's also an opportunity to do a cable jump from the top or to do a "SkyWalk" around the edge of the viewing area. When we were there not only did two people do the cable jump, but two men were hanging from a little structure outside doing maintenance work. While walking along the glass floor panels wasn't uneverving, seeing these two men hanging over nothing was almost sickening, even for the guides who work in the top of the Sky Tower (which, by the way, is enclosed in glass). That afternoon Paula, Arrington, and I returned to Paula's classroom for a bit before returning to the beach for Nicholas to run in a Beach Series race (with Grant as moral support). We went out to dinner afterward to GPK, where I was introduced to the fact that most of the burgers in NZ are completely massive. Oh, and it turns out they have Pita Pit in Auckland (some Kiwi guy thought it was a local restaurant and not a chain...I hated to burst his Pita Pit loving bubble).

On my last morning in Auckland we went down to the Auckland Marina and had a look around at where the Americas Cup boats were harbored. I then boarded a 5 hour bus ride to Taupo, during which I finally saw my first NZ sheep. At the moment the whole "sheep outnumber people 3 to 1" statement doesn't seem too true, as I saw maybe 150 sheep over 5 hours, yet over 500 cows. Since then until now I've been staying with Toni and Corban Elers (GV '08) and their 13-month-old son Roman. While Auckland felt a bit like a weird mix of Buffalo, Tampa, Asheville, and a strange otherness, Taupo feels much like a mix between Brevard, NC and a coastal FL town: laid back yet active, mountainous yet marine. Unfortunately Corban's had to work early morning shifts, but Toni and Roman have been able to show me around Taupo during the day and then catch up on life and camp gossip in the evenings.

Yesterday Toni and Roman took me to Huka Falls, the famous super turquoise river and waterfall, and to Craters of the Moon, a geothermal area with boiling mud pits and sulfurous steam coming out of giant pits in the ground. I also had a chance to go shopping around town and finally managed to track down a fullsize pack towel for only $15NZ, down from $60NZD (so it totally about $11something USD). After visits from both Corban's and Toni's mums, Corban, Toni, and I headed off to the thermal springs for nearly an hour after dinner, which were packed full of fellow tourists and a few locals.

This morning Toni and I started to climb Mount Ruapehu, but I felt a little ill soon after the start, so we headed back down and got lunch in town, when I had my second massive NZ burger at Burger Fuel, which puts pretty much every American burger place to shame. In the afternoon I went on a sailboat cruise of Lake Taupo and to see some modern Maori carvings on a hillside aboard the Fearless with about 12 other people and the skipper/captain. I ended up spending much of the trip talking to a mom and her six year old daughter from Wellington, who gave me a few pointers on what to do for the next few days when I'm there, and three Americans from Tennessee. While they were all amazed that I was traveling solo, there were many mutterings of envy at the extent of my trip. The girl's mother vowed to make her start saving her money so that when she's my age she can also do a trip on the same scale as mine, as she was very impressed at my ability to save up for so long with this one goal in mind.

Over the next few days I'll be staying in Wellington at the YHA hostel before taking the ferry over to the South Island and bussing down to Christchurch before continuing down to Queenstown for a few days before hopefully taking a Stray bus tour back up to Christchurch with stops along the way in the fjords, Stewart Island, and Mount Cook. Although I'm a little anxious about not staying with camp friends and in actual houses for the next many days, I look forward to doing some actual traveling, and I know I'll be running into Stu and Maggie following their camping trip in the Abel Tasman and hopefully getting to see Nicole down near Queenstown before I fly back up to Auckland on February 10 (where I'll be staying with Lauren and Arron from GV '10). I'm also looking forward to finding a camera shop in Wellington to hopefully get my camera fixed, as it's now taking overexposed pictures about 7 times in every 10. Other than that, I'll be going to the Te Papa museum on my first full day in Wellington and going on a Lord of the Rings studio/location tour on my second day.

Toni and I are off now to go see Green Hornet at the local cinema, so auf wiedersehen for now!

Love to all,
Kayla

And so it's begun!

I've realized I've yet to post anything here yet, and by now I've actually arrived in Auckland. And yes, I'm actually here, after months of planning, backing out, recommitting, and actually leaving home.

I left home at the ungodly hour of 3:30 AM to get to the airport a half hour before the ticket booths opened, and forty-five minutes before the trams to the terminal began. Thanks, Mom, for getting me there way too early in that horrible thunderstorm. By 5 AM I was on my way to Charlotte and arrived just as the sun was rising. Ironically, Arrington and Paula are currently listing to the Tajar Tracks CD and it's playing the line about "We come from the mountains, go back to the mountains, turn the world around," which I've now done rather literally. The flight to LA was marked mostly by sleep and an appalling amount of snow on the ground, and possibly a sighting of Looking Glass in Pisgah Forest, just outside of Brevard. I now understand why why people are so sick of snow and winter: nothing but white between Tennessee and southern California.

At LAX I boarded the Air Tahiti Nui plane to Papeete, Tahiti (and yes, I may have had "Party in the USA" stuck in my head for several hours after leaving LA). This is probably the best airline I've ever encountered: great service, great staff, the smoothest landing I've ever experienced. It didn't even bounce.


Well, this post must be wrapped up for now, as dinner is ready and Arrington is calling me to come sit next to her.


More on Tahiti and Auckland to come soon!