NewZealand

So we woke up at 5 am for the Tongariro crossing. The bus dropped us off an hour late, so we only had 8 hours before the bus would pick us up again. The crossing is supposed to take 6 hours, plus 3 more if you hike Mt. Doom, and 2 more if you hike the Tongariro crossing. We were walking faster than the guide said, but I still needed convincing when we got to the bottom of Mt. Doom. I was pretty tired, so I wasn't sure I could make it in time. But Ross and I decided to climb together (the boys were going faster). The mountain was made of small volcano rocks, so every step you took you would slide half a step down. About half way up, we were higher than the clouds. They were touching the mountain, so it looked like the ground had just turned into cloud, and you could walk right on it. It was beautiful. We finally made it to the top after two hours. The boys were up there, and we had some well earned lunch with them. The middle of Mt. Doom was just a huge crater from the volcanic eruption.
To get down, we found a path made of small rocks. It was really steep, so we decided to run down on our heels. With each step we would slide about a foot, and after a while we could get going really fast. It was so fun! I fell down about 9 time and scraped my hands, but it was awesome. I would climb up it again just to run down.
After the mountain, we were in a hurry, so didn't read the map very well. We were supposed to go around the second mountain, but ended up climbing half way up it. We came to beautiful red rock cliffs, and bright, crystal blue sulfur lakes. It was amazing. The scenery changed again to grasslands, where we saw a little hobbit shelter in the distance. Then for the last hour, it changed to rainforest. It had been an extremely hot day, so walking through the damp shade of the rainforest was a perfect finish.
So from Taupo we were supposed to go to Opononi for one night to go canoeing. But the lady I talked to to plan this out thought I meant National Park (which is the name of a small town), so that's where we were dropped off. It was pretty boring. We tented, watched Good Morning Vietnam, and went for a walk. On our walk we saw little hedgehogs and they were very cute.
The next day we headed to River Valley Lodge, which is a stop with the Kiwi Bus in the middle of the bush. It was a beautiful spot in a deep valley. The next day we went white water rafting in these dingy sort of boats. It was very fun. I was in a boat with three dutch girls. It lasted about two hours, and the rapids got pretty crazy. My guide had been working on this river for years, so he let us go down them backwards, and let us tip our boat and float down a couple sets of rapids. Then we stopped at a cliff and jumped off of it into the river a couple times.
I left River Valley Lodge a day before the boys, and headed to Wellington alone. I stayed in a place called Rosemere. It was at the top of an extremely steep hill. I met a couple from Denmark named Martin and Tine, who were staying in my room. A guy named Brian from Scotland was also staying in our room, and we all went out for drinks together one night. My days alone in Wellington I spent shopping (if you could call it that. I didn't guy anything), and reading in coffee shops. It was a nice way to spend a couple of days without the boys, because they don't come shopping with me. In the evening I was walking home from a day on the town when my knee started hurting a lot. I had to limp up the hill. I thought it might be because of the Tongariro crossing trek, but that had been about a week earlier. So I iced my knee and stayed in for the evening. The next day the boys arrived, I bought a tensor bandage for my knee, and we went to the museum. I went home before them because my knee was hurting and I was a tad bored, and they stayed for about two hours later. The day after we went to the zoo, which was awesome. We saw giraffes and kiwi birds and wild dogs. Ross and I sat on a bench watching monkeys for an hour. I received a call from Brendan saying he was going to come meet us the next day, so I booked him a room in our hostel. The next day I told the boys I would meet them and Brendan at the ferry at 5 pm. Instead, I got extremely lost and had to walk around without a map for two hours, and missed Brendan and Amos completely. Apparently I'm not meant to pick people up at airports of ferry stations in NZ (first Aristo, now Brendan). We made a huge meal of tacos for supper, which was amazing. After that we meant to have a night on the town together, but Coop, Ross and I were split up from the rest of the group. Cooper went home early while Ross and I attended an Italian Discotheque, which was awesome. The next morning, Jesse and Ross had to catch a train to Palmerston North at 6 am. Aristo, Cooper and I had planned to hitch hike. I went alone, and the other boys went together. I never had to wait very long but the people who picked me up could only take me a short way, which was frustrating. Finally I got to Susan and Ian's house (Ross's aunt and uncle), and found Jesse holding a cute little kitten. They had just gotten three new kittens. Meeting Susan made me miss Bobbi Mumm so much, because I found they walked and dressed very similar. I got pretty homesick the whole time we were there. But it was ok, because Susan and Ian were lovely to us. They fed us wonderful meals, and we watched movies with Ian. They got us to sand and paint their window sills outside, which was pretty fun. We all felt good doing some work again on our trip.
Cooper and I wanted to get a move on with our trip, so we left three days before the rest of the boys. We took a night bus from Palmerston North to Wellington at 4am, which was a double decker bus! We slept the whole way there. Then we took the ferry at 8am, and slept the whole time as well. Cooper even woke me up to show me some dolphins but I was too tired to look. We finally arrived in Picton, got groceries, and slept for 4 hours. We woke up at 6pm, and met some girls from Winnipeg. They were pretty cool. The hostel we stayed at gave out free brownie pudding and ice cream every night, which was awesome. We're definitely staying there again on the way up. Coop and I watched Wayne's World and then went to sleep. The next day we did a hike called the Snout track. It was about two hours, and very beautiful. At the end of the trail there is a look out, and it was so windy. We were leaning off the cliff into the wind and it was holding us up!
That night we went out on the town (there were about 5 streets) with the Winnipeg girls,a guy from Labrador, a guy named Mat and his sister from Germany, a guy from France and a girl from the states. We went to a nearby Karaoke bar. There was an older couple singing when we walked in, who were pretty good. We sat down, and they sang the next song. And the next song, and the next. We walked up and asked if we could sing, and they said in a bit. They sang 5 more songs, and told us we could search the computer for a song we wanted. We found one, and they said they'd call us up when it was our turn. An hour later, we went up again, and asked if we could sing the song we picked, and they said no. So basically they just put on an unpaid performance, and we didn't get to sing. It was a great night anyways.
The next day, Cooper and I left for Nelson, and our Winnipeg friends went to Blenheim. We were booked in to a hostel called "The Bug Backpackers". When we got there, we realized that it was a Volkswagen Bug themed hostel, which was quite funny. The first night we met a guy named Eric from Sweden, and played Cranium with him and a girl from Germany. The next day we went to a farmer's market, and tried to plan a hiking trip on the Abel Tasman Coastal track. That night we went out with Eric, a girl named Jenny, and 5 people from Israel. After a while, the group wanted to go back, but myself and a girl named Danielle from Israel wanted to stay out longer, so we did, and I had the best time dancing I've ever had in my whole life! We danced for about three hours straight, until finally we pried ourselves away (she was doing a long hike the next morning). We got home at about 4 am.
Traveling with just Cooper was really nice. Coming to New Zealand, I knew Cooper the least, so after a week alone, we knew each other pretty well. But the next day when the boys arrived, I was pretty excited to see them. We rode the hostel's bikes to the beach and went swimming their first day in Nelson. I loved Nelson. It was an awesome town, and I wanted to live and work there so badly, but no one else did really.
We planned our trip to the Abel Tasman so that we could be in Nelson for St. Paddies' day and leave the next morning. That day we bought our groceries and spent the whole day pre cooking our food for the trek so we could save money on camp fuel. It's crazy how obsessive you become about saving money when you're a backpacker.
After organizing our camping gear and food, we went out for St. Patrick's day. A group of about 15 people from all hostel all went out together, and it was a great night. We ended up at a bar with a band playing rock covers, and we didn't get home until 3 am. Not the best choice before a 5 day hike through mountains, but it was worth it.

So we started our Kiwi Experience bus.
It's a pretty good deal... The drivers make tons of stops, and tell you stories about the area. But it works best if you don't stay at a stop longer than one night. There are long waiting lists to get back on the bus.
On our first day, we went to a beach called Cathedral cove, which was amazing. The beach was on kind of a hill... which was very strange. We swam out to a huge rock and jumped off of it.
The next day we went on a hike, and then started heading for Rotorua. I was feeling very sick, so I didn't get to take my picture in front of the "Hobbiton" sign, but instead I got to vomit in the Maori Tours office.
Later that night we went on a "Maori cultural experience tour". It was very cool. We got to see the Haka, which is the scary war dance with the bulging eyes and the tounges sticking out. We also got to have a traditional feast, called Hangi, which is a huge celebratory meal. They dig a huge hole in the ground, and layer the bottom with hot rocks. They place a chicken, a lamb, a duck, mussels, potatoes, kumura (like a potatoe), carrots, etc, inside the hole, and then bury it. This is left for 12 hours, and then is dug up, and eaten! It was very delicious.
We spent a few more days in Rotorua. This city is built around a volcano, and there are steaming geysers and bubbling mud pools of sulfur all over the city. Also, it smells like rotten eggs everywhere.
Ross and I got back onto the Kiwi bus before everyone else, so on our way to Waitomo, we had to go Zorbing by ourselves. Zorbing is when you go into a huge beachball filled with water and get pushed down a hill. Ross and I got to go in the same one, and it was so fun. You just roll around in it and get dizzy and it's very silly.
We got to Waitomo and set up our tent at a campsite.
The next day was Valentine's day. Ross and I woke up, had breakfast, had a nap, ate lunch, read our books in a hammock, went swimming, and then went out for an expensive supper. It was a lovely, lazy day.
The other boys arrived the next day on the Kiwi bus, just in time to do our Blackwater rafting tour.
Waitomo is famous for their underground cave system that lies beneath the entire town.
So on our tour, we Absailed 100 feet ender ground, in the dark. The caves are made of limestone and filled with glow worms. We walked for a bit, until we came to a zip line. This we rode in the dark. It was a very beautiful sight, flying through the air to an unknown distance, and all you can see around you are a million glow worms on the ceiling of the cave. The guide told me there were eels in the water, and I thought he was just trying to scare me, until I saw one!
To exit the caves we had to climb up two waterfalls. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
After Waitomo we went up to Raglan, which is just a little surf town. We mostly just hung out and camped for a couple days, hitched over to Hamilton so see an art festival, and hitched back to Raglan.
We rented surf board for a day, and tried it out. Jesse, Cooper and Aristo were pretty good. They rode a few waves. Ross and I weren't the best, but it was still very fun. I rode a few waves on my knees instead of my feet, so that's good enough for me!
Now we're in Taupo, which is a very cool city. Yesterday we walked to the river, and found thick ropes tied to trees, so we swung ourselves into the water with the ropes. The current was quite fast, but we managed.
After that, we went skydiving again! Haha, probably not the best choice, according to my budget, but it was worth it. We went from 15,000 ft this time, barefoot.
I'm loving traveling, but I find that when the boys are not around I meet a lot more people (probably because they smell bad. Just kidding.) It's just that we're in such a big group, that I don't need to meet someone new to have someone to talk to. So I think that after we go to Palmerson North to meet Ross's family, I'm going to travel on my own for a while. But I'll meet up with them later on.
When I got here, I learned that the backpack that I brought is extremely uncomfortable when full of items. So I'm trying to find a new, cheap backpack right now, which is very hard. All the packs here are about $400, so $350 Canadian. Hopefully I'll figure something out.
Tomorrow we're climbing "Mount Doom" from Lord of the Rings. I'm very excited! We're getting picked up at 5:40 am to start the climb, so I've got to get a good night sleep.

So right after I posted my last blog, I met two Canadian guys from Toronto at my hostel. They said they were heading up to Cape Reinga, which is the most Northern tip of New Zealand, where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean crash into each other. The only ways you can get there really are to take a tour bus, or drive your car (there aren't enough cars to hitch hike). So when they offered to take me up there for free, I just couldn't refuse! So I called the boys, told them I wouldn't see them for another day, and rove off with the Canadians! They were Paul and Jeremy, and they were touring around NZ in a band called Jay Spector. They were very nice, and we got along very well.
Cape Reinga was very amazing. It was quite swamped with tourists, but you could see the very distinct colours of the two different oceans.
After that, we went to a beach called Spirit Bay, which was the most amazing beach I've ever been to. The water was bright blue and completely clear. The sand was made of small, soft pieces of sea shells, and had a pink glow if you looked at it from far away.
The Mauri people believe that when a child is born, their spirit travels through this bay and into them, hence the name Spirit Bay.
There were only two other people on the beach, despite the fact that it was a beautiful day. My uncle Steve asked me to bury one of his dread locks on a very special beach, and I knew this was the one. Especially because he was expecting his first child any day, and it's spirit would be traveling through the beach.
After Spirit Bay we went to 90 mile beach. The beach is actually 100 kilometers long, and the sand it extremely fine. At high tide, the waves pack the sand so tightly that when the tide goes out, vehicles can easily drive on the beach. But if you stop driving and a wave comes, it will soften the sand, and your car will get stuck. And no towing company will come get you.
So it's a bit risky.
That evening we met up with the three German girls that I befriended, and played music with them until bed time.
The next day Paul and Jeremy dropped me off right at the driveway of Shangrila, the Vegan farm where the boys were working.
The farm was very beautiful. There was only one small, communal house where the 10 of them and the WWOOFers all ate. They all had special names that they picked, and tried to become more like their name. (the names were Birds, Flowers, Sky, Deer, Soul, Magic, etc.)
There was a stream from a mountain, which passed through their property before anyone else's, so you could drink (and bathe) right from the stream. It was the best water I've ever tasted.
There were two other WWOOFers there. Lina from Germany, and Joe from England. There were both very nice.
For every meal, the Vegans would cook huge vegan feasts, that were very delicious. I was surprised at how little the boys missed animal products after staying there for 5 days, though Jesse was dying for a milk shake.
The next morning we got a ride from Flowers into Kaitaia, and the boys wanted to go straight to McDonalds. Cooper bought a McDonalds meal, and a milkshake, and then ran to Subway to continue his reunion with meat.
Another WWOOFing place, owned by a guy named Murray, said he would take us that day, so he picked us up a couple hours later. Him an his wife Jen had moved from Zimbabwe about seven years ago, and set up an olive plantation.
The work we were doing was mostly weeding the olive trees by hand, which was very tedious, but was still fun. After the fourth day we started playing car games and telling each other riddles.
Jen and Murray were very nice. Murray had some crazy stories, some about war, and some about saving Clint Eastwood from a river while he was a set director. He was very cool.
One night, Jay Spector (the band that I traveled with), played a show in Kaitaia while we were at the farm, and I really wanted to go but didn't have a way of getting there. So that was too bad. But they gave me their CD for free so I still got to hear them.
They had an olive oil tasting for us, and it was very tasty. I doubt I will ever experience such great quality olive oil again in my life.
They had a little water fall with a swimming pong under it on their property that we swam in. It looked like we were in the rainforest. There was moss on the rocks underwater but it wasn't slippery at all; it was kind of grippy, like felt or velvet.
We left Jen and Murray's after about a week, because the boys wanted to go to Cape Reinga, and we had to start making our way back to Auckland to pick up Aristo.
We stayed in Kaitaia one night, which is a terrible little ghost town. The boys took a tour bus to the Cape while I stayed home and slept and wrote post cards.
The next day, we split up into groups (Ross and I, Cooper and Jesse), and started hitching back to Auckland. We gave ourselves two days to get there. Ross and I ended up riding in about 4 cars until we got to Whangaraei, where we had booked a hostel that night. Cooper and Jesse ended up getting picked up by some kids our age in Kaitaia who were going all the way to Auckland that day! They hung out with them until we met up.
Ross and I arrived in Auckland on the 5th, and met up with Jesse, Cooper, and Kyle Savoie, who had arrived on the 4th.
Aristo was flying in the next morning, and Cooper and I decided to meet him at the airport.
When we arrived, it took about 2 hours to get through customs because we had to claim our hiking boots and tents. So we figured that we should get to the airport about half an hour after Aristo was schedualed to arrive.
So we got there, and waited for about an hour or so, until I got a phone call from Kyle saying Aristo was already at the hostel.
Somehow he shot through customs in less than half an hour, so sadly, no one came to greet him.
We've just been relaxing in Auckland, trying not to spend any money.
One day I was walking to the park to read when I ran into a friend of ours named Mat. He had just rented a moped, and asked if I wanted to drive it around with him. So we went for about two hours, driving around Auckland on this bendy road that followed the coast. It was very fun
I called Arlie on the 5th of February, to find out that Erin had her baby! A little baby girl named Atlin Dorothy Francis. I called Erin at the hospital, and had so many tears in my eyes as she was describing how beautiful Atlin is. I can't wait to meet her! I looked at a picture of her and got more tears. She is very beautiful.
Yesterday we went to the beach all day, and even though it was a bit of a cloudy day, the water was still warmer than a Saskatchewan lake when it's 30 degrees out.
Tomorrow we are starting our Kiwi bus tour, and I'm very excited to leave Auckland once and for all!

Some things I've noticed about NZ:
-almost all families have composts, and vermi composts are popular here
-there is sarcan or anything, so you can recycle but you don't get money back for it
-Every toilet is duel flush, even at McDonalds
-in downtown Auckland you can cross the street diagonally
-instead of saying "could one of you guys come over here", people say "could one of yous come over here"
-you need to audition for a busking license in the big cities

So the next post I make, we will be on our tour bus! Hooray!
Also it's Angus's birthday today, so Happy Birthday bud!

In Paihia we were spending too much money on our little cabin, so we decided to do some WWOOFing. Which is, Willing Workers on Organic farms. You do work for families (gardening, building, feeding animals, etc), and they give you a place to stay and food.
We weren't having much luck finding a farm that would take all four of us, so I went my myself to a farm in Opononi. I was to do gardening work for them. When I got there, the family seemed nice. The wife worked in town, and Steve, the farmer stayed at home and took care of their cows and pigs.
I worked one day there, and Steve turned out to be a huge creep. I worked the full day, and then went to the beach my myself for three hours and had a wonderful yoga practice.
The next morning I told the wife I didn't feel comfortable around Steve, and she apologized, and I walked out the door.
I didn't really know where I was going. The boys had left Paihia but I didn't know where. So I looked at the map and decided to go to Keri Keri. It took about 2 hours to hitch there. I got in touch with the boys, who said I could come to the farm they are at (it's a family of Vegans), and I was very happy. I decided to leave the next morning.
I met a lot of people at the hostel that night, and ended up having a wonderful time. There are about 10 people from Korea staying here, 4 Germans, 4 from England...
We all sat around for hours talking and learning from each other. I had such a great time, I decided to stay another night. So today, instead of leaving, I went to a farmer's market with 3 German girls, and then we went to the beach with a huge group of people.
It was an amazing day. Also it was Arlie's birthday today, so I thought about her a lot. =)
And tomorrow I will be seeing the boys again!
I am still getting used to people driving on the left side of the road. I couldn't imagine driving here!
Also, instead of calling it "debit", it's called "eftpos"... which is quite silly.

So, we left on the 5th from Saskatoon, and our flight to Calgary got delayed, and then our flight from Calgary to L.A. was delayed, so by the time we got to L.A. we had missed our flight to Auckland by a long shot. So Air Canada put us up in the Hilton, gave us 3 food vouchers each and said "See you tomorrow night!"
So we got a free night in L.A.! We ate supper at 2am that night, and in the morning we had a swim on the rooftop pool after a free breakfast. We went for a six hour walk, and got into Inglewood, which was cool and a little bit scary. We were definitely the only white people there.
Our flight to Auckland was 13 hours, but it went by very fast. Qantas had great food and movies, and the seats were very comfortable.
We arrived (Jan.8th) , checked into our hostel, and then went out on the town. Auckland was pretty cool, but definitely not where we wanted to stay. We spent the first couple days getting our bearings, and reading the names of every business to each other.
I wanted to stay at least until the 15th for an awesome music festival, but tickets (and the city in general) were too expensive. So on the 13th we hitch hiked to Paihia. It took Ross and I 4 hours, and Jesse and Cooper 7 hours. This made me very happy to be a female, haha.
In Paihia we're staying in a small cabin at a campsite. It's right on the ocean; very cool.
Since we arrived it's been very hot every day. We all have small sunburns.

Yesterday we went Skydiving! It was so incredible! I was extremely nervous, because I don't enjoy the feeling of free falling, but I wanted to do it anyways. We went up 12,000 feet, which took us twenty minutes to reach in the little plane. My instructor was awesome, and made me feel a lot more calm. I still had to sing to myself the whole way up.
I was the first one to jump. The door opened, and he told me to put my feet on the platform outside of the plane. When I stuck my leg out, the wind nearly took it! My back was attached to his chest. On three, he somersaulted us out of the plane. The feeling was amazing! I thought it would be scary but it was just wonderful. We jumped into a rain cloud, which was so cool. The rain was stinging my legs but it didn't hurt. We fell through the cloud, and then I saw for miles. Beautiful islands and the ocean. It was hard to breathe a little bit, but it was ok. I had a huge smile the entire time. After 45 seconds of free falling, the parachute opened, which was a relief and a disappointment at the same time. Paublo let me control the parachute, and showed me how to spin it in circles and slow it down. We had a smooth landing, and I had an adrenaline rush for the rest of the day.
We're definitely doing it again.