Greetings loved ones...
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| Just to start things off... this tree was on Mount Manganui |
If the first few sentences of this blog
are all you make it though, here's what I'd like you to retain. Here
in Zealand (I'm in New Zealand, did you know that??), if there is
pretty water, I'll get in it. If there's a pretty (suitable) tree, I'll
climb in it. That was my spirit of the last ten days.
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| I believe this is Mount Ruapehu in the distance.... |
This past week has been mesmerizing,
and I want to share everything. This post will be littered with
photographs and I hope by the time you reach the end, if you aren't
sobbing in awe of the beauty here, you are booking a flight here so
you can witness it yourself.
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| So much beautiful coastline... |
As I write this, I'm surfing SAT and
writing websites for new words. I'm positive that there are $50 and
$100 words out there that grasp at describing the beauty here more
than the words that currently live in my vocabulary. Probably a
smattering of $5 and $10 words, with a only a few $20 words. I
attempted to express my frustration at a lack of appropriate words
with my road trip buddies. I proceeded to make up words in order to
put together my feelings and emotions. Silly concoctions I made
included “fantasticalistic” “beautifulnessful” and
“epicallybreathtakingly.” Witsie, if you're reading this, please
let me know if I used any words wrong. Tonight, this blog is my paper
and words are my crayons. I will play.
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| Another view of Mount Ruapehu; active volcanoes for the win! |
Ten days ago, I embarked on a journey
with four people. Three with an association with Asheville, two
connected to Atlanta, three of the feminine variety, and two with
family in Europe. Three Americans and one German. Esha, Franzi, and
Timo. We rented a car in Wellington, and drove up to Tuarangi where
we spent two nights. Then we drove up to the beach and traced the
coastline up to Cape Reinga, the Northernmost tip of New Zealand,
where the Pacific Ocean meets with the Tasman Sea. From there, we
made our way back down to Wellington on the West Coast for Timo to
catch his flight back to Christchurch.
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| One last incredible view of Mount Ruapehu, taken while driving. |
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| Driving, quite successfully, on the left side of the road. |
The first day, we spent mostly driving.
Anytime anyone wanted to stop and take pictures, we did it. We pulled
off at every “scenic lookout” and then some. We all did pretty
impressive driving on the left side of the road actually. I think all
of turned on the windshield wipers while looking for the turn signal,
and there were at least a couple moments when someone turned into the
right lane and we casually reminded them that we'd be facing oncoming
traffic soon enough.
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| Favorite group photo: L to R: Timo, Tina, Steffie, Melanie/Judith, Sarah, Esha, Franzi, Jelle, Toni |
On the second day, we went for a hike
in Tongariro National park. We met heaps of Germans at a hostel, and
went with them actually. Most of them were pretty friendly—a few
years younger than us—but we had a good time. It was raining almost
the entire time, and many of the spectacular views we were hoping for
we couldn't see. I guess that means I have words for them, because
for certain, my breath was not taken from me.
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| It was so foggy that day. My camera got little drops on the lens, but I think it looks cool here. |
On the third day, we drove North until
we hit ocean at a place called Papamoa beach. I was overcome with
serenity within myself and found myself enrapture. While the ocean
was radiant and rhapsodic, the weather around us was a cataclysm of
rain and menacing clouds. Overcome with emotion, I proceeded to begin
bawling, and walked straight into the ocean. When the water hit my
shorts, I remembered all of my things in my pockets, and returned to
shallow water to pass these items off so I could stop worrying. Then
I proceeded into the water, which was somewhat choppy in fact.
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| Photo cred-Timo. I love this picture. Possibly my favorite of me from the trip. |
Over the course of the next few days,
we proceeded to myriad beaches upon beaches, and did a few hikes here
and there. We drove through Auckland, but we didn't stop—didn't
even slow down. Took a few photos from the car, and concluded that
we'd seen enough.
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| Eating ice cream, on 90 Mile beach, on my birthday. Yes. |
I can't explain the crystalline waters
that I have seen. I took more than 800 photos in an attempt to
confine the beauty to memory card, but it couldn't be done. These
places are sublime. They are serene and tranquil, effervescent and
resplendent.
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| View from Mount Manganui. Timo and I climbed out on the rocks on that peninsula. |
This is Timo. His feet are included
because I was completely ecstatic to have him traveling with us
because we both wanted to do so much. I'd suggest doing something,
he'd say yes and get excited, or he'd suggests something and I'd say
yes and then get excited. He came with me to climb trees, rocks,
swimming, and to see the sunrise more than four times. I'd never seen
the sun rise in New Zealand before, and I was pretty thrilled that
the first one I saw was on the ocean. He was a great travel buddy. I got so lucky.
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| View of Mount Manganui from the peninsula! So much pretty water... |
One of the coolest places we saw was hot water beach. It's on the Eastern coast of New Zealand near Whitianga. Basically, there is an underground hot springs that surfaces on the beach. During low tide, you can dig into the sand to get to the spring, and build holes to sit in the water like a sauna. What was really cool about going in spring was that outside it was bloody cold. There were people walking by with scarves and hats and mittens on, clutching their jackets together, while we were soaking wet in swimsuits. The water reaches temperatures around 64° C or 147° F. In fact, after I got really hot, I just went swimming in the ocean, then warmed up again before going to the car.
I guess from now on, I'll just show pictures, because there isn't much else to say. So... enter the world of beautiful pictures of New Zealand! And a few thoughts if I happen to have any while the photo train is on the way...
This is a little waterfall somewhere in Tongariro National Park. It was only a few meters high, but it was still very cute, and quite lovely.
Franzi, Esha and me next to the cute waterfall. I took pictures near the edge and Franzi got nervous. That's why she's holding on to me :]]]It happened a lot on the trip. I did crazy things, and people got concerned.
Timo and me climbing all over some rocks to take cool pictures of the waterfall.
This is Jelle! (pronounced Yella). He's Dutch, which is sort of why he made it into our group. Timo speaks Dutch. But he had adorable dimples, which I proceeded to tell him as we were starting our hike. He was THRILLED to pieces, which was equally adorable. He's going to study in Thailand in a few weeks, which is pretty sweet.
Photo credit to Timo. Love this one because it looks like I'm on top of a waterfall, which is pretty sweet as. Felt like being on top of the world, even though it wasn't actually all that high.
Another favorite feet picture with the waterfall in between our feet. We found the best spots climbing on everything and having fun.
While driving away from Papamoa beach, we saw this beautiful rainbow. None of us got any severely beautiful photos because we were driving.
L to R: Sarah, Esha, me, Timo. This was taken just off the road on the way to Lake Taupo, which is what you can see in the distance. We were all amused by the little hill in the middle of the photo. That's why I love driving. When there's a scenic overlook, you can stop! Although we did skip the sign for "Tourist Drive." Photo by Franzi.
We took far too many epic photos on that peninsula near Mount Manganui. This is one of my favorites of the two of us, taken by a rock.
Favorite photo of me taken on the rocks possibly. I love how blue the ocean looks. It's such a lovely color. Photo credit to Timo, of course.
Taken at Cathedral Cove, where a scene from the second Narnia movie, Prince Caspian was filmed. A truly spectacular place with so much incredibly beautiful blue and teal water. Photo by Timo; expression inspired by Timo.
Another obscenely cute sign. And another reason I love road trips. We could not have stopped to pull over and take pictures with the sign had we been on the bus. Also, while we were doing this, a bizarre experience occurred. A bus drove by. We didn't think anything of it, but we all received texts in a few minutes that friends who go to school with us in Wellington were on the bus and saw us taking pictures! How hysterical that we saw each other like that! Or... they saw us anyways. Photo taken by Sarah.
Taken at Cape Reinga, the Northernmost point of New Zealand. To my left is where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It's filled with whirlpools and other fun things apparently! Exciting! Photo taken by Timo.
Another one taken at the lighthouse. L to R: me, Timo, Franzi. Something like 3,000 miles from Los Angeles. Home felt very far away looking at that sign. Photo credit to some random nice lady we met.
Another photo I really like. Also taken by Timo, you can see the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean mingling on the left. I was taking pictures of my feet with the sign.
Feet on Cape Reinga! L to R: Timo, me, and Franzi. I love that Timo doesn't have any shoes on. He walked the whole path down to the lighthouse without shoes. I was quite impressed.
Not my favorite taken at the Giant Sand Dunes in Northland, but it shows the dunes much better than the one I actually like, which is below. They were incredible, huge, and boy they made me feel so small. Completely mesmerizing. Photo by Franzi.
Favorite picture of my taken on the Giant Sand Dunes. Photo by Timo. We took so many epic photos there, I'm pretty sure no one could handle it if we posted all of them.But what's really cool about these sand dunes is that in places they are so steep that you can boogie board down them. Typically not into the ocean, but sometimes into tidal streams. Although we didn't find the place to rent them, we did find some nice French guys who lent us their toboggans. Though I have to say I quite prefer sledding. At the end of the ride there was sand in my ears, in my nose, in my mouth... you name it, it had sand in it.
First sunrise seen in New Zealand. Photo by Timo. So happy to have a buddy to get up with me at 6 am, an hour I haven't seen in ages.
One of the few photos taken with all four of us. Taken after hiking down to Cathedral Cove. We only took one because we were all so starving. Photo by the tripod Daddy bought for me. I love you.
One of my favorite sunrise shots. Photo by rock. That's Timo on the left. Mostly it amuses me because it looks like I'm decking him pretty hard core. :]]
Taken in a place called Gemstone Bay, I can only assume because the rocks are all so pretty.
Cute seal a lady directed us to on my birthday! We met her walking back to the hostel at around 9 after hiking up a hill to see the sunrise. I casually said good morning to her and I guess the accent tipped her off that we weren't natives, so she mentioned it. Great tip! He was adorbs. <3
Favorite waterfall in New Zealand that I've seen so far. The water was incredible and it made me completely ecstatic. I want to go back and go swimming in it because it's so beautiful.
The other cool place we went to was a hot spring! We got advice from the guy at our hostel to go to a place outside of Rotorua so that we didn't have to pay, and he ended up being spot on, though we were slightly skeptical. It smelled horrid, and when we left we smelled horrid, but it was awesome. So cold outside and so warm inside. What was cool is that at this spot, two little creeks meet. One is warm water, and one is cold. So when you get warm, you can just shift a little bit into the warmer areas. Timo and I went exploring up the hot creek, and it gets pretty unbearably hot. We also ran into two large tough looking Maori guys, which made me slightly nervous. However we exchanged polite chatter about the temperature of the water and moved on. Awesome place!
Photo by Timo. These are the glow worms we saw. We went on a hike at night, and they were just everywhere. It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. They were all up in the banks and it was incredible. This photo does not do it justice and I can't describe it. But if you ever have a chance to see any kind of glow worms, check them out. It's worth it, I promise. And if you can go at some time when there's moon, it's even better, so that you don't have to use flashlights.
These are real starfish. How sweet as is that?!
One of the few pictures taken in Auckland. Credit to Franzi. That's my forehead in the rear view mirror. Thought this bridge was SO great, and I was thrilled to drive over it.
So if you ever want to see any more pictures, let me know when I get home. If 800 pictures over a 10 day period is any indication of how many pictures I'll have when I'm finished with this trip, I'm certain that I'll have hours to show anyone who wants to see.
Thanks for reading.
You are the cat's meow. :3
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