Waitakere Ranges

For our one day in between trips, we were able to check the last major thing off our wish lists of things to do in Auckland: hike the Waitakere Ranges! Angela Olsen (we've had dinner with her family a few times) has been wanting to take us and we finally made it happen. It was an absolutely beautiful hike, very jungle-y. We went on several different paths, and ended up at the Waitakere Dam. From the top we could see miles and miles of green mountains of the Waitakere Ranges--breathtaking!

None of the pictures do it justice. There was such a variety of trees and greenery and it made the view appear so textured. Or something. I think textured is the best way to describe it.

Before the hike even started, we had fun with this HUGE picture frame of the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. We were just switching off, but a group came up and offered to take one of all of us...

It was Anna's idea for the Egyptian pose...

...and then the guy taking the pictures for us thought it would funny to do the same pose the other way. I'm sure they all got a good laugh out of us trying to turn around and keep our balance on the tiny ledge of the frame!

The hike was great! Lots of uphills and downhills, and always beautiful scenery.

We were especially excited when we had to cross over the river to continue on the path! We all made it across, although some of our shoes were wetter than others.

It rained a bunch over the weekend, so a lot of the paths were thick with mud. It was kind of exciting to slip and slid, but we were very grateful for the parts of the trail with wooden pathways!

Another exciting part of the hike was that we saw a koru in real life. We have seen TONS of pictures of koru and it is a very symbolic part of New Zealand culture, but today was the first real one we've ever seen. I'm surprised I saw it because it was just a little guy (you can just barely see it up against Anna's shirt).

Here's a close up view of the koru, thanks to the macro camera setting.

We had a lovely time, and were so glad to get to know Angela better. She is such a great friend, and I will truly miss her and her wonderful family.

After the hike, it was so nice to just go back home and relax. I was able to talk to my parents and a few friends. Shout out to Brooke and Natalie for our successful gchat face to face...finally! :) It is truly amazing that I am able to have such great communication with family and friends even though I am on the other side of the world!

I will definitely be ready to be home in 2 weeks, but I am still just loving every moment here. Today, Alexis was showing me her cartwheels and I tried to teach her how to do a head stand. It was so much fun and Alexis, Raewyn, and I ended up laughing much more than we ended up standing on our heads. Sure am going to miss them!

We leave tomorrow for another adventure, this time up North. I probably won't have much internet access, but I'll be back next Tuesday. Until then...

Rotorua (aka Rottenrua)

Wow. What a trip. We made our way south to the more central part of the North island: Hamilton and Rotorua. It was quite a busy trip, so I'll take it a day at a time, and use all the pictures and videos to tell the story :)

Day 1, Friday:

We drove to Hamilton to go to the New Zealand temple. It was beautiful. It was such a neat experience. This was the first temple built outside of the United States. How cool is that?

The whole group :)

We then made our way to Rotorua. Whenever we would tell people we were going to Rotorua, they ALWAYS commented on how much it smelled so horribly. The whole area smells strongly of sulfur because of all the geothermal activity that has created hot pools and geysers all over. It wasn't so bad when we first arrived, but as we traveled around, we quickly learned why many people refer to it as "Rotten-rua." We stayed with James' close family friends: Tom and Annette Brauns. We all thought it was a little crazy that they were willing to house 18 of us for five days, but they graciously took us in and we all had our own bed or mattress! It was a beautiful home.

One of our favorite parts of the house was the hot pool in the backyard! Many people come to Rotorua and spend $$$ for the healing hot pools...we got to enjoy one whenever we wanted! This giant natural hot tub definitely got some good use out of it this weekend!

Day 2, Saturday:

The excitement for today started at the Agrodome Sheep show.

JJ has been there before and knew we needed to get there early to get good seats. I think we got there early enough... :)

With all our extra time before the show started, we had lots of fun experiences with the animals, who were also waiting for the show to start.

We even got to go up on stage and pretend we were the sheep!

The room soon filled up, and the Sheep show began. It started off with official introductions to all the sheep found in New Zealand. I never knew there were so many breeds of sheep!

This was one of the favorites, mainly because his name was Charlie Brown :)

We also got to watch our MC sheer a sheep right in front of us! He did it so fast and made it look so easy. Some audience members were chosen to help feed the baby lambs, including Emily and Rebecca. However, the best part of the show (by far) was when Jess, Christine and I got to milk a cow!!! JJ had told us that was part of the show, and we wanted to volunteer for it so bad. When the MC mentioned volunteers for it, we all wildly raised our hands hoping to be chosen. But then, we had JJ and James behind us telling us to just go run up on stage to make sure we got to do it. So, all three of us darted for the stage. The MC yelled at us to freeze, but then he invited all three of us to go up. Yesss. The first thing we had to do was warm up our hands out of kindness to the cow.

And then we all got to milk a real live cow! It was so cool. Kind of gross, but totally worth it! They even all gave us "Certificates of Udderance" for being such awesome milkers :) It really was a big highlight of the trip!

And after that, the cow and I were quite good friends :)

After the thrilling sheep show, we made our way to another New Zealand attraction: zorbing. The best way to describe it (according to the workers there) is that it's a mix between a water slide and a roller coaster. I would prefer to describe it as a human hamster ball with water. We were a little skeptical if it was going to be worth it, but the thrill of ride far exceeded our expectations. It was SO fun. The video cannot capture the excitement, but at least it shows what zorbing is:

Here's a good picture of my head inside the zorbing ball. This hole it where we dove in head first to get inside, and plopped out feet first to get out.

It was a great group activity because we put three of us in each ball and then raced each one down the hill. We all loved it...

So much so that we couldn't help but jump for joy :)

Day 3, Sunday:

After attending church in the morning (in the Fairy Springs Ward--probably one of the funniest ward names I've ever heard of, but they were such friendly people!), we went on a beautiful drive to Lake Taupo. It is a MASSIVE lake, and it was fun to walk around it. The drive home took much longer than the trip there, however, because we had a few minor problems with our transportation. The biggest one being that our big white van got a flat tire! Luckily JJ and James were prepared and after finding the right tools they were able to get a new tire back on. Wherever we go, we make quite a sight...just imagine 16 girls and two big vans parked on the side of a two way road. We did make it home eventually and spent the rest of the evening relaxing, eating a baked potatos and chili, and crying as we watched "A Walk to Remember." Good times.

Day 4, Monday:

We started today off with an amazing cultural experience at Te Puia, a Maori village. We attended another Powhiri, except this one was different from the one at the school because there were real Maori warriors to perform it for us. It was great because before we went inside the Marae (sacred meeting house), we had to choose a chief from the group. There weren't very many men there yet, so we volunteered JJ, and they quickly made him "Chief Jim."

He led us into the Marae, and since we were part of his group we got to sit right up in front! The first row was only for gentlemen, but we front and center on the second row. After the maori speech, welcome, and hongi (pressing of noses and foreheads), the group put on a show for us with lots of singing and dancing. The best part was when they chose me to go up and learn one of the poi ball dances! They only trusted us with one (probably a good thing!), but it was fun to be up there and try our best to poi like real Maoris!

My other favorite part of the show was when they taught the Haka to all the gentlemen in the audience (at least the few who weren't too shy). It was sooo entertaining to see JJ up there trying to learn it. As "Cheif Jim," he was required to be up there, and even had to yell a few times. The best was when they had to stick out their tongues and bulge their eyes--he tried so hard and it was hilarious. We told him we had never seen this side of him before, and he just smiled and said he only lets it come out at the very end.

After the powhiri and performance, we went on a guided tour around Te Puia, which is actually known for it’s geysers. Their geysers are similar to Old Faithful—more beautiful surroundings, but not as tall.

I know it just looks like a cloud, but it really a huge geyser!

One of the smaller geysers from a distance.

The guided tour also took us into a little house to see real live kiwi birds! I was so excited to actually see the kiwi birds we have heard so much about. We also learned that kiwis are nocturnal, which is probably one of the main reasons we haven’t ever seen them. Our tour guide was a bit ridiculous; I think he was pretty special for taking around this group of young, American girls. He made comments like, “We’ll go see the kiwi birds now because I can tell that you girls are probably into cuddly things…like me…haha.” He showed us his ta moko. It actually made me have a lot more understanding of the Maori ta moko. It’s all about identity. It is a representation of who they are and where they come from, their genealogy. Every line and pattern and symbol has so much meaning and significance behind it. It was interesting because I have always just thought of them as tattoos, but he said that the Maoris would actually be offended if their ta moko are referred to as tattoos. We also got to see the wood carving school where many Maori men come to learn the skill of wood carving and take it back to their tribes, even still today. They were all working on these incredible carvings. The man below was working on a huge tree trunk that won't be finished until Christmas. Crazy!

This is the name of the area of this Maori village. It is the third longest name for a Maori place. The longest has something like 87 letters!

After our Te Puia experience, we took a drive to some of the famous lakes around Rotorua: the Blue Lake and the Green Lake. It was so neat because standing from one point on a hill, you could see the green lake to the left and the blue lake to the right. SO beautiful.

This is the green lake, surrounded by lots of beautiful green plants.

This is the Blue Lake. You can't really tell in this picture, but it really is a sharp contrast from the green lake next to it.

We also drove to Lake Tarawera. This one was breathtaking as well, especially because we got to go right down to it.

We sure love taking pictures :)

After seeing the beautiful lakes, we had some time to walk around Old Rotorua and the lake front right in the city. A few of us decided it would be fun to go paddleboating (we didn't want to spend any more money shopping). It ended up being so much and a great way to spend out short visit to this part of the town.

Jess and I working hard to move our boat in the right direction.

Jess, me, Kara, Ali, Whitney, Anna, Janet. So much fun!

Part of the deal to staying at the Brauns house was that we had to attend their dinner theatre tonight, Tribal Lights. It is Annette's pride and joy, and she was so excited for us to see it. It started out with a special dinner. It was fun because they brought out little appetizers and rolls progressively throughout the beginning—the most unique being a plate of cashews to be dipped in salsa. The actual dinner included kumura, ham, shrimp, chicken, veggies, and mussels. We all tried the mussels, and I don't think a single one of liked them! At least we tried, eh?

The theatre performance soon started, and, well, it was something else. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what we saw. I couldn’t really follow the story line, but it was something about the history of Rotorua, and an earthquake, and the village that was buried in mud from a volcano. There was lots of funny little audience participation parts, the best ones being when we got up and all danced across the floor, and when we all had to get under the tables during the earthquake. It was also funny when they picked JJ to be Reverend Humphrey and Christine to be his wife. We all got a good laugh out of that one! We were happy to support Annette, but we're thinking they need a bit more practice before they start performing for the public. It surely was a unique artistic experience for us all.

Here are the two who got to start our dancing participation. They were great with the twirls and dips :)

And here is Reverend Humphrey and Mrs. Humphrey. Ha!

Day 5, Tuesday:

We have had some pretty amazing experiences while we've been here. Today's adventure is bumping its way up to the top of the list, just under bungy jumping. What could be almost as exciting as bungy jumping? Probably not what you think... The Lengendary Black Water Rafting Company's Black Labyrinth. Here is the best explanation I could give you (from the brochure): "This is the original Waitomo subterranean adventure that will have you climbing, leaping, and floating through Ruakuri Cave. Enjoy the amazing glowworm display on the vaulted limestone galleries above. *Climb down into nature's underground network. *Float serenely down a twisting and turning underground river. *Take a leap of faith over a cascading waterfall (actually we took a leap of faith over 2 cascading waterfalls!!). *Emerge into the sunlit native Waitomo forest. *Your 3 hour adventure includes a hot shower to warm up, soup, and a bagel."

It really was incredible!!

We even got to wear these sa-weet wet suits! It was pretty exciting because I think it was the first time I have ever worn a wet suit...too bad they smelled awful!

This is how we picked our tubes: we had to be able to fit our whole backside into them. Notice the lovely padding, there to cushion against any unexpected rocks.

Don't let this picture deceive you...it was actually pitch black in the caves, but our guides have a sweet camera that somehow has the ability to take pictures in the blackness. I'm the third one from the right in the white(ish) helmet.

Here I am just coming out of what they call "The Limbo." It was an extremely low part of the cave where you had to lay back and use the roof to move you along. Good thing none of us were claustrophobic!

This is how we took a leap of faith (backwards!) down the cascading waterfall. We all landed with a huge plop and splash. SO fun!

Another group shot inside the cave. There were 8 from our group (me, Anna, Christine, Jess, Rebecca, Katie, Whitney, Emily) and then four random girls. The other 8 went on the adventure an hour and a half after we started.

One of my favorite parts was floating serenely through the part of the cave with the most glowworms. I absolutely love stargazing, but this rivals stargazing. There were so many all over the ceiling and it was so cool. Our guides talked about the great acoustics in this part of the caves and jokingly asked us if we knew any songs to sing. I don't think they were expecting all 8 of us BYU girls to start singing the Maori song we learned for our school Powhiri, "Te Aroha." We broke out in two part harmony, and I truly think it was the best we have ever sounded. Maybe it was the acoustics, but it seriously sounded amazing. We all wish we could have recorded it. After the guides were joking how a bunch of Americans put all the New Zealanders to shame by singing such a beautiful Maori song.

It's hard to describe the glowworms, but here is a promotional picture that came on our picture CD of the glowworms. When I first saw this picture and didn't know they had some promotional photos on the CD, I thought the person in front was me because I had led the group through this part. I was pretty disappointed when I realized it wasn't, but it's still a cool picture to show the glowworms!

This was the breathtaking view of the sunlit Waitomo forest as we turned the corner away from the darkness of the cave. The pillar of light on the water was majestic.

Here we all are, survivors of the Black Labyrinth. It really was, as the brochure says, "AN AWESOME UNDERGROUND ADVENTURE, SIMPLY AMAZING!"

It truly was an amazing weekend excursion. I go to sleep every night in awe of these great things I get to do. It's a wonder life :)