Goodbye Auckland!

Uh-oh, I have the desire to write a sappy post... I'l try to keep it short.

This has been an amazing semester. Amazingly short, long, rainy, sunny, rocky, volcanic, giggly, difficult, easy, teary, funny, and of course, awkward. I have had tears and laughs with Jan (host mom), punches and hugs with Rob (host dad), jokes and cuddles with Nate (host broski), and runs and jumps away from the evil cat.

Ohhhh no, its 5:30 on Saturday morning. Too many tears ahead of me. I have an AMAZING 3 weeks coming up and I know that the sights I am setting out to see will continue this transformative experience. I met a Canadian girl in Taupo who has been traveling NZ for about 2 years, and when I asked her about the South Island, she said, "It reminds me a lot of home!"

South Island like Canada? I'm there. 

Good bye Auckland, I will never forget my family here. Can't say I'm sad to leave your buses, though.

Skydiving.

First of all, I don't enjoy heights. Secondly, I don't like planes. For some reason, I forgot these two facts. Here is the story of my skydiving adventure.

If you read my Taupo post, you know that we (Chris, Louisa, and I) waited all day on Saturday at Taupo Tandem Skydiving (TTS) for the weather to clear. The whole time that we sat around at the Skydiving hangar, in our suits, anxiously awaiting the weather to clear.

 We met Albert, the 50-something-year-old German who was Louisa's Tandem Master. He put his hand on her hip and said, "Arch your body like a banana." Louisa responded, "Oh, I like bananas. I can do this" as she thrust her hips forward. "More" demanded Albert in his harsh accent. Chris and I died in the background. We also like bananas, so we figured we could do it too. 

 I was so focused on using my mental energy to change the weather that I did not have time to realize what we had actually signed up for. When they called off the rest of the appointments, I was very disappointed and filled with resolve to come back Monday.

Squirrelly, Chippy, and Pikachu

We woke up to cloudy skies on Monday, which was troublesome. After two time-changes, a nice nordic lady from TTS came and got us in the van. We went back to TTS, where we had wasted all of Saturday, and prepared ourselves to wait some more. The same people helped us suit back up, jumpsuits and harnesses, and prepared us to wait for the next plane. This time was real. But the nerves didn't kick in yet.

I saw on the board that Louisa was with Albert again, Chris with a man named BLANK, and I was with a man named Joel. As soon as we met our Tandem Masters, they were taking us to the plane. And when I say "taking", I literally mean holding the harness and leading us to the plane. Everyone else in our jump was lead to the plane first, and Joel kept me behind until our photographer came. We boarded the plane last. Didn't take me long to realize what that meant: my man Joel and I were to be the FIRST OUT.
(Note: here is where I lose all high school english skills and tell the story in present tense. Its the only way I can tell it, so English-minded folk, my apologies.)


So, here I am, straddling a cushion, squished up against my man Joel. The plane starts down the runway, and my hand finds the wall in front of me, and I begin to hyperventilate. Louisa keeps calling my name, and every time I look back, she gives me the thumbs up and says, "WOOohoo!!" My photographer keeps shoving a camera in my face and giving me the thumbs up as well. In the interest of fond memories, I keep thinking, "Smile! Don't make bad photos!!" So I play along, pretending that I am having a good time, while on the inside I am overwhelmed by fear.

2,000 ft on Joel's altitude watch. "Oh, we are jumping from 1,500ft,  so we should be going down soon" I think. WRONG. 15 thousand, NOT 15 hundred. 15,000ft. I seemed to have missed a zero along the way.

10,000 ft - this is where we will be deploying the parachute, Joel tells me."So, what do you study?" I find most people ask me this question under the most awkward, weird circumstances, its just a ploy to distract you but I go along and tell him my love for geology over the howling wind that is so loud I can't hear my voice.

10,000ft- we are 2/3rds of the way there. I am 2/3rds into extreme panic. At this point in the ride, we put on our oxygen masks. Being the cool kid with asthma, I was lucky enough to have spent quality time during recess with something called a Nebulizer, so I had this part covered.

"Will I be able to breath?" Its so loud in the plane, I can barely hear my own voice. "Yes. Don't think about it too much, and if you can't, we will only be in free fall for 70 seconds." Alright, Joel.

Joel let me squeeze his hand for a while, I am sure he could tell by my rigid silence that I was scared for my life. Literally. "Alright, at 15,000 ft, you are going to swing your legs out of the doorway and tuck them on the underside of the plane" Joel says, matter-of-factly. THE UNDERSIDE OF THE PLANE?!? That is never a part of the plane I ever want to be acquainted with. "Once your legs are out, look over your left shoulder for the exit photo. Then put your head back on my shoulder and I will roll you out. keep your hands on your harness until you feel me tap on your shoulders, then let them out to feel the wind, and bend your body like a banana the whole time. Okay?"
Okay, Joel.

Its time, and he pulls me to the door. I can't move. I feel my feet blown to the left by the wind, hard. Exit photo. Fake smile. Eyes closed. Head on Joel's shoulder. Begin to pray. I feel the plane leave my bum and all I can hold onto is the harness around my chest. When I open my eyes, all I see is the ground, but between it and me, there is clouds. Complete. and. utter. fear.

thought I was going to pass out...

Another tap on the shoulder and I see Joel pointing ahead of us. I tear my gaze away from the ground and in front of me is my photographer. He looks like a puppet suspended in the clouds, dancing like a clown. I smile and put the thumbs up, remember, good pictures!

why did I agree to this

make good pictures!

freaking out off camera

The next 70 second consist of looking down at the ground, feeling like I am going to die, and looking up at my photographer, and waving and smiling, thumbs up faking it. All I felt was extreme fear. Logically I knew everything was going to be fine, but all logical capacity left when we tumbled out of the plane. There were brief moments throughout when I was overwhelmed by the amazingness of falling through a cloud, especially when I would look up at my photographer. But then the fear would come back. Smile and wave, thumbs up.

5,000 ft - I know we are at this altitude because my feet swing up and I am in a sitting position. This, I can handle. I let out some weird noise, similar to "whoooaa" because Joel asks "Are you okay?". "Y-yyyes." unconvincing. "I hope I wasn't your worst tandem ever" SO AWKWARD why would I say that? Even in extreme fear, I stay true to my tactless-self. The conversation changes to me asking Joel about an area that looks like it has recently suffered a landslide, which he has no idea. Geo-nerd strikes again.   The whole descent with the parachute feels like a dream. To one side is the beautiful Lake Taupo with blue sky over it, and to the other side lies a huge thunderhead rolling in from the south. The parachute swings us as we zig-zag toward the ground. When Joel pulsl a cord on the right and we spiral and turn so fast that I feel a little sick but I try not to say anything as I have already embarrassed myself enough. Finally, we plop on the ground and I lie back for a second (on Joel, smooth.), SO happy to have survived.

oh jesus

NINJA

sweet relief

looking out across the land

15,000ft in less than 4 minutes, with a storm rolling in. They say on clear days you can see both the east and west coasts of the country from that height, but I'll settle for falling through a cloud.

the view

Taupo: An Adventure of Field Friends

As a child, whenever I was sad or in a particularly bad situation, my mom would always tell me a story of Squirrelly. Squirrelly the Squirrel always seemed to go through the same situations as I was suffering, alongside with her friend Chippy the Chipmunk. Squirrelly and Chippy never quite knew the right decision, but eventually they always made it out of the bad situation they were in and lived happily ever after. On the first night we arrived in Taupo (or rather, 3AM), we were so wound up with excitement that no one could sleep. Lara asked me to tell a story, a bed time story from one 20 year old to three others (sorry, Chris is 21), so obviously I reverted back to Squirrelly. No one could have predicted that this past weekend's events were going to be told in this style, but it happened. Every night we had a recap of the day's events (mostly to get Lara to sleep...) so I figured I would share it with you. Let me introduce the main characters.

Squirrelly the Squirrel

Carrot-Top the Rabbit

Chippy the Chipmunk

Sheepy the Sheep

The Field Mouse: Pikachu

When the Field Friends boarded the bus on Friday night at 9PM, they had had a very tiresome day. Friday was filled with uncomfortable conversations, anxiety over final presentations, completion of final presentations, a geology lecture, a sociology lecture, and two previous bus rides. The Field Friends were giddy with the possibilities the weekend had before them but were plain ol' exhausted. Once aboard the bus, they found that it was a bus for dwarves! No one knew that a bus could hold so many seats, so close together, and still be legal to service large Field Friends (FF)! The FF also did not know that the bus ride was going to take 5 1/3 hours instead of the expected 3. When the FF arrived in Taupo at 2:30AM, they were even more exhausted than they had been before! They stumbled down the streets in search of Taupo Urban hostel, until they finally found their destination. 30 minutes of waking-up-the-attendent-and-paying-downpayments later, the FF finally collapsed on their beds. Chippy, Squirrelly, Sheepy, and Carrot-Top shared a room and had trouble going to sleep, as they were all very wound up with excitement for the next day.


The next morning arrived and the FF woke up to a sky full of big, white puffy clouds. The FF were all very nervous for their day's adventure: Sheepy and Carrot-Top were off to brave the cliff and Bungy, while Chippy and Squirrelly were set on braving the sky and Skydiving. They said their nervous goodbyes and set off on their different journeys for the day.

Chippy and Squirrelly and their friend, the Field Mouse: Pikachu, set off to Taupo Tandem Skydiving. They arrived at the site with the idea to jump from the altitude of 12,000 ft. After some amazing sales-work from one of TTS's finest, Chippy decided he wanted to take the 15,000 ft plunge. Taupo is the only place in the work that you can dive from this height! Chippy was very excited. Squirrelly thought that she and Pikachu should also take this plunge, but Pikachu nervously resisted. They talked and talked until the three FF agreed, they must do the highest jump they could. So they decided, and then they waited for their names to be called.

Meanwhile, Sheepy and Carrot-Top and their other FF all went to the local canyon to jump off the side. Sheepy bravely went first, and giggled/ screamed the whole way down. She even plunged into the water all the way up to her waist! Even with her wet wool, she had an amazing time. Carrot-Top went with another FF (Lauren, who will make appearances in my Sydney posts), and after a few minutes of mental mantras and deep breaths, they too took the plunge, screaming all the way down to the river. All the bungy FF had an amazing time, and left the canyon with time to do more fun things! They went exploring a place called Craters of the Moon, a geothermal field that looks like the moon. They also went to Huka falls and explored a geothermal stream and soaked in it!

BUNGY

Unsuspecting Field Friends awaiting disappointment

Back at TTS, Chippy Squirrelly and Pikachu waited. And waited. Hours went by. Finally after 5 hours, the people at TTS had horrible news: they were canceling the jumps due to weather. The FF were devastated. They had all been looking forward to this for a long time, and although they rescheduled for Monday, they had wasted a whole day waiting around. Plus they had to take off their super flattering harnessess and jumpsuits, which was depressing enough alone.

That night, all of the FF met up for dinner to discuss the day's events. Chippy, Squirrelly, and Pikachu were dissapointed but filled with resolve and determination to go back on Monday and conquer the sky. In the meantime, the group rested up to prepare for the next adventure: the Tongariro Crossing.

Sunday morning, 5:30AM, Chippy's alarm woke all the Field Friends. They all geared up, ate some breakfast, got some coffee from Carrot-top's "House Blend" (instant coffee, sugar, and ovaltine pre-mixed). All aboard the Tongariro Adventure bus, which ALSO seemed to be designed for dwarves, and off to the crossing! The hike began with the Devil's Staircase, which is exactly what you are imagining. That was hell. This was the part in the excursion where Squirrelly's intermonologue went as such, "Why am I doing this? I like hiking in theory, not in practice. Oh my god, my heart is going to explode out of my chest. I can't breath. This is death. Hiking is death" but then the endorphines came and Squirrelly felt GREAT. The rest of the hike had its ups and downs (literally... HA) and the FF had 7 hours of muscle-burning greatness. They all limped home and went to the hot springs for some rehab and relaxation. 

The group getting ready to set out on the epic journey

Kiwis have designated areas to beat each other...

Look its Mt. Doom!

Monday morning brought back the anxiety of skydiving for Squirrelly, Chippy, and Pikachu. They waited at the hostel, waited and waited through two cancelations from TTS, until finally a nice Swedish woman came to pick up the FF. They suited up for take 2 and waited a little more. Eventually, they went up in the plane and jumped (see next post about skydiving). Squirrelly, Chippy, and Pikachu left TTS happy and full of adrenaline. They met the rest of their FF and boarded the bus-for-midgets for the ride back to Auckland.

Field Friends!! (minus Pikachu)

Rotorua

Another HWS trip! Hurrah! This time we 18 flocked south for the weekend, about three hours away to a splendid place called Rotorua. Rotorua goes by many other names, two of which are "Roto-Vegas" and "Rotten-rua". The  "Roto-Vegas" nickname left us all a little surprised because as far as we could tell, this town was NOTHING like Las Vegas. All the Aucklanders claim it is a huge tourist destination, which there are a lot of tourist activities, but there were not that many tourists. The other name, "Rotten-rua" has been given to the town because of the rotten egg smell the town suffers from due to the high amount of geothermal activity going on.

This trip was very different form our Bay of Islands field trip in that although it was organized by the school, this trip had less emphasis on education and more activities that were purely for fun. On Saturday, we began our trip with a visit to the Glow Worm Caves in Waitomo! We descended into the caves where little green glow worms lined the ceiling. We weren't allowed to take any picture though, so no cave selfies. After the glow worm caves we headed down the road to go BLACK WATER RAFTING!!! This was AWESOME!! I was really nervous about being so far underground at first but then excitement overtook my fear just enough and I had an amazing time. Except for putting on/ taking off the wetsuit. That was pretty horrible for everyone's body image.

Glow worm caves in Waitomo

lookin' good

scared/excited

 The next day began with a trip to Rainbow Springs, an animal center (birds and fish). The best part of the morning is tied between two things: first, seeing baby kiwis that they are raising and then releasing into the wild to save the kiwi population. The second contender for the best part of the morning was while we were looking at one of the conservatory's favorite birds. We were all being very well behaved and listening to our tour guide when we heard some weird stomping going on around the corner. Coming around the bend was a male swan, probably twice the size of an American swan, similar to a big dog, larger then a 6 year old but smaller then an 8 year old, I think you get the picture. Anyway, it attacked our bus driver and it was hilarious. I ran away in fear.

the kiwi stood really still for the picture

COSMO LOOK ALIKES

 After Rainbow Springs we went to our next stop, Te Puia, which is a geyser park in Rotorua. Te Puia is the site of the Prince's feather geyser (and some other smaller ones that I can't name). We ended up arriving just on time to see the geyser go off, which was GREAT once we got upwind of the water/smell. Te Puia is also the host of the best carving school in New Zealand (for Maori carving).

Prince's feather geyser with silica terraces

Manuka flowers that turn into manuka honey

mud boils!

carving in process

The afternoon was devoted to adventure activities. Half the group went Zorbing while the other half went jet boating. I was in the Zorbing group. For those of you who don't know, a Zorb is basically a human sized double-layered rubber hamster ball that you can go into in your bathing suit and slosh around in while they roll you down a hill.

We wrapped up Sunday evening with dinner at an old police station called 'the Pig and Whistle' (those kiwis and their humor...) and a trip to the Polynesian Spa. The spa has a bunch of public baths that are right on the shore of the lake. These baths are heated by the geothermal activity that is underneath the spa site. The spa was overrun with naked old people. Not a lot more I can say/ want to say about that.

On Monday we had our last activity at the mountain before we headed back north to Auckland. We took gondolas up the mountain (in our make-shift Halloween costumes) and took luge rides down. No one understood why we were dressed up so we had a pretty wide berth on the luge tracks - thanks scared kiwis!

weeeeeee!!!

Coromandel Peninsula

We did not have anything planned for this weekend so we bought some tickets for a tour of the Coromandel peninsula! We hopped on yet another bus and headed to the peninsula with a group of Chinese students and a few students from Argentina. Our first stop was in the town of Whitianga to take an old train ride in the mountain. The train was designed by a local artist who first started it to haul clay down the mountain to his pottery studio.

view from the train lookout, not too bad

silver fern growth, origin on koru symbol

Next we settled into our hostel in Whitianga and did some bone carving! I wasn't sure what to expect, but I definitely underestimated the amount of work that goes in to each piece! It took about an hour for each of us to do our individual piece. I made a koru necklace, not sure for who yet! (Be on good behavior and it might be yours...)

1. power tools

2. sanding, took forEVER

3. lookin' good, eh?

4. wet sanding

5... not good enough, apparently. more sanding

6. polishing, yay!

The next morning we headed off to check out the hot water beach! The Coromandel peninsula, like Rotorua, has a lot of geothermal activity as well. On the beach at low tide, if you dig a hole in the right spot you can have a pool of nice, hot water! Pick the wrong spot, and you will set your feet/ ass on fire. I discovered this the wrong way. More then once. And I ran through other tourist's pools, splashing people. It was embarrassing, but it did lead to me diving into the ocean, which was my first time in the Pacific ocean! I can't say the people who I had splashed were as enthused however...

The most famous place on the Coromandel coastline is Cathedral Cove. The Coast that the cove is located on is largely made up of a HUGE pyroclastic flow that solidified just as it reached the ocean. This has resulted in towering, white sea cliffs with beautifully shaped edges and some wave- carved rocks in the middle of each bay. (Note: Its been a while since I have indulged in my love of rocks, alright?). A few of us decided to check this area out by guided sea kayak - which was definitely the right choice for me. I loved seeing the coast from far enough out. We even saw some sting rays (in Sting Ray Bay...). When we reached the Cove we had 'tea', which included our two amazingly attractive guides transforming into baristas, offering lattes, capuccinos, mochacinos, hot chocolate, flat whites, and tea. Wilderman with barista skills? All my male suitors better tune in, this is a future hubby requirement.

hey, cuz!

Can I live here?

But really, I'm moving in...

That concluded the weekend, we headed back to Auckland to 'finish' (start...) our last paper for the semester. Just one final project and two exams and I will be D. O. N E. !!

Boohoo

Its November! What?
First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!
Secondly, I have been in Auckland for two months now, which leads me to my third point.
Third, I only have one month left!! Of course I am very sad. The thought of leaving my host family and returning home to the winter is scary... But I do miss my family and friends and I know as soon as Thanksgiving comes around I will be crying at the memory of mom's sweet potato casserole.
Fourth, contrary to my personal beliefs, this semester abroad is not solely for vacation. Apparently both HWS and the University of Auckland expect me to do some work. Seriously people? Anyway, lately I have been pretty bad at posting and it is actually not due to laziness but rather to an increase in workload as the semester comes to an end. Who knew such horrible things could happen.

It looks like the next three weeks will be less filled with this:


and more busy with this:

plus, since I am living with Jan,
a lot of this as well

Wine Glass and World Cup

This past weekend was Labor Day weekend in New Zealand. It also happened to be the RUGBY WORLD CUP FINAL!!! But before that on Saturday, a few of us went on a lovely wine tour on the island Waiheke. In the morning, we went on a scenic drive (aka an hour in a cheap bus) around the island. The tour guide brought us to a nice market and got some Christmas presents here and there. The tour guide dropped us off at a beach on the island for an hour and picked us up with a new bus full of new friends... But really, there were a lot of couples who were not nearly as amused at our shananagins as we were.

 

Lara and her friends

The group after the last winery, a bit disheveled

Then SUNDAY was the RWC FINAL!! My friend from camp, Canice, flew up from Dunedin to stay for a few days and came to celebrate with us. We headed downtown to watch the game, ended up watching it on our feet, and then celebrated the 8-7 victory over France in classic Auckland night life style... It was quite the experience. In the attempt to keep up my rep', I will spare the details and just say when we finally hit the sack at 4:30AM, we had the best night in Auckland thus far. Except that the cabby charged us an extra $10 just to get home because the city was sooo overcrowded. Still worth it, though.

The mosh pit we started in the middle of the street
"ALL BLACKS ALL BLACKS"

yay! Canice and I at the AB victory parade