Ki Ora guys! Since the last time I posted, I was lucky enough to go on two trips before finals!! However, these trips by all means did not stop me from studying. During the trips, I brought my laptop up with me to study. Fortunately though, UOA has finals week spread out from June 13th- July 1st! That's about three weeks! My tests days were placed in a way where I had more than a full week to study with no classes and had a three day break before the next exam. Having said that, here are my adventures to North Island and Wellington. My first trip to North Island involved a five hour bus ride to Kerikeri with my friend Hwa Jin. While we got there super late, one of the best things about this place were the stars. Given that there was very little light pollution there, the stars beautifully lit up the sky as we were walking to our Airbnb. During the day though, this area is known for its waterfall hikes and their farmer's market. Our next stop was to Paihia where we did this tour around the tip of North Island to Cape Reinga, 90 Miles Beach and Te Paki Sand Dunes. This definitely was the highlight of the trip as the views were beautiful but the experiences were something we could never find back at home. On the day of our tour though, I learned the true meaning of how finicky weather is in New Zealand. It was rainy during the start and all throughout the bus ride, it would constantly switch from being sunny to rainy every half hour or so. I think it toyed with everyone's minds that the trip was going to end up with us all cold and wet. Despite the weird weather, we managed to get to these places before the rain got to them. Cape Reinga is known for being the most northernmost part of New Zealand. However, it is said to also be the last destination that Maori spirits go when they pass on. This area is a sacred site and we found out through our tour guide that no kai (food) was allowed on the premises since it is considered disrespectful to eat there. Te Paki Sand Dunes was next on the list as we slid down the hill of sand dunes. It was a little daunting looking at how high up you were but once you slid downhill on your body board, you would want to walk up the sand dune again to do it all over. You wouldn't expect sand dunes to be here in New Zealand but due to their unique environment and formation of the land, many types of environments are able to exist ranging from their mountains, sand dunes and coastal areas. Our last place was 90 mile beach. This was the weirdest part of the tour because vehicles are actually allowed to travel across the beach. While it did rain for a little bit, we were met with lots of rainbows, seabirds and even saw some wild horses walking through the beach. WellingtonThe week after, my friend Hannah and I jumped on a plane to Wellington to which I did not know it was New Zealand's capital, the city was on a fault line making it prone to earthquakes and that it was the world's windiest city. But don't worry, all is well in Wellington and this place has so much character! Much of this is due to the fact that a lot of movies such as the Lord of the Rings has been shot here. Here are some of the adventures we had in Wellington. After arriving in Wellington, Hannah kept it a secret that Ben (another good buddy of ours) coincidentally planned a trip to Wellington. So they both surprised me during breakfast and we ended up spending our first two days together. If you do get a chance, I would highly recommend going to the Te Papa museum! Personally, I found the exhibits much more interactive than the one in Auckland and the best part is that it is free to the public!! The next day was one of my most favorite days being in New Zealand. And without Ben, we wouldn't have been able to drive out of Wellington and get some hiking done. I think that day, Ben drove for at least 5 hours while we got to see some crazy things. First, since we were out of the city, we saw lots of cattle and sheep. But on the road, some herders were leading hundreds of cows coming from the opposite direction of us as we were driving. Note that this was a one way road so the cows literally were walking on the road and since they were going in all different directions, we had to stop our car and just admire all the cows walking through. Our first stop after passing the herds of cows were the Pinnacles! It was a rocky hike and luckily, it didn't rain that day so we were able to get to the top pretty easily. On our way down, we had to cross a little stream back and forth to get back to our car. It was such a unique hike since you could tell that a lot of the trails were maintained yet you knew that not too many people went on this walk since many of the flora and rock formations here were untouched. Our last stop was at Cape Palliser which was another lighthouse lookout point. It was a very iconic place to hike up to but I think the best part was what was below the lighthouse. On the coast line as we were driving, there were seals just lounging around literally next to the road. And the best part was that there was a ton of them. In all my life, I have never seen so many seals just lying on the coast line. Compared to Oahu where you only get to see very few monk seals, this place was teeming with these seals and it was a great sight to see. If this place was next to the city, I'm sure the seals there would be disrupted by so much by tourists that such a place like this would not exist. Lastly, if you are in Wellington, I would recommend going to their botanical garden which is also free!! This garden is my all time favorite out of all the gardens I went to since everything is so maintained and the diversity of flora there is huge!! Additionally, I would recommend also heading down to Zealandia which is an eco sanctuary that has the smallest kiwi breed out of the five types. The work that they do there is spectacular and these places remind me of working at the Lyon Arboretum. Everyone there really focuses on making sure that the environment and the species in it thrives and the people welcome you with open arms. It's still weird to think that I only have one month left in New Zealand and that finals are coming up so shortly. Till then, wish me luck on finals!!
Cheers! Melissa
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July 2019
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