New Zealand! Auckland, Bay of Islands, Cape Reinga

New Zealand! North Island Adventures.

Images from: Google Image Search

Auckland Skyline:

www.virtualoceania.net

Cape Reinga Light House:

www.global-journeys.com

Cape Reinga Beach:

www.delsjourney.com

We're back on!
I've been away from blogging for about 3 or so weeks, but my time here in New Zealand has been really good...
Here are some highlights:

1. Arrived on March 12, Monday; a new friend, Sophia, (friend of a friend I met in Denver, CO), picked me up at the airport when I arrived... it was really early, so a sacrifice for her! Thank you, Jesus, for her gift of love to you and to me. Interesting thing: I missed Sunday!!! New Zealand is just west of the International Date Line, so we are one day ahead of everyone in the States and South America... and we are the first country (I think) to change to the new day.
The way you can calculate the time here... for Indiana people: count forward 4 hours, and then move it to the next day/opposite of what you are... For example: if its 6pm in IN, 4 hours forward is 10 pm; then move it forward to the next day, 12 hours; so its 10 A.M. in New Zealand. Crazy, huh?

2. Spent 1st week laying low; Felt like the Lord wanted me to spend some time with Him, rather than just get going on traveling and seeing the island. Ok... so I spent the week talking to Him, going on walks, reading the Bible... and it was really cool. God kept on bringing scripture passages to my mind, maybe 1 or 2 a day; and I didn't know what they were... Like I would think of Isaiah 51, or Isaiah 52, or 43, or whatever it was... I wasn't sure if it was me, or if it was God putting the thought in my mind, so I would look it up, and EVERY time it was or appeared to be a word from Him, concerning what I was talking to Him about that day. It was really amazing, a gift; I couldn't conjure it up, He just put something on my mind, and sometimes it would be when I asked Him for a word from Him. [I hope to write about what He showed me through those passages, so we'll see. But it really became His Word, alive and active and applicible to me, not just words for the past, for other people... but for me, from Him.]

3. 2nd week I paid for a tour up to the Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga, which is up on the northernmost tip of the North Island of New Zealand. It was very beautiful. The Bay of Islands is an area with lots of islands (amazing, huh?) and it is really gorgeous. One of my British friends paid for para-sailing (I think that's what you call it... hooked into a big kite thing that goes behind a boat and you go up REALLY high in the air; like mountain climbing, only easier!) and she highly recommends it. (I chose to take a boat ride to see the dolphins instead, story below.)

On the drive up to the Bay of Islands, I took my 1st tour with a BackPacker's group, called Stray. They drive a bunch of backpackers up in a van to a certain destination, and there are stops along the way. We stopped by to see a HUMONGOUS tree, something like a Kia tree? (about 6-7 people could reach around the base of these trees' trunks... they were like the redwoods of California, only not red. Kind of grey and olive greenish flakes. The wood won't rot on it, because its so dense, so they were harvested a lot for ship masts back in the day. Now they are a protected tree, because there aren't a whole lot left, and they take SO LONG to grow.)

Another stop was at a bird restoration place, and we got to see 1) a talking bird who asked "you want a beer?" "Let's go swimming" and other ridiculous things. It was really funny. Like watching Mr. Ed, the horse, talk - his mouth would move, and talking would come out, but it didn't look like it matched. And supposedly, this bird is not supposed to talk. Its not like it was a parrot or something. It was like a normal bird, supposed to tweet, and it was talking. Amazing. I guess people come from all over to see the thing. :) We also got to see a REAL LIVE KIWI. Not the fruit, or the people (name for new zealander's); but the fuzzy brown, strange-looking bird with a long, narrow, straw-like beak, that lets it suck up bugs. And I got to pet it. In China (when I was there during the summer one year in college), we had to pay $85 to hold a panda. Here, I got to pet a Kiwi for FREE!!! Thank you, New Zealand Bird Restoration Place! It helped me feel better about all the other travel expenses. :)

My Co-Ed Hostel
I stayed at my 1st hostel of the entire trip on this excursion up north! It was quite interesting. We checked in, paid $24 per night (which I thought was quite high, for a bunk in a room! Avg hostels in Australia/NZ are $20), and then walked to my room. I was staying with one of the girls I met on the bus ride up, she was from England. I got to my room and found out it was co-ed (6 bunk beds, a small kitchen, and small bathroom)!!! whoah. I guess I just thought they would put guys with guys and girls with girls... but no. So we were 2 girls in a room with 10 other guys, all from England, ages ranging from 18 to late 20's. It was like coming to a college dorm room, and finding that you share a room with guys. It was fine, all of the guys were polite and didn't act inappropriately, but it was funny... smells, sounds, and sights of staying with guys; I told myself, I have 3 brothers, I slept in a tent growing up with 6 guys - my brothers and cousins, and this would be no different. My friend and I did our changing in the bathroom, and made sure we locked the door, but it turned out to be fine. :) The party scene is pretty strong among backpackers - drinking 'til all hours of the night, the whole guy/girl scene, and a lot of conversations about how much I drank, what exploits I've done, and where I've been traveling... fun, fun, fun... seems to be the glasses that people where. As long as you're having fun. Which is good, fun is good, but sometimes it seems so shallow and fleeting.
I had some real good conversations with some of my British friends... they asked me if I was religious, and I told them I just loved Jesus. We got to talk about a lot of things around that topic. There were other people that I thought about talking to, but I didn't... and was frustrated about it later; what am I worried about? People rejecting me? God help me be the aroma of You and to be willing and able to share with whomever You want me to share with. I did meet a girl from Denmark, Anna, and we became friends a bit, and before I left I asked if I could pray for her - a blessing from God. She received it quite well, and I was thankful that the Lord helped me to say it. Every time there is always a question... do I share or not share? God help me follow You. I feel so weak sometimes and that I don't follow Your leads to talk with someone or say something or speak up when I think I should. Help me.

Cape Reinga

I paid a bit extra for the further trip up to the very tip of the North Island, but it was worth it.

We rode in a dune-buggy-4-wheel-drive bus from our hostel the next morning... pretty cool, 4WD bus. Never seen one of those before. High wheels, big wheels, 30 passenger.

We drove past the Bay with a beautiful morning sun, streaming down in rays through the clouds. The country-side was filled with green rolling hills, some pine and other tree specimens, and some sheep. I guess New Zealand is known for its sheep. They're kind of cool. Just white confetti dots sprinkled across a really green green field. Peaceful. The colors of all of New Zealand are really amazing - everything seems a bit sharper, like the blues of the sky (like a Colorado sky), or the greens of the grass, or the golds of the fields... wow.

Along the way we got a flat tire. Kind of funny, actually. Our big, bad 4WD bus with a flat. :)

We stopped for about 45 minutes for the guys to fix it (I appreciate guys). And it gave us all a chance to get out and really enjoy the country-side. My first time in New Zealand farmland. Beautiful. Lots of cows, too. I liked our stop and the fresh air. Sometimes zooming by in a bus can get blah... you just get numb to it all, b/c you're zooming by, not really soaking it all in.

We stopped by a forest of the BIG trees, and there was a funny story... the gov't had paid an amazing amount of $ for walk-ways and rails to be put in one section of it... the Queen of England was coming! The huge motor-brigade arrived and the Queen got out, walked to edge of the section where there was a look-out point, and then got back in her car and they drove off again. No one said anything, but Uhhh! All that time and money and she didn't even walk down into the forest. I don't think she realized it. But we got to walk down into it, and it was very nice. Reminded me a bit of Disney world. Beautiful walk-ways to see some exihibit... and there were millions of tourists from various bus companies... well, maybe only 100. Old people, young people, all kinds of people, herded around on this walk-way. But we had fun. I was taking some videos with my camera and we made it "interactive". :)

After lots more driving, we made it up to CAPE REINGA. It was probably my favorite spot of the whole trip. I could have spent the whole day there. But, b/c we were on a tour, we had "about a half-an-hour". What?! Looking back, I should have spoken up, and requested that we stay longer; but it was my 1st-time-tour, so I didn't know what I could ask for and what I couldn't.

It was so cool (2 pics up at top are from there). There was a large hill-like mountain with grass on it, that jutted out into the sea, and we could climb to the top of it (not too far from where our bus parked). From that point, we could stand in the wind (there was a nice breeze), and look to our left, and down below, there was a beach/cove that made a huge sweeping curve out into the Tasman Sea, which was a very deep tourquoise blue/green. (see picture above - Beautiful! It was almost this clear the day we went, which was a real gift from God... the day before and earlier that week, during my "lay low" time, it was rainy and cloudy and not good weather.) Then, straight out in front of me, was the place in the ocean where the Tasman Sea hit the Pacific Ocean... It was quite dramatic. You could see the deep turquoise blue hitting the darker blue of the Pacific, and at that point, the waves came up on the surface, causing these hash-marks of waves... kind of like 2 big ocean-powers fighting! Then to the right, there was another stretch of land going out into the sea, and a lighthouse was built on it. It was really pretty, and served as a guide to ships to not hit the dangerous rocks below.

Sand Surfing

Later that day, we surfed down some really tall sand-dunes with a boogy board... it was really pretty there, gorgeous golden sand, really fine grains, these wavy formations in the sand from the wind, like you see in pictures of deserts; and beautiful blue skies. The hike up was really steep, and had to rest a few times along the way, and then the tour guides helped hold the board while you laid on your stomach (they wouldn't let you try to stand)... and looked down a really steep slope... then they gave you a push, and you worked really hard to keep your elbows in and your feet up... while you zoomed down the sand. Then at the bottom, you were glad you didn't get hurt, and quickly had to roll off and get up to get out of the way of the next guy coming down. I did it 3 times. I think what I liked most, however, was just the view from the top, and getting to spend time with Jesus up there - He made some cool places.

90-Mile Beach

Next, we drove down a beach that was really 64 miles long, but the natives thought it was 90, so that's its name. It was still really long. I guess they run some races there, in memory of a native boy (Maori are the native people, Polynesian in ancestry) who was said to have run for huge stretches of the beach, I think 40 miles, to run an errand for his mom. I don't think I would want to run it. We looked for some wild horses along the way, and didn't see any... The whole beach was really pretty - flat whitish/gold sand, light blue water, and then really sunny and beautiful blue skies.

Fish & Chips

This is a pretty popular fare here, and we tried it on the way back to our hostel. I guess the Australians tease the New Zealander's for their accent (which I think is kind of funny, b/c Aussie's have an accent, too!! and so do American's, to everyone else!)... and they say the Kiwi's (that's what NZ people are generally called, its not derogatory) call it "Fush and Chups"... Anyway, the fush and chups were really good, I even tried oyster and mussel and clam - although I think I'll just stick w/ the fush next time. The chips are just french fries, but a little thicker - like fried potato wedges.

Swimming with Dolphins

Someone please give this a different name. False advertising. Very fun experience non-the-less, but gets your hopes up when they know there's a good chance you're not going to swim with them. So we pay $95 New Zealand (which you multiply by 0.7 to get U.S. - which is 1/2 plus two 10%, so 50 plus 20, about $70 US) and take a 4 hour boat ride with 40 other people, all REALLY wanting to swim with the dolphins. I mean, how cool is that? It was a beautiful day; the greens in New Zealand are really green... like an emerald, the grass almost sparkles. And the sky was really blue, so it was so nice to be out on a boat. About 1 hour into the trip, another boat radio'ed over to say they spotted a pod of dolphins, so we headed that way. And there they were... zooming alongside our boat, keeping up with us!!!! Seeing their bodies glisten under the water, their spout (air hole on top), dorsal fin, and their grin on their faces - beautiful big creatures!!! And they played with us!! Swimming along side, then up for a jump, then off again... then three would come close to the top, and you watch them in perfect harmony of motion, weaving their way in the water, like a butterfly swimmer, but even more graceful. Then, joy of all, 3 of them decided to take a flying leap out of the water!!!! To play!!! So care free, so beautiful, so free. We kept on taking a million pictures - but only a few of them were any good. :) The beauty of digital. There was a little baby (maybe about 4 feet long; the parents were about 10 feet long!) so that's why we couldn't swim with them. New Zealand has a law that says you can't swim with baby dolphins to help protect them. Which is fine, but seeing as how there is only one or two main pods in the Bay area, I think they need to say "Watching the Dolphins, and today, there is a 10% chance that you will swim with them." Especially if they know that the pods have a baby - they go out every day with tourists. Oh well. But it was a REALLY wonderful experience. And I'm so thankful we got to see such a large pod (about 15-20) of really playful dolphins!!!

We headed back to Auckland on Wednesday - a fun-filled, 3-day Adventure!! My 1st official one in New Zealand.