Mt. Taranaki Weekend in the Ketchup Van

Okay, I couldn't figure out how to put the pictures after the text...so read and then look!

Anais and I at the All Blacks game!

The view from our apartment=)



One of our stops on the way to Mt. Taranaki! This was someone's farm...jealous!

I've seen a million rainbows since I've been here!
Our lodge the first night!

Amazing Mt. Taranaki mid afternoon=)

Do you see the waterfall?

The plateu...

Where we had breakfast the next morning, New Plymouth


Elephant Rock! Even has an eye!

Three Sister's

The whole group!

We miss you ketchup!

View from the drive home=)

Opunake Beach at sunset!

Wow! I can't believe it's taken me this long to finally post. So much has happened! Let's see... about two weeks ago I went to the All Blacks game which was amazing! We got to see the Haka and Anais and I went kinda crazy and loved every second of it.

But the most exciting was last weekend! I think it was the best weekend of my life... got up early on Friday morning and caught a bus to the rental car place and hopped into our state of the art mini-bus that was stick shift and only two of us could really drive: Anais and I (thanks dad for teaching me to drive stick!). So with shaking hands I got into the bus and drove on the left side of the road (only once almost taking out a mirror) back to pick up the gang. There were 11 of us all together and it was just the most fun-loving, happy group ever! The forecast for the weekend said that it was supposed to rain the whole weekend, but we decided to just make the best of it and trudge on anyway. On our way out of the city we stopped at a really pretty lookout at the water and saw some pretty ominous (because it was rainy and gross) islands. We also stopped in Wanganui and climbed up a million steps to the stop of this cool tower, where the sun came out and decided to love us! Then we pretty much drove for the rest of the day in the rain and fog all the way up the coast until we got to Egmont National Park and Mt. Taranaki. We didn't get lost once! So we get to the lodge and we were the only ones there for the night. We all sat around eating pizza and drinking and just had a really nice time together.

The next morning we got up pretty early and got ready for some tramping! It was totally rainy and misty out so we had no idea where the mountain even was, though we assumed it was close. We started hiking through the goblin forest that seriously looked like it was a set made for the LOTR movies. It was awesome. Saw some beautiful waterfalls too! About mid afternoon, the clouds started to separate and we were SO excited to finally see Mt. Taranki. I think part of the reason it was so cool was because we had no expectations to even see it because we heard it was just supposed to rain all weekend. The mountain was seriously breathtaking. On one of our hikes we got to a clearing where we all just climbed around on the rocks and through the streams for hours just admiring the mountain. We continued our hike to even more amazing views of beautiful waterfalls with the mountain in the backdrop. I can't even describe how excited and elated I felt and everyone else seemed to feel that day. We were all just so thankful and happy to be a part of what we were experiencing. I felt warm from my head to my toes just because I was in this beautiful place! Anyway, we spent the rest of the day hiking around and made it back to the van (which we had named ketchup...because it was red...it later earned its name even more when we thought we bought tomato sauce for spagetti and it turns out we got three jars of ketchup). To add to the excitement, ketchup wouldn't start and all us girls (cause the boys were still hiking one last trail) pushed the van up and down the hills trying to jump start it. Eventually we met some really nice kiwis and they totally showed us some new zealand hospitality and got the van started again! They were hilarious. We drove for about an hour to our next hostel and found that we were the only ones staying there too! We were all exhausted and ate tons of pasta and just lounged around for the rest of the evening talking about french and spanish gypsies. At the hostel they had a book to write comments in and because I love that kind of thing we wrote them a thank you note writing, "we are 11 gypsies traveling in a ketchup van, thank you for the cake and letting us feed the eels!" Then we said thank you in four different languages. Oh yeah...they had a stream in the back yard and we got to feed eels our leftover dinner! It was awesome they were about as big as my leg...Jill you would have loved it!

So we got back in ketchup and drove to the Three Sisters which was in LOTR and was supposed to be beautiful. I had no idea it was going to be as gorgeous as it was. There were amazing caves and cliffs all around us and just the most beautiful formations. It was sunny and warm and we even had to cross through water up to our thighs to get to the beautiful beach part. Ah it was amazing. I was even able to see the peak of Mt. Taranaki in the background of some of my pictures! The mountain and these rocks were probably the most beautiful places I've ever been. I seriouslsy felt like a kid running around and stompin in the sand, just incredible. Sad as we were to leave, we had about seven hours of driving to get home. Needless to say everyone just about passed out in the van as we made our way home through the beautiful rolling hills and mountain out the side window. Even made it to one of the most beautiful beaches for sunset! It was just an amazing trip, I've never felt so happy on a trip. Hopefully the adventures of the ketchup van will continue...

Windy Welly!

Kia ora!

It has literally been a whirlwind since I last posted, but so far I love love love Wellington! It has been cold, windy, wet, and gray for the last few days, with the exception of today when we went to the Weta Cave and Mount Victoria. The Weta cave is a mini museum in Miramar where they show what goes on in the Weta workshop, which is where all the awesome sculptures, costumes, makeup, armor, you name it was made for the Lord of the Rings movies and a variety of others. We got to watch a little behind the scenes video they made that is only shown in their tiny theater. It was really cool to see that such amazing art and technology is created right there in a little building that looks like an old, almost run down warehouse. Really cutting edge stuff and amazing people going through there. Totally fun!

We then took the bus back into town and walked up to Mount Victoria. Pictures can't even describe how cool it was up there, but I'll give it a shot! You could see a complete panoramic view of the city and the bay and everything! SO beautiful=)

I also have the most amazing roommates and wonderful people around me here, my dearest housemates Lena, Anais, and Julie are just the best. We have decided to all cook dinner for each other once a week so that we always have a hot meal (which is so important because it is ALWAYS cold here!) and so that we don't have to cook every night. Lena is cooking coconut carrot soup with ginger tomorrow night and I am so excited. This may possibly turn into a food blog too..so be prepared! It is also very funny because I have been hanging out with all these European girls and they all use me as their personal dictionary, my two favorites of the day were: drying rack and plunging neckline. Not sure how these came up in everyday conversation but they did. I also learned how to say "Hello my name is hollin" in three different languages today. We also enjoyed giving each other hard words to say with our accents, I was given crazy gurgling r sounds in German, and to get them back they had a hard time saying "photosynthesis." It was pretty funny.

Tomorrow we will go tramping at a nearby park area and visit some of the bays in the area. Should be lots of fun! Cheers and love to you all!

Rotorua and arrival in Wellington!

So today is my birthday and I've woken up rediculously early here. Not sure why, must spring from that giddiness you get as a kid when it's your birthday. Anyway, I had a wonderful "Adventure week" in Rotorua with the Australearn gang. We landed in Auckland and then took a bus the next day into Rotorua which is a little south east of Auckland. The first day we learned the Haka and performed it with full costume and makeup (the boys were a little cold!). For all my rugby friends, yes I can be as fierce as the all blacks before their game! We also took a tour of a Maori village called Whakarewarewa (Wh-pronounced with a "f" sound). It was amazing because their people live almost completely sustainably on the geothermal activity that occurs right in the village. There were beautiful boiling pools and awesome natural steam vents or "Maori microwaves" they like to call them, that produce as much heat as a conventional oven. This is where they cook most of their food. They also use the pools to filter water into baths where they communally bathe twice a day. We were invited, but there was little enthusiasm about this from the rest of the group. This day was primarily to get acquainted with the community and so we helped the village by clearing some of their paths of invasive plants. It was really beautiful because we "weeded" (some of the plants were as big as me!) overlooking the whole village with the steam vents and rolling hills all around. After all of this we were fed a traditional Hangi meal, which consisted of delicious earth cooked meat pies and corn that was boiled in the boiling pools--awesome!

The next day I went white water rafting down the Kaituna river. THIS WAS AWESOME! We had to put on wetsuits (which were especially nice because they were wet when we put them on... im being sarcastic, it was really hilarious and pretty smelly haha). Anyway, it was really cold and the water was even colder, but with the suits on we were all fine. We went down a 21 foot waterfall that was redicoulous and a bunch of other sweet rapids. It was so pretty down there too, very jungle-y. Only my friend Andrea fell off, but I'm pretty sure that was one of the guide's goals for our run down the river. This is my favorite activity for the whole week, I think I'd do it everyday if I could.

On our last day we went caving in Waitomo which was also really sweet. We arrived where the caves were on this woman's farm and it was just tons of rolling bright green hills with a ton of sheep grazing (possibly my ideal place to live if I had a bajillion dollars). Anyway we kind of walked down this deep slope and there was the entrance to the cave nestled in this hill. We repeled down a ways and then walked and ziplined through the caves. It was so neat because on top of all the cool stalagmites, tites, and straws, there were really cool fossilized seashells and other plant matter all over the walls. Really gave you a sense of how old our earth really is.

Okay this is getting long, but finally we got up at the crack of dawn and took a flight to Wellington. All I did was stare out the window on the plane because everything was SO beautiful! Basically we got to circle Wellington and we were all really giddy and excited to find our new homes! My apartment is called Wai-te-ata and is up on one of the hills overlooking the city. I would have a really rockin view if only this cool, but darn tree weren't in the way! The apartment is so much bigger than I expected and really fun! They thought I was a boy, so currently I am sharing a bathroom with a 27 year old German guy named Moritz. I am also living with a girl who's name is Lena who is also from Germany. They are both really sweet and really enjoy that I'm American it seems like. I might actually leave here with a German accent, haha. The city is beautiful so far and it feels like I am climbing a mountain every time I come back to my apartment from the city, it is SO HIGH UP!

Hope all is well and I'll update again soon=))

Dressed up for the haka lesson

Rotorua lake

White water rafting