Waitomo (April 15)

Had a wonderful sleep last night, actually slept through the whole night, it was great. After we stopped at a Black Water Cafe we headed to an old gold mine at the Karangahake Scenic Reserve to explore the stunning bush-land gorge. We walked aroud following the river, crossed over 2 swing bridges, and went through a long railway tunnel where we saw glow worms. The river was very calming. It reminded me of he times we used to go to Yosemite when I was younger. It was a great beak to stretch our legs and see some beautiful scenery.

Swinging bridge

One of the tunnels we walked through

View from one of the lookouts

Amanda and Me

Our next stop was the hostel and then we were off to explore some more caves and some people did some black water rafting. Instead of the black water rafting Amanda and I went on a 2 hr hike through the mountains. It was a gorgeous and very scenic walk. We had some starring competitions with cows and tried avoidig all the cow pies. We went at such a perfect time beacuse the light on the mountains made the views that much more enjoyable. By the time we reached the other end it was quite late and it was gettig dark. We started walking back and realized it was going to take way too long and we were on a road where it was very unlikely we would see a car. We knew we needed to hitch hike a ride back but with the population of the town being 55 people and it being a Sunday we weren't to sure if we'd even see a car. One van passed but it was for the black eternal rafting so Amanda and I thought for some reason that they wouldn't give us a ride. After the van passed we really regreted not trying to ask for a ride. I said a little prayer to grandpa D and GG Mary and about 10 minutes later a car drove by that ended up giving us a ride. It wa a family of 5 from New Zealand that was on holiday. We very much appreciated the ride back.

Cows!

One of my favorite pictures

One of the cows we had a staring competition with

Fallen tree

A cave we found

After the boys got back fom black water rafting we cooked pasta with a bacon peas and onions carbonara sauce. The sauce had so much flavor, we were very proud of ourselves.

Hostel we stayed at

Hot Water Beach (April 14)

Today was the start of the Kiwi Adventure bus. It was an early morning to catch the bus heading from Aucklamd to Hot Water Beach. Our bus driver, Dave aka cuddles is cool and full of energry. After a long morning of driving and a few stops along the way including the supermarket to get lunch and things for dinner and breakfast, we got to our hostel which was in a campground. The rooms were very nice and at this point it felt like we were at a 5 star hotel. It is a fairly new facility so that's why it was so nice and pretty clean.  The campground and scenerary around was beautiful.

Unfortunately the only picture I have of the hostel

We headed down to the Cathedral Cove where there were breath taking views and beautiful beaches. We walked down to one of the beaches which took a little over 30 minutes. It was well worth the walk. Unfortunetly we got there just a little before the sun was setting and the water was a little to cold to go into so we just enjoyed the views.

View from our walk down

A rock people swam out to

Elina, Amanda and Me

We cooked a curry veggie stir fry with rice and garlic bread then headed down to hot water beach. It was about a 10 minute walk from where we were staying. This was so cool because it was night. We brougt spades (shovels) down there and started digging our holes. At first all of them were cold but then we found a huge patch of hot spots and made a huge pool that we just layed in. The tide started to come up and was putting cold water in them so we called it a night.  It was so cool thouh I loved it and it felt so good to lay in a hot pool of water. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want it to get ruined but you probably wouldn't have been able to see much anyway.
We were in bed pretty early because we were all exhausted and we had another early morning.

Auckland Day 2 (April 13)

Probably one of the worst sleeps I have had since I left home. My first time being in a hostel all alone and in a forign place so let's just say I would wake up to any noise. One guy came in at 130 and another at 2. Anytime someone moved in thier metal bunkbed the bed would make a really loud squeeking noise. I'm hoping I'll get a better nights sleep tonight.

Breakfast place Freddie, Andreas, Simon, and I went to before our tour

I went on a free tour I signed up for with the guys I met from the plane, Simon and Andrea  (twins) and Freddie. They are all from Denmark and are sponsored skateboarders. This was a perfect tour to do because not only was it free but we got an awesome tour of Auckland with some great commentary and facts about everything. Freddie ended up winning a free jump off the skytower, which I was extremely jealous of. After being at the skytower (we didn't actually go in just stayed outside of it) we headed to different lookout points and went all over different parts. We saw the museum, did a little forest walk, went to a monument, etc. For lunch we went to a pub where we got a free beer tasting. I tasted the summit beer, it was pretty good reminded me of coors a bit. After lunch we headed over to the Auckland harbour bridge where we got to do a bridge walk and some people bungy jumped off the bridge. I almost did it but I'm holding out for Queenstown. After the bridge climb the tour was over. It was perfect!

Skytower from below

Eddie after his free jump

Jumping off the Skytower

View of Auckland CBD

A Memorial

Our tour guide

All the beers we had to choose from 

The beer I tried

Auckland Harbour Bridge

Bridge Walk

We got dropped off at our hostel and I went to have a nap when I met my new roommates, Henry (a German girl), Magnus from Sweeden, Jake from London and two girls from Sweeden who are also doing the Kiwi Experience Elina and Amanda. I love that I choose to stay in the big mixed dorm because I feel like you can meet so many people and I am actually enjoying traveling alone because it is forcing me to meet people and get to know them and make plans.

Simon Andreas Fredddie and I decided to actually go up into the skytower. We couldn't have gone at a more perfect time too. We went just past 5 so we got to see the whole view of Auckland lit up with the sun shining all over and then about an hour later the sun had set and we got to see the nigt view of the city. I was in love! It was such an amazing view and well worth the 18 dollars we had to pay to get up there.

Andreas, Simon, Me, and Freddie

We ended up making a group dinner with Simon Andreas Freddie Jake Magnus Henry and myself. We got groceries and made pasta wih chicken onions and carrots in tomato sauce and garlic bread. It was so delicious and cheap, only 3 dollars a person.
After dinner we headed down to the bars to check out the nigt life. I had an early morning so I didn't drink but a group went to the ice bar and then some of us went and checked out Danny Doolans.

Jake, Magnus, Me, Henry, Amanda, Elina

It was a great day of seeig Auckland and I didn't even have to spend that much money.

Auckland Day 1 (April 12)

The flight to Auckland was not bad, there was some turbulence but I was able to sleep for most of the flight. Our flights final destination was Buenos Aires in Argentina. A guy who barely spoke english sat next to me. He was very nice and asked to kiss my hand before we left and said maybe he will see me again even though it was very unlikely. 
Going through customs the 'sniff' dog tagged me so they searched my bag. I had carrots that they had to take and I was lucky because if I would have gone through customs with those I could have gotten a $400 fine (a blessing in disguise). 
I took the blue air bus from the airport into Auckland CBD to get to the Nomads hostel on Fort St. It took me a while to find once I got off the bus, but once I found the place it was nice. Its in a prime location right off of Queens St in a little alley with some bars and restaurants. 
I went and got a burrito for dinner from Cali burrito and when I came back to the hostel to eat I ran into three boys I recognized from my flight. 
We ended up walking around Queens St down to the harbor/ferries and then it began to rain so we headed back and called it a night. 

Ready for an Adventure!

Auckland skyline at night