I'm HOME... back from the far end of the world

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I'm home! When I chat with my friends and fam re: what I missed while I was gone... it seems like I didn't miss much at all. When I think back over what the past 3.5 mo have entailed for me and everything I've seen, it's really amazing. My trip FAR exceeded my expectations in every possible way - I honestly had the best time ever!! Now it's back to reality........

Back to where I left off......

The Contiki group dynamic changed considerably after the South island trip was over as quite a few ppl on the tour were only doing the S. island and got off the bus. On the other hand, quite a few newbies got onboard for only the N. island week of the trip. There were about 25 of us I'd say who were on board for the entire 15 day trip (both islands incl. bay of islands) incl. myself.

After Wellington, we headed to Taupo - Lake Taupo is NZ's largest lake. That nite we did something super fun - we had a toga party on a dinner boat and boated around Lake Taupo for the evening... it was great!! For those of you who don't know what a toga party is... basically it involves buying a sheet or a piece of material (I did the latter) and wrapping it around yourself creating an outfit aka a toga. Myself and 4 other girls decided to get matching toga fabrics (we were all wearing a different coloured metallic sheet - I was a wicked shade of green) and I'm not going to lie... our togas turned out real well and we looked great! Some ppl had really funny togas too - it was neat seeing the outfits that everyone had created. We had a nice meal on the boat that night, saw some Maori rock carvings out on the lake, saw a beautiful sunset and... partied it up of course!

After Taupo it was onto Rotorua, the heart of Maori culture. On route to Rotorua we stopped to go Zorbing... think a giant hampster ball but for humans, getting into the hampster ball (with water inside too), and then going down a hill inside the ball... that's what we did in essence - it was a lot of fun and such a weird thing to do. Rotorua is famous for it's boiling mud pools (which we saw) and for rotten eggs stench (aka sulpher) yummm NOT. For the afternoon in Rotorua, many of the ladies on our tour headed to the Polynesian thermal pools and spa, however, I was watching my pennies and decided to just enjoy the spa (aka hot tub) at the hotel and do my own spa-like mud mask with my friend Karen. That evening we took in some Maori culture as we attended a Maori Hangi style meal and cultural concert at the hotel... it was a great evening! Onwards to Waitomo!

On route to our destination we stopped at the Agrodome Farm Show. Originally when I saw this activity on the Contiki agenda I thought it sounded a bit lame, however, it was actually very interesting and the animals were so cute! We learned all about the different breeds of NZ sheep and even saw them sheer a sheep in record time. I often saw NZ wool clothing in all of the touristy shops around the country, it's a very popular souvenir. We also got to pick up and play with baby lambs!! We then went to a place called the 'sheering shed' and guess what they sheered there? No, not sheep, but bunnies!!! Cutest things ever and my was their fur soft! Waitomo is the home of the world famous limestone caves and the sparkling glow-worms. I did an adventure activity called 'black water rafting' which entailed getting into a wetsuit, sitting in a rubber ring, and floating/swimming through the chilly waters of the dark caves admiring the glow-works and the limestone formations.

On route to the Bay of Islands, we stopped in Auckland for lunch where unfortunately, several people on our tour got off the bus (doing the bay of islands was an optional add on to the tour that myself and others had signed up for). It was sad saying bye to more friends as it always is. Unfortunately the weather in the Bay of Islands was horrible - it was chilly and rainy and this was supposed to be the warmest and beachiest (is that a word? lol) place in all of NZ. I was planning on working on my tan here. All of the activities were cancelled, i.e. sailing trips and whatnot so it was quite disapointing to say the least. That being said, myself and the others made the most of it and got up some fun activities of our own. We had a couple very fun party nights in bay of islands... good times!! The tour finished up in Auckland aka the city of sails. While in Auckland I went up the big tower (same idea as the CN tower, just not as tall) for amazing city/ocean views and just enjoyed the vibe that the city had to offer. That nite (even though the tour was already officially over), most of us met up for dinner down at the waterfront - it was a lovely final evening but was so hard saying goodbye. I thoroughly enjoyed my contiki trip and met some amazing ppl on the trip that I will most definitly keep in touch with.

Although most of my Contiki friends were headed home after Auckland, I still had another full week left before I flew home to Canada. I had already booked return flights to Nelson (back on the S. island) for very last bit of my trip where I had planned to meet up with my Canadian friend Jen and her bf Todd to do the Abel Tasman National Park. Jen and I met in Marseille, France as we were both doing a uni term abroad there. Jen and Todd are living and working in Wellington just for the heck of it - what a fun experience to go work abroad! Our plans materialized but I still needed to find something to do to fill the few days that I had in b/w finishing the Contiki in Auckland and flying to Nelson. Fortunately one of my Contiki friends, Josh, decided to stay on a few extra days with me before flying home to Melbourne, AUS. Josh and I ended up renting a car and we drove the Coramandel coast together which was a very scenic two day drive. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate at all and it was rainy and/or grey out the entire time but we still had a blast and enjoyed each others company. Josh and I both flew our seperate ways on the same day - him to Melb and me to Nelson. I had a couple days in Nelson before Jen and Todd arrived (incl. my birthday). The weather was still crappy - it was country-wide bad weather for most of my last week. I met some nice Dutch girls and an Israeli girl and ended up renting a car with them for one of my days in Nelson and doing a 7hr hike at Nelson Lakes National Park - it was great but it was drizzling out no surprise. Being on your own you learn to be outgoing - way more so than you'd ever be in normal circumstances. I overheard these girls at my hostel talking about their hiking plans for the next day and literally said 'hey do you mind if i tag along.... i'd be one more person that you could split the car rental and gas costs amongst' and they were like yah sure no problem. I'm glad I spoke up b/c I ended up having a lovely time with them.

Once Jen and Todd arrived (they arrived at 9pm on my birthday) we headed out for a drink in downtown Nelson which had a very sketchy local pub scene... we didn't stay out long, it was that dodgy, lol. The next morning bright and early we took a bus to Marahau (the gateway to the Able Tasman). We stayed in Marahau for two nights. On the Friday, our first day there... we took a water taxi (which was super bumpy and fun) out to one part of the Abel Tasman coastal track and hiked for a few hours (did the said most scenic part of the 3-5 day coastal track). Forgot to mention we saw fur seals that day! The scenery at Abel Tasman NP was absolutely breathtaking... the colour of the water was so unique... it was this bright green colour, beautiful! The next day we did a guided morning kayak excursion, great arm workout! In the afternoon we hiked another part of the coastal track and enjoyed the nice weather... the sun was out for the first time in ages, horray!!! Definitly got some sun tanning that day. That evening we went out for a real nice dinner, I had the famous NZ mussels... delish! On our last day, the Sunday, we hiked the first bit of the coastal track and spent an hour relaxing on a beautiful secluded beach. I was in my bikini, lying in the sand tanning, and can't forget swimming in the ocean on my last day in this amazing country.... (I should add that this was my first time actually swimming in NZ). I couldn't have pictured my last day to have been anymore satisfying. I remember lying there and thinking to myself in a couple days all of this will only be memories... and now that's exactly what my trip is, memories, it's over. We took the bus back into Nelson and Jen and Todd got dropped at the airport - it was so great spending my final few days with them.... such nice ppl. I got dropped back at my Nelson hostel called Paradiso (which was such a great spot btw), organized my suitcase, and hit the sack.

The next day I had my 1st (of 3 flights) at 2:30pm - Nelson to Auckland. I almost missed my flight as I was relying on the airport shuttle bus (which I had booked) to come pick me up at my hostel and drive me to the airport. They never showed and when I finally phoned them, they admitted that they had forgotten about me, can you believe it. Thank goodness they still ended up getting me to the airport in time. The flight from the S. island to the N. island was so scenic... of course it was nice weather when I was leaving, it always is, so I could see so much from the plane. I even saw kite surfers (looks unreal) and the huge volcano from the plane! So much of the country is coastline... it's just stunning, esp. from above. I then flew Auckland to LA - really long overnight flight. Lastly I flew LA to Toronto (with Rachel McAdams from the Notebook and Wedding Crashers I should add).... I said hi to her and she was actually really nice and sweet. My family was there to greet me and take me home from Pearson airport... I felt bad though because the flight was delayed and it was quite late. Finally got home at 2:30am and with the date change from flying across the world... it was only the wee hours of Dec 18th, crazy how that is.

All in all it took me just under 30 hours of straight travel and waiting at airports to return to home soil. Yes the flights are long, the airports are zoos and it's generally not enjoyable to fly anymore these days but I'd do it again tomorrow to return to that far end of the world if it wasn't so darn expensive. What I'm trying to say is that I think if people want to visit these amazing places, don't fear the travel time, it's very doable, it's the money thats worth worrying about. If you're not worried about money at all Air Canada just started a direct flight TO to SYD on Dec 14 2007 (read this on the plane) which will make going to AUS a lot more convenient.


Thanks so much for taking an interest in my adventures and following my blog; I've really enjoyed recording my experiences here. I truly did have an incredible trip, I never imagined that my experience would have been this fulfilling. Sure there were times when I was lonely or a bit down and whatnot but for the majority of the trip, I was absolutely loving it! It's good to be home and to see my family and friends but of course I do miss being 'over there' and wonder when I'll get a chance to return...


Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays AND Happy New Year!!! Hope to reconnect with all of you very soon 😊

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Photos

Lake Taupo toga party!!!!!
the fab five!

farm show
this was taken towards the end of the show and by this time the sheep were all passed out...awwww

the guys in charge
Danny on the left was the bus driver and Alister on the right was the tour manager... wicked blokes!

Nelson Lakes NP
hiking with the Dutch girls

Abel Tasman
about to embark on a kayak trip!