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Published: February 5th 2006
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Today beats all days I swear, nothing is going to top this one. I mean we did have to up really really really early (in the taxi's by 745am, and you all know how much I LOVE getting up early) it was still the best day. When people say pictures don’t do a place justice, its true. The whole group of us went to Tiritiri Matangi island, a open bird sanctuary about 1hr ferry ride north of Auckland. We get off the boat and are greeted by George, a Kirikiri (see picture) he is straight out of the Jurassic period! cheeky little fellow, no fear of people what so ever. He guards the beach and will personally go up to every person sitting on the beach and check them out. Adorable, kinda scary, but adorable. Our adventure started out with a guided tour of the entire island, lead by a very attractive kiwi masters student. It was about a 2.5hr walk around the whole island learning about all the endangered species they are trying to bring back, the ways they are, the plants, everything. This island used to be nothing but farm land with cows and…sheep….but when the farmer died he
George!!
Isen't he so freakin cool left the land to the state and they started this sanctuary, replanting native plants/trees and reestablishing the native bird populations. I'm in love, for real, this is what I want to do, working in nature all the time, playing with birds, watching them, amazing.
After lunch we were free to explore on our own so a small group of us went to the east side of this island where we were told there was awesome places to cliff jump…oh god. Well on the way there were some of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. Once again pictures do NOTHING to show how amazing it was.
But the true beauty of the day came when we got to Arches. These were the natural arches made by erosion in the cliff side, a lot like Natural bridges in Santa Cruz. We climbed down the side of the cliff, yes me the one terrified of falling down hills climbed down the edge of the cliff (thank you Nathan, Dan and Tree for teaching me a little about climbing). We couldn’t really find a good place to jump because the of the large amount of rocks all around, but Nick and I
decided to do some exploring under the arches into the caverns there where there. HOLY CRAP!! If you ever get the chance to swim into natural caves DO IT!! We got into a back cavern with the most amazing stalagmites hanging from the celling, along with tree roots that we were able to grab onto when the tide came in and then swing on it when the tide went out and jump off. The most amazing thing to me was the combination of sound and beauty. These waters where the most amazing shade of teal and green, where you can see every pebble on the ocean floor, combined with the thunder the waves made crashing into hollow caverns was… extraordinary!
The tide started to come in so we had to get out of there but the time spent was amazing. We hiked back to the meeting spot to lay in the sun and enjoy the sighs of Auckland in the distance, George waddaling around, and fat hairy men in speedos. MEN!….PLEASE! NO SPEEDOS!!! There is no reason to wear one unless you are on the Olympic swim team, and even then, go for the full body suit!
Our orientation leaders
Osterpickers
type of bird treated us all to a BBQ (beer included!!) and a night of hanging out. But once that was all over 4 of us where still up for more adventures so we hit the bars on K-street (where prostitution is legal at the far end). At Verona (the most adorable little bar, swanky even, I think I mentioned it b4) I was stooped by 4 very hansom kiwis who preceded to ask me if I was the united states and offered to buy me a drink if they could guess where I was from. Well would you know between the 4 of them came up with Santa Cruz!! It was so freaking funny, well we all become vast friends and hung out for the last of the night. Oh and can I say I love being a girl, I didn’t have to buy a drink the entire night! Sorry boys. It was quite a nice experience to hang out with real kiwis and not just the eap’ers.
Till next time…
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Oh My Gawwwwwwwwwwd!