Quinn - Whangarei Adventures part 2

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It has been a long time since my last blog, so I will fill you in on my adventures.

On Tuesday we woke up in the morning to visit the infamous kiwi bird. The kiwi bird is an endemic New Zealand bird that is most closely related to the emu and ostrich. In the afternoon, we went to a beach where they also had a trek up a mountain to the mermaid pools, where when the tide goes out, the pools fill with water. The pools are usually very warm because they have the whole day to warm in the sun. The day that we went, the water was probably about 18-19 degrees Celsius. It has been fun switching over to the metric system. I don't know why Americans don't use it because it makes way more sense. The only hard conversion to make is to get miles per gallon. In kiwi cars, they don't measure the fuel efficiency in kilometers per liter, they measure it in liters per hundred kilometers which seems weird to me. Going back to the mermaid pools, the hike is something to mention. It was a pretty fun hike that had lots of steep climbs and some pretty cool views. It did have some sharp grass on the side of the trail, and gave me some nice stinging cuts on my foot. We ended the day with a nice dinner at Schnappa Rock where I tried the traditional Mauri dish called rarotonga which consisted of raw fish in a coconut cream sauce. It was really good and was nothing like sashimi which is good, but you can taste more of the traditionally associated fish taste.

On Wednesday, we started of to the small beach town of Paihia. We made the first stop at a glow worm cave on the way that Bill Gates and his family had visited once before. The cave was awesome and looked like a little starry night on the ceiling of the cave. Once we got to Paihia I got my first taste of two popular New Zealand foods. The first one was the pie, which is much like chicken pot pie, but has many different kinds. I tried a steak and mushroom, and it wasn't bad, but is tasted kind of like school lunch's beef stroganoff. Overall I give the pie a 5 out of 10. The next food that I tried was a sausage, but not like an American bratwurst. This sausage is very finely ground lamb, beef, and fillers and is stuck in what tasted like a rubber glove. Overall I have to give this dish a 2 out of ten and have concluded that I would only eat this if I was stranded on an island and had nothing else to eat but sand. The more exciting part of the day was after the culinary adventures. We got onto a boat that was headed out into the Pacific to look for some dolphins. If we spotted some and the conditions were right, we were going to be given the chance to swim with them. The waters were choppy and they said that you had to be a good swimmer over and over and I started to think about my swimming skills and how long I wanted to live. We finally spotted dolphins and the conditions were right so we suited up for the plunge. The water was about 20 degrees Celsius which is 68 degrees Fahrenheit. We were divided into two groups and I was second. They had very strict rules on what and what not to do and because of this, and doubts about my swimming skills, I was a little nervous. when the first group finally went, my fears went away. They all seemed to get in with ease and there swimming skills were at bout the point of a seven year old with some swimming lessons. The dolphin were active and jumping all around them. We had come on the tour with Nate and my family, and because of swimming conditions, only my dad, Nate, and I went into the water. When it was our turn, reality started to seem like military boot camp, with our guides as our drill sergeants, barking orders all around. We got in the water we weren't supposed to splash, but of course my dad being himself cannonballed into the water and was meet with a warm comment from our guides that sounded something like you dumb (insert word here). I was embarrassed for him, but I brushed it off. When I got into the water, I decided to dive down right away. I came back up and my snorkel wouldn't clear because the swells were coming to high and into the snorkel. I decided to not use the snorkel, which was not rendered useless, so I just held my breath instead. I dove underwater again and started swimming around when to my surprise, there was a dolphin about two feet away looking me right in the eyes. At that moment it seemed like time just froze and I could see him and he could see me. We got to swim around some more and I saw a few dolphins jump, but it was nothing like my first encounter. We came up to the boat and went back in once again, but didn't see any dolphins. For the rest of the boat ride back to shore, I sat at the bow of the boat which at times felt like a roller coaster. We finished of the day with some nice Indian food and I added some more stains or character to my shorts.

On Thursday we said our goodbyes and headed out with Nate to the airport. Our drive was pretty short and uneventful. When we got to the airport we only had about 25 minutes until our flight boarded. We felt rushed and in doing so broke the cardinal rule of travel. We ate at McDonalds. Surprisingly, the McChicken and "chips" that I had tasted different than the ones at home. We got through security (with food, drinks, and a large machete.................. just kidding about the machete) but security was surprisingly lax and the security people actually treated you like people and not like possible security threats (because my sister looks totally like the next unabomber). We again had a short and uneventful flight and landed in the wellington airport. We got a rental car this time and it turned out to be a Holden Commodore. It is a pretty stylish Australian made car that had plenty of room for us and our multiple suitcases. We drove to Paekakariki where we met my parent's old friends Jim and Kelly who have a baby named Opal. We ate pizza at their house and enjoyed a friendly, but extremely competitive game of scrabble where I got the most grand place of last. We ended our on a high note with Jim taking victory laps around the house and kissing the small trophy that they award for winning the scrabble game.

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Comments

[Sarah]

Take notes!!!
Quinn, your adventure sounds amazing. Make sure you take notes for the test. :)