Auckland was the last stop on my tour. Five weeks of an incredible journey and adventure with some amazing people. A trip I’ll never forget!
Category: New Zealand
Glowworm Caves – Waitomo
I’d been looking forward to going in the glowworm caves for ages. It was like seeing the night sky… except they’re technically maggots and the glowing part is their poop. Not so magical when you think of it that way, but insanely beautiful nonetheless.
The collage below isn’t any of my pics, but it was worth it not to worry about camera settings for the glow worm parts and just enjoy the experience. The guide said most people spent more time trying to get the photos right and missed out on the experience itself, I can see how that could happen.
The guide would turn on the lights as we went through the cave, we did entire sections in absolute pitch black. It was scary but fun! It took a lot of playing with settings on my camera, but I got some cool shots out of it.
They put this here to see if the dripping water would make a dent in the top over the years. So far, after careful scrutiny over the years… it’s made it wet.
Agrodome
Spent the morning at a sheep show! It was neat to see all the different types of sheep and a shearing demonstration!
They had a demonstration with the herding dogs as well, and how the different breeds control the sheep. This one dog just stared them down, it was kinda creepy, but cool. The other dogs jumped all over the sheep and barked. A lot.
Whakarewarewa Thermal Village & Maori Cultural Night
Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao means “the gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao”. We learned how to pronounce it, but I’m not sure I’d attempt it again!
We visited this thermal village, where native Maori still live, cook (hangi), attend church, swim and frequently have tourists walking through, but they welcome it and are eager to share their culture. They cook using the heat from the ground, and they use the thermal heat as a power source.
We got to see an incredible demonstration of Maori dance, song, poi dance and of course the haka! All with a traditional hangi meal. It was delicious and a highlight of my trip for sure!
I had to give the poi dance a shot!
Rotorua
Geothermal heat is a powerful thing. And smelly.
Huka Falls
Water rushes over Huka Falls at a rate of 220,000 litres (58 000 gallons) per second.
Lord of the Rings site (one of many)
Mount dooooooooom!
Wellington
We rode up the mountain to get a bird’s eye view to the city. There’s some really neat architecture with elevators built into the sides of the hills that hold the houses too.
I got the opportunity to vista Te Papa museum as well which was really neat. It has a ton of information about New Zealand and lots of interactive exhibitions too. We learned a lot about Jade, which fit well into our trip to the Jade factory/store as well.
We had a quick tour of the botanical gardens as well. It was really neat to see all the plants native to New Zealand. 
This totally brought out the type nerd in me – very cool sculpture, signs and graffiti:
Toohey!
The well known beer was named after this bird!
South to North!
From the South island to the North island! We traded buses with another Contiki group that’s doing the reverse of our tour. They got off the ferry, and we got on!
There was a little something special this day too – it was the day that my friend got to see the guy she met on our Australian tour. It was a very sweet reunion, and even almost 4 months after the tour, they are reuniting in Thailand for another adventure together! <3
En route we stopped at a seal colony to watch them play in the water and sunbathe on the rocks.
