After my last blog I went back to my room and packed a little before heading to Mariah and Elaina’s place to hangout one last time.

Then I walked to Saoirse House warming and St. Patrick’s day party (which was a really long walk). A lot of co-workers/friends from Zealandia where there too. And we all hung out. 

Later on some us separated from the group and went to a park and played on the playground. It was awesome to hang-out with friends and just have fun. They have a zip-line that they call a flying fox, ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip-line#Flying_fox ) it was so much fun I wish they had those here too at play grounds. It was a good last day in Wellington, and I will miss everyone.

On Monday my big luggage handle broke, so it was extra hard moving my luggage about. Angela helped me get to my bus for Rotorua and we said our good-byes.  

Then I was off on my own for a week traveling to Rotorua, Waitomo and ending in Auckland. This is something I never thought I would do at the beginning of my New Zealand adventure. Traveling completely alone with no one waiting waiting for me other than what I had booked. The bus drive was long from 11am to 5/6pm. We had stop some stops and the bus drive would tell us about some history of the land or the place we were near. At Rotorua I only had a 5 min walk to the hostel (3 blocks) but sense my bag had one wheel no pulling handle…it took me a long time to get a 4th way there. Then a nice lady offered to give me a ride there. I felt so dumb for having her go to the short distance, but I was very grateful to her for helping me out. The next day I went on a tour bus for the Waiotapu & Waimangu Thermal Experience https://www.rotoruanz.com/deals/waiotapu-and-waimangu-thermal-experience it all smelled badly mostly like rotten eggs because of the sulfur. It reminded me a lot of Yellowstone but smaller. I even made another friend name Jay.  It was nice having someone to talk to and share the experience with for a short time. In the afternoon I went to Hobbiton https://www.hobbitontours.com/ near Matamata. It was cool seeing the set and learning some behind the senes. In the evening, after I bought a new suitcase, a staff from Cactus Jacks Backpackers took me to a free hot springs. Sense it was free, it was not maintained by people, meaning it was just of the road in the woods all natural. So the rule for your own safety is ‘ don’t put your head under the water’.If water gets into your nasal cavity then amoeba can crawl into your cranial cavity and give you amoebic meningitis.  (an organism can get into your brain and will eat it) Hence I was very cautious to not let my head go under water. It was very relaxing besides that. The next day I walked about and went to Paradise Valley Springs https://www.paradisev.co.nz/. That became one of my favorite places. It was so calm and relaxed there. You could feed some the animals for a price. I didn’t and still had a great time. The animals were all friendly and I got real close to some of them. I was even there for the Lion Feeding, where the keepers threw chunks of meat over the fence and you can watch the lions catch and eat the meat while learning a little about them.

In the evening I went to a Maori Village https://www.maoriculture.co.nz/. It was very interesting seeing their culture and learning their history. They are the first culture that I have found, that stick out their tongues as an intimidation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_culture  The  people were really nice and were happy to answer question about their culture and history.  Maori are musical and on the bus ride back had the different countries in the bus sing a song. I was the only American and sang “This is a song that never ends”. They did their best to make sure you felt welcomed, learned and had a wonderful time too.

Thursday I traveled to Waitomo Caves. Waitomo is a small town surrounded by nature and farms. https://www.waitomo.com/waitomo-glowworm-caves.aspx I did the Black Labyrinth https://www.waitomo.com/cave-tubing.aspx. It was my first time water caving. The wet suit they gave me was a size to small (a 2 instead of a 3) so I was very clumsy because it was tight on my legs. (example getting into the van: I had to pick up my leg with my arm to get it to step up into the van and people had to pull or push me in. I felt so pathetic :/ .)  I did have a great time though. The guides Chris and Kate stop us and we ate fish shaped  chocolate covered strawberry marshmallow  as they told us about the glow worms. Seeing the glow worms where awesome and reminded me of stars and those glow dots you put on the ceiling. The glow was almost the same as the glowing the dark stars but different and better in a way. After the Adventure in the cave we had tomato soup and bagels and chatted with my caving mates. The rest of the time I just chilled and relaxed until the next day bus ride to Auckland.

Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand https://www.aucklandnz.com/int . My hostel was right near the Sky Tower. I didn’t really find Auckland to attractive, probably because it was a huge city and I’m not a city girl. I saw the Museum, the Art Gallery and the Sky Tower. I liked the Art Gallery for all the art.  Anyway Sunday the 24th eve I took my flight home and got home on Sunday the 24th at 4:30pm… I Time Traveled ^_^

Amy