I Just Want to Jump!

Jumping off of waterfalls is not something you do everyday, but with all the natural forests and waterfalls throughout New Zealand its an opportunity that should not be missed! Blue Canyon, which is about a 30 minute drive from Auckland city, contains deep pools carved from the water in the dark volcanic rock. Since New Zealand is basically created from a large range of volcanic fields, Auckland being the largest, it is easy to find areas such as Blue Canyon. Waterfalls are also present in multiple locations of New Zealand. It seems like every trip I've gone on here we've stopped to see or have lunch by waterfalls. These natural features have made New Zealand such a fun place to explore because your bound to find a nice natural park anywhere you go.  

The entire trip down this canyon consisted of first squishing through the slick mud covered paths (results of a rainy morning.) After a quick lesson on how to abseil, (New Zealand's term for rapelling) we began our crazy descent down the canyon. This involved freestyle jumps where we could do flips, dives, or any random jump into some of the deepest pools, slides down slick carved out rock, and abseils down waterfalls that tower up to over 80 feet! 

Because I am a climber, I have abseiled (rapelled) frequently on climbing trips in the states. However, abseiling down a rock wall with water hammering down on my face definitely took the typical abseiling to a new level. With my feet pressed straight against the mossy volcanic rock in front of me, attached only to a rope and belay device, I allowed the rope to slip smoothly through my hands as I hopped down the waterfall. Although it became difficult at times to see what I was doing and I managed to slip on moss once or twice, it was quite amazing when I reached the bottom and saw massive waterfall that I climbed down.

Being an adrenaline junkee, this activity suited me perfectly. Everytime I go on any hike I always like to take the crazy route either and never stay on a path. To me, canyoning is exactly this because jumping off of waterfalls and swimming to your destination or trudging through the mud is not the typical hike. It adds a feeling of "I can do insane things right now and survive (hopefully)" which makes each part of the expedition so thrilling.
 

Kappa Haka

During the first week of classes here, I was a little stressed over my satisfaction with the courses I was taking and figuring out how to piece the puzzle together of my senior year schedule back at Loyola. I soon realized that I did not want to torture myself with a specific Ethics course here that I knew I may be able to enjoy more at Loyola. However, I found switching out of this class to be very problematic and almost impossible withouth me flip-flopping everthing else around. I thought I would be stuck suffering for 3 hours every Monday in this dreadful class. Fortunately, as I was exploring more of New Zealand's outdoors and hiking a volcano, I chatted with a student from Canada who was also studying at University of Auckland and discovered the best class in the world, Kappa Haka!

Many of people are familiar with the term Haka as it is the famous warrior chant/dance that the All Blacks New Zealand rugby team performs before every game. And as of last Monday I can proudly say that I can chant and dance that Haka known as "Ka Mate."

Although this is the traditional perception of the Haka, there is much more to Haka than a simple warrior dance (at least there should be considering that I am taking a semester-long class on it.) Kappa Haka simply means lines of people singing and dancing. Typically, in the beginning of every class we practice the songs/chants we have learned so far. The "Ka Mate" is only one which represents how the Maori people are prepared to go to battle. Therefore, it is very intense and loud and meant to intimedate the group in opposition. Other songs we have learned sound somewhat Hawaiian in a sense and are meant more as welcoming songs or praise/prayer to ancestors. These include "E hara i te mea," "Hoki hoki," and "Papaki nui." "E hara i te mea" is the most general welcoming song used on Maraes (Maori villages) to describe how everything that they have comes from their ancestors. For the song "Hoki hoki" we made dance instruments calle "poi" that the ladies twirl around while singing and make noise with by hitting the poi on their body. We recently started learned this and I found it very difficult to avoid hitting myself (or my neighbor) in the face with the poi repeatedly. For the "Papaki nui" song we just finished learning the full dance which consists of a lot of arm movements (reminded me of a Hula dance without the hips shaking) and a constant quiver in the hands. This shake in the hands really makes the Maori dancing unique to me, and I found it interesting to learn that they do this to openly show their emotions (nervousness of performance.)

After we practice these songs over and over and over again, the best part of class occurs...TEA TIME! For about a half an hour we have a small potluck of food that people in the class brought in and are served tea and coffee. This becomes a nice social hour and is a major part of Maori culture because they find sharing to be of high importance. I definitely agree with this too, who wouldn't want free snacks and tea time with a bunch of friends during class? After this we all return refreshed to more singing/dancing/learnig about Maori culture. I honestly feel like all classes should have tea time considering how much more alert I am after a relaxing break.

So I guess you can say that I solved my scheduling problem except for the sad fact that Kappa Haka only counts as another elective for me, which means I will be taking 6 courses at some point next year. Some may think I am silly for taking a class that frankly counts for nothing, but I actually find that this is exactly the course I needed while studying here in New Zealand. The culture of New Zealand is not typically why people travel here as they would to Italy or Spain. I originally came to New Zealand to escape into the endless outdoor world because I love outdoor activities, but now I have the opportunity to not just learn about New Zealand's history and the Maori culture, but step into Maori life and experience a part of this country that I didn't expect to become so familiar with. Personally, I love singing, dancing, performing, and EATING, and now learning all of this has opened up a part of New Zealand that I did not expect to see but I am glad I found.

Surfing Tsunamis

To be honest, I actually did not see the sign reading "WARNING...Tsunami warning in place. Do not go on the beach for any reason" as we strolled down to the ocean, surfboards tucked under our arm, ready to take our first surfing lesson. However, we were all very aware of the horrible 8.9 earthquake off the coast of Japan that caused unbelievable damage and destruction the evening previous to our surf lesson. And I will admit that we also understood that tsunami warnings were now all over the Pacific, including the exact area we were about to surf.

The evening of the eathquake in Japan, I was already tucked in bed ready for a good night's rest after a long exhausting day. In my sleepy state I remember hearing bits and pieces of the news and realized that this was quite an extreme earthquake and thought about the likelihood of tsunamis hitting New Zealand. Yet I was too tired to get out of bed, so I decided to depend on others to force me to evacuate if any tsunami occurred. Later in the evening, I was partially awoken by a few of my friends returning from some bars, one who was especially worried about the possibility of a tsunami sweeping over Raglan (the beach town we were currently staying in.) Hearing him in his worried state, I started to ask questions like "when is the tsunami supposed to hit?" and "is the tsunami coming to Raglan?" Evidently, I never did ask these questions though, because according to my friends I was sound asleep. Therefore, I must have had this conversation in my head and answered the questions to my own satisfaction so that I could return to my happy, peaceful sleep. However, I do remember hearing things like "we have to leave at 6:00am" and "high ground" and "tsunamis are hitting everywhere!" Apparently, I took this all as "go to sleep, you are invincible."

The next morning around 9:00am, I woke up to glorious sun rays pouring through the window and a dry room that was untouched by any tsunami. It turned out I am in fact invincible! Our group took off to meet our surf instructor and get ready for a full day of catching waves. Our instructor, Steve, warned us of the beach ban due to the lurking tsunamis in the Pacific, but also told us that once the ban was lifted we could begin the lesson. He asked us if we were worried about the tsunami, (at the same time we also recieved a phone call from our program advisor in Auckland requesting that we do not go in the water for any reason) but after a moment we all came to the conclusion that we were more worried about our $70 that would go to waste if we chickened out of the lesson. So we suited up in our penguin suits and took off for Ngnarunui Beach ready to surf any tsunami that came our way.

It turned out to be a wonderful day with nice waves that were perfect to learn how to surf and we all had a blast! As I bobbed up and down over waves, all concerns about a tsunami disappeared and I began to concentrate more on the fact that standing up on a board in the water is much harder than it looks! Also, watching all of my friends wipe out (as well as myself) was quite a thrill! I don't believe the beach ban was ever lifted for the duration that we were on the beach considering that I saw the signs as we were leaving. However, I am glad that those $70 did not go to waste and now I am one step closer to becoming a pro surfer!



WARNING!!! MONSTERS Roaming the City Streets of Auckland!

ATTENTION! This is NOT a bus. It may look like your cute, shiny, friendly neighborhood bus but really it is a mean, green, GIANT, rectangular prism on wheels that is out to attack every pedestrian on the city streets of Auckland!

I never thought that when I came to New Zealand that I would have to constantly be on the look out for these devious monsters. Every day that I walk to the class, down to town, or to the beach, I literally have to go out of my way to avoid pulling a Regina George (Mean Girls) and getting dominated by this killer. But these aren't just your everyday monsters. They may be land dwellers, but I swear from time to time they fly as well. Mostly, this creature uses its wings to speed up and fly through intersections when they spot vulnerable pedestrians trying to cross a road. They also tend to enjoy sneaking up behind a pedestrian who may be just on the edge of the sidewalk and try to get close enough to just graze their side or cause them so much fright that they might happen to jump into traffic and get runover by the next of the monsters in the pack. The worst part of this second circumstance is that the monster's shadow typically engulfs the pedestrian just milliseconds before the actual monster appears, so poor pedestrians can only feel the darkness coming over them but have no time to prepare for the cruel attack. These monsters have no mercy at all, especially towards American's who are new to the country and forget to look right first rather than left before crossing the road. The bad news is that it is impossible to defeat them; they are high in numbers, maintain dominance in speed, size and strength, and are utterly heartless. There is absolutely no getting away! So if you ever decide to be a pedestrian in Auckland, beware of these deadly creatures because (to them) pedestrians DO NOT have the right away and they will go out of there way to make this known.

WAIHEKE ISLAND!

Never have I felt so happily unprepared for an excursion in my life. Off to Waiheke Island, a group of ten including myself hopped on a ferry from Auckland with only small backpacks stuffed with clothing, sneakers, sunscreen, cameras, and wallets. One of the ten had the bright idea to bring a two-person tent just in case; the rest of us were just ready to roll into whatever came our way. Of course the ferry ride had breathtaking views because every where you turn your head, you are bound to see something beautiful here in New Zealand. With no idea what to do, where to go, how to get there, and where to stay the night, we stepped off the ferry onto Waiheke ready to begin our journey. First stop, scooter rentals? No way! Eighty-eight bucks for one day! Ridiculous! Now what? Bike rentals or car rentals? Surprisingly, renting a van that seats exactly ten people is about the same price as renting a scooter (minus insurance.) So this only put us at $15 per person once we divided it up. But wait, we have to drive on the left side of the road and the driver sits on the right? That's a bit of a mind twister. Until we find out that this van is not automatic like most American cars, but manual with the stick shift where? On the left? Oh boy! However, the genious who brought the tent happened to also be the genious who knew how to drive stick and was brave enough to try it the opposite way. So we were off to explore! Here is what we found:

Naturally, we located some beaches where we took the time to soak up copious amounts of sunshine. We also discovered that there are about 18 vineyards and we took this opportunity to do some exquisite wine tasting. While this day was spontaneous, we kept it pretty simple and decided to make it an adventure of doing what we want when we wanted. Because of this mind set, I found it to be the most relaxing and yet exciting day of this entire trip thus far. However, when night fell, our spontaneousness creeped out and came back to bite us. We found quite a lovely spot to park by a beach with a playground and a grill. We couldn't have picked a better spot to camp out for the night, all ten of us, with only our beautiful van and two-person tent. So we grilled up some LAMBurgers (didn't realize that we bought lamb/beef burgers until we ate them) and corn and enjoyed a nice stroll on the breezy evening beach. When exhaustion overcame us and we decided to say goodbye to our perfect day, seven of us booked it to the van in hopes that it would be more warm and comfortable than the tent. This left the remaining three to find that there was absolutely NO room left and pitching the tent was the only option. This tent fit two of the three and the one genious who brought the tent also was the only to bring a sleeping bag, therefore he beached it in his sleeping bag under the stars and left the other two to the tent. I thought I was lucky being in the van, until I realized there was only room for me to curl up on two of the seats, no blanket, and my only pillow was my salty, wet towel that was also caked with sand. Every hour I woke up to either my feet cramping, someone snoring, feeling the need to stretch out, feeling the need to curl up and cuddle with myself to keep warm, and the aweful stench of mildew from soaked towels, swim suits, and my crumpled up towel pillow. I don't think I will ever find an airplane so painful to sleep on after this experience. Once the sun was up, we all were more than happy to get back on that ferry as soon as possible so we could hug our beds for the rest of the day. Of course the only person to be rewarded a pleasant night's sleep was mr. genious who slept under the stars in his comfortable and warm sleeping bag. The other two in the tent found that although they could stretch out, towels were not sufficient blankets and thus shivered the entire night. Despite that dreadful night however, I found that the trip was my favorite adventure and still only the beginning of more adventures to come (except we may put a little more thought into our plans in the future.)

Arriving/ Bay of Islands Excursion

Such a long flight last Sunday and considering that the time difference here is 16 hours ahead (I think) I am surprised that the jet lag didn't hit me to hard. We've been waking up early which is great because it gives us the opportunities to do a lot. The first day, a few of my friends and I went on an exploritory jog through the morning dew of a park called the Domain. The trails were absolutely gorgeous and we felt like we were jogging through a rainforest out in the middle of the city (Baltimore really needs a park like this one!) It was definitely a great get away spot! However, I am not much of a runner so needless to say I have been waddling around as if I learned how to walk yesterday since that run. We also spent a lot of time exploring the city which we found to be so clean that you can walk around barefoot and so "hilly" that walking to the city/class/bars and back is going to give us some pretty solid legs. I can't tell you why I still plan on spending a good amount of time at the gym.

Auckland from the bridge

This evening we just returned from our lovely Loyola sponsored trip to the Bay of Islands. The pictures I am posting can't describe it as anything less than magnificient! The bus rides were quite long and painful, but totally worth it. When we first arrived we took a tour on a jet boat and zoomed throuh the islands picking up bits and pieces of information on the history of each island. Also, saw "the hole in the rock" but could not travel through it on the boat due to bad conditions. Yet it was still quite a sight!

The hole in the rock

The best part of the trip though was yesterday. Once again a long bus ride up to the very northern point of the north island of New Zealand. After a short hike over some hills we reached the point where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tazmanian Sea. The view was incredible and with the blue skies and plentiful sunshine, we couldn't have asked for better weather. We then spent the last part of the day going sand boarding in the dunes. Hiking up to the top of the dune was quite a breath stealer. However, skimming down the dunes on a boogie board with sand spraying up in your face and shredding at your toes was such an experience that losing our breath over the multiple hikes up the dune was no problem. We then took our last stop at Ninety-Mile Beach where we rinsed off our sand suits and then enjoyed a scenic drive right on the beach.


View from the point where the two oceans meet

 


<--Tazmanian Sea-------ME-------Pacific Ocean-->

 


The long hike up the dune



Ninety-Mile Beach

Today was our last day up in the northern coast which we spent learning about the Mauri culture and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi which constituted the British settlement on New Zealand and the relationship between the British and Mauri peoples. The tour was very interesting and I appreciated the guides true connection to her Mauri anscestors as she shared her knowledge and stories with us. On the way back we made one more stop for a rest in the sun by a waterfall, then continued on our long bus ride back to Auckland. With about ten more days left before classes start I am excited to see what adventures we plan (but I'm dreading to look at my bank account...)

Tackling the Fear of Packing!

Today is Tuesday February 8th and because my job here at home decided not to schedule me for the last week that I am here, I am now stuck at home with nothing to do but think about all of the things I need to take care of in order to prepare for my trip. The number one thing on my mind: miraculously finding a way to pack my life for 4 and a half months into one suitcase. I don't leave until Sunday, however for once in my life I decided not to procrastinate and believe it or not I knocked out my packing today! :) The most surprising thing is that I think everthing may be able to fit. This picture is what I have so far (although I'm not completely finished, but I have succeeded much more than I originally anticipated.)

Overall, I am extremely excited for the start of my adventures in New Zealand. I've constantly been checking the weather which has typically been in the mid-70's, and am ready to absorb those lovely sun rays! I know I have many thrilling adventures to come including bungee jumping, sky diving, glacier hiking, rock climbing, and much more, which I will be very happy to share with you. Despite all my excitement, I am also a little sad to leave all of my friends and family behind. I have been visiting Loyola every weekend to suck every last bit of fun out of my junior year (at Loyola) that I can. Tomorrow will be the last day that I go up to visit and say my last goodbyes to those who I will really miss. However, when Sunday comes I will be more than ready to depart to the other side of the world!!!