First Week and About Future Posts

Kia Ora everyone,
Sorry for the delay. The first week in New Zealand was extremely busy, and since actually getting to my final destination I have been going non-stop. What I am going to do here is give a recap of my first week in NZ, from arrival to getting in to Dunedin. This one will also be longer than normal, so I apologize in advance for the forthcoming wall of text...

I arrived in New Zealand at about 5AM local time on the 11th of February, after leaving Boise at 11AM on the 9th (the international dateline is a weird thing). The flight over was not as bad as some people make it seem, and as I am a champion at sleeping while traveling, jet lag was a non-issue.

Auckland: If I had to be absolute in deciding whether or not I enjoyed Auckland, I would have to say that I did not like it. It was very humid, very cramped, not extremely clean, and many signs were in various Asian languages rather than English. It really felt like I was in an Asian city. The highlight of the one day I had in the country's largest city was definitely Mt. Eden. It is a small volcano (one of about a dozen that rise up out of the city), and was the first place my group visited after clearing customs. The view was tremendous, although only of a smoggy metropolis. All in all, a little disheartening as far as first impressions go. It goes without saying that I was happy to move on to other, less claustrophobic surroundings the following day.

Rotorua: Rotorua is a somewhat small city located near the center of the north island, and most of my orientation was spent here. One thing of note though is that on the drive from Auckland to Rotorua, my group stopped in Matamata, which most of you will know as Hobbiton from the Lord of the Rings movies. It is a pretty cool little place that has clearly embraced its inclusion in the films, and yes, the farmland around there does look just like the Shire, which is great.

Rotorua is pretty much the center of the Maori world today, so the place just reeks of the culture. Something else it reeks of is sulfur, as the entire city is situated upon an extremely thin crust over the top of some serious thermal activity. Bubbling mud pools and steaming pots of crystal clear water that drop off into the abyss litter the landscape, and were fantastic (less cool than Yellowstone though). While in Rotorua, my group learned to play rugby and were constantly reminded how much tougher Kiwis are than Americans by our leader Cappy. We taught him ultimate frisbee though which was even more fun! We also learned the haka that the All Blacks do prior to each rugby game, called "Kamate Kamate". As with every haka, there must be a leader, or chief, and our Maori teachers decided to pick me to lead my group because I apparently exude leadership (awesome...). By the end of it, we were in full Maori garb, which is essentially face paint and loin cloths for the men, pretty dresses for the women, and I was out front, screaming the lyrics for my tribe of 30 to echo. While I am against us Americans butchering something as special to a people as the haka is to the Maori, it was really fun to learn about the culture through the experience. Even better though was the traditional hangi feast we were able to attend, where Maori cooked a meal in the earth for us, making for some delicious food. We also went Zorbing one day, basically getting pushed down a hill in a giant rubber hamster ball. Fun, but not as fun as I had anticipated.

Our last day on the North Island was spent traveling to the famous glowworm caves of Waitomo. I could tell it would be a good day from the beginning, waking up to a downpour and driving through misty forest to the little town about 2 hours west of Rotorua. We didn't just go into the glowworm caves though. That would have been what tourists do. A group of about 12 of us went up into the Tumu Tumu cave to do what is called "blackwater rafting". We strapped on wetsuits, headlamps and helmets and walked about a mile up into the trees and down into a small sinkhole, where a crack in a rock allowed us to abseil into the cave. From there we got wet, following a subterranean river into some sections that required us to swim through pinches. It was claustrophobic and a little scary a times, especially knowing that albino eels lived in the waters we were stuck in. Eventually we hopped into what the guides called "tyre toobs", flipped off the headlamps, and floated down a small cavern looking at a ceiling covered in tiny lights. Glowworms hung from the rock by the thousands, creating something easily as amazing as the best night sky I have ever seen. Later on we stopped and ate a NZ specialty; chocolate covered strawberry flavored marshmallow. It sounds weird, it tastes weird, but I guess you could say its "as kiwi as". On the way out of the cave we got to see some wetas. These are NZ's token insect, and they really do look like a cross between a cricket and a cockroach. Oh yeah, and they can grow to the size of a human hand, making them the largest, heaviest insects in the world! The whole experience (about 3 hours underground) was by far the highlight of the first week in New Zealand. (cameras weren't allowed in the caves, so no pics here. Good in my opinion, because pictures couldn't do it justice.)

Dunedin (First Impressions): We arrived in Dunedin on the 16th of February and were simply dropped off at our flats. It was an abrupt end to our orientation, and I think everyone felt a little lonely, but it gave us some time to explore the city. My first impressions of Dunedin are mixed. It has a great location with some beautiful hills and is set on an peninsula along the pacific coast. The city itself is larger than I anticipated, which isn't a good thing, and the student party scene is HUGE here. Flats around campus are pretty rough and dirty, although I like mine, so I suppose I lucked out. One thing that really bothers me though is that it is borderline impossible to see the Olympics from here, as barely anyone has TVs, and those who do only pick up maybe 10 channels. My only culture shock thus far has been my separation from sports, haha. Another easily noticeable thing about Dunedin is that there is definitely less money available to go into school facilities. The University of Otago is beautiful, but its urban setting and other differences from Colorado actually caught me a little off guard. I'm sure it will grow on me as I go along. One thing I have been blown away by though is the awesome gothic architecture in the city center, known as the Octagon. Dunedin was founded by the Scottish, and its hills and churches really scream the culture, which I love.

Well, it is now officially "O" week here at school and classes start soon, so I have that to look forward to. Coming shortly is another post from my first actual trip in New Zealand, which was amazing. It should be out very soon.

Thanks everyone, hope all is well, and I'll talk to you soon!