MAKETU MAORI CULTURAL NIGHT, November 5 2009

We have arrived in Maketu, and it smells a little like southern Alberta (well, Picture Butte) with all the dairy farms. Apparently this area is a wealth for producing dairy & kiwi fruit! (Little side note: our driver educated us on the fact that magic mushrooms grow on the vines of kiwi plants and while they’re illegal to pick by hand it’s literally legal to get on your hands and knees, if you can manage, and eat them as though you were grazing). Yeah, right!? Who knows? This is the same 4 girls that fell for the ‘Shoat’ story on our way to the Waitomo caves. Ricki told us that a group of brothers interbred sheep and goats so that the sheep could handle the rugged terrain better, called them Shoats, and we totally believed them. We got our photo taken with the token giant kiwi fruit and Valena & Dan played DJ for the Stray bus rides in between stops. After being thrilled with our friends’ Huka in Wellington, we managed to take another one in here at Maketu. We stopped at a place called Uncle Boy’s & had dinner & a cultural evening. Us girls shook our hips & danced the Poi while the guys in our group learned the Huka. One of the Maori boys picked out Britt from a group of like 35 girls for her wicked hips! So, we’ve added Shakira to her list of nicknames. It’s hilarious forcefully trying to create nicknames for each other…they’re not quite sticking yet. Another one up for vote is ‘Ritz”, kinda rhymes with Britz…and there’s a story behind it. Feel free to comment and vote!

Cheers! d.

November 4

We arrived in Raglan early afternoon and were welcomed with sunshine, which was perfect for our much anticipated afternoon of riding the waves...or at least attempting to. The hostel we stayed at was very cool, the buildings were built on the side of a mountain, with hammocks on the balconies and everything. It was very surfer-esque (don't think that's even a word). The atmosphere is that place was very chill and easy-going which was very appealing. First on our agenda for Raglan was hoping on the surf boards and showing off our skills!
Britt and Dan have both taken surfing lessons before in Hawaii, while Valena and I were brand new at it. V took the smart way out and opted for a boogie board instead, but I was determined to surf, without paying for lessons. We got to the beach and Raglan surf shop to get all decked out in our wetsuits and grab our boards and checked out the waves. Not gonna lie, they were a bit bigger than I was hoping for my first time surfing, but I was still pumped to give it a go anyways. I didn't have a clue of what to do, how you time the waves, how you are supposed to get up on your board, but figured it'd be all through trial and error. I'd like to say that once we got our boards we ran into the ocean like a bunch of Baywatch beauties, but it was more of us struggling to carry the surfboards without dropping them in the sand.
Much to our surprise, the water wasn't near as cold as we had anticipated, giving us the extra push to jump into the water and get a start on this debacle that was awaiting us. It took V no time to quickly learn how to ride the waves, although she did have some rolls and tumbles along the way where the wave definitely won in the contest. The waves were non-stop, not allowing us much break time in between and so we were always on our toes, ready to either challenge the wave or else jump over or under it and wait for something good to come our way. My first attempt was quite pathetic, I don't even think that it was a very big wave, but it got the best of me. I remember turning towards the beach and paddling thinking, 'oh ya, i got this', but soon found out that i wasn't even near getting it and ended up getting knocked off my board and swallowing a few gulps of delicious salt water. But not to worry, I kept persevering and before I knew it I made it onto my knees on the board, felt the adrenaline rush while i was riding the way and then boom! I was down again! Between the walking and jumping against the waves and getting crushed on my futile attempts, surfing proved to be a tiring sport. But I loved it! I was determined to not give up until I got up to standing on the board at least a few times. Luckily, my wish came true. About 35 minutes into my surfing expedition I actually managed to get up onto my feet and rode the wave. I'm sure that I still looked ridiculous as I was standing, all wobbly and such, but I sure felt like a surfer, cruising to shore, riding the wave. It was so exhilarating that it gave me an extra boost that made me want to stay out there all afternoon and conquer those waves. I was able to get up a few more times, which gave me great satisfaction seeing as that i went into it not really knowing what to do or expect. I think that surfing is something that all of us girls are going to find ourselves doing as much as we can in Australia. Every time I looked over to see how Danielle and Britt were doing, whether it was paddling with a wave or coming up after getting beat by the ocean, they both had big smiles on their faces. We are all surfer girls in making, it may take a while before we can actually say we are true surfers, but it will happen...just wait and see! Valena had a great day body boarding on the waves and probably was a few pounds lighter than the rest of us girls as we all seemed to take in a lot of salt water that afternoon. I think that we have talked surfing up enough that next time she'll give it a chance and hop onto the surfing train.
The best part about arriving in Raglan that day is that we caught up to our friends from the last Stray bus and our group was back together. That night there was a scavenger hunt to win a free pass to caving in the Waitomo caves, which all of us girls unfortunately lost...but we all came so close to winning. I was introduced to my first nutella, peanut butter and banana sandwich, which was heavenly and i was immediately addicted. We all hopped onto the Flying Fox after it took us girls a few extra minutes to figure out what way the zip-line actually went and then had a big ping pong competition consisting of 'around the world' and doubles. The night ended with me challenging mountain man Mark to a singles game of ping pong and losing. After that I think that everyone was in so much shock about my loss that we all stumbled to bed in disbelief. What a way to end another day of fun in New Zealand. Next stop was our cultural experience in Maketu.

love you all,
jod

Rafting down a waterfall

When someone asks you if you want to take a ride down a 7 meter waterfall (largest waterfall you can commercially raft down in the world) you can only say yes and ask where to sign up! We went white water rafting in Rotarua to take on another feat and we are happy to say that we all took the plunge, literally. The raft was only 4 meters long so when we went over, the raft goes about 3 meters down into the water and then pops back up. It was so incredible! Our guide only had to say "get down" and we held on to the ropes, tucked our chins and then wedged ourselves down into the raft and didn't let go. We popped back up and were all giggles until Jodie said "where is valena" and we noticed her floating down the river! She didn't end up holding on as tight as we all did and ended up going for a little swim! After being pulled in we had a little more fun with the river going down smaller waterfalls and then a bunch of people jumped out for a swim...and then rode down some rapids themselves! The scenery was amazing along this river. It felt like we were in a lost rainforest!

The cool thing was that before we even entered the water the guides did a maori prayer and blessings thanking nature and the river. The native language is so beautiful, it reminds of a little of being in Hawaii!

After that we got teased by the sun and it's warmth that we ended up heading to a park to suntan only to fall asleep for about five minutes and wake up to a chilling wind. We hastened back to our room to change and then head downtown. Rotarua is such a cute town with tons of little shops that beckoned us to enter. The annoying part was all the stores and even most cafes close at five! Good for our wallets, bad for updating our wardrobe.

We had another night of making pizzas (seriously the best meal yet...so fresh and good...I am sure that even the guys were jealous of our creations!). It's so easy to do just get tortillas and as many vegetables you can think of (mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, red peppers, asparagus tomatoes, etc.) and put a little cheese on top and then you have a masterpiece! We then all rented Lord of the Rings since we all were craving to watch it since being in NZ. Some nodded off before we even reached Hobbiton and some lasted until Rivendell. Needless to say we were all exhausted and turned it off to have an early night!

PS We are all ADDICTED to Kiwis...we eat at least 6-10 a day and have learned the real way to eat the fruit by eating the peel as well. I know it sounds gross but it really adds something to the kiwi! The trick is to rub off all the hair on the skin and then you can eat it! So good you should try it!

Luv B

November 5, 2009

Today we went to Waitomo Caves, a largely uncharted network of caves that were created by water running through the soft limestone. We choose the Haggus Honking Hole expedition that had us underground for more than 2 hours! It was a wet expedition so we were fully suited up in wetsuits (for the second day in a row), jackets, helmets and rubber boots and we went clomping down into the cave entrance. The caves were breath-taking and I instantly regretted not bringing my water-proof camera. Isn't that always the way though? No matter how much effort and time you put into packing efficiently, you always end up leaving things you should have brought and taking things you should have left at home. Our guides, Russ and Dean, were so fantastically witty! I'm seriously thinking that every Kiwi is born with an amazing sense of humor, I have yet to find a boring one.

We were thrown head first into cave abseiling when we came to our first cliff to repel down and it was down a 20 m drop. It was a bit unnerving not being able to see the ground below you. Next came abseiling down a waterfall and it's safe to say that there was not a dry bone left in me when I got to the bottom. The shock of the water was nothing to when I looked around and found myself in a bathroom sized cavern room with no apparent way out. All the people who had gone before me were nowhere to be seen so I knew there must be a way out but I had no idea what to do. Lesson #1 when in a cave: Listen to the guides... I did not follow that rule... Completely clueless, I decided to just hang out till Jodie, who was next to come down, repelled down and then follow her out but the guide starting calling out from the top to get moving on and I faintly remembered Russ, our guide, saying something about following the water and going feet first but the water from the falls seemed to be going out a lil crevice barely 1.5 ft high... Taking a leap of faith or stupidity I went feet first with the water and sure enough I found my way to the others. Luckily, I wasn't the only one who didn't listen to the guide, Brittany found herself in the same predicament, which figures... The two of us get lost walking around on top of the ground, it's fitting that we would get lost under ground.

My favorite parts of the caving were those moments when you were all alone, with no-one visible in front or behind me and you get the feeling that you are the first to come down this way and looking at all the cave formations, glow worms and just being lost in the darkness. P.S. glow worms are not the cute little creatures they sound like, their true name is Arachnocampa lunimosa. Basically, they are larva stage of a spider-like insect that emits a light to attract food. Ick. But that's why ignorance is bliss... They look so pretty if you don't look too closely. There were definitely times that I was glad I didn't eat those chocolate bars like I had recently wanted to because it was such a tight squeeze that I got my knee caught or my hip. One time we went down a space so small that we had to be lowered down one by one rather than abseiling; Dan was the brave one to go down first and it was honestly freaky because you turned off your light and had no idea how far you were headed down, it's a very lucky thing none of us have claustrophobia cause I'm pretty sure this would be their worst nightmare. We all loved it!!!!

Random bit of information.... If you find yourself in N.Z. in November and all the men appear slightly creepy with mustaches, it is not usually that way. November is officially called "Movember" in N.Z. and all the men grow mustaches in attempt to raise awareness for men's health.. It's fantastic, there's a lot of mustache envy going around and good variety. My favorite so far has been an Irish bloke with a perfect handlebar mustache.

Thanks for following along we us in our adventures! Hopefully everything is well with everyone! We love y'all and miss home but luckily, we are finding out that N.Z is a pretty good place to be our home away from home...

Luv, V

Hot Water Beach: Our Natural Spa

November 3, 2009

After kayaking we hitched a ride to at an appropriately named 'Hot Water Beach'. This amazing geothermic beach provides an amazing phenomenon that is unfortunately tide-dependant so the first day we missed out but we were ready the next day. The idea is that you dig a hole in the sand and try your best not to be burnt by the sometimes boiling hot water that comes up from natural hot springs underneath the sand, and when the sea water mixes with it, you find yourself a perfect lil natural Hot Tub! Armed with a spade, we went to the beach an hour before low tide to stake our piece of beach. Only some areas have hot pockets underneath the sand so you have to find a hot pocket that is high enough so it won't get washed away from the tide but will still be low enough to get some ocean water in to cool it off. Let's just say we deserved our 'spa' that we dug after enduring burnt feet and strained backs from shoveling for an hour. Jodie's farm girl work ethic came in handy because she was the only one of the four who could wield the full size shovel, the rest of us rotated between the spades and mini shovels. It was truly one of those experiences you can't believe you are actually having. Karma pulled through for us today, as we were attempting to walk back the hour and half to our campsite, we decided we should have our first attempt at hitch-hiking and in the end we were picked up by the three French travelers we had just recently shared our hot pool with.

Luv V

November 3

Well, I can personally check sea kayaking off my life list, since we all got to to experience the epic adventure with our trusting guide Hayden. It was incredible being out in the early morning on the ocean, with no worries of a shark coming to devour our kayak, and being able to have such an awesome opportunity to see the coves and little islands dotting the horizon.

Jodie and Valena went in one kayak together leaving Danielle and myself in the other one. We started on our way against the wind but our busting biceps were no match for the wind and waves. We made a slight detour into stingray bay and all got to see wild stingrays in their natural habitat and they were amazing!! In 1992, Hahei created a marine reserve nine square kilometers and since that time the marine life has increased 1600%!!! It's amazing when nature is left alone without human interference, the ability to flourish and sustain life. It's like it can revert to being "untouched".

We arrived at Cathedral Cove in time to see the sun breaking through and for Dan to have her first swim in the ocean. The water is not cold, only refreshing! Our handy guide Hayden took our orders for coffee, hot chocolate or mochachino and we busied ourselves in writing on the beach and hanging out with Hayden. After a lovely coffee break with cookies (that were so good dipped in hot chocolate), we headed back into our canoes and headed out into the ocean to have an upclose view of two islands. We donned some very colorful jackets that definitely added some flair to our wetsuit outfit! But the wind was nippy so we were so glad for them on the way back.

Hayden not only was an amazing guide but he took Valena's camera and was our unofficial photographer for the trip and he got some amazing shots! We really lucked out having him! We reached the islands to find a little cave that we had to "paddle hard into" and felt a sense of huge accomplishment coming out the other side! Every rock we passed, Hayden had a tale to tell us about the Maori, early explorers and legends. What a handy guide! We even got to name a rock. We chose elbow (in Maori it is tuke) since Hayden told us most rock formations were named after body parts. We were sad to see the shore get closer and closer because that meant we were finished and no one wanted to end the kayaking!

This was a fantastic day on the water and even though it didn't seem like it, we got a lot of sun (since there is a massive hole in the ozone layer above NZ) and we all looked a little toasty afterwards!

Luv B