{"id":129,"date":"2011-04-19T17:39:54","date_gmt":"2011-04-19T17:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/?p=129"},"modified":"2019-08-19T15:51:58","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T15:51:58","slug":"the-kiwi-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/2011\/04\/19\/the-kiwi-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kiwi Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello everyone!  Here\nI am, week 1 out of 15 is suddenly gone, and its time for my first post.  I\u2019ll be uploading pictures to Facebook soon,\nassuming the free wifi in this McDonald\u2019s keeps working\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should warn you that these are probably going to be long\nposts \u2013 I\u2019m using this blog as a diary as well, so it might cover too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should also mention that my GPS device has been really flaky, and has managed to drop about 75% of the markers I\u2019ve tried to put down.  Grrr.  None of my markers from Rotorua and Taupo went through, so you\u2019ll have to check out my trip map to get an idea of where I\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alright, from the beginning: the flight from SF to Auckland was nice and\neasy, and empty \u2013 I had an entire bank of three seats all to myself.  Being such a lousy sleeper, though, I still\nonly managed to get around 2 hours of sleep on the 12+ hour flight.  We landed around 5:30 in the morning, and by\n7:30 I was wandering aimlessly (and sleepily) around Auckland; it was way to early to check in, so\nI left my bags at the hostel and started walking.  By the end of the day I\u2019d scoped out a good\nchunk of downtown \u2013 I found a few good restaurants, a supermarket (where I\nbought some Gluten-Free breakfast bars), and even a GF pizzeria where I\nultimately ate dinner.  I learned that\ngetting wireless internet costs an arm and a leg, unless you go to a McDonald\u2019s\n\u2013 every one of them in the country provides free wifi, though the connection is\nconsistently lousy and flaky.  I also\nfound out that the hostel I was staying at has a bar, up on the 6th floor,\nright next to my room.  Great.  Good thing I brought earplugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kept myself awake the whole day, passed out after dinner, and woke up early to get on a Kiwi Experience bus tour \u2013 they run buses around the whole country, stopping off at almost every major point-of-interest.  The system they have is very convenient \u2013 on the way to the next city, the bus driver tells you about various activities in the area and passes around a sign-up sheet.  They take care of all the calling, booking, and transportation.  The same is true for hostels; they give you a few options, and pass around a sign-up sheet for the upcoming night.  All you have to do is show up \u2013 and pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first day on my bus pass took me from Auckland to Whitianga (pronounced fitty-aing-uh<\/em> \u2013 the \u201cwh\u201d in native NZ\nnames is pronounced as an \u201cf\u201d).  Along\nthe way we stopped at Mt. Eden for a skyline view back at Auckland,\nand at the small town of Thames\nfor lunch.  Back on the bus, I got to\nknow a guy named Iain Stanlake from England; more than three years\nyounger than me, he\u2019s in NZ as part of a gap year between high school and uni\n(college).  We decided to share a twin\nroom at the hostel that night, and continued to do so for the next few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That afternoon we had our first chance to do an activity:\nsea kayaking at Hahei beach.  Iain and I\nshared a two-person kayak and enjoyed the gorgeous weather, water, and scenery.  We paddled to Cathedral Cove, one of the most\nphotographed locations in all of NZ, and learned all about the early Maori\n(native Polynesian New Zealanders) settlements in the area.  After almost 3 hours on the water, we\ncontinued on to Whitianga for some fish and chips, and sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back on the bus the next morning, our first stop was at the\nKarangahake Gorge where we took a short, scenic hike.  Next was Mata Mata, which is very close to\nwhere they filmed the Lord of the Rings movies; I got my picture taken with the\n\u201cHobbiton\u201d sign.  We then arrived in\nRotorua, our destination for the day.  Rotorua\nis a major geothermal hot-spot; there are hot\n springs everywhere, and the entire city smells like sulfur\n(sp?).  We visited Te Whakarewarewa, the\nlargest geyser in the area, and saw a Kiwi bird [LINK].  That night we went to a Maori cultural\ndinner-and-a-show event at a Maori Marae (village) \u2013 sort of like a Luau, with\na performance and a Hangi feast (read: buffet). \nAt dinner I got to know a handful of other backpackers on our bus \u2013\nAllie from Montreal, Rob from northern England, Ashley from Niagara\n Falls, and Elsa from Mexico.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day we went straight to Waitomo, home to an\nextensive set of caves.  I went \u201cblack\nwater rafting\u201d, which is really just tubing in a cave.  The main attraction of the caves are the glow\nworms: maggots that hang on the ceiling and excrete glowing blue poo.  When you\u2019re floating along in the water\nbelow, though, they look like little blue lights in the otherwise pitch-black\ncave \u2013 its beautiful.  The experience\nitself was great, but left me freezing cold \u2013 even in the full-body wetsuit\nthey gave me, I couldn\u2019t feel my toes at all. \nLuckily I got sensation back in my toes just in time for dinner and some\ndrinks at the bar next to our hostel.  I\ngot to know Dana and Melissa, two American girls on our bus, and thoroughly\nbotched (but enjoyed) a game of pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point the weather had started to turn sour \u2013 on the\nway to Taupo the next day it rained furiously. \nAll the activities for the day were canceled, so once we got to Taupo,\nIain and I camped out at a McDonald\u2019s and used the free wifi.  I was starting to feel a little sick after my\nfrozen adventure in the caves, so it was good to have a \u201cday off.\u201d  By that night, though (a Saturday night),\nIain and I and the whole crew were at the local bar, taking advantage of the\n2-for-1 drink special and getting a little sloppy.  I had my first Jaeger bomb (actually two of\nthem), thanks to Iain, and had a great time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the weather suddenly nice the next day, I decided to do\nsomething I had sworn I\u2019d never do: I went skydiving.  I had secretly planned on doing it in NZ\nbefore I left, just because it seemed like a crazy \u201cexperience\u201d to have, and I\nknew I\u2019d only be able to bring myself to do it on a vacation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boy was it ever an experience.  I cried for the entire 60 second freefall\nfrom 15,000 feet.  If you ever wanted to\nknow what I\u2019d look like when falling to my death, check out the video footage\n(I\u2019ll try to get it up on youtube some time soon).  I wouldn\u2019t do it again.  I just couldn\u2019t get past the fear of detaching\nfrom the instructor, or the parachute not opening.  But I will say \u2013 the view is unbelievable,\nand it is an insane adrenaline rush\u2026 maybe too insane for me.  When I was finally back on the ground, I had\na head full of pressure, shaky hands, and was sick to my stomach.  It took me hours to feel normal again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That afternoon I decompressed by going to the local hot\nsprings with Iain, Rob, Allie, Ashley, Elsa, and Stef (from Germany).  Iain, Rob, and I got Indian food afterward,\nand rejoined the group for a trivia night at the local bar.  I didn\u2019t drink a drop, and went to bed early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, yesterday, it was time to say goodbye to\neveryone.  Everyone else on the bus,\nincluding Iain, is continuing on to Wellington\nand the south island, while I\u2019m starting to make my northward journey back to Auckland.  I spent last night back in Rotorua, doing\nsome well-needed laundry and sleeping, and then continuing on to Auckland tomorrow in time for my flight to Sydney.  These last few days in NZ will be a lot less\nexciting, but that\u2019s really okay \u2013 this first week has been exhausting enough,\nand I\u2019m ready for a break.  Plus, now I\nhave a chance to write this first post!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like I did with my Australia notes last summer, I\u2019ll\nconclude with a few interesting tidbits I\u2019ve learned about NZ so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– The Kiwis (New Zealanders) say \u201csweet as\u201d instead of\n\u201cokay\u201d.  They say it all the time,\nconstantly, at every opportunity.  There\u2019s\na hefty slice of \u201cdude-man-bro\u201d vibe\/attitude that comes with it too, if you\nknow what I mean.  Anyway, its\ninteresting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– A couple of the small towns we\u2019ve gone through have gaudy\nmiddle-America-like monuments to the things that make them semi-famous.  So far I\u2019ve seen a giant statue of a guy\nshearing a sheep, and a giant soda bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Although you\u2019d think Australia and NZ would look very\nsimilar, they don\u2019t.  Australia has a much more varied landscape,\nunique plant life, etc, whereas NZ looks to me like a cross between rural England and Hawaii. \nEverything here is green, lush, and beautiful; a mix of rolling green\nhills dotted with sheep, mountains and volcanoes, and tropical beaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– The Maori have only lived in NZ for about 1000 years \u2013\nbefore that it was completely uninhabited. \nThe Maori are really just Polynesians, unlike the Aboriginals in Australia.  Also unlike Australia, the native people are by\nno means hidden or unseen \u2013 you\u2019re almost as likely to see a Maori walking down\nthe street as a European.  That\u2019s in\ncontrast to Australia (or\nthe US), where an Aboriginal\nin downtown Sydney\nis rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– I\u2019ve probably heard more British accents in my time here\nthan Kiwi accents; about 80% of the backpackers on the Kiwi Experience buses\nare from England.  I\u2019ve only met three other Americans in the\npast week \u2013 surprisingly enough, there are even more people here from Canada and Sweden\nthan from the US.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Izaak<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hello everyone!  Here I am, week 1 out of 15 is suddenly gone, and its time for my first post.  I\u2019ll be uploading pictures to Facebook soon, assuming the free wifi in this McDonald\u2019s keeps working\u2026 I should warn you …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.izaakrubin.com\/travel\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}