3.1.3 - Into the Wilderness

We are back in Wellington after a unbelievable weekend up in the North Island. Although we have had an awesome time living in Wellington, we were eager to do the coolest thing in Wellington: leave. All Kiwis(New Zealand people) agree the coolest thing to do in any city is to leave and explore the country. So we took their advice and took off! Here is the route we took:

We took advantage of the long weekend and set out Friday morning for Matamata. I know y'all aren't familiar with the random towns in the North Island but I'm sure you're quite familiar with The Shire! About half of our car went on a tour of the perfectly preserved movie set, but Evan and I didn't gobecause it was 75 FREAKING DOLLARS!!! Everyone that did do the tour said it was an awesome experience, but I have to say, the nap Evan and I took was pretty awesome as well. 

There are a lot of sheep here

As we drove up to the Shire we learned one thing: that this country is gorgeous. We have been told that 25% of the population of New Zealand wasn't born in NZ and it's easy to see why, people come to visit and can't help but stay. The most amazing thing about the country from our perspective was how quickly the landscape changed. On our 5 hour drive we went from the coast to the mountains, to a volcanic ash desert, to meadows, to rolling hills and  more. It is a truly stunning landscape.

 - Davis

Mount Ruapehu aka Mount Doom

After the drive from the Shire, we arrived in Rotorua. Most of our car decided to sleep in a hostel there, but Davis and I, being the adventurers we are, headed into the woods to set up our hammocks. Around midnight, we were greeted by a large rodent like creature we dubbed the Lemur of Death. It looked like a gigantic squirrel, who's enormous eyes glowed bright red when a light was shone on them. The worst part was nots its terrifying looks though, it was the horrific screech it made at night. It'd crawl up near us then start screaming for no apparent reason... But despite the crazy New Zealand mammals, we both had a great night sleep in the trees.

When we awoke, we went to the thermal springs and mud pits outside Rotorua. I didn't have very high expectations for this part of the weekend, but it was actually quite amazing! The mud was literally boiling it was so hot, and you could hear the bubbles coming up out of it. The only bad part was the awful smell that came along with sulfur pits and hot springs.

Mud Pots 

The Green Pool 

Lady Knox Geyser

With our nostrils still stinging from the smell of rotten eggs, we then made our way to the north side of rotorua and met up with my long time rafting buddy Josh Dickey. We guided together on the Ocoee, and he taught me a lot of what I know about rafting. Dickey took us down the Kaituna river, a Class V pool drop river that was absolutely amazing. The river is formed in old lava flow channels, so its quite narrow, and incredibly deep, almost 20m in some places. Being used to shallow rocky rivers like the Ocoee and the Nantahala, this was a new experience for a lot of us.

Dickey, in classic raft guiding buddy fashion, showed us an incredible time down the river. He surfed us at every possible spot, and even flipped our raft on a 20 ft waterfall (which happens to be the tallest commercially rafted waterfall in the world). For a lot of the girls in our group, it was there first time rafting, and I think this river officially got them hooked.

After rafting we weren't done for the day. On Dickey's recommendation, we shot up to Maketu Beach on the Bay of Plenty. It was definitely the "local" spot, and most of the people there were of Moari descent (The indigenous population of New Zealand). After a quick look at the ocean, we went back to the Kaituna to watch some guides run the waterfall in a yearly race. It looked like a lot of fun, and basically turned into a battle to see who could flip the least on the river. Afterwards we went to the Rafting Bum's local hangout and grabbed some beers and dinner with Dickey. It was a lot of fun, and the girls were crushing hard on the local kayakers, one of which had just won worlds a few weeks before.

 -Evan

Bay of Plenty

For our last stop on our trip we went to the glow worm caves in Waitomo. There are actually glow worms all throughout New Zealand but these caves are some of the best places to see them. Evan and I participated in separate adventures. I did a trip called the black odyssey, and it was along the ceiling of the cave, attached ropes drilled into the wall. Evan went on a wet tour through the river system of the caves, climbed up some underground waterfalls, and repelled over 100ft. The two trips were  very different but both of us really enjoyed getting underground.

The weekend was absolutely incredible, but what's even more incredible is that the north island is considered the "boring" part of New Zealand! Evan and I are really excited to get down to the south island and see all it has to offer. We're starting off in Abel Tasman next weekend, and we'll finally get to do some fly fishing, see kayaking, and tramping around the bush.

-Davis

If you would like to get notifications about when we post, you can enter your email in the blank on the upper right part of the screen. Let us know if you have any questions, recommendations, or opinions on what we're doing down in the southern hemisphere by commenting below!

God Bless,

Davis and Evan

3.1.2 - From the Other Side of the World

Hello Friends and Family!

I wanted to check in on the blog and let you know how everything is going. I know Evan has talked a lot about the city and the culture so I hope I am not being redundant! 

The first thing that you can't avoid noticing is the hills. The whole city is basically on the hill. It provides a great view but it hard when you're trying to get home. This is because we live at the top of the hill and the downtown area or CBD(Central Business District) is on the harbor and thus, down the hill. 

A little blurry but a great view of the city!

The second thing that is most obvious is that people drive on the left side of the road. Now that doesn't seem to important unless you are driving but what you forget about is that people also WALK on the left side of the sidewalk. So far, that has been the hardest thing about living in Wellington! It's been a hard habit to break. Fortunately, it seem the Wellingtonians are fairly familiar with Americans and aren't too annoyed by us sometimes being in their way.

So the next topic may break a few hearts. It has to do with the toilets. Growing up in school, it was taught that on the south side of the equator, the toilets flush counter-clockwise due to the rotation of the earth. That is what we've been told. But we have yet to see the magic yet because they don't have toilets like we do in America. The toilets here are more like ones on a plane. There isn't much water in them and they kinda just suck it straight down. It's very sad in deed, but maybe things will be different once we get to Australia!

A couple other things that have been a bit different here in NZ. For one, I never realized how much I would miss turkey. I always took a turkey sandwich for granted. At the Weir House, we have sandwiches for lunch but no turkey at all! I've been told that the land of New Zealand makes it difficult to have turkey farms. Because of the lack of turkey, chicken has taken over. For instance, we have had chicken sausage for breakfast and chicken burgers for lunch. Just a bit strange. 

Lastly, the one thing that you'll notice about buying stuff in New Zealand is the prices. They do things a bit differently here. So when you see a price on the shelf, that is the price inclu

ding the tax(12.5%). So at first glance you think that everything is super expensive because you forget about the tax. Once you get used to it though, it's quite nice. There is no need to try to do math in your head to figure out what the cost of the item will be.

Well, that's it for now! We are going to try and get the About Us page filled with content soon. Also, we'll be adding a page about our trip and all the stops along the way as well as some Kiwi Lingo we've been picking up. 

-Davis

This is a box in the dorm outside of my room. It looks like a preparedness kit for earthquakes.

3.1.1 - Assimilation

Pacific Program on the beach

So we've been here for a coupe of days, so I figure its time for an update. First, I cannot begin to explain to you how unbelievably windy it is here. If your not prepared and a big gust comes, I kid you not, it'll blow you to the ground. Though there are some great sides to the wind. Most importantly, no matter how sunny it is or how much ozone is missing over the pacific region, Wellington is always cool and humidity free because the wind is ALWAYS blowing. What the wind does not do however is protect you from sun burn. A lot of people have learned that lesson the hard way.

Second, the people in New Zealand are one of the few that are actually on the same level as the south. If you ask for help, directions, or even just look a little distraught, the locals are always willing to give you a hand. They even showed us to a local "american" pub so we could watch the national championship last night. While there, we were instantly found a couple of other americans watching the game with us (Shout out to John our buddy from Chattanooga), and of course some very confused Kiwi's who didn't understand the game of football, and were confused why the stopped playing every 12 seconds.

Third, coffee here is super weird. They don't do any kind of drip coffee here (which we know as just regular coffee), instead, it is all espresso based, then milk, water, and flavors are added to make different drinks. For example, if I ordered a black coffee, I'd just get a double expresso shout. If I ordered a Flat white, I'd get a cappuccino with no froth, and if I ordered a long black, I'd get a triple shot with water to balance it out. Ya. Its really confusing. The good news is I bought a french press yesterday, so I'll be back to making my normal morning cup(s) in no time.

Apparently the Yankees are hipster here

The city of Wellington is a very interesting place. It feels like an average european big city, but with english being spoken, and people not thinking your dumb just for being american. Downtown is amazing because its a bustling city with lots of incredible food, and more Outdoors Outfitters than you could possibly imagine. Its basically paradise for us. One of the few cultural differences that we've yet to get used to is how everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, closes at 5:30. Even restaurants, your lucky to find something open much past 6. But then come later at night, the city comes alive again and the night life starts up again. It's been interesting so far, because its summer here, a lot of the students that would normally be at VUW are on break, and a lot of business take a summer sabbatical as well so theres not many people out and about after dark. That supposed to change in the next couple weeks though, so I'm excited to start meeting local students my age.

Anyway, that a quick update and I'm skipping a lot of craziness thats been happening. If y'all have questions, feel free to ask in the comments!

-Evan

A video about the Wellingtonian life style, found by Davis

And now, for pictures.

The Local Wellington Brewery

Stumpy

The view from VUW

3.1.0 - The Weir House

Sunrise over Auckland

Clouds over Wellington

Weir House Dorms

We arrived in Wellington about 3 hours ago, and are all settled in to our new living accommodations in the Weir House, a freshman dorm room at the University of Victoria, Wellington. The rooms are actually really nice; a lot bigger than what we had at tech.

The weather has been kinda crazy since we arrived in NZ. Wellington is on the southern tip of the north island, so its a strange combination of cold and coastal. The winds today are hitting up to 120km per hour (75mph), and there is a slight chill that comes along with rain thats falling. The rest of the day is going to be dedicated to two things: unpacking and sleeping. The plane ride over was just over 13 hours through the dead of night, and I didn't sleep a wink. Davis and Maggie got to sit in the back of the plane and could huddle for warmth, while I was up front just trying to get a little bit comfortable.

Despite all the insanity that came with a travel day that lost us all of Saturday, its good to finally be in New Zealand. Now I'm going to bed.

         -Evan

3.0.1 - Hopped on the plane at LAX

Today is the day we head out, and stuff is finally getting real. After spending the night at SoCal's place (Stephen and Angela) we spent a day in wandering around LA, and learned why the south is the greatest place in America. I finally got to try In-N-Out burger, which was phenomenal, and Davis spent some time catching up with his JH buddies. We then wandered around Venice Beach, which was absolutely gross, but it's so interesting it's hard to leave.

 Now we're just sitting in the Airport, waiting for the plane to take off. It's kind of surreal, how we're just going out into the wilderness with no plan, but thats the kind of thing I live for. Hopefully it'll be a relatively uneventful flight, and I'll check back in when we hit tarmac in Auckland.

-Evan