During the second bit of my vacation, I was welcomed with a piece of home as my sister arrived to spend a few days with me here! I was really happy to see her considering that this was the halfway point of my semester abroad, and the homesickness was coming up. We had a double-feature-extravaganza planned with two destinations down for our travels: Auckland and Rotorua!
When we arrived in Auckland, my sister was pushing through her jet lag and our overall impressions of the city were definitely interesting. It was overall a really great city with some AMAZING eats, but I think she was expecting (and I was used to) the gorgeous natural sites of this country. All of that is to say though, Auckland had a gorgeous waterfront and we treated ourselves to some awesome pasta and gelato with a view of the ocean on our first afternoon there. I had a really lovely gelato flavor that I think is going to be my favorite flavor from now on, but unfortunately I forgot the name. I just remember that it was coconut-y and chocolate-y and charcoal-y. Aside from the very comfortable and slightly invasive black-backed gulls flapping around us, the sun being out was so refreshing considering that I’m normally used to rainier, colder days.
Within the city, we spent a lot of time dining at some wonderful restaurants, picking up postcards at any i-site or art museum we could find, and even embarked on a walking tour that showed us some gems we probably would’ve missed if we were on our own the whole time. I think that is one of my major recommendations for those going abroad: go on a free walking tour if you have the chance! Our tour guide was an Auckland native that had also traveled around the world, and he was so inspiring about it that it made me consider becoming a tour guide myself at some point in my life (I feel like I could totally be a tour guide for Cola).
One of my personal favorites of our Auckland trip was going up Mount Eden. It was a shorter walk compared to some other mountains here, but the sights were still astonishing. There was a giant crater-like phenomenon happening in the middle of the mountain, and aside from it spontaneously raining a few times, I was happy to be doing more nature-like things.
The real gem of the trip was when we caught a ferry to Waiheke Island. I was so thankful that the weather was so nice; the sun was shining, the sky was as blue as can be and the beach was absolutely beautiful. The island was very small, but it had such a nice beach town-aura to it. We had a fulfilling brunch and then roamed around on the beach for a bit before going to a gorgeous estate with impeccable views. There were also really hungry ducks roaming around the estate which was certainly a little startling (especially when they started fighting with each other), but it was nothing a little charcuterie board didn’t fix. We didn’t have a whole view of the island at the estate, but I would say it was pretty close. We could see the Sky Tower in the distance surrounded by green fields and the awesome Pacific Ocean. We left the estate ready to do some peaceful painting on the beach, but unfortunately, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to paint because we were getting close to needing to leave the island. So, a few panicked brushstrokes and dabs to get excessive paint off later, we found ourselves back on that ferry to the main island.
I had a good time in Auckland, but it was no match for Rotorua.
The only setback about Rotorua was that as soon as we arrived, we were hit with a relatively pungent egg smell. This was due to the fact that Rotorua is home to a lot of geothermal activity, and that activity came with naturally occurring hydrogen sulphide in the air. Although strong at first, I honestly got used to the smell throughout the days. Rotorua was much smaller than Auckland, but I would argue there was so much more culture and nature to see there. On one of our nights, we took a trip to a Māori village and participated in traditional games, ate some delicious food, and saw some tear-jerking performances. That night had to have been one of my favorites without a doubt. We also experienced that aforementioned geothermal activity by taking a tour of a geothermal reserve and dipping into the hot pools and mud baths they had on the property. My sister embraced that spa-like experience more than I did (mud isn’t really my thing), but the hot pools were insanely relaxing. The fun facts about the reserve were also really cool, as I learned that RNA was generated using that reserve's geothermal energy! How wild is that?!
One our second to last day, we took a trip to the redwoods forest and took a relaxing little walk among the trees. I frankly didn’t know redwoods existed in New Zealand, but this country surprises me every day. We had some time to kill, so I suggested we take one of the elevated tree walks together. I became a quick fan of it because I thought being up so high was really cool, but I don’t think that my sister felt the same. At all. A few shaky steps later and we made it back to ground where I think she was much happier.
Like Wellington, there were other little things that we enjoyed (like the BEST dumplings I’ve EVER had at the Rotorua night market), but if I got into each one I think I’d be writing forever. All in all, I’m so happy my sister was able to make the trip to see me because it was our first big sibling trip together, and we were able to see the most awesome things together! After a very tight hug and a sad goodbye, she continued on to the South Island while I (sadly) returned to classes.
That two-week recess came up on me unexpectedly fast, but the memories that were made were incredible. Above that, it marked that I was now over halfway done with my experience here, and that alone definitely put me into a quaint reflection period once I got back.
But, hey! I’ve still got a while to make some awesome memories.
With love and Whitaker’s,
Raeva :)
