I never thought I would be able to say that I spent Spring Break in New Zealand, but here I am, two weeks past my return date to Sydney with all these amazing memories from a place that has quickly entered third place for Favorite Counties in the world (followed by the U.S. - duh - and France - obviously. Sorry Australia and Italy).
Here's the summary:
We flew out of the Sydney airport, had a layover in Auckland because the Kerikeri airport is a building the size of my living room with (maybe) three planes, then flew into Kerikeri to take a quick shuttle to our hostel, The Mousetrap, in Paihia. Now let me just say, I'm not nuts about beach towns because they have this whole vibe of being a beach town like it's so cool that they get fresh seafood that's actually just shipped from a different beach town - whatever. The point is, I liked Paihia. It was small and had a great history and everyone was insanely nice. New Zealanders are the nicest people in the world, and I grew up in the American South, so that's saying a lot.
The next day, we went on a dolphin cruise. The plan was to swim with them, but the pod we found had, not one, but three babies, making them illegal to swim with but a joy to watch (I mean, come on, one of them was named French Toast and they were adorable and Mom, I'm getting a dolphin, sorry for the mess).
This was followed by a nice hike to a really big waterfall and a trip to the town across the water, Russell, which was even cuter than Paihia, before hopping on a bus to Auckland. And this is where the story picks up.
I had not had any amazing food since coming to this side of the world. Like, everything has been unbelievably okay. But, Auckland, oh Auckland is a haven for good food. I did not consume a single bad thing in Auckland. Aside from that, it is a gorgeous city. It's pretty small, the people are lovely, and the views are spectacular. That was the first place I've been since the move that I thought, "Oh yeah, I could live here no problem!" It was amazing.
While we were in Auckland, we took a few day trips, one to Matamata to see The Shire (because no way was I going to New Zealand and not going to The Shire) and to Waipu to see a glowworm cave. After devastation that we couldn't make Waitomo work, I was desperate to find somewhere that would give me the experience I've wanted since I was 12 of looking up in a cave and seeing the night sky. Boy, did Waipu deliver. Not only were the glowworms, stunning, the cave was heaps of fun. We walked through hip-deep water and slid through mud and climbed through some wild rock formations all to get to the darkest parts of the cave. On top of that, we did something I thought I would never do. We hitchhiked. Like, held out our thumbs on the side of the road hoping someone woudl pick us up because the walk was two hours. Upon our return to the one-road town of Waipu (seriously, this place had four restaurants and we ate at half of them), we spent the rest of the evening walking to a river and getting pizza before watching s beautiful sunset on the bus back to Auckland.
Finally, it was time to go to Taupo where we went to a honey hive, tried some Manuka honey, did a beautiful hike to see the bluest water and the most intense rapids and sit in a thermal waterfall. But the best thing about Taupo? Home-cooked breakfasts. Our AirBnB hosts, Paul and Erin and their sweet angel of a dog, Toby, greeted us every morning with waffled and fresh fruit. It was like being home. It was really the cherry on top of an experience that took me away from the stressful city life of Sydney back to the hills and Sunday morning pancakes and doggy loving that I miss from home.
It was the perfect way to spend my last week before taking on my first job, but there will be more on that later.
For now, cheers.
Sarah
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