New Zealand: Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula

Getting my GRIND on!

On the second of January, we headed to the airport a few hours early for our first international flight in seven weeks from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand.  As we began our descent into Auckland, the views of the landscape could only remind me of the stunning scenery of the Lord of the Rings saga.  Never much of a fantasy fan, I sat through the (never ending) movies marveling at the beauty of the land in New Zealand.  Once you see the combination of crystal clear water, multitude of uninhabited green islands, towering volcanoes and immense craters you see why the Lord of the Rings, The Last Samurai, King Kong, The Hobbit and more were all filmed here. New Zealand claims to the be the youngest country in the world, as it was the last major landmass to be discovered only 1000 years ago by the Maori people.  Our first stop on our five week journey of this spectacular country would be Auckland, a harbor city on the North Island.  New Zealand immediately lived up to its billing as home of the adrenaline junkies, as we emerged from our hotel at 9 am to see people dressed in orange jumpsuits bungee jumping off the Sky Tower in the middle of the central business district.  I decided to start my morning with an adrenaline fix at Starbucks instead.  Auckland boasts having more sailboats per person than anywhere in the world, so it seemed only right for our first activity to be aboard a sailboat in the harbor.  Auckland is home of the NZL41, a semi finalist boat in the America's Cup, the world's oldest and prestigious yacht race.  For two hours, we were given the unique experience of joining the crew, exerting full energy on the grinders, taking the wheel and learning the basic principles of sailing.  Not only did we make it back alive, we took in beautiful views of the city and felt the thrill of high speeds on the water.  With absolutely perfect weather, I couldn't resist a nice walk along the harbor and the rest of the afternoon at the rooftop pool at our hotel.  The thrills continued as Maria Sharapova (tennis player) joined us for breakfast the following morning!  Although I was almost entirely blinded by the massive rock on her finger, I did notice that Maria and I share our passion for granola cereal and coffee in the morning.  A small but important step towards friendship!

Veteran bush walkers

Hot Water Beach

Me in the black :)

Cathedral Cove

It had been far too long since we all felt the love together in the mini van, so it was time for us to get on the road to the Coromandel Peninsula. Our first full day was spent with the famous Kiwi Dundee, a  name strategically chosen to stick it to their Aussie neighbors.  We started with a morning bush walk--filled with glow worm caves, old gold mines, the famous ponga silver fern and a tree fern that hasn't changed for the last 300 million years.  As we entered the dark cave and turned our torches off, I marveled at the clever glow worm creatures who omit a light to attract their prey.  However, once I found out they were a maggot, they lost a little of their allure.  After a well deserved lunch, we spent the afternoon beach hopping--but these were no ordinary beaches! Our first stop, Hot Water Beach, lived up to its name in a way that I could never imagine.  Within an hour of low tide, the crowds come pouring in with shovels and spades in hand, to dig their own hot water pools for rest and relaxation.  An underground river of hot water flows from the earth's mantle to this beach, releasing springs of water up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  As I walked along the beach, there were certain points in which I had to hop over boiling water emerging from the sand and quickly high step as my feet scorched.  This was a spectacle I had never seen!  With much more to see, we waddled away from Hot Water Beach with sore feet to head to Cathedral Cove, sight of one of the most photographed places in all of New Zealand.  After a stunning hour walk through rainforest along the coast, we descended upon a coastline of hard rocks, intricate caves and underwater arches, including the famous Cathedral Cove.  With the stunning scenery surrounding the water, I hopped in for a casual swim and was somehow persuaded to jump off large rock formations instead :) In addition to the beautiful natural sights of the Coromandel Peninsula, it will also be remembered as the first time I have seen an animated Disney movie in the theater.  In addition to the multitude of knowledge I am learning about myself, countries and countries on this trip, my cousins are educating me on this large gap in my education--Disney movies.  I must say, I enjoyed every minute of the soon to be Disney classic, Tangled! Although hard to say goodbye to the sights and our wonderful lodge, we were on to Rotorua!