New Zealand Day 5: Aukland Fun

Today was our only full day in Aukland, which was such a shame. It was such a cute place filled with educational museums about mouri art to the all abouts of volcanoes to the ancient instinct dinosaur/ bird the Moa. I also learned that the main sport of the kiwis is rugby. Although more people play soccer, rugby is the most popular sport to both watch and play even though it can get a bit rough. 

Overall, my experience with New Zealand can be summed up in 6 words: green, volcanic, mouri, sheep, lord of the rings, kiwi, beautiful! I will miss it, now off to Australia at 3:30am!

New Zealand Day 4: The Drive

Today we drove to Aukland from Rotura. On the long car ride we discussed many different facts about New Zealand. Their national symbol is the silver fern while the national bird is the kivi. People of New Zealand are called kivis as well as the fruit!  The New Zealanders or kiwis have a huge logging endustry, but unlike some other places in the world, they follow the logging with a reforestation process where they harvest and replant trees. The trees take around 18-25 years to fully regrow. New Zealand is the second best reforestation country in the world. Along with having a very impressive logging industry they also have a very impressive relationship with the locals. The indigenes people of New Zealand are called the mouri. They are really well integrated in society and their native language is even taught in school. Surprisingly like Canada they promoted their native people even in the airport. Along side the Maori they also are very proud of their affiliation with Lord of the Rings. On our way to Aukland, we also stopped off at Hobbiton, which is the actual movie set of Hobbit apart of The Lord of the Rings series. I don't know much about the Hobbit, but what I do know is that it was such a cute set. There were dozens of mini hobbit holes and fabulous gardens as well as a life size pub where we could rest up and enjoy some ginger beer. (my new favorite drink, non alcoholic of course:) Once we left, we had another hour or so remaining before reaching the city so of course we ran through some more facts.

We got to Aukland, it was such a beautiful pier town with little restaurants decorated with the New Zealand Christmas tree which is called Potuha takwa. there were so many sail boats around the shore, made sense because they have the highest number of sailboats per capita. We have kept hearing about the relationship between Australian and new Zealand, we learned that it is a rivalry like brother and sister, always there for each other but still have a healthy competition some time or another. See you tomorrow! 

New Zealand Day 3: The Tour

Today we had a jam packed journey throughout Rotorua, New Zealand. Starting with a Māori village, Tapo ra, we witnessed a performance by the locals as well as watching my father try out the moves himself. We also got to check out a really massive geezer but I couldn’t really enjoy it because of its terrible smell of sulfur and silica. After checking out a bubbling grey mud pool, we went to another natural park. We saw vivid lakes of different colors, each deriving from a different mineral. Neon green was sulfur, reddish orange is iron, and white is silica.  According to my mother, this was the best thing she has ever seen, but I was again blinded with the horrid smell of golfer. Then we went to the argodome, where we saw nineteen different types of sheep ranging from merino to black Romney. Finishing off the days adventures, we went to do probably one of the coolest things I have ever done, the org. This is a big ball what you sit in with water at the bottom, when you are pushed down the hill and you roll around in the ball on your way down. Once we got back to the lodge we just crashed and watched some classic Man vs. Wild episodes about New Zealand! 

New Zealand Day 2: The Great Hike

Our second day in New Zealand was probably my favorite day of all. We went on a really nice three and a half hour hike to a waterfall and back. I didn’t think it was worth it until we got to this little pool where my brother and I got to swing on a rope into it. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. 

New Zealand Day 1: The Arrival

Today was our first day in New Zealand! We arrived here after two days of traveling…ugh. But it was worth it. New Zealand is such a beautiful place and where we were staying was such a cute place. As soon we had lunch and were rejuvenated, we hopped on a helicopter and flew to White Island, a active volcano. It smelled really bad but other than that I guess it was interesting. All I could think about though was not to throw up! 

Inside Cuba!!

This Thanksgiving break my family am I went on a trip, now this is not just any trip, we went to Cuba! As you may already know, Cuba and the United States do not have the best relationship. So granted, our troubles started at the arrivals in the airport. We were checked extra throughly on both arriving and departing, but of course not as bad as the movies. Once we actually got outside of the airport  we met up with the rest of our tour group and headed for the bus. The first thing I noticed was the old cars. Since the last relations with the United States was in 1959, the cars left in Cuba defiantly still represent that era. I have to say that riding in the hot pink convertible was defiantly the highlight of my trip. At first glance the community and houses did not look too impressive, all looking like they were about to fall down. Something you would expect for people who on average get 450 Cuban pesos a month, which is relatively equivalent to 20 dollars a month. But when our tour group brought us to the little towns I could see the inner jems. The houses almost looked San Francisco esc with the colorful frescos and detailing. Although the houses looked as if they were about to crumble, I could still see the beauty and old time vibe in them. 

Since this we were apart tour group, the only way we could go to Cuba, we had to stick to the restrictions of people to people education which involved a lot of social sights as well as some pretty cool hidden treasures. Although some might find learning about Cuba's history interesting, I prefer learning about the people and the unique parts of the city of Havanna.  Besides the infamous cigars, there is much more to Cuba. I learned about the interesting religion which most of the citzens practice which is called Santaria. It is a mix between Christian and Yoruba religions. 

Something I found very interesting was all the restrictions on the citizens. People were not allowed to really use any electronics, even in their own house. I learned that because of this, the country is almost stuck in the past and not caught up on the lastest news and improvements. Since there is no trade with Cuba at all, they have to rely on other countries since they have been growing only certain crops such as sugar and tabacco and are unable to grow others now that the land is very un-diversified. Because of the harsh sanctions on Cuba from the US, even the remittances able to be sent back home is very limited. During the Bush administration is was worse but locals say Obama is not much better. But in general, the country is improving and they said with or with out America's help they will become development and improved slowly but surely. 

Overall, I surprisingly had a really great time. Knowing our family, we had to do some community service there too.. there was a dog that had a tumor and a broken leg so we decided to rescue it and bring it to the animals doctors and pay for its treatment. Thanks to some wonderful locals and doctor, it is being nursed back to help as best as they possibly can because it is a stray dog. So thank you Cuba for such a nice time!