Sydney for New Years

I was so happy when we finally got to Sydney, because this is the place I most wanted to go to. I LOVE CITIES! And plus it was New Years Eve! We had dinner at a place near the harbor at the Rocks that used to be a prison. Sydney used to be a place when convicts were sent from England because there was no room in the homeland. Eventually the mayor did a social experiment to see if they gave the convicts land, if they would behave better. They did and years later we have the Sydney we know today. Now Sydney is the sixth richest country with a GDP of almost a trillion dollars and having only 22 million people and being the fifth largest country it isn’t that hard. During our stay we visited a couple museums. My favorite being the modern art ones, which never fail to impress or surprise me. We were of course were not going to miss the Sydney Opera house. Opened by Queen Elizabeth 1973, the beautiful design of the sails was designed by Jørn Utzon With more than one million self cleaning tiles, an 10,000+ pipe organ, and concert hall with 2769 seats, this massive building took 16 years and 102 million dollars to build. I was so happy to see the beautiful building I had always heard about. But to me, what was more beautiful, were the giraffes at the zoo! I have an obsession and I think my brother and I took around 1,000 photos just at that section of the zoo. And of course I couldn’t leave a city like this without paying my dues to Topshop and Zara! 

Ayres Rock

When we flew to Ayres rock we first landed on a red dirt path with no buildings in sight. I was so stunned not only because of the ruralness but also the heat. It was unbearable. Along with long hours in the air conditioned hotel room, we also went on a sunrise tour in the early morning. We had to wake up at 4:30 but it was worth it… up until 9:30 when it got really hot out. We saw a really beautiful sunrise as well as seeing the grand Ayers rock turn red. It is really beautiful and large, especially in the morning when you can actually breathJ We also got to hear from the Aboriginals who lived near what they call Uluro or Ayres Rock. Although they claim to not be able to speak to us in English, they all need to know the language in order to communicate with other tribes since there are over 250 tribes each with their own language. We got to see some of their art and daily tools as well. They used something called “kitty “which is a black stick with bulb at the end that when heated can expand quickly. They use this to mend items together. It seemed as if there was white guilt in the Australians because when we asked the translator any question regarding any topic that could be considered private he rudely didn’t answer in order to avoid “sensitive” topics. The Aboriginals have been in Australia from about 40,000 and have dealt with a lot of discrimination from the white settlers, but in the end have adapted to coexist with them.

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!