Well, now that we have done a few things we can write about them. Our first 2 days were spent in Auckland which isn't bad for a big city but we were ready to get out. If I could compare it to anywhere back home it would probably be Chicago. A big city that doesn't really feel too overwhelming and is easy to navigate. In our time there we went to the beach and roasted in the sun for a few hours, got lost on a bus ride and met a lot of cool people in our hostel bar.It seemed that most people in the area where we were staying were just partying and drinking too much either on their way in to NZ or leaving.
Once we left Auckland it started to feel more like what you would imagine of NZ. We traveled 3 hours south to Waitomo where we stayed a little lodge in the hills called Juno Lodge.THis was a very cool place that was secluded and quiet with beautiful scenery of the surrounding hills.It was also the jumping off point for our caving adventure. As part of our adventure we repelled down 3 times(once into a waterfall) army crawled through tiny little holes, squeezed through tight little crevaces, checked out the glowworms as they lit up a pitch black cavern and did a little rock climbing to get out. It was easily on of the coolest things you could ever do. I think we were underground for a total of 3 hours.
That evening we went to the local pub for a pint or two. I had the most insane burger i think Ive ever encountered.It was called the Crusty Burger. 1/2 lb burger patty, steak strips, fried egg, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese, beets, and ketchup with fries.
When we went to sleep that night we had a crazy encounter with a creature of the night. At about 4 in the mornin we were awaken by a growl outside of our tent like nothing we had ever heard. It was a growl that started high pitch and sort of shrill and ended with a low rumble. This went on for about an hour as we lay there trying to figure out what the fuck was out there and whether or not it was going charge our tent and attack us. We figured out that it wasn't a large animal by the sound of it so after awhile I got out to investigate. What happened was it turned out to be a NZ possum sounding it's mating call about 5 feet from out tent. I shined my light on it and it stood up on its hind legs and stared at me. They are actually kinda cute. About the size of a racoon with a big fuzzy tail. They are vegetarian and completely harmless. But they sound scary as hell! Anyway I guess the reason why it was by out tent was b/c we were near a fruit tree where it was probably eating.
Right now we are in in transit in a city called Hamilton, on our way 8 hours south to Wellington. We will be there for a few days before we go hike the Abel Tasman Track for 4 days. I don't know if we can write again before then or not, but we will have plenty to tell afterwards.
We are having an awesome time will try to make everyone as jelous as possible while we are gone.Til next time. Cheers!
P.S.- Photos will be really slow b/c since both of our cameras shoot at such a high resolution, we have to resize them and post them and that takes forever when you pay $2 for 20 minutes of computer time.sorry!
