Day to Remember and Forget... Day 5

The apology from Qantas about travel

     We had a great wake-up call around 3AM, and then we left around 4AM for the airport. Our flight out to Brisbane was originally at 6AM. So we waited awhile, until we got the dreaded news. All Qantas flights cancelled due to ash cloud. Bummer I know, but we tried to stay calm and relaxed. We were able to sit down and rest or we sang and danced. It was out of our hands.

 Our tour director Adam, he was amazing he talked and talked to people,searching for flights to get us to Brisbane, all 36 of us. He did it though, he gets all the credit and we owed him so much that day!

Someone caught me sleeping

Had lunch in airport, sat and talked and got to know eachother a little more.

We checked in our bags 3:15PM, Gloria and I got a quick massage from some chairs. Went and looked at some shops and bought a few souviners. Our flight didnt leave till 5:15PM. We didnt care much about the time just that we had a flight that day. Thank you Adam, you rock!

4 hour flight from Auckland to Brisbane, Australia. We arrived at airport around 9:10ish, got bags on coach and then headed upstairs to wait for other teams to get in. We all got back together around 12:30 so you could guess we were a little tired...  Headed to hotel to pass out on comfy beds...

June 23rd My Golden Birthday! Day 4

Happy Golden 23rd Birthday!

Well today was my birthday! I turned number 23! Today had to be golden, right? It was, let me tell you the day...

Best hot chocolate ever!

We had an early wake up call this morning, no worries there. Put all our bags on the coach and then a couple of us walked around town buying souviners, and had a stop at a wonderful bakery/cafe. Hot choco was amazing as you can see. We had a good two and a half hours to kill before returning.

Matamata, NZ, posing with Gollum

We were prepared to have a three to four hour coach ride heading to Auckland, NZ.  The whole coach sang to me and had a few hip hips. Whale Rider was put on since we had been to some of the places and experienced some of the culture.We stopped in Matamata and had lunch. This is the town where LOTR filmed. We took pictures with Gollum. Our tour director gave us some trivia sheets, and we had to go around and ask locals questions, so we did that at lunch.

Dani and I by crator with a view
of Auckland

Went to look at and walk around a crator. Good view of the city of Auckland.

Angus Beef Steakhouse. Heather and I.

Stopped to have dinner, went off in own groups. We went to Angus Steak House! I ordered the entree of cold salmon, which found that out pretty quickly. It was good when the hot plate came around. We just chilled for a bit, had two to three hours to eat and walk around.

We had about thirty to forty minutes left so we walked by coach and saw there was an irish pub and decided to take a look and just chill.

8PM headed back to hotel. It was a great day today.

Day 3 of My Adventure

My morning starts 7AM wake up call and a 7:30 Brekky (breakfast) buffet style. My fellow travelers Dani Heather and I walked around our hotel and explored before it was time to get on coach.

At Agrodome with a sheep

Today was going to be very exciting we went to the Agrodome where we watched professionals sheer sheep, I was able to milk my first cow! The guy there had to pump the tail to get the milk out, funny. I got to pick up the sheep at end. Watched the sheep dogs do a trial run outside, very cool.

Doing the Swoop with Heather

Got into a large cart that transported us to AgroAdventures! I was able to do two rides there. 1) The Swoop and 2)The AgroJet.

With our Cef Adam

It was about time to head to the building where lunch was waiting. Our tour director Adam made us a large and very special barbie (BBQ). He made us lamb, chicken, and sausage on the barbie. Adam did a fantastic job, only one or two got a little charocal. He says its good for you, with a smile.

After lunch was done and everyone got a chance to walk around see the animals and do some more thrills got back in our coach and headed for our next destination.

Steam from the gesyers around the village

Around 1PM we went to WHAKAREWAREWA Thermal Village. We were met by a lady who lives in this villiage and she taught us how to say the place where we were, ten fifteen minutes later we got most of it down. The smell of sulfur and... other smelly things in the air was strong, but it was a good learning experience how the Maori people live, cook, bathe. The structures of some of the houses were very interesting, and they all had a story. Each totem individually had a story of someone dear to them.

On the duck

3PM we left to go on our Duck Tour, driving around for few moments and then... we were in the water. We went around a few different lakes in Rotorua. Saw some very big houses across the water. Saw where Peter Jackson stayed while filming the Lord of the Rings. Very beautiful houses, some you could rent. How much you ask? $10,000 per night. But if you got some of your closest friends together it would be worth the price. I would love to stay and retire in one around the lake. The duck tour was so much fun.

We got our tour vouchers for dinner, Dani and I stayed in our hotel rooms and ordered a very cheesy pizza. So good! We were watching some cartoons, laughing and talking. Then I called it quits and went back to my room and slept...

My Journey Begins... Day 1-2

June 18th, 2011

My group getting ready for our journey

I will tell the short and sweet version of the first two days of travel on the journey to New Zealand.

At Chilles Too! Enjoying meal during our 6 hour gap at LAX.

   -Left Pasco airport to Seattle 45-50 minute plane
   -Seattle to LAX 4 hour plane
   -LAX to our destination New Zealand 13.5 hours



We were able to meet up with group from North Carolina and met our Tour Director Adam, who was with us 24/7, good thing.

It was a long journey but we made it!

So we continued our journey on the coach (bus), Adam shared his knowledge with us about New Zealand,the Mauri people and taught us some general saying: Sweet As bro: everythings good.

We went to the skyline to do the Luge in Rotorua, NZ

The luge was so much fun and fast! I wouldnt mind doing that again. For those not familar the luge consists of a long winding track. All downhill with a beautiful scenic view.

Afterwards went back to hotel got cleaned up for dinner and concert. We had a Hangi feast: lamb, veggies,salads...

Following dinner we had a Maori concert. It was fun to watch the performance some people volunteered to go up and learn the HAKA (intimidation chant). 

Watching the Maori Concert

And then we all went to bed... Very good first day.

My First Post Ever!

Hey fellow bloggers Jenn here I would like to share with you my travels that I have been to past and present...

I recently just got back home from a two week adventure to New Zealand and Australia. It was such a great experience that I will never forget. I won't be able to tell you everything I did but I will give you the highlights of trip. I hope you enjoy my stories and pictures and potential videos. Enjoy!