The Kiwi Effect.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet...or at least try (your welcome, mike!) On Sunday, we all moved out of the cabins at Lake Ainsworth (choatic!) and left Australia. It was really bittersweet leaving Australia...I've been having an incredible time, but have been ready to come home for about a week or so. The thing that made me most sad about leaving Australia was leaving Ken and Mary. They came to the airport to see me off which meant a lot to me. I have really enjoyed getting to know my family from across the world.
After a 3 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand we waiting in the airport for another 3 hours. It took forever to go through coustoms, find a storage for our many many many bags, and rent a car. Yes, that's right, we rented a car! I finally got to try driving on the opposite side of the road! (and surprise, I wasn't good on that side either!) So six of us girls (Steph, Sammy, Brittany, Stacey, Erika and I) cramed into the little SUV we rented and began The Tour de New Zealand. We stayed in Auckland that night and in the morning headed to Rotorua (a 3 hour drive.) We were shocked when checked into our crazy hostel "Cactus Jack's Backpackers". . . it is crazy. It is decorated in all western theme items. . . it's intense and a little tacky but a lot of fun. As gross as hostels can be, it is usually a fun and unique experience. Last night we sat around one of the common rooms and hung out with 2 guys from France and 3 guys from Germany. It's cool to interact with so many different cultures here. Backpackers alwasy seem friendly (I think backpacker's religion is Karma...they can't screw over someone when they are living on almost nothing themselves) Everyone always seems to have a great story of why they are traveling. I think people in the US are the only ones that don't pick up and leave the country for a few years to travel before becoming an "adult."
This is getting longer than I expected...and my money is running out (it's 2 dollars for a half hour of internet..) SOOO let me break down my Rotorua adventures for ya:

Zorbing...sooo fun and funny. Steph and I were put into a big hamster ball filled with warm water (thank god it was warm...it's sooo cold in NZ!) and rolled down a hill. We couldn't stop laughing and falling all over the place. It was so cool!

Kiwi Encounter...we went to this neat little "zoo" or conservation place to see live kiwi's (NZ's national bird...if you don't know what they look like...google it. SO cute and goofy looking) We only saw one but the zoo itself was pretty cool. We were the only ones in there (apparently people in NZ don't go to zoos when it's 15 degrees Celcius and raining...) So we pretty much had the park to ourselves.

Te Puia...a park that was all about the Maori culture. The Maori people are the natives to NZ. The stuff we were looking at and watching was like out of a National Geographic show...it is weird to think people lived (and still live) like that in some parts of the world. We watched a concert that 6 Maori people put on that had a lot of their traditional songs and dances. The place also had boiling mud ponds, sulfer lakes (that are all over Rotorua, making the whole town stink) and a gyser.

Hell's Gate Mud bath....the weirdest thing I've experienced on this trip. We went to this place where we first walked around (very quickly because we've all been cold since we got here) There were more sulfer springs, lakes, hot waterfalls, boiling mud...and all the geothermic good stuff (you would have loved it, mike!) Then we sat into a mud bath which is supposed to be relaxing and good for your skin.. . but we giggled the whole time and now I just smell! After the mud bath, we sat into a sulfer pool that is supposed to be even better for your skin...making us smell even more!

Skydiving.....AMAZING! The craziest thing I've ever done! It was soooo incredible! Words can't describe it, but thankfully I purchased the overpriced DVD and photos so you can all see it when I get back!

Today we're leaving Rotorua for Wiatoma. It is about 2 hours away from here. . . another road trip on the wrong side of the road. Wiotoma is famous for their glow worm caves. Today we have an appoitment to black water raft through the caves..should be fun!

(darn, I tried really hard to keep it short...sorry!)