New Zealand with Alex Fenn & Pall Baggett
So here we are… Landing in the beautiful city of Auckland, New Zealand, the largest city in New Zealand with a population of just 4 million. For a couple days we are staying with some of Alex’s family then will be beginning a another unforgettable journey; backpacking the north island with the ‘Kiwi Experience Bus’. The Kiwi Experience is basically a hop on hop off bus that backpackers use to get around New Zealand and meet new people along the way. Mostly made up of 18 to 25 year olds all with a common interest. Travel, live life and have fun doing it.
On the 1st of Febru
ary we departed from downtown Auckland unsure of what to expect. And when I say unsure what to expect, I mean it. We didn’t exactly know where we were going to go, how long we would be there for or the people we were going to be with. A quote by Alexander Pope says it all, “Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed” The only thing we were certain of is we had a flight out of Auckland the morning of the 12th and we had 12 days to do everything we could.
Day 1 Hot water beach.
Hot water beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world finding itself in the top ten voted by trip advisor. Upon arriving at the hostel, we were offered an opportunity to go kayaking along the surrounding islands. So for about 3 hours a group of us kayaked throughout and actually made it to cathedral cove. A Marine Reserve is on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand popular for the movie Narnia being filmed there. Now it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why hot water beach has its name… There’s boiling hot water!! And I mean it! All you do it dig about two feet down and you find yourself in boiling hot water. The water gets so hot that the Maori natives use to actually cook their food in these holes. 
However hot water beach is not what made day 1 memorable. It was the people we met. Two people specially. Cedric and Vikor. Cedric, from Montreal Canada, just graduated law school and is now traveling for 4 months. Vikor is a Swedish carpenter trying to travel New Zealand, find work and live a simple life here. It was definitely these guys and several others we met along the way that made a difference in our travels.
Day 3 Waitomo
After hot water beach, we were off to Waitomo. Here we were able to go black water rafting with the ‘legendary black water rafting company’. When we first heard our bus driver say “black water rafting”, we truly had no idea what it was. He explained that black water rafting was basically 
raft
ing on rivers in underground caves. These caves are known for look like stars above glowing on the walls.r having these species called glowworms exclusively found in New Zealand. Up close they resemble maggots but from a distance they glow like stars. After our adventures in Waitomo, we hopped back on the bus to head to Rotorua.
Day 4 Rotorua
Rotorua was memorable for several reasons. Here we stayed in a Maori village and got to experience a bit of their culture. Before this stay we had stayed in hostels the entire way with public bathrooms and uncomfortable beds. 
as how our food was prepared. They used However, here, the accommodations were a bit different. We slept 30 to a room in the most comfortable beds imaginable. At the village we were introduced to the culture and lifestyle of the Maori natives. The one thing that stood out that was the traditional Maori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, called Hāngi.
Day 5 Taupo
One of the most popular cities in New Zealand, Taupo, offered us the opportunities to do a variety of activities, including bungee jumping, cliff swinging, and sailing. Due to the weather we were unable to go skydiving but it didn’t stop us from bungee jumping and I have to say, it was a bit nerve wrecking. Having skydived before we thought they would be similar… boy were we wrong. The act of jumping alone towards a large body of water is just as nerve wrecking as it sounds. Although, once you actually jump…the adrenaline is incredible. It was definitely something I would do again given the opportunity.
Day 6 River Valley
Alex and I both agreed that this place was our favorite stop. It was a hidden spot with epic scenery and logging. The hostel was in a valley in the middle of no where surrounded by beautiful hills and mountains. Here we got to chose between two activities…horseback riding or white water rafting. We ended up rafting on New Zealand’s longest river, The Rangitikei River. Followed by the long day of rafting, our next stop was Wellington.
Day 7 Wellington
Unlike Auckland,
which is known to by an outdoor city, Wellington is known as the indoor city with many museums, cafes and amazing restaurants. Here we we stayed a couple days so we could have some time to relax and catch up on laundry and sleep. We also got to ride on wellington cable car. A railway the connect the city to Lambton Quay, a suburb that overlooks the city. This cable car has been recognized as a symbol of Wellington for over a century.
Day 10 Back to Rotarua
Leaving Wellington meant leaving much of our friends we made along the way. When we left, we were headed north while most of the others continued south. Our first stop on the trek back north was Rotaura. Here instead of staying in the Mauri village, we rented some bikes to go mountain biking. Rotarua has some of the best and hardest mou
ntain biking in the world, and it was obvious to Alex and I. After mountain biking, our plan was to go lugging right outside of town. We were told that going late was the best because it wouldn’t be so busy, but when we got there, Alex read a sign that killed us both – “Closing early”. The luge was closing at 6pm that evening, and it was 5:50 when we got there. This might have ruined our chances to luge but right next door we noticed a small mini golf course. Given that we had about 30 minutes to kill before the next bus, we decided to give it a look and after telling the owner, Fiona, our situation, she didn’t hesitate to give us a free round of golf. We may have missed that next bus and had to walk about 6km back to the hostel, but it didn’t change the fact that we had an unforgettable day.
Back in Auckland.
At about 5pm on the 11th of February, we got back to Auckland where Alex’s uncle was 
waiting for us. We got back to the house and his family wanted to know everything we had done. One question after another. What’d you do? What type of people did we meet? Favorite part? They wanted to know everything. That’s when I realized that we just made memories that will last a lifetime. Its not everyday that one gets to backpack the beautiful country of New Zealand and meet such great people along the way. It was definitely a trip to remember that will bring great memories for years to come.
