Merry Christmas everyone!
Today is Christmas day and it is the day when New Zealand celebrates Christmas (In Finland it is the 24th). This Christmas has been totally different than all my Christmases before. Probably the biggest difference is the weather. At the moment the sun is shining and it is +28 degrees outside which is 35-50 degrees more than normally that time in Finland.
The other big difference is that the celebration happens on another day as I wrote before. In Finland we open presents on the 24th and here it happens on the 25th. About my presents.. I got heaps of awesome things but the best one was a polaroid camera form my lovely host parents!! Thank you so much<3
Christmas in Finland is more formal than Christmas here and then here is many smaller things as well but these three were the biggest ones.
I have really enjoyed my Christmas here!
But now about my trip.. I came back home two weeks ago from my tour around New Zealand. The tour was organized by my New Zealand exchange organization NZIIU. Oher students on the Tour were from Germany (4), Thailand (3), The Netherlands (2), Argentina (2) and Japan (16).
First day.
I woke up 4.30am to get my bags ready for the trip. At 7am we depart Cristchurch and drove to Picton, with few other students form Christchurch, and there we met other students from North Island. We had short break in Kaikoura and walked along the beach. I was amazed by how clear the water was in the sea!! You could see many meters through water which is possible as like some lakes in Finland. I loved it<3
It was great to see all the other friends from the North island I had not seen for five months<3 In the evening we had some group building games and get to know with the new people.
Second day
We went kayaking and I did it for the first time in my life. It was easier what I thought before and really fun! Sadly we kayaked just probably 300 meters along the beach.
Me and my lovely dutch Alina<3
Our kayaking leader even did hand stand there where I'm standing:D
After kayaking we walked for a couple of hours in Abel Tasman National Park. It was really beautiful and reminded me of Rangitoto Island in Auckland, where me and other exchange students from my European organization went during our first week here in New Zealand :)
After walking we found a beach and went swimming. The water was pretty cold and light blue/turquoise and it was one of the most beautiful places where I have ever swum<3
Third day
Next morning we packed our stuff again and drove to Pancake rocks. The rocks themselves were great but I loved maybe even more the waves. I had never seen such big waves before and the spray rose probably more than twenty meters!
Waves there were amazing!
In the evening we had a bonfire by a really wavy beach and the sunset was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.
I could stare at the sea forever<3
Europeans: from Finland, Germany, Germany, Germany, Holland, Holland and Germany :) (Paula and Lotta: my jump is not that bad:DD)
We had a great night and grilled marshmallows and had fun:))
Fourth day
We depart Greymouth the next morning and started to drive again. We had a lunch break in opossum cafe and where we could feet opossums and some big, long fish. After that we drove to Hokitika,where we had an hour break. We could see when the people were making Jade jewellerys there.
Next stop was at Fox Glacier. Unfortunately we couldn't walk to the ice. The reason for that was that the Glacier was (and probably still is) meltinging so much so it is just too dangerous to go onto the ice. In every case, it looked great and I enjoyed the views.
There are just two places in the world where a glacier and rain forests are in the same area. The other one is in Chile (?) and the other one is at Fox. We could see the rain forests from the both side of us:)
After viewing the Glacier we drove to the accommodation and got changed into our togs. We went to the hot pools and enjoyed one hour in the hot water. We drove back to accommodation and there was a big dinner waiting for us:))
After dinner me and two German girls went to take photographs, which was so much fun:D thank you girls for that;)<3
Fifth day
The whole day was pretty much just driving. We had break at a salmon farm and then we carried on to this beach, which is in the photo. There we were that lucky that we saw dolphins in the wild, just by the waterline!!<3
We arrived in Wanaka and visited Puzzling world. In the beginning Me and Lotta (german girl) were pretty confident that we could find all the towers and finish it among the first ones but after wandering there for ages we started to become quite miserable for not finding our way out from the Maze. Finally we made it and we were so tired, but at least it was fun:D
We had a short beak by this lake and in the evening we arrived to Queenstown. After a late dinner we walked around the city center and I was surprised how many shops were still open. Almost everything closes around 5-6 pm on weekdays in Christchurch.
Sixth day
We spent the whole day in Queenstown and I loved it! In the morning we took gondola ride to top of the hill which is called Bobs Peak and from there we could see the wonderful views of Queenstown.
Lotta (germany), me and Paritta(Thailand).
At the top of the hill we took Luge. It is kind of a small car, which just had brakes and steering wheel and we drove downhill. It was fun:)
Straight after coming down from the hill we carried on with our activities we had picked before. I had chosen bungy jump and I was quite nervous when I went to the bungy office and paid for my jump. Nobody else from our group was doing bungy so I had to bus all the way there alone.
There were two girls from Scotland and one boy from Germany also going to jump. The girls were really nice but the boy was really really nervous, and his panicing didn't really help me:D
We were put into our harnesses and got some tips for the jump. The jump itself was great and less scary than I thought before. In the beginning of my drop I was terrified but I didn't feel that I will die as like my friend had told me before:D
The jump was 134 meters high but it felt way more shorter and it went really fast! I could see a river far away on the ground and while I was dropping down I felt just so free. After the jump I was really happy and proud of myself. I could do that again!!
After the jump I bused back to town and went out for burgers with my friend. I had been told that I must try these burgers and I actually understand why:D After eating we walked around the city and I just loved it. In the evening we had a gourmet pizza dinner all together and it was delicious. After that almost everybody from the tour went to the fear factory, and I didn't like it at all. It was so creapy because you couldn't see anything (and especially me because I had my eyes closed almost all the time) and the actors came and touched us and all the horrible voices and... If you like horror movies you love that but I hate them.
The day in Queenstow was absolutely awesome and I'd loved to go there again. You can do everything there and what is more, the city is really beautiful!!
Seventh day
We drove from Queenstown to Christchurch and on the way there we stopped by Lake Tekapo. It is the biggest lake in New Zealand and on the other side of the lake there is the highest mountain in New Zealand called Mount Cook. The views were really beautiful<3
Two guys from Argentina and me and Alina (Holland)
In the evening we arrived to Christchurch and went to Riccarton mall, after that we checked in to our accommodation. We had a small 5th-day-of-december-christmas celebration what they do in holland and Germany. We took our shoes out and later we found some lollies and christmas crackers from them.
Eighth day
In the morning we had some free time and I went home to change clothes from my bags and to do some other stuff as well. After free time we visited Antarctic centre where we could taste some of the antartic coldness: -14 degrees ;)
We arrived in Kaikoura saw some seals lying at the beach! When we got to the accommodation there was a big BBQ dinner waitig for us and after that we had time to swim and go to the sauna. I was surprised that there was a real traditional finnish sauna in the accommodation!
Ninth day
We packed our bags again (we could notice how we improved it during the tour, in the beginning it took us ages to pack up everything but by the time it became just fast routine) and after optional dolphin watch or swimming with them we drove from Kaikoura to Picton. There we took a ferry to Wellington. It was late night when we arrived at our accommodation and it was great to get some sleep. During this tour I absolutely didn't sleep enough and after it I could have slept the whole day:D
In the morning we had free time and I just walked around in the town with Lotta and Pleun. I just love Wellington! All the small shops, many people and art and everything<3 After that we drove to Weta cave and took some photos with the trolls.
We sat in the bus probably about 60 hours during the tour but I actually enjoyed it. I got to know really well especially the europeans and it was chill to sleep on the back in funny-positions:D
Finally we arrived in Rotorua and after dinner we spend hours in the hot pool of our accommodation. There we got to know with some german and Norwegian students from other group which was travelling around new Zealand as well.
Eleventh day
The first activity of the day was OGO, and the photo above tells everyhing. We jump inside one of these big balls and rolled down a slope. It was so much fun!!
After that we had free time and we walked around the city and went to see the mud pools and geysers.
I had never seen any of these before and it was great to see when the mud was boiling on the ground. The stink of it wasn't that nice, and actually the whole Rotorua stinks because of these mud pools and geysers. By the time you just get used to it:D
Me and Oume (fromThailand) by a geyser.
In the evening we had maori-culture dinner. We had a maori concert and hangi there (traditional maori way to cook food in the ground). Our dinner was delicious and I tasted hangi for the first time in my life. It tasted pretty smoky, but it wasn't too bad. After dinner we went for a walk in the dark outside. We saw glowworms there and they were just amazing!<3
Twelfth day
It was the last full day during this tour. I felt sad that I had to say goodbye to my friends who had become really close to during this tour. Especially for these ones, who were leaving New Zealand back to their own countries. I had actually never thought about it before how hard it is to be exchange student. When you make friends with other exchange students and you become close with them the other one has to go.
Other side of me was still looking forward to get home and get some sleep and time just myself. It is quite tiring to be surrounded with people 24/7 and not to have your own time at all.
On the way to Ngaruawahia we had break in Hamilton and we visited Hamilton gardens where the photo above is from. I had never had a bird on my hand before:D
In the evening we prepared our dinner and I made finnish style cinnamon rolls (Korvapuusti). Everybody loved them:)) It was great to taste food from other countries!! After the dinner we had a concert and everybody had to perform something. It was fun to see all the performances!!:D
We drove from Ngaruawahia to Auckland where we visited the sky tower. It was my second time up there because we went there five months ago during my orientation camp. It is a really beautiful place!
After that me and the dutch girls, Pleun and Alina, went out for lunch with our first host families (in the photo). We stayed a few days with them during our first week here. It was great to see you guys again after such a long time!
Too soon we had to leave Auckland and say goodbye to our friends. Me and Paula (from Germany) were the only ones flying back to Christchurch and for our surprise our flight was cancelled so we had to fly two hours earlier. I was so happy when I got back home: I had experienced so many amazing things and got to know with amazing people but it was great to be home again!
I will remember this trip for my whole lifetime and thank you all who were part of that trip!!<3 You made it awesome<3 xxx
