New Zealand

New Zealand was the place I was, by far, most excited about. My brother, Brock, served his mission here, so I have heard all of his stories about how beautiful New Zealand is and how it is one of the best places to vacation. New Zealand definitely did not disappoint! I loved every minute of being in this beautiful place. We were able to go and see and explore so many sights. I fell in love with the ice cream, Maori culture, the people, the food, I love it all!

First stop when we got to New Zealand, was Rotorua. This little city was so quaint, I loved it. We were able to explore a lot on our own the first day. We went to all the little shops, a yummy sushi place for lunch, and finished it off with some ice cream. We also went to the Agrodome. I did not set my hopes to high for the Agrodome because I knew we would be close to animals the whole time, which if you know me, that is not my thing. But surprisingly, I loved it! I actually enjoyed getting close to all the animals, but I did have my mini freak outs when they did any sudden movement I was not prepared for. 

After the Agrodome we went to the Skyline Luge, which is basically a human Mario Kart. It was so much fun! First you take a gondola up a mountain and then they give you a helmet and a cart on wheels and you get to choose the track you go down. On these tracks you can get going pretty quickly, they have a few jumps along the way where you can get some serious air. 

Once we were done with Skyline Luge, we headed home to get ready for the Tamaki Maori Village. This village is very similar to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We were able to go through the center learning more about the Maori culture, followed by a traditional feast!

After leaving Rotorua, we were able to visit the Waitamo glowworm caves and the Hamilton temple. The only thing you need to know about the caves is it was cold, dark...and cold. The temple was so beautiful. I love the pattern I have seen that no matter where you go in the world, the gospel is always the same. Once we did a session at the temple we headed back to our hostel. For dinner we went the an amazing mexican place called The Flying Burrito Brothers. It was phenomenal. Mikyla and I talked about it for days after it was so good. At the restaurant we were able to run into a group of about 20 LDS single adults who live in New Zealand. It was so good to talk to them about how the church is there, they said it is a really strong and active ward, which is always so amazing to hear!

We started out our stay in Auckland by going to a rugby game at Eden Park. The rugby game was a great change from our prior activities so far on this study abroad. Anything involving sports is right up my alley. 

While in New Zealand I had my 22nd birthday! Everyone on my study abroad made it so great, especially Mikyla. First on my birthday early in the morning we went SKY DIVING. It was an unreal experience. It has been on my bucket list forever, and honestly it was one of those things I never thought I would actually do...but I did it! I was able to have pictures and a video taken of the whole experience, I will post them later on in this post (just excuse my annoying tongue sticking out throughout the whole thing).  Then we went around the little shops in Auckland. For dinner we went to this pizza place, and you can never go wrong with pizza in my eyes! After dinner we went to the "Singing in the Rain" play. It was unbelievable. They dumped 12,000 liters of water on the stage during the performance. After the play we went to Giapos, an ice cream place we frequently visited. Hands down the best ice cream I have ever had in my whole entire life. 

New Zealand is one of my favorite countries I have visited so far, I am so thankful I was able to have this experience!