Kia Ora means ‘Welcome’ in Maori
I don’t even really know how to start this post. I’ve had a busy couple of weeks, including my first travel weekend! So as I sit here just having put the kids to bed I finally have some time to write. So I guess just grab a comfy seat.
We have made it our goal that on non-travel weekends we explore a different suburb each day. There is so much to explore right here in Auckland. Luckily I have Fridays off and most au pairs have a couple hours off after dropping off their kids at school. So I was happy when my friend Jenni texted me asking if I wanted to go to Mount Eden with her. Most of the people we hang out have been here a couple months and have done most of the locals attractions already. Jenni and I are pretty new so we decided to go together! Since it was a beautiful sunny day we thought we would park half way up and walk the rest. Man was it worth it! But man am I ever out of shape.  |
| Jenni and I at Mt Eden |
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| Cloud passing over Mt Eden |
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| Cro-nut (Croissant+Donut) Life Changing! |
After soaking in the beauty, we climbed back down and enjoyed a coffee before Jenni had to go back to pick up her kids from school. We have now made that kind of a ritual. Whenever we go to a new suburb we find the cutest cafe, enjoy a coffee and sometimes food (it’s always so tempting and so sometimes we can’t help but give in). Then we find a mount to climb or a beach to walk along.
Cafes are everywhere! There is no such thing as filtered coffee. New Zealanders think that it’s gross haha. So everything is made with an espresso machine and most household have an espresso machine. I’m getting to be a pretty good barista! The first time I ordered coffee I made a fool of myself.
Oh well! I have since learned :)
When I found out where my host family lived, the first thing I did was see how close One Tree Hill was. I am a huge fan of the TV series (currently watching through the seasons for a third time!) So it was one of the number one things to do on my list while living here! I had also not seen a single sheep and I had been here for 3 weeks already. I am told that there are 60 million sheep in New Zealand! So you would think I would have seen 1! But I was told that there are sheep ALL over One Tree Hill. So I dragged some girls to come see sheep and of course this beautiful volcanic peak! Let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed. And as you will see by my pictures, there is more then 1 tree on this ‘hill’. Poorly named, but there is some history behind this name. The Maori had a sacred native tōtara tree growing on one of the summits which in turn gave it the english name of ‘One Tree Hill’. During colonial times a settler had cut it down, most likely for firewood. So they tried to make up for this by planting pine trees. Only 1 of them survived (how ironic!) but later was cut down by some activist. They thought it was inappropriate to plant a non-native pine tree, in such an important Maori place. No new trees were planted and now there stand a huge (and in my opinion, ugly) sculpture.
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| The sculpture to replace the tree |
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| First sheep I saw in NZ |
My next weekend was a huge change of pace! It was my first travel weekend and I can’t wait for the next one! Another number one/must do place to visit on my list was obviously Hobbiton! So when another au pair posted on one of the Facebook groups that she was planning a trip to Hobbiton I immediately messaged her for more details! She had a jam packed weekend planned with many things I wanted to see and experience so I took a chance and joined. There were 4 of us in total and one of the girls was part of my orientation so it was great to see her again! I was a bit nervous because the first time I would meet these others girls was the Friday we left. But this is just the nature of the au pair world, so I might as well get used to it! So Friday night we headed to Rotorua. You know you’ve reached it immediately by the smell. There is a lot of geothermal activity in the area making it smell like sulfur and have a constant foggy haze.
We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to drive an hour from our hostel to literally the middle no where! For a while I was nervous we were lost. It was just hills upon hills, and sheep upon sheep. But we found it! It was pouring on our drive in and my spirits were dropping. We ran inside The Shire’s Rest to have a coffee to warm us up and wait for our tour to begin. We got really lucky and when our tour started the rain had died down and by the time we reached the movie set it stopped completely. We had a hilarious bus driver who called us all hobbits and yelled out random facts about the sheep farm and movie set. I tried to write down some of them but I didn’t get very far. The only things I can remember is that the farm has about 13-14 000 sheep but the directors of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings brought in there own sheep! They wanted old fashion looking sheep with the black faces. CRAZY! Some of the hobbit holes were quite small and we were told that this is how they make the different characters look different sizes. So when Gandolf walks through The Shire, he only walks by the small hobbit holes. GENIUS!
Just a few of the many hobbit holes!
To the right were my travel companions. Laura and Janine (German) and Marine (French).
That evening we went to the Mitai Maori Village for an evening of learning about the Maori culture. This is a not an actual Maori village but a reenactment to give tourists a cultural/historical experience of New Zealand's indigenous people.
First we saw the War Canoe/Waka, which is hand carved the Mitai Maori. We watched a group of warriors paddled up and down the Wai-O-Whiro stream. The Wai-O-Whiro stream is a very sacred stream. It was crystal clear and freezing cold, despite being part of a geothermic area. We actually drank the water straight from the spring during dinner.
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| Looked like glass! |
Then we cozied up in front of a stage made to look like a village with huts and a fire. Here we learned about music, dance, traditions, weapons, ta moko (face tattooing). The 3 things that stood out to me were the tattoos, the haka and greeting. When greeting one another you they would tap noses twice. This was also a sign of acceptance to outsiders.
This wasn’t your normal tattoo. They would have their skin cut and the ink would be poured into the cut and left to heal leaving bumps and grooves. Some Maori even died during this process. The women had owls there chins. The chief had a bat on his forehead, a parrots beak on his nose and open kiwi beaks around his mouth.
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| The Chief |
We got to see the warriors perform a haka! It was probably the most entertaining thing I’ve ever seen! The haka is a traditional war dance. It is meant to intimidate and scare. They growl, open their eyes wide and stick their tongues out.  |
| The Haka |
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| The Hangi Lamb, chicken, kumara (sweet potato) and potato |
Our last day we went to Wai-O-Tapu. It’s a Geothermal Wonderland! So basically foggy and smelly! While we were there we got to see a geyser explode! This particular geyser was discovered by a group of prisoners. They were forced to work in the forest and clear the land. While working they found the hot springs and used to them there advantage while they were out of the prison walls. They would bath and wash their clothes in the naturally hot water. One day there soap mixed in one of the geysers and boom! Clothes everywhere. And thus the Lady Knox Geyser was discovered.
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| Before |
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| During! Everyone ran! |
