Big Little Sister and Little Big Sister in New Zealand!

I had the honour of hosting my sister in my New Zealand home for 10 days. It is a really weird thing mixing my 2 different worlds together, but also exciting, fun and adventurous! Here was our journey:

My hopes were getting down as the news of cyclone was headed our way the weekend Amy was suppose to land. I was getting nervous that her flight would be cancelled or delayed but like always I worry WAY too much and everything went according to plan! Oh man waiting that 30 minutes in the airport I think was worse then waiting the 3 months when I found out she was coming. Every single time the sliding door opened my heart raced! But finally she came out and it was a happy reunion! 

That evening we didn’t do much as I know she did not have the best of luck on the planes and was tired out. So we made dinner with Jenni and then watched one of our favourite movies: PITCH PERFECT! The rest of the weekend we took it easy and explored some the city, which was very wet and windy. I showed Amy some of my favourite spots around the city, which of course had to include my favourite coffee shop! 

Having a typical Kiwi dish: pies!

Monday morning bright and early we picked up Laura in the city after she had travelled all night by bus from Wellington up to Auckland. And then we headed off on Roadtrip Trip #1! We got all packed into my car, which has now been named Diana (may or may not have some reference to a One Direction song... I’ll let you decide) and headed north! 

Our final destination was Cape Reinga, which is the most north you can go in New Zealand. But we planned to make some stops on our way. Our first destination was Whangarei Falls. Apparently this is the most photographed waterfall because it is so easy to get to. We went for a short walk around the park and then back to the car to continue to Paihia. 

Laura was jumping and scaring Amy

Paihia is one of the many towns in the Bay of Islands. The next day I had arranged a full day boat tour of The Bay of Islands, but Amy and Laura did not want to go (which I still think they are crazy and missed out!) so I hopped on the boat at 9:30 the next morning. While finding a seat I met a fellow solo traveler, a girl my age from Germany, so we stuck together for the rest of the day. This was a jammed packed tour! We spent most of the day on the water, exploring many of the different islands. We got to stop off at one of them, which had a hill with a 360 degree view. It was breath-taking! We had time to go for a quick swim in the turquoise water. 

Paihia 

Russell 

The Black Rocks 

The Black Rocks 

The 360 degree view 

Having fun with the captain of our boat

We made it all the way out to the famous ‘Hole in the Rock’ and on our way got to see a couple pods of dolphins. I even got to experience boom-netting for the first time too and that was heaps of fun. Boom-netting is when they put down a net at the side of the boat and people sit in it and the driver goes all crazy with the boat and you swing every which way! We made it back to shore in Paihia and I met up with Amy and Laura again. They had spent the day at the beach and got some pretty good sun... burns! Laura had gotten a little confident about her skin in the sun and decided to not put sunscreen on, forgetting that her stomach had not yet been exposed to the New Zealand sun. I think we all learned a lesson from that! 

We packed up the car again and headed to the next KeriKeri. We made a few stops. The first at a little chocolate factory and then to the Stone Store. The Stone Store is the oldest stone building in New Zealand. 

Our next destination was Te Paki, Cape Reinga and 90 Mile Beach. These are very touristy places but quite remote so the closest hostel was an hour away. So we made an anonymous decision to sleep in the car that night, so we could be closer in the morning. After debating some locations we could park the car we decided to find a church and snooze there. As we were getting ready to sleep we heard some noises coming from the field next to the parking lot and I getting pretty freaked out. I thought it might just be in my head, we were in the middle of nowhere and I hate the dark, so I tried my best ignore it but then Amy and Laura heard something too. So we all jumped in the car and we later discovered that it was horses... Seriously justifying my hatred for horses! 

Our Hostel for the night

The next morning we woke up and drove to Te Paki which is known for its sand dunes. We tried at first with a flattened cardboard box but that was a huge fail! So we caved and rented a sand board, but I’m sure glad we did! We walked over to this massive hill! It was such a pain to climb up. Sand and hills don’t mix well. But the ride down was worth the trek up. 

Test 1: Fail

Test 2: Epic Success!

After being covered in sand and sweat we headed to Cape Reinga. It was a bit overcast but we took the short walk to the lighthouse and had some fun along the way.

Now that we made it to the top it was time to go back down, this time along the west coast to 90 Mile Beach. This was probably the hardest place to find which is kind of funny because it is the entire west coast of the Northland. The name is actually misleading, it is only 55 miles long. There are many different theories as to how 90 Mile Beach got its name but there are 2 popular ones. The first theory dates back when missionaries travelled on horseback. It was estimated that horses could travel on average 30 miles a day before having to rest. The beach took 3 days to travel therefore getting its name 90 Mile Beach, but they did not take into account that the horses travel a lot slower on the sand. So thinking they had travelled 90 miles but had in fact only travelled 55. The second theory says that the beach was named during the time New Zealand was converting from metric to imperial system. The beach was measured at 90 kilometers but amidst the confusion of changing systems people continued to say miles. I have heard and seen beautiful pictures of this beach from the internet and friends who have visited before me. But as we got closer I saw the clouds go overcast and then the rain started to come... We followed a sign and the road soon became unpaved, after 10 minutes of driving through a forested area I started to get nervous that we had made a wrong turn. With my sense of direction (or lack there of) this would not be surprising. But we decided to continue. We saw a sign for a lodge and followed it to find someone to ask. Little did we know we were driving along the beach the whole time. We walked over to the beach getting soaked by the rain. We walked down to the water and saw some cars drive past us, the beach is also an official highway! We had a mix up with the hostel we were suppose to be staying at this night so after getting into the car soaking wet and exhausted we started the long journey home to Auckland. 

Wednesday and Thursday we spent relaxing and catching up on sleep and laundry before Roadtrip #2 started Friday morning. Roadtrip #1 pretty much included touristy sightseeing stuff so Roadtrip #2 was our adrenaline filled days. On Friday we headed south this time to Rotorua to do a very New Zealand activity: Zorbing! But this time with a little twist: Zurfing! Basically you are inside a giant blown up ball filled with water and a surf board, then they push you down a hill and you try to stay on the board. I fell off within the first couple of rolls and just got splashed around the rest of the way. It was heaps of fun! Then we continued down to Taupo to stay the night and prepare for our SKYDIVE the next morning! 

Saturday morning I woke up to Laura and Amy whispering Happy Birthday to me! We were in a room with 5 other people and it was 8am... Amy said she debated jumping on me but I was in the top bunk so that plan was quickly shot down. We packed all our stuff up and went to have breakfast, I’m surprised we ate. I was feeling pretty nervous! The weather was looking perfect and now all we had to do was wait. We got picked up around 10am and headed to the airport. To be honest I can’t really remember what was going through my head as we drove there. I just know that I was nervous and excited at the same time! We arrived and got briefed on what was going to happen and soon after we were getting shuffled around into our gear. We each got paired up with a Tandem Master. Mine introduced himself and his name was Liam, and I was so nervous that I didn’t even really think before I spoke saying that was the same name as my favourite One Direction band member. He looked at me and went is it too late to switch! Haha! So I apologized and said I was nervous. He laughed and was said, 'it couldn't have been Liam Nisson or Liam Hemsworth?' Shortly after we all headed to the plane and away we went! 

We had a couple people jump out at 12 00ft first and then it was our turn. Amy went first and I think I was more scared watching her jump out then myself. I did a little scream when I saw her disappear. Then it was my turn... It was so fast all of a sudden we were sitting with our feet hanging out the plane door then the next second we were flying through the air. I regrettably closed my eyes for like 15 seconds, then quickly snapped out of it to enjoy the view. We had a free fall of about 1 minute and then we were under the canopy for about 5-8 minutes. It was amazing (and a little painful, my ear were killing me!) I even got to see the Tongariro Crossing including Mt Doom from the sky. I couldn’t have been happier. 

Our landing was greeted by a group of people racing around trying to catch the parachute. When we landed my tandem jumper, Liam wished me a Happy Birthday! One of the other workers overheard him and offered me some of his jerky which was apparently homemade. 

The nice guy who gave me his homemade jerky! 

We hit the road back to Auckland after our jump. But we made some stops along the way at the Huka Falls and Puketi Kauri Forest.

Once back in Auckland we got cleaned and dressed up to go for a nice dinner in the city. We went to a restaurant in Ponsonby called Bedford Soda. It is known for it’s meatball and homemade sodas. It was a really interesting place, you basically get to make your own meal. You pick the type of meat, sauce, base and side. So you could make it different every time you go! 

After dinner we took a nice bottle of champagne, that my host family gave me, to the beach and sat talking and laughing for a couple hours. Then we ended the night off with a swim, which was surprisingly warm. I think it will be very hard to top this birthday in the future!

To end off Amy’s trip here in New Zealand we went and saw Mama Mia at The Civic in downtown Auckland. Then it was time to get all packed up and catch a few zzz’s before taking Amy and Laura to the Airport for 6am. We said our sleepy goodbyes and that was that! 10 days came and went in a flash! 

See you in 5 months! 
Love your Little Big Sister!