Kapa O Pango!

One of the things I was told to do while I was in New Zealand is see an All Blacks Rugby game. There season was just ending when I first arrived here and so I had to wait for the next season, which is now! But did I ever underestimate how fast tickets sell out. So I missed the boat on the game in Auckland but saw that they had 2 more games in New Zealand before I leave. One of them was in Dunedin which is on the South Island, so that was a no. But the last game of the set against England was in Hamilton, which is only a 2 hour drive from Auckland. So I got online and quickly purchased some tickets! Again they sold out really fast so the only tickets left were in the standing area at the one goal line. But this also made them cheaper so we were all on board with it. 

When we got to the stadium it we were filled with excitement! There is something about live sports, the atmosphere was amazing! 

The stadium was quite small so it was very easy for us to see everything! We watched them warm up a bit and then it was time! We stood and listened to the anthem which was very beautifully sung in Maori and English. Then they performed the famous haka! The haka is a traditional Moari war dance that the All Blacks perform to ‘scare’ their opponents. There 2 version of the haka. The traditional and historical Ke Mate and the All Blacks own Kapa O Pango. I watched he video many times to try and see which one they performed for us but it just sounds like yelling to me. But never the less, it was incredible! 

Warming up

Intimidating the opposition! 

I was already smiling from ear to ear and the game hadn’t even started yet.  I went with 3 other girls Jenny (Swedish), Laura (Spainsh) and Weibke (German) and none of us knew the first thing about rugby. But we cheered and ‘boo’ed accordingly. The All Blacks ended up destroying England 36-13 and equalling the international record of 17 consecutive wins!  

Laura, Jenny, me and Wiebke

Haka face!

Celebration!

Try!

Since we were only about 40 minute drive from Raglan we made the collective decision to make a stop in the notorious surf town. I had visited Raglan back in October and was excited to visit the lively west coast town. We visited Bridal Veil Falls and got our work out of the day with the 300 steps down to the bottom and then 300 back up again. With some good music playing and the sun shining we made our way back along the winding roads to Auckland.

All Blacks Game. Check. 

Beautiful Coromandel

I realize that I usually only write about my weekends, now that is understandable because that is when most of my traveling happens. But my weeks have also had their own little adventures. I have been involved in a church that meets on Wednesday nights, coffee groups, movie nights (mostly because it cost half the price then on weekends) and other random hang outs after a days work. This week involved a nice dinner out, which is something that I don’t do often here because it is very expensive. 

Lobke had found a voucher on grabone for a restaurant in Mission Bay where we paid $20 for $40 worth of food for 2 people. So she asked some of us if we would like to join her before she leaves on her travels. So Lobke (Dutch), Simone (German), Wiebke (German) and I happily accepted her invitation. Once we all finished work we were off with hungry tummies! 

De Fontein Belgium Beer Cafe is a rather iconic restaurant in Mission Bay, it is a huge pink building on the corner of the only stop light on the main street. Apparently they are known for their mussel pots. I have only ever tried mussels once when we visited Halifax and it wasn’t a good experience so I was a little nervous but game to give ‘em another go. So we sat down and looked at the menu, it took quite some time to decide but it was worth it! Check it out:

It didn’t stop there. We still had about $10 to spend so we got a dessert and coffees. Perfect way to end off a great dinner with amazing company.

And now skip forward to the weekend...

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to meet 7 other girls in the city and make our way to Coromandel. Coromandel offers an amazing landscape of rolling hills and bright coastal waters. It has become one of my favourite places to visit. In the Coromandel there is a famous walk called the Pinnacles, so we planned to do this but the New Zealand weather got the best of us... On Friday afternoon we got a call from our accommodation that the walk was closed due to a flood. It had rained for 3 days straight during the week so it was understandable but we were all pretty disappointed. It was Lobke’s last weekend in Auckland and so we still wanted to do one last weekend away. She got on the phone and a very helpful women offered us another place to stay with a great walk and (in her opinion) the best beach in all of the Coromandel. We were all on board with the new plan!

So Saturday morning we all meet up and had a good catch up and introductions since this was first time I was meeting half of the girls. We divided into the 2 cars and away we went! We drove about 2 hours through the winding roads through the hills and along the coast and enjoyed the jaw-dropping views. 

When we arrived at the camp site we were greeted by a very cheerful owner who had set us up with a cottage of our own! And the best part was that we didn’t have to pay any extra for it! Our money was transferred from our other accommodation and she felt bad that it got cancelled that she just called it even. And to make it even better she gave us a bag of marshmallows to roast that night in our fireplace! 

cozy cottage

After unpacking the cars we got changed and ready for a 3 hour hike. It was about 2:30 at this point and we had to get moving if we wanted to make it back before dark, since the sun sets around 5-5:30 now that it is winter. It took us ages to get on the right track but we did eventually. The women had told us that the path had a few river crossings. Wow did we underestimate what a few meant. After the first 20 minutes of walking I think we passed 7 river crossings! And I’m not talking like a trickling stream, it was try to balance and walk across rocks so you didn’t get a soaker rivers! But we got a pretty good system of helping each other as we went. Finally we started to go up hill and left the rivers behind us. 

We reached a sign that said look out and we were told that it was a steep 10 minute walk after we saw the sign. But after 10 minutes all we saw was more hill! We eventually got to an open farm area where we saw cows grazing. So we assumed that this was the lookout. We had reached the top just as the sun was setting. It was stunning! 

After we stood at the top enjoying the views we nervously started our way down as it started to get darker and darker. Just as we all began to get nervous on the dark paths we were stopped by a young gentleman who had brought us torches. He worked on the trails and knew that we had started the walk. So when we hadn’t returned yet he decided to go and look for us. We were extremely grateful seeing as we only had our phones for light... Was not very smart of us. 

We decided to invite him over for dinner for rescuing us. He accepted quite happily. We got back to our cottage and prepared a classic backpacker dinner of pasta and tomato sauce. After dinner we made some hot drinks and made a fire so we could have some dessert: marshmallows! While Lobke cooked us marshmallows we played Heads Up on my phone, which always comes with some good laughs. 

classic

playing Heads Up

hmm marshmallows!

Most of us started dozing off so we decided to get ready for bed. Since the fireplace was in the lounge we all pulled our mattresses off the beds and had one big sleepover! 

slumber party :)

The next morning we packed all our things up and took a walk on the beach. We were told that the locals have been swimming with a small pod of dolphins in the bay, but unfortunately we did not see them. 

breakfast

morning fog

So then we were off to one of my FAVOURITE places on the north island: Cathedral Cove. I have been 2 times already but had no problem going back for a 3rd time. There is just something magical about this place. Since it’s winter now and it was early evening the cove was pretty dead. It was cool to see it like that, seemed a little less touristy. 

Cathedral Cove

Was a great winter weekend :) Thank you Lobke, Wiebke, Rebekka, Janette, Louisa, Larissa and Simone! 

with our generous hosts! 

Crazy New Zealand Weather

My alarm went off unwelcomed at 2:30 am Saturday morning. In 4.5 hours I would be back at Tongariro National Park ready to do the Alpine Crossing for the second time. And this time there would be snow!!! I wanted to do this walk a second time and everyone I told thought I was crazy because this is a loooooooong 20km hike. The first time we did the hike was back in November and we did most of the walk in a cloud and did not get to see the amazing sights. So I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about for myself, so yes I decided to do it again. 

Rob picked up Wiebke and I at my house at 3 am and then we were off to pick up 2 more friends along the way. The roads were clear, obviously... With a few short breaks we made it to the hostel by 8am. If you can remember from my last post of The Crossing we stayed at great hostel with a very unique owner, Ian. The last time we stayed and he found out I was Canadian he asked if I had a tin of maple syrup, and to both our disappointment I didn’t. But when my sister came and visited me in March she brought a can of real Canadian maple syrup! And my first thought was I need to get this to Ian! So we pulled into the hostel around 8am, hungry and tired. We quickly made some breakfast and checked into our room. The weather wasn’t looking good again... Seriously I think this national park has something against me or it just wasn’t meant to be. Ian strongly advised us not to the Alpine Crossing and gave us another trail that was lower to avoid the strong winds. The winds that day were reaching 80-100km/h! So we got into our warm gear and headed to the Tama Lakes. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse from the last time, it did… 

cloudy but still kind of pretty

we walked through some
forest bits along the way

My thoughts about the rain...

It rained on and off but we stuck it out. Until we turned a corner and saw that our path was blocked by a fast flowing river. Rob and Bharat briefly thought about trying to cross it while Wiebke, Alicia and I took one look and decided to turn back! The wind was insanely strong and the rain felt like hail as it hit our face. This video is a good representation, the wind was so strong that you can’t even hear that I was talking during it! 

You can see where the path begins on the other side

So we headed back. Surprisingly still in high spirits despite having walked for 2 hours in the rain and knowing that we had 2 more hours back. We took a detour on the way back to Taranaki Falls.  

still smiling :)

Me, Rob, Bharat, Wiebke and Alicia

Four hours later, soaking wet and freezing cold we made it back to the car. Rob cranked the heat as we all tried to thaw! Once we made back to the hostel we were greeted by Ian who was very proud that we even tried to do a walk in this weather. He helped us hang up our wet clothes by the fire and made us some special hot chocolate to warm our insides. Ian’s hospitality didn’t end there, as he walked into the lounge with toasted bread topped with cheese and pickles. 

We spent the rest of the evening eating and learning some new games. Rob taught us a fun game called Mex. I have learned many new card games from people but this one used dice! Then Ian showed us a New Zealand board game where we were tested on our knowledge of this country. It was quite interesting and we knew a lot more then we had originally thought and of course learned some new things. The traveling around really helped.

Since I brought maple syrup this time, I also brought pancake mix! Perfect Canadian combination :) So we made pancakes and tested out the different types of syrup we had in the hostel. 

The contenders

After an hour of saying goodbye to Ian (he just loves to talk!) we hit the road to Taupo. We made one stop at Huka Falls to view the notorious powerful river. 

Wiebke and I 

Taupo Lookout

Looking at pictures from our crazy walk the day before

Huka Falls

After we drove down the road to Wairakei Natural Thermal Valley, where we took a half hour walk though the valley. We were given lasers to point at the ground and it would then tell us how hot the ground was. Pretty cool technology! 

Looks like a mouth!

Then it was time to be heading back to Auckland so we could all catch some zzz’s before our 6:30am alarms. Back to reality. Even though I did not get to see the amazing sights of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, again, we still had an amazing weekend! I think I learned something from this experience, that not everything goes according to plan and you need to learn to roll with it and create a new adventure out of what you have. And hey isn’t that what life and growth is all about!