That being said, prepare yourselves for one picture-heavy post!
When I first came to New Zealand, my dad tagged along with me. (He may have been a tiny bit worried I may be living with a serial killer, but mostly I think he came along because NZ has always been on his bucket list...) Before I started my new job, we did a good ol' "tikki tour" as the Kiwis call it. We rented a campervan and headed south towards Rotorua. Originally, we had planned on making a big loop around the North Island, but actually Rotorua was just so cool we stayed there the entire time. Funny how that happens, huh?
The whole area around Rotorua is famous because of its geothermal activity. Unfortunately, that also means the entire area reeks of sulphur, yet I digress... The actual town of Rotorua really markets off the geothermal activity. It wouldn't surprise me if every hotel, hostel, campsite etc. had their own hot springs thermal pool. A fair share of families actually have their own hot spring pool in their backyard which happens to be pretty damn cool if ye ask me.
The place we started off at was actually situated on Lake Rotorua and was surrounded by all kinds of natural hot springs. We got there just as the sun was setting so we really didn't have a chance to explore. The next morning I awoke to one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. The sun was just beginning to climb over the horizon. The steam from the springs caught the light in the most magical way you can imagine as the sun rays shone through the mist.
While we were there, we did some pretty impressive things including: mountain biking, visiting Lake Taupo, canopy tour of the forest, Wai-o-Tapu (aka geothermal wonderland/different planet), and canoeing in a lake in the middle of no where with a stranger to find glow worms. (That last one really deserves its own post.)
None of these pictures really do these places justice, but hey, I tried.
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| Cuz nothing says "AMERICAN" like baseball caps and North Face jackets. |
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| Lake Taupo's waters were to blue I'm sure you could see the lake bottom from that boat. |
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| HOLY BATMAN GEOTHERMAL WOAH |
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| This place is pretty damn cool, huh? |
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| I mean, damn. |
If you had told me a year ago that I would be moving to New Zealand, I would have laughed. It still feels so magical to be here and I keep pinching myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming. Every day here is an adventure and I'm soaking as much up as I can.
And I absolutely cannot wait to share them all with you.
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