We’re North! - Week 5, part 1 in NZ
Get ready for a long one! Sorry, not sorry! If it’s overwhelming, perhaps read it in pieces.
It’s ironic, I’ve found that while solo traveling you’re not usually that alone. This trip has been especially that way with meeting Will and seeing Pierre. It’s been different, fun, and honestly, just great. Even more great is that for the first time, someone from home flew to join me! Honestly, this was a total dream come true, especially after South America when I came to the conclusion that though I love solo traveling, I am very ready to see the world with others. I want that connection piece that is missing when you’re traveling alone, and that one has to build if they meet someone while traveling. I want someone to be able to share experiences and stories with, and to be able to reflect back later in life with them on what we saw and did.
Arriving in Auckland had me very excited because that meant it was almost time for Ally to be here! As mentioned in my last email, I know Ally through my roommate, Molly. Ally is unashamedly herself, full of life, silly, knowledgeable, witty, and someone who I’ve thoroughly enjoyed spending time with every time I’ve been around her. Admittedly, I was super nervous about spending so much time with someone I don’t know all that well, and Ally has always intimidated me in a socially anxious, “man you’re so cool and fun and I want to be your friend but I don’t know how” kind of way. But she was so excited about the trip and seemingly about spending time together and doing all the things, that my anxieties were eased.
A few weeks prior to her arrival, we chatted on the phone a little to touch base about logistics and basic plans. She told me during this phone call that she’d also invited her dad, Ray. My social anxiety really didn’t know what to think about that one, but she hyped him up big time and I knew that the man who raised such a spunky, wonderful woman had to be great.
I arrived in Auckland a day ahead of them so I could do some extra exploring. If you know me, you know I’m not a city person and Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand, so my one day alone I spent finding nature. That meant taking the ferry to Rangitoto Island, which has the youngest and largest volcano in the Auckland area. I made my way from the hostel to the harbor, along one of the main tourist streets of the city, and felt myself becoming increasingly excited to get on the boat and out of this place; it was busy, with towering buildings, and just a series of streets with shop after shop after shop, mostly of high end clothing. Very not my speed.
I had a very nice boat ride to the island, and as I got off I noticed the walkway was lined with birds. It made me giggle; they were so uniform. As I began to walk they all started to fly away, and it made for one of my favorite views of the day.
The island was primarily black lava rock with green foliage bursting sporadically where it could; Greenery thriving in seemingly harsh conditions like that is always so bewildering and impressive to me.
Before getting to the crater of the volcano, there was an offshoot trail that brought you to some lava caves. I got there around the same time as a guy that I had seen on the trail, and we chose to explore them together as he claimed to be claustrophobic and I’m just not nearly as brave when I’m trying to do things like that alone.
The first cave we went in required that I crouch a bit to enter, and then slowly got smaller and smaller. It was dark, creepy, and I definitely spent the whole experience terrified it would collapse on us. After a few minutes, it narrowed to a passage far too small to go through and we happily turned around to get back to daylight.
A dad and his three kids emerged from the second cave directly next door, and so we figured this one had to be a lot less unsettling. The entrance was a crouching squeeze, and as I made my way through it something wet and cold touched me. A high pitch squeal reverberated off the cave walls, and then I realized it was just wet moss hanging down and not some terrifying slimy cave animal. Apprehensive, but blocked from going back, I forged ahead and, thank goodness, the cave very quickly opened up so much so that I could full stand up. There was a lot more wet moss, but it was easier to navigate around and honestly made the cave look that much cooler. After a few minutes we saw light out the other end! After a quick rock scramble and a little squeeze, I emerged from a small tube back up the trail 2 minutes.
When doing things like this, I have to laugh at how different New Zealand is than the US. Most of these small side adventures I have done feel as though they would never be accessible to people if they were back in the states. I'm not sure if it's because the general public can't be trusted to not endanger themselves or if it's for fear of being sued for someone's poor decision making.
Post-lava caving, I finished the walk to the crater of the volcano, which overlooked Auckland and the bay. I then did the brave thing and trusted that the signs indicating how long the various walks from the top take were very wrong (they always have been for me) and took the longest walk back. This was a gamble as the timing said it would take 4.5 hours and I had 3 until the last ferry- if I missed it, I'd be stranded until the next morning.
I took off on the trail which wound through some more lava fields and then along the coast all the way back to the harbor. It was quiet and serene and full of vivid greens and blues against a rough, black backdrop.
At 2:30, two hours into my return time, I rounded the corner and the harbor was in sight. I saw the ferry, a few minutes late, coming toward the pier to dock.
The last ferry was 3:30, so I'd made it with plenty of time, but not wanting to wait at the pier for an hour for the next one I made the decision to run the last bit.
The ferry workers saw me, thank goodness, and held the ferry. I hopped on, out of breath, and back to Auckland I went for a frozen CocaCola with soft serve - McDonalds has some good treats here... I always go and get something at least once in every foreign country I go to - and dinner and bed.
The next morning, Ray and Ally showed up at my hostel for our first adventure. How glorious it was to get a hug from someone from home! Our day was full of playing in amazing parks, walking to the top of the volcano in town, Mt Eden, some great sitting in grass, eating yummy foods, and wandering the waterfront. One of my favorite moments was walking through a park with Ray between us and a man attempting to interact with Ray, "wow man! You've got two pretty ladies, and I've got zero! Seems unfair.... you guys wanna buy some weed?"
The morning of March 9th, we left Auckland and headed toward our Airbnb near Waitomo glow worm caves. Along the way we stopped and wandered the beautiful Auckland botanical garden. We loved the edible plants section with all of the sweet smelling purple basil and massive bees, the palm section with a nice forest walk through towering palms of all kinds, the colorful flowers that populated each area, and the expansive lawns.
Back in the car, we decided on one more stop, Hunua falls. Most of the drive was through rolling hills dotted with cows, and it felt very much so like we were in Sonoma county. A few minutes from the trail, the landscape very suddenly turned forested, and once on the trail it was dense jungle-like forest. It felt much like our palm walk earlier in the day, but naturally occurring. Being with Ally and Ray really helped remind me how amazing the non-mountain nature is here. Sometimes I lose sight of that, and experiencing it again with them was really grounding and special.
When we emerged from the forest at the edge of the pool from the falls, we wanted nothing but to get closer to the powerful water flowing from above. And that's what we did! The spray was refreshing, but not nearly as refreshing as the fresh fruit ice cream we had back at the parking lot.
This was our second ice cream of the trip, and I was so excited as I was quickly learning that Ray maybe likes ice cream more than I do.
Rejuvenated and ready for the drive, we did the final leg to our Airbnb Ally has booked for us, this adorable little house on a miniature animal farm run by an older, eccentric woman named Ann. The property had miniature everything - horses, pigs, cows, puppies, sheep, alpacas, llamas, rabbits, and... munchkin cats.
I figured out that last one by accident and very nearly cried with joy. I had gone out at night to the car and saw a kitten in the driveway. That by itself got me excited, but then all of a sudden there were 4, then 5, then 7 and I realized a few looked rather squat. They got closer, and I sat on the ground with them, and it became very obvious they had the short leg mutation. I have seen munchkin cats on the internet so many times but never thought I'd get to see one in real life, so being surrounded by them was a total dream come true.
The next morning, as we said good morning to the animals, the cows were being awfully loud down the pasture, and a bunch of the alpacas and cows were running towards a strange ruckus. We soon realized there had been a jailbreak! We quickly informed Ann and hopped in her husbands truck to help him do some wrangling. We were getting the real farm experience!
This excitement was followed by a very mellow day at the beach, which looked so much like a Northern California beach it wasn't even funny. The primary difference was the extremely fine, blackish sand that you sank right into. It was baby-soft and heaven on your feet. I learned on a long beach walk to get some energy out - this slower pace was getting to me a bit- that finer sand is also a whole heck of a lot harder to walk across. You really sink!
That evening we got the full farm tour, including Ann taking us into the pens with all the animals. Ann brought food along and bribed many of them to be on their best behavior. It didn't always work, particularly with the miniature horses and the donkey who all want very little to do with you. Ann claims one of them, tiny Tim, is usually more friendly and that she takes him in her little suv to the care home every week because he's so nice. He apparently walks the halls and pokes his head into the rooms, and I am tickled pink at the thought and think that miniature farm animals should be regular visitors at care homes everywhere.
The most unsettling of all the pen visits was the ostrich pen. Not only was this a miniature animal farm, but it was a bit bird farm too. The fluid, snake-like movement of their necks and their dinosaur legs/talons make them rather scary. Ally kept telling me they've been known to kill lions with their talons, which really didn't help. Ann kept swearing that the ostrich was friendly but when I went to feel under its wing and it rapidly snaked its head right up to meet mine and stared into my eye like it was going to peck it out, making Ann quickly grab its neck, I didn't feel so sure.
Eyes still in tact, and animals all safely penned, we went to bed ready for our first big adventure together, cave rappelling!