New Zealand part 2

That night we took a flight to Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. We had trouble finding our Airbnb (private room rental) place and almost went into the wrong house oops.

Our very nice host

The next day the landlord told us we had to leave because our host we were with wasn't supposed to do that. She let us stay one more night. Anyway that evening we went to church and had a blast with a special band that was there. The next day we went hiking with our host Min on a beautiful mountain top overlooking a aqua blue green lake.

Then we headed downtown Christchurch and checked out their shopping area made out of shipping containers, because they had some big earthquakes.

There was a botanical garden nearby that we walked through. There were rose bushes and a tropical plants greenhouse, tropical flower greenhouse and a cactus plants room.

After this we went to their Earthquake museum that happened four years ago for Christchurch in New Zealand. There are many empty spaces in the city where you can see them still rebuilding. We are went to Sumner beach which has a cave that we climbed and went through.

That night we slept at our host's friends house. The next day we drove another rental car to Mount Cook where there were amazing views of beautiful mountains.

We hiked and saw glaciers and icebergs from the lookout views. And this was the first night Becky ever slept in a dorm room (but only 4 beds). The next day we hiked through mountains and bridges to the main glacier and streams.

Beautiful suspension bridges

Ice bergs and gravel covered glacier (bigger then it looks)

After dinner we went for a shorter hike to a closer glacier near the edge of the cliff.

Tons of ice under the gravel

The next morning we drove to Akaroa back near Christchurch and had lunch at a pebbly Beach and a really nice scenic drive. There was a sheep on the side of the road on the mountain we passed by.


The valley had villages and sharp windy roads with no railings just like most of New Zealand...scary.

When we arrived at the small town in the valley, we went for ice cream, swimming and dinner near the harbour.

Aaron drove back fast because we were late to return our rental car, but then we got lost, got a speeding ticket from a "not-very-gracious" officer, and were almost late for our flight! We flew back to Auckland and stayed at the same hostel, Oaklands Lodge. In our last days in New Zealand we did some planning and got haircuts. We tried to walk the big bridge in Auckland but there was no access. So we walked downtown and went to the Volvo Ocean Race Village where sailing teams are on a huge race all around the world. At the village there were interactive presentations and small videos about the race and the dangers involved, and the teams were repairing their boats.

The official deal...and official photoshop

There was also stuff downtown for the Cricket world cup. On Sunday we went to the same Life Church, and then hiked the nearby Mount Eden for one final view of the city before heading to Australia!

New Zealand part 1

After an overnight flight (and resultant recovery time), we checked out downtown Auckland and found a domain garden

and museum and stayed the day there,

along with the harbour area.

We found a free book swap and piano shelter made from shipping containers. We stayed there a little while and found some interesting books to read. In the next box hut there was a random piano inside it and Aaron played beautiful music. Then Aaron went to see the skytower which looks similar to the CN Tower, and coincidentaly arrived exactly on time for some Chinese new years fireworks and a ceremonial bunjee jump off of the tower. We checked out Devonport across the harbour by ferry and climbed a hill with a fantastic outlook of the city lighted at night.

The next day we went on the ferry to an island called Waiheke. We had a short tour and then headed to a really nice big beach.

In case you're wondering what we look like at the beach :)

In the afternoon we went to a winery and did some tasting with an ocean view. Becky had the the best tasting peach ice tea she ever had!

We headed back to the ferry and Aaron went for a hike around the penininsula area and Becky enjoyed reading and relaxing from the bay.


On Sunday we went to a big modern church. We enjoyed their worship as it reminded us of Hillsong United music and Bethel Church music. After service we met a nice family who gave us great advice on the tourist attractions on the island and they gave us a ride back to our hostel. The following day we picked up our rental car

No gravel roads allowed with the rental :s

and drove to the North island (on the left side of the road - Aaron's first time!). We stopped at many different beaches during the day including Pakiri (had a nice tidal pool), Mangawhai, Langs Beach, Uretiti Beach,

and past Whangarei to a beautiful Park with Smuggler's Cove for sunset. Becky enjoyed Smuggler's Cove the best. It was a nice mix of country side hills, island, beach and harbour. Just a gorgeous, beautiful paradise on the tip of New Zealand.

When we started our first rental car road trip, we got lost and came upon a sign pointing towards Hana waterfall, so we cheecked it out and it was great!

Our next stop on our road trip was in the Coromandel peninsula (where we stayed for a day) called Karangahake Gorge a historical mining area with a river there.

On our third stop we went to a huge active open mining pit (super cool!).

Then our fourth stop was at a Hot Water Beach where people would dig a big hole in the sand and you could feel the hot water springs under your feet! It was so hot at one point that the hot water would burn your feet from the springs under the sand, so you had to mix in the ocean water.

After that we headed to our country hostel cottage in Whitianga. It was a peaceful relaxing environment that reminded me of our cottage or Spring Bay Manitoulin Camp. Aaron drove a young couple to the grocery store because they lost their keys. Then the next day we drove and hiked to Cathedral Cove. It was a beautiful beach with a cave like cove.

After we drove to Rotura and went to another hostel for the night and went for a walk beside the lake and had some icecream. Then we drove south to Waiotapu Thermal Geyser.

(Almost done erupting)

They had many hot pools, some with many different colours such as green, yellow and orange from the chemicals  that also smelt like rotten eggs (sulfur).

 After that we went to Waikite Thermal Hot Pools for 3 or 4 hours, it was really nice!

They are fed by a hot spring at the thermal hot pools, where the water comes out of the ground boiling! Then we drove to Taupo and stopped at another waterfall called Huka Falls with some huge rapids.

We stayed at a hostel in Taupo for the night. On our way out of Taupo we stopped at an outdoor hot pool (fully natural and free) with a stream of hot water flowing into the cool river.

After this we went to Waitomo Glowworm Caves which were huge, and glided in a boat in the cave and saw the glowing worms on the ceiling. It was a cool interesting sight, very amazing. Then we headed to the Otorohanga Kiwi House and bird sanctuary. We saw New Zealands National bird the Kiwi. They are very cute looking with their fluffy body and long beak. Kiwis have nostrils at the end of their beak that is why they make a loud noise like someone blowing their nose when they blow air out of their beak from dirt.

After that we headed to our farm hostel and cooked dinner. The next day we woke really early and drove through the sunrise back to Auckland to drop off the rental car. We waited the day for our flight so we walked to the main downtown city park and there they had a really big Chinese Lantern Festival going on. They had a musical stage and a martial arts stage. There were were blow up characters and lanterns hung beautifully in the trees.

Stay tuned for New Zealand part 2!

Hawaii part 2 - the Big Island

For our final week and a bit in Hawaii, we flew out of Maui into the Big Island, in Hilo on the East coast.

Manual crosswalk haha

While we were there we stayed at a Hostel that had outdoor "glamping" - glamourous camping. We enjoyed it so much that we stayed outside for the rest of our time at that hostel. The room walls were made out of bamboo with an open ceiling and outside our window opening we were next to a little rainforest. At night we could hear frogs that sounded like crickets and it was relaxing to hear the stream of water passing by.

Checking out our gorgeous hostel!

On Sunday we went to a Baptist church nearby and they had some hymns and meaningful scriptures. And one man played a special instrument. Becky thought it was cool sounding. The people there were really friendly and welcoming. Becky felt at home there, it was a smaller church which she liked very much. That afternoon we walked through a nice scenic park and Coconut Island with beautiful palm trees and other unique looking trees.

Even trees with beards! (Banyan)

The next day we went to Walmart and picked up camping equipment and later that day we hiked to some fairly long caves. In them we found dried red lava.

As we walked to the Rainbow Falls we enjoyed looking around the area

 
and also found some pools of water called the boiling pots and another waterfall behind it that was pretty.

Above the falls! (no, we didn't look over the edge)

Then we went for a walk and bought some ice cream on our way back to the hostel. The next day we bused (almost got on the wrong one!) our way west into the south-middle of the island to Kilaueu, one of the world's most active volcanoes, in the National Volcano park. We went to the volcano and watched it illuminate the sky into an orange glow!

A better one that I didn't take

They're elusive to take pictures of!

We camped at a park that night, and shivered through an unprepared cold and damp night at 4000 feet elevation.

The following day we hiked on the Crater rim trail and along the way we saw hot steam fields rising from deep underground (They were nice to stand in)

We hiked along the forest, visited the volcano museum, watched some volcano eruption movies, and hiked alongside hot Sulphur fields - stinky and colourful!

The rural buses come once a day, and there are no bus stops, you just flag them down. We continued west to Hookena Beach Park on the West coast, watched a sunset

Can't resist those sunset pics

and set up our tent and ate dinner in the dark. It was an absolutely gorgeous, very hot park to spend a few days at with very friendly people.

The next morning we relaxed on the beach, swam in the big intense waves. While Aaron worked, Rebecca blogged and read her book. The third day we relaxed, tanned, cooked, packed. Since it was our last night we were looking to sell our camping equipment, and we actually did to a local! She was an elderly lady who also gave Aaron some traditional Tamali: corn husk wrapped beef.

We hitchhiked up the steep and long hill to the bus stop and made our way north to Kona.

Hitchhiking on the back of a truck (Becky was inside) on a roller coaster road!

The next day we hitchhiked to a down town beach area there. In case you're wondering, hitchhiking is a normal and accepted part of culture in Hawaii. We found a nice modern church there. We visited a traditional dance competition, and Aaron went for a walk through the YWAM base in Kona (University of the Nations). That night was between our 1.5 halfiversary and valentines so we had a nice dinner around the downtown beach area with an ocean view. We took the trolley back home. The following day we waited and waited at the bus stop to get to the airport...and it never came because it was Presidents day! Thankfully we managed to hitch hike with a nice young couple to the airport. The girl was from Alaska and the guy was from Poland. A pit stop in Honolulu to pick up and repack our luggage, and we said goodbye to Hawaii. Now we're headed off to New Zealand!

Enjoying Kona