While attending Brigham Young University, I had the incredible opportunity to go on two separate study abroad experiences. I have the most supportive parents in the world whom wanted me to get the most out of my education, so they sent me to Uganda, Africa for four months in 2001 and then to Auckland, New Zealand for another four months in 2003. It became a habit, a travel bug if you'd like to call it that, for me to travel international as often as I could.
In June of 2005, my friends and I decided to spend a month in New Zealand visiting our host family, friends, and revisiting some of our favorite places from our study abroad experience. We spent a few days up at the Bay of Islands, located a few hours north of Auckland on the North Island.
It was an interesting experience to return to one of my favorite spots during an entirely different time of the year. Our first experience was in the month of January (New Zealand's summer), so we spent most of our time out in the water parasailing, swimming, playing in the sand dunes, and visiting the 20 mile beach. This visit was very different! Since my friends and I had all graduated from college and were now in our teaching careers, the only time we could travel was during our summer (New Zealand's winter). We quickly found out that we would not be doing much laying out or swimming on our visit.
We stayed at a really nice hostel, The Mousetrap (don't be swayed by it's name), and were able to meet some amazing people, all backpacking their way through New Zealand. Our first full day, we decided to take a hike through the kauri forest, which held the largest trees I had ever seen. It started to sprinkle and mist a bit, but we loved being able to find shelter under the huge ferns growing densely along the path.
Our second day, we took a boat tour around the Bay of Islands. Our captain let Lisa and I each take a turn steering the boat, which is always a fun opportunity! We were also able to feed fish off of the front of the boat. The skies were gorgeous and clear, so the water reflected amazing color. On one of the stops, they took us to a great restaurant isolated on a private beach, where we ate lunch. It was absolutely beautiful.
While we were out in the bay, there were a couple dolphin that loved our boat. Our captain cut the engines and the dolphin played around the boat for over 15 minutes, diving in and out of the waves. They were such performers and I didn't even have to use my zoom on my camera!
It was such an incredible day. I loved the endless beaches and the breeze off the water. After our cruise we took our time enjoying the local area, shopping, eating, and just living up the breathtaking scenery.
One of the things I love about New Zealand is how drastically diverse it is; from the people to the landscape. The North Island is covered in gorgeous rolling green hills spotted with white coats from hundreds of roaming sheep. There are actually more sheep in NZ than there are people, which is pretty amazing. We took our time driving back to Auckland, stopping to take pictures and to explore the different treasures that make up the North Island.
I miss New Zealand so much. I miss the laid-back life style, gorgeous scenery, accents to melt your heart, but most of all I miss the people. I know the saying goes, "I left my heart in San Francisco," but I live in San Francisco and can say I left my heart in New Zealand!
I SO want to go there!
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