Auckland and Beyond

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The grand finale of this nearly six month long trip took us to Auckland, New Zealand. At only four days, this was a very, very short finale but it was high time for me to get home to my dog, whom I have missed very much! (Kaitlyn will continue traveling throughout New Zealand before returning back to Australia for a little longer, lucky her!)

We spent the first couple days wandering around the city and soaking it all in. There was a free walking tour that we did one morning where we learned a lot about the history of New Zealand. For example, the first humans (the Maori people) did not arrive here until about 7-800 years ago. The Maori were Pacific Islanders who noticed that birds kept coming from this directions, so they followed the migration of the birds and traveled hundreds of nautical miles before landing on New Zealand. When they arrived, there were giant birds here called Moa which stood three meters tall! These were hunted to extinction by the Maori people. We also learned that the kiwi bird, which the islands are famous for, are endangered and you will rarely see one in the wild.

Gallery of sites throughout the city

Kevin Hart Reality Check Tour

It just so happened that Kevin Hart was performing in Auckland when we were there. We figured since we really didn’t have the time to leave the city, we might as well go check out his show. They had a very strict “No Cell Phone” policy where they took your phone and locked it up in a pouch before you could even enter the building and then you couldn’t unlock it until you left the building. Crazy! But, the show was hilarious, even though there is no photographic proof of us being there.

When most people think of New Zealand, they probably think of the natural beauty and rolling landscapes that they have seen in movies like The Lord of the Rings. You don’t see much of that in the city, and with such limited time here, I didn’t get to see much. However, we did get out of the city for one day and took a trip to see the Hobbiton movie set and the glowworms in the Waitomo Cave.

Hobbiton

Hobbiton was amazing! I say this as someone who has never seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies. The story goes that Peter Jackson was looking for a filming location for his hobbit homes and was taking a helicopter ride over some farms above the north island and saw the Alexander farm and knew it was the perfect place. From there, he had this amazing little fantasy world created with nearly 50 hobbit holes (just doors; there is nothing past one meter in any of them), a recreation area, a mill and a pub. I want to live in Hobbiton!

Waitomo Caves

The Waitomo Caves are one of the many places throughout New Zealand where you can find glowworms (which are found only in New Zealand and Australia). While in their larva stage, the worms are able to make their bodies glow by combing a chemical with oxygen, the purpose of which is to attract insects to them. As they are hanging out with their lights on, they have several strands of saliva hanging from them which the bugs will get stuck in. Once stuck, the worm will feel the vibration and suck the saliva back up and eat the bug. If you look closely at the first picture, you can see the strands hanging which would be this saliva. Eventually, the worm will become a cocoon and turn into a mosquito-like insect with no digestive system and will die in two days! What a life.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t take pictures until you were almost out of the cave so this is just one more thing that has to live in my memory. (Although if you look at the fifth picture below, you can kind of see some blurry glowing lights, which would be them.)

Weta Workshop Unleashed

The final thing we did on our last day in Auckland was check out the Weta Workshop, which is a special effects and props company. They create characters and sets for many movies and tv shows, most notably The Lord of the Rings. It was a fun, interactive experience where they took us through sets related to three different movie genres (horror, fantasy and sci-fi) and taught us a bit about how the work is done.

And with that, five and a half months of travel have come and gone. I can’t believe how fast time goes! This has been a fantastic experience through which I have learned a lot about myself and the world around me. If you are ever given the opportunity to travel, my advice is 100% DO IT. Don’t think twice about it, just go! The world is an incredible place. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go start plotting out my next trip! 😉