Kia Ora! (Maori [native people of New Zealand] for, Hello!)

The orientation to New Zealand begins! First off —

I”M IN NEW ZEALAND!! MIDDLE-EARTH!!! THAT”S AWESOME!

Entry date: February 13th, 2015

As we stepped off the plane and made our way through the airport, this was one of the first signs I saw:

Needless to say it gave me goosebumps!

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From the airport we made our way to our hotel and then were taken to a nearby park where we were welcomed by local high school students performing the haka.

After the performance we were able to talk with the Maori students about what they had just performed, their culture, and New Zealand in general.  Then of course they had the exact same questions for all us about the United States.

Afterwards we went to explore Auckland a bit before enjoying a nice dinner at a local tapas restaurant.  At the restaurant we had the ability to try about 12 different things which gave a great opportunity to experience a lot of the cuisine.

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Again, I was extremely lucky with my rooming situation during our orientation.  My roommate, Jack, and I were roomed in the penthouse on the 23rd floor of the Quadrant Hotel!  The view from the room was specular!  We could practically see all of the city and the waterfront.  Check it out:

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Our big group of 60 were split into two smaller groups for the next two days of our orientation.  While one day half of us were participating on our first NZ outdoor activity (canyoning) the other half were getting a city tour of Auckland and Maori culture day.

My day one-

Canyoning…WOW!  What an incredible experience!  To begin we had to get into wet suits and then hike to the top of a mountain, once at the top we then entered the ‘canyon’ and began our way down by abseiling, jumping into ice-cold water, climbing through and over rocks, and swimming in water with an….eel? Yes! There was an eel in part of the water that we had to swim through.  Turns out, he is actually a pet of the tour company and his name is Puppy.

My day two-

For our Auckland Tour we took a bus to Mount Eden to see a  crater (below).

Mount Eden crater

Mount Eden is the second highest natural point in the Auckland area and from there we had a wonderful view of the city.  Unfortunately we had to cut our time short at Mount Eden as a storm was blowing in from the ocean.

Next we headed to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.  There we learned A LOT about the Maori culture.  In the Maori culture, facial and body tattoos are extremely common and the meaning behind them is very personal to the individual.  No tattoo design is the same, as each design is given to a person based on their characteristics, traits, etc.

 

 

Both days my group was lucky enough to visit Piha Beach.

Piha is a beach that has video cameras set up at all times to watch out for surfers and swimmers who get caught in the riptides and are taken out to sea.  The beach is famous for this and is shown in the TV show, Piha Rescue.  At the beach we were able to enjoy the coastal breeze and partake in a game of rugby! Prior to this I’d never played rugby before, but I knew some of the general rules.  It was pretty fun to play out on the beach and I even scored or as it’s colloquially known, a  ‘try‘.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On a free day a small group and I decided to wake up early and catch a ferry to Waiheke Island.  

 

 

 

 

On Waiheke there was a wine tasting and a sculpture walk (which was voted #35 on New York Times things to do in the world).  The sculpture walk was pretty sweet!  The designs were incredible and definitely way above anything I could ever come up with (I’m not very artistic, at all).

 

 

What I really loved about Waiheke was the fact that we were there on a gorgeous summer day and could take in the sun, the breeze, and the view!

 

After the walk we decided to check out the wine tasting and ordered ourselves a bottle of wine to try some of this highly talked about ‘New Zealand wine’…

[Edited note: little did I know at the time that this wine tasting would inspire many many future winery tours, visits, and tasting.]

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On several occasions during the evening a few of us would take a walk from our hotel to the waterfront near the wharf.  From there the view of the Auckland city lights was incredible!  Definitely one of my all time favorite views.

The last night of our Auckland orientation-

Our last  night as one whole group in Auckland, we had our Farewell Dinner.  The dinner was rewarding, exciting, and yet extremely sad…  By this time it had felt like we had been gone from our homes for at least a month! But in reality it was only 13 days.  And to think, 13 days ago every single person that I now considered my friend was a complete stranger.  Our farewell dinner signified an ending…but it also signified a new beginning!

We are all going to be traveling to our respected universities throughout New Zealand.  The six uni’s our TEAN crew will be attending are: Auckland University, Massey University at Palmerston North, Massey University at Wellington, Victoria University in Wellington, Lincoln University in Christchurch, and Otago University in Dunedin.

Although we all are going to be facing a new beginning, we have the comfort of knowing that we all have friends all throughout New Zealand.  I know that I, personally, would love to visit each Uni and see everyone again so I’m definitely planning on that!

 

Again, Thank You TEAN for starting my semester in New Zealand off with a bang! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the semester will bring!

‘Til next time!  For now, I’m Massey at Palmy North bound!

– Brad