Edmonton calls us back again...

I'm not sure where I left off last time, but I will let you know that i'm back in edmonton, safe and sound and freezing my buns off! And Jean-Michel is still in transit, home tonight! And we are both so excited to see everyone!

But to continue from my last blog, I believe I ended the last one with our skydiving adventures. After we went skydiving, I think we had one more day in Turangi which was spent getting ourselves organized and doing laundry. We sadly had to leave the amazing place we were staying at and hit the road! We drove to Rotorua from there, and spent a night there. First we went to Te Puia, which is a thermal walk and a geyser that erupts 2-3 times per hour. It was a really nice day and the walk was very cool. but the geyser was the most exciting part! It was the first geyser Jean-Michel has ever seen, and it was impressive. When it erupted, it got to about 30 meters or so. The next day, we went to the agroventures park where they have all sorts of rides and crazy things to do, but we were mainly just interested in zorbing. For those of you who have no idea what i'm talking about, zorbing was invented in New Zealand by some crazy kiwis! Basically, it is a giant clear plastic beach ball with a slightly smaller one inside that is suspended with bungee cords. The idea is that you jump through a hole into the smaller interior ball, they throw in some water and send you down a hill and you slide around and have a gay old time. It was awesome! I wanted to do it again because it was over so fast! but these things cost money you know!

From Rotorua we headed up to Whakatane, a smallish town further north and a bit east. It had a very cool feel to it. It felt like a very alive small town, almost a surfer town because it was close to the water. We stayed at a hostel above an old irish bar for 20 bucks and we enjoyed our one day there! We went for a short scenic hike to a lookout point in the morning and that was very cool. We left Whakatane after lunch and headed further north to Te Aroha, which is another small town. Very small town. but we had pre-booked 3 nights accomodation there, so we spent some time in that area. We stayed 5 minutes out of town at a very cool place. It had private bungalows and the host was a very nice lady. When we arrived, we found out that they had actually given our bungalow to someone else by accident, so they updated us to the most expensive one for the price of the cheapest one. Good deal! It was a nice place with our own bathroom and shower, a decently equipped kitchen, a tv and a deck with a beautiful of the nearby mountain. That day, we headed into town and went to have a soak in the hot springs. They had an amazing spa and we got a private hot spring hot tub to ourselves, and it was incredible. The thermal water in that region has an incredible unique quality to it. The texture of the water is very soft and slippery. Our skin was so soft for the next few days! We couldn't get over it!

The next day we decided to sleep in and just relax for the day and do some laundry. but the day after, went for a 20 minute drive to do a hike and see a waterfall. It was cool because the trail seemed very out of nowhere and we only came across 1 or 2 other people on the trail, so it was nice to have an amazing hike with no crowds! We first hiked for 45 minutes up to a lookout point. The hike itself was amazing, I didn't know where to look. There were always moss covered boulders, palm trees and pine trees (living together! weird!) and some beautiful streams, and it was also a gorgeous day, so we were enjoying ourselves. anyway, the lookout was amazing! What we saw was a 250 meter waterfall! I have never seen a waterfall so incredible in my life! It was so stunning! we then set off for the last 45 minutes which led to the top of the waterfall, and it was totally worth the hike. We got to the top and we were literally standing right next to the waterfall, and standing in awe at the amazing view. It was such a crazy panorama. It was so green and it stretched on forever, and the sun was beginning to go down. It was perfect. We made our way back down on a different trail. We decided to take an old Mauri trail, which was marked "steep and not maintained". Awesome! It indeed was steep and pretty muddy. I slipped on my bum a few times and got nice and muddy. It was truly the best hike i have ever taken! After the 3 hour total of hiking and climbing, we headed back to town to get some groceries and have some dinner. We were both pretty sore the next day, but that didn't matter!

Finally, our time was up in Te Aroha, so we packed up and headed to our final and most northern destination, which is the beautiful town of Russell in the Bay of Islands. What a breathtakingly beautiful place, it's ridiculous. We arrived and had no idea where we were going to stay, so we pulled into a parking lot to look at the map, and I happened to look up and there was a backpacker's accommodation right in front of us! nice! We got an amazing room for a good price and it was close to the water which was perfect. And on top of the that, our host was such a cool person and took very good care of us! He cooked us breakfast one morning and we ate together outside in the sun with some other guests as well, and the next day we ended up sharing a bottle of wine and eating mussels with him and his friend Catherine who was on vacation as well. It turns out that she is from Auckland which was our next destination and she was crazy enough to trust 2 twenty-something canadians who she just met, and offered us to stay at her house in auckland, even though she wouldn't be there. crazy! But i'm getting ahead of myself!

Our first night in Russell, we had some pizza and walked by the port and took in all the amazingness (after all, we only had 3 days left in NZ!) The next day, we went parasailing (another first for me!) and that was so cool! It was such a crazy feeling to be sitting under a parachute 1500 feet in the air with just water beneath us. But the view was spectacular. We brought our camera up with us and took some superb photos, although it's a bit challenging to use a camera when you're in a parachute. But it was a gorgeous sunny day and the water was a beautiful azure. I can't even describe it! Later that day we took a short drive and went for a walk in a Kauri forest. A kauri is a type of tree they have in NZ, and they are enormous. The trunks are so wide and thick and they are very tall. The biggest one we saw was probably 15 meters wide, it was beyond crazy. We actually took some sap off of it and chewed it. That sounds weird I know! but we read that the sap of Kauri trees is Mauri chewing gum, so we were curious okay! haha! it was actually very cool. We spent the rest of that day relaxing and went for thai food. The next day we went on 6 hour boat trip on a catamaran to swim with the dolphins! we saw tons of dolphins which was so cool, and when we got to a good spot, the majority of us put on a snorkel and swam as hard as we could to see the dolphins, but they were too far away unfortunately. But luckily it was a good swim! the water was warm and beautiful! We stopped at an island around noon to explore and relax on the beach, and then we got back on the boat for a barbecue lunch! Nice! We had a very good afternoon in the sun and it was very cool to see the dolphins and go for a swim!
That night we got some delicious wine from a local winery, and it was awesome. We drank it with the host of our hotel and had a great night!

We had a hard time leaving Russell the next day, but we had to go! So we headed back south and stopped in the town of Dargaville for a night. what a weird name for a town. Sorry, I had to throw that in. Anyway, in Dargaville, we stayed at a caravan park, but it had private cabins, and the cabins were actually old shipping containers on trains. It was cool! Anyway, the next day we drove the rest of the way to Auckland and found Catherine's house and spent the night packing, relaxing, eating indian food, and being sad because it was the end of our trip! The next day, Jean-Michel took me to the airport and we said our goodbyes and I began my ridiculously long journey home. What a crazy long flight. It took me a total of about 35-40 hours to get to edmonton. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I have been shivering in my shoes since getting back, and it is only -2 or so! You are all breaking out the shorts and bikinis, and i'm bundling up and drinking tea! I have been so spoiled, and I am having a hard time handling the snow. Luckily it will only get better from here!

Jean-Michel is currently in the air as I write this and he will arrive tonight at 11:30, and i'm sure he will have similar opinions about the weather as I do, although he likes the cold much more than I do! All complaints aside, it is great to be home, and it is awesome to see my family and to not live out of a backpack anymore! high five to that!

Thanks to all of you for reading my blogs! I'm glad to hear that some of you have been following our adventures through the blog entries; it made me more encouraged to keep writing them! I can't wait to see you all and tell you more stories that have not been included in the blogs! and to hear your stories! We both missed you all a lot!

love,

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on April 1, 2009 from Edmonton, Canada
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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