Brown’s Bay

Pasifika Festival

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Today we drove to the Western Springs Stadium to attend New Zealand’s annual Pasifika Festival . This was their 21st year, and first year having expanded the event to 2 days. Thousands of Aucklanders come out to enjoy the markets, traditional foods, arts and crafts and musical performances. The festival is setup into 10 unique villages that showcase the cultures of 10 Pacific Island nations: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Tahiti, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Aotearoa. There were over 220 stalls to purchase items or food from.
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Emzie and I went on the first of the two days. Parking was a nightmare! We ended up having to park so far away in some open field. The field had been converted into a parking lot for the event. We felt like we were paying $10 to walk. We probably would not have been so grumpy of the distance except for the fact that the parking felt like such a detour away from the event. It was HOT hot humid sticking hot! By the time we got in (free entry) all we were seeking was shade and cold beverages.

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All the volunteers and people coordinating the event were friendly and upbeat. We received lays and a map upon entry. The layout of the event appeared to be pretty much taking the form of a circle. We thought if we just stayed on the foot paths we would be able to hit all the villages showcased. It was really crowded and we got turned around a few times. We found some of the villages to be more labelled than others. Some of them were humming with stalls and performers while others were very laid back…very. We were confused whether some of the event stalls were just hosting family gatherings or if they were actually selling things in the stalls.

A lot of people came out to support the festival. It was a great showing and lots of food was purchased. There were so many food stalls at each of the villages we both were overwhelmed as to where we should buy food. Some stalls had no signs yet there would be long lineups. We guessed that word of mouth was how people knew which stalls were selling what?? We tried to go just go with the flow and enjoy the gorgeous weather and crowds for what it was. We got a lot of (unintentional) exercise and fresh fruit. We both bought fresh pineapples that had been somewhat hollowed out to make room for ice cream. What we really wanted was a beer garden or stalls that were selling fruity drinks with little umbrellas. Yes we are girls!! After we finished seeing the majority of the stalls we headed straight to Brown’s Bay for some refreshing drinks.

I was happy that the festival was such a success for all those involved. It’s a great day for the locals to all meet up and have a weekend gathering. I am not sure if I would go back again. It felt very too crowded and unorganized to me. It was hard to discern which stalls had items for sell or which ones were meeting places. Also many of the stalls that were selling items were so crowded with the sellers and their families that there was no room to move around and look at their items. SIGNAGE would be my number one advice.

I know it took me a long time to post this but I am glad I finally got around to sharing my thoughts and some pictures. Thanks for reading.

xox Amanda

Arrived in Pukenui! (Day #1 of roadtrip)

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Monday January 7th

We were leaving for our roadtrip tomorrow so we had to get Emzie’s house all cleaned, and we had to be all packed and ready to depart the city early in the am. We all helped to clean the house and get the recycling and garbage sorted out. We all packed our bags and filled Myrtle with bags and road trip necessities.  We dropped all our bags at home before going to grab Subway for lunch. We walked to Brown’s Bay and enjoyed our picnic lunch by the water. Besides the WIND we had a lovely outdoor meal. We spent a little time walking around the shops and popping into a few souvenir shops before heading to Pack’n’Save. We did a big grocery run to buy food for meals and snacks so we could save as much money as possible. All four of us are on a budget so we are trying to cut corners on food whenever possible. By the time we got home we were all exhausted and decided to go to bed early.

Tuesday January 8th (Day 1 of the Roadtrip)

We were all up around 6 so we could eat breakfast and have our lunches packed by 7:30. With everything packed and us all caffeinated we were ready to hit the road. We stopped at a St. John Thrift store to see if there were any cool finds. Bought some cassettes and magazines but was disappointed to not be able to work the cassette player.

The roads were really straight or super windy. It kept reminding of a mixture of Ireland, Vancouver Island and New Zealand with all the rolling hills and greenery.

Arrived at our Pukenui Backpackers Lodge right around lunch time. We were “on a budget” so we were staying right beside the motel with its quality waterfront units. I think we got the best bang for our buck considering all the accommodations have the same view 🙂 It is like paradises here with it’s clear skies and palm trees. We were excited shocked to see that the two flag poles outside were a Wales flag and a Canadian one. We felt like Sock’s was REALLY with us in spirit. (The next day we discovered that the flags are interchanged daily).

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After a picnic lunch by the water’s edge, we set off for Cape Reinga’s “The Meeting of the Oceans”. From the edge of the cliff you witness the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean mixing together. The blue and green water is beyond gorgeous.

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This was transcribed on one of the wooden pillars:
The meeting point

Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) marks the separation of the Tasman Sea (to the west) from the Pacific Ocean. For Maori, these turbulent waters are where the male sea Te Moana Tapokopoko a Tawhaki meets the female sea Te Tai o Whitireia.

The whirlpools where the currents clash are like those that dance in the wake of a wake (canoe). They represent the coming together of male and female – and the creation of life.

The view was EXTRODINARY. My pictures will not do the view justice. It is the furthest point you can travel in New Zealand. The tourist destination is fondly referred to as “Far North” There is a working light house where the light shone for the first time in May 1941. It is one of the first lights that shipping observes when arriving from the Tasman Sea and north Pacific Ocean. The light was fully automated in 1987 and the lighthouse keeper was withdrawn. The operation of the light is now completely automatic and is monitored by a computer and Maritime NZ staff in NZ. We made sure we took lots of photos. We all wanted our hair down for photos but found it to be so beyond windy for any of us to handle. Eventually all for our us put our hair up in some form so as not lose all sanity. The wind would not give us a break.I think at one point Kristy’s hair was blowing so much that she and Emzie were starting to eat it!

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On the drive home we stop at the Local Store for delicious ice cream. The staff was so friendly and very generous with the scoop portions!

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We headed back to the hostel for some instant noodles and drinks. We went to the local bar (literally right across the street) and each purchased what we believed to be have been ciders. Instead we ended up just buying 8% energy juice –NOT peach and apple ciders. It was annoying but made for a good laugh. Instead we headed back home and drank and hung out in our room.

The single beds are located on the house’s porch that was then enclosed. Our carpet was never properly trimmed to fit the room when it was installed so the door doesn’t close and the door knob falls off if you pull too hard. Nor does the door lock from inside or outside. With all that said we have been given lots of windows and a decent amount of common room space and nicely stocked kitchen. The place is an old house with 4 rooms with showers and toilets. It has a lot of character and quirks and much more accommodating then a hostel. More of a welcoming cottage vibe here 🙂

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Buddha Blessings
xox Amanda

(All photos from this blog except for one of the group shots was taking on my iphone. I will be trying to post more photos from the other cameras in the future. They are usually a better quality but it is easier and faster for me to just post my own pictures as they are already loaded onto my computer.)

Rotorua/Taupo Road Trip (Oct 19-22)

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This weekend trip was ALMOST a month ago but I am just getting around to posting it now…better late than never 🙂 I will work on getting the pictures posted on Facebook too.

Countless people raved about Rotorua! We could not have heard more about how great our weekend trip would be.  It would be well worth the short drive for all tourists near and around Auckland. With that in mind, we excited made plans to have Rotorua be our first roadtrip. We scheduled to leave on our first long weekend together. We made plans and were eager to depart before my unemployment came into play. Being “between jobs” (thanks brother!) had me second guessing if I should be heading out of town or laying low in the hostel. With some gentle coaxing by Emzie and my eagerness for some laughs, we set out on our first official New Zealand Sumzie Roadtrip.

Friday I packed my bag (which at this point had been getting far more use then I ever would have imagined—very glad I went with my gut and bought the pricier..but more gorgeous and more user friendly backpack!) Our ride up to Rotoru could have been dryer. We both lost track of how many times it rained. The drive took around 3.5hrs and probably rained at least 7 times. We stopped in Cambridge to get out and stretch our legs and grab some much enjoyed coffee. Sadly there was no Tim Horton run for us. Our Starbucks watch was unsuccessful as we found out the locals had never even heard of it. We did drive through Tirau which was a very decorated town of corrugated metal.  Their metal creations were seen everywhere.

As soon as you get near Rotorua your nose starts to tell you are heading in the right direction. The home of spurting geysers, steaming hot pools and and exploding mud pools leaves the air filled with its sulphuric aroma. We arrived in Rotorua around 4:30 and checked into our hostel. We were fortunate enough to get an all-girls room. The hostel was fully booked due to on the road swim teams. It was “interesting” to have the hostel be all ages. Kids running around and teenagers playing in the pool was not what I had become accustomed to during my hostel days.

We ate dinner at the restaurant Fat Dog. It came highly recommended to me by someone who had just been a week or so before. She was visiting from Austria and assured me the food was delicious. I will admit the restaurant overwhelmed me at first; as the menu is all written on the walls in chalk. You order and pay at the register and they come and bring you your food.  It is a very quirky place with delicious food and I would for sure go back again! Em had her first “hostel experience” when we arrived back to our room to find that the bedroom lights were off with the air thick of burning incense. Our roommates were singing along and swaying with an enthusiastic guitar player. Emzie’s pillow pet might have felt a little claustrophobic as it was nearly being squished to death by the musician! I wish I could have captured the look on her face when she opened the bedroom door!!!!!!!! Needless to say the roommates were all really nice and we had a lovely time getting to know them over the next few days. Even the girl who spread her makeup all over the foot of my bed (when she thought I was sleeping) so she could apply her makeup.

Saturday was a fun filled day full of planned activities. We were praying that the rain would hold off so we could enjoy our luge rides! We rode up a really short gondola ride and then rode down on plastic luges! We were fortunate enough to get the eight-seater gondola all to ourselves as we rode to the top of Mount Ngongotaha (487 metres above sea level). Through the spitting rain we saw Lake Rotorua and the city. The luge ride down was awesome! Emzie bought our Skyline Rotorua tickets on the grabone website (similar to groupon) so we were able to get a good rate on riding 3x down the hill. We did the scenic track that was 2 kilometre ride through Redwood trees. There were a few pit stops where you could get out and take pictures. We both really enjoyed the 1 kilometre advanced luge track that was much steeper and had more turns. The Jelly Belly factory turned out to be super disappointing. Definitely very over hyped and not worth the money to buy anything from it. We both love jelly beans and couldn’t bring ourselves to pay around 50cents a jelly bean.

Afterwards we took a walk around Kuirau Park (a free attraction) to see some hot springs. The park was nearby and gave Emzie the opportunity to see her first hot pool.  Let’s just say Em was under amused by them. I had seen some before in Canada but being her first time…she was unimpressed by their lack of entertainment. The volcanic area had an eruption as recent as 2003 which covered most of the park in trees. We got to see the boiling mud and plenty of huffing steam. The cheap thermal thrills were not as exciting as I had wished! Luckily we found a friendly popcorn vendor who was super friendly and had delicious stock.  We continued our walk around and randomly stumbled upon a festival. We searched for a caricature sketcher but were not able to locate any. We could have done without the creepy clown! We did see lots of antics and homemade crafts. There was also a zombie apocalypse (was an annual event to raise money and awareness for brain injuries).

Wanting to make the most of our day we headed back to the hostel to look through the wall of brochures and pamphlets. We were starting to feel we had exhausted most of our options in Rotorua. Originally we had planned to go white water rafting, parasailing or skydiving during our visit. Seeing as my budget had become tighter we nixed all the fun-adrenaline filled activities. There was a pub and bar conveniently located literally 5 steps away from our hostel but instead we decided to have an early night and head off towards Taupo in the morning.

Sunday We drove towards Taupo which was a under an hour drive away. Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland was only about a 20 It is known as New Zealand’s  most colourful and diverse volcanic area.  The rain was in full force the whole drive. When we got there we were really worried the rain would ruin our visit. Luckily the sky cleared and we got sun from time to time. We took full advantage of the moments where we did not need our umbrellas and hoods to take quick pictures of ourselves. 

The Champagne Pool was an insane experience! “Unique in the world, a fifth of a hectare of bubbling, hissing water, with a beautiful ochre-coloured petrified edge”(Brochure). Em and I could barely see the edge without our eyes trying to shut. It felt like we were being swallowed up by fog. Our glasses steamed up and we couldn’t see ANYTHING!!! It was raining but we were so hot. We never got to see Lady Knox Geyser erupt as we were not there at 10:15am for its daily eruption.

We decided we should check out Huka Falls while we were in town. It was not as spectacular as we were expecting…”Huka Falls! It should be called Huka River or Huka Mini River!” -Emma. Even though the water was a royal blue the falls was very small in comparison to Niagara Falls which we have both seen. (A sign informed us that the ice-blue, snow-white is famous for having about 200,000 litres of water plunge nine metres over the great rock face of Huka Falls, every second. The flow over the falls is son strong it prevents the upstream migration of trout and native fish such as eels which is why there are no eels to be found in Lake Taupo.)

In the afternoon we went to the Polynesian Spa for a hot mineral bath. We wanted to book mud bath back massages but they were completely booked. Instead we relaxed in a secluded private pool filled with alkaline water at a comfortable 38.5 degrees for 30 minutes. (Brochure) Our skin felt so smooth when we were finished.

One of the HIGHLIGHTS of the trip was our movie and dinner in-bed. We watched the Pixar movie The Incredibles and dined on crackers and double creamy brie. We made great decisions. I had never seen the movie and found it very cute and the brie was beyond delicious. Will creamy brie taste plain to me now?

Monday The sun finally came out and it was a gorgeous drive back to Auckland. To Em’s DEELIGHT we stopped off to Zorb. Large, clear, people filled spheres bouncing and rolling  150m straight down a grassy track down the hill (New Zealand Lonely Planet). We had planned to be strapped into the dry Zorb and face each other as we rolled down the hill. To our shock our heights did not fulfill the height requirement and we had to ride WITH NO STRAPS in a zorb filled with water. We were given VERY LITTLE direction on how the two of us would be able to roll down in the same Zorb without seriously injuring each other. The whole way down the hill we were laughing and screaming and shoving each other away. It is a miracle neither of us got a black eye. Someone really needs to bring this to CANADA.

As we drove through Cambridge our helpful Naviman (GPS) mentioned there would be passing a place of worship. It just so happened that there was an annual fair on the church’s property. Besides lots of homemade crafts guess what we found??? MORE popcorn from the same vendor that was in Rotorua. He recognized us and jokingly accused us of stalking him. We didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask him for his summer schedule…but we should have since his sweet and sour popcorn is beyond delicious. Before Em took me back to the hostel I had an interview with a potential family. We met in Browns Bay which is a lot more tropical and scenic than Mt Roskill. We both had our fingers crossed that this family would work out for me.

The long weekend trip was a great opportunity for a lot of photographs and smiles.I am so glad we decided to go! Sorry it took me so long to post this. I am glad it is finally up – I have had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind ever since we returned from our trip. As always, I hope you enjoyed the read and am so glad you are interested in keeping up with my adventures.

– more blogs in the future I promise,
xox Amanda