These past ten days have been the most exciting days of my
life. This has been the first time I have ever done a trip on my own with just
one friend in a different country. One might think this was a very nerve
wracking experience. In reality, this has opened my eyes to a whole new world
of traveling.
Drothea and I started our trip in Melbourne where we stayed
with my cousin Lindsey, James, and their new puppy Eloise. Side note, this
puppy had 3 different names while we were there before they finally picked Eloise. On our first day, we explored
the hipster section of Melbourne called Fitzroy where Lindsay works. We walk
around, admired the graffiti and shopped at a few places. After lunch with
Lindsay, Dorthea and I walked from Fitzroy all the way to the main city of
Melbourne to drop by James’s juice press shop called Green Press. We had some
delicious smoothies and played with miss Eloise who was chilling in her little
bed. We drove back to Port Melbourne to
get ready for a fun dinner with Lindsay, James, James’s brother Miles and one
of James’s childhood friends. This ended
our first full day in Melbourne.
The second day, Dorthea and I met up with Gianna, one of my
family friends studying at University of Melbourne, for brekkie in a little area called Degraves street. We took a tram from Port Melbourne to Victoria street and met up with her at a little brekkie place called RNB. Degraves street was a long street dedicated to brekkie locations as well as delicious Melbourne coffee. After a few hours of eating and catching up, Gianna gave us suggestions for places to see in Melbourne. She suggested walking through Hosier lane to look at the graffiti art then taking a train down to Brighton Beach. Hosier lane is an ally way
covered in beautiful graffiti and
is the only place where graffiti artists can
paint their works of art without having to worry about the police. Dorthea and
I ended up taking pictures and admired the street art that was all around us in
every corner of the ally way. As we left Hosier lane to explore the area, we
ended up walking along the river for a while before jumping on a train to go to
Brighton beach. The beach is outside the city and has this line of colorful
house sheds along the beach that all have different themes to them. We took
pictures and walked along the beach before finding a café to sit down and
relax. Lindsay picked us up and we drove back to the apartment where we played
with little Eloise bean and relaxed. James and Lindsay made us a delicious
dinner that night as well as introducing us to GayTime ice cream (which side
note is the best ice cream ever invented).
On our last day in Melbourne, Dorthea and I slept in a bit
before grabbing brekkie with James, Lindsay and Eloise. We went to a cute place
in Port Melbourne where we had coffee and some eggs.
Right after, we were
driven to the St. Kilda market, which happens every Sunday. We got to walk
along a long strip of shops that sold cloths, to hand crafted foods and art.
There was even a guy selling cotton candy
designs. Once we reached the end of
the street, we ran into Luna Park, which looked very similar to Koney Island
back in the United States. As we walked passed the large entrance we caught a
glimpse of a group of young adults singing and playing music. As the sunset
over St. Kilda beach, we jumped on a tram and headed back to the apartment
where we packed up and headed to the airport.
This was the second time I visited the city of Melbourne and
I have to say I was so happy I returned! Unlike the last time I visited, I got
to really see different sections of the city that I never even heard about. The
City of Melbourne is a young, hip area that focuses on culture. There was a
huge presence of art in the city whether it was paintings, graffiti or even
handcrafts such as wood and other materials inspired by aboriginal culture. I
am normally not interested in art, but this city opened up a new world to me in
the means of art. In terms of weather, we lucked out tremendously. It was sunny
and not as chilly than when I last visited. Normally the weather changes very
quickly, but this time the only thing that changed was the strong winds, which
was okay considering all we had to do is layer up. The food there was one of
the biggest things that stood out to me the whole trip. Melbourne has some the
best coffee and the best eggs. You want an amazing breakfast experience come to
Melbourne. To sum up my time in Melbourne, I could see myself living there one
day if the weather was not so bipolar. The city is very spread out bu
t still
has the feel of a city, which is similar to the city of Boston and the weather
of Seattle or Chicago. It was so great to see Lindsay and James again. I was
happy to spend some more time with my only family in Australia as well as get
an insight to the life here in Melbourne. Dorthea and I want to thank them for
the billionth time for letting us stay with them during our short time in
Melbourne and for giving us great suggestions for sights to see. We were able
to see all of Melbourne in a short amount of time. I guess you can say we know
how to schedule our time.
Our trip was not over yet. Our next stop we made was in
Auckland New Zealand, which we arrived early in the morning. We arrived at
Dorthea’s cousin Kasper’s place located in Grey Lynn, which was right outside
of the main city of Auckland. He gave us a bit of a rundown about how the area
works as well as a bit of the terminology they use in New Zealand. For example,
there are three uses for the word Kiwi. One is a bird, one is a fruit and the other
is what New Zealanders call themselves. Yes, you call a person from New Zealand
a Kiwi. Tired from the flight over and the small jet lag, the two
of us took a
long nap before exploring the city. We were suggested to see Takapuna beach, which
was located outside the city. Once we figured out the bus system, we arrived in
Takapuna and started to walk around. The beach was not as beautiful as one
would expect but we were able to see an inactive volcano across the water as we
walked up and down the beach. The weather was a bit gloomy but that did not
stop the locals from playing Frisbee and going kayaking. Eventually the two of
us went to the grocery store to grab some food for the week. We walked back to
the bus station to head back to the city. Instead of getting on a connection
bus back to Gray Lynn, we saw the Sky Tower when we got off the bus and decided
to check it out. We bought tickets to go to the sky deck which gave us a
beautiful view of the whole city. We took another hour at the Sky Tower Café where
we bought some drinks and gazed at the beautiful lit up city of Auckland.
Afterwards, we caught the next bus to Grey Lynn and planned our road trip to
Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings).
The next morning, we were all packed for our five-hour road
trip to Mt. Ngauruhoe. With no GPS and no sense of direction, we drove for
hours through lush green mountains and farmland. We stopped a
few times to gaze
upon the beautiful rolling green hills that were all around us. As we drove
through farmland, we took another wrong turn and ended up at a little lake
where we took a small break and grabbed a bite to eat. The weather had gotten
warmer so the three of us took a dip in the freezing cold water before jumping
back in the car to find the nearest gas station. Once our tank was filled, we
ended up stopping again at another view of the lake. There was a man who told
us that we should go and visit his village, which was three minutes down the
road we were on. Taking his suggestion, we stopped at the native village to
take a look around. It was tiny but was right on the water. Steam came up from
the sand, which was due to the volcanic fumes that warmed up the water and the
rocks. Did I mention we were in a volcanic active area? After a long trip of
seven hours, we finally made it to the hostel called A Plus Lodge. This hostel
was located 30 minutes from the starting point of our hike and was located in a
little town called Turangi. It was the strangest looking place but we slept in
some comfortable beds for the next 2 nights. Since Kasper and Dorthea drove the
whole way, I made a nice spaghetti and meatball dinner for the three of us
before we called it a night.
We woke up at 5:30 am to make oatmeal for breakfast as well
as some sandwiches for our hike. In the kitchen, four German guys, who were
going to tag along with us, greeted us by almost burning their breakfast and
almost setting the kitchen on fire. With our stomachs filled and our bags
packed, we were on our way to the Tongariro Northern Circuit. Kasper dropped
Dorthea and I off at the starting point where we waited for him to pick up the
German guys at the end point then come back to start our hike. The plan was to
have the Germans park their car at the end point of the mountain and driven by
us to the starting point so we can park our car at the start point. This way
once we finished, there was a car at the end of the trail. Once Kasper returned
with the Germans, we began our hike through the circuit. We hiked through a
dirt pathway up some stairs ways where we saw the view of the showy peaks and
the road ahead of us. Once we started to hike up the area, the sight of snow on
the ground was inevitable. We all turned into children
as we started to pick up
and throw the snow at each other. As I huffed and puffed up the summit, we
finally came across the infamous Mt. Ngauruhoe. The mountain was actually a
volcano and very steep. Dorthea, Kasper and I were nerding out as we took
pictures next to mount doom. We could tell that this was not a tourist
attraction due to the fact that no other person was stopping to see the
mountain except us. This made the hike all the more special. Since we did not
have any ice picks and mountain climbing equipment, we were only able to walk
around the base of the mountain. Once we reached the signs leading to our
destination, we all took some deep breaths before continuing our hike. We
finally reached the snowy section of our hike and our group looked so
unprepared next to the tour group with picks axes, snowshoes, and helmets. We
followed the tour group up the snowy peak, as it got steeper. The group in front
of us was too slow so our group walked around the tour group in the new
unpacked snow up the mountain.
This basically showed the people in the tour
group that they paid way to much money for unnecessary equipment. Once we
reached the top section, we had to hike down the steaming sulfur smelling
mountain, which proved to be a bigger challenge than hiking up. Once we were
all safe at the bottom, we bumped into two girls we met at our hostel who
decided to join us up one more section of the mountain before the rest of the
trail lead downwards. With snow starting to enter my shoes and my legs feeling
weak, our group made it to the plateau of the mountain where we celebrated our
victory through the most beautiful and difficult section of our hike. We
stopped by a bunch of rocks to eat lunch before continuing through the snow
across the mountain to
the end. We still had a long way to go from our lunch
spot. As we continued, we saw parts of the mountain steam up. Turns out we were
in a section where two volcanoes were active. The area smelled like sulfur and
most of the area was brown and dead. Soon, we made it to the forest area. This
was the last section of our hike. There was a river, and beautiful lush woods. We
finally made it to the end of our hike, which took exactly 6 hours to walk 19.8
km (this is about 12 miles). We were driven back to the car then we drove into
the small town of Turangi to grab pizza for dinner since no one wanted to cook
after all that. Once we picked up dinner and went back to the hostel to eat, we
went to the hot pools to relax our muscles after the long hike. Due to volcanic
heat, there were many hot springs in the area, which were turned into hot pools
for locals and guests. It smelled bad but my muscles felt so loose afterwards. When
we returned to the hostel, we had a little dessert and went to bed.
In the morning, we woke up to find out the owner of the A
Plus Lodge made Kasper a cake for his birthday. After we had cake and
breakfast, the three of us checked out from the hostel around 10 am
so we could
go to the glowworm caves on our way back to Auckland. We added a fourth person
to our road trip that we met at the hostel and was heading in the same
direction. Her name was Stacy and was from South Korea. So we had two Danes,
one Korean and one American on our road trip back to Auckland. We entered a
dirt road with a lot of potholes in order to get to the caves. After fearing
that one of our tires would pop on the trip there, we finally made it to the
caves. Most of the glowworm caves in the area were guided tours but we wanted
to go somewhere where we can explore ourselves. With our small flashlights, the
four of us entered the cave, which was dark and had a little stream going
through it. We saw rocks, glowworms and even a big spider. After a while we
walked back out into the sunlight to rest and have a snack.
I ended up getting
my shoes and pants wet while exploring the cave plus falling into the stream
once we started to walk back to the car. As we searched for a gas station, we
grabbed a bite to eat and rested as Kasper tried to find the gas station before
we ran out of gas. It was so close to empty by the time we found a place. Our
journey back to Auckland lead us to a farm which had a large hill that Dorthea
wanted to check out. As we walked into the driveway, we realized the road to
the hill was through the owner’s property. Dorthea asked the owners if we could
possibly walk up the dirt road and they were more than happy to let us. In
fact, the owners were nice enough to even show us their sheep and how they
sheer them. I
had never been on a large sheep farm before so learning about all
this was very interesting. The couple opened the gate to the dirt road and we
walked up. On the way we took pictures as well as walk through the mounds of
sheep grazing the fields. Many of the lambs were out as well with their
mothers. We even saw a section of the farm that had a large herd of cows. After
getting enough
pictures, we went down to the couple to say thank you for
letting us explore their farm. They ended up inviting us into their home to
have some dinner, which was the most amazing hospitality I have ever gotten
from strangers. The couple was named Margret and Louis and they have come
across visitors before. The food was delicious and was the first time having a
home cooked meal since I have been on the other side of the world. They even
sang happy birthday to Kasper as they served us a delicious dessert that
Dorthea and Kasper told me was similar to a Danish dessert they have back in
Denmark. It was peaches and apples with crumble, ice cream and yogurt. There is
a name for it in Danish but I cannot pronounce it. After talking with the
lovely couple and their kids, we had to head back to the rental place since it
was very dark. We thanked them a thousand times for their hospitality and
dinner before we jumped back into the car and headed back to Auckland.
The next morning, Dorthea and I slept in late before going
to breakfast. We then went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for the
dinner and lunch we were making for Kasper. For lunch, I made fluffy pancakes
with strawberries and syrup and for dinner, I cooked Chicken Parmesan and
Dorthea made meat ravioli with sauce. This dinner was our way of saying thank
you to Kasper and his flat mates for letting us crash with them. Kasper had a
little gathering for his birthday that Dorthea and I attended. If I can sum up
what the party was, it was me and a bunch of Danes. They all sang happy
birthday to Kasper in Danish and we mingled until 1 am.
We did our last hike the next day at an inactive volcano
called Mt. Eden. The hike was a more of a
tourist hike than the one we did at
Mt. Doom but it was still a gorgeous area to be. There was an amazing view of
the whole city as well as a view of the crater, which was covered in grass. After
walking down the volcano to the base, we found a little playground where we
decided to be children again and swing on the swings
before we continued
through the town. After walking into a few shops, we decided to eat at this
little café called Circus Circus. The theme of the café was exactly what the
name described. We sat there for hours eating and talking before we decided to
head back to the flat. Before bed, we planned for our final day, which was
going to the infamous Hobbiton.
The next morning, we wasted no time getting up and walking
to the car rental place. Stacy tagged along with us. The first place told us
they did not have a car even though they gave us a reservation,
but the place
next door was able to get us a car. After two hours of the GPS screwing around
with us, we finally made it to Matamata
aka Hobitton. We had to take a bus to
the site because it was blocked off. On the way there, the tour guide explained
to us how the sight was found and how long it has been there (only 7 years).
Finally, the bus pulled into the entrance of Hobbiton. Our tour guide took us
around and talked about how everything was made and where specific scenes were
shot. One interesting fact about Lord Of The Rings was that the director was
really into small details. The small details involved the backgrounds such as
houses and some of the realistic look inside the houses. All of the hobbit
holes were empty so there was no interior to them but Bilbo Baggins’s house had
a little bit of an interior incase the door swung open to far during a shot.
Yes we saw Bilbo Baggins’s house as well as Sam’s house, the party field, and
even the Green Dragon Inn. Our tour ended at the Green Dragon Inn where we were
able to get some drinks and dress up in some of the hobbit costumes. Dorthea
and I made sure to do that. The whole time during that tour I was so excited
with everything I recognized from the movies. Most people do not realize that
movies now a days do not have the same type of effort put into them like the
Lord of
the Rings franchise. Peter Jackson created a new world and put so much
effort into scouting for sights such as Hobbiton. These sights
made the movie
more realistic. Most of the shots in the movie were at locations you can go to
now, which I find amazing. I was just so happy to be able to see the beauty
that went into this franchise. To any Lord of the Rings fan, I highly encourage
you to visit this location though it is a very touristic sight. You will have
so much more appreciation for the movies if you see it for yourself. Once we
jumped back on the bus, the three of us were back in the main town of Matamata.
We grabbed some lunch before we called it a night on our last day in New
Zealand.
First off I want to thank Kasper for the billionth time for
letting the two of us stay with him for the seven days we were there. This guy
not only let us crash with him but also came along with us on our
fun
adventures. We defiantly were lucky to have a guide with us! Summing up New
Zealand is almost impossible for me to do. This country was just gorgeous from
its city to the rolling green mountains. The sights I saw were postcard worthy
shots. Never have I seen such beautiful nature! I went into this trip thinking
I was going to be let down when we got to New Zealand. Instead, it exceeded my
expiations tremendously. Dorthea and I only were able to visit the Northern
Islands, which I was told is not as good as the Southern Islands. I don’t know
anything about the southern islands but if they are any better than the
northern islands, it must be drop dead beautiful. The weather we also lucked
out with because the area we were in was known for a lot of rain. The days we
were hiking and exploring it was sunny and beautiful where the days we were
relaxing it poured. Guess we really did luck out with weather on this trip! We
walked and explored so much during our time in New Zealand; I would have loved
to stay longer to see more.
Sadly all fun adventures must come to an end. To sum up the
whole trip, it was an amazing experience for me. Dorthea was a great travel
buddy to have and I am happy we were able to enjoy
the time we had together for
our break. This whole trip was not planned at all. When I mean not planned I
mean the only thing we knew we wanted to do was go to Melbourne, then go to New
Zealand and see Mount Doom and Hobbiton. The one thing we originally planned
that did not work out was going to Wellington to see David Duke about Weta
Studios. Turned out Wellington was really far away from Auckland. We did not
know what days to do our activities. Melbourne we knew nothing about yet we
basically saw the whole city. Part of the reason this worked out for the two of
us was one, we had people living in the areas we were visiting, and two because
we both liked to just go with the flow. I have done traveling where every day
was planned and trips where some things were planned but other days were not. This
whole trip, nothing was planned and it was the best experience I have ever had.
The two of us learned how to get around the cities pretty easily as well as
navigating areas though we had gotten lost a few times. Not once did the two of
us panic while we were traveling. After this whole adventure, this has made me
realize how much I enjoy moving around the world. Maybe one day I will return
to these locations again with more time to explore. I just cannot get rid of my
travel bug.
Look for a pictures and even a video of my trip very soon on Facebook!!!
One fun activity I did was going to Bli Bli aqua park but
was a bit different than what you would expect a water park to be. Instead of
big slides and tubes to go down on, imagine a lake, and there are a lot of blow
up obstacles floating around on the water. Some are climbing walls, some are
hamster 
That week, Halloween was coming up. Surprisingly enough,
Halloween has become popular in Australia so I was able to dress up. The
Thursday before Halloween, Daniel took a group of us to Aussie World, an
amusement park that was not far from the University. Some of us dressed up and
some didn’t. We went on a few rides, were followed by some creepy guy dressed
in a creepy clown leotard, and went inside a haunted house where I lost my hat
running through a room full of hands hanging from the ceiling. That wasn’t the
only thing that scared some of us. There was a creepy lady who had a little
crush on Liam and was following our group around as well as that guy with the
creepy clown leotard that scared the life out of Dorthea when he popped out
during our time in this strange maze of mirrors. Needless to say it was an
interesting night for us. Saturday, I held a little Halloween party with some
food and blood orange sangria. People came in and out since that was how
Halloween works at uni but all in all, it was relaxing and fun. We eventually
headed over to Varsity (the other student housing) to join the many students
mingling and dancing. By the end of the night, a few of us just went for a
walk around the university before heading to bed. Though I was not having an
Elon Halloween, I still enjoyed dressing up and spending my Halloween in the
land down under.
Before I had my first exam, a friend Raffy and I went to the
place I wanted to visit since I arrived in Sunshine Coast, The Australia Zoo.
To me, going there was a dream come true because I was visiting the place of my
childhood hero Steve Irwin. My brothers and I grew up watching The Crocodile
Hunter from the show to the movie that was out in theaters. He was the reason I
had taken in interest in wild life and the reason I know too many random facts
about animals. The zoo was a lot smaller than I expected but we were able to
see everything there. There were Otters just laying around being cute as ever,
some large Cassowaries, Koalas chilling, 
As finals came closer, my stress levels became higher and I
ended up spending my last two weeks preparing and taking my four exams. Once I
walked out of my Abnormal Psychology exam I finally could breath. That same day
I went with Cara to Colondra to walk around and enjoy the beautiful sunshine
and heat of summer. We walked along the beach as well as explore the little
town and reminisce about the times we have had here at the Sunshine Coast. Flo
and his mother were very sweet in taking us back to campus where I said goodbye
to him and later Cara. Everyone else that day had left for home so I was one of
the few left at UniCentral.
The next day I woke up at 8:00 so I could make breakfast and
meet up with Dorthea one last time before she left for Harvey Bay. We jumped on
a bus to Alexandria beach to catch a few waves. It was a bit windy that day but
we made the most of it after being knocked over by waves, violated by seaweed
and almost running into each other. I caught only three waves but that was
enough for me since I wanted to at least catch one before I left. We were at
the beach relaxing for a while before returning the boards and heading to grab
some lunch. From there we walked back to the bus and headed back to campus. We
said goodbye before parting ways. Dorthea if you are reading this, you better
come to New York for thanksgiving in the next few years!!!! Once I made it back to my room, I went to the
pool to relax before finishing most of my packing and cleaning up my room. 
