"Oshiete! Emily-Sensei!"

Day 2 - Words

We just saw this sign on the recycling bins outside of the grocery store. I wonder why they think only English speakers put their cigarette butts in cans…

I found this old picture from Nirayama on my phone. Makes me miss the tambo!

Day 1 - My view today

As much as I love living in the city, the view just doesn’t compare to my old country life. In Nirayama I could open the door and practically touch Mt. Fuji…now there are too many buildings and hills in the way.

Since I am so bad at posting lately, (even though I have waaaaaay too much time on my hands), I want to challenge myself to complete this. But I’ll probs start tomorrow because it’s too dark outside…we’ll see.

Cabbage flowers! So cute.

We left Wellington two days after Christmas and headed back north to Auckland. On the way, we passed by the Tui Brewery. Tui is a domestic beer that is popular in NZ. They have clever billboards that we saw all over as we drove…for example this and this. The brewery was pretty cool, though we didn’t take a tour, we just had a beer each, played pool, and walked around the grounds.

We planned to go sky diving in Taupo, which is in the center of the north island. However, since the weather turned bad, it was cancelled. It seemed like everyone in NZ was lamenting the horrible rainy weather, but for me, coming from the Pacific Northwest, it seemed pretty normal haha. 

While we were in Taupo, we visited Huka Falls. It is an extremely powerful waterfall and is absolutely breathtaking to see. We also had the chance to see two people kayak down…it was thrilling to watch, especially because they made it safely through!

After Christmas, Mark graciously showed me around his hometown, Wellington. Two things he told me about Wellington stuck in my head - it’s windy and hilly, two things I don’t really like. He was right about it being hilly…looking at the hills, it was hard to believe the houses weren’t going to just slip down! Even some of the parking spaces for cars were just wooden platforms overhanging the hills! 

About the wind…it really was miraculous how great the weather was! It wasn’t windy at all the first two days we were there, and only on the last day did it a breeze kick in. I was grateful for the wind that day because we were outside watching a cricket game. I didn’t really follow the game, but hey, I don’t usually focus on baseball games, either.

The day after our long drive was Christmas! I had my first summer Christmas, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. Even though the basic idea is the same in both America and NZ, the atmosphere was completely different. Maybe it was the warm weather, maybe it was the barbecue, I don’t know, but it just felt to relaxed. We all ate, drank, and opened presents underneath the sunshine…it was just like a summer bbq, but more festive! Amazing.

Mark and I left for Narita Airport on a midnight bus and arrived at 6AM. Since our flight was overbooked and we were one of the first people in line, we were upgraded to business class for taking a later flight. It was my first time in Business Class, and I wish I could fly that way every time! The service was excellent, the food was amazing, and the drinks kept coming. Our 5 hour flight to Hong Kong was amazing! The second half of the journey was pretty awful, though. We had an overnight flight, which is already painful because I have a hard time sleeping on planes, but add in children kicking our chairs, a weird neighbor who liked to hit his legs when they started falling asleep, and a crying baby…just about the worst flight of my life.

But that was just the travel, not the trip! We stayed in Auckland for the night, then started our 9-ish hour south to Wellington. The weather was beautiful, so I had the chance to see some epic scenery. We passed by snow-capped Mt. Ruapehu and took a few pictures. Later we stopped in Ohakune for lunch (fish and chips! In paper!) and to take a few pictures with their carrot statue. 

Due to Mark’s (crazy) driving, we made it to Wellington earlier than expected. Although I enjoyed the drive and all the scenery, I was so happy to be out of the car and really start our holiday!