Welcome to New Zealand, a.k.a. Cassie Paradise

I've never experienced so little culture-shock while traveling abroad as I have in New Zealand. Today's my 5th day in this green, hobit-friendly land, and I feel more like I'm in California-- or the Pacific Northwest-- or Canada for that matter, than the opposite side of the globe. (Note: I've only been in Canada once as a baby, but it just seems like how I imagine Canada-- laid back, outdoorsy, friendly people and beautiful scenery). So far, only the crazy-bright sun, my fellow travelers, and the cars driving on the oppoisite side of the road remotely remind me of how far I am from home.

However, I know I'm removed from my normal world when I jump on the internet today for the first time in four days and realize that I've virtually slept through a ginormous international crisis. As the rest of the world's by now realized, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on Tuesday (or is that Wednesday my time?), impacting hundreds of thousands of people. The fact that I've been socializing with 30+ fellow travelers for the past two days, and no one mentioned this to me, strikes me as crazy alarming. I mean, I know internet is costly at $4/hour, but COME ON people! Thanks to my stepdad Richard's encouragement, I'm 90% sure I"ll travel to Haiti in June to volunteer for a bit, though I'm bummed that my travel plans are too solidified for me to go help out now. Along with my friends and family, my thoughts and prayers go out to Haitians in need right now.

So, it's time for an update: what have I been up to for the past 5 days since you missed me? ;)

Last day in Fiji, Monday January 11

My last day in Fiji was beautiful. After leaving my comfortable couchsurfing home of Diane and Paul, I met a high school-age girl named Tanau at the bus stop who offered to show me around downtown Nadi. She wouldn't let me pay for our cab, and then took me to the post office, a tiny cheap handicraft shop, and a few tourist shops. Her kindness totally touched my heart, and made me fall that much more in love with Fiji. I definitely hope to return some day!


As a culturally-competent observer of "Fiji Time," I arrived at the airport a mere 1.5 hours before my flight instead of the recommended 3 hours. Thank goodness I made my flight with no problems, however I became seriously worried when our plane turned around half-way through the flight due to a "minor technical glitch." AHHH! Well, clearly I didn't crash into the South Pacific to become just another Castaway, Island of the Blue Lagoon or Lost victim, but it was a little nerve-wracking nevertheless.

Uneventful day in Auckland, Tuesday January 12
I stayed at the Fat Camel hostel in Auckland for 2 days, where I stressed about my $ and plan for seeing New Zealand in a short month, to the point where I missed the art museum. Eventually, I had to remind myself WHY I'm here in New Zealand: to hike, explore and enjoy New Zealand's beautiful natural wonders! Refreshed and resolved about my decision to take a slightly more expensive but flexible Magic Bus through the country, I walked to a park, enjoyed the birds, and prepared myself for the next day's trip througout the North Island to Rotorua.


Running around Rotorua, Wednesday-Friday January 13-15 
I was happy to only have spent a day in Auckland, as I got out of the city and began to see the New Zealand I'd heard and read about-- a magical, sunny, green land of sheep, open farm and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film locations. One of our bus's first stops was Matamata, the site of Hobbiton, where I took some funny photos with Gollum for my 10 year-old cousin Sam's enjoyment. :) I increasingly felt like I was in Cali when we stopped at an adventure park, a jade factory and a mini-Redwood Forest (no joke), until another stop at a Maori museum again snapped me into reality. I loved that I'm the only American on my bus of 30+ Europeans, Aussies and Asians, but was a bit bummed to not meet a real Kiwi (i.e. a person from New Zealand).


Upon arrival in Rotorua, I took a long, 3-hour run to explore what the city's famous for-- geysers, geothermal mineral pools, and steam wafts over cauldrons of boiling mud. I loved the beautiful parks and a huge sulfur lake, where I saw 10+ species of beautiful birds that made me want to be an ornothologist in my next life. At one moment while running through a paved trail in a park, I saw a sketchy grass trail veering off to the left. As most people who know me will attest, I have a bit of a snake phobia, whereby I jump 10 feet at cords, ropes, noises in bushes and anything else remotely snakey. So normally, upon finding sketchy grass trails in nature, I would skiddaddle without a second thought. But, in that moment, I realized with utmost glee that there's no snakes in New Zealand! (This was, in fact, the winning factor in my decision to stay 4 weeks in New Zealand and only 1 week in Australia-- the zero to 1,000s of deadly snakes ratio). So, I happily traipsed off along the sketchy path-- which of course led me to a parking lot. :) STILL, I was so happy to be in New Zealand and have no fear!

Yesterday, Thursday the 14th, I was psyched to finally meet and bond with a super cool Kiwi named Nigel. How did I meet him, you might ask? He was my river-rafting instructor! It was my first time rafting, and I had a CRAZY AWESOME time. As a dare-devil enthusiast, my favorite parts were rafting down a seven-meter waterfall and completely submerging under water, as well as voluntarilly jumping out to go down a few rapids by myself in just my lifejacket. :) They knick-named me "the Asian" because I had my waterproof camera with me and was documenting the whole experience... but hey! I have some great footage to show for it! :) It turns out that Nigel is coming to California next May through November, so I hope to see him again in the future, and hopefully my roommate Adriana won't mind if he crashed on our futon, haha.


After my rafting adventure, I paired up with a sweet English girl of Indian descent named Sirika, as we explored the Rotorua parks, geysers, museum and lake. We had a lovely day, exchanging coloquialisms and laughing at each other's quirky expressions. She was a great sport while we watched the "Welcome to Rotorua" interactive movie in the museum-- the whole theater shook to simulate an earthquake, and I nearly jumped on her lap I was so startled.

Exhausted after our long day, we bought our groceries of noodle dishes, fruit, bread and peanut butter/nutella for the next few days and walked home. I decided to take it easy today with some trip-planning, blogging and maybe a run later on, as well as arranging my WWOOF experience for next week when I'll be on the South Island and hopefully volunteer on an organic farm in exchange for room and board for a few days. I'm still waiting to meet more local Kiwis to learn about the culture, lifestyle, and make new friends... wish me luck! :)