My adventure in Australia and New Zealand has come to and end. I leave, and hope to return very, very soon.

Activities:

• 3 AM wake to depart NZ on a 7:30 flight
• Not ashamed to admit I cried a little as I said goodbye to fam. Told the boys (Dhruv and Syon) my goodbyes the previous night. Granny awoke early to give me a hug and a kiss. And then Vivek, Sujata, and Suchi all loaded me up and drove me to the airport.
• I loved every minute I spent in NZ with these folk. I am so proud to call them family. They have a deep love for where they live and it shows. And absolutely boundless generosity and energy. I don't even know how to begin to repay them. But I hope they know how grateful I am for the kindness they showed and how much I love them. I am proud to be a Desai.

Sujata stayed at home, and I got to spend the day hanging out with Vivek and Suchi instead! We were saddened, but found ways to cope by beer tasting, wine tasting, food tasting, trekking through beautiful territory on foot, and, oh yeah, jumping off a goddamn bridge. Twice.

Activities:

• After hearing about the Ohio family's adventures bungy-ing off the Queenstown Bridge, I, too, wanted to try my hand at something outrageous. My adrenaline was already pumping from the blackwater rafting, so I told Sujata I wanted to do it, and she suggested the bungee off the Auckland Bay Bridge. She held me to it, and the next morning I found myself booked for the 9:30 jump courtesy of Suchi. Gulp. I felt the same pre-race jitters you feel before a really big race, and went into the same, silent, please-don't-talk-to-me mode. Eeep!
• Bungee Jumping:
• It was cold and raining all morning. Vivek dropped Suchi and me off at the bungee place. She offered to go up with me (but not jump). Our entire group was comprised of women, all of us first-timers. 
• I debated texting how much "I loved you" to Max, but I demurred on the basis I would freak him the fuck out
• We walked the long climb up to the jump area in silence, corded to the rails of the bridge via our jump harness
• I was first, again, and assisted by the two jump techs
• They insisted I jump face forward first, although I thought it was a much better idea to go backwards first. However, I followed their advice on this one.
• I was actually completely calm and cool (ask Suchi) until I walked out on the plank. Then I looked down, then looked at the tech next to me and said "I don't think I can do this." He looked me back, squarely in the eyes, and said "Yes you can."

The face of confidence

• The jump tech cried out suddenly "1-2-3-JUMP!" and I just looked at him like hold on, wtf? Let me do my own count. He said it again, and this time I said, seriously, give me a second to take some deep breaths. On the third try, I jumped.

I am not upside down yet

• Well, fell is more like it. My first thought was Oh my fucking god it did it wrong and I'm falling feet first! It was okay though. The bungee totally flips you around.

Swish... and flip

• I think I was perfectly silent that first time until the end, when I finally let out a cry of delight. I was just taking in the view and the sensation of free falling and then suddenly rising again so high back to the bridge.
• They say to pull a cord on your 3rd bounce and it will swing you upright as they pull you back up to the jump platform. I declined this, too, and opted to be hoisted up upside down like a fish. I rather enjoyed that :)
• I immediately asked if I could jump a second time, partly since I realized the jump wasn't nearly as bad as I had made it out to be, and partly because I was embarrassed I had paused at all (the guys assured me the longest they had waited was 45 minutes for one guy to make his move).
• The girls all did their jumps, all but one needing 3 counts, too ;) Then they strapped me back in for the second. I told them this time I wanted to go backwards. Apparently I was inspiring, because 3 other girls opted to go again, too, and one backwards after she saw me.
• Backwards is so much easier

Easier

• He basically holds you out over the bridge and then just releases you whenever the fuck he wants (one of those "5-4-3... ooops you're gone" counts). I really had fun that second jump.

Victory! I jumped into thin air!

• The techs released more bungee in the hopes I would be able to touch the water, but I was still just shy of reaching it that second jump. I wasn't too bothered - it was cold and rainy and I really didn't want to freeze any more anyway.
• I wanted to do a third, this time a running jump strapped in from my chest, but at 60 bucks a pop I just couldn't bite it anymore
• Pro-tip: AJ Hackett gives a shitty commemorative shirt as memorabilia, but the photos are truly fantastic. They give prints, online downloads, and even a DVD. I totally recommend it. You also retain a 20% discount for life! (Helllooo Queenstown...)
• We stopped at Swashbuckler's, a local seafood restaurant at Westhaven Marina, just down from the Bay Bridge. I had the Pirate's Platter (argh!), which consisted of fried Dory, mussels, oysters, shrimp, crawfish, sashimi salmon, and fried scallops. The scallops were terrible (why would you deep fry those?!), but the rest was heaven. And a local brew, too, of course.

Pirate Platter for one. It's arrrh-mazingly good. Unlike this pun.

• Beer/Wine Tasting:
• As in Adelaide, I can't really recall the names of all the places we visited, but we had a blast doing it. 3 stops! One of them a local brewery.
• Hallertau Brewery has some pretty good local brews, especially their #3 Copper Red Ale. I dream of that ale. I can remember the brewery name since it was good enough I brought back a 4 pack.
• The other two were wineries. NZ is known for its Sauvignon Blancs, and the one at the next stop was so good I brought back a bottle
• On the last stop, I tasted several grapes I had never even heard of before, but nothing was quiiite good enough to get me to lug one home
• Muriwai Beach:
• Along the West Coast of Auckland we stopped at Muriwai Beach, a place that sports mountain bike trails, walking tracks, camping grounds, cliffside views, a beach so rich in iron that the sands are actually black, and the famous Gannet Colony where thousands of gannets (birds) migrate back to during the summer months to mate (they partner for life, apparently). During winter, they fly across the bay to Oz to enjoy the warmer climate.

• The walking trails are full of lush scenery, and Muriwai Beach is so rich in a variety of natural beauty that you are greeted with something new to smile at literally around every corner. 

• This place is hands-down one of my favorite, favorite memories of the trip. I tried to capture some of the magic on video, but it's impossible to do. You really have to see it to believe it :)

One of my favorite views. Vivek looks a bit stretched, but you get the idea.

Sujata and I take the morning fairly easy, waking to watch some Rugby on the TV. I decide to try my hand at Blackwater Rafting in a glowworm cave, and we buy some local cheeses before heading home. We finish the night with a party at a local friend's house to celebrate Durga Pooja, and like typical Desis, are out till late...

Activities:

• Sleep in till 6 this morning, then laze about and take our time getting ready as we catch up with the current state of the Rugby World Cup on the television. Sujata explains rugby a bit more clearly to me and NZ's obsession with it. It seems vastly more interesting to watch then football, although it is abhorrently violent. However, the room is stocked with a French Press and coffee (did I mention the full kitchen included?), and I am in heaven with my morning Cup of Joe.
• Grabbed breakfast in town at Be Rude Not To Cafe, where I thought it would be rude not have the avocado toast, even though I was really craving pancakes. Sujata opted for a date scone and I sampled it. Quite different from the scones you get in the U.S.! This one was soft and delectable, and I almost wished I had ordered that instead.

Clearly the bacon had to go

• We drove through 2 very cute small towns on our way to Waitomo, home of Caveworld and the Glowworm Caves.
• Blackwater Rafting:
• Not nearly as scary as it sounds. In Waitomo, you can opt to go on an excursion through the glowworm caves by ferry, or by innertube in a pitch black cave. The innertube option is what they refer to as "blackwater rafting" (blackwater because of the pitch blackness). I TOTALLY RECOMMEND THIS OPTION!
• The other people on the excursion with me just so happened to be a family from Ohio! One daughter had spent the semester in NZ studying abroad with her boyfriend, and her sister and mom were both visiting. Very intesting people... the sister was currently a doctor in her residency, and her mom was ex-Slovakian (I think). The sister who was there studying with her boyfriend lamented to me that they had literally been out every single weekend in NZ to do another new activity, and they still felt like they had barely scratched the surface! Imagine how I felt... Anyway, it was strangely nice to hear some American accents and spent the next couple of hours with them.

The All-American Dream Team

• We had two tour guides, who dressed us up in wetsuits and then guided us through the caves. New Zealander's seem to have a real can-do attitude and just expect you to be able to do something. They actually made me the tour leader, meaning I, not they, got to go first through the cave through everything! Terrifying at times, but utterly thrilling, too.

The money shot!

• What was truly incredible to be was that I went from 100C water the day before to being immersed in 10C in the caves the very next day. Amazing.

I wonder if I'd look this dorky doing triathlons

• The time I spent not getting my heart rate up, we spent floating through the cave in absolute and complete darkness, except for the light emitted from the glowworms.

The official tubing map

• Glowworms respond to loud noises. Expect your tour leader to give a very loud THUMP! as he whacks his tube on the surface of the water. This will light up the cave "sky."

Looking up at the lines. The lines are like the spiderwebs spiders create. They attract and catch food to be preyed upon.

Clearly I have not been asked to jump backwards yet

The family that floats together...

• There is a waterfall. You will be instructed to jump backwards off it onto your tube. It is not actually a very tall jump, but scary AF, especially when you are first. But what a rush!

Ahhh!!!

• There is also a giant waterslide. This is significantly more fun, especially when you are first ;) Just when you think you're about to fly off the damn slide because you're going so fast, you are suddenly immersed completely in freezing water. The air was so foggy with my breath and that I almost couldn't see getting up.
• Total rafting excursion was around 2/2.5 hours. Bring a swimsuit and a towel. Would absolutely do again. If you wear contacts, know you will have to shut your eyes twice as you become immersed in water.
• Bring a GoPro

It's blurry, but this is the long climb out of the caves. It's actually quite beautiful up top.

• Return to Auckland, but only after pausing to purchase locally made cheeses at the Mercer Cheese Shop. She cuts them off of big, round slabs of cheese, and there's quite the selection of flavors and types, as well as an assortment of European and Indian delights. Sorry, no pictures :(
• Durga Pooja:
• We ended the night at a family friend's house to celebrate Durga Pooja
• In typical Desi fashion, we arrived at 7:30, didn't eat until 9:30, and left well past midnight
• Had an absolute fucking blast
• They even got me to sing (badly) while guitar was played. Everyone seems to know the 80s/90s rock classics, so I felt right at home
• Food was amazingly well prepared and delicious. Nice and spicy. A special DP kichidee was made. And a choco-mango-whipped cake dessert was served.
• There was also plenty of wine, beer, and the host delighted in serving specialty mixed drinks.
• It had been a long time since I got to hang out with so many Desis. It filled a small hole in my heart.

Sujata and I decide to take an overnight trip to visit Rotorua, and I discover she has boundless energy. Along the way, we take in Hobbiton, a Maori village built for tourists, and view the local thermic activity before enjoying the town of Rotorua itself. We then later find an authentic, living Maori village before finally seeking out dinner. We cap off the night by taking a dip in the natural, mineral, thermic pool outside our motel room. I am still in awe of how much we squeezed into one day.

Activities:

• Early rise at 5. Depart Auckland via car by 6:30 to miss the rush hour traffic.
• First stop: Matamata, the home of Hobbiton!

• Hobbiton:
• Defies my ability to describe it. Is everything you see in the moves and then some. Breathtaking to behold in person. You simply cannot believe the work that went into building this place.
• Hobbiton exists on a large farm that some local Kiwis own. There is fencing around it to keep out the local sheep. While they still do farm business, a large part of their income now comes from sales from these tours. Totally worth it.
• The tour through Hobbiton ends with a drink at the Green Dragon in. It is a fully realized version of the inn seen in the movies, and not only serves locally brewed beer, but food as well. They offer everybody one drink for free, though I manage to score two ;) Among the choices of beer are an amber, a stout, and a dry cider ranging from 3.4% to 5% ABV. The stout and cider are both really, really good. I would totally chill here nightly.

This is just the visitor's center where you take the bus to get to the farm to get to Hobbiton

Me and my boy Gollum

As you enter Hobbiton, you are greeted with this view. Yes, it all really exists!

Visiting my Aunt in her hobbity home

Enjoying a hobbit sized pint inside the Green Dragon by the fire ;)

• Te Puia Maori Village:
• Touristy, but worth a visit for the fantastic views of volcanic thermal activity alone
• Among its natural features are thermally heated rocks (amazing to sit on - I could've slept there), a Maori cooking oven that relies on the thermal heat, a geyser, and bubbling mud pits (exceedingly dangerous)
• There is also an enclosed exhibit featuring the large nocturnal Kiwi bird, but little dude was asleep when we entered
• The Maori village itself featured a cultural show in their traditional meeting hall. You could opt to spend the evening having dinner there, where they cooked using the thermally-heated oven, but we decided to press on
• The local artwork they sold there was quite beautiful

Still capture of the geyser. The smell of sulfur in the air is strong.

Thermic activity and natural beauty from afar

You can spy the hotel on the grounds at Te Puia

Still, it's quite lovely, especially with the pools

• Rotorua:
• This city itself it worth at least a 3 day trip, just to enjoy the city alone. It is indescribably charming and boost more outdoor, fun activities than I can possibly list. There is great food and great booze, and a vibrant night life that makes the excursion quite fun.
• There are beautiful Victorian gardens and mineral pools abound. There is even a wonderful local museum on the grounds to explore. At least I hear it's wonderful on the inside, and that you should opt for a half day excursion and a guided tour. The outside architecture was beautiful in its own right, but made me think it was possibly Dutch?

Hopefully, someday soon I will get a chance to revisit this museum

• Malfroy Motel:
• Yes, I am pausing to describe the place I stayed. It was that unique to me.
• The local "motels" there are above and beyond what a motel is in the U.S. They are more akin to 4 star hotel rooms here, and feature an incredible array of amenities for a fraction of the price.
• The Malfroy was run by the sweetest NZ couple. They had fantastic tips on exactly where to go and what to do! (They are reason we even found the living Maori village.) The couple took 30 minutes to give us a thorough tour of the grounds there, including the two pools (one thermally supplied with the local mineral water and regulated down to 45C, the other artificial and chlorinated and regulated to 32C). The shower was even some fancy thing from China and featured 12 shower heads, which was actually much less exciting once you tried it. Single shower head for the win!
• Ohinemutu (living Maori village):
• On the tip we received, we headed out to discover this little gem of a place. Ohinemutu is called a living village because Maori people actually live there and it is not designed for tourist visits. That being said, they did have a shop that sold extremely local wares for those who did drop by to visit. For being right on the edge of town, it is strangely isolated, which gives the place a wonderful feel to it.
• The people we ran into were extremely friendly, although I could say this about virtually everybody in NZ. It is the NZ way.
• There was tons of thermic activity there, too. Parts of their culture seem built around this feature. There were also some great ocean views.
• There was a church there with a stained glass window Jesus that was depicted in such a way that as you looked out at him, it appeared as though he was "walking on water," due to the placement and the ocean directly outside.

A real Maori village! You can spy several thermal pools and the traditional style of architecture.

This is the isolated view from the village out over the water. Just beautiful.

• Tutanekai Street:
• I dub this section of street between Whakaue Street and Pukaki Street the "Upper Crust Food District." On tip, we got that the block directly south of it was also good, that the upper crust part was the way to go. So that was what we did.
• It featured fine dining (one of Rotorua's most famous restaurants is there), two local brewpubs, and cuisine of every other imaginable type. It is also cordoned off from vehicular traffic, so it made it fun to peruse and jump between restaurants at will.
• Suji opted for Thai, so that's where we made our way to dinner (she did pay for the motel, after all, the least I could do was buy dinner!). After that, I popped into one restaurant and ordered an Eton mess for takeaway (featured beautiful local fruit - one of the best desserts I've ever eaten) and then across the road into a brewpub for some beer takeaway (yes, it was cold, yes you can get it bottled and capped fresh off the taps, yes, Max would have been in heaven). I carried my loot back to the hotel room to finish off the night.

And that's how you do a nightcap

• Mineral pools:
• Fortunately, we didn't have to pay extra to go to a public mineral pool. Our motel room featured two private ones, and I carried the Eton mess and the beer and we went out and enjoyed them. The mineral pools are said to be quite therapeutic, especially as you use them more and more. I bet :)
• Oh my... What a glorious night!

Explored the CBD (nope, still not called "downtown" here), toured a local museum, rode a ferry, ran a trail, and discovered NZ has a damn good craft beer scene.

Activities:

• Awoke at 5 (I'm sensitive to sunlight), and headed out for a run along the Beachlands path. Along the way I saw a couple of chickens (chooks), and ran towards them, when I then noticed a dirt path. I veered off the pavement onto the dirt and wound up on the most fabulous trail run I'd experienced. The foliage! The greenery! The smells of foliage! (My allergies were calm so I could actually smell for once.) I ran like a little kid with a big fat stupid grin plastered on my face. The term "ran" is actually generous here, since I was so enchanted by what I saw I stopped every couple of minutes for another photo. Along the way I saw a goat on a roof, the beach, the mountains, rivers of water, valleys of rock, sheep, chickens, and everything in between. No photo I could take captured the magic of the moment. Eventually, the rains really picked up, and having no running gloves I got cold and headed back, only logging just over 5 miles. What amazing sights for 5 miles!

Seriously, just look at these sights!

Wishing I had better photography skills at this point

The trail behind vs the trail in front. Never seen one quite like this.

It's a goat! On a roof!

What you don't see is the giant smile on my face...

• Once back I scarfed down breakfast and showered quickly so Suji, Dhruv, and I could catch the ferry into town. We would be on foot all day. This time I opted to wear my trail shoes :)
• The ferry was awesome. I was the only one not used to the views, so I opted to sit out back (Suji joined me). It took about 30/35 minutes to reach the port at the CBD from the Beachlands. Pretty convenient, really.

Leaving Beachlands docks

The view en route... Can you imagine being used to this?!

• Said by to Dhruv, who was off to Uni, grabbed a cappuccino, and began our day
• Walked along Queen Street, the main shopping strip of town
• Detoured to Sky Tower. I paid to go up top to take in the views of the city, but declined to do the bungee for monetary reasons. The tower did have glass cutouts up top and on the floor in the elevator, which delighted me, but really freaked out this little French couple as we descended.
• Suji and I then headed over to the Auckland Museum, a 3 level affair showcasing local and traditional art from NZ, from the Maori, and a bit from around the world, and is FREE. There was even a free guided tour (which we did)! I couldn't believe it. The traveling exhibit featured all the artwork from the 7 Books of the Ramayana, which tickled both Suji and I. We breezed quickly through the exhibit on the tour, and I wished we could have spent more time gazing at the pictures, but there was simply too much to see and do, and so we continued on. That museum is worth at least a good day trip.
• Popped into Elliot Stables, an enclosed space featuring foods from around the world in a food-court like setting. The interior space was quite nicely decorated and reminded Suji and me of the look of the town outside the castle in the Harry Potter books. I continued my quest to eat as much seafood as possible, and settled on getting food at the tapas bar with a meal that consisted of grilled and stuff squid, beet and walnut salad, and marinated mushrooms. I just love that Oceanic countries love beets.

To be fair, I was also on a quest to make Max jealous. That involved pictures of food. Lots of pictures.

• After lunch, we went in search of K Street, famous for having quaint shops by day but being the party district by night. No luck. But we did stumble upon Brother's Brewery (okay, after we stopped in a pub for a tip) at Auckland Central (there was a coffee roaster there, too, but we ran out of time). Brother's brewed their own beers and had them all on tap, as well as a few other local and Australian selections. They also had case after case of chilled beer by the bottle, selected from NZ, Oz, and the U.S. I opted to try their sampler, a selection of 6 brews, and I threw in a couple of Oz ones for grins. They were all quite good! I don't remember liking too many of the local brews in Oz, but Brother's had managed to find some good ones and I picked up a few bottles to bring to Murph. I felt rather tipsy by this point, since their tasting samples were quiiiite a bit heavier than what you get in the US, and I had well over a pint of beer, easy.

That's the happy place ;)

• After that, Suji and I stopped in a salon to get our hair did. Mine hadn't been done in weeks and was driving me nuts, and she was game enough to tag along with me. I was quite happy with how well the stylist did, although a bit sad I couldn't really get her to talk. It struck me that most of the salons there were like the nail salons here in the U.S.
• Wandered the Britomart and local mall, and drank more coffee. By that point, we were just having fun and chatting and I didn't pay too much attention anymore to what was around me, although I did enjoy poking in to the local NZ goods shop.
• All too quickly it was 6 and time to meet Dhruv and catch the ferry home