Best 1/4 Century Birthday Ever - Part 2

On Saturday night, I planned on having some friends get together and drink a bit before we went to town to celebrate my birthday. Me and a friend of mine walked to the shops down the road to our favorite liquor store to prepare for the night. While I was gone, my roommates were fast at work setting up a surprise lu'au themed party for me!

As soon as I walked through the door to my cottage, I was presented with a lei, a cocktail in a coconut, and a giant flower for my hair! The cottage was decorated with streamers and balloons, and some of the guests also wore leis. My roommate Marte, even made Hawaiian pizza, and my cocktail was called beach barbie or something like that.

Betty made this awesome poster for everyone to sign. The perfect decoration for my bulletin board =)

Here's me and the roommates. Our first picture with all of us =)

And the lovely lady that was responsible for organizing the whole thing, Marte. She even called the resident manager to ask if it was okay for us to throw a little party for my birthday.

Notice our mid-party mess in the background =P

At around 10pm, we headed into town to go dancing and continue the festivities. Combined with the zoo, this was absolutely my best birthday yet, and it was all thanks to the wonderful people I've met here in New Zealand!

The next morning, I was pleasantly surprised to wake up with no signs of a hangover... except maybe the pressing need to have a massive breakfast. I invited a few people over, and the roomies and I had some epic omelets and homefries with toast for lunch... mmmmmm.

Now let the 1/4 life crisis begin =P

Hamilton Zoo - Best 1/4 Century Birthday Ever!

I decided to celebrate my 25th birthday a day early and spend that Sunday (my actual birthday) lounging around and recovering if I needed to.

So on Saturday my friends and I went to the Hamilton Zoo. This was by far my favorite zoo I've ever been to, including the Bronx Zoo (although that is a pretty awesome zoo as well). One of the best parts about the Hamilton Zoo is that it is so interactive, and the keepers really make an effort to give the visitors the best experience possible. Here are some pics of the highlights.

 This baby white rhino is only 2 months old and already so huge!

 The meerkats were one of my favorites. It was so funny because there was one meerkat that was like the Boss, and he sat at the top of this perch on the lookout as all the other meerkats looked to him for guidance. About three minutes before they knew it was feeding time, the Boss relocated to a higher perch and craned his neck to see over the enclosure wall in the direction that he knew the keeper would be coming from with their treats. As soon as the keeper was visible, all the meerkats ran down to the area where we were standing, anxiously waiting for their food. They all began making these cute little growling noises until the keeper tossed them each their own whole chick! I always thought meerkats just ate bugs and fruit, but those little guys are quite ravenous!

The tiger enclosure was also great. Another thing that I liked so much about the Hamilton Zoo was how clean and spacious all of the enclosures were, nothing was overgrown, and it really looks like the people who manage the zoo take very good care of the animals.

When we went to the tiger enclosure, the keeper was nice enough to put some meat out right where the viewing area was so that we could get a good view and some awesome pics. There are currently two tigers, a male and a female, but they had to be released into the enclosure separately. This is the male tiger.

Now here's a little bit of information about me for those of you who don't know. I LOVE giraffes. Like, really, REALLY love them. Almost obsessively. Just to put it into perspective, whenever anyone gives me a gift, and I open it up, before I even know what it is, as soon as I see giraffe print, I go apeshit. I instantly love whatever it is you just gave me.

Before I get to the best part about my trip to the Hamilton Zoo, here's what I look like when I see giraffes.

Now for the main event... But first, a little back story. My awesome roommate, and everyone else knew how much I love giraffes, and so she e-mailed the zoo beforehand to ask them if there was any chance that we would be able to feed the giraffes. When we got to the zoo, I had mentioned that I heard something about feeding giraffes, and my friends all successfully convinced me that that was something they only do at the Aukland zoo. Still, when we got to the giraffe enclosure, I was as happy as ever to be standing only about two yards away from the giraffes, the closest I had ever stood next to one!

When the keepers came to talk about the giraffes, I was pleasantly surprised... you guessed it! TO FEED THE GIRAFFES!!!! This was clearly the highlight of my life... or if not that, it was definitely the best birthday ever!

 Giraffes love carrots! Who knew?

Look how cute he is! It was so funny when they reached their tongues out and twisted them around the carrots.

There are a total of six giraffes at the Hamilton Zoo, and all of them are male.

Paragliding, Not Quite Skydiving

When we were in Queenstown on our South Island trip, my roommate Betty and I opted to go paragliding while the rest of our group went skydiving. Now, for those of you who know me, you are probably thinking, why in the hell would Kaʻiulani go paragliding? The answer is simple... I have no idea why the hell I ever went paragliding! For those of you who don't know me, I'm the girl at the fair that holds everyones bags while THEY go on the rides.

Nevertheless, I decided to literally run myself off of one of the highest mountains in Queenstown with nothing but a parachute and a strange man strapped to my back keeping me from plummeting to my death. Sounds like a great idea, sign me up!

Once I paid my fee, and we started driving up the mountain, I suddenly regretted what I was about to do. I think I said something to the effect of wanting to cry on the way up to which the guys flying tandem replied, well that's not really a positive outlook.

This was me at the top of the cliff that I was about to run off of. Betty may be posing to make me feel better, but I was really feeling the way my face looks at the moment.

When we were finally at the top, the guys set up the chutes and strapped us in our harnesses so quickly and casually, as per usual when interacting with Kiwis. Once I was connected to the parachute, my tandem briefly explained that we were going to walk swiftly to the edge of the launching point and when he says go, I was to start running until I was no longer on the ground... Okay... The next thing I know, the guy says okay run! What!?! I didn't even have time to absorb the fact that I was standing on the side of a mountain about to meet the bottom before I was running off of it.

Once the initial shock wore off, it was really incredible to take in the view over the back side of Queenstown.

This is me trying to look cool, calm, and collected. Actually, at this point I was thinking, ah, this isn't so bad after all.

Then my tandem surprised me by doing some kind of crazy spiral in the air that took us right up to the side of the mountain making it seem like we were going to hit it. Of course, I screamed and cursed a bit, but then things settled down again and I thought, I dunno why I'm always so worried about these things, this is really not that bad.

As we were getting close to our landing zone, the guy asked me if I wanted to do a bit of acrobatics before the flight ended, and thinking that I made it through the last bit, and hell I'm up here already, I told him, sure why not?

Worst idea ever! I mean it was cool and all, but then once the adrenaline wore off, my legs turned to Jello and I spent the rest of the day nauseated and unable to function. THIS is why I don't do these things. Not because of the fear factor, I find that part exciting, rather, the fear of the aftermath. I know I get terrible motion sickness, and I know that engaging in these types of activities will always result in me feeling like shit for the rest of the day, walking on the line between a headache and wanting to throw up.

All in all, it was an incredible experience and we made it to the ground safe and sound. I'm really glad I did it, if for no other reason than to assure myself that, no, I do not want to go skydiving, and that this is something that I now know I never need to do again.

The rest of my friends ended up skydiving the next day, as the weather conditions postponed their trip. Here's some pictures I took of them at the landing zone.

South Island Trip - Take Two

Once we got our campervans, we were good to go! We named our RV Molly Malone, and she was our home on wheels for the next 10 days. Admiral Slettebø was our driver, and just behind us were the Danes, their driver, Capitain Pops.

The first stop on our Tour de South Island was at Lake Tekapo on the way to Maunga Aoraki, (Mount Cook). This is the whole gang! Simon, Kristian (Admiral Slettebø), Niels (Capitain Pops), Ulrik, Betty, Me, Jenn, and Marte.

We took a short walk to the Mount cook lookout. Good weather was definitely on our side =)

Just a 20 minute drive from the lookout was Hooker Valley (no joke), where we hiked up a bit of a hill to check out the Hooker Glacier. This was the view on the way up, and below is me chilling out at the top. Thanks Jenn for the great panamarama*

Driving down the East side of the South Island, we passed by a lot of lakes and rivers, and I was so tempted to jump in, but we were on a tight schedule to get to Queenstown by Friday.


Here's one of the rivers we passed that had a pedestrian bridge to a quaint little tourist attraction. There was a giant slide that I wanted to go down so badly, but we had to get back on the road.

Queenstown was great, but more on that later...

On our way out of Queenstown, we drove about 5 hours out of the way to get to the Milford Sound. We took a boat cruise around the sounds, and got to see even more beautiful scenery. It was well worth the detour, and one of the highlights of our trip.

We even got to see little seals cruising on the rocks. Sooo cute!

The next day we started our drive back north, this time going on the West side of the South Island. We didn't have time to go on the glacier, but we took a short walk to the Franz Joseph lookout. Again, very beautiful and a nice break from all the driving.

Our last stop on the South Island was the Abel Tasman National Park. Like most of our trip, this was an almost spur of the moment decision, and turned out to be another one of the highlights.

We took a water taxi to a small bay and hiked a short trail to another bay called Anchorage where the water taxi picked us up after two hours. Just 

enough time for me to take a quick dip in the ocean! My first time in New Zealand waters, and it was FREEZING! The water was so cold I felt like I was burning, but it was totally worth it.

The best part of the water taxi was that it was towed in and out of the water via tractor! Hahaha.

We spent our last night on the South Island near Picton where we returned Molly Malone, and took the ferry back to Wellington. In Wellington, we rented cars for $1 plus the cost of insurance and drove back to Hamilton. This was the sunset on the way home, definitely a beautiful way to end the trip.

Wellington and South Island (Pre-RV)

I just got back to Hamilton from a two-week "study break." Not sure if that's supposed to be a break for studying or a break from studying, but I take it you can guess how I decided to interpret my time off from school =)

I started off the trip with an 8-hour night bus ride from Hamilton City to Wellington with two Norwegian guys and a Dane. The bus ride was pretty rough, especially since I have a hard time falling asleep on planes and busses. This was the longest bus ride I've ever taken. Before this one it was a seemingly short 4-hour ride from New York City to Baltimore. When we finally got to Wellington, the bus driver was describing to my travel mates where our hostel was, and after speaking to them, he came up to me and asked me if I needed any directions. I had to hold in my laughter when I confirmed to him that I (the brown girl) was with the three Scandinavians. We must have looked like an odd assortment.

View from the top of Mount Victoria

It was Easter Sunday when we arrived in Wellington, so most of the shops were closed for the day. In New Zealand, only small shops and restaurants are allowed to operate on certain holidays, so we opted for a short hike up Mount Victoria.

Stumbled upon a LOTR filming location on the way down... not quite sure what part of the movie I was walking through, but it was still neat.

The Mac's Brewbar

After our hike, we were all a bit thirsty for a beer, especially knowing that the Mac's Brewery was in Wellington. We were hoping that it would be open despite the holiday restrictions and were pleasantly surprised that it was. We were each able to get a couple of pints of cold beer on the condition that alcohol would only be served to patrons intending to dine.

We spent one night at the X-Base Backpackers hostel in Wellington, and caught the Interislander Ferry to the South Island. The ferry was huge, more like a cruise ship in my opinion. The trip was four hours long and the view was beautiful to say the least.

Our first stop in the Marlborough region of the South Island was a wine tour! Highlight Winetours picked us up directly from the ferry and we began tasting wines and five different wineries. I'm not usually one for white wines, but this region of New Zealand is famous for their whites, especially the Sauvignon Blanc, which made me want to cook.

Cloudy Bay Winery

Kaikoura

 We spent one night in the Koanui backpackers hostel in Blenheim before jumping on another bus to Christchurch. Most of the drive was along the West coastline, which was very beautiful. On the way we stopped in Kaikoura for a moment and got to take in the beach scenery there. Our bus driver was really nice and funny in a cute way. As we were driving through the Canterbury Plains, he told us a story about a truck accident that let a bunch of white swine loose, and how the pigs began to interbreed with the wild hogs, so this area now has wild pigs showing the white features of the ones that got loose. The driver was very excited about this story.

We arrived in Christchurch at about 7pm and it was my friend Kristian's birthday, so we celebrated by taking him out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and then went to the only open bar in the town, which was a very snazzy looking pop-up bar. Many of the streets were closed because of the devastation from the 2011 earthquake, so lots of things seemed to be in a temporary state. The next day was rainy, so we didn't get to see much of Christchurch before we were off to the next stop, but not before hitting up a closeout sale at the Roxy and Quicksilver store. $65 spent on 3 pair of pants and a shirt, not to shabby! There was another earthquake just hours after we left Christchurch, talk about good timing.

Balloons Over Waikato

Balloons Over Waikato is an event where they inflate "heaps" of hot air balloons and fly them over the city. On Thursday morning, I went to Hamilton lake before dawn to watch them inflate the balloons.

Once all the balloons were inflated we got some breakfast at McDonalds (how American) and saw the balloons flying over us.

On Saturday night, a selection of balloons were brought to the fields at the University of Waikato and the balloons were illuminated in an orchestrated Balloon Glow Show.

The announcer said there were about 18,000 people in attendance. There were also a few carnival rides, concession stands, and live entertainment.

After the Glow Show, they deflated the balloons and had a seven and a half minute fireworks display. It was such a clear night out =) so beautiful!