Brea's Visit!

I've waited months and month for this--- my first visitor!  Brea is a friend of mine from medical school.  We have quite a lot in common--- Pennsylvania girl, likes running, sports, adventure--  and she's a family doctor working abroad, too!  She is in the Air Force serving at a base in South Korea.   We've kept in touch since leaving the States last summer, and have been planning a visit for months!   She was excited to leave crowded, smelly, frigid South Korea, and I was excited to see a familar face and great friend! 

I picked Brea up in Auckland after her loooong journey from S. Korea.  Our first stop was the Sky City Tower in Auckland--- all the way to the top to see the views of the City and beyond.

The tower from the ground....

The views from the top!    Auckland Harbour, Devonport is the town in the middle, then in the distance back on the right is Rangitoto, a volcanic island!

Auckland Harbour Bridge

They have a crazy activity called "Sky Walk", where they clip your harness to a beam and you can walk along the ledge of the tower!  (No mom, we didn't do it, we're not that insane :) )

In the distance is "One Tree Hill", a dormant volcano which is a sacred Maori memorial place.   Named as such because it used to have one tree on the top of it (how clever!).  There's a U2 song and a New Zealand drama TV Series with the same name.

Parts of the sky deck floor are (very hard, very durable) plexiglass floor, so you can look down, down, down below....

After the super short Auckland visit, it was time to show Brea the *real* beauty of New Zealand!  On our way to our first overnight stay in Raglan, we made a short detour to see Bridal Veil Falls.

 There were 261 steps down to reach the bottom of the 55 meter falls, but every step (down, then again back up!) was worth it!   Look closely and see the rainbow through the falls!

Later that evening we made it to Raglan just in time to see a gorgeous sunset from our hostel.

 Raglan is internationally known for its surf.  Guess what we did there? 

We got surfing lessons from this hottie!  :)   We both got up and rode a few waves to shore.  Success!  But MAJOR soreness the next day.

 After a fantastic beachside picnic lunch, we hit the road again towards my 'hood.  We stopped at Mike's Brewery ten minutes before closing time, and they stayed open for us to have some tasty samples and learn about their beer.

New Plymouth is in the middle of its month-long Festival of Lights, so we strolled through Pukekura Park to see all the trees lit up, and caught a sneak peak of Mt Taranaki through the trees.

We sat in the park and watched a sunset showing of the movie "Bolt".  How cute!

The next day, it was time to kayak!   We had a guided kayak tour to the Sugarloaf Islands, which are located off the coast of New Plymouth.   The Islands are a spine of lava, pushed up from a volcano and have been dated to 1.75 MILLION years old!

Here we are, paddling to the Islands...

Guess who lives on the islands?  Not people, but a colony of Fur Seals!

 They were so cute!  Some actually jumped off the rocks and came into the water to show off and swim alongside our kayaks!   They were so close I could've touched them with my paddle!

Here's looking at you, Mister Seal!  :)

After our great kayaking trip, we took the hour-long trip south to Hawera.   A quick shower/food stop at my house and a ten-minute driving tour down main street, and off we were to our next destination- National Park!

National Park is the location of the Tongariro Crossing, one of New Zealand's "Great Walks" and one of the best one-day walks in the World.  It's the track Lincoln and I tried to do a few months ago but couldn't because of nasty weather.   The weather gods were in our favor because the forecast was gorgeous for our day of hiking!

Here's Brea and I at the start, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the 8+ hour walk ahead of us!

 Our views of Mount Ruapehu, a very popular ski field in the winter months.

This is Mount Ngauruhoe.   If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, you may recognize this as "Mount Doom".  The whole crossing covers the land known as "Mordor".  I didn't watch the movie, so this means nothing to me :)  It was still beautiful!

 The day was so clear, we were able to catch a glimpse of Mt Taranaki in the distance (about a hundred km's away!) 

(some of the following pics are courtesy of Brea- thanks, my dear!)

There's a third volcano in the area, Mount Tongariro.  We took a side-trip to climb to its summit (almost 2000m).

Here's Brea climbing the last few rocks to get to the Tongariro Summit.  Her determination must've been because it was our lunch stop :)

 Mount Ngauruhoe on the left and Mount Ruapehu on the right---Not a bad lunchbreak view, eh?

 The entire walk is through raw, volcanic terrain. Virtually no wildlife exists here--- but I think we spotted a few bugs WAY out of place and far from their homes!

 Looking back on Mount Ngauruhoe on the way to the Red Crater..

Brea and I with Mount Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom)...

The Red Crater--- the color was gorgeous!

Speaking of gorgeous colors, next came the Emerald Lakes.

My two other American friends from Rotorua, Amanda and Dawn, joined us for the day's hike.  The Tongariro Crossing has never seen such a group of four awesome adventurous American gals! :)

Next came a walk through the Central Crater.  This is a look back on our trek.  The diagonal line from the bottom left-hand corner allll the way up the the peak was the route we came from!

The next portion was a vast change in scenery- no more volcanic rock, but the downhill walk with Lake Rotoaira in the middle, and Lake Taupo in the back.

A few more hours of walking, and we made it to the finish!  19.4 km (almost 12 miles!- and that's not including the extra summit trek)- what an accomplishment!  We were SO ready for the hostel's hot tub. :)

Brea's short five-day trip was quickly coming to a close, and we were slightly exhuasted from our plethora of physical activities, so it was mutually decided that her final day in NZ would be a beach day!   We headed north to Mount Maunganui and relaxed with some sun, sand and surf.

Top it off with some sushi (my first here in NZ!) and some tasty wine for a great last night celebration!

Brea, thanks so much for coming to visit!   I had a blast showing you the North Island and sharing our experiences/joys/frustrations of living and working abroad.   From surfing to kayaking to scrambing down scree, it was a fun-filled 5 days I'll never forget!

Now who's gonna visit me next?  ;)