Finally Chasing Waterfalls

Today I was gonna sleep in. But I woke up kinda early anyways. But I just laid in bed for a while because I was gonna be lazy and it was raining. So when I eventually decided to get up I got dressed and walked into town. I tried to get a pic of the view from the hotel but it was rainy and foggy so it wouldn't have been a good pic. Yesterday the water in the lake was soo blue and today it was so grey. It makes me kinda sad I didn't take a picture yesterday but oh well. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
So then I get to town and I'm wandering around looking for a taxi to take me to the Honey Hive and there's like none. And I'm looking for the ones I took yesterday because they were like right there and I literally walked way past it but eventually I found it and it took me to the Honey Hive.

When you're all by yourself sometimes you gotta improvise.

The honey hive was not what I thought it would be like. It was advertised like you come and you like learn all about bees and how they make the honey and such and you can taste honey and preservatives and spreads and such but it was really just a store. I did get to taste some honey but like that's it. And the ones I liked were super expensive, like the one I was gonna get for my sister (until I saw the price) was $117 for a tiny little jar. So then I was gonna get her the lavender kind but it tasted super bad so she didn't get that either. And they had like skin stuff too but they were also super expensive. So after staring at the honeys for a super long time I left to go to the Huka Falls.

woo hiking woo i didn't die

So there was no road to Huka Falls. Well like there was but there was no footpath (sidewalk) and it was like legit just for the cars, so I took the mountain bike trail. It was super narrow and if a mountain bike did come by, it might've knocked me down a cliff and I might've died, but I didn't so it's all good. It was actually kinda fun walking in the middle of the nature thing. Look at that, me, hiking! Go me. I know you're not supposed to hike by yourself and that's how Ally died, hiking by herself in New Zealand, but the tracks were fresh so if something were to happen a mountain biker would most likely find me relatively soon. The path was all zig zaggy instead of like up and down so that was good because ya girl does not do hills well (if you couldn't tell by all my 'I hate hills' posts). So anyways, then I came to this part that was like "this way to the beach" and I was like "wait I'm going to the falls" so I went the other way just hoping it was the right way. Then I heard the helicopter and I was like "cool, I must be going the right way because the copter must be above the falls for like tours and such" so I kept walking. At this point it was like uphill and I was like this better be the right way (back with the I hate hills aspect). Finally I saw water and I was like "yasss" but it was a river and not like the falls so I look at the river right because like water gives me strength and imma need strength if imma keep hiking bc like I have arthritis and I don't hike and who knows I could die and like there are bubbles in the water and I'm like YESSS so then like I follow the bubbles and that's how I know I'm going the right way because the bubbles gotta be coming from the falls bc where else would they be coming from?

Finally found the river with bubbles! 

The strongest connection one can have is that made of bubbles (quote by yours truly) and man my connection with those bubbles were on point so I keep following them even tho at this point there are no tracks on the path so if I die it might be a while til help finds me but oh well yolo, so I keep walking. Then there's another sign and it's like Crater Walk this way, Huka Falls that way and I'm like yay I'm almost there! So I go towards the Huka Falls way and then the path ends and I gotta find a new one but I found it and this one came from the road so like it's like a human instead of bike path and there are other people walking on it so I'm like at least I won't die and I keep walking and I'm all like "yeah look at my hiking go me I'm awesome" and I'm wishing I had my book so I could write in it but I don't so yeah I'm writing this like three weeks later but oh well I'm clearly still excited about it because look I survived because as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay alive and man I love the water. So anyways, then I finally find it! Yay me!
Omg I wrote all that in one breath (bc excited clearly) and now I'm like exhausted.
Anyways.
The path brings me to the bottom of the waterfall. It's like white where the fall lands then turquoise then teal and it's so pretty. So I just chill at the bottom for a little bit and take some pictures before I head up to the tourist area. It's cool because down here there's like nobody because they're all at the top because the clearly drove, the lucky ducks.
So then I go up to the tourist part and I'm like okay I'll like go check out the waterfall then eat because I'm sure there's a cafe there and there's no cafe so that plan fails.
But like so I go check out the waterfall and it's seriously so powerful. Like I'm not really sure where all that power is coming from but I've never seen anything so powerful like it is pumpin. Like the Queen clearly doesn't have much power but neither does Obama or anything. Like it's insane. I've such respect for this waterfall. I kept thinking I wish I had brought my book so I could sit in front of it and write about it, but I didn't. Now I know to always bring my notebook with me. Oh well.
The water is so mesmerizing. I tried to photograph/video it to get it but it doesn't come through digital media well. Like it does but not the mesmerizing effect. It's seriously so amazing. It's not a large waterfall by any means but it's so beautiful and powerful and strong and amazing. Like I've seen Niagara (yeah I was young but I still saw it man) and I feel like this waterfall was more powerful. It's so powerful that fish and other marine life cannot swim up the falls so there is barely any wildlife topside of the waterfall. & like here, and I guess hippies back home, are always talking about like how like areas give off energies and such (okay so when it comes to water I guess I could be classified as one of those hippies at home because I totally say that too but that's not the point) and like the one beach on Waiheke was clearly emitting like healing and restorative energies and like when it came to this fall I couldn't quite place what energies it was vibin but it was so strong it definitely was giving off lots of energies. I think it depends on like what each person needed most as to what energy it gave to them. Like hello, I don't hike, so like it helped revive and restore me so that I could continue on my journey, but it was just like so amazing and such an awesome waterfall. I literally just stood there staring at the waters for a while.
Then I started getting hungry so since there was no cafe at the falls I figured maybe the Spa Park would have a cafe so I started on my way to there.
Also, fun fact: huka means foam. If this post was solely about the falls (which it would've been if I had my notebook with me at the waterfall), the post would've been named the Foam Falls.

 So the path to the Spa Park was a human walking path, so I'm not sure if it counts as a hike but I definitely liked walking on the mountain bike path better. It was more fun and less totally awful on my poor knees and breath and such. Like I wasn't too sure I was gonna make it to the spa park lol. I kept going off the path to go to little lookouts at the river, but it took forever and by the time I was like halfway there I was ready to give up, but I kept walking. I think because I was hungry and tired and thirsty made it worse. I had a drink but I drank it all well before I reached the park. But I eventually made it. Here are some pictures from my walk there:

So then I finally made it to the Spa Park! YAY! But there was no cafe there either. BOO. But oh well I just went swimming anyways and let the waters make me not hungry, but I did almost eat a dead fish I caught.
So anyways, what the spa park is is it's where a hot water stream from the volcanic like faults and such meets the river that goes down to the Huka Falls. So the closer you are to the river (even in the river), the colder it is because the river is freezing, and the closer you are inland in the stream, the warmer it is because of the geothermal activities. There were a couple waterfalls that went into pools on the inland side of the stream so it was cool to play in them because I've always wanted to play in a waterfall!! Fulfilling life goals right there. You can see the opening picture of this post.
But then it got like real hot so I spent most of my time practically in the river but still in the stream because the stream didn't have any current but the current in the river was super strong and also I stayed in the stream because the river was very cold even tho I went into the river to play a lot.

I caught a fish!!

Pretending to eat the fish for a picture

I was fine just chillin. But this guy comes over and keeps talking to me. Like an old guy that was clearly just lonely himself and wanted to talk. So I just like let him talk and I'm like "yeah" occasionally because I don't wanna talk because I don't like people. But this guy here finds out I'm American and starts going off about Trump, but it's not what you think. He likes Trump! He's literally the only person in all of New Zealand that hasn't complained to me about how much they hate Trump. So that was refreshing like the river.
Then a bunch of Maori boys come over and start talking to me. Now them I would talk to. So they see my GoPro and they're like "can I take a picture" and I'm like "sure" so now I have three pictures of them and we're Facebook friends and yay I made friends!  One was a straight up high school flashback, with Only God Can Judge Me chest tats and everything. I was supposed to hang out with that one in Wellington but he didn't come but it's okay because I was busy anyways. But yeah. They were chill. They own a farm a half hour away.

 (Also blogger isn't letting me move around my pictures like usual and it's making me mad.)
I could've stayed in the stream literally forever but it was getting dark and the tide was going out so there was literally like no water left where I wasn't burning up so eventually I had to leave. I guess 3.5 hours was enough anyways...except it wasn't.
I don't know how to get out of here so I follow the people in front of me and they take me to a parking lot and these people right in front of me keep turning around to check on me because I'm like panting like a dog because it's like uphill and I'm like dying. Then I'm like (to myself) "where do I tell the taxi to pick me up from" and I have no idea because there's like lots of parking lots and stuff so I'm like I'll just walk until I can't walk anymore then I'll call a taxi because I don't like talking to peoples anyways. So there's this group of people in front of me so I follow them and hope I'm going the right way to town. Then they're lost but I keep going anyways because I remember those road names from the map. So then I finally make it to town yay! That's enough walking for me for a lifetime.
So then I am very hungry so I go to this fancy Bistro restuarnt because it's right there and I feel very under-dressed but it's empty so it doesn't matter. They bring me free bread and free samples of some fancy appetizer thing while my pork is cooking. I love pork. It's amazing. Second day in a row I've had pork. It's so lovely.
So then I eat all my food and I can't remember if I'm still hungry but I think maybe I am but I have cheesecake back in my room so I leave anyways and I walk back to my hotel because it's really quite close.
So then I get back and I watch TV and take a warm shower because it's cold outside and eat my cheesecake.
The guide says Baggage Claim is next on TV so I'm like "yeah I love that show" but the show I like is just called Baggage and Baggage Claim is a movie but it takes place in Baltimore and it's a good movie so I watch it anyways and they show a picture of the Aquarium and it makes me very sad because I miss Maryland but it's okay because Taupo is a good place to be.
Then I read more of Sarah's book and go to sleep.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

Taking it to Taupo

Before you ask "What's 'it'?", I dunno. I just needed a title. 'It' could be lots of things. 'It' could be myself. 'It' could be my cameras. 'It' could be my backpack. 'It' could be both my sense of adventure and my laziness as I plan to have a very relaxing weekend. 'It' could be just about anything (including the book Sarah let me borrow for the long bus rude. Shout out & thanks to Sarah!).
So yeah, I'm in Taupo. And I still have to write my blogs about Waiheke, Hobbiton, and Waitomo, but I'm currently sitting on this little patio thing at the hotel (the pool and hot tub were both freezing), looking at the most gorgeous view (and no, it's not a mirror), so those other posts can wait. And yes, it might only be 2 in the afternoon, but I'm not doing anything else today except maybe go to the lake and drink more tea, so really my day is done enough to write my post.
This morning I got up (several times before I had to then eventually) at 6:30 to catch my bus to Taupo. I was on the bus from 7:15 (a bit earlier actually, 7:10ish) to 12:30. Thankfully, the bus had wifi and my iPod was working. I took up the entire back row the whole time so I could lay down. (Hey if they wanted they back row they should've gotten there earlier.) This one family tried to sit there but then I tweeted a not very nice tweet and they must've read my mind because then they moved. Yeah, nobody said I was a nice person (except maybe Ted but that's because he's super nice). So anyways, I spent the first couple hours reading the book Sarah lent me

(Reese Witherspoon recommended the author to the whole internet, so that was really all the confirmation I needed. Also idk if that word should be affirmation because idk what affirmation means. But you get my point. What Reese says goes). It's not a sad book (tbh I'm not really sure what the plot is yet because apparently I'm a much slower reader than I used to be), yet I found myself holding back tears like four times. The first time, she was describing the steam releases in the roads in New York. I miss America so much that that description almost had me ballin'. Only in New Zealand could a book about Australia have me missing America. The other times she was talking about Janie, a daughter that died, and yeah, Pal, that doesn't really need explaining. It's a sad life nowadays. A year and a half ago (when he was totally healthy) everything was fine. Crazy how fast life can change.
Aw man. I finished my tea. Might have to go in soon to get more. Plus it's getting cold.
So anyways, after I heard enough about the mom grieving the dead girl, I switched over to my iPod. I started with Madonna, a solid choice. So like Vogue comes on and I'm like "I've heard this before" and I mean, obviously I've heard Vogue before, but I mean in a different song. Then it hits me - "Gaga". So I switch over to Lady GaGa and then turn on Born This Way to see if I'm right and I'm totally right. Born This Way is a faster (I'd guess 3-5x) Vogue melody. Obviously the words are different but the beat is definitely the same. At first I think that I was more upset that it's taken me 5 years to notice than I was about the actual music, but now I've realized I didn't notice because, although definitely different from her other songs at the time, Gaga has a certain style (like where she talks in parts in all her songs) that just made it seem Gaga-y (although when Born This Way came out I remember thinking it didn't seem too Gaga-y...oh well) so I just went with it. But yeah.
So then we took a half hour stop in Tokoroa but we couldn't bring hot food or drink back on the bus. So I found all the fried chicken in New Zealand; it's in Tokoroa! I was sad I couldn't get some because I wouldn't finish it in time and I had no way of sneaking it back on the bus.
Tokoroa isn't that far from Taupo, so I just listened to some Green Day (love them) and enjoyed the scenery (fun fact: I'm currently listening to Green Day as I'm typing out this post that I've already wrote [and yeah it should be written but wrote and post kinda rhyme in my mind]) until we were in Taupo. In Auckland, leaves fall but they never change color until they hit the ground. It's the strangest thing. The tree will be super green with dead leaves around it. But from Tokoroa to Taupo, the leaves were orange, yellow, green, red. A lot of them were still green but the colored ones were beautiful and reminded me why autumn (fall in America because leaf fall down) is a top contender for my favorite
season. I thought it was strange that the leaves are colorful now when at home it's almost summer, meaning here it should be almost winter, but then I remembered most of the North Island doesn't have winter, so it would make sense that their fall would be a bit later.
Okay I have to go in now; I'm too cold.
Okay I'm back inside now but I'll definitely have to go out again later to take pictures because it's seriously so beautiful. But I'll get there. (Future foreshadow: It rained every morning so I couldn't get a decent picture.)
Okay, wait, before I get back to the sequence of events, I just got more tea. The water is literally boiling, yet when I got outside it cooled so fast it was like legit cold. So that's how cold it is out. Okay back to the story.

Once I got to Taupo, I grabbed a map from iSite and started just wandering. I needed to grab food. I wanted fried chicken (shocker). I feel like I was actually wandering for quite a while. This one place said 'Fried Chicken' and I was like YES! But they only had breasts and I like legs and thighs. So I kept walking. Eventually I found this place called Prime Roast. Like that literally screams Tasha. So I go in and it looks amazing. And they have friend chicken thighs! But the food looked so good I got a pork platter instead.
When I was so full that I couldn't eat anymore, I walked more. I stumbled upon a taxi company so I took a taxi to my hotel but it was actually pretty close. I could've walked. Oh well.
So this room is super cool because it makes me feel like I'm in a log cabin which is cool because I've always wanted to stay at one of those resorts.
So then I took a look at the map and reconfigured my plan. I was going to go to the honey hive today but it's close to where I was going tomorrow, so I'm just gonna go first thing tomorrow. It's a bit far from here.
Then I attempted to face time my mother but it didn't work. I tried the pool and it was freezing. The hot tub wasn't much warmer. So I made some tea and went to the deck thing that overlooks the lack (and the mountains and the houses). It's so lovely it makes me wonder how I could miss the States.
I wrote out some postcards and started on this blog then I got cold and came in where I'm still writing and jamming to my Avril Lavigne pandora (love her). So yeah. That's where I'm at. I'll probably go to the hotel's restaurant for dinner, perhaps catch up on another blog post, perhaps not, shower, and bed. I'm exhausted.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

The Day I Survived Being Eaten By A Rock

Saturday (a couple Saturdays ago now...I'm real bad at writing these on time) a group of us Loyola kids got up early to head over to Waiheke. Tim, Matt, Anastasia, Libby, Aissa, Celeste, and I took the ferry over to Waiheke Island where we were met by our Marae trip (see the posts about Loyola at Leigh/Loyola takes Leigh) leader, Bianca, and her wife, two time Survivor participant, Ami Cusack. Shoutout & thanks to Tim for setting it all up for us!
Lol the reason I'm not supposed to wait this long to write these posts is so I don't forget things, so we'll see how I do...anyways. Once Bianca and Ami picked us up from the ferry we went to a lookout point where we could see where we had just come from, and we could even see Auckland in the distance.






Then we went to another lookout spot where we walked down a path to get to a beach.

View from spot above 

Walking to beach

On the beach

I like trees

Rocks are cool 

Bianca drove down to the beach so we didn't have to walk back up to the van. Then we were taken into the Man-O-War part of the island. The guy that owns it owns 1/6 of Waiheke Island and half of another island. (I think they said he owns like 1/3 of another part of NZ too but I'm not too certain..) So first we stopped at another lookout point, where Tim found a broken guitar.
From this lookout point you could see the water, the mountains, and the greenery that makes New Zealand New Zealand. 

Then we were taken to another green area where there were tons of rocks. The rocks got there by being flung there from a volcanic eruption! They were super cool. Then we walked through cow poop up a massive hill to go to Bianca and Ami's wedding spot. It was only Ami's third time being there (first on their first date, second on their wedding day, and third with us!), plus tomorrow (the day after we went to Waiheke) they leave for their honeymoon in the Cook Islands. How nice are they to be showing us around! 

Palm tree with no coconuts

So anyways, Bianca taught us about this palm tree that doesn't grow coconuts and we could see tons of islands and an oyster bed and all the way to the Coromandel Peninsula from on top of this giant cow poop filled mountain. Then we got to climb up on the rock they were married on, and when I was climbing up I fell and my poor camera hit the rock and now it doesn't like to properly work, but I still make it work sometimes. At first it was just super blurry because it was hurt that it hit the rock, then it kept telling me it was dead and wouldn't let me take pictures. Now I have new batteries in it so we'll see what happens. 

Then they took us to this rock called Monster Rock. You can see the picture in the opening of this post. The rock attempted to eat Celeste, Tim, and I but we survived because it's just a rock.
Next we went to the Man-O-War winery and had free wine tastings of all their wines. So the other day I was contemplating on why I would make a bad wife (there's actually lots of reasons. No cooking, no cleaning, blah blah), and I decided it was because I don't like wine. So this time I was all for trying to make myself like the wine. LOL no wine still sucks. There were three I could finish and didn't hate, the rest I would attempt to drink normally but then I had to just take it like a shot because let's be real, shots taste better. Even when they're medicine shots. They did have this honey wine made of the manuka honey though, and that was good. It was too sweet to just drink but it wasn't totally awful.
So we did a lot. & by that time we were all pretty much starving. So we went to Charley Farley's for lunch. While we were waiting for our food, Matt, Tim, a couple of the girls (Celeste and Libby? I forget which two tbh) and I went down to the beach for a race. I was not dressed properly for a race. I literally had to hold everything up: my pants, my bandeau. It was no bueno. But I didn't get last!! I didn't win immunity either, but I didn't get last! I didn't even get second to last! I got third. Go me. Matt won, but since we weren't really on survivor, instead of immunity he won a beer. Still, it was fun.
At lunch we all got to try pretty much everyone's food because that's what happens when you're on Survivor I guess. I didn't mind; I love food. So then we had to say what our favorite movie was and I was like "Legally Blonde" and Ami was like "Really? Not Clueless?" and I was just like omg I love Clueless how did you know!

Justin Timberlake ate here

Cable Bay view

After lunch we went to Cable Bay Vineyards. This is where Bianca met Kendrick Lamar! It's also the vineyard with the best view. So once we got here, we first went down into the like cellar-ish place, like it was downstairs in the basement and they kept their barreled wine there but they also had a super fancy dining room down there. That's where Justin Timberlake had dinner when he came to Waiheke! It was fun trying to imagine him at the table and guess which chair he sat in.
So then our group split into two. Half of us went upstairs for more wine tastings. The other half, including myself, went outside to sit on the lawn. I had enough wine for like months. No thanks. Plus everyone kept saying the Man-O-War wine was better anyways, so why would I wanna taste bad wine, plus you had to pay for this tasting.

Once we had gathered everyone, we had to go back to the ferry. On the way to the ferry, Ami told us a lot about Survivor. Like did you know the first 10 people to get voted off get sent on a super nice, all-paid for vacation, where they get $50 a day while there? The time Ami didn't do so well, she got sent to Thailand! Also the first two days they have like an orientation period where they show you what you can and cannot eat that's native, but you can't talk to anyone. People still make alliances with how they look at each other though. They're currently filming in Fiji; maybe I'll see them when I'm there! (But probably not because they pick smaller islands out of the group of islands and they block off the whole area.) It was cool learning about a show I had watched as a child from someone who was actually on the show, twice, and was so successful on it (she made it to the final 6 in season 9).

We were all a bit sad when the day was over because we had so much fun, but we were also very tired so the ferry ride back to Auckland was mostly quiet. There was a baby in front of us and Celeste is like the baby whisperer so it was cool seeing her interact with the thing. We also could see the city skyline in the sunset, but when we tried to get pictures with it, the wind got in the way.
The Pacific Pearl was also just leaving port and we crossed paths with it around Devonport. Of course I took an insane amount of pictures of it because I'm kinda obsessed and sad that I'm not on it. But oh well. Only 64 days until my next cruise.
Once we got to Auckland, our group split again and Anastasia, Tim, Aissa, and I went to this dessert place for fancy desserts. It was okay. I was also super hungry again.



Overall, it was a good day. I wouldn't mind going to Waiheke again if we had more time.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha