Last 2 Days : Sand Boarding, Giant Trees & Goodbyes

         If you ever get the chance to go sand boarding, GO! This only cost us about $15 and it was a blast! After a few runs I really wished there was a chair lift to take us back up the hill, but the slide was well worth the climb. It took me a minute or two to work up the courage to go down, but there was really no skill involved and I didn't even get any sand in my mouth. :) Since I was burned the day before I didn't wear my suit so I stopped myself before going into the water, but I definitely would have flew straight out into the ocean otherwise. I've hurt myself sledding a few times, but this actually felt much safer and we all had lots of fun racing each other down the slope.
         After a few hours of this, we headed to the Kauri forest to see the biggest tree in New Zealand. The pictures don't do it justice at all, I was completely shocked when I saw it. It was wider than a standard sized living room for sure. It kind of looks like it's upside down to me because the branches on top look more like roots. It's protected so we're pretty far back from it or it would look much larger, but this way at least the whole tree fit in the shot. We hiked around a bit and saw some of the next largest trees as well and they were all startlingly huge. I kept forgetting how ginormous they were and every time we reached a new tree I would be amazed all over again. The biggest one is said to be over 5,000 years old!
         That night we camped right next to the beach and a hot springs pool. It was kind of like a water park with pools of all different temperatures. One tiny one called the lava pool was much too hot to even sit in, but some of the guys had fun attempting to stay in the longest. I think the record was ten seconds and they each did a fun little fire dance (which I enjoyed) when they hopped out. There was a movie pool as well, but we spent most of our time on the slides. Only one slide was open at that time of night, but it was absolutely fantastic! It was by far the fastest water slide I have ever been down. I was increasingly more scared to go down each time. It would whip you out at the end with the same effect of someone doing a giant cannon ball into the pool. We would each go down and wait behind this little wall that felt almost like being in an army trench to watch the others come out at an incredible speed.
          Earlier in the day we had bought a chocolate version of the game Clue. We took a blanket out onto the beach and played by flashlight for a few hours and then ate the clues when we finished. It was definitely a perfect final evening in New Zealand. I was sad to head back to Auckland in the morning, but after a few short hours on the bus I was saying goodbye to most of my new friends and after lunch there with the two that were left, I was headed to the airport and back to Sydney. I had a wonderful vacation in New Zealand and would 100% recommend visiting there to anyone interested. Hope you've enjoyed this lengthy series of posts! I hope I didn't go overboard! :)

Day 8: Sailing & Maori Concert

        On day eight I had to choose from about six different day trips, all of which sounded wonderful. I ended up choosing to go sailing and I'm confident I made the right decision. I've been sailing before, but it's been so long that I hardly remember it. There were about 12 of us on the boat and if we would have had any more I'm not sure where we would have sat or more importantly how we would have avoided being knocked off the boat. This may not sound fun to you, but trust me, it was a blast! If you've ever been sailing you know that the beam running along the bottom of the main sail, known as the boom, swings all over the place as it catches the wind. If you aren't careful it could knock you right into the water. We laughed the whole time as we ducked and tried to avoid it.
        I was in the spot safest from the boom, but I was also in the front meaning I was being splashed with water as we dipped in and out of waves. Not only that, but when we had to switch the front sail I had to be careful not to get whipped in the face. The whole thing was just laughable and on the bright side (literally) it was a sunny cloudless day with just the right amount of wind, perfect for sailing. We sailed to Robertson Island where we enjoyed the beach. We had the option to kayak, look for seashells, snorkel, or take a walk that overlooked the bay and the surrounding Islands. Our skipper made us lunch and we ate together on the beach before heading back to port. On the way home we looked for dolphins. Unfortunately we didn't see any, but I did see a little penguin! It swam right by the boat about 4 feet from me! At first I thought it was a duck, but it was a penguin! If you can't tell I was really excited about this. ha.
         The downside to spending all day in the sun in New Zealand where there is a whole in the ozone, was that I got very burned. My face was well covered and thankfully it was fine, but the rest of me didn't fair so well. My back and my legs got the worst of it. I haven't been burned like that since high school. It's okay though, I'm all better now.
          When we arrived back at the campsite we had to eat very quickly so we could make it to a Maori culture show. Before watching this, I didn't know much about the Maori people, but it was very informative and explained a lot about their history and customs. Some of the things they did were actually very funny, such as sticking their tongues out at their enemies which made it pretty fun as well. All in all it was a great day!

Day 7: Urititi Beach & Haruru Falls

        Our first stop of the morning was at Urititi beach and if I could have I would have stayed here all day. This beach was absolutely stunning and it seemed to go on forever. Unfortunately we only stopped for about an hour to eat our lunch and then we were on our way to The Bay of Islands. We arrived later in the day so we wouldn't spend it at the ocean, but we stayed at this campsite two nights so we could spend a full day here.
        Most of us went on a nature hike through woods along the bay that ended at Haruru Falls. It wasn't spectacular, but we arrived back at the campsite earlier that usual, allowing us to spend a relaxing night together playing cards and enjoying the campgrounds which were exceptionally nice. We were camped along a river and saw people catching eel by night. That was enough to convince me not to go swimming. ha. It was cool to watch though and this camp also had a pool, a trampoline, a playground and a zip-line! Fun stuff.