North Island Adventure

On February 1st I will be embarking on my study abroad program at University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. My flight leaves at 7:47pm on February 1st and I land in Auckland, New Zealand at 5:00 on February 3rd. Talk about a long flight! I have two layovers, one in Los Angeles and one in Brisbane, Australia. I'll be traveling with two other ISU students who will also be studying in Dunedin with me. So here is our itinerary for the first few days in New Zealand.

A map for future reference:

Day 1: The Shire
We are staying in a hostel about 2 km from the center of Auckland, which is the largest city in NZ. It is located near the top of the North Island. We are staying at Ponsonby Backpackers pictured below.

Our plan is to grab our rental car first thing in the morning and then head south towards Hamilton and see the Shire from the LOTR movies. After that we will continue south and shack up in Rotorua.

Day 2: Rotorua
Rotorua is famous for it's geothermal activity, especially it's hot springs. There is also a Maori village near Rotorua that maintains Maori culture from before British settlement. The plan is to spend a second night in Rotorua.

Day 3: Waitomo Caves
This day we will get up early and make our way west to the Waikato region and it's famous Waitomo caves. We are going to be doing a cave tour where we get to tube down underground rivers.These caves are unique because they have glow worms in the ceiling that make the cave look like the night sky. After our rafting experience we are going to drive to Lake Taupo, a large inland lake in the middle of the North Island that is the remnant of an ancient super volcano.

Day 4: Lake Taupo
Lake Taupo has some famous Maori rock carvings and is a popular vacation spot. We are planning on doing some mountain biking or relaxing on the beach. In the evening we will be driving to Whanganui, which is on the Southwest coast of the North Island.

Day 5: Whanganui River
The Whanganui has a large delta that flows into the ocean and canoeing on the river is a popular past time. We'll spend the day on the river and in the evening make our way to Wellington on the southern tip of the North Island for the night.

Day 6: Ferry Ride
We'll be up bright and early to board our ferry going from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South Island. Once we get into Picton we'll catch a bus to Christchurch which is on the east coast of the South Island about halfway to Dunedin.

Day 7: The Last Leg
We'll wake up in Christchurch, hang around for a bit and then catch a bus to Dunedin. Once in Dunedin we can get our keys to our apartments and crash for a while after our adventure.
Here is a picture of the University:

I'll post updates when internet is available and hopefully something resembling weekly posts while I'm studying.