First few days

I've arrived in my apartment now after several days of sightseeing. It was nice to go without internet and cellphone use for a few days, even though I'm sure Mom was anxious to hear from me. I love the weather and landscape here. The first day the group traveled around Auckland a bit. We went to a beach, an aquarium, and had some interesting pizza.

The next day we traveled south to Rotarura, which smells like rotten eggs due to the many hot springs pumping sulfur out of the ground. The hotel we stayed at there was very nice, but was right on the lake, which seemed to be the center of the smell. I watched a sheep shearing/hearding show, and saw a kiwi bird and a tuatara, which is a very odd lizard. They can reach over 200 years in age and are born with 3 eyes to collect extra Vitamin D from the sun. The group also went on a tour of a geothermal area and watched a geyser errupt.

I know there was a car commercial that showed people rolling down a hill in a big plastic ball. It's called Zorbing, and everyone took a roll while we were in Rotorua. Unfortunately, one of the groups broke through the middle ball and got scraped up a bit.

The picture uploading is a little slow, and I have an appointment with the bank to open an account in about an hour, so I'll be signing off for now. I've met some great people so far, and am really enjoying the experience.

Henry