Our trip was unique because we got to travel, for the most part, with the same group of people for three weeks. We did nearly everything together and became fast friends. Now that we are back in Melbourne and all the others have continued on their own journeys, I have been reminded of a time just shy of a week ago, when a group of us were sitting around a table. Some of us were telling stories of our previous travels while others were chatting about their lives in their home countries. I remember thinking how great it is that all our unique stories brought us all together from places around the world. I felt so grateful that we had opportunity to come together and that for a few weeks, our stories were able to collide with each others.
We travelled both the North and South Islands doing things that would test our courage! We dug our own hot springs, we abseiled thirty-five meters into a cave and explored the inner cave and it's glowworms for hours, we rafted over the largest rafted waterfall and took in the amazing Maori culture at the Tamaki Village. When it comes to the Maori culture, I can't think of anything more rich and rare. I absolutely loved it! We were silly enough to go mountain biking the day before our eight hour hike through the Tongaririo Alpine Crossings. That was a new definition for sore legs! We jumped out of a plane and luged down the side of a mountain and we hiked, climbed and walked and took in the amazing scenery of everything in between.
New Zealand was filled with so many wonderful and crazy adventures. I threw together a video of our highlights and although it's nine minutes long, I just couldn't stand cutting any more footage out. (I already cut it down from an hour and fifteen minutes!) By the way, this video caused me a lot of grief because just as I was putting the finishing touches on it, my computer decided that it didn't want to work any more. Long story short, this is actually the fourth video of it's kind. Nevertheless, it includes some highlights of the trip!
