Rose's Essay
Essay of My Trip to Auckland New Zealand
April 1, 2005
By, Rose Dunstan
I was told over and over again to pack my bags for my trip to New Zealand where my sister April and her fiance Patrick are living. During the last week of school before Spring Break I was so excited to be going to a place where my classmates have never gone before. As my flight date drew closer I started to countdown the days before my flight.
The night before my plane would take flight there was a snow storm and everybody was thinking of leaving home early so we would get to Vancouver in time to catch the plane. My trip to NZ was when I had my Spring Break from school.
We did make it to Vancouver way before the plane took off, so we decided to pick up my nephews because they were going to NZ to visit my sister who is their mother.
When we got to the airport it was around 11:00 AM and I had to leave my mother and father at the check in station. My nephews and I spent four hours waiting for our flight. We spent three hours on the plane to Los Angeles, we spent another three hours waiting for the plane for NZ. The plane ride was thirteen hours and was going by very slowly. I didn’t get much sleep.
We got to New Zealand safe and sound at 6:45 AM on Tuesday, I don’t recall any memory of Monday because I was on the plane.
The first day in NZ was tiring because of the time change so we spent it at home getting used to the difference.
On March 23rd, 2005, we went to Muriwai Beach, which is on the Tasman Sea, and was great, but we didn’t bring swimsuits.
On the 24th, we went to Piha Beach and the waves were massive!
On March 25th, we went to the Auckland Zoo and saw really cool animals
ranging from lions to lemurs.
On the 26th, we went on a very long road trip in a two door hatchback
car with no leg room. In Leigh which is a Regional Park Reserve on the
Pacific Ocean coast, we had a picnic. We made our way on the road again
and stopped for dinner at the Mangonui Fish Shop. We got on the road
AGAIN and stayed in a youth hostel and there were a lot of mosquitoes
( which the locals call Mozzies).
March 27th, 2005. We made our way to Cape Reinga where the Tasman Sea
meets the Pacific Ocean. There was a little lighthouse and a map to
Vancouver, England and other big countries. The distance from Cape Reinga
to Vancouver is 11434 km or 6229 nm (nautical miles). After leaving
Cape Reinga we were on the way home and stopped at 90 Mile Beach, which
has really large, dangerous waves. My nephew Brennen was running from
a small wave but it was very strong and knocked him to the sand and
it rolled him towards the beach. The water was only to his knees and
he was knocked down!
March 28th, 2005. Happy Birthday Daniel! (Real birthdate in Canada
– March 27th, 2005)
We had decorations and a little mini birthday party. We went into downtown
Auckland to the Mexican Café for Dan’s birthday dinner.
After that we went up to the top of the Sky Tower to take a look at
the view of the city. We were on the way home and saw some really cool
building art and stopped to take pictures.
March 29th, 2005. We spent the day recuperating and decided to get
canvas and paints from the store. We did one painting each and they
are hung in the living room.
March 30th, 2005. Today we went to Waitomo Caves. The part of the cave
we were in looked fake but it wasn’t. We saw glowworms that live
in the caves and have long sticky string to catch their food. They stay
in the caves for about eight months and leave and evolve into some sort
of bug with no mouth and die in a couple of days.
March 31st, 2005. In the car again! We were on our way to Rotorua,
stopping in Tirau and we found THE ZORB! It’s a large ball with
a smaller one inside. The smaller ball is full of water and you ride
in it down a hill. It was fun but cost a lot. On the road again to our
destination. Rotorua was really smelly. It smelled like boiled eggs!
It was smelly because of the geothermal actvity far below the earths
surface from volcanic activity.
April 1, 2005. I spend today resting and writing this essay for all of you to see/read!
Summary
The trip I had to New Zealand was great, I love it here and would like
to come back. I arrived in NZ when summer was just finishing up. Here
they only have two seasons, summer and winter, posted at the tourist
attractions. The things we did here - the travelling and sight seeing
- were fascinating.
Rose Marie