Auckland was the last stop on my tour. Five weeks of an incredible journey and adventure with some amazing people. A trip I’ll never forget!

I’d been looking forward to going in the glowworm caves for ages. It was like seeing the night sky… except they’re technically maggots and the glowing part is their poop. Not so magical when you think of it that way, but insanely beautiful nonetheless.

The collage below isn’t any of my pics, but it was worth it not to worry about camera settings for the glow worm parts and just enjoy the experience. The guide said most people spent more time trying to get the photos right and missed out on the experience itself, I can see how that could happen.

The guide would turn on the lights as we went through the cave, we did entire sections in absolute pitch black. It was scary but fun! It took a lot of playing with settings on my camera, but I got some cool shots out of it.

They put this here to see if the dripping water would make a dent in the top over the years. So far, after careful scrutiny over the years… it’s made it wet.

Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao means “the gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao”. We learned how to pronounce it, but I’m not sure I’d attempt it again!

We visited this thermal village, where native Maori still live, cook (hangi), attend church, swim and frequently have tourists walking through, but they welcome it and are eager to share their culture. They cook using the heat from the ground, and they use the thermal heat as a power source.

We got to see an incredible demonstration of Maori dance, song, poi dance and of course the haka! All with a traditional hangi meal. It was delicious and a highlight of my trip for sure!

I had to give the poi dance a shot!

Geothermal heat is a powerful thing. And smelly.

Water rushes over Huka Falls at a rate of 220,000 litres (58 000 gallons) per second.

Mount dooooooooom!

The well known beer was named after this bird!

From the South island to the North island! We traded buses with another Contiki group that’s doing the reverse of our tour. They got off the ferry, and we got on!

There was a little something special this day too – it was the day that my friend got to see the guy she met on our Australian tour. It was a very sweet reunion, and even almost 4 months after the tour, they are reuniting in Thailand for another adventure together! <3

En route we stopped at a seal colony to watch them play in the water and sunbathe on the rocks.

The rain held off for a bit as we trekked up to the glacier which was nice. We were warned that it would be a tough hike – but compared to my 7 hour hike the day before… it was nothing! For the first 10-15 minutes, you need to keep walking since the area is a no-stopping zone. Rocks fall down frequently and without warning, so it’s dangerous to hang around. All the Aussies were frozen solid, all the Canadians were in t-shirts – it was pretty funny! As a special treat, (because we hiked so much faster than other groups) we got to go to an ice cave! It was so cool!

All those little dots are people – gives an idea of scale!

The stairs we walked up were carved out of the ice by the various glacier guides. Our guide, Avalon, was from northern BC and was happy to have other Canadians in her group since she was starting to get homesick.

These cliffs reminded me of the “cliffs of insanity” from the Princess Bride!