This past weekend I got the chance to spend a weekend with waa005. It was an incredible experience with some breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and other natural features. A short 2 hour flight from Auckland, I arrived to the town of around 52,000 residents. Immediately after stepping out of the airplane, you are greeted with a huge mountain range surrounding the valley where the airport is located. Our Airbnb was a short 15 minute ride from the airport and luckily Will and I were able to find an awesome car rental curiously of YES rentals. While driving on the left side of the road is definitely an adjustment, we were able to navigate the city without any crashes. Our Airbnb had a fantastic view of the mountain range as well as the lake that stood between the vast mountains. It was quite the view to wake up to in the morning. Our first full day was spent doing a hike about 25 minutes away from the city. It was displayed as a 4 hour hike or so (2 hours up and 2 hours back down). However we accidentally made the mistake of turning left at waterfall checkpoint when it was in fact pushed at the end of the hiking guide in bold to not turn left at the waterfall checkpoint as there was no path and we would eventually have to turn back. But we did not let that hold us back and the best path to take is the one you make on your own. So we channeled our inner explorers and freelanced hiked up a large mountain. The side excursion took us about 90 minutes to reach the peak of that particular mountain. While we were safe the whole time it did take some flexibility and insightfulness to find our way up given that there was not a set path for us. However it was worth the effort and we got to experience some unbelievable views. While the hike ended up being most of the day it was well worth it and was probably the highlight of the trip for me. Another cool activity we did was go on jet boat tour of the lake that was right next to the city. It was a high speed zig zag tour that also allowed us to experience some great views from a different angle. Our guide Chris was great and took us around some sharp turns and did a few 360’s with the boat which was really cool. Overall the town reminded me as similar to Breckenridge Colorado in the U.S with much of the town being focused on outdoor activity. Another great weekend abroad!
