Oh the Places You’ll Go: From Paihia beaches to the Southern Lights in Bluff

June 26, 2017

Being abroad has made me realize how little I travel back home. We go on road trips almost every weekend here to make sure we see all the amazing places that belong to New Zealand. I just got back from a day trip to Coromandel Peninsula, a 2.5-hour drive from Auckland. Now that it’s winter, it’s a little less fascinating than if we had visited all the beaches during warmer weather but the hikes were still breathtaking. It is unlike any landscape I have ever seen – with beautiful islands popping out of the crystal blue water along the horizon and white sand beaches along all the coasts. Along the path to see Cathedral Cove (a main tourist attraction in Coromandel) we saw stingrays up close in one of the bays! There was also a hot water beach where you dig a hole in the sand and naturally hot waters come to the surface (some can be up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit!). A lot of visitors brought bathing suits and sat in the water that was cool enough to bathe in.

Coromandel has been one of the closest attractions I have visited. Two weeks ago we rented a car and traveled to the Bay of Islands, where we stayed at a beautiful vineyard, saw the famous waterfalls and got really good pizza. I took an overnight bus trip down to Wellington where we went to a conference and visited the Te Papa museum. The road trip down to the South Island was one of my favorite trips since it spanned 2 weeks and we saw so many places a day. The highlights of the trip were seeing penguins in Omauru, hiking near Mount Cook (we did a trail that was almost 3,000 staircase steps), and most importantly spending time with friends. Everywhere you can travel to here is absolutely beautiful, a really important aspect is whom you go with and the fun memories you make. My advice to any New Zealand travelers would be to fit as many trips into summer as possible – most attractions are outdoors and it is much more enjoyable to experience beautiful beaches when it’s warm enough to sunbathe. Also – travel! Any chances you get, for any reason, definitely make it a priority to go around New Zealand. I will only regret the weekends I didn’t make the most of, even if it’s just a trip to see something around Auckland. Most of the amazing times I have had were not planned (like our car breaking down in Omarau and we got to see penguins!), so you never know when a small trip may turn into your favorite memories. Even though there are only 3 more weeks here in New Zealand, I still have more adventuring to do in Rotorua and a final trip to Australia after exams finish.

Lauren Azzola

As a fourth year Environmental Science student from Connecticut, I have found myself needing a change of pace from New England. Seeking adventure elsewhere, I have decided to travel to the other side of the world for a semester! For Semester One (New Zealand's fall semester), I will be taking as many environmental classes as I can cram in, traveling all across the north and south islands and trying as many new things as possible. I've lived in the northeastern U.S. my entire life and held a deep passion for environmental protection for almost as long. New Zealand has 80% of their electricity and almost half of all their energy needs met by renewables. As the politics involving the environment change in my home country, I hope to observe the cultural and political differences that surround sustainability abroad.