Most disgusting display

Been to the Auckland Museum during my trip to New Zealand last year. Its a pretty good museum with lots of displays from natural history to Maori culture and a war memorial (huh, NZ in war? Not quite, but they sent their people to join the British, duh).

And in that museum, I've come across the most disgusting display I've ever seen! Its around the natural history galleries, in the section called "Weird and Wonderful". There is a tank.... well, let the picture speak for itself.

Heli-hike on Franz Josef Glacier

One of the fantastic experience in New Zealand is Heli-hiking up on the glacier. Franz Josef glacier is located on the West Coast of South Island in New Zealand. It is situated within the rainforest climate of New Zealand, which means it gets quite a lot of rain over the years. But these rain actually help make the glaciers.

The glaciers itself is beautiful and much more expansive and huge than any photos can show. It is constantly moving, which is why you can hear cracks, falling ice and even small waterfalls from the melted ice.

A Heli-hike involves taking a helicopter up the the top of the glacier and then a guide brings you to climb around the glaciers, exploring the nooks and crannies of formed ice caves.

Even though sitting in a helicopter and looking down, it the glacier still looks small until you see another helicopter flying around, then you'll get an idea of how massive it really is.

I'm not sure if you're allowed on the glaciers on your own, but having a guide is really the only safe (and sane) choice. With experience, they know which areas are safe to step on without having any ice fall on you, or falling into the crevice of melted ice. Trust me, its worth it.

A guide will also explain the different landscapes around the glaciers and show you things you'd never expect. Like a small stream of melted ice.

Or the best thing on the glaciers, going through an ice cave! The pressure from the formation of the glacier produces this nice blue tinge (which turns white after exposure to the sun). So, finding a blue ice cave that you can slide through is amazing!

If you ever go that way, I'd definitely recommend a hike over the glacier (either Franz Josef or Fox Glacier, both should be equally good, but also depends on your luck with the weather!). The helicopter ride is a bonus, where you get to experience the massiveness of the glaciers and take in the entire glacier.

Pretty cool forest

Some forests in New Zealand are pine forests. These pine trees are not native to the country, but was brought in by early European settlers to replant the area so it would 'look better'. Some of these pines grew so well that it became pests and a danger to the native plants and wildlife.

Anyway, regardless, it is still pretty cool to walk through a pine forests, especially when the lower areas are covered with some kind of fluffy algae (or moss) and made the atmosphere look somewhat greenish.

Peace Pole in New Zealand

Remember sometime back when I posted about "Peace Poles"? Well, this time I've unexpectedly come across yet another Peace Pole.

This Peace Pole is situated in front of the YHA in Tongariro National Park, New Zealand. It is definitely an amazing place for a Peace Pole, very scenic with the mountain range in the background and definitely a very peaceful place to be!

Where else will I find my next Peace Pole?

Mountains in the morning

I am loving Kaikoura, New Zealand so far. Imagine waking up in the morning and finding this view outside your room each day!

Seals!

There's so much wildlife in Kaikoura, New Zealand. Walking around the coast, you'll bump into a colony of fur seals. And they smell too.

Whales!

Finally the weather is nice enough on Kaikoura, New Zealand to go on a whale watching tour. The sea was still rough, but it was so worth it to see these majestic giant creatures (even if you only see the top of their head, and tail)

Rotorua

Rotorua is a town in New Zealand's north Island that is famous for its thermal grounds. There are lots of hot springs here and lots of places with thermal activities. A walk around the park, and you can see lots of steam (stinky though), some boiling water, lots of gas escaping and sometimes even what looks like boiling mud. There is a small place where the temperature is right for soaking tired legs.

For more information, visit their website:http://www.rotoruanz.com/

Lady Knox Geyser

There is a geyser called Lady Knox that goes off at about 10.15am daily near to Rotorua, New Zealand.

This attraction is part of the "thermal wonderland" of Wai-O-Tapu. It normally costs NZD 32 for the admission. However, since the geyser is outside the rest of the park, you can watch it for FREE if you know where to find it (just ask around, its about 2km away).

This geyser would normally erupt once every few days, but a staff from the park help set it off by adding some detergent into it (eco-friendly detergent, apparently).

It doesn't erupt immediately after adding detergent. It still took about 10 minutes before water shoots out and mixes with the cold air to have lots of steam surrounding it. But it was pretty cool anyway. The other place you can see geysers is in the US.

Super Loo in New Zealand

Travelling across New Zealand you'll take in all the scenery. Beautiful mountains, lakes, forests, hills and animals. And then it confuses you when they throw this into the middle of the town!

A little bit of Kiwiland

The silver fern, symbol of NZ