Category: My Travels

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Expedition: Rotorua, New Zealand

I never thought that I could do so much in 36 hours, but somehow I did. Yesterday around ten thirty we made plans to drive two hours to Rotorua. Rotorua is a small town on the North Island of New Zealand, and it has many tourist attractions and cool things. In under an hour, we were in the car. The drive was scenic and filled with the book’s endurance and pauses to discuss what we wanted to do. I had been voting to go to Rotorua for a week because there is Zorbing, Louging, Zip lining, and many more cool activities. almost everyone did not want to go Zorbing, but 12 minutes out from our Airbnb (booked not long before), we passed the Zorbing place, and we immediately turned around to check it out.

Zorb Rotorua

You are probably wondering what is zorbing. Zorbing is an activity where you jump into I huge plastic ball that is suspended by ropes (secure ones) inside another plastic ball that is bigger. There is water in the ball, and the workers zip you inside, and the next thing you know, you are rolling down a hill, not knowing what is up or down and feeling like you’re in a washing machine. At the bottom, you slide out and run to hot tubs and wait for the next bus to take you back to the top to do it again. Honestly, Zorbing is one of the funnest, craziest things to do. The zorbing place has four tracks, three of which are currently in use. The short straight one is a “short” straight track that you roll down. they have two of these tracks, but they are exactly the same. We (Me, Mom, Emmy, Zeb, and Bardez) did this one first, and since there are two of the straight tracks right next to each other, we raced. The straight track was my least favorite out of the two that I did because it is super fast and disorienting because you are just rolling and rolling and rolling. It was still super fun, though, and it’s a great one to start on if you have never been zorbing. The Sidewinder track is my favorite because you roll straight, then you turn and roll up onto the banks. then right at the top, you stop, just for a second, and then down you go again! The two other tracks I did not do, but there is the MEGA which is a SUPER long straight steep hill. Then there is the BIG AIR which was under construction when I was there. It was being transformed into a new track because only one person could ride down due to the big bumps. I hope the next time I come to New Zealand, I will get to Zorb again and do the BIG AIR track. (They are going to rename the BIG AIR track once it is re-built, but the name is a super secret.)

Te Puia

After Zorbing and dropping our stuff off at our Airbnb, we went to our dinner and show at Te Puia. Te Puia is a Geothermal hot spot with some of New Zealand’s most active Geothermal Guysers. It also is home to the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute which is a school of Maori Arts and Crafts. We signed up for a dinner and a Maori show. The dinner was a buffet in a big dining room with shared tables and fantastic views of the springs and geysers. The food was absolutely amazing. It was by a long shot the best buffet ever. After dinner, everyone was moved to a bit open-air building with circular tables and a stage. I thought that the show was taking place there, but I was wrong. I was not totally sure what to expect, but when our host went up and explained what we would do that night, I became more excited. He had selected an older man from the audience to be our “chief,” and that man (named Bob, I think) was to accept the peace offering from the performers. We were told that the most important thing was to NOT smile, laugh, or make any noise during the first dance. The first dance was usually performed when two tribes met, and during it, the tribe who was visiting would place a peace offering in front of the chief of the opposite tribe. If the chief picked it up, he wanted no fighting and accepted the peace. If he ignored it, that meant fighting.

It started raining right before we headed out of the first building, so instead of the dance and other performances taking place on the wide lawn, we went into a second building that was hand-carved and very ornate. Inside, it was dimly lit, and the walls were covered in carvings. For about thirty minutes, we sat and watched the dancers. One man played a guitar while four other men danced, and five women danced. They all sang, and the sound was so beautiful and filled with joy. The women had strings, with white balls on the end, that they would swing through the air to make a beat to the music. Each dance they performed was full of life and extremely beautiful. When it was over, it was Extremely rainy. Like, pouring rain. We were given the option of going to see the geysers via train (not a normal train like a trailer but not a trailer. (They call them trains) Me and Bardez wanted to see the geysers, and I did not mind getting wet to walk to the train. It was dusk by now, and the geysers were illuminated by purple lights. It was also very cold, so even more steam was in the air. It was super beautiful and standing in by the hot rocks and letting the clouds of vapor and steam roll around me was just amazing. It was like being in fog or a cloud, but in fog, it is super thin and cold, and in a cloud, it is thick and cold. The funny thing is that on the airplane ride into Auckland, I was watching the clouds fly by, and I made a wish to go into a cloud someday. Not in an airplane inside a cloud or on the ground inside a cloud, but really, inside a cloud. We stayed by the geysers for what felt like 45 minutes, but I was not sure of the time.

Redwood Tree Walk

When we got back to the car, Mom told us about a redwood tree walk. Yes, Redwoods in New Zealand. It was nearing 9:00 pm but I was still game for more adventures. It turned out to be a two-hour adventure of waiting in line. The tree walk is a magical experience, but it comes with a cost. You have to wait in line for a very long time. But the good news is, it’s totally worth it! you walk up a wooden ramp 20m into the air and travel from tree to tree along suspended wooden bridges. The trees are lit up by beautiful hand-crafted lights at each tree platform. At each tree there is a sign talking about the trees and the lights and the California redwoods. The night walk was literally a perfect thing to polish off the day. We did not get a ton of sleep because of early classes, but I definitely never did so many fun things in a day!

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Nine Days Until Takeoff!!!

By the end of the year, I will have gone to all of the continents!

So today was the day that I packed up all my things and made my room “renter ready”. On Thursday, I go with my mom, dad, and older brother to the Spies Lies and Nukes Conference. Then, on the Wednesday after that, we go to New Zealand. (My little brother and older sister will join us after the conference) In New Zealand, we will stay in Auckland for a month, and then we fly to Chile. From Chile, we fly down to Antarctica, then helicopter onto a boat, then sail around Antarctica for 7 days. After Antarctica, we go back to Chile and to Easter Island and we spend Christmas there. After Christmas, we come back to Raleigh.

Every time we go on a big trip, it is like jumping into the deep end of a freezing pool. You just have to do it and get it over with. I am never totally sure what it is gonna be like in international countries, and I can do all the imagining I want, but it is always different. Every time, though, it makes good memories and broadens my perspective of the world. It’s nervous excitement that I get going to all the new places. But it is super fun and worth all the obstacles. I can’t wait for New Zealand, South America, and Antarctica! I will be posting about my travels, and I will be making a video for Antarctica, so look out for new posts!

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Bob Smiley 😂 the Comedian

Bob Smiley or Bob or Mr.Smiley (hyper link to instagram) = 🙂or😁or😂

Have you ever been to a stand up comedy show? There really funny if you didn’t know. Last night at the Great Homeschool Convention I went to my first stand up comedy show featuring Bob Smiley (hyper link to his website). I thought it would be a ton of jokes that I would not understand but i actually laughed three times. No Joke I only laughed hard three times. For a comedian Smiley should figure out funnier jokes.

The entire performance was totally not scripted, which, I guess is where the stand up part comes in but I really liked it. A good amount of the jokes were ones that i did not get but the rest was pretty funny. He told us about his life while making fun of himself and sometimes others. My three favorite story/jokes are the next three paragraphs.

Abraham Son and Bob Smiley‘s Son

You know the story about Abraham taking his son Isaac up the mountain to sacrifice him because God told him to? Well Bob Smiley’s son was reading that story in his bible when he and his dad went on a camping trip together. In the morning Bob came out of his tent and his son was reading the part of the story right before God saves Isaac. Right at that moment Bob asked if he wanted to go on a hike. His son was very scared and Mr.🙂 had to explain it all.

(In The Grocery Store, During Covid) “Stop Coughing”

One day before the lockdown 😁 and his wife were going into a Walmart. At the time 🙂 had a “cold” so his wife told him he must not cough. When the went inside 😁’s wife told him to go get batteries, instead of getting batteries he went to the clock section and began setting all the clocks to go off together. He turned around and there was 37 people standing there who knew who he was. Now 😁 is a kinda sorta famous person but not everyone knows who he is, I was one of them but now I know who he is. Anyway these people knew who he was and wanted autographs. As he was giving autographs he really needed to cough so he stepped to the side and coughed into his elbow. His wife just happened to be in the aisle next to him and she shouted “Stop Coughing!” The entire store became silent because this lady had just shouted at somebody who she (ppl were mistaken) did not know. 😂 walked around the corner to the next aisle and said

“Im sorry if I offended you Ma’am”

She said “Don’t Ma’am me!”

And he said “ Oh sorry I’m from the south where we have manners but if you don’t want me to call you Ma’am i’ll just assume your name is Karen.”

She said “ This guy is my husband!” Which was true.

And he said “ I have never met you in my life ma’am” Apparently that night was the first time Smiley 😂 took an Uber.

Chicken of The Tree

One of the things 🙂 liked to do with his sons was eat squirrel meat. So one time, a friend of his sons came over for dinner and they had squirrl for dinner 😬. The next morning the friends mom came over and said “my sone had dinner at your house last night.” Bob was like “ yeah it was fun.” The lady said something like “It is to my understanding that you fed him squirrel meat!?!?” He answered “Its Chicken of the Tree.” ( Hyper link to Chicken of the Tree T shirt)

The Abraham story was totally the funniest story in the whole show. It just was very ironic and so random. The covid story was just plain hilarious I mean the whole I’m from the south and I have manners was hilarious. I just accidentally put two words on top of each other! That’s hilarious! Chicken of the tree (no offense 😂 ) was a little gross. Squirrels are little turds. They tease dogs and are pests. I can see that my argument is not very good there, none the less squirrels are as bad as Fat Tail! Comedy is a necessary part of life for everyone. It should be a fact on google. You know what is a fact, laughing is really good for you! One really good way to laugh is to watch funny things! 🤯 Wow that was hard to figure out.

Average Boy Aka Bob Smiley

Bob Smiley also created a character called Average Boy. The Average Boy books are devotionals with lots of funniness. There is also an Average Boy podcast which i listen to and I think no matter how cheesy it is, it is still really good to listen to. Each episode is like 20 minuets and has some life lesson in it or devotional. I know I am advertising this but it is really good stuff and you should at least check it out.

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Sydney, Australia

Sydney at night with talll bulidings and the beutifull water front

Sydney, The most Beautiful place

Sydney, Cape Town, and Seattle are three of my favorite cities. Cape Town for the People, Sydney for the City, and Seattle because we lived there for many years, and I love it there. Sydney has this really awesome bus system where its all ferry’s and since the city is built on a huge inlet with the north head and south head it makes this possible. Every few blocks there is a ferry station on the water and you can just hop on and off!

Sydney was a penal colony of England. After America shut its doors to prisoners being brought there, England was in a fix. They had several ships stuck in the in london river with tons of prisoners dying and going crazy. Londoners were very worried about a prison break. Most of these prisoners were petty thieves. For example if you stole a pair of stockings, you could get hanged! Instead, these people received a “pardon” and were sent to places to make new farmland and colonies.

A few years earlier an expedition went to Botany Bay (which is right next to Manly Bay where Sydney is located) and they saw beautiful lush land perfect for farms. Little did they know that Botany Bay goes into this lush state once every three years, the rest is spent in drought. The only thing they did not see was that beyond the cliffs of the North and South head stood amazing farmland.

Finally the government sent eleven ships, six of which were full of prisoners. The ships went from England to Rio to Cape Town to Sydney. When they went to Rio, guess what they spent most of their money on? RUM! Literally, a Boatload of Rum was bought. They didn’t even have Jack Sparrow to influence them! Now, these blokes weren’t very creative with naming things, probably due to the rum but when the first expedition came, they saw a very Botanical Bay and creatively named it botany bay.

Between Cape Town, South Africa, where they bought livestock and seeds, and Australia, all the ships got separated in a huge storm, and none of them knew if the other ships were okay. Surprisingly they all reached Botany bay within one day of each other. Sad for them, they saw dry land in Botany Bay, horrible for farming with no streams. They were so disgusted by what they found that they did not even let the prisoners off who had been stuck in the hold of the ship for eight months! Thankfully some of the men took a boat around the point and saw the beautiful manly bay! They actually saw the two heads, which were scraggly cliffs, but they went in and saw streams and perfect farmland. They also saw some natives who looked very Manly, so they named the bay Manly Bay. Again, they were not exactly creative with names. Soon all the ships were in the harbor, and they all lived happily ever after. No, they had a very hard time living because the soil was not too great, but now it is the most beautiful city ever!

If you’re interested in the history of the last two hundred years in Sydney there’s this thing called chatGPT….. Im serious Chat GPT can write you paragraphs of history that is all original!

The Opera House

We had the amazing experience of watching an Opera in the Sydney Opera House! The Opera House is located on a peninsula in the city. In sydney there is the inlet and at the main ferry hub there is all the skyscrapers and the rocks which will explain later. The maps below this paragraph are worth looking to give you a general idea of where everything is. Walking to the Opera House from the back was weird because in pictures you always see the iconic waves and the arch things. The inside made up for everything else on the outside. The ceilings were vaulted and they had really really cool lighting. I still don’t really understand how there is so many theaters in the Opera House or how the layout works. When we walked to our theatre there were all these cool walls which as I just found out are actually designed after the sails on a boat, not waves. The acoustics were surprisingly not what I thought they would be. The singing and music was amazing but there was no amplifying of the sound that I noticed. The Sydney Opera House was a very amazing experience and I would go back.

Three Tours

We did three tours in Sydney and all of them were the best. The first one was a tour of the city where we learned all the cities history. In almost all the places we go we do some sort of history education experience #homeschoolingwhiletravling. We do this to learn the history of the place but it also is part of school. Thats where this blog comes in to tell everybody about the amazing stories around the world. Back to the history tour. In most cities the history all sound the same, native people lived mostly peacefully then a European country comes in and invades claiming the land and starting a new country but also upprooting the lives of the people who actually had claim to the land. Sydneys history was actually slightly different. Or mabey it was told in a different way. I actually found it very interesting and we even got to visit some really old intact buildings from when the city was growing up.

Tour two was climbing the bridge that spans the harbor. In one of the photos I circled it to show you where it is. The amount of getting ready was alot. It was like we were in an assembly line to get ready to climb the bridge! When we started we were underneath the road then we got to the stairs/ladders. By stairs i mean the kind you have leading to a loft where its like a ladder but not straight up. As we were climbing past the road and all the cars my only though was don’t look down. I can tell you people are not joking when they say don’t look down. Its not a fake thing if you don’t look down its less scary for most ppl. I looked down and that did me absolutely no good. I could see all the way to the cars and beyond that to the water. When we got to the top arch it was just stairs to the summit of the arch. We were all insanely thirsty and I really wanted water. You might be wondering why i did not bring a water bottle but let me tell you, you couldn’t bring anything. You couldn’t even smuggle things like a phone or camera in your pockets. To even start putting on gear we had to put on jumpsuits as if we were parachuting. Then there was a metal detector and the other hand metal detectors after we put the jumpsuits on. They had good reason for all this seemingly ridiculous security. The didn’t want us bringing something and either dropping it or having it cause us to drop/fall. They took lots of pictures for us and I will show some at the end of the next two or three paragraphs. At the top i asked if anybody had ever proposed on the bridge because i was thinking how badly that would go. Surprisingly they said yes lots of people. I was like sure that makes perfect since amazing proposal then oh no! The ring has fallen to the sea or cars! The guy i asked explained that there was a special wristband to keep the ring from falling. I still don’t understand how that would work. One last thing. As we were gearing up i was being handed gear and a person clipped on this black thing to my harness and told me it was a parachute! I was instantly thinking parachute? Mom did not tell me we were jumping off! I asked if it was really a parachute and how it would work and I was told it was actually a raincoat. (This was true)

Five starts to Bridge Climb Sydney! Amazing unforgettable experience and great people.

Kayaking Tour

Third experience was a kayak tour throughout the harbor. we went to three beaches and they were all beautiful. Beach One had a little waterfall on it and mom was daring us kids to go under it for fifteen seconds. All of my siblings were saying it was freezing so naturally i went to stand under it. It really was not freezing at all. It was not even as could as a beach in oregon! We did not spend alot of time at the first beach nor the second beach. Beach two was long and very shallow. It was surprisingly only accessible by water. There was no trail or road to get to it. On a big rock in the back was an inscription that was very hard to read. I don’t remember what it said but it looked very old. We learned that this beach had been used to store tanks during some war. I asked how that was physically possible because it was not accessible by land. Our guide said the tanks were moved by boat but i think thats a bad idea because if your boat gets sunk then you have to say goodbye to very expensive machinery. Paddling to the third beach was just beautiful. We could see the north and south heads and our guide told us a little story about a zoo on one of the heads. He said this zoo was partially an open zoo where the animals could roam around. You could also camp in the zoo but the more carnivorous animals were kept in enclosed in habitats. One day the lions (i may be wrong) escaped. The alarm was sounded early enough that everybody got out in time and the lions we put back in their places. Backstory to the climax there is a bird that can mimic almost any sound. It learned to mimic the sound of the alarms so it thought it was funny to make that sound and scare everyone! Everyone evacuated again but it became clear that nothing had escaped.

The third beach was a former coal mine hub, hospital, penitentiary and had military history. There was another rock here and it had dozens of inscriptions in it from exploration expeditions, prisoners and people. There was a coffee shop and a little museum but we were running low on time so we had to start the long kayak back to the boat club that we came out of. The adventure was super awesome and very beautiful, i would totally do it again and bring friends with me.

Most Beautiful City (so Far)

Sydney was literally so amazing! I know the adjectives I’m using are not very fancy but i have to say it was just amazing! I very much look forward to going back with my family and exploring new sights.

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Cairns Australia

Okay, Australia has a reputation for having dangerous animals, but after Africa, I am now not super scared of Australia. Our first place to stay in Australia was Cairns in Queensland. They call Queensland The Sunshine State! So that makes Queensland the Florida of Australia. It was so stressful getting into Australia! You can’t have any food going through biosecurity, especially meat and vegetables, and fruit. I had a chicken sandwich in my bag (I thought it was fine) and some peppers (I honestly thought I had thrown them out). Thankfully, the very lovely Bio Security lady only gave me a warning and did not fine us. The long Bio Screening wait and the Chicken Sandwich caused us to miss the small bag drop window for our flight, which meant we could not get on it. FYI, that flight was canceled later, so it is good I had that chicken sandwich. The lady at the Qantas desk said she could re-book us on a Jet Star flight. She gave us Taxi coupons and told us where to go.

Jetstar was way better than Qantas. I know this because I have taken a Qantas flight, and it was okay. FYI, if you are on a flight and love funny movies, Ticket to Paradise is hilarious! On the flight, I got three complimentary snacks because we had to move flights, and I enjoyed my time as much as you can on an airplane. When we got to Carins, it was So Hot! I was wearing pants, and it felt like it was 100 degrees. It was probably only 93, but it was still so hot. We got the rental car out, and it was literally as hot as an oven. We went to our Airbnb inside a hotel. We love Airbnb’s because you have your own kitchen, and you can have a lot more room! The rest of the day we spent in the pool and eating dinner.

Cairns Exploration

We did not do a lot inside cairns, we spent two of our days Scuba Diving, but I will tell you about that in a post probably called Great Barrier Reef Diving. What we did outside of cairns is more important. On Tuesday, after we had done all of our diving, we went to have breakfast with the koalas. We went to Hartleys Crocodile Adventure and ate breakfast. It was more like koalas as a dessert for breakfast. Not to be eaten but to pet and look at. The Koala was adorable, and its fur was velvety. Koalas, in my opinion, would be an okay pet, but they sleep most of the day and eat so much! They sleep for up to 20 hours a day and eat 500 grams of eucalyptus daily! Sadly for the koalas, they were not my favorite thing. After the Koalas, we went on a Crocodile cruise. The tour guide got the crocodiles to jump out of the water to get meat chunks off a stick. It really was amazing to see just how stealthy the crocs can be, I saw one surface and swim word the boat, but it went under and appeared at the front of the boat, and it surprised the guide. The crocodile sanctuary (I don’t know if it was an actual sanctuary, but they kept the crocodiles and fed them and took care of them) had once held the world’s second oldest crocodile! You might have noticed from my writing that crocodiles were not my favorite.

The Black-Headed Python and Inland Taipan

The Snakes were my favorite. While I wouldn’t say I like snakes that are threatening me, I Love Snakes that I can hold or touch and look at. I got to hold a Black-Headed Python! It felt so muscly and thick, but the skin felt so thin. I could really feel its muscles moving, and it was really cool to feel it wrap around my hand. The Black-Headed Python can grow up to 6.6ft and is found in the upper coastal part of Australia. It is one of the only types of Snake that can eat other venomous snakes! The Python is not venomous. It is a constrictor which means it squeezes its prey to death. We had to go to the snake show, so I had to leave the Python. At the snake show, a man held a very short, fat python. It was a short-tailed python because it had a short tail. Next, he brought out an Inland Taipan. The deadliest Snake in the world. Deadly means the most fatal venom, not that it has killed the most humans. The handler was holding it; if it wanted to, it could have bit him and me and gotten away. Thankfully this one was specially bred to be handled and okay with the show. It was not a trained snake, but that would be cool to see. People rarely see an Inland Taipan because they like to hide. They mainly eat rodents and small prey.

Babina Boulders

After the Crocodiles we went to Babina Boulders, an area with a river and boulders. We drove for a while, and when we got there, I seriously doubted this would be any fun. It was fun; I sat in the freezing water, reading my Agatha Christie. The boys jumped off a massive tree into the river, and I was the only one not to get fully in the water. My book was exciting, and spoiler alert, somebody dies. Many people do, and I think what makes Agatha Christie so interesting to read is her colossal plot twists. The entire day was fun but quite exhausting.