Now I'm back up here from down there. For me coming coming from the far north -Denmark- it was quite a different and opposite experience to visit New Zealand down under. Living in Hong, we're so to speak just mid between Denmark, Scotland and New Zealand, and looking at a globe one realize that it is just opposite each other, so the weather conditions is very similar, just opposite. Here in Hong Kong we're like in Europe approaching springtime and if you travel north it is getting colder and finally you reach the north pole. I've been use to it being like that all my life, but there- down under- it is the opposite, they are now approaching autumn and it gets colder when you travel further south, and then you reach the antarctic or the south pole.
Even that I was joining 35 young Hong kong students on the trip, then the ten days I've spent there has definitely been one of the best travel experiences I've had for a long, long time and I'm trying to find out the reason why. We were mainly visiting places on the south island, which is the biggest and the less populated, so what we found was stunning and unspoiled clean landscapes and a tourism industry which made a big effort in treating the nature with big respect and to let the visitors understand the importance of being environmentally friendly.
The activities we did was kind of unusual and I could never have done that anywhere else than there, I think. We've been climbing on a mountain, horse riding through the landscape from 'The lord of the rings", been bungy jumping from the Kawarau bridge and doing the sky swing 400 meters above Queenstown.
Jumped into 11 degrees cold water in the fjord of Milford Sounds, been swimming with hundreds of Dolphins on the open pacific ocean, seen the amazing Kiwi bird and two majestatic Albatrosses, been invited to stay at a Maoi tribe community in Kaikoura and been to a Super 14 League rugby game in Eden Park, Auckland.
Well the list is long and not even complete, so maybe the next few posts will be reflections about this experience. Now I will just say a big thank you to James, Cane and Pete from our Agency in New Zealand who made all this possible for all our students, my colleagues and me.
Cane and James at our departure in Auckland.This company is called; "Little Brown Kiwi" and they have specialized in organizing this sort of trips for schools around the world, who want to visit New Zealand.
Looking back on ten fabulous days down under and only one thought in my mind; "I'll be back"!
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