The first half of our trip exploring Aotearoa, New Zealand was full of tropical beaches, Beautiful grasslands, and of course sheep, lots and lots of sheep. Because I have whānau in Aotearoa, I have already had the gift of exploring this amazing country before. This trip offered a lot more exploration through the country and gave me the opportunity to travel through the south island, Te Waka a Māui, but this blog is not about the part of my journey. The first half of the trip was through the North Island, Te Ika a Māui. The North Island is the most familiar part of Aotearoa and the island I have seen the most, but this actually turned out to be a good thing. I was able to observe and learn about New Zealand by myself and form my own opinions about the country. I was able to discover more about Māori culture then I ever had before and increased my knowledge about my home away from home. We traveled to a lot of new places, like Paihia and the Bay of Islands, Hobbiton in Matamata, and Sheepworld! Other destinations we visited that weren’t new to me included Auckland and Wellington. All of these locations were absolutely marvelous but still reminded me of the destinations I had visited before this trip. I was unsure of what to expect while on this trip because New Zealand is so biodiverse and has so many different biomes. But, The new views of the North Island were similar to what I remember. Overall, my journeys through the North Island, especially the new locations, still made me feel at home, even though I wasn’t with family this time.
