Of all the things that could have gone wrong when all ten of us EF travelers finally arrived at the Auckland airport in New Zealand, our luggage was delayed. We started our journey south of the equator with a little “swag bag,” as we called it, full of assorted toiletries and a one-size-fits-all T-shirt and shorts emblazoned with the Qantas airline logo.

That first night on June 11th was spent touring Auckland, which in some ways looked like downtown Santa Cruz. That’s something I noticed about New Zealand all around; it tends to look like different parts of northern California all at once, although, with a more rustic, edgy beauty. We only stayed a little over a day in Auckland before heading to Rotorua, where we had the pleasure of visiting a Maori cultural show as well as the Whakarewarewa thermal village.

We rode a bus to the Maori cultural site, which was an event in itself. The Maori driver, first of all, knew phrases in pretty much every language in the world. He began by telling all the riders of the traditional Maori greeting, “Kia-ora.” Then to further elaborate on the universality of the greeting, he proceeded to state the equivalent of “Kia-ora” in languages such as Farsi, Hindi, Swahili, Arabic, Swedish, German, Danish, and Hebrew. Pull out the world atlas and point to any region, and he surely knew the language to it. It was so fascinating, hilarious, and energizing that I was laughing the entire time. His driving was also the most erratic I’ve experienced, and that’s coming from someone who’s been on the streets in India! He drove around a roundabout at least ten times to the point where people were even questioning whether he was licensed or not.

The cultural exhibit was full of activities for us to experience a day in the life of the Maori, and a traditional Hangi feast consisting of vegetables and meat was prepared in an underground thermal oven for all the visitors.

The Whakarewarewa thermal village was laced with the strong, sulfur scent characteristic of Rotorua, and is called so because of the abundance of underground hot springs. As soon as you walk through the entrance gate, the steam from the springs envelops you like a warm blanket. The water running through the streams in the village was mineralized from the deposits that were naturally embedded in the earth. It was a very beautiful and serene place to visit.

The EF tourists only spent about five days in New Zealand before we headed off to Brisbane, Australia. We hopped on the ferry to Fraser Island the next day, and were there for a couple of days before exploring the rest of the Gold Coast on Australia’s mainland.

Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island, and walking along the beach discovering tiny little crabs and seeing the stingray holes dotted along the shore was exhilarating, but nothing was as sentimental as just sitting in the hot tub late at night with the rest of the tour group and getting to know one another. It was exciting to look up at the sky and see the stars, and think about how I was actually on an exotic island off the coast of Australia. An island with eighteen species of snakes, four of which are non-venomous. An island where a dingo could jump out at any moment. An island where you can swim in the most clean, pristine lake, and relax on the whitest sand. It was dangerous, yet it was paradise.

Sydney was the last place we visited before departing back home. We were there for about three days, and it’s so full of life and the energy at night is contagious. We were free to explore the city on our own and relishing in all the unique sites of the “land down under.” Sydney is home to the world’s biggest IMAX, which some of us watched “World War Z” in. It was the most dynamic movie experience yet. The images were crisp and almost tangible, and the sound reverberated in my ears long after the movie was over. We also visited the Sydney Opera House and got to see a symphonic show. It was amazing being able to be in the Opera House, but the show itself wasn’t that great.

There’s so many little details, such as bottle-feeding lambs at the Agrodome in New Zealand and being able to take selfies with kangaroos at a wildlife sanctuary, that made this trip so memorable. It was also unique traveling with EF, a travel agency that operates through schools. Mrs. Penny Shelton, one of the science teachers, went on the trip and she was really fun to travel with and hearing her scientific perspective on the nature we saw really amplified the experience.The lush greenery and unique wildlife in Australia and New Zealand never failed to dazzle me, and this trip is chock full of memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

by KAVLEEN SINGH