I broke my leg during the first quarter, which took me out of commission for a little while. So I arrived to New Zealand late, just earlier this week. Here is how my first day went.
    I was woken up on my plane at about two o’clock New Zealand time, arriving in Auckland 2 hours later. The first thing I did was to take all of my gear through customs. Normal customs, as most of you know, are worried about how long you are staying and what you will be doing. Not New Zealand, they did look into those thing but the thing they cared most about was their bio security. This is just a way for them to check and make sure that you are not bringing anything into their country that would harm their beautiful country. I could already tell I was going to like it here.
     After I caught my plane to Rotorua and Ian picked me up I met the group in a museum in Rotorua. This was a great first experience to have in New Zealand because it allowed me to start my trip with a better understanding of the geology of the region as well as a better understanding of the Maori culture.
    They day didn’t end there. After the museum and lunch we went over to a thermal park and were able to look at some of the geology of the region that we had just been learning about such as hot springs and mud pots.
    My first day in New Zealand was a pretty awesome way to be introduced to the country.