The Redwoods Treewalk

                                –My Time in New Zealand, Day 3

Day 3 in New Zealand was a completely different day from the first two. I had some free time in the morning, so the pianist Michael and I were taken by the wonderful guides of Time Unlimited Tours to the Redwoods Treewalk. Man, it was pretty spectacular. The colors of the trees, the colors of the ferns that surrounded them, the shakiness of the walk…something to remember always.

The treewalk took about 45 minutes to complete as we stopped along the way to ooh and ahh. The air was just so clean and crisp! I really love the forest, but boyyyy, was it COLD!

Being up there was absolutely amazing! The air as I say in the video is just pristine, no picture, no video can capture that. So different from when we were on the ground, being up among the trees, there was something so sacred about it. Still and vibrant, reminding me of the importance of being much more responsible regarding our environmental footprints.

The Call For Mindfulness

“Tiaki Promise

When traveling in New Zealand

Care for the land, sea and nature. Treading lightly and leaving no trace.

Travel safely, showing care and consideration for all.

Respect culture traveling with an open heart and mind.”

Love that! So many times we just run through stuff–run through our days doing this and that, rarely stopping to take in the beauty of this world. If this sounds like you, take a moment to stop and breathe. Being out and Experiencing Nature is such a good way to ground and balance ourselves.

The Redwoods Treewalk in Rotorua, New Zealand

Looking down at the ferns during the Redwoods Treewalk

After the Treewalk

When the walk was complete, of course we made a quick stop in the souvenir shop then took a cab to rehearsal. 

Lunch was different too, the other days we were bussed to a restaurant for a buffet, but this day we were able to walk into town to a short street called “Eat Street” which had restaurants lined up on both sides of the block.

We stopped in what was like a bar and grill and I had the Vegetarian option which was something called ‘Beetroot and Falafel Burger.” I thought it would literally be a burger made of falafel and beetroot but it was actually a falafel burger with slices of beetroot on top.

I had a side of sautéed spinach and overall the meal was quite tasty. Total cost? About $14USD.

We had been told that New Zealanders consume the most ice cream per capita in the world. Not quite sure how that’s possible since I know a bunch of folks that can get down with this frozen dessert! Myself included. 

Anywho, there was a place on the corner we had been advised to check out called Lady Janes Ice Cream Parlor and OH MAN WAS THE BOYSENBERRY ICE CREAM IN-SANE!

More Work, More Fun

Back to rehearsal for a couple hours after some of the The Young People’s Chorus of NYC (YPC) choristers challenged each other to a foot race, man that was funny! And I just missed the Artistic Director of YPC, Francisco Nuñez race against Michael our pianist ’cause I had gone into one of the buildings that had a garbage can! Dang! Would’ve LOVED to have seen that in real time. Luckily one of the choristers had it on video.

After rehearsal, we went into the dining hall for dinner and got a huge treat when Keri, one of our tour guides from Time Unlimited Tours got up to sing. FAN-TASTIC! She was soooooo doggone good, wowing us with a lot of popular songs. I started a conga line by jumping up, getting behind one of the kids and telling her to GO! 

As I suspected, the kids quickly got wind of what we were up to & jumped on, eventually creating a ji-NOR-mous line weaving in & out of the tables. 

THAT video is in the next chapter soooo…

Next: Cultural Exchange & The HAKA! Day 3 Part 2