After a great night’s sleep we decided to head down to Hamilton to visit the LDS temple. I could drive around this country all day and probably never get tired of it. The rolling hills, the fields that stretch on into the distance, and so much green. This morning it was cool and crisp, a fog stretched along much of the drive, and the sun was big and bright rising from the east. In many ways it reminds me of drives through Ireland or parts of Queensland. The temple is outside of Hamilton surrounded by farmland. It sits on top of a hill and can be seen driving down the road from not too far away. It’s a different design from what I have seen in other temples, taller with a simple spire. It is a beautiful building and the inside is even more beautiful. I was able to meet the famous All Black, Sid Going, as well. He is currently the temple president and was there the morning we were. As we were walking around the temple I asked someone to take a photo of my brother and I. He did, but I forgot to check and we ended up with a picture that is missing the top half of the temple. It probably would be a good idea to double check important photos before it’s too late. 

We had lunch at a little place in town. Apparently it’s a big chain in Australia. The burgers were decent. We then drove down to Waitomo to visit the glowworm caves. These are large limestone caves with magnificent stalactites, stalagmites, and columns throughout. The main attraction though, as implied by the name, are the glowworms. They develop on the rooftop of the caves and, similar to fireflies, emit a light from their bodies. It is a soft, blue light as opposed to a green one from the fireflies. They cling to ceilings and in parts of the cave there may be a one or a few. The last part of the tour is a short boat ride through an underground river. It is pitch black in the cave and as you go around the first bend you are immediately presented with what looks like the night sky. Thousands of glowworms form constellations on the cavern ceiling. The tour guides do not allow lights or noise while on the boat ride so it seems to be just you in an infinity of blackness and small lights. Our tour guide was quite the character. We had a lot of Japanese tourists in our group, who had a translator. He still thought it would be a good idea to talk extremely slowly, using simple words and phrases, with a lot of hand signals. It was hard not to laugh at him the entire time. The cost is a little much for the cave tour. I definitely enjoyed it, but $50 seems about twice as much as what it probably should be. The place was packed though so the price doesn’t seem to deter too many people. 

We made our way back to Auckland, continuing to enjoy the North Island countryside. I was able to meet up with a friend on his church mission for dinner. I haven’t seen him for more than a year and a half, but it was like we had just seen each other yesterday and felt like old times in Hawaii. I think relationships are one of the most important things we have in this life. Family and friends are often neglected or not prioritized as they should be. Sometimes life happens and it does become difficult to keep in touch or meet up with people. The older I get, and the more those I love and care about spread out around the world, I realize how important it is to find time to do something as simple as grab lunch or make a short call. 

New Year’s Eve in Auckland was not as crazy as I expected it to be. We walked around a bit and ended up by the Sky Tower. There was plenty of room to sit on the sidewalk and no one was loud or boisterous. The tower had a laser/firework show that lasted for about 5 minutes after midnight. It was fun to be one of the first groups to celebrate 2016 due to our location in the world. Afterwards we walked back to our hostel and called it another day.