Erik Conover here coming to you from the middle of the rainforest in New Zealand
I'm here in New Zealand for only five days working on a partnership with
American Airlines and my mission in this video is simple I am scouting out the
best locations on the North Island to film a full send at travel series
sometime in the spring or the fall if you're in the southern hemisphere in
2019 without any ado this is traveling to New Zealand
you're going to start your trip on the north island in the most populated city
in the country number one on my list is Auckland in a country where there are
more sheep than people Auckland is a vibrant bustling city scape it felt like
Tokyo San Francisco and Seattle all mixed into one
based around two large harbours and in the center of the city the iconic Sky
Tower for the first activity on my list we are going it to the top of this guy
right here sky walk Auckland is the best way to get a full 360 degree panoramic
view of the city no handrail or anything you're just secured in with a harness
I'm not afraid of heights but when you leave the gated area it's the ultimate
shot of adrenaline and it's guaranteed to kick the jet lag I'm joined on this
trip by my manager Jared who well Jared is deathly afraid of heights but he was
a champ in one out on the Skywalk anyway and for
the more daring there's the sky jump which is a base jump by wire off the Sky
Tower 1,000% worth it Auckland is known as the city of sails with more boats per
capita than anywhere else in the world with that said I recommend learning how
to sail in an authentic America's Cup yacht it's very hands-on you're working
those grinders to hoist the mainsail and if you're lucky you might even see a pot
of dolphin riding the wave in the bow or maybe someone doing a full send bungee
off the Harbour Bridge and of course stunning views of Auckland from the
water leaving the bustling city life of Auckland I drove two hours south through
the lush countryside next up on my list is the sleepy surf town of Raglan now
Raglan is at the top of every surfers bucket list the peeling left handbrake
is said to be one of the longest rides in the world ever since I was a kid I
have dreamed of surfing perfect left hand bombs at Raglan
as you can see though it is a stormy day onshore winds kind of chop and slop out
there so we will see if I get the surface or if I just stand here like a
sad wet dog in the rain there Conover reported from Raglan wet cold and I'm
not gonna lie a bit defeated I did not get to surf Raglan on a positive note I
stayed at this eco-friendly resort called Sol scape the place had an
on-site kitchen with fresh produce from the garden on location the most
interesting part were the accommodations consisting of old train carts
refurbished as rooms and they had these dwellings that they called earth dome
this pretty cool stuff very sustainable and conscious of the environment I
highly recommend it I wish you can see it though in its full
glory with a blue sky but sometimes life isn't all blue skies they say here in
New Zealand you can experience all four seasons and one day it's now the next
morning and we have a beautiful sunny sky the rain has stopped the wind is
kind of died down and all of that you know how I said four seasons in one day
welcome to New Zealand a short 15 minute drive from Raglan through the lush
rainforest brings us to the next location on my list Bridal Veil Falls
the spectacular 55 meter plunge waterfall is only a short 10 minute hike
from the road through the bush lined with silver ferns all over the forest
floor the Falls have multiple vantage points one at the very top and the other
at the bottom of the falls first impressions I didn't realize how lush
the rainforest was here in New Zealand it really reminds me of Kilimanjaro
earlier this year I was in Tanzania and the base of Kilimanjaro is a rainforest
it's very similar to that I highly recommend this short trip from Raglan
for some relaxation in nature and of course the iconic Instagram shot
what is any trip to New Zealand without visiting the Shire
next on my list is the Hobbit movie said growing up I was a massive fan of the
Lord of the Rings and to see this movie set in person in real life it's kind of
like a childhood dream come true just to see the level of detail at this
place there are 44 hobbit holes dug into the hillside the film set covers 12
acres of pastures and is an actual working farm covered in sheep and tons
of little lamb roaming around the property and one piece of advice I have
when you come here you should know in advance that this is a major tourist
destination for the country of New Zealand
our tour guide Luke was saying that it's more popular now 20 years after the film
than when it was first open to the public as a tourist destination it's
actually pretty packed right now but in no way will that stop you from stepping
back into middle-earth so New Zealand is a geothermal Wonderland and has a
spectacular showcase of colorful and unique geothermal attractions sculpted
by thousands of years of volcanic activity I recommend checking out
wai-o-tapu I have never seen anything like this in nature they don't add any
colouring to this there's nothing artificial about this that colour you
are actually seeing is how it is in nature
it looks like a radioactive dump site but the neon water gets its color from
the deposits of sulfur that rise to the surface and float on top the main
attraction at wai-o-tapu is the champagne pool
it is about 74 degrees Celsius and it's said that it goes down to the Earth's
crust the reason for the crazy colors is from the minerals which are gold silver
and arsenic and a little bit of mercury not that I many geologists or anything
all this information is actually on the nice pamphlet that they give you when
you walk in here but it sounds a lot better when I read it off to you after
wild tap whoo head on over to hell's gate that is
right hell's gate which is Rotorua's most active geothermal area with
erupting waters pools of boiling mud the largest hot waterfall in the southern
hemisphere and of course the mother volcano could you imagine being the
first human to be walking through the bush then all of a sudden you come
across this for over seven hundred years the married people have regarded Hell's
Gate as a place of healing so I came here to take a geothermal mud bath to
cleanse my sins is mineral enriched geothermal mana you
see this Jared get a close-up of that very fine it's like a silt almost you
can see all my hands it kind of smells sulfur II this is where the geothermal
water is pumped in to these man-made pools the mud is collected from sulfur
Lake and then is transported into these metal holding containers works then
heated up by the water the mud is just fun to play with I mean it is such a
fine texture it's almost like a like a stress ball you keep this on for 20
minutes and I can already feel after the first five minutes that the mud kind of
just relaxes you I highly recommend if you are in Rotorua
come to Hell's Gate take a nice long mud bath kick back and just enjoy the best
that New Zealand has offered the absolute undisputed highlight of this
location scouting trip was whitewater rafting so the world is a very small
place I learned how to whitewater kayak two years ago embossed Norway from a guy
named Jamie Sutton and by some crazy serendipity his brother former world
champion and madman Sam Sutton owner of Rotorua rafting took Jared and I out for
one hell of an adventure we sent it down the highest commercially wrapped in a
waterfall in the world so this is 21 feet so yeah the high schooler's you
drive to waterfall in the world we're about to check it out probably go upside
down see some fish ready
you will feel high on life after the plunge you might fall out of the raft
unexpectedly like Jerez data now swim it through the neck strap I'm gonna swim
the waterfall here watch the boys get a little bit of downtime and basically
just get to watch the fear in their eyes
there we go you know this is perfectly safe I have a life vest on I have a
helmet I'm protected but out of all the incredible locations in this video
rafting the Falls is the absolute must and just like that our scouting trip is
over if you want to see a full send I'm talking three four weeks in New Zealand
comment down below more New Zealand at you're new to the channel make sure to
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the next video
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