The Untold Beauty of New Zealand

Dancing wasn’t just a hobby for Michael, it was his life. Prancing around stage would make him feel free of all his worries and calm him down. He loved dancing. There was a new dance that he really wanted to do. Michael had trialed for the dance, but he was picked to be a back up dancer. Being a backup for a professional dancer was exciting, but he would’ve rather been picked for the main role. Although he was disappointed about not getting chosen for the main role, he was also relieved about it. This would give him the perfect opportunity to have a break from dancing for a while and go on a holiday.

Michael drove past McDonald's and started to sing as his favorite song came on. He would be driving around the East coast of the South Island in New Zealand. Turning right, he saw a sunrise setting directly in front of him. Orange and yellow beams streaked across the sky, creating a purple glow. The light, taking over the sky like a virus dominating the world, it rose ever so slowly. The water below the sun winked at the car Michael was driving and trees attempted to block the sun out, but it was no use. Michael pulled over to a small bench sitting between two trees. The trees bent over the water while the sun bounced off every wave. Michael pulled out his camera and took shots of the sunrise before it disappeared. The sun was mother Earth's silent alarm clock, which woke even the slightest thing. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and the sun soon took advantage of that. The sun was like the commander of the sky.

Dust flew away from the car as Michael drove on a dirt road just under Blenheim, which led to a small holiday home. He would stay here for a bit and settle in to the surroundings. It was a five-minute drive to the beach and there was no road in sight.

Michael tramped down a path and heard a Tui singing and a Fantail chirping. It was so peaceful away from the city. The path soon led to a small waterfall where water hurled itself off a fifteen metre cliff. Trees surrounded the waterfall, closing it in. The hidden beauties of New Zealand were some that most people had never seen. Making his way over to the rocks, he undressed and changed into his togs he had brought along just in case. He dived in. The water was clean, and no pollution contaminated these waters. It was so clean you could see the bottom, although it was 12 metres deep. The water was also cold on Michael's face and when he went under the waterfall; it felt like a shower except with water that hadn't been tampered with. A Weka ran along to the water's edge and looked around. It walked up to Michael and inspected him. Then it placed its beak in the water and started to drink. Suddenly a noise was heard. Michael jerked his head in the noise's direction and saw a New Zealand fur seal pup. The pup jumped into the water and swam around Michael. The idea of how wildlife in New Zealand just walked up to you fascinated Michael. The seal pup then dived under the water and touched Michael's feet as it did so. It soon came to the surface again and jumped around in the water in front of Michael, splashing him. The seal pup obviously wanted to play, so Michael chased the seal and it dived and jumped in the water as if it was playing tag. Soon Michael got tired and swam over to the shallow water to rest. The seal did, too. Another noise was heard. It was of course the seal's mother arriving back from hunting. New Zealand fur seals left the pups in small pools to keep them safe while they went off to hunt. It was a normal thing for them to do. The mother fur seal looked at me suspiciously and called to her child. The pup ran to her and they waddled off together back to the beach. Michael was glad he chose this holiday. It wasn't just fascinating to see all this wildlife, but it was also fun just hanging out with nature's surroundings. New Zealand truly was a special place.

Michael set off down the east coast of the South Island again, excited to see anything else that would excite him as much as meeting the seal pup had. His next stop was Christchurch. He was going to the Antarctic centre in Christchurch. He would see the New Zealand Blue Penguin. It was the smallest penguin in the world, but was just as fascinating as all the others, if not more so.

Michael strolled into the building with a grin on his face. He walked through to the reception and paid for his visit before walking on through. There were billboards up about Antarctica and New Zealand expeditions. Michael finally got to the penguins. They were tiny. Their size was about 30 centimetres tall. The size of an A4 piece of paper. They waddled around looking out at all the faces and leaped into the water at such skill. Blue Penguins dived in and out of the water like a bus system. They reminded Michael of the fur seal and how it dived around him playfully.

The next exhibit was a room where you could feel what a blizzard felt like. It was cold and windy inside, and there was real snow. It felt almost real if there were no walls of the room.

Michael flew home in a plane. He was actually glad that he hadn't been picked for the dance because he had enjoyed the holiday he had had. New Zealand was truly the place to go for a holiday. It had beauty, fun leisure activities, cool wildlife and overall a great and enjoyable holiday. Michael would be sure to suggest it to his friends back in America because it was worth it in New Zealand. He had also seen that he had missed out on a lot of other activities as well, not just in the South Island of New Zealand, but also in the North Island. He would most definitely do this journey again.