Taupo

September 28, 2007

Twelve of us headed out to Taupo at about 3PM. We had three rental cars to caravan the four hours. Alex (a friend from the Arcadia group) and I planned most of the stuff. Well, I should correct that, he planned and I booked the hostel. I rode in the car with Sarah, Alex, and Kevin. It was fun. I am a valued person for car rides because I brought my iTrip, so we can play our music instead of listening to the radio. Kevin played DJ, Alex drove, and Sarah and I kept the conversations going. Alex almost got us squished by an 18-wheeler, about the most eventful part of our drive. Our conversations ranged from gossip to politics (I know, dangerous). We stoped in Hamilton for dinner at Burger Fuel. A slightly nicer fast food place. We had kumara chips, which are so good and I am going to miss them!

We were the first car at the hostel (good thing because I was the only one with directions there). We had three dorm rooms and mine was right off the kitchen. The hostel was in walking distance of Lake Taupo, the biggest lake in NZ (I think). So, once everyone got there, we walked down. There were pumus stones all along the shore because the lake is right next to two volcanoes. One being Ruapehu, which had just had a minor eruption on Tuesday. Anyway, the fun thing about pumas is it floats. So Max was chucking it at the ducks and it just floated there. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. I thought he had brought bread with him and I was surprised he wanted feathered friends so bad. Some of the guys had cigars, which was really gross. Most of the girls tried to stay away from them because we didn't like the smell and we didn't want to have it in our clothes.

Eight of the twelve went out for drinks that night. The pub we wanted to go to had closed, so we found a really quiet place. Sarah ordered me the same wine as her. It was a white wine and really good, but so far I have yet to pay enough attention to what exactly I like. I have trouble remembering the names, so it misses the point. I just know I don't like beer and I don't understand why Dad always tries the local ones everywhere we go.

Saturday 29 September

We woke up and prepared to sky dive! Some of us were pumped (not me), some were freaked out (not me), and some were dazed (me). Unfortunately, it was overcast and we had to wait for a later time. The weather was expected to clear around noon. So, we piled into our three cars and drove to Huka Falls. This was a massive waterfall that looked like a ride at Disney. The color of the river was a bright turquoise and the drop was about seven meters down and ten meters across. I could just see a raft going down it. I mean, I am not saying the people would be ok, but it looked like fake colored water and a normal water park ride. After this, we went to the Honey Hive. A store just down the way from the falls. We got to try a lot of different honey! Then, if we hadn't had enough sugar, we also had some ice cream. It was some of the best ice cream I have had! I had a pavolva kiwi scoop and a kiwi honey scoop. It was so good and the man working was really nice and picking on us.

We got the call that the weather was better for sky diving, so we headed back to the hostel. They came to pick us up in a limo! I guess they want your last ride to go well. The licence said Jump Us. I thought that was interesting... Anyway, eight of us went to go jump! We had to sign our lives away on 5 by 7 index cards while in the car. The head quarters was in the middle of an open field with their competitors next door. We watched a video of someone's jump, then they explained the multiple ways we could blow all our money at this place. Lets just say we paid a fortune to risk our lives. Some paid heaps more than others for a DVD!

We chilled in the back and watched some other jumpers come down in parachutes. They split our eight into two groups. I went with Sarah, Alex, and Max; my arcadia buddies! I was freaked out at this point. I was jumping, shaking and being really goofy. Steven, Max and I sang the chorus of "Live like you were dying" by Tim McGraw. If you don't know it, then you should invest more time in country music because it is the best! The chorus goes "I went sky diving, rocky mountain climbing,...." anyway, you get the point. Max said it is his list of things to do before he dies and he is checking them off one by one. I think skydiving is the first thing he has done though. I like that idea until I get to the "two point seven second on a bull named Fu Manchu" and then I don't think that is quite my sort of check list. But I do want my life to be like a country song... That is a whole other story...

So, our first four were suited up in these sweet (meaning ugly) blue jump suites. Then we got acquainted with our jump instructors while taking crazy pictures in front of the pepto bismol plain. This thing was so pink you would think Legally Blond went to flight school. We got even closer with our flight instructors as we were sitting in the plain. We crammed in like sardines and took off. You could see Mt. Ruapehu really well once you were past the cloud cover. You could see some of the signs of the eruption, which was pretty cool. To fasten to your jump guide, you had to sit on his lap. Which, is more than interesting in a tiny plain with barely enough head room for one person sitting on their own.

Max had to jump first. Then Sarah. Then ME! You had to put your feet out of the plain and arch your back with your head on the dude's shoulder. He said to act like a giant banana. I didn't tell him that I don't like bananas. I was pretty chill until my feet were out of the plain. Then we just went forward! At first you feel a sudden pressure on your stomach, it is so cool! Your eyes are watering and you are panicked. Then I remember thinking "pay attention, you want to remember this." So, I calmed down again and looked around. He tapped me on the shoulder letting me know I could put my arms out. He put his arm one way or the other to make us spin, which was so much fun! Then he did a motion like swimming, so I did it too; then, he did a dive motion when we went through a whole in a cloud, so I did too. I don't know if I was supposed to copy him, but it seemed like the right idea at the time.

When he pulled the chute, we just lifted up. Sort of like going over the top of a roller coaster. My ears hurt so bad! At the time, I thought it was because of the noise. Later Sarah reminded me my ears needed to pop. I completely forgot about that! Talk about the worst ear bubbles ever! Anyways, with the chute up we just glided down. My guide pointed out the different geographic things, like the mountains and such. The lake looked really cool because it is a sunken crater. The edge of the water was light green because it was shallow, then it just drops into a deep blue color. We could spin with the parachute too and the guide let me hold the steering ropes. He showed me how pulling up and down changed things. It was really neat! I was in control! hehe! I loved spinning.

The landing wasn't bad at all. You just sit down. He tells you to hold your feet up and then you just plop. I was so excited that I ran back skipping. The next group was waiting and taking pictures of us. It was so much fun. While we were waiting for the other group to go, we just sat in plastic lounge chairs. It was great fun. I was on such a life high. I did the 12,000Ft jump.

We went to dinner at 5ish because everyone was starved. We didn't have a real lunch because of the timing. We went to a TexMex restaurant, which wasn't very good in my books. I guess I was just expecting Mexican food and forgot about the Tex part.

We met back with our other third at the hostel. They had a great day out on the lake sailing. It sounded like so much fun. Then, we walked down to the lake again to watch the sunset. There were a lot of ducks and black swans. The swans were so mean! They poofed up their neck feathers at Sarah just for coming near them! The sunset was descent and it got cold fast. But we were having fun on the beach.

We went back and played a competitive game of pictionary. Not everyone was there, some people were at a hot water springs and a couple others were at dinner because they'd been at the lake while we were eating. So, those of us playing totaled five plus Neal, a random OZ guy with long brown hair and a leather jacket. He was really good at pictionary though. I was on the Max and Max team. We won after struggling throughout. It was heaps of fun! Then, we went on an ice cream run to the Pick 'n Save, a really cheap grocery store.

Once everyone was back at the hostel, we went out to an Irish pub to watch the rugby game. They had a live band that wasn't the best, but played some fun songs. I played a lot of Foosball and decided I am no good. I don't know how I ever beat Dad's students, it must have been all Nordo. Or maybe home court advantage.... but probably not. I was the DD and had to round up the crazy kiddies from the playground across the road. Playing mom isn't bad when they don't remember it the next day. Actually, not everyone was having issues, just my car full.

Sunday 30 September

We had to check out at ten and my room was the only one that realized this. So, at 8:45 I began invading rooms. Room one: I jumped on Victoria, who can now sympathize with Nora, and bugged everyone else. They said 30 more min. Room two: I was nicer but they realized it was day light savings and actually 9:45 and we weren't going to get out by ten. I went and talked with the lady in charge and she said she wouldn't charge us. We had twelve people, so that was really nice of her. I got both rooms going and we were out of there by a quarter after. But, she let us go back to the kitchen and eat breakfast.

One of the people who works at the hostel has a brother who works for a bakery. There was heaps of free bread! and a lady working said we could take as much as we wanted. No one else took advantage of the opportunity like me. I stuffed my hokey pokey ice cream box with a loaf of bread. It was the best bread! I figure I learned this type of behaviour from Grandma Matthews because she takes bread rolls at restaurants. I promise, they didn't mind.

I was in the early car back because I had homework. We had to cram five of us in a tiny car. I was in a Max sandwich in the back seat because Leigh was driving and Christophe is a huge dude. I provided interesting Maori health care for everyone who was interested. Which amounted to very few people.

Welp, that is about it! I will get the next couple weekends up ASAP! sorry y'all!

Palmerston North

Kia Ora! I'm sorry I haven't updated recently. I got a little bogged down with homework. So, two weekends ago I went to Palmerston North, or Palmy as the kiwis say. Prior to he trip, I was warned by heaps of people, kiwis and others, that there is nothing to do there. However, I was going to visit some family friends.

I left Friday morning before the sun was up and caught the shuttle to the airport. Again, I got to walk right up to the plane with a water bottle in hand. I don't even think I had to put my bag through security. Don came to pick me up on the other side.

We drove into town past my old school and to the house we lived in. After Don's coaxing, we went up and rang the neighbor's doorbell. I thought it was the house where an author lived, but turns out it was the neighborhood gossip. The author, my Dad informed me, lives on the other side. Anyway, we were invited in and brewed a cup of tea. She enlightened us with the changes in the neighborhood, all of which flew over my head because I couldn't really remember anything. The owners of the house are constantly renting it out, so their neighbors (the lady whose house we invaded) do all of the up keep. She gave us the tour of the yard and knocked on the door so we could say hello to the current occupants. Everything was a lot smaller than I remembered. There were also two trampolines in the back yard. One of which, caused many injuries to Nora and I. Explains a lot, I know. There were still fruit trees and a large back yard.

Next, we went to the good ol' DRI. Something I really don't ever remember going to, but my parents worked there. Don took me on a run with the running group and I got to hear all their jokes on my dad. Plus, their criticism for being like him. We ran through a sheep pasture, jumped a creek and a few fences. The typical kiwi attitude is "as long as you don't disturb the animals or the land, you are ok to trespass." It results in fun runs with manure on your shoes.

We went to pick up Sam from primary school and just missed the net ball game. The primary and secondary schools were beginning their two week holiday, so all of the kids were really excited. From the school, we went to their house to meet up with Kirsten and James. Both of the boys look the same, just a lot bigger. Both of them were fun to see and talk with.

After getting settled in, we all went on a walk around the farm. Their house is surrounded by sheep pastures and other farm land, so it makes for good walks. We brought the dog and let her run free as long as she didn't nip at the sheep. She is a small dog, black and white, and she minds better than Lolly. It was fun to see her chase the rabbits. We hopped fences and I got to see where they are going to build a new house. The boys are getting big and Don says they are running out of space. The new lot is in a nice place away from the road and when it is clear you can see Ruapehu, the active volcano. On the way into the house, we walked through their pig pen, but they aren't keeping any pigs right now. Then we went by the chickens and saw a little chick. Only one, the other eggs didn't hatch. The next day, the boys threw the bad eggs at trees. They weren't any good, so it was wasn't any harm, and worth the entertainment.

That night we had take aways and I got fish'n chips. Some of the better take away I've had, it is normally a hit and miss. We watched some American classics "Friends" and "The Simpsons." This was the first TV I've watched here, other than the rugby games, so it was the first time I'd seen any kiwi advertisements. I got to see the controversial Ford commercial. Ford sued because it was a warning ad not to go too fast, but you could tell it was their car. James is really smart, he told me about it. I wonder if I would have paid attention to that type of news when I was his age.

That night, I passed out until the roosters crowed, literally! They wake you up on about 15-30 minute intervals. The whole group got up to go to Sam's soccer club finale. Don coaches and organizes the club, so we went early to set up. There were so many kids from ages ~6 to 12. I played in the parents versus kids game for Sam's age group. I played with the parents and got whooped by the kids. I mean, don't get me wrong, the kids won. But, that was no thanks to me. After the games, there was a BBQ. I have never seen kids hoard fizzy (or sodas), but these kids acted like they had never seen it before.

On the way back, we stopped at the grocery store and got ingredients for Peanut Butter Blossoms. That afternoon, I went on a bike ride with Don and Sam. We went to the Manawatu River and threw rocks in the water. Once it was dark, we took the pick up out to a dried creek or river bed. We had to hop a fence in the dark and walk up the creek bed with our torches (flash lights). After about a ten minute walk you could see glow worms on the hills on either side of you. It was really cool! There were heaps of them with their chemiluminescent bums!

Sunday morning, I went running with Don again. We went out for about an hour around the farm and on a golf course. The boys and I made the biscuits (cookies). It was fun! They ate so many chocolate buttons, hehe! Then we went into Palmerston North and up to the windmills. There is a farm up on the mountains with so many of them and they are pretty new. We got lunch from a cafe and took it to a park. Before dropping me off at the airport, we went to the museum and saw the Leonardo De Vinci exhibit. They had models of all his designs. It was pretty sweet. It was funny, we knocked down one of the bridges and it fell apart. You were aloud to walk over it, so it wasn't that big of a deal. But, we had to put it back together, which was pretty funny. We got it to stay and then ran away from it so someone else could mess it up. Kirsten said she heard it fall and just knew it was her boys!

The flight back was sort of funny, I was next to a big Maori guy who does construction work. We had a good talk, then the plain started flying through the rain and hit some turbulence. He was like, I hope I don't have to fly again for a while! I was like, you are a big dude and you're freaked. It just made me laugh.

Here are the Pictures

Queenstown at night

The drive to Glenochry

Leigh driving to Paradise

Paradise, NZ

Queenstown from the top of the mountain

Luging

Church of a Good Shepard

The Spaceship!!!

Queen Charlotte Sound

Abel Tasman

Pancake Rocks

Fox Glacier

The three of us on the glaciers

Lake Matheson, Mt Tasman (left), Mt Cook (right)

This is where the penguines were supposed to be. Monro Beach

The Kea attacks, Leigh is laughing and I am yelling at the bird. I was trying to close the window.

Kea and me in the van

Milford Sound

Patagonia's

Lake Tekapo and lunch

Christchurch

KC and me at Taylor's Mistake

The long awaited SPRING BREAK!!!

We left August 24, 2007 for the great unknown of the South Island. No planning (or viewings of The Lord of The Rings) could prepare us for the wonders that lay ahead! Three Girls, one van, one island!
Friday, I was supposed to get up at 6:40 AM to meet the girls at 7:40 and catch the 8:30 shuttle. I forgot to turn on my alarm, that is sort of an important step in the waking up process. Well, I lucked out and woke up at 7:20, probably because I was a little panicked. We headed out at first to a shuttle pick up location that was up a steep hill. Unfortunately for us, they moved it. So we had to walk forever to another location. We got there right in time!!! 9:05!

The airport was a great experience. They put American airports to shame! We only needed an ID to get our boarding pass, no printed ticket necessary. We got sushi for lunch and carried water bottles through customs with us. I think I am going to have cheap, good sushi withdrawals when I go home.

Victoria and I were on the flight together. We had a great view! The southern alps and Mt. Cook from above is one great thing about flying to Queenstown. We were next to a kiwi gentleman from Wanaka. He gave us his business card and said we should consider working at his meat pie factory for a summer, or send friends. It is so tempting, let me tell you! He said they take a lot of people for summer jobs and Wanaka is right near Queenstown.

We got off the flight and walked right onto the pavement, no terminal necessary! From the airport you could see the Remarkables and so many other beautiful mountains! We took the shuttle into Queenstown. We needed to rent a car, but all of the companies at the airport were booked. Queenstown is a beautiful little touristy town. It is on the water of lake Wakatipu, the water of all of the lakes is bright blue or turquoise! We were able to get a Jeep Cherokee at a better deal than all of the cars that weren't available anywhere.

We spent the night in Bumbles backpackers, within walking distance of everything. We went out to dinner at Winnie's a bar/restaurant. It was in a loft, with a wall separating the two. We got two delicious pizzas. Cranberry, Chicken and Brie on one and Bacon, Chicken, and steak on the other. SO GOOD! The place was decorated really cool, with couches in the bar area and fire places in the restaurant. Real wood burning ones! We had a great time for dinner, celebrating our escape! Then we walked around Queenstown for a bit before we visited Patagonia's, an ice cream and chocolate shop. We each got a double scoop cone with chocolate drizzle. I had Irish Cream and Patagonia dark chocolate. This is where the obsession began...

Saturday, August 25
We were going to get up for sunrise, but we decided the mountains were blocking it. Once we were up, we drove along the lake to Glenochry. The drive was amazing. We were surrounded by the mountains with the lake next to us. Every bend had a new view. So many pictures... We made it to the tiny town of Glenochry, then drove to Paradise, NZ! We had to drive on a dirt road through cow and sheep pastures and through tiny creeks! Leigh was driving and she was really excited! If we had a car, we wouldn't have been able to do it. We parked the car on a pseudo island. we had to cross a tiny creek to get to it. There was a rainbow up the whole time. We drank the water from the lake (freezing cold) and took a few pictures. Then we hiked along the water to the base of a mountain/cliff thing and had lunch on a boulder on the side of the mountain. (PB&J, fruit, trail mix) During the drive back, Victoria and I rode out the car window. It was a blast!

We dropped Victoria off to go skiing during the dusk session and Leigh and I went luging! It was awesome! You are on a sled with wheels and brakes going down windy hills. We got to take the Gondola to the top of the mountain to do it and the track was at the top. It didn't go the whole way down. We had an amazing view! 5 runs later, we took the gondola back down and went to get Victoria.

That night we drove to Lake Tekapo and checked into our hostel. We were driving in the dark, so we missed a lot of beautiful scenery. We also had PB&J for dinner.

Sunday, August 26
We woke up to a beautiful view of the lake and the mountains! I think it was one of my favorite spots. We made a meat pie for breakfast, because we were supposed to have it for dinner the other night at Bumbles and they didn't have an oven. It was really good! We stopped at the Church of a Good Shepard before we left. It is a cute little stone church. I took a picture inside it and then Leigh pointed at a sign that said no pictures. So I deleted the pic, stupid tourists!

We drove the rest of the day to Christchurch. We stopped for lunch in Geraldine (PB&J, fruit, trail mix). The drive was beautiful, through the Canterbury Plains with the Southern Alps behind us. We got to Christchurch around 3PM to pick up the spaceship. Our new vehicle, home, kitchen; is a minivan that has a bed inside. You extend the bed outside and zip a tent around it or flip the back seat and extend the bed inside. There is a two cooker, gas grill, an Ipod plug in, and lots of storage. It fit the three of us comfy and cozy. We had a little larger than a double bed (supposedly) to sleep on. They also gave us a bag of food! Which like any college student, we took and devoured over then next two weeks.

That night we stopped at Magpies for dinner, because it got dark and we didn't know exactly what we had for dinner. I had some weird steak sandwich and regretted not just getting a burger. I got to drive us a little more that night. We ended up stopping in a photo op pull off. There were no signs that said "No Camping" or "No over night parking" so we figured it was ok. We knew we were by the Pacific ocean, but we didn't know what we were really looking at. We began watching Coyote Ugly (two batteries and a DVD player). The second battery died around half way through, so we went to sleep at around 8:30PM.

Monday, August 27
We woke up when nature called at around 7AM. So we packed up as fast as we could, while enjoying our wonderful view, and speed away to the first gas station we could find: Shell. There we got ready for the day. Then we found a Four Square and got Muesli and yogurt for breakfast. We ate at a picnic table by the Kaikora info centre.

We stopped in Blenheim for lunch. We found a nice little amphitheatre on the river for lunch. It had beaver statues and crazy seagulls (Victoria's friends). From there we drove toward Picton. We stopped to see a seal colony on the way. They really blend in with the rocks! We stopped in Picton for a second, then drove the Queen Charlotte Drive. It was windy and narrow, a true Kiwi road. We stopped at Governor's Bay to walk around a little. Then we found a camp site picnic area to hang out. We took a little time to write in journals by the lake. I could hear a Maori group rowing and chanting. We were also followed by ducks, we think they were the ones we saw in Governor's Bay. Then began cooking for the first time. We had sausages and beans. YUM! We didn't want to pay for camping, so we headed back up the road to another pull off. We watched the rest of coyote ugly and fell asleep.

Tuesday, August 28th
We had it planned out this time around. We new exactly where we were going to go to get ready in the morning. We went back to the camp site/picnick area, sort of mooching off the system. Victoria drove us there, while Leigh and I remained in bed. Ummm.... don't worry, we didn't have to go far? It was fun though, on the windy roads! We decided to do part of the Queen Charlotte Treck for the day, so we drove to Portige.

In Portige, we bought milk and bread. We had breakfast and made lunch for the treck (PB&J, trail mix, and fruit). Our breakfast place was so nice. Right by the water and the boats on the pier. We walked the treck for a bit in one direction, then went the other way so we could be closer to the water. We saw one of those fat pigeons, the biggest pigeons in the world. They eat so much that they can't fly, sort of like being drunk for a bird. We also saw a Weka, a flightless bird that looks like a kiwi in the dark (we discovered this later on), but it has a short beak. We had lunch on a pretty pier. The water is so clear, you can see everything on the bottom!

After walking, we drove to Nelson. I booked the Bumbles backpackers there because the one in Queenstown was nice. We just wanted a place to park and shower, so they charged us $6. The guy checking us in had a very strong accent and was sort of sketchy. They locked in our van with a gate thing, and there were people partying on the sidewalk. There was a lunar eclipse, so it sort of made sense. We made spaghetti with mince beef for dinner, then went and bought some ice cream and chocolate cake. We were pretty happy with ourselves... hehe! We ate our cake and watched the eclipse, that only people in the southern hemisphere can see. The people on the side walk were also sort of sketchy and they were friends with they guy who worked there. The manager said another hostel was a "freaking girls boarding school" and another guy said the orange moon looked like a magic mushroom and he just wanted to pluck it up and eat it.

We didn't sleep in peace.

Wednesday, August 29th
We woke up at 6ish because we had to make it to Abel Tasman by 8:45, and it was an 1 1/2 drive. However, we got lost on the way, so we didn't make it in time. Abel Tasman is a national park on the northern coast of the island. It has a marine reserve, beautiful beaches, birds, and seals! We rented kayaks from a Marawai company. We parked our spaceship and packed four days worth of gear in the kayaks. They trained us and sent us on our way at around 12:30.

We went out to an island first and had lunch. It is a large island and there are seals west of where we stopped off. We wanted to go to the seals, but a southern wind came and created a bunch of white caps! I was in a single and the other girls were in a double. I was blown into a little sand bar and couldn't get off it because of the wind and tide was going out. I had to pull my boat over and direct the other girls to stay away from shore. I got back in and forgot to put down my rudder. We decided not to go to the seals because the wind was so strong and we weren't comfortable with the boats yet. The other girls were blown/paddled away from me. I mean far from me! and I didn't realize my rudder was up. After a few large waves and a lot of panic I figured it out. I finally caught up with them closer to shore. We had to regroup and go over some water rules. They were worried I'd capsized, so it was a little scary for all of us. The company we rented from has a boat, and they came and did a routine check on us before heading to another group. I asked about getting around a peninsula to our camp site or just staying at one right in front of us. They said we could get around if we were strong paddlers. It is called the "mad mile" along this peninsula before the camp site. So, we abandoned this idea.

We stayed at Watering Cove, a small camping area. We pulled up our kayaks and pitched the tent, then began exploring the shore. Tide was going out/out so we could walk all around. There are some islands that are only islands in high tide and lots of big rocks. I found some star fish!!! I've never seen them in the wild, so I was really excited. Leigh is from California, so she thought I was nuts. I also found a sand dollar! The rocks are giant so lots of things live in them and they make their own tidal pools. I also discovered sandflies.... The worst little beach creatures ever!!! My feet were polka dotted by the end of the trip.

We made beanie weenies for dinner and got in our tent pretty early. We had a little camping gas cooker thing, very small and portable. We laid in the tent giggling for a while and eating dried fruit for dessert. We had pineapple and mango! yum! Then we got up to brush our teeth and use the smelly toilet. We were a little worried about high tide and how far we'd pulled up the kayaks, so we went to check on them. Leigh was smart and said we should pull them behind a log that was lodged in the sand really well. They were already up to the sign, right by where the sand meets the bank. The moon had everything lit up really well, so we could see a lot. It was a full moon after the eclipse. Then we went to bed.

Thursday, August 30th
It rained over night, but we had everything covered that needed covering (even our shoes which were outside the tent). When we checked on the kayaks, you could see where the waves pulled sand away from them. In other words, Leigh is a genius and we lucked out! We had muesli with canned fruit and the fruit syrup for breakfast. No dairy, just pineapple and peaches. I planned all of our meals according to what would keep and the fact we would need to carry everything out.

We repacked the kayaks and began around the mad mile. The wind isn't bad in the morning, so we had an easy time. From there we were in Torrent Bay. We were able to kayak into a tiny bay and up part of a river because of high tide. Our instructor told us how to plan it and it was well worth it! We could see all the way down in the water to some huge rocks and everything was really peaceful. It was fun because we made it to the swing bridge, that we would cross later when tramping. I was in the single so I was able to go up and see a little waterfall. Later, I found out it was part of the river, just with a lot of rocks so you couldn't kayak up it anymore.

We went from the river out to two little islands where there are seals! They were so cool! The islands are actually connected during low tide, but we were able to kayak between them because of high tide. This means there are huge rocks and some stronger currents between them. As we were going through, the girls were ahead of me leading the way between the rocks.

I saw a seal! It was right next to me swimming. It would come up a little for air, but stayed right by my kayak. Then it went up to Victoria's side (she was in the back of the other boat). I began screaming "there's a seal! there's a seal! It's right there! Right behind you! Right by you! there is a seal I swear! It's right there! Right there!" Basically I was freaking out. Leigh and Victoria said they were just thinking, "Pay attention to the rocks." but i was going nuts. Then it came up and splashed me. It turned on it's back and splashed me! I scream "It just splashed me!!!" and that is what Leigh saw. Then it went back to the islands because we were going pretty far away from them. We did another loop around the islands, but no seal came to play.

Then we kayaked to Bark's Bay, where we were staying in a hut that night. Barks Bay is gorgeous and has a lot of high tide only water areas. High tide = larger bay, Low = sand. We explored a little and they picked up our kayaks because we were tramping back from there. I saw an 11 legged star fish, but I think it was dead. I didn't know what it was though and Leigh and Victoria didn't see it. So when i was dropping off some stuff to the boat guy, I asked "What has 11 legs and looks like a star fish?" he goes "A star fish?" I got really excited and he was confused and thought I was telling a joke. I am a little goofy.

We were in the hut when another group of 3 students showed up and an Irish man. The students were from Dunedin and know my friend KC (Katie Currie)! It was so crazy! One of the girls is best friends with her in Dunedin, and KC is one of my best friends from Davidson! The Irish man was traveling on his own and very inquisitive. Then a German couple came (they were nice but didn't know much English) and two American girls (they weren't very social). All of us but the American girls had fun cooking together and sitting by the fire. We had pumpkin soup and noodles and chicken with corn soup with noodles. 3 cups each. We were stuffed! but we didn't want to carry it.

All of our dinner group went down to the water to see the stars. There was no moon, so you could see everything: Southern Cross, Milky Way, Big Pot (the big dipper), and others! Then we saw a light on the horizon and had no clue what it was. We guessed... a torch, a flare, an atomic bomb... then we felt really dumb when it was the moon! by the way, the last one wasn't my suggestion. The moon was huge and very orange. It was so cool to see it rise, maybe better than the eclipse. We went back and had chocolate by the fire. Those big cadberry bars are amazing! We split one between the three of us.

Friday, August 31
We got up on our own time. It was nice, sort of sleeping in. We had breakfast (muesli with canned fruit). Then we walked north a bit to Tonga Bay because we weren't going in that direction. Then we came back and ate lunch before we left (PB&J, trail mix and fruit). It was nice, we had lunch on the beach. Then we hiked from there to Anchorage, where we were camping. We were supposed to be there the first night when we didn't make it.

The hike was fun, our backs didn't hurt too bad. We took our time and had a lot of fun. Victoria twisted her ankle and threw the tent down the hill/cliff. I had to climb down on the trees and bushes to get it back. We were rotating carrying it every 30min. We were running a little late, so we had to start hurrying before it got dark. We went over the swing bridge that we kayaked under before. Then we took the low tide treck to anchorage. It was good we saved the time, but the treck was really wet. We took off our shoes, to keep them from getting soaked. However, our feet began to hurt from the cold and shells under them. We had also been walking all day with heavy packs, so it was all round painful. After a while everything just hurt your feet on the treck. We made it to the other side of the bay and put our shoes back on. From there we rushed to Anchorage because we were so tired.

We were the only people camping there, everyone else was in a hut. This place had nice camping facilities compared to Watering Cove. We discovered it is a popular day trip for a lot of kiwis because we had a bunch of high schoolers out there with us. There were the high schoolers with a bond fire, pot, and bongos on one side of the woods by our tent and college students with a bond fire and alcohol on the other side of the trees. We were right in the middle of two weird parties. We hung out for a while with the college students, but they were a little weird. Then we went to bed and hoped they didn't trip over our tent.

OH! I almost forgot! We made tomato and ministrone soup for dinner with noodles. Plus, Hokey Pokey Chocolate! yum! The start were amazing again. When we first stopped by the bond fire with college students, there were four guys. 3 from the state (one was a North Carolinian, but he was really quiet and I think he was high) and one South African. The South African guy was really funny. After hearing about our trip, he went on and on about how we were "Adventurous Girls!" He goes "Will you be up for sunrise? Of corse you will! You'll be doing yoga on the beach! You're Adventurous Girls!" So that became our motto for the rest of the trip. He told us how kiwi girls would never do what we were doing because they have gotten too used to being inside all the time.

Saturday, September 1st
This was probably the worst day of our whole trip. We had a beautiful hike back, with all of our junk. The weather was great our whole trip and the views were amazing! We were just tired of walking. We had blisters and our backs hurt. We just went as fast as we could. On the way, we left our packs on the treck and took a long detour to Cleaopatra's pools. It was this really cool part of a river with waterfalls that formed pools at different levels. The water was a beautiful green and really made you want to go swimming. I think you can if it was warm enough. We had to hop along rocks to get to the pools, it was pretty funny. We were like "is that the trail?" yes, yes it was. I think only Victoria ended up dunking her foot.

We made it back to Marahai by 3 or 4ish maybe? We picked up our spaceship and examined our poor feet. Victoria was getting a bruise on her ankle and Leigh had blisters the size of her little toes. I had blisters on the balls of my feet, but I think I came out the best with mostly bug bites.

I called some hostels in Nelson to see how much it would be to park the spaceship. We were not going back to Bumbles, even though I did accidentally take the key. I found a place called Club Nelson that would charge us $13 to park it or $17 for beds, and we decided to spring for beds! While checking in, we were talking with Kevin (the large Australian guy who works there) and he heard about our story and up-graded us to a shared room instead of a dorm. Normally the share costs $25. The beds were so nice and the room was so pretty. The fire place had a swan in the tiles! The building was a pretty victorian home that used to be a girls bording school.

Leigh and I took the first shower shift because there were only two. She got into her shower stall and yelled out "there's no hot water!" I found two buttons on the wall, these huge rubber buttons, and pushed them for the hot water. She was shower 1 and I was 2. I got into mine after four days of not showering and after 3 min started screaming "COLD COLD!" as Leigh screamed "HOT HOT!" I jumped out and saw my button wasn't pushed. So I pushed it again and got back in. 3 min passes and we start screaming again. Turns out the button doesn't stay pushed, so I had to keep jumping in and out the whole time. I was mostly done when I jumped into the shower Leigh had been using. It was late by this time, so I didn't even get to shave because we were so hungry.

We wanted a nice sea food dinner as a reward to ourselves. So we found a place on the warf called Saltwater Cafe. It was such a pretty and nice restaurant. We were a little under dressed, but no one minded. We each spent enough, that I'm sure it was fine. I had blue cheese and spinach soup, salmon with veggies and kumara mash on the side. It was so good! Then we stopped at the grocery store on the way back and got Tim Tams and Milo for Leigh and I.

TIM TAMS AND MILO!!! I haven't written about this yet! It is an addiction. Leigh says it is like crack or something (we don't really know that). But here is why... Tim Tams are a chocolate covered chocolate cookie. They are rectangular and the cookie is like an oreo with icing on the inside. Milo is a less sweet hot chocolate. You bite off the ends of the Tim Tam and use it like a straw to suck up your Milo. Don't suck too long or the cookie will fall apart. Then eat the cookie! The chocolate is melted perfectly and it puts dunking a cookie in milk to shame. I love it! I am going to get everyone I know adicted in the States.

After our dessert, we crashed. The beds were so nice! But, we were weirded out by not sleeping right next to each other. We were so spread out and we were so used to being right next to each other either in the tent or the spaceship.

Sunday, September 2nd
We got up and Leigh and I went grocery shopping while Victoria did some laundry. Then we ate breakfast and went into town. Before we left, another guy let us pick some grapefruit. I loved Club Nelson. We went to a street market and Victoria bought a Zena lunch box. She became our new friend and we would refer to the box by name. Victoria took a walk to the geographical center of NZ and Leigh and I checked out the botanical gardens. We ate lunch in the van (PB&J, trail mix, and fruit), then bounced.

We drove from Nelson to Punakaiki National Park. We stopped on the way to cook dinner in the rain over looking the west coast, Tasman Sea. Romen and veggies! We slept in a pull off near the info center for the Pancake Rocks park. We've learned by now to get ready for bed at an info center, then drive down the road a ways and park where there are no signs. That way you can go right back to the public restrooms in the morning. Excuse me, I mean public toilets.

Monday, September 3rd
The pancake rocks were awesome. We stopped in Kumara, the town. We wanted to find Kumara chips there to eat, but the diner didn't have any. Leigh and I were happy with our obsession anyway. We had lunch (PB&J, trail mix, and fruit). This was our only day of rain during our whole trip. the rest of the time it may have rained a little at night, but we never had problems with it. Besides this day was more like a drizzle. We went from there to Franz Joseph Glacier. We couldn't walk up to the base because of the rain and shifting rivers. Then we went to Fox Glacier and booked a walk for the next day. We finished Die Hard 2 that night. It was a goofy movie.

Tuesday, September 4th
We got up early for our full day walk on the glacier. We bundled up and packed our lunch (PB&J, fruit, and trail mix). They gave us shoes with spikes to wear and pants. I borrowed some socks, a hat, and a rain coat. It was nice out though, but we weren't sure what to expect for weather.

We got to ride Stumpy, the 1978 Buford bus to the glacier. Our guide was really cool and really funny. He was from Nepal and a little hard to understand. There was another guy from Texas training for his sales rep position. He goes on a bunch of the trips to know what he is selling. I want to work for the glacier place! It was so cool! We got to walk up it and go through crevases. Our guide also found a few wholes for us to go through. We had lunch on the ice and drank the water running down. I filled up my water bottle. I also stole a rock, shhhhh...

We had a lot of jokes. like the fact that we bring the sun whereever we go and they said it was never sunny there. We'd sing "Here comes the sun! Do do do dooo" and "Ice, Ice Baby" That one was my input. hehe! We were sort of the energetic goofy ones in the group and always in the lead behind the guides. It was cool, we were walking across part of a waterfall before going on the ice and we heard a huge chunck of the gacier fall off. It made you feel really safe. Actually, you were pretty safe. But, the guides said there were quite a few risks and there have been accidents. One of the fun things to do was shoot your walking stick down a whole in the ice filled with water. It would come back after a second and shoot up. There were a few deep spots.

We got done around 4 and checking into Fox Glacier Holiday Park. We bought a pizza and a pie for dinner and they had ovens. Their showers were nice. That night we just stayed up and talked. We had chocolate and baileys in Milo. It was fun just hanging out.

Wednesday, September 5th
This was our long driving day. We started out by going to Lake Matheson and saw the reflection of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman in the water. Then, we went to Monro Beach to try to see penguines. They were hiding because there was a seal on the beach, so we were a little disappointed. A group ahead of us said they'd seen them. I drove from there to Queenstown, around 5 hours. We went through Hast Past over a long one way bridge. We stopped at Thunderfalls a five minute walk. We drove through Wanaka, a beautiful town with the meat pie factory. We didn't actually see the factory, but the town is right on the lake and I want to work there! Then we went through the Crown Ranges, a really pretty drive that mostly locals take because it isn't the main route. Everyone was coming back from skiing.

We were in Queenstown for dinner and parked at the park to cook. We had chicken teryaki and rice. Then we walked to Patagonia's for our second ice cream trip there. I had Irish Cream and raspberry white chocolate with chocolate drizzle.

Leigh drove us from there to Te Anau. We slept in another pull off by the lake. It was so cold! This was the farthest south we went and you could tell the temperature difference.

Thursday, September 6th
We went to Milford Sound! On the drive, we pulled off to take a picture. Victoria hopped out of the passenger seat and I stuck my head out of the sun roof. Leigh just chilled. Victoria heard somone coming up behind her and turned to find a kea. Keas are large, green, mountain parrots. They are as smart as cats and very direct. Victoria pointed it out and just as I was going to take a picture of it, it jumped on the front of the van. So I was going to take a picture, while out of the sun roof, of it on the van. But, it starts coming towards me! I duck back in and it is at the open window before I can close it. He is eyeing my lap and I am screaming "NO NO NO!" trying to press the buttons to close the window while staring at the bird. It starts to open before it closes, but I get it most of the way closed. I left about 3 inches to keep from squishing the bird's feet. It just sits there and begins chewing on the window. Leigh yells, like a mother, at Victoria to "Get in here right now!" So Victoria jumps in and we begin to drive off with the bird on our roof. It was so funny!

We took the 11AM ferry ride and it was well worth it. It wasn't raining either, normally it does, but we had a beautiful, sunny day. They had free coffee and tea on the boat, so we had a few cups. There were bottle nose dolphins and a couple seals. No penguines again. I met a lady who went to NCSU! Yes! State fans are awesome! She could tell we were from the states because of our singing and our song choice while singing.

We went from Milford back to Queenstown. We stopped on the way at Queens Chasm, a really short pretty walk with a river and waterfalls. On the drive back, I pondered aloud "I want ice cream" from there we started talking about what flavors we each wanted. We all wanted 4, so we decided to get all 4.... each. Two double scoop cones please, for dinner I might add. We didn't cook, we just got ice cream. The guy at Patagonia's recognized us from the night before and we warned him, but when we went up for our second cone he was in shock. He said "you're joking! now? really?" I guess they haven't met any true ice cream fans. I had White Chocolate Raspberry and white chocolate hazelnut on one scoop, then Irish cream and Dark Chocolate Chili on the other. The Choc Chili one was cool, you started with a choc taste then get a spicey after taste. I like it!

We slept outside Queenstown on a pull off by the water. It was a gorgeous view when we woke up!

Friday, September 7th
We had breakfast with Jane, our Arcadia coordinator, because she live in Queenstown. She treated us on Arcadia's money to breakfast at Joe's Gaurage (to say it the kiwi way, you must emphasize the a in gaurage). I had a sweetie (a hogie roll with bacon and egg and sauce), the girls split a sweetie and pikelets (NZ pancakes). We each had a mochaccino. In other words, we were starting our day with another sugar high! It was great talking with Jane because she is the best!

I drove us from Queenstown to Christchurch. We stopped at Lake Tekapo again for lunch. The view was amazing again! I didn't have my shoes tied and jumped off a large boulder and bruised my knee. My first real injury and such a clumsy one! We got to Christchurch and checked into the New South Brighton Beach Motorcamp.

We had pumpkin soup for dinner, with noodles of corse. This is when we decided instant soup is not all of the same quality. Maggi's is way better than Continental, even if Continental is healthier. We got chocolate at the grocery store and walked on the pier. It changes colors! It was really pretty out.

Saturday, September 8th
We woke up late, like 9:40ish and had to hurry out before 10 our check out time. We had breakfast on the pier. A guy does art in the sand and it is really cool. His drawing is about the size of a volleyball court in the sand. It was amazing! Then we went into the city. We walked around a bit and had kebab wraps for lunch! They are sort of like Greek fiesta, but not quite as good (what can I say, I love Greek Fiesta, thank you Nordo). They have a lot of street shows and a market on the weekends. We also got to see the church and the chalice.

KC came!!! She took a bus from Dunedin to meet up with me/us. We checked into a hostel, the other girls stayed in the van. Then, we all went to Taylor's Mistake, a small surf beach. KC and I walked up on the peninsula and the girls stayed on the beach to relax. We cooked for the last time with the spaceship. Chicken, noodles and soup. But, we didn't have enough water this go around. Then we went to the hostel to hang out and talk. And eat chocolate of corse!

The girls left to sleep in the van and KC and I got to catch up some more. We were up to 2AM! By the way, the All Blacks won that night. First game in the world cup!

Sunday, August 9th
KC and I got up at 7:30 because another girl in our dorm was up. We went and had breakfast and hung out a bit until 10. We met Leigh out front and dropped our stuff in the van. Then the three of us walked in to Cathedral Square. Victoria was on the trans alpine, through Arthurs Pass and the Southern Alps. It is a beautiful train ride. Leigh went to do homework at the Yellow Rocket Coffee shop. So, KC and I went up to the market. It was cool because a lot of artists have their stuff and you can find some great kiwi stuff. We split two creppes, black forest and strawberry jam. We ran into some of my friends from Auckland because we were all flying out that day.

KC, Leigh, Alex, Sarah and I had lunch together. I got some Indian food an let KC try it. She hasn't had it before. Then we all split again. KC and I just hung out walking around and Leigh did more homework. KC had to get the bus back at 3. Leigh and I dropped off the space ship at 5 then caught the bus to the airport at 6. Our flight was at 9, but we knew Victoria thought it was at 9:30. Just as we were starting to panic over her, she showed up. We were on the same flight as our Auckland friends. I walked into Railway Campus at 11PM

Week #6 Rangitoto

Kia Ora!

Ok so I leave tomorrow really early for my plain to Queenstown!!! I will be on a two week semester break and touring the south island! I am tired and I have to get up early, so this blog may be short.

Last week I went to see Transformers on Tuesday. We went out before the movie to Food Alley. It is an Asian food court and I had some awesome Indian food. Everything there is sooo good and really cheap. Wednesday night we went and bought a tub of ice cream each. Then we all swapped. I got hokey pokey! Thursday we just hung out. Nothing too unusual. Friday I tried to crack down on some papers I had to turn in this week. I had one on Pacific Health Care that was due Monday and another for Health Care Ethics due Wednesday. So I spent a good chunk of Friday and Saturday doing those papers. I did find some time to go grocery shopping with Leigh and Victoria. We did our shop and find lunch routine. We find something like sushi meals for $5, then we eat them in Esquires (the NZ version of Starbucks) and order a coffee. Our shopping bags sit in the seat next to us as we gossip. Actually, we are really just planning our trips.

Saturday we went to Mission pay for dinner. Leigh and I split a meal with fish and avocado sauce, rice, and an entree (appetizer) of kumara chips. Everything was really good. Then we went and got ice cream. The ice cream was good, but not as good as everyone said (in my opinion). On our way to the bus, we took a detour and walked by the beach. Then we found a fountain to play in, then the kiddies park. It was a fun night. We came back and watched a movie. Something scary, I can't remember the name. I spent the rest of the night jumpy.

Sunday we went to Rangitoto. It is a volcanic island that you can take a ferry to. I saw Suzie Eckle on the ferry, she goes to Davidson. She will be in Sydney for the semester doing an American program. So, she hasn't started school yet. It was really funny running into her though. She had emailed me earlier because she had seen my name in the Waitomo caves guest book.

The Island was really pretty with lots of lava rocks. We got to see the basin of the volcano. Victoria said it hadn't erupted in 600 years. There were really cool lava caves and the view was amazing from the top of the volcano. Leigh, Victoria, Steven (a guy from Arizona), and I went. We had a lot of fun taking crazy group pictures. We had a really pretty day to go because this is the third time we have tried to do this trip. Every other time, we wake up and it is raining. After we got back, we went to a gelato place. It was amazing! I had Vanilla Chi and Italian Hokey Pokey. Sooooo good! I want to go back now, just thinking about it. Oh! and I took a Lava rock to add to my Waitomo cave ones.

This week wasn't too exciting. I turned in both my papers and planned for our trip. I got a cell phone today. Well, it is a communal phone because we will all be sharing it for the rest of the semester. We also tried to finish off all of our food, which is pretty funny. I did pretty well. I only have some salad mix left over and I might try to take that with me. I am just really excited about the up coming trip. We are going to have a great time! I even got a 1GB memory stick for my camera.

Week #5 The Bay of Islands

Kia Ora!

I had such an eventful weekend, I can't remember what I did this week. Monday was class as usual. I have signed up for the Auckland half marathon. Leigh and I are planning on running it together, or a run/walk, but we are both having issues with our legs. My foot is acting up and she is having all kinds of issues. It is really quite sad, our bodies are bailing on us. I've had to use the elliptical machine to keep from hurting my foot any more.

Tuesday I spent the whole day doing chores. Nothing too interesting. Then I went out to a movie with church. Riley, JS, Joel (a guy from Arizona), Max (not from my Arcadia group), and I met at Railway and took the bus together. It was a 40 minute trip to Sylvia Park. We saw Amazing Grace, which was awesome. After the movie, we split up and road with some church people back to Railway. I love this church because this movie event wasn't for a certain group of people, it was for the whole church. They rented out an entire theater and each person paid for their ticket through the church. It was a wonderful group activity because it promotes a fun way to interact with everyone.

Wednesday, Leigh and I went to the grocery store in the morning. We have made our grocery trips into a weekly event of shopping and finding lunch. While we shop we find something that looks good for lunch, then we check out and go to the coffee shop. Leigh gets her weekly coffee and I get whatever it is I get, then we have lunch. The last two weeks we had meat pies, this week we found sushi! I had a strawberry smoothie with mine. I know, very Asian. Then, later that night, Victoria, Leigh and I went to Foodtown again for ice cream. I got Hokey-Pokey (vanilla but butterscotch type balls, a NZ classic), Leigh had cookies in cream, and Victoria got caramel chocolate. Then we came back and traded. Sooooo good!

Thursday wasn't too unusual. I made my kumara and chicken meal again. It turned out well, but I burned the onions. Then, I had the Equippers Uni club. After the fellowship there is food provided and this time it was these really good cheese sticks. They had a breading around the outside with cheese in the middle and they put hot sauce on them. So good! and then you remember everything here is made from scratch. This was just one of the girl's creations. Leigh and I made kumara muffin bread when I got back. We got the recipe off our trusty kumara site, but we don't have a muffin pan so we decided to use my square pan. Once we got started, Steven came in to make brownies (out of the box, so not kiwi). I promise no raw eggs were consumed during this evening of trusty youth, with heaps of health, cooking together. Then Annie and Michelle came in to cook brownies, also out of the box. The brownies finished and more friends came into the kitchen. Then the kumara bread finished, sort of. We at the edges because it wasn't fully cooked. We had a double batch, so we put the fresh batter in the pan and the half baked loaf in aluminum foil with the oven at a lower temperature. This time they took forever to cook. I think the potato throws them off. Next time we are going to make cream cheese icing with cinnamon for the bread. Victoria joined us with a couple pieces of pavlova for Riley and me because we missed it after dinner. By the end of baking we had around ten people in the kitchen bouncing off the walls. It was so much fun!!!

Friday, Leigh and I atempted running. It was a long haul. At two, everyone from Arcadia met up for our activity weekend with Kate and Jane in the Bay of Islands. It was a four hour van ride to Jane's parent's house, where we stayed in caravans in their yard. Janes family comes in the summer and they pull all the caravans close to the water and camp out. Their house has a beautiful view of the bay and a wonderful location for collecting shells. Even the girls from Hawaii and California were impressed with the shells we could find. I have a whole bunch in my windowsill. In the picture, you can see a few paua shells and then some cool spiral ones. The paua shell is found in a lot of NZ jewelry and in Maori art. Jane's mum fed us so much! Friday we had lasagna for dinner, probably 3 times the amount I would normally eat. Then we had huge slices of pavlova. That evening we played catch phrase and watched Whale Rider (I highly recommend this movie). Kate and Jane are so funny in their banter. They are constantly picking on everyone, sweetening one person up then teasing them.

Saturday, we woke up at 6:45 for the sunrise. It was descent, but then I don't normally know what the sunrise looks like. We had muesli for breakfast: granola, cereal, yogurt, fruit, and a little milk. Then lots of toast with this great raspberry jam. After breakfast, we all piled into the van and headed out for an island cruise. It was heaps of fun. Everything was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous. I took so many pictures! Leigh and I, plus some other crazies, would jump into the air when the boat was about to go down a wave. Sort of like jumping in an elevator minus the possibility of it breaking. We were on the front of the boat having tons of fun going nuts. I was actually leading the hyper activities, which is a first and would make Nordo so proud. I began the jumping, pretend wind surfing, slow motion running, dolphin signals and many other goofy activities. Leigh and I now have sign language for palm tree, tree with five leaves, dolphin pod, and whale rider. Then there is always the feed me nutella signal! When we went out to the rock with a whole, they made us all get off the front of the boat. So my group stood on the back in the open. We would hang on to the railing for dear life because the waves were so big and if you leaned out you would be sprayed. Leigh and I are also known as the two gigglers, Victoria thought it was after we would eat, but now we just think it is mostly after food and other random times. I am sure this sounds a little familiar to my family. We have a good time! The boat dropped us off in Piahia, a little beach town with lots of food places and shops. Some of us ate at a fish and chips place, which I don't think I want to do for a while. That food is so greasy and I never feel so great after it, but watch me eat it like ten more times! Jane and Kate treated us to ice cream. Then we headed off to the Waitangi Treaty grounds. The Waitangi Treaty was signed by the Maori chiefs and Governor Bledesloe awarding New Zealand to England. The content of the treaty is still debated because there are many original copies signed by different chief, but they have different content. Also, many doubt whether the chiefs actually know what they were signing. The grounds were beautiful though with the original house that the treaty was signed and a Maori building. The treaty was signed in 1840 on February 6th. This is the only thing I really remember because we all fell asleep in the informational movie, including Jane. As we drove back, it began to rain. We lucked out until this point because all of our weather was beautiful.

We waited out the rain in our caravan trailers. I did homework by-the-way, for those who think I'm just on vacation (Dad and Joe, and basically everyone else). I have two papers due soon. After the rain ended, we had a putonk (or lawn bowling) tournament. Everyone had a partner assigned randomly to them. I was paired with Alesa, Jane's mum, and we played Alex and Sarah first and won. Then we beat Jane and Asia, which lined us up for a final round against Leigh and Keith (Jane's dad) in the morning. We had fish for dinner and potatoes and cole slaw. The food was amazing again, with ice cream and pavlova for dessert. Kate gave us a quiz on New Zealand trivia, everyone had partners but Victoria and I! Somehow it was decided that we knew too much and would be fine on our own. This is why I don't play trivia games: I can't remember the highest mountain because I get stuck on Mt. Mitchell and I thought the five dollar not was red not orange (thanks dad, not exactly why this is your fault but you know me...). Anyway, I missed the second round by a point. Overall, they said our group did better than most, but I'm not sure if they were lying to us. That is a possibility. We watched "The Piano," which is a horrible movie, just plain weird. We went to the beach where it was filmed on our trip to the west coast with Kate, but that didn't help its horrible plot.

Sunday, most everyone woke up for the sunrise just by chance, in other words nature called. It was spectacular!!! Pink and perfect! Nora and Joanna would be jealous. We had muesli for breakfast again, then we continued our putonk competition. Alesa and I won by three points in the end! Leigh and I received chocolate and home made olive oil as prizes. Jane led us in a mid morning hike up the mountain. We dodged cow pies most of the way up and tried to keep from slipping in the mud. I have a picture of the silver fern. When they are dead on the ground the bottom side still shows white. This is how the Maoris marked their trails, sort of like bread crumbs. The top of the mountain gave us a great view of the bays and the rock formations. The area we were in was a typical location for a Maori village. You can still see the ditches that the Maoris dug for different reasons. When we were back at the house, some of us went in the water... to our knees. We wanted to try swimming, but Victoria was the only one who really got in that far. She didn't even get her head wet. There is something to be said for water that is colder than the wind when you get out. We had chicken, sausages, avocado, and cole slaw for lunch. It was Alex's birthday, so we also had a home made orange cake. Then we had to pack up to leave. On the drive back, I slept for an hour and a half.