Not in the USA

I am not sure what I should talk about this week.  I could tell you about the weather but it has not been very exciting.  There has been a couple of nice mornings when I have opened my window but after about an hour or two it starts to get windy so I close it.  The weather mostly is sunny in the mornings and then grey and windy in the afternoons. Nothing too exciting in the weather.   I could tell you more about my lectures but like the weather they are not too exciting.  Last week I went to my lectures and labs and did finished up my geol report and started working on my psyc lab report.  Other than that lectures have been the same.  Nothing too exciting during lecture.  This weekend was a nice and laid-back sort of weekend.  I spent most of my weekend working on readings for my psyc paper.  On Saturday there was another All Blacks game so I went to one of my friends flats and watched it there.  Nothing too exciting happened this weekend.  As you can see my week has not been very exciting.  I am not complaining about this because it is nice to have a slow week once in a while but it does make it hard to write a blog about the week.  I have decided instead of telling you about my unexciting week I am going to play a little game.  My mum taught me this game when I was younger and we went to the UK.  The way the game works is you are to name as many differences between where you currently are to where you came from so when I was in the UK we would play “How can you tell we are not in CA (or not in the USA).”  I am now going to play the game for you but now I am in NZ so I will be playing “How can I tell I am not in the USA (or Maine or CA) but instead in NZ.”

1)      They drive on the not right side of the road-I am still trying to get use to this when I cross the street.   I have decided that the best way to cross a street is to look both ways when crossing each lane so it does not matter which sided the cars are coming from I will see them.  This also means that they go the other way around roundabouts

2)      The steering wheel is on the right side of the car-I have messed this up many time when getting in the car coming back from soccer. When walking I have also thought that kids were driving the car.

3)      The drinking age is 18-This has not had that much of an effect on me but it is fun that if I go to a bar/pub with some friends I get carded and they still allow me in. 

4)       Life moves on even if there is a small earthquake -Back home when ever there was an earthquake (they were always small) everyone would be very excited about it but here earthquakes are old news and as long as the building is still standing there is nothing to worry about.

5)       The night sky -I am still very excited whenever I see the Southern Cross.

6)      They use “ey” at the end of sentences to ask a question. - I am still trying to learn how to use “ey” properly

7)      There is also other vocab differences such as “sweet as” which means sounds good or cool beans.  They have jandles and togs not flip flops and swim suits.  They “touch wood” not “knock on wood.

8)      They have the awesome sport of rugby that all sports people follow.

9)      They are really creative in their team names.  All Blacks = rugby Tall Blacks = basketball Silver Ferns = net ball Football Ferns = women’s soccer All Whites = men’s soccer, Black Caps = cricket

At least they have names for their teams unlike in the states they are all just Team USA
10)       There are more sheep and cows then people
11)       You cannot use the ocean as a way to tell east and west because it is such a small island when you ask where the ocean is they say all around -This confuses me but not as much as it does going from west coast to east coast

This is just start of a long list there is but I should probably get back to getting work done.  I may add to the list here or in future blog posts if I think of more good things.  I may also play the game “How can I tell I am at Bates but instead am at UC”.  Hopefully this week there will be more exciting adventures that I will tell you about in the next blog post.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

P.S. Since there were no pictures this week here is a picture I took during break.  

Mince Pie

Well, this week was not very exciting.  Monday through Friday I went to lecture and lab.  In my geol paper this week we learned about rock fall and different types of landslides.  In my pscy paper this week we learned about self esteem.  We also did a lab about how people’s self-esteem fluctuates daily and there constant self esteem.  We are going to have to write a lab write up about this and if there might be any relationship to peoples self esteem and the way their parents treated them.  In my maths paper we are continuing to do logic things and are learning different proofs.  In my CHCH class this week we focused on connecting.  One of the things that was brought up was doing service learning in school.  I feel I did some in high school and I enjoyed it so it was interesting hearing others opinion. 

On Wednesday night I played soccer again.  The game I played in was a lot of fun because we were able to work well as a team and do combination passes.  I also enjoyed it because I got to talk with people who are not students.  I talked to an Irish women about the rugby world cup, which was fun because the USA and the Irish are in the same loop.  (I do not really care how the USA team does because I am an All Blacks fan but it was fun to joke around about it.)  On the topic of rugby the second game for the All blacks was on  Friday against Japan.  Sadly there are no games in CHCH because the stadium is not standing any more.  There is a fan zone area at North Hagley Park that shows all the games on big screens.  With one of my friends we headed over there to watch the game.  Once I got there I felt like a true fan.

As you can see in the picture I am wearing an All Blacks jersey and it is raining so I was a true fan going to watch the game.  I was hungry so I decided I was going to go kiwi style and get a mince pie.  It was soooo good.  We had an adventure trying to get back to campus after the game.  We tried to go on the same bus that we took going to the game but the opposite direction and the bus we wanted did not stop there.  We were not sure how we were going to get back.  We walked towards a busy road hoping to pass a bus stop.  When we finally reached one we were looking at what busses stopped there and in how long.  Most of the busses has stopped running for the night including the bus we wanted.  A bus did drive up and we asked the driver if he was going near the university.  He said he did not go but he would make a stop at a road near it for us.  It was really nice of him to do that so we did make if home finally safe and sound.  On Saturday I went grocery shopping and did some work.  That afternoon one of my friends came over and we baked some cookies.  It was fun to hang out and make some very yummy cookies.  Sunday was just another work day, trying to get my reports done. 

This week I do not have any exciting plans so far but I might go down to the fan zone again to watch the All Blacks play the French.  Until next time have fun and smile :) 

Lack of Adventure

I am now going to start writing about the last week of break.  On Monday we left Franz Josef and headed for a long bus day to Queenstown.  (did you notice we did not get lost in Franz Josef, it would have been hard considering there were only three streets)  The first stop that the bus made that morning was not very far to a trail to the lake that we kayaked in the day before so everyone could see the reflection.  It was around a 30 min walk through a tree area and then we came to a dock that looked out onto the lake with the reflection of the mountains on it. 

We then all piled into the bus and continued our way down.  Another stop we made along the way was at a waterfall (I do not know the name of it sorry). 

Cam our bus driver told us to stare at one point on the waterfall for 30 seconds and then look to the rock next to it.  When you did this it looked like the rock was moving up.  I understand why this happens but it is still cool when it does.  We then got back onto the bus and continued making our way down to Queenstown.  One of the activities that we were told about that we could do was to go bungee jumping.  We were going to make a stop at the original buggy places and if anyone wanted to jump they could.  I decided that I would jump again.  I ended up being the only one from the bus jumping so they were all able to watch me jump.  I think I was a little more nerves this time because I knew what was coming and everyone was watching.  This jump was 43ft high.  It was really fun.

As you can see from this picture and I was told after I did a great swan dive off the edge.  After jumping the bus headed the rest of the way to Queenstown.  That night many people from the bus met up for pizza and drinks that night.  It was nice to be able to hang out with the people from our bus from all around the world.  After a while Ashley and I headed back to the backpackers.  The next morning, Tuesday, we had all day in Queenstown.  The original plan for the day was to go skydiving in the morning and then hang out in the afternoon.  We headed to the skydiving place around 8:30 and got there only to find out that due to wind they had put all flights on hold until 9 and they were going to check again so they told us to come back at 9:10.  We walked down to the water edge and walked around until 9:10. 

We then headed back up to the skydiving office to see if the hold had been taken off.  When we got there they said it had not been yet so we could reschedule for some other time.  We first thought that we would go back around 1ish.  We then walked around some of the shops.  After about 15min we decided that we would rather try to skydiving earlier so we went back for a third time and decided to rescued for 11:30.   After that we walked around more of the stores.  We walked back to the backpackers to drop off a couple things and then headed back to the skydiving office around 11:10 to see if the hold had been lifted.  The hold had been lifted so we walked around for a little longer and then headed back to the office.  We went in filled out paper work watched the video and was about to decided if we want to get photos of our skydive when one of the workers walked in and told us that the wind has picked up and they were going to have to cancel all flights for the day.  This was a disappointment because we really wanted to go skydiving.  We decided we should do some sort of activity in Queenstown so we went to an information center and asked what we should do.  We decided that we would go jet boating.  The lady who was booking it for us said that the company said that we were the only two signed up for that time and they need at least 4 people to do the trip.  She said that there was a good chance that two people would sing up so we should get to the dock about 10 min before the trip.  We went to a fish and chips shop on the water that had good food.  We then went to the jet boat place about 30 min before the trip was going to leave to see if anyone else had signed up and no one had but they told us to come back in 20 min to make sure.  We were a little disappointed because at this point it seemed that even though we were in the adventure capital of NZ we would not do any adventure.  We went to a bench on the water and sat there for a while waiting to go back to see if the trip was on.  We ended up losing track of time and only got there five min before the trip left instead of ten.   When we got there a group of four people had signed up so the trip was on.  They handed us huge black raincoats and life jackets, we put them on and then they had Ashley and I stand together for a photo. 

We then got on the boat and went off.  Jet boats were designed in NZ by a farmer, he build them so they could travel in shallow water.  These boats were also able to travel fast and make really sharp turns.  This made them into a tourist attraction also.  We went out onto the water and we did our first spin.  The driver said it was not going to be the fastest because the water was choppy from the wind.  I am glad the first spin was smaller because then I realized that I really did need to hold on tight during the spins.  We then headed across the water and into some of the rivers.  We did many spins along the way and had a great time out on the water.  After the boat ride Ashley and I went to the store and got some food that we were going to cook with two people from our bus.  We cooked and ate food and hung out.  After cleaning up we played skip-bo and Elise may have won but don’t tell anyone.  The next morning we got up early and headed to Dunedin.  We got to Dunedin around lunch time so we checked into our backpackers and ate some sandwiches and then headed out.  We went to an internet café to check our email and on the way out Ashley noticed a poster on the wall for Avenue Q.  On the way up to Dunedin Ashley and I listened to the songs from Avenue Q so the chance to see the show seemed like coincidence that we could not pass up.  On the poster it said the name of the theater so we went to an information center and asked them where the theater was and headed to the theater to see if we could get tickets for the show that night.  There were three sets of two seats available and the ones that we chose were front row just off center.  After getting the tickets we were excited to see the show that night.  We then headed over the Cadbury world factory for a tour.  Here we went around and saw many of their assembly lines where they make different packages of chocolate.  Throughout the tour we were asked questions and were rewarded for correct answers with some form of chocolate.   At the end of the tour there were two of the old Cadbury cars.

The end of the tour dropped us at the Cadbury store.  Throughout the tour many people were talking about the roses and Ashley and I did not know what they were so we each got one of each kind to try later.  We then headed back to the backpackers, ate dinner and got ready to go see Avenue Q.  I think it was a great atmosphere to see the show because most of the audience members were young adults.  It was also interesting because some of the songs reference American culture and things in NYC and Ashley and I were the only ones who laughed at those references.  It would have been cool if they had changed those references to things in NZ.  Over all it was a great experience and I am really glad we happened to go to that internet café and that Ashley saw the poster and there were still seats available.    The next morning we got up and got in the bus and headed up to Lake Tekapo.  On the way up the bus stopped at the Moeraki Boulders.  The Moeraki Bloders were very round rocks on the beach.  Some of them were cracked and looked like eggs.

We then continued our way up and happened to drive through was we think is Richie McCaw’s home town.  (for those who do not follow ruby he is the captain of the All Blacks)  They had painted these straw bales to show their support for the world cup. 

The next stop before Lake Tekapo was a hydro power plant.  The water was very blue. 

We were told that it was that blue because it is all from the glaciers so it is very pure.  We then stopped at Lake Pukaki.  From this lake you would be able to see Mount Cook if it was not cloudy .

Sadly when we were there the only clouds in the sky happen to be covering the peek.    We finally made it to Lake Tekapo around 3:30 that afternoon.  The backpackers was very conveniently placed.  It was right near the lake, a place to go sledding and ice-skating and a playground.  Ashley and I decided that we were going to walk over and see what the prices were for the sledding and ice-skating were but we got distracted first by the playground.  They had an elephant jungle gym like thing that we had to play on.  After many attempts and a couple of bruised knees we ended up with this photo.

We then went to look at the prices and decided that we would have more fun taking photos by the lakefront than sledding.  We had a lot of fun taking the photos and after many different photos we ended up with this great photo.

On the bus Ashley and I had signed up for a tour of the observatory.  We were being picked up down the street from our backpackers but when we were waiting we were starting to get cold so we did some jumping jacks.  They ended up getting us very warm.  We went to the office where we were meeting up with other people who were going on the trip, including our bus driver Cam and one of his friends Chris.  We were given big warm jackets to help keep us warm up at the observatory.  When we got to the observatory there were some people who worked there with telescopes to show us different things in the night sky.  My favorite part was seeing the southern sky including the southern cross.  It was sometimes confusing for me looking at the night sky because some of the constellations I could see looked upsidedown compaired to what I have seen in the northern sky.  Over all it was really interesting to be there looking at the sky. The next morning, Friday, we got back on the bus for the last time and headed up to CHCH. Ashely and I were dropped off not that far from campus and walked back to my flat.  We then made a shopping list for things that we were going to cook.  We then went the store and got a lot of food and then headed back.  We then spent the rest of the day in the kitchen cooking.  We started by boiling some potatoes for mashed potatoes that we were going to eat for dinner that night.  We then started making cookies. 

We continued to make many cookies, so many that I could not even stack them well on a plate

While in CHCH we did a lot of cooking.  We made over 100 cookies, mashed potatoes, chicken parm, and fried rice.  (I think we broke my burning evertything that is pasta and pasta sauce record, YAY)  When we were not cooking we were hanging out and cross stitching.  Sadly on Sunday evening Ashley had to leave and head back to Wellington.  Over all those three days were really fun and relaxing.

The two weeks I spent traveling around NZ were amazing.  They were really busy but full of many adventures.  I am now back to everyday life at uni.  I hope you enjoyed reading about these adventures.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

P.S. If you want to read what Ashley thought about break you can read it here at http://lifeinwindywelly.blogspot.com/

Earthquake

I still have one more week of break to write about but have not done that yet so I am going to write about this week first.  I did not get up to much this week.  On Monday morning I went to my geology lecture.  I then headed back to my flat and worked on my report for geology.  On Tuesday I had a psyc exam that evening.  I had a busy day on Wednesday.  I started by going to my geology lecture.  In this lecture we learned about the volcano eruption in Iceland in 2010.  Later in the day I went to my maths lecture.  We had a new lecturer this term.  We have started to talk some logic things.  We started learning about; and, if then, either and other sentence parts.  In the evening I went to see a movie called Pay if Forward for my CHCH 101 paper.  One of the ideas in the movie was that one person would do a favor for three other people, it should be big and hard for them to do, and then each one of those people would do something for three other people.  This way would keep getting bigger and bigger.  After the movie I went and played in two soccer games.  The first one I played in I scored two goals.  By the second game I was tired but I was able to score the only goal that game for our team.  On Thursday I did not get up to much, just worked on making my blog posts.  Friday I went to my geol lecture in the morning and we did a case study of a fake city around volcanoes.  That afternoon I went to my psyc lecture about self esteem.  In the evening I went to an operation friendship dinner.  Friday was also the start of the rugby world cup that is being hosted in NZ this year.  We watched the opening ceremony and then half the game there.  I am really excited to continue to watch the games.  Today the USA played Ireland (I did not know the US had a team) and they lost.  On Saturday I went on a geology field trip to parts of CHCH that were affected by the earthquake.  I thought that it was really useful that we were able to go into the field and see about what we had been learning in class. 

For this field trip my paper was split into four groups, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon.  I went Saturday afternoon but it would have been interesting if I went on Sunday morning because there was a 4.5 earthquake during the trip.  Sunday I did not get up to much, doing some work and cleaning.

I do not have much else to say about this week so this will be a short post to make up for my last post.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

Lost

Here I am again working on another post, about 10 minutes after posting the last one.  I went and got a muffin I baked (the ones that got burnt way back when) and now back to writing another post.  I last left off after chilling in the Taupo backpackers.  On Monday we got on the bus early again but this time only for a couple of hours.  I forgot in the last post to say on the way back to Taupo we stopped at the lake and waterfall again.  This time I was able to get a better picture of the waterfall.  Back to the bus ride on Monday.  We got off the bus at the town of Waitomo.  This is a very small place that has caves and so called "glow worms" (I will talk about these later on in this post).  After we got off the bus we walked up to the backpackers.  As we walked up the driveway there was this cow sitting there and I decided I needed a picture of him. 

As I started taking pictures of the cow it stud up and started walking at me.  There were also two pigs on the other side of the driveway who came over too and wanted their picture taken but a car came and we did not want to get hit so they did not get their photo taken, sad pandas.  The backpackers had a very nice grassy area with tables and benches and a clothesline.  We decided to sit outside and relax and do some work.  We also had lunch outside.  The rest of the day we spend outside reading and working.  We then played a little frisbee.  It was a nice and relaxing day.  The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then headed across the road to go caving.  There we met up 5 other people and our two guides.  They gave us wetsuits to help keep us warm in the cave.  After getting dressed and taking some funny pictures we headed to the van and drove to the cave.  Outside the cave they had a place where we practiced absailing.  After a couple of practice runs we were ready to head into the cave. 

After we all absailed into the cave we started walking through it.  as we walked we learned about and saw stalactites and stalagmites.  We then got to a spot in the cave where we got to zip line in the dark with the glow worms above us to where we were going to enter the water.  Here we got some cave cookies and hot chocolate to help keep us warm and give us some sugar.  After our snack we each got tubes and jumped into the water.  After getting in we went over to one of the cave walls and fallowed a rope into the cave.  Here we were able to start seeing the glow worms well.  After going awhile into the cave we came to a stop and one of our guides told us about the what the glow worms are really, maggot poo.  The maggots secrete bioluminescent poo to attract food.  They create webs out of the poo that other bugs get stuck in.  The bugs in the caves head to the light and since they webs are glowing they ended up heading to the webs not out of the cave.  The travel places advertise it as glow worms because it would much more attractive than saying maggot poo.  After learning about the poo we each hooked onto each other and made our way back to where we entered the water looking up that the glow worms.  After getting rid of our tubes we continued to go though the cave.  Some parts we walked in ankle deep water while other times we had to swim.  The guides new the river really well.  At one point as we were walking one of the guides pretended to shoot a gun at the front of the group and then I stumbled on the rocks and he said “I got one” he then did it again and yet again I stumbled again “I got her twice in a row”.  After this point in the cave people started to relies I was always falling.  One part of the cave we went through called the drunk pass.  I was the second person leading the way so I could not see how others were going but I definitely looked like I was drunk because I was stumbling all over the place.  We then made our ways towards the exit of the cave.  To make it out we had to climb our way through two waterfalls.  This was a really fun experience going through the cave.  After making it out we hiked back to the van and then headed back.  Once we got back we took hot showers and then ate warm bagels.  We then headed back to the backpackers and relaxed by the fireplace.  On Wednesday we  were not being picked up by the bus until later that afternoon so we decided we would walk to a discovery museum about the cave.  On the way we passed many cows that I thought I should photograph. 

At the museum we learned some history about the caves and some more about the “glow worms”.  We then headed back to the backpackers and grabbed our bags and got picked up by the bus.  We headed down to the National Park.  Since there was no grocery stores near the backpackers we stopped along the way and near the store was this cool statue.

Right before getting to the backpackers we stopped and walked to the Tawhai Falls. 

From there we got to the backpackers.  Getting there in the evening and then leaving early the next morning we did not get up to much.  The next morning we made our way down to Wellington.  On the way we drove though a town where they have a gum boot kicking contest.  They had a big gumboot and I had to take a photo of it to compare it to the Been boot outside of the LL Been store. 

We then made it to Wellington.  The bus driver took us up to Mount Victoria where we were able to look around and see the city.

We then made it back to Ashleys flat to drop of our things.  We then headed to a fish and chips place for lunch.  After that we went back and did some laundrey and hung out.  The next morning we got up early again and headed to the backpackers to get picked up by a bus to take us to the ferry terminal.  The ferry was huge.  We spent most of our time on the top deck watching the view.  At one point we pasted a light house

We got off the boat in Picton, got our bags and then got on the bus again.  For the rest of the trip we were going to have the same bus driver, Cam.  On the way to Neson we were told about an opportunities we had to do some wine tasting for two dollars.  Ashley and I were thinking of going wine tasting when we were planning our trip but we had decided not to but this seemed like a great opportunity.  It was a great learning experience.  Being my first alcoholic drink I leaned that I did not like wine but I did find if fun to learn to proper way to taste it by first smelling it.  On the bus cam told us of some activities we could do in Nelson.  Nelson is close to the Abel Tasman national park so you could go tramping in it but it takes about 5 days to do.  Another option that was offered to us we to take a scenic microlight flight over it.  Cam, Ashley and I got picked up from the backpackers and headed to the microlight place.  Cam was going to skydive out of the microlight after our flight.  When we got there we decided that Ashley would go first and then when she got back I would go.  When she was gone they got me suited up to stay warm in the sky, gave me some gloves and a helmet with a head set.  After Ashley got back I climbed in and we took off.  Up in the air there were great views. 

After I landed Cam got taken up in the microlight and jumped out. 

After Cam got all packed up we got dropped off back at the backpackers at around 7.  We did not have any food to cook so we headed to the grocery store.  We had passed a grocery store on the street with the backpackers so we walked there.  We got our food and then headed back to the backpackers.  After walking for a bit we stopped because we should have been there already and we did not recognize anything we were passing.  We turned around and headed back to grocery store and once we got back we remembered that we had to walk around part of the store before we had found the entrance when we got there.  We then walked back to the backpackers on the right street.  Nelson was a small town and it takes some talent to be able to get lost there but we did make it finally.  We made dinner and then we walked around the backpackers for some time.  we found a white board with a marker that worked so we played some hang man.  We were not really good of thinking of words so we did song titles but most of the time we were able to guess what the song was without any letter.  We also found a dart board, so after playing hang man we played darts.  We did not keep score or anything but just had fun.  I was not very good at it.  At one point we both got bulls eyes

But most of the time the board looked like this: (I am yellow)

It was really fun even though I was not very good.  The next morning (which was Saturday if you have lost track like we did on our trip) we got up and got on the bus again and headed to Grey Mouth.  Along the way we stopped at Kilkenny look out.  Here we walked around part of the road and met back up with the buss on the other side of the bend. 

We then drove some more and then stopped at the Foulwinds walkway.  Here we were able to walk a short time and look at Kekeno seals. 

Here we also the weka bird at this stop.  These birds were funny looking and were also not scared of humans so it was easy to get pictures of them.

The next stop was the Punakaiki (pancake) rocks.  I was really excited to see these because in my geology paper we had talked about them as a geol tourism spot. 

 Many of the people on our bus along with us signed up to go to the Monteith’s Brewery learn about making beer and then do some beer tasting.  The brewery was doing some renovations so we were only able to see a DVD.  After the DVD we went to a room and did some beer tasting.  This was an adventure, going from never drinking any alcohol, to wine tasting and now to beer tasting.  Let me tell you that I did not enjoy beer either.  We also tried some apple cider.  If I had to chose one alcoholic beverage to drink I would have to chose cider.

After trying all the different types of beer they made we headed over to a bar/pub for dinner.  After diner we hung out for a while before the All Blacks game that night.  Ashley and I were really excited for the game because since we had gotten to NZ we had became big fans of the All Blacks and of rugby in general.  Sadly the All Blacks did not play very well and ended up losing the try nations cup to the Wallabies (Australia).  After being at the bar for a while and talking over the music and I had been sick I ended up losing my voice.  On the way back to the backpackers we where heading back with the 4 other people staying with us.  We were not sure exactly how to get back so we were trying to follow the other people but it ended up that we were all trying to follow each other.  Grey Mouth is even smaller then Nelson but Ashley and I were able to get lost there also, so far 2 for 2 in the south island.  After we made it back safely we went to bed and got up early Sunday morning to head down to Franz Josef.  We did not stop anywhere that I remember on the way but once we got there we had fun.  On the way we were told about different things we could participate.  Ashley and I decided we would go kayaking.  Once we got to the backpackers some of us went on a 20 min tramp to go to a viewpoint of the glacier. 

We then headed back to the backpackers and got ready to go kayaking.  We then headed down to the kayaking office. It ended up being just Ashley and me who signed up for the tour.  We headed to Lake Mapourika and got into our kayaks.  The beginning was a little choppy due to wind.  I was not very good at going strait and ended up running into Ashley and then going far out of my way.  After going across part of the lake we ended into an estuary.  There it was calm and you could see the reflection really well.

After paddling around for a while we headed back.  Ashley and I waited at the office for a cd of pictures The office was a bus which was really cool.

That ends this week of travel.  I am sorry if you think this blog post went on forever.  I did start this soon after I posted the last one as I said in the beginning but it took me a while to write.  I hope to post the last week of break soon.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

Snow Day 2

It has been a while since I last posted, sorry.  I am going to start by telling about the last week before term ended.  When I last wrote I said that there was a chance of snow.  When I woke up Monday morning I looked out my window and I saw snow.  I then checked the uni’s website and they had closed again due to snow. This meant that instead of going to class at nine I could go play in the snow.  One of my friends and I went out to the field and made a snowman.

We were not very good at making the snowman.  All three parts ended up being the same size.  The snowman did not last very long.  The snow was really good for making large snow balls.  We started rolling them in the snow and then decided to see how big we could get them.  At one point the snow balls we were making crashed into each other and we could not get them separated so that ended that part of our adventure.

 

After playing in the snow for over an hour we decided that we should probably get back to work.  We also had a snow day on Tuesday but I did not go out and play that day because I had a lot of work to do.  Wednesday and Thursday I had lecture to go to and did a lot of work trying to get it done before the mid semester break.  Friday I went to lecture just like on Wednesday and Thursday but after my psyc lecture I quickly went up to my flat and grabbed my bag and went to catch the bus and made my way to the airport.  This was the start of my mid semester break adventure.

I got to the airport, checked in and got to my gate smoothly.  The safety video on the airplane was really funny because it was a new video for the rugby world cup.  I made it safely to Wellington and then I had to make my way to Ashley’s flat where I was going to meet her.  I made the first bus and then when looking for the second one I missed it by a couple of minutes.  Instead of waiting at least 20 min for the next I decided that I should walk and meet Ashley half way and then head up to her flat.  Once we got there I put my stuff in her room and then we went out.  We were going to meet one of her friends for milkshakes but we ended up going to dinner first with Ashley’s friend and his other friends.  We then went to milkshakes.  Sadly, I did not leave enough room in my stomach to finish my shake but it was good.  We then went back to Ashley’s flat and hung out for a while.  We were able to play set together.  We actually made a new record for ourselves by playing five consecutive games in a row. 

After playing games for a while we decided that we should finally go to bed because we had to get up early to start our adventure.  Saturday morning we got up early and headed down to one of the backpackers in Wellington to meet up with the bus.  The bus company that we used was really good.  As we traveled places the driver told us about the places we were passing and also they helped book accommodations and activities for us.  This first bus trip was up to Rotorua.  On the way we stopped at Taupo.  We went to a view point to see the lake

We also stopped by Huka Falls.

After this we made our way up all the way to Rotorua.  One of the activates that we were able to sign up for on the bus was a Hangi diner at the Tamaki Maori Village.  Before the dinner we were able to walk through the village and learn about weaving, tattoos, food storage, carving, and games. 

We then watched them unbury the food for the dinner and then made our way to the meetinghouse and watched a performance. 

After the performance we made our way to the dinner.  It was really good food.  On the way back we had a really fun bus driver.  On one of the roundabouts we went around many times singing “She Will Be Coming Around the Mountain”.  That was our day in Rororua.  On Sunday we got back on the bus and made our way back down to Taupo.  One of the activities we were able to sign up for to do in Taupo was bungee jumping. 

It was so much fun.  It was a strange feeling at first because I did not realize I was falling until I got close to the water, I was able to do a water touch.  After jumping I got a t-shirt that says “Why live on the edge when you can jump off”.  I think this may be my new motto in life.  After jumping we made our way to the backpackers dropped our stuff of there and then headed back into the city to walk around.  After walking around for a while we made our way back to the backpackers, cooked some dinner and relaxed.  

I am going to try and post the next two weeks as soon as I can and get back on schedule.  Coming up next is caving and many more adventures.  Until next time have fun and smile.