Americans in New Zealand!

I was finally, after 2 months, able to meet up with my friend Paul from Pagosa. I knew him through church back in CO and he ended up coming over to NZ to do a bit of traveling. He is flying out to go home tomorrow, but I am glad we got to see each other while both here, even if it was brief and the day before he was leaving. Allison is also here from Pagosa doing YWAM and knows Paul as well, and she happened to be in Auckland at the same time..so the 3 of us Pagosans were able to spend an evening together. P-towners unite! So fun, and such a blessing to have fellow Americans and friends from home to connect with while so far away. We had some good laughs and swapped stories of our adventures here, as well as our feelings about NZ. Quite interesting to hear the different experiences and views.

More Holiday pix

The light house at the very tip of the North Island

Crossing the bridge over to walk through the mines

Julia and I at Waihi

Gorgeous blue water

The group of people I went to Coopers Beach with

my new friend..I wanted to take him home

Whale anyone?

Kinda cool..kinda gross..poor whale

Justine, Briar, and I having way too much fun

found a seal on Pooh Bear Island

The seal I tried to make friends with..he wasn't all about it, and he let me know

Me with Pooh Bear Island in the back ground

Lovin being on a kayak in the ocean

Briar

It's just so exciting..gotta jump

Can't Sleep

I can't sleep. I often wonder how people find time to keep up with a good blog..I certainly can't seem to accomplish that. But since I am wide awake when I should be sleeping..I do need something to tire my eyes and hopefully slow my mind down..so maybe that is a good time for me to blog..we will see. I fully admit I am a horrible blogger and have accepted that. So I am sitting here typing by candle light (very romantic, I know) and listening to thievery corporation- because their music is perfect to chill to..it's tight, and hoping to get my thoughts out of my head and onto my blog enough that my brain will let me sleep. I couldn't sleep the other night and ended up on eBay. I originally thought I would find a cute dress to wear for my sister's wedding in January, but instead ended up bidding on a pair of vintage cowboy boots..because how cool are they..and on a few pieces of anthropology clothing. I love anthropology but could never afford it, so it's pretty fun to get a shirt of theirs that would normally be $150 for $20 off eBay. I never did find a dress..figures, but I did win the boots. This whole not being able to sleep thing could be bad if I keep ending up on eBay!

It's been quite interesting to watch all of the presidential elections stuff happening while so far away. Maybe it's a bit nice in a way. I was able to watch a special on the US election this evening here in New Zealand..and I turned it on just in time for them to announce our new president-Barack Obama. Maybe that is why I can't sleep..all these thoughts running through my mind about these crazy times. I was bummed, but felt peace knowing God is in control and that is really what matters. I was able to send in an absentee ballot and vote all the way from NZ..and I was proud to be able to do that. And though there are so many things that disgust me about our country, I am still very proud to be an American and feel blessed to come from where I did. And I think living in a different country has made me feel that way even more so. I'm not sure why..maybe you need to step back or leave for a time to realize what you have. I do miss home so I'm sure that plays a big part in it.

I will be home in 3 weeks for a 2 month stay. And if I haven't already mentioned it a million times, I'm very excited to get to see my family and be in AK for the holidays. I will also need a job while I am home..so I am just going to put that out there for my friends to keep their ears open for me. Thanks guys. I think I could sleep now..I will finish posting the rest of my hundreds of pictures from my holiday in Coopers Beach...finally, and then crash..I hope.

Coopers Beach and Northland

My four days up in the Northland at Coopers Beach were probably my favorite during my holiday. I had such a great time getting to know a few of the people in my group a bit better, and making a new friend. We played games every night..took turns doing meals..walked the beach..went to a movie together..did kayaking. We also spent one day driving from Coopers all the way to the tip of the North Island to the light house out there. That ended up being quite the adventure. If you look at a map of NZ you can see the last little finger of the North Island..we were staying at a place in Doubtless Bay, the little bay on the East coast before that last little strip. From almost there up, you can drive on what is called 90 Mile Beach..I'm not sure that it is actually 90 miles, but it seemed we were driving it for ages. No traffic, no road construction..you can drive on the open beach for miles. So we stopped and messed around on some sand dunes, found a dead whale (that doesn't happen everyday)...almost couldn't find a place to get off the beach and back onto the main road, as the tide way coming in (that was slightly scary). Coopers was a blessing and a perfect 4 days of relaxing and being refreshed. And the company was fabulous. I have made some very dear friends here in New Zealand. I also went to Waihi beach with my friend Julia for my last weekend of holiday (that's what they call vacation here) and I will post some pictures of that as well.

Holiday- Day 5

Thursday afternoon, I took a bus up to Bombay and my friends Michelle and Dave, picked me up and took me out to their place in Clarks beach. They have an awesome little house on the beach. We did make a stop at Dave's grandparents place to say hi. They were an absolute riot..such a cute old couple. Then we spent the evening hanging out and drinking hot black currant drinks (common in NZ), and catching up. I actually met Michelle through a friend back in the states and drove down to her place one day to meet her a month or so back. And we ended up having a lot in common..so I have been enjoying getting to know her and meeting a cool girl here who I seem to have a lot in common with. The next day Michelle drove me out to Dave's family's farm and we hung out there, and I got to see where they grow all their veggies..and meet the horse and the pigs...I love farms. We also drove down to the beach close by and sat and talked for awhile. It was such a nice relaxing day.
I caught another bus that evening to head back up to Auckland and spend the night at home before heading out again.

Saturday to Wednesday of the following week I spent up in Coopers Beach with a group of people from my life group. Our group leader's parents have a Bach up there that they own with a few other families. It was such a privilege to get to hang out there for 4 days. I drove up with my friends Will and Briar. We did a bit of tiki touring on the way up, and stopped in a few regional parks and many places with cool sites. So I feel like I was able to see a lot of the north Island in my travels. Here are some of the pictures we took on our drive up and back.









Most of the Regional Parks have these picture frames in them..we hit 3 of them. The stone building we were jumping in front of was in KeriKeri and is the oldest building in NZ. And the cool bathroom with all the bottles is one we stopped and used on our road trip back home. It was kind of a dinky run down town with these gorgeous artistic bathrooms..kinda funny.

Day 4 - Rotorua cont.

I met a cool girl from Boston at the hostel I was staying at..she was on a world travel ticket. She was told by a local how to find these hot and cool pools in a creek a ways out of town (kind of a secret locals spot I guess). So my last day in Rotorua I decided to make it chill. I met up with the girl from Boston as well as a few other people we met, and we all drove out to the creek to soak. Rotorua is a geothermal area, and has hot pools and geysers in the area. This particular spot had a hot creek and a cold creek running together so it made for the perfect spot to soak, not to mention the beauty of the area. And then we went into the wai-o-tapu thermal wonderland and had a tour of that. So a nice soak mid-day and a casual walk through the thermal park was a nice way to spend my last day in Rotorua before catching the bus that afternoon to head back up north.

My Holiday- (Day 2,3,& 4) Rotorua

Tuesday I hopped a bus from Waitomo down to Rotorua which is almost central North Island. I had heard there were a lot of fun things to do in that area, it's also probably a city geared towards tourism. I did the gondola and the luge, which is basically riding up the side of the mountain in the gondola and then riding down on the luge..a small car/sled ridin down concrete paths to the bottom of the hill. The luge was a riot..you actually picked up some pretty good speed, and hit some sharp corners. I'm lucky I didn't tip around a corner and take a chunk of skin off my arms. Good times. My favorite part of that was watching all of these grown men and women flying down the mountain (some squealing)..you could just see the kid coming out in them. I had a few good laughs.

Day 3 I went on a white water rafting trip..probably one of my favorite things of the trip. I went on the Kaituna river about a half hour out of Rotorua. Supposedly Kai means food (in Maori) and tuna is for eel (which there are eels in that river as well). So the raft guides teased that we would be eel food if we fell in the river. The Kaituna has a 7 meter(almost 23ft.) waterfall on it, that is the largest commercially rafted waterfall you can go over in the world (that's what I was told anyway). So of course I was stoked about that. the trip only lasted 45 min. but it was packed with some fun waves, and drops..and we actually all managed to stay in the boat over the waterfall..although I wonder if falling out of the boat would have made for a more exciting trip...what do you think?