Finals are over and summer is here... its definitely time to go on an adventure. :O)

Everyone has either headed home or gone travelling and today I get to do the same! I'm going up to Auckland this afternoon, shipping my much-too-heavy luggage home and then flying out to the South Island for 3 weeks with Andrew. At the end of November, we'll fly back and then I'll head up to Oz (Australia) by myself. I'm really excited about all of it, but mainly I'm excited to sleep on the plane. This past week of finals, saying goodbye and packing up has been a bit rough.

This picture was taken after a goodbye dessert a bunch of us went for in town. So long Hamilton. You have been good to me. I hope to be able to write throughout my travels, so definitely check out the blog once in a while. God bless! :O)

So... Classes are finished (about 2.5 weeks ago now)! Whoot! The last week was particularly stressful, I must say. I had a few tests and the longest lab report of my life to finish. The lab report was for my geochemistry paper and was meant to be a summary of the semester's lab results. During my Rotorua-Taupo field trip, I collected 10 water samples that I worked on analyzing for different ion concentrations. In this report, we had to report our findings and give explanations of why ion levels were the way they were and where the ions had come from. It ended up being a really interesting topic and I learned quite a lot for the whole experience. I pulled my first (and hopefully last) all-nighter since coming here and ended up turning in a 62-page report to my prof with 5 minutes to spare. :O) I am glad that classes are over, but I'm also sad in a way because it means that part of this experience is coming to an end and that I won't be continuing on to the next level of classes here at Waikato.

Now, we're in the middle of 4 weeks of studying/finals. I don't actually have a final until Nov. 6, so I've definitely had some time on my hands. The first task of the break was to drive Andrew and his geeky-car buddies up to the Auckland Airport. They were heading off to a solar car race in Australia, where the Waikato team, which has been building a battery-operated car for the past 2 years, would race their baby from Darwin to Adelaide (about 2000 miles of red dirt) against other team cars from around the world. It turns out that the international students going on the trip found out two days before leaving that they didn't have a ride to the airport 1.5 hours away. So, they were eventually able to find a friend's manual van to use, but no driver. Guess who got roped into this little adventure. Me, that's right. Turns out that I'm one of few people who know how to drive a stick-shift and are willing to get up at 5.30am to head to Auckland for their 7.00am check-in. It ended up being a fine trip because the guys let me sleep on the way up and bought me coffee before they left. :O) The van itself was another issue.... Apparently, in order to turn the darn thing on, you have to press a sequence on buttons on the remote clicker before getting into the van. The guys neglected to tell me this. Also, whenever you turn the van off and take the keys out, the van is programmed to remain running for 30 seconds or so. Well, this made coming home quite an adventure and I hadn't (or more like couldn't) leave the carpark yet! Everytime I went to turn the car on, a theft-alarm would sound and everyone in the carpark would turn and look around from the beeping car. Man oh man, I felt like an idiot. About 10 minutes later, after sending up some prayers, pushing a whole ton of buttons and maybe even doing a wonky-dance outside the car, the car started. :O) That was a good moment. Needless to say, I didn't stop anywhere on the way home, so I wouldn't have to go there that whole process again.

Later that day, Ashleigh and I jumped on a bus to Tauranga to hang out with Amanda's fam for a few days. Looking back on it, I can't really think of anything that we really did besides shop, take walks and hang around the house. It was a lot of fun. The best part of the trip, besides hanging out with Amanda's fam and watching A Place in the Sun and Man vs. Wild daily :O), was the picture exhibition that we went to see downtown. The exhibit was called "Earth from Above". Basically, a street had been closed and about 60 large-scale aerial natural and industralial wonder pictures had been set up throughout the whole area. This is one of my favorites...

Each one had a description and environmental facts about NZ consumption rates and world projects to protect the environment. It was a neat experience. You can check out this French guy's stuff at his site.

Since arriving back in Hamilton, we've been bumming around, shopping, pretending to study and hanging out. A few weekends ago, Wayne, Ashleigh, Amanda and I headed to the Hamilton Gardens. The Gardens consist of extensive grounds of both planned, themed gardens, a rose garden and also areas along the river that are a bit more natural in their composition. It was a beautiful day and I managed to get the others skipping rocks and climbing trees along the river before heading into the theme gardens.

THere were probaby 6 different garden areas that reflected different countries of the world: English country, Italian vineyard, Indian temple, Japanese traditional gardens and of course, the American backyard. Each were wonderful to walk through, expecting the American garden. It consisted of a pool, deckchairs and a few plants, along with a terrace overlooking the river. I was pretty disappointed with their interpretation of American landscapes, but what can you do? My favorite was probably the Italian gardens, which were complete with an ampitheater, vine-covered terraces, fountains and lush gardens. As my camera called it quits after the American garden (which I didnt' really deem worthy of picture space either), I don't have pictures to show you all yet, but I'll be grabbing them from Ash before we all leave. I'm pretty sure that we're all going to have to do one big picture-swap from all of our adventures together. :O)

This past weekend I travelled up to Auckland to meet and stay with the Lamb of God community there. I stayed with a wonderful couple, Maryanne and Greg, along with TJ, a Cook Islander staying with them, and her beautiful 3 month-old son, Samual. I was able to hang out with a large part of the community for the whole weekend because a good chunk of them live in cluster (on the same street). There were a lot of people my age and I got taken along to a women's desset night on Saturday with a few of the girls. It was a blast and we definitely got severe sugar-highs from the amounts of mousse, pies and cremes we ate that night. It was also New Zealand's National Elders weekend, so I was able to meet all 8 elders from around the country and got several accommodation offers if I'm ever in their part of the world. On Saturday, Maryanne took TJ, Samual and I to a Butterfly house. Man oh man, it was so hot in there, but awesome! You walked into the room and there were hundreds of butterflies flying around and landing on you. I even picked up a buddy for about 10 minutes before she decided to find someone else (not pictured here, but definitely loved). :O)

Going to mass and the prayer meeting with the community was a great experience and it made me realize how much I really miss and need a Christian support system in my life. I'm not ready to come home, this I know, but I also know that when I do, I'll be excited to be back in such a place. Everyone in the community was wonderfully generous and accommodating. Maryanne at one point let it slip that I'm a coffee drinker and from then on, whenever I entered someone's house, a cup of coffee was placed in my hands. It was an awesome weekend and they chided me for not coming earlier, so that I could have spent time with them over the entire semester, which I'm beginning to agree with them too. I'll be going back to stay with Maryanne and Greg right before I leave for the South Island (Nov 9) and during my transition time between flying back from the South Island and going to Oz (Nov 29).

Now that I have only 1 week before exams, it's coming on crunch time and I should probably start studying as soon as I finish this blog. A large chunck of people have already finished and we've beginning to have to say good-bye to some of our friends. One of the German girls, Susie (whom I call Susi-Q), left yesterday and a few other friends left over the weekend while I was gone in Auckland. Last week, a bunch of us went out to have a good-bye dinner at a Mongolian BBQ of sorts, called Gengy's in downtown Hamilton.

I'll miss these girls (Brynn, Rhonda, Melissa, Amanda, Me (obviously), and Mallory). Anyways, I really can't think of much else to say and I probably won't be blogging again until after I leave for the South Island (in about 1.5 weeks)... so... God bless and happy All Hallow's Eve to you all!

Rugby anyone?

This past weekend I finally got a chance to go see a rugby game in Hamilton. It's one of those experiences that I couldn't come home to the States without and, as it was the last game of the season for Waikato Union, we knew we had to go. Andrew, Amanda and Ashleigh and I ordered the tickets the night before the game (it had only just occurred to us that it was our last chance to go) and were able to get seats 7 rows up on the mid-field. It was pretty awesome, though admittedly a bit confusing... None of us really knew the rules or the positions, but we were able to get into it and understand the major things... like when you're team's about to score a goal, that sort of thing. :O)

One of the cool things about rugby is that it's pretty much continuous playing. There aren't timeouts or downs; they just take the ball and go. If there's a tackle, everyone piles on and the ball is rather incredibly passed between bodies and through legs until someone on the outside gets it and starts running again. My favorite thing to watch was passing in the ball after it went out of bounds. Three guys from each team would cluster together and two would cheerleader-lift the third in the air in attempts to get the ball.

I'm proud to say that Waikato dominated against Northland 20 to 16. Overall, it was a pretty sweet day.

Other than that, as my dad said, school seems to be getting in the way of my adventures, but it's almost over! Only 2 more weeks of classes before study week and then three weeks of finals... *sigh. I can't wait for it all to be over. I should probably help it along by working my Geochem essay thats due tomorrow, eh? :O)

Well, it looks like crazy adventures throughout the North Island are going to be halted for a while. School's definitely picking up. In the next couple of weeks I have a few essays and a couple of exams to survive.

Currently, the big news in New Zealand is that the All Blacks, their national rugby team, is definitely in the running for the World Cup, which is currently taking place in France. People here are a bit obsessed and have no problem staying up to watch a game that's coming on at 2am. I'm officially an All Blacks fan now, even though the American team is still in the running. :O)

Andrew has been working with an engineering group on a battery-operated car to participate in the Aussie solar challenge taking place next month. On Wednesday, Amanda and I went to the Uni's Performing Arts Centre to see the unveiling of the car (and Andrew's custom made headlights, of course). It was a neat ceremony because the Minister of Energy and the Environment of New Zealand made the opening speech. The Kiwi's have a healthy respect for their environment and it's cool to see the efforts they make to keep New Zealand as clean as possible.

I asked my friend, Hannah, once if she ever got tired of the ocean or felt trapped by it. In New Zealand, you're never more than 2 hours away from the coast. I remember that she gave me a funny look and said "We know that the ocean is our biggest resource... How can you not appreciate it?" Good point. It's hard to get bored in a place where every 50 km on the road brings out an entirely new ecosystem; forests, plains, the ocean, mountains....

















(Cathedral Cove Track, Cape Reigna Bay and Rainbow Mountain)

Anyways, yours truly has since then made it into the New Zealand Herald. Whoot! It turns out that the photographers caught me and Amanda in the background with the car in the foreground (we're in the top left corner of the pic). We both saved a copy of that day's issue. :O) Here's a link to the article if anyone's interested in reading it: Petrol takes back seat to battery power

All of my papers are still going well. I must say that my favorite paper at the moment is my Human Perspectives Chem class. We've been going through the periodic table and discussing the medical applications of the transition metals and the radioactive elements. I find it all pretty fascinating and my teacher clued us into an awesome periodic table made by the Royal Chemistry Society. They've basically represented each element with a picture that depicts their uses or a unique characteristic (Mom, Dad... I'll probably be asking for a Wallposter of it! :O)) Even if you're not interested in the sciences, I think that you should totally check it out:

RSC Visual Elements Periodic Table (If you click on the element, it'll give a history of it's discovery, uses and a explanation/description of the picture). Enjoy!

Alright, day two of Ash's and my crazy adventure. :O) After the Far North Tour we were pretty exhausted, but today, we were inspired to get out on the water. We decided to take a 4 hour boat cruise to see the Bay of Islands at its best. It was a gorgeous day as we weaved our way through the bay and were told some of the history of the settlement of the bay. The highlight of the trip was getting out of the bay to Cape Brett and to the Hole in the Rock...

a very poetic name, I know, but it gets the job done, right?

Asleigh and I talked for a few days about doing the two day walk to tramp over the dragon spine to get to the Cape. We then determined that 20km over the tough terrain that is the dragon spine might not be our best option. :O) Anyways, it was really neat to see the islands and the cape from the perspective that we did and our tour boat even took us through the hole. I say it a lot, but it was awesome! On the way back to the Paihia Harbor, we stopped at an island for an hour of swimming (if you brave enough to test the spring-season waters), tramping, beach-lounging and, my personal favorite, coffee drinking.

Before leaving Paihia that afternoon, we went to the Treaty Grounds of Waitangi. This is where the nation of New Zealand really began, when Maori chiefs from all over the island came to Waitangi and signed a treaty with the British in order to ensure protection from external powers. It is also the place where the longest war-canoe is stationed (35m). Sadly, the place was a bit of a letdown, as the treaty is in Wellington (south part of North Island), but it's an important part of NZ's history.

We then went to Haruru Falls on the way to Kerikeri.

A wonderful little brother to Niagara in the States, where we also happened to catch a rainbow. :O)

Kerikeri was voted a few years ago to be the best small town in New Zealand, so of course, everyone moved there. It also happens to be surrounded by orchards, art galleries and have a fair amount of historical importance to it. The backpacker's place that we stayed in there reminded me a bit of the Grapes of Wrath motor camps. Ash and I weren't terribly comfortable there, but we had each other and we had our own room.

Day three included heaps of driving throughout the Mid-North before finally heading down to the Coromandel Peninsula about nightfall. We basically decided to drive west and do some forest and coast driving on the way back down to Auckland. After getting turned around a few times (I'm not quite sure how it turned out to be so difficult to just go west), we made our first stop at a beautiful coast town named Opononi, where we took a scenic walk to see the ocean and dunes against a great mountain backdrop.

The highlight of the day was driving through the Waupoua Forest a few hours later, which is a famous Kauri tree forest in Kiwiland. It's a national reserve and I thought that we would simply turn off the road and take a hike into the forest itself. Nope, the main road goes right through it with a few stops to see the particularly impressive Kauri trees. It was quite the drive; everywhere you looked was incredibly green and the road was impossibly windy. One tree we got out of the car to see was Tane Mahuta, or the Lord of the Forest in Maori.

This tree is 52m high and sprang to life during the life of Christ. Truly, it was a protector of the forest with how overwhelmingly big it is.

After about 8 hours of driving through the north country, we drove down pack Auckland and drove to Thames, the entry of the Coromandel Peninsula. People may ask, "what is so great about this place?". Well, it's a little piece of paradise that people just can't seem to get enough of. It boasts mountains and some of the best beaches on the North Island... Not to mention the much-loved Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove, which we eventually got around to. The first two days were spent touring some of the mountains on a sweet train-ride, shopping in Coromandel Town and carving our own bone necklaces in Whitiangi. Our last day in the area, we tramped down to Cathedral Cove, which was more of a work-out than I think we were anticipating. However, I don't think we would have appreciated the scene quite as much if we didn't have to work for it. :O)

It was a beautiful stretch of beach with some interesting rock formations and the cove, which was formed through erosion of the hillstead by the sea.

Hot Water Beach. Mention it to anyone around here and they'll start raving about the time they had and how you definitely have to go. It's basically a surf beach with a very special feature: geothermal activity. There are hot springs under the beach that can be accessed by digging a foot or so into the sand at low tide. You can rent a spade from the beach shop and in a matter of minutes you can have your own hot tube at the beach. We tried to dig a hole with a austrian couple, however the waves kept knocking over our walls. A group of people offered us a space in their large pit and we gladly accepted.

It turned out that the water coming up from the spring we were over was too hot to sit in. In fact, at one end of the pool, the water was boiling as it rose to the surface. We basically had to stick our toes in at the other end and slowly ease our way into it. A few times the ocean flooded in with a particularly large wave and that helped to cool the bath down to a comfortable temperature. I may not come from a family that spends a lot of time on the beach, but man, that is the way to go if one has a beach day planned.

That night we headed to Waihi Beach before heading back to Hamilton for the night (we were sick of pulling out our debt cards by this time). The next morning we returned the thankfully undamaged car to the rental company and bussed back to Hamilton after a day of wandering/shopping in Auckland.

We really didn't have all that long to rest however, as we were scheduled to head to Amanda's family's house in Tauranga (about 1.5 hours away) the next evening. We spent the weekend enjoying the comforts of home and doing some activities with Amanda's parents. As I had done with Hannah two weekends prior, we headed to Mt Manganui, which is at the entrance of the city's port. It turns out that Tauranga is one of NZ's largest ports and thus, we saw a lot of ships. Anyways, while with Hannah we simply walked around the base of the old volcano, Amanda and her mom wanted to climb it. Wow, was that a hike. I must say that I appreciated the numerous breaks that we took to catch our breaths on the way up to the summit. It was pretty funny though, because we had people passing us quite a bit, including elderly men and women running up the track as a part of their daily workout. Don't let me fool you though, it was quite a climb, especially for my not-so-fit body. :O) The view on top was awesome and as soon as I can bum Amanda's camera from her, I'll post some pictures of the view.

We also went kayaking the next day up the Waimarino River, went out to eat, went shopping and had Amanda's dad serve us some of the best lamb I have ever had. It was a wonderful way to end our two week teaching recess. Admittedly, I did have some homework (or a lot of homework) to come home to though. I had a rather large Geochem exam the day we came back into town and I was definitely up late studying. What an appropriate way to get back into the school groove right?

It's looking like the next couple of months will be pretty chill until school has finished. Andrew and I will head down to the South Island together once the school year finishes. He wants to rent a campervan and do as much tramping as possible. I'm pretty excited about it and may even be able to meet up with some people from the christian communities here in NZ along the way. I'm also working on planning my trip to Aus. It might be bigger, but the Kiwis' strong dislike for anything Aussie and their excellent point about Aus's poisonous/huge creatures... not to mention snakes, has also definitely made me appreciate me time here as well. :O)

Man oh man. It's been a busy couple of weeks.

The after returning from Waihi Beach, Andrew, Ashleigh and I headed to Auckland to pick up our rental car. To date, I've only found one rental company that'll lend a car to people who are under 21: Explore More. We were able to rent the car fairly inexpensively, though the insurance bond on the car was a bit terrifying if you're between 18 and 20. We decided not to pay extra to bring the bond down in price because 1. we are college students with small money reserves and 2. I had already driven to and from New Plymouth and was fairly comfortable with driving on the left/wrong side of the road. So off we went in our Mizda Grizzly, which I thought looked more like a tattered cat than anything else. After spending the day in Auckland, seeing the penguins at the Kelly Tarleton Aquarium and dropping Andrew off at the airport, Ashleigh and I headed north.

We drove to Paihia, which is the gateway for the Bay of Islands and checked into the Mousetrap Backpackers Hostel. The next morning we woke up early and stood on the curb waiting for our 7.15am pickup for the 4x4 Dune Rider Tour to the Far North region of New Zealand with Joyce, a Dutch girl staying in the Hostel, and a Russian guy who didn't speak a word of English the whole day. Barrelling around the corner, came this huge converted army supply truck with wheels that reached my chest. The name of the tour definitely began to make better sense from this point forward. It was pretty amusing to drive up to hotels and see the 50-somethings boarding the regular boring charter buses and glancing warily are the 4x4 while the youngers stumped up it's steps.

The first stop we made was in the Manginangina Forest. New Zealand is famous for its Kauri trees which grow extremely straight and produce valuable sap and wood. This particular forest walk was built for the queen's visit back in the 90s. It's about a kilometer-long walk through the forest, which displays Kauri trees that are upwards of 750 years old. It took several months and heaps of labor to build and apparently, when she arrived, she walked onto the first platform, said "Very nice" and went back to the car... People weren't too happy about the whole thing for some reason.

This is a picture of our Dutch friend, Joyce, and a French guy who never quite seemed able to follow directions... Anyways, the Kauri trees were quite interesting and now they've been so exploited for their products that now people aren't allowed to cut them down. Commerically-usable Kauri wood today is extracted from swamps and have been dated to be up to 60,000 years old.

We then drove to the famous 90-Mile Beach. I thought that we were mearly going to drive into a carpark and walk the beach for a bit, but was I wrong. Notice the speed limit sign at the beach's entrance:

It turns out that if you're vehicle can drive on the beach, you're allowed to drive it. And drive it we did. I think that we drove about 80% of the beach's length. So, while it was quite interesting, after awhile, you would look to one side and see the water and then at the dunes without the same initial wonder.

However, we did spot a wild baby seal and at one point our driver said, "This is an area where wild horses like to come down to the water from the dunes" and veered hard to the right, drove up an old creek bed and soon we were being thrown around in the bus while he drove over what felt like a sand mogel field. I had the fleeting thought at that point that this was probably not the most subtle way to see horses in their native environment, but I think it was as much for the horses as it was for showing off what the truck could do. Can't blame him, I suppose, he does do that drive every day.

90-Mile Beach, it turns out, isn't actually 90 miles long. Apparently, it was believed that cattle could walk 30 miles in one day and when the farmers would drive their herd along the beach, it would take them 3 days to walk it; thus 90 miles. It turns out that it's only 64 miles long. So, do they change the name? Nope and for good reason. The Kiwis' arch reveal, Aus, has an 80-Mile Beach and of course, we can't be out done by them in everything! However, it also turns out that Aus' beach is only 72 miles long, but what does actual distance have to do with national pride, eh?

Once reaching the end of the beach, we drove up another creek bed and went into the dunes. We piled out of the truck and after being handed boogey boards, hiked up a HUGE (in my opinion) dune to do some sand surfing. It was an awesome experience, but once was definitely enough as far as my calves were concerned. The guys, however, were pretty much circling Ashleigh and I was we trekked up the dune. I think they each went 4-5 times.

We then drove to Cape Reigna, which is the end of all things New Zealand. It was a really clear day, so you could see for what felt like miles. One unique feature were these cresting waves several hundred meters off shore. I asked our guide and he said that that's where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean tides are meeting. Cool, right?

We later went to get Fish 'n Chips from the "world famous" Mangonui Fish Shop, where they serve fish that is less than 3 hours out of the ocean. It was delicious to say the least. Finally being dropped of at the Hostel, Ashleigh and I toured the town for a bit and booked a water tour for the next day before crashing in our beds.

This weekend I went to Waihi Beach with Hannah, who is a girl from my Geochemistry paper. Her family lives there and it was her sister's birthday on Sunday. Her home is two blocks from the surf and every time that we walked the beach I picked up shell upon shell. Apparently I was picking up all of the boring ones according to Hannah, but I thought that they were pretty! :O)

Saturday morning, we went to her Grandparent's house which is on the water. They have avocado and kiwi fruit orchards and also raise sheep. Man, it was a neat place and the lambs had just been born, so I was in love. Hannah's Nanna put out an amazing spread and because I'm an American, she made me my own pot of coffee while the others had tea. I would have been fine with the tea, but hey, put some coffee in front of me and I will not complain. I must admit that seeing Hannah interact with her grandparents made me want to hug mine.

We then headed to Mt. Mangokino in Tauranga and hiked around its base and picked up even more seashells. We passed a couple who had just pulled a younger couple off of the rocks who were soaking. They could have been pulled out to sea and it reminded me that while the sea is beautiful, but pretty brutal... not something to messed with.

The next day we went to the hot pools for her sister's birthday party and then hiked through the Orokawa Scenic Reserve to see the most beautiful untouched/preserved beach I've ever seen (probably the only one too!).

Today, we hiked through an old mine and a beautiful gorge that I cannot remember or say the name of. We then went to a wonderful cafe across the street and I indulged by getting a strawberry milkshake and a chocolate muffin. :O) Delicious.

On the way home, Hannah insisted that she take a picture of me in front of the L&P bottle in the town of Paeroa. L&P (Lemon & Paeroa) is New Zealand's most famous soft drink. It was originally made from water from Paeroa's natural springs, carbonated and mixed with lemon. It's a more diluted/softer version of Sprite, but stronger than lemonade. I'm beginning to become a bit addicted to it, not to mention that it shares my initials: L&P. The saying on the bottle is "World Famous in New Zealand".

International friends and myself were talking and said, "do they realize that that saying doesn't actually make sense?". I've been told by the Kiwi's that it's a pretty typical Kiwi saying, which in general don't make sense. Oh New Zealand. :O)

Hannah had taken it up herself to show me all the unique things about New Zealand and it's a well founded goal because when I'm talking with Kiwis I usually interupt the conversation no less than 5 times with "what does that mean?". So... here's a list of what I've compiled thus far (and can remember):

dear = expensive

togs = swimsuit

jersey = light jacket/sweater/shirt

bubble log = rice krispy treats

torch = flashlight

heaps = lots/loads

tramping = hiking
College = high school/secondary school

Uni = tertiary school

biscuits = cookies! (which are really dry here)

chips = fries

common sayings:

she'll be right = no worries
'good on ya'' and 'sweet as' = cool beans

eh? = you know what I mean?

cheers = thanks

flash = (something is...) awesome/extravagent/over the top (but in a good way)/ neat-o
gutted! = man, that bites!
wicked = awesome

They also really enjoy chicken-flavored potato chips, cheezy weezies, deep fried mars bars, their hot water bottles for warming their beds and think that 55 degree F is freezing. I have to admit that I'm not that miserable here, though I have been told not to fear, spring is coming! Whoot!

Ok. So, it's been about a month since I last wrote and so much has happened! My papers have really begun to get underway and tests/essays are flooding in. We're coming to the end of the sixth week of classes and we have a two week teaching recess coming up. Some friends are going down to the Southern Alps to get some skiing in, while others are trying to head to Fiji for a few days in the sun (totally opposite ideas, really).

I plan to stay in the North Island for further exploration of this awesome place. Beginning tomorrow, I'll first be going to my friend, Hannah's house on the East Coast for a few days of beach, horses, what-I-would-call mountains and relaxing. When I come back to good ol' Uni, Ashleigh, who's from the Chicago area, and I are going to be heading to the Coromandel Peninsula, also on the East Coast. We might try to go way up north to the 90 Mile Beach before heading to Amanda's parent's house for the last weekend of the break. I'm pretty excited about taking a break from school and getting out of Hamilton.

During the last four weekends, I've been blessed in being able to travel to four different parts of the North Island. Two of the adventures were field trips for my Geochemistry class and two were simply for the pure enjoyment of going.

The first was a weekend-long field trip to the geothermal fields in the Rotorua and Lake Taupo area. We spent two days in the rain taking water samples from mud pools, hot springs, steaming lakes and the Waikato river (a volcanic basin lake that runs from Taupo to the sea via Hamilton) and smelling of rotten eggs.

It was amazing! Definitely one of the best trips that I've had to date. When we finally arrived at our cabin, Annie, the lab technician for the class, had a three course (hot) meal waiting for us. We got to swim in the resort's hot pools and have a tutorial of the day's work. Also, because we were no longer technicially on our field trip for the day, they also provided us with wine and beer, because the chemistry department and all of its student's have a healthy appreciation for alcohol.

Next weekend, my friends and I traveled down to Lake Taupo again and spent the weekend relaxing on the beach. I wanted to go Bungi jumping, because Lake Taupo has a famous jump and the sport was invented here in New Zealand after all. However, no one would go with me and well, its one of those things that I would definitely want to experience with someone else. They seemed to be of the opinion that Sky Diving would be less frightening... I don't get it, but alright.

It's a beautiful town and we seemed to have a propensity that weekend for climbing things...

The first weekend of August, my Geochem class went out for it's final field trip. This time we went to Miranda, a tiny bird-watching town on the East Coast. We first tramped through some soaked peat bogs and of course, one of my gum boots has a crack in it's lining. :O) One foot was nice and cozy while the other was quickly flooded with 12 degree C water. The wet foot aside, I'm continously amazed at New Zealand's landscape. There are hills and mountains anywhere that you look and they're mostly covered with sheep and dairy cows. My camera has been filled on more than one occasion with simply what's outside the car window when driving through the countryside.

Anyways, when we arrived in Miranda, we went to a bird watching/information building where a guy talked to us for over an hour about the birds that come to this region of New Zealand and of their migratory patterns all the way up to Alaska and northern Asia (some fly to Alaska in one go!). He also showed us birds that make Miranda unique, like this one bird who's beak is curved to the left! Such a weird thing to see, but apparanently they use the beak to dig under rocks to catch their food. After eating lunch there and air-drying my feet, we went through a bog that came up to the top of our gum boots and often threatened to remove them for us due to the amazing sticking power of the mud. Our destination was the shoreline on the other side of the bogs and bushland. The tramping was all worth it when we finally got to the beach area because, from the waterline and back to the bushland, the entire ground was covered in thousands of shells that spanned the shoreline for as far as one could see and was a few feet deep.

After taking some water samples from the sea, my teacher suggested that we walk to beach awhile. So off we went and while the guys were stomping along, hoping to crush the biggest shells under their feet, the girls were walking along slowly trying to find the most beautiful shells to take home with us. By the end of the walk, my jean pockets and all the pockets in my two coats were filled with shells that I just had to have. I think I may have gone a bit over board now, but I'm beginning to have quite a collection of sea glass and shells from all my travels to the coastal beaches on the North Island.

Last weekend, Amanda (Canadian), Susi (German), Aishah (American) and myself rented a car in Hamilton and headed down to New Plymouth and Mt. Taranaki on the southern West Coast of the North Island. Though the rest are all older than myself, I seemed to be the one with the most cofidence behind the wheel and was thus asked to drive the whole trip. Man oh man, was I a happy camper! It was such a cool experience to drive on the wrong side of the road and only the first twenty minutes of so (when we were still in downtown Hamilton) were truly terrifying. I'm proud to say that I only drove on the right side (their wrong side) of the road once and quickly mended my mistake. I had Amanda, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, yell "Far lane Laura, far lane!" whenever I was making a right turn, so we made a pretty good team.

We spent the first morning on New Plymouth's gorgeous Fityroy beach before heading to Chaddy Charters for a boat trip out to the Sugar Loaf Marine Reserve. When we arrived, we were met by a very chatty skipper who calls everyone sweetheart and talks endlessly. The sky was pretty cloudy, but we all thought that we had dressed appropriately in jeans and rainjackets. Boy, were we wrong. The skipper and captain gave us huge life jackets that were then covered in oversized yellow raincoats and rainpants, saying that it can get a bit wet out on the water.

We then walked into the next room where I then realized that we had just boarded the boat and we were in a boat garage of sorts. The skipper told us the boat was an English lifeboat and if we flipped during the ride, just hold onto the boat and it'll flip back over in under 15 seconds. We all stared at each other wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. One of the men opened the garage door and another released the cable holding the boat in place and we zipped 30+ feet down a ramp to the water... a bit of a roller coaster ride, one could say, which should have prepared us for the ride ahead. Inside the harbor, the water wasn't too choppy, but it was getting progressively worse. By the time we were on the open the sea, the waves had escalated to 20-30 foot swells, so it felt more like a roller coaster ride than a pleasant, relaxing boat ride. It was awesome. We were all hanging on for dear life to whatever we could grab, getting face fulls of sea water and loving every minute of it. The boat would rock so violently or crest a wave and slam down to the trough that we were, more often than not, unseated and slidding around a bit. Amanda and Aishah probably had the right idea in trying to stay in one place and shielding their faces with their hoods, but Susi and I on the other side simply knelt on the benches, leaning over the edge, and watched every wave coming at us. The whole point of the trip was to go to the Sugar Loaf Islands and see a ful seal colony there. We saw them for about 2 minutes out of the whole hour long ride, but I would definitely say that the trip in getting to the islands and coming back was the best part of the whole weekend.

We then went back to the hostel to change. I was definitely the wettest out of the bunch, because so much water had gone down my jacket that my shirts and pants were totally soaked. After lunch we traveled back to the beach and went to the area's rain forest gardens. Then, being the romantic girls that we unabashedly are, we bought some pizza and drove to Oakura, another beach town that was got its name from the Maori words for "red sky" or "beautiful sunsets", to watch the sunset. Though the sunset wasn't spectacular (it was mostly behind clouds), it was quite gorgeous and we had a great time huddling together and trying to stay warm. The next morning we got up early and headed to Mt. Taranaki to do a 3 hour hike. When we got there, the information lady looked at our small packs, light raincoats and tennis shoes, and kindly suggested that a less involved 2 hour hike might be a better plan. We took her advice and were soon tramping up and down stairs in the heart of a green forest and headed for the lookout of Mt Taranaki's summit, which is covered in the only snow that I've seen since coming to New Zealand-in-the-winter. We definitely got a workout that day and were pretty wet by the time we reached the lookouts because the slopes/stairs were covered in water/mud puddles and it rained quite bit. It felt quite rewarding to finally reach the lookout and see the summit and see where we had begun and the surrounding country. We also ended up driving to the other side of the mountain (about 45 minutes away) and climbed to see the beautiful Dawson Falls before coming back to Hamilton.

Though New Plymouth was only 220 km from Hamilton, which should have taken about 2.5 hours to drive, the roads were SO windy and hilly (we were driving through and over mountains) that it took over 3.5 hours to get there and I felt as though I was driving one of those racing games where you're continously turning the wheel back and forth to stay on the road. It was such a great trip and I was extremely reluctant to give back the carkeys when we finally got back to Hamilton on Sunday.

It may sound like school is a small priority, I am actually getting some work done and am learning heaps about the environment and culture of New Zealand. The New Zealanders have an incredible appreciatation for their land and the ocean, because that is where they derive their resources from. They rely heavily on sheep and daily farming, along with mining, for their income and through my Geochemistry paper and my Anthropology paper, I've been able to see what that's doing to their local communities and how these exploitations are changing the environment of the land.

Classes (or papers rather) started over a week ago now and I'm settling down into a routine here on campus. I've come to discover that I love the toast here and that, though I haven't always been a breakfast girl, I really don't go a day without it here. :O)

I'm taking two chemistry papers and an anthropology paper on the Oceanic societies and how they're changing. I'm most excited about my Geochemistry and Environmental Chemistry paper. For the lab portion of the course, we'll be analyzing water samples from different areas around New Zealand. In order to obtain these samples, we have to go on field trips. So sad. We have one required weekend-long trip to Rotoura and Lake Taupo, which starts this Saturday. There's also three day field trips and we have to participate in at least one of those as well. Most of us will be going on two or three of these optional trips, because they're already included in our tuition and they're awesome!

The first trip was last Sunday, July 15, and we drove down to Te Aroha, a town about 45 minutes south of Hamilton. The plan was to climb a mountain (literally, a mountain... I was soar on Monday) and travel into the abandoned Tui mine near the mountain's peak. We first collected water samples from the various streams and springs coming off the mountain. Then we began to climb.

The mine has 5 levels, the fifth being at the top, which is where we were going to enter the mine shaft, though we did stop at each level and examine the minerals and water present there (and the view, of course). Now, I'm not going to pretend that this mountain was a rock face, but it had a decent grade that got me huffing and puffing pretty quickly. After we passed the fourth level, the path went from being wide and rocky to forested and quite narrow. I enjoyed this part of the walk more because it reminded me of the woods behind my home in A2 and because scrambling over rocks and trees made me think about something else besides how much my legs were not enjoying this exursion.

When we finally made it the the fifth level entrance, which was several hundred feet from the base of the mountain, the path had reduced to about a foot in width and then you were staring down a cliff. I wasn't terribly comfortable about that, but the view was incredible. We could see for miles.

The mine, which was operated in the 60s and 70s, was in operation to extract zinc, copper and iron from the mountain. It was neat to see all the mineral deposits on the walls and to traipse through the mine shaft and to see where the men had left off. The mine was intended to run for 20 years, but the market for the minerals dyed out only three years later. When we got to be the end of the shaft, we found filled rail carts and explosives wiring. It was as if the men had heard the news that the mine was closing and simply walked out.

My mountain goat of a professor then told us that we would be heading down the back of the mountain, as it was about half the distance back to the vans, though it was also a bit of a "scramble." We soon found ourselves climbing over huge fallen trees and down rocks. It was slippery and the pathes were extremely narrow. By the end, most of us were sliding down on our backsides and grading onto nearby trees, which I have to admit was a lot of fun. It was a great day and I feel really blessed to have this chance to travel and learn for a class!

As for campus life, I really do enjoy this campus. It has a great little shop and food area in the middle of campus which sit on the edge of a huge pond. Most students hang around in this area and its quite beautiful. The rest of campus is quite hilly and the buildings, which all have their own names, are also lettered and thus referred to. Instead of saying that I'm heading off the the Maori and Pacific Development building after finishing this blog, people here would say they're going to S-block. It makes life a bit easier, because for the most part the buildings are named alpabetically, so navigating campus isn't terribly hard.

I've discovered that when they say its winter in the southern hemisphere, its rainy season on New Zealand's north island. It's chilly yes, ranging from the high 40s to low 60s, but never like Michigan's winter weather. Its very green here and for the most part, I can walk around in a fleece or sweatshirt and be fine. As for the locals, the guys can usually be seen in swim shorts of some kind or another and the girls... lets just say that the baby doll fashion is alive and well here; much more developed than in the States. Most girls can be found wearing leggings or tappered black jeans with boots and a shapless blouse. But hey, thats fashion, right? Another common fashion statement: No shoes. I've been told (and have seen ample examples) that wearing no shoes at all is an acceptable thing to do throughout New Zealand. Its funny to see students in class or people walking in downtown Hamilton with no shoes on at all. Definitely not in the United States anymore. :O)

Let me start off by apologizing for how long it has taken me to post an entry, but now, exactly a week after I left Michigan, I will do my best to que everyone in on what's been happening:

Most of you know that I have never been a huge fan of traveling via airplanes. However, after flying 24+ hours across the world, I feel as though some of those anxieties have now been cleared away. This came about no doubt through prayer and relying on God to take care of me, but I also think that He used the shear length of the trip to help me focus more on when we would finally arrive than anything else. And arrive we did! With the time change, I left the United States on Wednesday, June 27, and arrived in Sydney in the morning of the 29th, even though it was only a 14 hour flight. Talk about going over the dateline!

I flew first to San Francisco and then onto Australia, where I spent upwards of 9 hours in the Sydney airport walking around and discovering unique merchandise like Emu jerky and authentic Aboriginal boomerangs. Finally, I boarded my Air New Zealand flight and arrived in Auckland 3 hours later and was driven to the University of Waikato in Hamilton, where upon being shown to my room, I crashed on my bed and slept for what felt like days.

Since arriving, it has been an adventure to say the least. It's definitely a different world here in New Zealand. When most of us think of winter, we think of snow and icey roads. Not the case here. The best I can describe the weather here would be to associate it with a warm fall day in Michigan with the temperatures being in the 50s and the sun shining most of the time. Everything is still quite green, though a lot of the trees have lost their leaves, and there are a lot of palm-like trees and plants here. The days are very short (the sun sets around 5:30pm here) and I'm beginning to discover the truth behind the Kiwi saying "New season every 5 minutes." While it is sunny and warm here, it also rains a fair amount and usually it starts quite suddenly. However, I'm told that this is the most miserable I will be here weather-wise, so I am definitely not complaining.

The people here are extremely friendly, helpful, and have an ardent love for the All-Blacks (their national rugby team who just smashed the Australian Wallabies in the international tournament). I got my first taste of rugby the morning I arrived. My dorm room faces the university's sport fields and several games were underway by the time I woke up Saturday morning (Friday afternoon for the Americans). I don't pretend to have a clue when it comes to understanding the game, but I'm officially an All-Blacks fan now and hope to learn the rules soon, as it is the nation's favorite topic of conversation.

Most of the student's currently on campus are international students because the Kiwis are on holiday. I've been able to meet and get to know people from Norway, England, Germany and of course from the good ol' US of A and am excited to see the campus filled next week when classes begin.

Please write or email me. I would love to hear from you all!