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I had an amazing weekend. I can't even begin to describe it.

The Marae was breathtaking ... and ancient. The land around it was fairly untouched. By that, I mean the hills and forests were still hills and forests and not homes and shops. If it had been in the States, it would be full of tourists and vacation homes.

I think I should start from the beginning.

The night before, the group of us went out for a bit. It had been a rough week with the essays and we all needed a break and fun. Funnily enough, we didn't stay out too long because we were tired. Heh. There were about ten or fifteen of us, and we ended up splitting because some of us didn't bring our IDs with us and we didn't want to have to embarrass ourselves by being turned away from a crowded club. My group [which had two that were IDless ... including myself, heh] ended up just walking around the city some. We found the London Bar with live music and the claim of 100 beers... but when we went in, the bar tender just kept pointing to Steinlager... so maybe they have 100 bottles of one beer? Who knows.

We finally ended up walking through the drive-thru of a McDonald's and going home. Because we are *that* cool.

The next morning, we had to be downstairs and ready by 9. I don't think we left until about 9:30. Not much happened on the bus. We all slept some more.

There were some people from AUT and the Tourism and Hospitality Office there with us.

Owen was the leader and became a father figure for us all. He knew the history of everything that we passed.

Maki works with Owen at AUT and was our female guide. Anytime you want to enter a Marae, you need a woman with you for traditional reasons. She knew everything that Owen didn't.

Angela and Tarren work in the office with Maki and Owen, and are students.

Brenda and Willy are students in the Tourism and Hospitality school.


We stopped for lunch in Matamata, also known as Hobbiton [Lord of the Rings]. I didn't get any pictures of the sign, but I'll try to steal some from someone else's photoalbum [which will be done as soon as I can figure out how to get around my slow connection; I might have to go to the library and email the pictures to myself]. There was also a statue of Gollom/Smeagul. It was very ... interesting.

After lunch, we got back on the bus and made it to Rotorua, where we promptly went Zorbing. The pictures are up! It was so much fun. I think we all just laughed the whole way down. We tried standing up, but it didn't work. We were basically glued to the bottom of the thing. Also, we weren't allowed to do the zig-zag course; Rob figures it's because we would have gone over the edges with the combined weight. Either way, it was still a lot of fun going down the straight hill. The water was warm and the inside was steaming by the time we got to the bottom. I think we're going to do it again when it warms up.

After everyone had finished their runs, we had some time to spare, so we went across the street and did the gondala/luge up/down the hill. Well, some of us did. Others went and got more food. I went on the gondala/luge and it was so much fun! We had five rides down on the luge, but we only ended up using four due to time restraints. There were different tracks down the hill: scenic, intermediate, and advanced. I almost crashed on the scenic route, and almost tipped over a few times on the advanced track... but I also caught air on it. It was intense! On the advanced track, the first curve you go through gives you this breathtaking view of Lake Rotorua and Mokioia, the island in the middle of it.

Once we finished there, we finally get to the Marae. There was a funeral just finishing up, so we had to wait a bit to make sure it would still be okay for us to stay there. All the girls had to put on skirts to initally enter the Marae, so we did this during the delay. We got the okay and we follow Maki through the entrance; she and an elder woman from the Marae sang the traditional songs back and forth as we came in. Once we were all in the Marae, the women sat on one side and the men on the other. We were seated and then we went through the powhiri [poh-fear-ee {wh = f in Maori}] which is the welcoming ceremony. It was done in all Maori. We had learned a song on the bus and sang it at the end of the ceremony in thanks and as an applause of our speaker, Owen.

During the powhiri, though, this little girl [no older than two] kept running in and out; her father was a part of the group that was welcoming us. She was so cute and made it hard not to laugh during the ceremony.

Once that finished, we brought in mattress and pillows into the Marae and set up camp. Then we had dinner! We've gotten really good at assembly lines now. We'd start in the kitchen and pass plates out to the tables. The dinner was reallllly good. When we finished, we all helped do the dishes and clean up. Then, we went back to the hall and set up for bed. I'll have to find someone else's pictures of the hall when it was full of beds. A group of us played cards and then tried going to sleep, but we all kept laughing. Knowing it wasn't going to die down soon, I went outside for a walk and ended up laying down in the grass and star gazing [surprise, surprise].

This was the first time since I've been here that it's been a really clear night and that I've been out of the city enough to see something besides the brighter ones. I have never seen such blackness and so many stars in my life! You can see the Milky Way and two galaxies out here. I just sat and thought and absorbed the ancientness of it all. I tried to imagine what it would have been like two hundred years ago, before European contact. It was really a stilling experience. The lake is maybe fifty feet away [maybe more, I've never been good at estimating] and you can hear the waves crashing on the shore. When I got too cold, I went back inside and fell asleep.

That night, I had a dream. I know, it sounds corny. But I did. And it was really vivd. I had come back home to the States and Mom and Jimmy and some others had picked me up from the airport. I was really sad to be home; well, sad and happy. Happy to see everyone, but sad to be home. On the drive home, Mom was asking me about my stay and came upon my internship. I haven't started it yet, and so I didn't have an answer in my dream, so I knew the program wasn't over yet. I kept saying that I needed to come back, had to go back to finish the program and it was a happy, yet frantic, moment. I felt joy at the prospect of having another chance to come back. Finally, after I basically said I was going back regardless of anything, everyone consented and I woke up as I was just getting back to New Zealand because they decided to wake us up at that moment.

Later that day, during our tramp [hike] through the bush, I told this to Angela, and she told me it was a calling and that it was especially so since I had the dream at the Marae. She asked if I had any ancestors from New Zealand. I told her I didn't think I did, but anything is possible.

As a side note, ancestry is very important to the Maori. Among other things, it is how they settle land disputes; whoever can recite their geneaology back to the rightful landowner or first ancestor to occupy the land, gets the access to the land. Being able to recite one's geneaology back to a waka - or canoe [short story: the Maori believe they arrived here in a sort of mini-mass migration with seven major canoes leading the way; the tribes are based on which waka your family came in on; obviously, there are more than seven tribes, but most have their beginnings in them; other believe they were always here.] - is very highly regarded.

Anyway, back to the second day.

We had breakfast and helped clean up the kitchen again. After the dinner the first night, we are all considered a part of that whanau [faw-no] or family, and as such, we're all expected to help out. With twenty plus people, it goes by in about fifteen minutes. Anyway, so after breakfast we ride to the other side of the lake and hop in a boat and go to the hot pools. If any of you have ever been to a natural hot spring, then you'll know how gross they smell because of the sulfur... for those of you who haven't been ... think of many dozens of rotting eggs. It smelled horrendous... but it was cold and the water was hot, so most of us got in anyway. After a while, you kind of get used to the smell. Sort of.

We all ended up jumping in the freezing lake, too. Well. It wasn't freezing ... there was no ice on it ... but it was definitely a lot colder than the hot pools. I jumped in once and then went down, or rather, was pushed down a slide at the end of the dock. After that, I stayed in the warmwarmlovely water that smelled. The water was cold enough to take your breath away once you were in it.

After that, we went to town and wandered for a while. We were going to go to a Polynesian festival, but it was just an auditorium of people and not tents and crafts like we thought. Instead, we went to the Gypsy’s and Traveller’s show, which did have crafts. We all bought a little something here and there.

After that, we went through this park that had mud pits and was a “thermal area.” I asked if anyone else was as concerned as I was that what we were marvelling was due to the volcanic activity below our feet and they all just kind of looked at me and didn’t say anything, as if by saying it out loud, I was calling upon the Volcano Gods to open the very earth we were standing on and to start spewing lava. I didn’t bring it up again. I got a few pictures of that, and a movie or two. Those are posted on the website by now. Well, maybe not the videos. Those will take a bit longer to get up, so I’ll do them later.

By that time, we needed to get back to the bus, so we head back to the Marae and have a snack. After that, we went for our tramp through the bush. Maki gave those who wanted to listen a lesson of the land and plants and what you can use medicinally and what you cannot eat and that sort of thing. Unfortunately, while I would have enjoyed that, I was walking with Angela, examining the spirituality of the land.

By the time everyone got back from the tramp, dinner was ready and then we had some reflection time with the whole group. We went around the circle and talked about how this trip had been different than what we thought or what it meant to us. It got emotional and at the end we kind of had a talent show. Kali sang a song she’s writing… and then I showcased some group members’ talents of animal noises with a very strange rendition of Old McDonald. This farmer had sheep, turkeys, howler monkeys, ducks, and elephants. It was a good laugh to break the emotional build up from the group’s talk.

After that, Tanya, Rob, Thea, and I went for a walk down the beach and just had some quiet time to ourselves. I saw no less than five shooting stars! I tried to wish for something on each one, but it got to the point where I had to close my eyes until I thought of something, lest I see yet another one before I’d made this wish.

The only thing was that the moon wasn’t out – and I kept thinking about how, even if I did see the moon, it wouldn’t necessarily be the same moon you all are looking at. There’s a different sky down here… and although we don’t see a different side of the moon [I don’t think…], it’s lit up differently. When it waxes and wanes, it comes from the bottom, and not the sides.

At any rate, I would have stayed on the beach if they hadn’t dragged me back to the Marae.

I didn’t have a dream that night, but Tanya did. Matthew has had this idea to open a kebab store here [I can’t tell you the name because it’s secret and it makes the whole thing perfect], and she dreamed he started it and that some of us were working there with him.

After breakfast and clean up, we left. It was kind of sad. We had a leaving ceremony and we all took some last pictures of everything. On the way home, we stopped at a jewellery store that was pretty inexpensive, so we all got souvenirs.

Finally, we get home. I think some people went out.

I rented a movie from the front desk and fell asleep for twelve hours.

Yesterday, I just studied for the exam I had today. Today, I went to class and had my exam. It went well. I blanked on a few phrases during the exam, but other than that, it wasn’t too bad.

Now, I’ve just been editing pictures and updating the blog. :D Have to keep all you at home happy and not worried that I’ve fallen off the face of the earth.

One day, I will be back. I don’t know when or in what capacity or for how long. It is certain that I am coming home to graduate. Beyond that, the world is my oyster.

It’s kind of funny, because a lot of towns in New Zealand like to make things out of sheet metal… one of these things that I saw was an oyster with the world in its mouth instead of a pearl.

And a giraffe. I saw a sheet metal giraffe… and an old school car cut in half being used for plants. They have strange things here.

Anyway! I need to get to bed; I have class in the morning!

Wow... this week has been a bit hectic.

I've had two essays due [one this morning!] and they've taken a lot more time than I anticipated. However, they are both done now...

But this weekend [starting Friday morning {Thursday evening for all of you} at around 8] I have to attend a class field trip to a Marae [Maori meeting hall]. We will be staying until either Sunday or Monday night [no one can quite agree on when exactly we may be coming home], and are stopping along the way for various activities including: zorbing [google it! Tanya, Rob, and I are going all at once... apparently, it's a bonding experience...], hot springs, luging, gondolas, and a less expensive greenstone [think jade] shop.

Nothing major has happened in the meantime. Just class, research, and paper-writing.

We did get a new lecturer in my History/Culture class, and he's hilarious. He definitely keeps us more attentive than the previous one. She did not engage us at all. Hopefully, this means we'll learn more, too! Maybe.

Also, I haven't been able to get any new pictures up and I haven't even begun to edit the scenery pictures that are there now [which might be nice so you know what you're looking at...] and I probably won't have time to do so until Tuesday or Wednesday. There will be pictures from the Marae trip, though, so it'll be all good, yeah!

Oh! I don't have many addresses here. Like I've mentioned before, my Outlook is broken and I can't access much on it. I have tons of postcards, however... so please email me [cfheaney@bu.edu] with your address! I even have some written out already!

Next weekend, I believe some of us are going to Lake Taupo. Most likely, we will be camping, fishing, sailing, seeing Mordor and Mt. Doom [Lord of the Rings] and, oh yeah, skydiving. ;D If we can get a good deal, I'm going to get a DVD of it.

Also, it is likely-to-boarding-on-going-to-happen that I will be changing my tickets a bit. A lot of people who were going to Fiji right after the semester ended have changed theirs, and I do not think it wise to travel there alone. Plus, it'll probably give me an extra week in NZ, which I will use in the South Island. I'll keep you informed and I might actually need someone's help in rearranging my domestic flight. I'm pretty sure that if I keep the destinations the same, it shouldn't cost me anything to change the dates... and for the Air New Zealand tickets, I think they said it was only about fifty NZD to change. We'll see!

Ok, I think that's about it for me. I have to get going to class.

-- Chelcie

PS - Tricia! Marty's from Actin. Did we know this?

Ok!

So, I've had some complaints about the comments and I've been able to fix them up a bit.

Now, you do not have to be a member to leave a comment, and it should be easier.

Also, I have added a link to the photo website on the right sidebar for easy access.

So ... not too much else has happened since the last time I updated. We seem to have started to slow down some.

On Thursday, Kevin [the coordinator guy] took us to this international pub night dealy. If we met two new people from AUT and they were international students, we could get a free beer or wine. I met lots of Chinese, Germans, a Phillipino, and a Scot. Everyone was just kind of scrambling at first to just find two people from either BU or AUT for the free beer, but after that everyone started to calm down and actually talk to everyone else.

We were supposed to go camping this weekend but it's been raining hardcore today, so maybe another time.

We did, however, go to rugby game last night. It was the QBEHarbours against Manawatu. QBE won [they were the home team] and we got a rugby lesson from some locals sitting in front of us. We actually had really good seats, and we only paid $5 for the them. It was pretty empty and the tickets were student priced, so I'm sure if it were more crowded, we would have had to sit somewhere else. There were people dressed up with their faces painted and a few of us got pictures with them after the game [and we almost got a signed rugby ball - with an old member from the All Blacks who got injured and is now on a smaller team - but some kids were battling over the ball and it just didn't seem right to step in and take it from them, so we may go back to another game] and we all got, ah, slightly violated as we were walking away.

Today we went to the New Zealand Documentary Film Festival [www.docnz.org.nz] and we saw Totally Personal and Flock of Dodos. They were both really good. The first one was funny and the second was tactfully done - and we got to talk to the executive producer afterwards. It was really neat.

I also got this nifty tea pot for $3 NZD that serves a single cup of tea. It's actually pretty good quality, too.

Anyway, I'm currently in the process of trying to upload scenery pictures and steal cool pictures from other people.

The picture album Scenery has been updated a little bit; there are now 150 pictures in the album. The other albums haven't been updated [except the 2nd week one which now has tags and stuff].

Oh, for those of you who don't know, tags allow you to click on a name or place that is associated with the picture. It will then amass all other pictures tagged with that name or place and show them to you. So, for example, if you wanted to see all of the pictures that are of Muriwai beach, you would click on the word Muriwai on the bottom of the webpage [under the photo], and all pictures with Muriwai tags from my photo albums will come up. It's handy.

I hope you all are doing well. I miss home and would die for an In'n'Out hamburger about now [I feel like a vegetarian because meat really is expensive, but we're getting creative], but I'm still having fun.

Classes are going well; I have two essays due this week and my interview for my internship is on Tuesday.

Ok - pictures!

Hopefully, there should be some new pictures up on the photo website by today. I tried uploading some earlier but when I went back to look through them, it said nothing had been added to the album, so now I am reuploading them before I go to sleep.

Nothing too eventful happened today. I had class and read some stuff for class. I have two essays due next week and a group presentation the week after. This school stuff? Really cutting into my travel time. :P

Tanya, Rob, and I made dinner. Well. Mostly Rob made dinner. He made kiwi pizza [he's really good with pizzas... the last time we had a huge potluck dinner, he made lamb pizza with pineapple. He doesn't use tomato sauce, though, because he doesn't like tomatoes, apparently, so all of the pizzas are white.] which ended up being surprisingly good. I made [or rather, heated up] an appetizer of chicken noodle soup, and Tanya cut up stuff for the pizza.

Then we all just did some more reading. Really, nothing exciting.

Tomorrow, we're going to Tent Town to see if we can find a cheap tent.

I'm not sure where we're going this weekend, but it won't be far. We plan on taking a bus to where ever we end up, and will probably camp/fish or rent a yacht and play on the ocean. [Tanya and Rob have the sea backgrounds; I'm just along for the ride.]

We had a guest speaker in our politics class this morning. His name was Hamish McCracken and he looked like Conan O'Brien. At least, in his eyes. Y'think they share a heritage? He's run for office in New Zealand a few times and spoke to us about NZ politics and the party systems and he was hilarious.

Anyway, it is high time I hit the hay.

Wednesday 23/Friday 25

The flight to LA was short and uneventful. I sat next to a grandmother and her seven-year-old granddaughter, who made lots of noise the whole flight. I ended up walking from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 because I could see the terminal when I stepped outside and it seemed pointless to wait for the shuttle just to go about a hundred feet. Plus, I’d be on a plane for a really long time; I might as well walk and stand while I could.

When I got to Terminal 2, the first thing I saw was the currency exchange stand, so I changed some money and got an idea as to where I could find the ticketing counter. The lady I got at the ticketing counter took her time; I’m not sure whether she didn’t know exactly what she was doing or whether she just worked slow. Either way, I got a boarding pass. While I was in line for it, I met the first person a fellow BU student, Maggie. She had just flown in from New Jersey and we went up to the gates together. Maggie is nice, but whenever I’m around her, I get quiet. She seems like a quiet person… well, more quiet than some of the others in the group, at least. When we made it to the gate, there were already some people there waiting, so we talked to them and started to get to know one another. As more time passed, more people in our group came. I think we had all but two people of the group on our flight, so that must have been about 18 people waiting around at the airport for the plane.

It seemed to take forever to get on the plane. We started boarding 45 minutes before we were due to take off, and we were on a 747. But the flight wasn’t full, and a lot of people got rows to themselves. I had a row to myself but some guy moved into my row and took up three of the four seats [the one he didn’t take up was the one I was in] and slept. I was affronted… I was supposed to be the lucky one with the row to myself! And here was some random guy who’s taking up all my space. He kept moving around a lot, and I tried laying down in the seats, but I couldn’t get comfortable that way, so I was less mad when he came back. I later found out this guy pissed off a lot of the people in my group for one reason or another. His original seat was next to one of the students and his wife, but when he left, his wife stayed in the middle seat and didn’t move over to the end, thus effectively blocking in the student she was sitting next to. Another student he kept staring at for some reason. And at other times, he’d just stand next to someone. He was an odd person. But whatever, we made it through the flight without much other incident. They fed us dinner and breakfast and we were given as much liquids as we wanted. There was also a personal entertainment system in front of everyone’s seat, with access to a lot of movies, tv shows, and games – all for free. I’m sure it would have been more utilised if it weren’t in the middle of the night… but they were nice. I slept to some classic oldies – from the US and from NZ [which sounded a lot like those from the US …] most of the way there. I watched part of World’s Fastest Indian until I fell asleep [the movie is about a New Zealander who owns an Indian motorcycle and is fixing it up to make it faster. I’m assuming he achieves his goal.] and then most of Ice Age 2 until we began to descend and they turned our TVs off.

When we arrived in NZ, I was afraid my luggage wouldn’t come because I hadn’t personally checked it in myself, but it came! Unfortunately, one student’s luggage was lost and he is currently without a change of clothes. We had to wait around the airport while he figured out his luggage wasn’t going to come. It was kind of sad. Going through customs and everything was a bit strange. We had to go through bioscreeners and they had dogs come out every couple of minutes to sniff our luggage.

There were twenty kids in the group, so we had to take two super shuttles to the campus. We just talked about how different NZ was from America the whole way.

Once we got to the campus dorms, we were shuttled into a room for orientation [luggage and all!] and we went over some ground rules of the school. At last, we were given our keys and about an hour to go upstairs and unpack. Surprisingly, everything that I brought fit into my room – and I have room left over!

After that, we had to go back downstairs and we got a walking tour of the city. We got to see our classroom building, which is just up the hill… and when you think you’re done with that hill, there’s three more. I swear, by the time I get through with this program, I should be fit as a fiddle between all the walking, hills, and hiking. Here’s hoping. We then went to lunch at a place called Mezze Bar, which was a kind of Mediterranean café. The food was really good. After that, we walked some more and got our student ID cards verified, and then we went shopping! We went to a sort of … I guess it’s kind of like Wal-Mart, except it’s got all the stuff you probably never needed. It’s called the Warehouse, and we got some sheets and household items. I bought a sheet, a pillow, and a pillow case for less than fifteen US dollars. The sheet’s a little wonky – I had to kind of fold my mattress for it to fit, but hey, it works. Then we took all that stuff home and then went grocery shopping! I think the idea is that they wear us down enough the first day, but take us out all day, to help us get used to the time change. [Did I mention we lost a day in transit? We left Wednesday, flew 13 hours, I think, then arrived on Friday. Crazy.] Groceries are a bit expensive here, for just basics between two people [one of my suitemates bought her own food, and I’m sharing with the other] it was about 80 US dollars, but some of the stuff is stuff we won’t be buying each time, too, so… I guess it will work out. After that, we had another orientation meeting [I really think they just didn’t want us going to sleep at that point], we were allowed to do whatever we wanted to.

Fifteen of the twenty went out for dinner at this little Chinese/Korean/Japanese restaurant. After we ordered, the food came out slowly so some people were finished before others even got theirs. It was late, I guess, for the store, but the food was good. We played the “Guess what breed I am!” game [ie: what nationalities we all were – and we’ve got some interesting mixes here]. Finally, when we finished, we sent Ben [the kid whose luggage was lost and who was exhausted and falling asleep at the table – though we all were at that point] to go get the bill and he told the lady to split the check 15 ways… so we’re waiting and waiting for the checks to come, only afterwards thinking about how much easier one check would have been, until we decide to just go and pay at the front instead of waiting. Turns out, after about fifteen minutes, that was what we should have done – she was waiting for us! We paid, walked home, and fell promptly asleep.
Saturday 26

We woke up this morning to have another orientation/internship meeting and then went on a bus tour of Auckland.

First, we went to Mount Eden, which is the highest point in Auckland. We started to drive up the big hill to the top when the driver suddenly stops, and starts apologising to us all and starts backing up. Something about the transmission, we don’t really get the whole answer in the back rows, and we’re a bit concerned about going down the hill in a bus backwards. We finally make it and end up hiking to the top only to find that it’s this huge crater. We take lots of pictures and then hike back down.

After that, we went to the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial. MJS was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand and, if I can recall from my unnecessary readings from this summer [we’re using the book I read as part of the material for the course we’re taking … and by part, I mean one chapter {so not amused by this, either, but I’m glad I didn’t read the others yet}], the Labour party did a lot of good for NZ and he brought in a lot of change and good things. Anyway. Took some more pictures, walked around and ogled.

We also drove through the ritzy part of NZ and saw homes that sold for around 6 million and reportedly charged a $5 entry fee during the real estate boom a bit ago.

Then we stopped at Mission Bay beach/boardwalk for lunch. I had some “fush and chups” and a crab stick [stick of crab + batter] and it was all wrapped in newspaper too! We ate on the beach and threw our extra chips to the seagulls and the Finding Nemo birds that say, “Mine!”

After that, we drove to Muriwai. But on the way there, we stopped at a vineyard and booked a wine tasting and helped get a truck out of a rut at the vineyard. It was well documented. Muriwai was amazing. It was all farm land and hills and sheep and cows and turkeys and bulls and green! I took lots of pictures. Finally, we got to the beach and went to lookouts and out on the beach. Dad, I spit in the Tasman Sea for you. We watched some of the, er, braver kids of the group go into a cave during the transition from low tide to high tide, took more pictures, and then went to our wine tasting. It all kind of tasted the same to me [except the noticeable difference in dryness between red and white] but it smelled different… but I could never place any of the smells. Other people were all, “Oh yeah, apple blossom!” and the rest of us were all, “… grapes?” I bought some, including a bottle of “Cat Pee on Gooseberry,” I believe it’s called. I figure if we don’t drink it here, it’ll be a nice novelty at home. Surprisingly, the vineyard we went to doesn’t have a supplier in Nevada, or else I’d have bought some at home, but alas.

After that, we came home, rested for, oh, a half hour, then went right back out to a pub for Pub Night. Oh, somewhere in between there we stopped at a fish/fresh veggies/fresh fruit market and we got to taste mangosteens. Oddest looking fruit ever but great taste! Anyway, so Pub Night. We went to this place called O’Hagans and I had a ginger beer. It was good, but strong ginger taste… until I realised that there was a lime slice in my drink for a reason, and then it tasted reallllly good. They list calories as energy here, and they’re listed in kilojoules, too. Anyway. So we had some appetizers and such and then walked home in the RAIN. It started to pour during our time there and was still raining on our way home, but it was ok. What’s a little rain?

We walked home, then a few of us were going to go out, but then the group became four. So we walked to the Sky City Casino [it’s in the bottom of the big Space Needle looking thing and we were just kind of wandering anyway]. This guy Matt and I played blackjack. I, at one point, was up 30 NZD, but lost my hand that would have put me up 40, so I walked away with an extra 20 instead. I ended up being the big winner of the night, as the next guy only put some money in a slot machine and won 2.80. We stopped and watched this lounge act that wasn’t that great but we couldn’t look away. We walked home and saw a couple be shot up in a reverse bungee jump and decided it wasn’t that cool and that we weren’t going to go on it. Oh, also, at the Sky City Casino, at the top of the Needle is a “controlled free fall,” which is like a bungee jump, but instead of bouncing around at the end and then whatever, you jump, hang around for a few minutes, then are lowered in a controlled manner to the ground. I still don’t quite get the difference, but I do know what they’re talking about versus a bungee cord. I think you wear harnesses.

I bought a phone card with my winnings and I think the clerk tried to rip me off. I said I wanted a 20 NZD card, and he pulls out the card and starts asking me if I know how to use it, but is just showing me the back. Luckily, I flipped it over before he put my 20 in his drawer and shut it because it was only a 10. :P

Sunday 27

Today was a free day so I got to sleep in some [which was good because we didn’t get home until midnight the night before] and then I just kind of relaxed in the morning. I called a few people and talked and got a coffee and then we went out shopping. I went with two other girls up to Parnell, which is sort of northeast of Auckland City. We took the bus there and kept getting off on the wrong stops, so it cost us a bit extra for our rides. Finally, we found what we were looking for and got some of the stuff we needed for our rooms. I found some rechargeable batteries, but found them at a place that’s kind of like Circuit City, and then found them cheaper at The Warehouse [the Wal-Mart of NZ], so I was kind of upset with myself, but it was only a few dollars, so whatever, life goes on. I also had to get a new alarm clock. The one I brought with me doesn’t quite work. It needs the voltage converter to operate properly, but time seems to slow down for it. I’ll set it to the right time and then I’ll come back and it’ll be two hours slow. I figured it had something to do with a delay in the converter. And I had to get a new purse. Mom was right, my purse is way too small. I finally got tired of having to carry my camera and my purse and a water bottle and whatever else I needed. I ended up getting a smallish messenger carrier bag; all the purses I saw were all glitz and glam for a club.

When we were done shopping, we decided to take the bus for its full route around the city, so it was a nice, cheapy tour of the surrounding areas of Auckland. Oh, I should mention that prostitution is legal here, so we came across a sort of red light district; it was sex shop after sex shop, and there’s a brothel just down the street from where we’re staying. As far as I know, no one has gone yet, but someone has eaten at the Turkish restaurant next door, so they could have had a jaunt to it as well.

As soon as we put our stuff down, we went right back out and went to the Sky Tower [think Space Needle/Stratosphere] and up to the observation deck. A couple of us ended up not getting the second ticket to go to the deck up a few more floors and outside, so we got coffee and sat and relaxed and enjoyed the view. That part of the group decided to leave, but four of us stayed and just talked and ended up watching the sunset from the top of the Sky Tower. By the time it got dark, we were hungry and we were going to go to this pub we found called the Shakespeare Tavern [with beers named after plays!] and we ran into some people who decided to come to the Tower after the big group of us did and they joined us. Turns out Shakespeare’s isn’t open on Sundays, so our groups ended up splitting again. Since I’m very easily persuaded, I was, at first, going to go home and make dinner, but then the three I was with earlier decided they were going to go out and I decided to join them anyway. We went to a nice restaurant down on the waterfront and ate outside even though it was cold. The seater guy just looked at us odd when we asked if we could [it was a clear night! We could see stars we’d never seen!] and told us, “It’s cold, yeah?” The poor server they sent out to us was new and probably was still being given grunt work. They sent out some complimentary garlic bread to us [I’m not sure if it was management trying to give us something warm or if some people inside thought we were brave/stupid for sitting outside {it really wasn’t that cold; there was just a breeze off of the water which made it seem worse than what it was}]. We had such a good time, though. We told stories and laughed and had a good meal and shared beers, it was fun. Then we walked down to the pier and ogled this huge yacht that was named Kokomo and told lame jokes all the way home.

Monday –

The day before we had class for the first time! We had some more orientation gigs to go to, had a walking tour of the campus, and had a travel agent talk to us about travelling… after which, she asked us questions about the presentation and gave out prizes. I ended up getting a rafting trip in Rotorua, which we will be going to later in the semester.

After the presentation, Tanya, Mary, Maggie, and I walked around the city, window shopping. We also had the idea to start investigating trip ideas, so we went down to the travel agency the woman was from, and got some ideas for a trip for the upcoming weekend.

We got the information, reconvened with the group later that night and got everyone’s input on the trip we’d set up [well, mostly Tanya set up, we were just there for support, really.] and made plans for the trip.

Tuesday we started classes. We have two in this first half, politics and history and culture. Politics occurs early in the morning at around 9 am, usually, and we have it for about 2 hours. The times change almost every day because our program is weird. Then, at 5, we have history and culture for about two hours. Tanya, Maggie, and I went to book our trip during the break, and then went food shopping until we had to get back to class. That night, we went out to a pub and went dancing; we started off with a lot of people, but ended up with just six at the end of the night [everyone else left early to go elsewhere] and Kali entered a pool tournament at the pub.

Wednesday, we had class again. I spent some time alone, went to the computer lab, ate lunch, nothing too important. We ended up staying in and having a beer tasting party. Some of the group went to this town called Otahuhu and wandered around some and found a mix pack of beers that they brought home because they got a free bottle opener with the pack. It was an awesome evening, lots of fun.

Thursday – the start of our weekend! We had classes again. When we came home, we had a potluck dinner and everyone made a little bit of something and passed it around. The kitchens here are called Kitchen Stadium because it’s just row after row of stoves and fridges and is two stories. I’ll have to find a picture of it from someone else. Then we all hung out for a bit, planned out the trip some more, and packed.

Friday – We rented these cars called Spaceships [google Spaceship New Zealand, you’ll get to their website] which lets four or two people sleep in them. We packed up and headed to the north, out of the city. Lots of driving was to be had. We finally stop at a park and see the Four Sisters [Kauri trees, I have pictures!], the 2nd largest Kauri tree, and then the first largest and probably oldest [estimated to be about 2000 years old]. By the time we finished with the first largest, it was dark and we drove to the next town on our list and found a place to sleep for the night. We found this really nice beach area, called Lookout Point, but it said no camping or parking overnight, so we had this big ordeal over whether or not we wanted to risk it. We ended up driving a bit more and we find this bar and someone asks a local about the area. He tells us no one would bother us at Lookout, and that there’s a campground nearby as well. Well, because we just told someone where we would be staying, some of the group decided they didn’t want to camp out at Lookout Point in case they stopped by in the middle of the night to bother us. We finally decide [by way of the campground guy telling us they’ll put us through the system and charging us $12 a head – my car just thought he was saying what he had to in order to make a bit of extra money ] to go to the campgrounds. We hung out on the beach for a while and then hit the hay. Some people stayed up and ended up taking a swim in the dark. Well, more of a wading then a swim – the water’s still pretty cold out here.

The next day [Saturday], a few of us get up early and go back to Lookout Point for the sunrise. When we get back, we wake everyone else up and decide to split into two groups. One group going all the way north to Cape Reinga, and the other group going some what more north but heading easterly. There’s a lighthouse at Cape Reinga at the northernmost point of New Zealand. My group ended up going up there and we got to see the point where the South Pacific meets the Tasman Sea; it was way beautiful. There were whirlpools and tons of waves. Rob, Tanya, and I hiked up this huge hill and got an amazing view of the area. We hung up around there until the others in our group showed up. At that point, we took tons of pictures; I had a picnic and got to fly a kite up on the hill, as well. It was a lot of fun and was very breath-taking. I can’t even begin to describe it and the pictures don’t really do it justice. We end up seeing some rain coming in so we head off to the sand dunes about 20 km from the lighthouse. We get to the sand dunes and some people aren’t sure they want to go up, but with some convincing everyone takes off their shoes and rolls up their pants. We get over the first hill, and there’s nothing but sand everywhere. It was the oddest scene; to our left there was forest and to our right and in front of us was nothing but sand. We end up climbing this huge [maybe 50+ feet high] sand dune mountain and then we could see the ocean in front of us. It was so beautiful! I’ve got pictures, but my memory card ran out of space, so I had to stop for a while. Everyone else has pictures, too, so I’ll get some from them. Coming back from the point we all stopped at, some threw themselves down the sand mountain, others swam down, and Tanya, Kali, and I kind of skied down in a link. I was up to my knees in sand! It was unbelievable the amount of sand everyone was covered in by the time we all got down.

After dusting off as best we could, we headed off to Whangera to meet up with the other group. However, half way there, we get a voice message from them saying there had been a minor injury and that they were at the hospital, but didn’t give us the details, so we start speculating. First, we try to figure out who got hurt and then what they hurt. On the first phone message, all we got was that they were going to head back to Auckland, but then there was another one saying they would be staying. Our group ended up finding a scenic picnic area to campout in and crash. Sometime during the night, there was a loud siren that was described as an air raid siren. Now, I’m not a light sleeper usually, but I was dead asleep and did not wake up. It woke everyone else up and it kept them up for fifteen minutes and then an hour or so as they tried to figure out what it meant and what they should do. The ideas floating around were: An air raid leading to a nuclear winter, an escaped convict was nearby, or there was an earthquake and a tsunami was about to hit [which freaked out the most people because we weren’t sure how far away from shore we were]. The worst part was that apparently there are wild roosters and chickens where we stopped and it woke them all up, so they start their cock-a-doodle-doodling and won’t stop. I woke up for that one… it sounded like we were surrounded by a mass migration of them, they were so close! We finally fall back asleep and then find out later the siren must have been for the volunteer fire department.

The next day [Sunday], we go up to the Bay of Islands. On the way there, we stopped by the Treaty House. The big deal about the Treaty is it is what the native chiefs signed to give Britain power over NZ. However, the Treaty was translated into Maori overnight, and very badly translated, and so to this day there is controversy over the legality of the Treaty. The grounds were beautiful, though; right on the water! And all the birds – you’ve never heard so many birds and so many different calls in your life!! After we finished up there, we headed to the actual Bay of Islands and we went kayaking. I’ve never been before so I was kind of worried I’d tip over so I didn’t bring my camera. I didn’t tip, though! We went up to see a waterfall and hung out at the nearby beach for a while before heading back to the rental place. My shoulders are sore as all get out today, though! After a light dinner, we decided to head back to Auckland via Whangera [where the hospital is where the rogue group member was injured]. We’re on the road and we get a call from the other group and we a few details, but we’re told not to come out to the hospital. We also find out who and what got hurt. Raina broke her ankle, apparently, but we never got the whole story. So we decide to head back to Auckland, instead, and make it home by around 10 pm. We unload the vehicles, shower, and just relax the rest of the night.

Today [Monday], we had library orientation that lasted for about an hour. After that was over, Rob, Tanya, and I headed out to find a tent for this weekend [we’re going camping/fishing, but without the roadtrip as we have had enough of cars for a while] and ended up reading in a park we found until we realised it was impossible to get any work done and started playing cribbage instead [I won!]. We headed home and stopped at the grocery store for laundry detergent [who knew road trips were so messy?] and ran into the rest of the people from the other group. Apparently, they went sand-tobogganing down a 200 foot tall sand dune that had about a 60% angle to it. They learned from the first two who went down that breaking midway was a bad idea or else you’d be tossed in the air for a bit. Well, Raina went down, and makes it all the way down the dune, but then hits grass and put her feet down to stop. She was going so fast, however, that she ended up being launched in the air and landed ten feet away from her sled, she tumbled around and ended up falling into a ditch near the dune. She waved at the others but then she started flaying and the two that had gone down before her run over to see what’s wrong; she was white as a ghost and couldn’t remember where she was or how she had gotten there. The others get down, somehow, from the top of the dune, and start trying to figure out how to get her out of the ditch and back to the car. Finally, they get some locals to drive them back to their cars and then they get Raina to the hospital. She has a clean break through her fibula and needs a metal plate and surgery [which she got this morning]. She’ll have a six week recovery, but they say she was laughing and saying she had a great time and she’s got her memory back.

Anyway, so that’s what’s been going on since I’ve gotten here. I promise to update a lot and upload tons of pictures.