It's summer time!

Christmas is just a few days away now and I found a couple more photos of my Kiwi Christmas experience. Michelle and I went to visit Santa at the mall. Santa was pretty cheeky and when Michelle asked, "How is your day Santa?" He responded, "Better now that you girls are here!" And just after that photo 1 was taken. Haha. Then we got a more traditional pose for the 2nd.


A couple of weeks ago I got a message from a person on this travel website I'm a member of saying he was going to a nearby beach, Raglan, for the day. I was free so I joined him for the day. I didn't do anything for hours except for lay in the black sand. It was great. Raglan is a hot spot for surfers, so watching them kept me entertained.


I've learned one thing about Kiwi's and their parties: They LOVE to dress up. A friend of my flatmates had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and the theme was "Stars in their eyes" meaning singers or bands. Can you guess which 80's stars we are?

If you guessed TLC like many other people did, you're wrong. But, if you guessed Milli Vanilli...ding ding ding!! Jason lurking in the background was Angus Yong of ACDC and the other 2 flat mates were Santa???

Lately the weather has been really great. It finally really feels like summer time and fortunately without the humidity of Florida. As I wonder around it's hard not to notice all the beautiful flowers and plants, so I picked a few of my favorites to show you.


This past weekend Michelle's family invited me to come the beach with them. They had family members from England come to visit so they rented a bach (beach house) in Kuaotunu and Michelle, Jason, and I joined them for the weekend. The place was beautiful and we spent the days swimming, walking along the beach, kayaking, and playing with Michelle's little cousin.

On Sunday we drove a more scenic route home and stopped off at some other sites. One place we stopped was Cathedral Cove. Michelle told me it's one of the places that are always on the calendars of New Zealand, so I knew it must be worth the hike there. It was so serene and beautiful. We also stopped at a couple other beaches but Cathedral Cove was my favorite.


I'm spending Christmas with Michelle and her and Jason's family. Both of their family's have been so great to me since I've been here, always inviting me to dinners, vacations, and family events. It's been wonderful being around family again, but makes me miss home sometimes too. Mom sent me a box of goodies that I've restrained myself from opening so I'll have some surprises on Christmas morning. I know what my big gift is though (skydiving!!!) I'm going to be using my big present in February after my big NZ round trip. Speaking of...I probably won't be updating the blog for a bit, probably until February or so. After Christmas, we are all going to the beach to spend New Years, and just after that I'm flying down to the south island to start my month long trip around New Zealand. Michelle, and a couple other girls will be doing a 3 day hike and a short road trip in the beginning of January and the day after they leave, my friend Rebekah Gordon that I met while in Korea will be coming to travel with me for 2 weeks. I'll finish the trip by spending a few days exploring the Northlands by myself before coming back to Hamilton on the 29th of January. Then, of course, I will be pretty broke, so I'm hoping to lay low for a bit, get a full time job, and save! These next 5 weeks or so are going to be so great, I'm really excited to get to see some more of New Zealand. Wish me luck and I can't wait to show you all my photos when I get back. Merry Christmas!

That time of year

It's that time of year...Christmas!!! This past weekend we all decided it was about time we get in the holiday spirit. So, we got a tree and spent all Sunday decorating. Step one was going out to the Christmas tree farm and choosing just the right one.

Once the tree was home, it was time to bring out all the lights, ornaments, and streamers. Of course we listened to Christmas songs while decorating. (notice our beer can angel!)

Step three included me and Michelle decorating ourselves.

And finally we called the boys in to take a flat photo. It took a few attempts before we got it just right.

Woohoo for summer Christmas!!


Bike Ride:
This doesn't really have anything to do with Christmas, but I wanted to show some pictures from my bike ride today. I found a couple of different routes in the area, and since the weather was so nice, I decided to go for a ride. This was actually my second try on this route. The first time I made a wrong turn and got kind of lost, so I made my own route home. This time I double checked the directions and found where I was suppose to go. The ride was beautiful!! I'm so glad to have a bike again. It took me a little over 3 hours and I am exhausted now, but it was a really great day.

Thanksgiving

As you can guess, there is no Thanksgiving in New Zealand, but I changed that this year. I spent all day Thursday cooking a Thanksgiving dinner to have with my flat. I was a little weary to take on such a feat because I don't consider myself such a good cook, but I gave it a try anyways. I cooked stuffing, green beans, sweet potato casserole, gravy, pumpkin pie (from scratch!) and turkey. The turkey was actually a turkey log because it was cheaper and all the ones in the store were enormous.

All of my flat mates plus a couple of friends joined for dinner. Michelle and I made a few decorations to help set the mood, leaves and turkeys. We also ran out of chairs so we used a couple of coolers and a camping chair. Beside eating, I also gave them a little history lesson. I used a power point presentation I had left over from teaching in Korea all about the history of Thanksgiving. I think they enjoyed it! And I made them all say one thing they were thankful for. They got the full Thanksgiving treatment! In all, I think it made quite a good feast.

Halloween, Road trip Part 2, and More Hamilton!!!

Halloween:
In New Zealand Halloween is nothing. There are a few parties here and there, but overall you see very few people dressed up and even less people who have decorated. This year was different. Michelle and I bought some decorations and I surprised my other flat mates with spiderwebs, banners, and skeletons when they came home from work! They pretended to think I was a dork, but I know they actually liked it. We also carved a jack-o-lantern, which you can see in my video tour of the house, and I taught Michelle how to bob for apples!!

She'd never been trick-or treating before either, and even though we are both in our 20's, I found that no excuse not to get free candy. So, we made some costumes out of stuff from the house and went trick-or-treating!! Look at all the treats we got! Of course we got the, "Aren't you all a bit old for this?" But they gave us treats anyways! There were a few people who said, "Sorry, we don't have anything; we didn't know it was Halloween." And then there was one lady who answered the door and said, "Sorry girls I don't have any lollies, but you all look old enough for a drink!" She gave us each a glass of wine and we stood on her porch chatting until we were finished!! That would never happen in America!!


Road Trip Part 2:
I have a friend from UF who is living in Auckland, about 1.5 hours north of Hamilton. She's also here on a working holiday and after a friend told us we were both in the same country, we decided we should meet up. I had a few days off work, so she took a bus down to Hamilton and off we went. Michelle lent me her car, so that means I drove on the opposite of the road and on the opposite side of the car. Not only that, but it was a stick shift so I had to get use to shifting with my left hand! Anyways, Michelle and I (my friend from UF name is also Michelle just to make things confusing!) went off for a 3 days adventure. Our first stop was Waitomo. When we first got there we went exploring in the area and found Marokopa Falls. Sooo beautiful and not even a major sight in the area! The next morning we went Black Water Rafting!! We suited up in a full on wet suit, grabbed a tube and floated down a river that passed through a massive cave. We jumped down mini waterfalls and gazed at thousands and thousands of glow worms. They call it black wafter rafting because the water looks black since it is so dark in there.

After Waitomo we drove to Rotorua, known as a big tourist city in the north island. Our first day there we took a walk around the lake and some of the town. That evening we went to a Maori cultural show. The Maoris are the native people to New Zealand. The show included a performance of some of their dance and dress as well as a dinner. I made a video of one f their most famous chants/dances.

The following day we went Zorbing!! Let me explain. Basically you are put into a huge ball and then you roll down a hill. We went for the zorbing with water inside so that we could slip-slide around. It may look strange, but it was quit fun!!

We also walked around some of the parks. Rotorua is a geothermal area, so there are many mud pools, geysers, and thermal baths. The place smelled like sulfur, but it was worth it. We found one place where a hot stream and a cold spring met. You could sit it one area that felt like a super hot spa and then move over a couple of feet and feel like you are going to freeze. The sides were also made of mud that is known to do wonders for your skin, so I made my own mud mask. I don't know if it actually helped much, but it felt good!


Hamilton:
During the weekends, I usually end up getting outside and seeing more of Hamilton. One Saturday Michelle and I road our bikes to Lake Hamilton and took a walk around.

This past weekend we ran a 12K run called "Around the Bridges". Hamilton is built around a river that runs right down the middle. So the run followed once side of the river, we crossed one of the bridges, and then ran along the other side. It was Michelle's first race, so I was more excited then normal.

That's what I've been up to the last few weeks. Thanksgiving is coming and you can expect I'll teach them another American lesson. Then Christmas of course!!