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!