April 22nd

On Thursday (the 22nd) I flew back into Auckland. When I got to customs…I was the first and only person in line, then when I got my bag…it was already on the carousel. Nothing even close to that has EVER happened to me before. It took less then 5 minutes! Amazing. I ended up taking a naked bus (that is the bus company name…no one was actually naked) to Hamilton, where my friend Kirill picked me up and brought be home to Steve (my car). He was just where I had left him. I realized while I was away that I have developed an attachment to my car, I suppose because it’s been the only constant thing in my life for the last 6 months.

In Hamilton is where my body started to fall apart. In the course of the last two days I have completely lost my voice due to a nasty sore throat, developed a cough and runny nose, broken out into gross in infection and lost my memory. I’ve started a habit of leaving something wherever I go. I left my towels in Hamilton, and my favorite sweatshirt in taupo last night.

But even after all of that. It feels really good to be back in New Zealand. Like I said before, I am on my way back down to the south island to rent a flat for a bit in Dunedin. The thought of being able to sleep in the same place for more then two nights sounds like a dream come true.

p.s. keep in mind that there are about 5 new posts after this one. check them out!

April 19th

On Monday morning I took a flight into Melbourne, where my friend Jack met me at the airport. We toured the city, had pumpkin pizza for lunch and headed up to the top of the tallest building to take in a view of the entire city. The next day I went on a 14 hour day trip to Great Ocean Rd. I was a long day, but very worth it. The main attraction was The 12 Apostles, which are (or used to be) 12 rock formations sticking out of the ocean off the coast. look for pictures below. We also saw some wild koalas- so cute! They were so close we could touch them…but we didn’t want to because they’re not very nice and they have chlamydia.

April 15th

The next day we took the train into Sydney, where we had a wonderful first night enjoying the city lights. The Sydney Opera House was pretty amazing to see in real life, as well as the harbor bridge. Sydney is a very cool city. I don’t know if you could ever run out of things to do. We took the ferry over to the zoo (which is the coolest zoo ever) on Friday, and sadly Martha left on Saturday. So we all said our goodbyes, and Paul and Karen headed out for their last day in Sydney, and I went shopping, and to Chinatown, and to the art museum, and then another art museum, then did some more shopping, drank lots of coffee, rode the monorail, ate KRAFT MAC and CHEESE, and generally relaxed for a couple of days.

April 11th

On the 11th, Martha and I flew into the Sydney airport and met her brother and his girlfriend there (Paul and Karen). We then hopped on a train, then a bus, and then another train, before we met our friend Lindsay and drove the hour and a half to her house. Needless to say it was a long day of travel, but well worth it. Lindsay lives in a little town called Broulee. Her flat mates were fantastic. She took us down to a beautiful bay for a day of lying on the beach, and to a couple of cute little towns to shop around in. we also got to see wild kangaroos too! we then took the train about an hour north to a town called Wollongong. It’s like a mini city on the coast. We had a lot of fun- once we found our hotel and fed Paul.

the last month

At this very moment, I am sitting on the ferry heading from Wellington to Picton, where I will stay the night.

As for a recap of the last month or so (I know its been a long time), here goes:

After I visited Queenstown/Wanaka I made my way back to Dunedin where I house/dog sat for about a week. After which I made my way back up to Auckland to pick up Martha in Auckland. She arrived on the 5th of April (I can’t believe how time is flying by). I picked her up and we headed up the coromandel peninsula, where we relaxed on some beaches, went to cathedral cove, and attempted an even at the hot water beach (but there were too many people). Then we drove to Taupo, where we were going to go skydiving before Martha backed out. We bummed around and met lots of new people. The next day we headed back up to Auckland. We picked up my friend Kirill and decided to have a night on the town before we left the country. We had a good time to say the least…but then again, when do I not have a good time.

April 18th, 2010

it's been way too long since i've posted one of these things, and i don't have much time now. but i just wanted to give an update.

at the moment i'm in Sydney Australia. it's such an amazing city! tomorrow i'll be flying down to Melbourne to visit some friends that i met WWOOFing a while back. i can't wait to see them.

then it's back to New Zealand again. i don't know yet for how long or where exactly i'll be, but i'm looking forward to it. i'm really the luckiest person i know. what a great adventure i'm on!

more to come soon. pictures too.

March 17th-24th

WANAKA and QUEENSTOWN

Wanaka: The place where dreams are made.

I had the pleasure of spending about 4 days in Wanaka. It’s an absolutely stunning place. I spent my night staying in a hostel, and I spent my days wandering the town, hiking, kayaking, and just a bit of shopping. Then I was off to Queenstown, where I did a bit more shopping, got a tarot card reading (very cool by the way), some more hiking, enjoying a REAL hot chocolate at Patagonia Chocolates, a gondola ride to the top of the mountain, and admiring the general splendor.

Needless to say, I took lots of pictures. So here some are:

March 14th

Brrr it’s cold here in Dunedin. At the moment I’m staying with a highly energetic woman named Pene. She’s extremely nice, and very busy so it works out well. She left for the weekend and left me at home with Isabella, her dog. Dunedin is a very cool city, full of beautiful architecture, rolling hills and the ocean. Its only downfall is the weather. It’s been cold, windy and rainy for most of my stay. Its ok though, I’ve been on the go for a while now, its nice to be a bit of a hermit.

On my way down from Christchurch I stopped at a beach that has these big beautiful boulders right along the shoreline. Due to water and weather the rocks have become symmetrical. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen (I’ll post a pic).

From here (Dunedin), I’ll be heading up towards Queenstown/Wanaka. I’ve herd they are both beautiful and fun cities to spend a few days in. I’m attempting to find some spots to WWOOF, so we’ll see what happens.

March 9th Part Two

We spent quite a few night doing what we call here, freedom camping. Basically its finding a spot on the beach or even on the side of the road, setting up shop and spending the night for free. It saved us a pretty penny and we found a few great spots…and some not so special too. And with Adam along…there was no such thing as camping food. It was all gourmet (he got to ride in the front seat a lot :) )

Next we headed up to Golden Bay, where we spend the majority of out time. Eli had a friend that was renting a beach house on the ocean, so we fortunately got to much off of them and stay for a night. Another cool spot was Whreaki Beach (pronounced: Freaky Beach...and not spelled like that either). There’s no way to describe the beauty, so I’ll just post pictures. But there were baby seals that got trapped on land from high tide and they were maybe the cutest things I’ve ever seen…for real. From there we did a bit of hiking, reading books and drinking beer. We ended up in Takaka (this is where Eli chose to leave us to head back into the woods) at the San Suchi Inn. It was paradise….it included adobe buildings, lots of green grass, a hammock, a big kitchen for Adam to cook us whatever we wanted and incredibly nice people. We couldn’t leave, and then when we did leave…we came back again. To conclude our time in Golden Bay, we did a coastal hike in Able Tasman National Park into a Hut (where all three of us got ZERO sleep due to abnormally loud snorers) where we stayed for a night and hiked back out the next day. Then to begin out decent back into Christchurch (where Rachel and Adam departed from) we went down to Nelson Lakes, where we walked along the lake and camped in the most sandfly infested campground ever. We woke up the next day and continued south to Hamner Springs. There we ate Thai food, sat in hot thermal pools and laid in the sun all day…t’was wonderful.

Then this morning I dropped them off at the Christchurch airport and began my way south to Dunedin, where I’ll hopefully be WWOOFing with a woman named Lucy for a few days.

March 9th Part One

I haven’t properly wrote a blog in about three weeks (sorry if it’s a long one). There has been a very good reason for that. Rachel and Adam came to see me for a visit! It was so much fun to have them here. At times we annoyed each other just like always, but I think we’re growing up to be really good friends. The itinerary went as follows:

Three weeks ago I picked up Rachel at the Auckland airport and we headed straight for raglan to spend a few days on the beach. The weather wasn’t as ideal as we would of hoped…but don’t worry we got plenty of sun time. Then we headed to the Tauhara Centre in Taupo, where we exchanged some rigorous work (and you people think I’m just on vacation all the time J ) for three nights in the Chalet. The Chalet is an adorable little cottage, built over the edge of a cliff, that has one of the most picturesque views of Lake Taupe (or anywhere) I’ve ever seen. Catherine and Nassir were once again magnificent hosts and I’ll never forget Stan’s cooking.

Rach and I then took a bit of a road trip down to Wellington, where we enjoyed a drink overlooking the harbor, before hopping on the ferry to the South Island. The ferry left at 9:25pm, so we got to Picton (entrance city to the SI) at about 1am, where we then had a most enjoyable night sleep in the car. The next day we drove down one of the most scenic road you could ever imagine to Christchurch, where killed two birds with one stone by picking up both Adam and Eli (our cousin in law?…something like that…Wendy’s nephew). The four of us piled into Steve (I still don’t know how we managed) and headed north to a town called Kaikoura. We stayed in a little self contained room just across the street from the ocean. The following day we did a really cool walk around the shore at low tide and came across tons of seals lounging about on the rocks. It was one of the cooler sights I’ve seen (along with the baby seals…but I’m getting to that).

March 2nd

Here we are in Wellington. At the time we took this picture, Rachel had been here for one week...and she still looks like a Minnesota winter white girl. we crossed the ferry from the north to the south island that evening and picked up both Adam (rachel's hubby) and Eli in Christchurch the next day. since then we have been hanging out, enjoying the beautiful weather, and playing with baby seals. It's been a treat to have fun people to travel.

Feb 19th

HOORAY! Rachel's here! I picked her up on the morning of the 18th. Her flight was on time and went smoothly. We got out of the airport and basically headed straight for Raglan. Yesterday we had a beautiful day (a little windy) of checking out the town, visiting Bridal Veil Falls, laying on the beach, working in the garden at Solscape and making pizza from veggies straight from the garden. it was what one may call "a perfect day." i think she'll survive here just fine.

Pizza making party. we cooked them outside in the big earth stove:

Feb 14th

So on Saturday morning, my WWOOFing friend Line (from Germany) and I left the Tauhara Centre after a couple of hard days of saying goodbye to friends and good memories. I had a wonderful time at the Tauhara Centre, and it was an experience I will never forget.

A few days back Line (pronounced like Lena) and I decided to venture towards the east coast. This morning we woke up in Napier and headed to Te Mata Peak to watch the sunrise. It was by far the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen. Then we spent the rest of the day at Mahia Bay. We had a blue sky day and the beach to our selves. Tomorrow we head to Gisborne.

Feb 7th

So, two Americans, three Germans, a French man, a Latvian and a kiwi walk into a lodge…

No, its not a joke, it’s my life right now. I’ve been at the Tauhara Center for about 5 days now, and am loving it. The people are so welcoming and relaxed. Catherine and Nasir (they run the place) are so sweet and take such good care of us. We’re working about 5 hours a day. And for that we are provided with free accommodation and meals (some of which are prepared by our very talented chef, Stan). I’ve mostly been in the garden everyday, weeding or planting veggies. I’ve been doing (or attempting) a bit of meditation in the beautiful sanctuary….but it’s hard. Other then hanging out here at the center, I try to get down to the beach of Lake Taupo as much as I can (its been super hot and sticky here). All in all, I am very much enjoying where I’m at right now, in place and in life.

The WWOOFers Lodge:

The Sanctuary:

Feb 3rd

I have arrived safe and sound at the Tahara Center in Taupo. I think i'm really going to like it here. more to come...

Jan 30th

On Wednesday I left the farm and the Derecourt family behind and headed to Mount Maunganui (surf town on the east coast). From Mt Maunganui, my friend Geoff and I headed up the Coromandel Peninsula for a couple days of traveling. We saw some really amazing sights, like Opoutere beach, Cooks beach, Cathedral Cove, Whitianga, Coromandel Town, and kilometers and kilometers of car side ocean views. We ended up catching the sunrise on the east coast, and the sunset on the west coast all in one day. We went snorkeling…but didn’t see much (a few brown/grey fish, that’s about all).

As of now, we are back in Mt Maunganui and I have no plans until Wednesday when I will start WWOOFing at the Tahara Center in Taupo. Can’t wait!

Cathedral Cove (above and below)

Sunset over Coromandel Town (below)

Jan 20th

I have now landed safely in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand. It’s a little tiny town about 20 minutes from the city of Hamilton and about 40 minutes from the coast. The family that I’m staying with consists of: Don and Davina (dad and mom) and Martin (boy, age 6), Dallas (girl, age 5), and Chance (boy, age 4). They’re great. There are also two other WWOOFers currently staying here with us, they are: Tony from Wisconsin and Seema from Alabama. Its funny to have so many Americans in one place. It’s nice, we relate to each other really well, and they are both really cool.

On a daily basis we end up tending to their 2 pigs/5 piglets (so cute!), calves, chicken, roosters, turkeys, ducks, two dogs and the squirrelly children. We end up working about 4 hours a day, or up to 20 per week. They are extremely relaxed. For example, on Monday it was raining so I baked banana bread and chocolate chip cookies for my work. Don and Davina have a great sense of humor, so we get along just fine.

Jan 16th

Yesterday, after we were done working, my friend Keely and I drove to Hamilton to meet my other friend Kirill. The three of us then headed to a hot water beach in the little town of Kawhia. We picked up some fish and chips…first they forgot half our order, and second, it was disgusting!

We made it to the beach just in time. There was a family who had already found the hot spots in the sand, had dug out probably half a dozen holes, and were getting ready to leave. So we stole their holes and lounged in the hot springs for the evening. It was just like sitting in a hot tub…only smelled like sulfur. We ended up camping on the beach (up on level sand dunes). We built a fire, watched the sunset, and star gazed for most of the evening. It was by far one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do in NZ, or ever. I’m SUCH a lucky girl!!

Jan 15th

So for the last two weeks I’ve just been hanging out in Raglan, and loving every minute of it. I have met some of the most wonderful people here. it’s a beautiful and relaxing little town, and I already can’t wait to come back someday. The landscapes and beaches are beautiful, and I’ve never seen so many stars in my life.

A group of us took a little trip to Bridal Veil Falls the other day. I felt like I was in a commercial for an exotic vacation. It was that amazing. Tonight, my friend Keeley and I are headed to a hot water beach to camp for the night. Supposedly you wait for high tide, then dig yourself a hole and sit in the hot springs. Fingers crossed it’ll be a success.

Sunday is my last day here at Solscape, but I have no doubts that I’ll be back again someday. For the next two weeks I’ll be staying on a little family farm about an hour inland from where I am now. I’m really excited to spend some time with a family and have a new adventure.

Just a picture of some of the crew: Pia, Kameron and Kiren.