Kia Ora! it's been a long time since I've updated this and a lot has happened. I mean heaps! I haven't been home for the weekend in I think 5 weeks? I'm not really sure - it's kind of a blur. But this time I have pictures! In the mean time and between time I've been doing school... but that's almost done with now - kinda crazy to think that it's been a whole semester.
I think the best way for me to do this is to do a brief summary of each weekend... so here goes! (In chronological order)
The Mount
So, after my very successful hitchhiking tour over spring break, Ben (who's blog you can peak at
here) decided he wanted to try his hand - I was so happy to get to share the hitchhiking love. Plus it makes waiting a helluvalot less boring. So, we skipped class on the last Friday of September and set off for mount Maunganui- a popular surf destination and mountain on the east coast. Funnily, the hitchhiking failed! After 2 hours standing in the spot where I got picked up on my way to Taranaki we started thinking about buses to Bombay (a renowned 'spot' just outside of Auckland)... turns out the bus to the mount was $10 cheaper!
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| Ben and I on top of the mount |
So, we arrived late at our hostel at the base of the mountain (hill), having made friends of Siri the Swede and Oreet the American on the bus. Which is good as we would have never found the hostel otherwise! Our new-found companions accompanied us for the following day as we hiked up the mount, tanned at the beach and explored some rock pools - the final activity resulting in a hilariously soggy but undamaged Ben.
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| Ben looking the part |
Unfortunately, due to this terrible thing called school, we had to start making our way back on Sunday afternoon... but we got to hitch! Ben especially looked the type as he had no wearable shoes. Our three rides allowed us to see the towns of Tauranga, Bethlehem, Waihi and Paeroa, and safely home.
Whirinaki Tramp
You may remember that I am a member of the tramping club at the University. As such, the weekend following my adventures by the seaside I and about 12 others undertook a tramp involving a lot of river crossings (164 according to Emily, in fact), meaning that we got our feet a bit wet. Now, despite this area being beautiful, almost no one has heard of it!
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| Lambs are much more photogenic than I |
To start the weekend off, we drove to Anna's family farm near Rotorua where we were very much pampered by her parents with lambs and food and beer. The first day was very, very wet and so we took the short way to the hut where we found plenty of dry firewood and whiled away our time roasting marshmallows and eating burritos. The way back took 8 hours (and the aforementioned river crossings) to complete. Stunning views as usual! We went back via Anna's house for warm soup and more lamb feeding... to start another week in school.
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| Whirinaki forest! |
I think that'll have to be all for now. I'll finish the rest of the stories later as I need to get some good sleep tonight before heading off to the Corommandel peninsula in the morning.
