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well hello everyone, ive been quite busy for a few days so this is gonna be a really long email so i apologise in advance...
so u dont have to read to the bottom...
- home- dont renew SAS membership no point im not there, ring smiths for p45 may need tax details off it so scan it in and send it to me.
- everyone- i have a nz mobile number that is 0210646570 if u txt me tell me who it is as i have none of ur numbers over here
- everyone- i cant get on myspace/facebook atm, i was going to put pics on facebook but it might not be for a while until i can get to an internet cafe! i also cant get hotmail so dont email me there!
27th jan-29th jan
i went up to this place called pahia in the Bay of Islands for a couple of days and on one of the days went to New Zealand's most northern point, the Cape Reinga lighthouse so i have some rather windswept photos. went to this gorgeous little beach after where the water was actually warm- so nice! then it was back to paihia for the night, the next day i went dolphin watching with Kathrin from Germany and Steve from Canada- 2 people i met on the bus on the way up. dolphin watching was wicked, the dolphins were swimming under the boat and jumping out of the water- ace! the boat also went through the hole in the rock and cruised around the bay of islands. then it was the long haul back to auckland for one night where this argentinian girl in the dorm told me she hates english people because of some war 30 years ago! any idea what she was on about? im asuming thr falklands but was that 30 years ago? i dont no.
30th jan
anyways the next day it was off to an area called the Coromandel which is soooooooooo nice, perfect white sandy beaches and turquoise sea. i went on a kayak trip with some people off the bus and i was paired with a canadian guy (again! there seem to be a few canadians around) called Travis. we kayaked out around to this place called cathedral cove where we landed and our tour guide person called tom made us all coffee and we had a mini cafe on the beach which was wicked!! after that we loaded all the stuff back into the kayaks and then paddled around to stingray cove where there were stingrays swimming under our kayaks which was ace! then back to hahei beach where we started from before going back to the hostel- turtle cove where the owners had made a home cooked meal for everyone- very nice!! after eating our little kayak crew stayed in the bar playing knockout pool which as per usual i was crap at. (rich btw if ur doing kiwi exp in coromandel do this trip!!)
31st jan
left coromandel the next day for a place called rotorua. we stopped at this gorge called Karangahake where we went on a walk through all the old train tunnels and tracks in the dark. then carried on via a place called matamata, more commonly known now as Hobbiton :) so after posing for some cheesy photos there next to a statue of gollum it was back on the road. got to rotorua where it absolutely stinks of rotten eggs because of all the hot springs and geothermal mud pools kicking out sulphur dioxide (seriously its weird has to be seen to be believed!) after checking into this hostel called hot rocks (rich dont stay here its an absolute DIVE) went for a bit of a wander around rotorua before returning and going back to the hostel togo for a swim in their thermal pool which was good fun!
that night in rotorua as well (i had a busy day!) i went to a maori village and hangi (meal). we went on our coach and we had to pick a chief which was this american guy called Jake and he, along with the chiefs from the other coaches had to stand still while the maori warriors did war dances at them and tried to scare them away. when the chief didnt back down the woman sung a song to lift the boundary around the village and we were all allowed to enter the village to have a look around where they had set up little areas to show what maori life was like back in the day! after wandering around the village for a bit we went into this hut where the maori people performed a concert for us. it was cool, although the haka is terrifying in actual life!!! im not sure how long the concert went on for, i have some pics but theyre not very good as i was sat near the back- so if bryony or tess have some good pics could i get them at some point?
After the concert we went to the hangi which is a meal that has been cooked on hot rocks in the ground and the food was good!! went outides after the meal and learned how the food was cooked and sat aorund the fire before heading back in for the closing songs where we all had to stand up in a big circle hold hands and sing. the chief also had to do the haka which was funny! on the bus on the way back into rotorua we all had to sing songs to the bus driver, she would call out a country and that country would have to sing. luckily there were lots of english people so i didnt have to sing by myself unlike some of the others.
1st feb
joined a completely new bus group to go to the waitomo caves today as the others were all heading on down the country and i was on a different bus pass. was quite sad really! anyways, i headed over to waitomo to go black water rafting (caving), another stupid thing to add to my growing list of extreme sports! the irish michelles in my dorm back in rotorua were also going so at least i wasnt completely by myself! we had to get suited and booted in the attractive clothing for caving- wetsuit boots, a wetsuit, a wetsuit jacket, gum boots (wellies) and a helmet with a light on and grab a rubber ring before we went to practice jumping backwards off a platform into a river with. after practicing we heading down to the entrance to the caves, turned on our lights and went into this tiny hole in the ground with a little stream running through. oh my god it was so cold. spent a couple of hours jumping backwards off waterfalls and floating down the rivers in the caves, at one point we had to turn off our lights and float down the river with all the glow worms above us, a rather surreal moment!! we stopped somewhere in the middle fora quick snack before carrying on and towards the end had to turn off our lights again and follow the glow worms to the exit. yes i do have photos!
it was back to rotorua after the caving where i went for a walk around this park down the road from the hostel with all the steaming ponds and bubbling mus pools (yes this IS the local park) before heading back to the hostel and going out to grab some food with these 2 american girls in my dorm.
2nd feb
the next day it was the trip back to auckland which was quite boring really. stopped in matamata again, fell asleep thats about it. the guy sat behind me on the bus was an american doing a teaching degree with his placement in nz so we got talking and met up for dinner later on when we went to this place down on the auckland waterfront which was cool! that was pretty much itreally!
3rd feb
then it was off to orientation for my school placement in themost random little hotel in auckland which i was really struggling to find. got a train and was stood at a junction with my map and all my luggage when a police car offered to give me a lift- good thing they did as it look about 10 mins 2 drive from the train station so i wouldnt have fancied walking it!! met up with some of the other gap year people who didnt take the group flight out and we all got packed off to the aquarium to wait for the others (i think it was meant to be some kind of team building or something) which was quite funny watching all the penguins and the stingray feeding. when the others from the group flight arrived we all went down to the waterfront and went for a BBQ on the boat sailing around auckland which was also good fun but i think some of the people on the group flight were shattered!! after that it was back for more orientation stuff that i wont bore u all with before bed (early as we had to be up at 630am the next day!)
4th feb
up at 630 today for breakfast and more orientation stuff before setting off for the airport for the flight to invercargill. only 4 of us flew to invercargill and i was met by my social buddy erin who took me to this lady called sharee's house who was looking after my placement for tea. i stayed at sharee's for the nextocuple of days as there was no one in the boarding house.
nothing much else has happened realy just started at school have been with literacy, in the year 7 and 8 classes and just generally pottering around the school. i wont bore u with all the details here!! have to do a maori welcoming ceremony next week which will be slightly daunting! but yeah alls good and congrats if uv actually read all that!!!!
any news from home?
beth
xxxxxxx
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