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What an amazing weekend I've had!
Laura and I did the Tongariro Crosding! 19.4k in 7 and a half hours over a mountain!! We had a package deal which was 2 nights in a hotel with dinner , breakfast both mornings, a lunch to take on the crossing and transfers to the crossing. We stayed in ohakune. I arrived Friday afternoon and when I checked in the guy said we probably wouldn't be walking Saturday as the weather forecast was bad! I knew the weather didn't look great but didn't expect not to be able to do it! I chilled out waiting for laura I walked in to town and the hotel had a spa pool so I chilled out in there too!
When Laura arrived I told her that the decision had been made that we couldn't do the crossing we were both a bit annoyed but at least we could do it sunday. We stayed up talking and watching gone girl until 3am!! Luckily we didn't have to be up early! We got up for breakfast then chilled out and fell asleep. It literally rained all day Saturday!! We walked in to town for some lunch and a drink then headed back to the hotel to chill! We had dinner which was really nice started was canapés dinner rice and veggies for me then strawberrys and ice cream for dessert! We took another walk to town and had a deep fried mars bar to give us energy for the walk!!
Sunday morning came and we were up at 5.30! Breakfast at 6.15 then we started the crossing at 8.05! It was the hardest thing I think I've ever done! Give me a marathon any day!! The first part was pretty flat and easy then we hit the mountain! Oh my god! There was even a sign saying turn back now if you don't think you can do it or something like that! There were so many stairs to climb. Laura found it really hard but she did amazingly well. I was ahead of her but kept turning back and stopping to make sure she was ok! I heard a guy say he was going to give someone some electro lights as they looked like they were struggling I thought it was really nice of him then realised he was talking about laura! It really motivated her! We had some Kendal mint cake to keep us going too! We finally reached the top and it felt amazing! We stopped for a bit then carried on. It's was nice and flat got a while then another big climb up the mountain! It wasn't as hard but still tough! Again we made it and stopped for lunch at the top the views were amazing. My pictures don't do it justice! Off we went again and we had to go down the mountain how I didn't fall over i have no idea it was so steep and no steps! I slide down some of it the views were off 4 lakes which were so blue. Off we went again and finally started to make our way down. It seemed to take forever! We got to a hut with toilets and waited for a bit but the queue was so long we were worried about not making the shuttle back! So off we went! That was 13k so only 6.4 to go! We were walking for what felt like forever and we didn't see any other markets! Finally we made it to 16k then 17k was there before we knew it. But the next 2.4k took a lifetime!!' I didn't think it was going to end! I was desperate for the toilet i tried to do a wilderpee but it didn't happen! Finally I got to the end!!! I didn't see a toilet at first and panicked but then I found it! Laura was just 5 minutes behind me! We both did amazingly well especially laura!
There were 9 of us on our shuttle a group of 5, 2 ladies and me and Laura. We wanted to make sure we weren't ever last so we wouldn't miss the shuttle! So we kind of turned it in to a competition! A couple of the 5 over took us a few times but then we got in front! I ended up being the first to finish laura 5 mins behind me and then the 5. The ladies didn't make it back in time for the shuttle!! We waited half hour for them but then had to leave!
It was a 3 hour drive home for me but I didn't fancy doing it after that hike so I'd already arranged to stay at Tessa parents house in Taumarunui which was only an hour away. I'm glad I did as I was tired just driving there! I got there and Glenda Tessas mum gave me a glass of wine. It tasted amazing!! I had a shower and they had cooked dinner and waited for me to eat! It was so nice of them! I love how they make me feel part of the family.
A few weeks ago Linda my program manager called to ask if Tessa and I would mind being interviewed for a magazine that were doing an article on au pairs! Of course we didn't mind! We were both on the phone for half hour being asked loads of questions! One question I was asked was about relationships with host dads and au pairs!! I was pretty shocked she asked it!! They also sent a photographer out to us!! The article was printed on Sunday and it was terrible the only thing she quoted me saying was you'd have to hate your host parents to have an affair with the host dad!!!! The article was mainly from a host mums point of you and I don't think it made au pairs look that good! One host mum complained the au pair ate too much food and folded the towels wrong!!
The picture they used wasn't great either! You couldn't even see hunter he was in the background! Never mind at least I can say I was in a kiwi magazine!!
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