Title: Layaway in Fiji
Extra Info:
Time: 6:00 AM Fiji Time
Entry:
So I just landed in Fiji. I was greeted by 3 men playing musicadorned with hibiscus d?cor shirts and flowers in their hair. I thinkI've just encountered the most lax airport security. They just sat onthe tables , smiled and said "ooolah!" I'm not sure what that meansbut they've been saying it happily. Anyway I passed through the metaldetector with my backpack on, of course the metal detector went off.I started to take my backpack off so it could be properly searched,but the security guard didn't want to see the contents of my backpack.She just said, "boarding pass please?" and let me through to thegate. All the doors that said SECURITY ACCESS only in bold redletters are just wide open. Supposedly it's 86 degrees, but I don'tfeel too hot, it's just HUMID. Cranky Americans are already gettingon my nerves. My gate at LAX looked like a charter for 20 somethings,which is cool. I was one out of 2 asians ( Feb 24 later note: Ibecame friends with the other asian, his name is Phuong). Like Kevinsays, you don't need to read the airline to figure out where peopleare going. Chinese people for Air China, Brown people in longsandwiched lines for Air India. And tons of white people goingtowards NZ and Australia. Luckily there were a decent amount ofIslanders on my flight. They looked Samoan, but maybe smaller,possibly from Fiji? Anyway at the gate, I felt like half the peoplejust fell out of an Abercrombie ad. It was so sad that they weretrying to look like a surfer, ?.a surfer from Ohio? I don't think so.
I thought the flight went smoothly. 10 hours sucks, but I got my ownpersonal TV with 12 channels. So I didn't even have to use my laptop.Of course the one channel with a decent movie was too fuzzy to watch.So I watched SharkTale, A Cinderella story with Hillary Duff, and anOlympic special that didn't include Athens. A Cinderella Story mademe miss Kevin, isn't that sick?
I have a feeling I might be traveling alone around NZ in the nextcouple weeks. People from the UCs seemed to have already buddied up.
Note to self: Blonde girls with corn rows make me sad.
I met this guy Michael who talked to me cuz he was also wearing UCLAgear. He's from Tennessee but studied in Shanghai, married aShanghainese woman and hat identical twin hapa girls. 21 mos. Andabsolutely beautiful. He said his Shanghainese wasn't too good. Buthe hired Shanghai nannies so his girls would be fluent. He says Ishould get scuba certified because the diving is gorgeous around here.I want to go to the Great Barrier reef and the beaches around NZ. Hesaid the one closest to where I'm studying is kinda like Zuma. Nice.
I want to go hiking aka tramping. There are no poisonous spiders inNZ. Not really any poisonous plants and no snakes. Unlike inAustralia where everything is poisonous.
Title: I don't care what you name the second one
Extra Info:
Music: The beatles and queen
Entry:
Today I went to the Winter Gardens. It's seriously 2 blocks away fromthe Uni. Of Auckland. I can't believe the parks in this city. Therewas a pond with ducks that looked brown until they spread their wingsto reveal iridescent blue and green feathers. It was like they werewearing lingerie. I also saw geese! And these funny black peacockthings. I think I might start typing these entries. My handwritingis shit. But geese! They squawked in flocks and barked like dogs.GEESE!
Then we went into these greenhouses with huge flowers. Carnations,geraniums, sunflowers, and palms. Oh and also those waterlilies.Also we entered Fernz Fernery (sounds like a band) which was just ashady garden just full of different species of ferns. Those kiwislove their ferns.
It was once again humid today, but at least there was a breeze.
Dorm food here isn't bad, but the macaroni is different. It had porkin it. And also a plum and apple sponge dessert. All the sauces seemto be a bit sour. OH yeah, they put bean sprouts all over theirsalads.
I'm already missing Mexican food. Luckily this half Mexican girl fromUCSb IS MAKING FAJITAS. I would die for an avocado.
Today I hiked up to the top of Mount Eden. The tallest point inAuckland excluding the Sky tower. Got to see all of Auckland.Although, it's the biggest city in the country, 1.5 mill people in 390sq. miles. It looks like a suburb. Maybe a bit like Santa Barbara.Mt. Eden was walking distance from Uni of Auckland. I'm to adjustingto the cars driving on the left side of the road. I gotta keeptelling myself to look right left right. I'm still scared when I'mtaking a taxi because I keep thinking that I'm about to get hit byoncoming traffic. Also pedestrians don't have the right of way, buteveryone jay walks anyway. There aren't many crosswalks. But back toMt. Eden, a volcanoe that hasn't erupted in a 1000 years. Got to seeall of Auckland and the light blue water of the ocean.
I was watching the Maori channel. A program called the Slow Norriswas on. Kind of like Sesame Street for Maoris. Get to learn thecolors in Maori. Two words for blue. Go figure on an island. Toobad I couldn't repeat or spell these words for the life of me. Itcomprised of an old sloth, a Caucasian puppet that looked like apuppet from Team America, a worm, and a spider that resembled a beatlewith lots of legs. The spider got socks and a benz for presents. Itwas an ecstatic spider.
I also attempted to figure out cricket. I watched Pakistan play theWest Indies. I twas so confusing. 204 runs to win? Wickets. None ofthe catchers or outfielders wore gloves. It looked painful.
There's this other group of Americans from EMU, located in Virginia Iguess. Full of college students from places like Iowa. They make upthe bulk of White girls wearing corn rows, most likely done in Fiji.Once gain, pale skin and African braids just don't go. Now thenatives of Fiji can wear them because they have kinky hair. Ohanyways I was laughing at them because they were so amazed by asmoothie bar right off campus. "Everything is so good! They cut freshwheat grass!!! And add water and other stuff and blend it!!"
---wow
I felt so worldly at that moment.
I'm starting to get used to the Kiwi accent. Although yesterday, theoffice manager said, "I'm hither"
-I stared at her then she said
"Hello, I'm hither"
stared in bewilderment
"What's your name?
--Oh hi! I'm Susie. Nice to meet you Heather.
Language lesson:Bathroom- place where one bathes or showers, no toilets
---there are different buttons at the toiler "Half" or "full" So waterconscious, yay!
Loo- Toilet
Wopwops- the boonies
Kiwi- New Zealand citizen or bid
Fanny- Female genitalia (people really stare at you weird if you say fanny pack.)
The kiwis I've met have been so chill and friendly. Even truckdrivers say hi if you're walking down the street. Half of them don'teven wear shoes to work. They go barefoot.
They have the coolest playground with huge swinging ropes and thingsthat slide across huge lines. Definitely not as safe, but way moreextreme and fun.
The UC kids in my program are growing on me. NZ seems to attract acertain type of person: low maintenance, adventurous, superoutgoing,friendly, and QUIRKY. They all have such vibrant personalities. Ifound it overwhelming at first. But they're pretty funny in a weirdkind of way. Lots of weed smokers, hikers, linen pants from Thailandor India, surfers, mountain bikers, and vegetarians.
Deena (my program roommate's friend from UCSC) was talking aboutjoining this club at her uni where they go bridge swinging. Where yourun full speed off a bridge with a cord around your legs. Hence youswing back and forth beneath a bridge. Like bungy jumping is toodull. AHH! You can even jump off Sky Tower. SCARY There's no way I'mdoing that.
The UC kids bother me when they complain about food. Or because it'sdifferent. I think I'm one of the few whose tried the sauces anddressing, which are good, but sour.
---Random thought: I want to be like the old asian couple at the park,just sitting together on a bench watching ducks.
There are tons of Asians in Auckland. Feels like LA without Mexicansand Black people.
A fob told me I had a sweet voice today. I could barely understandthe guy. An asian accent covered with kiwi accent is impossible tounderstand.
I got sunburnt, even with sunblock. Damn the ozone layer is thinner.My olive skin is burnt. I rarely burn.
Title: Auckland museum
Entry:
We went to the Auckland museum today. There's this girl who looks alotlike Lina whose been following me around. I like her, but she'sdefinately nothing like Lina. She's an english major from UCI. A bittimid, soft in voice. Nothing like lina.
So we wandered around the Auckland museum and saw a maori concert andexhibits. I loved the regal paintings of the Maoris made in the early1900s, but I guess those paintings would be kind of creepy to hangover my mantle. The museum also houses wildlife (not too manyactually alive excluded insects and fish). I think kevin would beterrified by a moa (don't worry it's extinct) It's a 10 foot lookingostrich. They had a replica. New Zealand nO native mammals. So thereweren't really predators for birds and plants. So many birds wereflightless including the Moa and the Kiwi. After WANDERing around theexhibits, including the war museum. We went outside and visited myfavorite geese again. They're just so funny. Katherine chased afterthem, then the buggers chased her back. We kept exploring the domainpark and discovered the centennial walk, which was essentially ajungle hike in the park. Of course we got lost among the streams,huge trees and ferns. I ended up somehow on the other side of thepark. We were lost for a little bit. But found our way back to ourdorm a couple hours later.
I've been hiking almost everyday here.
Title: Today our Titiri Matangi trip got cancelled
Entry:
Today our Titiri Matangi trip got cancelled. We were supposed to takea ferry to a bird sanctuary, filled with birds that were formallyconsidered extinct. Supposedly they're quite cheeky. Instead I endedup choosing a bush walk (a hike) over the other alternatives whichincluded the zoo, aquarium, hot pools, and so forth. We drove up tothe Waitakere visitor center, just half an hour outside Auckland.This gave you a view of the subtropical rainforest. You've never seenanything so green in your life. We took a tree walk to point out allthe different flora. One of my favorites is the Ponga, it's a hugefern that looks more like a palm tree. There are also tea trees knownas manuka and kanuka and also flax plants. After tramping aroundthere, the weather got a little rainy, so we decided to go to the westcoast, to Piha beach. So my director Ivan, drove us to Piha, anawesome surfing beach, but can also be quite treacherous. We followeda trail that went along a stream by piha beach and the lagoon. Onceagain more jungle and rainforest. Some bridges and railings. But thestream led us to this huge waterfall, called Kitekite waterfall.That's pronounced KittyKitty. I was so depressed because I had changedout of my bathing suit when the ferry was cancelled to titirangimatangi. I didn't know we were going to Piha. it was definately spurof the moment. Eventually the water felt so cool and the waterfall wasso enticing that I just got in with my boyshort panties and a tshirt.It was well worth it. Swimming behind a waterfall is so calming. I'veonly done it once before, when I used to hike everyweekend inhighschool. My program coordinator's wife pretty much led us, andIvan. Ivan's our coordinator. He's a fun old bloke. He has such dryhumor and never laughs at his own jokes. But he loves to joke aboutthe inferiority of Australia. Him and his wife pointed out all thenames of the flora. He loves to poke fun at this kid greg, fromMalibu, well UCSB. He's a surfie, with big ole dimples, who seems tobe humorously outspoken and goofy. Getting himself into all thesepickles, including climbing up by the waterfall and jumping into ahole about 5 feet deep. Luckily he didn't hurt anything. There's nopoisonous plants or insects. So I don't mind getting dirty and goingbarefoot. I was even swimming by eels! I'm turning into such a hippy.
After our little tramp, barbara drove us to the north side of Piha.Piha is a gorgeous black sand beach with huge rocks and mountains,green green mountains by it. I wandered around it on the windy dayand also to the tide pools. the coolest tide pools I'd ever seen withbig crabs, sea anemones and fish. Shells are spotted allover theblack sand. Especially the white curly shells.
Title: Waitangi Day
Entry:
Groove in the park at Domain
20,000 people in the park. We laid out in the rain and eventuallydanced to reggae all day. Finally got my mind off kevin. This countryis so chill. A concert like that in the states would be madness. Buthere everyone was so polite and just there to have fun. I think Imight be a hippy when I get back, if I'm not already. I'm alreadykinda dirty. I just love the outdoors and the attitude. I love howthey all make fun of bush. Finally some smart people. Most citizenshere know more about US politics, than 80% of youth from my hometown.Then again camarillo was like texas in CA. I wish it was like this incali. Beautiful and relaxed. Maybe I need to switch towns. LA doesn'tseem too fitting anymore.
Title: Albany and Long Bay Beach
Entry:
Yesterday we caught the bus to Albany which is a suburb of Auckland.At Albany we (me, Jessie, and Alyson) met up with Matt and Phuong bytheir Uni, Massey. Ate a sandwich at a caf?. This lady got reallyexcited because I said Tomayto. She could hear my CA accent. She wasfrom Sacramento and married a kiwi. So excited to hear tomayto.Albany is full of roosters and chickens. Many freely wander thefields and walkways. There's a giant inflated cock above their usedcar lot. Matt and Phuong told us to just get off at the bus stop bythe giant cock. How amusing.
We hopped on a bus to the north shore to Long Bay Beach. Of course wetransferred onto the wrong bus, so a 45 minute ride easily became a 2hour ride. Long Bay is a stretch of beach on the east coast, meaninglight colored sand. The water is so warm, it feels like a nice coolbath. It's definitely warmer than the windy air. The water is soclear and light blue.
We found a flyer fox which is essentially a giant plunger that you siton that flies down a long line. No wonder kiwis like adventuresports, even their playgrounds are more extreme.
That night we ordered a bunch of large pizzas and some cider,Heineken, rum and coke.. A large pizza here is only 12 inches. LAME.
Damn I just saw my first full rainbow. The full arc. No mountains inthe way, every defined color. Little kids are trying to see the potof gold. (I'm writing on Long bay beach which I came back to)
Anyways I taught all of them how to play Shoulders while we watchedCSI, Smallville, the OC and family guy. Everything is a few monthsbehind here though. So the OC was only on its second episode thisseason.
Today we woke up and watched Neighbours, an Aussie soap, definitelynot as sensational as an American soap. In comparison quite bland. Nomidgets or witches or accidental incest.
Then we went back to Long Bay. I slept through the bus ride because Itook motion sickness pills. I had to nap on the beach, the sleepinesswas just too overwhelming. I woke up to eat my BLAT (Bacon LettuceAvocado and Tomato sandwich). These are more common than BLTs. Ofcourse I was so hungry, but I dropped the sandwich in the sand. I wasso desperate that I ate the least sandy parts anyway. Afterwards, Igot up and walked along these huge flat stones along the beach. Flatstones had holes in them for tide pools filled with hermit crabs andlarge crabs. Cove is covered with gnarled trees, old but still alive,almost falling off its foundation. In the background you can seegrassy hillsides with cows.
Title: BURGER KING
Entry:
I'm sitting in Burger King right now, mainly because I've been cravingketchup. Not Tomahto sauce. Tomahto sauce resembles sweet and soursauce more than Ketchup. I thought I'd miss Mexican food at first,but there's a half Mexican girl who made us Fajitas and Guac. I missKetchup and a real burger, none of this chicken nonsense. Ormincemeat with mayonnaise and beet root. Burger King is really neat,it's decorated like a 50s diner. Definitely a lot nicer of a feelthan the states. Auckland really isn't a big city, more like a bigtown with a few high rises and a sky tower. You can easily walkacross the city in a few hours. I'm glad that NZ uses as much avocadoas Californians. Such as avocado garlic dressing or BLATs. Today Iwent back to the Domain to watch the red bull Trolley grand prix.Essentially gocart races. It was fun to watch onlookers andannouncers cheer for crashes. Drag queens just racing down thestreet.
I decided to walk around the city. I walked by kiwi kids spitting offthe bridge in an attempt to hit the cars. Today I think I'll goshopping on Queent St. I don't think it took very long to experienceAuckland.
Title: Valentines Day
Entry:
Headed over to Alysons on 14 whitaker. Got dressed up in lovelycostumes filled with long necklaces, faux leather gloves, berets,papercut bowties, heels, 5dollar dresses, tuxedo shirts, and devilhorns. Went out on the town at 3pm in search of our last ingredientsfor home made sangria and also some extra rum and vanilla coke.pathetically waited impatiently, for happy hour at murphys. Of coursewe got there earlier than 4, but the nice bartender gave us our cideroff the tap discounted anyways. Wow I love cider off the tap I want itnow as well. If you can find some Macs red off the tap, try a pint.Essentially said happy valentines. New Zealanders aren't too big onthe commercialized holidays. Not so big on valentines, st patricksetc. So we looked pretty goofy, but a couple people wished us a happyvalentines day (i.e. bartender that reminds me of austin powerscharacters, it must be the sideburns). Came back to alysons place anddistributed pink cupcakes with sprinkles to her neighbors. Made somepasta and homemade garlic bread. Then her neighbors came by. Onelovely gent from the cook islands. One sri lankan with a kiwi accentand a couple hawaiians. I guess they go here because U of Hawaiisucks, and UC fees are horrendous. They poked fun at punahou forbeing in the city. And made fun of asians for keeping to themselvesand blending into crowds. Uni of auckland has so many asians. I swearit's like 30% of the pop , maybe more. Phuong said it reminded him ofirvine. Sheesh. So asian jokes are just expected. But many really dojust stick to themselves, or complain about jessie's incense. Jessiegot a little too toasted, at which alysons neighbors couldn't help butmake fun of her for. She fell over phuong and passed out much earlierthan everyone. Phuong placed rice cakes on her and took some photos,just in reference to a couples days ago when she passed out with apiece of toast on her chest and grease on her leg.
Alyson quite wildly decorated her flat with red paper, cut out hearts,gold ribbon, red lights, and horse stickers. It ended up looking likea 3rd grade brothel with the lighting. Quite hilarious, but you can'thelp but love theme parties. And give her a break for going all out,she's from UCSB.
Title: Waiheke Island
Entry:
This morning Matt, Phuong, Alyson, Jessie, and I took the 10am ferryto Waiheke island. It was a pleasant 35 minute ride for just 20.50.Upon arrival at the wharf we boarded a bus to Onetangi Beach. A whitebeach with the clearest calmest waters. I especially liked the oldladies playing in the water. I hope I'm like that once I'm older,wading around at the beach, or bragging about beating the estimatedhike times. NZers tend to be that way with age, essentially just asfun and vibrant as when they were young. All the professors I've metthrough my program seem to love hiking as much as they love coffee.Anyway the water was so clear, it was difficult to swim far enough outto the point where you couldn't see the bottom and of course the waterwas this gorgeous light blue, maybe a turquoise. The water glimmeredwith such small sparkles and movement. Smaller and smaller in thedistance. Just a cooling lull. I fell asleep in the sun for awhile,or just read Fellowship of the Rings. Eventhough I use tons ofsunblock and reapply it often, this is the darkest I've ever been. Oneof the things I greatly miss from CA is the ozone layer. Matt wantedto see if there was a cove on the other side of the beach. So me andmatt walked along the beach and then swam straight out until we wereway passed the rocks. Of course no cove, just more jutting rocks, buta nice swim. It's surprising how far you can swim out withoutrealizing it. The swim back was a bit irksome just because I didn'thave goggles and the water was so darn salty. Upside to salty water,it's quite easy to float, or maybe that's just my own buoyancy.
Afterwards around 3ish, we went in search of food, and not theexpensive touristy places. We're too cheap for that. cmon now, I'meven too cheap for friggin denny's. We went and got some local fishand chips. My chips were called kamura fries which are sweet potatofries. Definately delish with the fresh fish. I still greatly missketchup. Oh and of course a coke out of a glass bottle. I can neverresist that. I think coke is the one drink I'll never outgrow. I loveit so much. It always gives such a comforting nostalgic feeling, butalso of refreshing beginnings. Damn I should write coke commercialsI'm soo obsessed.
Then we went on a 4 hour track (hike). Around the coastline of thepeninsula. Of course the views were breathtaking. The trackshould've taken us three hours, but we couldn't help but stop at thebeachy locations and the tide pools to point out hermit crabs andstarfish. It's pretty impressive that I was able to do an experiencedtramp with flipflops on. I wasn't prepared for a tramp, I wasprepared for the beach. Unfortunately our track was littered withluxurious houses. Kinda ranks the photo ops. But it was nice to walkthe coastline of the island. Not so great for footing though. A dayoutside always manages to take the worries away. I mean you don'tnecessarily have to talk while tramping, but the scenery takes yourmind to just somewhere else. Somewhere more worthy than dailyanxieties and stupid regrets. Must shower now, I'm quite dirty and sunburnt :( I put on sunscreen spf 30 and i'm still pink. BLAH
Title: The Shins in Auckland
Entry:
The Shins in Auckland, one of the many highlights of my trip. We sawthem in a f*ing bar called The Kings Arms Tavern. That's right, atavern. The place was so small, it wasn't even the size of a movietheatre. I stood on top of a fireplace so I could see everything. Itwas crazy to be eye level with the band. The Brunettes opened. Theywere super cute. This little brunette girl singing and her guys.They played adorably and softly with a special orchestral group whichincluded a cello, saxophone, trumpet, glockenspiel, harplike thing,xylamarimba, sticks and triangles. Lots of clapclap- clap andhumming. I need to pick up a couples albums of New Zealand's premiereindie band.
Next up, the Shins. Just absolutely amazing. The lead singer's voiceactually sounds like the record. It's just so unique and he doesn'tact as the lead man. The lead spokesperson plays lead guitar. It wastheir first time to N so he was like, "Mega choice!". Then he waslike, "Sweet", so the crowd said " NO! Sweet as?"
"oh, SWEET ASS"
"No! Sweet as, with one S"
"Sweet as what?"
---ha so American
Title: Trip to Cape Reinga
Entry:
Cape Reinga is the northern most tip of the north island.
- First stop, Puketi Kauri Forest. Kauri's are the 2nd largest trees inthe world, just second to redwoods. I hugged a ginormous one. Yepjust watch my progression into hippydom. It was dated up to 2000years old.
- Ninety mile beach. We drove along it in our big yellow tour bus.90 mile beach is actually 60 miles, 87 km. Lined with sand dunes andcovered in handplanted grass and pine. Quite a windy beach. Surfersand waders can only go to one end, but there are supposedly greatfishing competitions.
- Te Paki Stream ( a quick sand stream) we followed this stream offof 90 mile beach to an 85m sand dune. I walked my ass up this windydune, it was like a friggin sand storm. Sand boarded down thatbastard and didn't even wipe out. Oh hells yeah.
- Cape Reinga- where the Tasman Sea and Pacific ocean meet. TheTasman is light blue while the Pacific is dark blue. I took theliberty of turning my head back and forth and going darkblue lightbluedarkblue lightblue.
Had lunch at Tapotupotu Bay which has light blue water and evil evilpretty seagulls.
Ancient Kauri kingdom- furniture made from Ancient kauri foundpreserved underground. Preserved kauri gum, or I guess amber is sopretty.
Fush and Chups (that's how they say it here, not how they spell it) atMangonui. World famous and quite yummy fish of the day. And freecondiments!!! So rare.
Title: THe Rock
Entry:
Yesterday I hiked to a horseshoe waterfall off the waitangi river.About 10 kilometers along the river and through a mangrove forest! Themangrove forest wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be. Maybeit's cooler when it's coastal. It was a bunch of shoots and treescoming out of the mud, but still cool. Then we had lunch because meand jennifer were ravenously hungry. Chicken burgers and chips withtomato sauce which will never compare to ketcup. Then we waited aroundthe wharf and boarded a small boat called the Climax which brought usto THE ROCK. The rock is a nice boat that kind of resembles somethingyou'd see coming down the mississipi. The shape is quite square andthere are christmas lights strung across it. We boarded the boat andhad a shooting contest with a coke bottle strung to the boat andfloating in the water. I failed miserably at shooting pellets. Thenwe went fishing! I caught my first fish. A small little red macarel.Then off to dinner. Of course everyone thought I was an obnoxiousamerican because I wanted seconds. But it was supposed to be a buffet!Dang the rest of the world and their portion control. Then for NZwe went night sea kayaking. Woot! I can't seem to kayak straight but iseem to do it at a pretty good speed. Afterwards we swam around theboat and played in the phospherescence which is year round in the bayof islands. Stayed up and talked by the fire with the limeys. Theywork on the boat for fun as skippers. Next morning we snorkeled by aremote island and climbed to the top for a nice lunch and view.
Title: They call me the American who is not really American
Entry:
Friends I've made in Hamilton:
- Jen: She's from Palm Desert, but she goes to UCSD. I like her alot,since we're usually on the same page when it concerns food. She'sengaged to a Bosnian boy who was released from a concentration camp atage 17 by French soldiers. Hence, she's not an annoying caucasianAmerican. She seems to understand the plight of internationalstudents and refugees in general.
- Iput: Iput is Indonesian but went to highschool in Japan. The girl isfluent in Indonesian, Japanese, and English. She says I'm theAmerican who is not really American. She says I'm more of awhitewashed south east asian. Aww how flattering. She's quite small,and this boy from Ghana asked if we were sisters. Possibly becausemost of the Asians here are Chinese or Japanese, or possibly becauseI've never been so tan. I desperately miss the Ozone layer. She hasa Hapa boyfriend in Japan who she misses dearly. Iput is Muslim, soshe does pray 4-5 times a day, but she doesn't wear a head coveringand she occasionally drinks a kahlua with milk. Iput makes friendswith everyone and talks to the most random people. She somehowmanages to know all the frenchmen, all the germans, and the kenyans.I have no idea where she met these people, but luckily she's my linkinto meeting them as well. Since, I can't really stand most of theAmericans.
I like how my punctuation makes no sense.
- Nathan and Jackie: They're the kiwi RAs in my building who are my age.Nathan is half Japanese half Pakeha (Pakeha means kiwi of Europeandecent) and Jackie is Pakeha from the Auckland area. They both holdstrong opinions about maoris and south islanders. They can'tunderstand a word south islanders say. So I don't feel so bad.
- Lauren: A girl from San Francisco who has already studied here for 8months. She speaks very slowly. I think we're going to take a scubadiving class together and go hiking the abel tasman area.
Last night I went to a pub with Iput, Lauren, and two Germans I justmet (Bodu and Fred). The Germans were so happy to hear that I votedfor Kerry and all my criticisms about the American govt and Americansin general. I'm sure that now they have the view of Americans as fatignorant slobs. But I'm okay with that. I think they consider me tobe the weird American as well. They like to make fun of each otherbecause Fred is from East Germany and Bodu is from South germany.Apparently they say they have funny accents. They think the Japanesetake so many pictures because they only get 2 weeks a year forholiday. I ended up talking with them from 8:30-til 1am about ourcountries and politics. OH we also caught a rugby game at the pub.The Crusaders versus the Brumbies. I love rugby, it makes Americanfootball seem so boring. I love when one player lifts up anotherplayer in order to catch a ball. It's sooo coool. Kiwis are hardcoreabout their sports and being a fan. They go nuts when their team doeswell, and yell when their team does badly. The prime minister has todetermine when to hold a election based on when the All Blacks (thenational rugby team) is playing. Apparently if the All Blacks loseright before an election, the party in office is more likely to getvoted out. The national attitude is very strongly based on sports.It's nuts, but soo much fun. Ooo and also the local pub, called theHillcrest Tavern is a pub/casino. So whenever you buy a drink you getto spin the wheel. On the wheel you can get discounts on your drink,or get your drink for free! They called me a light one because I liketo drink the belgium beer , Stella Artois. I should try the WaikatoDraught, but I hear it's quite bitter.
I don't really like alot of the Americans here. The one's from Iowaand such. Some are ignorant. I mean I dont' mind the sheltered ones,that are open minded. It's just Americans are just so obnoxious andridiculous. There's a group here of 40 from one program and they alljust cling to eachother. Full of girls who wear abercrombie, makeup,and blow dry their hair to go to the beach. I think many of them arequite wealthy. Most of them are just here for a semester and they'retaking their classes pass/no pass so they can just screw around. Mostgo to state school at home. GAHHH! They don't really talk to meanyways.
Iput says sometimes I can pass for a kiwi. I think it's because I'vealready started dressing like a kiwi. Kiwi girls dress like surfersand skaters. So I usually lounge around in long shorts and what not.And they love to wear those asian slippers with the sequins on them.jackie got 60 dollars worth of them the other day. She has like 10+pairs in orange, gold, blue, pink, red, purple, brown and she's goingback to get black and silver. I just happened to bring a pair I gotfrom Little Saigon awhile back. But the girls wear these shoes withanything. The boys do the surfer thing as well with quiksilvershirts. So it's pretty laidback day to day, but when they go out atnight, they typically dress pretty nicely. The guy all wear theircolored striped long sleeve shirts with the sleeves rolled up. I loveit, except I wish they dressed a little more differently than eachother.
Everyone is pretty surprised by my eating habits. Outside of America,they tend to have better portion control. But I love to eat, and oneyear of acclimating will not change that trait. I'm fine with fittingin with that American stereotype. I brought some snackfoods foreveryone to eat while talking. The german said that was enough for 10people. And me and lauren said, naww it'd be enough for 2-3americans.
The germans were so happy to hear that I couldn't understand some ofthe kiwis because of their accent. They thought it was just becauseenglish is their second language. I gotta explain to them that eventhe north islanders have trouble understanding the south islanders.
Title: Orientation week
Entry:
Orientation week has been awesome. The kiwis are great. Whenever they hear that I'm from LA, they always ask which celebrities I've seen.
Instead of a campus tour, they have a scavenger hunt type thing with photos. Now for one of these photos we were supposed to pretend like we were catching a duck. Since there are plenty of ducks on campus due to our two lakes. Being the gutsy/stupid girl that I am, I jumped into the duck pond with four other guys for a hopefully prize winning photo. God that pond reeked. It took me four showers to finally get all the scum off my feet.
On Friday the halls threw this costume party called the BOCS party. This is where you dress up as the first letter of your hall. I was in Bryant so I dressed up as a big box. I could barely move in my box though. The only dances I could do were there robot and a sea walk. It was a bit sad. This other girl from college hall was pissed that she wasn't the only box. The Cardboard cornchip box. I asked her if she wanted to do a box dance with me. She said NO! you're from Bryant, and walked away with her drink. Whatever stupid skanky box. At least my box covered my ass. My friends went as Beach bums, bumble bees, Blue, and a bus driver. Quite a lovely night.
The party scene here is pretty sweet. There's a pub right off campus called the Hillcrest Tavern (but everyone calls it the Hillie). Everyone goes there at around 11 to dance and have a drink or two. No one really gets plastered except for the underaged 17 year olds on my floor. They're so cute. With their accents and stumbling around sloshed. The dancing here is alot less freaky. The guys are all pretty good dancers. The girls, not as good as LA, which makes me look friggin awesome!
Title: Fun in the hall
Entry:
Yesterday we had interhall competitions. In which we all got free Bryant hall tshirts for participating and just covered ourselves in facepaint. My face was half green and half yellow like Braveheart gone wrong. Interhall competitions pretty much felt like primary school. tug of war, paddling on rafts across the pool, leading your team blind folded, weaving through cones while bouncing a basket ball and running back with a rugby ball. I had to lead my team while the rest were blindfolded. They yelled at me to not use any american words. I failed miserably at it. It was a quite a good time. Unfortunately, my floor wasn't too good at this stuff. Since my floor is comprised of very small girls and tall scrawny guys. Ah well, Bryant hall won the event. We got a nice trophy to show off in our hall picture.
At 5:30 we all got dressed up for the hall photo and the hall dinner. I wore my satin green shirt with yellow ruffles from Urban, and got complemented alot because they don't have anything like that here. Oh for the appetizer for dinner we actually got spring rolls with sweet chili sauce! And other rolls with curry and such in it.
There's only one noodle restaurant in Hamilton, no vietnamese, it's Khmer. I'll have to try that out soon.
I hung out with the underaged kiwi's on the floor. It's true that the underaged floor is the drunkest. They kept shotgunning beers and downing a bottle of wine for themselves. While I had my one cheap auckland beer. partying with them is pretty fun, but it also seems silly. Especially when I know I can walk across the street to a pub. Then again I'm over 18, I don't get penalized for drinking in a room.
today was first day of classes. I only had one class, which was my only first year class. It went pretty slowly. It seems that in every lecture they tell everyone to be nice to the international students.
After class I went to the mall to buy some more going out shirts and new fish. Since my last fish either died of a toxic plant or the female killed them all and committed suicide. Stylish shirts are very cheap. You can get them for as low as 5-10 dollars NZ which at most is 7.50 American. I love it. Shoes are ridiculous prices they're at least 3 times the cost of the united states. It's pretty impossible to find a good pair of shoes for under 100 dollars, so I'm going to get all my shoes shipped. My new fish is a Mixed Nymph.....It looks angry and somewhat ugly all the time, so I named him Brutus. He's spotted and he looks like he's got a mustache , plus he's got bulging eyes. I love it. he's quite big so he takes up alot of the fish bowl.
Title: I'm asian. Deal with it.
Entry:
So I'm getting really annoyed with all the people who think I don't speak english. Everywhere I go they're like:
AAAAARRREEEE YOOOOUUU PAYING IN CAAAAAASHHHHH (while pointing to money)
I answer in perfect english...then they keep speaking that way. I mean I slow down my speech politely for the Chinese students, but I hate being talked down to. It's different to slow down for a non native speaker versus talking down to someone.
I asked this girl where room A 30 (in my american accent)was and she pointed to the numbers on the wall that said like A12 and went YOUUUUU REAAAD THE NUUMMBERS BBY THE DOOR. I knew that, I just had trouble finding the room bitch. Just tell me which direction it's in. So even if you go up to someone speaking perfect english, they still treat you like a toddler.
I hate westernized chinese food. If I see anymore chowmein or fried rice I'm gonna shoot someone. I won't have chowmein as a main dish!!! That's not real chinese food! I ate that stuff when I was 5. I'm sick of people asking me what Dim Sum is. What's curry? What sauce is this? AHHHH@!
Title: I'm like death. I need a black cloak and a sickle
Entry:
I found Brutus dead in his bowl this morning. He didn't even make it 24 hours. What the hell. I'm going to the pet store today to complain.
On another note, my floor went to bed at 10:30 last night. What the heck is wrong with these kids. It's come to the point where the RA is so disturbed that it's quiet. RA wants to corrupt the little youngins cuz they're just so lame. She even told them to get a fake ID. Jesus.
Went to a foam party last night at The Outback which is a pub in town. Quite crowded. Only stayed for about an hour, but definately a crazy experience. it was more like a mosh pit than a dance floor.
Title: Mount Maunganui day trip!
Entry:
So I've been stressed out, for no reason at all lately. Well maybe because school has started and I'm not used to my class schedule yet. I already missed one lecture because I misread my bloody schedule. But today was good. Today I woke up at 7am to catch a bus to Mount Maunganui. International students got a free trip there if you actually showed up to all the orientation events. Unfortunately catching the bus was a pain in the butt too. I had to keep running back and forth to wake up more friends or get them some friggin kleenex. Get your own kleenex! I seriously went up and down the stairs of my building 6 times for these people. Why can't you just be responsible! But once on the bus, I took some dramamine and passed out for an hour and a half. All was good. I woke up to my group of friends craving food so we made our way over to some touristy beach side cafe. Luckily the food wasn't too expensive and it had a nice atmosphere. My friends got traditional eggs and bacon and smoothies and lattes. I had sweet corn fritters! With Tomato Mango relish. MMMMM soo good. And bacon. The cool part about bacon in New Zealand is attached to a regular piece of ham. If you want American bacon, you have to ask for strip bacon. But I love all the pork I can get! All the other meats seemed to be filled with too much lamb. The sausage is filled with too much lamb, the hotdogs, the frankfurters, the burgers, the kebabs. I'm tired of lamb.
Anyways Mount Maunganui has some hiking trails and awesome beach, blowholes and hotpools. It's good fun. I decided that I was going to fall back asleep on the beach. Unfortunately there was a surfing contest so the beach was quite crowded. I managed to somehow find a spot to lay down my stuff and I fell asleep immediately. When I woke up Iput, Dave (he's from Ghana), and I made up songs while dave played the guitar. It was very jack johnsony on the beach. Once again, the most gorgeous beach everrr. The water was clear, and the waves were nice.
I forgot how much a day at the beach can make all those bad thoughts and stressors go away. I remember in highschool I got dumped by the guy I was dating at the time, and I got over after one day of surfing. Today I couldn't find a surfboard or boogieboard to rent anywhere. Maybe I should've brought it with my luggage, but I hate lugging everything around. So I went body surfing in the teal water. Dave kept laughing at me because I could not stop smiling. I was having so much fun. Then I pretty much spent the day collecting pretty shells.
Title: Facebook and myspace are starting to depress me.
Extra Info:
Mood: No longer hungry.
Entry:
So I decided I should no longer allow myself to check facebook or myspace. It just makes me sad. I miss all my friends and then it eats up all my bandwidth. Yes in New Zealand many places charge you per amount of bandwidth you use not by the minute. You'd think it's a developed country. But in many ways its not. To get internet connection I'd have to pay 200 dollars for installation. yeah, I'm too cheap for that shit. So I check everything in the computer lab.
Today for lunch we had potatoe wedges with cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Surprisingly, the salsa was alright! The Peruvian even said it was good. It wasn't pace picante, thank god. They made fresh salsa. Huzzah!
I need to figure out where i can find that tomato mango salsa from yesterday. I can't stop thinking about it. It's just sooo good.
Title: I love cricket
Entry:
So today my floor got challenged to a game of cricket because my floor holds this trophy for winning the photo contest during orientation week. My jumping in the scummy duck pond helped in winning the photo contest. We won by a landslide. So essentially we won this trophy called the golden turkey. And you get a buncha food when you win the golden turkey. Unfortunately once you have it another floor can challenge you to any type of contest to win it. We got challenged to cricket.
So as I was studying today I looked out my window and saw some people practicing cricket in the parking lot. Including Cambell and steve and random people I didn't know. So getting tired about reading about environmental ethics I went outside and asked to play. Unfortunately I'm from the enemy team. But I persuaded them! I'm an american who doesn't even understand cricket! I had a grand ole time batting.
Later after dinner I got my floor together to play. Most of the girls wouldn't come because they suck at life. They were being real bitchy about it too. Sometimes people can be so bitchy when you're happy or just gung ho about something. Oh well. But eventually I got 3 others girls which is required number of girls for our match. So in total we got me, Steffan Dudli, Scottie, Kirsty, Jenna, Beck, Ryan, Sam, Nicole, David, and Maxim. Maxim ended up being a great fielder but a horrible bowler. Kirsty was a pretty good bowler but she giggled every time she threw. And I just wanted to bat, but my fielding was pretty good!
I got to practice batting! I'm not so bad at it, except a cricket bat is much heavier than a baseball bat, but it's much easier to hit in cricket, even though the ball is coming at you pretty quickly. And the batter gets a penalty if it hits them if they're standing within the lines.
So we played in the evening against the other floor. The RA from the other floor was such a poor sport. Spouting off and what not. I played midfield/infield and stopped one run! Huzzah! The one ball that actually came my way. Sheesh. Cricket can be crazy though, since there's no such thing as a foul ball. But I didn't get to bat during the game since it takes forever to get a batsman out. Stupid game without strikes.
It was mad fun. We didn't get to finish though since it got too dark and we couldn't see a bloody thing.
Score thus far
Other floor: 48 runs for 10 overs
My floor: 22 Runs for 4 overs.
So we're right on track. Hopefully my floor we'll beat them on thursday. Unfortunately I can't bat because I'll be rock climbing that evening :(.
Okay everyone when I get back we're all getting together to play softball. That especially includes Tiff and Blue
Title: St. Patricks Day
Extra Info:
Mood: Sore in muscles I didn't know existed.
Music: Some Vanessa Carlson/Santana song is playing in the office next door.
Entry:
So Yesterday I didn't really have spare time. I went to class then ate dinner then I went to rock climbing club!! Got a ride from Nemo (the engineering club president, who has a serbian name, but everyone shortens it to nemo). Went along with Nemo, a german couple, and shannon (she's from south carolina). I learned how to Belay! Huzzah. It's weird shifting my weight though. I'm so much smaller than everyone. It's a pretty hot club though, and it looks like I'll be making adventurous friends quite easily. Climbers have damn fine backs. I stuck to the easier climbs cuz I kept falling on the hard ones. Maybe I'll invest in some proper climbing shoes. Got a number, but I think it's more for friendship rather getting picked up (phew!) I guess rock climbing will be my new thursday night activity.
After rock climbing I came back and convinced my cronies to go the Guinness bar with me! This took alot of convincing. DArn party poopers. It's st. patricks day! you have to go to the guiness bar. And boy was it fun. I had some cider and then watched the twenty somethings dance with the senior citizens in irish jigs. The pub hired a live irish band. Then this guy gave us a bunch of drink cards for a few free beers. I'm not a big guinness fan, but I realized I do enjoy irish car bombs.
Lastly we made our way over to Subway. The only thing open late, except for the Bakehouse. The worker apologized for the expense of a coke, and I got into another conversation with a stranger about where I'm from in the States.
Now onto this morning. My back, triceps and delts are quite sore, and my thighs are a little bruised from climbing. Oh wait before I go onto this morning.
When I arrived back to my dorm, the floor was puked all over. In some of the bathrooms and other peoples rooms. Stupid youngins. They were attempting to clean up, it wasn't pleasant and I'm sure they all got in trouble.
Although I arrived back in the res hall at 12:30. I didn't get to sleep til about 3ish. At which point a bloody fire alarm went off at 4:15 in the morning. I was so annoyed i was ready for a lynching. And to make it worse is our block is getting charged 1500 for each fire truck that came. Two came. I'm getting my ass charged to be woken up at 4 in the friggin morning. I'm going to kill the kid who did this.
okay waking up was not that fun this morning. But I somehow managed to make it over to my first Pilates class. Boy it kicked my ass. And all those middle aged men are totally more fit than me. The instructor was like "are you alright?". So with enough pilates, maybe I'll have a nice lean body by the time I return to the US. Hopefully.
Title: I still have one ray of hope in the male species
Entry:
I'm quite relieved that Kev and I are Okay. I talked with him, and he was so cordial, calm, and utterly empathetic. It was wonderful. I can't really be in a serious long term relationship right now, so we decided we'd take a temporary break. We still love eachother, but it's just not the right time, now. I love the way we can still laugh together at the most offensive jokes (i.e. suicide, pedophilia, etc).
I miss CALI!
Here's what I want. A fish taco with guacomole, pico de gallo, and sour cream. Some Pho!!! Pad Thai from Mr. Noodle. California rolls. The sushi here lacks in selection and they actually put teriyaki chicken or tuna in their rolls. It's quite odd. I want fatburger or In N Out!
Luckily there are some things that I've discovered in NZ:
sweet chili sauce (I put it on everything because the tomahto(the spelling there is on purpose) sauce sucks)
Kebabs..especially late at night
Curry that I actually like!
On another note: About a year ago I had this crush on this guy, we'll call him Blake. I totally thought he wasn't into me because he's so prude, and accidentally elitist at times. Today I found it he had a crush on me too. No wonder why he always played with my hair! I thought he called me cute in the little girl sense! How bloody weird. Ah well, I would've scared him away with my cheekiness. He's too feminine for me anyways.
Title: Busy busy
Entry:
I'll write all about my Easter weekend soon. I just have to finish writing a paper on Tragedy of the Commons, Scarcity,and Globalization and their effect on environmental policy. Ahhhh it's due at 4.
Title: I'm a Californian and I like it
Entry:
So I just uploaded new photos on my myspace account last night. The things you'll do instead of studying for midterms huh? Well this morning I got this weird friend invite from a malaysian guy. But if you're from different countries you need the person's email to add them as friends. Why would I give him my email? So I replied to his message with. "But I don't know you." I'm mean. I know.
Lately I've been dealing with the culture differences with humor. Specifically west coast humor. West coast humor comes across as so blunt, rude, vulgar, and dry. I love it, but I guess it can offend people here. Like I told my kiwi friend to "chill the [explitive] out" when she was friggin hyper as hell. And she was actually freaked out by that. I mean it's not like I said it with a mean tone, or a loud tone. It's just like, Dude, chill out. She was so surprised. Little things like that.
Or they say I'm so ridiculously honest about things. Like if I feel uncomfortable, I'll just say so. I don't have a problem saying, "Damn, isn't this awkward?". Or bustin people's balls.
Oh yeah it was pretty funny. last night liz was like, "Am I annoying you yet?"
I replied, "no, if you were, I'd just leave"
Apparently, you're not supposed to add, "I'd just leave". Honesty. Isn't it wonderful? Refreshing?
Apparently I lack tact, most likely social skills here, and I come across as damn CHEEKY.
At least I have lots of friends.
hurrah.
Title:
Entry:
I can go to the South island with Steph (From Cali). they'll kayaking and such. But unfortunately she's going with this guy who comes across as very arrogant. he just keeps talking and talking. I guess I could just ignore him and just think to myself, he really looks like a hobbit.
Second option:
10 days with 10 americans. Americans from my hall are going in a van to the south island. Dave really wants me to come and it'd be definately a blast with dave (the ghanan). But can I handle being in that big of a group. Deciding what to do? They all seem like the tramping type and I haven't done trips with them yet. I don't know their itinerary. I hope my foot heals soon. this whole strained tendon is such a bitch, but I shouldn't push it. Oh well for rock climbing tomorrow. Also Elias will be meeting up with this group in christchurch, after spending time with his family. Hmmmm.
3rd option:
Stick around here. Go skiiing with jen and her roommates. Which would be awesome because I love jen. And going on daytrips with LIZ! Hopefully caving which I'm absolutely looking forward to. Hobbiton (yes i'm a nerd, I know). More LOTR stuff in Wellington. I really wanna try Zorbing.
Zorbing is where they stick you in a giant hamster ball, but some water in and roll you down a hill. It's apparently like being in a water slide.
--I'm a little less stoked because Steph said she puked after doing this. Ahhh.
Title: My Decision
Extra Info:
Music: Jack Johnson - Better Together
Entry:
I decided to go with Steph. I know her traveling style and I'll have input in our itinerary, which looks awesome already. I'll be gone for the whole two week break. I hope my budget won't die as well. I didn't take those scuba diving classes this semester so I should have some extra moolah. I'll just have to put up with the boy who reminds me of a hobbit.
Title: Fun Photo entry. Pictures of my friends in NZ
Entry:
At the Chiefs (Waikato region rugby team) and Blues (Auckland rugby team ) Rugby game
From top: Andy(from Wellington), me, some kid I don't really know, Dave (from ghana but goes to uni in Michigan), Elias (from Vegas/Greece speaks greek fluently, so cool)
Front row: Kim (from Pennsylvania, goes to Penn State), Marla (the canadian), Carla (a kiwi), Victor (from Texas, he has a cute Mexican accent, very different from the Californian mexican accent), Dale (he goes to Penn State)
Andy And Iput
Dave Playing the guitar as always. This is on the beach by mt maunganui
Iput and Marla
Iput is such a diva. Everyone calls her beyonce.
Title: Another Adventure of Susie
Entry:
So yesterday i decided to randomly walk around campus. Well not too randomly. I have this lab where I need to find ecologically valuable or aesthetically pleasing sites on campus.
I found a fernery behind the computer science building.
The only native bush that predates the university. It's a very small clump, but the trees are quite tall. I think they're called Kahihea.
In my adventure I ran into a friend in front of the cowshed (it's not a real cowshed). She works at the radio station now. She had to go, but I met her other friend Art. We just talked about music and new shows. Just talking about Iron and Wine and local screamo bands. I guess I'm getting way more into screamo now, which is weird. He let me borrow his UnderOath CDs.
After the radio station I was walking in between the lakes on campus. I ran into lauren who was harvesting flax. She showed me how to harvest and weave a basket out of flax, I don't think I'm very good at it. It's a little too complex for me. I'll stick to weaving. Some old lady came up to us and started telling us about Fijian weaving.
Afterwards I went in search of a planted knoll behind the lake. Not that excited and by this time my sore throat was starting to act up.
Title: Books I want/need to read. Maybe I'll pick one up today.
Entry:
someone please read one so I have someone to discuss things with.
Kafka by the Shore - Banana Yoshimoto
Foucault for Beginners (yeah I'm pathetic, but post modernism totally goes over my head at times)
Foundations- Isaac Asimov
I guess that's it for now. I know I'll get distracted by some global politics, or war torn country book in the student store. Sheesh I swear I have some strange form of ADD.
Title: I finally wrote about my Easter camping/road trip
Entry:
Easter vacation
The destinations
Passed by Waiwera- this is where Thomas said he wanted to live. It's where the mountains the sea and river all meet. You can see the forest, and there aren't too many houses.
Mangawhai- slept by this bar but it wasn't open because it was good Friday. Slept by the beach while the moon created shadows off the Ponga. The light softly bounced off the sea.
Maunganui- best fish and chips in new Zealand. Of course some fat chick cut in front of me for seconds. BITCH who needs more food! Okay just kidding. I'm just another gluttonous American.
Karikari peninsula. Watching the boys play Frisbee on the white white sand. So white. Like a cracka. Just kidding once again. You can see dune grass forming , like that painting I made before I left for new Zealand. It's strange how your mind can forecast things, or maybe I just saw a picture somewhere in a bookstore. 
Matai bay- A bay shaped like an omega. You can walk along the head and see both bays curving around you. At this campground we kept hearing strange noises. They ended up being cows. We spent the night drinking Red Wine out of a box (Chausseur). Wine out of a box isn't bad in New Zealand. It's nothing like American wine out of box (not so good). We talked about the progression of society. How it will flux and fall and then start again. Or how you can never really predict the future because you'll never know what new inventions will affect the world. Like CERN and internet. We eventually walked to the beach and watched the water slowly lap up on the sand . Stared up at the stars. It reminded me of my summer in Santa Barbara where I would climb down the cliffs and lay down to stare at the stars every night. I wonder what kind of person I would be if I went to UCSB.
Waipapakauri Beach- Attempted to skim board. It was a bit too rough to go surfing. Thomas was so good at skim boarded that this guy stopped walking and started video taping him. He goes so far with his board and spins. It's crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if ended up as one of those guys who goes off small waves on a skim board. Friggin crazy. I attempted. And fell on my ass multiple times. But it's fun. 
Sunset by Ahipura
Went by Ahipura to rent quads, but it was too late to rent quads, so Thomas and me ended up surfing. Boy new Zealand beaches have strong currents. Maybe I'll get a little better at short boarding while I'm here. I'm so little though. I get tossed around. The sunset was absolutely spectacular. Sometimes I miss the sunsets in Cali, so red from the days emissions. At least pollution is good for something. 
I think this is a panoramic of Rarawa beach, otherwise its karikari
Our camp at Kaimaumau
The beach at Kaimaumau
Slept at Kaimaumau/kuata point. Which was freaky at night because of the darkness. The sounds you hear in the darkness. I woke up early in the morning and took a swim in the bay. Just floated along my back, swam out a bit. The water was so clear. You could see to the bottom and spot starfish and sand dollars. Did you know at some of the lakes in NZ you can lower a disk 15 meters into the water and still see it? The water is so clear, there's like no turbidity. I think it's like that at lake taupo
Wow the rain is pouring outside my window right now. It's so loud.
After packing up camp we hopped into the van and drove further north. We stopped off at Houhora heads to hopefully
