SKYPE-ing

3/27

So I woke up early on my own and put clothes in the wash. I talked to the entire family on SKYPE which is always good. I also got to talk to KR. So that was a good morning. Then I started working on re-doing my schedule. Now I’m set up like a French major with a voice minor. I left a space open hopefully for University Singers, which I had forgotten about auditioning for. Unfortunately auditions are the 2 days after I get back, so I probably wont be on top of the game and it will be another "we regret to inform you"…but if that’s what the plans entail for me…then I figure someone has an idea of what should go on in my life.

Then I started working on Sport Administration which is just a big old mess. The boys and I never met and so I just decided I would make the decision on what our project was myself and start researching it. I also had to present my project on International Marketing and I think I came up short on time. I also talked like a nervous person. I really don’t mind talking like that in front of people, so when I feel like I didn’t sound confident I sort of get on myself about it. But it’s just a grade right?

Anyway, I presented the proposal for our sponsorship project. Our professor understood what I was talking about but apparently my partners didn’t because they argued with him about what we wanted to do. This is why I hate group projects. I just want to do it my way, on my time. That probably makes me sound selfish, but I just want things done well. If I do poorly, its on me that way.

I went and got Subway after class and just ate outside, watching the rain. I was in a weird mood.

We watched Crash. It’s a really good movie. Memories. Past. Present. Future. Who’s got a handle on it? No one on their own.

Tomorrow we leave for Sydney. I know I’ll love it.

Into Me

Way back to Lennox

3/26

I just stuck to the delicious toast with butter and strawberry jam for breakfast. Then nana came and took us on a historic tour of Tenterfield. She told us she wouldn’t talk the entire time, which was true considering she didn’t stop to breathe a couple of times.

We went to a museum that called itself some form of art museum, but I disagree with that title. We watched some history presentation on DVD, listened to a guy talk and I doodled.

After that we went to another museum where crusty nose led us around. We weren’t supposed to touch anything, but of course we did because they told us not to, too many times. Yea, we’re no longer teenagers so we revert back to kindergarten. Ashley got pretty upset with our childish behavior but we were bored and had to entertain ourselves somehow.

We went to another winery but a lot of us didn’t even try any because we were tired and didn’t have a very positive experience at the last place. Most people liked the wine at this place better, but they weren’t as cool.

We had more nasty sandwiches for lunch and then got back on the road. Too much bus time. We stopped at nasty McDonalds again for dinner but I went to KFC instead…because its sooo much better for you…We finally got back to camp and I went to the classroom. I was up there for a long time. I was a bit stressed out for a while. I thought we had to have our course requests in that day, I have a dilemma with our technology and keeping my job for the summer, and have a huge group project for Sports Admin that we haven’t started and have like 2 days to work on. I decided to make myself a pre-business major. I got to talk to the family for a minute… well I could hear them, and I typed.

A bunch of people cam in and watched “Borat” at the loudest possible volume so then I got distracted and put pictures on Facebook and such. Mary, Tristan and Courtney need to go to bed.



JD, Angie and I on the Tenterfield train

Oh Inverell...How Thy Bore Me

3/25

We woke up to have breakfast at 6:45. I guess I’m pretty picky because the toast was my favorite part of the hot breakfast. Then we had to drive a long way to Inverell, a little town with not much in it. We went to a tea place, an olive vineyard, and a pioneer village. We had delicious scones at the tea place, there were good spices and olive oil at the olive place, and the pioneer village was fun to just wander around in. Let’s not discuss the lunch there though. Not so hot.

We visited a car museum and then went back to the motel. We watched City of Angels and got ready for dinner at The Golfer’s Inn. We had roast, green beans, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and ice cream and tiramisu stuff. It was delicious!

Afterwards we watched Independence Day. Everyone was attacking each other, in a friendly way of course, and later the boys had a water fight in which they drenched each others beds. Nice huh?



Fossiking for rocks at the Pioneer Village




Tasting the olive oil




The nice motel we stayed at




At the olive vineyard




At the pioneer village




I got the big bed

Get off the bus for Tank Traps!

3/24

I woke up pretty early to have some Milo and do something on the computer. It was a 3 hour bus ride to our first stop which was Thunderbolt’s Hideout. It was a short hike off the road and there was a basalt rock formation that Thunderbolt once hid out in. Don’t ask me who Thunderbolt is or why he needed to hide out though.

We got back on the bus and drove for a couple minutes until we got off the bus and looked at a sign that said “WWII Tank Traps” and got back on the bus.
We went and put our stuff into our very nice motel rooms, had some nasty sandwiches and went to Bald Rock to hike. It was a bit over an hour hike and we got out of breath in places, but it was nothing like our last hike. We got rained on while we were on the way up, but it was pretty gorgeous on top, a nice day. We hiked down the steep face of the rock, although it wasn’t all that steep. You just had to walk like a pregnant woman down it.

When we got down the bottom of the hill, somehow the male species lead us on a jungle hike…off the trail. There was no hint of a trail where we went. We created our own path by breaking the flora ahead of us. One girl got a leech on her when we waded through a creek, I just walked on top of a tree across the top of the creek bed.

When we finally found the path we saw two kangaroo/wallabies just off of it. It was cool to see them in the wild again (yes…again.) It was so nice because when we got back to the bus, Max (our faithful bus driver) had boiled water and we had afternoon tea. I spilled apple juice all over the table. We also had watermelon, cookies and damper (bread.) It was so nice.

Then we went to the Doctor’s Nose Winery. Most of us aren’t big wine fans, it was kind of cold and rainy, and everyone was tired from the hike so it wasn’t the best experience. They were nice people though. Eventually we got back to the motel and everyone showered and went to dinner. We had finger foods, like little chicken pieces, fries, and spring rolls. We also had to listen to this country singer. He was giving us a concert. But we didn’t know much of the music and he wasn’t that great of a vocalist... in my opinion anyway.

After the “concert” we got ice cream and some custard-y cake thing. They were delicious. Then we all watched Jurassic Park together and played a game of Euchre.




AWal 'singing' with the country guy




Group in Thunderbolt's Hideout




On the way up Bald Rock




Angie with the Kangaroo we saw on the Bald Rock hike




Pretty View at the Winery..and our bus

Byron to Tenterfield

3/23

We went to Byron at 9:30 and went shopping. I had some yummy pasta for lunch. I really like Byron Bay. I got a bunch of postcards for a good price.

When we came back everyone was exhausted so we all took naps. I made myself an interesting little taco for dinner and later on watched this movie about a teacher that made a spectacular and completely not far-fetched miracle occur within his downtown NYC classroom.

Tomorrow morning we head off to Tenterfield for our Life and Culture field trip. Apparently we are visiting wineries, going to a country concert, and going on a hike. We will get back Monday afternoon I think. I’m not too excited about it, but hopefully it will be better than we are expecting.



Bald Rock.. another climb on our agenda

Hair Salon at Cabin 2

3/22

Didn’t really do a whole lot today. Mostly just was lazy. I woke up and went down and laid on the beach for a while. Then I went to the cabins to make our booking for the hostel in Sydney. The girls (Angie, Tracy, Awal and I) went to the café closest to us for lunch. We had nachos and they were delicious but didn’t leave us feeling too great. Then Tracy and Awal and I went into town and I mailed some stuff, got some milk and went into the little boutique where this lady made me try on this weird hippie outfit. I again, politely declined.

It was our hair salon that night. First Angie and I cut JD’s hair. It’s a bit shorter than last time, but I think it is good. Then I cut Angie’s hair. I was really nervous, but she kept telling me not to be, so I took off an inch and half or so and gave her more layers.

Then we cut Awal’s hair. We took about 2 inches or so off and gave her more layers. She was freaking out the entire time and not too pleased with the end result. She kept stressing that she didn’t want bangs, but we kind of gave her some. She ended up liking them, but she thought we took too much overall length. I think it looks super cute.

We trimmed Tracy’s hair too, so there was a big pile of hair sitting on the front porch.

I was supposed to work with Grant and Jordan on our project but that never happened.


Angie's nervous face as I started to cut her hair...

Our trip to Nimbin

3/21

We caught the Jim’s Alternative Tours bus at 9:30am out in front of the camp…and let me tell you, it was quite a day. We swung by his house where he picked up lychees? (a small round fruit a big bigger than a grape that is a bit pear-ish tasting) for us to eat. We picked up some more people around the Byron area and he gave us to lot of history about the city and what it was about. They are very against large food chains and commercialization/destruction of the natural habitat.. very hippie...in short.

We made several pit stops at points of interests for munchies/drinks or just to look at the gorgeous surroundings. When we got to Nimbin it was pretty crazy. There were people with little tables set out with drug paraphernalia asking you if you would like some “marijuana cookies” or a smoke?

Much to all of your dissapointment.. I made no purchases from these such stands.

We went in several stores, and the Nimbin museum in which everything is very pro-environment, anti-war and just… laid back, and cool. We ate a local café…I had a chicken, sweet chili falafel. It was descent. Everything there is crazy. It is pretty much just a big pot town that everyone knows about and even though it is illegal, it is just dealt and smoked on the street. There was even the Hemp Bar in which the door was open and everyone in the building was rolling a joint, or smoking already, or perhaps just chilling with a cookie.

We also went to some overlooks of the countryside, a waterfall area, and to a crazy old hippie's place that planted a forest and lived in a solar powered glass house. We just sat on his porch and cracked macadamia nuts, and then got a tour of his backyard forest. It was a bit creepy.

After we got home I stayed in bed for a while, ate, and then eventually went down to the cabins


Sign when we first got dropped off in Nimbin w/ JD, Tracy, Angie and Rachael



Us and the hippie that sat outside the museum



Me and our bus




Creepy old New Yorker that lived in a glass, solar-powered house and planted a forest.



My girls Tracy, Rachael and Angie in front of the falls that we stopped at.

I Was A Teacher Today!

3/20

I woke up to talk to Abby and the rest of the family on skype, and then got ready to go to school. I went to the classroom that JD helps in at Lennox Elementary School (Angie and I both wanted to go.. so we're alternating weeks) and I really liked it. We were helping the kids with double letter sounds like “dr” and “fl,” they were in first grade and of course they love us because we’re new and different.

I made a couple little friends, and liked the teacher. I’m glad I got to go. I might try to go to Ashley’s classroom next week.

We grabbed an iced coffee on the way home and when I checked my email D. Arthur had decided to start Sports Administration at 4pm…much earlier than typical days. It was then 4:15. I was supposed to present my research on international sport marketing so I had to run over to the cabins to get Mikes flash drive that I used and then couldn’t find my note cards. I got to class about 30 minutes late and was freaking out, but I went and told him were I’d been and he told me not to worry about it that I would be presenting next week.

That was certainly relieving. He also introduced our Sponsorship proposal projects and I am paired up with Jordan and Grant. I’m not so sure about it. They are marketing majors but I just am not crazy about group projects.. especially ones that are so intensely graded.

We all went up to the classroom to look at booking hostels for Sydney.. afterwards Angie and I had a nice little chat.


The Classroom



JD setting up his powerpoint about New Zealand that we presented for them

More Great Barrier pictures!

Plus look at all of my new albums linked on the right!! New Zealand albums, marine bio, and Great Barrier are all new links

Remember.. I like comments.. so feel free to leave them. ;0)


Some of the enormous Coral Walls



More coral with yellow fish



Fan coral



The Hawksbill Seaturtle I pet



The Little "cave" we swam through



Thanks to Craig for taking all of the underwater pics!!!

Back from the GBR!

3/19

So we went to Cairns for the weekend. It was pretty awesome and may be my favorite city that we've been to so far. The transportation kindof sucked. Jd and Ash nearly missed the Greyhound from Byron Bay to Brisbane because they didnt get up early enough to prepare breakfast for themselves.. ahem. But It was nice though.. we were waiting for the bus into Byron to catch our Greyhound and 3 different people just stopped to see "how we were goin". haha.

I on the other hand had been up since 5:30 finshing my packing and studying for my Marine Biology final. The final did not go as well as I had hoped, but it wasnt terrible.

Our hostel there was okay. We had meal vouchers for basically spaghetti for dinner everynight.. so I just ate that. There are bugs here though.. not bed bugs like we have had...but still..bugs were biting me in my bed. The thing Im most looking forward to being home is cleanliness. Having a good washer and dryer...and bugs not occupying everything I own.

We shopped a lot. JD, Ash and I even went to see a movie in the theatre there.. "Bobby." I liked it. I spent way to much money but finally started gift shopping.

We went diving on Saturday after everyone was here. We went out on the SilverSwift.. a branch of Quicksilver. I did 3 dives in one day. The weather was not great and it was a bit pricy but it was still amazing. We saw some awesome coral formations, but the fauna was better at Julian Rocks I think. It wasnt that it was bad, but the water clarity wasnt great so we couldnt see the brilliant colors that you always see pictures of, or any truly amazing animals. Dont let me seem like a downer though, I loved it and am glad I got to see what I could.

We went to an Irish pub that night for St. Pattys day. We didnt drink but had fun just listening to music, dancing and people watching.Its so great getting to meet people from all over the world and just sharing information and learning.

To get home we caught a taxi bus to the airport here, then flew to brisbane. I did not feel very well, got a head and stomache ache and even a little dizzy. Craig was worried I had decompression sickness.. but I think it was prolly just fatigue among other things. Took the train to the greyhound station in brisbane. Somehow, Tracy and Angie booked the wrong bus home, and when Ashley and I got to the front of the line.. so had we. We had to pay for more tickets and eventually got seated on the bus. Took the greyhound to Ballina. Got there around midnight and Mike, Craig, Court and I took a taxi to camp.

I couldnt get to sleep when we got back.. im sure it didnt have anything to do with the coffee fix i drank in Ballina at midnight. Anyway I stayed up organizing pictures and putting them on facebook, as well as talking to the roomies and watching Outback Jack.. Australia's form of the bachelor. It was quite funny.

Ash, Tracy, Angie and I gave our presentation in Life and Culture about deadly aussie animals today...i think it went pretty well especially for the time restrictions we had to work as a group with all of us traveling on different days. We almost ran out of time.. but we snuck in this cool song about animals killing people in the end. That was cool. haha.

Other than that I didnt do much today. Went in to get groceries and such. We had a group meeting, and I was supposed to go sing with the BBS ladies, but im running on 3 hrs of sleep and we had a mandatory lodge fall cleaning to do tonight. it looks really good because its always gross here.


A Great group picture at the pub



Giant clam that I put my finger in and it closed up..
they heard me scream underwater. haha



Cool Damsel fish



Me playing football with a sea cucumber



Tracy, I and Angie

Off to The Great Barrier

So after a lot of stress and work... I'm off to Cairns for our Great Barrier Reef SCUBA trip. I just got done taking my marine biology final and it didnt go as well as i had hoped, but I've been studying throughout the week...so what happens, happens. Done with that class!

Our group has been having some issues. Hopefully they can be resolved and we can have a great time Wed-Sun. I wish Tracy and Angie were coming up with us today, but alas it is just Awal, JD and I. They will get there tomorrow night around midnight.

So Im about to catch a bus to Byron Bay, take our greyhound from there to Brisbane, and then fly to Cairns. Im really not so fond of all of these modes of transportation... but they take me to amazing places so what can you do?

I promise to catch up on my blogging from New Zealand when I get back.. there was just too much to do in these 2 days.

I hope you all have a fantastic rest of the week. If youre free you should go see Peter Pan at Warren Central. Mag's H.S. theatre debut as a lost boy.. i really wish i could be there.. but I'll soak this trip up for dad since I cant. ;0) Love.

Back from Kiwi Country!

We're back from Spring Break 2007! EDITED

I have so many exciting stories for you all. I even have a journal entry from every day! Now the issue is having to type all of them out...which will take a while and might not happen for a bit because I have a crazy busy time ahead of me.

Tuesday night I have to make a presentation for my Sports Admin class and Wednesday morning is the dreaded marine bio final! I have a lot of work to do for both of those things...planning, creating study guides and doing research...and I have to take the final at 6am on wednesday because JD, Ashley and I leave for Cairns that morning.

We will catch the bus at 8am to Byron Bay, where our greyhound will pick us up at make the2 hr drive to Brisbane, where we will then catch a plane to Cairns and attempt to find our hostel. I am excited about the Cairns trip.. after all we will be diving on the Great Barrier Reef!! I just wish there was a bit more down time after this New Zealand trip.

EDITED!!!! NZ ENTRIES NOW INCLUDED

3/1 Packed

Woke up at 10:45 and didn’t do a whole lot. I was on the internet trying to get my email to work for a while… but I should have been doing work too. I packed for New Zealand and hung out with the kids a bit.

3/2 No Surf Competition

I made myself the traditional egg sandwich for brekky, finished up my marine bio paper, and threw a couple more things into my bag.

Our first stop was at a surf training facility- the best/only in Australia or something- it was a pretty pointless stop. Then we went to another SCU campus where a guy talked about their surf studies class- I wouldn’t mind taking that.

Then it was off to then Quicksilver Pro surf competition. It was a gorgeous day. There were food and clothes vendors and we walked down to the beach. Then we learned that the competition had been moved to another location. We got back on the bus and after finding Cara- we went to location 2. It had been moved again. At location 3 we walked around looking for somewhere to eat and it was moved again. So much for seing people surf. Then we went to the airport. I sat across the aisle from Ash, JD and Angie. My bags didn’t get searched and I exchanged most of my American money for NZ$.

We took a bus to our hostel and had to deal with the mess of who was sleeping where. I got kind of crappy hearing, “ I don’t want to sleep with so and so..” or “well lets just sit here and wait for something to happen.” It was about time for stuff to be closing in Auckland and we hadn’t eaten dinner so I was a bit cranky.

Auckland was CRAZY. We ate at Wendy’s for those people who love and miss it. I saw a girl shoplifting, a man peeing in a phone booth, trash all over, including white paper shreds outside of the Kodak store, and a group even saw people bloodily beaten in the street. We watched a guy singing and playing guitar on the street for a while until we discovered we were being videotaped. We had a good time laughing about the push button timed showers, having 1 key for 6 people, and just the overall craziness of the city.

In the middle of the night I jumped down off of my bed and flung open the door…only to realize I had no idea why that had happened. Just a weird dream I guess.

3/3 Mudslides and Rotorua walk

We woke up- very slowly, an hour after we had planned to. Showered, packed up and got Dunkin Doughnuts and a large delicious carton of milk.

The drive to Rotorua took most of the day with our extremely slow driving bus driver. We stopped at a crappy tourist café/shop for lunch, and at an inactive volcano right outside of Auckland, a gas station, and the Agro Dome.

Our hostel- Base X- was much better than the first. We got a room for 8 so we added Tristan and Craig. We looked at some souvenir shops and then went to Hell for dinner- a pizza place. It was pretty good. JD and I split a pepperoni pizza. I was the only one with a passport so I made a pretty ridiculous purchase afterwards.

We came back and played Kings. Mmm I love chocolate! After I was out, JD and I went on a walk around town. A much different sort of town from the previous evening. The streets were clean and the population was smaller and much more under control. We ended up at a guys bachelor party. His dad kept calling me gorgeous and telling JD to take care of me. Haha.

We came back to discover that everyone had gone to the bars so we got jackets and went back out. We ended up in the Government Gardens where we saw old cowboys and Indians, and a flapper too. We played human checkers, saw Elvis, got Burger King (yea, in NZ its actually called that- not Hungry Jacks), saw hot springs and a museum. It was nice to just walk around looking and talking. We came back and talked to Tracy and Mike for a bit waiting for everyone to get back.

3/4 White Water Rafting

I didn’t want to get out of bed again today but eventually we did and got breakfast at a close café. I had a bacon and egg pie. It was actually pretty good. Then we went shopping. JD and I went to about 7 souvenir shops and they all had the exact same things. We didn’t buy anything. Angie and I took a nap and then went white water rafting. It was AMAZING. The tour guides were cute and entertaining and rafting was so much fun!! I loved it.

We went to Hell again for dinner. We went out on the town to LAVA and then went to the giant checker board.

JD, Mike and I walked home and we tried to resolve some issues but it didn’t work out so well. We played UNO and Euchre with Luke in the hostel.

3/5- Skydiving

We woke up at 8am and packed up. Much to our disappointment there were no chocolate chip/banana muffins at Indigo- so I had a blueberry one. We stopped at a hot spring- that actually was quite hot, a mud bath-that squirted on to my white shirt from 10 ft away, and Huka Falls- which were amazingly gorgeous! We took lots of pictures then finally were off to Taupo.

We stopped for lunch; I had a nasty sandwich with sprouts and tree lettuce. I told Julie to book two extra spots on the skydive trip (which had been moved to that day instead of the next) for JD and I. We had debated whether or not we should do it a lot, because of the money.

After some laziness upon arrival at the Tiki backpackers hostel, we played Euchre and then I had to get money out of the ATM because our Ball State cards don’t work in New Zealand- so I had to pull cash for everything.

We went to the skydive place and waited forever to get to go. Let me tell you-- that 45 second freefall was amazing. I was scared to death when the gate opened and I saw the first girl fall into the clouds at 12,000 ft but it was SO worth it.

JD, Tracy, Ashley and I all ended up on the same plane. There were two benches and we sat with our legs on either side of them and faced the back of the plane with a piece of plastic separating us from the clouds. It was a tandem jump so we each had an instructor on our backs that talked us though everything. When we reached our altitude we sat on our guys’ laps and they slipped us into their suits (seeing as how they were the ones with parachutes attached to their backs.) Then when it was my turn (I went 3rd) we waddled over to the edge of the plane, with my toes on the edge and no ground in sight—the instructor pushed us out.

We did a back flip out and that first second was pretty scary- but the next 44 were so incredible. The feeling of weightlessness and nothing around was just awesome. You could look down at the clouds and see yourself fall through them. My heart leapt a little when he pulled the parachute cord but then I could see the mountains and lake—it was just gorgeous. He spun us around a bit on the way down too- that was cool.

For landing I just had to lift my feet straight out in front of me and then run when we hit the ground.

JD and I went in on a “ground DVD” because they weren’t awesome but it did catch our landings. We got free t-shirts but I’d say with the cost of the dive they should be given automatically.

3/6 J² Makes Cheap Dinner

We woke up around 9:30, showered and went out on the town in Taupo. We wandered around and looked at the shops until noon when we met Angie and Ash for lunch (after their massage). We ate at Breakers and I had a pretty delicious chili chicken wrap. We checked our email at an internet café. The first time in 4 days. No internet since we’d gotten to New Zealand. Be proud of me. I sent mom, Maggie and Abby messages on Facebook so they know that I am alive. Then I wandered around a park near by and paid 40 cents to us the “SuperLoo”

I ran into JD and Ash and we went back to the Tiki backpackers. I laid around for a while after that, just listening to music until JD and I went to the grocery store.

It was gigantic. It was like Sams Club so we had quite the adventure trying to find stuff to make for dinner, snacks for “the hike” and birthday stuff for Tracy.

I (and JD...ahem) made dinner- spaghetti and garlic bread for the7 of us and later we had hamburgers, sausages and cake to celebrate Tracy and Tristan’s birthdays. Fatty Americans.

We didn’t stay up late because of the early rise in the morning. We put streamers and balloons up to try and surprise Tracy when she woke up.

3/7 “The Hike”

We woke p at 6:40 in the morning to be out of the hostel by 7. There was an hour and a half bus ride to Mt. Tongoriro for our 6-9 hour hike. We were told to wear shorts and several layers on our upper body. It was really cold when we first got out of the bus and I already wasn’t crazy about the hike but they told us that we would warm up.

We started on pretty flat ground and walked for about and hour and twenty minutes until we arrived at the first stop- pit toilets. We rested for about 25 minutes and then started up the hill. We were leading the group but I fell back pretty quickly on the Devil’s staircase.

It was a pretty steep incline (near vertical in spots) and you had to find the right rock patch to come up. I was having trouble breathing (as I am very out of shape) and got to the point that I felt like I was going to be sick. However, I took breaks and kept trudging forward.

Eventually we got to the top where it was FREEZING. Most of the group thought that we had reached the top but we were far from it.

We ended up walking up another very steep, cold, windy mountain into a rain cloud. It was crazy. Everyone was tired, lots of girls had cuddled up behind a rock face and were crying. Our fingers were going numb, as were our legs (since we were in shorts and everyone else on the mountain was in full-out climbing gear.)

The wind was enough to knock you over, the ground rocks slid out from under you and we were all wet from the rain cloud we were standing in. We got to the summit and there was nothing to see- more cloud coverage with cold, wet and wind.

I hid behind a rock before I started the descent because the first part was pretty steep and I was by myself at that point.

I waited for the Jones, Rachel and Craig and then we slid down the rocky/dirt mountain. I fell a couple of times but nothing big. Finally the clouds cleared and we saw this gorgeous turquoise lake.

Then we went on a winding hike around the mountain side. Eventually we started downward and got to the “hut.” Everyone stopped there to eat and rest but I just pulled out my bag of Cheesy-O’s and started walking down with Mike, Tracy, Angie and Cara.

We walked quickly but none of us had a watch on so we just kept speculating how far we had to go.

The hike was very intense but it was pretty awesome. There were so many different terrains; it was just a great feeling of accomplishment. I was having a tough time on the upside but I did like it- and ended up finishing 4th of our group of 20 some. /Haha. Yes you know, everything is a competition for me. 6hrs and 20 minutes.

We stayed at the best hostel with real furniture.

3/8 Tracy’s celebration

We woke up at 7:15 to get on the road to Gisborne. I wasn’t able to sleep much on the 8 hr ride because we went to bed early which wasn’t the best idea. We also had BK for brekky which didn’t do much for my stomach. There was an accident on the windy mountain road and so we stopped for a while. Not to mention our bus driver not knowing how to drive and being pissed by snails the entire way. The countryside was beautiful though and there were MILLIONS of sheep along the roads.

When we got to the hostel we got put in the 10 person attic. Everyone was hungry so we got ready to go out an celebrate Tracy’s birthday. We ended up at a burger place where they were not very nice. It ended up being not a great night as I fought with Awal. I sang karaoke after weaseling my way into the lineup, danced alot, tried to fight a palm tree guy, was mean and went to bed.

3/9 Long Day

It was a pretty boring day. JD, Angie and I talked before we got in the showers. The 3 of us tried to sneak out for breakfast before anyone else woke up but right as we were getting ready to leave—everyone woke up.

We walked around town for a bit and then took a nap and went to dinner. Tracy, JD and I shared BBQ chicken and pepperoni Domino’s pizza while creepily and sloppily eating outside of the restaurant the rest of them had gone to.

We watched “The Recruit” and I went to bed early.

3/10 Bus Ride, Crazy Auckland part 2

We woke up at 7 for our ten hour bus ride. I couldn’t sleep most of the way but eventually I did. For about the last 2 hours. We had BK for dinner in Auckland, bought doughnuts for the morning (that subsequently ended up as snacks) and walked around the city and down to the pier and Sky Tower. It is much more normal in the day light.

I checked my email and wrote postcards. We went to bed late, with 3 hours before we had to wake up. There was a car gang fight on the street that I could see from my window at about 3am. A guy took a road sign and threw the metal pole through a car window to start it.

3/11 Dirty Shoes

I was quite exhausted on our way back home. I slept for most of the plane ride. We all got our bags searched in customs on the way back, which sucked but what can you do? My shoes got taken away because they had dirt on them from the mountain climb that could contribute to foot and mouth disease.

They cleaned them while I stood waiting in the customs line, people all staring at me wondering what kind of bad thing I had done.

We drove the whole way home without stopping on the bus, which was nice because we always make unnecessary stops. Luckily everyone could wait 1.25 hrs for a bathroom break this time.

We didn’t really do much when we got back to Lennox other than unpack and get on the computers. I also started getting my information together for our Dangerous Animals presentation in Lyn’s class.

3/12 Lazy Day/HW

We had Life and Culture in the morning- it went pretty well. We actually went over time but he gave us some extra breathing room because there were 4 in our gourp. I spent the rest of the day working on my presentation for Sports Administration, studying Marine Bio and working on our last assignment with Tracy and Sydney.

Up Goes The Plane

Me In The SKy

Going Down the Waterfall

Kids In Downtown Auckland

Going Up Tongoriro

Going Down Tongoriro

The Pretty Lake

Kinged On The Checker Board

Ang and I at Huka Falls

Off to New Zealand!!

2/29

The group is headed to New Zealand tomorrow where we have a wide variety of optional events to fill our time. We will be taking a 6 hour medium instensity hike, white water rafting, and people if they so wish will skydive, bungee jump and other crazy things.

Today was a good day. I was not as productive as I had hoped..seing as how I am not really done with the paper that is due before we leave tomorrow. I will be though. We went to dinner and had BBQ chicken pizza (with broccoli and cucumber and stuff) and fettucini alfredo that was not much like the alfredo I love but it was still quite good. The pizza was very good.

My eyes are starting to bother me again.. like kind of foggy at times...hopefully they wont be bloodshot for the entire day tomorrow like last time.

I'll try to keep a written journal while I'm in NZ but no promises. Haha. I hope you all have a great week! We also are going to a surf competition in the morning and then back on a plane tomorrow! Oh boy am I excited!

In a Croc's Jaws or Skydiving...same concept...same face.