Monday in North-Land

Haruru Falls/Beach/Fhe

       One bonus of living in New Zealand is that no matter where you are, there is an absolutely incredible hike just a few kilometers away. So this morning, we decided take advantage of this, and go for a little hike. This was the perfect hike. It wasn't too hard, and it was really just like a nice relaxing walk. Neeley and I took it kind of slow so we could just enjoy the beauty of everything around us.

     My favorite thing that we saw were these black and white birds. Now this sounds weird, but they looked like penguins. They could have been twins to the penguin! Only the weird thing is, is they fly! How crazy is that! They were big birds and they had huge nests up in the try! They were really cool! I have no idea what they were called, but in my eyes (until I know what they are called) they are going to be called the flying penguin!

      We then got up to Haruru Falls. Now for some reason, I didn't think it would be that big of a falls. I felt as if it would be this little short falls that they were calling falls. This is probably because the waterfalls in Brigham aren't that big, or even in Utah for that matter. You have to find the right one to get a big one. So when I got there I was pleasantly surprised! It was actually pretty big!

 

           We sat and enjoyed the falls for a little bit, Neeley and I did a little bit longer than the rest of the girls then it was time to walk back. Now Neeley and I decided we wanted to go another way instead of following the same trail back. Probably not our smartest idea. None of the other girls knew we were going a different way, we had no water, no food, no phone, and no idea where this other trail would take us. Yeah, that isn't the smartest move on our part. The good news of this story is that we made it back, and we actually made it back before the other girls! It was really funny!

       After the hike,we were all pretty tired, so we decided we would just take it easy at the beach. Plus it never hurts to have a beach day. After all I do come home soon, and I have to be tan when I come home! So we walked over to the little Paihia beach that was right across the street from our motel! I'm going to be honest and say everyone of us at first took a nap on the beach! Oh it felt so good laying out in the sun and being able to fall asleep! After we took our rest, we were able to swim and have some more fun! All in all it was a great beach day!

     Following the beach day, we all got ready, then we got together for our last group Family Home Evening Night. This was such a neat thing. We had a lesson on faith. We all decided as a group, that the theme of this trip for us all had become faith. Faith to overcome fears, faith to do the right thing, faith to trust in the Lord, an faith to go forward in the future. We did a short lesson and shared experience where our faith had been tested and strengthened from being here.
      After this tomorrow morning was going to be the last day that we all saw James. We decided we wanted to put together a little something for him to remember us by and we did the 16 reasons why we love James. The reasons we came up with (and the ones I can remember right now) were;

• His Giggle
• His race Car Driving Skills
• His Vast Knowledge of Lollies
• He knows everyone inside and out of New Zealand
• "Girls take a photo"
• His Knowledge about New Zealand
• He calls us Girls!
• His mad Roll Call Skills
• His homemade remedies
• His love for Fruit
• His stories
• His beach supplies
• His spirituality
• He encourages us to scream in the tunnel
• His friendliness 
• The adventure spirit

    That is all I can remember. As I remember the rest, I will add more. So we made that sign up, then Nicole Emily, Becca, Katie, Allison and I headed down to the store for some dessert! We decided to get frozen cheesecakes! It sounded so good! Nicole and I split a frozen mixed berry cheesecake! It was so good! The best news about this, was that we were able to save some for in the morning! But that's another story that will come on a future Blog!

     Anyway, Monday was a great day, and I enjoyed it very much! It was a great last day to the North-Land trip, and a great last day with all of the girls.