SATURDAY EXCURSION

Piha Beach/ Honeymoon Cove/Karaie Karaie Falls/Birthday Party

 

   It was time for another big group activity! This week we were going to Piha Beach! This is a black sand beach! It is another gorgeous beach! Anyway, we woke up and we left about 9:00! We started out a little bit later than we usually do! We got to sleep in! YIPEE! You know your life is starting early when you think leaving at 9:00 is a sleep in day! Anyway, to get to Piha we have to drive through the Waitakere Ranges! This is always such a pretty drive! It's just this really skinny road, with tropical rain forest on both sides of you! It really is so pretty! Anyway, we got to the beach, and there was a surf competition going on! I have officially decided I am taking up surfing and going to master it! I am going to be as good as these guys! It really was just like Gidget! I loved it! It was also really funny. As we were watching all of the surfers, everyone of them match the stereotype of a surf (Long blond hair and curly). We all laughed because that's what we imagine surfers like in our brains!

    Anyhow, after we watched for a little while, we walked around to what's called Honeymoon Cove! It's a place you can only walk around to if it's low tide. Lucky for us it was low tide! So we walked around and there was this opening between two different mountains with rocky edges where there were the Biggest waves ever! They were huge! The would splash up on the rocks and just spray you even from like thirty feet back! The waves were so gorgeous! Neeley and I were so impressed by them we wanted to take a picture in the water showing the huge waves. We took one, and had a huge wave was in the back ground. Then we were going to take another one, and weren't really ready for the next one to come. This one came and hit the rocks faster than we expected. Which left us standing in the middle of the water with a huge amount of water rushing towards us (when the waves came in the water came up to about our waist). So this was the second picture we took. We were suppose to be doing something cool, but the surprising wave made us dart forward!

   After we had played in the water below, we all hiked up to the top of these mountains to see the waves from looking down on them! It was so pretty. I'd like you all to notice my feet in this picture. Yes, I didn't have my shoes on for this, and I was hiking up the side of the mountain. For some reason I never seem to have the appropriate footwear, or it's just at my bag, and my bag is far away. Anyway, it was a really pretty view. You could look to the left and see the rigid edges and see the waves crashing into it, or you could sit on this rock and look out and see the peaceful ocean! It was absolutely gorgeous!

    After we hiked up the side we walked back down and ate our lunches by honeymoon cove! It was crazy we were the only ones here! I don't understand how ever beach you have all to yourself, then I remember that New Zealand has something like 11,000 miles of coast line or something crazy like that, so there are several other beaches and everyone goes to different beaches. After lunch, Jim wanted to take us back on a hike in case we ever came over here and it was high tide, he wanted us to know how to get to honeymoon cove. So we hiked up another mountain! Only I don't consider this on a hike, it was more like bush hiking. It was so funny the bush was so thick you couldn't even see the person five feet in front of you! No worries though! We all made it out, and I know how to get to honeymoon cove when it's high or low tide!
     I was one of the first people out of the hike, and I was talking to Jim while we waited for others. On this beach in the middle was a small mountain. I asked how long we would be at Piha, or how long until we left. He said as soon as James got the cars back to us we were leaving. He then asked me why. I told him I wanted to hike the single standing mountain. He then proceeded to tell me how even if we were going to be here for a long time he wouldn't let me because it was a very dangerous hike, and how several people had died hiking it. He then told me the only way I would get to hike it was if I were to sneak out and hike it on my own. Then a local overheard this conversation, and said, "You know it use to be that way, but now they've fixed it up since so many people want to hike it, and now it's pretty safe. You can hike up it, and there is a Maori statue at the top. It's probably only like a twenty minute hike." As I heard this, I looked at Jim and said give me twenty minutes! Give me ten minutes I'll sprint it up there! He was persistent and said no. We have places to go and things to see.  I sadly said okay and he walked to the cars, then turned around and said, "Nancy you pest, you always want to try and do everything, and I want you to try and do everything. You have twenty minutes to hike that!" So guess what me and about ten of the girls hiked it! Nicole, Emily and I literally ran up the mountain, we made it in about 5 minutes (obviously it wasn't a huge mountain)! No joke! We were booking it! I'm just going to say the view was so worth it! 

 

    I was very glad that we got to hike it, and it made me even happier that we got to hike it because I wanted to! Don't worry we made it up there and back in twenty minutes! But I'm going to be honest and say it was a pretty steep hike! After we made it back down we drove over to a beach that was just around the way. It was Karaie Karie Beach! We only had a few minutes at the actual beach here, but it was so fun. First I still can't get over how perfect the waves were. For some reason, I have in my mind that waves are just these little things you jump, but these were the huge big waves you only see in the movies! I loved it! They were incredible! Then Jim said we had five minutes till we left for the hike, so Emily, Neeley, and I decided that we would walk two and a half minutes up the beach, then walk two and a half minutes back! Well while we were taking out two and a half minute walk, we found a Jellyfish! Yup a real live jelly fish! We sat a looked at it for a while, then we even touched it! It was slimy and kind of hard! For some reason I felt like it should have been squishy! This was awesome! Don't worry we were careful where we touched it!

    After we showed all of the girls the jelly fish (don't worry we were there more than five minutes because of the jelly fish), we started on this hike to Karaie Karaie Falls. The thing that amazes me the most about this country is that at one moment you are in this clearing of open beach with just gorgeous fine sand and huge waves, then just a small hike away, and you are in the middle of a tropical rain forest looking at a fresh water, waterfall surrounded by thick bush! It was absolutely gorgeous!

    Then after we went to the beach, Nicole, Emily, Linda (Jim's wife), and I went up to Parnell Street. Parnell Street is a place with several shops! They have the cutest antique shops, an amazing chocolate shop, and just an old fashioned shopping feel! We decided to go up there for a little while and shop around! Well when we got back, we went to Nicole's house, and her mum had put together a little surprise birthday party for the girls who had their 21st birthday over here!
    The 21st birthday over here is a really big deal. They give speeches, and have a huge dinner, then the person turning 21 is given a key. The key is symbolic of freedom. Once you have the key, you are free to come and goes as you please, and you are in control of your life from then on. Then everyone at the party signs the key, and you open gifts and feast together! So all of us were given a key! Then the girls had brought small two dollar gifts, and we opened them, and we even had a feast! Mum T (The person giving the party) had a huge cake made! On it she put happy 21st Nicole, Nancy, and Anna! It was so cute! It was so fun! It was nice to have a little celebration for our 21st birthdays. Then after that, it was late at night, so we all went back home! It was a very fun busy day!

 

 

HOBBITON TOUR

One of the best things ever!

       Friday was such an incredible day! I had a once in a life time opportunity! Literally there is no other time I could have seen the things I did on Friday! Anyway, Hannah and I have been trying to get down to Hobbiton for the past few weeks. We didn't know if we were going to be able to go, because they are filming The Hobbit right now. For this reason, the scheduling has been really hard, also trying to find away to Matamata has been rather hard. Anyhow, Jim gave us the name of this guy and told me to call him. So I did. Then we figured it all out.
       We set it up, so we were going to Hobbiton Friday the 25 of February, 2011! John (the name of the guy driving us) picked us up at our house at seven thirty in the morning. Yup, it was another early starting day for me. I have decided that my life starts earlier over here. It's a rather strange thing. Anyway, we get in the car and we start heading South to Matamata! It was a really pretty drive. We got to drive down through the Waitakere Ranges, as well as the other main Mountains in New Zealand. Once we got there, we went to the station on main street. This is where we got our tour tickets (and where picture below was taken). We go in and we are getting our tickets, and then we have to sign our life away! I signed more paper work for Hobbiton, then I did for Sky Diving or Bungy! I had to sign saying that anything I saw or took pictures of on the tour I would not talk about or post. This was very intense! I had to read several legal documents, and before I could go on the tour I had to sign in agreement.

         Anyway, after I had signed my life away, we went up to the base at the camp. We were waiting for the next tour there! Here is a little cafe, and a sheep sheering place. It's called the Shire's rest! The walls were all painted like little Hobbit holes, and all of the writing around was in the Lord of the Rings writings! It  was so cool!

 

   Then from there, we got picked up on a bus, and we got the tour of Hobbiton. Unfortunately, I can't say anything else that I saw from that point on. I must say that it was absolutely incredible, and I have some of the most amazing pictures ever, it was a once in a life time experience, and probably one of the top three things I have done in New Zealand! 

     Anyway, after we had finished our tour of Hobbiton, John took us on the rest of the day on a private tour of the places around Auckland, and Matamata we should see! First we went to several different beaches! We got to spend a little bit of time on all of the beaches! We saw the pretty white sand beaches on the east coast! The sand was as fine as the black sand of Piha and Bethel's only it was white sand! Here we even got to see a couple of surf tournaments! It was really cool! Plus it was gorgeous! The waves we saw here, were the waves you see in Gidget, and other surfing movies! It was so cool! 

     As we were visiting one the beach's (Tay Street Beach and Hibiscas Beach) John decided he was hungry and said do you girls have lunches. We both had lunches, but he said,  "You are having a tour by me, I'm treating you girls to lunch" So we went out to this cute little cafe on the harbor! It was very good! I had some fish and chips!

 

    After lunch we went up to a mining community. This town was built for mining gold, and is one of the largest places that still mines gold today. We got to go up and see where they mine it, and how it works. This was really interesting. Then not only that, but this town has an old Maori village. He took us up to the top of where this Maori village was. It had such a pretty view. It was right on the coast up on a hill with a steep trail down to the water! He told us how the Maori people built their houses up top, and then would have a protection, because if anybody tried to attack by the water, they could see and could be prepared. He showed us where the gardens were, and everything about it! This was really neat! 

   

   Once we had had are feel of the view and everything (we spent a lot of time up there). He took us to a few other beaches, we saw the second biggest port in New Zealand, and some other little historical communities! This really was neat and interesting to see. Then he took us to Paeroa. I don't know if any of you have heard about L&P, but L&P stands for Lemon and Paeroa. L&P is like the coke or sprite of New Zealand. The city's quote is "World famous L&P, In New Zealand!" haha! I got a good laugh out of that! Anyway, L&P is this really good soda that was invented right in this city! The legend has it (it really is the truth not just legend) that in Paeora, there was water that would come out already carbonated. Then they added lemon to it, and for years this is how this drink was made. Now days it is made in the factory and like any other soda, but this is the original place where L&P was made! It was really neat! Don't worry, we were the tourist who wanted to get out of the car and take a picture by the giant bottle. John gave us a hard time for this one! 

 

    Anyway, we continued our tour, and he took us up through the different mountain ranges and showed us all around! It was very fun! He gave us an entire day private tour of the things and places we needed to see! This guy was amazing! It was such a fun day! 

Christchurch

Earthquake 22.02.2011

It's crazy to think about how just two weeks ago, I stood in the middle of this Cathedral, and thought what a beautiful building this is. I stood in front of it, and admired it, as several people have before me. It's weird to think about how this building no longer is standing. As I looked through the pictures online and on the news about the damages done, it seemed so close to me. It was crazy, I could see where the buildings in this city were, I had walked down the streets and it just made it very real to me. I hear about the earthquakes a lot, but it wasn't real. They seemed so far away, but now, I can see myself walking down the streets of the pictures on the news. The next thing that was really weird for me, was I was curious about the people I know down there. I made friends while I was down there, and I wanted to know if they were okay. As I was thinking about this, I just wanted to write a little and say first how grateful I am that I was in Christchurch when I was. First off to experience the beauty of the city, and second of all for not being there during the earthquake. My prayers go out to all of the people in Christchurch.

POWHIRI

The Powhiri, is a traditional Maori ceremony to guest of the land. This it make them apart of this land, and tell them this land is now their land too. What happens, is a girl calls the guests in (all done in Maori). Then the guest respond to her call and follow her in. As the guests walk in, a male leads another call, where the entire group follows after, and chants and does arm movements. This is done until the guest is into the center of the powhiri place. Once the guest are in the center, the first girl finishes her chant, then the guests are seated. Once the guests are seated, the host stand ups and gives a speech. They say their pepeha, and then some other welcoming words into the community and the land. Following this, the host group stands and sings a song. Once the song is over, the male leader of the guests stands and gives his pepeha, and a little history of the group and a short speech (this is all done in Maori). Once this is over, the group stands and forms a circle around the leader and sing a song. Following this, the leader steps forward and puts a gift on the ground as a peace offering. If the hosts accept, you are welcomed into the land, if not, then it means enemies. If the gift is accepted, the guest then proceed on to do the hongi (Nose to nose greet) with every adult in the community. This is the mingling of the breath making you a part of their land now. Henderson South School (The school I am working at) is the place that decided to hold a powhiri for us, the BYU students. Here are a few pictures from ours!

 

This is us! After we had walked in, and the first girl had finished her call, we were seated.

This is our leader speaking for us and sharing his pepeha! Professor Jacobs did a very good job! It worked hard to perfect his Maori!

 This is us offering the song. We chose to do a short Maori song. Since the whole ceremony is suppose to be in Maori, we wanted to go outside of our comfort song and learn a short one we could sing. It was very fun. The children loved our singing, as well as the principals, teachers, and staff. They children burst out in clapping after (very nontraditional for a powhiri). This is the Waiata we sang (we sang it through a couple of times.) 

Te aroha
Te whakapono
Me te rangimarie
Tatou,  Tatou  e

This translates to me Love, Faith, and Peace, Be amongst us all. It was a beautiful song! The Maori language is a beautiful language! After this we went down the line and did the hongi. I was glad our school provided it, it made it very comfortable to do the hongi with all the teachers. Following the hongi, we walked over to the staff room and had a feast. I truly mean a feast! All the adults and teachers had brought traditional Maori foods in, and it was very good! This was a neat cultural experience!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 21ST TO ME

Sunday Lunch/School Birthday/Bethell's Beach/Skype Date

Well I am official 21! It's crazy to think I am 21! Anyways, I got a couple of days of celebration! Yeah! The first day of celebration was on Sunday! I had been missing Mexican food, so Paea asked what I would like for dinner, and I said I would make a meal from home! I chose to make chicken enchiladas! They were so good! It felt like home eating them. Cooper really enjoyed them! We decided to do my main meal on Sunday, so I would have more time to prepare it, and so we could do something fun on my birthday! It's tradition in my family to take the birthday dinner picture, so I made sure to take the traditional picture.

Now the next thing I needed was a birthday cake! At our house, we usually do the star birthday cakes, and make them very fancy! I wanted a cake, but I wasn't sure what to do, because I knew if I just had a regular cake I wouldn't be satisfied. I decided I would make my Dad's favourite birthday cake! Another plus is that it is a pretty easy recipe! So I had Paea get all of the things, and well we met a few difficulties along the way. First it needs a yellow cake mix. This is a problem, they do not have a yellow cake mix over here. So Paea got a vanilla cake mix. So we made it work. Then the next step involves instant vanilla pudding, well they don't have vanilla pudding either. So for this, we made it from scratch! Yup, we made it! Then the next step involves pineapple! This should be easy right? Crushed pineapple from a can? Well if you thought it was easy, you'd be wrong. You see Paea doesn't have a can opener. Ha ha So now you have two girls are trying to open a can with a knife and scissors. Yes, this is not safe! But no worries we survived! Following this the final topping is cool whip. Well cool whip isn't over here either. Nor is any kind of cream that is whipped already unless it comes from a can. This was fine though, we can just get heavy whipping cream and whip it ourselves. Well of course the story can't stop there. Whipping the cream couldn't be that easy. So we are baking the cake, and Paea wasn't home. We couldn't find an electrical mixer of any sort! So guess what we did! We whipped it by hand! To top things off, her whisk is about six inches tall and maybe a centimeter wide. This did not make it go very fast. Anyway, we whipped it, and whipped it, and whipped it. As it was starting to get close to looking like whipped cream, Paea gets home. Guess what!? She walks in, "Oh girls I forgot to give this to you, yup it was an electrical mixer." Ha ha it was so funny! We laughed, and thought well at least it was an adventure! After all of that though, it made a very tasty cake! It wasn't exactly like it tastes when mum makes it, but it was very good!

We got the cake made, and now we were waiting till my real birthday to eat it! So the next day, I go to school. I had tried to keep a secret, I'm not really sure why, but I did. Well don't worry my friends that work at the school, and Jim, made sure that everybody knew it was my birthday! During the morning meeting, all the students sang happy birthday to me. When they sing happy birthday, the first sing in English, then Samoan, and last in Maori. This was very fun! The kids were very cute! Then during morning tea, the principal Trevor Diamond, made an announcement about my birthday to the staff. The staff made sure to tease me a lot. They all wanted to give me a birthday present of "the hot young electrician" that was working in the building...ha ha. They enjoyed a little banter with me. After school, I came home, and I was able to talk to my family for a little bit! This was very fun! Then Paea came home! She wanted to go up to Bethell's beach and have a picnic on the beach. So we packed the food, and the cake, and we took it up to the beach! I must say, it's pretty crazy to say that I had a picnic on the beach for my birthday in the middle of February! There aren't very many people who can say that with a February Birthday.
     We drove up to Bethell's beach, and it was gorgeous! It is a black sand beach. Now in the afternoon it had been a little rainy, but now by the evening it had cleared up. So when we got there, there was absolutely no one else at the beach! It was incredible! We also got there just a little before sunset, and a little before the tide came in. It was incredible. I have never seen anything so beautiful! The pictures don't do it justice!

Once we had got there, we sat down and ate our dinner! We had watermelon, and these spaghetti bowls (it's kind of hard to explain). But they were very good. Then we got to eat birthday cake!! Yeah! They even sang to me again! This was a lot of fun! Paea and Cooper aren't into taking pictures. So Paea volunteered to take it, and Cooper tried to run out, but we caught him in it before he could run out. 

After we ate, it was time for us to go exploring on the beach! This was incredible, there were some caves that we got to go through, we got to see the river that comes down to it, and just enjoy the beach! It really was so much fun! We played a little bit in the water, and even had a small water fight! It really was fun to have a beach birthday!

That was the end of my New Zealand birthday! Then the best part of my birthday is my United States birthday! After school on my Tuesday 22nd, February, I got to come home and have a big group skype date! My whole family was up at my house, AND I even got to talk to Carol and Chuck! We did a group call! It was so great to talk to everyone! I have missed talking to everyone! I loved it! I also got to open my packages. This was a lot of fun! I enjoyed everything. It was a little weird not to have Ashlyn helping me open my presents. I think this is the first birthday in about four years that she hasn't helped me, but she was the one sitting in the chair telling me which ones to open. It was a lot of fun! It  really was such a great 21st birthday! Thanks so much to all my family for making it such a great birthday! Thanks Mum and Dad! Thanks Carol and Chuck! Thanks Natasha, Danny, Ashlyn, and Bryson! And Thanks Natalie and Kolt! You really made it a special day for me even when I am on the opposite side of the world!

(P.S. I don't think I have ever been this tan for my birthday before! I am usually white in February!)

Ultimate Saturday in Auckland

Hiking Rangitoto/Mexican Food/Chinese Lanterns/Rugby Game

  Today we had planned to go with a group into Rangitoto. This was such a good idea! Except I'm going to be a little honest and say, I was a little sore from my hike the day before, and waking up to go hiking was a little bit hard! Anyway, we woke up really early and caught the bus at 7:15. When we were walking to the bus though, the moon was so bright and pretty. I then thought it was a little weird I was up and walking early enough to see the moon. Anyway so we caught the bus and took it into the city.

    Once the bus had dropped us of at Britomart, we went over to catch a ferry. In order to get to Rangitoto, you have to take a ferry across. Rangitoto is an uninhabited volcanic island! There is very little man made things over there. You can't even get fresh water over there (luckily I had brought a lot). The ferry ride was about a half hour long. Then the hiking began! 

       We started out on the summit hike. We decided that it would be fun to go straight up to the summit, then do other small hikes after! As you were walking up to the summit, they had little side areas where you could go and rest, or read about the lava, and it was just heaps of volcanic rock, and you can see everywhere it flowed! This was so neat!

(Nancy, Janet, Rebecca)

    At the first of this hike, Janet Diana and I were like man I thought this was going to be a hard hike, and I was going to be really sore. It wasn't too bad at the first, but then by the middle of it, to the end, all of us were so sore! Don't worry though, we made it up to the summit, and it was well worth it!

(Diana, Nancy, Janet)

   Once we were up to the summit, we all just sat and rested ha ha! The three of us who had just hiked the coast to coast were thinking, "Hmm, probably not the best weekend to plan two days of about six hours of hiking!" It was really funny! But after a short little break our legs felt better, and we were ready to hike some more! The next hike we decided to do was to go down to the lava tubes.These were so incredible! First off since we were at the Summit, it was an all down hill hike! It felt so good! Then the next best thing was you could crawl through them! It was incredible! You were suppose to bring a torch to be able to explore them, but none of us really knew that, meaning none of us had a torch. This didn't stop us though! We wanted to see them, so we crawled through them without a torch. Then if we wanted to see something we would use our flash on our camera. It was rather funny! The flash made it even harder, because about 30 seconds after the flash you would be blinded and have to wait for your eyes to change back. It was really funny! But the tubes were neat. For about the first 10 meters you had to crawl through it, after this, you could stand up! it was neat!

 

    Now after we had explored the lava caves we had to decide what hike to do next. Since we all had our suits on, we wanted to go to a bay. There were a couple of different bays. We decided that we wanted to go to McKenzie Bay. We start hiking our way there, when guess what we realize?! In order to get to McKenzie Bay, you have to go up to the summit again! So we did! ha ha! I'm going to be honest and say by the time I got to the summit the second time, I was so sore! It was worth it though. Then going to McKenzie bay was down the mountain and easy! It also was a really pretty hike!

   Well after all of our hiking (which ended up being about six hours) we caught the ferry to go back to Britomart! Once we were back on the land, we were hungry. We decided we would walk around the coast and find somewhere good to eat! Good news, guess what happened, we found a Mexican Restaurant! That is the rarest thing ever! We walked and we were so excited! They had stickers from all over the place, including one from Huntington Beach, In 'n' Out, and from Psych! I was so excited to see things from the states! Anyway so we are going through and ordering, and we were all so excited and we told the people in line how excited and happy we were to be eating Mexican food. They asked us where we are from, and turns out one of the workers was from Emily's home town! Crazy! He was on a working holiday over here! Also he told us everyone that works there is pretty much from the U.S, or has spent a lot of time there, because Mexican food isn't a kiwi thing! I had a pork burrito, and then we all had chips and salsa!

 

 

   Now that we were all stuffed with Mexican food, we went up to the Chinese Light Festival! I had walked through yesterday during the day, but we wanted to go back up. First so we could see some of the performances, and second to get dessert! For dessert, we had a half a pineapple, with ice cream on top! It was yum, as they would say in New Zealand. 

     After we were completely full, and we couldn't even think about food, we had to catch another bus! We were head up to Eden Park! We were going to the Blues vs the Crusaders Rugby game! I'm not going to lie, but rugby is my new favorite sport! I loved it so much! But first off, Nicole and I were really excited! We had a little bit of an issue with the bus! For some random reason they changed the bus stop only for the game! So the bus we were planning on taking never came! We walked up the street, and were able to plan a different bus, but ALL of the bus scheduled changed just for the game! How were we suppose to know that? Anyway once we got there, Nicole and I thought we were going to be late! Neither of us wanted to miss the kick off, so we started running as soon as we got off the bus. Now you see we looked a little stupid, seeing that we were the only one there out of the entire stadium running. We were so excited though! After we realized we looked stupid running, we would slow down to a walk, but pretty soon it turned into a skip walk. We were trying to take a picture in line, but we kept moving up and were in such a hurry so this is the best we go!

       We sat down, and don't worry, we made it for the first of the game, and we even had a little bit of extra time! We had great seats! We were about sixteen rows up from the front! I was so excited! 

 

While we were sitting there, we made good friends with the guys next to us. Okay, so mainly we were asking them questions about and said we would the whole game! Good news though! I totally get rugby now!

   In all of our many questions we asked, we found out that most of The All Black players come from these two teams! Then I also found out that the best first five in the world plays for the Crusaders! We picked one of the best games in the world to go to!

Anyway, we were sitting in the Blues section, and so I automatically became a Blues fan, and guess what!!! THEY WON! But first off every time the blues scored a try, they had fire going off and the crowd went crazy! It was so much fun! It really is my new favorite sport, and I am going to be a rugby fan for life!

After it was over, we hurried out and caught the train! Good news we made it back home safe! It was really such a fun day! I loved everything about it! I can't wait to go to my next rugby game!