New Zealand part 1

I'm in New Zealand!!!!!!! Weeeeeee! I almost can't believe I'm here...I've wanted to come here for so long and now I'm sitting in a Starbucks (of all places) to access the Internet and write about it.

I'll start at the beginning...(as opposed to the end I guess). Thursday was the last day of class and Friday morning, Nichole and I got a ride to Sydney with a girl from her dorm. From there, Charlie and her dad picked us up and took us to Charlie's house. That afternoon, we picked up Pete and then took the ferry from the Sydney Harbor to Manly on the other side (about 20 mins. or something). There, I bought a huge gelato and then we went back to Charlie's for awhile for a home-cooked meal and later went out with some of Charlie's friends. I was exhausted, but I got to see a pretty beach at night even though my pictures didn't turn out. When we got back to Charlie's, we all watched Sister Act 2 and went to bed.

Both of Charlie's parents are from England, so we had real English crumpets in the morning and then I took pictures of their backyard because it's this huge wall of stones with a swingset at the top. Then off to the airport around 7:30. We actually had quite an ordeal there because we had all booked our tickets online, but something happened to Nichole's ticket and she had to stay back after trying to explain her situation and get things straightened out. Pete and I were rushed through the airport by the employee that checked us in so we wouldn't miss our plane. I got frisked on the way which was a tiny bit inconvenient, but we made it. There were a bunch of Australian soldiers at the airport as well so I was wondering if they were all on the way to Iraq. Apparently when the Australian elections come up this year, if the opponent (I forgot his name but not the current president John Howard) wins the election, he wants to pull Australian troops out. Kathryn was telling me about that and said she hopes America doesn't hate them if the troops are pulled.

Once we got on the plane, it took a few hours to get over the Tasman Sea to Auckland. (We flew Emirates and the flight attendants had pretty hats). We're 2 hours ahead of New South Wales here. I wanted to squeal when I got another stamp in my passport. After getting our bags, going through customs and exchanging money, we took a bus into town. I asked the girl in front of me if she knew where the bus stopped and her and a friend were on their way to a hostel, so we ended up getting off where they did and staying at Surf 'n' Snow hostel Saturday night and last night. It was reasonably priced and pretty nice. Saturday, we walked around some and ate at a Mexican restaurant. I ordered tea for the first time since I've been overseas and it made me miss Bojangles. It was in a tall glass with a lime in it and kind of murky because I think they squished a lemon in there. I thought they had given me a long island at first, but that's not what it was.

Our hostel was right across from the Sky Tower so I got some good pictures of it. It's a tower that's 328 meters from the ground (4 meters higher than the Eiffel Tower) and at the top there's a 360 view of Auckland. You can jump from it, too -- like bungy jumping.

Yesterday, we were planning to go to a morning Easter service, but we forgot about the time difference and missed it. We ended up walking around town for awhile and down the harbor, then waited for a long time on Nichole to get there, only to find out around 5 that she still wasn't able to leave Australia. We had just enough time to scarf down some Wendy's and head to the Baptist Tabernacle for an evening service.

It was alright, but I miss my church at home. They have a great outreach program though. In fact, one guy (named Nigel!) told me that an American guy had visited a few years back and thought the outreach was so moving that he set up a fund for getting out Bibles in different languages.

Afterwards, we planned what we'll be doing the rest of the week, booked some things online and watched Click. I almost cried. Good movie.

In about an hour, we're heading to the bus station to go to Rotorua, about 3 1/2 hours south. They have a bunch of fun stuff to do...there's a luge, a gondola, a sky swing and this thing called Zorb where you get strapped in a humongous ball and roll down a hill. :-) It's like Chucky Cheese for adults.

On Wednesday, we'll head back up to Auckland and leave the next morning for Pakiri Beach to go horseback riding! I'm excited. Then off to the Bay of Islands to go skydiving! I can't wait...I think I may even pay more to get digital pictures done of the event. It's a lot cheaper to skydive here, too. It's $185 to do a tandem jump (with a professional) and if I waited to go to the Gold Coast in Australia where we'll be next week, most jumps are $400. I found one for $200, but that's if you pay for pictures too, so it would come to $300. And that's in Australian money. With New Zealand money, it comes out cheaper.

Ok, now for random comments that don't fit into the blog:

1. About a week ago, Australia had Earth Hour where the majority of lights were turned off from 7:30-8:30, even the Harbor Bridge and opera house. It saved a bunch of energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions. I read where the Coca-Cola sign at King's Cross (a major street) was turned off for the first time since it was illuminated in 1974. On the plane, I saw an article about how Australia and I think New Zealand will be switching to energy-efficient lighting over the next three years as well. We need to hop on the bandwagon.

2. In Sydney, I saw a guy wearing a John Deere hat. If I had been walking, I would've asked him for a picture.

3. Megan went to Dubbo last week and said an Aboriginal guy started yelling at her for stealing his land. She told me she was thinking, "Uh, I'm from Canada." Ha ha ha.

4. Speaking of Aboriginals, I got my portfolio back in Aboriginal studies. Considering everyone says that no one gets "high distinction" (an A) and our professor never really explained what he was looking for, I did ok. Not as good as I'd hoped, but he left some good comments on the grading sheet. Apparently, we were supposed to relate our articles to the media, which was never said in class, but he said it seems like I'm getting a good grasp on Australian history and that it was well-written and organized. Yay me! I hope I get a higher grade on part 2. I should be getting a few other assignments back when classes start again. Last week, I got everything done for the month of April so I won't have to do work while I'm "on holiday." (By the way, here they put the quotation marks before the period and it looks funny). I had 2 essays, a critical review, an annotated bibliography and my portfolio to do, along with a bunch of reading, so I'm glad that part is over. There's SO much research required here. I'm spending much more time in the library than I ever would at home.

5. Read my updated lingo!

6. I'll add pictures to this blog once I get the pictures off my camera. But for now, must get ready to roll down a hill in a bubble wrap-looking ball!