AuklandThe first day or so of our trip we spent most of our time driving and seeing the country side. This is a picture of one of the look out points we stopped at. The country is very green and has lots of rolling hills.
Whitianga
In Whitianga we stayed at a holiday park near the beach. It is here we started our tradition of playing ultimate frisbee at pretty much every beach we came across in the last two weeks. We also had a devotional on the beach the next morning since there was no branch or ward services within a reasonable distance.
Hamilton
In Hamilton we stopped and spent some time on the temple grounds, but unfortunately we didn't get to do any baptisms or sessions.
Waitomo
The next stop in Waitomo was quite interesting. The is the town we did our black water rafting! It was awesome. You basically are treking/floating thorugh caves with inner tubes, wet suits, and headlights. this is where we saw all of the glow worms which are beautiful! The next night in Waitomo a small group went for a beach run. It turned out it was a black sand beach with awesome waves. We were there long enough to see the sunset. It was incredible. Our group decided to swim across a tribute to get to a better beach, so I was the first to try it. I swam about thrity to forty yards furiously across the current that was slightly stronger than it looked, arriving to the other bank out of breath, but feeling pretty good about myself...then the rest of the group walked across, cause someone smarter in the group found out it was only waist deep. Yeah I felt pretty stupid.
Rotorua
In Rotorua our group did the luge, which is similar to the alpine slide, but you are on widder concrete tracks so you can pass people. Our group had some pretty interesting races. I have noticed that they don't worry as much about risk management, cause people aren't turning around and suing every time they get a scrape. It's fun, but probably not very comforting for you mom...trust my judgement though.
Taupo
After spending an afternoon in Taupo our group ventured to Mordor. The hike to Mordor is actually called the tongariro crossng. It is about a 10mile hike! Since it was so long we couldn't actually hike up to Mordor and back due to time restraints, but we did do the track that went pretty much to the base. It was long and awesome. We ate lunch at the top of the volcanoes and the ground was steaming in several places! I thought it was going to blow any second. Just kidding mom.
Wellington
In Wellington we went to a museum. And saw only a portion of the city, but it seemed like a very plesant city, that I would love to spend more time in. From Wellington we took a ferry to the south island which was quite windy. I look like I have a face lift because the wind was out of control. There is actually another picture I took with a friend from the front of the boat and we look 30 pounds heavier or 10 stones heavier as they would call it here, cause our pants are blown full. I chose not to post that one. :)
Picton
The south island is amazing and very green. Unfortuantely my camera died when I was taking pictures on the ferry so I missed a lot amazing landscape pictures of Picton. But the picture above was a bush walk we did on our way out.
Chrsitchruch
Christchurch was probably the most eventful place. It was the only place where we actually had rooms and beds to stay in, which was very lucky on our part because it was the only day that it rained on our whole trip (up until now we have been staying in our tents at what would be equivelant to a KOA). I said that Christchurch was the most eventful because four people including myself are still recovering from an inflatable toy the Kiwi's call a pillow. The pillow was a blast, but probably not the safest playground equipment in the rain. On my way off the pillow, I was trying to make a quick exit, slid off the edge and landed with significant velocity on me left cheek. Unfortunately unlike Tyler in this picture, I didn't land on the pillow, I missed it and fell on the wet hard sand. I could barely walk the rest of the night. I still have issues with sitting on the ground, but my recovery is in the works, don't worry mom. The next day in Christchurch we spent the day walking around the city and town square, and browsing through the shops.
Greymouth
While traveling from Christchurch to Greymouth we drove through two national parks and hiked to two glaciers and a waterfall. The mountain passes were amazing. It reminded me a lot of Alaska with the towering green mountains and frequent waterfalls.
Invercargill
We are now residing in Invercargill where I will be gonig to school. This picture is from a barbeque we had the day after arriving. In this picture is my roommate Lisa and two other students we are staying with the mom of Diane, our host. So we get together with them to have Sunday Tea (dinner). The sign above us is a welcome sign, but you can't read it very well.
