last few days in Raglan

I haven't met any Americans this entire time until today! I actually met two sets of people from the USA!  :)

I forgot to mention on my previous post that I went boogie (body) boarding for the first time the other day. It was sweet.

In other news, Carla and I rented a car and we'll have it until Tuesday... it has been nice! And I've been driving on the wrong side of the road for a couple days now.  (another first for me!)

 Yesterday was pretty chill... Carla had a surf lesson and I walked around Raglan. We had pizza for dinner which was super yummy! And the surf instructor joined us-- we had a good night hanging out. Definitely enjoyed the company. 

Today we went went cave tubing at Waitomo Caves. I had been to the caves before on my previous visit, but didn't get to cave tube... it was interesting and VERY COLD. But good, I guess. GLOW WORMS! 

After the caves we went to a Kiwi house and saw the cute little kiwi birds.  

Tomorrow we are heading off to Rotorua....and I'm super tired so that's all I'm going to say for now. 

Sorry this post was all "we did this and this and this and this"... I'll try to change it up next time. But like I said, I'm tired... these past few days have been a little stressful and exhausting, but we're making it!  

And thanks for your interest in my journey! Can't wait to see you all when I get back. :)

UPDATE: And yes, for those of you asking.... I HAVE been working! The first host we did a little bit of cleaning around the house and then we also worked on sanding a boat.  The current host we've been doing a lot more cleaning, gardening, hanging with the kids, etc. 

Update

It has been pretty chill here these past few days....

Went to Bridal Falls one day which was an easy walk compared to all the others!










Chilled with the farm animals ...

And climbed Mount Karioi. (If you look back to my previous Te Mata post, it's the mountain in the background!)  So cool!   2480ft above sea level.













Decided we're going to rent a car... so we're picking that up tomorrow. Also going to go cave tubing at the Waitomo Caves and white water rafting in the coming days. STOKED!

Also, Carla and I decided we were going to get a tattoo of a sheep with the phrase "sweet as" on the side.  YOLO, baby! (kidding about the tattoo)

Tomato Te Mata

We made it to Raglan! Actually, it's a little town 20 minutes from Raglan called Te Mata. (REMINDS ME OF TOMATOES!)  We're staying with a family - a mom, dad, and two boys. The boys were trying to teach us how to play cricket. It was actually kind of fun once I understood what was going on. :)

Here's a view from the house... it's beautiful! That's Mount Karioi in the background. Hopefully we can climb it before we leave!

Out of all the Kiwi folk I've talked to (and it has been quite a few!) everyone has been so amazingly nice. What I find really interesting though is that in talking with them about the U.S. and things back home quite a few people have brought up the gun control/school shooting thing. That's the big thing we're associated with now. Guns & McDonald's.  

When we went kayaking the other day and arrived at the island there was a bus tour of people going down the hill as we were walking up. The Kiwi folk I was with (jokingly) called it the American tour/the American way. It's funny because it's probably true, but that makes me sad. What are we known for? Guns and being lazy?  Sad. Sad. Sad.


More later...

Sweet As!

Like my title?  It's apparently a commonly used phrase in NZ and I LOVE IT.  It sounds even better with an accent.  :)   I wanted to adopt a few Kiwi phrases and bring them back to the states, but I have to be careful when I say this because it can also sound like something else...

Anyway....we did another walk the other day, Goldie Beach, and it was crazy! The trail was all over the place... through the forrest, stream, climbing on the edge of rocks on the creek, etc.  And there were 324 steps to walk back up at the very end!  I think I'm going to lose some weight while I'm here! :) I arrived back at the house a little early and had no way of getting in... so I chilled with the neighbors for a little bit. I had never met them before, but they were SO NICE!! I have yet to meet a mean Kiwi.

Today is the last day in Muriwai Beach... we went on a kayaking tour off the coast of Auckland. Our guide and the other two people that were in our group were PHENOMENAL. That made the trip. (Although kayaking was nice too... just a lot of work!)  I really enjoyed talking with them. All were Kiwis and all were super nice!! The guide even wants to meet back up when we come back through town.

Horses & Motorcycles

Today was my YOLO day.

Went horseback riding for the first time and rode on the back of a motorcycle for the first time. Horseback riding was fun... we rode along the beach and also trotted along through the forest.

So... later in the day, Carla and I were working on the boat again today and the neighbor was out with his motorcycle.  Carla said something about how she had never ridden on motorcylce and TADA! We got a ride around town.  :) 

The other good thing that happened today was we found a host for Monday!! The one thing about this program is that hosts can change plans last minute. So as of yesterday (earlier today, even) we had no idea where we were going to end up on Monday or where we would stay. But today we found a host and we'll be heading off to Raglan next!

NEW ZEALAND

So.... I made it!

I'm here in Muriwai Beach which is close to Auckland. It took a little over 23 hours to get here, but the first day wasn't as long as I thought it would be.

Anyway, I'm currently staying with 3 German girls and a Kiwi guy.  We've worked on cleaning/dusting around the house and have been sanding a boat in exchange for free meals/accomodation. It's about a 10 minute walk from the beach.

The other day, Carla (one of the German girls) and I walked a good 5 hours or so -- around 6km (a little over 3.5 miles) up and down the coastal cliffs. It was AMAZING! We had a lot of fun... until we had no way of getting home.  It's all good though...we made it back safe and sound with some good stories to tell!

Tomorrow we're supposed to go horseback riding along the beach and Saturday/Sunday we're planning on going into the city. We have a kayak tour planned for Sunday so I'm pretty stoked about that.


I think that's all for now... not sure where I'm headed come Monday, but that's part of the adventure! 

cheers

If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough

Well... I have my flight booked for New Zealand. I go from being really scared to really excited to everything in between. (And a lot of it is, oh my gosh... I can't believe I'm doing this... what was I thinking?!)
It's kind of nerve-wracking...knowing that I'm on own for this one. I'll be traveling a good portion of the journey with a girl from Germany... so that helps a little bit. There are still so many details that need to be taken care of and it kind of FREAKING ME OUT. I'm someone that plans everything way in advance... and this is one instance in which I'm not able to do that. I can plan some of it, but a good portion is going to be just going with the flow. AH! Lesson in patience? Faith? 
Definitely going to be adventure that will stretch me in ways I haven't even thought of. 

So... for those of you interested in the tentative plan...
Feb 11-Feb 20 Auckland, New ZealandFeb 20-Feb 28 Raglan, New ZealandFeb 28-March 13 Rotorua, New ZealandMarch 15-March 25 ????, New ZealandMarch 28-April 7 Sydney, AustraliaApril 8-April 12 Alice Springs, Australia April 13 Arrive HOME :)
Bucket List for DOWN UNDER: 
Stay on a farmGo to kangaroo sanctuary
KayakingBiking
Attempt to learn how to surf
Waitomo cave tubing
Pakiri beach horseback riding
Auckland Bridge Climb/Bungee JumpingOutback excursion 

I'm not big on stereotypical Christianese things... but this song has been calming me down. I think I'm adopting this song for while I'm away: 
I know Who goes before meI know Who stands behindThe God of angel armiesIs always on my sideThe One who reigns foreverHe is a Friend of mineThe God of angel armiesIs always by my side