So where was I?

So where was I? Oh right, New Zealand.

Okay, so we are now in the middle of the north island, in a nice little smelly town called Rotorua (its famous for hot springs and the sulfur smell that goes along with it)

Lets see what have the four of us been up to… Well after picking up Ian (a friend from the program, as many of you where wondering. Who is very brave to be traveling with 3 girls. He is with us for a week and we drop him off again on Wed so he can head back to Auckland to catch his plane home)

Next, we headed north to the bay of Islands and we went swimming with the dolphins, which was amazing, but god was it freezing. We were on a nice boat and we followed a pod of them around for a bit, then we were given the go ahead to jump in the water with them. So we all geared up in snorkels and masks and gave it our all in the water to try and keep up with the dolphins. Man, they can swim fast. We couldn’t keep up at all; as soon as we were in the water they were gone. But personally I was okay with it because I was freezing!!!! Then we caught up with them again, so we again tried to get into the water with them and this time I was near the front so I actually got to swim with them. It was so cool. Afterwards we found another pod and there were about 60 in this group. But because there were babies with them we couldn’t swim, so instead we got to sit on top of the boat lean over and they swam right with us. I swear they were looking at me right in the eye. It was so amazing; I’ve never done anything like that ever, anywhere in the world.

The next day we drove, which felt like forever, to the other side of the island. We took this crazy road that wasn’t even on the map! It was pure gravel, up and over the mountain range. Thank god Ian was driving because we would have made it there by Tuesday if I was, I would have been taking every turn so slowly. As we were on the devil death road the funniest thing happened. This family of ducks, mom, dad and 6 fuzzy babies, were waddling along the road. We slowed down to let them fly away, and they didn’t! Mom and dad took flight and left their babies there, we managed to squeeze by them but stupid mom and dad kept flying right in front of the car! Finally mom took off and circled back to what we hope were her abandoned chicks. But stupid dad must have flown with us for 15 minutes until he finally made a right turn and landed in the field right beside the road. I was freaking out, as you know my love for ducks!

Finally we made it to hot water beach, a place where you dig a hole in the sand and the thermal sands heat the water and presto, you have a hot spa. However on the day we went, it was cold as ice and the tide was coming in so strong that the sands were unreachable so we dug our feet in as deep as we could it was warm…but nothing like we were promised, damn tourist traps. So today we were determined to make it up. Today we went to Waitomo Caves and we went tubing down throughout the caves. It was dark and wet and so cold, but we were able to see glowworms on the roof of the cave and it was so amazing to swim through the cave system. We had to jump off this waterfall that was 3 meters high, I was scared of course, as me and heights are not the best of friends, but man was it fun. I would do it again if it wasn’t so cold!

Tonight we hit the up the hot springs, which was an amazing change from the cold cold water we had been swimming in for our whole trip! As you know hot springs get your body VERY hot so you have to cool off in either a cool pool or a shower. Ian, Katie and I went exploring to find the cold shower and we found it right beside the 42-degree pool. So Ian pushed the button for the shower and it was so powerful and cold I screamed! Yep the whole pool of the hot bath laughed out loud at me, I was so embarrassed but I was laughing so hard I didn’t really care!
Typical Sarah move, you would have all loved it!

Moving on up!

Alright so the traveling has started! We have been in Auckland for 3 days now. I met up with Jarrod and he showed us around, well he showed us a couple of different places to go drinking! It was so nice to have a beer and catch up with him, and what a strange feeling to hang out with someone in a different country than where you know them from. Just strange...

So Ian is landing any minute and we are picking him up at the airport to make it a nice even 4, and we are booking it up north. Of course at this point I'm not sure how or where he is going to fit into the car...haha, its a bit of a tight squeeze with all of our stuff, all over the place. You would think by now I knew how to pack and live out of a backpack, hahaha yah right! Not when I'm moving everything I own and my whole life to another city. I must have brought every bottle of shampoo I've ever used with me! Ah well. I'm sure we will be able to squeeze him in somewhere.

So we are heading up to the northern part of the north island. We are booked in for swimming with dolphins tomorrow which I am really looking forward to! Swimming with them in the wild, you are just in the ocean and they will swim right up to you.

So far we have huge plans of what we can do in this country, I cant wait to see what kind of trouble we get into!

Ill write again soon

Going, going....gone!

I can’t believe it...but its over!

I’m leaving for NZ and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
We land in Auckland on Tuesday, chill around the city for a bit and try to hook up with a crazy bloke I know from Taiwan....Jarrod I hope we can find each other!

From there we are renting a car and heading north to the Bay of Islands and the Bay of Plenty where I plan on swimming in the ocean with wild dolphins!!!!
Making our way slowly back we will cruise our way down to the south Island.
Checking out everything we can there, spend some time in Queenstown - where the worlds largest bungee jump is- and then head home to Christchurch.

I’m in for such an adventure I can’t wait!

This week has been pretty hectic with lots of sad goodbyes and a ton of parties to go to. It’s a strange thing to leave people you have counted on for a year of your life. They might not be the best of friends with you, but being all that you have you create such a bond with people. I’m not sure what Ill do in Christchurch with only 3 of us. It will be strange not to speak to the people I have been around this whole year.

However even with the sad goodbyes I think this is my favourite part of life...the brink. Right before everything changes and it’s all hopeful and exciting, even if it’s sad to leave, I mean I’ve done my fair share of sad goodbyes which I’m not a fan of, but this, this wonderful, hurtful, exciting, thrilling feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen next. This is one of life’s great moments....the possibility of something better.

Ill keep updating as I go, so keep reading.
Wish me luck in this new segment of the biggest adventure of all....my life!

Final Finals!!!

Its exam time again and I am a mad study woman!
2 final exams and I haven't been in a lecture in over a month...Does that make sense to anyone out there?
You would think a post grad course would be wiser about things like this, however us students are again shafted with the whole deal and we need to remember everything our profs ever told us and be tested on it a month after we have been in class. At least its my last ones. No more finals ever again.....For now.

So I've been cut off-line as our phone is being shut off and we are moving in about a week.
I cant believe my time here is almost over. I'll be moving to New Zealand for my last big trip/move/I don't want to go home, effort. But man I must say I am soooo looking forward to it!

Ill be updating here for now on, so no big group emails. Check here for all stories, adventures, and screw ups to give you insight or giggles at my life!

smack!

The Zoo

Steve at the Zoo
Originally uploaded by Sala.

We finally made it to the Australian Zoo. 10 months later we drove the 2 hours to see if we could find Steve Irwin the famous Crockodile Hunter. But he didnt do the crock show, so instead we got our picutre taken with him :)
all in all a super fun day which was hot and sunny, i walked around with a hat and sunny's on, I looked like a movie star trying to hide from the press. Damn photographers follow me everywhere!

Surfing Babe

I am a Surf Babe!

Today we did it and I actually wasn’t that bad. I got up on my feet a couple of times and ended up on my ass at the bottom of the ocean. It was great!

We all got rocked but we had such a good time laughing at each other that it was well worth it. I cant believe that I waited this long to try surfing when I would have really liked it and done it a couple of times. Ha ha.

Oh well live and learn, I don’t think I would have ever become pro, but I might have enjoyed catching a full wave at least once.

So, my knees are scratched up from dragging in the sand, and I’ve swallowed enough salt water to fill a pool, but seriously, what a great day!