Anlaby Manor Hamilton

... whole body tattoos, chanting in their language. It was pitch dark and they had fire torches so it really felt like it would have, back then. Then they had a reinactment of their fighting techniques and basic day to day life followed by a dancing performance. One of the "famous" dances of the Maori's is the Haka, which is the war dance. Every postcard or picture of maori you see i nthe store, they are always doing the Haka. In the Haka ...

... laced powder maker, were given 15 years. Two other former executives of Sanlu, Hang Zhiqi and Wu Jusheng, got eight and five years in jail. Sanlu, awaiting acquisition after declaring bankruptcy last month, was fined more than 49 million yuan ($7.2 million) for making and selling substandard products. The courts handed down sentences ranging from two to less than 15 years to the other accused. They were convicted for their involvement in making or selling the ...

... tug-of-war in the middle of the night over the van's only warm blanket. As we were about to leave Raglan, two heavily tattooed Maori gentlemen next to us in a parking lot asked if we'd like to try some coconut pie that one of them had baked that morning. From the hatchback of their car, they cut up the pie and told us about the morning they'd spent picking mussel shells from the bottom of the bay. The pie ...

... Or experiencing things like riding an Indonesian pony up the side of that volcano. As ridiculously corny as this is: I am a student of life and the world is my classroom. I have chosen, as much as it pains my family, to take the money that could slowly but surely pay for a university education (eventually...heh) and spend it teaching myself about the world. The things I have done and the people I have met have taught me so much more than any four year degree sitting in a ...

... great etc etc, but thankfully not life-changing as I had been told before, fine by me as I kind of like my life as it is/was ta v much. From here I headed east to Dunedin and the Otago peninsula to see some pretty spectacular wildlife and scenery, and then way back west to the Doubtful sounds, fjordy type island-blobs. Awesome. Then up north via a quick heliboarding trip, a glacier, more scenery, back over to the east coast and up North. Since ...

... seems that way! ;) Marty and Moki like to sleep with me (sorry Lily!) and I christened Penelope with her name even though the rule is not to name the rabbits that are for sale. She's just so adorable! Timmy is a maniac who hides behind a cute face and makes snorty pig noises when he's excited. Or sleeping. Or eating. Or....all the time actually. The rabbits mainly keep to themselves. Coffee and wine. For the last week and a half I have basically been living off of ...

... because I couldn't breathe - my head was being pushed onto my chest by the cupboard behind me. Rick was trying to twist me around to open my airways! Feeling very silly and exhausted I sat on the floor for a bit and realised many of the people staying at the hostel were in the kitchen at the time. Half were concerned and the other half just carried on making their dinner as if nothing happened. Thankfully Rick and the girl were around to save me!

... up to the surface I had a huge grin on my face that wiped out all thoughts of how much my shoulders had started hurting. The others in the group were pretty mixed in their abilities - a Scottish guy who had been surfing in Australia a couple of times got pretty good and managed to stand up consistently, others were having real tough times, with a German girl getting stuck and constantly slammed by waves. I felt sorry for her until ...

... I had a little portable I could stick in my pocket. Oh and I did find a kiosk where I can print photos - can you send photos in the mail like postcards? That would be pretty cool and save me money on expensive professional postcards. Hmm. I wonder. I also wonder if there's anything else to say. Oh we had a meeting the other night with some of the other new students who start their summer J-Term (a month-long intensive paper) soon and are staying at Orchard Park. At the meeting there ...

... as well, all made up around different themes like Japanese, Italian, American, Indian etc. Good for the budget, the entrance is free...





Our last night around Hamilton was spent in Raglan, a lovely little town on the West coast. It's a surfer's paradise and we saw some kite surfers as well... didn't get to try that yet, we stuck to our own one for now. We parked the car for the night in a place with the ...