Hillside Hotel and Nature Resort Hamilton

Had breakfast then prepaired for the big hike ahead. Amazing mountains and forest along the trek. Lots of it was through thick bush and up steep hills. Got up to the DOC hut in about 3 hours and stopped there for lunch. Headed up a really steep track to the top of the pinnacles. Breath taking view of both coasts from the top ...

... of crossing croc rivers, surfing, and bartering. (so... maybe super arrogant, but ballsy, at least.) Swiss Genius tells us about his studies, how (like the linguistic "critical age") there is a time period when you are young that if you don't do a lot of sports you can never be as good at sports as someone who has, that you need to accumulate about 10,000 hours of practice in order to be a professional, how he has gotten each of his degrees in a different place ...

... of the gorgeous homes on the water, we met up with Irene, Gail, Joanne and Travis for our next activity - jet skiing! We each took turns jet skiing with Chopa on their massive (and fast) jet ski. For SOME reason, they trusted us enough to let us go out and drive the ski on our own! It was very cool. We were supposed to go water skiing, too, but the water was a bit rough... so we headed to the local bar for a drink instead! We ended the perfect day ...

... arrived. They were just starting to get busy with some building projects and just getting more formalized with the WOOFing. So, for our first week there, we worked 2 hrs a day in exchange for free accomodation. Renee and I (along with other WOOFers) stayed in the cabooses (see attached photos), which were great. Week 2 we worked 4 hrs a day in exchange for accomodation and meals. Renee and I asked to work earlier in the day (typical start time was 10am) and ...

... you to feel obligated to keep in better touch....keep in better touch damnit! I'm not used to not knowing what's going on in your lives and like I said, even if I am not asking you on a weekly basis "so what's going on now?" I still want to know what's going on now. Even short little one liners ' hey - I bought pasta on sale today! I love 50 cent spaghetti!' excite me. Okay, so I'm exaggerating....but I think you get the point. Main point to all: I love you, I miss you, talk to me. xox K

I mentioned that I have gone to some pretty desperate measures to find friends here in Hamilton; I have done basically everything short of standing on a street corner stealing all the attention from the legally-allowed-to-be-there prostitutes by waving around a sign that says "HEY! I'M COOL! CALL ME AND WE'LL DO LUNCH!" But I have done something completely out of character. (Don't worry Dad, I didn't get paid to do it.) ....I went to Church! For those of you who know me really well ...

... my sinuses were burning from so much water going up my nose made me realize that closer is better :) After an exhausting and fun time in the ocean, we headed back to the lodge where it was time for dinner. Princess made us a yummy spaghetti dinner. (Yes, I know... normally I'm not a big spaghetti fan, but when there aren't any other options I really will eat anything!) I was the only one to stay behind in Raglan from my bus, so the next day I decided I would just chill out ...

... for us!) so we really chose the right people to flag down. The son in law of the guy in the car was a mechanic and not only did he charge our battery, he also mended a whole host of other problems under the bonnet, and they took us back to their house for lunch. Adam (the mechanic) had just finished sorting out most of our car problems when he discovered that we had a blown head gasget! He told us we should probably sell the car too, so ...

Well here I am in New Zealand now and officially a working girl for 3 months (god I hate those words) The trip to New Zealand was quite pleasant I found the the people to be quite friendly and helpful. Andy drove the girls and I to the airport in his love machine (his awesome little van) and we queued for ages cracking jokes along the way. Then came the goodbyes and the tears were rolling (I know the ice queen) think the sun has affected my emotions! Anyways off I went blobbing ...