Park View Motor Lodge Hamilton

... partake and soak it all up. I've EVEN decided that I want to do one thing that I have ALWAYS wanted to do, but have always been scared of doing.....which leads me to explain the title of this entry.....

For the longest time ever I've wanted to get a tattoo. For one reason or another it hasn't happened. So for my first big trip overseas I want to get one that ...

... wave or something. Seeya." I have a wonderful paddle around. It's hard work, but I get into a rhythm and it is mostly enjoyable (I'm very conscious about not tipping the kayak, as I don't think I could live through the **** Iain would give me.) and very beautiful (only a few houses around and one road). I dunno exactly what I did the days I was there... There was surfing on the very forgiving waves (I could get up 8 times out of 10! score!) Walking for a few hours ...

... I'd definitely like to do again. Like anything, you need to devote some time and practice to get the skill. For exercise we'd run into town, go for a walk down to the beach, gather a group for pick-up football or ultimate. We went into town adn played soccer with teh locals one night which was fun too. The summer touch rugby hadn't started up yet, otherwise, you know I'd be there!! During the evenings, we'd watch a dvd in the 'TV caboose' or play a game ...

... to settle in. And yippee, at long last I can get back to my old slutty habits. Except that hasn't proved that easy, as a maid comes in to clean up, fold all the bathroom towels and put them back in the right place, tidy up your PJs neatly, do the washing up (I could get to like this) and give you yet more toiletries after only one night. So the initial mess is now all neat and tidy, and I'll have to try again and see ...

This is taking a ridiculously long time to upload these pictures. That will teach us to take pictures on the highest setting! Here are as many as I've had the patience to put up, I'll probably try to upload another bunch before I leave for Samoa because there are a few things I've left out. I've ...

... another form of that Something Bigger Than Myself and educating myself on other religions. So in the spirit of what pulled me into those temples, I decided to say "okay" when a girl from work invited me to her Church after I asked her where all the "cool kids" my age hung out. I have been in Churches all over Europe. I have been to Mont Serrat (a very religious mountain in Spain), Notre Dame, the Vatican, Lourdes. My trip in Europe was full of the Catholic Church and me ...

... but sadly despite being at 'Alert Level 1' constantly, Ruapehu didn't have a minor eruption to cap off my New Zealand trip. I was pretty pleased to have got there though, and heading back round Lake Taupo to stop in the Tron for my last night, I was happy to know that I had pretty much covered New Zealand from top to bottom, east to west, in my time there. There's very few things I didn't see or do - perhaps I should write an encyclopaedia!

On Sunday morning I left Raglan, sad to go. I would have loved to stay longer and improve my surfing, but I had no money and needed to get back to work in Auckland on Monday. Auckland has a couple of surf beaches not too far away though, so I'll try and get out to them. Sunday also happened to be the day when Raglan held a rock n' roll and classic car festival, so I spent about an hour ...

... at the same time I did, and it was a good thing they were all talking about it because I heard one of them say "Information Center" and I knew it was my stop. I went in and asked about phones and internet and could she please point me to the hostel. I thought it was a much longer walk than it was. It's about a block. I love small towns. I had a tour of the hostel, and wished we'd stayed there the last time we were in Raglan. The place is nothing short of the ...

... shops there and very good curly fries! Wednesday 9th Jan, our last day there, we headed to town for internet etc and then walked by the river to the Hamilton Gardens, a pretty impressive selection of themed gardens and general large grounds with collections of plants. Nice way to spend the afternoon and made even better by a nice chocolate ice cream! That's it for Hamilton really, on Thursday 10th we headed ...