Park View Motor Lodge Hamilton

... time we tried to get closer to the city centre on the river. The first hotel to catch our attention was the Ventura Inn and Motor Lodge. I have to say this was the best value of the hotels (leaving aside all the special deals I got for the Copthorne's) we've been too. $109 for a massive room plus bed and breakfast. It's very, very like a Travelodge in the UK - in fact I reckon the owner has definitely visited Travelodge as some point! It was just a block away from the ...

... found a swimsuit in the free stuff bin an put it on) "You look more like you're going kayaking" "Yeah. More appropriate? Good." "So the basics are you do this, and you want to turn your wrist a little at the end. It's all in the wrist... You can take that any way you want, heh heh." "ah. K" "And don't drown." "Yeah. I'll work on that." "So, if your not back in an hour or so I'll come look for you. And by that I mean I'll stand at the edge of the dock." "K. I'll try ...

... different! And the company was lovely too! Again, the next day I just sorted out my **** (man I bought a lot of stuff over with me! I even managed to lose some of it into a black sack for the Salvation Army, which I was very proud of myself for doing...it was a good half a big black sack-ful that I managed to get rid of!) and loaded up the car between showers of rain! Then I left about 4:00pm to drive to Mount Maunganui.

... were still working out portions sizes and weren't expecting that 9 ppl ate as much as they did. The owners are vegetarian so we all vegetarian and about 95% organic and had delicious meals of bean burritos, sushi, lots of great hummus, pasta and did up pizzas in the earth ovens in the tipi area. Yum! For Fun.... The first week was a tad cold and wet and both of us were getting over some potential food poisoning, so a fair bit of our time was spent in the ...

... of the 100's of things they did. It was a deadly tour You can see us once we add the photos looking like little hobbits in the little houses. Unfortunately the hostel we're in now (not actually a hostel and more of a home house. It belongs to a daughter and mother from South Africa and the mother is about 127 (because she told me she was only messing of course)) has really old computer and internet is **** so cant upload any photos because its taking me ...

... people act and react, behaviour is fascinating even when it's supposedly "normal". I have been touched by a handful of people I've met and amazed by the kindness of complete strangers juxtaposed by some unexplainable behaviour as well. I may have left university because of the way I was taught.. or not taught as the case may be... but this trip is certainly teaching me just how to be a learner. Another cliche proven true: "You learn something new, every day." Miss you all, xox K

... that really believed in what they were doing. They weren't there out of guilt, obligation or force. They were there because they wanted to be. Toby came to introduce himself to me and said, "I see a bright light around you and sometimes you feel like a glass wall that people look right through. God wants me to tell you that people do see you, very clearly and that you have a distinct purpose here. You are going to do great things." I smiled and said, "Thank you, I think so too."

We'd spent a whole 24 hours in Raglan before it stopped raining. For the wet day we just sat around in the hostel, reading and occasionally ducking outside to the supermarket or to the beach to see if there were any waves. The trip we had organised to Waitomo Caves got called off due to the high waters in the cave system, and gradually news came in of several students washed away when floodwaters trapped them in a canyon in the Tongariro National ...

... worth the climb. We finished the walk at 4pm, just in time to catch the bus back to the hostel. Also while we were in Taupo we had to get a W.O.F done for the car (M.O.T), it failed unfotunately due to a small dent in a 'crumple zone' on the right sill. So we had the hassle and added expense of having to drive out to the panel beaters on the other side of town to try to get it fixed, luckily the guy passed it when we took it back to them ...

Raglan - a chill surfer town/artist and hippie community. We took morning dips in the harbor, surfed very successfully on giant banana boards (we were up at the same time and almost ran eachother over it was cooool!) had sunset singalongs on the cliff ...