Shepherds Arms Hotel Wellington

... the beach. We spent the night in this tiny little hostel, played darts and cards and pigged out :)

The next day we continued South to Rotorua (stopping first in "Hobbiton" for those Lord of the Ring fans), the cultural center of New Zealand. On the way, we stopped off at "Hot Water Beach," located just above a thermal outlet. We grabbed a few shovels, set out for the beach and began digging our own little hotpools! It's crazy how hot these pools and others ...

... and pretty homesick which was different because I've never really known what homesick feels like. (Don't worry though, things get better!)

Day two came around and I forced everyone to walk around the entire day looking for jobs. I'd say that I might be one of the most difficult people to travel with because of my bossiness, but I'm all about getting things done. My friends understand me and love me (at least for now) despite of all this. We were sort of ...

... earthquake you could create; going in a house to experience an earthquake; looking at the giant squid display and learning about the Kakapo (a flightless parrot, near extinction). We were less impressed with the sculpture terrace... which was just two sheds, one painted red, the other yellow. There were loads of interactive gadgets and stuff to keep you interested. After getting ...

... grounds
Arrived at Sandras early evening as she returned from work. Pleasant evening catching up on news and changes.

Day 51 Tuesday 25th August Johnsonville and Newlands

A day of looking around our old suburb and especially our street. The house we lived in now has a 2 story house on its front lawn. Very tight use of land in these suburbs.
Took a trip through Ohariu Valley to Makara Beach overlooking the South Island. Very winding ...

... but you can't really tamper with this type of natural activity I cycled into town on the Sunday and visited the small Maori village of Ohinemutu. It has a wonderfully decorated marae, or meeting place, but it wasn't open to visitors on that day as they were having a very special ceremony to recognize the return by the Auckland Museum of the 200 year old remains of one of their ancestors. The decorative carvings, paintings and woven work by the Maori which I have seen in ...

... Oh and I accidently am sitting in the wrong row. Thank goodness that the man whose seat I took was kind and just sat where I was supposed to be sitting.  But I just had to write a paper about my expectations. And I realized that I really don't have any. I have no idea what I am about to get myself into. It sounds like I will be working with a few other interns (which I am excited about) and sampling different types of land to see ...

... experienced an earthquake where a model house shook and rattled, then we watched a film on the Golden days when new settlers arrived from the UK. The Collosal Squid, which had been caught in the Antarctic Seas, was preserved and donated to the Museum. There was so much to see and do we decided to return the next day.

Kia Ora, das Wetter ist doch noch einmal besser geworden, sonnig und warm, allerdings recht windig. Nun man kann nicht alles haben:-) Von der Polizei habe ich noch nichts gehoert (vom georgischen Gericht), von der Immigrationsbehoerde leider auch nicht. Die Kiwibank will mir keine Hypothek geben, da ich kein Residence Permit habe... Mal schauen ob ich eine andere Bank finde. Im Moment steigen allerdings die Zinsen wieder... (see below ...

... guides avaient tellement l'accent Neo-Zelandais qu'on ne comprenais jamais les instructions. Les Maoris appellent L'ile du Nord, ile fumante pour une bonne raison, elle deborde d'activite geotermique . Au cours de notre periple, nous avons visite un site ou il y a avait notamment un geyser, des lacs acides, des puits de boues bouillantes.. tres interessant mais vraiment puant! Nous avons d'ailleurs passe la nuit pres d'un ...

first day with our new bus, there were half a dozen people we'd met already on the bus and me claire and kerrie had already formed our little group. first day we met shaz our driver who cant seem to stop spppprrreeaading his woooooorrrrrdss out whenever he speaks which takes some getting used to.we went up to cathedral cove adn walked in the rain to a beauitful beach adn took some photos before running back up to the truck before we got drenched. then onto the thermal beach at ...