The Monastery Hamilton

... It was pretty fun, but my weak stomach was feeling a bit woosey by the end of the hill. Great experience, but not one I feel the need to do again! <br>After the zorbing we headed to Rotorua for some luging action! Basically you sit in a little go cart with three wheels and hold handle bars to steer and increase or reduce your speed. This was so much fun! You have three different tracks to choose from and then you race the ...

Bevor es wieder zurueck nach Auckland geht mache ich noch einen Tag Pause an der Westkueste. Bei immer noch supergeilem Wetter ist der recht beschauliche Surferort Raglan genau das Richtige. Die Straende in der Umgebung sind der absolute Hammer. Bei Surfern sind die Straende weltweit bekannt, soll hier irgendwie die laengsten left handed waves ...

... coffee as we have found throughout NZ. After our last night in Taupo we went to watch the opening of the dam at Aritiatia Rapids. Vast quantities of water is emptied into the gorge at regular intervals during the day, then it stops again! Quite a spectacle. Then it was off to Waitomo for a trip in several caves to see the glowworms. Biddy thought it was absolutely spellbinding,(Spellbound is the best ...

... gang in Australia (or you could make it any country you wanted) goes out, it takes an hour to get to the bit of road they're going to dig up, and oh dear (probably not the exact words they used), they'd forogtten the shovels. So they phoned back to their supervisor, who said he'd be out as soon as he could with shovels but it would take an hour. They asked what they should do in the meantime. And the response: lean on each other! xx

... protein export contamination In 2007 a pet food recall was initiated by Menu Foods and other pet food manufacturers who had found their products had been contaminated and caused serious illnesses or deaths in some of the animals that had eaten them.[29][30][31] In March 2007, the US Food and Drug Administration reported finding white granular melamine in the pet food, in samples of white granular wheat gluten imported from a single source in China ...

... follow me through the bus and sit next to me but he sat at the front and chatted with someone he seemed to know while taking subtle sips of the beer he'd smuggled on. I just smiled to myself and knew that to look at him most people would never think anything other than he was a "useless native bum" (there is racism here in regards to the Maori, not as bad as the aboriginals in Australia but still present). When it was my stop, I went ...

... I would say "don't get me started" but it seems I already have! My biggest pet peeve is the cruel fact that no one can leave their phone alone. That no one can hear a text coming through and just leave it there until a moment that seems a little more appropriate. Like not during lunch with someone or while you're driving your car (and drinking coffee at the same time) or not while someone's trying to ask you a question/have a ...

... 22 of us who are all very nice and really friendly. Andrew is loving it as they are mainly all women with a handful of men chucked in for good measure. Today and yesterday we have been visiting the local seaside towns and have ended up in Raglan which is know for its surfing . We have been having a great laugh getting to known everyone and hearing everyones different ...

... headed down to Wellington as it would be easier to do it there. On the way down the car seemed so much better, and as long as we kept an eye on the temperature we thought we'd probably be fine to keep Margery (we've also become quite attatched to her!) at least until after WOMAD festival. We went back to Faye's house to wwoof for a few days, and visited Robert to see his newly born piglets, then continued down to Wellington for the arts festival.

... country. Any other country. Canada, probably, because it's the only one I could get away with, with this accent. I wondered how I could justify claiming New Zealand when someone asked where I was from. But I know I could never do that. I am from the United States. I will always be from the United States. And I'm okay with that. Someday I will be proud of it. Seeing the familiar, oh-so-very American foods at the grocery store made me realize that I do miss being in the United States ...