Life

Right now I am in Mount Maunganui.
I am couch surfing with the Vermont girl here. One night we slept in the back of my car.
On Sunday I move into my flat!
Very exciting.

I have a job!

I will begin work at Harbour View Hotel in Raglan on November 2nd as a server!

Once again....


LIFE IS GOOD


The next week I will go to Coromandel to a reggae show with Ben and the Vermont girl!

I have a FLAT

Mom & Dad-

Sorry you don't know this yet, but I have an apartment in Raglan. You should call me soon. 

I signed the papers today. I will be living with a Canadian guy named Allistair in downtown Raglan. This all begins on the 1st of Nov. 

Crazy.

Now lets hope I get a job.

This Country....

..is amazing. Have I mentioned that?

This past week I arrived in Raglan at Solscape. The ride was so beautiful. I really, truly, love it here. Everyday is full of good things. There are about 10 other Wwoofers from all over the world. I have many new friends. By day we work for 2.5 hours cleaning and by afternoon/night we relax and explore. I did all my medical stuff in order to get my working holiday visa. I am looking for jobs in Raglan and Wellington. Tomorrow I will go look at a house, "flat" here in Raglan. The other day I took off on a night trip to Wharepapa South- Froggate Edge- a rock climbing place. I bouldered a bit inside the backpackers and then explored the climbing areas outside. There was no one else staying at the backpackers so I had no one to climb with. Exploring was nice though. After that I drove to a hot beach in Kawhia. It is black sand and very few people know about it. You dig a hole in the sand and it fills with hot water. I just put my feet in, it was very very HOT. Anyway, before I discovered where the heat was I was walking around observing the beach and the weird sea life. I was the only one on the beach for about 40 minutes., after a while I noticed a couple of other people. One of them was a girl, 22 years old also, from Vergennes, VT! She played soccer.  Such a small world! Next week we will travel together to New Plymouth. 

And soon I will surf!

Jaw Dropping Beauty

So today I took off on my own adventure- a road trip to Raglan. Raglan is where I will be spending the next couple of weeks, WWOOFing. I'll be at an eco-retreat called Solscape. Here is a photo of a similar car to mine http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/90-96_Mitsubishi_Diamante_Wagon.jpg/250px-90-96_Mitsubishi_Diamante_Wagon.jpg
Before taking off I stopped at the Warehouse to buy myself some lollies (candy) and some purple keds, which are now muddy keds. After an hour and a half of driving I noticed my car was pulling drastically to the left. After about 10 minutes I finally made it to Whangarei to a grocery store. There, I discovered my tire was completely flat. I had a spare, but didn't think it was any good so I began thinking of other options. First and foremost, I went into the grocery store to buy chocolate covered pretzels so I could think properly. After walking around and talking with AA ( the AAA of NZ), I decided to attack the situation head on. I began changing the tire myself. Within 3 minutes I had an elderly man trying to assist me and then shortly after a mechanic decided to do his "yearly good deed." So 15 minutes later I was good to go- and my spare is a real tire that is suitable for me, for now. After that ordeal I decided it was lunch time. I drove into downtown and ate the best sandwich of my life. In the process I found a brochure stating some "walks" in the area. "Walks" are all over NZ- the Dept. of Conservation has designated walking areas, they are similar to a nature trail. So I set off on a Kauri walk. Kauri is an indigenous tree to NZ but most have been chopped down. The Kauri walk was very disappointing, but I discovered a very wet walk to some falls. These falls were absolutely amazing. And that is how my purple keds became muddy. After that I took off on the back roads to Orewa. I stopped here and there to observe. I found myself smiling at almost every corner. The hills were winding and around every turn I was equally as blown away by the beauty as I was the last. Eventually I made it to Warkworth- where I am staying the night now. I made too many stops to get to Orewa. It just so happens that this town decided to celebrate Spring so the 2 pubs in town are crackin', they have even installed a temporary river bar. I am just going to have to check it out. And I am going to do that now...

Wow. I bought a car.

Lets hope I get my work visa. Yesterday I bought a 1993 Mitsubishi station wagon. It's in good shape. Right now I am in Kerikeri (WWOOFing) a town north of Auckland. Tomorrow, I don't know where I'll be. We shall see soon enough. The family is absolutely amazing. The women has 5 children, 3 live with her now. Her house is incredible and she runs a small scale orchard. I like it there, I get a room and food for 4 hours a day, though I haven't been keeping my end of the deal because yesterday we ventured to get my car and then today it is raining.
I'll let you know of my future plans when I know.

Life is good cont...

So the past few weeks my life has basically consisted of living on the herb farm in Coromandel. Each morning I would wake up at about 8 am, we would work from 9-11, have tea, and by 11:30 we would be done with our obligations. Usually this would mean, nap time, or an adventurous bike ride to town. We planned our lives around meal times. Each night after dinner we would play many rounds of rummy while eating cookies.
A family friend of Ben's came up to visit for a week, Cari. Last weekend we went to a town called Hahei. It is very small and is a huge tourist spot for city folk in the summer. This is also the home of Cathedral Cove (see photos and it is featured in Lord of the Rings). Ben stumbled upon an apartment and a job there, lucky man. Anyway, that trip as a whole was incredible and I would not mind living there myself.
Overall NZ is amazing and I am trying to stay about a year- I am applying for a work visa. Wish me luck!

Life is good

Wow. Where to begin?
Well for one, I am having the time of my life. Right now I am sitting in an internet cafe in Auckland yet once again. Yesterday Ben and I left our campervans in Coromandel to flee to the big city. I still do not know what even tomorrow will bring....hoping to find a nice WWOOF farm on the west coast. Anyway after arriving in Auckland in the afternoon, Ben and I decided to hit up ther casino before heading to a rugby game. After many losses, we ended up actually walking away from the casino with an extra $30. Not bad. After the rugby game Ben and I met up with his friend Jordan and had a night out on the town. Today, we went on a little road trip to the west shore, a tiny town called, Piha. Of course it was raining for most of the day, but it only added to the experience. On our mini adventure we saw a sign for a dangerous surf beach, so typically we went. It was absolutely incredible. The rain was pouring down, and it was at high tide so even getting to see the beach was a trek. See my photos to understand. After feeling insanely liberated we kept on our path to Piha to only discover more beauty and rain.
Visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2166987&id=6906696&l=
I will update more later....