This was an unbelievable weekend!! Earlier last week I met up with Lucy who is a true Kiwi but knows my friend that used to work in child psych with me. They work at childrens camps during the summer together in Iowa, and I got a chance to meet Lucy before she left in September. It turns out that we live pretty close to each other here in NZ so I met some of her friends and we went to the beach and got ice cream last week. I also went with her to one of her friends birthday grill outs. The house was right on the ocean in Devonport, and we stayed outside on the front deck all night. On our way home Lucy brought me to a look out so I could see Auckland City all lit up at night. BEAUTIFUL!
Saturday was one of the most thrilling days of my life. Justine and I took a bus to Waitomo Caves which is literally a town consisting of four buildings. Good thing we had plans before we got there! We took a tour that went blackwater rafting through the caves. After getting our wetsuits and lighted helmets on we went hiking to the caves with our tubes in hand. We walked through the caves, floated where there was water, climbed up waterfalls in the caves, jumped backwards off small cliffs into the water, saw (and swam with) eels, and saw and learned about wetta bugs. The caves were pitch black except for the lights on our helmets and the speckled blue lights from the glow worms on the ceiling of the caves. The inside of the caves are made up of limestone, and the outside simply looks like a large hill with forests growing like normal. At one point we were deeper than a 22 story building below ground. It was freezing in the water to say the least. http://www.waitomo.com/black-water-rafting.aspx
My family and I (Christine and Warwick) went out to a nice lunch and then drive to the west coast beach called Muriwai on Sunday. The sands are black in color, the waves are stronger, and the coastline is much more rugged. Christine wanted to show me the flocks of gannet birds that lived on the rock cliffs of Muriwai. They were just at the beginning of hatching their eggs and we got to see a few babies. Since the weather was gorgeous (about 27 degrees -hahaha) I went to the beach for the rest of the afternoon.
This week my kids start swimming at school. We have an outside pool and they race to put on their togs (swimsuits) for their swim lessons taught by the teachers. We have the school holiday Christmas in the Glade show on Wednesday. It's unbelievable (but yet a joy) how much Christmas and religion is allowed and encouraged in the public schools here. The ladies in the office have told me that I have converted to be a true Kiwi because they notice I don't wear shoes around the school any more. I only have two weeks left- I could cry.
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