AUSTRALIA!!!

Saying goodbye to my class, school, and home stay family was absolutely awful. I promised them I would be back because I have still yet to see the South Island.

Australia was phenomenal! What a perfect graduation present to myself! Justine and I traveled together to Sydney and stayed at Chiliblue Backpackers for four days. Our hostel was not in the best of shape and kinda dirty but the people were so nice and the event coordinator, Simon, really took care of us. One night he even got us hooked up with taking Salsa dance lessons from Brazilian instructors. It was great!! We went to Bondi Beach for two days to lay in the sun and play in the waves. We also took a ferry out to Manly Beach where I met someone who attempted to teach me how to surf. After a few battle wounds, I decided I had enough for one day. I will hands down say that the beaches in Sydney by far beat any other beaches I’ve ever seen. They are huge, the water is bright blue, great waves, soft soft soft sand, and stunning views. My favorite day was when we climbed the Harbour Bridge which is the world’s largest single arch bridge. It is 450 feet tall and we got the climb to the very top. http://www.bridgeclimb.com.au/ On the catwalk when I looked down and saw heaps of traffic flying by made me a bit queasy but the rest of the climb was a perfect adrenaline rush. The view was spectacular, and it gets better- Oprah was in town filming a show outside of the Opera House that very afternoon and we got to see Bon Jovi performing at her show, from the top of the bridge. It was unreal. We also walked around the Opera House later in the afternoon and spotted Hugh Jackman ziplining from the Opera House to Oprah’s stage. I can’t wait to watch that episode since I saw the whole set up!!! I also got my first pair of Ugg boots truly from Australia. Apparently, the Ugg brand that everyone has in the states is a knock off brand and those boots are not actually made in Australia, they are made in China. Check the tags!

I’m on my way home and taking the long way, of course, to make things as difficult as possible. I’m going from Australia, to NZ, spending the night at the airport, then headed back to Australia, to LA, to Denver. My sister and mom are going to pick me up from the airport and we’re going to have our annual girls shopping weekend, this year in Denver. I’m going to get the chance to see Pelzer in Denver as well! I’m so excited to see everyone again : )

Cheers

Bay of Islands

Talk about a fabulous last weekend in NZ!!  Abbe (a year 2 teacher at Forrest Hill) and I drove up to Bay of Islands for the weekend.  We left Saturday morning at 6 and made it their by 9.  On our way up we stopped in Kawakawa to the famous Hundertwasser toliets.  Sounds so strange-I know-but the walls were beautifully made with colorful bottles and pieces of glass and ceramic.  When we got to the Bay of Islands we took the "Excitor Jet Boat" out to the famous "Hole in the Rock" which was amazing.  The boat had 4 gigantic motors on the back and we went up to 53 knots.  It was super windy so our boat would go literally flying up in the air over the enormous ocean waves.  It was like an hour long rollercoaster ride with your stomach dropping and all!  On the way out to the Hole in the Rock we saw small islands, huge rock cliffs,  and the water literally looked like there was food coloring in it.  It was more blue than any other water I have seen in my life!  We also went out to Haruru Falls to see the waterfall and walked along the trails nearby.  Then we went to Waitangi where a lot of the history of NZ is featured and where the treaty was signed to keep alive the Maori culture forever more...?  We also took a ferry out to Russell a small, cutsey town where we walked around and did some shopping.  At night we met up with Justine and Austen who were also up there for the weekend, and we met two very friendly girls from Sweden who were staying at our hostel also. 

On our way back from the Bay of Islands we stopped in Whangarei to go shopping as well as pick up some snorkle equipment.  Our next stop was out to Goat Island to go swimming and snorkling in the ocean.  Yes, I saw the "Rainbow Fish," but he didn't share his shiny scales with me : ( 
 
Gabby, my host sister, came over to visit the other night and we put up the Christmas tree at our house. It's still a little bizarre for me to be thinking about Christmas with shorts on and the windows/doors open!  We also went out for dinner at a Tai restaurant the other night as a family because I have never been for Tai food and it is quite popular here.  I loved it!!

This week is my last week at school....I can't even bare to think about it!!  We had an earthquake drill yesterday where the kids had to get underneath the tables until the bell stopped and then we had to move to the field outside and wait with the other classes.  I can honestly say I have never done that before! My teacher was talking about the seasons in class today and she was talking about December being the start of summer and what kind of clothes you would wear from December to March.  Welllll, all I could think of was that December is winter and you wear hats and coats--hahaha somethings I might just never get used to!

My class is having a shared lunch for me tomorrow, and the teachers have planned a get together at a pub after work.  I'm excited for those things, but am completely dreading my last day.   Tomorrow is also my last day of school which means I'm graduating tomorrow-wow never thought that would happened.  And NO I'm not prepared to grow up yet! 

I'm headed to Sydney, Australia on Saturday with Justine!!