Morning class

I forgot to say that in class today we learned a lot of Maori games and practiced with Taiaha, which were used in battle. Check out our Harlem Shake with our Taiaha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr7So47KaEM

Homeward Bound.

Hey everyone,
It's hard to believe that the time has gone by so quickly! We will be returning in eleven days and though I'm excited to come home and see everyone and start working again, I have to say that I'm really sad to leave, it feels as if I am a part of this country and this is my home. Australia and New Zealand have been my home for the past nine weeks and it's so different from the States that I think when I first get home, it will feel foreign and strange. I found a one dollar bill (U.S.) in my suitcase this morning and just sat there and stared at it for a few minutes, because our money looks so different. New Zealand and Australian money is bright and colorful and America's is so...green. haha.
Rain will be good to see again though.

Anyway, Monday and Tuesday we had classes all day. My movie group's presentation went really well! Our whole group was relaxed and we really had fun with the whole thing, and had the whole group laughing. Jordan's birthday was on Tuesday, so we hiked up Mt. Albert and watched the sunset and had a little party up there. Wednesday morning we had to catch a ferry to Tiritiri Matangi, which is an open bird sanctuary. We split up into groups, (Ella, Maddy and I were all in different groups) and followed our guide around the island, taking in the beautiful scenery and the chatty birds. We saw a variety of birds including: the Stitchbird, Red-crowned Parakeet, Bellbird (I wrote my biology paper on this one), Tui, Saddlebacks and a whole bunch more. It was hard for my camera to capture the birds, so I don't have a lot of pictures that aren't anything but blurry blobs, but I think Ella has some, so I will have to get some from her later. But apparently Hobbs beach on Tiritiri is almost exactly like Fiji, where the sand stretches out forever and you can walk 100 feet out and the water is still only up to your knees. Maddy and some of the other girls saw a stingray while swimming in the area but I unfortunately, was not lucky enough to see it. This morning in Maori culture class we got to participate in the same ceremony that we first viewed when we arrived here. But this time we got to stand on the Maori side and welcome the newcomers, we even performed our Haka (war dance) for them. This is a huge honor and we are the first Greenriver group that has been asked to perform with the Maori for this ceremony. It was a lot of fun and then we shared the breath of life with the newcomers, like the Maori had done for us not so long ago.
It was really amazing.

Climbing on top of Mt. Albert. The guys easily pulled themselves up onto the top of this structure but the girls couldn't do it at first. So I tried and pulled myself up rather quickly and then the other girls followed suit. Have to say I was a little proud that I did it first :)

Sunset on top of Mt. Albert.

Hello Moon :)

Me, Lindsay and Jordan before the sunset on Mt. Albert. Happy 22nd Birthday to Jordan!

Looking out from Tiritiri Matangi.

From the ferry looking at Tiritiri.

Tiritiri - Hobbs Beach.

Tiny little Bellbird on Tiritiri at a feeder. They're nectar eaters like hummingbirds.

Sitichbird and Bellbird feeder.

At the summit of Tiritiri.

Looks very tropical, right?

Tui feeder. 

Lighthouse at the top of the island.

Ella and I on Hobbs beach.

Takahe - Huge bird, there are only about 250 left. 

Looking out from Hobbs beach. 

Tonight we have a goodbye barbecue at some friends of Bruce's house and tomorrow we're going to a rugby game. Saturday morning, Hannah, Ella and I are leaving for Queenstown for a few days and then will be back in Auckland on the 5th. We're hoping to catch up with Ryan while we're here, he promised to show us the night life downtown as well as do a few other day trips that we still want to do.
I'm not sure if I'll get to post anymore before that but I'll try to when we arrive back in Auckland.
I love you all and I'm excited to be able to hug you again!

Being a Hobbit

Hey Everyone. Rangitoto was really amazing – we hiked up to the top of the mountain and it started out easy but the higher we got, the steeper and rougher the terrain became. It was intense and we were all sweaty and hot. On the way up, we stopped off at the lava caves and adventured around in there and it was really fun, but kind of scary because for a stretch of one of the caves we had to crawl and it was pitch dark. Down at the bottom of the mountain used to be “bach” houses, which were basically beach, vacation homes for locals. The bach community is hugely important to New Zealanders because they heavily believe in getting away from the hustle and bustle of everything just to relax. The summit was absolutely beautiful, the trek down was hard and by the time I got down, I was drenched in sweat. So I jumped into the ocean with the guys. :) That was a lot of fun.

Wednesday we had a brief morning session and then a couple of hours to relax before our Culture class, I took a nap haha. And after culture we figured out the majority of our travel break plans. Which I’m really excited for. Katherine and I also booked a Hobbiton trip for the weekend. Thursday and Friday everyone spent most of the day writing papers, finalizing plans and generally just doing homework. Everyone is dreading going home but we will have too, it’s all coming to an end rather quickly, I wish that I could stay for a lot longer.

Saturday, we slept in and then Ella, Maddy and I got to meet our relative Julie and her son Ryan. They picked us from the lodge around two thirty and took us to Takapuna, which is a lovely little beach town. We had pizza on the beach, and Julie received a phone call from her sister, Margaret and since my Mimi and Papa are currently staying with her, I got to talk to them, which was a real treat. It was really nice to hear their voices after so long. I miss my family. Julie treated us to ice cream and showed us the cute town of Devonport. It was really fun to meet them and I’m really glad we got the chance too. Hopefully we will get to meet up with them again during our travel break. (Thanks Ryan and Julie for a lovely afternoon!).

Sunday morning, Katherine and I got up early and Bruce drove us to the bus station so that we could catch a three-hour bus to Matamata. We played hangman on the way down and had some really big laughs. When we got to Matamata, we booked the 12:30 tour to Hobbiton (we got there around 11:30) so we got lunch and ran into some of the other kids from our group on their way to Hobbiton as well but they were driving. Ella, Hannah, Britha and Hannah’s brother and his friend also drove down to Hobbiton but we did not see them while we were there. Hobbiton was really cool; I can’t believe how much it looks like the movie. To be a Hobbit you have to be between 5’-5’2” so I’m just a bit too tall but it was really cool to get to stand inside one, though none of the holes are decked out like in the movies. Bilbo’s house is the only one that has room for a film crew in it; all the others just have little corridors behind their doors.

Our tour guide told us that Peter Jackson is a sort of control freak and everything has to be completely perfect and he strives for perfection and detail, just incase anyone’s “watching with a magnifying glass”. The Alexanders own the land and when Peter Jackson was first told about the rolling hills and the giant pine beside the lake, he knew that he’d found exactly what he was looking for.  The first agreement was that after the Lord of the Rings were made the sets would be destroyed. However, when destruction got postponed and during that time, people flocked to see the sets and the Alexanders were encouraged to start a tourism business and promptly after that, it was decided that The Hobbit would be made into a movie as well, so all of the sets were rebuilt with longer lasting materials so that they could last for years.

The Green Dragon Inn serviced us cider after which was very good and we got the bus home soon after that. Today we had class, one of the girls from last year’s trip is visiting, her name is Kat and she reminds me of Ella. (Not my twin, another Ella we know at home). Tonight is my movie presentation on Eagle vs. Shark so wish me luck! 

Lovely Images

Rangitoto from the ferry. 

Downtown Auckland - looking back from the ferry.

Maddy and I on the ferry.

Alec and Carter on the way to the summit of Rangitoto, stopped to hike in the lava caves. We went down here too - it was so scary and dark and you had to crawl part of the way.

At the summit of Rangitoto - a very steep and hard hike, the ground was really unstable due to all the lava rock.

Another cave we adventured into.

Another shot at the summit.

Rangitoto is in the background, this beach Julie and Ryan took us to, Takapuna.

Another cave entrance. 

Little town of Takapuna.

Ryan, Maddy, me and Ella. - Takapuna

Ryan, Maddy, Julie and Ella.

Ella, Maddy and I with Auckland in the background, at Devonport. 

Creepy Golem statue in Matamata.

Katherine and I on the bus to Matamata.

Waiting for the bus to Hobbiton, in Matamata. :)

The bus company that took us to Hobbiton from Matamata.

Hobbiton!!!!!! 

Katherine and I in front of a hobbit hole. 

Inside a hobbit hole!!!

Adorable - Parts of hobbit took eight months to build and another six to get all the details in order, only to be used for eleven seconds in the movie. 

Little Hobbit treasures. 

Some of the doors are bigger than others so that when filming, the actors could stand by the small doors and look giant. The bigger doors were used for the Hobbits, making them look small.

Frodo's swing. 

Sam's house. 

The party tree.

Cool old looking wagon wheel - all of the lichen in Hobbiton is made of yoghurt and plaster and paint. 

Tons of sheep around because Hobbiton is in the middle of the Alexander farm, the last remaining sheep wool farm on the North Island. 

Hobbit hole on the lake. 

Beautiful country. 

Green Dragon Inn.

Bar inside the Inn - complimentary cider was provided. 

The lake beside the Shire.

Tiny little homes. 

So cool.

I'm a Hobbit!

Map from the new Hobbit movie. 

Sunset in Auckland. 

Vulcan Building - just thought this was really cool looking. (Plus the name is awesome.)

Train station we use on a regular basis. 

Bowie, the kitty that hangs around Unitec. 

Pretty flowers in Hobbiton. 

Billbo Baggins' house. The tree used to be real but was cut up and bolted together, the leaves were all hand wired and painted one by one onto the tree. 

Bilbo Baggins' house :)