2007-08 South Island Summer Safari

I left the north island on the 26th, took a ferry across to the south island and I thought I was about to begin my adventure. But, instead of tramping through the bush, I spent my first 2 days in . . . suburbia. I stayed at a friends' place the first night and then realized that my car needed a bit of work. So, I hung out around their house and the town until my car was ready. I was so grateful to have a place to stay while my car was worked on, but I'm definitely ready to be on my way.

I ended up spending one more night and was ready to leave early the next day. Then I realized that I forgot to get the oil changed. So, I'm still in suburbia and my car should be ready any minute and then, I'll be off on my adventures.

Not your traditional Christmas

Well, there was no snow anywhere, no Christmas Eve service, no Groundhog Day (a tradition on Christmas Eve), instead I had a Kiwi Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I woke up at 3 a.m. on Christmas Eve morning to meet a friend for a hike. We left at about 4 in the morning and didn't have coffee until 6 so I'm not sure what went on for those first few hours. We hiked through the bush - in the rain, down to a river. By the time we got down there, it was still raining and I was cold and wet and maybe a little grumpy. Apparently, to get to 'the spot' he wanted to show me, we had to wade the river. Like I said, I may have been a little grumpy and cold and wet at that point, so I wouldn't cross. I stayed on one side and made a little home for myself under a rock while he went and fished.



Then the sun came out and dried up all the rain and I stopped being so grumpy. I never ended up crossing the river to see the waterfall, but next time, I'll be ready for it and hopefully I'll have better pictures of 'the spot.'


I spent Christmas Day with Steve and Kathy and the kiddos, but didn't take any pictures of them at all. I do have pictures of me with my Christmas outfits on. Di and Jo - thanks so much for the skirt, tank, and socks. I think I wore the tank top for 2 days straight.
Mom - thanks for the shirt - I've already worn it at the beach. I know it's only 2 days after Christmas, I might have opened the packages a little early. I waited about 30 seconds before I opened the one Di and Jo sent. I held out longer with mom's package - only because kathy hid it from me. But I wore her down and explained how practical it would be for me to open it early. Of course, as soon as I opened the packages, I felt guilty becuase I didn't wait.



Tina - thank you for the package, I actually waited to open yours until Christmas. I'm glad you explained what the veggie brush was for - I almost tried to use it as a loofah.

I definitely missed being home with friends and family and doing the typical things this year. But each year has been filled with so many unique and wonderful memories. And for me, the coming year holds the expectation of many more memories to be made.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was definitely different - filled with friends, warm weather, hiking, swimming, and getting ready for my 2007-08 South Island Summer Safari...

This Past Weekend

I've been in the land of dial-up again and tried to post, but it just wouldn't work. So, I'll start with the weekend before christmas. I oved out of Pukekohe. kathy cae up on Friday and we moved my few belongings down to her place. I wanted to get a shot of us moving the fridge but I didn't think she'd want me to snap a picture while she was holding it.


I returned the sofa to it's owner - I was very apreciative that she lent t to me, but I'm not that sad to see it go.

On Saturday, I drove over to Raglan - a west coast beach. The surf was small so it was perfect for me and I had a blast all afternoon. I thought you all - especially those of you in winter in the mid-west, might want to see where I spent Saturday.

On Sunday, I went right back to Raglan - it was a bit more crowded than Saturday. Here's what a crowded beach in New Zealand looks like.

No more school no more books . . .

That's right - the school year has ended here. I have a 7 week vacation!!! Friday was the last day - we had an awards assembly for the 9th and 10th graders, and then went to lunch with some friends.

On Sunday, a friend and I went camping, but before we did, I thought I'd stop at the local gypsy fair - they were passing through Pukekohe. Do we still have gypsies in the states? I just went in long enough to take some pictures because I went to one a few weeks ago and didn't take any pictures for the blog. I tried to finish my Christmas shopping there, but Lady Luck wasn't on my side.


After the gypsy fair, I took off for a few days to the Coromandel Peninsula. Here are a few of my favorite pictures - I won't put all 95 on the blog.





I thought this bird looked pretty cool and it let me get in really close so I decided to take a few pictures. It must of gotten tired of me snapping the camera, becuse after the 4th picture it looked right at me, puffed itself up and flew right at me. Anyone who knows me knows I wasn't graceful. I yelped and flailed and did a couple of karate maneuvers - then ran for dear life. I think I showed that bird who was tough.

We heard about a tourist area called Hot Water Beach. There's thermal activity at ths beach, and you can dig a hole, let it fill with ocean water, and the ground is so hot, it will heat the water. It sounded great - until we got there. I don't think I'm used to seeing crowds of people anymore since I've been here. I couldn't believe how many people were there.


No one told us you're supposed to bring a shovel. We gave up digging the hole, - it was deep enough for us to feel the heat on our feet. Once we did that. we got away from the crowds.


This is where we camped on Monday night. We had the entire beach to ourselves. It might have been because you're no allowed to camp there but we didn't realize that until it was too late to hike back out.

Sweet as...

I had to take a picture of this sign as soon as I saw it. It's an expression that I did not understand when I first got here. If something is really cool or fun or good, they will say it's sweet as, cool as, fun as. When I gave my first test to my students they said it was hard as. I made a funny joke and someone said I was crack up as.

Everytime I hear it, I just want to ask, As what?
I've started getting used to it - I just hope I don't start saying it.

I have 2 more days of school left and then summer vacation!! Hopefully I will have some adventures and pictures to share with you all soon.

The Boot

Well, I decided to post a picture of The Boot. For those who don’t know – who didn’t get the e-mail, the Boot is an award given to a staff member at the school who does something silly or embarrassing during the week. I’ve stayed out of it until last week. Amy was surprised that it took me this long to get it.
I got the boot for getting locked in my classroom with me students. We called maintenance, but they couldn’t get in, so at the end of class, my students and I had to climb out of the window. I’m just glad I wasn’t wearing a skirt and that we were on the first floor.
It might not sound like a big deal to lock oneself and one’s class in a room, but this came after locking my keys in my car a couple of times and locking myself out of my house twice. So, when I locked myself in my room, no one really took me seriously. The assistant principal’s response was , “We need to give that girl a lesson on how to open doors.”

So, last Friday, the staff voted and it was unanimous that the “American Import” get the boot.

FORE!!!!

I played my first round of golf - actually only 9 holes - or as we say in the golf world, the back 9. The math department at the high school had an end of year outing - golf first then dinner. The head of the math department said he wanted to partner with me so he could have a good laugh, but at the end of the game said that he didn't get to laugh as much as he wanted to. He said I did really well for my first time ever hitting a golf ball. Unless you count miniature golf.

Here's a few of the maths people getting ready for the day. Who says mathematcians don't know how to have fun?

I had no idea what I was doing and the people I was with gave no help at all. I would just whack the ball and hope that it would go kind of in the direction that it needed to go.
Not exactly where I wanted it to land.I scored 73 for 9 holes, but that's only because we stopped counting after 10 shots per hole.