April 6th Beach Day and saying good-bye to NZ for the time being

Good bye NZ :(
Omaha Bay and other islands
The bay
Sheep...
I wanted to pet one but they kept running away :(
 The Magical Spot
and the beach
Unreal
Where the swing was hanging
Surfing
Me and the Fish
Don't take the fish or ANYTHING
the beach where the seagulls decided to take our snacks
No ANIMALS
Fabulous
Go HERE!!!
The gravel road to the epic beach
Seriously?
This is how plants should really look
the road to the regional park
I woke up to the sunshine and beauty of NZ... I sat in my bed and began to get sad... it was my last day in NZ and I was going to miss the place a ton... I then got up, got dressed and joined the family for breakfast... After breakfast we packed up the car with all our beach gear and Olly and I headed out to Tawharanui Regional Park for a day of exploring, sun and being out in the water...

I cannot tell you how beautiful the trip was to the regional park... The scenery was unreal, grass so green, sky light blue with clouds that looked as though they were painted in the sky, sheep, cows, pigs and lots of trees... I guess there is like 4 sheep per person. It took us about an hour to get to the regional park... No other animals are allowed to come into the park and there is a gate that opens to the park... NZ is extremely strict on bring any sort of plants, animals, soil, shells, even like ancient masks are not allowed in NZ... We finally made it to the beach! No taking shells, fish, or anything off the beach... The beach was absolutely beautiful... We had beach on both sides of us...

We had some lunch and decided to climb up a hill to overlook the beach area... When we got back the seagulls ate all our snacks... oops we forgot to close our lunch pack... LOL... Oh well... we moved to a different beach to get into the water and do some surfing/bodyboarding action... We were out for a bit then came back in to go back to Olly's house... We packed up and were about to leave the beach area until I saw a swing that was hanging that faced the beach area... I had to jump on and take a swing.... So beautiful...

As we made our way back to the car we decided to put all our gear into the car and venture up a hill to overlook a different side of the beach... We got up to the top and it was such a magical view... Looking to the left was all beach area and looking to the right was all beach area and to the back of us were sheep.... We sat and talked about life for about an hour with the sun on our bodies... I could not believe the view... It was a bit windy but why leave such a beautiful spot... I did not want to leave this amazing place but I knew my time was up and that I needed to get back to my school work... oh and graduation time was coming up... Olly said on the top that he would defiantly propose to someone at the spot we were at! I laughed... I said I would want to sleep under the stars if I had an extra day...

After seeing such a magical spot and talking about life... We made our way back to the car and drove back to Olly's house with a quick stop at one last beach on the way ... Gosh I love NZ... So much adventure and beauty... By the time we made it back to the house it was already 5:15 PM... I had to hurry up and get ready to leave... Rose and Dave made me my favorite dinner of SNAPPER Yum... After dinner I took a shower and packed up all my shells, calender that Olly gave me of Daves veggie master pieces... (Dave enters a contest every year and builds these incredible themed masterpieces out of veggies).... Unreal... I started to get sad... but then Dave told me he and Rose had a gift for me... I was like "WHAT?" ME: "I am the one that should be giving you guys a gift". I opened the gift and there was a tiny kiwi animal... AWWW... I started to laugh and tears formed... but I didn't cry... I was astounded by there generosity, love and friendship... For only knowing them 10 days I felt like I was already apart of the family... What a great feeling that was...

I said my good byes to Rose and it was off to the airport to get there by 7:30PM... Dave, Olly and I were reminiscing about my time and talking about farting... I know what an akward subject... but not with them... We were laughing so hard we were crying... God my abs hurt and I was going to miss these boys so much... I had a good two hour wait... but Dave and Olly stayed with me... We looked around at the stores... I showed them photos of friends back home... and we laughed some more... then it was time... I HATE good-byes... This was hard but I made my way through security and waved to Olly and Dave through the glass... I did not want to leave... I guess at this point the flight attendants were calling my name... "Calling passenger CARLY HILL"... oops almost missed my flight... Darn that would have sucked... I made it though... I sat down took a nightquil and was so pooped from the day that I fell right to sleep... I woke up a couple of times but slept pretty well... When I woke up I had some breakfast... not to bad and watch "Marley and Me"... Almost cried to that movie.... Our flight made it to LAX in about 11 hours... 

I really didn't want to be in LA... I wanted to be back in NZ on the beach... soaking up the sun and exploring... I left on a Monday night and got back to LA and SD at 6 PM Monday... Weird... Jet-lagged for sure... NZ if five hours behind California and a day ahead... gnarliness... I was culture shocked... and had a major case of the spring break blues.... did I really have school the next day... Oh yes... Oh well... I had the time of my life in NZ and I knew in my heart I would revisit... NZ is defiantly a place I could see myself revisiting and living there for a while... Maybe after my internship... I did look up as NZ being a place I can practice Dietetics'... Sweet... All I have to do is take a test and I can easily become licensed!

Olly and his family said it is super easy to get a working visa and a green card for that matter... NZ is in my future... But I have a lot to look forward to... My Dietetic Internship will be starting in August... If not NZ I will be back.

April 5th Muriwai

I woke up a bit later then usual and made my way to eat some breakfast.... After breakfast Olly showed me some more weight lifting moves to do on my own at home... He gave me a total body weight lifting routine to do three times a week.... He also showed me the correct way to weight lift, so I don't hurt myself... It's always nice to have your own personal trainer!

After that we loaded the car up with surfing gear and the body board.... This time I had some fins so I was stoked to be out in the water and get more speed... It kind of sucks body boarding with out fins... We made our way to Olly's favorite beach Muriwai.... It was a Sunday and the place was packed with cars and surfers....

I got to meet some of Olly's mates (friends)... I body boarded for about an hour and Olly was out surfing for about two hours... After surfing we made our way back to Olly's house for TEA time and then watched some TV.... Grey's Anatomy and the Practice... Then off to bed... What a great day full of adventure and fun :)

April 4th Drive Home from batch house and The Bay Of Islands Russell

  We all woke up and ate breakfast... Then packed up are gear and cleaned the batch house. We packed the car and got ready for the long car ride home. Left around 11AM and stopped for lunch around 12 PM at a really nice bakery... I had a sandwich and for dessert some AMAZING carrot cake... We ate by a pond with ducks and a little kitten... After lunch we made another hour long trip to The Bay of Islands and took a ferry ride to the small island Russell. Russell used to be called the "hellhole of the Pacific"... It didn't really look like it to me... Anyhow, it was a whaling station in the 1800's and attracted many colorful characters, mostly men that liked to drink and frequent brothels... Oh yes the Russell was the head quarters for the Red Light District. Russell is also known for having the first Church built on it in the whole of New Zealand, The Church is named "Christ Church" as well as this, for a period of 9 months in 1840, Russell was the capital of New Zealand... Now Auckland is... When I saw the Church I made sure to sign the book for visitors and saw the bullet holes in the walls of the Church which have been there since the lawless days of the 1800's. 

      After our view of the town we had some coffee at a Historic Hotels dining hall. We sat out on the porch and enjoyed the incredible view from the porch... Then we made our way back to the car for a ride a magnificent lookout point... Here is a video of the view... Unreal... 

  After the look out... We decided to take the more scenic road... Or should I say the more windy road... I got some great shots of the ocean and cliff side... After an hour of the windy road Olly started to get a bit car sick and so did I.... We got out and stretched then... They got back in the car and made our way to Whangarei for some dinner... We went to a great spot for TEA time... We all had the King fish except for Olly who had the chicken breast stuffed with brie cheese... Dave got dessert.... While Rose got tea and Olly Mexican Hot Chocolate... I was stuffed so I did the talking...

After dinner we drove another hour and a half and finally made it to the house by 10:30 PM... WOW what a day... Traveling sure takes a lot out of you.... But we got to see some fantastic views and of course Russell island too.

April 3 Beach and Snorkel Day

I woke up again to an incredible view of the harbor and a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, toast and cereal... After breakfast we all packed the car with ourselves and lunch... It took about an hour for us to reach an incredible beach with stunning views of the bay and reef. We spent the morning to mid-noon body-boarding, snorkeling, and had our lunch under the roasting hot sun. I did not see much snorkeling because the conditions weren't that good. I did see a school of needle nosed fish and a small puffer fish... I think if we went in the morning the conditions would have been much better and I would have seen a whole lot more underwater...

After are time at the beach, bronzing under the afternoon sun we decided to hit up a winery that overlooked the vineyard and had awesome views of the ocean... Would be a fantastic place to have a wedding! Olly and I tried three different samples of the wineries olive oil. We continued to eat all the bread... but we did leave one small piece for Dave to try... We didn't try any of the wine. I really need some caffeine, so we all suck with coffee and Dave got us some chocolate cake to share... It honestly wasn't that good but was very nice of him to share it with us. After coffee we went back to the batch house where we got the surf and body board to go ride some waves... All of us got into the jeep and rushed to the beach before the sunset. It was a bit windy out, so it made the sand pick up... I got some great shots of the beach I was talking about in the past post... Here is a video of it too:

  

After a bit of surfing we called it a day, made some TEA, watched some TV... and called it a night!

April 2 Cape Regina

     We all woke up to a beautiful view of the harbor right out the batch house window... We all ate breakfast, packed food for the day, and drove an hour to Cape Regina... Basiclly everyday I had no idea what I was doing... First stop was the light house... The views of the beaches in the back were incredible... There is a great action shot of Olly jumping into one of my photos with the view of the beach and sand dunes in the back... The sand dunes are gnarly... They kind of appear out of nowhere... You're just driving along and everything is green then all the sudden there are these massive sand dunes... Cape Regina is the northern most point of the North Island. It is where 2 seas meet; the Pacific Ocean (male) and Tasman Sea (female). You can actually see where they meet and I got a great photo of it (above). Both are different colours and the waves bash into one another... Such a beautiful sight. You're not allowed to eat or drink any colored liquids while on the ground. This is because Cape Regina is a spiritual ground for the maori. They believe that when you die a Maori spirit will travel to Cape Regina and jump into the rocks and swim to Three Kings Island which can be seen clearly on a good day in the distance. From here, the Maori spirit will look back on to New Zealand and reflect on their lives, by literally "looking back". I love learning about other cultures and spiritual beliefs! At the lighthouse I got a great photo of how far away Japan and LA are from Cape Regina... The light house and trail was truly incredible...

  Next up was lunch at Taputaputa Bay... We normally made sandwiches with hummus, lettuce, beets, tomato, avocado, carrots, sprouts, cucumber, and olly and his family always put this nasty smelling yeast-gluten spread on there bread... I couldn't handle the smell so I passed on putting it on mine... We also always had lots of fresh fruit and juice... Plus amazing nut bars on hand.... After lunch and exploring the beach a bit, we drove to the massive sand dunes to do some body boarding down the dunes.... what a great experiences.... You never would guess that you can get more crazy speed on these suckers... I loved the dunes! Here is a great video clip of me going down my first dune... pretty slow... but I did go faster and faster on the next few. Then one of Olly going down the largest sand dune, eating it at the end and getting sand all over him LOL. I got some great photos of the dunes... Everyday I was in NZ it was sunny and beautiful.

Next we went to a beach that was all made of shells... We explored the beach for a bit and got some great photos of the beach and shells on my hand. After our awesome day of course we had to end it with some surfing and body boarding... We got the beach jeep started and Olly, Dave and I headed the beach... Oh did I mention I was driving... OH yes... Everything is backwards and it was a manual... I was surprised we didn't crash until I got us stuck in the sand... I didn't realize we were going to be driving in the sand... Nor on the actual beach... Not something you can do in the states... I was laughing so hard when I staled in the sand that I was almost crying.

Olly and I switched spots and he 4-Wheeled it out of the sand for me.... Just happy we didn't have to walk home... We made it to the beach that was deserted... Absolutely nobody was in sight... just us... We put our wetsuits on... Olly lent me his spare wetsuit... Then we rode some waves for about an hour while Dave gathered mussels.... cause it was low tide....

We then headed back... took showers and Rose had made dinner... Beans for me since I don't eat a lot of meat... veggies, potatoes-yams and bread... dessert was fruit... I was so tried that I went to my room, read for a bit and dreamt of the beautiful NZ beach. What a great day and a incredibly memorable one with Olly and his family.