R.I.P Camera.....

So here it is, the week that was....

On Tuesday I went to Mission Beach for the day on a group trip. It was beautiful, there is a volcano right across the water and lots of small surrounding islands. It was about 20+ degrees and no clouds, really fun day, got to play a little volleyball and show off my amazing skills. Also, a lady from the NZ Herald came by and took some pictures of us for some "fun in the sun" piece or something (this most likely got cancled due to the earthquake). It was $5 for the bus + we got food, so it was quite nice.

Wednesday I woke up around 4-5am because some girls in my room were leaving early. And when you have four bunk beds in a tiny room, anytime anyone does ANYTHING you wake up. I tried going back to sleep but could only keep trying until about 8am (Sidenote: the dorm I'm staying in is extremely hot, 8 people + small room = sauna of stench). Anyway, it was a good thing I was up that early because I met a girl in the kitchen who told about a free bus tour of Auckland that day. Bonus level...I got to see the Museum, which is in the middle of a "Domain" (park) and sitting on a hill, it looks very opulent. Also got to see some sail boats and go over a nice bridge which has a small "beginner" type bungy, only 43 ft or so (Sidenote: you can basically base jump/bungy off of anything you want here it's amazing). The bus driver had never done the route before so we kept getting lost and one of the girls I was with was getting mad and trying to direct him around, lulz.

Yesterday I took a group trip out of the city and into an area owned by the native people (can't remember which tribe), they don't allow any city buses up there only the tour I was on and one other tour. This was by far the most beautiful place I've seen yet. We saw the Waitakere Ranges and walked around in the rainforest, which was mostly just replanted trees because the English (obviously) raped the forest by damming the water fall and then letting the water build up and take all the trees down and washed them out to their boats. In the rainforest are the Kitekite falls, we got to swim at the bottom of the falls and at the top, no jumping down though (suprisingly). This is when I jumped into the water with my camera and wallet still in my pocket, I hope the pictures I took before are still alright on my memory card, but the camera it self is finished (5 years strong, you will be missed camera). I was having such a good time though I didn't really mind.

After the falls we went to Piha Beach. It's a surfing beach, and the waves were pretty nice that day (maybe a touch windy) but no surfers were out. At Piha Beach is Lion Rock, which is pretty much an enormous rock you can walk up. The view from up there is AMAZING, there are some beach side properties (about $1 mil+ each) and it's surrounded by the mountain ranges, it's pretty awesome. I exchanged Facebook with some people on the trip so I will be able to show you some pictures once I get them sent to me. Everyone was very nice about letting me take pictures with their cameras and such <3.

And finally, today I'm not doing anything during the day! I'm going on a 2.5 day surf lesson trip this weekend. I can't remember the name of the place (all the names are in Mauri), but I do know it's meant to be very secluded and nice. And we'll be staying in little cottage type dorms on the beach which should be sweet.

So yea, basically that was my first week here, a fun filled extravaganza.

Peace & Love