Where you'll find me...

A slideshow composed by your very own Shannon Victoria Hady, in the spirit of the season.

The Northland

These pictures are from our trip up to the Northland. We went for the weekend and stayed with Brent and Glenys friends. They had some land up there by the ocean and a house that was shaped like a barn. It is an investment and a cabin for them. It was a great trip and fun to hang out with everybody up there.

This is in the back of the house. It looks like this until you hit the beach:

We took a trip to the tip of New Zealand. This little store was on the way:

It was really beautiful up there:

This is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. The Tasman is greener and the Pacific is more blue.

Katie is getting practice doing "engagement sessions" at the beautiful places we see:

This is at Spirit's Bay. It is where the Maori people believe souls go after they die. It was pretty magical. The sun and sky looked so amazing. This was right by the beach. There were horses and cows hanging out by this stream and mountain. I thought that I must be dreaming.

The beach was deserted and the sand made of multi-colored shells.

We got caught in a little rain at Spirit's Bay and were rewarded with a couple amazing rainbows!

Work Exchange

I just wanted to write a bit more about the farm we've been staying at. Also, I may have not told some of you the whole story, so you might be confused as to why I am working on a farm. We went through this program called "Work Exchange." Zo, a guy we met at our first hostel introduced it to us. It is a program where people work on a farm in exchange for room and board. Most farms have each person work 4 hours per day and then they get a place to stay and all the food they can eat. We thought it sounded like a cool experience to stay with some farmers and see what it is like to live on a farm in New Zealand. We didn't really know what to expect from the work part, but we thought we would give it a try. Plus, it sounded nice to not spend any money for a while. Despite the fact that I was complaining about the work, we are all really glad that we went there. We have been able to do so many things and play so many roles - we joked around that we were at fantasy camp. For example, two days ago Drew spent most of the day chain sawing a tree into little bits for the burn pile. He took a break from that to help Glenys get some sheep into her truck. She sold 8 of them and was going to drop them off. It was quite the ordeal and I ended up helping out with it. Once they got the sheep into the pen, they had to get them into the truck, and they did not want to go. They ended up basically carrying them up the ramp. It was crazy to see my sweetie carrying those sheep. We are such city people - this stuff is way out of our comfort zone. We have gotten to know some really cool animals. The dogs, Rocco and Basil are sweet as can be. Miss Piggy the pig is pretty friendly. My favorite though, has got to be Tommy Lamb. He is the cutest and he actually comes when you call him. His mother deserted him, so he was raised with people and dogs, so that is who he is comfortable with. Oh, Tommy Lamb, I will miss you.
On Saturday, we went to a macadamia nut farm and walked around their gardens. We had macadamia nut coffee and desserts. It was heavenly - a beautiful, sunny day in NZ, walking around a lilly pond. After that, Glenys took us on a wine tour! We went to about 6 vineyards and tasted many different types of wine. It was so much fun! We bought a few bottles and headed to the beach to drink some and eat some cheese. It ended up being a bit too windy to eat cheese and drink wine at the beach, but it was amazing for taking photographs!!
On Sunday, Brent took us deep sea fishing. I was excited to be out on a boat. That is one of my favorite things to do. Fishing is not my thing, but Drew and Katie had a great time. Drew caught a sting ray that put up quite a fight. Katie caught an eagle ray which they kept and ate for dinner that evening. It was really sweet of Brent and Glenys to take us out and show us a good time.
We left yesterday (Monday). In the morning I took some pictures of Glenys' horse, Newby, for her. I really liked doing that. Horses are such cool, majestic animals. Glenys would have let us take Newby for a ride, but we are not very experienced riders and Newby is still kind of young and wild. I felt really nostalgic about the farm as we left it. It was nice to be out of the city and experience life on the farm. I've experienced nothing like it before and am very thankful that our adventure lead us there. Returning to the city was fun, but we were not too excited to stay at the hostel again. Our room is really cramped and not very comfortable. But...WE FOUND AN APARTMENT!! We went and saw it today and will move in tomorrow. It is close to the city center and we plan to stay there for one month. Our new friend Jamie from Georgia will live there with us, so we have become a foursome. He is traveling by himself and is very kind. The apt seems kind of too good to be true. It has a gym, a hot tub, is fully furnished, a bar, and they will let us be on a one month lease. We can't wait to move it there and have a home for a while.
After we checked out that apartment today, Katie went to a job interview and Drew and I went for a walk. We laid in the grass in Albert Park (I love Albert Park!!), in the sun, right next to a huge palm tree. It felt so good to do that. The weather here is pretty amazing. This country is just so great to travel in. I couldn't have imagined that it would be this nice.


These are for my sheep-loving friends:

This is my Sweetie being a Shepherd: (he plans to add it to his resume)

This is a flower from South Africa that Brent and Glenys grow on their farm:
Here is the Lilly Pad Pond at the Macadamia Nut Orchard:
Also at the Orchard:

This is at Muriwai Beach after our day spent tasting wine:




It was the most beautiful sun set

The Farm

Hi everybody! I am staying on a farm in northern Auckland right now. We have only been here for about a week and a half, but it seems like it's been much longer. It feels like we've been in New Zealand for a long time as well. Things are going pretty well here on the farm. It has been a lot of work - something that I am not used to, at least not this kind. There were a few days where we were pulling weeds for six hours a day. After a couple of hours on the first day, I was pretty much over it. I was trying to get over my attitudes and gain some sort of patience. I attempted to come to terms with the fact that I didn't always have to have some sort of meaning in what I was doing. But, after about 3 days of pulling weeds, I didn't care anymore; I just wanted to not have to do it. Since then I have had a few odd jobs around the house, including cleaning the gutters from the roof. Yesterday, I worked at Glenys and Brent's flower shop in Westgate for the day. It was pretty cool. It's a small shop and everything was pretty easy to pick up. I even made a bouquet to sell. I think that it has given me a new appreciation for the art of arranging flowers, which is pretty cool because I see them at weddings all the time.
On Sunday we purchased a car!! It is so nice to know that we have some freedom now! We have been sort of stuck on this farm and haven't been able to do much exploring. Exploring is sort of the reason that we are here, so it's good that we'll be able to get out. They do drive on the left side of the road here, so I was a little nervous about that at first, but we seem to be handling it pretty well. It is actually kind of fun! We help each other out too by letting each other know if we are drifting too much (or driving on the wrong side of the road!) ;)

Besides the work, the farm is pretty awesome. The people that own it are really nice and it is good to get to know some Kiwis. They have a bunch of animals: about 20 sheep, 2 dogs, 1 cat, a bunch of roosters, a pig, and they had 5 cows, but they sold them a couple days ago. Tommy lamb is the cutest little lamb that sleeps on their front porch. He comes around every night for a bottle and they are pretty sure that he thinks he is a dog. He is really cute - I want a pet lamb!

We are probably going to leave here soon because we have a lot more to see. Now that we have that car, we can get going when ever we want. I think the plan is to go back into the city of Auckland and use some resources: IEP - International Exchange Program, free internet, phone, etc. and decide where we want to go next. Katie wants to work to make some money, so her finding a job will probably help determine where we will go. I don't really care - I don't really want to work, I just want to go see the rest of New Zealand!

From what we have experienced so far, the people have been absolutely lovely. They are really travel friendly and helpful. We can understand them very well and they can understand us (neither of our accents are super strong and the way we use English is similar). They seem to have a similar sense of humor as us as well.

The city of Auckland seems like a very safe, clean place. There is tons to do during the day and at night. We are never too far away from a beautiful beach! Well, I guess that's about it for now. It is Tuesday here and I am working on my final paper because I still have not finished up that class. I am really close to being done now though. We are thinking we will leave on Sunday or around there, but that may change...

I'm so far away from you all! I hope you are all doing well and that you had a good Thanksgiving! :)(We had a little Thanksgiving here too. It was fun. We just ate a lot and watched a movie. The farmers were happy to indulge us!)

Mark's Magical Mystery Tour

I am trying to post as much as I can before I go to some farm in the middle of no where and don't have wireless anymore. These are from the day we went on Mark's Magical Tour ;) (Mark is Katie's my space friend - nice guy!) . He took us all around the west coast of Auckland, through the mountains and rain forests to these beaches. It was amazing! Photo credit for this first photo goes to Katie - the rest are mine. It is so beautiful here - the weather and the people are awesome! Love you all!