Experience Addict: December 2006

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!

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: