Coromandel Peninsula!

Hey everyone! Last weekend we went to Coromandel Peninsula which is directly east of Auckland (although you have to drive south and then back up north because there is water in between). We rented a van which was made me a little bit nervous because it was my first time trusting someone who wasn't used to driving on the wrong side of the road. My friend did an awesome job with staying to the left though. Anyway, we left for Coromandel on Friday and went straight to Tairua to get some dinner to cook on the grill. We went to a campsite near the Hot Water Beach and set up our tents there. We spent all night cooking on our little grill (it took a really long time!). The next morning we woke up and went to Hot Water Beach. When it is low tide, you dig a hole in the sand and make your own jacuzzi because the water underneath the sand is so warm! I tried surfing that day. Needless to say, it isn't for me. I tried a longboard which was way too big for me. The waves were rough (it is one of the worst places in New Zealand for rip tides) and I couldn't even hold the board. I didn't even try to ride a wave because it was scary so I just got out of the water. Kelsey and I traded our surf board for a boogie board. She had a lot of fun but I still wasn't too thrilled about going in the rough water so I stayed on the beach. After we finished at Hot Water Beach, we drove up to Cathedral Cove. It was absolutely amazing! We did a 40 minute hike each way and walked down to the cove. It is really beautiful. Then we went to dinner and back to a different campsite close to Coromandel town. We set up tent and got a good night's sleep. The next morning we woke up and went into Coromandel, stopping along the way to take some beautiful scenery pictures. We had breakfast and continued on our way to Coromandel National Park. We found a great place there to camp and we even found a cliff that you could jump off of into the water (completely safe!). It was really scary but I did it! After I did it once, it was a lot of fun. We spent the rest of the day walking up the rocks along the river. We found a bridge to cross the river on which only held one person at a time. I didn't like walking across that because it looked pretty old and rickety. After exploring, we went into town to get some dinner and found a place to camp. After setting up camp, we spent the night playing cards and trying not to get eaten alive by the millions of mosquitoes! We had a great time! The next morning we woke up at 5:30 am and got ready for our long hike up the mountain. We wanted to climb all the way to the top because you could look out over the edge and see this beautiful waterfall. We began our climb and it was really intense from the beginning. It was really steep the whole way up. At one point, it got so steep that they had to put a railroad track for people to climb up and not lose their footing. We got all the way to the top and had lunch looking out at the beautiful waterfall. It was definitely worth waking up early and climbing all that way. After our hike (the way down was really hard because you had to worry about slipping), we got in the car and headed for home so we could have the van back on time. We had such a great weekend! Then we got back to reality which included classes and school again. This week I set up a date with the kindegarten (I'm going on Wednesday!). I am really excited for that. Also, I got set up with a girl from Germany who is struggling with her English. I told her that I would help her with that. I went to the International Office and they set me up with someone who is really into volunteer work (which I am too!). This girl is going to meet with me tomorrow and show me some things I could be doing around Auckland. I am really excited for that. I am also going to get more involved with the International Office. They play soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I'm going to start with that! I will write more soon!

Hey everyone! Everything here has been going pretty well. I have been attending classes and have been getting pretty interested in them. I have now had almost 3 full weeks of classes and I'm starting to become more familiar with campus. I am looking into volunteering at a Kindergarten here. I found a program that works with study abroad students who are Education majors. It should be a great experience for me. I have not done much travelling since the last time I wrote but we did make a day trip to a beautiful beach on the west coast called Piha beach. It is a beach with black sand and beautiful rocks. We climbed to the top of "Lion Rock" which is the huge rock that you can see in the pictures. It was such a beautiful day! The view from the top of the rocks was incredible. It was such a little town but the scenery was just amazing. Ashley learned how to surf and Kelsey and I just went swimming in the water. It was freezing and the currents were really strong there! We had a great day! This weekend we are taking a road trip to Coromandel Peninsula. It is about a 2 and a half hour drive. It is supposed to be just beautiful there! I will write more after our trip!

Life in Auckland

Hi Everyone! I don't have a lot of exciting news to write about since we have just been settling into classes and everything but I wanted to write a little bit about where I'm living and post some pictures so you can see! We had orientation events all last week. On Monday, we had our school orientation. It was a lot of lecturing about information we already knew. They had a local Maori tribe perform for us, which was really neat. Then, on Tuesday, we went to Waiheke Island! It's a 30 minute ferry ride from Auckland. It was beautiful! When we got there, it was chilly and raining but all we had to do was wait an hour and it was like paradise! We went for walks and explored the beach and then we went to dinner at another spot on the island. It was a really great day! On Tuesday, we went to Long Bay Beach for our dorm orientation. We had a barbecue there with everyone. It was pretty nasty weather but it was perfect for walking and just reading a book on the beach. I found some really neat shells! The next day, we went bowling with our friend's dorm and met some people from Germany and Sweden. It's really great to meet so many international students. I am learning a lot about other countries. I had my first day of classes today. My first class was at 8 AM and it was a Theology class called Reading the Bible. I was actually really frustrated because I feel like a lot of the material is way over my head! My second class was at 2 PM and it was called Schooling Ethnic Diversity. I absolutely love this one already! Tomorrow I have class at 4, which is Introduction to Maori Education. I think I might like that one the best. Then, on Thursday, I have class at 12 which is Child and Adolescent Development. I don't have class on Mondays or Fridays which is really good because then I can travel on the weekends! Our next adventure is going to be to Cathedral Cove, a peninsula on the north island (about 3 hour bus ride from Auckland). It's supposed to be amazing there! Also, our spring break plans are to travel to Australia for the first part of our two weeks off and then to fly back to the South Island and travel around there for the second week. It's going to be amazing! I'll keep everyone posted on how I'm doing! Don't forget to leave me messages :)