Fun in Whakatiwai

Since I don’t think I have mentioned it yet, our campus base is in Whakatiwai (Wh is pronounced f) on the western edge of the Firth of Thames. I still have not taken pictures of our ‘campus’ yet for whatever reason and if it weren’t dark I would take them now. Hopefully those pictures are to come soon. For other info about the life here, it is amazing, if I haven’t made that clear yet. It is a very simple life which I love. It is great not having/needing a cell phone every minute of every day. I shockingly don’t miss texting, which I definitely did in excess previous to this trip. I actually completely forgot I had a cell phone till I randomly found it yesterday. I recommend that everyone take a vacation and leave their phone behind or off the entire time. It will do you good.

The food here is amazing. I didn’t think it would be as good as it is, especially when it is as healthy as it is. I haven’t ever eaten this healthy in my life and I hope I can keep it up when I leave. I had the best guacamole EVER last week and there are always fresh avocados, as well as fruit and vegetables from our own gardens. We seem to go through tubs of peanut butter each week, our instructors and kitchen staff don’t seem to understand. It’s so good! If anybody was wondering, I have tried vegemite and I would love to know who thought that concentrated yeast extract was good, but who am I to judge? People love it. I definitely don’t. More power to them.

This past weekend, myself and 7 others from our group went to Auckland. It was a blast. We went to a market Saturday morning which was kind of like an art festival and farmers market in one. It was really awesome and I spent a good amount of money, yay presents! From there we went to the Waitangi Day Festival in southern Auckland where we happened to see Stan Walker, the Australian Idol. It was fun. :) There were more tents and art things along with really good food and shows.

I had my first hostel experience which turned out to be pretty chill. We got a free ‘dinner’ with our stay and it overall was a lot better than I was expecting. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Auckland where I spent a bunch more money, mostly for other people. :) We went to an ice bar that night which is legit a bar made out of ice. A little pricey but totally worth it, parkas and all. The next day we went to Rangitoto Island and hiked the volcano. The entire hike ended up being 11 km which was longer than I thought, it was a good hike though. Really pretty, pictures on facebook if I don’t get some on here. There were awesome lava caves too, I had never been in a cave before.

We leave tomorrow for the Coromadel for 4 days. We have the weekend off but most of us are staying on the peninsula and going to Cathedral Cove and the ‘hot’ beaches. It should be a good time.







Fun Fact
The sun is more intense in NZ not only due to tilt of earth, but because of a lack of significant pollution and particulates in the air. Due to this, the sunscreen is formulated differently. 35 proof ‘American’ sunscreen is 15 here.