Northlands

I just returned from my last vacation in New Zealand.  This week has been a lot of bitter sweet emotions with lots of tears and laughter. 

We started our trip with a three hour trip to the Bay of Islands.   This is a beautiful town that is built a long a curvy coast line, with lots of Island that you can see off into the distance.  Our sleep arrangements consisted of staying in a bright yellow motel that was a step up from our Base X hostile experience but a step down from our Christchurch Gothic Heights Motel.  I stayed in a motel house area with Heidi, Christine, Anna, Becca, and Katie. 

Our first day there we visited the place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.  We had time to walk around and read about the event that brought together the pakeha (white European people) and the Maori people to become a united people in New Zealand.  It was very interesting to learn about the struggles and conflicts that took place with creating this treaty and bringing peace to this land.  And yet there are still struggles today with interpretations and understandings of the direct meaning.

The second day we got up early and headed out another three hours to make it to Cape Reinga.  The country side that we drive here in NZ is unreal.  I never understood why people complained about making the drive from Provo to Boise but now I understand how much more enjoyable car trips can be.  As we spend hours in the car I am constantly enthralled by the beautiful hills, plants, greenery, ocean, animals, and other things that make this land truly majestic.  This is the very most northern tip of New Zealand.  

We got to stand up on this amazing cliff looking out to a never ending view of ocean.  There were beautiful coast lines we could see on either side, but out into the distance we could only see the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea.  It was a very great experience to watch the exact point where these two oceans come together.  I never knew if there was any really rhyme or reason for where one ocean started and another began, but at this most northern type I could visually understand why.  The waves from the Sea and the Ocean literally collided together.

I also took lots of pictures for my little sister Becca.  We were talking the other night and she expressed her desire to see real blue water.  The water that I sat and enjoyed today was true blue water! 

We also took some time to drive along 90 mile beach.  These beach stretches so long and with such a high tide and strong current you have to time your visit to this beach very carefully.  There were no swimmers or people laying out.  Instead we basically had the majority of the coast to ourselves as we drove along.   In order to really see enough of the coast you have to drive to make it from one end to the other in time, before the high tide sets in.

At one point one of the vans got stuck in the sand and the girls all had to get out and help push the van free!

We also took some time to play at the sand dunes!  I'm up at the top with Anna and Nancy ready to be the first ones to take the boogie boards down the hill!

The next day we took a fairy across the ocean to visit another Island named Russel.  Here we explore the shops and view parts of the city!

Then headed to our science teacher Ian Milne’s home for the afternoon.  He invited us over to have lunch at his beach house and hang out at the beach.  We couldn’t turn down such a gracious offer.  The house was beautiful, right up next to the water with large windows overlooking the scenic view.  The water was literally glistening in the sun.  Since this was a more secluded beach there were hardly any other people there with us.

There were some rock pools nearby as well.  Some fish had gotten stuck in there with the tide.  Some of the girls and our friend James started trying to save them.  There were so many fish in this little area that we could literally reach in the water and pull out fish with our bare hands.  Then we threw them back out into the ocean.  While we were looking at the rock pools we also saw a baby octopus.  It was amazing how swift and smoothly this creature made its way along the ocean floor.

During this trip I finally had my first real sickness.  I was so amazing that this whole journey I hadn’t gotten sick yet.  But I can no longer say that.  The last few days of the trip, especially at night and in the mornings, I had a horrible sore throat, head ache, stuffy nose, and scratchy cough.  I tried to not complain but it made it hard to sleep and really enjoy everything that we were doing.  But I made it through and now I’m on the upswing.  I’m starting to feel better.

On our last full day we decided to hike to Hu ruru falls.  It was about an hour hike in and an hour hike out.  About 9 miles total.  The hike was beautiful with the bush all around us.  The waterfalls I have to say was just mediocre.  But as I was making this judgment on this waterfall I realized that I have become a bit spoiled.  Normally I would have loved any waterfall but because I have seen so many majestic waterfall scenes across New Zealand this one was just not as impressive.  But I still enjoyed the overall experience very well. 

I also found out some very exciting news this week.  Early this semester I had applied for an internship to teach in a classroom for the next year.  On this trip I found out that I have gotten accepted for an internship to teach second grade at Spring Creek Elementary, where I did my first practicum experience!  I am so excited about it.  I am constantly thinking of ideas on how I want to decorate my classroom and how I can teach different lessons.  This is such a huge responsibility I have been given but I am up for the challenge.   And this fall I will be living with two other intern teachers.  Caitlin will be teaching a 3^rd grade class and Heidi will be teaching a 2^nd grade class as well!


We realized that this was going to be the last time that our whole group was going to be all together in New Zealand.  Katie gave a touching family night lesson and really brought this trip full circle for us.  The theme that we have all had for this trip has been faith.  We can not fear only have faith in the Lord, faith that we can do hard things and faith that the Lord knows what our futures hold even if we are unsure.  It was a great final night being together.  We gave our friend James (who had helped drive and take care of us on all of our trips) a present and a thank you song the morning before we left for Auckland.  As we sang our Maori song and Lean On Me, each one of us was in tears.  It was such a touching moment to be all together with so much love for each other and for all that we have been through together.  And although all 16 girls will be going to school and working in the Utah area this next August it will never truly be the same again.