That's Right...I'm a Hiker!

Since Megan and I lacked in adventure last weekend, we decided to make up for it this past one. We packed our gear and headed off towards Taupo (about a three hour drive). We nestled into our van upon arrival in Taupo to get a good nights rest. The next morning we walked around our campsite to see the wonderful array of animals it offered. There were chickens, parakeets, peacocks, ducks, llamas, and a sheep. After that we headed off towards the city centre of Taupo. We booked a tour of Lake Taupo, NZ's biggest lake, on a sailboat called the "Barbary." The sailboat cruise was about 2.5 hours long. We sailed past some awesome Maori rock carvings (the real purpose of the trip was to see these). It was the most gorgeous day! Then we hit some of the shops and got some lunch. Next we headed towards Huka Falls, which weren't very big, more like rapids, but the color was cool. It was very a really light turquoise. We once again boarded our van and drove on to Turangi. That night we stayed at a sweet campsite. It was $6 a piece to stay there. We could even book an hour in the spa rooms. So Megs and I took a nice relaxing hot tub before getting ready for the big day ahead. Sunday morning we awoke at 6 am to begin our greatest adventure yet. We did the Tongariro Crossing, 8 hour hike! It was a hard climb, but well worth it. On the bus on the way to the start of the trail our driver said to be very careful of the poisonous gas in the volcanoe crevaces, as well as for falling rocks, because three people had to be helicoptered off the crossing the day before. A little nervous, we ventured on. We hiked up towards a volcanoe, Mt. Doom, from Lord of the Rings. We then hiked through two craters, saw Emerald Lakes, hot springs, and about 5 hours later, began the descent that over looked Turangi and Lake Taupo. It was just what you would imagine New Zealand to look like. It was gorgeous! We were pretty sore after all that, but to say we did it feels pretty good.
Yesterday, we arrived at school, excited to tell everyone about our accomplishment. One teacher said she couldn't believe we actually came to school after the hike! Other people said we were really lucky to still be in good shape and not injured! Made me feel like an adventurous rock star. It really did!

Year 7 Camp

This past week I went to Totora Springs Camp with my year 7 kids (10-11 year olds). It was a blast. The kids had different stations to go to throughout the day. I was in charge of damper cooking. Cool, I thought. What the heck is damper? Well, I was in charge of building a fire with the kids and then they cooked the damper, which is like a scone mix that you mix with water, put on a stick and cook in the fire. The first day was...well....a learning experience. It rained most of the day, so the fire building was a little sketchy and I wasn't sure what the damper was supposed to look like, so that didn't go so great. But the second day I got the hang of it and it was much better! I also got to go to some of the stations and do the activities with the kids. I did the low ropes course, the flying fox (zip line through the trees), abseiling (repelling down a wall), and shooting. The second afternoon the kids got to use the hydro-slide. It is the second biggest water slide in the southern hemisphere. I went down it 4 times with the kids. I have never been so bruised and sore! It was wild. We even sent one parent who went down the slide to the hospital for stitches!
That night we had a dance with the kids. It was hilarious hearing them belt out to Kelly Clarkson with their little accents! Over all, I had a blast with the kids!

Waitomo and Hamilton

Saturday, Megs and I went to Waitomo. It is pretty much a nothing town except that
it is set on top of a ton of interconnecting caves. It is now a huge tourist attraction,
because inside the caves are glow worms. Megs and I decided to go and check it all out. We signed up for the Black Labyrinth tour. It was a 3 hour tour where we tube through the water in the caves! It was awesome! Not anything really wild, but it was a blast! We got there at 9:30 and were put on the 2:15 tour, so we had a little time to kill, so we went
to the cave museum, then to the Kiwi House, where we saw tons of cool birds and including Kiwi Birds. You can only see them now pretty much in sanctuaries. There were two of them. They are huge. I always thought they were little birds. They are so weird looking!

After that we had lunch and went to the Shearing Shed, where they shear Angora Rabbits daily and you can watch a shearing show with free admission. A women commentates the whole thing too! Hahaha. So we watched a rabbit get shorn! How random is that?!

Then it was time to go back for the cave tubing. We had to wear helmets with headlamps,
wetsuits, and boots. We went through practice safety regulations and stuff. Then we
went down into the cave. There are stalagmites and stalactites everywhere. It was really
cool. We walked through some and tubed through other parts. We also came to a part where there was a "waterfall" it was like maybe 4 feet, so we had to stand up, turn around with our tube on our butt and jump backwards down it. This is where we saw an eel. It was just a baby, they called her Lily. She is usually in the same spot under a rock I guess. Then we connected tubes with our group of 12 and our guides and turned our lamps off. Our guides pulled us through the caves in complete darkness, and when you look up you can see all these bluish green shiny dots above you. These were the glow worms. Then we disconnected our tubes, turned the headlamps off and had to find our way through the rest of the cave by using the glow worms above us as a guide. The guides said it was better to turn our lamps off not only to see the worms, but so we didn't see the other eels either. Apparently Lily's grandparents are in that part of the cave. They are over 3 feet long!!!!! AHHHH. It was so fun. Then we got hot showers afterwards, because the water was freezing, and free soup and bagels. After the caves we drove to Hamilton, a big city, and camped there for the night. We even treated ourselves to Pizza Hut!
Yesterday, we went to the Hamilton Gardens. They are huge!!!! We probably saw less than half in 2.5 hours! They were themed gardens. There was the Greek Garden, the Chinese Garden, the Parisian Garden, and the Indian Garden. They were beautiful!!! It was amazing. Check out the pics on my website!

This week I am off to camp in the wild NZ bush with my Year 7 kiddies. I can’t wait!

Squash Game

I played squash last night and lived to tell about it! And I had a blast!!!!!!!!

Best Night Ever

So, Megan read in the newspaper that there was indoor lawn bowling Tuesday nights at a local church. It said "Everyone Welcome! Free for your first time." Megan did a lot of lawn bowling when she was in Australia and loved it. So we thought, why not, right? We arrived at the church to see a sea of gray hair. We obviously didn't know it was a senior citizen thing! The closest person in age to us was in his fifties. And he was younger than the rest by twenty years. We sort of stood in the doorway just looking around when a woman came up to us and said, "new young people!" Well, we were introduced to the whole lot and everyone came to shake our hands. They gave Megan and I instructions on how to play and watched us practice so they could give us pointers. Before the real games began, it was time for announcements. The first one was, "Thank you to Doris for the new kneeling pads for us, they are lovely," and everyone clapped. The next was "it's great to see some old familiar faces here and to see two new young ones." And again everyone clapped for Megan and I. Then we were put on teams. My team did pretty well. I was by far the worst one there, but they all clapped for me everytime I bowled and gave me pointers. It was so nice to meet some new friends and they want Megan and I to join their league. It was one of the funniest nights we have had here! Who knows, maybe we will!

Whangamata and a little game they call squash

This weekend Megs and I hit up Whangamata. It is a beach close to home. We did some shopping and then laid on the beach and body surfed all day! It was a blast! I felt a little guilty when I know that my friends and family back home are freezing their booties off, but I thought, "hey, might as well enjoy the beautiful beach here. I am doing it for them."
Last night Megan and I went to a young adult youth group through our church. It is for anyone ages 17-30. It was awesome. It is so nice to be meeting more people our age and to get involved in something other than school.
And speaking of getting involved, I was asked to join the teachers' Squast team. I said, "sure, I'll join....oh yeah, what is it?" Apparently it is like raquetball, which I have never played. All I was told was "bring good shoes, and protective eyewear, and your first game is Wednesday!" hmmm...so now I am wondering why I was so willing to say yes. For those of you who know me well, I am neither athletic or graceful. In fact I am one of they most accident prone people I know. So yes, I am going to be standing in an enclosed room for 15 minute increments while little balls are being served at my face. I will post pics of my welts and bruises soon. If I don't make it through the game, I miss and love you all.