Surfer Girl!

I forgot to add the picture of our finished turkey in my last post, so here he is!

Room 13 and Room 11 are thankful for many different things, including family, friends, and being alive!

 I have learned that no matter how tired you are, you have no choice but to take full advantage of the "2 stay at home days" you have when you are in another country and I think that I have done just that my entire time being in New Zealand.

On Friday night, Miranda and I went up the scenic drive with Amanda, my co-op, to her parents home for supper. We have been up the scenic drive one other time to see the views and they were amazing so I was really excited to see what it would look like having a house there. Needless to say, the view that we had from their porch was indescribable. It was nice to have a night away to just relax and enjoy the beauty that is surrounding Swanson. The supper that I had was so yummy and once again, I found myself being "Thanksgiving stuffed".

Saturday morning came and it was time to head to the Sky Tower, something that I have wanted to do since we came here. The Sky Tower is similar to the Space Needle in Seattle and you can see the entire city from the top of it.  When we got there, we saw some people doing the sky jump, where you bungee jump off the top of the building. It looked really fun but way too scary for me to even think about. We decided that we would simply take the elevator (which was kind of like the Tower of Terror where you can see outside as you are going up) and enjoy the view. We were able to go up 212 m (696 feet) and get a view of the entire city. It was absolutely gorgeous!

View from the top!

I even found our new boat Dad!

The Harbor Bridge

Looking down on the city

Needless to say, it was an incredible experience. It really made me think how quickly that this journey has been when I realized that it probably would be my last time in Auckland because I only have two weekends left and they are both jam packed with travel.

Miranda and I even managed to find some time on Saturday to spend at the casino!

The casino was decorate for Christmas!!

Just playing the slots in Auckland :)

 While in the city on Saturday, we also came upon a group of protestors who were outside the American consulate building. There were protesting the American stance in what has happened at the Gaza Strip. Needless to say, Miranda and I stayed on the other side of the street and tried to blend in as  much as possible so that no one would get mad at us for being American. It was an interesting protest because the police were involved and were helping to keep everyone safe by deferring traffic around the people in the street. I had never seen that before, not that I have been to a whole lot of protests in my days.

On Sunday, I spent most of the day planning out my upcoming week and getting myself ready for the following week as well. The exciting part of Sunday didn't come until the early evening when it was time to go surfing! I really didn't know what to think as I was getting ready to go. I was extremely excited to try it but nervous that I might be absolutely terrible at it! The beach that I went surfing at is called Piha Beach and it is one that Miranda and I had not yet visited. Our surf instructor picked us up at Swanson School and our adventure began!

Once we arrived at the beach, it was time to get changed into wetsuits and learn how to surf. We probably spent about 10 minutes total learning how to surf and the other hour and 50 minutes in the water, actually surfing. At first, it was really tricky trying to get up but after a few tries, I started to get the hang of it. The waves were probably 5-6ft in height so it was very intimidating at first. Once I got going though, I was able to stand up on my surf board quite a few times!! The time flew by and I honestly had the most amazing time of my life. It was so incredible to be in the ocean, surfing in New Zealand. Not many people can say that they have done that!

Learning about rips on the beach.

And now we learn to stand up!

Time for a little warm up, without our boards

Heading off to hang 10!

Surfer Girl!! Sadly, he didn't get one of me standing up.

Miranda and I are really hoping that we are going to be able to go one more time before we leave because it was so much fun! However, that will depend on how sore I am after this adventure. No one mentioned how tough it is to fight waves for 2 hours!! But it definitely was an experience that I would never take back. I can see how people can become so addicted to it. There truly is the most indescribable feeling when you finally stand up on your board and the ocean moves you. It is just incredible to be part of the ocean in that sense.

5 weeks have come and gone. It is hard to believe that this incredible experience will soon be coming to an end. I have learned so much from the people here and I am trying to embrace the more laid back lifestyle here and make it part of my own. When I do get back, however, the first thing I am doing is having a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese because I miss it sooooo much!! (Who ever thought that noodles and cheese could be missed, but trust me when I say that they can)

Have a wonderful week everyone and I hope to hear from all of you very soon!

XOXO
Surfer Girl