Nearing the End...

Hello! So things have been pretty laid back around here the past few weeks. Classes ended, and we're going into our last week of exams. We get three weeks to take four exams, meaning unless you're a Kiwi you have a lot of free time not spent on studying. It's common knowledge now that Kiwis study way too much. But at least it's given me a chance to relax and enjoy my final couple of weeks in Auckland.

Last Saturday The All Blacks played England at Eden Park and a group of us went to the game. The All Blacks worked 'em 37-20. I enjoy rugby, but the best part of an All Blacks game is the pregame Haka. Just imagine lining up opposite these guys prior to a match.

All Blacks vs. South Africa (2006). Is this awesome or what?!

About a month ago I traveled down to Waitomo and went Black Water Rafting for the day. It consisted of abseiling 37 meters into the caves, zip lining around walls in the total darkness, floating down the river on an inner tube with glowworms overhead, coming face to face with an eel, and climbing through narrow crevices and up waterfalls back to daylight. The word I kept repeating when trying to describe everything was 'unreal'.

I also took a ferry with some friends to Rangitoto Island last week. It's the largest and most recent of over fifty volcanoes around Auckland. We explored some sweet lava caves and relaxed up on top for a while. It's always fun hopping on a boat and going around the harbor. Besides that, I've been hanging around Auckland and taking things pretty slow. Just trying to take in as much as possible and enjoy the city and the company before I head out.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum at the Domain

And, although it was mainly stormy, today was gorgeous. As I was walking back from the university this afternoon the clouds started to break up over the city, so I sat and watched them transform and pass by for a while. As the sun was setting a few hours later the whole sky was painted orange. I'll definitely miss the clouds here once I'm back in California.

The view of the sky from my flat

The Coromandel Peninsula

This past weekend was the Queen's Birthday, so we got a three day weekend and decided to celebrate by driving down to the Coromandel Peninsula. After a dead battery Saturday morning, we drove down and, besides a little overheating along the way, made our way onto the peninsula and relaxed at Paranui Beach for a little while. Then we drove to a small town Taranui and did a short climb to the top of a volcano that offered a great view of the harbor/inlet. From there it was time to find somewhere to spend the night, so we made our way up the coast a little and ended up setting up camp on a nice piece of grass at the car park for Cathedral Cove.

Grass and Sand Dune and Family at Paranui Beach

Fortunately no one bothered us throughout the night and I woke up early the next morning, walked ten meters, and watched the sunrise over the Pacific for the very first time. Next we went and experienced Hot Water Beach, which is this sweet beach where there's thermal pools underneath the sand, so you dig holes during low tide and the hot thermal water mixes in with some of the ocean water and you have a natural spa on the beach. It sounds unreal, especially since I don't know how many times back home I've dug holes and wished for just this. So we hung out there for a little while and then drove back to the car park where we had camped the previous night and hiked to Cathedral Cove. This is where they filmed the opening scene to Prince Caspian, and hearing that beforehand may have made my expectations unrealistic, but it was still really beautiful and so relaxing to hang there.

There's a rock and there's the cave at Cathedral Cove

It was right after this when our car decided our fate for the rest of the weekend. After a couple times shutting off while we were still in motion and multiple naps on the side of the road while letting it cool off, we turned it in to a mechanic in Tairua and spent the night at a hostel there. That gave us plenty of time to play some mean Ping Pong, and meant the next day entailed racing each other back to Auckland via hitch hiking. The well-off weekenders from Auckland were quite reluctant to offer up some rides at first, but after a while we all got picked up and made our way back to town. And that was the weekend.

See? It was relaxing. Here's my buddy Jort at Cathedral Cove