May 18, 2009-just a catch up to the end of people visiting

SOOO LONG!!! I AM SO SORRY!!!

It has been an absolutely crazy couple of months. 

First, Ari's mom and sister came and we went on a sailing trip to Motiti Island and then Ari and his mom and sister went up to Hot Water Beach, Cathedral Cove, and the Coromandel. Then his mom said goodbye and Ari and his sister took the van and headed south. I was bummed that I couldn't go with them, but I worked hard out while they went to Abel Tasman and hiked the national park and then they drove down the west coast of the south island and hiked up Fox Glacier. Then I flew down to Christchurch and then took a bus to meet them and Chris Duncombe in Queenstown. We all four spent the night in Queenstown and then drove down to Milford Sound to visit Nana! It was fantastic! Milford Sound is absolutely stunning!!! Nana hooked us up with a free ride on the boat and we got the boat cruise and got to go into the underwater observatory. Of course it was a challenge to get Ari out of the underwater observatory. They said "now or never" and Ari tried to choose "never" but I think his mom might have killed me if I'd left him down there forever. 

Then we drove up to Christchurch and picked up Rocky and headed back to the West coast and went to the Hokitika Wild Food Festival. And by wild food...I mean wild food....  Try grub worms (I threw it up), regular worms (took it in a red bull shot and didn't notice it even go down), shark (really yummy), wild boar (not so yummy), lambs tail (really gross), pure hunny (made me nauseous), and so so many more. That night we drove up to Greymouth to stay, but there was no where to stay because of the festival so we sadly dropped off Chris and the rest of us drove to Nelson. 

Nelson is a beautiful little town and we stayed in a pub hostel. It's a speights bar with a hostel upstairs.  We tried to sneak all of us into a double room and got caught. That didn't go so well, but I smooth talked the guy and in the end we were all fine and everyone was happy.  It was a bit embarrassing, but it was late by the time we had gotten there so I told him it was all confusion on our part because we were so exhausted and he bought it. Oh well..chalk it up to one of those crazy young life experiences.

The next day we drove to Picton and Ari and I sat up front. Liz and Rocky hid in the back of the van between the seats and we snuck them on to the boat. It's so expensive for the ferry across between the islands! It's like $50 per person and $110 for a normal vehicle! It's simply stupid! So we paid for the vehicle and two people and didn't mind ripping them off another $100 for the other two.  

Liz and I then slept while Ari and Rocky drove the 8 hour drive back from Wellington to Mt. Maunganui.

Then we spent a couple more days and Ari and Liz and I drove to Auckland and picked up my mom!!!!! I was so so so excited to see her I could hardly contain myself!!! I was so happy to see her! We went on the Stray tour and took them on a tour of all the cool places in Auckland and some new ones we'd not been to. It was a perfect day. And then we got a hotel and my mom took a nap while Ari and I took Liz to the airport. It was very sad to say goodbye to Liz. 

Elizabeth, I know you read this, we truly had such an amazing experience with you. I loved all of our little chats and spending more time getting to know each other. You're an amazing girl and I love you dearly! Ari and I still talk about how freakin' awesome your visit was.

Then Ari and my mom and I went up to the Bay of Islands and had a fabulous time up there. It never ceases to amaze me how stunningly beautiful it is up there. We went to the Kaori Forest Museum on the way down and stopped at a top 10 holiday park. I am sad to say that that was the last we ever saw of Ear Big. It was a sad day for the stuffed animal that has toured the world. I think it befriended the sheep and ran away with them. We spent a couple days up there and then headed back to Auckland and picked up Kelly Bouyer and Dave Williams from the airport. 

We then all headed out to the Coromandel Peninsula. For the next couple days we went to Hot Water Beach and dug our own holes, we walked to Cathedral Cove and hung out on the gorgeous beach there. We stayed at a place called "The Church" which is a beautiful old church that has been restored into a restaurant and the back lands have been turned into hotel rooms and cabins. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Except for the cockroaches that were apparently climbing all over people at night. 

Then we went back to the Mount and spent a couple days soaking up the sun before heading down to Rotorua and then Taupo. While in the Mount we all went on a helicopter tour of the the area and it was SO awesome! it was a perfectly sunny and clear day and the views were absolutely stunning!! Then we went to Rotorua and went Zorbing and spun down a hill in a big plastic orb before going and feeding ostriches and my mom befriended a fuzzy cow. Then we went to Taupo and and the crap weather set in. We tried to chase the sun, but we failed for a brief moment. Luckily, the skies parted for an afternoon and we went on a guided kayak tour to see a bunch of Maori stone carvings on Taupo Lake. It was so nice and we all had a great time!

The boys were going to go skydiving, but then the weather set in and no more diving was possible. so we all headed back to the Mount for the final night of enjoyment. 

Sadly, Ari took them to the airport and we all said goodbye. It was a sad day. I worked a couple more days. And then Ari started work at the Kiwifruit packhouse. And my mom and I flew to Christchurch again.

We rented a car and drove over Arthur's Pass. We hiked to the Devil's Punchbowl-a really cool waterfall. And we stopped to try and see the Kea parrots, but no such luck. Then we drove down the Franz Josef. It was beautiful there, but we kept going to Fox Glacier. Ari said we had to do the full day hike. He said it was like 300 steps and then you get on the glacier and then you spend the rest of the day on the glacier. Then we got there and we were nervous, but really wanted to do it and Ari said we'd be able to handle it. Then the girl there said it was 500 steps to the ice. We said 'okay, we'll do it." We slept in a hotel watching the fabulous sunset over the amazing glacier. Then we got up the next morning, got to the meeting place and mom says "everyone else here is 12" and she wasn't far off. But I was sure we could still do it..however nervous I still was. Then we get on the bus and the tour guide says "700-800 steps!" and we panicked. Most of the way up I could tell mom really wanted to strangle me and clobber Ari for suggesting it. The stairs were out of control hard. But we made it! and we spent the whole day tramping around with crampons on the glacier and it was fabulous!!!! And we finally got to see Kea Parrots up close and personal!! We had such an awesome time up there and it was so worth the pain of the stairs. Would I do it again? I'll have to get back to you on that one. I might pay the extra $150 per person to get the helicopter tour up to the top. hahaha.

We were supposed to head north to Abel Tasman, but we were exhausted. So we stayed another night and then headed south to Wanaka. We saw a hitchhiker from our Fox glacier tour and picked her up and gave her a ride a way down the road. 

We got to Wanaka and decided to stay the night. We got a hotel with a gazebo that looked out over the lake and out at the mountains and we read our books as we watched the sunset. Oh, before that we went into a gigantic Tui nest and filmed a video home:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?v=mgyFIl2BJS0&user=PureNZHaveYourSay

Then we headed East and drove through Twizel (and I bought mom an Ear Big replacement and she named it Twizel) and then we went to Lake Tekapo (still one of my favorite views). then we drove to Christchurch and met up with and old friend of Uncle Luke's for some drinks. That was a very nice time.

Finally, the next night we flew back to Auckland. Chris Met us there with my car (he had returned to Mt. Maunganui and was flying home the same day and time as mom). I sadly..very sadly said goodbye to them both and drove home alone. I cried the whole way. I had such an awesome time with you mom!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!! It really was one  of the best experiences of my life so far! I miss you very very very much and it was very hard for me to get into anything after that. I just wanted to go home and be with you all the time.

But, back to work I got. I was working at the hotel and the hostel days and Ari was working at the packhouse nights and we were working hard and not seeing each other much. But then I picked up some shifts at the packhouse to spend time together. 

March 6, 2009

So much to say...so much to say.

A week ago or so Ari and I were able to go to the KapaHaka. It was really cool, but a very odd experience for me. The Kapa Haka is a national competition of Haka groups. We went expecting to see a bunch of people doing traditional Hakas and competing to each other face to face.

Instead, what I got was a show choir competition of hakas. No joke. I felt like I was back in show choir again. They had outfits and did singing and hakas and dancing and call and responses and poi dancing. They were rated by a panel of judges on various different technicalities and techniques. It was JUST like a show competition. But it was really interesting and fun still. Some of them were really great and you could really feel the power behind their words and movements and others were not so good. Attached at the venue was a sort of fair of various things. And I noticed a few things that really made me freak out. A while back, when we went to the free concerts for Waitangi Day there were tons of airbrush tattoo places. Well, at KapaHaka, I went into the first room inside the venue and I walked right in on this guy giving REAL tattoos to a line of people! In the middle of the room! I was shocked! My first thought was "I really don't want to be seeing this! This is why I avoid tattoo shops!" and my second thought was "that can't be sanitary! Sure, he's wearing gloves, but he can't control other things in the air!" And so then we went outside to a bunch of tents and we start walking through one. The first thing I notice is this great thing they have at all venues....FREE WATER WITH FREE WATER BOTTLES! It's awesome. Every event has a stand and sometimes they give out actual like sturdy water bottles that you can keep forever and sometimes they don't, but they always have an endless supply of free water that you can just walk up to and fill your bottle from. And right next to that was a cool stand that was giving out posters of various fish in the ocean with both the Maori and English names and a chart of the legal lengths they have to be to keep them. And next to that....yes, now you're right....another tattoo stand! With some guy getting the biggest tattoo I'd ever seen right behind his ear and tons of people. I mean 30 some-odd people standing right on top of him watching. It's just not right!!!

Aside from that I got another job. working in a hotel as a cleaning person. It stinks...it's annoying but it's only a couple hours a day and it's some extra cash. However, a girl at the backpackers quit, so I'm going to get more hours there and quit the cleaning job. However, because of the cleaning job, I did get to meet the New Zealand Sevens Rugby team. That was real cool. Okay, I was scrubbing their bathroom floors, looked like crap and had bleach all over my clothes, but whatevs...I met the Sevens. hahahaha.

Rocky has come to live with us and that's been heaps of fun. We've really gotten to know each other and it's been tons of fun hanging out and shootin' the shit. 

Ari's mom and sister got here on the 28th of Feb. And we had a really lovely time. unfortunately, the weather has decided to give us a glimpse of what winter at the mount is like and it's been pissing rain for days. And the first day they get here it rains so hard you can't leave the house without getting absolutely drenched. But it's still been fun. We went to the mall and did waaaaayyyy to much shopping, but we found this company and both Osanna and I fell in love with their designs. It's called Maxwell & Williams. She bought out their entire tea cup and two platter and egg cup set of the orchard fruit designs. And she got me this absolutely stunning teapot set that I just have to get more of. It's called "tea for one cream pansy" and it's SOOO cute. And Elizabeth got one too! It's genius! It's a teapot, but the cup is the bottom part, so the tea cup is half the design and half white, but when you set it in the cup it looks like it's all one thing. you just have to see the picture to understand www.maxwellandwilliams.co.uk/index.php?keywords=cream+pansy=Go&page=search

Just look at the enlarged picture! so cute! and they have  the same teapot with other really cute designs! I absolutely love their stuff. Okay, yes, I now own bone china....and yes, I plan on keeping it safe and sound and unbroken. How? I have no idea. But it's too beautiful to mess it up. I won't even bring it out of the box to use it yet. Okay, I'll stop talking about the teapots and how cute they are! But they are!!! they make me want to stare at them all the time!

Anyway, we went on a sailing trip. The same guy that took us before. Only this time we went privately, just me, Ari, Elizabeth, and Osanna. It was very nice. Unfortunately, they got a bit seasick, but they were ok. The weather cleared up enough for us to still go out and soak in the sun and enjoy the trip. Ari and I went snorkeling while Skipper Phil took Osanna and Elizabeth onto Motiti Island to lay out on stable ground. Then we moved to calmer waters and did some fishing...didn't catch any though. But ari and I dove for kina (sea urchin) that was fun. you would think it would be easy to just dive down and grab them off the rocks...but it's not that simple. those suckers can move and can easily roll out of your hand. We cracked them open to let osanna and Elizabeth try them, but it must not be the season because there wasn't any roe in them. What do we know... But it was still super fun. They still squirm around even after you've cut them straight in half...it's a lot like a chicken with it's head cut off.

They then went to the Coromandel, Cathedral Cove, and Hot Water Beach. I stayed home and worked. They were supposed to come back the same day so we could go swimming with dolphins, but the weather turned again and the boats couldn't go out. So they stayed up in the coromandel over night while it was crap weather here...and I continued to work...

Osanna left yesterday and Ari and Liz went up to Auckland to take her back to the airport. Then they headed south. I'm super excited...they drove all the way down and took a boat across to the south island this afternoon. I'm so jealous that he got to get down there already, but I'm flying down on Tuesday, so only a couple more days and I get to go!!!!! :) Ari, Elizabeth, Chris, Nana and I are all meeting up in Queenstown on Wednesday the 11th, doing a road trip for three days and then going to the wild Food Festival. I can't wait to see it. I have no idea what it's about really, but everyone always says it's a must do. So, we do. And then we will drive all the way back up and finally go  black water rafting in the north island! I'm SOOOOOO excited. Black water rafting is water rafting through caves! and you abseil and explore glow worm caverns! how awesome is that!?!?! And then on the 18th, we pick up my mom at 7am and I've got a few things up my sleeves and then at 7pm we drop off Liz at the airport and say goodbye. I dunno what we'll do after that depends on weather patterns. But Williams and Kelly arrive not long after that. It's seriously two months of non-stop come and go from people and it's SO exciting. I won't lie...it can be a bit tiring....but so worth it. Oh, and I think Chris is going to come back to live with us too...so it'll be a full house...hahah.

Anyhoo. I hope everyone is well!

mad love!!!!

xoxo

Alissa

February 13, 2009

Yes, it has been a while. But it has been a few intense and roller coaster weeks and I couldn't write until it had worked itself out and things began to settle down. Finally, we are back in Mt. Maunganui, and I am able to sit and rethink everything that has happened and write.

First, I have to tell you about something that I totally forgot to tell you about last time.  Blues, Brews, and BBQs. It's a really big festival that EVERYONE goes to! People come from everywhere to go. It's a big park with a stage and every type of beer sponsor is there. The entry fee includes a mug and you just sit and listen to music and drink beer and eat a lot of food. It was so much fun. Ari, Rocky, Chris, and I walked down there and spent a while tasting Feijoa beer and Hemp beer and all kinds a weird stuff. We ate ostrich, and crocodile, and kangaroo!!! :) Crocodile tastes like chicken and kangaroo tastes like lamb. hahaha.  Later we were joined by Rick, Matt, and Sarah and everyone proceeded to dance, drink, play cards, and just have a righteous time. Rocky got peeved at some new zealanders who sneered at the paella she bought that was actually very well done. Other than that, it was amazing at how drunk people got and how few fights there were. It was amazing...shocking.

Since then, I have been working at least one day a week at the backpackers and it's been really great. We said goodbye to Rocky and have just been going along our merry old way. Then we got news from Mitch that he had decided that he wanted to come back to the Mount and then go home. We all had our ups and down about it, but Ari and Chris drove down to Taupo and National Park to pick him up and bring him back here. I got an e-mail that night from Ari saying that they were doing to do the Tongariro Crossing again the next day and the come home. And Mitch had already changed his plane tickets. 1 and a half weeks later he would leave us. I was shocked. And sad. But he feels that he needs to go home and that his time here is over. If that is what he needs, then I am happy for him and wish him luck. 

The boys arrived back and we spent the next couple days hanging around the house, having feasts, being mellow, having intense games of putt-putt golf, and drinking with friends. The surf finally picked up a bit and the boys spent many a day catching as many ways as possible. The surf got awfully flat..I mean so flat the tides hardly were noticeable. So the fact that the surf came up and the waves were choice for Mitch's leaving was awesome. Two weekends ago I arranged a sailing trip through a company at work and we all went. Me, Ari, mitch, Chris, Rick and Jess, along with four other random people and the skipper. It was really a ton of fun. The skipper also had a little dingy and we sailed two hours to a nearby island. Once there we fished, boated closer to the island on the dingy, snorkeled along the reefs, ate, drank, and were merry for a long while. It was SOO much fun. We had so much. We were having so much fun we lost track of time. We took so long getting back, we made Chris 3 hours late for work. He only had 3 more shifts left anyway. They were phasing him out because they only hired him for the peak season over new year's. 

This past Wednesday, Chris, Ari and I went on a road trip to explore the south end of the north island. We left in the afternoon after much drama of getting out the door and headed towards the west coast and New Plymouth. We ended up at the Pukekura Festival of Lights and it was SO cool!!!! Ari and i went on a row boat ride down the lake at sunset, then we all wandered the park at night to look at how the park was all lit up. We went to watch an aerial show. Turns out it was mini remote controlled helicopters and cars that people would fly all over everywhere and do tricks with them!  It was super ridiculous and funny. It was a really cool experience. 

It wasn't until later that we realized that we were at the most expensive property on the New Zealand Monopoly board. 

The next day we drove to Mount Taranaki and decided to walk to Dawson Falls. But it didn't quite go as we expected. As Chris was trying to back into an imaginary parking spot on the side of the road, he drove the car into a very big ditch and after a scary scrape noise I got out to observe a flood coming out of the bottom of our car. We were kind of in the middle of nowhere, but only about 20Kms from the main road and it's luckily a popular tourist spot. I tried calling AA (for the third time since we bought the membership in December...a wise buy I must say), but alas, after a frustrating "you're breaking up. what color is the car??" The woman on the other end of the phone just hung up on me. Did I mention it was about 100 degrees and i was hot, sweaty and cranky?? At that moment we decided to hike up the mountain a little way to where we had heard there was a cafe in the hopes that someone there would be kind and let us use a phone. Luckily at that moment, a very cute old British couple drove buy and were so nice to agree to give us all a ride to the cafe. So, they cleaned out the back of their car, we piled in, and after two twists in the road we were there...doh.  We could have walked in like 5 minutes. Oh well. The nice DOC man there let us use his cell phone. No idea why his worked and mine didn't. I was able to get a woman on the phone and tell her where we were and try to explain what may have happened and then I got off the phone to tell the boys and the conversation went like this:

Alissa: The woman said they'll send someone, but if it's deemed an accident, they won't cover it.

Chris: So, we should just say we hit the car with a rock on purpose? 

Ari: What?! No. Wait? An accident? No, Chris, like...an ACCIDENT. (while smacking his fists together)

Chris: Oh, right.

I laughed so hard I had tears. Poor Chris felt so bad he could hardly think straight.

So, we walked back down to the car, walked to the falls, saw the falls, and then magically my phone rang. It was the tow company and the conversation went like this:

Woman: How *crackle crackle* many people?

Alissa: Three

Woman: Three??? *Crackle crackle*

Alissa: Yes, Three.

Woman: We can't fit three. 

Alissa: What do you mean? *Crackle crackle*

Woman: We can't fit three.

Alissa: So, what do you do in that situation?

Woman: *Crackle crackle* *talking to someone else* *crackle crackle*

Alissa: Can one person stay in the van as it's towed?

Woman: ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

Alissa: Okay, I just had to ask. Sheesh. So, what do we do???

Woman: You can try another company. 

Alissa: Ma'am, I had to go up the mountain to get reception to call AA, I can hardly hear you, I don't have the energy or the time to call another company who will have to come from even further away.

Woman: well, you can call a taxi.

Alissa: Fine. Ma'am, can you call a taxi for us because I have no reception and no numbers for a taxi in this company?

Woman: You want me to call a taxi? 

Alissa:  Ye. That way the taxi and the tow truck come at the same time.

Woman: Oh, that makes sense. We'll see you soon.

So, we hiked back up to the car and waited. We had managed to drive the car out of the ditch and onto the regular side of the road. As we waited we decided to tell the tow guy that we were driving, heard a loud thug, got out to check and saw the flood of anti-freeze looking liquid.  Therefore, not an accident...it's the road's fault!! haha

So, the taxi gets there,the tow truck gets there, and we all get into the taxi. That woman was shady! She's apparently the only taxi in the area and was in a hurry because she was flying out of town like an hour later. The problem was that she was such a small town taxi that she didn't take credit card for what she judged would probably be a $100 taxi ride. We asked if she could take us somewhere to get cash. She said she could take us to the main town, but she'd have to take the long way when there's a short-cut to the mechanic. But she had to get to the airport and another guy was coming on duty as her replacement. So then she came up with a plan that she could take the short-cut to the mechanic, drop off Ari and I, then take Chris into town to get money, then take Chris to the replacement guy, and then the replacement guy could bring him back to the Mechanics and Chris could pay him. All of which sounded like a nice gesture at first, but then she made some comment about a higher cost and we realized she was seeing that her meter wasn't really going that high and was just trying to get more money out of us. So, we went to the mechanic, and talked to them. Lucky for us they were able to give us cash out. Chris went to the woman with $77 and some change. When we got out of the taxi it was $77.10. When Chris got to the taxi it was $78 and some change. Chris said "All I have is $77 and some change. She said "Oh, 70 is fine." Chris said "wow, thanks!" and handed her the 77 as a gesture. She then responded "no, I mean 78 is fine." Chris said "sorry, that's all we have." and she grumpily took it and left. What a sleaze!!

Anyway, they did some tests on our car. Couldn't find anything! They were just going to write it off as overheated. So I scrambled to figure out a way to tell them that we really scraped it bad without telling them what really happened. So, I insisted they lift it up and look around. And we all got to get under it too! It was very interesting. And there was NOTHING! No scrapes, no tears, nothing. Our oil was low so they said it may have been that, but then I told them we are 2000Kms over our oil change and it was greenish yellow not sludgy black. So, they said well, your overflow is empty. Was it steaming around your overflow? I said yes. They said, you probably hit something that popped up and the overflow was already hot, so it boiled it over. We'll put some oil in it and see what happens. I paid $7 for a liter of oil, signed the AA forms to charge AA and hit the road at 140 kms. Before that point we were struggling to hit 100kms. It's amazing what a little overheating, and empty overflow and a liter of oil to your oil starved car will do.  

We hauled it and made it all the way down to Wellington no problems. Wellington is a really cool town. It reminds me of San Francisco a lot. 

I have another Chris story. We're finding that a lot of stories lately end or start with "Poor Chris." We really like the guy a lot. But he's had some unfortunate events lately.

Chris is 23 with a baby face. So, we get to Wellington, find Rocky, and seriously need a drink. So, we go to the first bar. Rocky's dressed to go out, Ari's in normal clothes, I'm in oil stained sweatshirt and cut-off jeans, and Chris is in a polo shirt and nice jeans. We group outside the first bar and decide it looks good. Rocky walks in, Ari walks in, I magically walk in even though i look like I belong on the streets. Chris goes to walk in and the bouncer's arm is immediately out and pulling him back "ID please!" 

Chris gets IDed everywhere he goes. 

That night we slept in the car by the park. It was an amazing night's sleep. I think we were all so exhausted from the debacles of the day we just needed to shut our eyes. 

The next day we went to Te Papa Museum-a free museum. Why can't big cities figure out that if you have a free museum that is nice and well-kept and interesting, people will come, and people will donate...

We saw the world's biggest squid! :0  It was really cool!

We went to a festival and watched music and hula-like dancing. We ate at Mr. Buns Cafe-never eat at Mr. Buns Cafe.

That night we decided to leave to try and get back to Tauranga for Mitch's last New Zealand Saturday. 

Oh, but not before Nando's!! I saw that there was a Nando's in Wellington and I was over the moon! I used to go to Nando's in Spain all the time and I got super nostalgic that there was one here! So I insisted we all go! And i was amazing and delicious. And then I realized the menu had other locations. And then I realized there is one right here in Mt. Maunganui that I have driven by almost every day and never realized.  DOH!!!

So, we left Welly at 7:15pm and hauled bohiney (legally) back up to the Mount. We got back at 1:15am. A record I believe. Rocky stayed in the car. Oh, i forgot to mention we left Chris behind because he's going to work in the South  Island for a couple months and we brought Rocky back with us. 

Ari and I went to the Bier Haus (our regular spot) to see if Mitch and the group were there. We saw Mitch...we saw Rick, but they didn't see us, We went to the bathroom, came back out and they were GONE! it was like a magic disappearing act! So, we wandered and then drove home. We got a block from our house and saw a guy walking with an enormous bag of food.  good 'ol drunk mitch had decided he was hungry, hopped a cab home and had the guy drop him at the burger king. So we sat up and talked forever and crashed out. 

The next few days was just a lot of hanging out, relaxing, surfing, not doing much of anything but just being together. Wednesday morning we drove Mitch to the airport, had our last meal, and sent him on his was. It was a sad moment.

So, we cheered ourselves up by going to see Nana. Nana is always good for some serious laughs. Nana, Ari and I went to dinner and then went to meet up with Gentiana and some other people from IEP for drinks at the Viaduct downtown in Auckland. We were WAYYYY to sober for the crowd and the people with pink cowboy hats following every word that came out of their leader's mouth. And every time a slower song would come on and she would scream "HATS ON YOUR HEARTS PEOPLE!!! SHOW SOME FUCKING RESPECT!!!!!" And they would all do it and sway to the music. I couldn't stay. I couldn't stop laughing right in her face. 

The next day Ari and I went and hiked Rangitoto Island It's an old volcanic island. And the #2 best spot on the NZ monopoly board. We have decided to make sure that we've gone everywhere on the monopoly board:

Te Puke Kiwifruit $600K-CHECK

Ohakune Carrot $600K-no check

Picton Ferry-no check

Larnach Castle $1M-no check

Waitangi Treaty Grounds $1M-CHECK

Te Papa $1.2M-CHECK

Queenstown Ski Fields $1.4M-no check

Lake Taupo $1.4M-CHECK

Cape Reinga Lighthouse $1.6M-CHECK

Port of Tauranga-CHECK

Mt. Cook $1.8M-no check

Milford Sound $1.8M-no check

Fox Glacier $2M-no check

Moeraki Boulders, Oamaru $2.2M-no check

Golden Bay $2.2M-no check

Ninety Mile Beach $2.4M-CHECK

Dunedin Railway Station-no check

Art Deco Buildings, Napier $2.6M-CHECK

Mt. Maunganui $2.6M-CHECK

Waitomo Caves $2.8M-no check

The Square, Palmerston North $3M-no check

Cathedral Square $3M-no check

Cable Cars, Wellington $3.2M-CHECK

Rangitoto $3.5M-CHECK

Pukekura Park Festival of Lights $4M-CHECK

I will continue to update this list as necessary.

Rangitoto was awesome and the views were amazing. But it was like walking in a freakin oven. We took the ferry out there and explore the hike up to the crater, walked through lava caves, walked the rim of the crater, and then took a bush walk back down the volcano, and took a very exhausted ferry back. It was a lot of fun and really cool, but very exhausting.

The next day we went with Nana to the most awesomest concerts and they were all free!!!

First we went to one by Mission Bay and listened to some music, saw the tiniest ferris wheel. Imagine a mini-theme park for children that is transportable. There was a tower of death that was about 10 ft. tall and a ferris wheel and one of those ships that rocks back and forth and at the highest point it was also about 10 ft. tall.  It was hilarious. It was one of those things that's like an optical illusion. You stand next to it and you feel like you're a giant. And we got to feed all kinds of animals and I got attacked by a sheep. It has been my goal to pet a sheep in NZ. I finally did and it got so excited it pulled a dog moved and hopped it two front legs right on me to get at the cup in my hand.  My white skirt was not pleased. But I was. 

Then we drove out the parking lot and some little kid plying a parking attendant reached in my window, grabbed my hand and drew a red "X" with permanent marker. I asked what it was for and he said "to get back in."  I couldn't stop laughing. I was permanently marked with a scarlet "x"!!!

Then we drove to the middle of no where just south of auckland to a field outside the Manuka concert center. More stands of pineapples lopped in half with ice cream piled on top, mini-theme park rides, air-brush tattoo stands, fake bloody make-up stands, and no farm animals. Did you know that 1 in 5 NZ adults has a tattoo??

There, at that amazing concert did I see my new heroes. P-Money. Look it up... "Everything" PNC, David Dallas, Vince Harder, and the headliner: TIKKI TANE!!!!!

Look them up, they are AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Since then we've come home and slowly been getting used to still having three, but it's Rocky instead of Mitch. But it's been good. Working, surfing, relaxing. The weather has been disgustingly hot and muggy as all heck! But it should pass and get nice again relatively soon...I hope. Ari has probably gotten a job working at the surf shop a couple days a week or something like that. So that's good. And in the next two months we have the following: Ari's mom and sister, then ari's mom leaves, then my mom comes, then ari's sister leaves, then williams and kelly come, and then williams and kelly leave and then my mom leaves. Any one else want in on the exciting rotating door that is our lives????  We love it! 

We miss everyone!!!!!  And love all lots and lots!!!

I know this is a long update and it's because I haven't updated in a while. I will try to be better!!

xoxo

Alissa

January 12, 2008

Daphne just facebook yelled at me for not updating, so here I am!!! :)  haha. I can never say no to that woman. It's a problem. ;-D

So, last I left off I went to Hobbiton with Chris and picked up our friend Rocky for a visit. That night it poured rain so hard our house sounded like it was the inside of a drum and I had to run around at 4am shutting all the windows and moping up floods in the house.  But it was cool. We've had the most awesome rainbows. There was a double one we could see out our window and we could see from one end all the way to the other (which ended in the ocean...SO COOL!!). 

So, the first day we spent a lot of time inside doing not much of anything because of the rain. The next day got a bit more sunny, so we spent a lot of time lying on the beach. 

Saturday morning we woke up really early and Rocky and Ari went out surfing. Poor Rocky had never been surfing and got owned by the waves.  Which were triple overhead over the weekend. The biggest we've seen here yet.

We then came home, cleaned up, and drove to Rotorua. Ari, Rocky and I went zorbing. 

No idea what zorbing is?  You're missing out.

http://zorb.co.nz

youtube it

We then went from the Agrodome (where zorbing is) to the Agroventure where we fed ostriches from our hands. Unfortunately, our food of choice was not the wisest as it stuck to their mouths and they got a bit upset with us.

So we stopped torturing them and moved on to the park which stinks of sulfur and sat in a hot pool. We were quickly swarmed by a very large group of asian tourists. Imagine the most stereotypical scene you can and that's what we were sitting in. Ari took no time in flashing peace signs and mimicking their oohs... this made for some fantastic pictures as we all laughed our heads off...

Had some lunch and then Chris, Rocky, and Ari took a nap on the grass by the lake and I went for a walk.

There was a group of 4 people going on a 5 seater float plane tour. I tried to talk my way on by offering half price to fill the otherwise empty seat.  They didn't go for it....someday I will be on that plane.....

That night we went out and partied downtown where Matt was DJing. The photos are on facebook for anyone who's interested. It was probably one of the most fun nights that we have had out here second only to Christmas Eve. After a fantastic Mexican themed meal of home made fajitas, guacamole, and margaritas, we of course started the night off right with a "friendly" game of Asshole. Even though we are all from the US, the game has so many different interpretations of the rules we agreed to use the official Asshole rules (they do exist). Once good and ready, we headed off to bars where Rocky, Chris and Ari took turns buying rounds of their choice of poison and gaining enough courage with every shot they took to dance up a storm... and when I stay storm I'm talking hurricane. Ari's shirt was literally drenched. He was a dancing machine that night. In fact, he decided that the dance floor wasnt good enough for him and proceeded to entertain the entire bar while dancing on top of tables. A few people tried to join him in the spotlight but they in no way could match his amazing dance skills and were hurried off the "stage." 

Rocky left on Sunday night after more lying out on the beach.

Other than that, it's been quiet around here. The weather goes from sunny to rainy in a matter of seconds, but I love it that way. Breaks up the day.

Oh, I forgot the best news!

I got a job! :)

I'm working at a backpackers hostel down the street about 13-15 hours a week. It's enough to pay rent. But the best part is that I get to do all the flyerd activities for free! Wanna go Bungy in Taupo? No worries..I'm free! :) Split the cost and we all get a deal! ;-D

So, we're excited about that because there go those costs too! :)

So, all in all...things are good. Ari's surfing a lot, we're going for lots of walks around town and around the Mount. We haven't biked in a while...we should start doing that again.

Mitch is still in Taupo and we miss him lots.

So, that's us in a nutshell. :) Our next big trip is Waitomo Caves to go Abseiling and Black Water Rafting. Rafting down rivers in caves and observing glow worms...What's better than that?!?! 

Oh, and the boys are going to visit Mitch at some time coming up to go on the 4 day trek of the Northern Circuit. Crazy...I know.

I will try to keep everyone better posted and get more photos up as soon as possible.

xoxo

Alissa

January 7, 2009

I went to Hobbiton today!! hahaha!

Chris was supposed to go tomorrow, but that's Blues, Brews, and BBQs. So he tried to change his ticket to this weekend, but it's supposed to rain and no one wants to go tour Hobbiton where they filmed Lord of the Rings and the Shire when it's raining! so today was the only other option, but he wouldn't make it in time. That was the only other kick in the butt I needed to accept the fact that I really wanted to go and if Chris was going to be able to do it today, he would need a ride. So Chris and I jumped in the car, drove the 50kms to Matamata, ran into the I-site and jumped on the bus to Hobbiton. And I got to hand feed a baby lamby out of a bottle! It was SO cool!

And it was neat seeing the reminants of an old filming site! 

Such a great day!

And now I'm off the Tauranga to pick up our friend, Rocky, who is coming to visit for a bit. No idea how long, but whatever! Mitch is in National Park now for a month, so we've got a spare bedroom again, so she can stay however long she wants. We offered for her to pay mitch's rent and live with us the whole month if she wants!

That's all for now!

xoxo!

Alissa

January 4, 2009

I've started a picture website. It take a long to upload, but so does this site and any other site and I can't figure out facebook to save me. 

So, check it out..I've only just begun, so I've only got pictures from like the first couple days up..but there's a lot of them! :)

http://community.webshots.com/user/alissaandarinewzealand

xoxo

Alissa

January 3, 2009

Back at home at the Mount. And it feels great. It's warm and sunny and the beach is nice. :) The boys went surfing as soon as we got home.

Last night Ari brought to my attention that I hadn't mentioned anything really about what exactly our hike was like. I swear I did, but I either imagined it or erased it...but either way I'll tell you about it now.

AT 7:15 we caught the bus to the first carpark. It's a 19.5km hike one-way, so you have to arrange transport from the beginning and from the end. The beginning was rather flat and just neat terrain, low brush, small creeks, and little waterfalls. We climbed up slightly and when you turned around you could see all the way to the mountains on the west coast. You could see across the country! That's just nuts!

We then limbed up a ridiculous amount of stairs and ultimately climbed from about 1100meters to about 1500 meters. That part kicked my butt, but Ari and Mitch went flying up them. I don't know how they do it. Gentiana floated around somewhere between the three of us. 

The boys then decided to climb Mt. Ngaurahoe, Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. It's basically 1500meters to 2295 meters of scrambling up steep lava rock on an unmarked path. Gentiana and I had originally said "oh, yea, we'll go to!" at the very beginning of the hike, but once we got to the starting point we both went "heck no! we'll meet you at the top of the main peak of the trek." So, the boys took off up the side route and we continue up to the peak of Red Crater. It was intense and rocky and there were a couple points where I freaked out, but I made it and I was so proud of myself! It was so beautiful, but high and I couldn't wait to get down. It's that weird feeling when you love something, but need to keep going. 

So, we scrambled down the sand like terrain to the lakes below the crater and sat to wait for the boys. It was really nice to sit and relax and have good conversations. But the whole time we were worrying about the boys and what they were up to. Finally they arrived and looked exhausted, but said they'd had a good time. I was proud of them for doing it, not only were they scrambling up it, but they had to skree ski down it. I woulda fallen all over myself and never made it. 

So we made them sandwiches and allowed them some time to relax and then continued on our way. We still had about 3 hours of hike left. We climbed up a little more to the last big crater lake and when we came around that we could see all the way around to Lake Taupo. It was like a canvas painting it was so beautiful and perfect. Then we snaked down through low brush and a hot steam area. It smelled like sulfur, but the colors of the rocks were amazing. There was high brush that looked like grain plants. At one point we started running down the path with our hands in the brush like some cheesy moment in a film frolicking along, but I was lovin it. And of course, I started it. But then I burned myself out and that made the remainder way more rough than necessary. Oh, before that, Mitch and Gentiana had gone off ahead and we later found out that they ended up running the entire way back...I don't know how they did it...

Finally, mud covered and exhausted, Ari and I got to the carpark. Gentiana and Mitch had run ahead because at least one of us needed to catch the bus to get back to the hotel. Gentiana and Mitch were able to snag it at the last second and Ari and I napped on the grass while they went back and got the car to pick us up.

All in all we are exhausted, I have the worst cramps in my leg, but it was definitely worth it.

And Mitch has decided to go back and live at the lodge for a month. He's going to work there for room and board so that he can do more treks. 

The next big thing we're planning is Waitomo Caves. Black water rafting and abesailing into ravines...it'll be so awesome! :)

xoxo

Alissa