January 1, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!
I hope that everyone achieves everything they want to in the next year!!!
And, I just have to say that not only am I a day ahead of about 99.9% of you, but I'm a YEAR ahead of you!! hhahahaa...INSANE!!!
Love to all and good luck in the new year!!!!!
xoxo
Alissa

December 31, 2008

We started on our trek at 7:50am. We arrived at the pick-up point at 4:20pm. I'm exhausted, I'm dirty, and in pain. But I loved every minute of it!!! It was some of the coolest scenery ever!! And super hard and challenging, but worth it!
It was the perfect way to end 2008!
Happy New Year!!!
I'm goin to take a nap.
xoxo
Alissa

December 30, 2008

First, Happy birthday mom!!!

It's been a few days and so much has been going on and internet access has been coming and going.
Can I just tell you how awesome it is to have an open-door policy in our home? People just come and go as they please. Neighbours, other friends, friends of friends. It's just so cool to constantly have people hanging out and wanting to hang out with us. Does that sound egotistical? I bit, I guess. But the feeling is amazing to have so many people just want to come around and you wanting them to come around. Matt comes yelling down the street as soon as he's off work or Rick comes tromping in whenever he wants to go surfing with a buddy, or Jess comes running up the stairs whenever she wants to play games and have a few drinks and laughs. It's so great. We'll be making a bbq on the patio for us three and the next thing we know we're feeding 6. And it's all give and take. We go over there to watch tv, we use their internet, they lend the boys their boards. It's all symbiotic and it feels so life-enriching to live in this way. Everyone is always happy and everyone is always in for a good time.
Last Monday, the 22nd, our friends Nana and Ian, from Auckland came to visit. We also got an e-mail from our friend, Gentiana, saying that she'd met this knew young American boy wanting to come to our neck of the woods and asking if we'd get in touch with him, so we invited Chris over as well. Monday Ian and Nana arrived and we hit the beach and the boys spent hours surfing while Nana and I soaked up the sun. Later we made some of the best burgers ever. The boys have seriously mastered the burger and it's SO cheap here! It's like $5USD for just over a pound of minced beef.
Anyway, we had a blast and the open-door rotated more as Jess, Rick, and Matt came over from next door and we continued to play games and have a blast. By the way, the three previously mentioned people are our neighbors. Originally we met Matt, and he introduced us to his sister Jess and her boyfriend Rick.
The next day we did a lot of the same and we played mini-golf. Which here is a lot like regular golf on a smaller scale...and I sucked, but it was a lot of fun.
We made burgers again...we do that about every night now.
Christmas Eve Ian left to go visit his family, but Nana stayed around and played for a couple more days. We had a great night Christmas Eve with the regular group and we went up the street and met more people up the street and hit the town in style. And drank wayyy to much, but it was incredibly fun and we had a great time and a lot of laughs.
Christmas day we just hung around a lot and hit the beach. It was a slightly up and down day. I was sick, but I still had a nice day. It was up and down because we miss our families and it was sad to not have Christmas or Hannukah with the fam, but it we had plenty of people around the keep us entertained.
Boxing day was insane!!!!!!!!
I've tried looking up boxing day and you get a million interpretations. Basically it's the biggest shopping day of the year and it's the day that everyone in the entire country apparently decides to come to the Mount---aka--our house. We are rather glad that we are heading out of dodge for new year's. It's really become insane. People are everywhere! They've blocked off our street so that only residents can park there. People have put "parking $%" signs in their yards and are letting people park all over their grass.
Nana left on Friday and we had a couple days of down time and quiet.
Oh, I forgot to mention that we like Chris a lot and have invited him to move in to the spare bedroom, so now we have a 4th member of the house. I love it! It's like growing up! Three boys..how do I always manage that?
Oh, I forgot to tell you the best story!!! ***WARNING*** Expletives to follow, so if you don't want to read something a dirty cop said to me scroll down to OKAY TO READ NOW!!!
So, it's chaos in our city right now and drunk driving is a problem, so they have random compulsory breathalizer check points all over the city. I'm proud to say that I'm responsible and have never driven drunk, but this also means that I've never had to take a compulsory breathalizer test. So, I'm driving us to the video store and I have to stop at the check point (before that moment I didn't know these existed here). I've only seen breathalizers given on like TV, so I assumed I blow into it.
I roll down my window and the cop sticks this thing in my face and so I blow. As I'm blowing he says "name and address" And then pulls it away all quick and says "No! you say your name and address! U darn americans always try to deep throat these things!!"
So, we wait for it to restart and then I say my name and address. The thing beeps and says "no alcohol" and I go along my merry way. Laughing my head off and in compelete shock at the comments the cop made!!
OKAY TO READ NOW!!!
That was the first time I had to do it. A few days later I drove everyone (6 other people) into Tauranga for a night of drinking and dancing to MAtt's DJ abilities in a bar. He's really very good. So, as we were leaving, I pull out of the parking lot and there's a friggin check point with a line a mile long. It finally gets to my turn and there's people getting pulled over right and left. I was freakin out! Of course I hadn't been drinking, but I had a lot of very loud people who had been. Anyway, we got through that one, get around the corner, over the bridge and there's another one!!! I had to take two breathalizers with in a minute of each other! I was like "what do they think, I've taken a shot as I drove around the corner?" Anyway, the guy looked at me, looked in my window at all the loud people and wouldn't show me the breathalizer screen. He asked if I'd been drinking. I giggled and said "No. I'm just in charge of making sure these goofballs get home safely." He laughed, the machine beeped the all clear and he waved me on. That was a fun night.
Yesterday Gentiana came out to play in Tauranga and today we drove down to the south end of Lake Taupo to the Tangariro National Park. We're staying at a lodge called the Park. She used her connections to get us two private en-suite rooms for the price of only 1. And tomorrow, to end the year, we will be hiking an 8 hour hike of the Tangariro Crossing. For any of you Lord of the Rings fans, that means I'm hiking Mt. Doom!!! I'm excited. Nervous, considering yesterday was the worst day of rain we've seen here. but tomorrow is supposed to be clearer and a bit warmer. But if it's crap, we'll wait and ring in the first day of the new year with the hike. Either way, it'll be a challenge, but I can't think of a better way to end the year!!!
Happy new year all!!!
By the way...I can't wait to post the "I'm in the new year and you're not!!" posting!! :) That'll be a trip!!!
I love everyone! Happy holidays to all and we'll chat soon!!!
xoxo
Alissa

2:00am December 24, 2008

I am up...it is late...

I am observing and documenting the road workers trying to figure out what to do now that a watermain has busted open under the sidewalk infront of our house and turned our street into a river and our driveway into a sinkhole.

I'm tired...their lights are bright and flashy in my windows and their generators are loud. And I'm cranky and our car is now stuck inside our "house". It's in our garage, but since that's where mitch's room and bathroom are, that's not so great.

But we've been having a fabulous couple of days with a lot of friends and I will write so much more about it...when I'm awake...

December 20, 2008

the master baththe view from our bedroom

our bedroom
the stairwell down to the second floor with our stockings
the patio
the living room
the dining room with our christmas tree
the sunrise at East Cape before we moved into our house
us at East Cape in the rain seeing the sunrise
the boys at the lighthouse at East Cape waiting for the sunrise

Well, we've gotten settled in. Bought our christmas tree, decorated stockings, bought bikes, bought surfboards, bought a boogieboard, and now all we do is hang around and do activities and we're loving it. We've made friends with the guys two doors down, Matt, and his sister Jes, and her boyfriend Rick. Matt conveniently works at the sruf shop down the street also, so the boys are getting huge discounts and hanging out there all the time. Matt's a funny kid. Super ADD, but a lot of fun. He spins at a couple bars in Tauranga, so last Friday we went out to the bar where he was DJing and had a realy nice time walking around and hitting up some bars. 

I've started looking for jobs. Went to the schools, but we are getting into Christmas and New Year's weeks, so things are a bit slow in regards to hiring at schools. But I did go to some temp agencies. And I have been put on a list for next hires at the fish cannery and that could start as early as next week. I'm super excited and I know that's weird. But I think it would be so different and so cool. 

I also went to a couple cafes around the corner from the house yesterday that have barista wanted signs. One guy kinda blew me off. The other woman threw me behind the bar. and I freaked..I was so disappointed in myself. But I partly claim it wasn't my fault. The chef said "make me a double no foam latte." Done. No problem..I can do that in my sleep. But then the girl who was working there started talking me through it and not just letting me do it. And she set me up for two completely different drinks instead of the one drink I was told, so I got all confused and didn't do a very good job of making it. But my one proud moment was when I steamed the milk without a thermometer and the girl said "oh, we have to use the measure to make sure it's right." and I said "ok. I'm used to doing it by touch." And when she stuck it in the milk it had to go to "70" and it went straight there. So I mentally stuck my tongue out at her. Anyway, there's new ownership coming around next week and I sat and chatted the current owner up for a good 20 minutes and we had a really nice talk, so hopefully that saved me. But I don't think she was convinced when I told her that "yes, we do have espresso machines in the US" Oh well..I'll go round next week and see what happens. 

We have a couple friends coming down on Monday and they'll stay through christmas and we're super excited to have company! 

Anyway, I don't have much to add other than that. I'll keep you posted on jobs and such, but mostly now we're just being beach bums and bicycle fiends and we love it! :)

xoxo

Alissa 

December 11, 2008

First, HAppy Belated Birthday Grandma Milly!!

We left Taupo on the 8th and headed East towards Napier. The drive isn't that far, but it's very rural and as we discovered...very few gas stations. Yes, we ran out of gas. We had just passed a motor camp down the road about 1 km, so we decided to walk back and ask for help. Unfortunately that meant walking back over a bridge that, when we got there, was very high and had no sidewalks or any space other than the lanes the cars were flying through. There was a walkway under the bridge, but again, did I mention the very high part? Oh, and there was caution tape around the entrance to the walkway. I told the boys that I would stand up on the hill and yell down when there was a break in the cars and they could just book it across. But they were anti that idea and for good reason. So we called AA (the New Zealand form of AAA). And for a NZ$160 membership they would send a guy out with NZ$20 of petroel. An hour later a guy called asking where we were and I told him (as I had told the AA lady two times) and he said they sent him up the wrong highway. So, AA called me again to verify where I was and then said another man had been dispatched up the right highway. A little over another hour later we had NZ$20 worth of gas and we were on our way to Napier. And we weren't that far from the city which was the kicker of it. 

So we got into Napier much later than expected, found the one place that was still open and got some food. And Napier is a confusing city. The streets go all which ways. But there was a pretty little park with nice gardens and fun architecture. 

We parked next to the park and spent the night in the van. The next morning we actually got showers at the pay bathroom. It was interesting to see all of these vans and cars come out of the woodwork to park outside this bathroom and people lining up to take showers that had been sleeping in vans. We had seen one of these, and used it in the first week or so of our trip, but we hadn't seen one since. Every information center (I-site) should have one. They are really nice and you don't feel gross and stinky the next day. 

We drove up the hill to look out over the bay and the city of Napier. Unfortunately this amazing view looked out over a logging yard and a shiping depot out on the bay, so it wasn't as nice as we had hoped, but it was still worth seeing. 

We then headed a bit south to Hastings, Napier's nearby sister. There we decided to wine tasting and exploring. The wines were good. It was intersting that it is such a booming wine region, but it's only been growing vines for about 25 years. Insane. The man who decided to plop a grape in the ground there is one lucky man. 

That night we were supposed to head all the way up to Gisborne, but it seemed really far. The day kept getting later and later, but we made it. We drove up some steep mountains along the way and saw some spectacular views. Late at night we pulled into Gisborne, North of Napier and closer to the East Cape. Our friends had warned us to be careful in the East Cape (aka "The wop-wops" because it's so far out in the middle of nowhere) and that the people were not as friendly and it was a bit more dangerous. And driving into Gisborne, we felt it. It wasn't the nicest looking city and it was very dark and had a slightly deserted feel. We drove a little ways out of town and parked by the beach. Ari passed out quick, but Mitch and I stayed up for a bit hearing cans moving and all sorts of weird things. The next morning I woke up and there was a man with his car backed up close to an underpass (which we had not seen in the dark the night before) and he was fishing through a pile of stuff that had a small futon-like mattress and a box of empty beer cans (which explained a lot). Then later I saw him walking around, then he got in his trunk. Then he sat in his car a bit. At this point the boys were up too and we just watched him. All of a sudden he got a small bucket out of his trunk and walked away under the overpass and out of sight. About 15 minutes later he appeared again. With a horse. Very odd. Then he got into a little pool area that was dammed up by the beach sand. And he seemed to be bathing the horse in the pool. Then he tried to get on the horse, but the horse didn't like that. It was all just way to weird. But then he got out and disappeared again and we decided to pack up and get back into town. In the daylight it wasn't so bad, but we had a long drive ahead of us and decided to just keep going up over to the East Cape. The drive was very nice, but very long. but we made it. We stopped along the way to walk out to an overlook over cook's cove and walked down into a little bay where Captain Cook first landed. 

When we got to the East Cape we drove out to the very tip where the lighthouse is and parked for the night. We were there next to two other cars with four germans traveling together. They were nice and fun to talk to. But this was Tuesday night and we needed to get to sleep early because Wednesday was going to be a very important day and we had to be awake very early.

Now, before I tell you about Wednesday and why we had to be up so early and all else, I have to tell you a couple stories. 

We've been spending a lot of time in the car. A LOT of time. Hours long of driving. So, we've been having some crazy discussions. And we've been seeing a lot of animals.

An example would be this: 

Alissa: PIGS!!!

Mitch: Those are cows.

Alissa: Well, from far away they looked small and fat like pigs.

5 minutes later:

Mitch: goat!

Ari: Those are cows!

Mitch: No, there's a goat in the middle of all those cows!

Ari: Oh! Where?? I don't see it!!

Alissa: EMU!!!

Mitch: NO! Cows!!

Alissa: NO!! STOP THE CAR!!! EMU!!!!! (pointing)

And Ari slammed on the brakes before he slammed into the family of Emu trying to cross the road while we are staring out the window trying to decide if cows are really cows. 

Then we were playing 7 degrees of separation. NZ$10 to anyone who can connect Renee Zellweger and Ryan Phillippe through only movies. We spent hours on it and still haven't been able to do it. AND YOU CAN'T USE THE INTERNET! THAT'S CHEATING!!

Okay, so back to Wednesday. Wednesday morning we woke up at 4:30am. And we hiked a very steep hill up to the summit to the lighthouse and watched the very first sunrise for Wednesday that the entire world will every see. The East Cape is the furthest East point. Someone said that there is another populated island way out there somewhere. But I it's just an island, so we pretend it doesn't exist. So, on Wednesday, the day we move into our new house, we got up to see the first sunrise anyone in the world will see. I thought rather poignant and important to do on the day we move into our new house and start a new step in our adventure. So, we sat in the rain and cloudyness watching the sky turn from dark to light, looking out over the expansive sea. Then we headed out. We made it to the next town hoping for gas, but as we pulled in, all the gas signs were crossed out. I started to panic. Here we go again...another out in the middle of nowhere and we've got no gas. And it was still only 7am and no one was up and about yet. Luckily the general store had a sign on the door with the nearest gas station. Continuing on, the next town was 50kms away. We probably had about 100kms left of gas. So, we were determined to continue on and hope that they weren't out of gas too. We made it and pulled up to two old, beat-up pumps that had to be hand-pumped and a little old man came slowly walking towards the car to fill us up. And we continued on our drive. We made it through Opanoni with some of the most gorgeous beaches. Then we went on the Whakatane. We were all tired, but I insisted that we walk around a bit and explore this rather important little town. See, not far is White Island. An active volcano. And not just that, but Whakatane is an important place for women's position in the Maori culture. See, way back when, the women were not allowed to travel in Waka Amas, the war canoes. And the men had pulled this huge fancy canoe up onto the beach and then left the women on the shore to go hunting. But as the men were gone, the tide began to come in and the Waka Ama began to slip out to see. The women saw that it was very far out and if they waited any longer, it would be too far out for the men to ever go out and retrieve it. So, the women jumped into their canoes and saw out to get it, but they were afraid they would be in trouble for rowing it themselves. So, one woman said "Whakatane!" 'Whaka' means 'be like' or 'to resemble' and 'tane' is 'man'. So she encouraged them to draw strength and to stand up as a man would and row it back to shore. And they did. It was the first time a woman ever paddled a waka ama and it showed the men that they were capable of such things without offending or destroying it. So we saw a sculpture of the woman and we saw a cave where they slept and we saw an amazing waterfall. See, the town is set into this little bay and surrounded by cliffs, so the canoe was extremely important for travelling and defending the land. 

Then we continued on the Mt. Maunganui. We putzed around a bit and then we met with Sharyn and turned over the rest of our money in return for some keys and a garage door remote! :) And we moved in!!!

Then we went to drop Ari off to do work at the internet place. And Mitch and I went to the Wharehouse. :)

We bought a fake christmas tree, a tree topper, a dvd player, movies, and anything else we thought we really needed. :) We aRE SO excited!!!!

This morning we all got up really early and hiked up the Mount. It was SO cool!! And beautiful! But very hard. I'm really out of shape. But that's going to be the focus of the next 5 months. We are going to active and energetic and live it up! :)

The boys bought bikes today. I'm going to look at one tomorrow. And tomorrow the boys are going to play around with surfboards and pick one to buy. Things here are relatively cheap, so we're stoked. Now I just have to find a job...we'll see how that goes. 

Anyway, we are very very very very very excited!

People are already booking to come out. I am going to try and make a calendar, but so you know so far...

Kelly B. and Williams are coming May 15thish for a week.

My mom is coming in March for a couple weeks, I believe.

I think Ari's family is coming in February. 

Let us know if and when you want to come so that we can put you on the calendar!!

I'll put more definite details as I get them and that way we don't double-book people!! :)

We do have a third bedroom, so keep that in mind! :)

I miss everyone lots and lots!!!

XOXO

WAFFLES!!!

Alissa

December 7th, 2008

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY THOR!!!!!


Second of all, someone told someone who told someone who told someone who told Ari to tell me I'm in trouble for not updating recently. :)


SORRY!


I do have so much to tell and I know I've been neglectful! I promise to try not to go so long without writing...it's as enjoyable for me as it is for you. :)


Okay!! So, we have done it!! We did a lot of research and we decided on two places that we loved and wanted to approach the managing company to see the places. We hunted them down and they were hard to find...we waited for a long time to get in touch with the woman. We finally stalked her enough that we got to talk to her. The first one we wanted, a furnished house was under discussions with someone else. The next one, a furnished apartment on the third floor was actually unfurnished, but we wanted to see it anyway. It had a great location. We met her anhour later there and we had a look. It was a beautiful, modern 3 bedroom apartment with a patio that looked out towards the water and was right downtown. in Mt. Maunganui. As we were looking around she let us know that she had just found out the people wanting to rent the other house fell through. We got really excited. We told her that we wanted to see it as soon as possible. We needed to head back to Auckland the next morning, but we could push it back to leaving later in the day if we could see the house tomorrow morning. She said she would phone us back.

20 minutes later our phone rang and we had an appointment for 10:30am the next day.

So we bummed around Tauranga for the rest of the day and then parked over by the bay and the allnight toilets.

The next morning we went and met Sharyn the management lady at the house. We took a look and immediately said YES! now, the owners want a minimum 6 month contract. But we asked her to negotiate to 5. She managed to get 5 and if we give them enough warning and find people to move in before the end of the contract, we can get out of it! :)

So, we went to the bank, and we paid the letting fee. On Wednesday we go back to her office, pay the deposit and the first week's rent and get the key!! :) The nice thing is that rent here is paid weekly! :)

So, the house:

location: 2 blocks from downtown, less than 1 block from the beach, 2 blocks from the bay, and 2 blocks from Mt. Maunganui!! :) I can't tell you how excited we are. The boys are already looking at bikes and surf boards.

The house: Fully furnished (including a bbq!!:) Three stories. First story: Garage, bedroom, bathroom with shower, washer, back patio with line for drying. Second story: living room/dining room with window seat! Kitchen. Patio that looks out to the street, but you can see the beach to the side, patio furniture and of course bbq. one bedroom and toilet. Third story: master bedroom with view like the patio. Main bathroom with seperate bathtub and a two headed shower stall! :)

WE CAN'T WAIT!!

Then Ari and I headed to Auckland and we left Mitch behind in Tauranga to scope out jobs and whatever. We went on to Auckland and had a nice couple of days to ourselves. We went to the horseraces....because I love it! But it wasn't the type of horse racing I'm used to...it's real horce racing...with the jockeys on chariots behind the horses!!! :) So much fun! But so hard to bet on because I didn't know what I was looking for in a horse and jockey! who knows. But we had a lot of fun and managed to loose some and win some.

Yesterday we drove down to Raglan which was nice, but people talked it up way more than they should I think. The beach was beautiful and the waves were awesome. But it was crowded and a lot of people were kite surfing.

Then we went to Taupo where Mitch had arrived and we met him at a hostel. Taupo is awesome too! :) We're at the north end of Lake Taupo and we can look across the lake and see snow covered mountains. The sunset was an amazing array of pinks and purples and absolute beauty! :) Today we're going to explore Taupo a bit and then move on to Napier on the East coast.

Ari has picked up a job with the old consulting team he was working for before we left Palo Alto. Which has been good because they're paying him a nice fee for one job and it'll basically pay his rent for the next month...lucky bastard. :) But it has meant that he's been spending a lot of time with his nose in the computer instead of looking out the window. But it's almost done. That's why I have so much time to write to you now. because we're at an internet cafe. But also why I haven't had much time to write...he's been on the computer! Anyway! We're excited!!!

I'll try and keep you posted more as we go along!

mad love to all!!! Oh, and I've started an account with webshots under a similar name as this page. When I get the photos uploaded, I'll give ya'll the web address!

We miss everyone!!

Good luck Spartos with going back to work. Take it slow and easy! I know you! Don't let those dang students push you around!

i saw pictures of Embassy halloween party...man, made me sad. Wish I coulda been there!!!

xoxo

Alissa

December 1, 2008

Oh my goodness so much to tell everyone...


So, we have made it around the Coromandel Penninsula. We first went to Thames this past Wednesday and met up with Marcus, the guy who sold us the car. He took us up the West coast (the Bay) and we went to a very random Tui bar and sat in the beer garden getting really drunk (well, they did). Then we (I) drove us back to his house where we met his wife. A Thai woman who looked to be younger than us and his 1 year old baby. She took us to a Thai restaurant just opened by her Thai friends and it was DELICIOUS!!!! Finally, real authentic food...not just fish and chips. :) But Marcus is a bit sketch and makes me nervous. He is much more intelligent than he led on in the beginning and he always seems to be fishing for something. But it was a nice day. We parked out by the Bay waters that night and then drove up the coast through the town of Coromandel to the very top at Fletcher Bay where cows tramped around the grass and mooed like they were dieing all night long. On the road there we saw some of the most amazing beaches. I know everyone's probably tired of me saying that, but every time I think I've seen the best one, we go somewhere new and just gets better!! We also got blocked on the road by a bunch of sheep and the shephard had to come (with his shepharding stick and dog!!!) and get them off the road and back in the fence!! It was so cool! And cows...so many cows...so close to the road that ari threw his gum out the window and nailed a bulls straight in the head.


The boys were going to hike the 3 hour hike to the next camp the next day, but we woke up so dehydrated, the water at the site wasn't drinkable, and it was grey and wet, so we decided to head back into Coromandel. Since Friday was Thanksgiving in the US we took the time to make the calls!! HAPPY BELATED THANKSGIVING! It really meant a lot to get to talk to so many people from back home...I, of course, cried a lot. lol. I'm a sap.


We then moved on to Whitianga. I already told some of the fam, but it was one of the best we've been to and the first where we immediately thought "we could live here." So, we got a room above a bar and talked a lot with the woman at the information center. This town has EVERYTHING! except a lot of treks and surfing (both high on the mitch and ari requirements list). She told us all about events and things to do and places to go. Embassy people, take note...there's a school here...look it up. http://www.activity.co.nz/ I think. It's called Coromandel Outdoor School. IT'S and ESL school like Embassy, but the electives are outdoor activities! Kayaking, rock climbing, scuba, carving, weaving....I so would love to have a job there.


As we left, the woman came running after us saying "Wait! I forgot to tell you I'm in a show tonight!" She said it's just a fundraiser being put on by the Mercury Bay Club and that if we're bored we should go and get some cheap beer and enjoy a bunch of locals making fools of themselves singing songs from the decades. We went out that night and there was hardly anyone out! There was noone in the bars. We started to think the town was a little too small. So we went to the local event. And it was hilarious!! That was where all the townpeople were! And it was so random and funny and we had a good laugh....and I got beer spilled all over me by a drunk woman trying to make eyes at Ari and Mitch all at the same time (there was one on either side of me).


We decided to keep going and just see what else was out there before we made a final decision to stay at Whitianga. So we continued further south to even MORE beautiful beaches!


We went to Hot Sand Beach....there's thermal pools under the sand and you can dig at low tide and make hot pools in the sand. And it gets HOT!! so that was a lot of fun. We got a bit of a tan...my legs have gone from white to off white. It was the first time we could go in the water without a wetsuit. Then we went to Whangamata and Catherdal Cove..an awesome hike to a bay that has the rock cut out into the shape of a catherdral...naturally.


Then we continued on....and eventually got to Tauranga. And immediately made a decision. It's a bigger town, but not a city. It has a waterfront scene with bars and cafes and chill shops and boats in the bay. And the other side is Mt. Maunganoui the beach with some of the best surfing in all the North Island and a moutain to climb! And there's a really cool little downtown area with even cooler things to do and see! We're so excited!! :) So, we've already started looking for places to live and found a couple good ones!! :) So, we'll let you know as more progresses!! :)
xoxo
Alissa