Rotorua/Waitomo Caves

ait so.
The college I attend (Mahurangi) organised a school trip for the international students to the Waitomo Caves and to Rototua.
First off, the international students are composed of 15 Germans, 3 Chileans, 2 South Africans, 1 American, 1 Canadian, 1 Swiss girl, and about 15-20 Koreans, Chinese, Japanese. we departed on a Friday morning at about 8am and drove straight to Rotorua. once we got there we took a gondola to the top of this massive hill and then a chairlift and we luged.. did the luge? for a couple hours. Luging is amazing you go fast on asphalt and there are tight turns.. very exciting. A couple guys did a skyswing which a picture shows is pretty gnarly, the video is pretty profane.
After the luge we went into town and got settled at the hostel and then went downtown and chilled, ate, and then returned to the hostel for a jolly good time. (we didn't get much sleep)

The next morning we got up to eat at 8am and then climbed onto the bus to go to Te Piua. There we (myself, Nora, and Merle (both German)) walked around this park and saw boiling mud, hot pools, a crazy geyser (see picture) and all kinds of Jurassic park stuff.. AND WE SAW A KIWI, LIKE A REAL LIVE KIWI BIRD. my one goal for the exchange is complete. just kidding.. after we finished walking around, we went to the murae (maori meeting place) and saw a culture show. At the end of the show, they pulled all the males out of the crowd and on stage to do the Haka. And guess who was in front row? yeh me. apparently my pukana is scary.

Then we went to a sheep show.. the guy running was too ridic. like NZer Larry the Cable Guy.. It was basically him humiliating random people in the crowd and bringing them up on stage.. you had to be there, i'm sorry. but he talked about the different breeds of sheep in NZ and he sheared a sheep on stage.

then we went back to the hostel and swam/played touch rugby/soccer/ate and then went to see the worst movie ever made, not sure what it was called but it had Brendan Fraser in it. nuff said.

Sunday: woke up, packed up, loaded up and headed for the Waitomo Caves. These caves are absolutely amazing. like the guide showed us the oldest stalagtite in the cave system and it was aprox. 400,000 years old. and 13 meters long. so crazy, this one section they call the Cathedral has had weddings, Sting (The Police), a couple U2 members, this Russian Choir.. all kinds of crazy stuff up there. We were also in the glowworm caves, very crazy but no pictures allowed. Also dificult to explain.. Google it.
then we drove 4 hours back to the College while I slept on the floor of the bus. XD awesome weekend.
after this week, i'm entering a 2 week school holiday, which i'm looking forward to.

Kia Ora.

ahem.

annnnnnnd the bull is dead.
stoked...

hard work is rewarding.

Just thought that I'd give a short little update about life on the farm for those who might be interested. 

Peter has 2 farms; one on Woodcock's Road and the other is part of his land here on Rodney Road. He has a lot of land and it's all quite hilly(sp?) and TumulTuous Terrain To Trample.. To daTe. (hurrah for calf muscles) anyway, you know those steps on the sides of hills that you see in photographs? well those are called, sheep tracks. they get cut into the sides of hills by the animals routinely making their way up and down the hills in perpendicular direction.

I really love my time spent on the farm, it makes me feel purposeful and useful. typically we go out on the bike (quad) and "feed out" which is basically taking hay bales out to the cattle and distributing it around. At first it was really intimidating to have 20 or so bulls jogging towards you while you frantically try to break up a bale but now it's cool and i really like being in the middle of all the cattle. after feeding out we typically move sheep from paddock to paddock so that the grass gets a chance to grow. Peter's dog's name is Tip and she's a pretty sweet sheepdog.

yesterday a beast got stuck in the creek during a rainstorm we'd had. it was waist (do bulls have waists?) deep in mud and it'd been there for a long time. after school Peter came and got Richard and I and we had to haul the beast out. the creek is at the bottom of a shallow ravine in a grove of trees. The bull's hind leg was caught under a root and we had to dig it out. Richard and I looped a rope around the bull's neck and peter pushed from the back so after a long time and a lot of rough work we got it out. hopefully it's still doing alright but we basically saved Peter $800+ so that was good and we also saved the bull. good news all around.

I really wouldn't mind working on the farm for a part-time job sometime if i ever get the chance to return here.. moral of the post: I love the farm.

it's been a longtime coming

Alright so it's been 2 wonderfully stressful and stimulating months since I arrived in New Zealand. Alot has happened but I'll do my best to reccount as much as possible.

On y va: My first host family is a family of 6. Peter and Anna, my parents are very kind, and caring people. Anna, a GP, is norweigian and so the family is all fluent and oftentimes speaks norwegian in the house. Peter is a Kiwi farmer who has been nearly everywhere in the world. Their children are Synove (at uni) Ragnhild (a year younger than me) Jimmy (2 years younger) and Richard (4 years younger). Ragnhild has become a good friend of mine. Within my first 24 hours here I helped to herd sheep and also ate lamb. We eat meat with absolutely every meal, which is an unfortunate change from my vegetarian diet which I followed for the better part of the past year and a half. I have tried and eaten everything put in front of me and I seek every opportunity to try my hand at something new. I go to the farm with Peter every chance I get and I've grown to enjoy "feeding out." I'm trying to say yes to everything I can but I'm living in the sticks and it's dificult to get into town often.

I go to school at Mahurangi College and I have become good friends with a couple girls and a few guys. My classes are Drama, English, NZ studies, Photography and Painting. I'm loving my Painting and Drama classes but otherwise school is quite a bore. I'm in level 2 classes, which is the equivalent of grade 11.. so you can see how challenged I am by the work i get here. ..But I get out every so often to go on trips or stay with other Rotarians.

I got to go skiing at Mt Ruapehu (Mt Doom & one of the worlds most active volcanoes) a couple weeks back. Skiing at 2700m is much more exciting than Wentworth at 250m. It was probably the best skiing experience that I have had to date, and we (2 Rotarians and I) are planning to go back for another shot at the volcano.

August 15-17 was my orientation here where i got to meet all the inbounds and outbounds. I am truly here with a wonderful group of people. There are students from Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Austria, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, CANADA, and the states.. haha jokes. Petra (Finland), Caio (Brasil) and Lea (Switzerland) are most probably my best friends out of the whole group, though everyone is really close. The week after orientation I got to do my presentation on Canada which went extremely well. Being mostly all sailors, the rotarians were blown away by the tides in the Bay of Fundy. and I presented them with the Rotary club of Sackville's Banner for which they were very thankful. My Rotary club is full of some really genuine people, most importantly Mick Saunders. I have had the pleasure of staying at his place on a few occasions and he and his wife June are truly two of the most interesting people that I have/will ever meet. I'm really thankful that he has taken an interest in me.

thats all for now. I'm planning on updating the blog after a significant event during my exchange.
laters.