Kowabunga!

Well I have finally found some time to write a blog, so many adventures, so much work and so little time.  Friday our school had blue lake day, which consisted of activities and a BBQ at blue lake.  This started out with a walk halfway around the lake then into the activities!  I was supposed to be part in charge of the kayak section but the other teachers decided they wanted to do that and I am on the bottom of the totem pole so I was in charge of long ball.  Long ball is kinda a mix between dodge ball and base ball.  The day went well with a good ham dinner feed for the teachers and sausages for the students.  The day went and the afternoon I went on a horse trek with a teacher that owns a very large ranch and runs horse treks for tourists.  Well just to say single track horse treks for beginning riders is so BORING.....the dinner afterwords was amazing however with good company and some wine and beer!

Saturday morning me and another american student headed out really early for the caves.  Generally I avoid enclosed places like the plague but I bit the big one and went black water rafting.  This entailed going into a cave system with a river running through it and jumping on an inner tube and floating the under ground river.  At one point the guides tossed out an explosive charge which vibrated the caverns and caused the glow worms to glow like mad.  We then turned out our head lamps and rafted by glow worm light!

The exit from the rafting company took longer than expect because my partner in crime left the headlights on and I had to find someone to jump our car (which took like two hours).  We then made it to the beautiful coastal town of Reglen.  The original plan was to get a surf lesson and head home that night but the town was packed and there was no surf rentals and hardly any places to stay but we scored a beautiful little hostel on the way out of town.  That night we hung out with our hostel mates and had a grand time with stories and drinks.  Sunday we surfed!  I was really fearful that I would not be able to surf at all but I got into it and was doing little tricks before long, so amazing.

Getting home and a bit of rest then Monday and today were school elective days, where the students sign up for activities that teachers sponsor, needless to say I sponsored paint ball.  Two days of endless fun shooting students really makes you feel good.  Oh and last night two games of league soccer (to bad we lost)....busy busy busy.   I hope every one has a great week.
Cheers

Pre-raft photo

making sure our butts fit in our tubes

striking a cave pose

exciting the cave

even more badass cave pose

hostel in Reglen

getting ready to ride the waves, KOWABUNGA!

world famous surf beach

On the Grind

Well unfortunately there has been no great adventures lately besides mans night last friday.  Mans night consisted of mass amounts of whiskey and video games where I ended up destroying every one.  Then the fact that I had not been out on the town much in Rotorua came out and every body decided to show me the town.  This resulted in an all night dance session at the local club ending at four in the morning!

The next few weeks are going to go in a whirl wind.  This is on top of all the crazy work I need to do to complete  my student teaching (so far I  have typed 35 pages on the paper and still have more to go!). 

The next few weeks will hold some major adventures and at the least of it will result in a good story if not amazing pictures.

I am going to the local veterans of foreign service club and am invited for drinks and a dinner.
Friday I am instructing a class on kayaking and helping with BBQ on our schools blue lake day.  That evening I got invited to go on a horse riding trek until dark the to a large BBQ. I am going black water rafting and caving.  Black water rafting is rafting on an under ground river through caves...After the cave experience I am going to Regland.  Regland is a very famous surf town where the surf breaks left where 99 percent of the surf in the world breaks right.  There I am going to do some surfing and beach lounging.  I am leading a group of students paint balling against other schools and we are going to DOMINATE.  For the school staff Christmas party we are going out for a dinner party on an old steam boat touring eating and drinking around the lake.  I am going white water rafting that has a 25 foot water fall drop in the middle of the raft trip.  I am flying to the south island and hiking one of the most famous walks in the world the famous Routeburn trak (I was originally going to do the Milford track but all the people I have talked to have said the Routeburn is a much better hike and more scenic)  Then the flight home before Christmas!  Wow so much to do and so little time.  There will undoubtedly be some great photos for you but at the least some good stories too read!  Have a great week and I will talk to you as the adventures roll in  Cheers!

 

ahh the daily grind...

Okay..so I now it has been nearly three weeks since my last post, to all the appreciative fans i apologize.  Okay the fact that I say "appreciative" fans might be a good sign that I used to be conceited, but now I am perfect :D   The last few weeks have been just that, the daily grind.  The school work load has reached a peak and I am still slammed with my final student teaching project so the amount of time available for adventuring has reached a raging...trickle.  There has been a few interesting weekends happening to note a good story on this blog.  Last weekend I attended a rugby game in Rotorua with a few of the Americans that came with me on the student teaching program.  The adventure came after the game when I decided that I needed some fresh air and decided to go for a walk.  The walk then turned into an ambition to make my way back home, which should be about 1.5 hours on foot.  Well two hours later I realized I was walking the wrong way and had to walk back and finally got a ride home.

The second adventure was yet another rugby game..hmm must be a theme here.  This game however was in Auckland.  We drove down on Saturday and booked into our hostel.  From there we took the train too the stadium courtesy of the city for every person with a ticket to the rugby game.  The game was pretty sweet and we the people in the stadium even made the news headlines for the drunken craziness that happened during the game.  Well I wasn't too crazy but I definitely enjoyed a few beers :)     That night we stayed up until 3 in the morning to watch the All Blacks rugby game that was aired live from London...the night was pretty crazy and we finaly dragged ourselves too bed at 6 in the morning.  I did bring my camera but left it in my bag as I was afraid I would lose it. The picture is courtesy of one of my american cohorts!

Whew so much work left and only four weeks to go...there is still much fun yet to be had but work before play.  Have a great week and I will try and get some more posts out!

Rugby Madness