When I went to NZ it was supposed to be this trip that was going to change my life. I suppose it has is some ways, but it hasn't had the drastic affects I thought. It is my fault though. I haven't made the decisions that I said I was going to make when I got home, nor...well I basically haven't done anything I said that I was going to do when I got back. Something that I really wanted to focus on was my relationship with God. I was feeling so distant when I left and when I was in NZ the connection was coming back, but now I feel farther away than before! I will admit I haven't done anything to try and reconnect with God. I guess that is the first thing I need to work onr ight away. Perhaps all the others will just fall in to place when I get this on the right path.

Some excitement

Okay, so I m know I am being really bad about writing in this blog.  But HEY, I have been busy J  Well, I haven’t written since I left for the bus tour, so I will start from there.  The first place I will be spending the night is Rotorua.  And on the way there is the Hobbiton tour.  This is just a tour of where all the hobbits live that you see in the movie.  Everything was so cute!!  All the doors and windows were just adorable.  I am not allowed to post pictures, but I have plenty of them to show you all when I get back!  It was cool to see it all in real life.  After the tour I made it to Rotorua and I went to a Maori hungy.  The Maori are the natives here in NZ.  And a hungy is a hole that is dug in the ground and food is cooked by wood and hot rocks.  Let’s just say it was really good.  Anyway, they also had a Maori presentation, where they danced and sang in their native language.  It was pretty cool. The Maori men also dress in loin cloth type things with tattoos on their thighs, shoulders, chests, face…you get it.  You all know how I enjoy tattoos, so yeah, I liked this activity, haha!   After leaving Rotorua, I went to Taupo.  This is where I attempted to take my life in my own hands.  I was going to sky dive…………….. (a pause for you to get over the shock)……………………………… my intentions were not completed though.  They have a strict law in NZ about the weight limit for skydiving, so I was not able.  There were a couple of other people that were not able as well.  So after Taupo I headed off to National Park, but on the way there we stopped at Waitomo Caves.  They have glowworms in the caves here.  Which is really cool to see.   I went cavetubing!  I posted pictures on facebook.  It was a lot of fun, and getting those wet suits on was not an easy task!  One of the guides helped me out a lot on the trip.  His name was Ku (sounds like coo).  I didn’t mind his help at all.  When we got in the cave and turned off our lights you would look up and there were thousands of glowworms attached to the top of the cave.  It reminded me of home on a clear dark night, looking at the stars, except they were a mint green color.  I really loved it.  There really isn’t much to do in National Park.  The reason that we stop there is because a lot of people do this walk called the Tongariro Alpine Crossing Walk.  It takes about 6-8 hours.  It is up a mountain, definitely not easy.  I was not interested in doing this.  So it was just a chill out day for me.  Wellington was the next destination I stayed at, and I was here for 2 days.  We arrived a bit late so that evening I just hung out and slept in late, it was nice.  I really like the city of Wellington.  There is lots to do and lots to see.  The city has lots of different artwork displayed all over the city, I didn’t have time to see even a small portion of it.  They also have a Maori tattoo museum, which it is about the size of my living room, haha.  So mostly it is a tattoo parlor J  it gave me some ideas… Sunday was another long day of traveling.  I had to leave really early in the morning to catch the ferry to cross to the south island, to get to Nelson.  So I have now been traveling for about a week, and this post is really long, sorry, and I think I will continue this another day!!

Love you all,

Natalie  

Social

I hung out with my new friend Danielle today!  She is such a sweetheart.  It was cool to just get to hang out with someone :)  We went "for a view" and she took me up a hill that had a really pretty flower garden in it!  She said that people will come there to get their wedding pictures taken and I could see why!  We were also able to see a bit of the northern part of the north island which was cool!  It is hard to understand that the whole country really isn't that big.  She also told me that all the big hills are what used to be volcanoes.  Some of them are just inactive, but they do have active ones.  She is also trying to convince me I need to bungy jump, hahaha!!  Isn't that funny!  I am seriously thinking about doing the zip line when I get to Rotorua, though.  I think that is pretty daring and brave of me!!!
Nat 

Hanging around

Yesterday I went to the beach again.  I decided I wanted to get in as much beach time as I could since next week I am going to be heading off on a bus tour!  I will be taking off on Monday for 19 days total :)  Today I have been trying to get all the plans finalized for it.  Also I did a bit of shopping and made a friend.  Of course she is a cosmetics girl!  She is super sweet and tomorrow her and some of her friends are coming to take me out for fish and chips and ice cream!  I am really excited to hang out with them! 

I now have some color, it is a bit pink right now, but soon it shall be tan!!! 
Miss and love you all,
Nat

Church

today i went to church.  it was what i needed.  i met some lovely kiwis and they were so wonderful and friendly.  they gave me a ride home, gave me their phone numbers, and are going to give me a lift next sunday :)  did i mention the service was what i needed?  the point of this trip has started to take action.  

Getting a bit more comfortable

so today i decided to was going to the beach.  you all know how stubborn i can be (just keep that in mind.)  well i thought i had this all figured out.  i had gotten all the route numbers written down, for which bus i needed to take, i wrote down approximate times i should arrive at certain destinations in order to get on the next bus...THOUGHT i had all my ducks in a row. HAH!  First thing, the bus was not there when it was supposed to be, it was about 10 minutes late, but the thing is since it was so late i started to second guess myself!  so i got out my map (you can tell where this is going-cant you?)  yeah, when i was looking at my map, the bus went by.  the buses just don't stop at every point...you have to flag them.  so i waited for about 20 minutes and the next bus came.  okay fine, i'll just adjust my times.  so i need to make a stop when i get on this bus, but i'm unsure of where things are.  see, you still have to know about where you are.  and i do not.  so needless to say i just stayed on the bus till the last stop.  and i end up in this kind of ghetto bus depot.  there are high school kids EVERYWHERE (again, you know how i am) which means yackity yackity yack!  and i wait there for the bus that is going to take me back home....because by this time i am done.  i road the bus for 45 minutes longer than i should have and i had to pee.  so i was done.   well i get on the bus that is going in my direction home, and i decided that if i find a place that i want to stop i am going to...i am not going to have a wasted day! (stubborn)  well ends up...somehow (don't ask me how)  i was heading toward the beach!!  i got off the bus.  yep, i made it to the beach!  i didn't have a lot of time there (i have been trying to get home by dark) so i sat for a bit and walked out till the water was about up to my knees.  the cool thing is though, i think i can get there again!

i had orchiette pasta salad (which was oh so good)  and my first true NZ flat white, all i can say is ohhhhh.

First day adventure.

well, i didn't get lost exactly, but i did end up going somewhere that wasn't' intended, haha!  i ended up in downtown auckland and that is where the bus stopped.  as in, it didn't go anywhere else...so i HAD to get off.  i thought it was going to take me back to where i wanted to go, but it didn't.  so in turn i had to find out which bus i needed to get on, to get back to where i wanted to go.   (did you get all that?)  the bus drivers are very helpful, and they call you "love" ( which i love that term of endearment, by the way.) 

i did get to the grocery, and i was really surprised at all the fruit that they had from the US.  it seemed like they had more of our fruit than we do!  and of all things that they had from the US-KIWI!  i alsmost said out loud, in the store, "are you kidding me!" i got some plums and peaches. 

oh, yeah!  one more thing-i got a little bit of a sunburn :D  YAY!
love you all,
nat