Waiheke Island Sept 18-27

Kia Ora! This past weekend I went on adventure touring around Waiheke Island.  It is just a 45 min ferry ride from Auckland and very pretty!

To begin, as soon as we got off the ferry there were 8 Newfies 8! I was obsessed with taking pictures of them and occasionally snuck in a pat through the crowd of people getting off the ferry.

 We decided to rent bikes since the island is pretty big and we wanted to see as much of it as we could. Of course I haven't ridden a bike in months and months so it was very exhausting (just after this picture was taken the rest of the day was huge I mean HUGE hills. We only seemed to ever go up them, never down, hmmm?). The weather was quite annoying, there were a few rain showers we got stuck in but we made the most of it!

 This was the first beautiful beach we came across.  It was so relaxing sitting and seeing both forests and beaches.  It was also probably really relaxing because each beach meant I didn't have to bike up a hill haha.

 Here I am! This is looking at a cove in the island and we're at the top of a little ridge.

 Here is what the rest of the island looked like, fields and coves from the ocean.  The island is known for it's great vineyards but sadly we didn't have time to get a glass of wine, too much biking to do!

This week I've been relaxing a bit more and today doing three loads of laundry for my big trip.  I leave in the morning for Bay of Islands with a group of 25 study abroad students. And possibly sky diving but the weather looks like we won't be able to.  On Sunday the whole group will sail around for the day, which should be quite fun!  Then early early Monday morning I will be off to the south island for two weeks, hopefully I will be able to get a post in the middle otherwise when I come back it will be a lot of pictures to share!

Love you all,

Michele

My dreams have come true!

Big news everyone...I WENT HORSEBACK RIDING ON THE BEACH IN NEW ZEALAND!!!!!

The other weekend I went with some family friends (family friends of my family friends haha) to Muriwai beach on the west coast of the north island.  It was only about a 45 min drive away, during which I got to see baby sheep, and a two hour trail ride.

I stayed in the back to take some pictures so this was our first view of the beach! In front of me is Linda and then her daughter Sara and in the very front our guide.  It was only the three of us on the ride which was perfect.  You can't see it well in the pictures but the sand was black and at times when the sun would hit it right it was blue.

All of a sudden we were in the water! Just after this the guide let me go on my own, meaning I got to trot and canter along the beach!! It was just like in the movies, absolutely perfect! 

After the beach we went through some fields and woods. The guide kept telling me to go trot up ahead and enjoy myself, it felt so so good to be back on a horse! And yes I sadly was sore after I got off haha.

After a nice picnic Linda, Sara, and I made our way to the next cove over, just picture perfect!

We looked at the Gannet's nest for a while- these are big while birds that only stay on that little island and the edge of the coast.  It was so bizarre watching them sit on their individual little mounds of dirt and they never came more inland.

We then took a scenic route to Bethells Beach and we saw another girl just cantering along the beach.   It's very easy to ride on the beach here since there are designated beaches to horses, dogs, and off roading.  

As you can see the weather was starting to turn a bit so we didn't stay long here just look a peek and ran around!

So in the end my dreams of riding on the beach have come true! I had such a great time!

Lately, I haven't been traveling but instead saving my money for my south island trip and Europe.  I leave for the south island Oct 1 but that weekend before I am going to the Bay of Islands (a bit north of Auckland) with a big group of friends.  School work and planning seems to be all I have been up to last week, I guess it's not all fun and games while you study abroad!

Hope all is well with you!

Love,

Michele

Aug 14 - Sept 5 eek that's a long time!

Hello all! The reason I haven't been posting lately is because I've only been doing papers and projects! Such a sad thing to study abroad and actually have to do homework.  Luckily, I got it all done so now the work for the finals starts so that I can enjoy two full weeks off just before finals.  While I was doing all this boring work I was still student teaching.

This is the library corner.  I am so happy the year 8 students still love to hang out with stuffed animals.  My mentor teacher loves animals, especially cats, so she feels it's very important to have something to snuggle with at school and a proper library corner to read.

Here is the classroom!  If you can't tell the walls are covered in posters and pictures and anything you can think of; a very easy place to get distracted haha.

Then finally last week the work load broke and I was able to see the sun again!  I went to a nearby farmers market in Parell with a few friends.  The second best part of the whole trip was finding this grapefruit on the ground under a grapefruit tree and sharing it as we walked along (it was extremely bitter haha).

There were all sorts of tables set up, this was a homemade French ravioli - obviously I didn't get it because I know our family's is better.  There were pesto places, bread, fruits and veggies, apple cider donuts, cheeses, sweets, everything you can think of!  The whole thing reminded me of the farmers market in Burlington, VT so it was very nice to be reminded of home.  As I said earlier the grapefruit was the second best part of the trip...the dogs were the best!!!! That's right I was in dog heaven, around every corner was another puppy that I got to pet.  Man it was a great animal fix for me!

After the market we walked around the town center, which was very cute with small shops and art galleries and such.  It was such a nice way to wind down from all the midterms.

After skyping with my parents my dad gave my a great way to make dinner.  I would have to say it was the prettiest dinner I have every made by myself, I'm quite proud even thought I know it was easy.

And for dessert...a whoopie pie! We saw a man selling them at the market and couldn't resist.  He doesn't make traditional chocolate and vanilla ones so I got peanut butter and chocolate.  It definitely wasn't what I remember to be as a whoopie pie but was still pretty good!

On Sunday, my friend Denise and I went to the outlet mall to shop.  I didn't find anything good but I'm still on the hunt for a new pair of shoes!  I've been making dinner with friends again and learning some new things to cook with just throwing things together, perfect for me!  Today, I had the day off and decided to finally book my two week break in the south island.  So the beginning of October my huge adventure will begin!

Hope all is well with school starting and the fall coming!

Love,

Michele