yikes.
i'm sorry guys. when i decided to start this whole blog thing i thought i'd be a lot better at updating regularly. but i guess like most of diary attempts i start strong and then kinda fizzle out :-\ march was a crazy and exciting month, and april hasn't been too bad either, so far.
MARCH!
i started my internship @ karori wildlife sanctuary, and like most jobs the 1st day is AMAZING and you're really excited, the 2nd day is a little overwhelming and the 3rd day is terrible...but then it gets good again after a while :) my 1st day of work i discovered my raincoat was no longer waterproof, and of course it rained all day :-\ luckily it hasn't rained since then (knock on wood), so i should be okay until my mom sends me a new one.
nathan's visit was right around the corner, so i told the sanctuary i'd be gone for a few weeks, and i planed on my guest arriving march 24th. a few days before i got a cryptic email saying he'd be two days early, so i planned on the 22nd. i went to candice's bday party fri night and got a costume for ray's recycled party (go to the thrift store and find something ugly for <$20). sat night i had just finished making my dinner and went downstairs to get ready when there was a knock on the door!!! of course it was nathan :-D he had thought he told me to plan for the 23rd and he was REALLY confused/upset when i wasn't @ the airport to pick him up...oops :( he took a cab to my house and we got him all set up (which didn't take long...since he didn't really have much w/him). because i had already bought a costume for the party i still HAD to go, and of course i took nathan w/me even though he was sans costume :)
on tuesday nathan and i went to my ecology class and i made him participate in our group activity, which he complained abt, but he survived just fine :-P on wednesday i played tour guide and took him to the botanical gardens, the cable car, te papa (nz museum), and for a night tour of the sanctuary. on our night walk we saw 2 tuatara, glowworms, and a kiwi! well, we KINDA saw a kiwi...more like just his butt...maybe.
on friday after class, we headed to the airport to travel on to australia. we had a little bit of a hard time getting checked in because a)we didn't have visas (easily fixed), and b)the oz govt still thought i was in oz...even though my visa expired in jan...guess they didn't really care if i stayed longer! haha, oh well. after flying into brisbane and catching the connecting flight to cairns we checked into our hotel and went to bed! in the morning we realized that nate had booked an ocean view room...which we didn't have, so we moved rooms and had the most AMAZING view! sat we walked all over town and took tons of pics of the beautiful coastline. that night we jumped on a surprise tour, flames of the forest. when we arrived to a mysterious location in the woods, there was beautiful candle light everywhere and we had a wonderful evening of food, drinks and aboriginal stories :) it was a great surprise and a lot of fun. sunday we went snorkeling on the outer reef. and let me tell you, if you like beautiful things...you HAVE to go to the reef. i've been snorkeling a few times before, but NOTHING compared to the beauty of the great barrier reef. it was phenomenal! we even saw a sea turtle!! no pics of him though :( nate's camera ran outta film just before he showed up...oh well. monday we were leaving to go back to wellington, but nate had booked us a trip out of town to see the koala park, butterfly sanctuary, and botanical gardens...unfortunately he thought our flight was leaving @ 12am...but it was actually 12pm, so we didn't get to go :( we walked around town a little more, went for a quick dip in the pool and headed off to the airport (since i didn't get to see any koalas or butterflies i made nate be a substitute for me...take a look @ the pics, he was a good sport :) hehehe). when we got to the cairns airport we learned that because of a qantas baggage strike in brisbane our flight was delayed 3hrs! we were pretty sure we'd miss our connection to wellington, but they assured us they'd take care of everything. sure enough when we finally got to brissie our wellington flight was gone. qantas had rebooked us for the next day, and put us up in a nice hotel in the city, payed for our transportation both ways, and our dinner, and our breakfast! it was like an extra (FREE) vacation day! :-D since our dinner was paid for we ate it up and had a nice time. nate went to explore the city a little after dinner, but i just went to bed.
APRIL
on tuesday, late, we finally arrived back in welli and started planning our trip around the north island.
**side note :) we played a little april fool's joke on everyone :) please...if you have friends who still think we're REALLY engaged, tell them it was just a joke! lol don't want anyone sending me engagement cards! lol. and sorry to everyone who's still mad...but lol it was SO WORTH IT! sorry!!!
we rented a car on wednesday and headed off to tongoriro national park to do the alpine crossing. it was a REALLY tough, REALLY long, hike across volcanoes, and lakes, and sulfur vents...VERY cool. we did get a hard time from the woman working @ our hotel...she made me rent a diff pair of pants from her since i couldn't wear jeans, and she told us that nate's boots were JUST passing (keep in mind he was wearing his ARMY boots...lol). it was a beautiful hike, but you won't catch me doing it again anytime soon...i think i'm still tired!
after we got back from the hike we drove to rotorua and stayed at the prince's gate...VERY fancy ;) rotorua was a lot of fun, and we went to the museums, rose gardens, culture exhibits, and more. some of the highlights were: hell's gate, where we went in the mud baths, and sulfur spas (really fun); we went zorbing (HUGE plastic ball w/a hole in the middle...kinda like a gerbil ball, there's a layer of air so it's bouncy, and they put some warm water in it so you slip around...then they push you down a big hill!), it was SO much fun; and we also went to see a cultural maori show and had a traditional hangi dinner.
after dinner we drove to waitomo. however, by the time we got there it was ~1am and NOTHING was open...meaning we had no where to sleep :( so the car it was! nate had bought a sheep skin which we used for a blanket and we put the back seats down and stuck our legs in the trunk...not the best sleep ever, but at least we could stretch out and w/body heat we didn't freeze! although, it was close...bleh. in waitomo we went blackwater rafting and saw thousands of glowworms and jumped off waterfalls deep in the caves while wearing our booties, wetsuits, and helmets (the water was ~10oC!!), it was FREEZING, but very cool :)
tuesday we were in martinborough, aka one of the north island's wine areas. we drove out to cape palliser to see a colony of male fur seals :) and went wine tasting @ 5 diff vineyards. that night we made our way back to wellington, and it was the end of our nice weather. from the time we'd gotten to cairns until we got back to wellington at the very end of the trip, we had PERFECT BEAUTIFUL weather...and then it was back to rainy cold wellington :-P
on thursday, i took nate the airport so he could head back to iraq :'( of course i got wicked depressed and didn't leave the house for 2 days, but on sat i made myself go out to a small party.
since then, it's been fall break! i went out too lunch w/some friends on easter sunday, and i've started working @ the sanctuary again. i won't start classes again until the 27th, so i'm just kinda hanging out and doing a little school work here and there. since i'm too lazy to go all the way to campus just to go to the gym, i've been doing a little yoga at home in our spare bedroom. other than that, i've just been a bum. hope every one's well @ home and i'm sad that it's getting warm there just as it's getting cold here. it's still in the low 60's and i'm hoping it will stay that way until i leave...even though i doubt it will. miss you guys!!!
ps. don't forget to look @ ALL the pics nate and i took while we were gone!! :-D
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