March 30, 2011- I don't have time to comment on all these, but I will when I get back next week...but enjoy the pictures :) Hamilton and Rotorua was a blast!! Only 10 days left...it's so surreal...
April 6th: Update!
So the morning of March 25th, Katie and I were picked up bright and early around 7am and headed to the temple in Hamilton. It is such a beautiful temple! We got there around 9:40 and took some pictures before going in to do baptisms and confirmations at 10:00. I just love the spirit that is felt in the temple. I cannot wait to go to the open house of the Atlanta temple since it has recently been renovated. I am so lucky that I get to be home for that.
After going to the temple we all jumped back into the vans and headed to the Brons' home in Rotorua. They are friends of James, and every year when the BYU girls come they let us stay in their house! They were the nicest family. And it was just so nice to hang out in the house all together. Rotorua is a pretty city, but I definitely understand the term ROTorua! The city is known for the geothermal activity, and randomly throughout the town there are pipes coming out of the ground releasing steam. And there were many areas that smelled so strong of sulfur. But we got used to it pretty quick.
So there are going to be many things I will miss about New Zealand. Besides this beautiful country and the amazing experiences I have had, I am going to miss being together as a group. The last few weeks have been unforgettable. One of the many things I will miss is eating all together. When we got to Rotorua, Katie and I headed to PakNSave with Jim to get food for breakfast, lunches, and dinner that we were in charge of making that night. I love making the dinners together and eating together. We decided to have taco salad, a repeat of what we had one night in Christchurch back in February. Anyway, I have loved making dinners all together. I guess it's just one of those little things that no one reading this will ever care about, but I will always remember them! haha.
So Saturday morning, we all got up and headed to the Agrodome to get good seats at the sheep show! We were the first people there, and grabbed the whole first row front and center!
This is our host! He was pretty funny. And did you know there were 19 breeds of sheep?? I sure didn't.
Sheering a sheep!
I got to feed a baby lamb! It was so adorable. I was one of only four people he picked! I felt so lucky! haha. That never happens to me!
Ok, so after the sheep show was one of the most fun things ever- Orbing! Basically you jump into a clear ball filled with water, and roll down a hill. I got to be in a ball with Nicole and Neeley, and we raced Christine, Emily, and Nancy. It was a BLAST. I was laughing the entire time rolling down the hill. Unfortunately we got a late start, so we lost the race, but man was it fun!
Sunday we went to church, and also drove to Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand. That night we made our last group dinner. We had a baked potato bar and it was so good!
Something else I am going to miss- running with Allie! Whenever we are on group trips, Allie and I always go running together. She is really fast, so I am so happy she is here to push me so that I can hopefully keep up with Mekelle when I get back to Provo! haha. But we woke up early and went for a run together through this little geyser pools park. Kind of a stinky run (literally) but it's always fun running and talking with Allie.
As a group on Monday we headed to Te Puia, a geothermal park and Maori museum.
We first went to the cultural show, where we were a part of another powhiri. It was so cool for me to realize how much I have learned about the Maori culture. Our host (the lady on the left) was explaining what was going to happen during the powhiri, and I already knew exactly what was going to happen and why! I felt pretty smart. haha. But I love that I know so much about the culture here. I just wish I could express to all my friends and family how much I have learned. Anyway, so she told us that we needed to pick someone to represent us as our 'Chief'. In the group there were all these Asian tour groups, and then us. Of course we all immediately point to Dr. J, so she picked Jim to be our Chief. It's so funny, because now whenever we get emails from Dr. J, he always ends them as 'Chief Jim'. haha. He's so funny.
We are about to enter the Marae, with Chief Jim leading us. Since we were the group that Chief Jim was with, she had all of us in front with him, and enter the Marae first, meaning we would get the seats towards the front...ok so one thing I have learned here- Asian tour groups are crazy!! As she is telling the 16 of us to move to the front and enter first, we are being pushed and shoved aside as the Asians try and get in front of us. It was so funny. All the employees had to practically hold them back while we went moved to the front to enter the Marae with Jim.
After the cultural show and watching James and Dr. J learn the haka which was pretty hilarious, we got our own tour guide to show us around the park. The geyser was pretty incredible!
Mud pools- people actually pay money to come and sit in these...
Whitney, me, Katie and Allie
Diana, me and Janet
After lunch James took us to a few beautiful lakes nearby- from the top of this hill you can see on either side the Blue lake (Tikitapu) and Green lake (Rotokakahi).
James then took us into town which was right in front of another lake, Lake Tarawera, and we just explored for a while. A bunch of us laid on the grass. relaxed, and then walked over to the waterfront. A few of the girls paddleboated in the lake while Diana and I took pictures and just talked together. I love Diana so much! She is so great. I love all the friendships that I have made while being here.
So Annette Brons loves acting and writing plays, and she has opened up this little dinner theater. So Monday night we got to go to one of her shows!
Tuesday morning, we got up early, cleaned the house (it's amazing how fast you can clean when there are 16 girls cleaning together!) and headed to the Waitoma caves to go Black Water Rafting!! This was one of the coolest things I have ever done! And I wore my very first wetsuit- let me tell ya, those things are sure flattering! haha.
Because there were too many of us to go in one group, we were split into two groups of eight. We were the first group to go, and we had a few other random girls along with us. Our guides Brydie and Elza were so fun too. The whole experience was just a blast. The caves were so beautiful, and the glowworms (technically maggots in the caves whose poop glows in the dark, but glowworms sounds a little better :)) were SO COOL. In the pitch black of the caves, looking up at these glowworms was like looking up at the stars at night. I don't even know how to explain the experience...it was just so much fun. We floated in inner tubes through the caves, jumped off waterfalls...and along the way, Brydie told us how the acoustics in the cave were amazing, and she jokingly told us to sing a song- but then Whitney announced that we had a song! haha. So the 8 of sang our Te Aroha while floating through the Waitoma caves...it sounded so amazing! Another one of those moments I will never forget...
All of us heading down into the caves!
It looks like it's light, but it was actually pitch black while taking this picture!
This picture does not even come close to what it actually looked like floating out of the caves...you can see the sunbeam shining down into the water on the right...so just imagine after being in the pitch black darkness underground for over an hour, and then coming out to see the lush green forest and the sun shining through the trees!! Oh my goodness, it was just beautiful. We were all talking about how it looked like the picture of Joseph Smith and the Sacred Grove.
I loved our trip to Rotorua. I loved being together as a group again, and finally being DONE with all our assignments and papers. Orbing, the sheep show, Black Water Rafting...and then the little things like the flat tire experience with van, watching A Walk to Remember with all 16 of us piled into the living room Sunday night...I wish I could write everything that I we did, but that would take forever! Thankfully I have my journal to remember all the experiences I have had here. The night we got back to Alice's, I wrote in my journal "I know I am where I am supposed to be- and it feels so good." I love New Zealand, I love that I have been able to spend the past three months of my life in this amazing country. I am so lucky.
