I ain't lion; I'm not a cheetah!

Wrapped up in Wellington

Waiting for Wellington

My morning started off very bad. Like I wrote a solid 4.5 pages on how bad my day was going, all before noon, but I'm not gonna type it out for ya because they're my problems not yours. Included in those pages tho are how my Uber driver left me like a mile from where I had to be in the pouring rain, my smoothie tasted like stuff I would not eat, and my flight got delayed. It was not off to a good start.
So then when we finally got in the air, it was only a 45 minute flight to Wellington. We fell out of the sky for a few hundred feet and I thought we were gonna die. But we made it.

My face with the pool being overrun
by children.

None of the ATMs would accept any of my cards. I tried all cards at all ATMs and none of them would give me money. So then I just used a card for a cab to the hotel and since the flight was all delayed, it was too late to really go do anything because it was almost dark and the hotel is like way uphill so no way am I gonna be walking up and down to town. There was no wifi either so I had to use my data so I tried to plan out what else to do besides my seal safari as quick as I could. Unfortunately it was a little too quick and I still had an hour before the restaurant would be open for dinner. So I just chilled. I thought of writing some of my way overdue blog posts but I just couldn't because my head hurt because I was having a rough week.
Then finally it was time for dinner so I go to the restaurant. I got the ribs because apparently pork is my new favorite food along with fried chicken (jk we all know I love all meats and fishes) but the ribs didn't make me feel any better so I had to take the rest back to my room because I was done being at the restaurant.
So then I went to the swimming pool but it was overrun by 7-12 year olds so I went in the sauna and hoped they would leave soon but they had big buckets of KFC and they had more of their friends join them every couple minutes and they lasted way longer than I lasted so I went back to my room and took a warm shower because the room was freezing and I don't think the heat was working but idk how to work their heating systems here because it seems no matter what I do they don't work.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

My face after eating my ribs,
barely any bbq sauce on it

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

Ferry Cool Carvings, Man

Last day in Taupo. I finally did what Taupo is known for - the Maori Rock Carvings.
I woke up and checked out of my super cool hotel and walked past town to the marina wharf thing (what's the difference between a marina and a wharf? legit question, please reply in comments.) to the steamboat that would take me out to the carvings! Honestly I might be more excited about riding a steam boat than about seeing the carvings...oops.
I'm there like 30 minutes early. Like 30 minutes before we're supposed to be there which is 15 minutes before it leaves, so I'm like earlier than early but whatever. It's grey and raining, of course, but instead of going in the under cover cafe I just chill with the ducks because the rain never bothered me anyway.

It's cold outside so I sit inside on the steamboat. There's like six tables so I sit at one of them and there's lots of other tables with barely any people and these stupid people come and sit RIGHT NEXT TO ME. Not on the empty bench across from me or the empty bench next to that, but literally right next to me like the lady is leaning on my backpack that's in between me and her on the bench. It's very irritating. I get my cookie and tea and try my best to ignore it but it's seriously bothersome so when I finish my tea I move but by now the other inside benches are all taken because people realized it was cold outside. So I go outside and I am not happy about the stupid people taking over where I was. It is too early to be doing unpleasing things like sitting near me and leaning all over my stuff. Like back up lady. Ugh whatever.
So I go outside and the one worker lady is feeding the ducks so they're flying like right to the boat and then taking the bread and dropping to the water. It's cool. Oh and there's these SCREAMING two children that have been screaming since they got there and the lady let's them feed some and they stop screaming for a bit yay. Then the one gets like seasick or something and has to lay down and the other one starts coloring so no more screaming thankfully. But back to the ducks. Do they have Mallards in New Zealand? Because these ducks had green heads and the girl ducks were brown and like I live in Maryland and that's what a mallard looks like but I'm all the way in New Zealand and it just seems unlikely that they would have mallards here because it's so far away from Maryland. But idk man. Wait lemme google it. Woah they are mallards! A little piece of home so far from home. That's cray man. "which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and South Africa" (Wiki). But uh, Wiki, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile are all part of the Americas so no need to repeat them...whatevs, I didn't edit it.
We go all around the lake which is bigger than Singapore. I didn't know a lake could be so big. Then there are lots of little mini bays (but they just call them Bays) coming off of the lake, but like I feel like that should be opposite, like shouldn't the Bay be bigger than the Lakes? I dunno. It's just our Chesapeake and even Assawoman are so big, these ones are so tiny I feel they don't deserve the title of Bay. I'm just gonna post a bunch of pictures at once so just chill, k thnx.
So then we get to the rock carvings and the captain explains like what all the carvings on the face mean but I took so long writing this post that I don't really remember but I do remember that it's from Tahiti even tho most people I've talked to think the Maori came from Malaysia. So that's interesting. Then next to the big face there are 28 other carvings, including a lizard and some others. The boat is quite small so we got to get really up close to the carvings and the captain turned the boat around 360 slowly so everyone got to get super close to everything, that was nice. My camera decided to die so much that I couldn't take any pictures when we got to the rock carvings so I had to use my phone but thankfully it let me take pictures.
Then we went back on the other side of the lake so we saw like pretty much everything from the lake.

 Then after the boat ride, I still had a long while until my bus back to Auckland, but it was cold and yucky. I wandered the town and the shops as long as I could. I got my mother a present but I had planned on getting stuff for everyone, so I didn't do as good as I wanted. I almost got my daddy a animal skull for the basement but it was like super expensive but the more I think about it the more I should've just got it because it wasn't really that expensive compared to like literally everything in New Zealand, but oh well. I did get myself a shoulder brace for my poor shoulder (but it stinks major so I don't actually wear it even tho my shoulder still kills me on the daily) and nail polish because in Auckland it's like more than $9 a little bottle and in Taupo it was only $2 a bottle. But now my nails are super chipped and I don't have any remover but oh well.
Oh also I went in the Oldest Record/Music store in New Zealand, but I couldn't decide on what to buy so after like probably a half hour of just staring at all the music trying to decide what to get I just left.
I got eggs and toast at a cafe then I walked over to the iSite because I knew there was a like flower area there and I was so done with the shops. There was a museum there! So I went into the museum because it was inside so it would probably be warm and I walked around there until it was pretty much time to go to the bus.
Museum pictures:

Garden of Well Being

lol these were on display for being the fishing rods
of like 100 years ago but literally the rods I use
at home look just like this ...

 I was like 15 minutes before I was supposed to be at the bus stop, but the bus was already there and they let us on. Literally as soon as I got in my seat/row (yeah I don't like sharing. I was a spoiled kid) it starts POURING. Like super hard. Great timing. I'm so glad he let us on early.
But the reason I got there so early was because I was gonna pee first. But once I saw it was gonna start raining I just got on the bus and I'm glad I did and I wasn't gonna get off to go pee in that downpour. So I just waited until we got to Hamilton to pee. I read some more of Sarah's book but mostly just listened to music and we finally got back to Auckland.
I ate half a big bag of goldfish on the bus but I was still kinda hungry and when we got back to Auckland it literally took everything in me not to stop by Father Ted's for a steak and Magners. But I had all my stuff with me, which was a lot, so that's why I didn't stop. If I didn't have my stuff with me I would've. I love that place, man. Miss Auckland when I get back? Ah, probably not. Miss Father Teds? Definitely.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

Taking it to Taupo

Before you ask "What's 'it'?", I dunno. I just needed a title. 'It' could be lots of things. 'It' could be myself. 'It' could be my cameras. 'It' could be my backpack. 'It' could be both my sense of adventure and my laziness as I plan to have a very relaxing weekend. 'It' could be just about anything (including the book Sarah let me borrow for the long bus rude. Shout out & thanks to Sarah!).
So yeah, I'm in Taupo. And I still have to write my blogs about Waiheke, Hobbiton, and Waitomo, but I'm currently sitting on this little patio thing at the hotel (the pool and hot tub were both freezing), looking at the most gorgeous view (and no, it's not a mirror), so those other posts can wait. And yes, it might only be 2 in the afternoon, but I'm not doing anything else today except maybe go to the lake and drink more tea, so really my day is done enough to write my post.
This morning I got up (several times before I had to then eventually) at 6:30 to catch my bus to Taupo. I was on the bus from 7:15 (a bit earlier actually, 7:10ish) to 12:30. Thankfully, the bus had wifi and my iPod was working. I took up the entire back row the whole time so I could lay down. (Hey if they wanted they back row they should've gotten there earlier.) This one family tried to sit there but then I tweeted a not very nice tweet and they must've read my mind because then they moved. Yeah, nobody said I was a nice person (except maybe Ted but that's because he's super nice). So anyways, I spent the first couple hours reading the book Sarah lent me

(Reese Witherspoon recommended the author to the whole internet, so that was really all the confirmation I needed. Also idk if that word should be affirmation because idk what affirmation means. But you get my point. What Reese says goes). It's not a sad book (tbh I'm not really sure what the plot is yet because apparently I'm a much slower reader than I used to be), yet I found myself holding back tears like four times. The first time, she was describing the steam releases in the roads in New York. I miss America so much that that description almost had me ballin'. Only in New Zealand could a book about Australia have me missing America. The other times she was talking about Janie, a daughter that died, and yeah, Pal, that doesn't really need explaining. It's a sad life nowadays. A year and a half ago (when he was totally healthy) everything was fine. Crazy how fast life can change.
Aw man. I finished my tea. Might have to go in soon to get more. Plus it's getting cold.
So anyways, after I heard enough about the mom grieving the dead girl, I switched over to my iPod. I started with Madonna, a solid choice. So like Vogue comes on and I'm like "I've heard this before" and I mean, obviously I've heard Vogue before, but I mean in a different song. Then it hits me - "Gaga". So I switch over to Lady GaGa and then turn on Born This Way to see if I'm right and I'm totally right. Born This Way is a faster (I'd guess 3-5x) Vogue melody. Obviously the words are different but the beat is definitely the same. At first I think that I was more upset that it's taken me 5 years to notice than I was about the actual music, but now I've realized I didn't notice because, although definitely different from her other songs at the time, Gaga has a certain style (like where she talks in parts in all her songs) that just made it seem Gaga-y (although when Born This Way came out I remember thinking it didn't seem too Gaga-y...oh well) so I just went with it. But yeah.
So then we took a half hour stop in Tokoroa but we couldn't bring hot food or drink back on the bus. So I found all the fried chicken in New Zealand; it's in Tokoroa! I was sad I couldn't get some because I wouldn't finish it in time and I had no way of sneaking it back on the bus.
Tokoroa isn't that far from Taupo, so I just listened to some Green Day (love them) and enjoyed the scenery (fun fact: I'm currently listening to Green Day as I'm typing out this post that I've already wrote [and yeah it should be written but wrote and post kinda rhyme in my mind]) until we were in Taupo. In Auckland, leaves fall but they never change color until they hit the ground. It's the strangest thing. The tree will be super green with dead leaves around it. But from Tokoroa to Taupo, the leaves were orange, yellow, green, red. A lot of them were still green but the colored ones were beautiful and reminded me why autumn (fall in America because leaf fall down) is a top contender for my favorite
season. I thought it was strange that the leaves are colorful now when at home it's almost summer, meaning here it should be almost winter, but then I remembered most of the North Island doesn't have winter, so it would make sense that their fall would be a bit later.
Okay I have to go in now; I'm too cold.
Okay I'm back inside now but I'll definitely have to go out again later to take pictures because it's seriously so beautiful. But I'll get there. (Future foreshadow: It rained every morning so I couldn't get a decent picture.)
Okay, wait, before I get back to the sequence of events, I just got more tea. The water is literally boiling, yet when I got outside it cooled so fast it was like legit cold. So that's how cold it is out. Okay back to the story.

Once I got to Taupo, I grabbed a map from iSite and started just wandering. I needed to grab food. I wanted fried chicken (shocker). I feel like I was actually wandering for quite a while. This one place said 'Fried Chicken' and I was like YES! But they only had breasts and I like legs and thighs. So I kept walking. Eventually I found this place called Prime Roast. Like that literally screams Tasha. So I go in and it looks amazing. And they have friend chicken thighs! But the food looked so good I got a pork platter instead.
When I was so full that I couldn't eat anymore, I walked more. I stumbled upon a taxi company so I took a taxi to my hotel but it was actually pretty close. I could've walked. Oh well.
So this room is super cool because it makes me feel like I'm in a log cabin which is cool because I've always wanted to stay at one of those resorts.
So then I took a look at the map and reconfigured my plan. I was going to go to the honey hive today but it's close to where I was going tomorrow, so I'm just gonna go first thing tomorrow. It's a bit far from here.
Then I attempted to face time my mother but it didn't work. I tried the pool and it was freezing. The hot tub wasn't much warmer. So I made some tea and went to the deck thing that overlooks the lack (and the mountains and the houses). It's so lovely it makes me wonder how I could miss the States.
I wrote out some postcards and started on this blog then I got cold and came in where I'm still writing and jamming to my Avril Lavigne pandora (love her). So yeah. That's where I'm at. I'll probably go to the hotel's restaurant for dinner, perhaps catch up on another blog post, perhaps not, shower, and bed. I'm exhausted.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

Loyola at Leigh, Overtime (aka pt 2)

March 20, 2016

The next morning was the beginning of another busy day.
We started at Omaha Beach, where the water was amazing. It had a really strong side current though, which I'm starting to see is super duper common here. I wonder if all of the Pacific is like that? Apparently it's been too long since my last trip to California or Hawaii. 2009 to be specific. Yeah, I'd say 7 years is too long. Autumn and I are planning to fix that soon, but that's another story for another time.
So anyways, the beach. I brought a beach ball but it was super windy so it stayed under my towel until I un-flated it. But there was volleyball and boogie boards and ocean and waves and sand and fun and such. A beach. It was lovely. I was in the water a majority of the time.
I also made sand angels. Most people come to New Zealand and there like "lol sorry mom" for bungy jumping or skydiving. My "lol sorry mom" is for making sand angels because that's like, well, typical me but also feels like it's in need of an apology to those that raised me. I'd say it was a very good sand angel though, but you can be the judge of that on the picture to the left.
The water was full of the mini jellies that haunted our Ocean City beaches this past summer. For the life of me I couldn't remember what they were called, but they were in our weekly Beach Patrol bulletin for like 3 weeks in a row because they were such an infestation. My grandmother read all of our bulletins, maybe she'll be kind enough to comment on what they were (eh hm). But yeah so they were everywhere, which kept a lot of people out of the water, but not me.
Eventually about 5 or 6 other Loyola kids came in with boogie boards, but the current kept taking them out of the swim zone. I was torn on joining them or staying in the swim zone because there was a 50/50 chance they'd just have fun outside the area or they'd become a party pool and I so was not about that party pool life. So I stayed in the zone debating if I wanted to join them or not, when of course the guard went in after them. It was literally like less than waist deep so he just told them they needed to move back into the area but still, glad he didn't have to come in for me.
Also, let me comment on these swim zones.
So in OC, we have designated surf zones (thank God or I wouldn't've had that job last summer). In these zones, surfers must stay between the flags and swimmers have the rest of the beach. Here in New Zealand, the surfers have the beaches and the swimmers must stay in between the flags. And they're flag area is less than ours. I'm still not really used to it being opposite like that, but I've only been to like 15-20 beaches here so I guess it's all in due time haha. But yeah I guess that also says something about the super awful side currents that seem to be everywhere here.
So anyways during one of my oceanic breaks, Lin and Bianca were doing some acro-yoga. It looked seriously cool. Then Lin asked if anyone wanted to try, and I was all up in there. I was like "I'll try!" and jumped up. I'm so glad I did it was like the coolest thing ever. I was literally in the air being held up by nothing but Bianca's feet. Lin was spotting so I didn't die, don't worry. I only did one cool thing and no one got a picture of it, but I did a few other boring things that Celeste took pictures of, and Aissa took a video of the first "plank", so when I make my video for this weekend be sure to look out for that :)
But like seriously it was super fun and now I'm obsessed. The main (possibly only?) yoga studio that I can find in Auckland (it's about a 40 minute bus ride away according to Google) doesn't have regular acro-yoga classes but they do have two workshops/classes coming up, one Saturday in April and one in June. Hopefully I can find someone that wants to go with me but I'll probably go to them because it was so fun! Besides, I need pictures of me doing cooler things than anything I got to do at the beach that day. Hopefully I can do it. I believe I can and if you can believe, you can achieve. (Also that was a Suite Life of Zack and Cody reference btw - the believe and achieve thing.)
After the beach we had a picnic lunch in the park then headed to the local winery where yours truly worked the vineyard as seen in the opening picture to this post (jk we all know I don't work).
We went for a wine tasting. I'm not sure why I keep insisting on going to wine tastings when I do not like wine. Maybe it's because wine makes me feel classy. Maybe it's because New Zealand is apparently known for wine (? although each wine we taste comes from a different country even though it's grown here in the Land of the Long White Cloud). Either way I keep insisting I participate in wine tastings! This one though, clearly is acceptable because it's with the Loyola group at a Loyola sponsored event (although we did have to pay our own $10 for the tasting, which we weren't even warned of beforehand - how rude!!).
So anyways we self-explored the vineyard for a few minutes while they prepared the tasting for us. Once it was finally our turn for the tasting, I guess they suspected I wouldn't like it because they gave me the littlest amounts every time. Like probably less than a shot of wine. But as each shot is $6-8 and the whole tasting was only $10, and we got to sample 5 wines, that'd be $2 a "shot" of wine, so mathematically it was a solid deal, even if I didn't like it so much.
Dani or Marina (I forget which) said that I kept making a face after each sip that tasted like I'd just taken a "sober tequila shot". Maybe it's my familiarity with Mexico and their willingness to give away free tequila, but I can guarantee no such face is made when I take tequila shots while sober (and totally legal in my beloved Mexico). On the third wine I understood they were correct in the fact that I was making faces, but it totally was involuntary and totally not on purpose. Guess I can trade my high society wine and cheese life for my coconut and mango island life, as if it's not too late. But hey, at least I tried. And I drank all of the little shots they gave me anyways, bc even tho it tastes like sour poop mama didn't raise no quitter.
After the tasting we went back to our Auckland accommodations to prepare the next few days until Easter Break.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

Loyola takes Leigh

March 19-20, 2016. 

After a night with the girls, we woke up on Saturday morning to join the van of Loyola Uni Hall Apartment girls and Luke to go to Leigh Area for our Marae weekend.
We were a bit early so we stopped at the local farmers market, where of course I had to get a smoothie. Sorry to disappoint; it appears I did not take a picture of my smoothie, but rest assured it was good. A bit small, but it was fine. We then headed to the Marae (the Maori ceremony building on sacred ground) where we met up with the rest of our Loyola group before participating in a welcome ceremony - a powhiri. We even got to hongi! A majority of you reading this most likely aren't here with me, so you don't know, but hongis are my favorite. It is the Maori formal greeting and I'm probably not supposed to because I'm not Maori but I do it with my friends all the time because it's fun (shout out to Justin, Sarah, and Emily for embracing my weirdness). So clearly I was excited. But I messed it up all 3 times lol so there's that. The last time the lady kissed my eye because she was kissing cheeks and I turned my head on accident lol. But it's whatevvvver. All that stuff is like sacred though, so no pictures were taken so use your imagination, k thanks.
After we became their family and no longer the visitors, they treated us to some kai.
Rant time.
So I have a friend name Kai. Even though he's clearly not here with me I'll include a picture because we're super cute so see the picture to the left. Anyways, he's always like "Kai means wave in Hawaiian" (turns out it actually means ocean/sea but close enough), but in Maori it means food! At first I was obviously a little confused because when we first got here to Auckland the Maori lady that was teaching us culture (and she taught us the hongi, shout out to her!) said that Maori and Hawaiian, and all the Pacific Island languages really, were so similar that they can all be talking in their own language and still understand and communicate with each other from different places in their own languages because the languages were so similar. (I hope you understood that, it was super rambley but I don't feel like trying to translate myself into proper words and thoughts.) Therefore I thought the words would be like the same but the only similarities between the ocean and food is that I couldn't live without either. So I guess what I'm sayin is it's just interesting how although the languages claim to be so similar and interchangeable, they do have different words, well the same words with totally different meanings.
But the food was super good. All the meals that weekend were made by the Maori hosts and were totally edible. So at least I didn't starve to death.
After lunch we broke into two groups for our afternoon activities. Luckily (or so I thought), I was in the first group to go snorkeling! I love snorkeling! Here in Auckland I even have my own pink mask and snorkel (because we all know I look good in pink!). But anyways so like the weather was looking like it might not hold up for long so I was glad to go first, plus I couldn't wait to get in the water (naturally). By banging two rocks I attracted fish, but they were behind me so although Lin and some of the others got to see them, I only saw two fish the whole time. Kinda a bummer but it's okay because I was still having fun in the (not sun) water.
It definitely looked like it was about to pour, so we were all glad that we got to go snorkeling and have the beach part first. But the second group claims they saw so much, but maybe they're just saying that because they know we didn't see much. But oh well. I'm going back April 9-10 with the Underwater Club for some SCUBA Diving so I'll probably see more then.

My feet were all red from the flippers, now I know why booties are so important. But snorkeling isn't that intense to need booties haha.
After snorkeling, we switched with the other group and had our hand at Flax Weaving. It was Palm Saturday and usually on the weekend of Palm Sunday (well, in high school) I would go on the Pilgrimage in Wilmington, Delaware, with church to prepare for Easter. There I would get to see my all time favorite priest Father Carroll and I would get my palms for Palm Sunday. I would always have to have someone make it into a cross for me because I don't know how. Here in New Zealand, I'm obviously missing Palm Sunday, being on a Loyola Maori retreat, so I thought of the Flax Weaving as the equivalent of the cross-making of my palms.
We made Flax Flowers. Once we actually started the weaving, it was really simple. The preparation needed in order to finally get the flax ready to weave though was a bit difficult. Megan (I think her name was?) even showed us the proper way to cut our own flax down so that we can weave some on our own if we wish (many flax plants grow all around campus and Uni Hall Apartments). I almost cut down some to show Justin how to make (once I got back) but the preparation deterred me from doing so. But maybe one day I'll make another one, at least now I know how.
I was actually, not studying, but like having an intense look at the grass while I was in Australia this weekend (don't worry, posts coming soon), and grass is basically a mini flax. Like it grows differently but the actual grass strand was just a miniature version of the flax leaf we wove. Also, fun fact, they can't cut the flax in the rain because it's a sacred plant. See, sacred plant, it really is almost like a substitute for my Palm crosses.
Once everyone was done and the groups were back together, we still had time before dinner, so we went into Leigh. There was a fish comp that day, so we were to go to the weigh in. Okay, okay, so I know, summers in Ocean City. White Marlin Open. How have I not been to a fish weigh in before? Well they're on TV and they're always so crowded, and honestly, why would I want to go? But I don't think this (what we went to) was a fish weigh in so much as a fish auction. (Sorry I couldn't pick just one pic; it was AMAZING.)

The fish just kept coming. There were so many! And they were so big! And they were going for so cheap! If I had any money with me, bet I would've bought enough fish to last me the rest of my time here in Aotearoa. I would just need to find someone to clean and cook them for me. Or I guess I could learn, but only so I could guarantee my survival on a deserted island. But I didn't have any money on me anyways, so the point is mute. But seriously it was like the coolest thing ever. This year I'm totally gonna go to a weigh in just to see if it's nearly half as intense as this one was. The money went toward the expense of the competition because the winner received a boat as a prize. 

After dinner, we went back for the night life of the competition. 

There was a live band and everyone knew everyone. It kinda reminded me of a honky-tonk but definitely not the one I've been to so I'm not sure why it reminded me of that haha. Anyways, there was this drunk guy (Chris maybe?) who kept trying to go on stage and take the microphone and the police in a trench coat just came and fixed the microphone and it was totally funny lol. He also tried to body slam me but I think he just fell because ya know, he was drunk. Like totally and completely wasted. Like control your beer; you're a grown man. But hey, you do you, just don't die.
We jammed a bit but we didn't stay very long but that's okay.
This post is starting to look super long, so I'm gonna put the next day in another post. Hope ya'll don't mind, and if you do, who cares? Not me.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

The Girls Getaway

It's currently Tuesday and I've finished my class for the day. I'm currently, finally, doing laundry (though most definitely not properly - the machine was oozing bubbles like in a movie and the clothes themselves didn't even feel wet, but whatever) and I figured I might as well either put together my video from this weekend or write up the post about it. Clearly I've settled for the latter, but you can be expecting a video sometime in the relative future. Also, I truly love this picture from Cathedral Cove (big thanks to Celeste for taking it for me!) and I definitely feel it did not get as many likes as it should've (it's not even edited/filtered/whatever), on both Instagram and Facebook. Feel free to go "like" it if you haven't already. And you're welcome for me making it only "large" instead of "extra large" here on the blog post. If it wasn't silhouette/you could actually see my face, bet it'd be my new profile pic.
Anyways, this past weekend there was so much going on. The underwater club took their first trip to Goat Island. The canoe club had their first trip. A bunch of people went to Rangitoto. Many Loyola kids went to Hobbiton and Piha. I'm part of both of those clubs and have friends in both of those groups, yet I did none of that. Instead, Celeste and Shibani planned an all-girls weekend trip for Silje, Neelam, Sarah, myself, and themselves to go to the Coromandel Peninsula.

'Twas only a weekend trip (Saturday and Sunday) but it was jam packed. We fit a lot in. On Saturday, we took the ferry to Coromandel where we hopped on a bus to take us to our shuttle to take us to our hostel in Whitianga. There, there was a mix up with the booking but one group didn't show up so it worked out in our favor. Originally we were to be split and have 3 in one room, 3 in another, but due to the no show all 6 of us were able to be in the same room (coincidentally it was room 6). Once our accommodations were sorted we rushed off to catch another ferry to take us to another shuttle, which we were late for. Celeste and Shibani did such a good job with the planning that the shuttle was a private van just for the six of us, so it didn't much matter that we were an hour late. 

Our first stop on our private bus was to the Hot Water Beach. We were all famished by the time we got there, being as we hadn't eaten all day, so first and foremost we went straight for the little restaurant before actually venturing out to the beach. I got a "fish burger" which is really just a fish sandwich, and ohmygoodness it was great. Very worth it. Apparently it was so good I failed to take a picture before it was devoured. Sorry. 

Anywhos then we meandered down to the beach. Unfortunately, we were an hour past the time for the hot water part, due to the tides, but Celeste and I dug a hole anyway and were able to reach the hot water before a wave came and filled the rest of the hole with cold water. (Someone took a picture of us in our hole but I'm not sure who and I haven't been tagged in it yet, so maybe I'll add it later when I get it...) We also played in the water a bit and watched the surfers do their thing. 

Our next stop was the place we had come for - Cathedral Cove. It's definitely a reclusive place; it's an hour hike to the beach and another hour hike back to the parking lot. But it was nice. Celeste and I swam out to a rock in the middle of the water. People were doing flips off the rock, and I should've flipped, but I just jumped because I'm a wimp. Like I honestly might have to go back just so I can flip off of it, but that hour hike to and from is a very good Tasha deterrent.
It was cool being in Cathedral Cove because a lot of famous people go there to shoot their music videos and films, such as Taylor Swift's Out of the Woods and Macklemore's Can't Hold Us. (I can't imagine being part of the camera crew and having to bring all your equipment down that walk, but I suppose they probably just boated-in the equipment.) We could all have our 15 minutes of fame at Cathedral Cove with pictures like the one above, if only people would like them...(hmmm hmmm hint hint GO LIKE MY PICTURE PLEASE).
So after that we went to Shakespeare's Cliff, where the cliff looks like Shakespeare's face. Captain Cook named it in 1769, then in 1969 the Queen came to visit it. We first saw it from the road then we drove up to it so we could see the peninsula from the top, where we obviously had to get even higher and stand on the railing.

Neelam's addition to the hostel...
Mine is not good enough to post. 

For dinner I had lasagna and it was so hot I couldn't tell you if it was good or not because it burnt my mouth with every bite and took like over an hour to eat this little itty bitty lasagna because I kept trying not to burn myself and it was awful. But I do believe it did taste good probably.
Sunday we painted on the hostel walls and headed for the beach.
Beaches are so nice I love the water. It was really sandbar-y and I think my grandmother would really like it. Then Celeste, Silje and I took a banana boat ride and saw the everything from the water. We also went to this little natural skylight hole thing that I know what it's called from my diving in Florida but I forget what it's called...anyways, it's my new fav place in all of New Zealand. I wish we could've stayed there for a while but we had to get back on the banana boat to get back to the cab to take us to the bus for the ferry back to Auckland. But it was spectacular.
On the way back to Auckland I sat next to Dannie from the aquarium. She feeds the sharks and swims with them everyday for her job and sometimes they send her to the South Island to just chill with the penguins and whales for months. She went to Auckland University Technical University and is a marine biologist. She was talking to a 4 year old on her other side, and he was super duper excited, but I think I was more excited than he was, hearing her stories and such. lol oops.
But then we came back to the flat and I was in the middle of uploading my pictures when the lights went out. Apparently that like legitimately never happens in New Zealand, so everyone was freaking out, but once things calmed back down I went to bed instead of waiting for the lights to come back on.

 Til next time,

xoxo,

Tasha