Pt. Chev, Rangitoto, Chinese Lantern, and Rugby weekend!!

On Friday, February 18 I went up to Pt Chev beach. It is so nice only having to teach 4 days a week and having 3 day weekends. I went up with Nicole, Neeley, Jessica, Christine, Emily, Whitney, Anna,Becca, Katie, and Heidi. We got to the beach around 11. It was so great to see a lot of the girls again. When we got there it was low tide, so after catching up Emily, Nicole, and I went to explore the beach. We walked out to the water through super gushy sand, some tide pools, and stepped on lots of hermit crabs. When we got to the water we tried to make it look like we could walk on water,but only ended up really walking on the crabs which kinda hurt.We also explored through some caves and climbed up some pretty cool rocks. It was pretty fun and I found some cool shells. It was so nice to spend a Friday on a nice sunny beach.

On Saturday, Nancy and I got up really early and went outside to walk to the bus stop where a bunch of the girls were meeting up. As soon as we stepped outside we saw the most gorgeous sight of the moon. We met up with Neeley, Nicole, Whitney, Becca, Katie,and Emily and took a bus into Auckland where we met up with Allie, Kara, Diana, Janet, Jess, and Christine before boarding a ferry to Rangitoto Island.Rangitoto Island is a dormant volcanic island covered in jungle bush and volcanic rock. It is a pretty secluded island with no fresh water available and just two bathrooms. We went hiking to the summit of the mountain twice, to a crater, to Mackenzie bay and to some lava caves. We hiked a total of about 5 hours. It was such a gorgeous, intense hike and really was like going through a jungle. It was way cool to see all the volcanic rock where the lava had flowed down. It was so fun and we got so hot and sweaty.

The lava caves were really cool and I am so glad my mom had me bring a torch/ flashlight to New Zealand so I could explore them and go spelunking in New Zealand. I forgot how much I love doing that. Mackenzie Bay
was a pretty gorgeous black sand beach with huge volcanic rocks that I climbed on. And the water felt no nice after hiking in the hot sun for 5 hours. It was such a fun hike and I am so glad we went. I was way dehydrated by the end though. We caught the ferry back and then went to the Chinese lantern festival at Albert Park.

There were millions of people at the festival. Jess, Christine, and I went and watched some performances by dance and other groups that had come over from China to perform. They were pretty sweet and the little kids in the Chinese costumes were so cute. The lanterns were absolutely gorgeous and so cool. There were so many different lanterns of people, places, animals, dragons, etc. It was so sweet as. I walked through the festival with Jess and Christine, tried on a chinese hat and saw all the booths. When we went over to the food part it was almost like walking into China. There were so many street places to get lots of different food from different Asian countries. We got a pineapple cut in half with ice cream on top. It was so good. I loved it and I am not even a ice cream person but having it in a pineapple was such an experience.

After the lantern festival Jess, Christine, Anna, Heidi, Nancy, Nicole, Neeley, Whitney, Emily and I went to a rugby game at Eden park. We bought out tickets earlier that day which got us on the bus there free, which was a nice surprise. The game was the Blues (Auclkand) vs. the Crusaders (Christchurch)and I was so excited. I was reminded of how much I love rugby and sporting events as soon as I walked into the stadium. We bought the cheapest tickets for $15 and up being basically on the field!!! We were maybe 12 rows up. It was awesome!! We could see the whole game and I loved being apart of it and all the cheering. I love how rugby is so intense and fun to watch and a nonstop game. I wish it was bigger in the sates. I am pretty sure I am going to go home and have to watch every world rugby cup game starting in September just like with the World Cup for soccer last year. I didn't watch every one of those games but I love that world cup too!!! We found out that a lot of the players on the teams last night also play on the All Blacks. We even saw the best rugby player in the world who is number 10 on the crusaders.Such a sweet game. Watching the game cheering like crazy, and dancing in the stands was so much fun. I just love going to sporting events. We even did the wave around the stadium four times and when we did it most people that had bottles threw them in the air which is when we found out that they make all their bottles including beer and things out of plastic so no one will get hurt when they were thrown. It was such a fun game. I was cheering for the Blues and they won in a landslide 24-22. It was such a close intense game with so many amazing plays. What an amazing night!!!! Afterwards we caught the train back to Henderson which ended up being free because of the game too. It was such an amazing fun day. I loved every minute of it.

On Sunday I had church and made a bucket list of things I want to do in GA since I was a little homesick. I talked to my family, which was so nice and made made me feel better. I also called Alison and talked to her which always makes me feel tons better. I am so glad I have her and my family. When I called all of her kids except Emma were in bed, so I talked to her and then to Emma which just made me smile so much. Ben and Sam ended up waking up and coming down too and I am so glad they did even if it was almost 11 at night there because I got to talk to them and they got to tell me about Karate, school, and their valentine's day. It made me so so happy. Nancy and I made chicken enchiladas for her birthday today and they were so good.
What an amazing weekend!!