Getting warmer ;)

Hey Guys...here we go again!
On wednesday we went rock climbing again and had an assessment. First we warmed up with climbing on a low hight without belaying. Then we put the safety belts and helmets on and started to clime. There were 4 different kind of walls: the first was an achieved wall, the next one was an achieved with merit one than ther were the one I did, which was achieved with merit plus and the last one was exellence.
The rest of the week was quite normal and nothing special exapt from school happened. :)
I started my weekend with a sleepover at Chiara's new hostfamily where we watched somne movies and had a nice evening with her two hostsisters. :)
After leaving Chiara's I met my hostparents, Kirsty, Heidi and Carol at a restaurant, where we had dinner together. Later we went to skater game in the sports center of Dunedin. That was actually really funny but looked also very painful. :/ There were two teams with on 'jammer' each who tried to skate a round faster than the 'jammer' of the opponent team. The other four players of both teams had to hamper the 'jammers' of the other team. So as you maybe can imagine this game is really violent and they hurt each other very often! However, for us to watch it it was honestly really funny. :D

the field...

during the game... 'Bash' against 'ASS' 

On Sunday I had to get up quite early because we had ''St Hilda's day''. That means we all had to come to first church in school uniform and follow the sunday morning service. It was actually really interesting to see the eglish version of a service.
All in all its really getting warmer now, we had good weather for nearly the whole week and the flowers start to bloom. I will try to take a picture of our garden for the post next week. :) See you soon!

the first rose for my room :) 

beautiful flowers :) (and that is just the beginning!) 

trip to the south!

On Monday this week was our first day after th holidays back in school. It was a bit different without Teresa and Christina but over all like every monday morning. :)
With Outdoor Education we went rock climbing again this wednesday. It was a practice lesson for next week, where we will have a rock climbing assessment. There are three different types of walls we can climbe: Achieved wall which was allready very hard, merit wall and exellent wall.

Jessica doing the saving and me helping as a back up 

This Thursday we had student assembley like every thursday. In Assembley the whole school comes together in the chaple and Mrs Bell the head teacher holds a speach about what happened in the last week. Also the students who achieved something are named and get their certificates. This time Sophie and I were named...we both were really surprised about that because we couldn't remember doing anything special. After a few second we realized that we had participated in a french test before the holidays. So we both got a certificate an were really proud. :)

my certificate :) 

Friday was Karla's birthday so we went to a restaurant and had a nice evening together.
On Saturday my hostparents, Kirsty, Heidi and her mother took me to the Bottom of the south island. We left home about 9:30 am and stopped after an hour at cafe where we had a brunch. After that we went on and stopped the next time at a waterfall which was really beautiful in the middle of a rainforest. On our way we stopped one more time to see a really beautiful beach. Than we finally arived in Bluff, the city at the south end of New Zealand. So now I've been to the Northern and Southern end of New Zealand with in two weeks. :) On our way back we stopped in Invercargill to have dinner. We arrived at home at about 8pm. After my trip to the North island and now my Saturday down at the bottom of the south island I really can say: New Zealand is such a beautiful country!!!

the three steps waterfall 

beautiful rainforest 

really cool beach 

18958 km from London :) 

the Southern end of New Zealand 

North island tour!

1. Day: Wellington

Kirtsty took me to the airport this morning, where I met the others. Than we flew to Wellington via Christchurch. When we arrived in Wellington our tour manager, Haley, picked us up with the bus and we went to the hostel. There we met the other students doing the tour with us. In the whole we were about 32 students and 3 managers. In the evening we had dinner tougether and after that went to bed.

at the airport 

2. Day: Wellington- Taupo 

This morning we had breakfast in the hostel. At 9am we left the hospital and went to New Zealands national museum 'Te Papa', where we learned many things about NZ history and culture. After that we had a 5 hours drive to Taupo on which we watched the first movie of ' The Lord of the Rings'. We arrived at 5 pm in Taupo and had dinner tougether. After the dinner we went to thermal hot pools, which were really hot. About 40°C. We all relaxed well after the long drive. 

house in 'Ta Papa' where you could feel how earthquakes feel

in the garden of 'Te Papa' 

maori ship 

3. Day Taupo-Rotorua 

In the morning we walked a round Taupo and saw lake Taupo. After that we were taken to the Taupo Bungy jump side. Some of our group jumped down but I didn't because I was to scared. Later we went back on the coach and drove to Rotorua. On the way we stopped two times to see the famous 'Huka falls' and some boiling mud pools. In Rotorua we went to the skyline where we got up with the Gondola and had three rides down with the luge. it's kind of a ''Sommerrodelbahn''. In the evening we had free time to see the town. 

at lake Taupo 

lake Taupo

bungy jump 

Huka falls

boiling mud pools 

skyline gondola 

at the luge 

4. Day: Rotorua

This morning we went to a Maori museum 'Te Puia' where we saw a maori wellcoming ceremony but also geysers, boiling mud pools (they smell really bad) and two little kiwi birds!! In the afternoon the half of the group went to a fun park and the other part, including me, went to a small river to go water rafting. That was really fun because we rafted down a 7m high waterfall and one of our four boots flipped over. :) In the evening we left the hostel again to go to Tamaki a maori village. There we were shown how Maoris lived in pre european times and in the end we had a real maori hangi for dinner. Hangi is meat and vegetables cooked over hot stone in a hole in the ground. It tastes very differend and a litttle bit like earth and sand. I really enjoyed this evening and I learned so much about New Zealand and Maoris.

7 meters waterfall 

our boat

the group 

geyser

Maori performing the peace dance

Hangi 

5. Day: Rotorua- Raglan

On our fifth day of the tour we left Rotorua in the morning and went to Hobbiton in Middle Earth, zhe movie set of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit'. We had a guided tour around the set and saw many, many hobbit  holes. When we arrived in Raglan we all were very surprised because our accommodation was not in town but in the middle of no where in the rainforest. I liked it very much but some of our group really  didn't like it. In the evening we cooked dinner tougether and after that all the girls had to dress the boy like girls. That was so funny and we laught a lot. 

movie set 

the famous party tree 

back end- home of Bilbo and Frodo 

in a hobbit hole 

view from our room in Raglan 

6. Day: Raglan 

Surfing day!!!! This morning we went to the beach with some surfing instrutors. First they told us something about water savety and how to stand up on the board. Than we were devided in two groups and the first group went into the water. The second group, in which I was, played touch at the beach. After one hour the first group came out of the water and we went in. That was really funny and I was able to stand on the board and catch a wave for a few times. ;) In the evening we lighted a fire and enjoyed the warm evening.

learning how to stand on a board

first group 

7. Day: Raglan- Paihia 

We left Raglan early in the morning because we had a long way to Paihia a head of us. On the way we stopped a few times to see some 800 years old Kaori trees, the famous Kawa Kawa toilets and a big battle ground where the last faught between Maoris and Europeans took place. In the afternoon, when we arrived in Paihia we went to the Waitangi grounds where the treaty of Waitangi was signed. It's the treaty between Maori and Europeans not to fight anymore and to live in peace next to eachother. After dinner, where we had Natshos, we had a competition in groups of four. ''Who takes the funniest pictures''. 

battle ground 

kawa kawa toilets 

treaty house 

big tree!!!

800 year old kaori tree

8. Day: Paihia

A Bus picked us up this morning infront of the hostel for our 90 miles beach and Cape Reinga trip. We went through a rain forest and a long the 90 miles beach. After a few hours we stopped infront of some dunes to go sand surfing. That was really fun but we only did it twice because we always had to climbe up the dunes first. Later we went on to Cape Reinga, the northern end of New Zealand where the two oceans come tougether. (you can actually se them comming tougether). In the afternoon we drove back home to the youth hostel. 

90 miles beach 

Cape Reinga 

18029 km from home :) 

oceans comming tougether 

9. Day: Paihia- Auckland 

This morning I had to get up at 5am because we went sky diving in the sunrise. It was very beautiful and I really enjoyed it!!! I jumped at 4km out of the plane which was really scarry and  had about 30 seconds free fall. After the sky dive we went to a boat cruse in the Bay of islands where we were allowed to do snorkling and kajaking. It was amazing because we saw many fish and the islands with holes in it. In the afternoon we traveled to Auckland and had a free evening there. 

my parashoot 

infront of the plane 

free falling :) 

snorkling 

Bay of islands with hole in the rock 

in a hole 

10. Day: Auckland/ City of Sailes 

This morning we went to the Auckland Skytower. Some of our groupe jumped down the 190 meter jump but most of us just enjoyed the beautiful view from up there. We had a free afternoon and I went to the habour with all the sailing ships. The evening was really sad because we had our last dinner tougether and had to say goodbuy to everybody. 

Skytower 

great view from the platform

in the harbor 

As you see I had a pretty awesome trip with lots of fun!!! And really...New Zealand is the most beautiful country!!!!!!