Parents and Gales

So another long overdue update here. It feels like such a long time ago that I was on the Barrier (when I last updated). Since then, Mom and Dad visited, I turned 21, I visited Napier (the art deco capital of the world), did a brief hike, and finished all of my school work until exams.

Mom and Dad got in about two weeks ago now and I didn't really realize how excited I was to see them until I met them at the hotel by the water front. Their room was actually ridiculous. It was huge and and had a ginormous patio overlooking the harbor. Mom suggested I have a huge party there since we would have had the room for sure. They came at bad weather though because now it's starting to rain everyday. That said, we managed to stay clear of it, island hopping for two days to Rangitoto and Waiheke. Waiheke is a small island off the coast where probably a couple thousand people live year round. It has some great beaches and a quaint little village. We only had a couple hours there but we took a shot tour and saw a good chunk of the island. Rangitoto is a volcano off the coast which I had been dying to go see for a while. It's amazing how you can be on this chaotic volcano and see Auckland only 20 minutes by ferry in the distance. I was kind of nervous that Mom and Dad would be bored but I think the two big excursions we did together kept them entertained and gave them an idea as to why I'm loving life here.

The real reason I think they came to visit was to fee me. I ate like a king for 4 nights eating at Auckland's finest establishments. Auckland doesn't have a huge restaurant or service industry so it was a real treat to even go out to eat for a change with a real waiter instead of a counter. Thanks for the recommendations from Cliff; Soul was great! They also happened to come on my birthday weekend which i share with two of my other good friends here. So that weekend we celebrated several times in several ways including a fantastic dinner at my parents hotel. My friends loved getting real food and dressing up to impress my folks.

After they left town I had a tough week of essay writing to get out of my way. I don't have anymore work to turn in now until finals so the next two weeks should be nice. I also took a great overnight hike in the Kaweka Forest outside of Napier which is a 5 hour drive from Auckland. Napier was destroyed by an earthquake in the 40's so when they rebuilt it, the architecture style that was hot was art deco. So several of the buildings have an art deco feel. It makes a really unique atmosphere. I wish I had more time there but in the 12 or so hours I was there I enjoyed myself (not to mention real pizza for once). Kaweka is a huge and isolated park and the drive there was fantastic. We probably breached our rental insurance fording rivers and driving on dirt roads but whose checking. The first day we walked 4 hours along a river where we found a hut situated in a small and steep valley. The hike was nice overall; it was good to get back on the trail and exercise but it wasn't overly challenging or mouth droopingly beautiful. That said, it was nice to see trees changing for fall. The second day we planned to summit the nearest peak but got chased back down by the most powerful winds I've ever encountered. I really felt like I was going to blow away and had cartoon vision of me holding onto a tree flapping like a flag with my fee in the air. When we started to hit the hail we turned back down and went out the way we came. So it was a pretty plain walk back but it was nice to be in the wild again since I haven't tramped in some time.

That's about it for now. I got more pictures but not as many as usual. I've also given up on captioning them and for that I'm sorry. I kinda hope you can figure out what they are since they're usually in chronological order (as is this blog). This weekend I had planned to see Tongariro (the first hike I did here) in the snow but the weather has other plans so we're still not sure. I've been thinking a lot recently about how study abroad is a lot like 4 years of college crammed into 5 months. I sort of figure I'm in my junior year now and I'm not as into touristy things anymore. I kind of just want to relax and hang out so I'm not as motivated to do. So the excitement of "freshman" year is gone as is the feeling of thinking I have a handle on everything in "sophomore". "Junior" year brings more serious study habits (which I'm finding I just can't break even on this little vacation) and a desire to be with my friends more without running around the country. Plus I've seen so much so I'm starting to run out of things to do. But the sure constant through my time here has definitely been that I'm enjoying myself. So I'll let you know how "senior" year goes when I update next. Don't forget the pictures!