Bay of Islands

Hi everyone! I'm slowly but surely starting to adjust to the Kiwi culture. Let me preface this by saying "Kiwi" has many different meanings. It refers to a person from New Zealand, a little bird that is indigenous to NZ, or the actual fruit. The Kiwis (person) have a vocabulary of their own. First off, they say "sweet as" all the time. You think they're going to compare it by saying it's "sweet as something", but they don't. It's just "sweet as". Also, instead of saying a lot or tons, they say heaps. I have heaps of work to do or there are heaps of people. "Cheers" and "mate" are common too.

I am also finding that people here are not huge fans of Americans. Surprise surprise. Our entertainment culture is ruining us as well as our government. They sure do like American music and movies though. Don't worry, I'm working to change their perception. :) Luckily, everyone has been super nice to me. I have only met a handful of people from the states. There are far more travelers from other countries.

This last weekend, we were lucky enough to have our own personal tour guide to take us to the Bay of Islands! A girl we met, Muna, is from New Zealand but lived in Germany and then Australia. Now she works here in tourism at Base which is a large chain of hostels. She was nice enough to offer to take us with her on her business trip. We got to see beautiful scenery on the way. It's all green rolling hills. Not like the green in the states. It's bright green. Once we got to Paihia, we stayed right by the beach and had an amazing time! On Saturday, we took a ferry across the way to a place called Russell Island. We hiked up to Flagstaff Point and got a 360 degree view of all the islands. Absolutely amazing. My pictures won't do it justice.

On our way back, we made a stop at Goat Island. It's a marine reserve with some really great views.

Right now, I'm still in Auckland. I actually had a skype interview for an administrative assistant position at Coronet Peak near Queenstown. Unfortunately it doesn't start until July when the ski season starts to pick up. It's a start though!

Cheers!