My 5 Week Hiatus from Blogging

As a friend pointed out to me...it's been over a month since my last post. Whoops! :)

Many things have happened over the past 5 weeks, but there are more exciting adventures yet to come starting this week! Before I get ahead of myself, let me recap the highlights of the last 5 weeks to catch you all up on how I've been spending my fourth month in New Zealand. When I last left you, I had mentioned my plans for my first Mother's Day weekend away from home. Ring a bell? Yes? Great! And...HERE WE GO!

>>> a look back on MAY 7th - 13th <<<

Ava REALLY wanted to play with bubbles one day, so we made a homemade bubble mixture and had a grand time outside trying to blow the biggest bubble! :)

Ava and I had toy car races in the house one rainy day, and guess who won?! She crowned me with this beautiful blue crown and I had to wear it during the next few races...

On Saturday, May 12th, my host mom and the girls surprised me with a "Mother's Day" spa gift...it was a lovely surprise and I can't wait to use it! :)

Saturday, May 12th, was the day I was going to meet up with a friend (from my February hiking trip) and go to Devonport. However, she ended up having to babysit so we moved our trip to the next day.

Of course, the weather didn't cooperate as it rained most of the morning and early afternoon on Sunday, May 13th. We decided to reschedule AGAIN since we wanted to be able to enjoy our time walking and exploring around the town. On the plus side, I had already planned on going to a sewing activity at a nearby library...and my friend agreed to join me there. :) The event consisted of us making our own reusable bag - for FREE! More people showed up to the event than the leaders had anticipated, so I had to rush to finish my bag - but I did it. While it was by no means my best work, we both had fun laughing at our mess-ups! 

Here's my finished bag...from this angle it doesn't look too bad. 😉

Afterwards, we decided to grab some coffee and chat...which turned into a coffee, DINNER, and a chat because time just flew by while we were visiting. :) I ordered fish tacos (thumbs up) and to go along with my Mexican themed meal, a Mariachi group came through the restaurant and performed a couple of songs for everyone. So fun!

My delicious meal...not so much the sauce though.

Because of the rainy weather, I didn't get a chance to try any new gelato flavors this week. Quite sad, I know. 😃

>>> a look back on MAY 14th - 20th <<<

On Monday, the 14th, I Skyped with my ENTIRE family because everyone was home for Mother's Day weekend! It was so fun to have a chance to catch up with them all...although Jared pretty much took over the conversation for the majority of the time (shocking right?! 🤣).

Since we're now in the rainy season, Emily and I like to take advantage of the non-rainy days and play on the playground after school.

Ava and I walking back from our library excursion on Tuesday, the 15th. I'm so proud to say she has been checking out her books on her own for awhile now! I will have to try and take a video one day of her doing this. :) After we're done checking out our books, Ava has been enjoying "playing" chess...her favorite pieces are the knights!

Arts and crafts with Ava are always full of cute creations!

I received a care package from my aunt and uncle this week! 😍 Look at all of these goodies! It was such a great surprise and instantly brightened my day.

Dance class every Friday for Emily means Ava and I get to hang out on beanbags for an hour. She eats her afternoon tea, plays with toys, and colors to fill the time. I'm usually able to read and have a nice break from the busy day!

Saturday, May 19th, we celebrated Emily's 8th birthday at Snow Planet (the only indoor snow dome in New Zealand!). We were able to go tubing in -5 Celsius temperatures...and I loved it! :) It was definitely a reminder of MN, but nothing beats real snow. Jane made Emily's cake and I helped by taste testing the scraps from her cake creation. The time flew by with 10 screaming, giggling girls and then we were able to go home and relax. Later on, I discovered I had two pretty large bruises on my legs from lying on my stomach on the tube (and I still have them to this day...although they have faded significantly). 

Emily's birthday cake (before the candles).

Party location!

Party room decor.

The bathroom floor...pretty cool huh?

Riding the track to the top of the hill. While fun, the tubing area was MUCH smaller than Andes Tower Hills. These guys don't know what they're missing!

You can't fake this look of happiness! 😊

I spent Saturday night watching the Royal wedding since it aired at 11:00 p.m. for us. Now I can say I witnessed history!

Sunday, May 20th, was Emily's actual birthday. We went out to eat and I had a fantastic burger, fries, and a brownie. I gave Emily her birthday gift of books (one of which had a giraffe in the story...of course) and an emoji pillow (😜<---It looked like this) - which she LOVED! 

My delicious gooey brownie. 

>>> a look back on MAY 21st - 27th <<<

Monday, the 21st, I went to the movies and had a fun evening laughing with strangers. :)

Ava and I "playing" chess while at the library. 

I've been having a lot of fun trying out new hairstyles with Ava...and she appreciates them too! (mostly)

Wednesday, the 23rd, I spontaneously decided to go to Avengers: Infinity War again because it was the $10 movie of the week!

There was a beautiful rainbow over the school on Thursday! Emily and I enjoyed the view while playing on the playground.

On Saturday, I was able to try flavor #14...Feijoa! I will hopefully try this fruit sometime soon. The gelato was tasty, but very sweet.

I had a beautiful view of Rangitoto as I ate my gelato. However, it was a bit chilly out! My fingers turned white by the time I had walked back to the house. Brrrr

Sunday, May 27th, my friend and I were FINALLY able to go to Devonport! It was a bit of an overcast day in Browns Bay, but by the time we got to Devonport, it was sunny and only a little windy. I had another "Krista incident" on my way to the ferry terminal in the city. My bus route was not a direct route to the terminal, so I had to switch buses right after entering the city. However, I was a bit distracted by the book I was reading, so I missed my stop. I got off at the next stop (just around the corner), but by the time I figured out where I needed to get on my next bus, I saw it driving away. LOL #classicKrista. There wasn't another bus coming in time, so I had to walk 15 minutes to the ferry terminal where my friend was waiting. It really wasn't so bad, and we still had plenty of time to get on the ferry! The ferry ride across was only about 10 minutes, but it provided a beautiful view of Auckland. Once we landed, we explored the shoreline for awhile, took pictures, and admired the shells. 

While it looks a little overcast, it really was quite nice in Devonport!

See? Blue sky trying to peek through!

A different perspective of Auckland.

Meet Christina! She's from Germany and is staying a year like me. :)

The trees here are quite unusual...but awesome! I was tempted to climb this one, but refrained and just took a picture with it instead.

One of the highlights of Devonport is their chocolate shop. We were able to have a free sample of their milk chocolate and then I decided I wanted some treats to take back home with me. I bought a mint truffle, espresso chocolate, and a dark chocolate. Yes, they were a bit pricey but we happened to be there on a discount day. WIN! (I didn't try them all at once, but I can say now that they were each delicious!)

After perusing the open stores and admiring a local artist's glass creations, we decided to grab lunch before taking the ferry back to the city. I had a delicious meal of chicken curry, fresh veggies, potato wedges and, of course, gelato for dessert!

Back in the city, it was raining again, but I caught the right bus and made my connection on my way back to Browns Bay (success!). Christina and I decided we definitely will go back to Devonport when it's summer here again in order to do more walking and hiking in the area.

>> a look back on MAY 28th - JUNE 4th <<

Another Tuesday, another library day. Since it wasn't raining, we stopped at our bench so Ava could read her books. :)

Ava and I went to the beach on Wednesday because it was so beautiful outside! She had a grand time digging in the sand with her pony...a quick outfit change before kindy was necessary but it was a morning well spent!

Thursday. I have nothing good to say about this day...
Actually, while I wasn't too happy in the moment of the terrible event, looking back on it now I can appreciate the humor of the situation. Some of you know what happened and have seen the video evidence. And have laughed at me. But for those of you who don't know what occurred, here's a 40 second glimpse at my Thursday morning. Long story short, the cat captured a mouse. The cat released the mouse in front of me on the stairs. I screamed and ran into the bathroom (and locked the door of course). Then, I shut all the doors of the rooms in the house, put on my rain boots, found the broom and a container, and went to capture the mouse. I found it...I screamed...the mouse escaped...and the cat was zero help during this entire process. Enjoy.

It's ok. You can laugh, re-watch it, and laugh again. :)

Jane took Friday off to take care of the girls, which means I had a free day! I spent the day relaxing, working out, and shopping and packing for my weekend trip! That's right...I went on a trip with 4 au pair strangers to Whakatane (pronounces Fawkuhtawnee), East Cape, and Gisborne. Above is my view while waiting for my bus to arrive Friday evening! I met the rest of the group at Victoria Park in Auckland city and we were off to Whakatane (close to a 4 hour drive). Unfortunately, it was evening when we left, so there wasn't much to see. I actually dozed off for part of the trip. We arrived at our hostel and got checked in. Our room was small and packed with 5 beds, but it worked! After a late dinner (apple and PB sandwich for me), we went to sleep.

First part of the trip - Auckland to Whakatane.

We were up and ready by 8:00 a.m. for our White Island tour. Unfortunately, due to rough waters, our tour was cancelled. I will potentially have to go back in order to go on this tour before I leave NZ! Because of the cancellation, we had a free day in Whakatane. The morning was a bit chilly, but by late morning the sun was shining and it was beautiful out! We went to the botanical gardens (VERY small) and then walked the River Edge Walkway. This led to "The Heads" which is where the Whakatane River meets the sea. I enjoyed searching for shells here because unlike the shells at Browns Bay, most of these were not broken. I found a couple to take back home with me...hopefully they survive the trip!

I found my favorite flower at the Botanical Gardens - Snapdragons! Of course I had to snap one...just for fun. :)

Our view when we started our walk.

Muriwai's Cave. Not all that impressive to see, but here's a LINK to the story behind the significance of this place. 

"The Heads"

Notice the statue? It is The Lady on the Rock. This statue commemorates the bravery of Wairaka (here's a LINK for more info).

Once we got to the heads, three of us continued hiking along the shore and up rocks. Eventually, we climbed up a pretty high hill and got an awesome view of the sea, islands, and a little hidden cove that would have been amazing to explore. Check out the pictures I captured of the beautiful scenery!

This was my favorite place to photograph...it looks like a picture off of the internet! :)

Check it out! I'm the person on the far left. You could say we climbed pretty high...

Seize the day! A great motto to remember when traveling.

Us three climbers met up with the other two and we all walked back to our vehicle. Next stop? Te Araroa! And so began another 3 hour drive. This time, we were able to enjoy all of the scenery since we got on the road during the daylight. I loved looking at the ocean and the mountains...it is a view I never tire of seeing.

2nd leg of the journey - Whakatane to Te Araroa.

The water was freezing, but I'm always happy to spend time by the ocean!

We stopped one last time before we got to our hostel.

Our hostel was like a large, old house that had been converted into a hostel for travelers. It was a cozy place I wish I could have explored more had we been staying longer than one night. After checking in, we made our dinner of pasta, tomato/basil sauce, and sauteed vegetables. Yum! In the kitchen area, there was a wall the owners encouraged the travelers to sign. Naturally, I did! Don't judge my outline of MN...I did the best I could! :)

After cleaning up, we all went to bed early (8:45 p.m.) because our morning alarm was for 5:15 a.m.! But hey, it's what you do if you want to see the first sunrise in the world. By 6:00 a.m. the next day, we were packed and on the road to East Cape Lighthouse - the most Easterly point on the mainland of New Zealand. It was only about 30 minutes from our hostel on mostly unpaved road. We were some of the last people to arrive, but we parked and began the climb to the lighthouse. Mind you, it had just finished raining, so the path was wet, slippery, and muddy. Plus, it was just beginning to get lighter out so the visibility of the path wasn't the best. I didn't know this beforehand, but we had a 20 minute hike to the top which consisted of climbing 750ish steps! What a way to start the day. :) At the top, we found spots to stand and then watched the magic happen. Even though it was a cloudy morning, it was amazing to watch the sun rise knowing that we were some of the first people to see it for the day. We spent about an hour and a half up by the lighthouse (we even ate our breakfast there) before hiking back down. The path was much easier to navigate in the light!

The above 4 pictures are all different views and colors of the rising sun...each beautiful and unique.

East Cape Lighthouse.

Some of the steps we had to climb...fun right? :)

The benefit of getting up so early in the morning is that we still had most of our day left to sightsee on our way to Gisborne (our final stop before driving back to Auckland). The weather was on and off again raining, but when we stopped at Tolaga Bay Wharf - the second longest pier (at 600 meters) in New Zealand - the rain had stopped. We walked all the way to the end and admired the view along the way. It started sprinkling so we started back. However, it takes awhile to walk 600 meters! The rain picked up and then started falling at a slant so by the time we got back to the car, the outside of our left leg and inside of our right leg was soaked. Good memories. :)

Part 3 - Te Araroa to Gisborne (our final stop of the trip)

When I saw this post at the end of the pier, of course I had to stand on it. And get a picture. :)

The rain had just begun...little did I know it would pour a few minutes later!

After the wharf, we drove until we almost got to Gisborne. First, we stopped at another beach location and walked to stretch our legs. I remembered to check my geocaching app and I saw one was close by. I logged a successful find but couldn't sign my name because I forgot my pen in the car. :( However, I took a picture as evidence I did find it!

Soon after, we were in Gisborne. The streets were lined with palm trees so it actually reminded me of Mexico - or California. Instead of going to our Airbnb house, we decided to drive around for a bit. First, we drove up Kaiti Hill and had an excellent view of the city. 

While this statue was erected to commemorate James Cook, it's actual a bronze casting of a statue imported from Italy and not a likeness of him at all. I still had to take a picture though!

After viewing the city, we stopped for coffee (and carrot cake - yum) before driving to our Airbnb location. We unloaded and got into our house right before the rain started! Since we couldn't do any more walking around the city, we decided to do a wine tasting and a movie to end our night. I shared a wine tasting with one of the girls and then had a Harvest Cider - made completely from East Coast New Zealand apples. It was all delicious!

 We decided the first wine was our favorite.

If you ever visit New Zealand, this is definitely worth buying.

Our final stop of the night was at The Dome - a quirky theater where the seats are giant beanbags you share with another person. Similar to the theater in Wanaka, this theater stopped the movie partway through for people to go purchase treats and for pre-ordered pizzas to be delivered. While the movie was not that great of a film (The Breaker Upperers), the experience was unique enough to make it enjoyable. :)

The ending to our evening was homemade pizza back at our house. It took FOREVER for them to bake so our dinner was quite late. Oh well...it was delicious! The next morning (Monday), we got going by 8:30 a.m. to allow enough time to drive back to Auckland and return our rental car. Guess what? It was raining again! Surprise, surprise. If you're wondering why I wasn't working on this Monday, it was a public holiday (Queen's birthday) so I got it off. Thus the road trip!

Our Airbnb - I slept up in the loft. It was a cute little house!

We had planned on stopping by the Rere Falls on our way back, but decided not to because of the rain and the drive time. I had a window seat the entire time back (yay me!) so I was able to enjoy the mountains and other views of the area. The drivers rotated every 2ish hours, which is when we had our rest stops. I took a few pictures on the way back, but the rain made it difficult to photograph what I saw...so mental pictures are mostly what I have!

Our journey back to Auckland - our longest driving day of the trip.

Because of our quick and limited rest stops, we got back to the city around 4:00 p.m. - not bad! It was still raining after we returned the car and the bus stop I needed to get to was 20 minutes away. So, I decided to take an Uber to my bus stop (best $6.50 I spent that day!) and caught the bus back to Browns Bay. Final thoughts on the trip? While I was glad to see another part of New Zealand and experience the first sunrise in the world, the group I went with were not people I will travel with again. They were quite silent  - and I'm not overly chatty with strangers - which made for awkward silences in the car. The whole trip itself was a little uncomfortable, so I was glad to be back home!

>>> a look back on JUNE 5th - 10th  <<<

Honestly, this past week flew by! I didn't take many pictures but I can tell you it was sunny Tuesday, rainy Wednesday, sunny Thursday, and only overcast Friday. Having a four day week is definitely a nice change of pace.

Whenever it's sunny, I try to walk and pick Emily up from school. It's good exercise and helps use up some time before we go pick up Ava from kindy. Emily enjoys finding a walking stick and playing different games on our way home. On this day, we had to jump the car shadows when they drove by us!

On Tuesday (June 5th), Jane's sister came to visit and stay with us for a couple of weeks. The girls were very excited to see their aunt again! Friday came before I knew it and then it was the weekend. During the week I spontaneously decided to join a couple of girls on a Saturday - Sunday trip to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. They wanted to do the black water rafting tour and I thought, "Why not?" I packed Saturday morning and the girls picked me up at my house since it was on the way from their houses to the caves. Right away, I knew it was going to be a great trip and that I would get along with them. They were also both from Germany, but unlike the last group I was with, they were chatty. The caves were about 2.5 hours away, which wasn't too bad! We arrived in plenty of time to get checked in and sign a waiver. 

Our group ended up only having two other ladies besides us three...so a smaller group. Our main guide was engaging and had a sense of humor. He prepped us and gave us our uniform for the tour - an already wet wetsuit! Let me tell you, it's not the easiest thing in the world to put on a cold wet wetsuit...we were all laughing in the changing room as we jumped around trying to pull on our suits. Eventually we were all dressed in our socks, boots, suit, and helmet. 

Success!

Our small group - the two ladies in front were from Australia.

We took a bus to a river near the cave where we had to practice jumping backwards, with a tube, into the water. I think at that point, we were all thinking, "What are we getting ourselves into?" :) The jumping part went fine...it was the water temperature that got me. 11 degrees Celsius (~52 degrees Fahrenheit!). Brrr. After our jump, we practiced a formation we would be doing in the cave (see the picture below) and then we went to the cave entrance.

Reaction to the 11 degrees Celsius water. 

Once inside the cave, we turned on our helmet light and the adventure began! Our guides (one leading and one in back) led us through all of the passages and told us when to stop, float, or turn off our lights. It was such a cool moment when we actually saw the glowworms. There were a couple of different parts of the tour where the worms were visible. I wish we could have stayed longer just to look at them more! Besides the worms, I got to crawl through a tunnel on my hands and knees (turn left, left, right, and then left) and jump backwards off of small waterfalls inside the cave! We were able to float on our tubes for part of the time and walked when the water was too shallow or moving too fast.

While this picture is from the Waitomo Glowworm Caves, this wasn't taken the day I went on the tour. This is just a promotional picture included in the picture package you can buy. Pretty though, right?

Ignore the double chin...at one point we had to use our fingertips to push ourselves under the rock. There wasn't too much extra space between the water and the rock above our heads!

Yes. I saw this at one point during the tour. Ugh

I made it to the end!

After one final tunnel of glowworms, we made it to the cave exit...and only my hands were frozen! What a fantastic experience - I'd recommend it to anyone with an adventurous spirit. Back at the main site, we were able to have the pleasant task of taking off a wet wetsuit. Again...giggles were had by all of us! The best part? A hot shower and unlimited soup and bagels awaited us after the tour. Completely delicious. We ate, bought our pictures, and got on the road to Hamilton (only an hour or so away). 

We arrived at our hostel and checked-in by 6:00 p.m. Since it was so early, we decided to walk to The Warehouse and Kmart to do a little shopping. The Warehouse is similar to Target, for reference. I didn't intend on buying anything, but I ended up leaving with chocolate, baggies, and a rubber scraper! On our way back to the hostel, a couple of us decided we were hungry so I suggested Starbucks. I had yet to try NZ Starbucks and it sounded perfect. I got a flat white and scone ($10 later)...and I wasn't disappointed. The only difference I noticed was the price and the food offered (here, there are pies and sausage rolls available). 

 

A fun building we saw on our way to The Warehouse and Kmart.

Happiness in a cup and bag.

The next morning, we checked-out and went grocery shopping before driving to the Hamilton Gardens. This hostel was the first place that had a free breakfast for us - toast and cereal! The weather was overcast but it didn't rain. We probably spent around 3 hours at the Gardens, just because there were so many things to see...and I tried to find a geocache but no success :(. Since it wasn't the most beautiful of days, there really weren't that many people wandering the gardens - which made it easier to take pictures!

 The beautiful views as we walked through the Tropical Gardens.

After the Tropical Gardens, we walked into Wonderland! Actually, it was this courtyard-esque place where we could choose which doorway to go through in order to see the specific garden in that area. Our first choice was the Te Parapara Garden - New Zealand's only traditional Maaori productive garden.

  

 See? Alice in Wonderland themed. And you can see some of the doorways we could choose from in the picture below. 

 Te Parapara Garden

 Just trying to blend in... :)

Te Parapara Garden

Next up? The Tudor Garden! This garden reflected the 16th century fascination with geometric patterns and symbolism with double meanings.

We followed a path which led us to a SUPER cool feature of the next garden area...a magical yellow door that opened when you walked up to it! I sort of felt like I was walking into Narnia...if only the door had been brown. :) This yellow door opened up into the Concept Garden, which is a garden based on a central idea or message. In this case, the garden was inspired by two traditional Maaori whakataukii and an old land use map.

I found my new calling...as a scarecrow! 😁

A quick walk through the Herb Garden, and we found ourselves in the Italian Renaissance Garden. I was reminded of my time in Europe when I saw this place...so beautiful!

The middle of the Herb Garden.

Below are all different views of the Italian Renaissance Garden.

Once we were finished admiring the Italian Garden, we walked next door to the Indian Char Bagh (enclosed four part) Garden. The symbolism behind the garden is based on Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. 

One of my favorite gardens was the Japanese Garden of Contemplation. The colorful leaves, water, and ducks reminded me of autumn back home. As evidenced by its name, this garden was also a very peaceful place to be.

I'm almost to the end...I promise! The Chinese Scholars' Garden came next. We got to walk through a bamboo path to get to the garden - so fun!

Our attempt at capturing a jumping picture...I got mostly in the air!

Bamboo trail...am I in Asia or New Zealand?

Probably my least favorite garden was the Modernist Garden. There really wasn't much to it, but we did see a monarch butterfly by the pool!

Our final stop in the gardens was the playground! We found some smaller scale objects to take pictures with, sit on, and crawl through. On our way back to our vehicle, we took a detour to look for a couple of geocaches I saw were nearby. For the first time EVER, I was met with disappointment as we couldn't find either of the two caches hidden. :( If I get back to Hamilton, I will have to look again in order to get a smiley face on my record!

You know what they say...take the road less traveled!

Say hello to Sarah and Annika!

From Hamilton to Browns Bay was less than two hours, so we didn't have too bad of a drive. But! Our final stop on our trip, before getting back to Auckland, was in Pokeno. Why you ask? To get the famous large scoops of Tip Top ice cream of course! Not only did I get one scoop of hokey pokey ice cream (a New Zealand must-have treat), but I decided to get another scoop of Dutch chocolate. The best part? It was only $3 (or $2.10 USD)!

While eating my cone - and yes, I ate every last bite - I searched for a geocache on my phone and thankfully one was close by. After finishing our treats, I convinced the other two to come with and help me find it. It was hidden at a truck stop so we had to try and look before a trucker pulled in to fuel up his rig. We searched low and lower, but I ended up finding the tiny cache after looking high. A quick signature and I finally recorded a smiley face for the day.

Ignore my dirty fingers...it's all part of the search!

I got back home and made dinner plans with Christina. We met at La Pasta in Browns Bay and had a tasty meal while we chatted until the restaurant closed! :) It was such a fun weekend with three awesome girls I hope to travel with more throughout the year.

Hey...if you've stuck with me this whole blog, congratulations! And thank you! We're all caught up to this week (June 11th - 13th)! Ava has been fighting a cold and cough since Monday (eek!), so I have been vitamizing myself quite a lot in order to ward off any potential of her transferring her sickness to me. :D This is my last week of work before I am taking time off for my first long holiday - only a week - so I can travel around New Zealand with some pretty cool people. That's right. MY FAMILY IS COMING TO VISIT ME!! By the time most of you read this, they will already be here! :) Only my dad, mom, Josh, and Brittney were able to take time off to come down...we'll miss Jared but hopefully he can come later on in the year! We have a busy schedule planned of fun things to do, beautiful places to see, and delectable food to try. It should be a fantastic vacation for all of us and I'm sure I'll have PLENTY of pictures and stories to share in my next blog - which will be posted sooner than 5 weeks from now. I promise. 😉

Here's my family on an airplane bound to New Zealand! I just love this picture of them...it makes my heart happy. ❤

Sorry for the massive blog...but hey! You're welcome for providing reading material while you drink your morning coffee or relax outside in the summer breeze or pass time during a lull at work. I aim to please! In all seriousness, thanks for hanging on until the end. I appreciate it!

I'll be back in a couple of weeks...three at the most! 😏 Now, this girl is going to watch TV, drink honey/vinegar tea, go to sleep, and see her family in the morning. AHH!