Day Six

We are soaking in all the luxuries of the time share. We have a towel heater!
We have decided that this week here is our honeymoon and everything else is just us married and traveling NZ (en-zed). Six days already! If it is Saturday in the States, then we have been married one week! We both agree that being married feels normal, like this is the way it has always been and the way it should be. That’s probably a good thing, but it really just feels like Jack and I being who we are and doing what we do normally. Exciting, wild, adventurous, non-stop, peaceful, relaxing, overwhelming, etc - I love how comfortable it is.
Traveling around like mad has been smooth, too. We are both too organized, too efficient, and too excited. Some of our happiest moments are vacuuming the campa and repacking our suitcases into categories, haha!
No, we also have fun. Yesterday we got up early, rode a couple bikes into town, and climbed Mount Maunganui! It was incredible. Most of the hike is around the edge on a track no wider than a standard sidewalk, to your left the peak and to your right a sheer cliff a couple thousand feet and counting straight down to the pacific. We had beautiful views of the Bay of Plenty, the city of Tauranga, and the islands that jut straight up out of the water much like what you would see in Hawaii.
Side note: Did I mention the river in the pictures in the last entry? That was Huka Falls. We stopped through there on our way to the time share. The water is so powerful through there since the shores are so close together, and the water was bright blue. Beautiful!
This morning we had our usual breakfast on the patio, then went out onto a peninsula nearby. We hiked around, perhaps climbed, but nothing too dangerous!
We are going to head out soon to climb the Mount and plan on doing it every day while we are here.
The ocean is freezing cold, but walking on the beach is fun enough. At least we have heated pools and a hot tub!
Our days here consist of riding bikes, hiking, walking along the coast, talking to strangers, imitating their accent, searching for apartments, eating fresh fruit and Turkish food, learning the metric system, and walking downtown at night.
Oh, and good news! We woke up at 7:30!

---

---

---