road trip!!!!

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So Dounia, Tim, Jarle, Adam and I rented a car for 5 days to travel the north island. We woke up early and walked to the car rental place and began our adventure towards taupo. Once we got to Taupo we found the sky diving place where everyone was headed, we signed up and about 2 hours later we were in the sky. My sky diving man was awesome….he was singing to me the entire way up… and being my second jump I was very relax. I was the first one out of the plan and I was glad I was the first one. It was so amazing seeing the mountains in the distance and lake taupo underneath….i loved it and am very glad I did it. After sky diving, we gathered like a family and went to the local grocery store, bought a few rotisserie chickens and some side dishes and had a picnic by the lake. Adam and I took a walk along the sand and saw the sunset on lake taupo …it was amazing. After our amazing afternoon we headed into town and found other scholarhip people, I forgot my ID in the car so ironically they didn’t let me into any of the bars. But I snuck into a karaoke bar, and me and Brittany did karaoke ( which for those who have had the pleasure know its horrible)…and quickly left… We went back to brittany’s hostel, and we passes out in the lobby of the hostel (because we didn’t want to pay for a room). So the next day we drove to Napier…wine country….I was driving and in new Zealand they drive on the wrong side of the road…so this was very interesting for me because not only was it the wrong side of the road but also it was up hills, with lots of curves…wow… it was like driving a go kart …. And half way to napier my gas light comes on. And of course we are in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing for miles…luckily though we made it. We got to Napier and had breakfast by the beach, and took a shower in the information place. Which this was a funny …funny event for me…because my friend dounia wanted to shower with me??? And well I didn’t want to say no that is weird…so I said ok… so yea.. I showered with my Moroccan friend…in an information place in New Zealand….how random is that??? Pretty random…well yea . so after that cultural experience we went to a vineyard and went wine tasting. It was so fun, trying out all the different wines, and it was amazing the difference in the taste. After wine tasting we headed south towards Wellington, making a quick stop at a national park along the way. We stopped therer because there is this bridge that connects two mountains, with a creek underneath…and well we wanted to cross the brideg and take a picture. It was about an hour hike to get to the freakin bridge and afterwhich we all reeked, but I loved the hike and it was very cool. ….off to Wellington…since we are all poor and cannot afford $30 a meal, we ate subway and burger king….fun times. And then drove up to a hill that over looks the city and slept in the car. The car was freezing … but it was nice sleeping there. the only awkard moment was the morning when the senior citizen tours came to the location and were all starring at us, wondering what the hell we were doing… fun… So that day we showered in Wellingtons gym, and afterwards we went to a museum (because it was free  ) and then went to ride wellington’s cable car….it was not very exciting. That afternoon we left Wellington and made it to rotoura ( there are hotsprings, and geysers, and it’s a volcanic area) we slept by the lake , and it smelt like sulfur the entire time. the following day we went for a 3 hour hike around the volcanic area. It was beautiful and I have some amazing pictures. That night we met up with others from the boat, and invaded their hostel. They had a kitchen, and I got so excited, because I had the chance to cook…so we grocery shopping and I cooked. With $20 invested the meal wasn’t exactly my highest quality but everyone finished their bowl…and adam had 3 bowls…so I was happy :-D
The next day the kids didn’t want to go with adam and I to see the indigenious tribe, so we left them in the town and we spent the day in a park. Where we saw geysers, and kiwi’s, and moari’s dance. It was a good day….and a fun road trip…but now we are back on the boat….crossing the tazman sea…and its very very rocky…so other then my sea sickness everything is great.


oh yea jarle got pulled over !!! going 150 km on a 100km zone...not good.. we got a $400 speeding ticket ...uh.. yea

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