The second coming of Maori Jesus

Hey hey folks
So i fell madly in love with my hostel in Rotorua. It is adorable, full of cool people and has an amazing sun room. I didn't want to leave, but we had already booked a bus out. :( we went River sledging on our last day in rotorua, which was so much fun. basically, you are just swimming through rapids with a pimped out flutter board. Very exciting, very physical, loads of fun!

However, river sledging only took the morning, so we hung out with our room mate Olli in the Afternoon. Olli is from Finland and is very cool. We walked down to the lake shore and ended up at this Maori church. It was very interesting to see the collision of cultures between the catholic and Maori. The Graveyeard out front had angelic statues guarding the tombs, and yet inside, the building was decorated in traditional Maori style. The thing i found most interesting however, was a glass etching on the main window facing the lake. The figure was obviously Jesus, but he was wearing the traditional clothing of the Maori people. As if somehow, making Jesus more Maori would make catholicism more accepted.

We spent the last couple of days in Raglan, and i learned how to surf. raglan was the coolest, chillest little surfer town. The main street in lined with cafes and surf shops, Dreaded surfers lounging about...it was so neat. We took a half day lesson and then went out on our own yesterday. I was actually fairly successful and managed to stand up on the board fairly quickly. Unfortunately,. I spent too much time laying on the beach and now half of my body is very much sunburnt. It isn't much fun.

I'm currently in the town (is you can all it that) of Waitomo. we went black water rafting today, which was stellar amounts of fun. Tubing down an underwater river, surrounded by glow worms and eels...so cool
Once again my internet time is about to get cut off, but I'll try to post again soon
Love you all
Sydney

Hello lovelies...
So i finally have pictures up (yay!!). I know i know, there's only 6, but it took me 40 minutes and lots of money to upload them, so too bad for you! I'll try to get more up soon.

The last couple of days I was in the small town of hahei. Read, population, about 12. Seriously, there is nothing in Hahei. A cafe, hostel, dairy and ice cream shoppe. That's it. Lots of holiday homes and a gorgeous beach, but not to much to do. The big attraction in the area is Hot water beach. For once, an area that is true to it's name. There is a hot spring that rises under the beach, so at low tide, people go and dig hole on the beach and they fill up with hot water. We hitched a ride from hahei into hot water beach. at first we considered walking,but the lady at the hostel just laughed...it was about 10km of highway between our hostel and the beach. The area is really pretty,but it's definitely a one day sort of town. We walked down to cathedral cove in the afternoon. i forgot my camera in the hostel, which was quite upsetting as the cove was beautiful. The beach was white sand, with waves rolling in gently, there was an archway that led to another section of beach, and the sun was shining through it perfectly...

Right now, we are in the city of Rotorua, we arrived yesterday after spending a night in Tauranga. We tried to get a bus right from hahei to rotorua, but no buses were running here. We took the naked bus, which was cool. so far we've only ridden intercity buses, which are quite nice buses. Naked bus is a whole different pot of tea. They are older buses, rates are much lower and they cater mainly to backpackers, so they are smaller and a bit shabbier. I really liked it. the people on the bus were cool and there was a much more relaxed atmosphere. Intercity buses are really professional and have high standards, but the naked bus felt more human. I don't think Bretton and Aleah liked it as much as me, but whatever.

today we went up to the cultural center. Rotorua is know for it's geothermal activity. Te Puia, the place we went has a lot of geysers and hot mud pools. It was cool to see the boiling mud and the geyser was quite impressive. We also we able to see a Maori cultural presentation, with singing and dancing. The men performed a haka, or war dance for us, which was cool. Basically, they chant and stamp their feet a lot. Bugging out their eyes and sticking out their tongues is meant to intimidate challengers. Rotorua reminds me a bit of ban ff, in that every other store is a cheesy souvenir shop. It's a bit of change from the country side we just left. In the small towns, every dingle block has at least 2 coffee shops and an antique shop. I do not exaggerate. her every block has 4 souvenir shops and a couple coffee shops.

I hate to cut this short, but my internet time is about to run out and i am out of 2 dollar coins
Love you all,
Sydney

This is very expensive

Sorry, I tried to post pictures a whole bunch of pictures today but flickr was being a jerk,so sadly, i wasted an hours worth of internet money for nothing... and now time is running out so i can't even write a decent blog entry. I'm in a city called Thames right now, it is adorable, all full of wooden buildings and cool little shops. Tomorrow we will head to Hot water beach...hopefully they will have non-jerk internet. I'll try to figure out flickr, when internet is less expensive.
I love you all
Sydney

Northernward and onward

So, Northern new zealand, in all it's beauty and majesty is apparently the most boring part of new zealand. so so the other people at my hostel have been telling me. I don't know, i was rather enjoying it's simplicity, bu to i guess to each his own. Paihia is a gorgeous little tourist trap of a town, and we stayed down "backpackers alley" which was... interesting. As it turns out, we are located directly across the street from a rather loud bar. However, it seems that i have become a very sound sleeper, unusually seeing as i always slept lightly at home. Not that i'm complaining, this means i was able to (thank god) sleep through two nights of a roomate getting it on. *NOTE* having sex with drunk people in a dorm room is neither cool nor classy, it just pisses people off. Someone hid her pants this morning, and it was very amused "where are my trousers.. i can't find me f***ing trousers" hahahaha... I wish I was the one that hid them...

Yesterday we took a bus tour up to the northern tip of the island, cape reinga. Along the way, we drove along 90 mile beach, which is a registered highway despite the fact that it's underwater twice a day. you could see teh skeletons of cars that had gotten stuck at high tide rusting away, half buried by sand. WE also had a chance to go sand boarding. Sand boarding is one of those activities that brings out interesting group dynamic. The girls trudge slowly to the top of the dune complaining about how steep it is, the manboys run up and try to ride down standing and fall like idiots, the manmen. walk up an down methodically, trying to get their monies worth and people like me run up and fly down just having fun. It tends to attract some dirty looks from the lamer women... they are just jealous of our awesome is all.

The cape has a really neat spiritual feeling about it. It is thought to be the jumping off point for the spirits of dead mauri. From the lighthouse, you could see Tasmania in the distance. It's also the place where th pacific ocean and the tasman sea meet. The tasman sea is quite a violent body of water compared to the pacific. We could see the tasman all the way up 90 mile beach and it is quite a nasty sea when it comes right down to it.
The views along the whole bus ride were specatular.
I love New Zealnd
I love you all
I miss you
Sydney :)

Whangarei to Paihia

Yep...it's raining... rain rain rain.

I'm in the bay of islands right now in a small town called Paihia. It's populated principally by backpackers, which is cool. For the last three days, I was in a city called Whangarei. We were staying right by a nature reserve at the top of a waterfall. Yesterday I went down to the base of the falls and had my picture taken by some tourists. Everything is so peaceful and green here. It's sort of like stepping back in time.

We managed to catch an art festival in the town. It was such a cool atmosphere, Hippies and backpackers mingling about. We listened to a rock reggae bad who could have been quite good, if they'd had more volume on their vocals. There really isn't to much to whangarei, so teh town isn't that exciting to explore. Our hostel was actually outside of the city, which was a bit of a pain. However, there are some great trails right there and it's quiet.

New Zealand is magical in the rain. The whole bay is sort of trapped in a misty cloud... it's really neat to see. We got out on the water yesterday and went diving at poor knights island. The bottom is covered in volcanic rock choss with a kelp forest growing on top. we swam into some caves and poked about in an old volcanic crater. swimming into the dark of the cave was a bit weird, but when I turned around, the light filtering through the cave entrance took my breath away. kelp plants and schools of fish sat silhouetted against the blue light streaming into the cave mouth. I wish that I could have captured it somehow. I didn't want to leave, but sadly I was running low on air and had to return to the boat. The dive was quite expensive, but totally worth it.

We'll be in the bay of islands for a few days. Hopefully this rain clears up and we are able to get down to the beach. It's so humid right now, everything feels damp and sticky.

I love you all
Sydney

Auckland, dearest Auckland

Well lords and ladies, i have arrived.
Yes, after grueling hours cooped up in a flying tin can i have landed safely in Auckland; and what a grand city it is. It's so full of life, color, palm trees, and hills. Yes, hills, lots and lots of hills. had i been shortsighted, thinking we could walk the short ditcance on the map between the bus stop and my hostel...maybe. Had i taken into consideration the poor manufacturing of my friends bags and the copious amount of upward walking... not at all. It was a long and sweaty journey, but we beat the concrete mountian and arrived at our new home, the city garden lodge of Parnell, Auckland. Parnell in very upscale. It's road ways are lined with ritzy cafes adn boutiques. well dresse women in heels sashay about talking on their blackberry's and out of place backpackers search deperatly for a cup of coffee that costs less than $5. Tomorrow, we will take the ferry onto a nearby island for a day hike. Finally, i will get to touch the ocean.
I love you all
Sydney :)

Here we go?

I've got my passport, tickets, money, clothing, too much gear and yet I still think I'm forgetting something.
As much as i have been looking forward to this trip, I'm still apprehensive right now. I mean, I've never spent more than 12 days away from my family. Never been out of country without adult supervision. This is foreign territory. I have no doubt that any experience, good or otherwise will be relished, but i am still having trouble jumping off. Maybe I need someone to push me.
I love you all
Sydney