from the TZ to the NZ

so after being delayed by at least a day, jen made it to new zealand all the way from tanzania. she had just finished up as a peace corps volunteer in tanzania....and was making her way back (slowly) to the states! it was great hanging out with the leuven crew again! we had all met in belgium, studying abroad 2004 and have met up in canada and NZ....where to nedxt guys?!?!?



the gang sporting out new TZ gear!!!

sand art on N piha beach (where bex and eric got hitched)


jen and i treating ourselves to yum dessert...and some wine :)


view from mount manganui summit



conveniently our campsite was right next to the hot pools... and on the sign people had crossed off the "l"s :) as michael

sailing waiheke

so after jackie left for the states i went over to waiheke for a night and was fortunate enough to tag along with the Trick's on a sailing excursion! Michael has played around with sailboat dingies and his friend was showing him the ropes haha :) it was exciting to see waiheke from sea. we found a few bays that are difficult to get to by land. it was gorgeous!

its all about the vibe!

from northland our trip continued south....heh obviously, farther north = boat travel...and i dont have a boat...yet :) we drove through Waingaro and stayed at a camp site. in the morning it was rainy but that didnt stop us from taking a dip into their hot pools! from there taranaki was our next destination....we did a variety of things there, from visiting a farm (spent a good 2+ hours there!)








to dam dropping





to ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the spectacular mountain.
mt taranaki is a fairly young volcano (135,000 years old). and one of the most symmetrical cones in the world. there is something quite magical about this area...as you can see from the setting sun to the west










and the snow capped mountain to the east....you are always in aww of the surroundings.

cape reinga on down

after trekking to cape brett and seeing the hole in the rock up close and personal....we headed to cape brett to see the collision of the tasman sea and the pacific. (right photo) that night we stayed in northland and woke up uber early to watch the sun rise (left pic). when we went back to the backpackers we bumped into a girl who accused us of stealing her cell phone. heh she watched us go through our bags and car at least 3 times and still was convinced we took it...silly silly.... the last pic is a black sand beach just north of taranaki. we had a lovely picnic and hang out over there before heading towards new plymouth

cape brett walk

so i somehow convince myself and jackie that we are ready to go on an overnight hike...hmmm no prob, there is a hut we hike out to etc...but yeah its an 8 hour hike up and down coastal trek, recommended level of fitness...above average. heh oops! but we did it! it was a gorgeous hike and maybe the most strenuous i've done here in NZ...we ended up seeing dolphins....twice! the 2nd to last picture is of 3 or 4 we saw. now this part was the scariest for me...we had to leap over a little stream, but to the left of it was a cliff..yikes...made jackie go first both times!



























this pic is off us waiting for our water taxi...this area is a reserve for dolphins and we got to see quite a few, some do a few wee jumps....a great way to end our hike!

a blast from the past

so i am very behind on my blog but wanna get some pics up real quick before i head back to the states...so pardon the half ass-ness :) as well as my french!








jackie (for those of you who sadly are not familiar with my uni friend....we've known each other since we were 18! lived in same dorm freshman yr, roomed together sophomore etc etc) anyhow, jax visited for about 2 weeks and we tiki toured the north island. the first few days we spent over in waiheke, where i showed off my "backpackers" aka the trick's home where i had a king sized bed etc :) from there we headed to Auckland to get organized and meet up with lovely bex and erk (pic #1) then we drove up to russell (where i first worked in NZ). non stop its a 3.5 hr drive, jackie and i managed to do it in about 7.5 hours! pic #2 and 3 is in goat island....where we found some great shells and got soaked by some spray holes in the rocks. these last pics are in russell, the first on tapeka point and the other on our favorite island..heh during low tide this bit of land becomes an island, and we nearly got stuck out there! heh