March 31 - 10 pm

In the beginning, I had to keep telling myself - "You are in New Zealand. You're really here." And now I find that I have to tell myself - "You are still in New Zealand, you're Lifelong dream!" So I don't take it for granted; now that I've been here about 2 months I can see how it might start to feel just like normal, everyday, not special.. But I don't want to feel like that, I want to enjoy every day like it's my first day here. That's what a friend from back home told me when I asked him for advice on traveling alone. He said to try and enjoy every minute of everyday, because it will all be over before you know it. And there will probably be days that you wish you were home, you're lonely, stressed, or whatnot, but the best thing you can do is just look at it all as part of the adventure.
So I'm trying.
Today was fine. Finally experiencing the New Zealand "4 seasons in a day". It rained overnight, but woke up to partly sunny skies. Cool, not cold, even hot when the sun came out. But as I was riding the bus to Orewa it started to rain hard. On and off all day long. Got caught in a heavy rain walking around the other side of town. Not too good. But then there was a rainbow and it was lovely.
The place I'm staying tonight is more like a family lodge. Seems like most guests live here actually. And I'm just in an 8 bed dorm room all by myself. Again! Crazy! Orewa is a great town though. Too bad the weather was wacky today. There's a nice beach right across the street. Lots of little cafes. A gypsy market on the waterfront. I bought some earrings made from buffalo horn, so I'm hoping they won't bother my ears like every kind of metal seems to.
Didn't really feel like Easter today. Couldn't make it to church. No Easter basket, no dying Easter eggs or having an Easter egg hunt. No family dinner. Weird. Sad. But I'm here in New Zealand enjoying every second of every minute of every day. That's right.

March 30 - 9:45 pm

Interesting fact- in Maori, if the word begins with wh it has a f sound. So the city I'm in tonight, Whangarei, is pronounced "fongaray". Same with Whitianga (fitianga) where I was last week.
So pulling into town today, I wasn't super stoked to be here. It was raining, the bus stop area was not impressive, and my hostel was located way out of town, so the hostel people came and picked me up. But my attitude changed when I went out to see the Whangarei Falls. Just about a 2 minute walk from my hostel, I went with a German girl I met at the hostel, Katalina. Gorgeous, lush greenery. Incredible waterfalls. Right then I was glad I stopped here in this town. And from there we walked around, down around the falls, through the Kauri tree forest, on countryside roads, to the Abbey Caves. Took about an hour to walk there, but a very pretty rural walk. Prepared with our "torches", we headed into the caves - barefoot, because we heard there was knee deep water to walk through. The caves are in their natural state, so no lights, handrails, walkways, etc. so lots of climbing, ducking, wading, and exploring! And there really was a section of water that I walked through that was crotch-deep. All for fun though. It wasn't too bad going barefoot either. All part of the fun. And the glow worms were neat. And the stalagmites, tites, limestone, all that cave stuff. Very cool.
Didn't get a chance to walk around town, because the local buses weren't running today, so that's a bummer, but oh well, I'm off to Orewa tomorrow. Spending Easter on my own in a strange and distant land. And get this- New Zealand, home of Cadbury chocolate, does not have the Cadbury eggs that you can get around Easter in the states that I love so much. What's up with that? Lame.

March 29 - 9:05 pm

Well I have roommates tonight, but it's fine. I talked to the Dutch couple and German girl for a while. Like others I've met, the Dutch are on a yearlong adventure traveling through NZ, Australia, and Thailand. I think it's really cool, but I couldn't be away from home that long. They said it gets easier after 2 or 3 months though, so we'll see if that's true with me. I think I'll be ready to come home in 4 weeks.
It was a gloomy day in Paihia. Well, for the most part. It started out cloudy, so I took my time getting up and ready for the day. I went on a close hike about 10km to the Haruru Falls. The falls were less impressive than the actual trail. It was a beautiful walk through more rainforesty vegetation. And the cloud cover was nice. For lunch I got good fish and chips at a place called Shippey's, which is in an actual ship, docked up on shore, but right by the water. Neat. And yummy.
I spent the rest of the day reading on the beach and hanging around the hostel. I should get some more beach time in on Sunday in Orewa. Hopefully.
Easter weekend here. It's a much bigger deal here than in the US. They observe Good Friday and Easter Monday, so the whole working world gets those days off work. And a lot of people go out of town, so the bay of islands is a popular holiday spot for kiwis. Lots more people in town today I noticed. Good thing I booked all my hostels for this weekend in advance. Worry free until I get to the South Island. Which is next Wednesday.. I'm excited to go back down south! I was thinking today where my favorite places have been, and where I would like to return someday, and almost all of them were on the South Island. Not to say I haven't loved my time and adventures up north. I have. Especially Wellington and the coromandel peninsula! But yeah, Queenstown, Wanaka, Kaiteriteri, Abel Tasman.. I wanna go back!
Leaving the BOI tomorrow. Heading south to Whangarei. Goody.

March 28 - 9:10 pm

Looks like I get this room to myself again tonight! Seabeds wins best hostel ever, just for that. My own room, my own bathroom, clean, new, almost like being home. Almost. I'm still wearing the same thing everyday and getting around on foot and eating the same three meals everyday. But I also wake up to the sound of waves crashing, and get to spend all day at the beach everyday. You win some, you lose some.
So today I went on a dolphin watching bay of islands cruise. It was really pleasant. We did see dolphins! Bottle nose. Quite a few, jumping in the water. It was pretty amazing. Not sure if I liked seeing dolphins or seal pups better. But it was fun to see more of the islands here too. A lot like what I imagined New Zealand to look like before I came here. Green rocky islands jutting out of the sea. Beautiful. Oh and another cool thing on the boat was meeting a whole family of Utahns! I spotted a red U on the back of a baseball cap, and then saw the dad's U of U sweatshirt and the daughter's. I asked the son if they were from Utah, and he said yes, so I told him that I had been here 2 months and they were the first fellow Utahns I had met! From Bountiful, they had come because the son had just returned from his mission to NZ in January. Pretty cool.
After the cruise, which was a whole 4 hours, I got off in the town of Russell to check it out. Not much there, but a few shops and the oldest church in New Zealand. But there was a beach, so I went there for a while. More secluded than the beach in Paihia, so I liked that. Too windy and cloudy though. Back to Paihia, ran into that Utah boy on the beach again. He sat and talked to me for a while and then we got icecream. Oh, and I finally gave in and bought some nail clippers because it's been three weeks and they were just way too long. I thought I could hold out, but I couldn't take it. $5 for nail clippers. But I feel much better now.

March 27 - 10:15 pm

Spectacular day. Called home and talked to mom this morning. That was nice. And then I took off for the beach, where I basked in the sun for pretty much the rest of the day. There were periods of cloud cover, and even a sprinkling of rain, so I just took my lunch break then. Had some delicious red curry at a Thai place on the waterfront. By the time I finished eating it had cleared up, so back to the beach I went. Ran into Eva again! We hung out for a while, until the clouds drove her away. I explored the other side of the shore. I decided I liked the beach closest to my hostel best, so that's where I'll go back tomorrow. More spaghetti for dinner. Ice cream for dessert! And then joined some Swiss guests in watching an Australian cooking competition reality show. Lazy and wonderful day. I have the entire 6 bed dorm to myself tonight. Luxury! Still loving Paihia!

March 26 (cont.) - 10:15 pm

In Paihia, in the hostel called Seabeds. Four nights in this hostel, in this town, is going to be heaven. I love everything about it already! Everything. The hostel is a former motel, recently updated, and done quite well. I'm paying just $23 per night to be in a comfy, newly furnished, apartment-style dorm room, with TWO ensuite bathrooms for the six of us. Oh and tonight I'm in a room BY MYSELF. Two girls in each of the other two rooms in this dorm. And these are the kinds of things that I get excited about these days.. Kitchen is dreamy- upstairs, with a balcony that looks out over the sea. I ate my dinner tonight out on the balcony, salivating over the gorgeous sunset. After dinner I walked into town. It was getting dark, but the city was still very much alive. More so than any other of the small towns I've stopped in. I just really like it.. I got myself an ice cream cone and wandered back to the hostel. Big plans for the days ahead.

March 26 - 10:40 am

I didn't get in until 11:30 last night. Getting crazy in the big city! Ha not exactly, but it's true, I got back to the hostel pretty late because I had gone to a comedy club here to see Winston do his routine. He's competing in a stand up contest, and this was the fourth or so round. It was pretty good. About 10 comics each had about 6 minutes of material. There were about 4 that I thought were funny. The others, not really. The MC was really good though, and it was all fun. Afterwards, Winston and I went to Carl's Jr. for a taste of home, and then took me back to my hostel. Really nice, fun guy. I'll see him and Claire next week when I come back to Auckland.
Before all the late night craziness, I had a day full of hiking and exploring the volcanic island of Rangitoto. Had to take a ferry out to it. Just 25 minutes from Auckland's harbor. So Rangitoto is New Zealand's youngest island, only forming about 600 years ago as a result of a massive volcanic eruption. So the whole island is covered in black lava rock, but I was surprised at how much green plant life was springing up through the rock. Amazing. It took about an hour to reach the summit. Fantastic views of Auckland city and also the volcano crater. A perfect little bowl, where all the lava spewed out, now covered in plant life. Cool cool. Coming down, I took the long way, walking down to McKenzie Bay to see the lighthouse, then along the coast back to the wharf. Neat landscape, good views, fun day trip.
So yeah, it was a nice day. Today I'm just killing time until 1:00 when I take the bus to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Because I just have such a stressful hard life, I planned to spend about a week in the beachy paradise of New Zealand's most beautiful beaches. Can't wait!