epic journey time

the fact that I have not updated in about a month really does not surprise me. I am rather bad at keeping up with blogs, which I apologize for.
Anyway, in the past month I went on a two week adventure around the North Island of New Zealand with one of my American friends. It was during the two week teaching recess we had off from the uni, and it was an amazing trip.
we started by spending a couple days in Auckland because we took his grandmother on the trip and we had to get her from the airport. We just sort of wandered around Auckland and saw the Auckland war museum during those two days. It was nice to be back in Auckland for a little while, I really like that city.
After those two days, we headed up North and stayed at Paihia for a night, which is in the bay of islands, and drove up to see the 90 mile beach. it was so cold, Brandon made me get in, and boy it was freezing, but worth it.
then we drove back through Auckland and up to Coromandel for a night. we stayed at the coolest little hostel. the next morning we drove to Cathedral Cove, which is one the most beautiful places i have ever been. They supposedly filmed some of prince caspin there, and it was so beautiful. it felt like i was in paradise or something.
then we spent a couple days in Rotorua, which felt slightly like going home since that was the first place i stayed once i got into the country. i went luging and we went to the spa and hung out in a hot pool. it was a really nice couple days.
we then stayed in Napier for a night, Brandon and his grandmother did a winery tour and i hung out at the hotel and played with the internet and such. Napier had the most beautiful stone beach. i had never seen one before, and it was super beautiful. the way the waves sounded as they hit the rocks was incredible.
then we headed down to Wellington, the capital, for 3 nights. we didn't actually stay in downtown Wellington, but we road the bus into town one day and drove the next. We visited the national museum, Te Papa, which was really really cool. saw a lot of awesome stuff including the treaty of waitangi and lots of Maori stuff. Maori history and culture is fascinating and i love seeing as much as i can about it.
we also spent some time in the botanical gardens, which were beautiful if slightly out of season. it was fun just wandering around and seeing the city and being outside.
then we headed back to Hamilton for a night and finally back to Auckland to meet a friend and drop Brandon's grandmother off.
we went to the aquarium and the zoo, both of which were awesome. one night Brandon, Megan and I went to a comedy club in town, and that was pretty fun. it was a great trip and i am really glad i went on it.

this past saturday i went to an All Blacks rugby game in Hamilton. it was an experience. i was around a lot of drunk people. which was interesting, and i didn't exactly understand what was going on, but it was cool to be there.

thats pretty much whats being going on here. i will try to post more often.

Cheers!