Life as an Aggie: New Zealand!!

Now onto New Zealand!! We were told that New Zealand was going to be freezing and rainy the entire time...but it actually was great. I think we only got one day of rain, but it was beautiful.

We did a lot of driving and saw a lot of it.

On our way to Cathedral Cove.

McCall, Neeley, Katie, Me, Isaac, and Ally

Here is Ally and Me at Cathedral Cove.

So we got to go stay in a Marae (ma-rye). The Maori (mow-ree) people were so great!! They've had a tough past but they are still the sweetest most caring people! They were so generous to us. We had this cool ceremony to welcome us then we learned about the history and enjoyed ourselves. We all slept in the Marae which is the Maori people's temple. So cool! It was hot and loud but still fun!

This is the leader of the Maori people. He was such a sweetie!!

We did a lot of hiking including a 10 mile hike. We hiked up to a cabin with our big backpacks and spent the night and then hiked bike. It was extremely tiring but very beautiful!

New Zealand is very green and gorgeous!

So we also got to go Bungee Jumping. Ally and I did tandem because we were a little nervous and thought it would be fun to do this together.

Getting excited!

Getting all bound up!

Going up!!

1.2.3...GO!!

We laughed the entire we fell and for about a half hour after.

Eyes a little puffy from the head rush. But we made it and it was a blast! The fall made me a little......out of it. The rest of the night I was a dazed and kind of confused. Everyone kept making fun of me but I eventually became normal again :-)

So we got to do a really cool thing too. We got to go Black Water Rafting. And no that's not a mistake, it was black water. We went underneath this big mountain and we also got to see the Glow Worms. The water was pretty dang cold but eventually you got use to it but the glow worms were great!! They looked just like stars. We got to jump backward off of waterfalls. They didn't tell us this till after, but their were eels underneath the water. Apparently there is one that is 5 feet long and has lived there for a while. I'm really glad they didn't tell us cause it would have totally freaked me out! But it still turned out great!

So other places in the world McDonald's is actually a pretty nice place. We went to the McCafe and got this little tasty treat. It was a great deal and turned out so pretty we just had to take a picture of it!

This is the Hamilton Temple. It is GORGEOUS!! The town around it is called Church-town. There are only about 6 non-members in the whole town. Seems like a pretty great place!