The New Zealand All American Soap Box Derby

I have been watching my host mom and dad help to create a soap box derby car for the New Zealand soap box derby race. My mom's year 7 and year 8 class were going to race in the derby, and this weekend was the semifinal. I went with them, and the kids were so excited when we got there! The prize for the 1st place car was two plane tickets (1 for the driver, 1 for an adult) to Ohio in the States to compete for the American Soap Box Derby Race! When the race started, we ended up getting into the top 8. We were the ones competing for the two plane tickets to compete in the states, and Parnell School ended up winning the entire soap box derby!! It was so exciting! The soap box derby in Ohio is in July, and I told the kids that I will go to watch them in it! I have pictures from the day, but they won't upload right now, so as soon as they will, I'll post them.

Waiheke Island

Yesterday I went to Waiheke Island with Catherine and Naomi! The island is about a 45 minute ferry ride from the city of Auckland, so it was pretty close. It was really fun, because it had a ton of beaches and vineyards that were so pretty. We bought an $8 bus pass for the day, and just traveled around on the buses looking at all of the sights!

Some pictures of the beaches:



A few of the vineyards:

Hiking on Rangitoto Island

This was one of the neatest things that I've done so far! Naomi, Kevin, and took a ferry out to Rangitoto (a volcanic island) and hiked all the way up to the volcano's summit. It was actually really tiring, but really interesting. We got to see the crater of the volcano, and we also looked at a few lava caves on the island. After doing all of this, I had to figure out the public transport system, and find a bus to ride back to my host family. In the end, I found my house okay and was able to get home! =)




The view from the summit:



The City of Auckland:

Poly-Fest

Naomi and I were able to go to the Polyfest which is a Polynesian Festival that's held every year in Auckland. We went with our school, with kids that were year 7 and 8. It was really neat to see all of the different dancing, and we had a lot of fun.

Here are a few photos:

Funny Things

So I've noticed that many things have different names in New Zealand. Erasers are called rubbers, crayons are called jovies, and cookies are called biscuits haha! The accent is also an interesting thing because sometimes it feels like I'm speaking a different language. The other day, I asked my host dad what their god daughter was doing in the evening, and he looked very confused saying, "We don't have a guard dog." =) It's funny to try to understand what each of us is saying! I figured that I would add a few pictures of my school, and the plants that are in the yard of my host family. I'll definitely be taking more!

Here are my school and classroom:



Here are pictures of my backyard:

Flight to New Zealand

Saying Goodbye...





So, after about 18 hours in the air, I finally made it to New Zealand. I was going to write this yesterday, but I was so busy that I couldn't. The flights went pretty well, and Air New Zealand was a good airline to fly with. After I landed, I got to meet my host family, and they are all so nice! :) I didn't think that I was going to go to school, but I went ahead and went in anyway. I wanted to try to keep myself awake as long as possible to get on their time schedule. The school is really open, and has lots of windows. The kids also play outside often. I am still very tired even though it's my second day at school, so I'm hoping that my body will adjust to the time difference soon! Miss all of you from home, especially Jordan! :)

We will have to see how blogging goes... =)

I leave for New Zealand in 9 days, so I figured that I would make a blog just in case family and friends would like to know what is going on while I am away in New Zealand for 10 weeks. =)