last nigh in NZ

Hello from Auckland,

I love NZ so much. It is winter here and the rain reminds me of home. My home stay was so great, I just loved the family and having a few days "off" from being the teacher leader. Since then we have done so much. Today we went to a geothermal park in Rotarua...the area is a hotbed of activity just like Yellowstone. We also went to the luge park and went luging in the rain. The students really enjoyed it. Then we had a 3 hour drive to Auckland, which I liked because I could nap in the bus, isn't that what being on vacation is for?

Yesterday we had kind of a "low" day with a visit to the museum, the city council and a tour of an island, i forget the name, in the middle of the the large lake in Rotarua. They call Rotarua "vegas" or "rotavegas" because most of the tourists come there if they go anywhere in NZ. The student's just weren't interested in having a guide talking to them for hours, which I wasn't ether, but i put on a brave face and faked it. Overall the students have been having a great time.

Two days ago we did Full On New Zealand, which was mostly a high ropes course with a chance to break a wood board with our hands afterward. All the students managed to break a board and the ropes course was very thrilling. I got up to the "Leap of Faith" which is a large telephone pole that you climb up, then stand on the top of without any hands, and then leap in the air and try to catch a trapeze swing. We were fully harnessed and roped in of course. It was hard to stand on the top of the pole, holding on to nothing, but i did it.

The day before that we were at a traditional Marori (sp?) tribal house and spent the day learning about their culture and the night in one large room, students and teacher leaders alike on the floor on a mattress. A large sleepover. It was great. I went to bed early and the Delegation Manager, Tony, woke me up 2 hours later and asked me to stop snoring. It was funny to all of them, all 31 students and 3 leaders were listening to me snore for 2 hours. Oh well, i had a good sleep.

The students are tucked in to bed. We have a 5:30 wake up call and an early flight out to Sydney tomorrow.

Kate