SPLORE-ing February 20th thru 22nd

Our crew at the top of the road heading down to the stages.

The most EPIC NZ taco yet (thank you Jason!)

Our Campsite and some of the Spore-Crew

Three days. Two nights. Live music. Tapapakanga Regional Park. Epic.

We woke up super early on Friday morning in order to get to Tapapkanaga Regional Park by the time the gates opened at 8am so we could get THE perfect camping spot. The next three days consisted of New Zealand lager, live music, and some truly incredible friendships.

I did not take many photos because the music festival was on the beach and I wanted to be able to swim and not worry about cameras getting nabbed, so unfortunately all the photos are locked away in my memories. But suffice it to say, I wanted to die of exhaustion from dancing all night for 72hours but celebrate simply how awesome my weekend was!

Whangarei = Fungaray… more beach bach fun in Waipu

Scott and I decided to roadtrip up to Northland to spend time at another family bach. Driving through New Zealand is absolutely beautiful, reminding me of Northern California until of course you noticed the prominence of ferns everywhere. I would not have been half surprised if a brontosaurus poked its head out!

Lucky for us Waipu Cove was pretty much empty of people because it is not the weekend… apart form a HUGE gaggle of Sea Scouts who were camping in the grounds right behind the bach. We joked that mealtimes were like feeding time at the zoo with all the kids running around, screaming. The beach was beautiful, literally a two-minute walk from the back porch. We bodysurfed and swam out past the breakers.  The water was a crystal clear turquoise.  Shells were everywhere so I had to watch out for my tooties!

We had agreed that this week would be about pure relaxation, so we stocked up on fruits and veggies for some fry-ups with eggs (and the most UH-mazing egg sandwich ever!!), some good Aussie wine (jeezus is it cheap and delicious), and some Whittaker’s dark chocolate (the one and only TRUE Kiwi chocolate brand… sorry but Cadbury’s is produced in Australia).

Scott’s grandma came around for the day on Tuesday, so we ate lunch together and then wandered down the campgrounds to get some ice cream at Tip Tops (yay NZ ice cream!). We ordered two single scoops of boysenberry and one single scoop of rum raisin… deeelightful!

Each evening we finished out sitting on the evening porch with some wine, cheese, and chocolate. Relaxing INDEED!

Photos [from top]: Beach at Waipu Cove, Ocean Beach at the Whangarei Heads at Sunset (middle two), view from Scott's uncle's balcony

Weekend Adventures: The Family Bach at Whangamata

Aaron and Scott invited a bunch of friends up to the Whangamata to stay at the family bach for the weekend by the beach. [A “bach” is like a getaway/holiday home for the non-Kiwis reading!] We stocked up with Steinlagers, lamb, and salad goodies for a barbeque for that Friday night.

After a day in the sun, body surfing and watching a surfing competition down the beach, we were ready for some food! Marski was able to experience her first lamb ever (mind blown)! As soon as the rest of the Kiwis showed up the night began with a round of Circle of Fire (King’s Cup for the Americans) and some good ole NZ debauchery.

During the weekend I was introduced to the “Box Game” as it is called simply. Basically, the goal is to bend over and pick up a box with your teeth without letting anything other than your feet touch the ground. Each time around the circle, you rip cardboard off the top of the box. Flexibility and technique are of upmost importance. Moso’s effective, yet hilarious-looking “frog technique”, where he grabbed his ankles as his rear end stuck straight in the air was good for lots of laughs. Others attempted a more lunge-y technique. Those who attempted a splits technique quickly realized such a method would no longer work once the box only came up one inch off the ground.

Needless to say, each day more mates showed up. The laughter did not stop, and neither did the slang. All in all, an ideal way to start the NZ Adventure.

DAY ONE: Meat Pies, Steiniezzz, and that NZ Beach

NOTE: wifi in NZed is notoriously not as available. Before the trip Marski and I joked that our American attitude regarding wifi as a basica, unalienable right would simply not fly in New Zealand. So, I apologize ahead of time that these will probably not get posted regularly.

Week on is almost complete, so a posting is in order! I was the lucky flight-mate of two other girls around my age. One, a German girl named Fiona, will be living and working on New Zealand for 5 months. The other, an American named Clarice, was planning a semester in Melbourne to take classes in Media Studies at the University of Melbourne. Needless to say we slept for the majority of the flight, with Fiona informing me that she never wanted to wake me up so she would awkwardly climb over my lap! The last couple hours of the flight we hung out and exchanged emails so we could potentially get together over Easter weekend.

Upon landing, immigration was a positive breeze apart from the biological items control point, which is understandable considering how sensitive island environments are to outside chemicals and biologicals. Scott was on time to pick me up… thank god… I was tired and hot and sweaty and just REALLY wanted to shower.

I had a pretty set list of things I wanted to accomplish on my first day, which included meat pies and the beach. Scott drove Marski and I to Elleslie to get meat pies (steak and cheese UHmazingness) and then we corralled it over to Mission Bay beach for some sun and sand. I being a stupid American totally did not realize just how much stronger that Kiwi sun is and ended up with a slight burn down the side of my legs. Oh well… but I decided that I would be super sunscreened up the next time I stayed in the sun. You can feel the sun as it is burning you, and I believe one Kiwi told me that at some points during summer the average burn time is seven and a half minutes!

[photos above are my seat mates and the BEAUTIFUL Hunua Falls

02/02/2015… The final countdown...

In one week I will be embarking on another adventure... TO NEW ZEALAND… KIWILAND… LAND OF FAIRYDUST! In case you cannot tell, I am beyond excited! I get to travel with one of my closest friends (again!) to the Motherland, live with friends I met on a previous international adventure, and meet up with my Mum and Nan for a three-generation adventure in the South Island.

I am going to keep this short and sweet, because let's be honest… I am simply to excited to write! That and the fact that I am trying to re-load my entire iTunes library, so I am trying to minimize any use of additional bandwidth.

KiwiKisses,

EmBoss

Eve of the Paris Adventure (30/12/2014)

Here I am the night before another incredible adventure with people I count lucky to call my family. We are heading off on another family affair to the most romantic (according to a liege of tourist blogs) city in the world, and we could not be more excited!

Not only will we be fortunate enough to spend part of our vacation with another family we hold dear, but we get to have one more adventure as our little family unit! We get to try delicious foods and drink copious quantities of wine all while spending our days amongst the splendor of Paris, or the home of Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. [If you comprehend this reference, you should probably join my dear sweet parents for movie night as you will fit in nicely!]

I was reminded by a dear friend that all the best things happen randomly in life, so bring on the random! Paris, show me what you got!

Here's to an epic start of 2015; I will commence my New Year aboard a plan with complete strangers and I cannot think of a better way to begin my 2015!

xoxoEmma

Travel Rules

Rule #1: Life is not fair.

Rule #2: Nothing goes according to plan.

Rule #3: Everything will be fine.

These are the three basic rules that this year has taught me. So it goes. This next year requires another adventure. Being away from home, from what is comfortable/usual/"normal" allowed me to let go, to be truly content.