A View from Above

The original plan for the weekend (many of you know I like plans) was to take a weekend excursion to Rotarua- one of the worlds most concentrated and accessible geothermal areas- so perfect even on a cool winter day. However, the forecast looked rainy. So the trip got postponed (hopefully next weekend). But Saturday turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day in Auckland. I had to make the most of it so Melanie, John, Zazie and I decided to make the Rangitoto trek. We hopped on a bus to the Auckland Ferry Terminal just in time to catch the ferry to Rangitoto island.

John (kiwi), Zazie (norway), me, and Mel (virginia)

Rangitoto is Auckland's biggest and youngest volcano. It is an island that you can see from almost anywhere high in Auckland. Here we are at the beginning of the hike pointing to the summit (where there is a big crater)...

I call this post "a view from above" because at the top of Rangitoto I saw for the first time... the amazingness the surrounds Auckland. It reminded me of my hike to the tip top of Mount Crested Butte- a mountain I looked at and admired from below so many times last summer. When I got to the top, it was an awesome 360 degree view of at least 5 different mountain ranges. It was amazing and made me realize the amazingness I was surrounded by. Same feeling on Saturday. Instead of mountains though, it was islands. More islands than I've ever seen and in every direction I looked. I can't wait to see more of this country when I get chances to get away from school.

this picture hardly captures all that I could see- there were a ton of islands in the distance everywhere i looked!

Can you tell what we are?? (hint: I am the beak) :)

this is a REAL picture

On our way back, waiting to catch a bus, we saw the official countdown to the Rugby World Cup. Notice Zazie and I enacting rugby... aka she tackled me.

School is definitely kicking into gear here. I am in the middle of my third week of class (just one more week until clinical begins). It has been a good week though. Had a delicious vegetarian meal last night at my friends' Becca and Grace's flat last night (flats are houses that a group of friends live in... so i guess 318- my house in cville- would be considered a flat here) and hung out there for a while. We  started planning our trip to Taupe in 2 weeks where I am going to be running a half marathon! Not really enough time to properly train but it should be fun!
More later! Thanks for following my adventures in New Zealand. :)

Taking in the beauty