Taranaki

Mt. Taranaki.


Waffles.


Sweet mug.


Stony River: a good swimming hole.


Hitting the road again.

Christmas 2005

On the way to the beach.


At the beach, semi-naked and laid-back.


Sunset.


Backyard Christmas Hongi.

At the Rowntrees

Phil on the Hill. We cut this fenceline together.


Kauri tree.


View from the top. That town's Leigh and the
ocean's the Southern Pacific.


Me, Paul and Lois Rowntree.


View from the top 2. That's Goat Island up front,
across from the Marine Lab, and Little Barrier Island
in the distance. The farm is at the bottom of the hill.

Chores

Coming back from the field.


Tires I moved.

On the Farm

I am at the first farmstay with a family near Leigh, NZ. Farm chores so far have included gardening, window-washing, sweeping, scrubbing, herding cows, and lugging a pile of tires from here to there. Tomorrow we clear some bush to get ready to put in a new fence. It's been rainy and windy, so no snorkelling yet at the nearby marine reserve. Pictures coming soon.

Auckland Parks and Gardens

Bee having a field day.


Wintergarden.


Gum Tree Hill: runner-up U2 song?


Posing modern day hobbit.


Nice pitcher plant thing.

Hooray for internet cafes

Creepy winking and finger-beckoning Santa
in downtown Auckland.



Bungee-Jumping optional Space Needle

Auckland

I'm in Auckland, New Zealand, just getting my feet on the ground. The hostel computers won't let me upload pictures, but soon...soon. Auckland is pretty nice. Hot, humid, tropical trees all around, a Space-Needley thing, lots of water, volcanic mounds, and designer buildings. Tomorrow I take a bus to Warkworth and my first WWOOF hosts will pick me up and take me to their farm near Leigh. Apparently, there is a black sand beach with good snorkelling nearby and also some small Kauri-tree forests.

Trip Status

Just to clear up the rumors about the trip: I'm in Berkeley right now, waiting to hear if I got a job offer in New Orleans. The trip is still on, but there are two routes it could take now. 1) I get the job, go to New Orleans until Christmas, go to New York with Greta for New Year's, go back to New Orleans until late January, then leave for Indonesia with much more money in my pocket and start the trip with Greta. 2) I don't get the job, fly back to Seattle, pack my bags, fly to New Zealand, work on farms until late January, fly to Indonesia and meet Greta with significantly less money in my pocket, but...uh...a wealth of experience?

New Orleans/New York or New Zealand? Either way, I'm happy. The whole trip is still slated to last until early next summer sometime.

Pictures should be coming soon.

End o' Summer

Setting out this afternoon with Susan and Will to make a three-day drive to Seattle, where I will spend two days in various medical appointments--dental, eye, doctors, etc--before the old health insurance runs out. Then a Saturday bike trip with Dad and a day to drive back down. This is the transition trip marking the end of summer and the beginning of the first fall in my life (as far back as I can remember) when I won't be returning to school. Hip, hip...

The Hungarians rolled into town this weekend. I haven't seen them yet, but hopefully this week I will get some soccer in with the cousin. It was a weekend of running into people. Adrienne and her boyfriend at the lemonade stand. Greta at Stern Grove concert. Triathlon people. The neighborhood feels so quaint.

The Birthday Party Business also got off to a good start with our boss's son's Superhero birthday party this morning. We got lots of praise from the parents and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. Still, I couldn't help shake the feeling that I was just a clown. I dressed up in purple underpants, wore a jester hat, and the shtick was 110% slapstick. Sheesh.

Video Game Addiction

The diagnosis is in: I have finally given in and developed an addiction to Ben's video games. To be fair, it's not totally my fault. Ben's recent 23rd birthday brought in a bevy of loot, including three new X-Box games and The Sims 2. I also discovered that he has been hiding a copy of Prince of Persia from me. Oh sweet unreality!

New Updates

Decided to travel this next year between maybe October and June. Start in New Zealand and WOOF. See where that takes me. Japan, Thailand, China, India, South Africa, West Africa, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Mexico are all on the wish list.

Greta and I broke up. But this isn't one of those kind of blogs. Suffice to say that it was the right decision, but it still sucks.

Camp is still great. There is a digger in my new color group, however. Caught her several times digging in her butt for God knows what. Told her to wash her hands and try not to do that any more. Making a note to wash my own hands periodically throughout the day now.

Palo Alto is getting old, but it looks like I may be staying through mid-October. Grannie may have a house-sitting job for me with one of her swimming buddies. There is a dog involved, and I think it pays.

First Day of Camp

I will be a kid all summer.

Working with children doesn't always mean you are nice. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=21727. This is just in time for the first counselor get-together--apparently, Ben gets MTV2.

Gradumacated

The big graduation weekend is over. Josh's pictures are up at yoshjosh.blogspot.com. Now I'm staying at the grandparent's (thanks, Palo Alto Support Team!), which is quite nice. Getting ready for the Jefunira Treasure Hunt, which Ben and I are supposed to have all together by Friday...ha. As soon as I get my camera fixed, there will be some pictures up here. Yay for being done with school! My favorite part was when we were learned some things...

This Blog Isn't Really, Actually a Pipe Bomb

Just for clarification.