Wonderful Rotorua

I had a great day today. I went to Rotorua which is where they have geysers and boiling mud. It smells of sulphur there, but it didn't appear to be very strong today. We also had variable weather, which meant lots of rain on the trip down, including some close to being horizontal, and then a few patches of sunshine. Overall the weather was ok.

I also went to see a buried village where the remains of a volcanoe explosion are located. They had a very nice tramp(in NZ this means hike) which led us by a waterfall and everything. I still can't get over how green everything is!

I even did something uncharacteristic of me, I went on a big swing thingy, with my mom's cousiin and her friend. It takes you 150k/h in 2 seconds. It was nuts.

This picture here is of the Maori welcoming ceremony at the Geysers




Here's me with the waterfall in the background.



This is a great picture of the area near to the buried village

In the Land of the long White Cloud

So a big welcome to the first people I actually know, who now have the address for this blog.

I am in New Zealand known in Maori as Aotearoa. It's very green and hilly; the roads are narrow and of course they drive on the opposite side of the road than in N.America. It's a bit peculiar, trying to figure out which way to look before you cross the road, but so far no accidents. My second cousin also keeps reminding me to get in the car on the opposite side. The driver in NZ is on the right hand side of the car not the left.

I went to an udnerwater aquarium yesterday and then bummed around the downtown. I got home here just in time to avoid the rain.

One thing I still haven't done is checked to see which way the water drains here.

For the moment i'll be in Auckland which means free internet (for me) and free food. So i'll probably be online a bit more frequently than later on in my journey. I'll try and post the best pics here, but it may be a bit difficult.

Bye for now

A few days to go....

I am off to New Zealand in a few days.... I figured i better update one last time before I go. I leave on friday and I haven't really prepared. I have a few phone calls to make tomorrow to see a few people before I leave.

I was thinking today about how much I miss the atmosphere of school. I was thinking about all the books i want to read and how being a part of academia is really a supportive environment for thinking about the world.

I've had a few interesting conversations with my brother just about the academic world as he struggles to find the direction for his life.

I miss those kind of conversations already. For more than 2 years my roomates and I have debated all sorts of topics and it proved a fertile environment. Of course we never had statistics readily available, nor did we ever compromise our positions much, but the debates were fast and furious.