Horseback Riding

My roommates and I went horseback riding at White Star Farms. My horses name was Whiskey. We rode on trails for a lot of the ride, but then we also got to gallop through some fields. We were riding through fields with cows and sheep all over the place. It was a little cloudy and rainy the day we went, but the scenery was still amazing. The girls in the picture with me are Krista and Becs, two of my roommates. The farm was about a 25 minute drive from where we live. The roads to get places around here are ridiculously narrow and curvy.

Coromandel Peninsula

This is a view of part of the Coromandel Peninsula on our way to Coromandel Town. We just pulled off the side of the road to take this picture.

Another picture of the Coromandel Peninsula.
It is beautiful here!

Pictures from Rangitoto

This is the view from the ferry on the way to Rangitoto Island. The island was formed from an erupting volcano. We took the 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland.

A view from Rangitoto Island

Here I am with Matilda, Julie and Caroline. We all met at our hostel in Auckland. They were all traveling alone so we hung out together in Auckland. Matilda was from Denmark, Julie was from Brazil and Caroline was from Germany. We are at the summit of Rangitoto after about an hour hike to the top.

There were lava caves on the island formed from the volcanic lava rock. This one had formed a tunnel that we could walk through. It was dark in the middle of it, but you could see the sunlight shining in from the other end.

Here is a view of the Auckland Harbour Bridge from the island.

Settling In

I'm settling in nicely to Coromandel. I've been here for a week and a half and have been working for a week. The Pepper Tree Restaurant and Bar is run pretty much the same as a restaurant in the US would be. It's definitely the nicest restaurant I've ever worked in with fancy food presentation and a large wine list. There are different sections of the restaurant with different atmosphere's so people can choose what ambience they are looking for. The "restaurant" area is fancy with white table cloths and wine glasses already set up on all the tables along with utensils, water glasses and utensils. The "bar" area is a separate room where the bar is and tables in the same area without table cloths. The back deck is off of the bar and is closed in by plastic window cover things that can be raised in nice weather. Plus we have a big courtyard with lots of tables outside and a cute little covered gazebo with tables that they call the summer house. I'm learning how to make fancy coffees at work using the espresso machine. They don't have regular coffee in pots like at home. You have to pay for each cup individually and it's ground fresh and made right then. People here are much more relaxed when it comes to eating out. I'm realizing how much Americans are always in a rush. At home if a customers entree isn't there right when they are done with their appetizer they start wondering where it is and getting impatient. Here it's rude for the main dish to show up when they are still eating their appetizer and we aren't even supposed to tell the cooks they are ready for their main dish until we have already cleared the appetizer dishes off the table. People will seriously spend hours at the restaurant drinking wine, eating and drinking coffee afterwards. It's just interesting the difference.
My other roommates are Charles and Becks (Rebecca). Charles is Canadian, but finished his teaching degree at a college in New Zealand. Becks is from New Zealand and met Charles when they were both in college. She worked at the Pepper Tree last summer and came back this summer with Charles. They are both really fun. Krista, Charles, Becks and I are having a great time living together. Next weekend we all have Saturday morning off so we're going horse back riding! We get up in the mornings and all go to a little restaurant called Sally's, which sells cheap sandwiches and pies (which are pastry things with meat, cheese and veggies in them).
I've been trying to work as much as I can when I'm in town because there's not a whole lot to do here. I'm saving money for the rest of my trip, which is great. I did go on a good hike the other day. It was really close to where I live and had amazing views of the town and surrounding water. I'll post some pictures now. Hope everyone is doing well at home! Keep me updated about what's going on!!!

Coromandel

Richard picked me up in a red sports car and we sped off to Coromandel, where I will be working at the Peppertree Restaurant and Bar. Once we got out of Auckland the scenery changed to big fields of green and then as we got farther out there were big rolling hills with cows and sheep everywhere. Once we got onto the Coromandel Peninsula Richard stopped at the top of a hill where you could look out and see where the water came up and met the green hills - it was beautiful! Once again, I have pictures that I will try to post soon. We drove up the coastline of the peninsula to get to the town of Coromandel. The coast was rocky with sparkling, calm water. We got to town and I saw where I would be working. The restaurant is right in the middle of town under a big peppertree (surprising huh?). The town is really small with one main road. Everything shuts down early - the grocery store only stays open until 7pm. The views are great - no matter where you are you can look around and see mountains and the town is right by the water. The place where I'm living is pretty plain, but very cheap - only $45/week. I'm sharing a room with Krista, a girl from Canada who has been here a month. She's really nice and I think we'll get along great. I haven't met my other roommmates yet - they were out of town for the weekend. The view out the back of our house is beautiful - all countryside and mountains. I start work tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

A little more of Auckland

I explored some more of Auckland on Wednesday - I went to the Auckland Art Gallery and then walked a big circle around the whole city. I checked out some neat shops and then went that night to play poker with one of the girls from my hostel. It's amazing how many girls I met traveling on their own. It's been great - everyone is so nice and you always have somebody to do stuff with. Anyway, I went to play poker thinking I would meet some locals, but it turns out most of the people playing were from England or Ireland... go figure. The next day 3 girls from my hostel and I caught the ferry to Rangitoto - an island that was formed from the eruption of a volcano. I'll have to add some pictures, but I have to find an internet connection with USB ports. We hike around the island all day and up to the summit. The views were spectacular - you could see all of Auckland and other islands scattered around out in the water. We then hiked to the lava caves where we could actually walk down into a tunnel of lave rock and out the other side. After returning from Rangitoto it was time to pack up and get ready to leave for Coromandel the next day. I talked to Richard, the owner of the Peppertree, on the phone and found out he was coming himself to pick me up from Auckland. Friday morning after I checked out of the hostel one of my roommates and I walked to the Backpackers Car Mart to check out the cars they had for sale. I was thinking it would be nice to buy one to use while I was here and sell it back when I leave, but all of the cars were pieces of crap and I decided it would be more trouble than it's worth. I got back to the hostel and waited for Richard to come get me.
He arrived right on time with two Americans he has working for him along for the ride and we were off......

Around and about Auckland

Yesterday I went to the Auckland museum and saw a Maori performance. They did some traditional dances and songs, plus showed us games they used to play and weapons they used. I met a girl from Brazil who was also traveling alone so she and I walked around the museum together after the performance. There was a lot of interesting information and artifacts about Maori culture and a natural science floor about the different animals and land in New Zealand. There was a really interesting section on volcanoes. I learned that Auckland sits on an active volcanic zone. They expect the volcano to erupt at some point in the future, but they don't know when. Ha!

The beginning of a journey

My trip has finally become a reality! I don't even remember when I first decided I wanted to come to New Zealand, but I really started thinking seriously about it last year. Thanks to the encouragement of my amazing family and friends I made the trip a reality. I applied for a working holiday visa, which I was approved for, and bought a plane ticket to New Zealand - leaving North Carolina on November 3, 2007 and coming home on April 23, 2008. For awhile after buying my ticket I had no idea what I was actually going to do when I got to New Zealand. Between working like crazy this past summer to earn money for the trip I was surfing a website called Seasonal Jobs in NZ. I found a region that sounded neat because it had beach and mountains and started looking at the job listings. There were a few waitressing jobs listed with a button that said "apply online". Thinking I wouldn't hear anything back, I applied for a job halfway around the world. Much to my surprise I got an email back the next day and then a phone call from the owner of the restaurant a couple of days later! So if everything goes as planned I'm heading off to Coromandel on Friday to work at Pepper Tree Bar and Restaurant.
Right now I'm in Auckland where I flew in this morning. After leaving NC at 6:15AM on November 3rd I arrived in Auckland at 7:25AM on November 5th. I walked around Auckland this afternoon, mostly along the waterfront. I'm staying at a hostel in downtown Auckland called Base Backpackers. Tomorrow I think I'm going to check out the Auckland Museum and see a Maori show (Maori's are the indigenous people of New Zealand). I'll keep you posted!