My life is a postcard

Whew!  I've been through sooo much in the past two weeks, and one of the best might have to be that I FINALLY have internet in my apartment!  So now I can skype, and blog, and post pics, and respond to everyone who's been trying to get in touch with me!

First I'd like to give a shout out to my bestie LTF, in the hopes that she might actually read this.

So I just got back today from Paihia, in the Bay of Islands, which is in the most northern part of New Zealand.  It was just absolutely beautiful.  I don't have any better words than that!  I know looking at pictures of a place you haven't been gets repetitive, but I can't help taking and sharing pics because I want everyone to see how great it is!

On Tuesday, about 15 of us (all part of the Australearn orientation I did when I first got here) took a bus about 4 hours north to Paihia, which is a really cute beach town.  Wednesday was SKYDIVING DAY...which I thought might be the last day of my life.  As I told all my friends and the instructor, I don't like roller coasters, scary movies, the DARK -- so this was really amazing that I did it.  I just feel like I'm here for the semester to get out of my comfort zone and try new things, and I'm trying to do something that scares or challenges me as often as possible.  I wound up being so glad I did it.  They put you in a little prop plane for about 20 minutes that flies out over the Bay, so it's a really beautiful view.  I got a disc and DVD of the jump, so I'll try to upload some of that to give you an idea of what I jumped over.  I tried to calm myself during the flight by thinking about how beautiful everything was - when it's time, and I'm strapped to the instructor, all I had to do was put my feet out of the plane and he jumped!  My heart probably stopped for a second, and I had to force myself to open my eyes, but the freefall was really fast and then we just floated down, looking out over everything.  Ahhhh.... it was great!

The next day, we went on a dolphin boat (but didn't see any dolphins), but it was really nice to just be out on the boat, relax, and see even more awesome scenery.  We did see BABY HAMMERHEAD SHARKS, and little penguins that were the cutest thing ever.  Halfway through the day, they stopped on one of the little islands where we got to hang out for about an hour.  There was a big hill in the middle of the island, and when I hiked up to the top of it, I could see tons of islands and water out in every direction - the most beautiful view I've seen yet.  I just kept taking pictures, and reminding myself to thank God for his beautiful creation.  It was amazing.  We went swimming in the crystal clear water as well, and some people snorkeled, and we got to lay out for a while before heading back.  Also, I successfully did NOT get sunburned!  Which is a feat, for me, especially in New Zealand where there's apparently no ozone layer.

I'm still trying to figure out posting pics on this, and I will try to put up my skydiving video as well.  I look TERRIFIED.  School starts on Monday, so the adventures (and spending money) may stop for a while... 

Much love! --M