Two in One

So I'm going to recap my last two weekends! While in Wellington, I focus on school still and have just enough time to fit in about one night a week to go out to town with friends. I'm so glad I'm able to do this as it is just enough to make me feel like I'm getting everything I can out of Wellington and New Zealand. So my first weekend after the trip to Arthur's Pass was a little rushed and disoriented but still fun. I felt weird after having been with these amazing girls to this amazing place. It was like I 'climbed the mountain' now what?
But after a fun filled Thursday night out in town, Carly Lewis, John and I grabbed a bus to Napier Friday morning. We arrived early afternoon to this art deco town. There was an earthquake there in the early 1930's and the town was completely rebuild with art deco architecture. It was a good town to see but after a nice relaxing dinner and a stroll on the beach we felt we were done with the place. The next morning we got another bus to a town well talked about all over New Zealand. Taupo is home to the world's cheapest sky dive! (No, I didn't sky dive, I'm waiting for Jake to get here and go with me!) The town sits on a lake (one of the biggest in the southern hemisphere) and is known for natural thermal pools, waterfalls, and a bunch of adventure sports type things. We spent a day kayaking to 'ancient' Maori carvings that ended up being from the 1970s, that was a little lame. That night we were still hurting from Thursday night and went to bed early. The three of us shared a suite room in a hostel and it had a tv! That was the first night I was able to lay around and watch tv since I've been here. The next day Carly went parasailing and I rode around in the boat. I didn't want to go parasailing because I went in Cancun and I wanted to save the money for other things, like bungy jumping later! The weekend was short and sweet but a nice little out of Wellington's city life and continue my weekend travel tradition.
The next school week flew by and before we knew it, the girls and I rented a car and headed out again Friday! Carly Davis, Anna, Eva and I split the costs for the car so it ended up being really cheap. We left town Friday morning in route to Castlepoint. We stopped outside of Wellington and had coffee and muffins in a cute little town then got back on the road. The roads to Castlepoint went through farmland and rolling hills. I drove, loving the freedom of the car and curves of the roads. We pulled up to our ocean front cabin in late afternoon. We lounged on the beach for a while then went back to our cabin for a few bottles of wine and great homemade pasta. The four of us girls had a great time together! We sat around the table and talked for hours. We talked about things you don't usually talk about like how this experience was affecting us all and all of our great attributes! The next morning I woke up and felt the need to go somewhere else. After calling Jake from the ocean side payphone for a clear chat, we drove on to Cape Palliser.
Again, we made this quite an experience. The ocean was a beautiful, uncapturable shade of blue and the sand was black! There was a seal colony and the seals were sunbathing and laying near us. They were too cute! So picture this, as I am taking a nice peaceful stroll along the ocean all by myself, not a person in sight, these two girls come running up to me, naked! Anna and Eva were embracing the freedom of the wide open beach and nature. So what do I do besides laugh uncontrollably? Strip down and run around with them! We were like little hippie children embracing life at it's fullest. We went swimming in water that seems warmer than Wellingtons and eventually got back into the car feeling unheld and ready for whatever life had for us. We drove back into Wellington as it was getting dark and got ready for our next week of school. We had a blast, had great conversations and all felt like we learned a little about ourselves.