The NEW plan

After hours of debating, we have come up with a new itinerary for the next two weeks that avoids the south island mess. So here's the new plan:
Saturday 2/26- going to the beach at Piha. It has black sand beaches (from volcanoes) and we have been told by a lot of people that we shouldn't miss it. It's only about 45 minutes from Auckland so it's a good day trip.

Sunday 2/27- going to the Rotorua region for most of the day. There's supposed to be a lot of cool things to do there. Then that night we're driving to Raglan on the west coast.

Monday and Tuesday 2/28, 3/1- surf lessons! Should be interesting to see how a bunch of people from Kansas who've never surfed before handle it. We got a good deal and our lodging, lessons, and surf boards are all part of a package. Tuesday evening we're driving back to Auckland and staying there Tuesday night.

Wednesday 3/2- flying out to Nelson on the north area of the south island. We'll probably hang around the town for part of the afternoon before heading east to Blenheim to spend the night.

Thursday 3/3- Blenheim is in the middle of the Marlborough wine region so of course we have to taste wine. We've booked an all day tour where a bus picks us up from the place we're staying and takes us to different wineries all day. And best of all, they take us back to our doorstep so we don't ever drive! Me driving after drinking wine would be like watching Erin drive sober...scary. We'll spend the night in Blenheim again.

Friday 3/4- hanging out in wine country again but probably checking out some of the other things to do around there because we're driving back to Nelson and staying there Friday night and going to some New Zealand band's concert.

Saturday 3/5- Monday 3/7- going to Abel Tasman National Park. This is the place that I had pictures of yesterday.  On Sunday we're doing a 4 hour hike that is followed by 3 or 4 hours on a sail boat. We also get to see a seal colony on the boat. Sounds cool. We'll probably do the beach Monday and then drive back to Nelson Monday night and stay there.

Tuesday 3/8- Fly back to Auckland.

Wednesday 3/9- hang out in Auckland. Maybe go to the museum or zoo or other things we haven't gotten to.

Thursday 3/10- leave for home

So that's that. I know this has been a boring blog so far so I'll throw some pictures in of things we've been doing. First, I went to a Mexican restaurant with Chase and Erin. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal at home, but here it is. Mexican food is hard to come by. And we couldn't leave without looking like tourists...

Yes I know, there are no words to describe how good we look.

That was Thursday evening. Then the convenience store down the street from us had a sale on V energy drink so we bought some.  We don't have this stuff at home and I didn't know what I was getting myself into. This stuff is like liquid crack. I drank one at around 7 or 8 and couldn't fall asleep until 2:30. But it does taste good.

Study juice

The next exciting event was tonight when I went to dinner with Ryan, Cindy and Mary at the Orbit restaurant in the Sky Tower (their space needle-looking tower). The tower is supposedly the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere but I'll have to double check on that one. It was a rotating restaurant and had amazing views of the city. And of course, we took a bunch of pictures.

 Some good info on the tower. We were in Orbit Revolving Restaurant

 The girls on the elevator on the way up

And the guys

 The elevator had a glass floor so you could watch below you as the elevator went up. I think Mary has on coral colored nail polish there. Solid choice Mary

 And then the cement walls disappeared and were replaced with windows so you could watch out from the elevator. Ryan was terrified.

 This is the inside of the restaurant. Nice place. And the seating area revolved.

 The floor below the restaurant had an observation deck. Mary took full advantage of the telescope

 And here's a view out

 This is part of the floor from the observation deck. It was glass and you could see all the way to the street. I didn't walk across it.

 I know this probably just looks like a blurry city street but that's Wakefield and our apartment is a little hidden but it's up there on the right side.

 Oh, and I guess I should probably mention the meal. It was awesome. This was a Caesar-like salad. I forgot what exactly it was called but if you put enough cheese on it, you can make anything taste good.

This was my main dish. It was shrimp, scallops, and some kind of fish (I forgot) on risotto. It hit the spot

That's all that's happened. Sorry if the first part was really boring but now everyone can know where we are for the next couple weeks, especially since internet service might be a little spotty. But of course I'll keep updating the blog as much as possible. I'm off to bed. Goodnight.