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Sydney

Went to Sydney for my last 6 days abroad. It was really cool. Not as cool as New Zealand, but still pretty cool.

We went parasailing. I am in the middle. Yeah it was so fun because we got up there so high then the boat would slow down and we would glide down to the water and dip like halfway in then the boat would speed up and we were back up in the air! I love parasailing. you should go.


I got to cuddle this koala. He is the softest thing ever! I just wanted to take him home he was so sweet and cuddly.

Then of course we had to hit up the temple because why go somewhere without going to the temple? That would be a waste.

This vid was breaking rules in the act. It's the inside of the Sydney Opera House. Enjoy.




Now I am home! This is the last sentence I will write for this blog so start looking at halshum.blogspot.com again.

last weekend in NZ

pizza from hell. No really the place is called Hell. This particular pizza is called gluttony.


"gooey raspberry big memphis"


We went SAILING


And we hoisted the sails!


And we went to the luge!

Northland

This is the famous "Hole in the Rock" in the Bay of Islands. We were on this speed boat with no cover. And it was rainy and really stormy and the waves were seriously 5 feet high like in the movies. It was so awesome! Like a rollercoaster up and down up and down and I couldn't stop laughing! and I was drenched. Notice how beautiful the water's color is?


and this is a tree trunk i am sitting in. humongous and like 1000 years old.


This is 90 mile beach. we drove down the sand it was so awesome.

COROMANDEL

Hi! I just wanted to give you a tour of my weekend. I went to Coromandel. It is a peninsula that is widely known as the best place to go in New Zealand. The weather was perfect and it was only a 3 hour drive from where I'm staying in Auckland. We stayed in a cabin that was 100 steps from Hot Water Beach. Why is it called that? Scroll down and take a look!

This is the beach in Prince Caspian where the train takes them to this random beach and they are in narnia! So beautiful. it's called cathedral cove. The hole behind me is the cathedral. The ceiling is amazing in there.

This is, just as it says, "A DAMN GOOD DRINK" Hey come on I'm just saying what it says on the bottle. so good.

So when the tide is low you can dig and the water underneath the sand is hot because of the magma beneath the beach. So you have this little hot tub made of sand. and it's so nice. We did it at night time when the tide was low at 1am and it was wicked cool because we were the only people on the whole beach and the stars were so pretty.


We stayed in a really nice cabin and we had a lot of fun in there.

Weekend

On Friday we went to the NZ temple and did baptisms. It is a really pretty temple.

That night 3 of us went to a dance...this is what we do every weekend. We go to a dance. Then we go to Denny's. Same Denny's as american Denny's. and we don't get home until at least 3am.

This is us at Pasifika. Pasifika is where all the islands of the Pasific come together in one park and each island has a chunk. In their chunk they have authentic food from that island, merchandise, and entertainment.

 

I got a Ukulele from the Cook Islands!!! Custom. Beautiful. Great sound. And I already learned how to play a song on it.

This is a coconut that was full of coconut milk. So good.

Update

Well I am better.  Thanks.  I missed a day of school then I went home early on Thursday.  On Friday we went to the sky tower (The tallest building in the southern hemisphere) And we had lunch there.  It was like a 5 star restaurant and it rotated the tables around the entire circle of windows within an hour.  It was amazing.  I had snapper.  And an amazing chocolate dessert that almost killed me it was so good.  

That was Heather.

Then we went to a museum and I got all tired and fatigued but I was fine.

 

K well we got this email getting ready for the dance.  And it was from one of our observers for

 when we teach- she's in her 30s and her parents live in Kere Kere, NZ which is 4 hours north of auckland.  She said "I can only take two of you" and michelle and I were first to reply so we got dibs. 

 The Sand was made up of shells guys.  It was bomb dig.  Click to enlarge.  Check out my Chaco tan.

We were at the dance then denny's till 3am then left at 9am this morning.  Man it is gorgeous here.  We're here until tomorrow afternoon.  It's been beautiful, I'm 190 percent better.  I love my life.

Don't ask me about anything beyond April 7th or the fact that today means there is only one of every number of the month left.  

something funny

me: hahaha

  oh gina

  one night I couldn't sleep

  and I was listening to classical music on itunes

5:27 PM Gina: yeah?

 me: and out of no where after a song ended this voice says "good night hallie, sweet dreams"

 Gina: haha

 me: I seriously jumped off the couch

  it was YOUR voice from grandma's house

 Gina: how was it on iTunes?

 me: I emailed the text to myself

  and it downloaded the sound as well

  FREAKED me out

 Gina: i'm laughing

  so hard

5:28 PM hallie, you gotta write that one down

  that's really funny

  and freaky

5:29 PM i bet you totally fell asleep after that

 me: rigghhhht

  k I'll really let you go now

5:30 PM but I love you and you creep up on me even when you are half way across the globe!

 Gina: ok, well thanks for sharing that

  love you lots!



Funny huh.

Choice week

Last week my teacher was sick so I visited the other byu girl's classrooms. And I hit every grade cool huh. And I decided that I really like the older kids as well as the younger - it's just the in-betweens that I've never enjoyed watching or teaching because it was the most awkward time of my life and I don't like to be reminded.

But yeah so the 5th grade teacher totally took advantage of my art skills and I made tsunami waves on one wall and a soccer goal on another. I taught the kids about goals and they wrote their goals on soccer balls then kicked an actual ball on the wall where the goal was and I put their goal ball where their ball hit. A lot of people missed but hopefully it won't be like that for their real goals.

And I had a really amazing weekend guys. I went to this cool music festival and it was outside and there was an orchestra and opera singers and normal singers and one guy sang bohemian rhapsody and it changed my life. And there was a laser show and fireworks at the end and I loved that as well.

Wish me luck!

Carol McCormack

This is the teacher of the class I will be in for the next six weeks. I found this picture of her on the school's website. I'll meet her tomorrow. Here is what else the website says:

In Room 11 we are a "Family' and as a family we nurture one another and learn with and from each other.

Our aim is to produce "Quality Work'. This is the best I can do and it takes time and effort.

Rotorua

Rotorua is a place in the middle of the north island where there are lots of geysers, like at yellowstone. there are also caves and lakes and mountains. I love Rotorua because it has a lot of stuff going down.

I slept over at my friend's house because it was her burday and we got picked up at 5 am. Luckily the back seat folded down flat so we slept the whole way on what was just like a BED!

We arrived at the blackwater rafting co where they do guided cave tours on tubes. We got in these wet suits. They were already wet. Then we put on a jacket. then shorts over that (why shorts?) then a helmet with a light on it. I think I sprained my finger just getting those things on me.


Then we walked to this hole in the mountain and it was actually the entrance of these amazing caves. With special creatures inside. GLOW WORMS!

I found out at these caves that I am claustraphobic. It was so dark and some of the tunnels we crawled through were really small. with water. There was no way out other than getting through. It was kind of hard on me but only half of the time it was confined.

So yeah the other half of the time was fun though because we jumped off cliffs into the water below and stuff. And when we turned off our headlights and put our feet in the pits of the person in front of us that was comforting. The glow worms were really awesome. It felt like we were up in space looking at the stars. so cool.

After the caves guess who showed up. The prime minister of New Zealand. And i am not joking I promise! John Key shook our hands and took pictures with us. He was so nice. I met the prime minister guys. Crazy.



Then we went ZORBING! It's where there is this 10 foot ball with a ball inside of it. And you crawl with up to two others inside the ball inside. And there is water in the inside ball. And then you ROLL down a hill! It is soo so sos sooo fun. I am totally going to start a zorbing business in Utah.
I fell on my face coming out.

Then we went to a dinner/theater. It was really good food with mussels and lamb, chicken, pork, pasta, salad, rolls, potatoes, squash, etc.
the 12 girls all slept in one room of a member's house. It was so fun! We watched A Goofy Movie.

The next morning I saw real kiwi birds, like the picture on my title. They are nocturnal so we walked into a dark room and could barely make them out. But one came right up to the window where I was and was clicking his beak on the window. Haha they are so cute. We also watched a Haka, like the team does before the BYU football games. That is a maori NZ dance. I loved watching that, it's kind of scary.


Half of the group, including me, decided to go to the single's valentine's dance at the stake center. It was really fun. After the dance we went to denny's and we didn't get home till 4am. funny huh.

My vids

Click here to see me bungy jumping

Christchurch

The first day in Christchurch we went to the markets all day. There were some really cool things there! But it was mostly a city. With lots of dodgy areas. I decided while I was on the South Island that I am not a city girl. At least not inner city. It makes me anxious. Anyway here are the other things we did.



The Gondola (I guess the correct term where it's in a river is punting? that's dumb.)


The Botanical Gardens were so lovely. There was like a square mile of all these beautiful flowers - I have a vid of it that I'll put on youtube or something.

I cooked fish. Then I read that sign behind me. It specifically said to not cook fish. whoops!

Last night in Queenstown

I lost all my pictures from Queenstown. It really hurts. The other girls got some pictures of me but it's just not the same. The video of when the sheep came running right up to me, the video of me feeding the wild green parrot, the video of me going recklessly down the luge! Man hopefully I'll get those back in heaven.

The last night we were in queenstown was when I deleted my entire memory card, but that was right before minus 5.

It's a bar that is always kept at minus 5 degrees Celsius. We got virgin dranks and they were really good. And the cups were made of straight ice. so was everything else.

I just went bungy jumping

I went twice. The first time I just jumped of the ledge:
The second time I sat on a plastic chair. And they leaned the chair back on the ledge. But then brought me back and made me push myself off. And when I pushed myself off then grabbed me and then let me go.

best seconds of my life.

I have video of all of it! Show you when I get back?

Mwah!

South Island Take One

So again it is fareaking gorgeous here. It looks a lot like Utah but the mountains are even MORE humongous and it is way way greener. And there are sheep every where just hanging around. I really love it. We are staying in a really nice suite but we got a great deal for only like $50 a night each lady. and the entire back wall of the room is windows and a sliding glass door with an amazing view of lake Wakatipu. I feel like I am bragging but this is just sharing factual information, right? yeah so I shouldn't feel bad to tell you everything right? It's not like it's always going to be like this. k, go on... Our first day here we flew in at 9am to Queenstown from Auckland. And we just threw all our luggage into one hotel room and went straight to the shotover jet. Ride of my life. completely out of this world! The boat or whatever you call that thing got so close to the canyon walls and we did spins and got all wet! It was AMAZING. Right after that we went to the Skyline Luge and Gondola Where we went up to the top of this mountain where we could see the lake and city so well. And they had these luge tracks where you take a little car/bike thinger and roll down it. You totally get air and the turns are SO fast and exhilirating. We got to go down 5 times! Oh man I loved that thing.Then we went to this town called Arrowtown where there was a street of cute little shops. And I hung out with the old men drivers (members) and got seafood. I had this thing called whitebait fritters. They are little clear fish that turn white when you cook them. And it is the best damn thing EVER. we had seafood chowder with it. And I got dad licorice because they had a candy shop there with every candy imaginable there. (even creme brulee fudge!? WHAAA???) So I can't find any licorice without gluten/wheat so tell him to just forget it! Ugh he is so difficult to get junk for. I got him a big old box of "All Sorts" licorice. And he'll probably never open it. He'll just put it on the top shelf of him closet. Or in his top drawyer in the closet. Jerk.Then we went to the grocery store and got groceries so we didn't have to go out to eat for every meal. I live off of peanut butter and jelly. haha sick I know but worth saving money in the midst of spending so much. (Oh by the way most of these activities are included in the price I paid to come here from the beginning.)After grocery we went to Deer Park Heights where we saw a HUMONGOUS pack of deer. And they aren't farmed, they just decide to live there and they don't have a fence either. But yeah we saw goats, llamas, bison, yaks, bucks, yeah seriously a pack of 42 deer I counted. It was lovely. And there were a lot of Lord of the Rings sites too. I could totally point them out right away, like the cliff where frodo and gollom fight! And the place where gollom fishes while they're camping! And the river the horses cross! And the marshes! Yeah I've seen it all. And tomorrow I'm going on a horse ride through the place where liv tyler races through the trees on horseback because frodo was about to die. Then yesterday we went on Milford Sound on a cruise ship. Wow. Milford Sound was formed by a glacier so it is really beautiful. And there were a ton of waterfalls and we saw some seals! And they took the cruise ship RIGHT UP to the waterfalls! oh man it was heaven. I am sending you a postcard today from that.Today is all about me. I am getting my hair done with some reds. And I am getting a fiji foot treatment. Then I am getting a one hour massage with those stones or aromatherapy I don't know it depends on what my consultant tells me I need. Tomorrow, again, we are doing the Lord of the rings ride on horseback.And...I don't want to admit it, but it's already been done. I've paid the mulah. I am doing the Canyon Swing.the day after tomorrow we drive 8 hours to Christchurch. Nothing is really planned for that but the markets are the best there. And the gardens and bike rides are good as well. Anyways I hope I don't get on a computer again because it takes up precious beauty time, no offense. I'll remember to update you when I get to boring ugly auckland though. JK it's fine there I just don't ever want to go back! Stay here until April!! mmmm sounds good.

SEE YOU IN TWO

see you in two weeks.

I'm off to the south island and leaving my laptop so I'll let you know how it goes when I get back!

BYE! MISS YOU!

PIHA and Waterfall

This is Piha Beach. It is a black sand beach with killer waves (literally, like 5 people die every week). But we didn't die. We just hiked around the edge of the cliffs and found a really beautiful cove where the waves would pound against the rocks you stood on.




Then we hiked to a waterfall. And there was a pool at the bottom that we swam in! I don't have the pictures they took of us, maybe I'll add them later? But in the meantime: This is me, sitting on a tree.

RUGBY!!!

RUGBY

IS
HEAPS OF FUN!

And we even played the next day for fun! I was OK at it too!

Party Bus to Jam Session

We rode this huge party bus to a jam session in otara where some chick was going on a mission so she and her friends put on a concert. It was amazingly good. I like their music. Little bit of reggae, ukelele, and a little somethin somethin of r&b and junk.

I matched the bus!


The group...minus the three guys that were taking pictures with every single girl's camera. I hate group picture time. No offense other girls.

Just riding on the bus

This city had murals on every wall. It's the most ghetto crime area in NZ so I think it is to cover up the graffiti or to keep them from graffitiing.

Orewa Beach

Highlight of the beach today? Well there are many highlights. One is that we were there for 6 hours. Another is that I went SURFING! For the first TIME! And I kind of GOT UP! And that is really impressive for me because I can't even balance on even GROUND!

The other highlight is that when you swam out to atleast waist deep, there were palm sized and bigger sand dollars every foot! And finally. When you swim out there, same region, there are also little clams! (They call them "pippies")

And you break them!

And you eat them! right there!

We didn't know that it was a superstition of the maori culture to NOT do this. You aren't supposed to eat seafood on the beach or near the ocean. They feel it is a mock to the sea and the sea creature's spirit.


But hey! We're just American Women! Hopefully the curse won't affect us!

ON THE WAY BACK HOME...


This here is a ski slope. Just in the middle of a hill. On the way back from the beach. Yeah we have to TRY to get cold here. It's really hard. I don't mind it though, not really.

And this is me again, trying to be artistic with reflections and vain at the same time. but those trees, wow. Amazing.

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