I leave New Zealand in two days : ( A trip that I originally approached with apprehension and, frankly, fear, has actually turned out to be an incredible experience. Coming here as a gap year, taking the time off of college; it actually gave me an incredible time of growth, allowing me to really prepare for my future!
One of the most important things I have experienced this year has been my youth group, Ekklesia. An incredible group of 18 to 25 year olds who all are kind, fun, and passionate about God. For me, it has created immediate relationships and social plans, some of which blossomed into great friendships! Weekly Wednesday meetings for prayer, worship, messages, and amazing testimonies have radically changed my faith, as well as introducing me to some brilliant people. The last one was at our house...
Some of the girls in this youth group have truly become very good friends for me! We have weekly coffee "catch-ups" (Kiwi term) which always end in laughs and good times. When Alannah, a good friend of mine in the beginning of my trip, went to University in Palmy, it simply meant I got the chance to go down there to spend one more coffee date with her. Everyone has been very welcoming! Here is a perfect shot of Tiare, Kerry-Ann and me having fun while out on the town.
My work has also been a true blessing! I wanted to find a job to earn a little money and to give me something to do, but Mint Cafe truly exceeded all of my hopes! I worked between 2-4 days a week, occasionally as much as 30 hours. By the end, I had finally begun to have regular shifts on Thursday nights and Sundays, with other shifts coming and going. And I still had great flexibility to take time off for travel. It was an incredible job with an amazing staff and boss which made it fun and welcoming! We even had a little party at the end, which most of my co-workers came to!
Of course, because of work I hadn't been able to go on all of the trips that the family went on. I hadn't been to Wellington, but my friends Tiare and Kerry-Ann decided to take me down for a night on the town! We went shopping, visited Te Papa (the national museum), went out to a few bars (hey, it's perfectly legal at my age in NZ!), and visited Weta Workshop the next morning (prop creators for LOTR, Avatar, and lots of other movies). It was an incredible last weekend with the amazing friends I have made while being here.
Then, in the very last week of being here, my dad took my for one last trip up to Taranaki, re-creating another trip I hadn't yet done. Despite heavy rain, we drove up the "Forgotten World Highway", a gorgeous, rarely used highway in the Taranaki region. Halfway through was the "Republic of Whangamomona" a small town that had declared itself a republic in the late 1800s (it was a tiny little bar and hotel in the middle of nowhere...still fun though!)
We then visited a lovely waterfall, which was pretty swollen by all the rain (yes it was still raining.)
Upon making it the coast, we tried to take a beach walk at Tongaporuto (a town that is actually about 10 summer houses...) but got turned back by vicious wind and surprise! more rain, which had caused the river to be too high to make our way along its banks and out to the beach where my family had previously explored. Instead, we took a shorter walk on the other side of the river, getting to the northern beach at Tongapurutu, and seeing beautiful sea caves and cliffs, and these weird little boulders that are imbedded in the limestone. Heres a selfie of us from the bluff above the beach.
The next day was spent in the Egmont National Park, doing walks to other beautiful waterfalls, the "Goblin Forest" (forest of very gnarled, moss covered trees...very middle earth-y!), and lava created pools.
All in all, it was a wet (yeah...still raining) but very beautiful trip, and a lovely way to end my year in New Zealand.
This has been an amazing time, and I am so grateful for all the incredible opportunities that I've had in this beautiful country! Great friends, beautiful scenery, amazing job...what more could I ask for? Goodbye to New Zealand, hello to the USA once more!
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