Plans

My plan for the weekend is to head out to a place called Coromandel, which is located on the East coast of New Zealand. I've heard that it's a really awesome place. There is a beach where you can dig a hole in the ground, and then you get your own little hot pool, because it's a thermal area. That sounds pretty rad. Also I think I read somewhere that Coromandel was the location of New Zealand's first gold strike back in the 1800's, so there might some interesting kind of historical stuff there.

I have my plans worked out for the midsemester break also. I'm going to be flying down to Christchurch on the South Island, and then head north, and check out some stuff in the northern part of the South Island. A few areas of interest include -- the Abel Tasman hike, and Fox Glacier. I'll be going down there with my friend Max, and Sebestian, and Christof. I'm very excited.

Here are a few more pictures from the ski trip:








Cheers,
Shawn

Skiing on Mt. Ruapehu

New Zealand is well known for being a beautiful place. I saw yet another great example of just how beautiful the country really is on the skiing trip I went on this past weekend.

The group at the ski lodge

We traveled 4 hours out of Auckland to Mt. Ruapehu. Mt. Ruapehu is the most well known skiing mountain on the North Island. I've been told that the skiing is actually better in the South Island. The trip was organized through the school. They rented a bus, and a driver (he was from an organization that puts on trips to go surfing and skiing). There were a total of 15 people that came on the trip. We stayed in a backpacker place that was about 20 minutes from the Mountain. What I thought was kind of funny was that there was absolutely no snow at the backpackers, or anywhere on the ground, but once we got to the Mountain it was high enough up that there was snow. We arrived on Friday night at the backpackers. We woke up early the next morning (7:00am...) and had some breakfast, then we drove to a place to pick up the lift pass, and to hire (rent) gear. I didn't have a jacket or snow pants that were suitable for skiing, so I had to rent them.

The weather was actually not so good on the first day. It was raining, but when we arrived at the mountain we were high enough up where it was actually snowing (which in my opinion, at least while skiing, is better than rain....). Despite the bad weather, I still had an excellent time. It had been about a year or so since I had last skied, but I still managed to ski very well.

The second day was way better. The weather was extremely great, and so we were able to see all the wonderful views from the mountain. The mountain had about three levels to it, and I'd say from the top one it took about 20 minutes or so to make your way back down to the bottom one. It was nice because there were tons of spots you could stop and get some nice photos while heading down. The mountain was about 2700 kilometers high, which converts to around 1678 miles.

What's kind of interesting about Ruapehu is that it's actually an active volcano. I saw a photo of the mountain erupting back in 1995. There are two sides you can ski on at the mountain. The side we were on was called Whakapapa (pronounced fuckapapa). It was a bit different than the mountains I've skied on in New York. There weren't any trees, but there were huge cliffs, and rocks, so you had to be careful to make sure you stayed away from those.

The trip was a ton of fun. It's got me interested in skiing again when I return to the States.
Here are some pictures from the trip.

Me and Sebastian on the bus headed to the mountain

arriving
There I am on the first day

Looking good (as usual)

The second day

The second level

On the lift

Sweet as (kiwi slang, for awesome...)A great view

The master of the mountain

Clemens making his way down
Picture from Google of Ruapehu exploding
I love New Zealand

The mountain peak behind me

At the top

Me and my buddy Max getting on the lift
Warming up

Rolling out!
The mountain

The peaks
The mountain from a distance

I've been really busy lately. I have quite a few assignments due at the end of next week. The mid-semester break will be coming up in about 2 weeks. I am working on some plans. I am not sure if I am going to travel to the south island for the break, or if I will just up here in the north.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. I met up with Leah (who was an exchange student in Oswego 3 years ago) and we went and visited our friend Shannon, who unfortunately has a broken leg. We played a game of buzz (it's a game for the playstation, kind of similar to Scene It). Me and Leah then went and got some really delicious Japanese food.

It's getting late, so I should probably grab some rest. I'll try to update this a bit more often in the coming weeks. It should be easier, because I should have less work I hope.

Cheers,
Shawn

More Piha Pictures

Here are some more pictures that some of my friends took while at Piha beach.

At the beach

New Zealand Ducks

On Lion RockA hidden beach

There we are at Piha

Walking

A Nice View

This picture is actually from Mount Eden

I saw the new Diehard Movie yesterday. I thought it was pretty good.

I am going skiing this weekend, and I am very excited about it. I just hope the weather is good.

Cheers,
Shawn

A Trip To Piha Beach

This past weekend I traveled to Piha Beach (pronounced pee-ha). Piha is a black sand beach on the West coast of New Zealand. It's a good thing I took a lot of pictures, because it's hard to describe with words just how amazing the trip was.

My friends and I on top of a mountain at Piha Beach

There was a total of 16 people who came on the trip, so we had to rent two 8 person vans. We left early on Saturday morning. Piha is about an hour north of Auckland. We arrived in the Piha area at around 10 in the morning. It's a very small town. I would estimate the population was probably around 1,000 people. The houses there were all extremely nice, and I am sure each one had an amazing view of the beach. I am sure some very rich people live there.


My Italian friend Marco had made arrangements for use to stay at this backpackers place. It was a bit different from Cactus Jack's, but it was still very nice. We stayed in these caravan like things that housed about 3 to 4 people per caravan. The people who owned the backpackers were very friendly, and they told us a lot about the Piha area. They had told us that they had heard some weather reports that predicted Hurricane like conditions. Luckily for us the weather stayed good the whole time we were there. It was pretty windy, and it did rain a lot overnight, but during both days the weather was excellent.

After we got settled in at the backpackers, we got back together and walked down the road a bit to the beach. I seriously have never seen a more beautiful beach in my life. It was very nice. The only problem with the Piha area is that it has a reputation for being a very dangerous beach. This is because the currents are very strong. There are also no lifeguards patrolling the beach either. It is great for surfers but bad for swimming. The lady at the backpackers had warned us ahead of time that the beach was particular bad that day. She also had told us that on average one person a year drowns at the beach. The waves were huge. I did not go in the water (I was recovering from a cold, otherwise I would have at least wadded in the water). Two of my buddies did go in a little bit though.

One of the most interesting features of the beach was a giant rock formation that separates the beach into two sides. It's called Lion Rock, because if you look at it from the right angle you can see the face of a lion, and it's paw in the water facing the ocean. To be honest I had a hard time making the Lion out. There is a path that goes to the top of the Rock which you can climb up, so me and my friends did. The view from the top was incredible.

After we checked out the beach for a while, we traveled a short distance in the car to a forest. There is a trail we took, and after about 30 minutes we were at this awesome waterfall in the middle of a jungle-like forest. It was awesome. What made it particularly cool was that we were the only ones there, and it was in the middle of the woods. It was like our own private waterfall sanctuary. We hiked a bit further, and actually took a trail that led to the top of the falls. That was also pretty interesting.

After the time at the beach, and the hiking, we were all quite hungry. We headed to the local RSA (Returned Serviceman's Association, like the American Legion or a VFW in the States) where we got some food. I got some fish and chips (fries) and a salad. It was pretty tasty.Then we returned to the backpackers, and got some rest.

The following morning we got up, and had a delicious breakfast together (we had bought the food before we left and brought it with us). Before leaving the backpackers, we helped them move this granite kitchen top into there main room area.

We then headed back to the Beach to check out a trail we didn't see the first day. This trail was even better than the one up Lion Rock in my opinion. It led to the top of this mountain that had amazing views of the beach. After hanging out there for a bit, we drove to another beach in the area that we had heard about. A scene from the movie The Piano was actually filmed at that beach. As a side-note the road leading to the beach was one of the scariest roads I have ever been on. It was a two-lane road that was actually only big enough for one car, and it was on the side of this HUGE cliff and at one point of it, you could tell a car had gone off the road, because the trees and shrubs were no longer on the side of the road, and instead there was an orange-mesh fence. At any rate, that beach was very nice also. There was also a second waterfall near the beach, which was also nice. The waterfall was only about 5 minutes away from the road though, so I think I preferred the other one since it was so secluded.

The whole trip was so much fun. We saw a ton of amazing things. It was also very affordable also. It was about $NZ30 a person for the vans for both days, and about $NZ22 to stay in the backpackers.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

The girls in the van

Getting ready to goPiha from a Distance

The GroupWalking to the beach

It's 111 instead of 911
At the beach
Me and Clemens in front of Lion Rock
The View from the Top of Lion RockThe Ocean

On top of Lion RockAnother picture from the top of Lion Rock
Picture from the Forest

Waterfall from a distanceAt the bottom of the waterfall
Close up of the waterfall
From the forest

Christof, Marco and me at the backpackers.

Me and Clemens looking goofy

Me and my friend Morgan

Helping move the Kitchen Top

On the second dayMake note of the sheep

Sand ArtThe Beach
Wow!

The Beach
Me and my friend Sebastian

Sunny DayVery nice!

The Mountain Overlooking the Ocean

Wonderful
The Ocean

There I am with Lion Rock behind me
The second waterfall
The second beach
More of the second beach
Incredible

I finally got a chance to talk to my family on the phone using Skype. It was great to hear from them, and know that they are doing well.

All the walking, picture taking and fun times have left me a bit tired. I think it's time to get some sleep.

I hope you've enjoyed the pictures,

Cheers,
Shawn