FIJI!

Day 18: Full Day in FIJI

            We woke up and all headed down to the café to have a nice breakfast together. But it was raining and continued to rain the entire day. Some people went scuba diving. Around 2 we went into a town 10 minutes away and look at some cheap stores and a market. On the way there we stopped by a sugar mill. It was interesting to see. And then on the way back we stopped by a gravesite of a leader from a while ago, he had 900 stones around his grave. Each stone represented a person he had EATEN! He was a cannibal. When we got home we went to the café at the place we are staying again and enjoyed a nice dinner. Our LAST dinner in Fiji.  After dinner we experienced an old tradition, you drink some weird water. It looked like nice muddy water and tasted like ash! It was awful.  And then after a few minutes your tongue went numb. Then we went out and had our final POW WOW on the beach! Then when the adults went to bed, we went back to the beach with our tripods and took pictures of the stars, it was beautiful.  And we all enjoyed our last night in FIJI and hoped there would be sun tomorrow!

Getting There!

Day 17: Flight 2 FIJI

            We woke up and went straight to the airport! After going through all the hassles of an airport. We finally all received our boarding passes. But we were all spread throughout the plane.  Not that anyone cared, we just wanted to get to Fiji. But after we got to the gate, our plane got delayed! PERFECT! :( By the time we got to Fiji it was close to 8. And since all the places were closing and there wasn’t a place to stop on the drive home we had to settle for airport foods. It was gross, it say the least! And then we had to wait at the airport for the bus to arrive until 10. Once the bus finally arrived we had to endure a 3 hour bus ride This put us at our hotel around 1.

***Peter, one of our National Geographic leaders, had to leave us at the airport and head to LA because he had to lead another National Geographic trip taking place in Africa. 

Embracing the Culture! Rugby

Day 16: Rugby and Flower Garden

            This morning we woke up and all went out to breakfast at this cute little restaurant.  I had eggs and toast. It was funny because one of the girls’ rooms woke up late so they all had to rush out of the room to make it to breakfast. After we had all finished breakfast we went to the story and bought 2 rugby balls, and then stopped by the hotel and picked up our national geographic Frisbee. Then we headed over to the park and played a game of touch Rugby. To say the least the game was pretty intense and Michael and I spent most of our time talking near the sidelines. But we had fun. The funniest part of the game had to be the amount of times everyone fell. The grass was wet and muddy, so everyone walked away with grass stains and muddy all over their clothes.  Since Michael and I were not the most athletic players we decided to ditch the game and wander around the park. We saw a couple walking around in their wedding outfits. But we didn’t take pictures of them because their photographer was there, along with their wedding party and they were definitely pre-gaming it up before the reception. They all had a beer in their hands. But then Michael and I found a rose garden and took some amazing pictures the lighting was perfect and there was a really cool sundial. After the park we all headed to the netball courts to watch Dave’s niece play netball. But by the time we got there all the games were over. But on the plus side her team won by 2 points. So we walked around the courts to the rugby field and watch the ending of a rugby game.  There was a lot of excitement because a helicopter landed and someone was life flighted out of the area.  On our way back to the bus a few of the local kids offered to teach us how to play netball. This game I was actually good at! I was born to play netball. ;) Then that night we didn’t have dinner reservations because the restaurant we originally planned to eat at was in a red zone and no longer exists, so that was definitely an issue. And the teachers and leaders said they had a surprise for us. WE picked up a pizza and then hit up the…BOWLING ALLEY. And it turned out to be a lot of fun. We found out who should NOT be aloud to bowl. One of the girls ended one of the games with a score of 14! :) And at the end of the night the boys all showed us their bet model walk. To say the evening was interesting would be a total understatement. 

Positive Attitudes!

Day 15: Airport and Arctic

            First of all, I had the worst night sleep of my life. I woke up every 15 minutes starting at 1:30 till I woke up at 5:00. The room was freezing and I had no heat. They didn’t give covers, and so I thought I’ll just use my blanket because I wasn’t cold before we went to bed.  But VAN is scared of the dark so she left a bathroom light on, and it blinded me and kept waking me up the entire night. I wanted to die. And the heater was close to the ceiling and I was on the bottom bunk, so since heat rises I never got any of the warm air. So waking up at 5 and only getting a total of about 30 minutes of sleep didn’t put me in the greatest mood. So once we got to the airport and found out our flight had been cancelled, it didn’t really improve my mood. SO at the airport we ate breakfast, sat around, and more food, and sat around even more. Then after a while I got some nail polish and painted my nails hot pink in anticipation for FIJI! After a few hours of just sitting around the airport we went to the Arctic Center and walked around viewing all the different Penguin and Arctic Sites. We even experienced a simulated Arctic Storm. It was…FREEZING! Then after all the waiting we went to a nicer hotel and then went out for dinner. We went to a nice restaurant called the red Berry! WE were all kind of bummed about the FIJI flight and some people were starting to feel sick. But we all had to keep positive attitudes! :) 

Surreal Moments

Day 14: CHRISTCHURCH

            We got to Christchurch pretty early so we had time to walk around and check out the Earthquake damage. It was unreal and made everything you had heard about on the news or read about in the newspaper made everything real. Then later that day, our guide, Dave got us in to see a cultural experience. The experience was a show about a local tribe called the Maori. The whole audience had to participate. At one time the girls went up on stage and at another time the boys went up on stage it was really funny to watch. After the show we went to dinner. There were two options: Thai or Italian. I chose Thai. I had some cashew chicken and it was AMAZING. And Lauren got the lemon chicken, so we shared! The day was pretty moving and we were all excited to be going to FIJI the next day!

***Coincidently, early during dinner Michael was like, “Guys I have a feeling something bad is going to happen.” Who knew he would actually be right? 

i love HORSES!

Day 13: Horseback Riding and HOT SPRINGS!

            We woke up and headed straight for the farm. It was really cool to see all the countryside and the horses. Once we got there they asked us who had ridden before. Then we each got on our horse. Mine was named Tom, or Tomahawk. He was so cute; he was orange and white. After the ride we helped out around the stable. I mostly took pictures of horses. Then we left the stables and headed into own. We hit up a bakery and ate lunch. The food was awesome. Then we headed back to the holiday park to change into our swimsuits. After we were all changed we went to the HOT SPRINGS. This place was better than the last place because there were a million pools and they even had water slides. They were awesome. After we all hung out there for a while we had to leave. Since it was Ulla’s last night we went to dinner, and while we were at dinner waiting for our food she showed us a slideshow about some of the expeditions she has been on. And overall to just believe in what you are taking pictures of and your stories. Overall it was an awesome day!

KIWI!

*****CHASE: the golden kiwis are awesome and i have already had like 5. Miss you! :)