David and Ryan go everywhere!: sunday hike

Since yesterday was a Sunday, Damon, the guy who’s hosting us, wanted to take the “family” out for a day at the beach. We all packed into his bright yellow van and took off. He drove us to a beautiful beach on the eastern side of the island called Tauranga. The town is a small one, like most of the towns here in NZ (Auckland is the biggest city at 1.2 million). We had a little time to walk around in it—there were lots of restaurants and a crafts fair. Life seems really laid back and easy-going here. Such a change of pace from the rush rush rush of Korea (and America too).

In town.

Some traditional Maori statues in the town.
We had a picnic lunch on the beach of bread, sausages and tomatoes. It was really simple but delicious. Gabe, Damon’s 7 year old son, was clambering around on rocks and leaping all over the place. I was getting a bit nervous, but I knew I couldn’t do too much about it. Comes from teaching for a year I guess, always knowing when a kid’s going to fall or not. David was bouncing all over the rocks too. I guess some boys never lose their hyper active tendencies! =)
After lunch we walked up Mt. Maunganui. It was a decent hike, though not much more strenuous than the mountain we’d been training on in Korea. Up the first few hundred feet were sheep pastures with lots of bleating lambs. They were very cute and cuddly looking.

The view at the top of the mountain was pretty astounding, even though it was a bit cloudy. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, the air here is so much clearer than Korea. I can just feel the freshness in my lungs as I’m hiking. I can’t rave enough about it.
After the climb on the mountain we went into some hot springs. Hot springs are all over New Zealand, water heated by geothermal energy. We went to springs that were set up like a public swimming pool. Although it was really cool outside the water was super warm and relaxing. The perfect end to our hike.

The view.

Our multinational family.

Apparently Matamata, the place they used to film Hobbiton, is only 50 or so kilometers from where we’re staying. I really want to see it, but apparently the people on the farm charge about $50 for you to go and see it. Because of copyright laws they had to dismantle the set, leaving only the Hobbit holes in the ground, so I don’t know if we’re going to spend that much money to go and see those things. But, while we were driving to the beach I saw a lot of landscape that looked very similar to the Shire. Rolling green hills with prominent silhouettes of trees, dotted with sheep and cows.

Today so far we've worked around the farm. Although we haven't been guided toward many specific tasks, there's still a lot to do here. My new project is weeding a massive section of the yard so that Damon can plant wildflowers there. To beautify the place up a bit. I already have some blisters on my hand. Gotta toughen up and get used to the farm life.