Surfing

As requested, I will update for my aunt Jane. Unfortunately, I can no longer upload photos, I will have to wait till I get home and have a computer that can read my photo card. Until then, enjoy the stories, and I will try to be more descriptive. I haven't been on any major crazy adventures, mostly just bogged down in school work and settling into a normal life of chilling with friends. And surfing. For those of you haven't had the opportunity to try surfing, I highly recommend it. It is an absolute blast! I am going to have a hard time moving back to a land locked state. I'm not amazing at it, yet, but I do hope to change that in due time. The weather here hasn't made surfing the easiest thing either, it's been cold/windy/rainy/choppy waves, but then sometimes clears for a bit for a beautiful day.

I've found my way into a really awesome solid group of friends, they've been really great about playing tour guide to me around the local area. In doing so, I've begun to feel like this is home now, not just a temporary spot in my life. They took us up to Nelson Bay a few days ago. It is about an hour north of Newcastle, and kind of a touristy spot. We climbed a mountain and looked all around the area. In this particular area, the Hunter River meets with the Pacific Ocean, so the area is surrounded by water. In addition, there are "mountainous" islands dotting the horizon, remnants of giant volcanoes that have collapsed. The water here is beautiful, a clear dark blue as far as the eye can see. In addition, everything is still very green, even though it is basically the middle of winter here now. We climbed back down, and the locals had us try hot chip sandwiches. Basically, a sandwich with hot chips (frys) in the middle. I'm not a big fan, but strangely, it is a staple food here.

A week from today, I will travel to New Zealand for 8 days. I'm getting really excited about it. The plan thus far is to rent a camper van and drive around the south island to see as much as we can. A total of 6 of us are going, so it should be a great time. We will fly into Christchurch, then we will head out to the west coast and continue south until we hit Queenstown. Along the way, we are considering visiting/climbing a glacier, kayaking in Milford Sound, skiing somewhere, and possibly black water rafting (rafting in caves). We haven't really sat down and created a game-plan just yet, we might, we might not. Sometimes the best times are the ones you don't plan for. Three of our group members are staying in Queenstown, apparently there is really awesome festival going on the end of June. I wish I could stay as well, but I've got to fly back to take my last final, then I've got a few days before I fly back to the states.

Until then, I've got 3 finals coming up very soon. I'm a bit nervous about one, the three not so much. I will write more when my head is not full of management theories and regulations regarding the Austrlian financial system.