Weekend at Kelsi's!

the pacific ocean on the coast of NZ

I started out the weekend with a beautiful drive up over the kaimais between Hamilton and Tauranga, heading home with my friend Kelsi for the weekend!  The town that Kelsi lives in is called Papamoa, which is right on the coast in the Bay of Plenty region of NZ.  She has lived in the same house, which is about 3 mins from the ocean, all her life and she’s a real big surfer.  As soon as we got to her house, she checked the “surf cam” online, saw that there were some waves, and asked me if I wanted to go out surfing.  Um, YES!  Good thing she told me to bring my togs (aka swim suit)!  We changed real quick, grabbed some wet suits, loaded the surf boards (2 of the million that her family owns) in the car, and we were off.  When we got there, I made my first mistake... putting the wet suit on backwards. Cut the landlocked American girl a break.  The only time I’ve worn a wetsuit was at water ski camp when I was 10 (yes, I went to water ski camp) and that was a long time ago.  Who knew the zipper goes in the back?  After a quick in-water lesson, Kelsi launched me onto my first wave... but I only got up onto my knees.  It was SO hard!  Eventually a few other surfers came out and I got really intimidated, so I ended up just kind of laying on the board out in the middle of the ocean (because I was scared to get in their way) and watching Kelsi surf for most of the time, which was TOTALLY fine by me.  It was SO relaxing to just lay there as the sun was going down over the dunes.  I felt like I was in the movie Blue Crush! Even though I didn’t stand up on the board, I’d say it was a success.  I may never try surfing again in my life, so now I can say that I’ve done it… and in the southern hemisphere! Check!  It took me longer to take off the wet suit than it did to take a shower, but after all that, we ate some delicious burgers that her mom had made for “tea”! Yum!

Kelsi and Me

soooooo close...

Kelsi had to work all day Saturday just as she does every weekend, so I spent most of the day hanging out with her mom!  I went for a walk on the beach that morning, passing kids playing cricket on the way out there.  I guess that’s equivalent to Saturday morning youth soccer in America? Weird.  It was so beautiful on the beach and I found so many non-broken conch shells!  Kelsi’s mom then took me to “The Mount” aka Mount Manganui, which is a little beach city about 10 mins away from their house.  We went for a walk out onto this little island thing that wasn’t actually an island because it was connected to the shore, but jutted out into the ocean (that made no sense, but I don’t know how else to describe it) and checked out some shops in the town.  Then we went to the grocery (which was in the mall? What?) and got ice cream on the way (yes!).  Before going back to their house, we gave Kelsi a surprise visit at the gym where she works.  We had delicious chicken with pasta for dinner and Kelsi made some “chocolate pudding” for dessert (don’t worry, I took a pic of the recipe), which we ate later while watching some movies.  It was fun to spend the day with Kelsi’s mom and so cool that she has lived in that city her whole life.  WHOLE LIFE.  I feel like that never happens in America!

On Sunday, Kelsi and I headed back to the Mount and climbed up it!  There are 200 sheep that live on the bottom, grassy area of the Mount and we passed lots (and their poop on the track, ew) on the way up.  There was one that had just been born the night before and was SO small.  And then we passed a sheep placenta on the way as well, TMI sorry, yes it was gross and all dried up, yuck.  Anyways, the views on the way up and at the top were absolutely stunning.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much ocean in my life.  It was cool to see where the town divides the ocean and the harbor and all the islands that surround this area, so close, and some way out.  Kelsi has lived here all her life, so she knew lots of details about everything that I asked about!  It was like having a personal tour guide.

Kelsi and me on top of The Mount 

We came back down and – surprise surprise – got ICE CREAM!  We sat by the harbor and ate it then headed back to her house to hang out for the afternoon.  Later on, Kelsi’s dad took us out on to river in their boat.  It was so fun and relaxing to go for a boat ride and it sure made me miss the lack of boat rides and lake time I had this summer at home.  I guess I had places to go and people to meet... really.  Anyway, he drove us up the river, passing little shack docks, cows, and hills, to where it connects with the ocean!  So fun!

We spent the evening watching rugby and eating fish and chips. <-- That sentence is SO New Zealand.

where the river meets the ocean

This weekend was another great one and I’m SO thankful for Kelsi and her family’s generosity!  I did so many things that I may never get to do again in my life… SURF, see where a river meets the ocean, see a sheep placenta, etc.  I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to know Kelsi through our group projects and in class and such.  She is definitely someone that I’m going to miss, but keep in touch with, when I get back home!

A view of the Mount from Papamoa
 

Interesting Observations:

-Pasta is pronounced “paste-a”

-“bloke”=general ‘ol kiwi guy. Example: “Is that bloke of yours coming for dinner tonight?” or “I’ve seen you around heaps with that bloke”

-All the world maps here have NZ in the middle, which puts America on the right side.  I know what you’re thinking—What?! America isn’t really in the center of the world?!—no, it’s not.