NZed

Here are a few pictures from our (Me and Claire) trip to Rotorua. Our first day was really cold and wet and we were both in a not so great mood. But day 2 we completely fell in love with New Zealand.
Yes, I am sitting in the right side of the car, in the drivers seat. I took the first 1.5 hour shift and Claire took the second shift. We survived - obviously. But we're really glad we had each other while we were driving at night as we were still adjusting a bit to the time change.

This is at the thermal village - I dare you to try and say that name. (The full name is the really long name at the bottom) Thank goodness it was a thermal village - that's the only way we didn't freeze.

Day 2 we went to the Rotorua Museum (the really pretty building behind me). Up until the 60's it was used as a bath house (kind of like a spa, but to treat ailments) using the natural hot springs. It opened in the early 1900s. They had some pretty fun exhibits, including some childrens book authors. I now have to go buy the books for my nephew. Or to keep for myself :)

After the museum it was raining on and off and Claire and I were sick of being cold. We decided that we would drive around Rotorua's mountains in the safety and warmth of the car. This was the point where we fell in love with NZ. Honestly pictures can't do justice to the beauty we saw. The most beautiful thing we saw was when we happened by the Blue Lake.

That's me by the Blue Lake. It was phenomenal. It really IS bright blue! After driving around a bit more, we went back to the edge of Rotorua Lake - more specifically to the Polynesian Spa. Ok, the Polynesian Spa is one of the top 10 spas in the world and it was AMAZING. We got to soak in the natural hot pools for an hour before our massages, and we got to wear these amazingly comfortable robes. We were so relaxed after our massages. After my massage, my massuse came up and asked if she could ask a personal question.... she asked how small my waist was! That was pretty funny. But it turns out she asked because apparently her waist was about 2 inches smaller than mine when she was 18 and she just couldn't believe she had ever been that small! Haha Anyway, the spa was the perfect end to our weekend. We made it back to Auckland in one piece and were SO glad to sleep in our WARM apartment. Plus, we IMMEDIATELY did all of our laundry because all our clothes smelled like sulphur - yuck!

This week I started working onsite at the client. There are 5 of us working at a round table in a room that is approximately the size of my bedroom in Provo - no joke. It's definitely cozy. Thank goodness I get along well with the people on my team - at least so far.

One of the perks of being an intern is that we aren't supposed to work overtime so I get sent home at 5pm while the rest of my team works until about 7 or 8. Since the rest of my team works overtime I get to take the train home instead of catching a ride with one of my coworkers. Today I walked 5 minutes from the client to the train, got on the train, and walked what was supposed to be a 15 minute walk home. Ha! 15 minutes? With my sense of direction? Yeah, try 30 minutes. But I didn't mind too much because I walked by a bunch of cute boutiques and cafes I want to try out.

Claire and I went to Ponsonby (one of the "posh" neighborhoods) and had Thai food for dinner. We LOVE this city now and are SO glad we've started taking some time after work to explore it. We're definitely going to explore more after work. NZ and I got off to a bit of a rocky start - mostly due to jet lag. But now I'm totally falling in love with this place!

P.S. NZed is what people here say when they're telling you the url of a website. It's always .co.nz and instead of saying "en-zee" they say "en-zed". Quite entertaining.

Cheers!