Northland Top 22?

I did as you requested, mom.

I posted pictures. Almost all of them, because I was too lazy to decide which ones would make the top 10.

Here is our final trip:

The Northland

James gave us fabric for lava lava's, so we are sporting those while hugging a really old kauri tree.

Jim, James and Linda

We went to the place they signed the Treaty of Waitangi.

We got a little bored with smiling, so we had to get creative.

Cape Reinga was one of my favorite places of all of NZ. We sent a little postcard from the northernmost mailbox in all of New Zealand.

The Pacific Ocean right behind me.

Tasman Sea on the left, Pacific on the right.

The famous lighthouse and post that tells how many kilometers certain cities are from the cape.

I could have sat there for hours watching the oceans collide. It was so fascinating.

Tasman Sea behind me.

This is too small to see....but we did some sand boarding.

The north actually reminded me a lot of home because of the farms and sand dunes.

Good ol' high school.

Driving along 90 mile beach

It was beautiful. You can only drive along it when it is low tide, so we had to plan it out right. I'm glad we got to though, because it was a)a lot less windey of a road and b)beautiful to be right along the water.

James insisted we try the shrimp. IT WAS SO GOOD. Rebecca and I did not have any regrets.

p.s. picture taking skills = not so good. it was better in real life.

Darc, I ate the fish and chips for you.

I think it is still in my stomach.

But was worth every bite.

Taking a little hike to Haruru Falls.

On the last day together, we gave our dear friend James a little plaque with the 16 reasons we love him. He is seriously amazing. I've never met a more kinder, friendlier or happier person. He said if I want to come back, he has an extra room for me....hint hint dad.

We ended up singing him the song "Te Aroha" in which we all started crying in the middle of. Then to top it off, we tried to do a little rendition of "Lean on Me." Yeah, it didn't even come out haha. It was really nice though, and James said he has appreciated us. We are the first group to ever include him in things (black water rafting, etc.) and he will miss us the most. I can't imagine how past groups DIDN'T want to get to know him! Well, at least in our day and age we have email and skype to help us stay connected to the world!

Last but not least, I found out that I got an internship for next year!

I'm teaching second grade at Westmore Elementary in Orem....yikes! But I am so excited!