Portabello Road

Hey Everyone! There are some new changes to my blog that you should be aware of. I have added a "comments" box to the left of this post...for some reason my comments box at the end of each post has stopped working. Therefore any comments that you may have please write them in the box to the left of this post. Also, underneath that comment box I have added pictures. If you click on one of them it will take you to my new Picasa online album...this is where I am going to start putting up pictures. It allows me to put up heaps of pictures at once instead of how I have been doing it...5 at a time. So check over here for new pictures and have a look-see! Thank you to those who have written comments...they keep my spirits up!

This week has gone by fast! Not much happening here other than school is really starting to pick up! This month is going to be tough...Yesterday I went on an 8 hour journey through New Zealand. My roommate and I decided to find a beach on the peninsula. I had heard that Portabello road is where the beaches are so we went there. We started out almost missing the bus and ran 4 blocks to get there when they were pulling away but we waved frantically and they stopped. We got on and the bus ride was about 15 min. It took us on a long and curvy road along the coast. We reached our destination...a three store town next to the water but no beach! By this time it was about 2pm and our bus was leaving at 6:45pm! We decided to walk along the road till we found a beach. Soon after we started walking we figured out there was no sidewalk and that we were pretty much walking on a curvy highway! We kept walking for a while, stopping and taking pictures along the way. We kept passing through towns, but there wasn't anything...no stores, just houses. We saw the bus stop at each town and decided to go to the next town and maybe we would have more luck. Each town we passed through was just as empty as the rest. It was starting to get dark so we decided to try and make it to the next town. We made it at about 5:15 and still had an hour and a half till our bus came. We sat and listened to music on my phone for a while and then it started to rain...the bus stop we were sitting in was enclosed but had no door and we were right by the water so it started to get really cold. So we started to dance to the music to help keep us warm. It got about 20 degrees and it was still raining. About 6:45pm we didn't see our bus and started to get nervous. All of a sudden a car pulled up along side the bus stop and a man asked if we wanted a ride. I asked if he was going into town and he said yes. I saw he had a woman in the car with him (later to find out was his wife) and figured what the heck...so we hopped in the car with them and they drove us into town. They were a young couple from Bombay originally, but were living in Wellington (a town about 1.5 hour flight from here). They were visiting for the weekend. We got into town and helped guide them to the railway station. I asked if we could give them any money and he refused. So Liz and I started on our journey back home. On our way back we decided to stop and eat. There was a Mexican restaurant that I wanted to try so we went there. We got there and found they were closed. So we started walking away from our house to find a place to eat. We walked about 15 min and went in 3 or 4 restaurants and found they were all booked and had ridiculous waiting times. We finally stopped at a place called Tokyo Garden. The food was pretty good. We were so happy to just be inside, warm, and eating. After we ate we started our 15 min walk to home. After stopping for some candy on the way we finally made it to our destination, home! After 8 hours of walking we were so glad to be home. I later figured out that if we were to talk back to town it would have been about 12 to 15 miles and would have taken us all night! I also figured about how far we ended up walking on the curvy highway and I estimated it was about 5 miles. It took us about 2.5 hours to walk it, but we stopped a lot to take pictures and explore.

Well lets just say I slept like a rock last night and am about to go get groceries with my roommates. After I get back I have some homework to do and then start my week all over again tomorrow.

I'm having a blast here and hopefully in the next few weeks I plan on bungee jumping, skydiving, and possibly fostering a cat till I leave. Hope everything is well with you all back in the States! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

Peace,

Lindsey