Hutong tour

we boarded some rickshaw's and went for a tour of the hutong area. this is a place in beijing designed after the original chinese dwellings. most of the homes are very old, and have been rebuilt patterned after what they would have looked like. our tour guide explained the importance behind the gates, and how different gate accesories determine the status of the family living behind it. we also went into a traditional housing, where you walk through narrow alleys and between tons of walkways to get into the traditional courtyard. afterwards, we climbed to the top of the drum tower and heard a demonstration of the traditional drums. very cool.

temple time

The Lama Temple:

it houses the largest buddha carved from one piece of wood, 70 ft tall. it is beautifully colored with yellow tiles, as it once served as the imperial palace during the Qing dynasty. it was later converted to a lamasery that housed mongolian and tibetian monks. heres that giant buddha, it go four stories upthis is made with sand, amazing!

old dead guys

Ming Dynasty Tombs:

this place was cool. it was a valley filled with 13 of the 16 Ming dynasty emperors tombs. most are underground under these big structures. We only went into one because we were still a bit jet lagged and had little sleep that night before. sorry, i was playing with the photo colors with this crazy tree

weekend in newport

since living in oregon, the name of newport has come to mean a place totally different than my beloved former home of newport beach, california. so they are both cute little beach towns with a harbor and cute beach houses, but yet so different. the oregon coastline is breathe taking in all its beauty, more exotic and rugged (not to mention all beaches are national park and can be camped on anywhere). we had a blast staying with our friends the Jentzsch's from our ward on a spur of the moment weekend get-away. we drove out friday night to this amazing beach house right on the coast. waking up in the morning totally made us want to own a beach house were the first thing you see when you look out the window is the ocean. on sat, we went to a few beaches, justin entered a surf contest, we hung out at the aquarium, watched an amazing sunset from the comfort our our house, megan did a killer fire dance, and watched GOAL! (our favorite movie). what a great day. Sunday we went to the local ward for sacrement, walked down to the beach from the house, justin went surfing and greg got in with out a wet suit (crazy!!!), had an awesome lunch and headed back to reality. This was such a refreshing little break from the everyday, we owe such a big thanks to the jentzsch's for inviting us along for a great weekend.

Day Nine: Christmas Day, Cathedral Cove, Coromandel, and Auckland

christmas day had finally arrived. tomorrow we would be leaving this wonderful place and headed to fiji. we didnt have many plans for today, but figured since it was christmas day, almost everything would be closed. we started off doing this hour long hike to cathedral cove, just outside hahei beach. we were both pretty tired from the lack of sleep, so it was a punchy morning. we hiked through this plush coastal ridge untill we dropped down these stairs to the cove. it was gorgeous. the cathedral cove beach was actually through this big hole in the rock (the cathedral) when at low tide you can get to it. we were the only ones there and took some time to enjoy the scenery.

After we made the 45 min. walk back to the car, we chowed down on the last kiwi of our basket and headed off toward the town of coromandel at the top of the penninsula. this is a really windy road that snakes along the outer rim of of the pennisula. very pretty (although i must admit i was dosing in and out alot during the drive). we ate lunch in coromandel at the grocery store (happened to be the only thing open). and decided out best bet for lodging would be to head all the way back to aukland. so we packed up and continued on the road. the west side of the pennisula is right along the water the whole way on a very windy road. it was very pretty also. we passed through thames (not so hot), and went through the only part of the whole trip we didnt think was pretty (as far as the scenery goes). we ended up in auckland and found this great little hotel with free internet. we were able to send out a merry christmas note to our families. we ate at a nice hotel (although the buffet was $635 per person) for more than it was worth. we drove over the auckland bridge and got a good view of the city in some fog. it was a nice relaxing day and a good way to spend it with my hubby. it was nice to get to look back and reflect over dinner on all of the great adventures we had just enjoyed. it had been a wonderful time of fun and adventure that i got to share with this amazing man that i love. he has been so great for going on all my wild trips. we make the perfect team, and i couldn't imagine being here with anyone else.

Day Eight: Mt Maunganui to Whangamata, Hot Water Beach and Hahei

so this morning we woke up refreshed and energized and ready to continue on our adventure. our old bishop had told us about this little surf town called whangamata (pronounced fun-ga-ma-ta) that one of his buddies owns a little surf shop in. anything that pertained to surfing meant that we would be stoping. we town turned out to be super cute. a nice little beachie town that was clean and nice. we tried our first "pie" which is like a hand held chicken pot pie, but you can get it with different things in it. we heard from archie and pepper that these were the way to go for lunches. we tried the steak and cheese, amazing! one of the best things we had eaten the whole trip. yummy! we parked on the beach and j headed out to surf. this turned out to be his favorite surf spot of the whole trip, so im stoked we were able to make it.

next was to hot water beach. this was a beach that supposedly if you dig a whole in the sand at low tide, the rocks under ground will heat up the water and give you your own little hot tub. sounds good right? i was so stoked about this the whole trip, it sounded so fun. we got there 20 minutes after low tide (perfect timing), rented our shovel, and headed out to find the best spot. found a good one next to a rock and began digging. justin saw some waves and headed out for another surf session. i had this perfect whole, with the barrier and everything, just my size and while i was getting my camera to take a picture of it, a huge wave came in and ruined the whole thing. needless to say, i gave up on the whole hole thing! apparently everyone was having trouble getting a good working hole that day because the waves kept rushing in, maybe the swell was to big. this also didnt help them to heat up well, because the cold ocean water kept getting in the holes. im thinking this doesnt really work and that when you dig a hole, the sun heats up the water to make it feel warmer. just a thought. i decided to start playing with my camera instead, which was so much more fun in this beautiful beach. about 20 minutes up the road is a little town called hahei beach. we made this our destination for the night considering it was christmas eve, and we might not find anything if we waited to long. the only place open and with any vacancies was this "holiday park". its like a mix of a hostel, camp ground, cabins, rv park and motel. we ate at the only open resturant in town which happened to be next to the only ice cream place we had seen the whole trip. we got our cones and headed to the beach to eat them there and reflect back on our wonderful trip. we tried to go to sleep tonight but the noise outside our window was terrible. this is the only night we ever had any problems with noise and drunken neighbors, but i think it might ave been the quality of place we were staying at. they finally dismantled around 2am which left us with a broken nights sleep.

Day Seven: Mt Maunganui and new friends

so this morning happened to be sunday, and we had no idea where to find a building so we could go to church. we hoped that like in the states, there is always a ward at 9 am, so we got ready just in case. justin luckily found a phone book and we located a building. there just so happened to be a ward going at that time, which was so nice. a bit of routine. thats what i love about the church. now matter where you are in the world, the church is always a constant. we are all on relatively the same lesson, with a similar schedule, and the same spirit. and being in a new place only means a different perspective. it is always something we can count on.

the ward was small (i mean a total of 40 people) but full of friendship and love for each other. normally we bug out after sacrament when we are on vacation, but this time, we stayed for the whole block and i am so thankful we did. we ended up meeting this wonderful couple from the states, archie and pepper sessions, that had just moved over there for no other reason than to have an adventure about a month earlier. we got along with them really well and they invited us back to their house. the great thing about not having a schedule is that when unexpected things like this happen, we can jump on the opportunities. we spent the rest of the day with them. we went with them over to hannah and adams, another young couple from the ward that was about the same age and on a similar adventure from england. we ate dinner with them and had a wonderful time talking about our different cultures, learning cockney, laughing and eating jacket potatoes (the english version of baked potatoes). it was such a wonderful way to spend a sunday, with new friends and lots of laughs. we actually stayed up late this night. it was one of the first nights we had been up when it finally got dark out. sounds lame i know but it stays light till around 1030. we spent the night on a blow up mattress on pepper and archie's apartment floor. we really appreciated the hospitality they showed us and hope one day we can show them a similar courtesy. it was a great re-energizer and nice to talk to some wonderful people. Thanks again you guys.

Day Six: Taupo to Rotorua, Turaunga and Mt. Maunganui

we were sad to leave taupo behind but the journey must continue right. so today we headed up to rotorua (the geothermal city aka rotten-rua). the sulfur smell here is really hard to get used to, so we didnt want to stay very long. we were planning on going into this geothermal area/ maori culture center but decided against it at the last second. i dont think our nose was much up for it. we drove through town a little bit and headed to the lake. the smell wasnt as bad next to it, so we took a stroll through the local saturday's market/swapmeet thing. we spent some time talking with this local man who was selling some of his paintings. he really did some amazing work with water colors, so justin and i picked out our favorite. we are now proud owners of a leo dibley original for when he becomes famous.

we were back on the road to continue up towards tauranga and mt. maunganui were we were going to stay they night. some of the prettiest countryside is on the drive toward the bay of plenty. we stopped at the kiwi 360 museum/exhibit to pick up some kiwi's for the trip. they were delicious. did you know there is a gold kiwi that is sweeter than a greem one with out any hair on it? and also they have a kiwi grape that looks like a grape but tastes like a kiwi? the little green thing is a kiwi sppon. its a wonderful invention because before there was no good way to do it. cut the skin off? eat the skin? eat around it? this spoon has revolutionized the way we eat them. brilliant!!

tauranga is situated on the inside of a bay and mt maunganui is on he pennisula that makes the bay. we headed over to mt maunganui to see if there was any surf. we cruised the town, picked up some lunch from the local bakery, fell in love with delicioso salt and vinegar chips and headed to the beach. this place reminded us alot of newport and huntington beach back in california, except without the pretentious people and the crowds. we loved it! we would call this home if we could! we spent the day hanging on the beach, watching the kite surfers, climbing to the top of the mount at the end of the pennisula (the town is named after the mount at the end) and having a great time. that night we feasted. we didnt want to go out again so we found a local grocery store and stoked up on everything we had been missing. we had a rotiserie chicken, salad, 2 litres of milk (which we finished in 24 hours. we had been so deprived), ice cream, yogurt, avocados (9 for 2 dollars! what a steal), apples and granola bars. oh we hadn't eaten that good the whole trip! we continued our LOTR marathon as we sat with full bellies. this place will definetly be our future residence. it has everything we want in california, without the things we dont. truely a beautiful place.