Coromandel and the Bay of Islands.

Nic and I at Coramandel

 Well I suppose I have a lot to catch everyone up on. I have been loving my time here so far. My first couple of days were focused, on sleep, getting to know the family and just settling. I practiced driving a few times which is not that bad. It rained most of the time and then on Monday morning Karen, Nicolas and I headed up to Coramandel to go camping at the caravan. Caitlin was spending time with a friend and Matt had to work. We had a lot of fun, ate a ton of sea food, went snorkeling twice, kayaking and swimming everyday it was great. By the end of day 1 I was burnt to a crisp but other then that everything went great. It was amazing to see how comfortable I was with staying in this tiny little space with people I hardly know. I didn't feel uncomfortable at all and conversation flowed easily. I already feel a lot more relaxed in NZ than I was feeling in Germany. For one I can understand everyone at all times and second, the people here are very laid back and their mentality is a lot more similar to Canadians. It is much easier for me to guess the outcome in situations and to kind of use my intuition where as in Germany everything was kind of up in the air.

Sam and I had beers every night at the Duke, this was our view from the Patio

After a great couple of days Karen took me to Orewa to hop on a bus to visit my good friend Sam in Russell. I was so excited to see her and we had a LOT of fun. It was so great to catch up, to remember old times, and to see what she has been doing there for the past few months. We had a lot of fun, seeing the sights of Russell and the surrounding area. We hit up almost every restaurant her tiny historical town had to offer, we did a dolphin tour which was amazing we saw a lot of dolphins. I met a lot of her friends none of which are from NZ, I have a feeling that will happen a lot when traveling.
Russell was beautiful and Sam's host family owns the oldest hotel in NZ called the Duke. I could write pages of my weekend there but all I have to say was that it was amazing. Timing was perfect as I was starting to freak out, it was hitting me that my Germany days are behind me, so it was really nice to have a piece of Germany with me for a while.

Sam and I on the Dolphin Boat

Since returning back to Hamilton I have been driving a lot, hanging out with the kids and getting a hang of the new routine. Things so far are great! The kids start school next week which I am very excited for(having the hours off in the day will be awesome). Till then, Laura.