Kangaroos and Kiwis: 2014

The Evaluation!!

The whole experience has been brill but sadly it's ended. So here are some of my favorite things and some of the things i have learnt:

Going to Zealandia
How the Europeans changed New Zealand
Surfing at Apollo Bay
Knowing you divide dirham by 6 to get roughly in pounds
Having Christmas / New Year in NZ
Missing two weeks of school
The heat

But now i'm back in cold England :-( However it feels kind of nice to be back.

On Friday I went to a epic water park called Aquaventure. The reasons it was epic was, firstly the rapids through you about(in a fun way). Secondly all the slides were super fun, and thirdly it was warm so I wasn't freezing to death like home.

More excitingly on Saturday we went up the Burj Khalifa. But the company (At The Top) are lucky that Americans don't go there coz if they did there would be a sueing spree, mainly because you only go half the way up ironically.

One big shadow

Still a long way up

Great view

Dubai-Day 1

Today was the most exhausting day ever because we left NZ at 2pm and arrived at 10am so I had to try not to sleep :-0 But still it was an action packed day, running around Dubai going to:

The gold souk
The spice souk
Dubai Mall
Dubai museum
The night-time Dubai Fountain

So the day was very tiring and fun.

Burj Khalifa

Dubai Mall Aquarium

New Zealand-31st December

Today I went to a offshore scientific reserve called Tiritiri Matangi. It's mainly for rare bird life but lizards share the island. I also spent 30 mins swimming IN THE SEA!!

After that we went to Joanne's BBQ birthday/new year party I loved it because I got to stuff my face. Sadly we left it before the end but it was to see the New Year fireworks. We went to the Parnell Rose Gardens, which is by the harbour and has a brilliant view of the Sky Tower. It was also nice knowing that I was one of the first people in the world to experience New Year :-)

New Zealand-30th December

Today we went to a black sand beach, Piha, the sand is black volcanic stuff. We also walked to Kitekite falls and could of swam at the bottom but chose not to.

After that I went to see 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' at the cinema, it was brill ;-)

New Zealand-28/29th December

On Saturday I went fishing with cousin Andrew, personally I caught 5 snapper but they were too small so we had to release them.

When it was Sunday we went to Long Bay beach in lovely weather and went body boarding. At lunch a pukeko came near us so I gave it some bread and it ran away with it :-D It had a white bottom and it ran like a long-legged penguin.

Long Bay

New Zealand - 27th December

Today we were meant to go to Tiritiri Martage but sadly we had to postpone the trip because mum had a banging headache and was feeling very ill. So instead we went to a place called Kelly Tarlton's Sealife Centre, which we've been to before, and found out that some of the exhibits had changed. The best parts were:

Watching the rays being fed
Going through a shark tunnel
Seeing the penguins

New Zealand-25th December

On Christmas Eve we went to a beach called Cockle Bay and had a very good swim IN THE SEA!!! Which was weird because in England I would of died of hypothermia coz it's winter but in New Zealand it's summer.

On Christmas day we had a huge lunch (in the garage) with cold salads, ham and home smoked salmon. After lunch we played a game called secret Santa. So first everyone picks a number out a hat to determine what order it goes in. Then number one picks a present and opens it, then number two can steal number one's present or pick another. And so on. I ended up with the guitar memory stick that Sam had put in.

Also on Boxing Day I went to Maraetai beach and jumped off piers an' body boarded.