Heeeere's Johnny!
So. Left school at 8am on Thurs. Did lots and lots of Geo and non Geo related stuff. Because there was so much, here's a list of highlights and lowlights.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- The trip there: Long bus trips are usually not fun, but this was. After leaving we drove to the outskirts of Waiouru, where we drew a sketch of Mt. Ruapehu. Next, we drove to the National Park, for the chairlift ride, then on to a bunch of other stuff, including the Falls walk, lunch by the Chateau (which one of my ancestors on Dad's side was the head architect of) and a few other stops for photos and notes. In between all these stops there was much laughter and conversation. I'm glad I don't have a shitty Geo class.
- The Bruce Chairlift: On Thursday morning we drove up to the Bruce, which is a chairlift/holiday park sorta thing where skiiers go in wintertime. The chairlift was awesome. There was no snow at all, just a bunch of bare rocks and exposed pipes, which are kind of scary if you think about falling on them. Even the freezing cold wind was good, because it was clean and bracing and... mountainous. There are four stages to the chairlift. Two stops on the way up and then again back down. The view from the top is beautiful to say the least. You can see mountains and tussock and green areas and this stunning blue lake. I'm so pissed that I didn't bring a camera (that one is Tori's fault- she refused to give up "her" camera the night before and it completely slipped my mind the next morning.
- The Taranaki Falls walk: I'm not (as some may know) a strenuous walking type of person, but this walk was pretty damn awesome. Even the slight (yes, slight) ache in my legs and shoulders felt good after a while. The walk took about 3 hours in total, if you account for all the times we stopped to take photos, rest, or look at stuff.
The waterfall which the walk is named for is this huge, gushing torrent of white, in a small sort of rocky bay near a wall of black cliffs (so many adjectives!). We were there for quite a while, taking photos, sitting on the rocks and walking around in a circle to stand behind the curtain of water. It was very entertaining :D
LOWLIGHTS:
- This is going to sound bad, but Jackie Vincent: There are some people who really, really piss me off. Jackie is one of them. Everything I did, she copied. If I said "I'm gonna get a drink at the Caltex", she'd say "me too", and if I changed my mind and said "or maybe an ice block", she'd say "yeeeaaah that's what I was just thinking".
If I clicked my tongue while working, she would too, and I stopped, she'd stop.
She followed me EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE. I was about to snap at her, but instead said, nice and polite, that I really, really didn't need a bathroom buddy.
She also talks complete and utter rubbish, and she tries to join in on every single conversation, whether it was between a student and teacher or a group of students.
Everything I said, she agreed with. If I complained and said "never mind" afterward, so would she a second later.
I'm pretty sure she also knows absolutely nothing about personal space. For the first half hour of the bus trip she say next to me, which was uncomfortable. Very. I was squished against the window all the time, pressed into this cold metal bar on the window. After the Waiouru stop I told her to sit somewhere else, because "I felt a bit sick". Thank fucking god I had a seat to myself for the rest of our time on the bus, which meant I could talk to people and rest properly.
Wow. Long rant.
- The Food: for dinner yesterday and breakfast today, we ate our food in the dining room at the cabin park. The issue with this was that our cooks did not employ any of the necessary health procedures. They didn't wear hairnets or aprons, and Liana Prior swore she'd seen one of them drop a scoop of ice cream on the ground, pick it up and put it straight back in the bowl. Danni found two hairs and a bug cooked into her potato salad, and there was fluff in Ryan's lettuce. Yeugh. Thank god for Burger King two hours later.
- Lastly, The Entertainment: I forgot my book and couldn't bring my uncharged MP3 (USB missing), so was seriously deprived of music or words in times of boredom, i.e., the entire last hour and a half of the bus ride home. Sleeping is boring on a bus. And bumpy.
So. There you have it. An very condensed version of the 32 hours I spent away from home. Now all I have to do is get through the seven hours of class work we have to do based on the information we gathered, and then it'll only be one school day until the holidays and our caravan road trip. Wooo.
Sorry about the longness.
I love you all (sort of)!
(Just kidding.)
(Ahahaha. Maybe.)
:D
So. Left school at 8am on Thurs. Did lots and lots of Geo and non Geo related stuff. Because there was so much, here's a list of highlights and lowlights.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- The trip there: Long bus trips are usually not fun, but this was. After leaving we drove to the outskirts of Waiouru, where we drew a sketch of Mt. Ruapehu. Next, we drove to the National Park, for the chairlift ride, then on to a bunch of other stuff, including the Falls walk, lunch by the Chateau (which one of my ancestors on Dad's side was the head architect of) and a few other stops for photos and notes. In between all these stops there was much laughter and conversation. I'm glad I don't have a shitty Geo class.
- The Bruce Chairlift: On Thursday morning we drove up to the Bruce, which is a chairlift/holiday park sorta thing where skiiers go in wintertime. The chairlift was awesome. There was no snow at all, just a bunch of bare rocks and exposed pipes, which are kind of scary if you think about falling on them. Even the freezing cold wind was good, because it was clean and bracing and... mountainous. There are four stages to the chairlift. Two stops on the way up and then again back down. The view from the top is beautiful to say the least. You can see mountains and tussock and green areas and this stunning blue lake. I'm so pissed that I didn't bring a camera (that one is Tori's fault- she refused to give up "her" camera the night before and it completely slipped my mind the next morning.
- The Taranaki Falls walk: I'm not (as some may know) a strenuous walking type of person, but this walk was pretty damn awesome. Even the slight (yes, slight) ache in my legs and shoulders felt good after a while. The walk took about 3 hours in total, if you account for all the times we stopped to take photos, rest, or look at stuff.
The waterfall which the walk is named for is this huge, gushing torrent of white, in a small sort of rocky bay near a wall of black cliffs (so many adjectives!). We were there for quite a while, taking photos, sitting on the rocks and walking around in a circle to stand behind the curtain of water. It was very entertaining :D
LOWLIGHTS:
- This is going to sound bad, but Jackie Vincent: There are some people who really, really piss me off. Jackie is one of them. Everything I did, she copied. If I said "I'm gonna get a drink at the Caltex", she'd say "me too", and if I changed my mind and said "or maybe an ice block", she'd say "yeeeaaah that's what I was just thinking".
If I clicked my tongue while working, she would too, and I stopped, she'd stop.
She followed me EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE. I was about to snap at her, but instead said, nice and polite, that I really, really didn't need a bathroom buddy.
She also talks complete and utter rubbish, and she tries to join in on every single conversation, whether it was between a student and teacher or a group of students.
Everything I said, she agreed with. If I complained and said "never mind" afterward, so would she a second later.
I'm pretty sure she also knows absolutely nothing about personal space. For the first half hour of the bus trip she say next to me, which was uncomfortable. Very. I was squished against the window all the time, pressed into this cold metal bar on the window. After the Waiouru stop I told her to sit somewhere else, because "I felt a bit sick". Thank fucking god I had a seat to myself for the rest of our time on the bus, which meant I could talk to people and rest properly.
Wow. Long rant.
- The Food: for dinner yesterday and breakfast today, we ate our food in the dining room at the cabin park. The issue with this was that our cooks did not employ any of the necessary health procedures. They didn't wear hairnets or aprons, and Liana Prior swore she'd seen one of them drop a scoop of ice cream on the ground, pick it up and put it straight back in the bowl. Danni found two hairs and a bug cooked into her potato salad, and there was fluff in Ryan's lettuce. Yeugh. Thank god for Burger King two hours later.
- Lastly, The Entertainment: I forgot my book and couldn't bring my uncharged MP3 (USB missing), so was seriously deprived of music or words in times of boredom, i.e., the entire last hour and a half of the bus ride home. Sleeping is boring on a bus. And bumpy.
So. There you have it. An very condensed version of the 32 hours I spent away from home. Now all I have to do is get through the seven hours of class work we have to do based on the information we gathered, and then it'll only be one school day until the holidays and our caravan road trip. Wooo.
Sorry about the longness.
I love you all (sort of)!
(Just kidding.)
(Ahahaha. Maybe.)
:D
Taranaki Falls
The Bayview Chateau Tongariro (renamed and refurbished since my last visit five years ago)
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