Contiki! And Returning "Home"

Our last Monday of break was another travel day, and it also happened to be Mary's 21st Birthday!
We joined a Contiki tour in Auckland and made our way to Paihai in the Bay of Islands. Contiki tours are specifically for 18-35 year olds, so it gives you a younger, more adventurous atmosphere while on tour. There were people from all over the world on our tour (and I still managed to find a Buckeye!) and we met quite a few from Sydney. Our tour bus made a few stops on our way up to the Bay of Islands, including a "pee and flee" (or "splash and dash") at some really funky bathrooms. Apparently a famous artist created them. If I was as awesome as Brooks and wrote everything down, I'd be able to tell you who!

We also stopped at a HUUUUGE tree, and a pretty waterfall.

When we got to Paihai we checked into our hotel (living LARGE people) and went down to the water to parasail! Mary, Brooks and I went up together. We were told it was one of the highest parasails in the world, and I believe it, because we were super high.

It was beautiful to be able to see the area from so high up. We had dinner as a group that night at Shipey's (a restaurant on an old docked boat), and then made our way for a fun night out to celebrate Mary's birthday!

The next day we went out on a large boat for a dolphin cruise. We were told there would be a 95% chance of seeing wild dolphins, but only a 60% chance of swimming with them, depending on the circumstances. We found a rather large pod of dolphins which were quite playful for us, but we unfortunately weren't allowed to swim with them. It was still wonderful to see them so close in the wild, playing and swimming with each other.

We went to the "hold in the rock" on the boat as well, which is fairly self descriptive, and saw several other islands in the area. The water was an incredible blue. When it splashed against the rocks it looked as if it was dyed blue because it was so vibrant!

 Then we made our way to an island for some quick lunch, and back on the boat to sail back to Paihai. I spent a bit of time walking through the stores, and then the four of us went to a ribs place for dinner. It was buy one, get one free for half a rack of ribs, but Brooks is a vegetarian, so Courtney, Mary, and I split four between the three of us. Needless to say, we had quite the feast!

We ended the night with the first night of TV I've had since leaving the states. I've never been so excited to watch NCIS!

On Wednesday the tour made it's way back to Auckland and we ended at the skytower. It was pretty crummy and rainy outside, however, so we didn't get very good pictures.

We found an incredible vegetarian restaurant for dinner, and managed to get a few hours of sleep before being picked up at 3:30am for our flight home. After having hardly any sleep and being awake for 10 hours, I showed up for an 8 hour Alice rehearsal to learn all I missed, and then went to bed very early. It was a crazy realisation to feel like I was coming "home."

The rest of the weekend consisted of catching up on emails, getting back on facebook, blogging forever, watching movies with those of us who were back, and catching up on sleep. On Sunday we took the long treck to Manly Beach. It was an absolutely beautiful day in Sydney so everyone had the same idea as us. We took the ferry across the harbour and did what we could to snap some pictures.

Manly is an awesome little area with shops and restaurants, and (when we were there) a nice market. Mary and I walked around the market for awhile and I found the exact thing I've been looking for: a painted picture of the harbour with the bridge and the Opera House, painted with tons of texture and color. However, my wallet didn't quite agree with the price! One of these days I'll find the painting for me! We laid out on the beach for a bit, but it was quite crowded, and the sun was soon behind the trees. I love the area around Manly, but I like the beach at Bondi much better because it's much deeper and there isn't anything to block the sun. I'm glad we got to go before the weather was too cold though! Laying on the beach made me miss my favorite place in the world: Fripp Island. When I think about being home, I don't count the days until I'm home, I think about how exciting it's going to be to go to Fripp! I know my family understands :)

Until Next Time,
Bethany

Time and Change Will Surely Show How Firm Thy Friendship OHIO