Internet is Expensive and Hard to Come by

So the title mostly explains why it has taken me so long to post as of yet.  We're getting internet for our flat soon but it's taking forever for them to come and hook it up.  Other than the communication thing it's rather nice not having a phone and such.  

So for the cool things.  I'm now all settled in my flat in Auckland, I've posted some pictures so have a look.  I have an amazing view out my window and my flatmates are both great.  Orientation ended for my program ended on saturday but it was an amazing time.  We went zorbing (I don't have the photos right now but I will post them soon), to some polynesian hot springs, and also to this amazing geothermal park where we saw bubbling mud pools, geysers, and natural green sulphur lakes.  All those photos are posted as well.  We also went to this amazing farm show where we got to pet lambs and pet the 19 different varieties of sheep NZ has to offer.  It was nuts and I think too crazy to try and describe in this blog...though we did watch someone sheer a sheep and I did go up on stage and milk a cow.  The Linolin on their utters is incredibly nice on the hands.  Bit of a nice surprise really.  NZ has the fastest sheep sheerers in the world.   

After this we went to a flaura and fauna park of sorts where we saw tons of wild trout, some sleeping kiwis, and various other types of birds and animals.  I may have told some of you this already, but there were now mammals in NZ before european settlement so many of the birds became flightless (such as the kiwi).  So when the europeans came and introduced animals such as the rat and stoat, the populations of many of these flightless birds, particularly the kiwi, became endangered.  On top of this, Maoris overhunted many of these species so that caused them great strife as well.  So now there are major conservation efforts to try and save the kiwi and such through controlled egg incubation and release programs.  So that's all for the history lesson for now.

The city here is beautiful, easy to walk save for the tremendous hills.  Auckland and most of the surrounding area basically consists of inactive volcanic cones (the hill bit.)  This means there are also a fair number of islands in the surrounding area that once can reach via various ferry trips.  The ferry building is just about a 10-15 minute walk down to the viaduct (a port of sorts.)  The group is thinking of going black water rafting this weekend so that's exciting.  This basically means we each get our own tube and go down white water in black caves, over small waterfalls etc alllll while looking at the cool glow worms on the ceiling of the cave (that's for you brandon!)  I may also be heading out for one of the islands this weekend to hike up a volcano so we'll see.  We're going to definitely be having a pool party at our apt complex tomorrow to celebrate my birthday so I'll post pictures when that happens too!

Well, I imagine that's most of the fun stuff here for now.  I will be getting a cell phone in couple days but that's mostly for calls around here and for emergencies.  As I said, internet in my flat should be coming soon so people should start getting on skype when they have a chance because computer to computer calls are free!  

I miss you all and the OJ in the US.  For some reason none of it here has yet lived up to Simply Orange back home.  I believe it's all from concentrate or something so maybe I'm just not looking hard enough?   

Send me emails or comments because I want to know how you're doing.