these kiwis are bananas: 1st weekend!

So my first weekend in New Zealand was a blast! Its hard to believe that I have only been here for a week... it feels like I have been here for so much longer! School got out on Friday and I came home to watch a Netball game, which is huge here, obviously not as huge as Rugby! ( Netball is like women's basketball but you can't run with the ball,you can only pass). Its an interesting game but everyone here is really into it! I went out on Friday night with Marshia ( a teacher at the school) and her boyfriend and his friend. It was nice just to get out of the house and see the city at night. It was a really fun night and it prepared me for my adrenaline filled Saturday!

So before I came to New Zealand I decided that I had to make myself do adventurous things! I knew I had to bungee jump and sky dive and pretty much whatever else I could think of to do. Bungee jumping was invented here and so I figured there was no better place to try it out! I met up with Stephanie Warren, another girl teaching here from IU and we took a bus into the city. Our first stop was the Sky Tower. The weather was absolutely perfect! It was the prettiest day here so far!

There were a almost no clouds in the sky and it was warm, perfect for the Sky Tower. The tower reminds we a lot of the Seattle Space Needle but higher, and people do crazy thing off of it. We went up to the first observation deck and watched a guy "sky jump" . Its like bungee jumping but you are more secure an lowered down rather than free falling. Then we went up to the highest viewing level, which is the highest viewing point in the Southern Hemisphere, and watched people do the "sky walk" and walk around the outside of the building! That was INSANE.. I could never do that.. we were up 238 meters.. too high for me. We left the Sky Tower and took a tikki tikki( scenic tour) bike ride down to the Maritime Museum. James our biker( from England ) was definitely worth our 5 dollars :).

Then off we went to our Bungee Jump! We took a van to the bottom of the bridge, got our jear and we were off. We walked up the the underside of the bridge to a little pod in the middle of the bridge. Before we got there we were weighed and we had to jump heaviest to lightest..

I thought that there were more guys jumping but no... I was the first girl to jump.. shocker! I was so scared! I am the girl who could not jump off a tree bungee during team building at Bradford Woods and it was maybe 20 feet high and this was 40 meters. It took me 3 countdowns but I knew I had to do it... 5,4,3,2,1 and I just fell.. I was supposed to lay out like a dive but form when out the window when I stepped up to the edge. Also we had to wait till no boats were coming and of course 2 boats came under while I was waiting. I had my eyes closed for most of the free fall but when I did open them it was so cool! The whole experience was so short and I wish I remembered more of it! I will for sure be doing it again, with my eyes open and better form :).

After we got back to the city we went and had a much needed drink at Minus 5... a bar made of all ice! It was the perfect way to calm my nerves and cool off from the jump! After a long day we headed back home to rest! Sunday my "mum and dad" drove Stephanie and I around to see the different bays and beaches. We then met up with Rachel , another IU teacher and the three of us went for a walk to get dinner and take it to the beach. Restaurants here have BYO so you can buy wine or beer and bring it in with your meal.. GREAT idea! So we went and got Fish n Chips and a bottle of wine and took it down to the beach .. apparently a real Kiwi thing to do! We ate and walked around for a while and then headed back! It was a great way to end the weekend!