Mini Road Trip!

In September, I took a few days away from my studies to go on a mini road trip with my boyfriend Justin and his parents. We rented an SUV, picked a few spots on the map, and saw a few sights! It was great to get out of the city, although I got quite a bit less work done than I'd anticipated ...

This is the crazy fog that set into Auckland the day we left. I can only assume the city was sad to see us go!

We stopped at Tauranga for lunch, and enjoyed the lovely beach view. DEFINITELY too cold to stick our feet in, though!

Nice scenery in the mountains above Rotorua, where we stopped for our first night.

These swans were shockingly uninterested in the shortbread cookies we were sharing with them! Fortunately, there were a few ducks that weren't too proud to pick up the crumbs.

Gorgeous waterfall somewhere between Rotorua and Napier. I have NO IDEA where.

Beautiful black sand beaches outside of Napier. Again, much too cold, although Justin did give it a try!

Absolutely hideous "art" in a park in Napier (according to a plaque nearby, it's called "Bio-morph").

Very cool bridge going over a river, where we stopped to have lunch on day three. And where we returned to a few hours later, when we realized that Justin's dad couldn't find his wallet. Which, as it turns out, was in the car the whole time ...

The river itself. And I'd like to make clear that I in no way messed with the colors in this photo - it actually looked like that.

SO. MANY. SHEEP.

Australia again ...

So back in July, when I was in Australia, I took a day trip up to the Daintree forest, a rainforest on the northeastern coast of the country. We stopped at a wildlife sanctuary on the way, and wound up the adventure at gorgeous Cape Tribulation. (And then drove four hours in the bus back to Cairns.) Here are a few of the better pictures. Sorry for the delay in getting these posted!

Not nearly so cuddly as I'd hoped! In fact, if you can't tell from the look on my face, I was terrified. Apparently, if koalas are nervous, they dig in their claws, which I definitely didn't want to happen ... so I didn't move. At all.

I've seen worse vandalism ...

The problem with crocodile photos is you can't tell how HUGE they are! However, this one wasn't all that huge, so it's not that big of a problem ...

How can you not appreciate the visuals?

Don't worry, this isn't a real cassowary - which, if rumor is correct, would have killed me in a manner of seconds.