"Someone else always has to carry on the story" ~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Rings

Are you still classy if you talk about being classy all the time?

Just lazin' with some lavender... 

Salutations!

I'm aware it's been some time since I've graced you with knowledge of anything exciting in my life. Fear not! I'm not living an awe-inspiring life and keeping it to myself. This past week I:

1. Got sick again, and spent two straight days in bed with lollipops, oranges, and ginger ale.
2. Wrote a paper for my cross cultural communications class.
3. Went back to Mount Vic with Jordan, my flatmate.
4. Made brownies for my friend John.
5. Made Nutella cookies just for fun.
6. Did laundry again.

See? Evidently, the excitement here is absolutely blossoming.

/sarcasm

We get so much rain here that when it's sunny I just soak in as much as possible.

Nevertheless, the international support person here has our backs. This weekend we did some exploring in a town, saw a stonehenge, and took a tour of a winery.

We started out in Greytown. It's a pretty small town, with smatterings of antique shops and sprinkled with sweet cafes and bakeries. I bought a chocolate almond croissant at a French bakery. It was flaky and fabulous.

Cafe called Cahoots. So I'm going into Cahoots!! O.o I'm in cahoots!! heh...

We went on to a chocolate shop where...

I didn't buy anything.

I know. Your heart just skipped. I know. It's pretty surprising, and pretty scary. But the prices scared me even more, which is why I left the chocolate there.

Baby sheep ehmagodddd <3 lamb! =3

Paua shell, lovely, hmm?

We went on to Paua World—a tourist shop. Paua are these pretty shells you sometimes find on the beach. They get harvested to eat, and then they polish the shells to make them into pretty jewelry, and anything else they can think of. It's all made in New Zealand, which is pretty sweet. They also sold straight up shells, but I'm hoping if I make intimate friends with the beaches, which I intend to do, I'll find some shells myself.

Onward to Stonehenge. Our guide was knowledgeable and a superb presenter. I learned so much that I didn't know before—that a stone circle tells time of year, why it echos, and that there are hundreds around the world.

Stonehenge. L to R: Bex, Esha, me, Franzi. Franzi and Esha are my travel buddies for break!

Grapevines! The grass all dies in the summer. Weird, huh?

We finished at the winery. It was called Alana Estate, and we got a tour, as well as some tasting. It's on a hill—they grow the grapes at the top.

You can see two of the levels here: grapes come in at the top, then fall down into the vats for fermentation and squishing and whatnot :/

On the slope is the winery. The process starts at the top, and concludes at the bottom. By doing this, they avoid having to pump the wine, thereby adding oxygen. 

Had a bit of a geek out because they look just like the
wine-making machines in Sims3 :]]

The grapes are squeezed and fermented, and then it flows down into the barrels, where it sits for a while. The barrels are all imported from France, and they can only be used for around five years maximum, because the barrels begin to lose their flavor.

Barrels! They sit in these for at least a few months before getting bottled and sold.

We tried lots of wine. Pinoit Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling (never heard of that before yesterday), Sauvignon Blanc, and a few others. I guess it was good... but not good enough that I bought any! 

They keep a stock of all their wine from past years.... You can't tell but I have one of these:
:O faces on...

Our guide was also really interesting, although we were a bit sad we didn't get to wander among the grapevines at all. They keep sheep in them in the winter so that the grass gets eaten. All the sheep just had lambs, so there were lots of babies running around. It was cute as, and I couldn't contain my excitement.

Ducks in the sheep fields!! Sheep can be seen above farthest right lavender...

“The little lamb is frolicking!” is what I said to incite the teasing of my companions. Apparently MassComm majors should keep their $20 words to themselves...

"Classy" Americans (and one German) after our tasting. 

We discussed several times grabbing a lamb and bringing it home with us to play with. I volunteered my flat for its home. Sadly, no one could be convinced to do the the grabbing, so we returned home empty handed. Nevertheless, overall it was a successful, and relatively fun day.

In the coming weeks: Hobbiton/Matamata, Narnia/Cathedrial Cove, Mount Tongariro/the recently erupted volcano, Lake Taupo/the lake that happens to have an underwater volcano in it, and 90 mile beach/where I'm supposed to boogie board on the dunes. 

I am so pumped for spring break!!!!

Thanks for reading! <3 <3 <3 

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