Greetings from New Zealand,

Currently as I type this I am in a surf hostel in Raglan, New Zealand on the western coast of the north island. Two days ago, after careful consideration, I decided to book a bus tour with a group called "Stray" that travels all the way around both the north and south islands of New Zealand. I decided this because it is quite hard to get from place to place in New Zealand and it is rather expensive for my budget. This also allows me to meet other travelers and get ideas of things to do. The bus is unique because you can get off an on whenever you want and are not committed to doing anything you do not want to do in any place, so for instance if I get to a certain place and want to stay there for a week, a new bus from Stray comes and picks me up whenever I want to leave. This gives me good flexibility in my itinerary. The makeup of my fellow travelers on the bus is, for the most part, European. Mostly British, Dutch, and Swiss. There are two Canadians and then I am the only American. Needless to say, there is a lot of talk about soccer and current state of English football, and not much talk about where we are going to watch this Super Bowl. Be that as it may, everyone is very nice and down for everything which is very nice. Everyone is around my age too which is nice. Our first stop was the beach town of Hahei on the east coast of New Zealand. We spent the afternoon swimming in the South Pacific and lounging on the white sand beaches. A big change from the 20 degree weather and snow I had experienced just three days prior. The water was cold but the temperature outside is around 75 degrees so it is definitely nice to just lay on the beach. I even got to see a fair share of Euro Man thong wearing by old New Zealanders which was great. We then had an authentic Kiwi barbecue with sweet potatoes, sausages, and steaks cooked by our bus driver, whose name is Digger. After some time socializing, we took a fifteen minute drive to a beach that sits atop a geothermal spring. It was around 11 Pm at night and there was barely any moon out so the stars were the most bright and vivid I have ever seen in my life. The point of the beach is that when the tides are low, which they were when we arrived, you walk around the beach looking for "hot spots", or areas where the sand is hot. You then proceed to dig and make yourself a pool that fills with the hot water from below. In some spots the water is absolutely boiling hot and unbearable so it is important to get a happy medium between the hot and cold water. We sat in our pools for an hour or so and looked at the stars which was very peaceful. This morning we departed Hahei and drove a few hours to the surf town of Raglan. Apparently it is world-renowned for surfing. I am about to walk down to the beach and watch the professional surfers for a while and then take a boat out into the harbor. Tomorrow we are driving to Waitomo which is an area south of Raglan that has a large amount of caves to explore. Myself and a few other friends I met are going to be repelling and rafting in one of the larger cave systems in the area. When I have a little more time, most likely in a few days when I arrive in Wellington, I will be uploading pictures of everything so far. Until next time!

Cheers