First P2P for 2006

After a very "EVENTFUL" 7 day tour and a (Sparrows fart) tsfr this morning my People to People tour (P2P) group has left New Zealand and is off to Australia.
We had it all....Sunshine,beautiful clear sky follwed by blustery wind,pealting rain, biting cold,red noses all around,power cuts,hunger pains and frozen toes................but in among the dramas we had a abs-so-lute blast with heaps of fun, alot of laughter and brand NEW friends.
On the way down to The Bay of Plenty we stopped off at the Karangahake Gorge and with the sun just starting on its journey downward and with the shadows getting longer it made for a typical late winters afternoon.
A few of the students thought it might be a good idea to try and cross the river by jumping from rock to rock.........a few close calls and probably the odd wet foot,but nothing major.......I guess me throwing rocks in to try and splash them wasnt helping?
But we couldnt hang around forever as we still had a wee way to go before we could check into our hotel in Tauranga.

The following morning we headed off to Sapphire Springs at the foothills of the Kamai Ranges near Katikati for a days insight into what NZ is doing when it comes to protecting and conserving our environment and with the sun shinning the Faintail's and Tui's singing no one really noticed that the weather was slowly starting to change.......for the worse........


Come 1400 that afternoon we all fronted up to Paparoa Marare in Te Puna for a overnight marae stay with a HUGE amount of culture.

Things were kicked off by a traditional welcome ,which judging by the look of most of the students and poor ole CJ (who we "kindly volunteered" him to act as our Cheif)
But as the tangtawhenua (people of the land) showed a more gentle side with waiatia (song) of love and peace,I could see the look of relief on alot of faces,but that was short lived as the next new experience was the Hongi (Pressing of the noses)..........."Wow that was "like" weird..." was one of the comments and as the people of the Marae explained how theyhad just been welcomed on as Manuhiri (visitors).....but now they were part of the extended whanau ( family) and as we re seated oursevles I could see the smiles starting to shine once again.....
Flax weaving,the making of poi's and singing songs was to occupy most of the afternoon,which was followed by a meal (Hangi) and a concert by the local younger people.
A great night.

Sorry no photos of Rotorua....I kinda want to forget that as the weather was abs-so-lute crap

All things come to a end sooner or later and as we were heading back to Auckland I decided to show a movie to pass the time......everyone was so deeply engrossed in the movie "The Whale Rider" that they didnt see the sunset and then all of a sudden someone did and it was all on......it was a mad dash as people stood on one another to get a photo of one of natures wonders.







...........what a awesome way to finish off the tour.

Have a great trip to Aussie you guys and safe trip home