almost a week down...

Hola!  These past few days down here have been pretty crazy and filled with lots of driving.  After the Bay of Islands we drove north to 90 Mile Beach, which seriously lives up to its name.  You can't see the end of this beach in either direction, and we got to drive on it!  It was my first time behind the wheel on the right side, which wasn't that weird, but then again there were no lines or signs to abide by, so whatevsies.  We've been looking for an ice chest down here for a few days now, which are apparently called chilly bins-- the most hilarious thing ever, it's so cute!  So now chilly bin has turned into a joke about anything cold, even though we still don't have one (we mostly just use the trunk, it works just as well seeing as how it's freezing here).  The same day as 90 Mile Beach, dad and I went on this walk in the forest/jungle to a viewpoint, then mom and Brad picked us up and showed us this crescent waterfall they had found, which was pretty cool.  Later in the day dad, mom and I walked up this huge hill to the Rainbow Warrior memorial, and I was super stoked seeing as how Ean works for Greenpeace.  So I got lots of pictures while up there, then we all took off to the hotel.  Brad and I have decided that it's important that we get a room before the sun goes down, because if we don't everyone starts freaking out.  It can be funny and has worked out so far, but not without worries.  The next day we headed towards this forest that was supposed to be pretty cool that a lady told us about at the gas station at the Rainbow Warrior thing.  To get there we crossed a river/ocean/lake thing on a ferry and bought some hot chocolate, mandarins and kiwis from some lady running a cafe from a van and some guy selling fruit from the back of his truck.  It was pretty hilarious because everyone on the ferry was eating mandarins, but they were delicious!  We met some really cool German girl with a car that had a funny paint job and history, as well as some guy from the South Island with long braided hair, he was super nice and said we'd like Raglan.  I think it's only cause it was a total surfer town and he was oh, so obviously a hippie. haha.  Anyway, off the ferry and towards the forest we go!  We get to the forest and it's pretty crazy jungly: drive drive drive drive, pull over to the side of the road, walk about a 45 minutes on a trail (which was supposed to be a 5 minute walk?) when all of a sudden this HUGE tree just pops up around a corner of jungle.  It was nuts!  Just a complete pillar of tree-- I have pictures I'll post later.  But it was awesome!!  Anyway, after that we headed towards Auckland again (where our driving experience improved, a bit) and stayed there in a hostel/hotel type thing.  Our room was kind of a chilly bin but it was fun and the people in the morning were friendly (the wingnut was VERY friendly).