Waiheke and Rugby

Sorry its been a while, i thought i would have internet in my room by now...but alas, internet still hates me. So instead of making you wait longer ive perched int eh computer lab at Railway and will tell you about last week and then post pictures later. So last thursday I went to Waiheke (why-heekee) island. A place known for its gusty beaches and endless vineyards. We planned to stay the night and catch an early ferry in the morning. So at around 8am I met Summer, Jora, Kate and Allison down in the grand entrance of the railway campus and we headed to the Ferry building up the street. We got on a ferry with 3 minutes to spare (and 25 dollars less in our wallets) and began our 45 minute ferry trip. The trip over was very pretty, we passed other smaller islands and as the city grew smaller ideas about what to od on the island grew bigger. Once on the island we decided to rent a car, an idea I wasnt to keen on seeing that ive never driven on the left side of the road or car, but it ended up that i left my licence at home so i couldnt drive anyway...oh well... So for 20 bucks eac we rented a car for the day and headed to the vineyards. We got to the vineyard, all still alive, hearts beating as we remembered how close the cars parked on the side of the road came...Before we stopped at a vineyard, i forgot to mention we stopped for some breakfast in the main town (which is the size of the Boston common) at a place called Nourish, it was very good, and i ahbd had a proper breakfast since i'd been here so it was a nice home-y type feeling. So after thatw e got to a beautiful vineyard, were invited to a lovely red wine tasting and sat out on the back Veranda overlooking the rows of grape vines that stretched lazily over the green "postcard ready" hills. It was the most relaxed i'd been in a few days. Allison and Summer weren't totally into the whole wine tasting thing so we only went to one. I could have gone to all24 that were on the island, but mabe another time. After that we drove to the beach and found the gloriousness that was New Zealand, clear blue waters, green mountainous cliffs and 3 or 4 other islands playing hide and seek in the mists of the horizon. I doned my iPod and sunk into the warmth of the sun, it was a beautiful beach. After a couple hours of that, we dropped Allison at the ferry cause she had to get back to the city. We rounded uout the day by driving around the island for a couple hours, up steep "ocea view drives" and around corners overlooking private beaches and ended up at a little fish and chips joint that fit our budget perfectly for dinner. There we realized that this island wasnt somewhere to go for nightlife (everything closed at 8) so we decided to head back to the city that night, we returned the car (which we were much more comfortable in at this point) and caught teh 8 o clock ferrry home. The sunset over the water(as it should be) was one of the most beautiful sunsets i'd ever seen. Thus endeth a great day on Waiheke Island.
Friday night i went to my first professional rugby game, it was the New Zealand Blues vs. the Austrailian Reds, quite a tense match up. Rugby is awesome, and seeing it live is ever better, and even better than that is when two fo the girls you are with play rugby and can explain to you whats going on. It was a really fun time and i expect to see myself at numerous games in the future. the tickets were cheep for excelent seats, 12 rows from the field for only 15 dollars. Also the mascot for the Blue's is a pirate...what could have made this better...not much.

ill post pictures from both in a couple days. thanks!