While in Paihia we stayed at a Hostel for one night. They had a pool so we all were thrilled. We left Friday morning and it was about a three hour drive to Paihia from Auckland. I slept most of the way I believe. Then once we got there it was time for a swim. Later that night we ate amazing haystacks and watermelon. Then it was card playing time and soon bedtime. I shared a room with Larissa, Becca, and Sarah. Our room was so hot and stuffy. But we managed to get to sleep.
At 4:30am I pulled my nose ring out on accident and had to shove it back in. It hurt bad but I’m okay now.
Saturday we packed up from our hostel and headed to Waitangi treaty grounds. It is a historical place where we learned about the treaty and more about the Maori People. First we watched a short movie introducing us to the grounds. I was confused because the movie never stated what the treaty was for. So, throughout the movie I kept asking but what is the treaty doing…unless I missed it somewhere, but I later found out. Then, we walked around. I was looking forward to seeing the Maori Canoe or Waka, but it wasn’t there. So, that was actually disappointing because that was what I wanted to see the most. Since it was a holiday they had taken the canoe out on the water.
We also saw the naval flagstaff where the Treaty was first signed.
For some reason I found it very interesting. And I spent a few minutes at a few separate times just looking at it. I found it kind of pretty, or peaceful with the water in the background and the grass below so bright and green. I ended up finding out that the treaty signed was between the British and the Maori. It says that the Maori and any non-Maori will work and live together in New Zealand and guarantees rights to both.It was a fairly interesting experience to walk around the treaty grounds and read more about Maori and British together. However, while we were passing through where all the tents and people were I noticed most were Maori. So, do kiwis not celebrate the holiday? I suppose that would be like us celebrating an African American holiday maybe? I don’t know, I found that interesting though. I thought it was going to be more of a big deal than it was.
Then Saturday evening we had our cruise on The Rock. It is a barge that was turned into an overnight small cruise. It was really fun. The staff on The Rock were amazing. They learned all our names and were so friendly. Saturday evening some people went swimming I also got to shoot bbs at a wood duck. 
I was the first girl to hit it. I decided to go fishing instead. I caught a fish, small, but still it was a fish. Then we had dinner and after dinner we went night kayaking.
It was awesome. The stars were so bright and pretty. Once we got out a ways our guide had us lay back in our kayak and just look at the stars. Then all the sudden he was like "guys get up! we need to move...(at this moment i freaked out and thought there was a shark or something)...away from the boat" then my worries faded. We had drifted close to a huge sailboat. So then we paddled back to our cruise. We were all pretty tired and went to bed at midnight. The next day on Sunday we were up at 8 for breakfast. We had gotten up at 5:30 for the sunrise but it was all cloudy so we went back to bed. So after breakfast we went snorkeling. It was a little bit disappointing because the water wasn't clear but still fun. Then we went to a beach and hung out there for awhile and ate lunch there. We also hiked up a hill to look out at the ocean. It was pretty. Then we headed back to our cruise and headed back to Paihia to go home to Laidlaw.
Now, it's Monday. And it's a holiday here so we have the day off to relax and catch up on homework. AKA study chinese characters with my homemade flash cards.
sweet rifle pose.
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