a few weeks back, i went to another rugby game with my school (post on my last rugby game here). our team, the hamilton chiefs, lost but it was still a really exciting game. we had a blast painting our faces red, black and gold, cheering really loud at all the wrong times and munching on snow cones. at the end of the game, there was a beautiful sunset which just makes everything a hundred times better, right?
lunch at mister d’s was probably the highlight of my trip to hawkes bay. we decided to splurge and go to a nice restaurant while we were in napier and i’m so glad we did because this was one of my favorite meals to date. there were a few moments of silence after our food arrived as we dove into our meals… it was that good! but their homemade donuts really took the cake! the donuts come fresh out of the fryer and they bring out syringes of different fillings to fill your own donut. though i’m allergic to gluten, the stomach ache that followed was no comparison to this amazing concoction. so if you’re ever in napier, make sure to ask for the donuts at mister d’s… they aren’t on the menu which makes them all the more special.
over easter, i spent the weekend at my friend kate’s house in hawkes bay with a few friends. i went there last semester (post here, here, here and here) and it is such a beautiful area of new zealand. this trip, we mostly just chilled out and caught up on homework so my camera wasn’t out much but here are some of the highlights of the trip
i’ve been so blessed this semester with such amazing, thoughtful, loyal, hilarious, inspirational friends who i just ADORE. i found these pics from the last day of outreach and they made me smile.
in other news, me and christina found some rocks by the beach and decided to a little yoga session. we’re so dorky but thats ok because thats what friends are for, right?
after a day of painting, we decided to go down to the beach about an hour away from where we were staying. the road was windy and full of hairpin turns (and car sickness) but the beach was well worth it in the end. there was no one on the whole beach but us and it was so calm and relaxing. i’m usually not the biggest fan of the beach but this beach filled every requirement on the ‘perfect beach checklist’: no people, overcast, pebbles instead of sand, good water temperature and beautiful scenery. not your typical beach stipulations, huh? the only downside was my friend jarryd getting a concussion after jumping off a nearby bridge (you can see the start of his flip if you look really close in the second pic). he was ok but his asking ‘where are we?’ and ‘what just happened?’ every five minutes really gave us all a fright. no more bridge jumping for us.
on our first day in whangerai, we went to a look out over the whole city. the sky was beyond beautiful and you probably can’t tell from the pictures but the stars were out and looked like diamonds against the dark clouds (anyone catch the killers lyrics reference in the title?). it reminded me of the beautiful sky on my road trip to hawkes bay last year (post here). as you can probably tell from the name of my blog, i love me a good sunrise or sunset and this one was no exception.
