new zealand – Hello Hayley

In travel on

April 15, 2013

by the shore

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.

hayley

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In travel on

April 12, 2013

the stars are blazing like rebel diamonds

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.

hayley

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In travel on

April 10, 2013

cuties

since i was a kid myself, i’ve been helping out with the sunday school at the various churches and camps i’ve attended. a few people from my outreach team helped with the kids group at calvary chapel whangerai (mad props to christina and kate for planning a lesson five minutes before service started) and i was lucky enough to be on picture duty for my schools website and i couldn’t help but share some of the pictures here. i love kids to begin with but i can think of few things cuter than these darling kids with their adorable new zealand accents. gets me everytime.

hayley

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In food, travel on

April 8, 2013

dinner party

our last night in whangerai, the family whose house we were staying at prepared a homegrown feast for our group. it reminded me of a kinfolk dinner party complete with great food, great company and a beautiful setting. our host prepared a lamb raised on their farm (i’m a vegetarian so i didn’t eat it but i could still appreciate the work that went into it) and lots of fresh vegetables from their garden (the purple potatoes were my favorite). we ate out on their porch and it was such a beautiful and perfect night. someday, i dream of having a farm so i can host magical dinner parties like this.

hayley

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In travel on

April 3, 2013

color my life

the main reason we went to whangerai for outreach was to help paint a building in the local community center. i have never painted before but it was such a blast. we painted every side of the outside of the building a different color (my favorite was, of course, the yellow) and we painted the inside white with a blue ceiling. it was great team building (i was blessed with the best, most hilarious team ever) and even when it got hot and tedious, there is nothing blasting mamma mia and a few laughs couldn’t fix. i sure do love these people.