Apartment

I found an apartment! I am super excited about it too!  Really I will be honest I fell in love with it after I saw the bathroom haha! Plus it had a fridge! BONUS! I have discovered (the hard way) that most places do not come with appliances. I was lucky to find one with a fridge. The laundromat will be my friend until I can buy a washer. It is very rare down here for anyone to have a clothes dryer. It unfortunately didn't come with a stove either....although there is a grill that came with the place which I can use once I find some manly man to get it out of the creepy crawly storage area under the house haha.

This is the main living room area (I didn't take this pic, it was on the rental website). The doors on the end are my front door which leads out to the driveway. It's so open and sunny! I love it.

This is the stove/ovenless kitchen. This is also more cabinets than you fine in a lot of rentals down here. 

This is the bedroom and closet. There is also a smaller storage/office room on the other end of the kitchen.

And this is the bathroom that I fell in love with! It is so cute and actually has counter space on the sink! The weird part is the bathroom has another door..that goes to the back patio.....haha weird!! 

And this is the back patio! There is also a door onto this patio from the main living area. 

What's better than a workout at the gym???

I decided to be a tourist yesterday and I took a drive to a lovely place called Piha Beach.

The drive itself was almost indescribably beautiful! The road is the curviest, skinniest 2 lane road that would make every Nascar drive giddy with excitement. It is very aptly named Scenic drive. The pictures didn't do the drive justice!

Once I got to the beach, this was the view from my car:

This is Lion's Rock.

 The beaches here are black sand because of high iron content. It is also very sparkly in the sun. It is so pretty. I have never seen anything quite like it before! This pic is for my sister Lindsay. She always has to have a picture of feet in the sand.

And this is what's better than a day at the gym....hiking up  Lion's rock...in my jandles (flip flops) in ridiculous wind. 

The view from the top was worth the hike!!

Driving around learning the lingo!

So I drove around more today. It is getting much easier to drive on the other side of the car/road. I looked at some great and not so great apartments. And I think I found the one!! It is in a beautiful neighborhood called Bucklands Beach.

It's not very far (like 2 minutes away) from this beautiful little area called Half Moon Bay.

Learning the lingo has been interesting.

Sunnies = Sunglasses

Mackers= McDonalds

Jandels= Flips flops

and I think my favorite so far is Sweetas = totally cool. 

It took me a bit to figure this one out haha. The first time someone said it to me I thought they said

 "sweet a**" and I was really shocked. Wasn't  expecting that haha. 

Pics of the apartment to follow shortly!! 

House Hunting

House hunting....Yeah...it sucks! Definitely not in Idaho anymore....Many places don't have fridges or washing machines and NOBODY has clothes dryers. It is crazy! But again the scenery is totally worth the not so awesome things.
Even on a rainy it is absolutely beautiful here. I fell in love with a certain neighborhood here while we were driving around, so hopefully I can find something that area.

Let's just hope that wherever I find a place my new roommate likes our digs! Meet Snickers... He moved in today. I call him Snickers cause I believe is was hiding in a dark corner snickering at me as I tried to find him to evict him..... All well....

I made it! 

Well, after a somewhat adventurous journey, I and all my suitcases made it to New Zealand. And yes, it is beautiful! I am staying with a wonderful family right now. I am so grateful that they are letting me stay with them! 

We drove around the first day and I have to tell you the sights are beautiful! 

Just remember on the next picture...I just spent the last 17 + hours traveling......not my best picture haha! 

And, luckily for you, my camera was aimed high enough to miss the nudist wandering along the beach.

Just the first of many sights to come! Glad I bought a new camera! I feel it will be well used the next few years.

Well, I know that I no longer in Idaho! There are quite a few things that are going to take a little getting used to, but I know the Lord sent me here for a reason. Time will tell what that reason is. So, I get to go forward with faith and enjoy the splendor around me! I wish you all could be here with me.