Beautiful scenery as we drive past the Bay of Plenty on the way to the East Cape. We had to stop here to get out enough money for the weekend since there is no such things as ATM's or Credit Cards on the East Cape.
Today was absolutely amazing. I met up with my group for my East As trip this morning which will be a 4 day trip along the East Cape of New Zealand. The group was great, a mix of personalities but we all seem to get on really well. The day of traveling was not even painful because there were so many gorgeous sites to see along the way. We finally arrived at the Maouri (native New Zealand people) home stay at Te Kaha. There we were met by this wonderful guy Paul or Che (friend in Maouri). His place is right no the beach with a hot top and an absolutely beautiful yard. We relaxed by the beach, went for a swim, took some time in the hot top. Then we had a WONDERFUL meal cooked by his family. As we were instructed we needed to come up with a song for the evening. We chose Wonderwall and changed the lyrics around so that it fit with our message. That night him and his family sang a Maouri welcome song and we had to return the welcome by singing our song in order to for them to continue singing. All night we sang together, some Maouri songs, some songs he hat butchered the lyrics too and songs that relate to our country. Being the only American, I fittingly chose "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." It was a wonderful evening.
