Time is going so FAST! It is already Wednesday, and I leave NZ on Thursday... TOMORROW! I am so excited! So excited that I actually am having fun packing. You know that you have been away from home for too long when...
On Monday we celebrated Hannah's 19th birthday! We had a lovely brunch of pancakes and such things, which I did not partake in, unfortunately. And we went on an adventure to see the Orca pod that was supposedly in the harbour, but alas, we were too late to see them. Dangalang.
In the afternoon, Hannah's amazing mother drove Marit and I to the Wellington Airport to pick up our free relocation car that she hooked us up with. It was a big, white, fancy Ford sedan of some sort with a huge hatchback to fit all of our stuff. It was beautiful. And unlike our crapmobile, Sunny, which we had on the south island, this new car could make it up hills without slowing down to 5 km per hour and we were able to go faster than the big trucks. Woah. Livin the life.
So we took off and drove about 6 hours to Taupo area, and searched for somewhere to camp near Mount Doom. We eventually found a cosy spot just off of a gravel road that appeared to be an obscure and rarely used gravel road. Kat had been wanting to freedom camp the whole trip but hadn't got the chance, so we went for it. We pulled over off of the road a few feet and pitched a tent. The ground was just perfect for tenting and sleeping on the ground. It was lumpy, with lots of random sticks and branches jabbing out and lots of random holes in the ground.
In the night, we were woken up probably ever 30 minutes by big semi trucks driving by hauling logs. We would see bright lights approaching, and the ground would shake as though there was an earthquake, and it always seemed like the truck was gonna come and run us over. Let's just say that none of us really slept. But we did learn a valuable lesson - don't tent on logging routes.
In the morning we drove by mount doom to get some photos. It was really cool. And so fitting that Mount Doom was the last site to see on our journey. I felt like Frodo at the end of his epic quest, finally seeing the end of his journey in the distance and knowing that he was almost finished. And that is the same for me. My long journey in search of God and other things has finally come to the end, of this chapter at least, and I can go home really soon. It is bitter sweet. But I think the sweet is overpowering the bitter at this moment in time.
After another many hours driving, we made it to Matamata to drop our borrowed tents off at the base and pick up the luggage that Kat was storing there. We went first to town and visited the ATM and I went to say farewell to my buddy Dublin Del and got my last delicious latte from him. We arrived at the base just in time for lunch. And we got to meet some of the new students.
It was pretty weird to be honest. But I was pretty excited because two of the youth that I worked with over outreach were supposed to be doing their DTS now. So I was so jacked. The first guy to come out and say hi was Rayner. Yay! He was one of the youth from up north that my outreach team conned into doing a DTS. And I was expecting Jackie from Fiji and I was so excited to see her, but instead another youth from the north came outside and shocked the pants off of me! Patty. He was supposed to be off somewhere else in the world doing work for God, but he ended up at Matamata. Pretty exciting!
We got to say hello and goodbye to the staff and Marit got her camera back. And then we took off to get our car to Auckland airport in time! We got the car there about 1.5 hours late, but no one seemed to notice. Praise Jesus. And then we hung out at the airport trying to decide what our next move would be. We could either stay at Kings Kids in Auckland for 2 nights, or get a ride for about an hour out to Rich's house and stay for 2 nights. We finally decided to take a taxi by Kings Kids to pick up our stored luggage and then get dropped out at Rich's house.
We got to Rich's at probably around 7:45 pm. We had assumed that although he has a job, that he would be home by 5ish. But there was no one home. So we loaded all of our luggage out onto the lawn and had a worship session on his front lawn. We worshipped for a long time. Eventually it got dark out. We got out our sleeping bags to keep us warm, and waited. Every car that approached got us all excited, and then it would drive by. We were almost ready to move all of our stuff into the back yard and sleep under the stars when a car approached, and didn't drive by...
Rich and his mom pulled up. All they saw was a pile of stuff in their yard and five bodies laying around. I think they just about had a heart attack. They thought someone robbed them and trashed their house. Nope. It was just 5 YWAMers creepily waiting around and inviting themselves to stay over for a couple of nights. Bahaha. They were relieved though, and brought us inside. All of our luggage literally took up the entire spare room. Haha.
But the highlight for sure was sleeping on the couch. I have slept on the ground every night for the past month, and that couch made my life so much better! I slept like a rock. It was beautiful. I can't even describe the amazingness that was sleeping on Rich's couch. Glorious. Praise Jesus.
And now we hang out until tomorrow when we return to the airport, for real this time. I'm so excited to get home and see my family and friends!!! My sister has been posting on my wall every now and then saying that she misses me. Now, if you knew my sister and I you would be shocked by this occurrence because mostly we fight and often I wonder if she even likes me. But she does because she misses me! Mwahahahaha. Mission complete. I miss her too and I can't wait to see her!!!! And to show her how much more tanned I am than her! :P
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