The Tomahawk flies again; & the Perfect day

So, here I am again. Happy 2007!

New Years was OK. I went with Suzanne and Bevan to Whitianga, and had a bit of a relaxing time up there. While I was there, we played 9 holes of golf, and I did some snorkelling. The snorkelling was good, I saw two Sting Rays, one was swimming, and the other was a huge one on the sea floor.

Anyhow, we left Whitianga on the 1st, so my cousin could use the house, and went to Papamoa. On the way to Papamoa we picked up my old school friend, and once we got to Papamoa, me and him travelled on down to Taupo, in order to do the Tongariro crossing the following day, hence the photos. The title above (The Tomahawk flies again) is because that was the first trip I took in my own car, after a year and two months.

Anyway, the tramp was a mission. It took us over seven hours to do. I had sore legs and a bad headache for a day and a half afterwards. But I am so glad I have done it. It was beautiful as you can see, and well, now I can say I have done it.
After recovering from that episode back at Papamoa,a few days later, me and another friend spent the day kayaking.

First of all, we headed to McLaren's falls, on top of the Kaimais, because there is a lake there, which is quite interesting, as it has a hydro-electric power station etc there. I fell out of the kayak once there, and it was a mission to get back in/on, but I managed it eventually (from the water). Then we went to my mate's mate's house for a BBQ lunch. That was nice, but best of all... they had a bouncy castle! It was like my dream day. (Hence the second part of the title).

Anyhow, following that we took the kayaks to rabbit island, and went snorkelling there. That was fun and scary at the same time. But I can finally check that one off the list too. You may recognise the photo from October 2005... - last time I was keen on trying to get there.


Since then, I have returned to Hamilton, and am working for Mum and Dad, trying to get their Company's website up and running. Tonight I went and had some supper with some old workmates, which was great. We talked about some of the good times we had, which got me thinking that I have actually enjoyed myself the last 2.5 years. It was great spending time with them, as it has been kind of lonely since I got back.

Yeah, so within the first week of 2007, I managed to tick off three from my wish list - McLaren's Falls, Rabbit Island, and the Tongariro Crossing. I'm quite happy with that. I say wish list, as I think resolutions are a bit different. My main resolution(s) for this year centre around the principle of living at 100%.

What I mean by that is, I need to be a go-getter, not be lethagic. I'm not saying I have been lazy - I saw most of Asia - but I need to be doing it with energy.

The other part of it, is that recently, I have slacked off in certain areas, like swearing, brushing my teeth etc - I used to have high standards, and I want to return to that place, (at the same time remain easy-going, because I think that has been a step in the right direction).