BEARS ON THE ROAD

July 22, 2008 We got into a moving gondola and were lifted off the ground and saw sheep and a luge ride tracks and trees and everything else you can imagine that would be on a mountain. When we got to the top I made a delicious mess of a popsicle/ice cream. Then me and my dad got on a ski-lift, helmets on, one pair of eyes closed. You can guess who that was, right? Correct! Me! We (me and my dad) got our instructions and were off. Before the first bend, I ran into the gravel and the lady had to run over and help me out. After that, the rest went pretty smoothly. After that, we went to Puzzling world. Am I holding up this building? We (again me and my dad) went into the maze and then into the illusion room with a golf ball that ran up, a room where I shrank, and staring dead people. We took videos, pictures and other things and then took to our campground. July 23, 2008 We drove to 4 waterfalls and found giant trouts and numerous pretty rocks. We went over a swing bridge to the “Blue Po

July 16, 2008 We went to Moeraki and collected a million shells and saw freaky, round boulders. We went to the Cadbury chocolate tour. Have you ever seen a Cadbury Crème Egg? That’s from Cadbury World. We (I) tried raw chocolate. Results: sour face. My dad wouldn’t eat it, and my mom liked it. After THAT, our tour began. First we saw chocolate buttons and Cadbury Crème Eggs being made. We also saw crumb. I thought it looked like crusty outer layer of dirt and got 2 chocolate marshmallow fish to put in my chocolate bag. Next we went to a warm room with tanks full of hot, melted chocolate. Then we talked about different chocolate and got a Crunchie bar, Moro bar, a Perkynana bar, and a Dairy Milk. We saw chocolate being wrapped, boxed, and stored in a warehouse. Then our tour was over. I looked at many chocolates and finally settled on a bag of milk chocolate buttons and a block of white chocolate. I got in a Cadbury car. Later we spent the evening browsing the town. We saw a giant climb

July 12, 2008 Today we went to Te Papa. It is a museum with so much cool stuff; I really couldn’t decide what I liked best. First we went to Awesome Forces. There was an earthquake house, a place where you could make and earthquake, a baby’s crib with bricks in it, and a screen with mirrored walls and floors. Next we saw “Mountains to Sea”. There was the skeleton of a baby whale. The skeleton was so large it stretched from one end of the room to the other. We saw other sea animal skeletons. Next there was a Discovery Centre and I walked on blocks, played a Maori stick game and swung what looked like balls on the end of string. I also went into the meeting house, sleeping house and food house. Then we went to the 1800’s exhibit. I played a ship game and came in second place. Then I smelled some whiskey. It was disgusting! I read about a woman who made whiskey and died when she was in her 90’s after drinking her own whiskey every day. Next we went to Blood, Earth and Fire. It was about i

July 8, 2008 This morning it was exceptionally cold. We had eaten and brushed our teeth and got dressed; we drove to the White Island control center. We got what we needed to get on the boat and waited for take-off. When the boat took off I wanted to stay in the place without a roof (the deck). It wasn’t that cold outside on the deck. I saw White Island in the distance. When we got there we got into an inflatable raft and got on the island. We climbed a ladder and clambered over boulders to the old, rusty anchor. Few walls were left standing, rust was crumbling down; this was a sulfur mine. We jumped and crawled over sulfur and stone until we came to a spot with steam rising and a cliff of pure sulfur. We talked about the sulfur miners and then were on the move again. Next we saw the crater of the volcano. It looked like steamy, green pea soup. We heard a story about a miner who disappeared and the other miners found his boots at the edge of the crater. Then I passed a non-breakable ro

July 4, 2008 Last night, we went to bed early, but my parents woke me up at 11:00 PM! We drove to Dallas in the rental car, known as the “dork mobile”. (My family called our rental car that.) We hated that giant, maroon, Californian car. Anyways, I got SO tired that I fell asleep on the duffle bag. If you want MY advice, never fall asleep on a duffle bag, especially if it is filled with hiking boots. If you want to be comfortable, that’s good advice. When we got to Dallas, we returned the Dork Mobile and went to the airport to get on the plane “United”. That flight was VERY exciting! First, there was a mechanical issue, then there was a medical issue and the plane was like a bouncy, covered roller coaster, meaning lots of turbulence. The views were incredible! We flew over southern Utah and saw Lake Powell and hundreds of canyons. I also saw mountains with snow stil