For the second year in a row, we have hosted an AFS exchange student. This year Alicia joined our family for eight weeks, arriving at the end of July. Unfortunately she immediately started a new school term which meant we did not get the chance to get to know her as quickly as we did our French student last year, who joined us in the school holidays and had a week with us before starting school. However, school is a big part of their experience while here so she just got on with it.
The weather was HIDEOUS for the first two weeks of her stay; it rained nearly non-stop and Alicia was even asking "does it ever stop?"!! It severly hampered our efforts to get out and about to show her some of the countryside.

Eventually though, we got a fine weekend and we managed to get to Mount Maunganui and Wairere Falls for a couple of good walks!

Other trips included a day out in Taupo with fish 'n' chips in Turangi before driving right around Lake Taupo to home.

Alicia had expressed a keen desire to visit Hobbiton so one afternoon I took her and Caitlin, along with another exchange student, to Matamata and she got to see Hobbiton. I'm guessing from the smile on her face when she got back it was a successful tour!


AFS arranged a "Kiwi movie night" one weekend so Alicia took advantage of that, spending a night in Hamilton watching films like "Boy", "Whale Rider", The Piano" and others. Although it sounds like not much movie watching was done as exchange students from all over the Waikato region met up and swapped stories and experiences all night long-one very tired girl returned to us on Sunday evening!

Another weekend we spent in Hamilton visiting the Gardens, walking along the Waikato River a bit and, of course, shopping at The Base! (A typical NZ teenager experience, of course!!) Then after a meal at Olivia's hostel and a movie (how scary was "The Shallows" huh?) we stayed overnight at Sonninghill Hostel to head out to Raglan the next day. We spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around Raglan enjoying the beautiful sunshine. Then we headed to the Bridal Veil Falls just out of Raglan...OMG, they are just stunning! It was my first visit too but I will certainly go back. I just loved the falls!


We decided to head off down a gravel road and our adventure brought us to Kawhia where we just had time for an ice cream and a look around before heading back to drop Olivia off at hostel then back to Tokoroa. A busy weekend.

AFS then organised another weekend trip, heading to Rotorua and Taupo, experiencing things like Zorb, Agroventures, Kuirau Park, Mitai Village and Redwoods. A visit to Wai-o-tapu was also planned and Taupo offered a bungy jump for anyone brave enough (not Alicia!) But she certainly gave everything else a go; getting involved in Kapa Haka and other school activities. There were two other exchange students here at the same time so there were combined trips and visits which I think made it more fun for Alicia.

 

We certainly enjoyed having her join our family for 8 weeks and hope we can keep in touch...I always wonder what they are up to and what they thought of their time in NZ. We provided a glimpse into a "Kiwi" family life - I hope Alicia enjoyed the experience!