Let's go back to late June which was when Caitlin came home from school wanting to be part of AFS and do a student exchange overseas! Hmmm, ok, but first it might be a good idea to HOST a student to get an idea of what is involved. So, very quickly, we applied and were accepted as a host family and we were suddenly expecting an addition to our family! Flore, a wonderful young lady from France, joined us on July 11 and quickly became a much-loved member of our family. She is only one day older than Caity! Thankfully, her English was pretty good so we didn't have too many language difficulties.
We spent most of our weekends showing her around parts of the North Island with trips to Mount Maunganui, Hamilton, Taupo, Rotorua and Auckland. Here are some photos of us out and about...
Flore, in Auckland, with Rangitoto Island in the background
Olivia, Flore and Briar at Hatupatu Rock, South Waikato
Of course, we just HAD to visit when we found this café in Taupo!
Trying her hand at milking!
At Wai-O-Tapu
Walking up Mount Maunganui
OK, so there is no-one in the last photo but it is the best photo I have of the most gorgeous place we discovered while Flore was with us. Kerosene Creek is a thermal stream that is just the perfect temperature for bathing in and is totally free. Just down the road from Wai-O-Tapu, it was the perfect place to hold a farewell afternoon for all the AFS students returning home at the beginning of September. It was very sad to say goodbye but we have wonderful memories of the time Flore was with us and we thank her parents for allowing her to travel to the other side of the world and be part of our family for eight weeks. She was an absolute delight to have-so cheerful, positive and helpful and so willing to be part of our family and NZ culture. She was the perfect start to our hosting experience and we hope to repeat the experience again one day soon.
