Last few days in NYC

When we got back from DC I met up with friends from camp and headed out to Brooklyn where they were staying we all had a few drinks together then to bed. The next day we slept in and chilled out then got a subway out to the last stop at Coney Island, it’s a beach with a board walk and there are a hole load of shops and rides its like a carnival town! Kind of creepy all the rides looked super dodgy didn’t go on any of them, but they had like lots of food stalls and people selling things all down the boardwalk and there was a hand ball competition going on which looked very intense! We didn’t swim in the sea it was really hot but the water didn’t look that inviting!

The next day Anna and I got the subway into Time Square and just wondered around the shops in time square. And checked into the lovely hotel carter that night, we only had one power plug that we could use with our adaptor and our shower didn’t drain so when we showered we also got a bath at the same time which was super super gross!!!! That night we went out and met some of Simon’s friends from camp at a bar in SOHO.

The next day was Davis last day in New York he had to leave for the airport in the morning so we said goodbye to him then we went and brought our I heart NY t-shirts and Rach and I decided to be ultimate tourist and wear them along with matching shorts so our hole outfit was matching! We had been hassling everyone all week who had been wearing the t-shirts in NY but we thought it would be funny and it kind of was. We then walked down to Chelsea area and went on the high line which was an old railway line about 3 storeys above ground they used it for transporting produce and things in the city. But then they turned it in a boardwalk like walk and it looked out over the city it was very cool, very peaceful and relaxing. We then went to the Chelsea markets just like a row of little shops in building! When then got the subway up to upper Manhattan and went to Dylan’s Candy bar which was a huge huge shop full of candy yummy yummy! Then we went to Central Park and lay in the grass and had a nap for an hour or two! We then walked back to our hotel and had an early night sleep!

Last day in New York City we rolled around Time Square for a bit and went into M and M world and I got my New York shot glass. We then walked up 5^th avenue did a spot of shopping!!! Then continued on to MOMA the museum of modern art which was really cool we spent a few hours in there and had a free audio tour of some of the artwork which was good! We then headed back to the hotel and got ready to go out, a lot of people from Rach and Si camps were in New York and going out so we met up with them and went to the Mean Fiddler which was a really really good night out!

The next morning we got up and got a taxi to the airport for a long day of flying to the West Coast thank goodness we got out of the East Coast before this nasty hurricane hit!

xxxxxx

The White House

The White House…

Thursday the 18^th of August, we woke up early got organised and checked out of our hotel we walked to port authority and got on the Peter Pan bus at 8am to Washington D.C, very tightly crammed bus but there was free wifi so I wasn’t complaining, we got to D.C about 12.30pm we then went on a mission to get to our hotel, we walked down the street two blocks with all our luggage to the train station we stood staring at the map for about 10mins until we asked for help, only  cost $1.85 and one transfer and we made it to Foggy Bottom, two blocks away was our hotel the River Inn which was amazing! Kitchen, so much space, best shower ever! We were so hot and tired by the time we got to the hotel from lugging our luggage around we had to rest for a bit.

Then it was time to get walking yet again, we headed down to the waterfront and walked along the river to the Lincoln Memorial, what a huge building just for a statue but it was amazing, from the Lincoln memorial you look out over the reflecting pools, except they were all dug up which was kind of disappointing but it was still a good view. We then walked along to the World War 2 memorial and then up to the Washington Monument.

Every chance we got we took a rest it was so so hot and we had done a lot of walking, we couldn’t wait to get into an air conned museum, first stop was the Natural History Museum which was really cool, they even had the bones of a New Zealand Moa!

I really wanted to go into the Smithsonian Castle because I thought there was something exciting in there but turns out it’s a really cool building but it’s just and Info centre. We then went to the Air and Space museum which was fun. But we missed the National Museum of Art it was closed when we got there. After all the Museums we headed to the White House, at this point it started to rain and thunder and lightning, but we toughed it out and we waved to Barack and Michelle and had our photo, we then walked back down to our hotel, found a supermarket and got some food for dinner, the boys made us Nachos, we had a couple of drinks at the hotel then we wandered down the road to Georgetown which kind of reminds me of Parnell or Ponsonby.

Friday, Rach and I woke up and headed back down to Georgetown to go to Georgetown Cupcakes, they have a TV show on the food channel called DC cupcakes so we had to try them I got a lava fudge cupcake it was delish, we then headed back to the hotel to pack up and got back on the train to the bus station and here we are free wifi on the bus best invention ever! Back to NYC talk soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Empire State...

Finally made it to NYC…..

After a long flight (sitting on a stand still plane) I made it to New York, I got a cab and met Rach at the hotel in the lobby was so funny to finally see her again. Then we headed down to time square which was just round the corner we walked past hotel carter and I said oh heaps of people from camp are staying there and next thing you know I see three people from camp Natalie, Katie and Tom it was so bizarre then from the hotel comes Carl, Abbie and Jess was really cool to see them again and how crazy to bump into them in the big apple. We then walked thru time square to T.G.I.F were we met Simon, Leonie and Mike so cool to spend time with New Zealanders they said the word jandels and I expected someone to say no flip flops haha. We then went to a little bar and then back to the hotel about 2am ish.

Day One in the Empire State

We woke up about ten am and headed across the road from breakfast, we then caught the subway from time square down to Spring Street in Soho and walked around Soho, we nearly missed the Kardashian's store it had the smallest signs but we went inside and had a look around, we had to get let in by security and then they had another security guard inside, for a tiny shop it seems a bit extreme but I guess they are who they are and everyone knows them. We then continued to walk through Little Italy basically just a few streets with a lots of Italian restaurants and shops saw a lot of handbags, then we walked through Chinatown not that exciting just a street full of Chinese shops, from there we walked to the Brooklyn bridge which was super busy but it was so cool, we walked all the way to Brooklyn and went to a little pizza place which had a huge queue out the front but Rach and Si had already been so they knew to ring and order, we then got our pizza and headed down the street to Brooklyn Bridge park, we sat in the park overlooking the bridge and the city eating our pizza.

After lunch we then walked back across the bridge and down to the 9/11 Memorial Site where they have a lots of info and artefacts and the plans for what is being built there, it was really sad. We then walked past were ground zero was, it just looks like a giant building site. From there we walked around the waterfront to the ferry terminals and caught the free Staten Island ferry, we went right past the statue of Liberty then on the way back the sun was setting over the harbour it looked gorgeous. By this time we were all exhausted from all the walking we had done so it was nice to sit down.

When we got back to Manhattan we caught the subway up to Grand Central station and it was most defenelty Grand, didn’t realise it was as amazing as it was, for a train station it was beautiful. From there we walked up to the Empire State Building, the queue was seriously long to go up to the observatory deck but we toughed it out and made it up and we were so glad we did it was dark by this time and the city lights were amazing a 360 degree view of the city a definite must if you come to New York. From there we caught a taxi back to the hotel and chilled for a bit, then we headed down to McDs to use the internet, were I bumped into Natalie, Katie and Tom again such a big city yet I bumped into them twice. Then it was time for bed after our long day of walking.

Day Two in the big Apple..

We woke up similar time, got organised and then started walking this time we headed from the hotel up toward central park, we detoured thru Rockefeller centre which was so cool, in winter they had a ice skating rink in the middle, it is a bar in the summer, apparently they have the xmas lights there as well, we walked around then headed down 5^th Avenue, for those who love to shop this is the place to go all the big names, Prada, Gucci, Armani, Harry Winston, Trump Tower, we didn’t go into any shops but it was amazing just to walk down the street and see them all, we then found FAO Schwartz with the giant piano, so of course we had to have a play on it, they had some amazing toys in that shop, a Barbie foosball table if you’re willing for $25,000.

From there we headed across the road to the Plaza hotel Rach and I walked into the lobby it was very fancy if only we could afford to eat there. We then wondered over to Central Park, so amazing a huge big park in the middle of a giant city, there were lots of people there eating their lunch and sunbathing running thru the park, it was nice to walk thru the trees and the fresh air. We walked up about ¾ of the way then grabbed some lunch then headed back down the other side we stopped outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a photo then back into the park to find the boathouse and the mall (frequent movie appearances you’ll see from the photos) we then walked back to the hotel from central park, Rach, Si and Leonie headed down to lower Manhattan to have dinner with a friend and I caught up with my friends from camp for dinner, we went to planet Hollywood then to an Irish Pub.

Off to DC now will update asap, ps on the Bus to DC using the internet weird free WiFi loving it!!! xxx

Florida

Longest road trip of my life, went to this weird little area called South of the Border which was south of the border for South Carolina was so colourful and had some weird crazy shops and big Mexican statues (photos will explain). Then we got to Rachel’s apartment in Gainesville about 9.30pm and chilled out watch a movie then went to bed, the next day we went tubing down a spring which was so cool, we hired but inner tubes and literally floated down he river it was so relaxing and the water was delish as it was so hot, it took about an hour and a half but was so nice to do the water was really clear and there were lots of turtles along the way so a wicked day. We then headed to Rachs Uni the University of Florida and walked around and checked out the Swamp which is the football stadium it was huge, and was seriously hot this day. We also checked out the basketball stadium and pool complex very very flash. We then drove to Tampa to Rach’s dads place and we got some food and then went for a swim in the pool, the next day we all slept in late which was awesome so nice not to be told when we needed to wake up. So Friday we just chilled out by the pool all day was so relaxing and so hot thank god they have air con in the houses! Friday night we had drinks and played drinking games finally got to play beer pong which I had never played before and my team won! 

Saturday we had another nice lie in then we just chilled out as the weather wasn’t the greatest in the evening we went to a mall right in Tampa which was massive and really really flash and we then had dinner at a restaurant called the Cheesecake factory had a nice bit of steak which was really good! Sunday we went out for breakfast more like brunch then we headed to the beach, the weather said the temperature felt like 103 deg f which is so hot, the sea water temp said it was 31 deg Celsius and it felt like it not like the sea at home where it is usually cold to get into this was like stepping into a bath it was really nice though. We then went home and got showered and went to another beach to watch the sunset and had dinner at a restaurant on the beach was really nice, then just chilled out back at the house. I packed my suitcase ready to go in the morning!

Monday woke up got organised then got dropped at the airport got my flight from Tampa to DC fine then got to DC and got my connecting flight got on board taxied out onto the tarmac and sat on the plane for two hours then we went back to the gate and they told us our flight was cancelled so we had to get off the plane wait in a huge queue and re book our flight so I did all this re booked for the 6pm flight got on the plane and here we are sitting on the tarmac and have been for the past hour I was meant to arrive in NYC at 4.20pm today yet I am still in DC on a plane arghhhhh seriously frustrated. Apparently there are storms in NYC and I heard someone saying the subway was flooded so that is obviously why we haven’t arrived yet but hopefully we will get there tonight fingers crossed.

To be continued …………………………………………………..

Last week at Camp Emerson

Saturday we had our normal scheduled day and for our evening activity we had gold rush like first session except this time I got to stay in the lower camp section so no bandits stole my money. I was in red team this time around. Sunday again we had normal classes and then for evening activity we had cultural night, so during rest period Anna and I made Anzac biscuits and afghans ( we had people asking us why we were making racist biscuits haha) then after dinner we went back to set up our table we also had a bag of pineapple lumps which everyone loved, I had my NZ tattoos from home that I put on everyone especially those who had already gotten Australian ones, and we had a video playing of the haka so the dining hall was basically set up with different stalls all our of all the different countries. After that we all had to sing our national anthems so Anna, Tom and I sung ours but the music was so slow we were out of time most of it but it was fun.

Monday thru Thursday we had normal classes again one of the evening activities we had gladiator which was were all the hillcrest and explorers ( the oldest campers) dressed up and we had to battle them in different games so all of the daises Bunk A and Bunk B (my bunk) had to verse a few gladiators, was really fun but we got rained out (a storm was meant to arrive). The other nights we had a lower camp girls pool party but I had to lifeguard the hole time but that was ok, and we had another talent show which was really good one of my girls told jokes which was super cute and there were some other awesome acts.

Friday it was pack up day, we had a sleep late and then we packed all the kids stuff we had to help most of them but at least they didn’t have as much stuff as the 4 week girls. Then we had a free swim and it was then time to get dressed for banquet this time we went as gangsters, we had Marv’s diner for dinner at banquet again, then after banquet we went back to bunk and got changed into our club Emerson outfits, having the little daises we only stayed at club Emerson till 11pm then we went back to bunk and the girls had a bit of a slumber party and put their mattresses on the floor.

The next morning the explorers woke us up at 6.05am instead of 6.30am and they were so loud this time much louder than the first time around. Then it was time to go to breakfast then the kids that were going on buses left so yet another big tearful goodbye on the basketball courts, all of my girls got picked up by car, so we had a kind of visiting day from 11am till 2ish. After all the kids were gone we started packing up our areas we got in canoes and dragged the big inflatable toys around the lake back to shore which was actually kind of fun!!! We then had our last staff dinner together which was delish nice bits of meat was very good! Then we had our last staff party at club chameleon which was a really good night out as always! Then we got back to camp about 11.30pm ish and we did karaoke in the dining hall.

Sunday was the final clean up so we all headed to our areas and we just had to get all the pool stuff put away which didn’t take too long then we helped out the other areas and had a really good lunch, after lunch we were able to pack up our things and finish cleaning our bunk, then it was another goodbye, saying bye to all the staff which was really sad as I don’t know if I will ever see some of these people ever again so there were a lot of tears.

Then it was time to road trip to Florida…………………………………………..