Mt. Maunganui and Hamilton

After Rotorua, we went to Mt. Maunganui, a little beach town with a fun little trail to hike up for scenic views (about a 20 minute climb- my kind of 'hike'!). There was a gorgeous beach with a volleyball tournament going on. At first I thought people were playing for fun and planned on jumping in, but then I saw that they were teams with matching suits on. Ah well.

Before the 'hike,' I climbed a little tree and was pretty pleased with myself. The entire trip, I've been acting like I'm 12...

Coming down the hike, seeing sheep and thinking it would be really funny if...

I could pet one!

BUT then they all ran away... my sheep farming ancestors were probably laughing.



Then we were off to Hamilton, where there is an LDS singles ward, as well as temple. I didn't know it was the second international LDS temple built (after Switzerland) back in the 40s!

With my tent-mate Makenna.

We did baptisms at the temple, and the next day we went to church at the building down the street.

After church, we had a linger-longer where we talked with the ward members. If you've read Elna Baker's book (which is hilarious- if you're Mormon, you will cry with laughter), she makes fun of them and the need for alliteration (Mix-N-Mingle, Chat-N-Chew, etc). On a whole they were really fun, although, it's true- LDS singles events are just as awkward anywhere you are in the world. Eesh.

The bishopric even pushed the 'green card' issue in Sacrament, saying "If you like something you see, go for it." Hilarious. Oh, Mormons...

At the 'Linger-Longer,' there was one notable super awkward but shamelessly forward guy who got 10 girls' information (I gave him a fake name to be funny to everyone else), and many of them received IDENTICAL emails (with names substituted) a few days later with date requests, with one of the selling points being that they probably wouldn't have any opportunities to date a lot of "indigenous people" here. Wow. We all DIED laughing.