Nalini's blog about the Diploma Trip for Margaret's text class

I really enjoyed our Diploma trip because the students are such a nice bunch! We were lucky not to get wet at the Cascades, and because the sky looked so threatening we just went for a 5 minute walk to see a huge Kauri tree. For a picture of a Kauri tree which looks much bigger than the one we saw, click on this link: http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/11698/te-matua-ngahere-223.jpg

I have provided a link instead of uploading a photo, because I found out this afternoon that we are not supposed to upload photos onto our blog unless they are our own photos!

Crystal Mountain was the next place we visited. You can find it by clicking here: http://www.crystalmountain.co.nz/ We saw many stunning pieces of crystal and rock, and a funny goat that came to eat lunch with us and scared Grace! I was delighted to try some food that my students gave me - a tasty pie from Nazi, something nice from Zainab which I think was a sort of curry in triangular pastry (I don't know what to call it), some colourful Korean sushi from Kay and some yummy food from Helen which I would call "a wrap" in English, although she probably has another name for it. Also, Margaret made some Afghan biscuits with icing and a walnut on top. In the end I didn't even have my own lunch because everybody kept giving me food and feeding me like the goat!! I bought a pretty purple crystal inside a rock for just $5 (very cheap!) to give to our secretary because she loves things like that. Apparently the stone is called "agate". If you follow this link: http://www.crystalmountain.co.nz/ShowPage.aspx?page=7 you can see a picture on the left which has a group of gifts and includes a tall grey rock with purple in the middle. This looks like the one I bought for Joy.

Thanks for a wonderful trip!