Waiwera

Waiwera, is a beach settlement about 50 km from Auckland which is highly popular for their spa/thermal spring.

Wednesday afternoon...after lunch we gather at City lodge, my work place at 1p.m. However, other than our manager, we still dont freaking know where we are going to ^.^

Robin from korea and Ina from brazil

Joel (hmm acually dont know where she;s from..maybe aus? Jason (NZ) and Jon from korea

My boss/manager Samuel from Switzerland/Italy

Me+sis in the van..After about ten mins, the 10 of us began our journey.. We were finally told that we are heading to Waiwera woohoo..well i havent been there but its quite a popular tourist destination/weekend getaway for aucklanders and ppl from around the area.
After about 30 mins drive, we finally arrived. Hmm still wondering what we are going to do here.I freaking hope its not like training camp or motivational lectures...ll DIE if it is...
The famous Waiwera thermal spa...apparently its a hot medicinal spring and many ppl comes here to take the 'cure'..
Arrived and chilling at YMCA Waiwera..oh did i mention city lodge belongs to YMCA? Anyway, we were told that today we were going to have a TEAM BONDING session.YMCA Waiwera had organized 'fun' activities for the day for our team bonding session to improved our teamwork and to get to know each other better outside our workplace.

First Event- Tracking

Our first activity of the day: Tracking....See that tall hill back there it might look short but its damm tall ok...and we are supposed to track up to the PEAK!!! &^%^%$ i cant remember the last time i did any exercise.

Me posing for my last pic just incase i dont make it back...

A closer look at the hill we're tracking.

Last briefing b4 we start.

Me+Sam

The last stretch up...

YESSSSSS after 30 mins of tracking i Cant believe i actually made it to the top...halfway through, i thought i would really die...Man I am so god damm unfit and my stamina is unbelievable..i think a 60 year old would beat me up here..sigh!Seriously need to start going to the gym...
Group photo....well done guys...i was actually the last one up..but thats because i was too busy taking photos for you guys ok.. ^.^

Orienteering

Ahem for those of you who dont know wat it is..Orienteering is "a competitive sport, originating in Sweden, that tests the skills of map reading and cross-country running, in which competitors race through an unknown area to find various checkpoints by using only a compass and topographical map, the winner being the finisher with the lowest elapsed time."

Well in our case we were given a map, which has little crosses on it which marks a checkpoint.

Well hidden among the bushes and trees was this, our checkpoint. We were divided into team of 5 and each team were given a map and a paper and upon finding the checkpoint we were to clip it with the red thingy and also copy the word/phrase on it. There was a total of 8 checkpoint and whoever finish it the fastest wins..BTw after completing all checkpoints, we were to and rearrange the words that we collected into one long phrase..
Halfway into the game, we still have time to take pics..hehe ^.^ btw it might seems easy to you but pls hor..the checkpoint is not sticking so openly on the ground..its hidden inside the bushes or behind trees like the ones on the right of the pic so its not easy to find at all...

The WINNING TEAM

Wahahaha...even while posing for the camera throughout the game..we manage to finish it first..phew it was super tiring..but i really enjoyed it. See all the happy faces... ^.^

" The artist is nothing without gift. But the gift is nothing without Work"

That was the phrase that we got at the end...

Scenary from the top of the hill...damm beautiful ya?

Group photos

Scenaries shot 2

Posing with the scenary ^.^
Random Shot 2 on the way back..it took us 2 hours in total to and back


After arriving back at YMCA, we were given 10 mins rest..b4 proceding to our next activities.

First mental challenge

The aim was to get the bottle out without anyone stepping into the red line which cant really be seen here.We were given 4 ropes and the ropes cannot touch the ground as each time the rope touch it will be taken away.Time limit: 20 mins..we failed miserably :(

2nd challenge

Hmm m getting quite lazy to explain every single activities :p Everyone thinking hard O.O

Me giving instructions? hehe

Robin carrying catheryn

Andrea our supervisor from brazil carrying robin

Andrea with Robin+ME rawrrr

Look at him go lol..There was about 5-6 activities that we did all togehter which are divided into mental and physical activities. But the camera was low on bat so we couldnt take anymore photos...but after about 3 hours, we finally completed everything. I was soooo physically drained..

Our manager then prepare a feast for us which is...........................................BBQ!!yay

Me helping out in the kitchen ^.^

Making garlic breads

Food

Preparing the food

Me+robin and samuel.

Yummy!!!

While waiting for the food..i hastily took some pics b4 the battery totally go flat..

The tide just came in...it was all dry b4 this. I want,i want a house by the lake/sea :)

The view is sooo nice, no? I think i would like to come here some time during the weekend just to relax and probably will try the spa the next time hehe

The YMCA ground

Samuel was our chef for the day..As mentioned, samuel is from the Italy part of Switzerland so he used italian herbs for every single thing lol..but seriously it taste damm good lor ^.^ Note to self: use italian herbs for any dish and barbeque it and it will taste good hehe

Hungry ppl enjoying the food

Us in the kitchen packing up

After about 8 hours of fun+tiring activities, we were finally heading back to auckland. I was already feeling sad ^.^ I had such a great time...hehe i guess this team bonding thing actually works huh lol I think everyone of us enjoyed it alot..

Definitely one of the best time i had since coming over to auckland..and to top it all off, i get paid NZD 13 dollar an hour for doing this....WAHHAAHAA BEAT THAT! ^.^

Peace out!