www.JamFreaks.com

I've been back from New Zealand for about a month now and decided I'd better get all my memories & experiences down before I forget them. Above is a slide show of most of the pictures.

As you can see from the photos, NZ is such a beautiful place! Very green and lush. We spent most of our time in Auckland, but I hear there are many different climates and terrains within NZ. It was winter there. Someone told us it was one of the coldest winters they've had. Most days,  the high was about 60F...slightly colder than our winters.

There seemed to be birds everywhere we went, including INSIDE. One day, we were at Esquires (a cafe) and a bird came in and made a quick swoop for Mike's muffin. He missed, got embarrassed and flew off. There were always birds inside the restaurants... they were even in the mall.

We took a ferry around the harbor one day. We looked out the window and saw a bird flying next to us (picture above). He was obvious racing us and kept pace with our boat for a good 2-3 minutes. Then, he showed off and flew ahead of us.

The day after the filmings were over, I took bodyjam with Gandalf. Unfortunately, I got the time of the class wrong and didn't get there until it was half over. The part I did get to do, was soooooooo amazing! G took bits and pieces from the last few releases and tossed them all together and threw in a little free style funk. He is so talented and the energy in the room was like nothing before.

Gandalf always had a swarm of groupies attack him after every class, wanting to talk to him and get pictures of him. He always appeared to be in a big hurry to get somewhere. He's obviously a busy, busy guy. I ran into him a couple times on the streets while walking to/from the gym. Surreal.

The day after the filmings wrapped up, I went to jam class, which I thought was going to be taught by G, but Sara Robinson and another girl were teaching. They started off by saying, "we're going to do some stuff you may have not seen before." They were right....turns out it was bodyjam 50. I still can't figure out why most, if not all, of the class wouldn't have already seen or done it? Had the club not launched it yet? If so, why were they teaching it before launch? When class was mostly over, I noticed that Carla was at the back of the room and apparently was assessing the instructors to give them feedback. Cool.

The Les Mills Aukland club is essentially 2 buildings connected by a tunnel walkway. The club spans 4 stories and is very confusing. To get to studio a, you have to walk up a set of stairs, then down another set, through the tunnel, back up several sets....oh forget it, I'm still confused. Mike kept laughing at me cuz I would always get lost and turned around. They have an uh-mazing deli in the lobby with absolutely delicious dishes. I had a spinach pumpkin salad. I took some pictures of all the yummy choices. They also have a day spa right off the lobby. Mike and I went one day for a massage that was great. And, they've got a small clothing store, which has the exact same stuff with same pricing as online. I rarely saw anyone in there.

We took many walks up and down Queen's Street, which is filled with shops and restaurants. They have a couple of really cool intersections where, when the signal turns green to walk, you can go anywhere in the crosswalk, including diagonal. The first time we saw it, we were quite confused.

In NZ, they drive on the left side of the road. We didn't have a car and I'm glad, because it would have been too confusing. Even when crossing the street, we'd look the wrong way to check for oncoming traffic. One time we were trying to cross a street and a car was approaching. Mike was getting nervous that the driver wasn't even looking at us or the road. Then, he realized, he wasn't looking at the driver....he was looking at the passenger! Hahaha. They also WALK on the left side, such as going up and down the stairs.

The money also took some getting used to. It became a running joke that Mike would pay the wrong amount. It seemed like everytime he'd pay for something, he'd mess it up. He blamed it on the fact that their 50cent pieces look just like our quarters.

We did have a chance to go through the Auckland museum. That was cool. We liked all the culture and history of the Maori's. We even went to a presentation, where they talked a lot about the culture and showed us some of their songs and dances. We got some pretty good video of it.

The last day we were there, I had my Make More Freaks interview.  I got to go to NZTV (the local Tv station) for hair and makeup. I could go for that EVERYDAY! Then, we met the camera crew and headed to Victoria park. We had done a brief "rehearsal" the day prior, so I kind of new what to expect, but was still very nervous. I was interviewed by Ish, who plays "Max". He's a cool guy and it all went by very fast!

Afterwards, Mike and I headed over to the Victoria Market, which is kind of like a swap meet with all kinds of NZ tourist stuff. I wanted to find a little something to bring back to all my jammers, but didn't have much luck finding the perfect thing.

I spent a little time during the trip with the other Freaks winner, Dede. She was very sweet and had tons of awesome ideas on how to run a successful GF program. Her club is very lucky to have her.

The plane trip home wasn't too bad. I was really dreading it, but I just popped a dramamine and was nice and sleepy. In fact, I was trying to watch a movie (Knowing) and had to rewind it 6 different times to catch up on the spots where I dozed off.

Overall, this truly was a once in a lifetime experience. I had an amazing time and will cherish these memories for-ev-er! Thank you Les Mills!!!!!!!!!!

Raina is a local who blogs about all the tapings. She just made a post about the jam filiming and is obviously much better than I am with blogging. She's got lots of details and somehow captures the highs that you feel when you are there. Check it out....http://sweaty.mmmarshmallow.com/2009/08/body-jam-51.html.