Can't believe that I am over half way of my exchange

Time flies so fast, I can't believe that I am over half way of my exchange. I have had really great time and met many nice people and traveled to beautiful places. I have really enjoyed being here, I think that I could live and work in here, as this is so similar to Finland. Being in here, has stronger my desire to live and work abroad, but it have to be English speaking country and England would be an easy choice.

2 weeks ago I started my second and last clinical placement. I am now at the Ward 53, which is children's medical ward. At first it was quite boring as I didn't have preceptor and only thing that I was allowed to do was to take vitals; pulse, respiration rate, temperature from the kids, nothing else. Now it has been little bit better as I have had my own patients, but I am not allowed to give any medication to them as I have done medicine management and calculations in here. I have been talking quite much with the parents, as they have been interested where I come from and why I am here. There are different age kids, from babies to teenagers. I like taking care of babies and toddlers, not that much with the teenagers. I will have chance to go to the day stay ward, where they do allergy testing etc. and also for the surgical ward, where is high dependency unit for children.

The past 2 weeks I haven't traveled anywhere, as I have saved money for the trip to Christchurch trough Wellington, Picton and Kaikoura. Last week I had Sunday and Monday off and on Sunday I went to Maungatautari, Sanctuary mountain, where is lots birds and nice walking tracks.

 I have been to Hamilton Gardens again, it was really nice as I didn't go everywhere last time when I was there. Then I have been watching the SuperRugby, it was not great game as it started to rain which meant that they will kick the ball much more. And also Chiefs lost by one point. 

More travels :)

Last week I had only 2 days at work, one day at NICU and the other day I spent with neonatal homecare nursing specialist. With that nurse we went to see 3 children at their homes. They all have been at the NICU before and now they are well enough to be home but still need some nursing care. One of the kids that we went to see, I was taking care of him in NICU, so it was really nice to see how the family is doing and coping with him at home. They we doing very well. 

Then rest of the week I was on holiday. I spent my days off planning my next trip as I have got the working schedule for the pediatric placement. I was not very happy about it as my day offs are mainly Sundays and Mondays :( I have managed to change my shifts a bit so I can have a holiday after 3 weeks of work. I have will do my next trip after Easter as I have 5 days off. My trip is Hamilton-Wellington-Picton-Kaikoura-Christchurch-Auckland-Hamilton. I will take the night bus to Wellington and spend a day there. Next morning I will take the ferry to Picton, where I have a couple hours to spend before I am off to Kaikoura. In there I am planning to go to swim with dolphins and then I will spend a day in Christchurch before I will fly to Auckland.

Last weekend I spent in Taupo, were I walked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and went to see Huka Falls and swimming in hot stream. Tongariro Alpine Crossing is about 19.4km walk to the top of the volcanos at the Tongariro national park. It is one of the must do's in New Zealand and one of the best day hikes in the world. It tooks 7 hours to complete but I did stop quite often to take lots of photos and just to enjoy the view. I would really recommend everyone who is coming to here to do it. It is early start and quite hard climb but the views are amazing. 

Mt Ngauruhoe 2287m. I didn't walk up this one. 

 The south crater in the middle.

 At the top of the red crater, 1886m.

Emerald lakes. 

Like I didn't walk enough on the Saturday at the tongariro crossing, I deciced to walk along to waikato river to the Huka Falls, which ended up to be about 15km round trip from my hostel. It was really nice, warm and sunny day and the views were great, too. Huka Falls are formed in the Waikato river, where the river is very narrow but the falls are not that deep. The water is really 

clear.

After all the walking it was nice to cool down and have swim around in the Waikato river and relax the aching muscles in the hot stream. The water was really warm that came from the stream but the water in the river was quite cool. The closer to the waterfalls, the hotter the water was but if it was too hot then I just moved closer to the river were the water was bit cooler. 

I had also Monday off, so I spent that in Raglan. Before I went there I bought tickets to see the All Blacks playing against England in Auckland. I also bought tickets for the chiefs SuperRugby match, which I am going to see with few of my friends. It was warm and sunny day, so I spent the whole day at the beach in Raglan as I don't think that there are going to be anymore days like that. It is start becoming winter in there so the weather is going to be cooler and it might rain more. 

This week and next week I am just going to spend in Hamilton or around it as I don't have any travel planned. I might just do some day trips but not sure where. 

Viikonloppu meni reissatessa.

Viime viikon perjantaina loppui harjoittelu vastasyntyneiden teholla, joten harvinainen vapaa viikonloppu meni reissussa. Kävin Mount Maunganuilla, joka on pikkukaupunki itä-rannikolla noin 1,5 tuntia Hamiltonista. Siellä olin lauantai päivän viettäen aikaa rannalla ja meressä uimassa. Oli ihan rentoutua rannalla ja nauttia viimeisistä kuumista/lämpimistä päivistä rannalla. 

Lauantai iltana ajettii Rotorualle, jonne kesti noin tunnin ajaa. Lauantain ilta meni SuoerRugbya katsellessa ja porealtaassa lilluessa. Sunnuntaina mentii katsomaan vähän luontoa, paria järveä sekä hieman kansallispuistoa. Iltapäivä meni Polynesian Spassa, jossa on monta erilaista kuumaa allasta, altaiden lämpötilat vaihtelivat 38-42 asteen välillä. Siellä oli ihana rentoutua, mutta se olisi ollut parempi jos ulkolämpötila olisi ollut hieman viileämpi kuin 25 astetta ja aurinko ei olisi paistanut niin kovin. Rotorualle, ei tehty nyt mitää turistijuttua, koska menen sinne vielä uudeelleen sitten kuin mun sisko tulee tänne visiitille.

Tulevana viikonloppuna menen Taupolle sekä jos sää sallii niin kävelemme Tongariro Alpine Crossing vaellusreitin, joka menee tulivuorien huipuille. 

Tiistaina 8.4 aloitan harjoittelun uudessa paikassa. Lasten sisätautien osastolla, jossa olen harjoittelussa 7 viikkoa. Mutta reissusta ja harjoittelusta lisää seuraavilla kerroilla kuin myös tulevasta reissusta Wellingtoniin, Pictoniin, Kaikouraan ja Christchruchiin.