The next two days pretty much ran together as they were our last two days in the South Island.
Day 14 started with Sarah driving for the first time from Lake Tekapo to Christchurch and let me tell you, I'm glad I was sleeping because I probably would have freaked out. Once we got into Christchurch we walked around a little bit to see what damage the earthquake at the beginning of the semester had done. It was absolutely terrifying to see the collapsed buildings and all the beautiful things that once stood on the ground in thousands of pieces. The whole city center was blocked by military to prevent people from entering. It was completely mind-boggling. After finding out there wasn't much to do in Christchurch and eating lunch, we headed off the Birdlings Flat which is a beach known for its stones. The ocean was vicious at this point and almost ate Becca on multiple occasions. I got some pretty need stones that just need a little polishing and they'll be gorgeous. After that, we ate fish and chips at this little diner and were off to find a place to sleep for the night.
Day 15 started with the short drive to Akaroa, just a little French settlement. Becca and Sarah explored while I slept in the car because I was still not feeling well from the night in the rain/ hail by Jack's Blowhole. Then we were headed back to the car rental building to turn in Ferdinand and head to the airport to head back to Auckland.
Once I arrived in Auckland I was happy to be in my own bed without the people I'd spent the last two weeks yet, but the funniest part was that the very next day we acted like we hadn't seen each other in years.
Overall, the trip was a blast and a lot of memories were made that I'll never forget. If any of you are planning on traveling to New Zealand, renting a car is the way to go, that way you can stop when you feel like it and keep driving if something doesn't sound interesting to you. If you decide to take a bus, then you're just NUTS.
Monday, June 6, 2011
South Island Trip Day #13
The morning started with a drive to Lake Pukaki which was like a milky color from all the clay runoff it got. It was absolutely gorgeous with the mountains in the background and the sun hitting the lake just right. We kept on driving to Mt. Cook where we would take a tramp up the Hooker Valley just far enough to get a good picture of Mt. Cook. I wasn't feeling well that day so the hike took a lot out of me and so I was happy when we got back into the car and headed towards Lake Tekapo for the night.
Once we got to Tekapo we walked around the lake and took lots of pictures and I even skipped stones like I did when I was a little kid. It was incredible to see the mountains and sun reflect of the lake and it created a beautiful picture. We were off to find a place to sleep for the night and it turns out so were some other vehicles so we all ended up parked together :)
Once we got to Tekapo we walked around the lake and took lots of pictures and I even skipped stones like I did when I was a little kid. It was incredible to see the mountains and sun reflect of the lake and it created a beautiful picture. We were off to find a place to sleep for the night and it turns out so were some other vehicles so we all ended up parked together :)
South Island Trip Day #12
We were going to go to the only castle in New Zealand that morning, but it turns out it's 27 bucks to get it. Not really worth it, so we just decided to leave Dunedin. So it was off to Shag Point! and we finally got to see sea lions!!!!!!!!!! They were so cute just laying on the rocks sunbathing :) That's the life I want to live.
Then we went to the Moeraki Boulders which are featured in The Chronicles of Narnia: Journey of the Dawn Treader. They were probably my favorite part about the South Island. I loved being able to walk along the beach and climb all over these boulders which just happened to be placed in the ocean of no apparent reason. If you want to learn more, I suggest you wiki them because they are a strange monument that nobody knows why they are in existence.
After the Boulders we were off to Oamaru to see some penguins, we paid to go into the blue penguin colony where we saw two penguins that were molting. Then we saw a giant sea lion who we named Stanley just chilling on the wharf deciding whether he wanted to go back for a swim or not. Eventually he decided to go for it and left us. After we headed to the yellow- eyed penguin lookout in hopes of catching a few penguins leaving the ocean for shore for the night. We waited forever in the cold for them to come and the first one that came out we missed because we were in the wrong spot. After that I decided to go back to the car because I was extremely cold and not feeling all that well. The other two came back and said that four more came on shore and that they got some pictures, so I just looked at those. All I really wanted to see that day was sea lions and I got my wish.
Then it was time for McDonald's, which usually I hate, but that night I really, really enjoyed it and we were off to Mt. Cook for the next day's adventures.
Then we went to the Moeraki Boulders which are featured in The Chronicles of Narnia: Journey of the Dawn Treader. They were probably my favorite part about the South Island. I loved being able to walk along the beach and climb all over these boulders which just happened to be placed in the ocean of no apparent reason. If you want to learn more, I suggest you wiki them because they are a strange monument that nobody knows why they are in existence.
After the Boulders we were off to Oamaru to see some penguins, we paid to go into the blue penguin colony where we saw two penguins that were molting. Then we saw a giant sea lion who we named Stanley just chilling on the wharf deciding whether he wanted to go back for a swim or not. Eventually he decided to go for it and left us. After we headed to the yellow- eyed penguin lookout in hopes of catching a few penguins leaving the ocean for shore for the night. We waited forever in the cold for them to come and the first one that came out we missed because we were in the wrong spot. After that I decided to go back to the car because I was extremely cold and not feeling all that well. The other two came back and said that four more came on shore and that they got some pictures, so I just looked at those. All I really wanted to see that day was sea lions and I got my wish.
Then it was time for McDonald's, which usually I hate, but that night I really, really enjoyed it and we were off to Mt. Cook for the next day's adventures.
South Island Trip Day #11
Day 11 started with Jack's Blowhole, which was..... you guessed it, ANTICLIMACTIC!
In the words of Becca it was "Jack's Blowhole, mostly without the blow" and in the words of Sarah "Jack's slightly inland water filled ravine". It pretty much sucked.
After Waipapa Point the day before, I was on a mission to see sea lions and Sarah was on a mission to see penguins so we stopped at Nugget Point to see if we could spot either, but of course, nothing but it was an absolutely gorgeous view of the ocean!
Then we were off to Dunedin which is a cute little college town known for it's architecture, Cadbury World, and Speights Brewery. By this point, we were cold and tired and all we wanted to do was sleep. That didn't actually happen, but I'm not allowed to tell you what did happen, so we'll go with we were in bed by 8pm and woke up nice and refreshed the next morning :)
In the words of Becca it was "Jack's Blowhole, mostly without the blow" and in the words of Sarah "Jack's slightly inland water filled ravine". It pretty much sucked.
After Waipapa Point the day before, I was on a mission to see sea lions and Sarah was on a mission to see penguins so we stopped at Nugget Point to see if we could spot either, but of course, nothing but it was an absolutely gorgeous view of the ocean!
Then we were off to Dunedin which is a cute little college town known for it's architecture, Cadbury World, and Speights Brewery. By this point, we were cold and tired and all we wanted to do was sleep. That didn't actually happen, but I'm not allowed to tell you what did happen, so we'll go with we were in bed by 8pm and woke up nice and refreshed the next morning :)
South Island Trip Day #10
ANTICLIMACTIC DAY!!!!!!!!!
Pretty much everything we did this day just sucked. When we were in the car, the sun was out and it was nice and beautiful but as soon as we stepped out, it was windy and raining. Pretty much, New Zealand just hated us this day.
Now for the list of uneventful stops:
1. Slope Point- The most southern point of the south island of New Zealand. It was pretty cool, but windy and cold and raining.
2. Waipapa Point- Went here to see sea lions...... FAIL
3. Fossil Forest- just a bunch of stairs leading to the beach...... WTF?
4. Niagara Falls, NZ- nothing like the Niagara Falls in NY, not that I've ever been, but this was a couple rocks in the middle of a stream. The guy who named it, thought it would be funny after seeing the monstrosity of the falls in the US.
5.McLean Falls- the falls that should have been named Niagara Falls, NZ because at least there was a waterfall.
After those 5 uneventful stops we decided to quit for the night, so we drove around to find a place to park and it was raining and we were driving on a scary gravel road that was close to the ocean and once again Sarah has terrible night time car etiquette so Becca forces her to sing Disney songs :)
We parked close to Jack's Blowhole so we could go the next morning even though it would probably be uneventful because we got their the night before and we literally had the worst night of sleep humanly possible. It rained and was freezing and I'm pretty sure that it even hailed at one point in the night.
Holy crap.... it was just a terrible day!!!!
Pretty much everything we did this day just sucked. When we were in the car, the sun was out and it was nice and beautiful but as soon as we stepped out, it was windy and raining. Pretty much, New Zealand just hated us this day.
Now for the list of uneventful stops:
1. Slope Point- The most southern point of the south island of New Zealand. It was pretty cool, but windy and cold and raining.
2. Waipapa Point- Went here to see sea lions...... FAIL
3. Fossil Forest- just a bunch of stairs leading to the beach...... WTF?
4. Niagara Falls, NZ- nothing like the Niagara Falls in NY, not that I've ever been, but this was a couple rocks in the middle of a stream. The guy who named it, thought it would be funny after seeing the monstrosity of the falls in the US.
5.McLean Falls- the falls that should have been named Niagara Falls, NZ because at least there was a waterfall.
After those 5 uneventful stops we decided to quit for the night, so we drove around to find a place to park and it was raining and we were driving on a scary gravel road that was close to the ocean and once again Sarah has terrible night time car etiquette so Becca forces her to sing Disney songs :)
We parked close to Jack's Blowhole so we could go the next morning even though it would probably be uneventful because we got their the night before and we literally had the worst night of sleep humanly possible. It rained and was freezing and I'm pretty sure that it even hailed at one point in the night.
Holy crap.... it was just a terrible day!!!!
South Island Trip Day #9
The morning was beautiful. It started off with a gorgeous sunrise and Starbucks muffins.... yummy. Then we were off to the beach for the day. Well.... it wasn't really a beach, more like lots of rocks that jetted out into the ocean that you could climb on and have fun and not get wet unless you really wanted to. Which we didn't really want to because it was freezing cold. So we walked around on them and sang Beatles songs :)
And apparently, there is a Beatles song for every occasion :)
Then Sarah decided she wanted to almost die. She wanted to climb across the rocks to a bit of beach where her and Becca could swim but she fell while climbing across and almost, positively gave herself a concussion. Scary shit.
After leaving the beach, we decided to head to the Bluff Scenic Reserve to eat some lunch and while there, we met a local man whose mom was the last arranged marriage between the Dunedin and Christchurch Maori tribes. He had been away living in England since he was 17 and this was only his second time being back in all that time!! Talk about crazy!!
Oh and for those of you who don't know, Bluff is the southern most city of New Zealand. It's known for it's oyster industry and for having a playful strait Faveaux.
We then said goodbye to Bluff and headed back to Invercargill for a night with our Starbucks friends. We had a good time and we happy to have met and hung out with some real Kiwi's. Then it was off to bed for the night to continue on our journey early the next day.
And apparently, there is a Beatles song for every occasion :)
Then Sarah decided she wanted to almost die. She wanted to climb across the rocks to a bit of beach where her and Becca could swim but she fell while climbing across and almost, positively gave herself a concussion. Scary shit.
After leaving the beach, we decided to head to the Bluff Scenic Reserve to eat some lunch and while there, we met a local man whose mom was the last arranged marriage between the Dunedin and Christchurch Maori tribes. He had been away living in England since he was 17 and this was only his second time being back in all that time!! Talk about crazy!!
Oh and for those of you who don't know, Bluff is the southern most city of New Zealand. It's known for it's oyster industry and for having a playful strait Faveaux.
We then said goodbye to Bluff and headed back to Invercargill for a night with our Starbucks friends. We had a good time and we happy to have met and hung out with some real Kiwi's. Then it was off to bed for the night to continue on our journey early the next day.
South Island Trip Day #8
MAVORA LAKES!!!
Well that's what we would have seen if it had not been foggier than a mug outside. It was still pretty cool though because it really did look Lord of the Rings style. We went for a bit of a tramp along the North Mavora Lake but I wasn't really wearing proper shoe attire to tramp 3 hours to the South Lake. Turns out, walking across uneven ground in Converse for a long time kills your feet. So back to the car we went!...... After crossing a creepy swing bridge for the second time that day.
The drive back to the main highway was pretty much a living hell. I guess in New Zealand their idea of a gravel road is a road that has approximately 8 inches of gravel that isn't really gravel but instead giant boulders. Don't worry, I only almost went in the ditch twice..... and I wasn't even driving fast! The first time, I admit, I was going a bit fast and got sucked in a little bit and bounced of some weeds and maybe a little bit of ground, but the second time. Not my fault. The gravel just suuuuuckkkkked me in all the way to the side, where Ferdinand was basically waist deep in the gravel. Getting out was easy, but the noise that he made when we were stopped was not normal or pretty, so we lifted the hood to check out what was going on. I know a little bit about cars, thanks to my dad, but not really enough to determine if something is actually wrong, but looking inside the hood, all I saw was rocks and loooooots of them. So I decided to keep driving to shake some of the rocks loose and in the next town, if the car was still making the noise, we would stop at a mechanic. After driving probably 15ish km and shaking out a bunch of rocks (I'm sorry if your windshield chipped as a result of me), the car was still making that noise so we stopped at a tiny mechanic where the man who helped us was an adorable, giant, blonde man. The conversation there went a bit like this:
SARAH: *between laughs*--So we were like driving on this gravel road and our car started making really scary noises and we just like really need you to tell us if the noise is really that scary or not.
Him: what kind of noise is your car making?
ME: *after looking at the others* -- well.... it's growling
Him: it's growling??
ME: yep... growling
He was looking at us like we were absolutely crazy, but then he started the car up and realized that it was actually growling. So what does he do? He puts the car on the lift and gets this tool thing out and just removes about 20 pounds of rock between the engine and engine suspension. :) So I was right about the rocks, but not about the quantity that was stuck in there.
After leaving the mechanic, we were off to Invercargill, or the deep south as I once heard it called, for the night. Once we arrived in Invercargill, we snuck onto a holiday park to use their shower facilities. That was an interesting experience. Then we were off to Queen's Park in the city center to enjoy the botanical gardens and the amazing aviary. Of course, this is where my camera would decide to die so we decided to head downtown to find an internet cafe to email our families and charge our batteries. We didn't find an internet cafe but we did find a Starbucks and thank goodness we went there. We ended up with sacks and sacks of food that was just going to be thrown out that night and the two girls working were extremely nice. They invited us to hang out the next night with them and some of their friends, so we agreed because it's not very often you get an invitation to hang out with people you just met, especially in New Zealand. After leaving Starbucks we went to get some dinner and ended up eating a whole roasted chicken and a bowl of mashed potatoes. It was sooo delicious and really hit the spot after eating canned chicken sandwiches and chips for the last 3 days.
The next day we were off to Bluff.
Well that's what we would have seen if it had not been foggier than a mug outside. It was still pretty cool though because it really did look Lord of the Rings style. We went for a bit of a tramp along the North Mavora Lake but I wasn't really wearing proper shoe attire to tramp 3 hours to the South Lake. Turns out, walking across uneven ground in Converse for a long time kills your feet. So back to the car we went!...... After crossing a creepy swing bridge for the second time that day.
The drive back to the main highway was pretty much a living hell. I guess in New Zealand their idea of a gravel road is a road that has approximately 8 inches of gravel that isn't really gravel but instead giant boulders. Don't worry, I only almost went in the ditch twice..... and I wasn't even driving fast! The first time, I admit, I was going a bit fast and got sucked in a little bit and bounced of some weeds and maybe a little bit of ground, but the second time. Not my fault. The gravel just suuuuuckkkkked me in all the way to the side, where Ferdinand was basically waist deep in the gravel. Getting out was easy, but the noise that he made when we were stopped was not normal or pretty, so we lifted the hood to check out what was going on. I know a little bit about cars, thanks to my dad, but not really enough to determine if something is actually wrong, but looking inside the hood, all I saw was rocks and loooooots of them. So I decided to keep driving to shake some of the rocks loose and in the next town, if the car was still making the noise, we would stop at a mechanic. After driving probably 15ish km and shaking out a bunch of rocks (I'm sorry if your windshield chipped as a result of me), the car was still making that noise so we stopped at a tiny mechanic where the man who helped us was an adorable, giant, blonde man. The conversation there went a bit like this:
SARAH: *between laughs*--So we were like driving on this gravel road and our car started making really scary noises and we just like really need you to tell us if the noise is really that scary or not.
Him: what kind of noise is your car making?
ME: *after looking at the others* -- well.... it's growling
Him: it's growling??
ME: yep... growling
He was looking at us like we were absolutely crazy, but then he started the car up and realized that it was actually growling. So what does he do? He puts the car on the lift and gets this tool thing out and just removes about 20 pounds of rock between the engine and engine suspension. :) So I was right about the rocks, but not about the quantity that was stuck in there.
After leaving the mechanic, we were off to Invercargill, or the deep south as I once heard it called, for the night. Once we arrived in Invercargill, we snuck onto a holiday park to use their shower facilities. That was an interesting experience. Then we were off to Queen's Park in the city center to enjoy the botanical gardens and the amazing aviary. Of course, this is where my camera would decide to die so we decided to head downtown to find an internet cafe to email our families and charge our batteries. We didn't find an internet cafe but we did find a Starbucks and thank goodness we went there. We ended up with sacks and sacks of food that was just going to be thrown out that night and the two girls working were extremely nice. They invited us to hang out the next night with them and some of their friends, so we agreed because it's not very often you get an invitation to hang out with people you just met, especially in New Zealand. After leaving Starbucks we went to get some dinner and ended up eating a whole roasted chicken and a bowl of mashed potatoes. It was sooo delicious and really hit the spot after eating canned chicken sandwiches and chips for the last 3 days.
The next day we were off to Bluff.
South Island Trip Day #7
Day 7 was the big day at Milford Sound. For those of you who don't know, Milford Sound is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. You get to see the ocean, cool wildlife and find cool shells on the beach..... that is if it isn't raining, which is does, 364/365 days a year, and if you aren't being attacked by sandflies the entire day.
We arrived that morning after making a quick stop at The Chasm, which was cool, but it was down pouring and cold so probably not worth the 20 minute hike in the long run. After the stop at The Chasm, we drove through Homer Tunnel which was dug by like 5 guys over a long period of time (if you're more interested, I suggest you wiki it) and then finally we arrived at Milford and what was it doing outside...... you guessed it...... pouring!!! So we went on a short hike to get the "big view" of Milford and we couldn't see anything through all the fog and the giant raindrops falling from the sky. After the descend we went into the information center to dry off a bit and to see how much the Milford Cruise costs (super expensive, but from what I hear, worth it) and we decided against going and just sat in the car to see if the rain would clear off so we could get an actual view of the sound.
Turns out, the waiting served us well. At about 2pm (after waiting about 3 hours) the rain finally stopped and the clouds disappeared for the most part. Turns out, when people say that Milford is gorgeous, they aren't lying. It was absolutely gorgeous! Words really can't describe the landscape so I'll post a picture for you to feast your eyes upon!
Not too bad, aye?
After saying goodbye to Milford after spending hours looking for shells on the beach, we started the drive back to Te Anau, but on the way we wanted to stop at Mirror Lakes and eat dinner. Mirror Lakes was pretty awesome. It gave us the view that Lake Matheson would have given us if it hadn't been so ridiculously cloudy the day that we went there. Another cool thing about Mirror Lakes were the little duck like creatures called scaups. These things will actually dive underwater for like 20-30 seconds and then just pop back up in some other place. We got lots of amusement from watching them dive down and then pop back up.
We then left Mirror Lakes to head to Mavora Lakes for the next day. For those of you who don't know, Mavora Lakes is where they shot parts of the the Lord of the Rings Triology. But.... while driving there, we saw the most beautiful sight at Te Anau Lake (the one we ate dinner at the night before). The light was hitting the lake in the most gorgeous way that it actually turned the lake an extremely blue color that was almost as beautiful as Milford was (for pictures, check out facebook). After leaving the lake, we were definitely on our way to Mavora Lakes but of course there was going to be one more stop. And what was that stop for, you ask? It was for Becca to chase a sheep down the road in order to take a picture. Her exact words upon re-entering the car "I did not get the picture, but I did chase it and scare it that way."
You've read it folks, my best friend, is a sheep chasing freak.
We arrived that morning after making a quick stop at The Chasm, which was cool, but it was down pouring and cold so probably not worth the 20 minute hike in the long run. After the stop at The Chasm, we drove through Homer Tunnel which was dug by like 5 guys over a long period of time (if you're more interested, I suggest you wiki it) and then finally we arrived at Milford and what was it doing outside...... you guessed it...... pouring!!! So we went on a short hike to get the "big view" of Milford and we couldn't see anything through all the fog and the giant raindrops falling from the sky. After the descend we went into the information center to dry off a bit and to see how much the Milford Cruise costs (super expensive, but from what I hear, worth it) and we decided against going and just sat in the car to see if the rain would clear off so we could get an actual view of the sound.
Turns out, the waiting served us well. At about 2pm (after waiting about 3 hours) the rain finally stopped and the clouds disappeared for the most part. Turns out, when people say that Milford is gorgeous, they aren't lying. It was absolutely gorgeous! Words really can't describe the landscape so I'll post a picture for you to feast your eyes upon!Not too bad, aye?
After saying goodbye to Milford after spending hours looking for shells on the beach, we started the drive back to Te Anau, but on the way we wanted to stop at Mirror Lakes and eat dinner. Mirror Lakes was pretty awesome. It gave us the view that Lake Matheson would have given us if it hadn't been so ridiculously cloudy the day that we went there. Another cool thing about Mirror Lakes were the little duck like creatures called scaups. These things will actually dive underwater for like 20-30 seconds and then just pop back up in some other place. We got lots of amusement from watching them dive down and then pop back up.
We then left Mirror Lakes to head to Mavora Lakes for the next day. For those of you who don't know, Mavora Lakes is where they shot parts of the the Lord of the Rings Triology. But.... while driving there, we saw the most beautiful sight at Te Anau Lake (the one we ate dinner at the night before). The light was hitting the lake in the most gorgeous way that it actually turned the lake an extremely blue color that was almost as beautiful as Milford was (for pictures, check out facebook). After leaving the lake, we were definitely on our way to Mavora Lakes but of course there was going to be one more stop. And what was that stop for, you ask? It was for Becca to chase a sheep down the road in order to take a picture. Her exact words upon re-entering the car "I did not get the picture, but I did chase it and scare it that way."
You've read it folks, my best friend, is a sheep chasing freak.
Monday, May 16, 2011
South Island Trip Day #6
Good morrrning!!!!
This day starts with Becca on a hanglide trip. She was supposed to leave us the key to the car and her room key for the hostel but didn't actually do either of those so when we went to check out at 10, we couldn't technically check her out and we had to explain to the people working at the front desk that we were leaving and had all of her stuff out of the room but that she wasn't able to be there to turn in her key because she was floating in the air like a bird. NBD. So Sarah and I head out to wander the town because we can't load anything into the car because we think that Becca has the keys and that means that we aren't able to leave Queenstown to go explore the small places around the city. So what do we do..... we get a hot dog and chips and go lay on the brick wall that overlooks Lake Wakitipu and stare and the Asian tourists giving their stereotypical peace sign pictures with their iPhone. Talk about hilarious. We then get a text message from Becca saying that she's on her way back from hangliding and asking us where she should meet us. We tell her that she's got the keys so we haven't been able to go anywhere and she says she swears she doesn't have them. Turns out, Sarah has had the keys in her purse the entire morning and we could have been exploring cool things instead of gawking at Asian tourists. We go and get the car, load it up and then head off to Arrowstown, a small town north of Queenstown. We first stopped at Coronet Peak where Becca spent the morning and just looked at the beautiful landscape and view of Queenstown from atop this gorgeous mountain. Then it was off to Arrowstown. I wasn't feeling well at this point so I decided to take a nap on a hillside while the others were off exploring the little colony. Let me tell you... it was probably the best I had slept the entire trip!!!
After Arrowstown, we started for Te Ana, the last place you can get food or gas before Milford Sound. We had to drive through all of this little bity towns to get to Te Anau and I spent most of the day sleeping across the backseat. Motion sickness was killer!!! At one point Sarah turns around and says "Dakota, sit up and put your seat belt on, there's a cop" and I was like "are we getting pulled over" and she goes "yep". So I sit up quickly and put my seat belt just as the cop was approaching the window. In New Zealand, if someone isn't wearing a seat belt, that person gets fined and the driver of the car gets fined so it was a good thing Sarah was looking out. The police woman starts talking to Becca about how she was speeding and how her license was about to expire and how she was going to write her a ticket. Holy crap did I feel bad!!!!!!....but it did provide us with something to laugh about for the rest of the trip because it happened in the smallest town with nobody around. From them on... we referred to it as "stupid Mossburn" About an hour later we arrived in Te Anau, headed to the grocery store to get some food for our trek to Milford and sat by the Lake Te Anau just at sunset to enjoy the last bit of sun on the lake. We then left Te Anau to get as close to Milford as possible to camp for the night and we found a cute little campsite that was like 5 bucks a person to stay at. Luckily for us, Sarah put the envelope in the wrong place so we ended up getting our money back the next day. That night, sleep was rough because it rained all night long. The cold and loud of the rain, along with the uncomfortableness of the car made it fairly difficult to sleep for the night but we were determined to be well rested for the next day at Milford Sound.
This day starts with Becca on a hanglide trip. She was supposed to leave us the key to the car and her room key for the hostel but didn't actually do either of those so when we went to check out at 10, we couldn't technically check her out and we had to explain to the people working at the front desk that we were leaving and had all of her stuff out of the room but that she wasn't able to be there to turn in her key because she was floating in the air like a bird. NBD. So Sarah and I head out to wander the town because we can't load anything into the car because we think that Becca has the keys and that means that we aren't able to leave Queenstown to go explore the small places around the city. So what do we do..... we get a hot dog and chips and go lay on the brick wall that overlooks Lake Wakitipu and stare and the Asian tourists giving their stereotypical peace sign pictures with their iPhone. Talk about hilarious. We then get a text message from Becca saying that she's on her way back from hangliding and asking us where she should meet us. We tell her that she's got the keys so we haven't been able to go anywhere and she says she swears she doesn't have them. Turns out, Sarah has had the keys in her purse the entire morning and we could have been exploring cool things instead of gawking at Asian tourists. We go and get the car, load it up and then head off to Arrowstown, a small town north of Queenstown. We first stopped at Coronet Peak where Becca spent the morning and just looked at the beautiful landscape and view of Queenstown from atop this gorgeous mountain. Then it was off to Arrowstown. I wasn't feeling well at this point so I decided to take a nap on a hillside while the others were off exploring the little colony. Let me tell you... it was probably the best I had slept the entire trip!!!
After Arrowstown, we started for Te Ana, the last place you can get food or gas before Milford Sound. We had to drive through all of this little bity towns to get to Te Anau and I spent most of the day sleeping across the backseat. Motion sickness was killer!!! At one point Sarah turns around and says "Dakota, sit up and put your seat belt on, there's a cop" and I was like "are we getting pulled over" and she goes "yep". So I sit up quickly and put my seat belt just as the cop was approaching the window. In New Zealand, if someone isn't wearing a seat belt, that person gets fined and the driver of the car gets fined so it was a good thing Sarah was looking out. The police woman starts talking to Becca about how she was speeding and how her license was about to expire and how she was going to write her a ticket. Holy crap did I feel bad!!!!!!....but it did provide us with something to laugh about for the rest of the trip because it happened in the smallest town with nobody around. From them on... we referred to it as "stupid Mossburn" About an hour later we arrived in Te Anau, headed to the grocery store to get some food for our trek to Milford and sat by the Lake Te Anau just at sunset to enjoy the last bit of sun on the lake. We then left Te Anau to get as close to Milford as possible to camp for the night and we found a cute little campsite that was like 5 bucks a person to stay at. Luckily for us, Sarah put the envelope in the wrong place so we ended up getting our money back the next day. That night, sleep was rough because it rained all night long. The cold and loud of the rain, along with the uncomfortableness of the car made it fairly difficult to sleep for the night but we were determined to be well rested for the next day at Milford Sound.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
South Island Trip Day #5
Day 5 was pretty uneventful. We laid around for most of the day, did a bit of laundry, and went for a walk around the town. Then our hostel had free dinner that was delicious and a $1000 bar tab at a local bar for all the people staying in the hostel. Before we headed to the bar a friend from school walks into the hostel and we find out that he's staying in our room. Talk about strange. We also met two other people who were moving into our hostel who had met Brock, our friend, on a Milford Sound track a few days before.
Talk about a crazy turn of events. The next day we would be off to Te Anau before heading to Milford Sound.
Talk about a crazy turn of events. The next day we would be off to Te Anau before heading to Milford Sound.
South Island Trip Day #4
The day had finally come for the first time since we'd left Auckland that we were finally going to...... you guessed it....... SHOWER!!! We woke up at sunrise yet again and all we had on our minds was that nice hot shower and finally getting clean, but then we realized we couldn't actually check into our hostel until 9 am so we drove to the lakefront and just sat there. Well stupid me forgot to turn the lights off and the car died, while we were sitting in front of a group of people who I then had to go ask if I could borrow some jumper cables (really a rental car without jumpers.... that should definitely be included). After a few attempts I finally came across a German boy and and Austrian girl who had a set of jumpers and were willing to help us get our car started back up. The girl comforted us by telling us that their car had died like their second day into their trip. At 9 we then headed to the hostel where we found out that we couldn't actually get into our room until 2pm. Sweet. Luckily, they were nice enough to let us use the showers before we were headed out to wander around Queenstown.
Queenstown is probably one of the cutest little towns I've ever seen. It's full of tiny little shops, gorgeous architecture and wonderfully nice people. We first went just walking around and then we saw a couple of souvenir shops to go into to get some things for back home. While walking we saw the first Mexican restaurant in all of New Zealand. I swear to you that they are nowhere to be found here. Thai, Chinese, Indian..... all over the place.... but Mexican, nowhere. After seeing the restaurant, we knew we had to eat dinner there for Sarah's birthday and then we sent her off on her skydiving adventure. While she was gone Becca and I did some more roaming around until it was finally time to check into our hostel. Once we got there we met all 9 of our hostelmates. The rest of the day was pretty boring. We laid around and got ready for a night out because we had heard about a blindfolded bar crawl that our hostel was putting on and we knew we had to do it.
First we headed to dinner at the Mexican restaurant for Sarah's birthday where I had the tastiest enchiladas of my life. It was soo nice to finally have Mexican in my life again. After that we were off to get some green monster (for those of you who want to know, message me and I'll tell you all about it) and then it was off to the blindfolded bar crawl which was a crazy experience and something I don't think I would do again. Somehow being led across a strange town in a line of people just freaks me out. :) Then it was home for the night to get up and explore some more the next day.
Queenstown is probably one of the cutest little towns I've ever seen. It's full of tiny little shops, gorgeous architecture and wonderfully nice people. We first went just walking around and then we saw a couple of souvenir shops to go into to get some things for back home. While walking we saw the first Mexican restaurant in all of New Zealand. I swear to you that they are nowhere to be found here. Thai, Chinese, Indian..... all over the place.... but Mexican, nowhere. After seeing the restaurant, we knew we had to eat dinner there for Sarah's birthday and then we sent her off on her skydiving adventure. While she was gone Becca and I did some more roaming around until it was finally time to check into our hostel. Once we got there we met all 9 of our hostelmates. The rest of the day was pretty boring. We laid around and got ready for a night out because we had heard about a blindfolded bar crawl that our hostel was putting on and we knew we had to do it.
First we headed to dinner at the Mexican restaurant for Sarah's birthday where I had the tastiest enchiladas of my life. It was soo nice to finally have Mexican in my life again. After that we were off to get some green monster (for those of you who want to know, message me and I'll tell you all about it) and then it was off to the blindfolded bar crawl which was a crazy experience and something I don't think I would do again. Somehow being led across a strange town in a line of people just freaks me out. :) Then it was home for the night to get up and explore some more the next day.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
South Island Trip Day #3
Day 3 was jam packed full of activities! For starters it was Sarah's birthday so she busted out the tiara immediately (and wore it non-stop for 2 days). Our day began at Knight's Point on the West coast which had an absolutely gorgeous lookout over the Tasman Sea! Let me tell you... from here, it looked as if the Tasman went on forever!!!! Then we were off to Ship Creek. Ship Creek had everything going for it: awesome rocks on the beach, beautiful sea, dolphins, cool rocks to climb on and crashing waves... but, it did have one thing going against it. SANDFLIES. They're like mosquitoes but the bites hurt for 10x longer and are 10x itchier. But don't worry, I only walked away with 23 of them on one foot. :o The rest of the days activities were dependent on the one goal we had in mind..... make it to Queenstown by sunset.
We stopped at Lake Wanaka which was absolutely gorgeous in every aspect. The water was crystal clear blue, the mountains were in the background and it smelled absolutely fantastic. We then stopped at Lake Hawea... it was gorgeous but not as picturesque as Lake Wanaka. The city of Wanaka brought a kickass experience.... PUZZLING WORLD..... It's like a museum full of illusions and puzzles for people of all ages. We went in and our first puzzle to complete was the maze. We attempted to find the colored towers in the order that the people suggested was the "difficult" way and really.... finding the towers was not all that difficult (I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty good at mazes). The most difficult part was literally finding out way back to the start after hitting all four towers in order. We simply could NOT figure it out... so what did we do....the unbelievable. We cheated. We absolutely climbed under a wall that we knew would lead us to the beginning and eventually the exit. I never thought it would be so difficult to cheat, but it was. I wanted so badly to finish it but I was just so frustrated with not being able to find the start that I did it... I cheated. But, I was finally out to do other things and that felt great :)
After Puzzling World, we searched for churches for Becca and went to get groceries. The search for the church failed miserably so we just decided to head to Queenstown. Upon arrival in Queenstown, we got a whole roasted chicken, sat by the lake and ate chicken while drinking the worst sparkling red wine ever and eventually had dessert. THICK MINTS! Clearly the best invention ever. Then it was lights out for the night so we would finally be able to get to our hostel the next day.
We stopped at Lake Wanaka which was absolutely gorgeous in every aspect. The water was crystal clear blue, the mountains were in the background and it smelled absolutely fantastic. We then stopped at Lake Hawea... it was gorgeous but not as picturesque as Lake Wanaka. The city of Wanaka brought a kickass experience.... PUZZLING WORLD..... It's like a museum full of illusions and puzzles for people of all ages. We went in and our first puzzle to complete was the maze. We attempted to find the colored towers in the order that the people suggested was the "difficult" way and really.... finding the towers was not all that difficult (I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty good at mazes). The most difficult part was literally finding out way back to the start after hitting all four towers in order. We simply could NOT figure it out... so what did we do....the unbelievable. We cheated. We absolutely climbed under a wall that we knew would lead us to the beginning and eventually the exit. I never thought it would be so difficult to cheat, but it was. I wanted so badly to finish it but I was just so frustrated with not being able to find the start that I did it... I cheated. But, I was finally out to do other things and that felt great :)
After Puzzling World, we searched for churches for Becca and went to get groceries. The search for the church failed miserably so we just decided to head to Queenstown. Upon arrival in Queenstown, we got a whole roasted chicken, sat by the lake and ate chicken while drinking the worst sparkling red wine ever and eventually had dessert. THICK MINTS! Clearly the best invention ever. Then it was lights out for the night so we would finally be able to get to our hostel the next day.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
South Island Trip Day #2
Wake up when the sun rises?!? Who the eff does that?!? Apparently I would and not just for that day... for every day for the next two weeks.
First.... we were headed to Franz Josef Glacier. The biggest and most epic glacier in NZ, it has been receding at a quick pace and many say that my generation is the last to see it in its current state. The tramp to the face of the glacier was indescribable. The scenery was gorgeous and the first glimpse of the glacier was jaw dropping. we continued our tramp to the face and were continually stopping to take pictures. When we finally reached the front (we were 100 meters away), we realized just how huge this thing was. It was a mountain of ice and snow. You could see faint blue streaks within the chunks of ice and you could also see where the glacier was melting and creating an ice cold "river" that flowed from the base. I really can't explain any more of what it looked like. It's just one of those things where you'll have to check out the pictures I have on facebook to get the feel, and even then, if you've never seen a glacier, you still won't understand the majestic beauty of it.
We found a nearby rock on to sit and each lunch and afterward we explored a bit.... Becca and Sarah further past the warning ropes than I. What can I say... I'm a giant wussy when it comes to natural formations that I have no idea about.... so sue me. After more pictures and the return tramp to the car park we were off to Fox Glacier. Still a pretty glacier but not as epic as Franz Josef. If any of you plan on traveling to NZ someday, seeing the glaciers is a must. I even recommend the half or full day glacier hikes. We didn't do either because the hikes are very expensive, but if you have the money, take the time and do it, I've heard it's simply gorgeous.
Later we were headed to Lake Matheson, one of the lakes you're supposed to see the perfect reflection of Mt. Cook in. Let's just say, the weather didn't want to cooperate that day and no reflection was seen. Zero, Zilch, Nothing. Lame as. The lake was still gorgeous and the 50 minute hike around was worth it until it started raining and we had clothes hanging out to dry on Ferdinand from the day before. Luckily, we got back to the carpark right as it started raining heavily and our clothes were no wetter or dryer than they were before we set them out. SWEET AS.
After Matheson we were in search of another place to sleep the night away and we landed upon Bruce Bay during our scavenger. It was this gorgeous beach with these rock pillars everywhere. At this point we were missing the ocean so it was nice just to be able to hear the ocean and see the waves crashing upon the beach. The night ended effortlessly with a drive down a sketchy road to find our "camping grounds" for the evening. Keep in mind... the night ended when the sun went down, just like the day began when the sun came up. This led to usually about 12 hours of uncomfortable "sleep" in the car, parked on a sketchy road in the boonies of NZ :)
First.... we were headed to Franz Josef Glacier. The biggest and most epic glacier in NZ, it has been receding at a quick pace and many say that my generation is the last to see it in its current state. The tramp to the face of the glacier was indescribable. The scenery was gorgeous and the first glimpse of the glacier was jaw dropping. we continued our tramp to the face and were continually stopping to take pictures. When we finally reached the front (we were 100 meters away), we realized just how huge this thing was. It was a mountain of ice and snow. You could see faint blue streaks within the chunks of ice and you could also see where the glacier was melting and creating an ice cold "river" that flowed from the base. I really can't explain any more of what it looked like. It's just one of those things where you'll have to check out the pictures I have on facebook to get the feel, and even then, if you've never seen a glacier, you still won't understand the majestic beauty of it.
We found a nearby rock on to sit and each lunch and afterward we explored a bit.... Becca and Sarah further past the warning ropes than I. What can I say... I'm a giant wussy when it comes to natural formations that I have no idea about.... so sue me. After more pictures and the return tramp to the car park we were off to Fox Glacier. Still a pretty glacier but not as epic as Franz Josef. If any of you plan on traveling to NZ someday, seeing the glaciers is a must. I even recommend the half or full day glacier hikes. We didn't do either because the hikes are very expensive, but if you have the money, take the time and do it, I've heard it's simply gorgeous.
Later we were headed to Lake Matheson, one of the lakes you're supposed to see the perfect reflection of Mt. Cook in. Let's just say, the weather didn't want to cooperate that day and no reflection was seen. Zero, Zilch, Nothing. Lame as. The lake was still gorgeous and the 50 minute hike around was worth it until it started raining and we had clothes hanging out to dry on Ferdinand from the day before. Luckily, we got back to the carpark right as it started raining heavily and our clothes were no wetter or dryer than they were before we set them out. SWEET AS.
After Matheson we were in search of another place to sleep the night away and we landed upon Bruce Bay during our scavenger. It was this gorgeous beach with these rock pillars everywhere. At this point we were missing the ocean so it was nice just to be able to hear the ocean and see the waves crashing upon the beach. The night ended effortlessly with a drive down a sketchy road to find our "camping grounds" for the evening. Keep in mind... the night ended when the sun went down, just like the day began when the sun came up. This led to usually about 12 hours of uncomfortable "sleep" in the car, parked on a sketchy road in the boonies of NZ :)
South Island Trip Day #1
First, I woke up at the buttcrack of dawn in order to shower, get the rest of my stuff packed for the trip and be at the bus stop with Sarah and Becca by 5am when the bus to the airport came. First of all, we had no idea where the actual bus stop was, so we ended up walking down a giant hill just to walk back up it again (this typically happens in Auckland because the whole city is filled with stinkin' hills). So we made it to the bus stop with 5 minutes to spare after asking some locals if they knew where it was. None of them were of any help considering they were just going home from the bars and partying the night before. So after finally making it on the bus and heading to the airport for our 7:30am flight to Christchurch, we were dreading going through airport security. Little did we know, airport security simply does not exist in NZ. I was never asked to show my id once, not at the ticket counter, not going through security, and not when getting on the plane. Sooooo easy to get through and no dumb liquid rules. Basically, don't take a lighter, don't take a knife and don't take a bomb and you'll be okay to fly.
We boarded our 1.5 hour long flight to ChCh on this plane that literally had more room than the Air NZ giant plane had for a 13 hour flight (and this flight only cost 70 bucks). Once we landed in ChCh we realized we hadn't called the A2B shuttle to pick us up so we could get our rental car. They came and got us and I filled out all the papers for our car, signed my life away and paid with my credit card. We loaded up the car, which we later referred to as Ferdinand the Knight, and we on our way to find a grocery store. So here's the thing.... in NZ, they drive on the left side of the road. Pretty messed up when you've driven many miles on the right side of the road in the left side of the car. The weird thing is, driving on the opposite side of the road and car wasn't the hard part. Nor was driving through the city and these crazy things called round-a-bouts. The hardest damn part about driving in NZ, was remembering that the turn signal is on the windshield wiper side and the windshield wipers are on the turn signal side. I cannot tell you how many times I turned on the windshield wipers while trying to turn on my signal to switch lanes. RUBBISH I tell you, simply RUBBISH!
After finding a grocery store and getting out of ChCh to start our two week road trip, we stopped at this scenic reserve along the way that was supposed to have a pretty cool cave you could go through. We had our flashlights, our non-slip shoes and tons of layers on and we still weren't prepared for how cold or the deep the water would initially be. First, the water was waist deep and FREEZING, but we continued on. The inside of the cave was pitch black, except the light from our flashlights, and there were giant rocks to step on to get through the cave. It was absolutely so much fun and so cool to see all the natural formations that occur without the cave. It was sad because there wasn't a single glowworm :( Getting out of the cave was the hardest part. We had to climb up this creepy, slippery, metal ladder... shimmy across a tiny path above a pool of water and climb out to safety. Once out we changed out of wet clothes, put warm ones on and took many pictures of the mountains and green grass all around us. Then we were off to the Devil's Punchbowl Falls right before heading through Arthur's Pass.
The Devil's Punchbowl was epic. The hike there was beautiful despite the 98709872049857209 stairs that had to be climbed and in NZ these stairs aren't normal. They're like one and a half step stairs so you're constantly pushing up and landing on the same feet. Makes stairs difficult for a girl like me who has had two knee surgeries. Nonetheless, I persevered and made it to the gorgeous falls, where we again took tons of pictures. After that... it was back to the car to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Not an easy task for 3 American to find somewhere "safe" to sleep, in a car, in BFE. We prevailed and found a place to sleep for the night that wasn't too sketchy. We had to mentally prepare what was waiting for us the next day...... the glaciers :)
We boarded our 1.5 hour long flight to ChCh on this plane that literally had more room than the Air NZ giant plane had for a 13 hour flight (and this flight only cost 70 bucks). Once we landed in ChCh we realized we hadn't called the A2B shuttle to pick us up so we could get our rental car. They came and got us and I filled out all the papers for our car, signed my life away and paid with my credit card. We loaded up the car, which we later referred to as Ferdinand the Knight, and we on our way to find a grocery store. So here's the thing.... in NZ, they drive on the left side of the road. Pretty messed up when you've driven many miles on the right side of the road in the left side of the car. The weird thing is, driving on the opposite side of the road and car wasn't the hard part. Nor was driving through the city and these crazy things called round-a-bouts. The hardest damn part about driving in NZ, was remembering that the turn signal is on the windshield wiper side and the windshield wipers are on the turn signal side. I cannot tell you how many times I turned on the windshield wipers while trying to turn on my signal to switch lanes. RUBBISH I tell you, simply RUBBISH!
After finding a grocery store and getting out of ChCh to start our two week road trip, we stopped at this scenic reserve along the way that was supposed to have a pretty cool cave you could go through. We had our flashlights, our non-slip shoes and tons of layers on and we still weren't prepared for how cold or the deep the water would initially be. First, the water was waist deep and FREEZING, but we continued on. The inside of the cave was pitch black, except the light from our flashlights, and there were giant rocks to step on to get through the cave. It was absolutely so much fun and so cool to see all the natural formations that occur without the cave. It was sad because there wasn't a single glowworm :( Getting out of the cave was the hardest part. We had to climb up this creepy, slippery, metal ladder... shimmy across a tiny path above a pool of water and climb out to safety. Once out we changed out of wet clothes, put warm ones on and took many pictures of the mountains and green grass all around us. Then we were off to the Devil's Punchbowl Falls right before heading through Arthur's Pass.
The Devil's Punchbowl was epic. The hike there was beautiful despite the 98709872049857209 stairs that had to be climbed and in NZ these stairs aren't normal. They're like one and a half step stairs so you're constantly pushing up and landing on the same feet. Makes stairs difficult for a girl like me who has had two knee surgeries. Nonetheless, I persevered and made it to the gorgeous falls, where we again took tons of pictures. After that... it was back to the car to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Not an easy task for 3 American to find somewhere "safe" to sleep, in a car, in BFE. We prevailed and found a place to sleep for the night that wasn't too sketchy. We had to mentally prepare what was waiting for us the next day...... the glaciers :)
Saturday, April 23, 2011
South Island Adventures
I know I haven't updated for awhile and that's because before mid-semester break I had a crap top of stuff to do and then I've been gone for the last two weeks traveling the South Island and now I'm back in Auckland trying to re-cooperate from sleeping in a car for 10 days.
Hopefully within the next couple of days I'll begin to update you on the sweet as things I did over break but please... bare with me. I did a lot of cool things and only have the attention span of a five year old when writing about them. I guess if I were you, I'd look forward to a couple posts a week on what I've been doing for the last two weeks. Anymore than that just might be overkill or create jealously among you folks that I don't exactly want to be the reason for.
Anyway, I shall post later.
Hopefully within the next couple of days I'll begin to update you on the sweet as things I did over break but please... bare with me. I did a lot of cool things and only have the attention span of a five year old when writing about them. I guess if I were you, I'd look forward to a couple posts a week on what I've been doing for the last two weeks. Anymore than that just might be overkill or create jealously among you folks that I don't exactly want to be the reason for.
Anyway, I shall post later.
Monday, March 21, 2011
RUGBY!! RUGBY!! RUGBY!!
So after another week of class, a wine tasting, celebrating St. Patrick's Day New Zealand style, and finishing a bunch of reading, I chose to take the weekend easy. No trips, no hiking, no beach.... nothing, except a rugby match.
Our program coordinator emailed us a few weeks ago telling us he would take anyone to the local rugby match who wanted to go. Going to a match is on my NZ bucket list so I definitely was going to be there. Saturday night we met, got on a bus and headed to Eden Park for the festivities. We bought cheap tickets and got there early enough to watch the little boy rugby league play before the game. Let me tell you, it was absolutely adorable.
Then it was time for the real match... the Auckland Blues vs. the Wellington Hurricanes. We were all sporting the blue and white face paint and waving our Blues flags crazily.We were told that the match was going to be a close one because both teams were pretty good, so I was definitely looking forward to that. The match started and nobody was down in the front row so Becca and I moved down right in front of the try zone (a try is the rugby version of a touchdown.) It was the best view and I even touched a ball!!!!!
The fans were pretty wild as Auckland tryed before Wellington could. I don't really know all that much about rugby but enough to get by sort of understanding what's going on in the game, but luckily the lady sitting next to us was an avid rugby fan and taught us all sorts of things about the game.
It was awesome to see the teams scrum and line out at different times during the match and just to watch hot, muscular men tackle each other :) It was definitely my dream Saturday night. Bec and I are planning on attending some more matches in the future, so when I know more about the game, I'll teach you more about the game.
This week comes another week of class, but one more week closer to mid-semester break. This weekend I think Leah and I are headed to Piha and its black sand beaches :)
If you want to, you can check out some sweet pics on facebook.
Kia Ora
Our program coordinator emailed us a few weeks ago telling us he would take anyone to the local rugby match who wanted to go. Going to a match is on my NZ bucket list so I definitely was going to be there. Saturday night we met, got on a bus and headed to Eden Park for the festivities. We bought cheap tickets and got there early enough to watch the little boy rugby league play before the game. Let me tell you, it was absolutely adorable.
Then it was time for the real match... the Auckland Blues vs. the Wellington Hurricanes. We were all sporting the blue and white face paint and waving our Blues flags crazily.We were told that the match was going to be a close one because both teams were pretty good, so I was definitely looking forward to that. The match started and nobody was down in the front row so Becca and I moved down right in front of the try zone (a try is the rugby version of a touchdown.) It was the best view and I even touched a ball!!!!!
The fans were pretty wild as Auckland tryed before Wellington could. I don't really know all that much about rugby but enough to get by sort of understanding what's going on in the game, but luckily the lady sitting next to us was an avid rugby fan and taught us all sorts of things about the game.
 |
| a good scrum |
This week comes another week of class, but one more week closer to mid-semester break. This weekend I think Leah and I are headed to Piha and its black sand beaches :)
If you want to, you can check out some sweet pics on facebook.
Kia Ora
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Taupo
So this past weekend a group of 11 of us rented two cars and headed out on Friday night for Taupo, NZ. Taupo is about 3.5 hours south of Auckland and is just a nice town with a lot of outdoor activities to do.
The trip there was pretty terrible. One of the girls miscounted and instead of there being 10 of us, there ended up being 11, which meant that 4 people had to squeeze into the back seat of one of the cars. Becca, Katie, Fady and I were the ones who ended up having to squeeze and the ride was pretty miserable. We got to Taupo at about 11pm and headed straight to bed in order to get up and tramp in the morning.
We started off tramping the Huka Falls walkway, which wasn't really a tramp at all, simply just a walk, but the view at the end was absolutely gorgeous. The Huka Falls are formed by the Waikato River and is caused by the build up of pressure as it travels through this tiny gorge. The falls at the end were absolutely gorgeous!! On the walk back we discovered that part of the Waikato River produces a lagoon like natural hot spring that we all had to try out. It's strange to think that mother nature can produce something like that.
The next trip that day was to Craters of the Moon, which is a geothermal hot spot in Taupo. There are tons of steaming holes and lots of bubbling mud. The walk wasn't amazing, but was pretty cool. After Craters of the Moon, we headed to Lake Taupo to do some swimming. We found this giant raft off a beach and all decided to swim out and have wars to see who we could push off. My favorite thing about the water in New Zealand is that you can almost always see the bottom and what you're getting yourself into. That way you can avoid as much kelp as possible! That night we just hung out at the backpackers lodge and got some rest for the next day.
Sunday was the day of the BIG HIKE, Mt. Tauhara. It was a difficult trek to the top, but the view from above was absolutely gorgeous. Words can't even describe what it looked like, but I'll add a picture to see if it will help. You could literally see for miles in each direction from the top. The walk up the mountain wasn't too terrible (other than my falling in a crevasse at the beginning of the hike) but the hike down was hard on my toes and my knees (not to mention, I fell three times on the way down!!!) Don't worry, Mom, I'm okay :)
After we finished the hike, we headed of to watch the release of the Waikato River dam. It was interesting to see the release but it wasn't as epic as I thought it was going to be. After that we headed back to those natural hot springs we found on the Huka Falls trail in order to relax a little bit before heading back to Auckland for school on Monday.
Overall, the trip was excellent!!!! It was nice not to be in the big city for awhile and I got to hang out with and meet some pretty cool people. If you want to see some more pictures check out my facebook.
The trip there was pretty terrible. One of the girls miscounted and instead of there being 10 of us, there ended up being 11, which meant that 4 people had to squeeze into the back seat of one of the cars. Becca, Katie, Fady and I were the ones who ended up having to squeeze and the ride was pretty miserable. We got to Taupo at about 11pm and headed straight to bed in order to get up and tramp in the morning.
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| The Waikato River |
The next trip that day was to Craters of the Moon, which is a geothermal hot spot in Taupo. There are tons of steaming holes and lots of bubbling mud. The walk wasn't amazing, but was pretty cool. After Craters of the Moon, we headed to Lake Taupo to do some swimming. We found this giant raft off a beach and all decided to swim out and have wars to see who we could push off. My favorite thing about the water in New Zealand is that you can almost always see the bottom and what you're getting yourself into. That way you can avoid as much kelp as possible! That night we just hung out at the backpackers lodge and got some rest for the next day.
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| Becca and I at Craters of the Moon. |
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| Me at the top of Mt. Tauhara |
After we finished the hike, we headed of to watch the release of the Waikato River dam. It was interesting to see the release but it wasn't as epic as I thought it was going to be. After that we headed back to those natural hot springs we found on the Huka Falls trail in order to relax a little bit before heading back to Auckland for school on Monday.
Overall, the trip was excellent!!!! It was nice not to be in the big city for awhile and I got to hang out with and meet some pretty cool people. If you want to see some more pictures check out my facebook.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
First Week of Classes
So my first week of classes was pretty lame. On Monday I had Intro to Pacific History which consisted of a ton of American students and a professor who simply rambles on and on for the entire lecture. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to be writing down and what I wasn't because he just skipped around in time. After history I had an hour break in which I would usually have a tutorial for my Race and Racism class, but since it's the first week of uni, we don't have tutorials. Another girl and I walked around to see if we could find where our tutorial was going to be and then went our separate ways to our 12 o'clock classes. Mine was in the Clocktower and was my Turning Points in Western Music class. After wondering around trying to figure out where my lecture theater was, Becca and I realized that we had done a full circle from where we started. Stupid, I know. That lecture was two hours and was probably one of the most interesting classes I'll be taking this semester. After 2 I had the afternoon off and just went the to book store to buy my course reader and some supplies for class.
On Tuesday the only class I had was my history lecture again which would usually be followed by my history tutorial. Since there was no tutorial, I decided it would be best for me to head down to the grocery store and pick up some things. I always hate going to the grocery store because it's such a long, hot walk there and back. Not to mention you're carrying 20 pounds of groceries uphill. That afternoon, I skyped home with my family and talked to my brothers a little bit.
On Wednesday, I usually have class at 3 for a Pacific Studies tutorial but I only had my Race and Racism class at 4. I think that this will be another class that's very interesting because the first lecture we had we talked about how race is a socially constructed term and that between races, there is very small differences biologically contrary to popular belief. My professor is from upstate New York and is in NZ working on research about Pacific Island races.
Thursday I just had my Pacific Languages and World Views lecture. I don't know exactly how I feel about that class because one of the professors is so soft spoken that it's hard to understand and hear what she's saying. It doesn't help that she's Tongan, so she has a bit of an accent.
Overall, I think that all of my classes will be interesting, but I think I'll only have a difficult time with my history class simply because my professor doesn't teach chronologically. It's a good thing all of his notes are in our course readers. And by the way, I only had to buy 2 course readers for school. One for history ($20) and one for anthropology ($16). We get our music course reader for free and all our readings for pacific studies are on CECIL (UofA's version of Blackboard). It's definitely my cheapest book buying semester I've had since being in college.
Since I don't have class on Fridays, Becca, Leah and I headed to the beach to hang out. It doesn't actually rain, but the entire time we were there, we totally thought it was going to. Sometime this weekend, we'll be going to Rangitoto Island off the coast of Auckland to go on an adventure. From what I've heard it's an inactive volcano, one of the most unique places near Auckland and sweet as.
Love and Miss you All :)
On Tuesday the only class I had was my history lecture again which would usually be followed by my history tutorial. Since there was no tutorial, I decided it would be best for me to head down to the grocery store and pick up some things. I always hate going to the grocery store because it's such a long, hot walk there and back. Not to mention you're carrying 20 pounds of groceries uphill. That afternoon, I skyped home with my family and talked to my brothers a little bit.
On Wednesday, I usually have class at 3 for a Pacific Studies tutorial but I only had my Race and Racism class at 4. I think that this will be another class that's very interesting because the first lecture we had we talked about how race is a socially constructed term and that between races, there is very small differences biologically contrary to popular belief. My professor is from upstate New York and is in NZ working on research about Pacific Island races.
Thursday I just had my Pacific Languages and World Views lecture. I don't know exactly how I feel about that class because one of the professors is so soft spoken that it's hard to understand and hear what she's saying. It doesn't help that she's Tongan, so she has a bit of an accent.
Overall, I think that all of my classes will be interesting, but I think I'll only have a difficult time with my history class simply because my professor doesn't teach chronologically. It's a good thing all of his notes are in our course readers. And by the way, I only had to buy 2 course readers for school. One for history ($20) and one for anthropology ($16). We get our music course reader for free and all our readings for pacific studies are on CECIL (UofA's version of Blackboard). It's definitely my cheapest book buying semester I've had since being in college.
Since I don't have class on Fridays, Becca, Leah and I headed to the beach to hang out. It doesn't actually rain, but the entire time we were there, we totally thought it was going to. Sometime this weekend, we'll be going to Rangitoto Island off the coast of Auckland to go on an adventure. From what I've heard it's an inactive volcano, one of the most unique places near Auckland and sweet as.
Love and Miss you All :)
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Windy Welly
Kia Ora :)
So this last week was pretty interesting. After getting so many messages questioning my safety after the huge earthquake that happened in Christchurch last Tuesday and sitting through international orientation in Auckland, I was finally ready to head south to Wellington.
After an 11 hour bus ride with Leah, Tom, and Jordan we finally arrived in the windy city, and windy it was!!!! We set off in search of Massey University where we would be staying with some friends that we met during orientation in Rotorua. Little did we know that Massey University and Victoria University were two different things. All of us thought that it was Victoria Massey University and seeing as though Victoria University was the only uni on the map that we got at the bus station, we headed off in what we thought was the right direction. We had to stop for a directions a few times to make sure that we were going the right way and finally a woman told us that Victoria and Massey are two completely different things and that Massey is a far walk from where we were so she offered to give us a ride. All 4 of us squeezed into her tiny car with luggage on our laps and set of the The Basin where we were meeting our friends. It's a good thing she came along because it was a LONG walk. When we got there, our friends were like... "Get ready, we're going out," so all of a scrambled to put on some good clothes and look presentable after a long, hot bus ride.
The night was full of good music, dancing and hanging out with some great people. We were there until probably 1 before we decided to head back and get some sleep for the next day. The next day we were meeting up with another of our friends and we were going to hike Mt. Victoria and see a killer view of the city from up there. The hike was more of a walk but parts of it were definitely rough. The view from the top was incredible! You could see mountains, ocean, and city all from one place. It was there that I realized I need to slow down and take things in while I'm here and not just always rush to do the next thing. That afternoon we headed to the beach to relax and ended up swimming out to the dock in the middle of the bay. The water was sooooo cold but diving off the dock was worth the swim. :) After the beach we headed back to The Basin to get ready to go out to dinner.
The next day we went to Te Papa Museum and it was probably the coolest museum I have ever been to. It was full of history and science, art and everything else that you can imagine. It was extremely small looking from the outside but once you step inside, it's 6 floors of gloriousness. That afternoon we went back to the beach again and I got completely fried. I even put on sunscreen but it just didn't help. But don't worry, now I have a nice golden tan :) That night we went out to eat at a sushi bar called Wasabi. I didn't eat sushi because the look of it makes me want to puke and I definitely know that I couldn't handle the texture. That night we just walked around and hung out while the others went to a Jungle Party put on by their school and then a few of us went out to this little hole in the wall bar called Havanna. It was definitely a cute little place that only the locals new about. After a few hours there we headed back to make plans for the next day.
For our last day in Wellington, we decided to go to the botanic gardens. It was absolutely gorgeous and full of so many beautiful flowers and interesting plants that you can't find in the US. After the cable ride back we got ready to go out to dinner at this Malaysian restaurant and I had some excellent food :) Then we went club hopping, I guess you could say to like 5 different dance clubs and just danced the night away. We were out late and had to be up early to catch the bus home.
The ride home was absolutely terrible!!!!! The completely packed and there was way less space between seats than the bus we came on. Let's just say that it felt wonderful to be back on ground and be able to stretch our legs for the walk back to Wellesley after an excellent week in Wellington.
So this last week was pretty interesting. After getting so many messages questioning my safety after the huge earthquake that happened in Christchurch last Tuesday and sitting through international orientation in Auckland, I was finally ready to head south to Wellington.
After an 11 hour bus ride with Leah, Tom, and Jordan we finally arrived in the windy city, and windy it was!!!! We set off in search of Massey University where we would be staying with some friends that we met during orientation in Rotorua. Little did we know that Massey University and Victoria University were two different things. All of us thought that it was Victoria Massey University and seeing as though Victoria University was the only uni on the map that we got at the bus station, we headed off in what we thought was the right direction. We had to stop for a directions a few times to make sure that we were going the right way and finally a woman told us that Victoria and Massey are two completely different things and that Massey is a far walk from where we were so she offered to give us a ride. All 4 of us squeezed into her tiny car with luggage on our laps and set of the The Basin where we were meeting our friends. It's a good thing she came along because it was a LONG walk. When we got there, our friends were like... "Get ready, we're going out," so all of a scrambled to put on some good clothes and look presentable after a long, hot bus ride.
The night was full of good music, dancing and hanging out with some great people. We were there until probably 1 before we decided to head back and get some sleep for the next day. The next day we were meeting up with another of our friends and we were going to hike Mt. Victoria and see a killer view of the city from up there. The hike was more of a walk but parts of it were definitely rough. The view from the top was incredible! You could see mountains, ocean, and city all from one place. It was there that I realized I need to slow down and take things in while I'm here and not just always rush to do the next thing. That afternoon we headed to the beach to relax and ended up swimming out to the dock in the middle of the bay. The water was sooooo cold but diving off the dock was worth the swim. :) After the beach we headed back to The Basin to get ready to go out to dinner.
The next day we went to Te Papa Museum and it was probably the coolest museum I have ever been to. It was full of history and science, art and everything else that you can imagine. It was extremely small looking from the outside but once you step inside, it's 6 floors of gloriousness. That afternoon we went back to the beach again and I got completely fried. I even put on sunscreen but it just didn't help. But don't worry, now I have a nice golden tan :) That night we went out to eat at a sushi bar called Wasabi. I didn't eat sushi because the look of it makes me want to puke and I definitely know that I couldn't handle the texture. That night we just walked around and hung out while the others went to a Jungle Party put on by their school and then a few of us went out to this little hole in the wall bar called Havanna. It was definitely a cute little place that only the locals new about. After a few hours there we headed back to make plans for the next day.
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| at the hole in the wall |
For our last day in Wellington, we decided to go to the botanic gardens. It was absolutely gorgeous and full of so many beautiful flowers and interesting plants that you can't find in the US. After the cable ride back we got ready to go out to dinner at this Malaysian restaurant and I had some excellent food :) Then we went club hopping, I guess you could say to like 5 different dance clubs and just danced the night away. We were out late and had to be up early to catch the bus home.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sweet As Part 2
On Saturday I just hung out and got all off my things unpacked and then a group of us headed off to Mission Bay Beach for the day. After a quick bus ride there we approached the most gorgeous landscape I have ever seen. The tide was extremely low so we had to walk quite a ways to get to the actually water, but once we were in it, it felt absolutely amazing. The bottom wasn’t like oceans in the state and completely covered with sand, rocks, and kelp. It was squishy and warm. We also found a whole bunch of starfish and sand dollars. One starfish that I found actually stuck to my hand as I held it upside down. It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced! The rest of the day was filled with getting a tan and eating some gelato as we walked back to our apartments. That night a whole bunch of us decided to go out to the bars and we ended up at the Waterfront Café. We danced and drank and were having a ton of fun until a creepy dude came up behind me and just latched on while I was dancing. Now I don’t have a problem dancing with people but this guy was breathing hardcore into my ear. Let’s just say, it was a lot dodgy. After many attempts by Becca and a guy named Matt to get this dude away from me, he finally got the hint and left. We started our long trip home at 3:30 am and finally got back at about 4 when I just conked out because I was so exhausted. The next day was filled with vegging out and picking up my room. We hung out with some friends that night and were trying to figure out what we were going to do for our week off.
Monday morning our flat got up to go to international orientation day where we would learn all about what it’s like to be an international student in Auckland. The lesson was pretty lame but afterwards we went to go get our student id’s but apparently the U of A doesn’t have a photo of me on hand which is strange considering I had to send six passport photos to AustraLearn before leaving for NZ. The guy told me to just email him the picture but considering we still don’t have internet in our dorms, it’s kind of difficult to do that. The night was filled with hanging out with friends and booking a trip to Wellington from Wednesday to Sunday with Tom, Leah and Jordan. It should be a great weekend and I’m sooo excited to see all my Wellington kids again.
Tuesday was full of laundry and packing for the trip that we're taking to Wellington tomorrow. After an 11 hour bus ride there hopefully we'll get some time to relax and do a bit of exploring. I'll update you all when I get back, but until then. Enjoy the cold back home because it's nice and warm here :)
Love from New Zealand.
Sweet As......
Just warning you...... this is gonna be a long one. Split into two.
I don’t really have any idea where to start. Culture and adventure week was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had. Day 1 started in Auckland with an introduction to Kiwi lingo and laws and ended with a ferry ride to Devonport that provided us with the most breathtaking view of the city scape from the top of an inactive volcano. With dinner and introductions in between, I found some of the most interesting people that were on this trip with our group.
Day 2 began with breakfast and a bus ride to Rotorua where we would stay for the next week in a backpackers stop called “Kiwi Paka.” On the way to Kiwi Paka we stopped in Matamata or “Hobbiton.” Once we arrived there and got loaded into our tiny but workable rooms, we had another information session about setting goals while we were studying in New Zealand. After that we set out to a backfield to learn the “haka”, a Maori warrior dance. Learning the haka gave the group a real taste of what the Maori were all about and the things that were really important in their culture. After rehearsing and learning all the words and actions to the haka, it was time to dress in traditional Maori clothing and prepare to have an actual “battle” with each other. It was hilarious to see the men dressed in just beaver loin cloths with traditional Maori art painted onto their faces. After performing, a group of us went to go do “bombs” into a hot spring creek. Everyone had so much fun taking turns showing their best “bomb”. After that it was time to get ready to go into town to see what kind of food we could eat. We chose an Indian restaurant that was a best nominated restaurant in New Zealand. I opted for the mango curry chicken with white rice and a naan. The night ended with our group taking our food and eating by one of the most gorgeous lakes as the sun set right behind it.
Day 3 was our adventure day that we were supposed to pre-book tours to go on. There was a group of 5 of us who hadn’t book anything so we decided to rent bikes, get some food to grill, and bike through the Redwood Forest to the Blue Lake to take a swim and eat some good food. We got our bikes and headed out on what we thought was going to just be a quick hour long bike ride to the lake, but it ended up taking us about 4 hours to get there. We biked through the forest which was uphill the entire way. One of the hills was about 3 miles and every time you thought it was going to end, it just kept going and going. When we finally reached the top it was smooth sailing to the bottom just to go up another hill. After going down our last hill and seeing the lake in the distance all of a us were yelling because we were so excited that we had finally made it to the lake. While there we took incredible pictures and went swimming in the bluest cleanest lake I’ve ever been in. It was so clear that you could see the bottom as you were swimming around. After swimming a bit we decided to grill the food that we had brought that consisted of garlic and herb chicken sausages, lamb chops, potatoes, and tomatoes. While cooking we met a Kiwi man who just fell in love with all of us. He had family visiting from Bristol, England and he said that if we ever needed anything to give him a call. The afternoon was filled with swimming, good food, and great company. He taught us about a lot of local hot spots to travel to that only the locals knew about and he offered to lend us his car if we ever needed it. When we were getting ready to leave he invited us over to his house to have dinner with him and his family. We all accepted thinking that it would be an incredible way to network in New Zealand and because he offered so many times that we couldn’t refuse. Shortly after that we had to depart to make it back to the bike shop before closing time at 5:30. We flew down the giant hill and avoided the Redwood Forest and made it back to the bike shop with 15 minutes to spare. After conquering the giant mountains and having one of the most incredible days in my life, we sat at the bar and had a beer in order to cool off and reminisce about the day that we just had. We got back to the kiwi paka and got ready to go to dinner. We had steak, potatoes, salad, and rolls for dinner followed by fried pineapple and peanut butter ice cream for dessert. The night was full of good conversation, good food, good wine and ended with experiencing a day that most people would be jealous of.
Day 4 consisted of giving back to the community. We hopped on a bus early in the morning and arrived at the Rotorua Rail Trust just a couple miles down the road. When we got there we found out that half of us would be playing children from the nearb consisted of giving back to the community. We hopped on a bus early in the morning and arrived at the Rotorua Rail Trust just a couple miles down the road. When we got there we found out that half of us would be playing children from the nearby primary schools and the other half would be doing hands on dirty work, then halfway through we would switch jobs. I was in the group that got to play with the children for the first couple of hours. My friend Taylor and I were assigned to the moon bounce. The kids absolutely loved it and took turns showing us their best bombs. Halfway through, we switched to weeding and mulching a garden. After lunch we all took a walk along the creek that the rail trust was renovating and picking up trash around. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The end of the night was filled with another session looking back on the importance of a community day. We were given a few hours of free time before leaving for Tamaki Village just outside of Rotorua for a traditional Maori “hangi.” The food was absolutely incredible as it is cooked beneath the ground for several hours before being served. It was just so tender and smokey. It was also really incredible to see a haka performed in person. How fierce the men and women are when they perform it still astonishes me every. It was also really incredible to see a haka performed in person. How fierce the men and women are when they perform it still astonishes me every, single time.
Day 5 was the caving day. It was absolutely out of this world!!! We started by putting on full wet suits and golashes and then took off on our days’ excursion. We walked across a sheep field before arriving at this hole in the ground with a ladder that descended. We had to shimmy down this ladder one at a time in order to gain access to the cave itself. Once inside we had to twist and turn around all these stalagmites and were forced to smear mud on each others’ faces in order to protect us from the basilisk that protects the cave. Shortly after, we were looking at the glowworms that were covering the ceiling. They are one of the strangest creatures on this earth because the glow they put off is from their poop and once they hatch, they die because they have no mouth to feed through. After that we were climbing a cliff to jump into our tubes from. It was one of the most adventurous moments I’ve had here so far. After floating town the cave river with the headlamps out taking in all the light from the glowworms it was time to climb and squeeze through another portion of the cave. All the different parts of the cave were absolutely gorgeous and our cave guides were awesome people. Not only did they take us through the cave but they taught us so much at the same time. The tour ended with some more floating and finally a hike up tons of stairs to get back to home base. After riding the bus back to kiwi paka for a free evening, a bunch of us decided to go into town to get some food and do some last minute exploring before we left the next day. We got some fish and chips and they decided to head to the Lava Bar for a great last night with some friends. It was $4 dollar drafts and I think that I found a beer that I’m absolutely in love with. The night ended quickly for me because I drank too much and was too tired to let it last any longer. The walk back was unbelievable because the moon was shining so bright and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
The day of departure from the Kiwi Paka was a rough one. Some of my good friends that I had met during the week were heading out to Wellington which is in the southern part of the North Island. I’m already planning on visiting at some point in the semester and they are also planning a trip to Auckland some time too. The week was full of incredible experiences and absolutely amazing people. Meeting those people made it very easy to transition to life in New Zealand and I’m hoping that things continue to go as well as they did that week.
Once the Auckland kids departed back to the city, all I could think about was when I was going to get to see Becca. We knew that we were going to be in the same building but we had no idea what rooms we were going to be in. When I arrived in the city and got my luggage from the bus to go into Wellesley to pick up my key, I hear “Dakota” being screamed. I turn around and all I can see is Becca running towards me smiling. She asked what room I was going to be in so I told her and she yells, “We’re going to be living together.” I absolutely could not believe it! After an hour of catching up and talking about the previous week, I headed to the grocery store to pick up some food for the week. It was a long trek there and it’s going to be something that I dread doing every week. So far, I absolutely love the people that I’m living with and I think that the semester is getting off to a great start!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
I'm Finally Here!!
So I did it, I'm finally here in Auckland. Thank goodness too because I don't think I could have handled any longer on that plane (4 hours to LA and then 13 to Auckland, plus another 2 in line at customs).
After a long plane ride ( which included the principal from Mean Girls as a passenger and being stuck between a married couple on the next plane), I finally made it to the hotel in the middle of Auckland. It's a good sized city with streets filled with shops and all sorts of restaurants. A couple girls and I walked to the bay after our first information session. It was basically a powerpoint about the local lingo and how to be safe while walking up and down the streets of our host city. Our coordinators top two rules were: Don't do drugs and don't drink too much. Neither of those will be happening to me.
For now, I'm off to shower and get ready for our dinner tonight, although I feel as though I should almost be getting ready for bed. It's 3:30 Sunday afternoon here and 8:30 Saturday night there. Hopefully this jet lag doesn't kick my butt.
See ya soon!
After a long plane ride ( which included the principal from Mean Girls as a passenger and being stuck between a married couple on the next plane), I finally made it to the hotel in the middle of Auckland. It's a good sized city with streets filled with shops and all sorts of restaurants. A couple girls and I walked to the bay after our first information session. It was basically a powerpoint about the local lingo and how to be safe while walking up and down the streets of our host city. Our coordinators top two rules were: Don't do drugs and don't drink too much. Neither of those will be happening to me.
For now, I'm off to shower and get ready for our dinner tonight, although I feel as though I should almost be getting ready for bed. It's 3:30 Sunday afternoon here and 8:30 Saturday night there. Hopefully this jet lag doesn't kick my butt.
See ya soon!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
I'm Going to New Zealand!
For all of those who don't know, I'll be spending the next semester in Auckland, New Zealand. Why? 'Cause it sounded like fun and I'll get to spend 5 months with my best friend. I'll be sure to keep you updated on the experience with pictures and text when I can. For now, no more posts until I get ready to leave.
Peace and Blessings, Peace and Blessings.
Peace and Blessings, Peace and Blessings.
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