Spring Break - Week Three: West Coast

Anna, Carly and I headed out to the West Coast of the Southern Island early Tuesday morning. We arrived at our couch surfing house around 2pm where we met Ant and Suzi. The couple lives and works on a Dairy farm with about 380 cows. It was calving season so they were very busy. They were extremely welcoming and friendly. We had two bedrooms to sleep in and on the second night Suzi made us an amazing dinner. Its incredible that couch surfing is free and that the people you stay with really do expect nothing. The website recommends that you do the dishes while you are there and maybe send a postcard from the next place you go, but nothing else is really expected! It was such an incredible experience and I definitely want to host couch surfers back in the states later in my life.

That afternoon we went to Hokitika. It is a small town that is known for its Jade. It was a horribly rainy day so we walked around the very small town for half an hour and then spent a few minutes walking on the beach in hopes of finding some jade for ourselves. (Fun fact: there isn’t a single traffic light on the entire west coast of the southern island.) We did not have much success and ended up going back to Ant and Suzi’s and watching a couple movies and making dinner. The next morning we headed out early to go to Fox and Franz Joseph Glacier. It was a beautiful 2 hour drive down the coast. On the drive down we stopped at a scenic overlook. Anna got out of the car to take some pictures and left her door open while I tried to find my camera in the backseat. Before I know it a bird is sitting on the open door trying to eat the rubber on the door and come in to the car to stand on the steering wheel. It was hilarious and kind of scary at the same time. Anna tried countless methods to get the Kea bird off of the door but she eventually had to climb in the other side of the car. We really weren’t sure if they were dangerous or just annoying and friendly. It wasn’t until we were going about 40kmh that the bird finally flew off the top of the car. I now understand why they are considered such annoying animals!

The glacier hike we had hoped to do was closed due to recent rainfall but the view of the glacier was still incredible. We also did a hike around Lake Matheson, which gave us a beautiful reflection of Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook. On the way home we stopped at a beach to watch the sunset. It was a lovely day and we arrived back to our couch surfing home just in time for dinner. The next morning we saw The Hokitika Gorge, helped feed the calves and then headed up to Punakaiki. It is a very small town with a population of 38 people. It is famous for its pancake rocks (formed from the ocean slowly deteriorating the limestone rocks) and blowholes. Both were really cool to see. We did a very small hike to the beach, which was also an incredible view. After that Anna and I dropped Carly off in Greymouth with her boyfriend and we headed back through Arthur’s pass to Methven where we spent the night in a hostel before snowboarding Mt. Hutt the next day.

Lake Matheson Reflection


The couch surfing house!
The calves
Anna, Carly and Trey in front of the Pancake Rocks

More pancake rocks

Snow boarding was a funny experience. It was very strange to me that the mountain did not have a single tree! So although there were so called ‘trails’ going down, you could pretty much ski wherever you liked. It was the perfect weather and we enjoyed amazing views. The mountain was pretty small compared to New England skiing (and very small for Anna compared to the Colorado skiing she is used to.) It was really cool to be able to say we skied in New Zealand and I’m so glad that we went!

While on our West Coast journey we discovered that school is cancelled for yet another week. After arriving back to ChCh form the mountain we immediately began planning another trip. Anna, Carly, Drew, Graham and I are taking flights up to Wellington today and staying until Friday. It should be another fun week of Spring Break!

Spring Break- Week Two: Fiji

It was so nice to wear shorts and flip-flops again! A warm break from the colder New Zealand weather was just what I needed. 19 of us headed out from Christchurch on Sunday the 29^th and arrived at our resort in the middle of no-where in Fiji by 8pm that night. The resort was called Mango Bay and was 2 hours from Nadi and 2 hours from the capital, Suva.

It was a resort aimed for people our age, which was great. Everyday they would have activities such as egg tossing, guided snorkeling, pineapple cracking, cooking classes, basket weaving lessons, fish feeding, ping pong tournaments, pool tournaments, crab races (with real crabs), bonfires etc. This was great since it was truly impossible to get anywhere else on the island by yourself. We all slept in a bunk dormitory, which was definitely interesting. There were times when the group was rather reckless and sometimes I was embarrassed to be categorized with Americans and I sort of understood where our bad reputation comes from! Overall, everyone was behaved on spring break in Fiji and we all had a blast.

The highlights of the trip for me were scuba diving, our trip to Suva, and the village visit.

On the second day there we all took a trip to Suva because Susan had to try to get her Visa to get back into New Zealand. She was unsuccessful in doing so (fortunately it did not turn out to be necessary) but we did spend the day wandering around the city. Our friend Tommy got hustled by a man who asked him his name then pulled out a wooden thing and immediately carved his name into it. Several locals warned us that it was best that we leave the city by nightfall, so we made a conscious effort to keep our eye on the time and catch the 3:30 bus back to our resort. Walking around the city was unlike any situation I think I’ve ever been in. I don’t remember seeing any one that was white in the whole city besides the 12 of us that took the trip. All of us walking together was ridiculous and we felt watched and judged so we decided to split into smaller groups to walk around. There were a million of the same type store selling “bula” t-shirts and other typical Fijian items. Jane bought a Machete to bring back to the resort so we could chop up coconuts. A lot of us bought t-shirts or other small souvenirs. My small group found a really cool market place in the middle of the city selling fruits, vegetables and kava, which is a drink that makes you sleepy and numbs your face. (The resort had a kava ceremony for us and the liquid water tasted like dirt. Kava is made from the root of the kava plant. The powder is mixed with water and then the locals drink it in a large group in a ceremony that usually lasts at least 12 hours.) The locals were very unpleased when we attempted to take pictures of the city and our surroundings and usually glared if they thought they had been in a picture you took. I really appreciated seeing a part of Fiji that was not part of the resort and I feel like I have a better understand of the culture of Fiji. After visiting there is so much more that I want to and plan to learn about the capital and the country.

I finally scuba dove! After having been certified for 4 years and never going, it felt like I wasn’t certified at all. After the refresher course in the pool I was feeling a lot more comfortable, but the entire day up until my 3 o’clock dive I was very nervous! Once we got out into the boat and into the water I felt much better. The instant I was underwater all my fears were gone and I was completely enjoying floating around and seeing all of the underwater life. We saw tons of fish in the coral, eels and stingrays. We didn’t see any sharks, which I thought I would be happy about, but by the time I was down there I was practically searching the ocean for them. One woman that dove with us took pictures underwater so hopefully she will email them to me as she said she would. It was such an amazing experience and I literally cannot wait to go again!

On one of the last days we visited a village and hiked to a nearby waterfall. The village people were very nice and friendly and spent most of the time playing games and hanging out. There was a man living in the village through the Peace Corps who I hoped to meet but he wasn’t home while we were there. The hike to the waterfall was beautiful and I yet again enjoyed seeing more of the real Fiji instead of just a resort. Two young Fijian girls led the way up the steep side of the waterfall and all the boys felt like they had to follow since the girls did it so easily. It was very amusing to see how much more the boys struggled climbing up the side and how they tried but failed to keep up with the girls.

Last Sunset

There were many things that amazed me about Fiji that I did not expect. When I thought of Fiji I thought of pretty beaches and white sand but before I got there I thought little about the people who live there. Driving from the airport to the resort we saw many fires along the side of the road because the country is going through a drought. Many looked uncontrolled which was worrisome to me. Every child we saw along the road was carrying a machete, even the ones who looked to be 2 years old! They are also incredibly good at climbing up palm trees to cut down coconuts and then sliding back down! The starting wage for the workers at our resort is FJ$2.50 which is about $1.25 US dollars. (While I was there FJ$240 got stolen out of my wallet. I only hope it was a worker and not someone staying at the resort so at least it is going towards a family who has a use and probably need for the money.) As we drove back to the airport at 3:45am I saw tons of people standing and hanging out on the side of the road. Many looked like they had no home and a lot were looking to hitchhike.

Overall, I had an amazing trip and look forward to some free time to do more research on the country!

While we were there Christchurch had a 7.1 earthquake, which caused about 2 billion dollars worth of damage. There is no apparent damage to my flat but our University is not looking so great. Because of this, school is closed for the week, which means another week off from classes. Luckily no one died from the earthquake, most likely because it occurred at 4:35 am so no one was up. The aftershocks that happen about once every hour are actually pretty scary. We are leaving tomorrow for a 4-day trip to the West Coast. It will be somewhat comforting to leave Christchurch, but it’s also stressful to be leaving on another trip without much of a break. Hopefully school will be able to resume next week although there seems to be some doubt!

The library at the Uni

Pictures

Our drive to Hanmer Springs
Again
Separation Point in Abel Tasman
Abel Tasmam
Abel Tasman
Blenheim
At the place we stayed in Blenheim
Sky Diving in Kaikora!
Where we sky dived
Kaikora
The place we stayed the night before the park

Spring Break- Week one: Travels with Seamus

Seamus arrived last Saturday, my first day of Spring break and stayed for a week! The following day we headed up towards Abel Tasman National Park which is at the top of the Southern Island. Driving was an interesting experience. The “highways” here are incredibly windy and occasionally scary and there is no such thing as a speed limit. Driving on the left side of the road was an experience, particularly going in round-a-bouts which are all over the place here! Someone seemed to think that I hugged the left shoulder but I thought I drove just fine on the opposite side. (Mom, you’d probably agree since you’ve never thought I was the best of drivers J )

We stopped at Hanmer Springs about 2 hours north of Christchurch where they have thermal and sulfur hot springs. It was a nice break from the car and the surrounding area was beautiful. We ended up leaving Hanmer a little late, however, because we did not make it to our final destination for the night until about 8pm. Driving in the dark on the crazy highway roads going to a place that felt like the middle of nowhere was scary enough, until we arrived at our place for the night to realize no one was there. The women I had emailed to make our reservation had failed to tell me that you needed to check in by 5pm. So, it was pitch black and we literally had no idea where we were or how to get anywhere else, with no where to sleep. We eventually found a door in the lodge we were supposed to stay in unlocked and decided to sleep on the bunks for the night. It was a little scary especially when Seamus started talking about ax-murderers. I’d like to think I was the less scared of the two of us J

The next morning we woke up to realize we were right on the water overlooking the mountains. It was strange and frustrating when the women seemed to think it was no big deal that we had to practically break in because we couldn’t check in. That morning we got all our stuff ready for hiking in the park. The same woman informed us that a huge nor’easter was coming on Wednesday, which was supposed to be our last day in the park. We figured this would be okay until we began our drive to the car park we were planning on leaving our car at and realized the road would be unsafe to drive on if a storm came. This was very stressful since we’d planned out the trip so perfectly but we figured out a new plan that actually ended up working perfectly! In the end of the day we spent one night in a hut on the track and another camping and had 2 beautiful days in the park. We were able to leave our big packs at the hut for the day hike because we were hiking back to the same place that day instead of continuing on in the park which was our original plan. Obviously I loved this because I didn’t have to carry anything-and Seamus very nicely carried our lunches and water! It was nothing like I’ve ever seen before; the views were incredible. We got to see seals, which is one of my all time favorite things! The two we saw at separation point were playing in the water right below us! We even swam in the ocean. Except it was more like run in and run out because it was so cold. On the second night in the park we were sitting at our campfire and we saw 5 people just coming in to the hut around 8pm wearing head-lamps. They happened to be 5 of my good friends from school who didn’t quite calculate the tidal crossings correctly, so had to hike part of the track in the dark. It was great that we got to see them and hang out with them that night! We had an amazing time and really felt like we saw the best part of the park ,which was nice after all the stress of having to change our plans at the very last minute.

We left the park on Wednesday morning and drove to Nelson, which is a small city half way between the park and wine country. We stayed at a hostel called “The Palace” which ended up being one of the cooler places we saw. Everyone there was so relaxed and it was a really cool atmosphere. A lot of people staying there have lived there for a few months, so it had a nice sense of community. It was decorated beautifully and was a very unique old house with a great view of the city and a wrap-around porch to enjoy the view. We relaxed for the day and walked around the town. I especially enjoyed my warm shower after being in the park for 2 and a half days. We both felt like it was nice to see some civilization after seeing almost no one for the past 3 days. One of the most surprising parts of the trip for both of us was how few people actually live here. We could drive for literally hours without seeing either a car on the road or a house where someone lived. All you saw was sheep. Lots and lots and lots and lots of sheep. (And also lots of one or two week old lambs running around with their mothers which I loved!)

We headed out early the next morning for Blenheim, which is right in the middle of the wine region in Marlborough. We went to 7 or so vineyards throughout the morning and afternoon to do free wine tastings. I think I’ve finally acquired a taste for wine, or at least I enjoyed the sauvignon blancs which is what the region is known for. I was surprised how incredibly different one sauvignon blanc at one vineyard could taste from another. It was also interesting to try some of the wines that were made from the fruit on the exact same tree but processed in a different way. You would never know you were drinking the exact same fruit. I felt pretty sophisticated once I was able to ask questions about wine that made sense, haha. It was a lot more fun than I expected and we met some really interesting people along the way. It’s definitely the off season for wine tasting and touring so the women working loved talking to us. We spend about half an hour at every vineyard having really nice conversations with the women we met. That night Seamus brought me out to dinner in the town. I tried salmon, which I actually really enjoyed! I’m going to try to add some fish to my diet (good thing huh nonie?!) It was a really nice relaxing day and very different from our time in the park.

The place we stayed at that night was run by a really nice couple who did a lovely job keeping up the place. They had a beautiful piece of land and we stayed in a little cottage type thing with a kitchen and bathroom. They gave us breakfast in the morning including eggs from their hens and marmalade made from homegrown fruit! It was all delicious. We headed out early in the morning for Kaikora to go skydiving!! It was the perfect day, and the view was amazing. It was a pretty indescribable experience. The company was run by a couple; Henk and Sarah. Henk is from Holland and Sarah is from England and they created the company about a year and a half ago in Kaikora. I went up first with Henk while Seamus stayed on the ground with Sarah. We flew up in the tiniest plane; it took about 20 minutes to get up to 13,000 ft. You could see the snow capped mountains on one side and the clear blue water and beach out of the other window of the plane. It was one of the most beautiful things I think I’ve ever seen. Then the next thing you know you’re being pushed out of the plane and spinning in the air, falling towards the ground. Once the parachute was released Henk let me steer it using the pull tabs on the sides. Sarah took pictures of us landing. It was a great experience and I loved that we did it with such a small company because it made it feel so much more personal and they made me very comfortable. We both had a blast! Again, I’d like to think Seamus was a little more nervous than me, but who knows!

After skydiving we drove back to Christchurch and I brought Seamus out for Indian for his last night in NZ. After that we hung out with some of my friends who had returned from their journeys around NZ. On Saturday we went into town and walked around the city; it was a really nice day. Overall, it was a great trip- it was so nice to get out of the Christchurch area and see more of this beautiful country! In an hour I’m getting on a plane for Fiji for hopefully another amazing week of Spring Break!!

I'll put up pictures next week-I'm running a little short on time for catching my flight!

Fun Fun Fun

The last couple of weeks have been a couple fun adventures and then besides that mostly school.

Two weekends ago we went quad biking with the Butler Program. We woke up early and took a bus to Glenstrae Farm in Kaikora. The people working there were so nice and friendly. After getting our gum boots, water proof jackets and helmets on we spent about an hour learning how to ride the quad bikes. Four of them were manual and I almost offered to drive one of those but then I got too nervous. I wasn’t quite sure I had the skills to drive a manual ATV, I assumed it was a lot different than a car. It worked out better that I didn’t anyways, because those of us who drove the automatic ones also got a chance to trade places half way through the tour and take a ride on the Argo, an 8 wheel all terrain vehicle, that went off the track that the ATVs had to follow. Both were so much fun and the 2 and a half hour tour went by very quickly.

The base of the farm
Going through the stream on the Argo


It was really difficult to get pictures of the scenery while driving the bikes but at least you have somewhat of an idea. None of these pictures do the place justice, especially since the only chance we had to take pictures the sun went away :(

We rode up and down the mountains, through streams, and along the coast of their 1600 acre farm. We passed lots of cattle and sheep and were able to see a seal colony on the rocks by the coast. It was the most beautiful scenery I’ve seen since being in New Zealand and really made me appreciate the country that I’ve chosen to study abroad in. We ended up having really nice weather, even though we expected it to rain, which was an awesome plus! After that we went into the town of Kaikora to have lunch at The Dolphin Encounter. My food was excellent and it was nice to eat out instead of making my own meal (which is usually a bowl of cereal, or maybe pasta if I’m feeling ambitious.) After that we went for a small hike to get closer to the seals. We stood about 10 feet away from them while they slept on the beach. It was a really pleasant day, especially since it was planned and provided for us by my abroad program!

The seals

This past weekend I went to an All Blacks Rugby game vs. Australia. We bought the cheapest tickets possible but they ended up being front row, which was amazing! It was a little difficult to see one part of the field, but the All Blacks warmed up right in front of us, which was also really fun to watch. They practiced the part in the game where they pick one of the players up to catch the ball so that was really cool to see up close. After the game we walked downtown which was crazy! Everyone was out celebrating the All Blacks win. I’ve never seen so many people down town. It was fun to be out, and celebrate with the locals!

Everyone's facepaint
Leland, Nick and Kevin
The Haka (an intimidating Maori dance performed for the opposing team before the game)

These next two weeks are a big testing period, since I’m almost done with the first half of the semester. My two week spring break is coming up in a week which I’m really looking forward to! All of my classes have take home exams or reflective journals as a way of testing so nothing seems very hard so far. I’m still really interested in my classes, especially ‘Health and Medicine’ and ‘Ethnicity’. Its also really interesting because both are based from Australian and New Zealand perspectives, so it’s a lot different learning experience in these subjects than I’d be getting at home.

Grandmarie, I’m sorry I missed your birthday party but I’m so glad I was able to talk to you!

Johnny, I hope you have a great wedding day, I’m sad I’m missing it! Congratulations!