Jen Hillam

Wellington to Cairns with a slumber party in Auckland

2011-12-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

I had grabbed an early bus to Wellington so I would have one last day there. I stored my huge luggage bags in a hotel near the bus stop and spent the day enjoying my last day in New Zealand. I hadn't really bought many souvenirs yet or Christmas presents for anyone and I wasn't really in much of a mood to but I found a few things anyway. I took an hour and toured the Parliament beehive house and learned about the government of the country just as I was about to leave it. There are still a lot of weird rules and stuff to do with the queen but it was interesting. I was extremely tired from a few long days and my night wasn't looking too restful but after my tour I decided to walk up to the Wellington Botanical Gardens anyway. It was a short steep walk and the gardens were lovely. The view of Wellington was fantastic, definitely worth the walk. Once at the top there was a cable car going up and down the steep Wellington slopes and on account of my fatigue and that fact that it looked like fun, I bought a ticket to take the cable car back down to the city center of Wellington

Beehive Parliament House

Rose Gardens

Peace Pool

Wellington

Cable Track

Cable Car

I had another hour or so I could walk around but decided to admit my impending exhaustion and move my somber self to the airport. I lugged my 4 bags up Cuba street a block to catch the airport bus. It was a surprisingly small airport for the capital and checking in was a breeze. You even went through security right at the gate instead of one main station. I had about 2 hours until my flight and didn't dare go to sleep for fear I wouldn't wake up. I ate my dinner and sent a few emails. I must have dozed off in the plane because the flight was a very short hour. I landed in Auckland about 9:30pm cutting it close to make a short 10 hour layover. My flight for Cairns was set to leave at 7:00 am. Fortunately while comparing travel plans with some friends earlier we discovered we would both had about the same layover in Auckland so it was a little slumber party in the airport. Julianne and Niamh were headed for a holiday to Tonga. We took over a few rows of chairs and surrounded all of our stuff and waited for our 5 am check ins. We all slept off and on in the uncomfortable benches with people coming and going all night. We had made our beds on the second floor of the airport while the check in counters were on the 1st so we thought we had plenty of time when we headed down to check in at 5:15. Boy were we wrong. The lines were huge! Since I was flying to Australia I got through it pretty quick but Julianne and Niamh were going to have to wait. Although my thoughts of being quick were dashed when I had to wait for customer service just to check my extra bag. After all of this it was about 30 minutes until my flight so I rushed up to security, Julianne and Niamh were only about 5 minutes behind. Security was crazy and they even were weighing carry on bags, only allowing 7kgs so I had to throw on my extra jacket and crammed my scriptures in my hoodie pocket and still didn't make the weight limit but they let me through anyway. So after waiting about 12 min for security I got stopped and searched because of my bottle of sunscreen. So finally I made it through with about 10 minutes until my flight was supposed to leave so I sprinted to my gate that seemed forever away as I heard the call, the final call for my flight. I made it just in time and barely sat down as they were closing the door. At this point I had been running and wearing 2 of my heaviest jackets the whole time so I was cooking! I think my seat buddy thought I was crazy but that is ok, because I am. I got a few more hours of sleep on the plane and landed in Cairns about 10 am.

That bittersweet moment when you have to leave New Zealand to go to Australia

2011-12-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

The next morning came with some pounding on my window. As a woke completely dazed and confused about what was happening, I thought one of my flatmates was knocking on my door, but I opened it and no one was there. Then the knocking happened again and it was at my window, so with my eyes still half open, I opened the curtains to the all to bright sun and Ema's smiling face. It was 7:30 and she came to wake me up to eat breakfast with her and Brayden before she left in an hour. As confused and half asleep as I was I was happy to see her. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to catch her in the morning. I threw on some clothes and headed over to Brayden's. Brayden and Ema made some delicious egg dish I don't know the name but it was an egg cooked in a ring of a pepper with cheese melted on top on a piece of hummus toast. It was so good!. Graeme, Brayden, Ema, and Benedict were set to leave this morning, so I hung around as long as possible. Ema was heading up to Auckland for a couple days and Graeme, Brayden, and Benedict were headed to the South Island. We said our good byes. It was a crazy day, saying bye to some of my best friends in NZ and having to try and prepare for a final and get myself ready to leave. It was a day of running around and being a bit lost in my own head trying to keep track of everything and everyone so I was sure not to miss anyone before they left.

I did some last minute studying, ate some lunch, and headed off to finish my last final, Sport Coaching. When I got to the classroom, I sat down and stared at the book on my desk....26 pages. My final was 26 pages long! looked like I'd be there the full 3 hours after all. Fortunately a lot of the info overlapped with stuff I had learned in other classes and I felt ok about the rest of the test. There were a few sticklers and some I had to write a couple pages to answer but I finished the test just in time and was exhausted! I was excited to be done but so dead from the test. I finished a few things around campus with Julianne then we head back to the seemingly empty Atawhai. Bene and Franzi were just getting to leave as we returned, so it was more goodbyes. Julianne and I combined left overs to make dinner and my friend from church Viladmir came over to say goodbye and help me pack. I'm really glad I had this last night to see a few more friends as I was originally going to leave right after my final. My "black brother", Rashmi came over for a bit, along with Yuko and we all hung out for a bit and I unloaded all my leftover groceries on Yuko. I was really not looking forward to leaving but I had a plane to catch so there was no avoiding it. I stayed up late packing and finally had everything ready. I woke up early the next morning to clean my flat and catch the bus to Wellington. Tamil was the only one left in my flat. She hates goodbyes and had avoiding saying them to most people but I made her come out of her room and tell me goodbye. She told me a quick goodbye and just gave me a very sweet two page note reflecting on our time together, I really appreciated her heartfelt thoughts. Then for my very last time I left Atawhai flat 11. Viladmir was very sweet and gave me a ride to the bus stop so I didn't have to haul my 4 bags down to the bus stop. It was tortuous waiting for the bus, thinking everything I was leaving, but really there wasn't much left for me at Massey university. My classes were over and most my friends were all gone. So it was time to move on to my new adventure.

See ya laters (hopefully)

2011-12-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

After an very long (24 waking hours) Saturday, Sunday was set to be a recovery day. But who would want to sleep in and get some rest when you could get up at have our very last pancake breakfast as an Atawhai family. So it was over to Ema and Franzi's flat to make some delicious pancakes. We had been using the same recipe every Sunday and today, our last Sunday, we finally tracked down ALL of the ingredients. We were always missing something before but this day we did it and of course had to add some other tasty additions like apples, cinnamon, and chocolate chips. Giso and Zaki had been the first to leave and Alex was to leave right after breakfast. It was a fun breakfast although the fact that we were all leaving in the next 3 days hung over us thicker then the fog on Taranaki. There were too many awkward silences for a group of our size so I guess we just ran out things to talk about so that made it good we were all leaving right? No, really we were all just not looking for leaving and I guess didn't like talking about it, at least that is how I felt. Everyone had lots to do and I got a few things done and then headed to church.
Church was the same as always, except for the whole time I was thinking how this was my last Sunday. I hadn't been really close with too many of the ward members but I would still miss the ward and the awesome people I had met. The Haerewa's, Crawford's, Reiri's, Ereti's, Matthew's,Allan's and YSA especially were all so good to me. Sister Haerewa announced my leaving in relief society and she was sweet and gave me such a big hug and kiss before I left. Her family is so amazing, they are so giving, I really appreciated all their love and support. The Reiri's really were who made church a possibility for me. They were so great, they gave me a ride to church every Sunday and to all of the activities I went to. I sat with them in church every Sunday, it was so nice to have them as friends at church from the beginning. It was truly a blessing that first day when I started talking to Yuko and she found out I was from Cottonwood Heights, Utah and she hesitantly asked if I was a member. Member of what? jk yep. How great was it to have my RA's as the only other members around? That saved me so much stress and made church like home. The Ereti's were so fun to talk to and I loved seeing Bevan on campus as he worked in the ESS department. Ema and I would go visit him and I'd try and convince him to tell all my profs to give me A's, it must have worked ;) I appreciated all the dinners and rides so much from everybody. It was sorta hard to say all my thank yous and good byes.

After church it was back home to study and pack (mostly the latter). I had way too many other things on my mind to study well. For dinner everyone came over to our place and we made pizza one last time. We had plenty of toppings as everyone donated everything they had. We hung out and reminisced of all the amazing things we had done and seen. For many, their travels through New Zealand were set to continue for a weeks or months after. So we talked about all the cool places we've been and where to go. It was an incredible last night to spend with such good friends. I can't believe how much we had done and seen. When we all first met we were from such different worlds and yet that never really mattered. One by one people started leave and we had to say our good byes and hopefully some of those see ya laters will happen. Many of my friends were leaving in the morning and it was likely I would never see them again. I really loved the people I was surrounded by. I couldn't have asked for better people. They were the ones that made my study abroad experience so incredible. The country was beautiful, the school was accommodating, but my friends are what I will miss the most. I was able to control much of my experience as far as where I lived, traveled, and the classes I took but it was a great blessing to have the friends that I did. Many of the friends I made based on where I lived. Originally I was set to live in a freshman dorm building on campus with a meal plan, after some bad experiences with meal plans at the U, I asked to be moved and was put on a waiting list before I got to NZ. After a short period I was accepted to live in Flat 11 Keiller Place in Atawhai. If you have read many of my other blogs I probably don't really need to reiterate how much I love Atawhai. But I will briefly: I loved my flatmates, my neighbors, my flat, the neighboring cows, the river we had to cross to campus, and every single one of the 169 dirt steps through the forest I walked multiple times a day to get home. All of us students came to NZ alone, most for just 1 semester, with no geographically close friends or family. So we quickly bonded and learned to support each other because no one else was there to do it. I never lived more than 13 miles from my family so I really appreciated all of there support. It is strange to think how far away we all are now and how it will be a long time before I see any of them again. We want to all get together in Germany in 2012 or 2013 and hopefully it will happen. I am the furthest away besides the kiwis so I think I'll have to start saving my pennies. But I think a quick trip up to Canada might be needed before too long. With all my friends gone, I would be sort of worried to go back to New Zealand just because it wouldn't ever be the same but hopefully someday I'll be able to make it back. Anyway, back to the point, saying good bye was something I wasn't looking forward to but there was no more putting it off. There were a few tears to go around but there really wasn't much else to be said as people walked out that flat 11 door. We still have facebook, emails, and skype :) thank goodness for technology. After everyone left I was too tired to study and just decided to get up the next day and study all morning until my 2:15 test.

Taranaki 2

2011-12-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

The weekend started off right. After running a few finals errands to tie up lose ends and get supplies for my last 4 days in New Zealand we all decided to throw together a potluck party because almost all of our friends were leaving in the next few days and we needed to party....and we had lots of food to get rid of. So we all brought over whatever dishes we could put together with what we had left and cooked, ate, talked, and enjoyed one of our last nights together. All of our friends were there and even a few more. We had so much food and such good company. Ema and Franzi came up with a good idea to make a picture frame mat for each person that we could all sign and write a short note then we took a photo of all of us together to put in the middle. So we all passed around white mats with our names on them and signed them. It was such a good idea and something I think I'll really value. That night we hung out late and I had to say my goodbyes to Zaki and Giso as they were both leaving for the south island. They were both great flatmates and I hope I'll be able to see them again soon.They both taught me a lot and I loved living with them. Flat 11 was seriously the best flat Massey has ever had!

Alex

Jen and Rashmi

Martyna and Jen

Alex, Benedict and Graeme ice climbing

Jen and Julianne

Kelly and Jen

The Canadians: Zaki, Chelsey, Stephan, Ema, Brayden, and Trevor

Brayden signing photo

Benedicte sign photos

Alright so after that late night it was time to grab a couple hours of sleep. Awhile back a couple friends and I had backpacked around Taranaki and about halfway up the actual volcano but it was too icey to go all the way up without proper training and gear. So seeing as it was my last weekend in NZ I couldn't let this volcano elude me, I had wanted to reached the top ever since I stood on the top of Ruapehu, the tallest mountain on the south island, and admired the beautiful volcano from 200k away. So I joined in with Brayden, Graeme, and Brayden's cousin Trevor in an attempt to summit the legendary volcano. Due to the weather and ice it was recommend that only experienced hikers or those with an experienced guide with proper gear attempt the climb this early in the season so of course we rented the crampon and ice picks and I even borrowed some proper hiking boots instead of just using my trusty running shoes. The Massey alpine club that we were renting and getting our info from was extremely worried we were a bunch of of hooligans going unprepared up a dangerous mountain. So we had the proper gear and well as far as the experienced leader.....that became me.That weekend of ice climbing in Colorado with crampons and ice picks counted for a bit more then I think it should have. But I had been to the mountain a few weeks prior and did have a fairly good understanding of the conditions and so with that information we put all the worriers at ease. Although now you may now be thinking, Jen you are your friends are kind of dumb and that is how people get killed, they go climb amount without proper experience and something bad happens and they die. Well to that I say....ya your probably right. In retrospect, its not the smartest thing we ever did. But we prepared as much as we could with proper clothing and we all had a lot of experience in climbing and exploring and had agreed to not attempt anything if it really did look dangerous. We were all pretty fit and had food and water. It was a good group of 4 and I felt good about it. It was probably the last opportunity any of us would have to climb Taranaki.

Flat tire

So it was another early 4:30am wake up call, this time I tried to get some real sleep and even managed to catch a few z's in the car, that is until the large thudding noise every couple of seconds below my head as I rested it on the window. Over a short distance the noise got louder so we stopped to check it out thinking nothing could possibly be wrong with our small sedan rental car (affectionately named the pink dolphin due to a lovely ornament hung on the mirror). But low and behold, like a bad omen, you guessed it, we got a flat tire. Nothing like being half asleep standing in a drizzling rain helping the guys change a flat tire to make you worry what else could happen today. Fortunately the spare was full of air and we were back on the road in no time. During our 2 hour drive we had started with beautiful clear night skies but as the sun rose we entered into a wall of fog and drizzling rain. A similar thing had happened the last time I had been here but it all cleared up by 10am and so I hoped and prayed this would happen again.

The Pink Dolphin

We began our hike optimistic the clouds would clear. There weren't any other hikers on the trail yet and I doubt anyone sane would be with the foggy weather. If we had the time, waiting for some clear weather would have been worth it but this was really our only chance, so we decided to risk it. The beginning was a steep yet clear road, it didn't give you too many good excuses to stop but the burning in your legs sure did. We couldn't see a lot but did catch a few glimpses of the views of the New Zealand pastures that lay in the shadow of this great mountain.

Trevor, Graeme, and the most visibility we had all day

Experienced Leader

Our icey ascent

Snack break!

Brayden making his way up the steep slopes

Brayden at the botton of a huge cliff I had climbed

Kinda cool photo I took near the summit

As we continued the angle of ascent didn't have much sympathy. It was clear were just going to hike straight up the mountain. I really didn't mind too much, as I mention during the Tongariro crossing, all the switchbacks got a little tedious, straight up seemed the most efficient way. About an hour and a half in we reached the snow. Hard frozen snow on a steep incline is hard to stop on wearing skis and nearly impossible in hiking boots so it was time for the crampons. The crampons were a bit different then the ones I had used but the same concept so I showed the guys how to put them on. They all had new ones that easily adjusted to their boots, I had an older pair that I was convinced was missing a pin that held them to size but the lady I rented them from said they would stay and I made the mistake of thinking she knew what she was talking about. After about 5 steps I realized there was no hope for my crampons and just took them off and carefully followed the guys foot steps. Brayden's weren't properly fitted so he took his off too. As long as we were careful with our steps it wasn't really a problem. We each slipped a couple times but nothing dangerous. The terrain varied from wood steps, to rocks to snow. Soon the crampons just became annoying and everyone took them off as there were really causing more danger then keeping us safe. There were 2 or 3 places where they would have been nice but nothing we couldn't handle with a little help from our ice picks. It was definately the steepest mountain I have ever climbed and it just kept going up and up. The fog kept us from ever knowing how close we were to the top and at times it was a bit discouraging not knowing if we were within 200 m or 2000. The rain had mostly stopped and the winds were light although at times I hoped a big gust would just come in an blow all the clouds out, it never did. Our visibility was never more than about 50m. Finally we reached a point where the mountain suddenly became flat, after walking over the flat area and climbing the other side we realize this must have been the crater. So we continued up one of the only places that kept going up until we couldn't climb up and further because we ran out of mountain and so we reached the top. That is about how it went. The only way we could tell it was the top is that we couldn't go up anymore. We couldn't see anywhere else to go up, but we really couldn't see a lot of anything really. The whiteness surrounded us. We didn't catch the lucky break in the clouds we had hoped for. The epic views of the ocean and island were kept hidden behind a stubborn white curtain. But ya know, even though we didn't get to see it, there was still a sense of accomplishment with what we had done and it really was a lot of fun, at least I thought so, but I kind of like that sort of stuff.

Meditating on the top of the peak

Flat 11-ers at the top!

But oh man if I thought going up was still pretty fun I've got to tell you about going down. At the summit the place we had hiked up just above the crater was far to steep to easily walk down and so we slid. You just had to commit and let the whiteness take you. At the bottom was the large flat crater so you would slow down but until then you were at the mercy of the mountain. As the day had gone on it had gotten a little warmer and the ice we had scurried up had gotten a little slushy combine that with just how steep it was and we turned a almost 4 hour ascent into a 1.5 hour descent by working on our boot skiing! It was a blast! It was like skiing only a bit more challenging because if you leaned too far forward it wouldn't end pretty. It was the perfect conditions that we just slid straight down on our boots, we didn't have to get our butts wet or even really move our feet once you got going. There were big long strips of snow and places that we so cautiously crossed for fear of slipping before we were trying to get more speed on and race down the mountain. It was such a blast. Finally the snow ended and we walked down the rest of the way and I was exhausted and not looking forward to our next 2 hours stiffening up in the car. We all changed into whatever dry clothes we had and for some (Graeme) that was only a pair of long john underwear...good thing I'd lived with the guy for 5 months and he was basically my brother. But it was a long trip home as we all made half hearted efforts to stay awake and talk to Graeme while he drove. He was a champ for using his left side of the road skills to getting us there and back safely. We made it back around 9pm and could all barely walk we were so stiff and in serious need of food and hydration. I had made the mistake of agreeing to watch a movie that night with some friends from church and didn't have time to really eat much but quickly took a shower and headed back out. My days in New Zealand were numbered and sleep was dropping on the priority list. We watched twilight and I somehow ended up hanging out and talking until about 4am...making it a 24 hour day, not a good place to be with so much to do in my last 3 days in New Zealand but I would survive.

Preparation before the descent

Boot skiing

Wolves from LOTR I swear! ;)

2 More finals...Learning in NZ

2011-12-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

I think I am including this post mostly just in case people get the wrong impression about what my time in New Zealand was for.....studying :) We had to document us studying a little for fear you might not believe that there were some days spent studying, I just don't generally like to bore people with the details about them, but here is the proof! We had fantastic study sessions sitting out on the couches in front of the common room and under the patio roof when the rain started. After the Tongariro crossing and fishing adventures I did have 2 more tests.

But really make any assumptions you'd like about what I did based on this blog....because you'll probably be right especially if you say it looked like a lot of fun and a lot of amazing once in a life time adventures. Sure I learned heaps in school but that is nothing compared to what I learned about the world and people. Surrounded by such diverse people in a completely unique place and being on my own taught me more than any professor in any school could have. I learned how to travel and take care of myself. I learned canadian bacon and ham aren't really the same thing. I learned how to better think on the spot and figure out problems real people face in life, not just school. Although I must admit New Zealand is a bit more forgiving then the US probably is. When I did make mistakes the consequences were minor and if you smiled real big and asked really nicely the consequences were usually forgotten. Years of preparation and hard work back home really payed off as well. So many occasions I saw how something I had done or learned in the past really prepared me for almost anything I face in NZ. Like those days of never surrender skiing with Dad, some that resulted in frost bite, made any treacherous conditions on the slopes of a snowy volcano manageable and even kind of fun. I remember thinking just after my first 2 weeks, I had already learned enough to make this trip worth it, I can't even express now how much the full 5 1/2 months taught me. My eyes have especially been opened more to how culturally close minded people can be, and I hope I can continue to have a better understanding of people and where they come from as I got throughout my life. Everyone is proud of where they come from, who I am to belittle or stereotype their heritage. There is no need to freak out when someone pronounces vitamin, capillaries, nutella, or about different because I'm pretty sure the rest of the world could team up against how I say Z or mountains without the t. I'm sure my Canadian and European friends could list about a hundred other things I say or do because I am american, but it didn't really matter

Brayden's Study break

Study Break photo graph skills

Muffin break!

Tongariro Crossing - Climbing Mt. Doom

2011-12-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

A must do on every New Zealand explorer's list is the Tongariro Crossing, one of the most beautiful day hikes in the world. This crossing goes along the ridges of a collection small active volcanic craters next to Ruapehu. Much of the hike goes along Mt. Ngauruhoe, an active volcano, that along with Mt. Ruapehu (one I hike previously) were used as Mt. Doom in the LOTR. So 7 of my amazing buddies and I decided to make a Saturday of hiking the crossing. Our team consisted of Ema, Brayden, Graeme, Benedict, Ross, Alex, Viladmir, and myself. It was another 4:30 am wake up call to drive the 2 hours to the national park. If you know me, early mornings can be a little rough but there is something different about waking up to go on a new adventure, I probably didn't sleep more than an hour that night...which isn't the best preparation when you plan on hiking 8 hours the next day but that wasn't going to stop me.

The Crew: Ema, Alex, Ross, Graeme, Jen, Viladmir, Benedict, and Brayden

So we took 2 cars and got to one side of the crossing and dropped almost everyone off then drove another car to the other side. By the time we were all back to the beginning and ready to go it was about 10 am. As we waited for the drivers to come back about 4 groups of hikers started up the mountain. It was a foggy day and the rain was threatening but some hikers only had shorts or light jackets. We started to think we might have brought too many layers because we planned on a snowy ascent but kept what we had anyway. Clouds covered the volcanic ridge so we couldn't actually see the mountain we were about to climb up. The start of the trail was an easy dirt road leading to swampy valley coming up the base of the mountain An area termed the devil's staircase had switchbacks of wooden steps leading up the mountain. As we hiked the wind was constantly changing and the clouds were moving in and out faster than the hokey pokey. We continued to hike onward, but every group we passed warned us of the terrible winds and fog on top of the volcano. A bunch of invincible college kids such as ourselves didn't let this stop us, we were all eager to do this walk and this was our only chance to do it. As we continued our accent all of the groups we had seen start ahead of us had turned back and everyone told us that we should do the same but, being as stubborn as we were, we had to see it for ourselves before we made such a regrettable decision. So we moved into the thick cloud cover and stayed close. So far there wasn't much to worry about, the wind was a bit blustery at times. I put on the extra layer I had taken off during our climb up the stair and put a bandana around my face to protect from the wind and felt reasonably comfortable as we kept hiking.

If there is a Eruption....

The weather conditions really seemed completely manageable to me, I mean as long as it isn't bad enough for my eye lashes to freeze together I saw no problem continuing on. Even if we weren't going to see much because of the fog there was a sense of pride to be earned in fearing the conditions and completing the crossing. As we reached a white flat area (everything was white) the winds were fierce but were at our back and not causing us any trouble. The flat area turned out to be basically a huge ice skating rink, I think it was part of a crater that had heated some of the snow and ice to melt it but it had frozen on top so below the ice the water wasn't deep and we could walk across the ice but if you punched through the ice you got a wet boot covered in mud. So of course I just followed the bigger guys until I knew I could walk through an area without breaking the ice. Once we understood what we were walking on it became a lot of fun. We all boot skated across the ice just like figure skaters. When the wind would gust you could get it to give you a little boost as you jump and slid along the ice. For being completely disoriented and in a thick white cloud that we couldn't see more that 20m we had a really good time. We didn't see any other people, as they had all turned back. After crossing the large white ice skating rink, the trail markers led us up along the ridge of the highest mountain. This was the only area that it got a bit icey and slick. It was snowy and icey but also a lot of rocks so you could keep good traction if you stayed on the rocks. As we hiked up the ridge we looked back and the clouds suddenly cleared! We could see the large white open ice field we had just walked through and another crater just above it.

Foggy, ice field

Clouds cleared as we could see the large open white field we had just crossed.

Top of Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom)

We could also finally see just how large the ridge we were hiking was but couldn't quite make out the top. Our magnificent views only lasted a short while as heavy wind gust blew the clouds back in and gave us a bit of a challenge attempting to maneuver up the skinny, steep, and icey ledge. We finally made it to the top and continued to be completely surrounded by the terrible whiteness that had engulfed us. There was nothing to see and the wind was blowing harder then ever. As we continued back down the other side, along the opposite ridge, many of my friends were forced to sit down to prevent being blown over, a wise choice considering the large cliff beneath us for most of the way. But don't worry, it died down enough we were all able to jump, walk, and slide down the mix of dirt, ice, and snow that reminded us all strangely of oreo ice cream, although I'm sure not as tasty. It was a slick decent and more than one of us spent some quality time on our butts as we attempted to safely descend. The part of the trail that we were walking was famous for its spectacular views of volcanic craters, lakes, and miles and miles of New Zealand, but for awhile it seemed the clouds weren't going to give in to allow to witness the legendary sites. But then just as we were about to reach the famous 3 crater lakes at the top of the crossing the clouds cleared out, it was impeccable timing. We saw the deep emerald blue lakes and when the wind blew in our direction you could catch a whiff of the rotten egg sulfuric smell. faint scent of sulfur. It was really a scene that felt out of this world like we were exploring another planet. We stopped briefly to eat lunch and take photos but then had to continue on our way to keep from getting too cold. We were really fortunate the clouds cleared for us to see this, although barren, beautiful scene.

As we continued on we crossed over another strangely large wide open field of ice and up another ridge to see an even larger lake. The sun was reflecting brightly through the clouds and off the snow and besides the biting wind it would have been tempting to take a dip. The lakes weren't frozen as you would expect in such a cold area, I would assume this is because of thermal heat. Most of our hike had been through thick fog and we weren't really able to feel the heat from the sun at all. We joked the whole time how the "What to Bring" list online had strongly recommend sun hats and sunscreen.....I explain more on this later. The last third of the hike was a bit more leisurely. Although we did pass a few unprepared adventures headed to where we had just come and knew we'd probably being seeing them headed back our way soon. Some how we had managed to have the wind at our backs nearly the entire time. As we reflected on the warnings people had given us on our way in at first we thought they were being dramatic but really it would have been as awful as they had said had we been going into the wind, like they did, the whole way. So we really lucked out in the direction that we took the crossing. After a spontaneous snowball fight, Brayden posing his famed handstands in sketchy places, and a few snowy ravines, the trail lead us out of a canyon and on to a mountain face overlooking more lakes and the beautiful Taupo valley.
A number of switchbacks led us to a hut filled with people just getting ready to complete the crossing or had just finished, after swapping a few stories and taking more photos we continued down the mountain face covered in the most switch backs I have seen to up or down any mountain. It was a bit tedious how slow it made our descent but we had made such good time for our hike is wasn't like we were in a rush. Along the way we saw what we will forever claim to be Smaug's Lair from The Hobbit and a few other places that resembled LOTR. The steep ridges we climbed and the main peak that we summitted was where they filmed the Mt. Doom scenes from LOTR, you could see the resemblance of the steep volcanic mountain covered in dark volcanic soil. Even knowing this Ema wouldn't reenact the scene with me being Frodo and her Sam, where Sam carries Frodo up the steep mountain, well that is mostly because somewhere along the way I had agreed to be Sam, but that is irrelevent ;) ha ha. All in all it was an amazing day and such an unforgettable adventure bad weather and all. Oh and back to the sunscreen thing....ya we all got fried. It was almost humorous considered how many times we had joked about the sunscreen and never used it, only to have fried faces and peeling skin for the next week. We really never got a lot of direct sun but those UV rays really do still go through the clouds and reflect off the snow to give ya a good burn ha ha. so worth it.

Ross, Viladmir, Benedict, Graeme, Alex, Brayden, Jen, and Ema after completing the crossing

Mt. Doom

Gone Fishing!

2011-11-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

So after my exhausting 5 days of studying, I had one week until my next test. My test was for Sport Biomechanics 2 and of all my classes, it was the one I was least stressed about. This version of biomechanics was basically just like biomedical engineering simplified for exercise science students just using physics and matlab. I had a bit of an advantage over the rest of the students having a year of physics of a whole class dedicated to Matlab, so I felt ok about do some more traveling for the next week. A lot of my friends had other tests so I had to find other friends to do stuff with. Vilad from my ward had been wanting to go fishing so we made a plan to go to the beach on Thursday and go surf cast fishing. It is where you get a big ocean fishing pole and go cast off the beach into the surf and try and catch a fish.So we got all of the gear and went to Himatangi beach near Palmy. Unfortunately the fishing gods (Tangaroa) were against us and neither was the weather god (Tawhirimatea). The wind was terrible, the clouds were threatening, and the fish weren't biting. Then again I am not sure we were doing it right, neither of us were. We didn't know how to fish and our results showed it. The most we caught all day was seaweed. It was still pretty fun to try and fish in the ocean, something I had never done before. By the end of the day the only thing we succeeded in doing was losing our 2 sinkers and one hook. It was a bit disappointing because we really wanted to catch something. As we were leaving we talked to some people who recommended a better fishing spot about 5k down the beach.

We still had a bunch of bait and all the fishing gear so we decided to go out to the other beach the people had recommended and try and catch something. We tried to head out a bit earlier but got a little lost when trying to find the beach. As we drove it rained off and on and it didn't look like the weather was really going to be nice to us. When we finally got to the beach, as we got the fishing rod all ready with bait it started to rain. We hung out for a bit to wait for it to stop raining, once it finally did we hit the beach. We started fishing where a large river met the ocean. There were other fisherman catching whitebait there so we knew there had to be at least some fish. So we fished for a couple hours and moved around from the river to the beach and still only caught seaweed. So I guess we weren't really meant to be fishermen. It didn't ever actually rain on us but the wind was still pretty bad, but it was still a fun couple days.

STUDY abroad

2011-11-29T20:07:00.001-07:00

So after slacking off most of the study break week, it was finally time to buckle down. My first test was Nov. 1st, the first wednesday of finals and not only that but I had 2 finals scheduled for the same time. But don't worry Massey has a solution for that, it is like spending a day in prison, except worse because in prison I don't think they have finals. I had my Maori and Structural Kinesiology final. The tests were pretty intimidating at first but once I started studying I felt ok. All the practice tests were similar so I wasn't to worried once I could them. The Maori classes was the most stressful actually as the test just seemed like a lot of Maori vocab and since I didn't know hardly any vocab I was really worried, but after bit of studying and a great study group with my fellow Atawhai class members I felt pretty good about it. Kinesiology was a lot of information but I really started to understand better how to figure out what muscles do just based on where they are and which side of a bone they are on. It is pretty interesting, I think I like it a lot better then engineering. We actually had a pretty good time studying. Ema and I would pull out the couches from the common room and sit out in the sun and study. People we join us and sometimes it would get a little unproductive but for the most part we learned a lot. Each night I would go to Ema's and study while she graded papers. It was so nice to have her to ask any questions or to review stuff with as I studied and I got a lot less distracted then I did when I studied at home. We did take a break one night and make a pumpkin...well actually Ema made the pumpkin pie while I studied and then we ate it at like 1am because that is when it was finally finished after making it from scratch. We didn't have all the spices but it was still really good.
So then the first day of reckoning came. I stayed up late and woke up early in typical college student cramming style and studied some more. I got put in a special room with a few other students with clashing exams. My kinesiology test was only 2 hours and when I flipped through it at the beginning I was excited because I know almost all of the answers. I finished in about an hour and so I had time to study for my next exam. After everyone finished their first exam we got escorted into a lounge area to eat lunch for 45 minutes then it was back to the same room to take our next exam. We weren't aloud to leave and they locked us in the building so if we did leave we couldn't get back in. It was intense. My second exam was Maori and during the first 10 minutes of reading time I flipped through all the multiple choice questions and felt great because I knew almost all of them and the essay questions were pretty much what I expected. So I finished that one quickly as well. It was a good feeling finishing 2 exams and feeling good about them.

Studying turned dance party-Brayden dancing

Alex also dancing

Studying?

Pumpkin pie by Ema!

Team Heavy Duty Booty Backpacking Taranaki

2011-11-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

I really had to put my fast packing practice to the test this time. I had about one hour to unpack from wellington and repack for a 3 day backpacking trip to Taranaki volcano. I still had to eat lunch and buy my bus ticket so I was really pushing it. I started cooking rice for lunch while I packed and totally forgot about it and basically filled my whole flat with smoke, fortunately there was no real damage just a really black pot. Viladmir from church let me borrow some camping gear but I only had my school backpack so some how I cramped all my food, clothes, and camping stuff into a pack meant for a laptop and a few books. Since I was in such a rush, Viladmir was super nice and gave me a ride to the bus stop and so I made it just in time to catch the bus to New Plymouth. There I met up with Robert and Kelly a couple of Americans that I was going to be trekking all over Taranaki volcano with. It was about a 3 hour bus ride to New Plymouth where we were spending the night. When we got there we met up with another American friend who was there traveling with her parents and they gave us a lift to our hostel. Later we walked into town and did a bit of the famous New Plymouth coastal walk. There was this strange art piece? along the coast called a wind wand. Basically it was an incredibly tall pole with a ball on top that swayed in the wind. Afterwards we found our favorite grocery store Paknsave and bought some food for our adventure. Earlier in the day we had asked some nice people for directions and the funniest thing happened. As we were walking home with our arms full of groceries the same people, Evan and Michael, so us walking and stopped and offered us a ride. It was such a pleasant surprise as we still had about a mile to walk carrying all of our food, New Zealanders are so great. Once home we made a big pasta dinner to fuel up for our trip and then went eels shining! It was dark and there was a river behind our hostel with eels in it, so we took our flashlights and very and found a few. They were huge, ugly looking things but are a huge part of Maori traditions here.
The next morning I got up early to shower for the last time for the next 2 days. We hired a shuttle to pick us up and take us to the mountain. So Tom and Darren picked us up in a big van and drove us up to the visitor center. As we drove the weather was very misty with a light drizzle of rain...not the best for hiking but like a gift from heave right as we pulled up to the visitor center the skies cleared and the rain stopped. It was perfect timing. The first day of our hike was meant to take 5-6 hours to the first hut. We hiked through heaps of rainforest and had to do some river crossings and even went across a swing bridge. The first part of the loop we were doing actually went up a neighboring peak to the main mountain. About 4 hours into the hike, the trail basically started going straight up the mountain, but it really wasn't bad because there were wood and dirt steps pretty much all the way up. It kinda made the hike feel a little less exploreresque but it was sure nice to have the steps because otherwise it would have very steep and slick, but there were literally hundreds of steps. All those box jumps and stairs I had done with Ema were really paying off and I felt great basically running up the stairs. My hiking buddies weren't quite as keen on the idea of running up the mountain so we stopped and ate lunch the finished our ascent. Finally we made it to the top of mountain, called Henry's peak and the view was fantastic! You could see the ocean, the cities, and of course the majestic Mt. Taranaki. As we sat and admired the view we were a little worried as it looked like an entire wall of clouds was about to close in on us but as we sat and watched it was really interesting because the clouds looked like they were constantly moving towards us but they would always dissipate right as they approached the mountain. It must have been something crazy with the air pressure or wind currents or something, but it was weird. The view was so nice we had to sit and admire it for awhile but the it was back down the other side with more stairs and even some ladders it was so steep. Next was up one more small peak where our hut was near the top. As we made it to the hut the clouds finally decided to really roll in and oh when they came it was like someone put foggy ski goggles over my eyes. The fog was so dense you couldn't see for more than about 50m and even less at times. We set up our tent and had a good dinner. We spent the evening making a fire and just hanging out. When it finally came time to go to bed we could even see our tent only 10m away in the fog but we found it and curl up for a windy night on mountain. We stayed in a tent because it cost $15 a night per person to stay in the hut and the tent was free, so we just used the huts to cook, then slept in the tent. The huts were quite nice though. They had running water and a porta potty outside and then bunk beds with sleeping pads inside. It was quite a winding night and Robert and I didn't exactly have proper sleeping bags so we were all cold so we tried sleep closer together in are already cramped 2 man tent. After we all realized that none of us had been sleeping at about 3 am we decided to head into the hut to warm up and build a small fire. We all ate some snacks and put on more layers to reattempt our sleeping outside. I had an idea that really changed my whole situation. My problem was I just couldn't keep my feet and legs warm so I boiled some water and put it in my heavy duty water bottle and put in the bottom of my sleeping bag. Oh my gosh it made the biggest difference in the world, I couldn't believe it. I actually got warm with just this little hot water bottle and finally got to sleep. I think we all felt better and all got some sleep finally. We were so tired we slept in a little later that we had planned on but finally got all packed up and head out to our next hut around 10:30 the next day. The original plan was just going to be a pretty short 3-4 hour hike to the next hut, so when we got to the hut we had lunch and did another leg of the trail that was about an hour return to a waterfall. It was pretty cool because we had hiked through a swamp and the water from the swamp and the river through it all drained off these huge cliff. By the time we got back from the waterfall it was still only about 3:30 pm and we had nothing to do and since we had been making good time we though we should just head to the next hut about 4 hours away. We had been making good time and thought we could do it faster so we set off to hike about halfway up Taranaki along a trail leading to the next hut. The whole day had been terribly cloudy and we only had very limited views of anything all day so there wasn't much to stop and take photos of as we walked. As we went the fog got thicker and rain started as a drizzle then full on rain off and on. We traversed the side of the mountain and made it over a few scary steep places that if you fell you would be tumbling a long ways so we took great caution. There weren't a lot of signs so just based on the map I had judge where we were and unfortunately everytime I looked at the map I realized more and more we had too far to go and not enough daylight to get there and turning around was even further so we pressed on and didn't stop for anything. The whole day had felt very dark in the fog so even as the sun started to set we couldn't really notice a difference. At one point we made it to a sign pointing directions to the hut we were headed toward with one direction taking 2 hours and the other 1.5 hours. the 1.5 hour trail was a summer trail only...it was early spring so we took the risk of going on the summer trail to try and save time. Unfortunately as it turns out this meant we had to hike through snow. For me I really felt totally comfortable on the snow, I think years of skiing really payed off as I walked across the steep hills of snow forming steps for my friends, for them I don't think it was quite as natural. I avoided telling them that if they did slip they would probably end up sliding a few hundred meters and we couldn't even see what was at the bottom of the hills because of the fog. I just told them what to do if they did start to fall, the best ways to stop. And well it didn't help that just as we started trying to cross the snow sheets, the wind picked up and really started blowing, and with our packs covered in trash bags from the rain, they worked more like parachutes. So we were extremely careful but finally made it down far enough to get out of the snow. We finally made it to a trail that was pretty much a road. We were soaking wet from the rain, the sun had pretty much set, and the wind was howling so with and open trial we started to run. We still had 1 hour according to the sign until the hut. So we ran as much as we could but running downhill after hiking all day, not sleeping much that night, soaking wet and with a 15kg+pack on your bag it wasn't easy. Then finally just as it was getting too dark to see without a flash light we made it to the hut. It was such a relieving sight and to top it off another girl was staying there that already had the fire going. We all changed out of our soaking wet clothes and shoes and hung them by the fire. We ate a ton of food because we were so hungry and needed some carbs to get ourselves warm. We set up the tent underneath the raised hut to protect us from the wind and rain. I heated more water to put in my water bottle and after a back massage train we headed to bed. As I was talking to Robert and Kelly they were saying that what we had just done was the hardest thing they had ever done, so I was pretty impressed with how they did. They hadn't complained at all and just knew what they had to do to get off that mountain. I really hadn't known too much about the mountain but I guess I knew a lot more then them about how to handle the rough conditions so I was glad they were willing to follow me and try and keep up when I told them we had to go faster. I had a lot less gear because I had packed so light in my little bag, had been trying to stay properly hydrated, eating as we hiked, and had been working out heaps before this adventure add that to my experience of being stuck on snowy mountains in a storm I was at a bit of an advantage to my friends.. But strangely during this whole time I felt completely fine, not a single sore muscle, never hungry or tired, not even cold even though I was soaking wet. I could have run back up that mountain if the situation had called for it I think. I didn't have a proper back pack like they had or even real hiking boots, just my running shoes. But I wasn't too worried the whole time either, I was confident we would be ok. I think a bit of adrenaline streaming through the veins and protection from above helped me to feel at peace. We had made a bad decisions to continue onto the next hut but it meant we only had to hike 2 hours in the morning so we could be to our pick up spot by noon the next day, otherwise we would have had to start hiking by 6 am, but it all worked out and made it just in time. That night was little better as far as sleeping as we had learned a few tricks the night before.
We got up at 9 the next morning, packed back up our wet clothes and put on our wet shoes and went back out into the fog that still hadn't left. Our last 2 hours were through rainforest again and we finally made it back to the visitors center where we were getting picked up. I think Robert and Kelly were pretty relieved when we made it, and I guess I was too, but we really had a good time. Even though a little scary at one point, it was a fun adventure, we did wish the fog would have left so we could have seen lot more but it happens a lot in this area so we felt lucky with the one day of blue skies we had.

Darren picked us up right at noon and took us to the bus station, after a short little tour around the city. We were Darren's first group of customers as he had just started working for the shuttle company so he want to make our trip special. He told us if we were ever around again we should swing by his house down on the Maori tribal land and he would show us around. He was such a nice guy. We made it an hour early to the bus and were eager for a hot meal so we found the closest food place which was the mall food court. We looked a little strange looking like we had just come off a mountain with all of our gear and everything sitting in a mall food court but food court curry had never tasted so good! Finally it was time to board the bus, all three of us slept as we were exhausted. I gave up on my wet shoes and took the bus ride in my socks. I took the rest of the journey home in just socks, even when we had to walk to a new bus stop in Palmy, and walking back to my flat, the cool part is that isn't even weird. I made it home with the intention of writing the rest of my report worth half my grade that was due the next day but was just too exhausted. So I went to bed early and got up Friday morning and started writing. I wrote for 7 hours straight for my final report and turned it in at 4:50pm to my teacher right before he left. A fun fact I learn later...I got one of the highest scores in the class, so I guess it turn out ok :)

The Start

Day 1 Robert and Jen

View from Henry's Peak

Kelly in the Rainforest

Swing Bridge

Team Heavy Duty Booty!

Snack Break!

Swamp in between us and the mountain

Taranaki

Kelly

Robert and Kelly

Holy Hut

Bells Falls

Look Erica! Bells is in NZ too!

The Fog

Last Day

The End!

A night to remember-Rugby World Cup Final in Wellington

2011-11-28T00:51:00.000-07:00

So I last left you with my plans of heading to Wellington for the World Cup final...let me try and describe that night to you. First some background: For those who don't know, rugby in NZ is basically considered the countries religion, everyone watches it and signs supporting the All Blacks can probably be seen from outer space, as they cover hillsides and farm fields. The All Blacks playing for the final in their own country is a huge deal especially since they haven't won for 25 years and they have been so close so many times, so there was a lot riding on this game. So going to the nations capital to watch the game on a big screen was sure to be a once in a lifetime experience.
I headed down on the bus with Graeme and Benedicte, once we got to Wellington we met up with Brayden, Brayden, Bene, Martyna, Kelly, Dani, Giso, Zach, and Franzi. We found a pub with a huge tv and settled in to watch the game of a lifetime. The game was France vs. NZ. We were all cheering for the All Blacks except of course Benedict (french) and for some reason Graeme (Scot). The game was so intense, the All Blacks did great for the first half but the second got scary close. Every time something exciting happened it felt like an earthquake was shaking the city as people screamed or cheered, although who really knows they could have been a very conveniently timed earthquake..we were in NZ. The whole city was on hold watching the game and when that clock finally ticked to 80:00 and the All Blacks kicked out the ball there were cheers so loud you couldn't tell if there was even anything coming out of your own mouth. The All Blacks beat France by 1 point. It wasn't the prettiest game but it didn't matter as long as the ABs won. Hugs and high fives between strangers and friends were happening everywhere. Interestingly, Benedict with the french flag painted on her face got the most hugs of all as everyone around us congratulated her for a well fought game, I'm sure the same wouldn't have happened had France won but we were all glad we weren't going to have to protect her from any sort of angry or insulting kiwis. After the game ended everyone flooded into the streets. There were crowds of people down every main road and the police just ended up shutting all the main roads down and people were running everywhere. Excited would be an understatement when describing this town, well that and a little drunk. People were climbing up anything climbable (street poles, buildings, statues, etc.). They were reenacting scrums in the streets and we all got plowed over once or twice so of course we just decided to join in for a bit and had scrums with each other. It was truly epic as everyone celebrated together. It was a like a parade in every direction and everyone was a part of it. With so many people it was a little tough to stick together but we managed to not loose anyone and had quite the exciting walk back to our hostel to drop off some stuff then go and enjoy the partying in the street. It was just such an incredible atmosphere, you couldn't help but join in with cheering and dancing. We finally made our was to small little club and hung out and had a blast. Brayden, Bene, Zach, and Franzi left early to go get some sleep before their 4am wake up call to take a plane to Sydney for the week. I spent most of the night with Martyna and Kelly. We got ice cream and hung out and enjoyed the atmosphere for awhile but headed in early enough to get a few hours of sleep as Kelly and I were set to leave on a backpacking trip the next day. It was almost tough to sleep as the city was so loud but I managed alright and woke up bright and early to make a bus back to Palmy. As I walked to bus stop with Graeme the city felt deserted. It was a strange feeling considering how crazy it had been just a few hour prior but as daylight came I guess the parties came to an end and since it was an national holiday everyone was sleeping off the crazy night they had. We walked about 4 blocks and probably only saw 10 people in all of downtown Wellington. It was a short trip to Wellington for me but absolutely worth it.

Kelly, Zach, Franzi, Bene, Benedict, Graeme, Martyna, and Brayden

Dude climbing pole

Party in the streets!

Martyna, Kelly and Jen

Kelly, Jen, and Zach

Jen, Kelly, and a tasty pizza bread

Our lone french fans!

The calm before the storm

2011-11-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty school heavy week as it was the last week of classes and my final assignments were due. All my classes were semester reviews and test reviews. My Maori class even had a party for the last day it felt like high school all over again, but I didn't mind one bit. After a few speed bumps on my last day of classes I finally officially finished the semester at Massey University Oct 21st. After classes finished we got one week off for a study break and 2 1/2 weeks of finals. I had 4 final scheduled over those 2 1/2 weeks. But my first 2 finals weren't until Nov 2nd and I was feeling too worried about them so I decided to use the weekend and beginning of the study week to travel, take part in some local culture, and spend some time with friends. Friday after my last class I baked some banana bread to bring and headed out to a YSA dance at the church. It was a costume/sunday best and since I hadn't really had time to come up with any fun costume I stuck to a simple skirt. A bunch of my friends really went all out though and looked amazing, I'll add some photos, my favourite was my friend Jen and her Avatar costume. The dance had a slow start as only the Palmerston North YSA were there to begin but then things took off when a few van loads of YSA from Hastings showed up. They had driven 2 hours to come to the dance and it was a blast. Islanders are great dancers and lots of fun, I've never had so much fun dancing with strangers. I even lost my shoe at one point as I accidently kicked it across the room and everyone stopped and got a good laugh as I was a little embarrassed but then just laughed too. Overall it was a great night.
Saturday was supposed to be the day to finished writing my very last report due the following friday but things kept coming up and I didn't get much done. That evening my flatmate, Tamil, had decided to have one last barbque and party before the drinking and noise ban took effect for the halls, so we roasted up some chicken, burgers, and vegges. It was a good eat. Afterwards we moved the party into our flat and hung out and played some last very epic games of spoons. After spoons we had a good time just hanging out and talking (and drinking). Since I wasn't drinking I decided it was time to break out my high class grape juice I had bought from the winery in Nelson. Brayden, Ema, and I hung out pretty late and just talked, it was hard to not just sit and reminisce about all the good times we have had, not like they were over yet, it is just like a common feeling of our adventure coming to an end. During the party Benedict and Graeme convinced me to come with them and meet up with all of our other friends to go to Wellington to watch the final for the Rugby World Cup in NZ's capital Wellington the next day.....hence the calm before the storm. These little parties were just the beginning of some epic weeks.

Toni, Jen and Anita

Anita, Holly, and Nadida

Jen, Pikachu, Nadida, Holly, and Sam

Jen as avatar and some of the Hastings boys

Brayden, Zach, Jen, Ema, and Graeme

You can even get sick in magical wonderlands but zwiebelkuchen makes up for it!

2011-11-09T02:36:00.000-07:00

It was a rough start of this week. I got sick with a cold Monday and just couldn’t get rid of it. I drank heaps of water and ate all my kiwifruits. I just basically sat in my room for 2 days because I didn’t want to spread germs. I even missed Canadian thanksgiving, I was going to celebrate with Ema and Brayden, the resident Canadians, but it happens and it is never convenient. Being sick sure makes you appreciate being healthy and also appreciate soft tissues because toilet paper just hurts after a day of blowing your nose. I missed a couple classes but nothing too big. Thursday I went to the gym to try and get my blood pumping to work the sickness out of me and afterwards Ema and I decided to do our own little barbque by frying hamburgers. She brought avocado put on hers and so I put a little on mine. A lot of my friends eat avocado a lot here and I used to hate it, but now I think it is really growing on me, they are so cheap here and always so good. Finally by Friday I was feeling ok. Yuko invited me over for dinner with the missionaries. It is always so fun to sit down and have a proper meal with good company. Afterwards I hung around and helped her plan for our Atawhai pizza party the following Saturday. So I finally was doing good from being sick and Ema started to get sick! I felt bad but I really tried to avoid people to not get them sick but she was only kind of sick for a couple days. Later Friday evening, Franzi had decided another german food night was in order. So it was time for zwiebelkuchen! And well if you speak German, it is pretty much like it is called, a cake of onion, just kind of like a glorified pizza crust with loads of onions baked in. It made for a fun evening with bad breathe for everyone! But I love the diversity of our evenings. It never gets old hanging out with 4 Germans, a Scot, a Pole, a French woman, 2 Canadians, 3 Americans, and occasionally a couple kiwis. They are all such awesome people and even though we really are from so many different places we have a blast and all get a long super well. After onion cake we just hung out and I made it a pretty early night (about 1 am haha) because I was still recovering from being sick. But it just makes me smile that we have such an awesome community here and all my friends are just a few houses away so I can just mosey home whenever or run home really fast if I forgot something. I can even just show up at any of their houses whenever I want and say hi or stay awhile. No need to really call or text when you can just walk over and talk to someone face to face. We do anything and everything together. You can always go cook dinner with someone or bake cookies or go into town or down to campus. We really just have a close group that look out for each other and always keen to do stuff, I love it. Throwing a party can be totally spur of the moment and as long as people are in town you are sure to have at least 10 people hopping and ready to have a good time. It is cool. Anyway, on Saturday we had our pizza party in the common room. Yuko order loads of pizzas and snacks and treats. We all hung out and had a good time. It was a lot of really good food and there was even ice cream for dessert after. Near the end there was still some leftover food so Warren had invited the missionaries to come over and get Pizza. I had left for a bit but when I came back some of my friends were leaving and were like” Jen, watch out there are some Jehovah’s Witness’ in there if you don’t want to talk to them”. I looked in the window and was like “no those are Jehovah’s Witness’, those are Mormons. Those are cool guys, a couple of them are even from Utah. They are my friends and just Mormon missionaries.” I just sort of explained who they were and I think they still thought it was little weird that Warren invited them to our party, but maybe they will realize they are normal people and not some freaks trying to shove religion down their throats. It was a fun evening anyay and we finished it off of course by watching some more rugby. The tournament is coming to end! It will be the All Blacks vs. France in the final!

Another fun thing we have also started a new tradition of Sunday morning pancakes. Every Sunday we get together and make pancakes it is kind of like waffles at home but instead of with my family back home it is with my “Atawhai family” I have here. It makes for a good start to my Sundays.

Franzi cooking onions....lots and lot of onions!

Excited for onion cake!

zwiebelkuchen!

Himatagni Beach and more

2011-11-07T19:02:00.001-07:00

This week was a bit more school filled but that still doesn’t mean I did a lot. I had 1 report due on Friday and another one that was supposed to be due on Friday but in typical new Zealand fashion, my teacher put off the due date a week. Most teachers here are so relaxed, especially about due dates. But I got most of it done anyway. It was part of a project for my Maori class and our teacher said we could work together so of course the 5 of us from Atawhai village made it a team effort and it only took us a few hours to each do a bit of research and then share everything we found with everyone. During the week I also got some good training sessions in with Ema, but she decided to stop doing the sprint training because she doesn’t have time and doesn’t actually need real results for her study, it was just really more for fun, but we still just do our usual gym routine and it is great. On Wednesday though I decided to change it up a bit, one of the guys from church is a professional fighter and he teaches a muay thai kick boxing class on Wednesdays in town, so I decided to go to that. Instead of kick boxing it should probably call it a kicking Jen’s butt class, ha ha just kidding, but it was a pretty solid work out. I was pretty tired at the end but I was impressed because I was able to do a lot more then I would have a few months ago before training with Ema because it is a lot more strength stuff then just my typical endurance type running, so it was fun. Afterwards I had to run down to our volleyball game and afterwards Ema and I were going to work out because she hadn’t yet that day but then some Polynesian girls we had met the weekend before at rugby were playing basketball and invited us to play with them. So we grabbed a couple more guys and played some 3 v 3. I haven’t played ball in forever so it was really fun and really random because we barely even knew these people but they are just so friendly, I love Polynesians. Ema has played a lot of basketball and on account of my height, we won but it wasn’t a real serious game anyway.

Thursday, there was a ceremony for international students that will be graduating or leaving massey and so it was mostly all the graduate students that were graduating that semester and then like 4 of us exchange students. We don’t think we were actually supposed to be there but we had been invited and got a certificate for a “certificate of proficiency” basically I think we all just checked some box on our application that we weren’t supposed to, ha ha, but it was fun to pretend to graduate and they even gave a us a little gift.

So the weekend got a bit more interesting. Saturday a few of my friends all decided to go to the Himatangi beach even though it had rained all morning, but we wanted to have a bonfire and I really wanted to make s'mores, so I found some wanna be marshmellows at the grocery store that were kind of pathetic in size but they worked and so we went to the beach for the afternoon and had a picnic and a fire and I finally got a s'more! But we had to use funky chocolate covered wheat crackers to make them so it really wasn't quite the same but it was close. Fun fact: turns out fires are illegal on the beach so we got in trouble by the fire brigrade ha ha but it was ok, they just said hey don't do it again. Oops. But it was a good day, we played soccer and frisbee on the beach even while wearing our coats because it was cold.

Sunday Brayden and Graeme had their marathon . They both did really good, I was super impressed, especially with only training about 3 weeks. I had wanted to go and if not run it, at least cheer them on but I had general conference so Ema made some fun signs and gave them some moral support. General conference was pretty good, we saw it 1 week after everyone in Utah because of the time change and just watched the 2 sunday sessions on a projector in the chapel. Afterwards I went over to a fellow ysa’s house and we made some giant pizzas with like a million toppings and watched a movie so it was a really good chill sunday. Afterwards I came home and watched the RWC semifinal, Australia vs. All Blacks. I literally have never seen more blood in any sporting event in my life ha ha and they don't care, they just keep playing. Those guys are monsters. Granted this game was probably the 2 biggests rivals in any sport in the entire world so it was extra intense, but of course the All Blacks won and now will be in the final whoot! Good thing too, because I am not sure I would want to be living here in the All Blacks lost.

Fake graduation

Ema at the beach

Bonfire!

Brayden and Ema made the paper!

Haka!

Smore!

After Training one day

Temple Week Finally!

2011-11-06T17:19:00.001-07:00

So, it has been awhile but hopefully I can still remember all my grand adventures from the almost 6 last weeks because it hasn’t been boring 6 weeks, never is here. So I last told you about my trip to rugby world cup game that was an awesome once in a lifetime experience. The following week was a bit hectic. I had to get some studying done and go to a few different lectures so that I could take off Thursday and Friday and go to the temple in Hamilton. It was our ward temple week and most people went the entire week but I couldn’t miss that much school. So I went to some different lab times so I could miss my labs at the end of the week. It is a 5-7 hour drive to them temple, depending on who is driving. Fortunately on the way it only took 5 but on the way back it took 7 L. But ready for a crazy story? Ok so on Thursday I had to leave 4 am to go to the temple and rode with this really nice dad and his niece. It wasn't a bad drive at all and we got there way early, before 10 am but we missed the morning baptism session and they only do certain times a day because they don't have enough people so I just basically had to sit around and wait for the 2:30 session but was ok because it was a really nice day and my room reservation was never made at the temple motel so I had to get that all sorted out. The ward here is super unorganized. I wasn't even sure if I was going to have a ride home but it was fine. Ok so here is where it gets crazy. So to kill time me and tireena (I have no idea what this girls name is but it is something like that ha ha but I was with her all day and she is 19 and getting married next month but she really is pretty fun if not a little crazy) went to go walk around the temple grounds and look for that elusive monkey tree for Kathryn. But then we also decided to go to the visitors centre. And well who should open the door to welcome us to the visitor centre but a cute as ever sister missionary named Jenn Frost ha ha yep. You should have seen her face! Wow she gave me the biggest hug and was just like so confused and so excited at the same time. She had the biggest grin on her face the whole time I was there it was great. I told her how I was in NZ for school and my ward was up in Hamilton for temple week. She loved it! We were talking about it and just the size of her mission and the fact that she was scheduled to be working the visitors centre and in that area at that time it was just like the most perfect timing, I couldn't have planned it better! But she is doing so so great! I could tell she absolutely loves what she is doing and loves this country. She still has awhile to go but I think she must just be a fantastic missionary. Her companion seemed so sweet too. She gave me a tour of the visitors centre and told me some fun facts about this history of the church here, which is really pretty cool. The whole time she was just stoked. It was so fun to see her for my sake as well, even for me it is crazy to see part of home here in New Zealand. It was pretty exciting. Crazy huh?

So then I went and did some baptism at 2:30 then the temple is not really in the city so without a car there wasn't a lot for me to do but the weather was nice so I just hung outside for a bit. Jenn Frost had left already and all the older people were in the temple doing other stuff so I was just by myself for the rest the afternoon but it was sunny so I just hung outside. Finally I got my room worked out and would be sharing from a lady form the stake. Her name was Rose Mary and she was super nice, but I didn't see much of her. We stayed in dorm like motel rooms where there was a big common kitchen...felt like a hostel all over again. I tried to take a nap because it had been a long day but couldn’t sleep. So I cooked my dinner and was just kind of eating alone because I was the only person under the age of 50 there and didn't know anyone. But then this elderly dude came and sat by me. He said he felt bad that I was alone but it really wasn't a big deal but he was sweet for sitting with me. He told me stories of his life while I ate, it was great. I guess he is originally from Australia and was baptized in Brisbane and he came to the US once and went to conference in SLC. While he was there everyone would as where he was from and he would tell them NZ and most people didn't know where it was! I think that is crazy but this was awhile back. He told me another story and I don't remember what it was about exactly but this is how it started "back when I was living in the Australian outback..." it was as that point I had to try so hard to stop from laughing. I mean I just realized how awesome is it that I can just sit and eat dinner and have it be totally normal that I listening to a guy telling about when he lived in the Australian outback. My life is so great ha ha.

So after dinner I wanted to take photos of the temple at night I was I out walking and ran into the only other person from the stake 25 or under. It was this dude that used to be in my ward until the split so I kind of knew him. So we went and took photos and just hung out. He told me about his life a bit, it is insane. He is really from a polynesian island, Niue. He worked really hard in the plantations and fished and saved all his money to come to NZ by himself when he was 15 but couldn't speak any english or read but went to school anyway and learned english and how to read. Then when he was 17 he needed money so he had to join the army, and that is allowed when you are 17. So then he was in army and when he was 22 he found the church and joined it and he quit the army and started doing an apprenticeship to be a carpenter because he wants to be builder (sound like someone else I know). He improved his english by reading church books and scriptures and now he going on a mission in November. This dude was super intense and really stoked about church stuff. It blew my mind, that like when I was 15 the hardest thing I had was basketball and when I was 17....AP tests? big school projects? ha ha nothing compared to moving to a new country with nothing. He is a pretty extreme case but not so unique. A lot of people here have similar stories. It is so crazy, how you can have no idea about someone until you talk to them for a little awhile and find out how they lived in the australian outback, like that older fellow, or this guy, Viladmir, that comes from a country that it took me 2 days to figure out just how to pronounce the name of it, Niue (said like new-way).

Then Friday was pretty low key compared to Thursday. Just woke up to catch the 8 am baptism session and then they cancelled the only other session for the day at 10 am and just made the 8 am one extra long. There were only 3 girls and 1 guy doing baptisms. So after that I had the whole day to kill by myself as everyone else did other ordinances. Jen Frost wasn't going to be at the centre until 4 so I just wandered around the temple grounds and just walked around and laid in the sun and read and stuff. Good thing it was such a nice day. I tried to walk into town but it was super far away and part of the way there was a highway so I turned around and came back. I just ended up going to the centre and watching one of the joseph smith movies but then Viladmir finished his sessions at about one and so I met up with him because I was getting pretty bored. So we just hung out for a bit. We were talking about the US and he had assumed most of the people in the US were all members of the church, ha ha I had to correct a few misconceptions. I think he was disappointed when I said that New York had less than 1% of the population were members. It is crazy here how everyone just assumes that Utah is this perfect zion place and even the US sometimes too. I've disappointed lots of people when I tell them that is not the case but it is still a pretty great place. Anyway so we finally got all the older people together and their stuff loaded in the van I was riding back in that was supposed to leave just after 4 but did leave until 5:30. It was 12:30 when I finally got home. I have never been so excited to get to my bed, I was so tired.

Saturday I finally got a little sleep but then got up early to go to the farmers market because I was out of food and came back and went to the gym with ema and did another killer leg workout that I certainly felt for a few days. Then to add to that we went and played touch rugby for 2 hours at the park with a bunch of people and so top it all off I decided to walk to town to the festival they were having there to celebrate the rugby games being played here in Palmy. I was SO tired my legs were about to fall off and we still had to walk 45 minutes home, so I was with 3 other people and we walked around the square downtown and bumped into a dude at the library who one them knew and he was headed back to Massey so we basically begged him for a ride and squished all in his car. It was like a gift from heaven, my legs wouldn't have made it home. So last night I just relaxed and watched a super intense rugby match. Then today got up and a bunch of us decided to do a pancake breakfast, so that was a lot of fun. Late, I did find out I got the high in the class on one assignment so that was good news. I might just pass a few classes yet! even with my serious lack of studying. No worries though, the only class I worry about the final for is the Maori class and that one won't even transfer to the U but I'll still try because I would not be so ok with failing a class. But should really start studying so I can travel during my week long study break before finals.

School, Rugby, Food, and Life

2011-10-10T17:11:00.001-06:00

So in the last few weeks I have been concentrating on getting all the details of my spring break up on the blog. Those two weeks were sort of a highlight of my life so I felt like the detail was necessary so could look back on each day and be able to remember all the amazing things I saw and did. Since then I have been up to some more adventures too. I’ll spare you the minute details of the weeks, as I sit and write this I probably can’t remember most of them anyway. So there is really probably one word that could describe most of the excitement for the past few weeks, rugby. The rugby world cup here is in full swing and it is everywhere! There is all black fever all around. Basically every weekend night you will either find me and my friends in the common room watching the games or when we are feeling more social, going into to town to watch them. But it has been blast! It is amazing how far I have come in understanding the game. I remember when I went to see the All Blacks back around when I first moved here, I knew most of the major rules but didn’t understand much of the strategy. Now I am really getting the hang of it. It also helped that last week I went with a one of the local guys here and a bunch of his friends and they taught a few of us international kids how to play touch rugby. Touch is slightly different, but actually being on the field and playing the game helped me understand it enormously. So needless to say, I am really starting to enjoy the sport and beginning to wonder why the US is so obsessed with football, but I’m going to get into that. Although on a quick side note, I did hear that the U crushed a certain team a couple weeks ago. I’m not real in the know about what is happening at the U but a few different people were sure to fill me in on the massive slaughter referred to as the “Holy War”. Nice work Utah.

So I guess I’ll try and fill you in on the past few weeks. When I first got back, it was study time! I had my very first exam (and only mid-semester exam) the Wednesday after I got back for Structural Kinesiology. I studied as much as I could for the 2 days prior but was slightly discouraged when I realized the used book I bought was missing a lot important pages! I checked out and older edition from the library to get the info but it is a bit frustrating and it is a very good reference book so I may end up buying another one if I keep with the exercise stuff. Oh well, it happens. But the test was online and open book as long as you could finish it in an hour. So with all my reference material tabbed, highlighted, and organized I was able to find all the answers in no time. Although I did miss a few, but it was frustrating because there were some typos and things that didn’t make sense because it was obviously a computer generated test, so I’m having the teacher look mine over and maybe I’ll get a few more points.

The end of that week we did some volleyball and soccer, we won another soccer game whoot whoot! The indoor social league here is really a lot of fun. The on Thursday the majority of my friends that had all gone around the North Island together we getting together to share pictures and make pizza. They invited me over and so we made a whole bunch of variety of pizzas with toppings from all over as we all contributed. It was super tasted and most people love my Mexican chilli beans on the pizza. Then over the weekend we....watched rugby. But actually on Saturday during the day, Yuko had told me about the cherry blossom festival happening at the neighbouring college, International Pacific College. So I convinced Marian and Josh to walk over to the festival with me. It was fantastic! It was a Japanese festival but had performances, food, and crafts from all the pacific countries. We saw some really great drumming and martial arts demonstrations. I bought some ridiculous stuff and got my name done in calligraphy. It made for a ready nice day.

The next week was even more chill. I had one assignment due, that as pretty each but I had to write a short essay for it. I did a bunch of research on muscle damage and wrote and ok essay and turned it in, but then it was one of those things were the day after I turned it in, I went to another class where we talked about muscle damage and I realized I missed some major points. I didn’t really know much about the details before but just in the last half of this week I have learned a lot about it, unfortunately it was a few days too late.

This week Franzi (german friends) and I started our “multi-spring sport” training with Ema for her case study. So we are her subjects and she is training us for a month her master program. So Monday we needed to do some baseline testing and it was pouring rain! But with training it is important to be specific to the sport so since we are being classified as recreational soccer players, all the testing and training is done outside. So we did like a vertical leap test, sprints, shuttle springs, and ran as far as we could in 12 minutes. It was quite the workout considering I haven’t really done anything that legitimately needed me to push myself in awhile but I am trying to take this training seriously for Ema’s study but then also because I want to get faster and stronger and having a trainer really helps. So I am pretty stoked about it. We did our first official session of the Friday after and the day was just the opposite. It was the most beautiful day I have had here yet. The sun was out bright and once our training session was over we didn’t want to go inside. We did a variety of dynamic stretches, sprints, and starts. Maybe Ema will do what no soccer coach has been able to do and make me a sprinter, but I’ve learned it is all about muscle adaption, and I have adapted my muscles for distance running. Geez, why can’t I just have my body do everything always when I want to ha ha, guess I’ll be doing some readapting.

After our training and sometime in the gym, it was back to the flat for me to get ready to go to the USA vs. AUS rugby world cup game! I was so excited all week, waiting for Friday to come to go see the USA play. I have my little US flat and I bought blue hair coloring. So before I left Graeme helped me spray my hair blue and then I had cut out little white stars and tapped them to bobby pins to put in my hair. Unfortunately I have a lot of hair and the one spray can wasn’t enough so I had streaky blue hair but it was ok. I rode down to Wellington with my neighbours, Anja and Shobeck. Shobeck lives here and Anja is here for a few years from Germany so they were way cool in letting me ride with them, but I was sitting with some America friends because that is who I got my tickets with. So we got to Wellington a bit early and walked around the fanzone and tried kicking a rugby ball through a hole and some other stuff. It was a fun atmosphere. There were Aussies in yellow everywhere and then everyone else yelling at them. Because when you’re in NZ, basically if the Aussies are playing you always just cheer for the other team no matter who it is. So we had a lot of support for the US. After some hectic running around I finally met up with my American peeps and did some face paint and they had made me a shirt, so we were all matching. We finally made it to the stadium and got settled just as the game got started. It was so fun because about 70% of the stadium was cheering for the US ad we got some roaring cheers going and a super mean wave going all throughout the stadium. It sort of made up for how bad the Aussie’s dominated our boys. Man they were pretty much running circles around us and won 67-5. They even missed a bunch on conversions, but we at least got one try so everyone was super stoked about that. It was fun to watch and cheer as load as we could. Afterwards we went do to the field to try and get some autographs, it took us awhile to make it through the crowd so we missed most of the players, but I shook one of the Aussies hands and then this American dude came over and he just started talking to me. I was so stoked. He complimented my shirt and was just super sweet in like telling us how excited he was to see Americans here supporting them in New Zealand. He autographed my ticket and even though he has one of the worst mullets and moustaches I have ever seen he made up for in because he seemed super genuine and cared that we came to see him play. His name was Louis Stanfill and he was one of the flankers on the back line. But it was a real fun night and I’m glad I got to experience it, even though I feel like most people back in the states really don’t even know the RWC is going on, I think it is pretty cool now.

Spontaneous Potluck

USA vs AUS Rugby

Wellington Stadium

Homemade Muesli, so GOOD!

Louis from the USA Rugby Team, cool dude!

Plants around campus

More plants around campus!

Spring Training in the rain, me and Franzi

IPC drummers

Stump throne

IPC campus beautiful!

Around Massey Campus

Ok so of course I’ve got to throw down a little on my most recent food creations. I’ve sort of developed a reputation from my friends that I like to blog about my food so I mind as well embrace it. Zaki started teaching me the ropes on how to make good curries. He gave me a good basic outline now I just need to go buy some ingredients. But then I finally got all the ingredients to make homemade toasted muesli. This one is a keep as far as recipes go. Basically it is oats, nuts, almonds, sun flower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut and dried fruits all mixed together with a honey sauce of honey, brown sugar, and oil. Then you toast it and let it dry into clusters and enjoy! Then I had bought a mix to made homemade yogurt because it is cheaper than the real stuff but I didn’t realize you have to have a special appliance to make this particular kind so I tried to mimic what the appliance does using a clean out spaghetti jar, our largest pot, and a bunch of towels and my neck pillow for a little added insulation while the yogurt cultures did there thing. Ya it didn’t really work like at all, so I will try again soon. Last night for dinner a few of us had been talking about doing some sort of potluck but it never got fully put together so Ema and I were just like hey let’s just make some dinner and ask a few neighbours if they want to join. We didn’t expect much so Ema and I just made a stir fry but then Brayden swung over and told us to come over because he and his flatmate had just made a bunch of food and then we got Julianne too and all went over to Brayden’s . We ended up having our rice and vege stir fry with sweet and sour sauce, a vegetarian curry, a chicken dish with green peppers and sauce, and a few other things to made a large feast! We had toasted bread and tortillas to eat it all with and it was so good. We were all bursting by the time we headed over to the common room to watch the rugby. The game was great as the All Blacks really dominated France in what was supposed to be a close game. Then afterwards we watched LOTR, the fellowship of the ring, and wow that movie is long. So in combination with staying up late watching the movie and daylight savings happening it was a bit of a late morning for me.

Picton to Wellington to Palmy

2011-10-10T16:13:00.000-06:00

It was an early 5:45 wake up call to get ready to catch our ferry. We quickly packed our bags and grabbed some breakfast and headed to the ferry port, fortunately only 1 block away. It was kind of fun driving on to the ferry boat with a car. The morning was stomry and raining so we didn’t spend as much time out on the decks as we did on the way there. I only went out to get a few pictures of the south island as we left the Marlborough sounds. We made some friends on the boat, 3 guys here for the world cup. They were big rubgy players and we hung out a played cards with them for most of the 3 hour ferry ride. There wasn’t much to see or do in the middle of the Tasman sea on a Ferry...I like a cruise boat a little better. Finally we arrived in Wellington. Our next adventure was to find the isite in Wellington. Holy cow, that is the most confusing city to navigate in the world. We didn’t have a great maps so we mostly just ended up driving around in circle trying to find the isite to tell us where to park and how to get too our tour stop pick up. After we finally did that, we walked a lot the ever bustling Cuba street. There are tons of stores and shops and we grabbed some food and relaxed until our LOTR tour.

We met the tour van driver at the isite and picked up 3 more people. It was a large van equipped with a TV and sound system so he could show us movie clips of the places we were going. First we went to Victoria forest, just outside Wellington. There they shot the very first day of filming with the hobbits in the forests around the shire. Our tour guide would show us clips then we would do the same poses with props in the very same places! It was a lot of fun. We did a few scenes from when Frodo and Sam meet up with Mary and Pippin, and also when they are camping, and the cliff that was used in weather top and in the 3^rd movie when Aragon looks over the armies gathering before the big battle. For all the pictures I was Mary, Marian was Frodo, Josh was Pippin, and Alyssa was Sam. Alyssa, Josh, and Marian also made the silhouette for the black rider dead king guy where he is looking for the ring in the shire. I thought the pictures turned out really good. We then went to the studios where they did all the inside stuff and made the sets and are making the sets for the hobbits. They don’t really let you in at all but we went to the shop they have a lot of props and things on display from the movie. It is all done just outside Wellington in Miramar by this company called Weta. It was fun to see. I definitely appreciate all the work that went into filming the movie or any movie really.

Finally after 14 long days it was time to come home to Palmy. I was so ready too. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun but it can be a little exhausting travelling every single days. We all got a long great but being with the same 3 other people every minute of everyday requires some patience. But I would say we all did very well and worked together to make it a great trip. We shared a lot of fantastic experiences and I don’t think I’ll ever forget them. It was so unreal and a dream come true that I was really able to travel all around the south island of New Zealand. We did a lot of things in a short amount of time and at times it was a little overwhelming that a lot to take in, I tried to appreciate all of its beauty and all of our activities. There is still a bit of a daunting task ahead of me to go through the nearly one thousand pictures I took. But each picture holds a memory but I’ll do my best to cut it down. I really appreciate my travel mates, Josh, Marian, and Alyssa for helping make my dreams come true. Even though we were all from very different places we all got along great and loved this trip. After a few days of recuperating I think I’ll really miss on long drives together in the car every day and our late nights in the hostel. But for now it is back to school and time to get back settled again in Palmy.

"HOLLYWOOD" Sign

Josh, Marian, and Alyssa being the dark rider

Weathertop look down

Last day with our car named Leroy

The path the black rider comes down

Hobbits took a tumble down the hill

As seen in the extended version, I am Frodo and Alyssa is Pippin

While the tree truck is missing this is where the Hobbits hid

My precious

Sunset of our adventure

Nelson to Picton

2011-10-06T16:05:00.000-06:00

With our last full day in Nelson, we had no plans. We didn’t quite know for sure where we would be this day so it was a nice day to relax. We got up around 9 and went and walked around town and tried to figure out what we wanted to do. After swinging by the isite we decided to the WOW museum. WOW stands for world of wearable art...so it was quite the show. We saw 30 or so different costumes of art stuff on people. It was really just like weird stuff made into clothes. My favourite was a pair of running shoes made into a bra, it was pretty clever. There were some strange things though, we couldn’t take photos but some of them were very elaborate. There was like a lamp dress, a giant rose dress, a naked dress, some weird alien looking ones. It was pretty fun. Also in the museum they had a classic car collection. They had some pretty sporty old cars, it was fun to see and I took a bunch of pictures. I didn’t know too much about the cars but it was fun to see. We had some more time to kill so of course we went to Hell, I mean if we were going to be murders, killing time and all, we mind as well go straight there. It was a delicious pizzareia, Hell's pizzas. We got a few pizzas and went to have a picnic on the beach. It was a gorgeous day and of course being from Utah, I still love just walking on the beach because it is so rare to me. So we spent some time hanging out and just enjoying the weather before we decided we needed to head to Picton. We took the scenic route through some mountains and valleys until we wrapped back around the Picton harbour to our favourite hostel, Tombstone. We have a little more daylight to burn so we went to the park in the harbour and played around for a bit. Afterwards, we finally made an healthy dinner and did some hot tubbing. It was a nice relaxing evening.

WOW!

Ring off

Ring on

Nelson Beach

Same ferry we took here, coming into Picton Harbour

Picton Harbour

Motueka to Nelson

2011-10-04T03:37:00.001-06:00

This day was Alyssa’s turn to do her activity of choice, lucky for her I made a great designated driver because she decided a wine tour was a must do while in New Zealand. Unfortunately with it being early spring, it wasn’t the best time for visiting vineyards but they did have tastings. So along the way as we drove from Motueka to Nelson we stopped at a few different vineyards, what better way to start the day with a 10 am wine tasting, well I mean I can think of a few better ways but I see where they are coming from. So as we went from vineyard to vineyard the hosts told all about the different wines and how they are made, so I probably know more about wine then most people I know that drink it. It really is quite an interesting process and they do a lot of different things to get the different flavours. So it was a pretty interesting day even while being alcohol free. I did get some pretty tasty grape juice at one stop though. We took a break and went to Mapua, a cute little habourtown. Along the Nelson region, where we were, they are famous for their real fruit ice cream so I got a ice cream cone of it and it was super delicious, although when it comes to ice cream I am not the hardest person to please, but this stuff was good! After a couple more tours we stopped in Richmond at the mall to take a little break and grab some lunch. Josh and I didn’t want to get the fast food at the mall so we went next door and found some pretty tasty looking lunch boxes next door at Pak’n’Save my favourite grocery store. Then it was back to the wineries. We hit one more before heading to our final town, Nelson. Nelson is a larger city so we spent the evening walking around and checking out the city. My favourite place was a park with a larger cathedral up on top of a hill. It was beautiful. There are really great cathedrals all over this country as missionaries were some of the first people to come to New Zealand to try and settle it so I have really enjoyed seeing the architecture that goes into each of them.

It finally got dark so there wasn’t too much left to see and we decided to go out to dinner as we were in a really city finally and we hadn’t had a chance to eat out in awhile. So we decided on Indian food because it is so good here. I never had a lot back in the states so I really enjoy trying the new things and am learning a lot about the different foods people on this half of the world eat. I got a sort of sampler plate so I could try a few different things and it was pretty tasty.

The weekday nights are pretty low key as could be expected so that evening we decided to finish off our LOTR and watched the Return of the King. We barely made it to the end as that movie is so long and for me personally, I was getting pretty tired with so much travelling. But we watched it and pretty must had to resist pointing at every outdoor scene and saying where we saw that or where it looked like it was filmed compared to where we had been.

Pretending to eat a taco...I miss mexican food!

Lunch boxes!

Vineyard

Nelson Cathedral

Inside cathedral

Crazy as tree!

Wine tour!

Abel Tasmen Sea Kayaking

2011-10-03T22:47:00.000-06:00

Ask anyone who has travelled around the South Island of New Zealand and they will tell you seeing Abel Tasmen is a must do. I would know, I asked a ton of people what we should do and Abel Tasmen was always on the list. There is a very popular tramp along the coast with 3 day and 5 day routes along with kayaking and tramping expeditions. We opted to do the sea kayaking because Josh really really wanted to go sea kayaking, and well I can’t say I was too disappointed.

The day got off to a less than perfect start. As tempted as I was to leave this part out because it was a bit embarrassing but I’ll go ahead and tell you anyway. So as previously mentioned, Josh and I spent the night in the car to save some money (now don’t go making an assumptions this is not going in the direction you are thinking of now). Anyway, it was sort of a long night but we stayed warm and got a bit of sleep, not my best night ever though as I still have rather bony hips that appreciate a good soft mattress. But at about 7 am we were woken up to a super obnoxious pounding on the window, that we instantly knew would not have been Marian and Alyssa. So I opened up the door to a rather angry older lady who was the host for the hostel. She was not so happy about us sleeping in her parking lot. Apparently they have a name for this and it is super illegal. It is called “freedom backpackers”, which I thought sounded like a good term being raised in America and all, I love all sorts of freedom, but apparently this was not such a good type of freedom. So she made an agreement with us that she would not call the cops and instead we would just have to pay for the beds we would have slept in for the night. Oh joy, I suffered through sleeping in the back of a Subaru only to pay for it anyway, I guess it only sucks because we got caught, otherwise it wouldn’t have been so bad. They way the lady talked about it, the cops are pretty strict about that stuff and would have fined us a ton of money so I guess we got off easy and she got money for the night as well. So we learned that lesson the hard way. I mean ya, I figured it was illegal but I hoping it was just one of those laws that people don’t really bother enforcing or really care that much about so I guess we won’t be doing that anymore and I don’t think I’ll be doing it for my travels in Australia like I was thinking. But you can stay in campgrounds for pretty cheap, that won’t be so bad when it is warm. So anyway it was a rather bleak start to our sure to be exciting day.

After we got our hostel stuff all sorted out, Josh and I got put in a room with 2 really awkward guys but that wasn’t anything to new to our hostel travel. We finally got packed up and went to get our kayaks. We had just rented a couple 2 person kayaks from a company in Abel Tasmen. They were pretty sweet with all those fancy water tight compartments and spray skirts, river jackets, and life jackets. Before we hit the water they taught us the basics of rowing and what to do if you get flipped. It was set to be a beautiful day as the sun was really starting to warm up as they took us to the beach to launch us in our kayaks. Josh and I went together and so Marian and Alyssa we in the other kayak. We basically just had about 5 hours to kayak where ever we wanted. We started off heading east along the coast to the split apple rock then back up to Fisherman’s island across from where we launched. The wind and currents made it a little difficult to head up the coast to the west but it would make coming back easier. After a quick stop at Fisherman’s Island we continued another 400m or so to neighbouring Adele Island. We stopped and ate out PB and nutella sandwiches for lunch (always so nutrious on this trip, just kidding) to boast our energy as the rowing was giving us a pretty good work out. There was supposed to be a sea colony on Adele island so after lunch we got back in our kayaks and worked our way around the island and found a whole bunch of baby seals just swimming and playing the water. It was a lot of fun. We didn’t dare get to close but had a good time watching them. At this point it was getting time to head back so we went back across the bay to kayaking along the calmer waters near the coast. While there we could see parts of the Abel Tasman coastal track and I wished that we would have time to do part of it but our tight schedule definitely didn’t give us enough time do it but the kayaking was a worthy substitute. Along the coast there were massive cliffs, beautiful beaches, all sorts of vegetation, and even a few beach homes that I plan on buying when I get rich. Along one part we were enjoying the scenery when a seal came out of nowhere and decided to swim alongside our boat. This little seal was hilarious! He would swim all around and under us and then come up like he was going to touch the boat then suddenly swim away and he was fast! We named him Pancho after Josh’s Spanish name. He would do jumps out of the water and jump up rocks then back in the water. It was super entertaining. He stayed with us for awhile and it was a lot of fun. Finally we met back up with Alyssa and Marian as we had gotten separated by back Adele island. They had managed to get stuck on a sand bar in the bay just outside where we were to return, it was extremely shallow where the tides had come in. We finally decided to call it a day and return to the beach where we were being picked up. It had been a fantastic day with the sun out shining so bright in the afternoon I was so glad I had put on sunscreen. The water was a bit cold but not too bad with the sun to keep you warm. The park was absolutely beautiful and really felt like well preserved wildlife. We felt kind of like Maori travellers looking at the coast of the south island for the first time on a warm sunny day.

After a long day on the ocean, we were ready for a relaxing evening. We made up a nice dinner that we ate by the fire and hung out in the TV room until it was free for us to jump on and watch the next film in the LOTR saga, the two towers. After rolling their eyes at us for doing the typical thing and watching LOTR a bunch of other people joined us. But wow it really is so incredible to see that movie and realize I have seen those same backdrops and even the same areas. This land really is picture perfect and even better first hand.

Punakaki to Motueka

2011-10-02T01:54:00.000-06:00

So I can’t help but notice my blogs of this trip are getting shorter ha ha. Guess the mass blogging is getting to me, doing this all after the trip has been a bit tedious but we really did have a lot of fun and do a lot of cool stuff. Anyway....

It was a pretty low key morning as we headed to Motueka with not much planned for the day. Motueka was going to be our home base for our Abel Tasmen National Park. The drive was again, just gorgeous. It was about 3 hours just through a windy road with hairpin turns with thick bush (rain forest) on all sides. We didn't see the coast for most the drive as we cut through the top corner of the island. When we arrived we went to the isite (travel guide centre) and they gave us some good tramp ideas. We had also not reserved anywhere to stay for the two days we would be there so we found a hostel, which isn't hard in the winter so we weren't to worried. We decided on a short tramp in Abel Tasmen to Harwood’s Hole. It is the 2^nd largest sink hole in the world at 300m deep. They don’t have the hole roped off so you could get right up above it. It was so deep you couldn’t see the bottom and being on the edge was pretty scary. But we were careful and I was really wishing we has some repelling gear...and that I could remember all the anchors and stuff for how to repel ha ha. But it was an easy tramp (as natural as that sounds to say here I can’t help but try and think of how it would sound 3 months ago...easy tramp ha ha sorry immature moment J, really though it means hike). But it was a nice relax day after the exhaustion of travelling really was starting to add up and we needed our energy for the next day. We did pass a few places that our guide book said was where LOTR was filmed but we couldn’t find the exact areas but you can really tell the scenery is similar. So we went back to our hostel and made some dinner and watched a movie. That night it was my turn to sleep in the car wish Josh, so it was bit uncomfortable, but not too bad and just barely long enough with the seat down.Wow record short post ha ha, although maybe it is better this way...all the details were getting muddled.

Howard's Hole

View of Motueka

Glaciers to Punakaki

2011-10-02T01:20:00.001-06:00

With not much to do in the Franz Josef we hit the road early. It was my turn to drive again and I was pretty excited. It was just an absolutely gorgeous drive but everyone else fell asleep, they really missed out. It was a highway along the west coast. The road was surrounded by lakes, valleys, beaches, thick dense forests and just off to the east were the Southern Alps with the largest mountains in New Zealand all covered in snow. It was just such a wide range of beauty all vibrant and full of life.

On our way we stopped in Hokitika, the Jade capital of New Zealand. Jade jewellery is extremely popular here but a little too expensive for me. Then it was on the Greymouth, finally a real city with grocery stores and cheap gas stations. We took a short break here to get groceries and fill up, we looked up when the high tide was to make for ideal conditions for our next destination.

At 3:30pm just as the tide was at its highest we arrived at Punakaiki pancake rocks and blowholes. As the waves crash in they shoot water vapour up through big holes and it looks like a whale’s blowhole but it only happens at high tide so the water can reach the holes. They rocks are all made by tons of layers and look like a stack of pancakes.

It had been a long driving day but after seeing the rocks we finally made it to our hostel in the little town of Punakaiki. There wasn’t much to do and we were feeling a bit adventurous so I have no idea whose idea it was because it had been freezing all trip but we decided to go swimming in the ocean. It is still early spring here and had been raining all day but somehow they talked me into it. It was freezing! Only Josh got in all the way but the beach we went to actually had some really strong currents and the waves were huge so it wasn’t super safe to go out deep so we got in, got wet, and got out. Then back to the hostel to warm up and play some monopoly, which Alyssa thoroughly kicked our butts in, but it was good time in our cozy cabin hostel.

Pancake Rocks

Cool rock formations, there is chief on the right and a bunch of different things within it

Pancake rocks!

Oops...

COLD!

More Pancakes

Blowholes in the rocks...unfortunately you can't see the water vapor

Big blow whole but again unfortunately you can't see it

Pancakes!

Swimming beach? hmmm...

Wanaka to the Glaciers

2011-10-02T01:05:00.001-06:00

With no place to be this morning it gave us a chance to get a little more rest. We had our Wheatbix and got on our way. Along the way we were able to stop at some really stunning lookout places over the coast. We finally arrived at our first destination, Fox Glacier. After a quick lunch thrown together from whatever we could find at the only general store in the area we headed up to do a tramp up to the glacier (by the way we do “tramps” here instead of “hikes”, it is not a bad term that is just what they call it here). It was about a 1 hour return hike to a lookout platform in front of the glacier. It was pretty spectacular so see just a giant frozen sheet going all the way up the mountain but in reality it really was just kind of a huge frozen hill with some crevices, dirt, and rocks. It is shrinking pretty fast though and they had maps of where it used to be and it is definitely disappearing quick.

Then it was off to the Franz Josef glacier, about an hour further north. We started our tramp down an hour long trail. The trail was fairly windy and even though we sort of felt like we were going in the wrong direction we figured it was just around about way of getting there....well until we came to the road we had driven to get there and then we realized we had been going the wrong way the entire time. So we walked back up the road to the car park and started again, this time in the right direction and took a shorter route because it was starting to get dark. We made it to another lookout spot and took some time to check out the glacier. It was pretty much the same as the other one but maybe a bit bigger.

As it got dark we headed to our hostel because there is never much to do or see in these small towns after dark. When we got there we realized we were missing at least one bag of groceries and my bag from the bungy with my video, bungy rope, and ipod. We have no idea where they went, if we left them someplace or if they were stolen. I called everywhere we had been to no luck. So I was pretty upset as it was a major loss and most off all I wanted my bungy video. But I talked to a rep from the company I did it with and they said they were upload an electronic copy online for me and even throw in the pictures for free because they felt bad that my stuff and had gone missing. So it was wasn’t all bad but I still lost a few valuable things and was pretty upset that day. But there wasn’t much else I could do.

That night we stayed in the “Rainforest retreat” hostel in the town just outside Franz Josef. It was not the most impressive hostel that we had stayed at but to save some money we decided to try and take turns sleeping in the car. So Alyssa and I stayed in the hostel while Josh and Marian stayed in the car in true backpacker fashion.

Lake Hawea

The travel crew in from of lake Hawea

Lake Hawea again :)

River on the side of the road with lots of rocks :)

Waterfall on the side of the road

Along the road on the way to the glaciers

Fox Glacier

Maybe one of the coolest places I saw ever! Peter's pool that we saw when we were lost going to Franz Josef

Franz Josef Glacier

Te Anau to Wanaka with some bungy jumping in between

2011-09-25T22:15:00.000-06:00

Today my alarm went off and my thoughts immediately thought “BUNGY DAY!” Then I got a little nervous but still very stoked. Kelly and her dad had already left to go on the cruise that we had done yesterday. But we got up and went straight to the road, no way we were going to be late for bungy day. I was the only one doing it from the group. We all picked one must do activity on the trip and this was mine, so the everyone else was cool to chill in Queenstown while I went and flung myself off a platform. It was a 35 minute drive to the bungy platform and when it came my time to get on the bus the staff told me I was the only person that signed up for this time. So I graciously told them I was wait and go on the next jump...saving them money...and well giving me a few people to watch and talk to and not be so scared. When I got on the bus I was set on making a friend to talk to and share the experience with so I met a guy named Simon. He was irish but lived in Sydney. We talked and sort of eased our nerves. When we got there it was really windy and pretty cold but the excitement was blazing. We had 8 people to jump. We took a gondola over to the cable car suspended above the canyon that we would be jumping from. With the wind it was a little scary in the gondola but we were harnessed in well. There we 4 people ahead of me and after everyone went they were so stoked! I couldn’t wait! I saw a dude at the Auckland bungy tape his camera to his hand so I did the same and put it on video to get some extra footage. Finally they called my name. I already had the full body harness on. As I sat in the launch chair they put the ankle straps and hooked me all in. I was pretty nervous and asked them to made sure everything was all perfect, they just reassured me and I hopped over with my ankles strapped together. The guys told ok we will count down from 3, then you jump. Holy crap, I stood over the edge and had no idea what I was doing. ...3....2.....1. I forgot any sane thoughts just did what I came there to do. I dove off that ledge trying to look as convincing as possible that I was in control and not flailing around like I had seen one guy do. I stretched my arms big and wide and then just let gravity take my body down. It went so fast I couldn’t even think and it was such a rush it completely blew my mind. It was super smooth as I reached the bottom. I really could barely tell once I started going back up. After one bounce my brain finally caught up with my body. I barely remembered I was supposed to unhook my feet on the 2^nd or 3rd bounce. It wasn’t that important, by releasing my feet, I would get pulled up sitting up instead of upside down. On the second bounce I pulled the strap as hard as I could and it would unclip. The 3^rd bounce I wrapped my hand in the cable and pulled as hard as I could. I finally got it but my hands were so cold it hurty really bad and I got a blood blister on my hard so that was not great. As they finally pulled me to the top I saw back in the harness and relaxed and in my chilly was just like “hey guys” and gave them a big smile. Once I was back on my feet “Wow” was all I could say. Every part of me was just shaking and kept shaking for awhile after. Simon had graciously taken more photos of me as I jumped so I have all sorts of coverage. After freaking out for a minute we reboarded the gondola and got back on solid ground. When we got back they showed up videos and photos of our jump. It was pretty much the best video ever so I bought mine J

After a 30 min drive back into town I met back up with my travel mates and after some celebratory ice cream we headed to Wanaka. They weren’t able to watch me jump because the bungy was like on private property or something lame but I had the video to show them. But we got to Wanaka, which is a true ski town, instead of all touristy like Queenstown so it was pretty chill. Our next adventure was Puzzle World! We saw the illusion museum and a life size maze. It was mind blowing. They had hologram pictures and the “Ames room” that made you look really tall or short depending on where you stood. It was crazy. There was another group of rooms set on a 45 degree angle that made everything look like it was defying gravity, it really messed with your brain as you rolled up or stepped up stuff that looked like it was supposed to go down. After going a little crazy with all the illusions we headed out to tackle the life size maze. It took us an embarrassing long time but we finally made it and were so proud of ourselves J.

When we finally got to our hostel we were hungry and they had some backpacker specials at the bar in the basement so we went and got some food. While we were eating, they were setting up for a flouro (neon) party. They gave us face paint and glow sticks. So we left and let them finish setting up while we did our laundry then came back and had a neon night dance party. It was pretty fun but a little strange with some weird techno music stuff but we had a good time.

Queenstown to Milford Sound to Te Anau

2011-09-25T21:38:00.000-06:00

It was another early morning as we had a long drive to Milford Sound to catch our cruise. Alyssa and Josh went to the airport and picked up our relocation car. So instead of a rental we did this relocation car thing where if the rental companies need cars moved they give them to you for free and you just have to pick them up and drop them off in certain cities within a certain amount of time. So we got one to pick up in Qtown and drop off in Auckland in 10 days. The car we got was perfect for our travels, a 2010 Black Subaru Legacy. Way nicer than anything we would have rented so we were pretty excited. We really needed the trunk space. We knew we would be in a rush because the rental place didn’t open until 9 and we had to be to Milford Sound by 12:25 to check in for our cruise. We didn’t get on the road until 9:50 after getting the car, getting back to the hostel and loading it all up. We started looking at our maps and realized we were going to be very close on time. The maps always give a high estimate but even then we were going to be pushing it and we had to stop and rent chains because they are required on the milford sound highway. So we hurried as fast as we felt safe. As we got close enough to see milage signs, I did the math and we realized we weren’t going to make it. We called the cruise line and asked them what to do and after talking it over we decided to continue on but if we didn’t make it, the cruise line said we could reschedule and go on the cruise the next day. Which would have been fine but it was the day for me to do the bungy, so I just wouldn’t have been able to do, but we already had paid for the cruise and I hadn’t paid for the bungy so it wouldn’t have been the worst thing but we were hopeful. So we got there about 10 minutes after the boat was set to leave...and well it was gone. But then, we got a taste of New Zealand hospitality. The people working on our cruise went over to another cruise lines office and asked if we could go on their cruise that was pretty much that same and leaving in 15 minutes. They gave us 4 boarding passes and no problem! No fees or paperwork, it was just like I wish the rest of the world worked. It didn’t matter to the staff what boat we were on, none of them were booked out so it wasn’t a big deal. We were stoked! Thank you Mari from Real Journies Cruise lines! It saved us driving the 2 hours back to the nearest town and then coming back again the next day and me missing the bungy. It was really our bad for not getting a move on and making better arrangements for getting our car but I am stoked it worked out.

The cruise was 2 hours of absolute beauty! We saw cascading waterfalls, penguins, seals, majestic fjords, and dolphins. Time flew by as we were almost overwhelmed with the beauty. It was like the enormous red rock cliffs of Lake Powell on steroids. There were dark green trees and mosses against the dark daunting blue ocean with waterfalls stream down the sheer cliffs. It had rained that morning creating even more waterfalls and created snow capped fjords. At one point, Marian and I were standing on the front dock of the boat as the captain moved the front under a huge waterfall. I saw it coming and ran back so I wouldn’t get wet, but Marian I guess didn’t think he would actually go all the way under the waterfall stayed and got soaked! The captain told us about all the formations and I guess Milford Sound isn’t actually a sound but a fjord, so it has been misnamed. It was formed by a glacier over 5 ice ages. The slopes the trees grow on are so steep that if 1 tree falls down it cause an avalanche of all the trees below and around it.

It has been so crazy to be surrounded by so much beauty these last 5 days. I worry I am spoiling my eyes too much and I’m getting jaded by the brilliance and magnitude of beauty all around this land. Sometimes I get too caught up taking photos because I just wish I could really capture it all to show everyone back home and I have to take a step back and soak it all in through my eyeballs instead of behind the camera lens. I really do wish I could wrap it all up in a package and send it home.

After our amazing cruise we were able to take our time driving on the winding road back from then sound. We stopped and did a couple of short hikes. There are so many beautiful features formed from water and rivers and the foliage is always so bright green even in the middle of winter. We stopped at the Chasm and Marian’s River. We walked part of the way to Marian’s lake but it started to get dark so we headed to the closest town, Te Anau. As we were walking into our hostel we saw Kelly and her dad in the kitchen so of course we banged on the windows and tried to give them a scare. The hostel people let us stay in their room, which we were thrilled to have a room to the 6 of us because in Queenstown there were some really stinking Germans in our room and we didn’t want to risk that again. For dinner we made beef tacos with corn and spent the night relaxing and booking future adventures.

Ski Day in Queenstown

2011-09-22T04:43:00.001-06:00

The day started out just like your typical ski day, although with a bit earlier start. The resorts aren’t an easy 20 minutes drive away here. I got ready crazy fast or firefighter style like I like to call it, as it the case with most ski days. Why waste time when you know the routine. It was a little harder though when I was doing it the dark and trying to not wake any of my 10 sleeping roommates. It was a pretty smooth morning as Marian and I had already picked up our rental gear the night before, the only thing we hadn’t been able to reserve was bus tickets. So I called as soon as the office opened to see if there was still room on the hostel ski bus to treble cone, our resort of choice for that day. The bus was already out starting to pick people up but they quite graciously allowed us to give them money to ride on the bus. Basically it wasn’t a big deal because there was plenty of room. We got a free breakfast of toast from the hostel and then stole Josh’s nutella to make PB and nutella sandwiches for lunch, so nutritious!

Our bus came a few minutes later then the schedule which gave us a few extra minutes to enjoy our breakfast and wrap up our sandwiches. Our bus driver was a lovely chap named Ian. He gave us a little tour of the area as we made the hour and a half drive to the highest ski resort around, TC as they call it here. The drive was beautiful! It was like we were driving past giant postcards except for it was real life! There is a picture below that I got a bit of people on the bus in the foreground or else you wouldn’t believe that I had actually seen such a place.

So we took to the slopes....and well it was an adventurous first run. The first surprise was the fact that our rental skis had no edges, the literally would not grad at all. The next surprise made this even worse....it hadn’t snowed in 2 weeks. Now on the rare occasion that I have skied during such a barren time I can still usually find some soft stuff or at least something through the trees, nope. To top it all off there was only 2 chair lifts...and this was one of the best resorts in the entire country. Not to really put it down too much, it is no their fault it hadn’t snowed and my skis were subpar, it just required a little more creativity. The coverage was the equivalent of skiing Snowbird in June, thank goodness for the rentals. First run of the day I hiked over some grass and rocks with my skis on to get a good picture ha ha, don’t worry though I was careful to not do any real damage, but I got some sweet pics! The morning turned out pretty good though. The sun was shining and the view over the lake in front of us was magnificent. Ian said they were expecting a storm in the middle of day and I didn’t want to believe him, it was just too nice of a day. But then about 2 pm, the clouds moved in and it started finally snowing! It was just really a nice dusting of flakes but it was better than nothing. On one of our runs we rode up with an Aussie dude skiing by himself, the next run he kind of followed me, as best an Aussie could. At this point I was trying to turn down a big steep of iced over mogels, because if I wasn’t going to enjoy the snow I figured I would at least try and get my legs burning a bit. We saw him a few runs later at the top and he took some photos for us and then like the friendly skier I am, I invited him to ski with us since he was alone. He was actually alright, I didn’t know there was much skiing in aussieland but he said he used to ski a lot there. Unfortunately I can’t remember his name for the life of me so he will just forever be the aussie dude at Treble Cone. We a took a break for lunch and he left us to go find his friends on the beginner hill.

Lunch was a good time because you know I had just put my sandwich in my pocket...and it was big bread so well...it was a little smushed. But it was cool because it smushed in the shape of a heart! I was fine with that because I love peanut butter and nutella sandwiches and now I know they love me too. While we were eating a group of people sat next to us and had just purchased these big hot lunches. After they left I turned to Marian and said “hey how do you feel about being a shameless ski bum? I could use a little something else for lunch” She agreed and I sneakily grabbed the whole thing fries that the people had just left in a pile to be thrown away and we enjoyed a cup of untouched French fries with our sandwiches.

So skiing over all was a pretty good time, even with 2 lifts it wasn’t very crowded. I was impressed with how much of the mountain they were able to cover with just 2 lifts. You could pretty much access 2 full sides and since there are no trees, it was all wide open terrain. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad I did it and can say I skied in Queenstown, New Zealand, but for all you peeps back home, we’ve got it good! So be grateful and made sure it dumps snow here before you plan any ski trips to New Zealand or you’ll probably be a little disappointed.

Afterwards we got back on the bus, with the bus driver that had been skiing all day too. This lucky guy has the best job ever. He just picks people up on a bus and drives them to the resort, skis all day then brings everyone back and gets paid to do it! I want his job. Basically ever single person on the bus fell asleep it was pretty funny to see everyone stretched out over the seats with all their gear, good thing it was a fairly empty bus.

After we got back we were starving so we hurried and dropped our gear off. On our way to the gear rental shop we walked past the CookieTime shop and they were giving out free samples so we got some free little cookies. We also discovered it was happy hour which meant it was cookietime! On our way back we realized we should probably be good friends and get Josh and Alyssa first. So we hurried home and told them is cookietime. We took wicked fast showers and ran down to be in time for happy hour. So before dinner we enjoyed some fresh scrumptious chocolate chip cookies. Cookietime is pretty big here, it like Krispy Kreme of cookies and in New Zealand.

Now that we had dessert out of the way, it was time for dinner. We had previously decided to go to an Italian restaurant called The Cow. Alyssa and I shared spaghetti bolognese and had a romatic lady and the trap moment. After dinner with so much skiing and running around I was dead. So I retired to my bed for a late nap. But of course this was Queenstown and we had to go out. So just after 10 I got back up and got ready. We couldn’t find anywhere with live music so just found another place. My travel mates all got some drinks and I just chilled as we relaxed, until some more Aussie started talking to us so we hung out with them for a bit. There was a little dance floor but not a lot of people on it, before we left we decided the four of us would go dance for a bit. It was fun for a few songs but we didn’t last long and I was pretty beat from the day.

Ski Bus

Postcard

TC-look at that coverage!

Pretty sure there was a LOTR scene there

Rental Skis :)

Open? hmmm...

Southern Alps

View as we skied, we were really on cloud nine!

I <3 PB and Nutella

Another shot of the view

Action photo!

Twinners!

The Cow!