Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Australearn to Waikato
8-2-10
Last night in Picton town
We made the coolest fort last night. There was mattresses, pillows, and pillow cases everywhere. We used ropes to keep some of the stuff up and had a ton of people sitting on the inside. We had small torches and told ghost stories and lots of jokes. Ask someone a little Johnny joke someone has to know about them. I guess it is an American thing. I went to the sea plane operations down by the ferry hoping to catch the guy that runs the place and swap stories. He flew in Alaska, Fiji and around here and Canada. Maybe he knows Vern? He wasn't there when I got there so I went to watch the super bowl around 12pm at an Irish bar. Super bowl Mondays... go saints!!
At half time I went to find the sea plane guy again and met up with Shantel who came with me. She is one of the girls working at Atlantis Backpackers. I got to exchange some stories, but atlas he didn't know Vern.
I played some Bocce ball and made dinner with Shantel beans and rice and some nice spice. I also made some sweet cookies!! It was Andrew's last night in Picton town and everyone was sad to see him go. He ended up playing the guitar and singing songs about all the things he loves. It was a great way to end my time in Picton town.
9-2-10
To Wellington via Ferry
So the ferry left pretty early 8am and we had to be there an hour early... I stayed up late I was tired. We got to Wellington and I was under the impression we would be hitching, but atlas we got a bus... It got us to Taupo with some daylight to spare to find ourselves a hostel. Stayed at Birkenhoff, pretty good, I like BBH they all have their own little charm. We wanted to keep it a relaxing night and didn't want to do to much so we watched O Brother Where art Thou and headed for bed.
10-2-10
Taupo adventure
Pretty sure we are not hitching at all, but maybe I will get to do it sometime during school with someone else I trust. We wanted to meet Dean, Gavin's (a leader from the first australearn trip) friend. Didn't know what to expect, but he said he would be coming back today. So we got some breckie, hot pies and the like, wandered around Taupo. Eventually around 4 we met up with Dean.
Now we didn't really know what to do around Taupo and our time was pretty much spent walking streets and trying to get a tennis ball (didn't work just in case you were wondering) so we were hoping for something fun to happen. Right off the bat Dean was a great guy. He took us to our hostel to grab our stuff and asked us if we wanted to go on a mission. Now a mission, I have come to learn, means that you are going on a semi difficult adventure that may require a lot of effort. To the mission
We were going gorging around where Dean works as a rafting guide. He asked us if we are keen (want to) do some waterfall jumps and I was immediately excited. Couldn't tell you exactly how tall these were, but one was at least 12-15meters high. We even jumped from behind a waterfall and were not crushed by the streaming water. We had wetsuits and I was wearing my only pair of closed toe shoes. We were following the creek down to a dam that has been built. The rocks were slippery, but for the most part you could see through the clear water. The water was cold, but the wetsuits did their job. Dean was a really cool guy to be doing this with and we got heaps of stories and just had a great time. Climbing down ropes to check the water before we jump and taking a long look at how far the drop is. Lets just say this was amazing!
Dean took us to burger fuel and then we went to find a natural hot springs. definitely around 42 Celsius. Before we got there we tried to help NZ with their possum problem. :)
11-2-10
Auckland
Wish I could have spent more time in Taupo, but our naked bus was departing early and we were booked on it. We got to Auckland a really long time afterward. Cory (friend from Furman) had arrived early for the Australearn cultural program. We hung out with him until Will (family friend who kindly took us in) picked us up. Will kindly allowed us into his house for three nights. And it was so nice to have a bed and a safe place to leave all my stuff. Cory came over for dinner and stayed the night too. We had amazing stir fry. We watched cricket and learned the rules... really boring worse then baseball (no offense).
12-2-10
So my confusion of when my cultural program will start was finally addressed today. I had two emails both telling to show up at 9am on the 12th and the 13th? I don't know what day I was really supposed to come to and the emergency number I called for australearn didn't pick up...
Lets just say I arrived the wrong day. But I didn't really want to start it yet so that was alright. I would like to continue traveling around the south island, I was really enjoying that very much. Andrew and I stayed for the sausage feast then went back to do some laundry. Quick bus ride is all it took to get back to where we were staying. It was great to see people from Furman though. I hung out with Chris, Cory and Matthew we all went to Davenport for their free afternoon. Andrew came too. Davenport is a cute little down a ferry ride away. They had these old caves from a war back in the day. Pretty dark, sorta abandoned halls and stuff. They also had cannons and machine guns. Fun to explore the caves. And had a great view of Auckland city, seeing the large buildings and the small houses on the hills. Reminded me of looking at SFO from angle island.
Will picked us up after work and toured us around a bit. I can't tell you how much I appreciate Will's kindness. We played kick around with the rugby ball, made me wish I was still playing but made me realize how long it has been since I have played. It was nice and relaxing to kick around and play around with the Frisbee. We watched the sun set and made some dinner and had another easy night.
ok ran out of time you will get other updates when I make it to school... maybe tomorrow... hope you guys are watching the Olympics go USA
Jamee
13-2-10
Surfing in Piha
So this is when the cultural program for australearn starts, I have done the lecture the first day that I was in NZ not so long ago so I decided I would get a better cultural experience by going to the beach with Will and his girlfriend Jo. We packed up the boards and loaded the car and off we went. Didn’t take us too long, but we were warned that the surf was no good today, the sky pretty much looks like it is going to fall. Piha beach is one of the most dangerous beaches on NZ or maybe it is just the north island. Lots of people get swept away by the current because it has such massive rip tide. That wasn’t going to stop us! Breath easy we were being safe we went in-between the flags (where the life guards watch you) and we only played in the white water. Me and Jo sat on towels on the black sand beach and watched Andrew get coached on the ways of surfing. He had some good tries and he got up. He plans to buy a surf board when he gets to Australia in New Castle for his semester abroad. He came back and it was my turn to go out and be coached by Will.
Will walked out with me and helped me turn the board around. I had the strap attached to my ankle so when I bit it the board wouldn’t go to far away. I waited for Will to tell me to hop on and he gave me a nice push and I waited until I felt the wave under my board and jumped up. I was up! Then the wave died and I fell off without the pressure of the wave pushing me forward. That was fun. For the rest of the time though I was pretty much falling off left to right, will be working on my balance next time I go out. I got pretty tired fighting the waves to get out far enough to wait for a wave and headed in and we waited for Will to come back.
Jo, Andrew and I went to Bunnings (a wearhouse of you can do everything yourself) got some sausages and looked for screws and washers. We also hit up the grocery store to prepare for the barbie we were going to that night. Turned out to be some great food and great company in a very pretty part of Auckland. Oh did I mention I drove there ☺
14-2-10
Rotorua
Ok so I have avoided joining a group long enough time to meet up with the australearn group and head to Rotorua. Ok I have done this drive a couple of times now so I pretty much knew we were driving to pee in the dog and stop occasionally for other things, like we had done when I was with the first group. It was different this time, I didn’t feel connected to anyone on the bus, apart from Alicia whom I had known from the leadership group. I shared stories with her and showed her pictures, but other than that I made slight conversation with the guy next to me. I was happy to learn he is from San Diego, loving the California connections. I soon learned that there was another guy from the trip that is from the North Bay. Pretty excited, but still don’t feel that immediate connection that I had with the leadership group. There are two groups on our week D program. Kids that are going to Auckland Uni and kids going to Waikato. They separated these kids by their Uni on the busses so that the Waikato kids would meet each other.
A long time later we got to Rotorua, with great history and story telling by our crazy cool bus driver Stu *Know I butchered his name, sorry. We were staying at the same place, Kiwi Paka, which I was excited about. We went straight into an orientation after we got our room placements. I was pretty stoked to get a room by myself, I’m starting to enjoy getting a little space to myself once and a while. After the orientation about some of the differences of academic requirements and a run down on the culture as a whole we went to learn the Haka.
Now I know the Haka from before, but I was excited to do it again to test my knowledge. My first inclination was still to put out my tongue, but I resisted. It was different learning the Haka with these strangers. I felt a connection with them just because we are going to go to school together, but I didn’t know them like I knew the other group. It just felt like an intermediate time between when school started.
When we got out it was time to dinner and I was taken out to a very nice Valentines dinner by Matthew followed up with a nice walk to the lake before we headed back to meet up with Cory and Chris and play cards. I missed cards, and I missed the easiness with which comes from those that know you. I was relaxed didn’t feel like I needed to learn anything from them and they not from me it was great to just sit back and play cards. If you are interested we played hearts. Anyways to bed I went and woke early to enjoy my free day in Rotorua.
15-2-10
Rafting and Spa
Australearn has everything mapped of when we do what and today happens to be a day that we have free. You did have an option to sign up for some activity before you came to NZ, but some neglected to do that. I signed up for white water rafting. We had about a 45 min ride down a part of the river that had some nice drops. One was around at least 10meters. My highlight of the rafting trip was that the water was warm, I pulled in a guide, did a back dive off the front of the raft and rode on the top of someone’s kayak down a rapid. We also steered our raft straight into the bottom of a rapid and felt the fury of the water crushing down upon us.
After this fun adventure we were dropped off at the Polynesian spa to enjoy the rest of our day in relaxation. There were many hot pools all on different levels of each other, all with very easy access. Each of the pools were a different temperature from 42 down to around 35 I believe. Now an easy way to figure out what that is in something better understood by American’s is to double it and add 30. One of the pools overlooked a larger body of water off of some rocks. It has been raining all morning so there is a lot of mist hanging over the mountains in the back, which we saw when the sky stopped coming down. The rain felt really nice when you juxtaposed it with the hot water we were sitting in.
We got lunch in town at an amazing Kebab place, called kebab dinner if you are ever in Rotorua you got to go there. It is just off the main street with the rest of the food. But the kebab was very good. We had a paid dinner for our group tonight, steak and potatoes.
After dinner Chris, Matthew and Cory showed up they had just done what our group will do tomorrow. I walked with them to the old Polynesian spa before going to bed.
16-2-10
Community day and Tamanaki village
We went to an all boys high school in Rotorua and helped assess two classes of 13 year olds reading level. Most of the 13 year olds have the reading level of a 6-7 year old. And what the school does is get the most critical kids into a program that has a high success rate of bringing up the reading level a couple of years within the year they have at school. Very beneficial for the boys there. The teachers feel very passionately about this and seem really eager to help. These boys were timid and nervous for strangers to be talking to them, but we tried to calm them down to get a more accurate reading. I was very nervous for my first victim and didn’t know how it would all play out. When have to get them to read us a story and while they are doing that we are following along with them making certain marks to indicate that they skipped a word, added a word, had to come back to the sentence. We also asked them questions at the end to see how much they retained from the reading. They are allowed to look back at the story and have as much time as they want.
I feel for these kids, because if you haven’t noticed I struggle with this kind of stuff as well (meaning my grammar). I was the kid on the other side of that for so many years. I remember being tested and how difficult it was for me to read a passage and tell you what happened. Normally I would blank or get so nervous I wouldn’t be able to get everything out right in a cohesive way. I would start at age 9, with these boys, and if they read and answered the questions with ease I would get a harder passage, but if they struggled I would go down a year to find where they read comfortably. I really do remember struggling with this and having no courage in my reading ability and I didn’t even want to try and write a story because I knew I would muck it up with ease.
The high school formed a connection from my leadership program I did. The teachers were talking of how these were all very brilliant boys they just haven’t been challenged enough or haven’t had the attention they needed to get them back up to speed. All through OPC and the leadership program they were talking of pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, but making sure you had enough support to not fall into the panic zone.
We braked for lunch and some of the boys on our trip started up a game of touch rugby with the high school boys. I joined too… It was fun, bare feet and wet from the morning rain we ran and had a great time. I have definitely decided to play rugby at Waikato. It is happening even if I have the great possibility of destroying some limb. Highlight from that touch game, scored a tri. Yeah only girl playing too, the boys don’t know what was coming to them. I was lucky it was a great game, the other team, the one with mostly high school boys were kicking our butts.
We went to a hungi at the Tamanaki village. A hungi is a very large feast prepared by the Mauri people in a outside pit cooked pretty much all day to perfection. Before this amazing dinner our leader (previously chosen from the group, the leader must be male) had to be faced and accept a peace offering. The warriors come up to you yelling and jabbing sticks around and sticking out their tongue in very traditional manner, pretty intimidating if you didn’t have other people with you. Then we were lead into the village to see how a traditional village was run, where they slept, how they stored their food, what games they would play and then we were lead into their performance hall. In there we heard songs, witnessed dances, and saw a haka. When dinner time came around it was amazing. It was a feast. We had lamb with mint sauce, chicken stuffing, fish, chicken, salad, bread, so many potatoes… and the desert was great. A chocolate cake in cream and sauce, a traditional soft meringue with whip cream. Lets just sum it up with food coma.
17-2-10
Waitomo- Caving
The other australearn is going to the airport to go to their respective universities. So those that know me pretty well went to Wellington to start their process. I was in a bit of a strange mood, must have been because I realized that I have been doing so much and it is all about to stop very soon. Yeah school?
We took a two hour bus ride to Waitomo and went caving in the Haggas Honking Hole. They stuck us in really heavy and restricting wet suits, stuck white gum boots on our feet and a sturdy orange helmet on our head, plus a harness that we stuck on. We learned how to abseil (or repel whatever you want to call it) to prepare us to abseil down two or three waterfalls. Main thing to remember is if you let go your dead and if you want to stop yourself from falling bring the rope in your right hand to behind your back. The first thing we did when we got into the cave was hook up our rack and coast down a long hole. It was very dark in the cave all we had was our head lamps. We are in a limestone cavern complete with stalactites and stalagmites. The further we went in the smaller the area got. We were looping our way around a circuit that they have rigged up, walking for a ways then hooking up to feel the awesome power of a waterfall. One of the drops we racked up to we were told to crouch in the fetal position and turn off our light. The guide was belaying us from the top and he let us go down in a smooth quick fashion. We all piled in the very small space pushing up against each other until the other guide came down and led us on our merry way. We climbed through some very small, like on your stomach crawling through holes and some others where you just have to crouch. It was a pretty wicked trip.
We also learned about the glowworms that were glowing above our heads. We learned the non tourist version. They are actually maggots that attached mouths and other insects, which are trying to find their way out the dark cave seeing the light from the glowworms as the light of day. Gives a whole new meaning to not go towards the light right? They catch their wandering insects with a silky thread that hangs from under them and when an insect is caught it is eaten. The maggot cannot do its business so instead when an insect is consumed its business is burned giving the glowing light. When the maggots grow from their larvae stage they turn into flying insects which don’t have mouths so cannot feed and only have three days to live. What do you think they do…. Obviously form deep and meaningful relationships of course, well the male stays faithful to one women, but women lets just say they get around. The women then bears 150 eggs. She groups them in 20 because the first to hatch eats all the rest of the eggs starting its glowing process. Some of the flying insects believe that they are leaving the cave and are eaten by their brother family member or cousin. It is the circle of life.
We are given a sweet pizza lunch and take the bus back. Some of us chill in the hot springs attached to Kiwi Paka and enjoy the last night of our staying in this hostel. It was fun and I had some great conversations. Met a girl from Anchorage and we talked shop she knows everyone that I know in AK, given isn’t a lot of people, but still small world. Also talked to the bus driver who is also working on his pilots license, he has his roto license already.
18-2-10
To Hamiltron
Hamilton the city of the future –Hamiltron, it became a joke on the radio, because Hamilton as a city hasn’t gone anywhere and people don’t expect it to either. Didn’t but take us an hour and a forty five to get here. I am living in Student village, it is close to the rec center and has good food served at the village’s cafeteria. Each dorm has its own cafeteria and the social areas to meet, that have tvs and couches (aka the hang out spots) are separate from the dorm itself. My room is longer then it is wide. It has one bed, a long desk, a couple of drawers and a closet, two chairs and a trash bin. Apparently someone comes by to collect your trash everyday and vacuums your floor twice a week. No refrigerator or decorated walls, but this will be home for the next 5 months. I have a window that overlooks the construction of a parking log, but I can also see another dorm called Bryant hall. I am now unpacked and settled in, even getting internet.
Internet is so expensive that you have to pay for it everywhere… I miss free wifi. The kids that were on the australearn bit are now dispersed around campus and we see each other when we eat our meals. The RAs have been really nice, showing me around (along with everyone else) answering my never ending questions and even giving me the grand tour of the campus wide. It is pretty big, but very walk able. The buildings are all white and made of bricks (sorry probably concrete made to look like bricks). I really do miss the southern finesse of Carolina. This place does not have water fountains everywhere, but it does have an ecoli lake and a pretty bridge that goes across it. The library is under construction as well, there is a very large field (go sports!) and many academic buildings which are also white. The buildings have a strange uninviting vibe to them, but I’m assuming that the people make up for that. The school is a bit dead seeing as school wont start until March 1st. Orientation is Feb 23rd.
So this is no Furman, but I am still very impressed. Oh apparently you can tell who all the sociology majors are because they walk backwards, going against the norms….
Pictures are on their way
Jamee
Last night in Picton town
We made the coolest fort last night. There was mattresses, pillows, and pillow cases everywhere. We used ropes to keep some of the stuff up and had a ton of people sitting on the inside. We had small torches and told ghost stories and lots of jokes. Ask someone a little Johnny joke someone has to know about them. I guess it is an American thing. I went to the sea plane operations down by the ferry hoping to catch the guy that runs the place and swap stories. He flew in Alaska, Fiji and around here and Canada. Maybe he knows Vern? He wasn't there when I got there so I went to watch the super bowl around 12pm at an Irish bar. Super bowl Mondays... go saints!!
At half time I went to find the sea plane guy again and met up with Shantel who came with me. She is one of the girls working at Atlantis Backpackers. I got to exchange some stories, but atlas he didn't know Vern.
I played some Bocce ball and made dinner with Shantel beans and rice and some nice spice. I also made some sweet cookies!! It was Andrew's last night in Picton town and everyone was sad to see him go. He ended up playing the guitar and singing songs about all the things he loves. It was a great way to end my time in Picton town.
9-2-10
To Wellington via Ferry
So the ferry left pretty early 8am and we had to be there an hour early... I stayed up late I was tired. We got to Wellington and I was under the impression we would be hitching, but atlas we got a bus... It got us to Taupo with some daylight to spare to find ourselves a hostel. Stayed at Birkenhoff, pretty good, I like BBH they all have their own little charm. We wanted to keep it a relaxing night and didn't want to do to much so we watched O Brother Where art Thou and headed for bed.
10-2-10
Taupo adventure
Pretty sure we are not hitching at all, but maybe I will get to do it sometime during school with someone else I trust. We wanted to meet Dean, Gavin's (a leader from the first australearn trip) friend. Didn't know what to expect, but he said he would be coming back today. So we got some breckie, hot pies and the like, wandered around Taupo. Eventually around 4 we met up with Dean.
Now we didn't really know what to do around Taupo and our time was pretty much spent walking streets and trying to get a tennis ball (didn't work just in case you were wondering) so we were hoping for something fun to happen. Right off the bat Dean was a great guy. He took us to our hostel to grab our stuff and asked us if we wanted to go on a mission. Now a mission, I have come to learn, means that you are going on a semi difficult adventure that may require a lot of effort. To the mission
We were going gorging around where Dean works as a rafting guide. He asked us if we are keen (want to) do some waterfall jumps and I was immediately excited. Couldn't tell you exactly how tall these were, but one was at least 12-15meters high. We even jumped from behind a waterfall and were not crushed by the streaming water. We had wetsuits and I was wearing my only pair of closed toe shoes. We were following the creek down to a dam that has been built. The rocks were slippery, but for the most part you could see through the clear water. The water was cold, but the wetsuits did their job. Dean was a really cool guy to be doing this with and we got heaps of stories and just had a great time. Climbing down ropes to check the water before we jump and taking a long look at how far the drop is. Lets just say this was amazing!
Dean took us to burger fuel and then we went to find a natural hot springs. definitely around 42 Celsius. Before we got there we tried to help NZ with their possum problem. :)
11-2-10
Auckland
Wish I could have spent more time in Taupo, but our naked bus was departing early and we were booked on it. We got to Auckland a really long time afterward. Cory (friend from Furman) had arrived early for the Australearn cultural program. We hung out with him until Will (family friend who kindly took us in) picked us up. Will kindly allowed us into his house for three nights. And it was so nice to have a bed and a safe place to leave all my stuff. Cory came over for dinner and stayed the night too. We had amazing stir fry. We watched cricket and learned the rules... really boring worse then baseball (no offense).
12-2-10
So my confusion of when my cultural program will start was finally addressed today. I had two emails both telling to show up at 9am on the 12th and the 13th? I don't know what day I was really supposed to come to and the emergency number I called for australearn didn't pick up...
Lets just say I arrived the wrong day. But I didn't really want to start it yet so that was alright. I would like to continue traveling around the south island, I was really enjoying that very much. Andrew and I stayed for the sausage feast then went back to do some laundry. Quick bus ride is all it took to get back to where we were staying. It was great to see people from Furman though. I hung out with Chris, Cory and Matthew we all went to Davenport for their free afternoon. Andrew came too. Davenport is a cute little down a ferry ride away. They had these old caves from a war back in the day. Pretty dark, sorta abandoned halls and stuff. They also had cannons and machine guns. Fun to explore the caves. And had a great view of Auckland city, seeing the large buildings and the small houses on the hills. Reminded me of looking at SFO from angle island.
Will picked us up after work and toured us around a bit. I can't tell you how much I appreciate Will's kindness. We played kick around with the rugby ball, made me wish I was still playing but made me realize how long it has been since I have played. It was nice and relaxing to kick around and play around with the Frisbee. We watched the sun set and made some dinner and had another easy night.
ok ran out of time you will get other updates when I make it to school... maybe tomorrow... hope you guys are watching the Olympics go USA
Jamee
13-2-10
Surfing in Piha
So this is when the cultural program for australearn starts, I have done the lecture the first day that I was in NZ not so long ago so I decided I would get a better cultural experience by going to the beach with Will and his girlfriend Jo. We packed up the boards and loaded the car and off we went. Didn’t take us too long, but we were warned that the surf was no good today, the sky pretty much looks like it is going to fall. Piha beach is one of the most dangerous beaches on NZ or maybe it is just the north island. Lots of people get swept away by the current because it has such massive rip tide. That wasn’t going to stop us! Breath easy we were being safe we went in-between the flags (where the life guards watch you) and we only played in the white water. Me and Jo sat on towels on the black sand beach and watched Andrew get coached on the ways of surfing. He had some good tries and he got up. He plans to buy a surf board when he gets to Australia in New Castle for his semester abroad. He came back and it was my turn to go out and be coached by Will.
Will walked out with me and helped me turn the board around. I had the strap attached to my ankle so when I bit it the board wouldn’t go to far away. I waited for Will to tell me to hop on and he gave me a nice push and I waited until I felt the wave under my board and jumped up. I was up! Then the wave died and I fell off without the pressure of the wave pushing me forward. That was fun. For the rest of the time though I was pretty much falling off left to right, will be working on my balance next time I go out. I got pretty tired fighting the waves to get out far enough to wait for a wave and headed in and we waited for Will to come back.
Jo, Andrew and I went to Bunnings (a wearhouse of you can do everything yourself) got some sausages and looked for screws and washers. We also hit up the grocery store to prepare for the barbie we were going to that night. Turned out to be some great food and great company in a very pretty part of Auckland. Oh did I mention I drove there ☺
14-2-10
Rotorua
Ok so I have avoided joining a group long enough time to meet up with the australearn group and head to Rotorua. Ok I have done this drive a couple of times now so I pretty much knew we were driving to pee in the dog and stop occasionally for other things, like we had done when I was with the first group. It was different this time, I didn’t feel connected to anyone on the bus, apart from Alicia whom I had known from the leadership group. I shared stories with her and showed her pictures, but other than that I made slight conversation with the guy next to me. I was happy to learn he is from San Diego, loving the California connections. I soon learned that there was another guy from the trip that is from the North Bay. Pretty excited, but still don’t feel that immediate connection that I had with the leadership group. There are two groups on our week D program. Kids that are going to Auckland Uni and kids going to Waikato. They separated these kids by their Uni on the busses so that the Waikato kids would meet each other.
A long time later we got to Rotorua, with great history and story telling by our crazy cool bus driver Stu *Know I butchered his name, sorry. We were staying at the same place, Kiwi Paka, which I was excited about. We went straight into an orientation after we got our room placements. I was pretty stoked to get a room by myself, I’m starting to enjoy getting a little space to myself once and a while. After the orientation about some of the differences of academic requirements and a run down on the culture as a whole we went to learn the Haka.
Now I know the Haka from before, but I was excited to do it again to test my knowledge. My first inclination was still to put out my tongue, but I resisted. It was different learning the Haka with these strangers. I felt a connection with them just because we are going to go to school together, but I didn’t know them like I knew the other group. It just felt like an intermediate time between when school started.
When we got out it was time to dinner and I was taken out to a very nice Valentines dinner by Matthew followed up with a nice walk to the lake before we headed back to meet up with Cory and Chris and play cards. I missed cards, and I missed the easiness with which comes from those that know you. I was relaxed didn’t feel like I needed to learn anything from them and they not from me it was great to just sit back and play cards. If you are interested we played hearts. Anyways to bed I went and woke early to enjoy my free day in Rotorua.
15-2-10
Rafting and Spa
Australearn has everything mapped of when we do what and today happens to be a day that we have free. You did have an option to sign up for some activity before you came to NZ, but some neglected to do that. I signed up for white water rafting. We had about a 45 min ride down a part of the river that had some nice drops. One was around at least 10meters. My highlight of the rafting trip was that the water was warm, I pulled in a guide, did a back dive off the front of the raft and rode on the top of someone’s kayak down a rapid. We also steered our raft straight into the bottom of a rapid and felt the fury of the water crushing down upon us.
After this fun adventure we were dropped off at the Polynesian spa to enjoy the rest of our day in relaxation. There were many hot pools all on different levels of each other, all with very easy access. Each of the pools were a different temperature from 42 down to around 35 I believe. Now an easy way to figure out what that is in something better understood by American’s is to double it and add 30. One of the pools overlooked a larger body of water off of some rocks. It has been raining all morning so there is a lot of mist hanging over the mountains in the back, which we saw when the sky stopped coming down. The rain felt really nice when you juxtaposed it with the hot water we were sitting in.
We got lunch in town at an amazing Kebab place, called kebab dinner if you are ever in Rotorua you got to go there. It is just off the main street with the rest of the food. But the kebab was very good. We had a paid dinner for our group tonight, steak and potatoes.
After dinner Chris, Matthew and Cory showed up they had just done what our group will do tomorrow. I walked with them to the old Polynesian spa before going to bed.
16-2-10
Community day and Tamanaki village
We went to an all boys high school in Rotorua and helped assess two classes of 13 year olds reading level. Most of the 13 year olds have the reading level of a 6-7 year old. And what the school does is get the most critical kids into a program that has a high success rate of bringing up the reading level a couple of years within the year they have at school. Very beneficial for the boys there. The teachers feel very passionately about this and seem really eager to help. These boys were timid and nervous for strangers to be talking to them, but we tried to calm them down to get a more accurate reading. I was very nervous for my first victim and didn’t know how it would all play out. When have to get them to read us a story and while they are doing that we are following along with them making certain marks to indicate that they skipped a word, added a word, had to come back to the sentence. We also asked them questions at the end to see how much they retained from the reading. They are allowed to look back at the story and have as much time as they want.
I feel for these kids, because if you haven’t noticed I struggle with this kind of stuff as well (meaning my grammar). I was the kid on the other side of that for so many years. I remember being tested and how difficult it was for me to read a passage and tell you what happened. Normally I would blank or get so nervous I wouldn’t be able to get everything out right in a cohesive way. I would start at age 9, with these boys, and if they read and answered the questions with ease I would get a harder passage, but if they struggled I would go down a year to find where they read comfortably. I really do remember struggling with this and having no courage in my reading ability and I didn’t even want to try and write a story because I knew I would muck it up with ease.
The high school formed a connection from my leadership program I did. The teachers were talking of how these were all very brilliant boys they just haven’t been challenged enough or haven’t had the attention they needed to get them back up to speed. All through OPC and the leadership program they were talking of pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, but making sure you had enough support to not fall into the panic zone.
We braked for lunch and some of the boys on our trip started up a game of touch rugby with the high school boys. I joined too… It was fun, bare feet and wet from the morning rain we ran and had a great time. I have definitely decided to play rugby at Waikato. It is happening even if I have the great possibility of destroying some limb. Highlight from that touch game, scored a tri. Yeah only girl playing too, the boys don’t know what was coming to them. I was lucky it was a great game, the other team, the one with mostly high school boys were kicking our butts.
We went to a hungi at the Tamanaki village. A hungi is a very large feast prepared by the Mauri people in a outside pit cooked pretty much all day to perfection. Before this amazing dinner our leader (previously chosen from the group, the leader must be male) had to be faced and accept a peace offering. The warriors come up to you yelling and jabbing sticks around and sticking out their tongue in very traditional manner, pretty intimidating if you didn’t have other people with you. Then we were lead into the village to see how a traditional village was run, where they slept, how they stored their food, what games they would play and then we were lead into their performance hall. In there we heard songs, witnessed dances, and saw a haka. When dinner time came around it was amazing. It was a feast. We had lamb with mint sauce, chicken stuffing, fish, chicken, salad, bread, so many potatoes… and the desert was great. A chocolate cake in cream and sauce, a traditional soft meringue with whip cream. Lets just sum it up with food coma.
17-2-10
Waitomo- Caving
The other australearn is going to the airport to go to their respective universities. So those that know me pretty well went to Wellington to start their process. I was in a bit of a strange mood, must have been because I realized that I have been doing so much and it is all about to stop very soon. Yeah school?
We took a two hour bus ride to Waitomo and went caving in the Haggas Honking Hole. They stuck us in really heavy and restricting wet suits, stuck white gum boots on our feet and a sturdy orange helmet on our head, plus a harness that we stuck on. We learned how to abseil (or repel whatever you want to call it) to prepare us to abseil down two or three waterfalls. Main thing to remember is if you let go your dead and if you want to stop yourself from falling bring the rope in your right hand to behind your back. The first thing we did when we got into the cave was hook up our rack and coast down a long hole. It was very dark in the cave all we had was our head lamps. We are in a limestone cavern complete with stalactites and stalagmites. The further we went in the smaller the area got. We were looping our way around a circuit that they have rigged up, walking for a ways then hooking up to feel the awesome power of a waterfall. One of the drops we racked up to we were told to crouch in the fetal position and turn off our light. The guide was belaying us from the top and he let us go down in a smooth quick fashion. We all piled in the very small space pushing up against each other until the other guide came down and led us on our merry way. We climbed through some very small, like on your stomach crawling through holes and some others where you just have to crouch. It was a pretty wicked trip.
We also learned about the glowworms that were glowing above our heads. We learned the non tourist version. They are actually maggots that attached mouths and other insects, which are trying to find their way out the dark cave seeing the light from the glowworms as the light of day. Gives a whole new meaning to not go towards the light right? They catch their wandering insects with a silky thread that hangs from under them and when an insect is caught it is eaten. The maggot cannot do its business so instead when an insect is consumed its business is burned giving the glowing light. When the maggots grow from their larvae stage they turn into flying insects which don’t have mouths so cannot feed and only have three days to live. What do you think they do…. Obviously form deep and meaningful relationships of course, well the male stays faithful to one women, but women lets just say they get around. The women then bears 150 eggs. She groups them in 20 because the first to hatch eats all the rest of the eggs starting its glowing process. Some of the flying insects believe that they are leaving the cave and are eaten by their brother family member or cousin. It is the circle of life.
We are given a sweet pizza lunch and take the bus back. Some of us chill in the hot springs attached to Kiwi Paka and enjoy the last night of our staying in this hostel. It was fun and I had some great conversations. Met a girl from Anchorage and we talked shop she knows everyone that I know in AK, given isn’t a lot of people, but still small world. Also talked to the bus driver who is also working on his pilots license, he has his roto license already.
18-2-10
To Hamiltron
Hamilton the city of the future –Hamiltron, it became a joke on the radio, because Hamilton as a city hasn’t gone anywhere and people don’t expect it to either. Didn’t but take us an hour and a forty five to get here. I am living in Student village, it is close to the rec center and has good food served at the village’s cafeteria. Each dorm has its own cafeteria and the social areas to meet, that have tvs and couches (aka the hang out spots) are separate from the dorm itself. My room is longer then it is wide. It has one bed, a long desk, a couple of drawers and a closet, two chairs and a trash bin. Apparently someone comes by to collect your trash everyday and vacuums your floor twice a week. No refrigerator or decorated walls, but this will be home for the next 5 months. I have a window that overlooks the construction of a parking log, but I can also see another dorm called Bryant hall. I am now unpacked and settled in, even getting internet.
Internet is so expensive that you have to pay for it everywhere… I miss free wifi. The kids that were on the australearn bit are now dispersed around campus and we see each other when we eat our meals. The RAs have been really nice, showing me around (along with everyone else) answering my never ending questions and even giving me the grand tour of the campus wide. It is pretty big, but very walk able. The buildings are all white and made of bricks (sorry probably concrete made to look like bricks). I really do miss the southern finesse of Carolina. This place does not have water fountains everywhere, but it does have an ecoli lake and a pretty bridge that goes across it. The library is under construction as well, there is a very large field (go sports!) and many academic buildings which are also white. The buildings have a strange uninviting vibe to them, but I’m assuming that the people make up for that. The school is a bit dead seeing as school wont start until March 1st. Orientation is Feb 23rd.
So this is no Furman, but I am still very impressed. Oh apparently you can tell who all the sociology majors are because they walk backwards, going against the norms….
Pictures are on their way
Jamee
Sunday, February 7, 2010
South Island travels coming to an end
Fox glacier experience
3-2-10
So driving on the wrong side of the road is quiet strange. You can feel yourself drifting to the left a lot. Basically I learned to hug the middle line. Now the plan is to get to Fox glacier by sunrise, but we left Wanaka late around 10pm and I drove through the night. We stopped at a rest stop off the road about an hour and a half away to take a 3 hour nap, in the car. It was crammed and some of us didn't have the best sleep. But I woke everyone up at 4am to drive to Lake Matheson just in time for the sun to rise. It was well worth the little sleep.
Lake Matheson is pretty small, but when there is no wind and the sun is just coming over the mountains surrounding, it is beautiful. Reminds me so much of the mornings when I would wake up in Alaska to start my day. Wish I was going for a float plane ride or at least hanging around people that were. The mountains were reflected into the water, the only mountain that I can remember the name of is Mt. Cook, snow covered and all.
We then drive to Fox glacier to look off the outlook and drive to an access point. Kevon and I walked up as far as we were allowed to go to see the glacier. We walked over rivers and by the raging river that was coming from the receding glacier. Again reminded me of the glaciers I would fly over in Alaska, this one was a bit smaller than some of the ones I saw on my way to Lake Clark, but still impressive to see on the ground.
We were so tired after that, Steve slept in the car while Kevon and I hiked and he pretty much slept the rest of the day. We took odd naps, made some tuna and crackers for lunch, watched a movie (Independence day) made some pop corn some more food and headed off to Hokitika beach. This beach is said to have jade wash up, I'm not really sure what it looks like unpolished so I may have found some but then again maybe not. We watched the sun set and drove to Arthur's pass. Slept near a road and a train...
Avalanche Peak
4-2-10
We hiked Avalanche peak via Avalanche trail and Scott's track. Took us around 7 or more hours. The track is really ruff, and pretty steep. We basically climbed up rocks for a good hour and a half then it was open land the sun was hitting us and we finished the rest of the hike. I was having some troubles, but the guys were doing great. The tree line ended and I thought I could be in the Sierra if there a was bit less vegetation and thinner air. It was amazing at the top. We saw the valley and the tall mountains surrounding it, a small glacier across the way. It felt great to get to the top, but on the way down I was ready to sit for a while. The down hill lasted a while too. I'll get up pictures I promise. Really did feel like I was hiking around Tahoe though. We got a shower cooked some dinner (beans and rice) and drove to Greymouth. Camped again at a rest stop and there was a false kiwi sighting with the bird that is "commonly mistaken as a kiwi" a Weka bird.
Monteith's brewery tour
5-2-10
Alright we got some sleep. We needed to stall for some time, because we wanted to do this brewery tour, but it wasn't until 2pm. We went to the beach... lots of rocks not so comfortable. The tour was really interesting. I was enjoying comparing it to what we do with the wine (or what little information I know about the wine making process). The brewery is part of DB and it makes it the traditional way with open barrels. The malts go through a crushing process, it sits in a wort boiler and the different tastes are added then it flows into a whirlpool, where I believe it is mixed. It is cooled, and brought to the fermentation barrels. Sits for 8 days and then goes through another heat exchange process and conditioned and filtered through screens and becomes "bright beer." The end of the tour we got tastings of 8 of their beers and after that you were allowed to pour your own pint.
When we were at the i-sight we saw there is a screening of Avatar. After we cooked dinner we went to the movies and the guys were introduced to Avatar. If you still haven't seen it I strongly recommend going. We slept at the same rest stop to wait until morning.
Nelson
6-2-10
Driving to Nelson wasn't so bad. Kinda a long drive, but when we got there we saw a beach a very pretty sandy beach. We stopped. The guys found someone that they had met in Christchurch around a week ago. He is pretty cool guy from France traveling around we spent the rest of the night with him. We buried Kevon in the sand and swam a bit and warmed up. We made room, not really sure how, and put Arnould in the car with us and we cooked dinner (beans and rice with corn beef) and went to find a buskers festival. Oh just if you are wondering you can't eat a teaspoon of cinnamon... Buskers festival was a $5 entry fee, but we could hear the music from the steps of the church. We were hanging out with some very friendly high school kids, until they went home. I witnessed a hen party (bride with all of her friends, the point is to make fun of the bride a bit and make her do silly things). They were having guys write their names on her shirt and she was screaming at the top of the stairs of the church things that she loves about her future husband. Looked like a good time. We drove Arnould to where he was staying in Mapua and were thankfully able to sleep in his backyard. Lots of wood and not really flat ground, but wonderful view of the stars. In the morning I was able to see where he was living it reminded me of Skiathos. There were rows of apple trees for their front view and also a view of the estuary a bit further. We were sleeping on a newly developed wine area.
Picton
7-2-10
We made Arnould his first pb&j and made our way to Picton (leaving Arknot in Nelson). We found a flee market first and got some good books. We drove to Picton because Andrew the guy I was traveling with at first was working at the Atlantis backpackers. I did not continue to Christchurch with Steve and Kevon, I am still in Picton, but I will be taking a ferry tomorrow to Wellington and hopefully making it to Auckland in good time on the hospitality of those that pull over to the side of the road to give strangers a ride. It was sad to leave Kevon and Steve they were a lot of fun to travel with and made me laugh so often. The Atlantis hostel is filled with lots of young kids so I'm bound to have some good adventures here too. We made a fort in one of the empty rooms before going to bed. I plan on going to talk to the sea plan guy that is down the road about his experiences in Alaska, Fiji and Canada. Anyways that should tie you over for a while until something exciting happens again.
Peace
Jamee
3-2-10
So driving on the wrong side of the road is quiet strange. You can feel yourself drifting to the left a lot. Basically I learned to hug the middle line. Now the plan is to get to Fox glacier by sunrise, but we left Wanaka late around 10pm and I drove through the night. We stopped at a rest stop off the road about an hour and a half away to take a 3 hour nap, in the car. It was crammed and some of us didn't have the best sleep. But I woke everyone up at 4am to drive to Lake Matheson just in time for the sun to rise. It was well worth the little sleep.
Lake Matheson is pretty small, but when there is no wind and the sun is just coming over the mountains surrounding, it is beautiful. Reminds me so much of the mornings when I would wake up in Alaska to start my day. Wish I was going for a float plane ride or at least hanging around people that were. The mountains were reflected into the water, the only mountain that I can remember the name of is Mt. Cook, snow covered and all.
We then drive to Fox glacier to look off the outlook and drive to an access point. Kevon and I walked up as far as we were allowed to go to see the glacier. We walked over rivers and by the raging river that was coming from the receding glacier. Again reminded me of the glaciers I would fly over in Alaska, this one was a bit smaller than some of the ones I saw on my way to Lake Clark, but still impressive to see on the ground.
We were so tired after that, Steve slept in the car while Kevon and I hiked and he pretty much slept the rest of the day. We took odd naps, made some tuna and crackers for lunch, watched a movie (Independence day) made some pop corn some more food and headed off to Hokitika beach. This beach is said to have jade wash up, I'm not really sure what it looks like unpolished so I may have found some but then again maybe not. We watched the sun set and drove to Arthur's pass. Slept near a road and a train...
Avalanche Peak
4-2-10
We hiked Avalanche peak via Avalanche trail and Scott's track. Took us around 7 or more hours. The track is really ruff, and pretty steep. We basically climbed up rocks for a good hour and a half then it was open land the sun was hitting us and we finished the rest of the hike. I was having some troubles, but the guys were doing great. The tree line ended and I thought I could be in the Sierra if there a was bit less vegetation and thinner air. It was amazing at the top. We saw the valley and the tall mountains surrounding it, a small glacier across the way. It felt great to get to the top, but on the way down I was ready to sit for a while. The down hill lasted a while too. I'll get up pictures I promise. Really did feel like I was hiking around Tahoe though. We got a shower cooked some dinner (beans and rice) and drove to Greymouth. Camped again at a rest stop and there was a false kiwi sighting with the bird that is "commonly mistaken as a kiwi" a Weka bird.
Monteith's brewery tour
5-2-10
Alright we got some sleep. We needed to stall for some time, because we wanted to do this brewery tour, but it wasn't until 2pm. We went to the beach... lots of rocks not so comfortable. The tour was really interesting. I was enjoying comparing it to what we do with the wine (or what little information I know about the wine making process). The brewery is part of DB and it makes it the traditional way with open barrels. The malts go through a crushing process, it sits in a wort boiler and the different tastes are added then it flows into a whirlpool, where I believe it is mixed. It is cooled, and brought to the fermentation barrels. Sits for 8 days and then goes through another heat exchange process and conditioned and filtered through screens and becomes "bright beer." The end of the tour we got tastings of 8 of their beers and after that you were allowed to pour your own pint.
When we were at the i-sight we saw there is a screening of Avatar. After we cooked dinner we went to the movies and the guys were introduced to Avatar. If you still haven't seen it I strongly recommend going. We slept at the same rest stop to wait until morning.
Nelson
6-2-10
Driving to Nelson wasn't so bad. Kinda a long drive, but when we got there we saw a beach a very pretty sandy beach. We stopped. The guys found someone that they had met in Christchurch around a week ago. He is pretty cool guy from France traveling around we spent the rest of the night with him. We buried Kevon in the sand and swam a bit and warmed up. We made room, not really sure how, and put Arnould in the car with us and we cooked dinner (beans and rice with corn beef) and went to find a buskers festival. Oh just if you are wondering you can't eat a teaspoon of cinnamon... Buskers festival was a $5 entry fee, but we could hear the music from the steps of the church. We were hanging out with some very friendly high school kids, until they went home. I witnessed a hen party (bride with all of her friends, the point is to make fun of the bride a bit and make her do silly things). They were having guys write their names on her shirt and she was screaming at the top of the stairs of the church things that she loves about her future husband. Looked like a good time. We drove Arnould to where he was staying in Mapua and were thankfully able to sleep in his backyard. Lots of wood and not really flat ground, but wonderful view of the stars. In the morning I was able to see where he was living it reminded me of Skiathos. There were rows of apple trees for their front view and also a view of the estuary a bit further. We were sleeping on a newly developed wine area.
Picton
7-2-10
We made Arnould his first pb&j and made our way to Picton (leaving Arknot in Nelson). We found a flee market first and got some good books. We drove to Picton because Andrew the guy I was traveling with at first was working at the Atlantis backpackers. I did not continue to Christchurch with Steve and Kevon, I am still in Picton, but I will be taking a ferry tomorrow to Wellington and hopefully making it to Auckland in good time on the hospitality of those that pull over to the side of the road to give strangers a ride. It was sad to leave Kevon and Steve they were a lot of fun to travel with and made me laugh so often. The Atlantis hostel is filled with lots of young kids so I'm bound to have some good adventures here too. We made a fort in one of the empty rooms before going to bed. I plan on going to talk to the sea plan guy that is down the road about his experiences in Alaska, Fiji and Canada. Anyways that should tie you over for a while until something exciting happens again.
Peace
Jamee
Monday, February 1, 2010
The traveling continues
So I am still with Steve and Kevin from my australearn group. The car is small. A starlet toyota, the car is packed full. I, being the smallest, ride in the back with the seat that is left. The food sits to my right as well as the blankets we use for sleeping and my bag, which takes up a seat itself. We eat PB&J for breakfast, tuna and crackers for lunch, and beans and crackers for dinner. We also snack on trail mix (called scroggin here) and weet bix. We normally sleep in a tent, sometimes someone sleeps in the car. We just recently bought pads, helps insulate for heat, but we are still lacking sleeping bags. We use two comforters that they swiped from a hostel in the beginning. We camped on a DOC (department of conservation) the first night, the side of the road for the second night, and on a lookout (marked for no camping) the third. The second night it rained, but other than that it was pretty good camping. A couple of nights ago it was so windy the place where we pulled off that we all slept in the car. Cozy very cozy.
30-1-10 (this is how they do the date, day, month, year)
We went to Glenorchy and hiked part of the dart river up to "sandy bluff." We got some tuna for lunch and drove to Te Anau, took around 3 or so hours. It was dark by the time we got in so it made it a bit more difficult to find a place to camp. We drove into a campsite and they wanted $20 each so we drove on. Found a lookout to camp for the night. I ended up in the car, freezing my feet off.
31-1-10
We were running a bit low on gas... it takes around $75 to fill up our tank, and we needed to stop at the i-stop (their information center) for some hikes to do. We were advised to take a small portion of the Kepler track. We walked from Rainbow Reach to the Muturau hut. The hut was on a beautiful beach that we rested on before we made our way back. On our way we learned about bogs and how important they are as well as learned that birds nested near the track so we had to guard our heads. No birds attacked us, but the walk was beautiful. There was moss everywhere on the ground and on the trees. It looked unreal. The trees were tall and we got these nice views of the river on our way to and from. When we got back we went to the local YHA and journal and ate some lunch. We go to the YHA often, looking for free food and a good clean up, as well as fill our water bottles for our next journey. This YHA was very nice and had an outdoor patio which was nice to sit on and enjoy the beautiful day. We eventually hit the road and headed to the Catlins in a town called Balclutha. We did not find any camp sites and the i-stop was closed so we stopped at a rest stop for the night. It was super windy and no one wanted to step up the tent so we ended up sleeping in the car. I didn't mind, I had a (Charlotte would call it a nest) in the back with my bag and some extra cloths.
1-2-10
We explored Catlins today. We went to a petrified forest, Curio bay, where there were old trees in the low tide. We saw a dead stoat and got to listen to a little rivalry between the aussies and the kiwis. We had lunch on a lookout over porpoise bay, I swear the sea gulls were going to attack us. We saw some sea lions playing down at the water. We explored what is called the Niagara falls, which was a big joke wasn't even a falls.... Then on to McLean falls, which was pretty sweet and really tall. We climbed all the way up. We also went to another falls, which I can't spell from memory. The Gypsy trailer was really cool, a bunch of random stuff in a van that a guy had set up for people to interact with. Lots of turning things, some shells in the water which made a really cool noise, as well as nick naks and stuff. After that we made our way to Jack's bay to see Jack's blow hole, which was not active or not sufficiently entertaining couldn't really see into either. The boys chased some sheep and we had dinner and drove until dark (9:45) and camped at a rest stop. All of the stuff in the Catlins was pretty much off the side of the road, or a 20 min walk.
2-2-10
Today we woke up and finished our drive to Wanaka. We stoped in Queenstown for some free internet to book our day of travel when we get back to the cultural program for australearn before school. We made it to Wanaka and explored the puzzling world... crazy place. Lots of illusions and puzzles. There was also a giant maze, which the boys finished within a half hour and it took me a little bit longer... The sun was really hot and I was dead at the end. We went swimming outside in Lake Wanaka, which made me remember all my lovely summers in Tahoe. I wanted to go wakeboarding so bad. The water was wonderful after the hot day too. Now we are enjoying what the hostel has to offer, made some dinner, doing some laundry and playing a couple games of pool. I will drive tonight towards the glaciers hoping to get somewhere near so we can walk the lake matheson. It is supposed to be beautiful mirror image of the glaciers above. I'm sure it will remind me of my great summers in Alaska.
The country side is beautiful. There are loads of sheep and lots of cattle as well as huge red stags. We drive fast and blast music and cruise through the countryside. There are not many people on the road and sometimes when we drive by sheep we honk. They throw their heads up really quick and sometimes run. Listening to the same CDs because there is no radio... anywhere. I'm having a great time and loving my experience. Hope all is well wherever you may be. I'll be having a smile on my face and the wind in my hair thinking of silly things that remind me of all of you.
Jamee
30-1-10 (this is how they do the date, day, month, year)
We went to Glenorchy and hiked part of the dart river up to "sandy bluff." We got some tuna for lunch and drove to Te Anau, took around 3 or so hours. It was dark by the time we got in so it made it a bit more difficult to find a place to camp. We drove into a campsite and they wanted $20 each so we drove on. Found a lookout to camp for the night. I ended up in the car, freezing my feet off.
31-1-10
We were running a bit low on gas... it takes around $75 to fill up our tank, and we needed to stop at the i-stop (their information center) for some hikes to do. We were advised to take a small portion of the Kepler track. We walked from Rainbow Reach to the Muturau hut. The hut was on a beautiful beach that we rested on before we made our way back. On our way we learned about bogs and how important they are as well as learned that birds nested near the track so we had to guard our heads. No birds attacked us, but the walk was beautiful. There was moss everywhere on the ground and on the trees. It looked unreal. The trees were tall and we got these nice views of the river on our way to and from. When we got back we went to the local YHA and journal and ate some lunch. We go to the YHA often, looking for free food and a good clean up, as well as fill our water bottles for our next journey. This YHA was very nice and had an outdoor patio which was nice to sit on and enjoy the beautiful day. We eventually hit the road and headed to the Catlins in a town called Balclutha. We did not find any camp sites and the i-stop was closed so we stopped at a rest stop for the night. It was super windy and no one wanted to step up the tent so we ended up sleeping in the car. I didn't mind, I had a (Charlotte would call it a nest) in the back with my bag and some extra cloths.
1-2-10
We explored Catlins today. We went to a petrified forest, Curio bay, where there were old trees in the low tide. We saw a dead stoat and got to listen to a little rivalry between the aussies and the kiwis. We had lunch on a lookout over porpoise bay, I swear the sea gulls were going to attack us. We saw some sea lions playing down at the water. We explored what is called the Niagara falls, which was a big joke wasn't even a falls.... Then on to McLean falls, which was pretty sweet and really tall. We climbed all the way up. We also went to another falls, which I can't spell from memory. The Gypsy trailer was really cool, a bunch of random stuff in a van that a guy had set up for people to interact with. Lots of turning things, some shells in the water which made a really cool noise, as well as nick naks and stuff. After that we made our way to Jack's bay to see Jack's blow hole, which was not active or not sufficiently entertaining couldn't really see into either. The boys chased some sheep and we had dinner and drove until dark (9:45) and camped at a rest stop. All of the stuff in the Catlins was pretty much off the side of the road, or a 20 min walk.
2-2-10
Today we woke up and finished our drive to Wanaka. We stoped in Queenstown for some free internet to book our day of travel when we get back to the cultural program for australearn before school. We made it to Wanaka and explored the puzzling world... crazy place. Lots of illusions and puzzles. There was also a giant maze, which the boys finished within a half hour and it took me a little bit longer... The sun was really hot and I was dead at the end. We went swimming outside in Lake Wanaka, which made me remember all my lovely summers in Tahoe. I wanted to go wakeboarding so bad. The water was wonderful after the hot day too. Now we are enjoying what the hostel has to offer, made some dinner, doing some laundry and playing a couple games of pool. I will drive tonight towards the glaciers hoping to get somewhere near so we can walk the lake matheson. It is supposed to be beautiful mirror image of the glaciers above. I'm sure it will remind me of my great summers in Alaska.
The country side is beautiful. There are loads of sheep and lots of cattle as well as huge red stags. We drive fast and blast music and cruise through the countryside. There are not many people on the road and sometimes when we drive by sheep we honk. They throw their heads up really quick and sometimes run. Listening to the same CDs because there is no radio... anywhere. I'm having a great time and loving my experience. Hope all is well wherever you may be. I'll be having a smile on my face and the wind in my hair thinking of silly things that remind me of all of you.
Jamee
Friday, January 29, 2010
Keri Clifs
Hey all, sorry seems that me and the internet don't seem to match up in a good amount of time. I just left a wonderful place in New Zealand called Keri Cliffs. This place is spectacular. I was visiting my aunt Bessie from Charleston and was so lucky to be her guest at this fantastic resort/lodge/resting place. Anyways it is amazing. It is a big golfing place, but I don't golf and had a great time. The views were spectacular, right on the water. Really close to the bay of islands. They have three private beaches, one you can get to by golf cart :) I went sea kayaking saw lots of fish, went horseback riding down to the beach, had a picknick with Bessie on top of a waterfall, relaxed on a beach. Had these amazing meals all day. The people helping there were fantastic. We saw a Mauri tribe do the Haka and dance and sing for us. Met some really interesting people at the resort. Anyways this place was over the top great.
Now I am back to camping every night and eating whatever we have. Big change. I'm in Queenstown now. We are camping without sleeping bags, but with two big comforters that were taken from a hostel somewhere. I went flying in Queenstown!! We flew from Queenstown to Milford Sound completely beautiful. Something out of this world. It was a mix of flying in Alaska, the Sierra, and the valleys around california. It was great I can't even begin to describe to you how amazing. Oh I think I'm going to get a job here flying people around the instructor that came with us, basically I want his job. Don't want to be an airline pilot want to fly bush hands down. Go to Alaska in the summer and New Zealand for our winter. It will be great. Ok going to figure out what we are doing next. We went on a hike today 3 hours in 3 hours back. Also beautiful views. I can't get over it, everywhere we look it seems to be something out of this world.
Love always
Jamee
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Wellington
Wellington: library, zoo, service project build a path by a school, bowling, karaoke, lectures, parlament, mustache parties...
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