When the All Blacks Come to Town...

This past week/weekend was filled with so much fun and craziness!  Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal with class and homework, although the weather was far from normal!  I thought North Carolina weather acted a little bi-polar, but Dunedin weather is just insane.  Monday I walked to campus in a short sleeve shirt with blue skies and no clouds in sight, but within the same hour it went from perfectly clear to a massive hail storm!  And then cleared up an hour later.  Tuesday was a repeat with SO MUCH HAIL and then back to spring weather!!!  There was literally rain, snow, hail, sleet, and sunshine all in one day.  It was also my first snow in Dunedin! Yay!  Four seasons in one day!  But enough about the weather…

Wednesday I went to class in the morning and then went to the gym and played badminton with Nathan and Erin.  And according to Nathan, apparently I say the word badminton wrong, because he says I sound like I say “mitton” on the end of it!  But he plays a good amount so I had him teach me the rules to a simple game.  After a few embarrassing moments of completely missing the birdie (I haven’t played since middle school probably), I got the hang of it and the game was even tied when our court time ended!  I also went to a BYO that evening to say goodbye to Elena, Marvin’s friend from Germany, who came to visit for a couple weeks.  We went to Indian Spice and I shared some delicious chicken spinach curry with Erin.  After dinner, we went to town for Irish night again and just hung out for a while listening to the music!

Thursday was pretty normal with class and some homework and then we went to a friend’s birthday party in the evening.  Friday we walked to George Street to look for game day attire and I bought an All Blacks shirt.  We also stopped by the Otago Museum on our way back to the flats.  We spent about 2 hours wandering through the exhibits and learning about anything from Polynesian and Maori culture and history to the native species of New Zealand.  It was really interesting and I may go back sometime to explore some more!  But the best part was the Butterfly exhibit!  There is an area within the museum where a small rainforest has been created and there are hundreds of butterflies!  They were so beautiful and we even were able to touch and play with them!  There were also a kid’s science exploring area with cool things like optical illusions, bubble making, and electricity tricks.  This area was probably intended for ten year olds, but we spent as much time here as the rest of the museum!  It was so fun acting goofy and playing with all the experiments.  After the museum, I went for a run and then some friends and I watched “The Proposal” that evening! 

And now saturday!!! In the morning, I went to the farmer’s market to get breakfast and some apples for the week.  I love going there when I am in town and supporting the local farmers of New Zealand!  Afterwards, I went back to my flat and took a short power nap until Olivia and her friends arrived!  Olivia is my friend from UNC who is studying in Christchurch (about 4 hours from Dunedin) for the semester.  They eventually found my flat and once they were settled in, I showed them around the university and town.  We walked up to George Street to look at shirts/All Blacks paraphernalia.  We realized there was a promotion in the store where if you spent $25 on All Blacks items, you received a free poster with your purchase.  So when Olivia went to pay, I asked the guy if that was just for the day, since I had been there the previous day, and he said yes and sorry that he could not give me a poster.  But when he went to the storage area to grab Olivia’s poster, he came back with 2!  How sweet!  Kiwis are awesome!  Afterwards, we grabbed some Starbucks coffee (first time I had some Starbucks in NZ), but when I went to order my usual iced coffee, the lady had no clue what I was talking about!  Apparently iced coffee is only an American thing?  So I just ended up with a latte.  Afterwards, I pointed Olivia and her friends Mac, Mai, and Erica towards the Cadbury Chocolate Factory for their tour and then headed home to get ready.

Not only was it a big weekend because Olivia was in town, but the All Blacks, the NZ rugby team, were also in town for their big match against South Africa!  I bought my ticket within the first couple weeks of being in the country and had been looking forward to the game for quite some time!  Before the big game started, I had 20 or so of my friends over to my flat for some “tailgating” (for lack of a better word).  We ordered ten pizzas and had some pre-drinks and just hung out while we talked about how excited we were!  And after a minor issue with ordering pizza from the South Dunedin Dominos rather than the North Dunedin (thanks Werner for driving us there!), the party was great!  I even let Werner eat some pizza even though he was wearing a South Africa shirt!  We also painted our faces!  And after much deliberation about how I should paint my face, I figured, well, I am only going to one game so “go big or go home, right?”  So half my face was black and the other half was white!  I looked ridiculously awesome and intimidating!  Everybody that I paint up with at UNC would be proud J

Eventually, we headed to the stadium, which was so exciting seeing everybody come together for the event.  Otago doesn’t really have sports teams so there is no “game day” atmosphere or school spirit like there is at UNC.  Once inside we found our seats and chuckled about how we were literally sitting in the middle of older people with our faces painted and looking crazy!  Who cares though!  The Hakka was awesome!  It’s the Maori ritual war cry and dance, but the All Blacks players also perform it before the game to intimidate their opponents!  The game was so exciting and I even looked up some rules beforehand so I mostly understood everything that was going on.  And rugby makes football look so wimpy.  The players are tackling each other with no pads whatsoever!  And, the All Blacks won, which is a huge deal because South Africa is a big rival!!!  So we left the game super happy and excited.  Once back to my flat, we washed off our face paint and got dressed for town.  Olivia and her friends were excited for me to show them some Dunedin nightlife!  Town was so crazy!  Everywhere was so crowded with not only students, but tourists and people of all ages.  It was fun seeing everybody there, but it also meant longer waits to get into places.  We found a couple places to dance though and had a good time!

The next day, we woke up pretty early and I took Olivia and her friends to get takeaway breakfast pancakes from Capers.  It was super warm and sunny outside so we ate them on campus, enjoyed the blooming trees and flowers, and then walked to Baldwin Street to show them the steepest street in the world!  After they left, I took a nap for most of the day (very minimal sleep the night before) and then worked on some homework in the evening.  It was so great to see Olivia though and meet her friends, and I had a blast being their tour guide and showing them my home!

Hope everybody else at my other home is doing great!  Missing the start of fall weather!

P.S.  I thought I would share some random things about NZ!

Trash is not called trash, it’s called rubbish.

There is no penny, only 10 cent coins, so when you pay, you just round up or down.

Style is much more European with darker clothes.

Ground meet is called mince.

Fries are called chips.

McDonald’s is called Mackers.

Cookies are called biscuits.

Takeout is takeaway.

Dinner can be referred to as tea.

The floor that you walk in on is the ground floor and the second floor is labeled the first (This confused me when I was trying to find my classes at first).

NZ recognizes the queen, but has a prime minister.

There are two main political parties: the Labour and National (both are pretty liberal compared to America’s standards).

Police don’t carry guns (they have a much lower number of gun incidents…I like this).

Flip flops are called jandals.

Petrol (gas) is sold in liters.

A convenience store is called a dairy (very few are 24 hours).

Up turns a light switch off.

NZ was the first country to grant women the right to vote!

Spring in Dunedin!

So it’s been a pretty chill week with nothing too exciting happening after break.  I spent a lot of time with some of my flatmates this week just hanging out after dinner and such.  Wednesday was Bob’s birthday and we went out to eat at a Thai restaurant.  I got so full and we still had cake afterwards!  But it was great and even though Bob lives in our complex, but not our flat, he is basically an honorary flatmate.  I had a reading test for my visual culture class on Thursday and I ended up doing quite well on it so I was pleased!  Afterwards, I went out to coffee at the Otago museum with Werner.  We talked a lot about American football versus rugby.  He didn’t understand why everybody just hits each other, so I attempted to explain to him the general rules.  Maybe I should just get him to watch “Remember the Titans!”  Thursday night I went over to another flat for an ABC party.  I wore a surprisingly stylish sheet toga (we looked up on the internet how to wrap them around us).

Friday I skyped with my parents, which was great since I have only been able to skype them three times since I have been here!  It was also the most beautiful day, in terms of weather, since I have been here so I put on some shorts (exposed my pale legs) and went with Erin to lounge in the Botanical gardens for a while.  It has been so nice lately (I’m sure it’s just a teaser though at this point) as it officially turned Spring here September 1^st!  It’s so crazy celebrating spring in September.  And I cannot even imagine Christmas in the summer!  Once the sun started going down, we ran a few errands and then later that night baked oatmeal pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Delicious! 

Saturday I worked on a little homework outside and then went for a run!  It felt so good to just run in shorts and a t-shirt!  Then that night, Liz, Marvin, Xavier, Tucker, and I took a tour of Speight’s Brewery.  It’s the famous brewery in Dunedin which started in the 1800’s and is considered “the pride of the south.”  That sounds so American to me haha!  Our tour guide was pretty cool because his great grandfather was one of the founders of the company so he had heaps to tell us including a story of the brewery ghost and how the workers are allowed to even drink on the job as long as they are responsible!  After the tour, we were given time to sample the different kinds of beer they brew.  The original brew (what I have had before) was pretty good, the dark ones were pretty disgusting, but my favorite one was the cider!  Although our guide told us that cider is like cheating beer and that we should pick another favorite.  I also realized my future as a bartender does not look very bright.  We were allowed to get our samples from the tap ourselves, but I could never pour a proper glass without filling half of it with foam!  After the tour, we headed to a Marie Clair’s birthday party.  Lots of birthdays this week!  Today I wrote my reading log (yay for being productive) and just hung out for a while.  I also got to skype Kelly and Lorenzo in Chapel Hill!  But I am headed over to Marvin’s soon and we are going to town to get some sushi!  I have seriously been craving it lately so I am so excited.  And then a bunch of us are watching a movie tonight!  Cheers!  

Spring Break 2012 Round Two: New Zealand Alpine Edition

So before I get to my spring break adventures, on a side note, today marks 2 months that I have lived in New Zealand…which is crazy! But amazing at the same time! I love it here and am so happy and can’t wait for all the adventures to come in the next 3.5 months!

Anyway, the week before break was kind of stressful and packed with a million things both fun and not so exciting.  I had two research papers due the Friday before I left so there was minimal sleep that Thursday night.  But aside from working on those, we celebrated Audrey’s 21^st birthday on Wednesday night.  She's the one wearing the cowboy hat (her birthday present)!  We went out to dinner at Tokyo Garden for a BYO and then went to a bar downtown called the Cook.  There was literally nobody in the bar because it was a Wednesday night, but there was a cute little old Irish band there that we danced to and they seven ang Happy Birthday to Audrey.  We also asked them to play Wagon Wheel for us, and they did twice J Friday was super busy turning in my essays, attempting to skype Courtney (sorry it didn’t work), and grocery shopping.  Sophie also pulled her Red Card that night, which is essentially a game night where she invents all kinds of games and everybody has to go along with it.  The theme of the night was Game of Thrones/Harry Potter/Olympics and included races around the block and eating competitions.  It sounds weird, but it’s very popular in Dunedin and lots of fun!

And finally, Saturday morning I set off on spring break.  After a minor panic that morning because the tent that we were borrowing was locked in somebody else’s flat (props to Campus watch for being understanding and letting me into Jordan’s flat), we hit the road in a pretty run-down rental car.  There were four of us: me, Liz, Sammy, and Matt (all Americans this time).

So many of you know for my first spring break of this year I traveled to Honduras where I was hot and sweaty most of the time.  Well, you could say this spring break was a little different!  Saturday morning we drove to Te Anua, which is a small town 4 hours from Dunedin.  Our plan was to start the Kepler Track, a four day backpacking trip that is considered one of the “Great Walks” in NZ.  Unfortunately it decided to start pouring so we stopped by the Department of Conservation (DOC) to check out the weather.  One look at the forecast and we started to consider our other options as the weather called for rain and snow up on the ridge all four days.  They even warned us that the avalanche danger would very possibly change from low to moderate if any more snow fell on the mountains.  So we went to find a camp ground in town for the night.  But as soon as we started setting up the tent, it decided to pour and we ended up upgrading to a bunk room.  That night we fell asleep, still undecided about what to do, to Sammy and Matt playing the ukulele, which is amazing!

The next morning we woke up to more pouring rain and still had no clue what to do.  But after checking the forecast online and seeing a beautiful full rainbow that gave us a little hope, we decided to go for it!  So we picked up a few last minute items needed in town and drove to the trail head around noon.  And off we went!  The first hour of that track was super flat and we made great timing, but after that it was a 5 hour climb uphill for the next 3000 meters.  On our way up we ran into Xavier (from Belgian) and Meagan (from Canada) who were on their way back down.   In the final stretch we emerged from the bush line, and through our huffing and puffing, our jaws dropped at the view that surrounded us.  Snow covered mountains to one side and the lake thousands of meters below us to the other.  The forecasted rain never really came the first day and although there was minimal fog, the views were still surreal.  So we hiked the last 30 minutes to Mt. Luxmore Hut in good spirits.  After arriving at the hut and relaxing for a bit, we decided to head out and do a little spelunking at a cave near the hut.  This was a giant cave and we went pretty far down in it, squeezing through crevices and tiny holes.  But once inside, there were a lot of cool stalagmites and stalactites!   Once back to the hut, we cooked up some pasta and lentils, built a fire, hung out for a little while, and went to bed after a pretty exhausting first day!

 

 

Now the next morning, was quite a surprise.  As most of you know, I am not the normal person who likes to hide away in the winter.  I normally don’t mind the cold and winter and LOVE snow.  So that morning, I was the first to wake up to the sun coming through the window and as I turned over to look outside, all I saw was white.  I instantly grabbed my glasses and literally jumped off the ground and sprinted toward the window! I may have been a little excited J And indeed the ground was covered with a couple inches of perfect snowball powder.  I snapped some pictures of the snowy mountains and seeing that it was still pretty early and everybody else was asleep, I went back to bed for another hour.  The funny thing was, I think I had the exact same crazy reaction to the snow the second time I woke up as the first. 

Anyway, once we were ready to leave the hut midmorning, the sky was blue, which made for a beautiful couple of hours or so climb in the snow.  However, as we got higher, the snow began to fall again and once we reached the sign where we could make a detour to Mt. Luxmore peak, we decided to drop our bags to make the extra 400 meter climb.  At this point there was not much to see due to the snow storm, but we wanted to say we made it to the top anyway.  As we climbed this part of the track, I instantly noticed the weather worsening as the wind picked up to the point of blowing us off balance on the ridge and the snow pelted down on us.  But I figured this was just at the peak, so we made it to the top after a little slipping and sliding on the icy surface that probably is covered in snow most of the year.  And after a few quick pictures, we decided to get back to the trail and better weather, so we hoped. 

But once back down, I noticed that our bags were covered entirely in snow and we were almost blown over when tried to put them on.  That’s when things clicked in my head that we were in some bad weather and needed to keep moving to make it to the emergency shelter hut along the ridge about an hour and a half away.  We started booking it, but it was still very slow going as we had to shield our faces from the pelting snow and walk through up to a couple feet of snow at times.  But we eventually made it a little cold, but we had come prepared with plenty of thermals and our bag liners even serve as hypothermia bags in case of emergency.  Once inside the shelter, we decided to have lunch and watch the weather.  Luckily, once we finished eating, we opened the door to joyfully see that the snow storm had cleared and that it appeared safe to continue. 

So the rest of the walk along the ridge was much more pleasant, but we were still plowing through anything from a couple inches to a couple feet.  But the clouds did clear enough for us to see the beautiful mountains we were walking though!  And we only lost the trail once (we came prepared with laminated topo maps and Matt is very skilled in navigation) for a brief period!  At this point it was already a packed day, but the next hut, Iris Burn, was in the valley so we eventually said goodbye to the snow (a sad time for me J) and made our way down along a beautiful river to the hut.  When we arrived at the hut, we were surprised to find another group of international Otago students there who had decided to complete the trail in the opposite direction.  So we hung out and got to know them for a while, cooked some delicious burritos, and reflected on our ridiculously crazy and eventful day!

The next morning, after sleeping in a little and packing up our gear, we made a quick side stop to a waterfall and then hit the trail.  This day was mostly downhill and the weather was very clear as we were able to look up and see the gorgeous mountains were had climbed.  The day was not too eventful as we walked along the lake and soaked in the fairly warm weather in our t-shirts.  Once we arrived at the hut, we were warm enough (and sore enough) that Sammy, Matt, and I decided to go for a swim…well, more like a freezing dip!  Don't let the picture fool you, it was very chilly outside and inside the water!  But it was quite refreshing, the whole minute I stayed in there!  And the only “shower” I had in 5 days.    Unfortunately as soon as we jumped out onto the beach, the sandflies attacked.  Sandflies look like gnats, but act WAY worse than mosquitos in my opinion.  They hurt when they bite you and are everywhere!  I quickly ran inside to escape.  Afterwards, we cooked dinner, played some cards, and watched the sunset over the lake.

The next morning we got ready swatting the sandflies as we packed up our gear and headed out.  It was the last day of the trail and we were all pretty exhausted, but still in good spirits! The day was very easy and mostly downhill or flat through forest.  Somehow we really lucked up because the only form of precipitation we ever saw was the snowstorm!  The last day was about 5 hours and we were so happy to see our car!  After changing out of our smelly clothes, we went and grabbed some fish ‘n’ chips, realizing it was probably okay to eat something a little fried and unhealthy after so much hiking.  And after rearranging the car (this car was very small and had to be carefully packed to fit everything in it and even then Liz and I had to hold stuff on our laps in the backseat) and set off on the next phase of break: Fiordland National Park!

The road from Te Anua to Milford Sound (the main “town” in Fiordland) is pretty treacherous and winding, but the views were spectacular.  We arrived early evening and checked into the Milford Sound Lodge campground.  As we were unpacking the car, I saw Xavier sitting inside the lodge and ran in and gave him a huge bear hug, something he probably did not appreciate due to my lack of a shower in five or so days.  Small word…or small country!?!  That night we finally took a hot shower, cooked a delicious meal, and hung out with Xavier for a while. 

 We woke up early the next morning to catch a cruise out onto the sound.  And considering it rains most of the time in Fiorldland, we could not have asked for better weather! The sun was shining and the mountains created a perfect reflection in the clear blue water.  We even saw some dolphins and lots of seals on the cruise!  We also realized that Xavier and Meagan did not have a ride to see anything else because they had taken a tour bus, so we decided to squeeze them into our car and head to Lake Marian.  It was a difficult climb to the lake within the mountains, but totally worth it as we enjoyed our packed lunches in the sunshine!  Afterwards, we drove them back to the lodge, grabbed all of our gear from the drying room (we may have used their facilities after checking out without them knowing), and headed back up Milford road to a campground literally out in the middle of nowhere. 

 

 

The next day we drove down to Lake Manapouri and enjoyed some pancakes on the shore and after a little stressful deliberation over whether or not we should continue south to complete the Hump Ridge track as we initially planned, we decided to head north to Mt. Aspiring National Park due to weather concerns.  So we drove through Queenstown, ate at the famous Ferg Burger, and then drove on into Wanacka.  We stayed in a hostel called Base-X and although they were having a huge night at the bar with lots of NZ bands, we decided to go to bed after a long days travel.  The next day, we got up and drove into Mt. Aspiring and hiked out to Colloquians beach along the Mineret Burns track.  After the hike, Matt decided to take our car out onto the lake’s beach, even after we all said that might not be the best idea.  Well we ended up getting out rental car stuck, not once, but three times! Each time, Matt had to get out and push the car!  After that, we visited a set of twin waterfalls and then Liz and I dropped Matt and Sammy off.  They decided to hike into a hut, but since it had started pouring, Liz and I chose to head back and stay at Base-X.  We met a couple other international students at other universities around NZ that night, which was pretty cool!

The next morning, Liz and I hopped in the car to pick up the other 2.  The day before, there were about half a dozen small rivers to ford in the car, but considering the heavy downpour for 24 hours, these rivers rose a good bit and I was nervous to drive the car into the first one as I couldn’t see the bottom.  So we pulled over and tried to figure out what to do.  Sammy and Matt were another couple hours of walking down the road and we had no clue if they would even decide to walk back towards us and we had no way of contacting them with no phone reception.  Luckily, a couple headed out for a little exercise (in the pouring rain???) drove by and I flagged them down.  I explained the situation to them and they offered to go through the river in their Land Rover to see how deep it was.  They made it through fine, but we determined it was still too deep and fast for me to take a much smaller and low 2-wheel drive vehicle through it.  Luckily, they were awesome people and super nice, even determined “not to abandon our mates” as they said and offered to pick them up for us.  So about an hour later they arrived back (at this point it has started snowing a little) with a very soaking Matt and Sammy.  The funny thing was, they were going back to get another group who were stuck because their car wouldn’t start!  Liz and I were so grateful for them!  But anyway, we found a place to dry off and finally headed back to Dunedin!

Today, we took the car out to Moeraki Boulders, an hour north of Dunedin.  These giant rocks along the beach are quite the sight!  They form through mineral precipitation from the ground water which cements loose sediment together.  Many of them even contain fossils!  They are pretty large and climbing on them can be difficult when wet, as I even have a photo of me wiping out trying to hop on one (sorry that one didn’t make the cut to actually be displayed in this blog)!

Overall, break was one heck of a crazy and exciting adventure with heaps of fun!!!  Now it’s back to the real world with school work and a test coming up this week!  Hope everybody is great stateside!

 

 

 

We're Lost in New Zealand...YONZO!

So the beginning of last week was not too exciting.  It rained buckets, literally, and I practically ran out of shoe options because I don’t have any waterproof shoes here besides my hiking boots, which I really don’t want to wear to class.  And even if I had brought my gumboots (rain boots), nobody wears them here and Kiwis generally think they are weird and should only be worn on the farm.  But they are so practical and super cute!  If only they could see Chapel Hill on a rainy day J  Some students even got a little crazy and surfed the raging Leith River that runs through campus.  They got in trouble, but they made the 6 o’clock news and the paper!  I also had a small fight with my cheap $5 umbrella from Kmart.  Unfortunately I have to declare it the winner considering it literally collapsed on my head! So basically I was in a constant state of wetness until about Thursday. 

Anyway, in other news, I finally got to meet my mentor! Yes, a little late into the semester, but I had forgotten to sign up for the program and then I heard that you could still join, so I did!  Her name is Emily and we got coffee last Monday night! She is awesome and we have a lot in common! And fun fact: she was wearing gum boots when I met her! The only Kiwi that day wearing them.  That night Werner, who is an RA at unicol (a residence hall), invited me to eat dinner with him there since RAs are allowed one guest per week.  The “dining hall” was much smaller than the ones in Chapel Hill and there were only 2 options for dinner.  Much different, but probably much healthier!

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal I think.  I’m having trouble remembering everything though!  Thursday I went to a hats and wigs party at another international flat.  The only way you could enter was if you were wearing a hat or wig, so Erin, Rachel, and I made paper hats for the party.  On the front of the hats we wrote YONZO, which is a spinoff of YOLO (You only live once).  YONZO stands for You’re Only in New Zealand once!  Which I hope is not true, because I would love to return, but it justifies everything that we do!  Friday was a little crazy trying to get some work done and planning the last minute weekend trip.  We decided to head to Silver Peaks, just 30 minutes outside of Dunedin, for a weekend of tramping and backpacking.

So we woke up super early Saturday and Erin baked French toast before we met up with the rest of the crew! All together it was me, Laura, Jordan, Erin, Rachel, and Marvin.  We hitched a ride with a couple of Kiwi hosts and made it to the car park around 9am.  But we had decided to do the trail backwards so that the longer portion would be completed Saturday rather than Sunday so we had to walk down the road a couple miles.  Well, we walked more than a couple because we missed the trail that we were supposed to take because it was marked with a different name at the end of it.  So we overshot our starting point by about an hour and realized once we were out in the middle of nowhere on a random dirt road with no sign of civilization that maybe we were lost.  So we stopped to regroup and plan right as a truck comes around the corner.  Good timing right?  We asked him for directions and after a little orienting; he told us we were headed in the right direction.  So we kept walking until about 10 minutes later when we see his truck headed back towards us.  We knew then that we were way off.  But it was nice of him to come back and tell us to turn around after he realized he had told us wrong.  So by noon, we made it to the trailhead, had a snack, and officially started.  But within the first ten minutes there was a river crossing up to our knees without any way of rock hopping.  So we decided to be brave the cold water and take off our shoes and socks to walk through it.  Now remember, it is the middle of winter here!  And my feet were so cold after waking though the river! But it was better than hiking in soaked boots for the next 5 hours! 

 After that it was straight uphill for a while and there were tons of prickly plants growing over the path.  Even in my leggings, my legs were pretty cut up.  We complained about it, but in the end it really didn’t bother me as we walked on the ridge with a full 360 degree view of the mountains.  Lunch was a quick stop as we were a little worried about the sun setting before we made it to the hut since we lost so much time at the beginning.  But we did take the time to check out the ABC cave along the trail.  It actually had a platform you could sleep on, but probably not the smartest thing to do in the winter.  We finally made it to the hut a little past 5pm after a final river crossing (this time with rocks, but I still got a little wet).  But I was proud of myself for not actually falling in this time!  Once at the hut, I started dinner for us because we were all starving!  So I cooked up heaps of pasta and we ate in a couple shifts.  Laura even carried cooked mince for us to add to the meal that disappeared within seconds of being made. 

Afterwards we hung out and played some cards.  Then another group of 5 arrived at the hut and since the hut only holds 10, it was looking to be a cozy night.  So we talked with them for a while and one of the girls had just returned from a trip to UNC for a week for some sort of workshop.  Yay small world!  Later that evening, Laura had gone out to the bathroom but got spooked as she heard noises and saw a flashlight coming out from the woods in the opposite direction of the trail.  I was not concerned and we all gave her a hard time for being scared until ten minutes later we hear somebody step up onto the porch.  None of us wanted to go see who it was so we waited a few minutes and then in walked this guy carrying a giant rifle.  I think at that moment all of us froze and didn’t really know what to say.  After the initial shock, I realized he was probably a hunter because we were only in a conservation area and not a national park.  But boy was that a way to scare some people when you walk in.  Turns out he was a super nice guy and let some of us use his night vision goggles and shared his cookies with us.  After hanging out for a while longer, we headed to bed with tons of layers on thinking we would freeze, but woke up with a huge pile of all of our clothes that we had pulled off throughout the night.  I guess the cabin got a little cozy with 12 people. 

The next morning we slept in a little bit and then got up to eat breakfast and hit the trail.  The hunter also headed out with us and since he was just heading back to his car for the day, we actually ended up walking with him the whole way.  The first part of the day was the hardest as it was straight up “Devil’s Staircase,” where at parts I was literally on all fours climbing.  That lasted about an hour and a half, but after that, the last 6 kilometers were smooth sailing besides a little mud.  Unfortunately the fog rolled in pretty quickly which limited the views and made for a pretty windy walk on the ridge.  We also had an issue with the ride back as Erin and Rachel’s ride couldn’t pick them up until 5pm and we were done by 2pm.  So the hunter volunteered to take then back to Otago (and we sent Jordan with them just to be safe).  But the hike was a lot of fun and I loved all of the silly times on the trail that I had with some close friends!  And our new friend J After we got back last night, we went to The Cook for $2 burgers and I collapsed in my bed pretty early.

As for the upcoming week, I have a busy schedule, but I am looking forward to Spring Break (guess I get 2 of those this year) starting this Friday! You guys can hear about it in a couple of weeks J Hope everybody is great!  Missing all of you at Chapel Hill moving in right now, but I’m sure you are having a wonderful time and I can’t wait to skype and see your rooms and everything! Have a great week!     

We just saw an Avalanche???

So it has not been long, but I just had a packed weekend and thought I should probably write about it before I start to forget things!

At the end of last week, I said goodbye to one of my really good friends here named Lorenzo.  Well we said goodbye multiple times thinking we were not going to see each other again.  But he is headed to UNC for the semester (basically switching places with one of the UNC girls here) so look out Chapel Hill! I am expecting everybody from Carolina to take good care of him and teach him how to love UNC just as much as we do J  I am super excited for him!

Early Friday morning, a group of 10 of us loaded into 2 rental cars and headed to Queenstown for the weekend!  After a little detour through town after getting lost in Dunedin, we were on way.  Queenstown is about a 4 hour drive and my car went crazy with singing along to every song on the radio.  Marvin and Wynton (the guys from Germany) had a CD with Wagon Wheel on it so that kind of became our theme song and it’s still currently stuck in my head.  Such a good one!  Anna and Emma were also in our car and Wynton and Marvin were such troopers driving the whole time.  Once we got into Queenstown, we dropped off a group of people who had booked to go bungee jumping.  (Don’t worry mom, I was not in that group).  The rest of us hiked up to a viewpoint where you could see the lake and snow covered mountains.  It was chilly but so worth it!  Afterwards, we checked into our backpackers and went to grab dinner with the rest of the crew.  We ate at a famous burger joint called Ferg Burger and I’m pretty sure the burger was about the size of my head.  We had to wait about a half hour for them, but it was delicious!  After dinner, we rested for a while and then went out to a few of the famous clubs in town called Winnie’s and World Bar.  They were lots of fun, even though I ended up losing my cardigan (but I found it the next day when I went back) and earrings!

The next day, we woke up and got some breakfast in the backpackers.  The lady that was working the breakfast station started talking to us and it turns out she is from Maryland and knew where my hometown, Frostburg, is, which is kind of a big deal considering how small of a town it is.  After filling up on toast and hot chocolate, we headed down to the lake.  On our way there, we ran into a boy who was wearing a Carolina sweatshirt with his family.  So of course we had to talk to them and it turns out they are from Carrboro, right outside Chapel Hill!  Small world again!  Down at the lake, we rented some kayaks and were able get onto the beautiful crystal blue water for a while!  Rachel and I rented a double kayak and it was so much fun to be in the middle of the lake surrounded by the mountains!  Afterwards, we grabbed a quick lunch, played around on a random rope swing that went out over the water for a while (even gathering spectators to watch us make a fool of ourselves), and took a drive down the road beside the lake.  We were looking for another lake, but never ended up finding it.  Instead, the road took us to some spectacular viewpoints a little ways away from town.  Afterwards, we walked around quaint little Queenstown exploring and then grabbed pizza at Winnie’s (yes the club we were in the night before) and then headed to Wanaka, an hour’s drive away.  Halfway there we stopped on the side of the road to look at the stars.  I forgot to mention this in my last blog, but the stars from the hut on Mt. Somers were absolutely amazing and I don’t think I have ever seen any so bright! And the Milky Way was incredible.  They were beautiful that night on the side if the road as well.

We made it to Wanaka around 9pm and that’s when things started going wrong.  When booking the week before, we had to split up into 2 groups because we could not find a backpacker’s that could hold all 10 since we booked pretty late and Wanaka is a popular ski destination.  So Rachel and I ended up staying somewhere different from the rest of the group.  When we arrived at the place we were staying, they looked at the two of us and said that they only had one person booked and only one bed.  I then proceeded to show him my receipt that explicitly said two adults booked.  So we got into a, “stern conversation” with each other with me basically telling him that this is not my fault and not my problem to figure out.  I was little short, but I knew the rest of the backpackers were full and we needed a place to sleep.  At the same time, I told the rest of the crew to head to their place while I sorted things out.  Finally, the guy agreed to break fire code for us and bring in a mattress into the bunk bed room.  So we settled for that and figured we were set of the night right as I got a text saying that the other group checked into their backpackers with only 2 beds, after booking for 8 people.  It was a mess!  They ended up getting a motel and the backpackers paid the difference for it.  After that, we were all pretty exhausted and while some people decided to go out, Rachel and I went to bed.  But before, we got to watch NZ win a gold medal in women’s single kayaking! Yay! 

We woke up early Sunday morning and decided to hike Rob Roy Glacier track.  So we packed some lunches and after a mini freak out where I thought I lost my wallet and passport (it ended up being put in the other car after the ordeal the night before), we headed out to the trailhead.   I guess it was just the weekend of losing/misplacing things.  Not many people had backpacks, so I ended up carrying most people’s food and water, but I didn’t mind.  It took us about an hour and a half to get to the overlook, but the hike was beautiful along the river and valley.  And once at the top, the view of the glacier was amazing! And out of nowhere, we hear a rumbling sound and turn around just in time to see an avalanche! I’m serious! It was crazy.  Also, at this point we were about 2.5 hours from Queenstown and we ended up running into the family from Carrboro again on this trail! It was hilarious.  We made it back down the mountain just before it started raining. 

So we headed back into Wanaka, gabbed some dinner (I had fish and chips) and headed back to Dunedin arriving here at about 10pm Sunday evening.  It was a packed and tiring weekend, but lots of fun exploring the small towns we went to and the sights around them!     

Chocolate + Tramping = One Happy Girl

Sorry it’s been a while...my procrastination on an 8 page research paper has caught up with me so that’s what I have been working on since Monday.  Battling with footnotes is certainly not fun.  It doesn’t help that the paper is on a topic that I truly am not invested in: Is fashion art? Ugh!  It’s due Friday, but I just turned it in because I am leaving town early tomorrow morning! Glad to get it out of the way!

Anyway, enough of school.  The start of last week was pretty normal.  It’s been a while, but I can’t remember too much happening in Monday or Tuesday of last week. 

But on Wednesday, I may have skipped class to go eat chocolate J The international office organized a group tour of the local Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Factory! I would have been happy to just stay inside and smell the chocolate all day.  The tour was very interesting and it was fun to learn about how the different chocolates are made and they even made us wear the ridiculously funny looking hairnets.  And throughout the tour, we were awarded with chocolate for listening and answering questions.  So we all ended up with such a sugar high!  The tour guide even poured us each double shots of melted chocolate.  So good!

Then that evening, I started planning a tramp (NZ word for hiking/camping/backpacking) for this past weekend.  I was really ready to get out into the country and mountains rather than just staying on the road and driving around, so I took it upon myself to organize a trip.  Werner was over at out flat at the time and, after a little persuading, I convinced him to go with me!  So I rounded up 3 more people the next day and planned out our route.  The final group was me, Werner (permanent resident of NZ, but from South Africa), Jordan (from Canada), Ryan (from Philadelphia), and Emma (from England).  It was a great group and really cool how we were all from different places.  I actually had never even met Ryan before, but after the weekend, we all became pretty close.  Together, we decided to complete the Mt. Somer’s loop, which is about 4 hours north of Dunedin.

So after a lot of last minute errands trying to rent cooking equipment and finding food/snacks for 3 days, we set off in our rental car Friday evening.  We arrived at the trailhead carpark at about 10pm and pitched our tent at the beginning of the trail, so we could start out early the next morning.  We knew Saturday would be a long day with the hut being about 14 km (8 hours away).  After a restless night battling the cold (we were not very smart and pitched the tent on concrete), we got up about 8am, put only a million layers due to the cold winter morning, and set off. 

However, not too far into the tramp, we quickly discovered that those extra clothes were not needed. I was the first to lead and boy was it tough going for the first few kilometers.  The trail was straight uphill, very muddy (it had rained the whole week before), and filled with rocks and roots that we had to literally climb over with all fours.  Although nobody would admit it, I know everybody was thinking “What has Emma gotten us into?” But once past those first few kilometers, the rest of the day was much better.  And even though the forecast called for a few morning showers, we had blue skies the whole weekend. 

It was fun to drive in at dark and not actually see the mountains we were climbing until the next day.  And we all freaked out at the first sight of a snow-covered peak.  Little did we know that the views only got better further into the mountains.  We even climbed high enough to be in the snow and ice, a funny spectacle when trying to walk over a drift and everybody falling knee-deep into the snow.  We also had multiple river crossings and I discovered that I have a slight fear of crossing rocks and rapids.  Give me a rock to climb over and I will do it, but rock hopping across water makes me a little nervous.  At one of the first crossings, I even slipped and fell backwards, luckily catching a branch before I landed in the water.  Lucky for all of you who were not there to witness this great act of clumsiness, Jordan took a video of the whole thing and it is now on Facebook. Glad I could add to everyone’s entertainment J But that small river was not the end of it.  There were lots of puddles or “super soakers” as we called them throughout the trail.  And towards the end of the day, we encountered another crossing, this time much larger and with much stronger rapids than the previous ones.  Initially we could not figure out a way to get across without literally wading through the water after searching up and down the area, but Ryan somehow made it across with such ease that we figured we could do it.  However, Jordan, Emma, and I still ended up with wet feet.  Luckily, at the point we were still sweaty and only about an hour from the cabin.  The river did set us back in time though and we made it to the hut at about dusk after an exhausting, but amazing, 8.5 hour day!  We also crossed a swinging bridge (max 1 person) over a beautiful and massive gorge right before arriving at the hut.

Once there, we stripped off our wet clothes, shoes, and socks, grabbed a snack, and then broke out the bottle of wine that the guys carried for us.  While the boys started the fire, Emma and I gathered water from the river to cook with and I started dinner for us.  We all ate heaps of pasta, shoveling it in our mouths faster than we could chew. We sat around the fire for a while laughing and admiring what we had accomplished that day and eventually dragged the hut mattresses into the common area so we could sleep by the fire (it’s off season, so we were the only people in the hut).  Luckily, Saturday night was much toastier for all of us compared to the night before.

The next day, we set out just before 9pm and climbed the steepest part of the whole trail.  As tiring as it was, I would have hiked that ten times just to see the panoramic view of the snow covered mountains at the top.  Incredible! The rest of the day was mostly downhill (a little hard on the knees) and set at “V Pace” (Werner was leading and his name is pronounced Verna).  I ended up in the water again after trying to cross a river using a log.  Theirs is definitely a pattern forming! But no worries mom and dad, I was never hurt.  The only injuries I, or anybody else, experienced were from a very pokey plant.  That is a terrible description, but I don’t know the name of it.  But I learned by the second time I slipped on them that it is better to fall over than try to catch yourself.  They got the better of my hands a couple times, drawing blood each time, but luckily it didn’t hurt for long.  I also proved my gullibility in believing Jordan when he told me there was a bear in the woods (there are not even bears in the country).  Anyway, with the V-pace and downhill momentum, we made it back to the carpark in 5 hours! We were all so excited at the end and proud of the accomplishment and mountains we climbed because one thing we did learn is “It’s never the top!”

We hit the road and started out journey back to Dunedin, stopping at KFC on the way home, where I believe I ate my weight in fried chicken.  I even drove part of the way back! And don’t worry, I stayed in the left side of the road the whole time.  Although I did tend to turn on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal because they are on opposite sides than what I am used to. 

But this past weekend was amazing and filled with so many hilarious and incredible memories.  And literally all I want to do now is tramp!  But for now, I should probably go and officially submit my paper!