Upon arriving in Sydney I threw my baggage into storage and completely coincidentally ran into one of the girls from my New Zealand tour who was from Japan.  Pretty random.  lol! I took the shuttle to the domestic terminal and waited for about an hour for Dani and Leslie to arrive.  After excited Hellos, we took the shuttle back to our hostel.  Needless to say it was….livable. lol. But cheap enough so whatever.  After throwing down our things we headed out for pizza a block away.  Took it pretty low key that night and watched a few episodes of Degrassi. Yes, Dani too. haha!

The next morning we got up and took the train into the city.  Wandered into a pretty park and that ate breakfast at a little cafe.  Then we walked down to Cockle Bay? Cockle Harbour? Whatever it was called, and hopped on a ferry to Circular Quay.  The ferry was fun. Took some “windy” pictures and got great views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Seeing that first sight of the Opera House, was pretty flipping cool. It was like it finally hit that we were actually in Sydney, Australia!! Kind of surreal.  We went up to the Opera House and took tons of pictures.  Sat and relaxed on a rocky boat dock for a little while, then headed back into the city.

Later that day, we went into to the Barracks Museum which was in a historic building orginally held to accomadate convicts.  Went back to the hostel and made some spaghetti for dinner.  Got showered, then went back out to explore the Sydney nightlife. haha. Not really. More like we attempted to go bowling, but it was $16 a game, so we ended up going to a pub next door.

Friday we got up to explore some museums. Had brunch at a restaurant next door and then headed into the city.  Our first stop was the Sydney Jewish Museum.  It was pretty cool to learn about the Holocaust and everything from an Australian perspective.  We also checked out the the Contemporary Art Museum which was also pretty cool. We were going to check out the police museum (after getting a little lost), but unfortunately it wsa not open during the week. We ended up walking around the harbour a bit more and made a stop for gelato. yum!!! Then we headed off to Bondi Beach!

It was a long bus ride to Bondi Beach.  But it was worth it.  Had we had our swimsuits with us and a little more time it would have been nice to hang out and relax.  But we had fun wandering around and taking jumping pictures near the freezing cold ocean!! After having a nice italian dinner by the beach, we headed back to the hostel.  We hung out, watched some more Degrassi, and had a late night pizza party. lol!

Saturday morning turned out to be nothing exciting. Had a nice relaxing breakfast next door before heading off to the airport.  It was kind of a depressing ride, knowing that this was really it and I was heading back to the states in just a few hours!!!!

Airport was a bit of a pain. And by that I mean a big pain. Having to lug my luggage around and waiting in line forever to check in.  To top it all off I got there too late to get a window seat and was stuck in the middle isle. The 12.5 hour plane ride not the greatest experience of my life.  Watched Wall-E and Mamma Mia and couldn’t fall asleep the entire time. But it went by quicker than the ride there.  Stopped in San Francisco for 4 hours and then off to Chicago.  It was pretty surreal meeting my parents at the airport and realizing I was really home.

Overall, study abroad was by far one of, if not the greatest experience of my life.  Despite the ups and downs I learned a whole lot – about myself, and the world. And got to do some pretty kick ass things I couldn’t anywhere else in the world.  It was sad to leave knowing that I don’t know when, or if I will ever be back, but it was nice to see my family, sleep in my own bed, and just be home. I guess you could say, it was pretty bittersweet.

I guess that concludes this blog.  Thanks to all those who read through my crazy rants and adventures!!!

<3 Brittany

I believe I left off right before I did the ledge swing.  It was fun, but not nearly as thrilling as the bungy jump.  So that night was a free night.  We went out for some Thai food and I got to bed relatively early.

Day 6: Off the Franz Josef.  We got into Franz Josef in the early afternoon.  We immediately started gearing up for the glacier hike. They gave you special boots to wear, and crampons so that you wouldn’t slip on the ice.  We had a short hike through the forest and then we were on the glacier for about an hour.  I thought the hike was fun and the glacier was just spectacular. It was a pretty cool experience. Went back to the lodge and had a pretty chill night. Minus the ridiculous showers that would not stay on for more than 20 seconds at a time Ate a less than satisfying dinner at the lodge, hung out for a while, and then fell asleep studying. *oops*

Day 7: Ate breakfast and prepared to the loooong drive to Christchurch.  Probably about 6.5 hours.  Made a stop in Hokitika where we visited the Jade Factory.  Then drove through Arthur’s Pass and got into Christchurch at about 4pm.  While everyone was resting at the hotel, I ran back to my flat to back up all of my pictures.  One of the girls lost her camera in the glacier, so I figured I better play it safe knowing what a clutz I am.  We had dinner at the hotel in Christchurch.  It was our final night on the South Island.  A lot of people were leaving the tour the next morning so we spent a lot of time hanging out and saying goodbye.

Day 8: Today we had a super early start. 6:45 a.m. bags to bus.  We drove 4 or 5 hours up to Picton, where we caught the Interislander ferry across the Cook Strait to the North Island.  It was a nice ride.  By far the biggest boat I had ever been on.  The boat ride was about 3 hours and I used the time to study and nap.  We arrived in Wellington mid-afternoon. We had some time to chill out and then went to dinner at this really cool bar called Blend.  Hung out there until pretty late and went to bed.

Day 9: Today’s activity: Quad biking! One of the most fun things I have ever done.  We drove about 45 minutes to get to the place and they suited us up in a helmet, biking jacket and pants, and boots so we wouldn’t get muddy or cold.  Then we were off. Basically what we did is go off-roading on 4×4 bikes. Totally awesome.  It took me a little while to get used to the steering, but it was great. We went knee deep through mud and through a river.  And we got to drive it down a road at top speed.  At the end were treated to lovely tea and scones. lol.  After that activity I went back to my hotel and showered.  Then went out Halloween shopping with Kim, a girl from Australia.  Finding a Halloween costume was a lot harder than we had thought (they don’t really celebrate Halloween in New Zealand).  Two and half hours later, and (after watching someone get arrested on Cuba St. for 20 minutes!)  we ended up buying a bunch of random stuff from a $2 store.  I found a grass skirt and leis for my costume.  I was tired from all the walking, but after dropping my stuff back at the hotel, I decided to explore the city for a bit.  I went to the musuem, which just happens to be the largest National Museum in the southern hemisphere.  It was pretty cool.  I found some Maori exhibits that actually helped me study for my exam! lol! I then attempted to find the parliament building, known as the beehive because of its shape. Unfortuantely, it was a bit farther than I had expected, and I walked around for a very long time trying to find.  But finally i was able to and took a couple pictures.  I was pretty impressed with Wellington overall.  It has some cool art sculptures scattered around the city and is right by  the water.  It’s not too big, but big enough that it was comfortable and felt like a real city.

Day 10: This mornign we were off to Taupo. Pretty long drive. But pretty chill day.  I chose not to do any of the activities that day and just sat and relaxed during the day.  That night though was a ton of fun. It was our dinner / party cruise.  The theme Halloween!  It lasted about 2 hours.  We played games, had a scavanger hunt, and even a pinata. We danced and had karaoke.  It made me feel like a little kid.  It was one of the most fun nights I’ve had this trip!!

Day 11: Rotorua.  Pretty short drive up there. On the way up there we stopped at Huka Falls.  A part of the Waikato River that overturns like ridiulous amounts of water per second.  As in, people have died kayaking through it because its so dangerous.  Once, we got to Rotorua we got a quick city sites tour.  Now Rotorua is in a highly volcanic area. There are tons of geysers everywhere.  There the town smells like sulfur. Everywhere.  Pretty awful actually.  After the tour we went straight to the Agrodome where we got to watch a corny little show about sheep.  They actually sheared a sheep on stage, which I’ll be honest was a little hard to watch.  It was cute though when some people from the audience got to feed the baby lambs and try to milk a cow.  That afternoon, some of us took the gondola up to go luging, which was a lot of fun.  At night we went to Hangi (Maori feast) and Maori concert.

Day 12: This morning before heading up to Waitomo we stopped to go Zorbing.  Something I have been looking forward to this whole trip.  Basically what you do is get into a giant plastic ball, they throw some water in and then you roll down a hill.  Sounds completely ridiculous, but so much fun!!  After zorbing we drove to Waitomo Caves for Black Water Rafting.  For this, we got suited up in full wet suits.  We each were handed an inner tube, it involved a little bit of walking through the cave and a little bit of floating. Pretty cool.  At one point in the tour we heard a loud boom.  We were all confused as to what it was, until we looked up.  Thousands of glowworms hanging from the ceiling. At one point the ceiling was so high that looking up at the glowworms, looked like looking up at the stars.  You may be wondering why the worms glow, well, as the tour guide put it, it is “glowing maggot poo.” Yep. thats right.  sounds gross, but it was really cool. After getting all showered, we had had pizza at the hotel.  I turned it in pretty early for my last night.

Day 13: The last day of my tour.  Pretty much all it involved was driving 3 hours 2.5 hours from Waitomo to Auckland. We got to Auckland at about 11 and had lunch at the food court in the mall.  Then it was time to say goodbye.  It was kind of sad since we had all been together for 2 weeks.  Half the tour was still moving on to the Bay of Islands, so those of us staying behind waved the bus off.  At that time I had about 7 hours to go explore Auckland. I walked around with anothe American, Kimmy, who leaving the same time as me.  We went up to the top of the Sky Tower, which wasn’t terribly exciting, but it gave us a good view of the city.  After that wandered around mostly.  Randomly ran into 4 other people who were on our tour wandering around Auckland.  I must say I was a little disappointed with Auckland.  Granted I didn’t get to spend much time there, but it wasn’t anything special.  Around 7, Kimmy and I took the shuttle to the airport and said goodbye.  It was a one hour flight from Auckland to Christchurch and I got back at 11 the night before my first exam. lol

Overall, the trip was pretty awesome and I’m relaly glad I decided to do it.  I saw a lot and met a lot of cool people from all over the world.  So now its Tuesday and I’m two finals down and one to go.  Then Sydney in a week!!!

TIl next time

~Brittany

Photo links:
Road to Lake Ohau

Road to Milford Sound

Milford Sound Cruise

Queenstown

Queenstown to Franz Josef

Hiking the Fox Glacier

Franz Josef to Christchurch to Wellington

Wellington

Tapuo

Rotorua

Day 1: Tuesday morning we departed from Christchurch.  It was a 4-6 hour drive to Lake Ohau.  Don’t really remember.  Spent a lot of time on the bus getting to know everyone.  The people are pretty cool.  There are a lot of Australians, then a couple other Americans, Canadians, people from England, Ireland and others, so it’s pretty cool.  I’m definitely one of the younger ones on the tour, but people are still cool.  So we got into Lake Ohau around 4 pm.  Just kind of hung out and looked at the beautiful scenery. People were hanging out in the bar pretty late, but other than that it was a pretty chill night.

Day 2: We woke up super early for a long trip to Milford Sound.  We made several stops along the way though.  Some to take pictures, and others to get out and stretch our legs, make toilet stops and grab some food.  We got into MIlford at about 4 and boarded the Milfrod Wanderer for our overnight cruise.  It was a decent boat.  The rooms were about the size of my bathroom, for 4 people. But it was only for one night.  That was definitely sufficed though, by the AMAZING scenery. Seriously, most beautiful place I have ever been.  Mountains, waterfalls, glaciers, seriously stunning! I took tons of pictures! (Which will be up as soon as I get better internet accesss! lol!)  Went to bed pretty early.  I was exhausted from all the travelling.

Day 3: After having breakfast on the boat, it was about 2 hours until we arrived back to shore in which it was about a 4 hour drive back to Queenstown! On our way back, we stopped at the Karawau Bridge, just out of Queentown.  I think there is some historical significane to the bridge, but I was more concerned about the fact that I had to jump off of it! lol! Yep that’s right, I went bungy jumping! The Karaway Bridge is the first commercial bungy jump location in the world. I was freaking out before the jump. And I was the last one to go, so I had to watch everyone else go before I did! It all went by pretty fast though. They put you in a harness, then tie up your feet. Then before you know it you are standing on the edge and the guy is counting down.  It was a 43m jump, so not too bad for my first jump! It was only about a 3 second freefall, but still pretty awesome! I got kind of dizzy at the end from all the jerking and hanging upside down, but it was totally worth it! I got the pictures, the DVD, and a free t-shirt! That night we had a group dinner at the skyline gondola restaurant.  We took a gondola up and got some awesome views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.  And an amazing buffet dinner.  After dinner, we went out to a couple of bars, which isn’t normally my scene, but it was fun. Got back pretty late and fell asleep in like two seconds!

Day 4: First full day in Queenstown. Today’s activity, Mad Dog River Boarding! Pretty awesome activity I’d say.  Not to mention one of the hardest and scariest things I’ve ever done.  It was about a 45 minute drive down to the river. Once you’re there, they put you in a full out wetsuit, with flippers and a helmet.  Then they give you a boogie board.  Basically, what river boarding is, is like boogie boarding through white water rapids.  They put you through a short training sessions so you know what to do. I was struggling a little bit, so me and a couple other girls decided to skip out on the hard part and take it a little easier. Wise decision because even the easy part was a little hard.  It was really fun, going over the rapids and flowing down the river, but extremely tiring and my arms became weak very quickly.  I had some help from the guides, who had to pull me for a little bit.  At the end we got to go on a jet boat ride and water slide on our boards.  I was a little disappointed that I had so much trouble, but it was still one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I’d love to try and build up my strength and try it again some day.  That night after dinner at the hotel, we went out again to a couple more bars.  One of which, was Minus 5. A bar completely made of ice.  They give you a heavy jacket, boots, and gloves to keep you warm. Pretty funny. And you get one free drink with entrance, in a cup made of a ice.  I had heard about this place before and was looking forward to it, but it was different than what I expected. It was one very small room. I was a little disappointed, I expected it to be more extravagant. But it was still cool (both literally and figuratively) lol! Got back later than I had hoped. But I fell asleep pretty quickly again

Day 5: Today I slept in (as much as I could sharing a room with 4 people) and came to town.  Shopped around a little bit, and now I’m sitting in an internet cafe in Queenstown typing this blog entry.  Tonight I an going to do the Ledge Sky Swing.  Kind of like a bungy, but more of a Swing than a jump.  It looks fun, probably not as exciting as anything else, but it should be fun.  (except for the fact that it’s rainy and cold out right now. I hope it stops later) But anyways.  Tomorrow we head to Franz Josef, where I will be hiking up the Fox Glacier.  I’ll finish this update a little later!

Tata for now.

Friday we slept in a bit.  We made some chocolate chip pancakes with Nutella for breakfast/lunch.  So good!   After that we headed down to the city centre.  We walked around a bit. Checked out some markets in Cathedral Square.  I showed her the Art Gallery, the Arts Centre, and we walked around the Botanical Gardens for a little while.  We got frustrated after a little while because everything closes in Christchurch super early. Around 5:00pm even on a Friday.  We came back to my flat around 7:00, made some dinner and watched a movie.

Saturday morning we woke up at 7:00 to head to Akaroa. Akaroa is a little French Colony/Harbour a part of Banks Peninsula about an hour and a half from Christchurch.   It was an absolutely beautiful drive through the Port Hills.  Our shuttle made a stop at the top of a mountain so that we could get out to take pictures.  Little did we know we’d get blown away in the process.  As soon as we stepped out of the shuttle we got blown off our feet! It was possibly the strongest wind I’ve ever experienced and I was scared I was going to drop my camera down the hill.  It was actually a bit of a struggle getting back into the shuttle.  Soon enough though, we arrived in Akaroa. It was absolutely beautiful! We first stopped a cafe to get some caffeine to wake us up since we had been up so early.  After relaxing and enjoying the scenery for a little while, we decided to go exploring.  The town wasn’t too big, but it had a strip of some cute little shops and some jewelry stores.  After looking at the shops, we decided to take a walk along the beach.  Took some goofy photos as always, and walked down the lighthouse. After breaking for lunch, we walked around some more, then sat by the beach and relaxed for a while before we needed to catch the shuttle.  On the way back, the shuttle stopped at a cheese factory.  Kind of random, but we got free samples, so it was cool! lol! After that I was pretty much passed out for the rest of the ride.  After making dinner that night we watched some more Degrassi, another movie, and then headed to bed.

Sunday we slept until about noon.  We headed down to the Riccarton Market just in time to catch the last 20 minutes.  lol!  We came back to the city centre and browsed some more markets.  Wandered around some more and stopped for milkshakes on New Regent Street. Which is my favorite cutesy little street in Christchurch, but nothing on it is ever open. Wandered around a bit more (it’s a small city, wandering is pretty frequent activity) and walked into a couple stores. Came back and ate some leftovers. I then introduced Leslie to Hokey Pokey ice cream, a New Zealand favorite! I think she was sold.

Monday was Leslie’s last day, and it was kind of a lazy one.  We slept in until noon and then headed down to the Canterbury musuem.  We had fun taking more goofy pictures and exploring. Wandered some more around the city. Turned out Nicole and Jordan were in Christchurch that day, so we ended up making dinner plans with them. Before we met them we sat down on a bench by the river and talked and watched the goofy birds wandering around.  Soon though, we got cold and wandered into a Starbucks.  Starbucks – a true New Zealand experience! lol! But not really.  We met Nicole and Jordan in Cathedral Square and then walked down to Dux de Lux for dinner.  After dinner, we walked down to Nicole and Jordan’s hotel. Which was possibly the coolest hotel I’ve ever seen. Everything was super high tech with really neat lighting and decor.  I almost wanted to stay there a night instead of my flat. lol! We hung out in their room for a while then walked downstairs to the bar and talked for a while. I didn’t even get carded, which I thought was pretty impressive.  Leslie and I ended up heading back to my flat around 10:30.  We came back and watched the highly anticipated season premiere of Degrassi.  We stayed up until about 2:00 talking about Degrassi, because we’re just cool like that. This was despite the fact that Leslie had to get up at 3:00 to catch the shuttle at 4:00.  So at 4:00 I walked her to the shuttle and we said goodbye .

So things have been pretty quiet and boring now.  I guess I should get back to working on my papers.  I can’t believe there’s only 2 weeks of classes left! I feel like I just got here yesterday! CRAZY! Not much is going to be going on before I leave for my two week New Zealand tour! Which I am super psyched about! I will try to update again before then!

~Brittany

Akaroa Pictures
More of Leslie’s visit

Thursday morning, instead of having my regularly scheduled Indigenous Language class, we took a trip to visit a Kura Kaupapa a.k.a. a Maori school.  There were only six of us from the class that went, and I’m the only non-Kiwi so I was a little nervous just becuase I had never really been around the culture before.  When we got there, they did this whole Maori welcoming ceremony.  They sang a song, and we sang a song.  Other than that I had no idea what was going on because the whole thing was in Maori.  After the welcoming ceremony, we went to the staff office for a late morning tea.  While you were not allowed to speak English in earlier, here we could and were able to ask the teachers questions.  Then we went around and visited the classrooms.  The school goes from Kindergarten up until high school.  One interesting thing was that you had to take your shoes off before you walked into any building or classroom.  Which wasn’t fun because it was raining that day and all the class rooms are in separate small buildings.  It was actually pretty similar to a regualr school except for the fact that everything was taught in Maori.  As the students get to high school though, some subjects are too difficult to teach in Maori and are taught in English.  I was really happy that my professor arranged this visit because it was a great experience that I can’t get anywhere else except in New Zealand.

On Saturday, I decided to go down to Cathedral Square to climb up the Cathedral Tower.  It was a pretty short trip to the top, but you had to climb up a very windy narrow staircase.  I would not recommend it to anyone who is claustraphobic.  But once you got to the top you got a clear view of Christchurch.

View of Cathedral Square from the Cathedral tower

Today I decided to take a trip to the beach.  I took the bus to Sumner, which was about a 40 minute bus ride from Christchurch.   It was a little chilly, but sunny.  And it was perfect weather to just lay out and catch up on some of my reading for my classes. The beach was stunning. The Pacific Ocean with the Southern Alps in the distance.  Beach and mountains all in one place! AMAZING! I took a bit of a walk around the beach, collected some seashells, grabbed some fish and chips and headed home.

Pacific Ocean with the the Southern Alps in the distance

View more pictures from Sumner here

So, I’d say I had a pretty decent weekend.  Tomorrow it’s back to class, and on October 2nd Leslie is coming!

Cheers

Last Thursday, I flew out of Christchurch to Brisbane, Australia! The flight went well, though I was upset I forgot to ask for a window seat. Oh well. Got into Brisbane at about 5:30pm then took a train to South Brisbane, where I met Leslie at the train station. We walked a couple blocks back to her apartment.  I immediately started to get the big city feel after stepping off the train. Brisbane isn’t a huge city, but compared to Christchurch, it felt like it.  We got to her apartment and caught up with each other about our experience so far while she cooked us pasta for dinner.  Then our friend Lauryn, who also goes to DU, came over and we chatted for a while.  Then of course, it was the moment we had both been waiting for, our Degrassi mini-marathon! haha! After watching Degrassi and falling asleep to Space Jam, we went to sleep.

On Friday, Dani and her friends were suppose to arrive at noon, but their flight was delayed 4 hours.  So Leslie took me around some places in Brisbane.  And we got yummy Boba tea and chatted. lol! We walked back to the apartment. Then we walked to pick Dani and her friends up at the train station. The trio was finally reunited! haha! We walked around a bit, then got some fish and chips for lunch from a really good seafood place next to Leslie’s apartment.  Took a short nap and then went out for dinner.

Saturday morning we went to the museum.  Not the best museum I’ve ever been to, but it was fun and free.  We picked a good weekend to go to Brisbane, because Riverfest was going on that week. It’s a big festival where they celebrate the river I guess. We hung out a little at the fake beach.  Then we met up with our friends Nicole and Jordan who had gotten a spot for Riverfire.  Which was basically a big fireworks display along the river. It was a pretty cool fireworks show.  They played music and had an airshow before that.  I though it was a lot of fun.  Afterwards, it took us about 45 minutes to get back to the apartment, because there were so many people there.  It was literally like shoulder to shoulder walking out.  I swear the entire city was crammed in there!

Group of DU kids waiting for Riverfire to start

Fireworks

Click here to view a video from Riverfire

Sunday we were going to go to the Australia Zoo, but it turns out it was really hard to get to, so it ended up being a pretty chill day instead.  I’m still a little bummed about that one. But whatcha gonna do? We walked down Queen Street and did some shopping.  Then at night, we went to a club that was kind of lame. But I suppose that’s because it was a Sunday night…*shrug*

Monday Leslie had class so Dani and I went to the library to look up information for Noosa. After Leslie got back from class, we relaxed a little bit. After dinner, we decided to go ride the CityCat, a ferry that takes you down the Brisbane River.  We had fun riding and taking pictures.  The ferry gives you some awesome views of the city, and it’s just fun to ride! lol! Hopped off kind of in the middle of nowhere and then turned around to go back.  The city looked awesome at sundown and at night.  Though I got yelled at twice for using flash, which I wasn’t actually using.  Grr.

We took a picture in front of the sunset at the random stop we got off at.

Brisbane 1
Brisbane 2

Tuesday morning, Dani and I woke up early to take the train to Noosa, which is on the Sunshine Coast.  It was a bit of a journey, but worth it.  We took about a one hour hike through the woods, which was easy and relaxing and then came back on the coastal track, which was absolutely stunning! I have never seen water so blue! We relaxed on the beach and played in the waves for about an hour.  Then headed back to take the bus to the inn we stayed at.  I guess you can call it an inn.  Whatever.  Obviously not the greatest room I’ve ever stayed in, but it worked. So whatever.  We showered got some Thai food for dinner.  Then went to sleep, since we were both completely exhausted.

Me at Hell's Gates

The next morning we woke up, checked out, and checked out Hastings Street.  The touristy shopping area.  I got a couple souvenirs.  We grabbed lunch, then relaxed on the beach for a while before our bus arrived.  We transferred to the train, and got back into Brisbane at about 5:30. Leslie got back from class a little while later. Then we went out to dinner with Tati and just hung out around the apartment for my last night in Brisbane.

Noosa 1
Noosa 2

Thursday we slept in.  Then grabbed some fish and chips for lunch. At around 3:30, Dani, Leslie, and Lauryn walked Tati and I to the train station.  We said our goodbyes, then promised we would meet each other in Sydney at the end of the semester. (I’m really hoping that one works out).

So Tati and I got back into Christchurch at about midnight, then took a shuttle back to my flat.  Showered, got settled in, then went to sleep after a long day of travelling.

On Friday, we headed to the city centre and I showed her around town.  We checked out some of the markets in Cathedral Square. I showed her some of the streets with shopping and she bought some souvenirs.  I took her to the art gallery which was cool, because they had changed some of the exhibits since the last time I had been there. Then we stopped for lunch at a little cafe.  After lunch we headed to the Canterbury Museum.  It was pretty cool and it’s free! I had only seen part of the museum before, so it was fun to finally be able to walk through the whole thing.  Tati wanted to check out some Maori culture while she was in New Zealand, so at night we headed to a Wildlife Reserve for this Maori concert/Experience thing.  It was a little cheesy and touristy, but fun.  After that we got to go on a guided Kiwi tour through the reserve.  They showed us some of the native New Zealand birds, which was pretty cool.

Tati and I with the Maori People

Tati visits Christchurch

Tati was also excited to see some of the nature in New Zealand, so on Saturday we headed to Lyttleton Harbour, a little harbour town about a 30 minute bus ride from Christchurch. We took a Gondola up to the top of a mountain where we had lunch.  We saw some killer views! You could literally see the entire city and the surrounding area from up there.  Plus the southern Alps and Pacific Ocean in the background.  I believe Lyttleton is the site of an extinct volcano, or crater or something.  We walked outside and hiked down one of the trails.  We wandered a little off track and I got a little freaked out, but we soon figured out where we were and made it to the bottom.  Lyttleton is kind of a cute down, not too exciting, but it was pretty and fun to walk around.  We took the bus back and stopped for groceries on the way.  We got back and Tati showed me how to make a meat sauce for pasta. Basically the same thing Leslie made me the day I got to Brisbane! We watched Ferris Bueller, then went to bed.

Hiking Down to Lyttleton Harbour

Lyttleton Harbour
Woke up this morning and headed to the Riccarton Market (after a slight confusion about the buses, but we made it there ok). The Riccarton Market is a HUGE market with cheap fruits and vegetables, art, food, crafts, and pretty much anything you could imagine.  We had lunch there and then headed back to the city centre to check out the Botanical Gardens.  It was a nice day out, though a little cold.  But the gardens were a fun and relaxing activity.  They were very pretty.  We decided to head back early today, since it was getting kind of cold out.  Tati has to leave very early tomorrow so we will probably get to bed soon too.

Overall, my spring break was pretty much AWESOME and I’m sad it’s over.  Tuesday it’s back to school. I don’t have any terribly exciting plans for the next few weeks. The next thing I have planned is in 3 weeks Leslie comes to visit for her spring break! If anything cool happens before then, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Thanks for reading this obnoxiously long entry.  If you read through the whole thing you are my hero!!

On Monday I finally got to go skiing! Which I was really excited about. Unfortunately the day did not end up as good as I had planned. We didn’t have the best weather. The snow was awesome. Most of it was fresh powder, but the visibility was awful. You could barely see 10 ft in from of you. Because of this, the upper part of the mountain was closed, which was a little disappointing. The mountain was nice, but it’s no Colorado. I guess I’ve been a little spoiled. The mountain is a lot smaller. But it was a little different. First, they don’t really have runs. They tell which ways are easy and which are harder and you just kind of choose your own path. They also didn’t have lifts. Just T-bars, which are basically really strong tow ropes. They kind of suck, but they were manageable. They day was fun for the most part. Unfortunately I had been feeling sick the whole day. I figured it was probably altitude sickness, but after puking in the middle of my last run, I’m pretty sure I gave myself food poisoning. Good life. (That was probably more than you needed to know, but hey, it makes the story more interesting. lol!) But anyways, came home, took a shower, and went to sleep.

I woke up on Tuesday feeling a lot better, so I decided to take the bus into the city despite the fact that it was kind of rainy. I found some neat places that I hadn’t seen before, so that was cool. And I had lunch at a little cafe.

I stayed up really late last night for absolutely no reason, so I ended up sleeping until 12:30 today. Since then, I’ve basically been cleaning up the ridiculous mess that my flat is. Since apparently, my flatmates decided not to clean any of it before they left. Been doing some laundry and packing for AUSTRALIA!!

Yep, I leave for Australia tomorrow at 1:30. Should be getting in to Brisbane at 5:30 tomorrow and then I’ll meet Leslie at the train station. Then on Friday, Dani will be there too! Yay! I’m so excited! I’ll be in Brisbane for a week. Then I’ll come back to Christchurch on the 4th with my friend Tati! We’re planning to go to a Wildlife Reserve to see this Maori Concert and then go to Lyttleton Harbour nearby and do some other things around Christchurch!

I probably won’t be able to update until I get back, so I’ll write again in a week or so! Thanks for reading this ridiculously long entry!

’til next time….

Things have been pretty low key lately.  Last week I went climbing at this super awesome climbing gym.  It was a lot of fun.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get back there at least once.  I’ve walked around the city centre some more.  I’m still trying to make up my mind about this place.  It’s definitely a cool city, but I think I prefer the big city where there’s always something going on as opposed to the quiet, more relaxed one.  I suppose I’m here for a different experience though, and THAT it definitely is.

Classes are going well.  Next week I have two tests and a paper to do.   It’s weird because I’ve hardly had to do any work since I’ve been here and I tend to forget that I’m here to go to school!!

That’s about all for now.  I’m going to try to get off campus tomorrow since I haven’t been in a while, but at some point I do actually have to get to work!

Tramping 2
Tramping 1

My apologies for not updating for a while. Not much was going on, then I couldn’t log into my account for a few days for some reason, but I’m back now!

Classes have been going well. Haven’t had too much to do for them except a little reading, which is nice. It’s hard to believe we are already going into the third week of classes! My Maori Art class is not as interesting as I had hoped, but it’s fine and hopefully will get better. My Maori and Indigenous Language class has actually been better than I thought. We talk about languages and how they are spread geographically and what causes a language to die out. Last Thursday, the professor taught the class completely in Maori, with the Powerpoints in English on the board. It was kind of interesting, but also kind of strange because I had NO IDEA what she was saying.
This weekend I decided to go on a trip with the University Tramping Club. It was advertised as a beginner trip, so I wasn’t expecting it to be too gruesome. However, it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. We first drove 3 hours to the West Coast to get to the tramping destination. The trip to the campsite took about 6 hours. It started out pretty easy. We had to walk through some thorn bushes at the beginning in which my legs got very scratched up. The next hour was pretty flat though we had to walk for a while over rocks, which really made my feet and ankles sore. About 15 minutes in we hit the first river. It was about 30 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. You had to go through in groups holding on to each other so that you didn’t get washed away by the current. After that it started to get harder. We entered the forest where we we’re walking up and downhill, through mud and more rivers. I fell several times and by hour two my legs we’re pretty much shot. We stopped for lunch at a pretty lake about 3 hours in. And then we were off again. The remainder of the trip continued pretty much the same way. The last hour was pretty much all walking on rocks and crossing rivers. I started to get frustrated but it was all worth it when we reached our finally destination, the Otehake hot pools. Basically these natural hot springs in the middle of the mountains. I pitched a tent with my tent mate Christine and then got into the pools. It was pretty much amazing and I didn’t want to ever get out. Mostly because it was pitch black, freezing cold and the campsite was about 50 yards away up hill over rocks. But I made it and slept pretty well for being in a freezing cold tent with a mediocre sleeping bag.

The next day ended up being much easier than the first. The whole route was pretty flat, though we still had to cross some rivers and walk over rocks. My ankles were killing me, but I knew I had to finish. The way back ended up only taking 5 hours. As soon as everyone got back to the vans we headed back to campus, stopping for dinner at a pub in Springfield on the way home. Overall the trip was fun. Although I am sore as hell today. I got to see some awesome sites which you will shortly be able to view on my photo site (flickr.com/britskee03).

Once I got back to my flat I got on Skype to talk to Dani and Leslie about Spring Break plans. Too bad my microphone broke and I couldn’t actually talk. I’m still kind of pissed about that. But on the positive side, I am officially going to Australia over my Spring Break! I’ll definitely be spending some time in Brisbane since Dani will be there at the same time, all three of us can spend some time together there which will be fun. I’m hoping to get to go to Sydney and/or Melbourne before Brisbane, but we’ll see.

I suppose that’s all for now. I’ve got class again tomorrow and still have some reading to do, so I should probably get to that!