Because we were spending 2 nights in Dunedin, we wanted to spend the day at the Otago Peninsula which is where you can see penguins, seals, sealions, etc. What we didn’t know was that the road to get there was one of many winding roads where I thought I might die falling down a cliff. I swear, the ocean was not even feet away from our car with a giant cliff on the other side of the lane. AWESOME. Even though I did fear for my life at several points, Daniel managed to keep us on the road and the sights were really beautiful and idyllic (I feel like I’m narrating a children’s book…) Anyways, we made it to this place called the Albatross Center. Apparently though, the albatross had migrated to Africa or South America or somewhere so they weren’t in New Zealand. They would have been cool to see but in all honesty, I was under the impression that an albatross was a type of fish, so…
But while we were there, we got to walk down to the beach where we saw seals! Like actual seals sitting on the rocks and jumping in and out of the water. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a seal outside of a zoo so that was pretty cool. One thing we all really wanted to do before the day was up was see a penguin. We heard that if you go down Seal Point Rd. (Clever, huh?) you could maybe see sealions and penguins. So we drove the windy roads up and down to get to Seal Point where we descended down the most gigantic sand dune I think I’ve ever been on in my entire life (even bigger than the one at Warren Dunes). At the bottom, there were all these sealions just laying on the beach… like we probably saw about 10 of them just laying there! It blew my mind. Obviously we didn’t want to get too close because these things were pretty massive but at one point, I was at least 10 feet away from a gigantic barking sealion (slowly backing away of course). Sometimes they would flop over or shimmy (do they shimmy? Maybe shimmy isn’t the best word, more like drag) themselves over into the water and there were two that were fighting. The pictures are incredible. But we had not seen a penguin yet. We went up to this blind where you have to sit and watch penguins or else they won’t come out. We probably sat in there for a good half hour before Anja was like “Wait, what’s that white thing on the grass?” And lo and behold, we saw our penguin. Sitting above the rocks on the grass. He didn’t do a lot, except maybe flip over one time but at least we got to say we saw one which is all that really counts…
We drove back through Dunedin, climbing the steep streets, and picked up more groceries (where we found bagels! I can honestly say a Parmesan bagel has never tasted so good in my whole life). After dinner, we went downtown to go to the Speights Brewery Tour. Speights is this really popular NZ beer and it is made in Dunedin so we got a tour and a tasting which was pretty fun. We were going to go out for the night, but it ended up raining so we played Life (which was a major blast from the past considering I haven’t played that since I was about 11). But overall, Dunedin was beautiful and I would definitely go back and visit there someday.
4.20.2009
Buildings and Mountains (or Installment 2)
The following morning, we left Mt. Cook and drove a short way to Wanaka, this quaint little inland city that we all just loved. We pulled into the hostel (which oddly felt like summer camp) in the early afternoon and had the entire day to see beautiful Wanaka. Since we didn’t go kayaking at Mt. Cook, we decided to go on Lake Wanaka, which is this absolutely gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains. While the water was a bit chilly, the views were breathtaking. After drying off, we went to one of Wanaka’s main attractions: Puzzle World. Obviously, we were all pretty stoked about going. :) Basically Puzzle World is half Cosi Science Museum with all these neat optical illusions and half outdoor maze. It took us about an hour or 2 to make it through the maze, having to reach all 4 towers. (Brandon, it was like “A-MAZE-ing Mirrors mixed with corn maze). Needless to say, it was awesome.
For dinner, we read that there was a free Sausage Sizzle in the park and since we’re all about free food, we went and had some dinner. After dinner (or napping for some of us) we decided to check out the cinema. Everyone had told us to go to this cute one-of-a-kind cinema that they have and I am SO glad we did. It’s this little art house cinema that plays (relatively) new movies and makes their own homemade cookies and ice cream. The theater doesn’t have typical seats; instead you sit on couches and pillows that have been put together in this giant room. We watched Revolutionary Road (don’t watch if you’re looking for something upbeat) but it was good. And the homemade cookies and ice cream were definitely worth it. We may or may not have gone back to get more during intermission. One of the coolest things about Wanaka was that it had such a small town feel. The same guy who rented us our kayaks worked at the cinema and there were lots of other people that we had seen before, whether it was travelers from Mt. Cook or people around town. Definitely one of my favorite NZ places.
After only one night in Wanaka, we took a beautiful drive down to Dunedin (you should probably just be google imaging these places as I write about them…) which is at the southern part of the island. Dunedin is a little rainy university city that is just off of the Otago Peninsula. Or maybe it was just rainy while we were there. Regardless, after setting up in our hostel (which felt like I was staying at my great aunt’s house with all of her cats) we walked around the city, stopping in coffee shops and getting more groceries. The evening was chill and we enjoyed the free sauna/hot tub that was there. We wanted to be well rested for all the adventure we’d have to tomorrow, after all…
Such Great Heights
So I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to blog about the last 18 days of my life without writing a novel and overwhelming myself, let alone you, and I’ve come up with this. I will warn you, there’s a lot to write about, but I figure if it’s in installments (Dicken’s style), you won’t be stuck at your computer for hours. Because let’s be honest, my life really isn’t as enthralling as you think and you all lead very busy lives, I’m sure.
So 2 and a half weeks ago, 5 of us (Daniel, Lauren, Emma, Anja, and myself) all boarded TT coaches to ride into Brisbane. Normally, this is a mundane, even comical 2 hour ride. Not so. They had gotten a new bus and the ride into Brisbane felt like a terrifying roller coaster, what with the driver trying to get as close as he could to the wide load truck in front of us and all. But we made it there alive and boarded the plane. I ended up sitting next to this cute older couple (Erin, you would’ve loved them) and tried to sleep for the 3 hour flight to Christchurch, NZ. By the time we got there, it was about 10 PM with the time difference and we didn’t have any place to stay. Unfortunately, everything in arrivals was closed for the night (I’m telling you, these airports are small) except the arcade and a vending machine. So our dinner consisted of cookies and we camped out with all of our luggage behind the Sega Strike Fighter Machine. I was able to get a few hours of sleep, using my towel as my blanket and waking up to the sounds of Need for Speed Underground (which some kid decided he needed to play at 4:30 AM.)
The next morning (Friday) we were able to get our rental car and get on the road to Mt. Cook. The car was quickly named Ellen and she was the greatest thing we had the entire trip. We spent the better part of the day driving but we stopped every hour or so just to get out and take pictures because it was so beautiful. I had no idea what to expect when going to NZ but it is honestly THE most beautiful place I’ve ever been. So much of it reminded me of Colorado with the mountains everywhere and I constantly felt like a hobbit was going to pop out from behind a tree. (Speaking of LOTR, you would not believe how many tours are available to see where they filmed, visit the jeweler who made the ring, etc. It’s ridiculous.) So anyways, one of our main stops on the way to Mt. Cook was Lake Tekapo and the St. John Observatory where Ellen chugged up this steep hill to see the lake from above. I honestly can’t even describe to you how gorgeous it was. I’ll put up pictures, but even those won’t do it justice. Also, I knew New Zealand was known for sheep, but they are EVERYWHERE. I mean, they aren’t running across the street or anything (except once) but there are tons of penned in cows, sheep, and deer which was weird considering deer are grossly overpopulated in the US.
Once we got to the hostel, we were starving, but of course, we didn’t have any food. So after practically selling an arm and leg to buy food from the hostel, we drove 45 minutes to the next town to go to a grocery store/ATM to get some much needed supplies. Like most mountain towns, Mt. Cook had nothing except for our hostel, a nice hotel and… well, that was about it. So we chilled in the hostel that night, wanting to be well rested for our hike the next day. Unfortunately, Lauren’s alarm was still set for Australian time so we ended up waking up at 11, not 8. But we still made a day hike up to Hooker Valley (which is part of Mt. Cook) and visited this huge glacier that was at the end, which was fun, but SUPER cold and windy. Again, all through this hike, I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings, which was kind of cool/kind of made me feel dorky. After eating our lunch in this cove by the glacier, we came back, warmed up with some Speights, ate some dinner and played Monopoly (NZ style with NZ money).
Wow. I cannot believe I’m only on the third day. Hope you all enjoy reading.
So 2 and a half weeks ago, 5 of us (Daniel, Lauren, Emma, Anja, and myself) all boarded TT coaches to ride into Brisbane. Normally, this is a mundane, even comical 2 hour ride. Not so. They had gotten a new bus and the ride into Brisbane felt like a terrifying roller coaster, what with the driver trying to get as close as he could to the wide load truck in front of us and all. But we made it there alive and boarded the plane. I ended up sitting next to this cute older couple (Erin, you would’ve loved them) and tried to sleep for the 3 hour flight to Christchurch, NZ. By the time we got there, it was about 10 PM with the time difference and we didn’t have any place to stay. Unfortunately, everything in arrivals was closed for the night (I’m telling you, these airports are small) except the arcade and a vending machine. So our dinner consisted of cookies and we camped out with all of our luggage behind the Sega Strike Fighter Machine. I was able to get a few hours of sleep, using my towel as my blanket and waking up to the sounds of Need for Speed Underground (which some kid decided he needed to play at 4:30 AM.)
The next morning (Friday) we were able to get our rental car and get on the road to Mt. Cook. The car was quickly named Ellen and she was the greatest thing we had the entire trip. We spent the better part of the day driving but we stopped every hour or so just to get out and take pictures because it was so beautiful. I had no idea what to expect when going to NZ but it is honestly THE most beautiful place I’ve ever been. So much of it reminded me of Colorado with the mountains everywhere and I constantly felt like a hobbit was going to pop out from behind a tree. (Speaking of LOTR, you would not believe how many tours are available to see where they filmed, visit the jeweler who made the ring, etc. It’s ridiculous.) So anyways, one of our main stops on the way to Mt. Cook was Lake Tekapo and the St. John Observatory where Ellen chugged up this steep hill to see the lake from above. I honestly can’t even describe to you how gorgeous it was. I’ll put up pictures, but even those won’t do it justice. Also, I knew New Zealand was known for sheep, but they are EVERYWHERE. I mean, they aren’t running across the street or anything (except once) but there are tons of penned in cows, sheep, and deer which was weird considering deer are grossly overpopulated in the US.
Once we got to the hostel, we were starving, but of course, we didn’t have any food. So after practically selling an arm and leg to buy food from the hostel, we drove 45 minutes to the next town to go to a grocery store/ATM to get some much needed supplies. Like most mountain towns, Mt. Cook had nothing except for our hostel, a nice hotel and… well, that was about it. So we chilled in the hostel that night, wanting to be well rested for our hike the next day. Unfortunately, Lauren’s alarm was still set for Australian time so we ended up waking up at 11, not 8. But we still made a day hike up to Hooker Valley (which is part of Mt. Cook) and visited this huge glacier that was at the end, which was fun, but SUPER cold and windy. Again, all through this hike, I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings, which was kind of cool/kind of made me feel dorky. After eating our lunch in this cove by the glacier, we came back, warmed up with some Speights, ate some dinner and played Monopoly (NZ style with NZ money).
Wow. I cannot believe I’m only on the third day. Hope you all enjoy reading.
4.01.2009
How the Day Sounds
So before I embark off to yet another country, I figure I’d write one last post of all the random things that keep popping into my head and then I think “Oh! I need to tell people at home about that…”
I’m loving Aussie life more and more. It’s just so much more relaxed. Namely the fact that I’ve never paid to dry my clothes here. Everyone just hangs them up on the line outside. I don’t know why I love this so much, but I do, and I get such joy out of hanging my clothes up on the line.
One thing I DO NOT get joy out of is locking myself out of my room. Maybe it’s the fact that GCC is probably the safest place I will ever know and so the whole locking doors thing hasn’t clicked yet, but I’ve locked myself out multiple times (this week). Although it’s not so bad because I discovered the windows here just pop out from the outside. Which is all fine and dandy until you get caught by your RA asking you if you’re locked out and you sheepishly reply “yes… again.” Awesome.
I meant to tell you all this when I first got below the equator, but the toilets do NOT flush the opposite direction. Well, they might, but all the toilets here are dual flush (I feel like I might’ve told you all this already…. oh well) and so it kind of just goes down. Although I was thinking about it and I don’t even know if I could tell you what direction the water spins in the US, so…
Walking around barefoot is lot more common here. I’ve seen people in the grocery store, the outside plaza, Cold Rock (this awesome ice cream just like… you guessed it, Cold Stone) all walking around barefoot. Which is kind of weird/kind of awesome.
One last final story about my life. I think I need to get a mousetrap. A few weeks ago, I woke up to this rustling sound in my trash can. I freak out (because if it’s loud enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, it’s a big deal) and flick on the lights only to see a mouse fly out of my garbage and sneak out underneath my door. Ew. And now, they’re back. I have literally seen a mouse in my room the last 3 nights in a row. I’m starting to calm down about it more and more because they just run around and then leave, but I feel like Sara from The Little Princess, curled up in my threadbare sheets while the mice scurry around beneath me. Lovely. I hope everyone got the Little Princess reference… (And my sheets aren’t really threadbare, I just pretend they are for dramatic effect.)
Now off to NZ I go!
I’m loving Aussie life more and more. It’s just so much more relaxed. Namely the fact that I’ve never paid to dry my clothes here. Everyone just hangs them up on the line outside. I don’t know why I love this so much, but I do, and I get such joy out of hanging my clothes up on the line.
One thing I DO NOT get joy out of is locking myself out of my room. Maybe it’s the fact that GCC is probably the safest place I will ever know and so the whole locking doors thing hasn’t clicked yet, but I’ve locked myself out multiple times (this week). Although it’s not so bad because I discovered the windows here just pop out from the outside. Which is all fine and dandy until you get caught by your RA asking you if you’re locked out and you sheepishly reply “yes… again.” Awesome.
I meant to tell you all this when I first got below the equator, but the toilets do NOT flush the opposite direction. Well, they might, but all the toilets here are dual flush (I feel like I might’ve told you all this already…. oh well) and so it kind of just goes down. Although I was thinking about it and I don’t even know if I could tell you what direction the water spins in the US, so…
Walking around barefoot is lot more common here. I’ve seen people in the grocery store, the outside plaza, Cold Rock (this awesome ice cream just like… you guessed it, Cold Stone) all walking around barefoot. Which is kind of weird/kind of awesome.
One last final story about my life. I think I need to get a mousetrap. A few weeks ago, I woke up to this rustling sound in my trash can. I freak out (because if it’s loud enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, it’s a big deal) and flick on the lights only to see a mouse fly out of my garbage and sneak out underneath my door. Ew. And now, they’re back. I have literally seen a mouse in my room the last 3 nights in a row. I’m starting to calm down about it more and more because they just run around and then leave, but I feel like Sara from The Little Princess, curled up in my threadbare sheets while the mice scurry around beneath me. Lovely. I hope everyone got the Little Princess reference… (And my sheets aren’t really threadbare, I just pretend they are for dramatic effect.)
Now off to NZ I go!
3.29.2009
Where Happiness Lives
I don’t know if Brandon even reads this blog but this Scrubs quote is for him…
Jake: “Trust you? You don’t even know where New Zealand is…"
J.D: "I know you can dance your way there from Old Zealand…”
That’s right, I am leaving for NZ in approximately 3 days and I am SO excited! Not only is it 18 days that I don’t have to be in school but we are basically touring the entire country (both islands), which is sure to be beautiful. We take the Toowoomba Transit (fondly known as the TT shuttle) into Brisbane were we are catching a flight to Christchurch, NZ (in the south island). From there, we are spending the night in the airport until the car rental place opens on Friday morning, and then off we go…
Back in Toowoomba, I have been busy working and am finding myself busier than ever. This past weekend, 5 of my friends went over to Brisbane while I was stuck here; finishing assignments that are due before I leave. But it wasn’t all just studying. This weekend at my college (Steele Rudd) was Davis Cup weekend which is a big event weekend that we put on. Friday was the Desperate and Dateless Ball at the uni club where everyone dresses up crazy and hangs out. After work I went over and it actually ended up being really fun. Saturday was a road rally and a bonfire which I unfortunately couldn’t attend because of work but the weekend still ended up being a success.
Today and tomorrow I had signed up to do this room audit, where I basically get paid $22 an hour to go around to classrooms and count how many people are in them. AWESOME. And tonight I have to go to this Responsible Service of Alcohol Convention in order to get my Alcohol license so I can work the bar at Hog’s Breath, so I’m definitely staying busy.
My domestic skills are improving (Emily…) as I made the most delicious Chocolate Zucchini Cake yesterday. I wasn’t sure it was going to turn out because I’ve never actually made it by myself, but it did! I was so happy and now I get to sit here eating my favorite cake in the whole world. Life is good. (Don’t worry, I’m not eating all of it…)
For all you people who are keeping up with the Aussie slang (get ready to hear a lot of it when I come back) here is some more…
- Cotton candy= Fairy Floss
- Silverware= Cutlery
- Converse shoes= Connies
- McDonalds= Mackers
- Pickup truck= Ute (I made a fool out of myself when I got a ride home from work the other day and told the guy he “had a nice truck.” He just looked at me and was like “Truck?”)
- They also say “How you going?” instead of “how’s it going” or “how are you doing” which I have started to pick up.
Hope everyone at home is doing wonderfully… although I heard you got some snow, so sorry about that. You should all just move down under to enjoy some warmer weather. It’s no big deal, just fly on down…
3.25.2009
Life, Fall Fast Now
So let’s just say that today was a day of firsts. I went to breakfast this morning and had my first experience with Vegemite. Two people from my college were like “Oh Steph, you have to try it…” So this guy I know prepared it extra special, telling me that it’s all about the right consistency of butter and Vegemite. Americans often think of Vegemite as the Australian equivalent to peanut butter, but it is actually only a very thin layer that gets spread on buttered toast. As they all anxiously watched me take my first bite, I felt like I was in a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie, circa Our Lips Are Sealed. And it was actually good! It kind of just tasted like buttered toast with salt sprinkled on it and was a pretty good way to start my morning.
Because tomorrow is a public holiday here in Toowoomba (the Toowoomba Show is apparently the fair that comes to Toowoomba every year) my lab class was cancelled, leaving my afternoon free. When I returned from class, there was a note on my door from this girl I know asking me if I wanted to go on a “fun bike riding challenge.” I was intrigued so I grabbed my bike and got ready. When I went to go meet her, she told me how excited she was to have me on their team for the inter-college Triathlon. At this point, I’m thinking, “What? This is NOT what I signed up for.” But I got suited in blue and white (Steele Rudd colors) complete with blue war paint to go compete in this triathlon. Everyone comes out to support those competing from their colleges and it’s a pretty big deal because the 3 colleges here compete with each other to win a big trophy at the end of the year. Basically, the triathlon involves riding a stationary bike for 500 meters, throwing 3 balls into a bin and then running around the quad twice. No big deal. So I thought.
I was in the third leg for the girl’s race, and although they had told me before how your legs would feel like jelly after getting off the bike, I didn’t think it would be a big deal. After medaling about 200 meters, I was feeling it in my legs. But it was funny because everyone was cheering “Go America! Yea Team America!” which I thought was cute. After biking, it took me FOREVER to get the tennis balls into the bin (because of my amazing hand-eye coordination skills) so I was relieved to start running.
Until my legs went out beneath me and I ate the pavement.
Like, full out skid, my chin hitting the sidewalk. I heard the collective groan of everyone around me and I wanted to just sink into the pavement beneath me. But instead I got up, finishing my 2 laps. After the race, I felt like my lungs were going to die and that I was going to throw up. But I held it together and watched the rest of the races. Everyone kept coming up to me asking me if I was OK which I thought was odd until I realized that I had this gash on my chin that won’t stop bleeding and that my knee and hand were scraped up pretty bad. AWESOME. I’ve cleaned it up a bit, but I’ve still got a pretty nice battle wound on my face. All because I was game for a “fun bike riding challenge.” Despite the injuries I sustained, it was fun and I got to meet a lot of people that I live with which was nice.
Tonight at uni club is Beach Party night which should be fun and I’m working tomorrow all day (I know, on a public holiday, what an outrage…) But all the work will be good because I need some way to finance my NZ trip!
3.21.2009
Semi Charmed Life
Although to me, it seems like nothing exciting (or blog-worthy) has happened in my life recently, I started listing things that I want to tell people at home and the list kept going so I figured I should probably update. This might be long, I’m just warning you…
Oz (what they called Australia, not Austrailia, Emily… :) has really begun to feel like home. My job at Hog’s Breath has kept me busy and I really like it. I just started waitressing this past week and the people I work with are really great. It actually kind of reminds me of the dynamics of when I used to work at DQ. Hog’s Breath is this big Australian chain that also has restaurants in NZ. The best way I’ve found to describe them is that they have food like Outback Steakhouse (they’re known for their Prime Rib) but with the casual feel of an Applebee’s. Both of which happen to be 2 of my favorite restaurants, so it all works out. I ride my hot pink bike there and back 6 miles… let’s just say, I better be fit when I come home.
Since the school work doesn’t keep me too busy, I usually go over to my friends’ apartments to hang out. Two other Americans (Daniel and Lauren) live in an apartment with 2 guys from Germany (Alex and Steffan) and the Student Village Apartments maintenance guy, Dev. (Don’t feel like you need to worry about all these names…) Trina, another American girl and this couple (Michelle and Casey) from Canada and I all usually hang out at the apartment most nights and play cards. Clearly, our lives are thrilling. Although, having been raised in a card-playing family, I’m shocked at all the card games I’ve been taught. The nice thing about having friends in the apartments is that they will let me cook over there. So I’m planning on going to Aldi soon and buying ingredients for Puppy Chow (because I miss baking SO much!)
It was Dev’s birthday the other day and apparently, it’s an Indian tradition to have all your friends come over, give you cake, and then have each person feed it to you, ala wedding cake. Except a lot messier. I’m talking cake going EVERYWHERE, including Dev’s hair and all over the floor. Needless to say, it was a very interesting birthday party…
Daniel, Lauren, Emma (an English girl from Hong Kong) and I are in the process of planning our trip to NZ, which is all very exciting. We were going to take a bus tour around the 2 islands, but now we are thinking about renting a car and then going to all the same places we would’ve gone on the tour (AKA: following the bus) because it’s about half the price and we are all very budget conscious (see Mom and Dad?)
Other happenings in my life down under: Last Tuesday there was an Inauguration Dinner for all the people who live on campus. All the awards were somewhat boring, but my Chicken Kiev was delicious and I met some people from my dorm which was nice. After the dinner, Trina, Lauren, Michelle and I had a girl’s night involving bruschetta, brownies and my personal favorite movie, My Girl which was really fun.
I know the last thing you probably care to read about in my blog is my feet, but I need to tell you. They are ALWAYS dirty. ALWAYS. You know that red dirt I was telling you about? It gets on the bottom of all of your shoes and you can’t walk around without having this film of red dirt everywhere. I’m gonna need new socks soon because this stuff does not come off in the laundry.
It’s always the random little things that I want to tell people from home so here they are: Jell-O is not Jell-O here. What we call Jell-O, they call jelly. What we call jelly, they call jam. All very confusing. Also, they rarely use preservatives (you can’t even buy bread WITH preservatives) which may sound all nice and organic, but when my garbage smells up my whole room because of the moldy bread I had to throw away, it’s not as nice as it seems. Oooh Toowoomba….
The city of Toowoomba is kind of a joke around here. It’s this backwoodsy city which has a reasonable population and size but is very small town in feel. Most of the people at USQ are commuters and/or have lived here their whole life. At work, one of the girls asked “Why the HECK would you come to Australia to study in Toowoomba?” So we all just try and laugh at the decision we made to come here and study rather than somewhere on the beach. Hindsight’s 20/20, people.
Also, for all you Grovers, you will happy to know that I received my package yesterday and want to thank you all SO much! I got it on my way to the apartment and Lauren and I opened it in her kitchen basically in tears about how great my friends are. So, good work, you’ve made everyone here jealous of the awesome friends I have. :) I especially liked the music video. A LOT.
Alright, that’s all I’ve got for now. No, that’s a lie, I could write about a lot more, but I’ve got to go to work and have a fabulous Saturday night! Miss you all lots!
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