All good things must come to an end...

My, oh my. Where to begin. I'm now in Sydney, but I'll start with our last weekend in New Zealand, which was close to perfection. We used our 1 skip day in NZ to take a full tour of the south island over 4 days.


(Thanks, Steven!!)

Thursday, 13 of us flew into Christchurch after classes, where I had my first nice meal in NZ: lamb, mint jus, and mashed potatoes. We walked around, climbed a roof, went out, and danced.

Friday, we walked around Christchurch by the river, hit up a small market, then headed to Arthur's Pass to check out a waterfall on the way to the west coast. The drive was beautiful, and our danger van was like a roller coaster:




Devil's Punchbowl Falls (I'm at the bottom in a white tee):


Jay, Steven, Allison, and I decided to go North a little ways to check out Pancake Rocks, a bunch of limestone that has been carved out by water over time to look like stacked pancakes:


As the sun was setting, we headed back down the west coast toward the glaciers. We got to our hostel pretty late and crashed. It started raining that night and continued through Saturday, so we were sure our glacier tours were going to be canceled. Luckily, the ice climbing tour for Franz Josef Glacier was still on for the daring souls: Aerin, Steven, Drew, Jay, and I. (The walking tour on Fox Glacier was canceled for the other 8). It was pretty chilly and misty/rainy all day, but the beauty and magnitude of the glaciers kept my mind fairly occupied. Ice climbing and walking around in crampons on a glacier was an incredible & unique experience. Back in town, thrilled that I survived the glacier with only a few bruises on my ankles, I came out of restaurant with a hot burger and fries only to get plowed by a bus going in reverse. That was certainly a first; let's hope it's a last too!





Yet again, we arrived at our next hostel in Te Anau around 2am and passed out. The next morning, we got picked up for our trip to the MILFORD SOUND! Needless to say, I was pretty pumped. We took a 3 hour bus ride into Fiordland, complete with a Kiwi bus driver with bad jokes, then a 2 hour boat ride in the fiord to the ocean and back, then a bus ride to the hostel. The weather could have been nicer, but even with cloud coverage and mist, you could see how huge the walls of the fiord were. We saw seals, dolphins right under the boat, tons of waterfalls, and overall amazing panoramic scenery. I hung out on the top deck for most of the boat ride despite the drizzle. It was definitely worth it; by far the most gorgeous and majestic place I have visited in New Zealand. My next goal: tramping the Milford Track. Apparently you have to book the 4 day hike months in advance.

We took a pitstop in Queenstown on the way to our next hostel. Queenstown was really cool; I wish we could've spent more time there. You can take a gondola up to the top of the mountain and look over the city and surrounding lake. I settled for a scrumptious lamb burger (lamb is becoming a delicious theme here...) and brief walk around the quaint, ski-like city.

The hostel in Omarama was in the boonies; basically a couple wooden buildings in the middle of a grassy field. Slightly creepy, but old-school and neat at the same time. There were stars and cosmic dust covering the entire sky, so we grabbed blankets and star-gazed for awhile. It was the perfect way to end our tour of the south island.

After a few-four drive back to Christchurch, a walk through the art museum, and a plane ride back to Wellington, I was officially exhausted when we got back Monday night.

Unfortunately, I had a presentation and finals to worry about, as well as a field trip to another sanctuary, Mt. Bruce, that took up all of Tuesday. Mt. Bruce was pretty neat though. Like Karori, they are trying to preserve native NZ flora and fauna. However, they have a captive breeding program, where they raise endangered species, such as the kakarikis (parakeets) and whios (blue ducks). The coolest part was watching two kiwis in an artificial night setting (they’re nocturnal). Kiwis are like the national emblem of New Zealand. Their image is on everything, but they are endangered and not likely seen in the wild, so that was a rare opportunity to see them pecking around and playing with each other.

Last week was pretty intense. I had a final Friday morning 2 hours before we were supposed to leave for Australia, so I had no time to enjoy the last of my time in Wellington.

We were all sad to leave, but Sydney has been a great replacement. Jay and I spent Saturday going to the harbor, seeing the Sydney Opera House, walking on the Sydney harbor bridge, checking out a market in the rocks, and going to Bondi Beach with Aerin. Sunday, we checked out an indie film festival, which was PACKED with 60,000 people. Monday, a few of us went to the beach after class around 3pm. Frisbee, napping in the sun, body surfing... We’ve decided to make this a normal occurrence.

Last night, I saw Jimmy Eat World and Sunny Day Real Estate at a small venue on the university's campus... totally awesome. pretty sure that's the smallest crowd JEW has ever played to, and SDRE is OLDDD SCHOOL and don't don't tour very often, so that was a rare treat!

Today, we're going to a cemetery at Bondi Beach to collect demographic info for my ecology class. Luckily, we're allowed to stay at the beach after we finish.. That will be the 3rd time in 5 days at Bondi. Life is good. :)

I will try to elaborate on the awesomeness of Sydney soon... class time!

Weekend in Wellington

We hit a record for number of field trips this week. It ruled.

We spent Tuesday with Dr. Jonathan Gardner from CMEER (Center for Marine Environmental & Economic Research). In the morning, he gave 3 lectures on marine reserves and ecology. After lunch, he took us down to the coast to explore the marine life. I was surprised how much you could find around rocks and in crevices where the receding tide had left water. I probably killed a few creatures just walking around; they were everywhere! We found starfish, a teeny tiny seahorse, tons of different types of algae, pauas, and sea slugs (below).


Wednesday, we visited the Karori Sanctuary, a recently established effort to restore and protect flora and fauna endemic to New Zealand. The 500-acre area is surrounded by a specialized fence designed to keep mammalian predators out. The reserve is free-flying, meaning that the birds are allowed to fly out and attempt life on their own if they so please. It has been fairly successful at increasing the population of some threatened and endangered species, such as the Tui bird. However, hihis have not been so successful outside Karori. Our class split into pairs to count hihis and bellbirds visiting the various feeders sprinkled throughout the park. All the birds are tracked with 4 colored bands on their ankles, so we tried to record the four colors on each bird with marginal success.

The next morning, we went to the US Embassy where we met David Huebner (middle), the US ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, as well as Bob Clarke (far left), the Deputy Chief of Mission. Huebner was well-spoken and enjoyable to listen to.


Then the madness began... I found three tickets for the Sevens rugby tournament, so Sheri, Aerin, and I dressed as adorable flamingos to join the crazies. There was not a single person that wasn't in some type of costume (ok, maybe one). It was absolutely ridiculous; children, college kids, adults, you name it. Some people had some good outfits, but I must say I will not be sad if i never see a man in a short skirt again.


The stadium was far from full on Friday (it's packed on Sat, we hear), so we sat right at the front near where all the players run out. I'd never seen a rugby game before; it is INSANE. No pads, no helmets, shorts & tees; they looked like they were about to go jogging or play a friendly game of soccer. Ah yes, and the classic streaker made it onto the field later in the day and was promptly tackled by security with a covering. Some of us took it easy that night and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

One day of Sevens was plenty, so Saturday a few of us went to a small reggae festival, One Love. No crazies there, just hippies. We tried to find a tree from LOTR on Mount Victoria, but to no avail. Apparently it's unmarked, and unfortunately, all trees kind of look the same. Most of the group went down to Courtenay Place on Saturday night, but the streets were packed and nearly impossible to navigate. Kind of a bust. It was fun to dress up though. The entire group dressed up; most in togas, 2 boys in dresses, and Aerin and I as flamingos.


Sunday was a lazy day, and it was amazing. My biggest accomplishment was making it down to a restaurant for dinner. We watched Death at a Funeral, and called it a night.

Today, we had the privilege of visiting the Victoria University marae (sacred building) for a powhiri (Maori welcoming ceremony), which was completely in Maori. We learned a sweet song about love, faith, and peace, and becoming one people that we sang to them. It was neat to see a more traditional view of Maori culture, in contrast to the contemporary feast and dance we saw in Rotorua.

I'm getting pretty excited about this weekend to the south island! More to come...