Hello from the land of Oz. Corny I know...but it had to be said. Here I am...an hour in to my stay in Newcastle..a place that I didn't even know existed (I thought I was staying in Sydney?) but it is pretty cool. It is surrounded by beautiful sandy beaches and coal ships (it is the coal capital of Australia). The house that I am living in is pretty nice and big! There are five of us right now...four girls and one guy...all who are from Europe (the Netherlands and Sweeden) but speak perfect English.
Yesterday was a near disaster. I left my NZ apartment with my huge suitcase and laptop ready to just go into the Post Shop and ship my stuff, but no, I had to spend an hour and a half in there fussing with different packaging, and shifting 4 kg of clothing from the suitcase to a box. I was sweating by the time I left the store, and hungry for a New York bagel. So, I did what any other sensible New Jersian would do...went to Wholly Bagels, the only NY-style bagel shop in the country! I was let down and realized that the $4.50 for 4 bagels that I normally purchase at New World, the supermarket, are so much better then the $7.50 bagel from Wholly Bagles! After, I went to Te Papa to see an awesome photography exhibition by Brian (I forget his last name), the best NZ photographer of all time..litterally. It was amazing how he captured peoples expressions and used the natural lighting to his benefit. Then I went to New World to get my toilet-trees for the trip.
I was lucky enough to be picked up by the Airport Super Shuttle at 3:40 A.M. I was so tired because I had only slept an hour..I figured it would be better to not sleep at all. I woke up at 3 to shower and make sure everything was packed and ready to go. Of course, I slept the whole plane ride. I also managed to screw up in the airport. I was so hungry and the only thing open was the Duty Free shop with $11 M&M's...so I bought them...five seconds later...the Hudson News esq. store opened and I bought Pringles. Well, at least I have some M&M's as a midnight snack for later!
After a long $40 taxi ride to the Conservation Volunteers Australia office in Sydney, I had finally made it. I spoke way too soon though. I was directed to a Cafe in the park near by, and found it without a problem. Of course, I was speaking to my parents on the phone and wasn't paying attention to where I was going..and managed to get lost on the walk back. I walked the entire perimiter of the park...and it was huge! After asking about ten different people and contimplating asking an American woman in a Bently for a ride back (don't worry I didn't), I finally found my way back after passing the house, and realizing that it was the house I wanted to be at!
Tom, the guy from the Netherlands, and I were then escorted to the train station to take a three hour train ride to Newcastle...the place that I didn't know existed until I arrived. I learned that on Monday, we will begin our work for the week doing wetlands conservation which should be pretty cool! We will also be coming back to the Newcastle house at night which will be nice and help me get adjusted.
I have always wanted to come to Australia, and I hope that I can make the most of it, depsite my two "sicknesses"... New Zealand/Kiwi-sick...and homesick. I'm sure that my time here will be amazing and I cannot wait to explore Newcastle tomorrow!
Some Ozzie adventures to come!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
When One Door Closes, Another Is Opened.
Here we are...my last day in New Zealand. I wish that I had been warned before I came here that my two months here would go so quickly. It is also good that I have things that I am looking forward to when I return to New Zealand in the future (you probably want to come with me...I know all of the cool places).
This last week went by more quickly then the others. I had three days of school last week, and only two this week. We primarily focused on planting and multiplication/division (in my opinion, six year olds are too young for that. Yesterday, my last day at the school, all 40 kids made me a card, and Tess and Amanda put it together for me! It was the cutest thing ever...they also went around in a circle saying how much they will miss me! I read them the card that I had written for them, and will definitely have to send them a postcard from the US.
I am going on different tangents here and there, but that probably has something to do with the fact that I have so much to do and don't know where to start today. I have to finish packing, bring my suitcase and laptop to the shipping store, get sunscreen and bug spray for Australia...and I think that is it. I don't really know. Tomorrow I am being picked up at four in the morning to catch a six o'clock flight to Sydney. That should be interesting.
I have many mixed emotions about going to Australia to volunteer with Conservation Volunteers Australia. This program consists of ten volunteers and a group leader. We travel to different conservation programs throughout the greater Sydney area, camping out or staying in hostels. I have no doubt that this program is going to be amazing and teach me a lot, but at the same time, I am going to have to figure out a way to leave behind my New Zealand friends, and make Australian friends. I am so not ready to leave here yet, that I hope my emotions don't get in the way of this. I am volunteering for four weeks, and I am thinking of doing three and going home a week early (surprise)! It would be really nice to have more then 5 days home before I am off again to Costa Rica. I am not going to decide until I get a better feel for the program, although my decision will not be based upon my feelings for CVA.
I forgot! On Tuesday at school, we went to Te Papa, the big museum in Wellington, and saw the Dewali (spelling?) Festival...the Indian Festival of Light. We saw two cool magicians, and amazing musicians and dancers. There is nothing better then to see a child's (particularly those who do not take much of an interest to anything) face after a good magic trick.
Oh, last weekend we saw The Town, which was pretty good if you like gang and robbery movies. Other than that, I can't really think of anything else you don't know about my life...
With that said and done...I'll speak to you from Australia!
Just don't get worried if you don't hear from me because I won't have my computer and I am not sure the next time I will be able to access one.
Some Australian adventures to come!
This last week went by more quickly then the others. I had three days of school last week, and only two this week. We primarily focused on planting and multiplication/division (in my opinion, six year olds are too young for that. Yesterday, my last day at the school, all 40 kids made me a card, and Tess and Amanda put it together for me! It was the cutest thing ever...they also went around in a circle saying how much they will miss me! I read them the card that I had written for them, and will definitely have to send them a postcard from the US.
I am going on different tangents here and there, but that probably has something to do with the fact that I have so much to do and don't know where to start today. I have to finish packing, bring my suitcase and laptop to the shipping store, get sunscreen and bug spray for Australia...and I think that is it. I don't really know. Tomorrow I am being picked up at four in the morning to catch a six o'clock flight to Sydney. That should be interesting.
I have many mixed emotions about going to Australia to volunteer with Conservation Volunteers Australia. This program consists of ten volunteers and a group leader. We travel to different conservation programs throughout the greater Sydney area, camping out or staying in hostels. I have no doubt that this program is going to be amazing and teach me a lot, but at the same time, I am going to have to figure out a way to leave behind my New Zealand friends, and make Australian friends. I am so not ready to leave here yet, that I hope my emotions don't get in the way of this. I am volunteering for four weeks, and I am thinking of doing three and going home a week early (surprise)! It would be really nice to have more then 5 days home before I am off again to Costa Rica. I am not going to decide until I get a better feel for the program, although my decision will not be based upon my feelings for CVA.
I forgot! On Tuesday at school, we went to Te Papa, the big museum in Wellington, and saw the Dewali (spelling?) Festival...the Indian Festival of Light. We saw two cool magicians, and amazing musicians and dancers. There is nothing better then to see a child's (particularly those who do not take much of an interest to anything) face after a good magic trick.
Oh, last weekend we saw The Town, which was pretty good if you like gang and robbery movies. Other than that, I can't really think of anything else you don't know about my life...
With that said and done...I'll speak to you from Australia!
Just don't get worried if you don't hear from me because I won't have my computer and I am not sure the next time I will be able to access one.
Some Australian adventures to come!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
"You're either on the bus, or off the bus!"
Preface: Before I begin, this is just a warning...this post is going to be very very long, but once you start reading it, you need to read it in its entirety because it just gets better and better. Also, I forgot something in my last post. Last Tuesday at school, there was a huge ceremony that the kids had been practicing for a while. It was a welcome Haka for a new teacher coming into the school. It was all in the Maori language and was very cool to see. There was a television station filming it for the news because it is something unique to Clyde Quay School and is trying to be spread to other public schools in the Wellington region. After, the camera crew came in to the staff room, and video taped the new teacher and myself having a conversation. Moral of the story...I'm famous. And now for the real blog post...
The dull, grey Wednesday morning greeted us, but could not get us down, not today. After a rough nights sleep due to eagerness and excitement for our travels, we got into the Green Cab that took us to the Interislander Ferry Terminal in Wharf's Bay, Wellington. The Ferry was definitely an upgrade from the Staten Island Ferry...I would call it more of a small cruise ship. The ship blew its horn and we were off. The slow moving ship took four hours to reach Picton, our drop off point in the South Island. The boat ride was relaxing and slow, but unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see the spectacular views of the Alps Mountain Range that covers a majority of the South Island. Before docking, the ship weaved in and out of sporadic land masses that were stunning. I felt as if I was going to see a dinosaur climbing up one of the rocks in search of some food because of its prehistoric beauty.
After getting off of the boat in Picton and collecting our huge backpacks, we decided that we were happy we weren't spending much time in the small city because there was literally nothing to do. Little did we know that we would soon be in places with even less then nothing to do. We hopped onto the Naked Bus (don't worry, nobody was naked) and started the two hour journey to Nelson. We made our way over to the first hostel, YHA Nelson, and put our things in our rooms. It was nicer than I expected, and looked more like a college dorm more than anything. It was clean and safe which was enough for us. Noah, Jeff and I then went on an exploration, as people tend to do when they arrive in a new and unfamiliar place. The city was small, but had a plethora of restaurants to choose from, and a street of bars to keep the city's residents satisfied. We also found a really secluded beach where we sat for an hour and just enjoyed the warmth and the views. We had an early dinner at a great Thai restaurant and then went out to a bar. I'll just say that we met some pretty interesting characters.
Anyways, the next day, we woke up early, again, and got on the Abel Tasman Coach Bus to the Abel Tasman National Park. We did not know what to expect for the day, so we were just going to play it by year. When we got onto the bus, we found out that we had payed for a short scenic boat cruise on the ocean that surrounds the National Park, and then got to hike 13 km on the Costal Trail back to where the bus would pick us up. The bus ride to the park was horrible. The combination of fast speed limits (about 100 kph) and curvy mountain roads made me nauseous...especially because one wrong move, and we would have fallen down the mountain. Thankfully, we made it safe and sound with nothing but sweaty hands from holding on to the armrest so tightly. It was definitely worth it though. The park was stunning and we were not let down throughout the day. The trail was beautiful and changed sporatically from dense rainforest, to a dry desert-like area. The view from the trail had the beautiful golden beaches and bright blue ocean on one side, and the rainforest on the other. We never got bored, especially when we were surprised by some small but amazing waterfalls. We finished our hike two hours early, so we explored some marshes and had a snack to celebrate at the Park Cafe (we were ecstatic that we had managed to make it out without getting lost). I was also really excited because the cafe was playing the Dark Side of the Moon album by Pink Floyd in its entirety. The bus back was much nicer because I was so exhausted that I just passed out. After we were all showered, we went for a nice pizza dinner and were surprised to see a street carnival later on that evening. We wondered through it and then went back to the Hostel. Noah made some friends at the hostel, so Jeff and I went to McDonalds for a mid-night snack consisting of my favorite, fries and a Diet Coke. It was well deserved after the long hike.
Saturday morning we finally boarded the Magic Bus. We were happy to see that it was crowed with about 40 people in total. Five minutes after getting on the bus, we were off again exploring the Saturday morning Nelson Market. There was a large variety of things from fresh fruit to herbal soaps to crepes. When we got back onto the Magic Bus, all I could think of was Ken Kesey saying: "You're either on the bus, or off the bus." This was not that type of bus though, so no need to worry. When we got back onto the bus, Sittin on the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding was playing. Later on, Cat Steven's Father and Son was playing. The driver, after finding out that I like Pearl Jam, decided to dedicate an entire hour to Pearl Jam. So much camp! It was all I could think about while all of this was happening. I couldn't have done this trip without camp (and CITYterm of course too). We stopped again a few hours later in the middle of nowhere for lunch. After, we stopped at a beautiful beach, probably one of the nicest beaches I have ever been to, to see seals. Since Jeff and I had already done that and now hate seals because of our mishap on our seal adventure, we hung out on the beach while Noah and the rest of our bus hiked down a trail towards the seals. While waiting, we saw a really cool flightless native New Zealand bird called a Weka. We thought this was the last stop until Greymouth, but we found out that we had two last amazing places to see until our final destination of the day. Next was a short trail to spectacular views of caves and rocks and ocean. We took photographs and then were once again on our way. Our last stop was at the Pancake Rocks where when the tide is high, the rocks become blowholes for the ocean. Unfortunately, the tide was pretty low and we were only able to see a few small blowholes.
The whole bus was pretty disappointed when Disco, our Magic Bus driver, pointed out that Greymouth consisted of a Woolworths Super Market as the city's big attraction. We got to our second hostel, YHA Kainga-RA. It was the sketchiest place I have ever slept in in my life. The building was a beautiful old church, but was dark and sketchy and smelt old. I am still alive to tell the tale though, so no big deal. We had about thirty minutes until the taxi picked us up for the brewery tour of Monteith's Brewery. It was nothing interesting for me because I hate beer, but it was fun for the guys. There was a big beer sampling at the end, and I only liked the crushed apple cider. After, all of the Magic Bus people went to the Railway Hotel for our included dinner where I ordered some of the best baked Macaroni and Cheese that I have ever had in my life. Some drunk people from the bus also attempted karaoke while I just sat and laughed at them. It was a great night because Noah, Jeff and I got to meet everyone from the bus and make new friends! We walked back to the sketchy hostel in the rain. I then fell asleep with the lights on, and Coldplay blasting from my iPhone like I played for my campers when they could not sleep this past summer.
The next morning, which was again early, was rainy. We were really nervous because at our next stop, Franz Josef, we were supposed to hike the Franz Josef Glacier. But, if the weather was too wet, we wouldn't be able to do it. Our first stop of the day was in Hokitika where we saw a Greenstone/Jade factory. I bought myself a little necklace that is the symbol for new beginnings (I thought it was appropriate). We then stopped in a small gold town to see their gold museum. It was pretty lame and we could have down without that stop. We finally got to Franz Josef at around noon where we had five minutes to check in to the hostel, YHA Franz Josef, which was pretty nice and had beautiful snow covered mountains surrounding it, eat lunch, and get ready for the long awaited glacier hike. I grabbed the Uncle Ben's rice out of my backpack and ran to the kitchen, shoved it in the microwave, and stole a fork. I would never recommend to try eating and walking with a pouch of rice...it is a very difficult task. After a quick briefing at the headquarters of the glacier hiking business, we got warm and waterproof clothing, and went on a bus to get to the glacier. We had to walk down a long trail, then walk about an hour over rocks (which used to be part of the glacier) to get to the actual glacier. When we were finally at the bottom, we had to hike up this massive hill (100 meters high) to get to the starting point of our time on the ice. We put on our spikes and got right to it. It was easier then I thought to walk on the ice, and I seemed to get a good feel for it pretty quickly. Phil, our group leader and ice picker, nicknamed me the group's "Fearless Leader." After walking up a bit, we crawled through a cave. I was the first one to go, so I had no idea the best way to make it through. My backpack was so big that I managed to get myself stuck while I was sitting in a puddle of freezing water. When I finally got out, I couldn't feel my hands. When we reached the high point of our hike, a beautiful mountain bird called the Kia came to entertain us. It was mostly green, with beautiful red coloring under its wings that was only visible while it was in flight. I met a lot of amazing people on the hike from the Magic Bus and it was nice to have some time away from Noah and Jeff (not that I don't like them, but I needed some girl time). They went with the first group that was doing the hike extra fast. I wanted to be more leisurely so I could enjoy the beauty and take photographs. When we got back, we all went for yet another pizza dinner at the one restaurant/bar in town. After, Noah, Jeff, another girl from Canada who I forgot her name, and I went to the Glacier Hot Pools. It was very relaxing to be in such warm water after a good hike! We went back to the bar to hang out with everyone after.
Monday was our last day on the Magic Bus and we were sad to be leaving it. We had such an amazing time with the people we met and we didn't want it to end. The morning was covered in a fresh coat of snow on the mountains and tree tops. Before we even arrived in our final destination, Queenstown, I knew I wanted to stay there longer. Its reputation and beauty was enticing me to change my flights and stay with Noah and Jeff for the rest of the week. I was talked out of that one by dad though. I guess I will just have to come back to New Zealand soon! Our first stop of the day was Lake Matheson, a beautiful still lake that reflects the snow covered mountains surrounding it. We then stopped in Wanaka, which is a small but beautiful lake town. A few people decided to stay there for a few nights because there is enough to do and it is gorgeous! Our last stop before Queenstown was the famous first bungy bridge. We saw people take the daring dive off of the bridge, and at that moment, I knew I would never do it. One person even got completely dunked under the freezing cold water below. I still want to go skydiving, just not bungy jumping!
Queenstown was better that I ever expected. It was a beautiful lake town surrounded by water and mountains. The city itself is known as the adventure capital, of the adventure capital. There were tons of bars and restaurants and shops. I felt like I could stay there for a month and never be bored (with all of the money in the world to do everything of course). My room at Nomads, the last hostel I was staying at, was more like a hotel room than anything. I had a huge bed, a plasma television, and my own bathroom. Noah was too tired to go out that night, so Jeff and I went for a delicious Mexican dinner. After, we went on the famous Queenstown Blindfolded Bar Crawl. Best night I have had since I have been in New Zealand. The group was hilarious and so were the guides. We went to five bars and were give one shot at each bar (sorry mom and dad). Jeff was almost walked into the lake by one of the guides, and other hilarious things happened to that I don't need to discuss further here. The next morning was raining and cold. It was nice to shower and relax while watching television though. Noah and Jeff had headed off to see the "eighth wonder of the world," Milford Sound. I was so jealous, so I decided to make up for it by buying myself Starbucks for breakfast. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by none other than Noah and Jeff. Their trip had been rescheduled due to blizzard conditions on the road to Milford Sound. We spent the morning at an underwater observatory. I realized how cool ducks were when they started diving deep under the water to get food. It was really interesting (I know I'm a nerd). I said my goodbyes, and headed on the bus to the airport where I then flew to Christchurch to get my connecting flight to Wellington.
The flight to Wellington was the worst flight of my life. I felt like I was on a roller coaster and was unsure if we were going to be able to land due to the high speed winds in Wellington. If you didn't know, we made it. It was nice to come back home, but I was still upset that I wasn't in Queenstown for longer with the guys. Yesterday, the kids were really happy to see me back at school! Last night, all of the interns went out for drinks to meet the two new girls that came while I was away. They were really cool and nice! I am looking forward to the rugby game on Saturday night with everyone (All Blacks NZ vs. England...should be intense)!
That's all for now...7 more days of adventures in New Zealand to come.
P.S. Look at my pictures from the South Island by clicking here!
The dull, grey Wednesday morning greeted us, but could not get us down, not today. After a rough nights sleep due to eagerness and excitement for our travels, we got into the Green Cab that took us to the Interislander Ferry Terminal in Wharf's Bay, Wellington. The Ferry was definitely an upgrade from the Staten Island Ferry...I would call it more of a small cruise ship. The ship blew its horn and we were off. The slow moving ship took four hours to reach Picton, our drop off point in the South Island. The boat ride was relaxing and slow, but unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see the spectacular views of the Alps Mountain Range that covers a majority of the South Island. Before docking, the ship weaved in and out of sporadic land masses that were stunning. I felt as if I was going to see a dinosaur climbing up one of the rocks in search of some food because of its prehistoric beauty.
After getting off of the boat in Picton and collecting our huge backpacks, we decided that we were happy we weren't spending much time in the small city because there was literally nothing to do. Little did we know that we would soon be in places with even less then nothing to do. We hopped onto the Naked Bus (don't worry, nobody was naked) and started the two hour journey to Nelson. We made our way over to the first hostel, YHA Nelson, and put our things in our rooms. It was nicer than I expected, and looked more like a college dorm more than anything. It was clean and safe which was enough for us. Noah, Jeff and I then went on an exploration, as people tend to do when they arrive in a new and unfamiliar place. The city was small, but had a plethora of restaurants to choose from, and a street of bars to keep the city's residents satisfied. We also found a really secluded beach where we sat for an hour and just enjoyed the warmth and the views. We had an early dinner at a great Thai restaurant and then went out to a bar. I'll just say that we met some pretty interesting characters.
Anyways, the next day, we woke up early, again, and got on the Abel Tasman Coach Bus to the Abel Tasman National Park. We did not know what to expect for the day, so we were just going to play it by year. When we got onto the bus, we found out that we had payed for a short scenic boat cruise on the ocean that surrounds the National Park, and then got to hike 13 km on the Costal Trail back to where the bus would pick us up. The bus ride to the park was horrible. The combination of fast speed limits (about 100 kph) and curvy mountain roads made me nauseous...especially because one wrong move, and we would have fallen down the mountain. Thankfully, we made it safe and sound with nothing but sweaty hands from holding on to the armrest so tightly. It was definitely worth it though. The park was stunning and we were not let down throughout the day. The trail was beautiful and changed sporatically from dense rainforest, to a dry desert-like area. The view from the trail had the beautiful golden beaches and bright blue ocean on one side, and the rainforest on the other. We never got bored, especially when we were surprised by some small but amazing waterfalls. We finished our hike two hours early, so we explored some marshes and had a snack to celebrate at the Park Cafe (we were ecstatic that we had managed to make it out without getting lost). I was also really excited because the cafe was playing the Dark Side of the Moon album by Pink Floyd in its entirety. The bus back was much nicer because I was so exhausted that I just passed out. After we were all showered, we went for a nice pizza dinner and were surprised to see a street carnival later on that evening. We wondered through it and then went back to the Hostel. Noah made some friends at the hostel, so Jeff and I went to McDonalds for a mid-night snack consisting of my favorite, fries and a Diet Coke. It was well deserved after the long hike.
Saturday morning we finally boarded the Magic Bus. We were happy to see that it was crowed with about 40 people in total. Five minutes after getting on the bus, we were off again exploring the Saturday morning Nelson Market. There was a large variety of things from fresh fruit to herbal soaps to crepes. When we got back onto the Magic Bus, all I could think of was Ken Kesey saying: "You're either on the bus, or off the bus." This was not that type of bus though, so no need to worry. When we got back onto the bus, Sittin on the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding was playing. Later on, Cat Steven's Father and Son was playing. The driver, after finding out that I like Pearl Jam, decided to dedicate an entire hour to Pearl Jam. So much camp! It was all I could think about while all of this was happening. I couldn't have done this trip without camp (and CITYterm of course too). We stopped again a few hours later in the middle of nowhere for lunch. After, we stopped at a beautiful beach, probably one of the nicest beaches I have ever been to, to see seals. Since Jeff and I had already done that and now hate seals because of our mishap on our seal adventure, we hung out on the beach while Noah and the rest of our bus hiked down a trail towards the seals. While waiting, we saw a really cool flightless native New Zealand bird called a Weka. We thought this was the last stop until Greymouth, but we found out that we had two last amazing places to see until our final destination of the day. Next was a short trail to spectacular views of caves and rocks and ocean. We took photographs and then were once again on our way. Our last stop was at the Pancake Rocks where when the tide is high, the rocks become blowholes for the ocean. Unfortunately, the tide was pretty low and we were only able to see a few small blowholes.
The whole bus was pretty disappointed when Disco, our Magic Bus driver, pointed out that Greymouth consisted of a Woolworths Super Market as the city's big attraction. We got to our second hostel, YHA Kainga-RA. It was the sketchiest place I have ever slept in in my life. The building was a beautiful old church, but was dark and sketchy and smelt old. I am still alive to tell the tale though, so no big deal. We had about thirty minutes until the taxi picked us up for the brewery tour of Monteith's Brewery. It was nothing interesting for me because I hate beer, but it was fun for the guys. There was a big beer sampling at the end, and I only liked the crushed apple cider. After, all of the Magic Bus people went to the Railway Hotel for our included dinner where I ordered some of the best baked Macaroni and Cheese that I have ever had in my life. Some drunk people from the bus also attempted karaoke while I just sat and laughed at them. It was a great night because Noah, Jeff and I got to meet everyone from the bus and make new friends! We walked back to the sketchy hostel in the rain. I then fell asleep with the lights on, and Coldplay blasting from my iPhone like I played for my campers when they could not sleep this past summer.
The next morning, which was again early, was rainy. We were really nervous because at our next stop, Franz Josef, we were supposed to hike the Franz Josef Glacier. But, if the weather was too wet, we wouldn't be able to do it. Our first stop of the day was in Hokitika where we saw a Greenstone/Jade factory. I bought myself a little necklace that is the symbol for new beginnings (I thought it was appropriate). We then stopped in a small gold town to see their gold museum. It was pretty lame and we could have down without that stop. We finally got to Franz Josef at around noon where we had five minutes to check in to the hostel, YHA Franz Josef, which was pretty nice and had beautiful snow covered mountains surrounding it, eat lunch, and get ready for the long awaited glacier hike. I grabbed the Uncle Ben's rice out of my backpack and ran to the kitchen, shoved it in the microwave, and stole a fork. I would never recommend to try eating and walking with a pouch of rice...it is a very difficult task. After a quick briefing at the headquarters of the glacier hiking business, we got warm and waterproof clothing, and went on a bus to get to the glacier. We had to walk down a long trail, then walk about an hour over rocks (which used to be part of the glacier) to get to the actual glacier. When we were finally at the bottom, we had to hike up this massive hill (100 meters high) to get to the starting point of our time on the ice. We put on our spikes and got right to it. It was easier then I thought to walk on the ice, and I seemed to get a good feel for it pretty quickly. Phil, our group leader and ice picker, nicknamed me the group's "Fearless Leader." After walking up a bit, we crawled through a cave. I was the first one to go, so I had no idea the best way to make it through. My backpack was so big that I managed to get myself stuck while I was sitting in a puddle of freezing water. When I finally got out, I couldn't feel my hands. When we reached the high point of our hike, a beautiful mountain bird called the Kia came to entertain us. It was mostly green, with beautiful red coloring under its wings that was only visible while it was in flight. I met a lot of amazing people on the hike from the Magic Bus and it was nice to have some time away from Noah and Jeff (not that I don't like them, but I needed some girl time). They went with the first group that was doing the hike extra fast. I wanted to be more leisurely so I could enjoy the beauty and take photographs. When we got back, we all went for yet another pizza dinner at the one restaurant/bar in town. After, Noah, Jeff, another girl from Canada who I forgot her name, and I went to the Glacier Hot Pools. It was very relaxing to be in such warm water after a good hike! We went back to the bar to hang out with everyone after.
Monday was our last day on the Magic Bus and we were sad to be leaving it. We had such an amazing time with the people we met and we didn't want it to end. The morning was covered in a fresh coat of snow on the mountains and tree tops. Before we even arrived in our final destination, Queenstown, I knew I wanted to stay there longer. Its reputation and beauty was enticing me to change my flights and stay with Noah and Jeff for the rest of the week. I was talked out of that one by dad though. I guess I will just have to come back to New Zealand soon! Our first stop of the day was Lake Matheson, a beautiful still lake that reflects the snow covered mountains surrounding it. We then stopped in Wanaka, which is a small but beautiful lake town. A few people decided to stay there for a few nights because there is enough to do and it is gorgeous! Our last stop before Queenstown was the famous first bungy bridge. We saw people take the daring dive off of the bridge, and at that moment, I knew I would never do it. One person even got completely dunked under the freezing cold water below. I still want to go skydiving, just not bungy jumping!
Queenstown was better that I ever expected. It was a beautiful lake town surrounded by water and mountains. The city itself is known as the adventure capital, of the adventure capital. There were tons of bars and restaurants and shops. I felt like I could stay there for a month and never be bored (with all of the money in the world to do everything of course). My room at Nomads, the last hostel I was staying at, was more like a hotel room than anything. I had a huge bed, a plasma television, and my own bathroom. Noah was too tired to go out that night, so Jeff and I went for a delicious Mexican dinner. After, we went on the famous Queenstown Blindfolded Bar Crawl. Best night I have had since I have been in New Zealand. The group was hilarious and so were the guides. We went to five bars and were give one shot at each bar (sorry mom and dad). Jeff was almost walked into the lake by one of the guides, and other hilarious things happened to that I don't need to discuss further here. The next morning was raining and cold. It was nice to shower and relax while watching television though. Noah and Jeff had headed off to see the "eighth wonder of the world," Milford Sound. I was so jealous, so I decided to make up for it by buying myself Starbucks for breakfast. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by none other than Noah and Jeff. Their trip had been rescheduled due to blizzard conditions on the road to Milford Sound. We spent the morning at an underwater observatory. I realized how cool ducks were when they started diving deep under the water to get food. It was really interesting (I know I'm a nerd). I said my goodbyes, and headed on the bus to the airport where I then flew to Christchurch to get my connecting flight to Wellington.
The flight to Wellington was the worst flight of my life. I felt like I was on a roller coaster and was unsure if we were going to be able to land due to the high speed winds in Wellington. If you didn't know, we made it. It was nice to come back home, but I was still upset that I wasn't in Queenstown for longer with the guys. Yesterday, the kids were really happy to see me back at school! Last night, all of the interns went out for drinks to meet the two new girls that came while I was away. They were really cool and nice! I am looking forward to the rugby game on Saturday night with everyone (All Blacks NZ vs. England...should be intense)!
That's all for now...7 more days of adventures in New Zealand to come.
P.S. Look at my pictures from the South Island by clicking here!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Chapter 6: Discovery
Since my last post, I have encountered three days of discovery. With each of these days, I have reflected and come to recognize three distinct occurrences that have been enlightening to myself as a whole.
Monday was my first day back to school in two weeks. The kids were on holiday and I was working at Zealandia. Some of them stayed at home, others went to Vietnam (yes a six year old went to Vietnam), and others traveled down to the South Island like I will be tomorrow. Despite the fact that they had two weeks to become absorbed by television and their travels, one girl, Sienna, managed to remember that I promised that I would read to her during quiet reading time. When I walked into the classroom after lunch, I saw her, puppy eyes and all, sitting on the floor with a giant book with, ironically enough, a puppy on the cover, flopping around in her small hands. I looked at her and she responded by asking, "Do you remember Rachel?" It wasn't the fact that I had not remembered, but it was that I was so amazed that this little child was able to remember such a silly promise for over two weeks.
Tuesday I gained a lot of self confidence from my discovery. Tuesday was the day, that I finally realized that I am not as artistically challenged as I have thought I was for the past eighteen years. Amanda, the teacher that I work with, asked me to draw and cut out pictures for the new bulletin board. I was hesitant to take the job, but after a bit of manipulation, I felt as if I had no choice. After a lot of sketching and erasing and sketching and erasing, I had finally created a postman that I was actually proud of. After I cut out some letters and wrote some directions, I put everything on the board and was amazed with my work! Amanda was so impressed that she gave me the task of decorating a second board today. It unfortunately didn't come out as good as my first.
On Wednesday, today, I didn't make my discovery until after school (although it was an eventful day, I will explain that later). We were all sitting upstairs watching television when we noticed that we were missing a channel. After nearly two months, and three for Jeni, we finally took the other black remote, and changed the channel. We realized that we weren't using the freaking cable box, but instead the basic cable that was offered from the T.V! Wow!
Other then those three distinct discoveries, I had a very interesting day today. At school, I was asked to go across the street to the Auto Shop and collect 16 tires (tyres as the Kiwis spell it) for the kids to use for their new planting project. It took a few trips, but was not too bad with the help of some of the senior students (our equivalent of eighth grade). In the afternoon, Tess, a teachers aid in my class who is also from America, and more specifically Brooklyn, and I went to Bunnings, the local Home Depot, to buy some seeds. Today in school, I also got to deal with homesickness amongst other six year old problems! Overall, a quality day.
Tonight, I packed and bought groceries for my trip tomorrow! I am very excited and cannot wait for the crazy South Island adventures that are to come! Look for a new post next Wednesday or Thursday your time!
Monday was my first day back to school in two weeks. The kids were on holiday and I was working at Zealandia. Some of them stayed at home, others went to Vietnam (yes a six year old went to Vietnam), and others traveled down to the South Island like I will be tomorrow. Despite the fact that they had two weeks to become absorbed by television and their travels, one girl, Sienna, managed to remember that I promised that I would read to her during quiet reading time. When I walked into the classroom after lunch, I saw her, puppy eyes and all, sitting on the floor with a giant book with, ironically enough, a puppy on the cover, flopping around in her small hands. I looked at her and she responded by asking, "Do you remember Rachel?" It wasn't the fact that I had not remembered, but it was that I was so amazed that this little child was able to remember such a silly promise for over two weeks.
Tuesday I gained a lot of self confidence from my discovery. Tuesday was the day, that I finally realized that I am not as artistically challenged as I have thought I was for the past eighteen years. Amanda, the teacher that I work with, asked me to draw and cut out pictures for the new bulletin board. I was hesitant to take the job, but after a bit of manipulation, I felt as if I had no choice. After a lot of sketching and erasing and sketching and erasing, I had finally created a postman that I was actually proud of. After I cut out some letters and wrote some directions, I put everything on the board and was amazed with my work! Amanda was so impressed that she gave me the task of decorating a second board today. It unfortunately didn't come out as good as my first.
On Wednesday, today, I didn't make my discovery until after school (although it was an eventful day, I will explain that later). We were all sitting upstairs watching television when we noticed that we were missing a channel. After nearly two months, and three for Jeni, we finally took the other black remote, and changed the channel. We realized that we weren't using the freaking cable box, but instead the basic cable that was offered from the T.V! Wow!
Other then those three distinct discoveries, I had a very interesting day today. At school, I was asked to go across the street to the Auto Shop and collect 16 tires (tyres as the Kiwis spell it) for the kids to use for their new planting project. It took a few trips, but was not too bad with the help of some of the senior students (our equivalent of eighth grade). In the afternoon, Tess, a teachers aid in my class who is also from America, and more specifically Brooklyn, and I went to Bunnings, the local Home Depot, to buy some seeds. Today in school, I also got to deal with homesickness amongst other six year old problems! Overall, a quality day.
Tonight, I packed and bought groceries for my trip tomorrow! I am very excited and cannot wait for the crazy South Island adventures that are to come! Look for a new post next Wednesday or Thursday your time!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
A Critic's Review
There are two types of people in the world. Exhibit A is the person that reads a great book in one day, even if it is four-hundred pages long. Exhibit B is the person that savors the words on each page and takes between one and two weeks to read a great book, even if it is two-hundred pages long. I am Exhibit B.
These two categories do not just apply to reading books, but to every day life. Am I going to eat my food as fast as I can because it is so delicious, and then regret it because I inhaled it so rapidly that I do not even remember what it tasted like? Or, am I going to eat small pieces of the moist chocolate cake as slowly as I can, to make the most of each bite? I hate to admit it, but when it comes to cake, I will eat it quickly because it is so delicious, and then take another piece and eat it carefully, using my fork to precisely choose my next bite. That is just greed.
I mange to be more reserved when it comes to reading (in comparison to eating scrumptious chocolate cake). I take at least two minutes to read a full page. It is possible that I attained this habit, which has neither positive or negative repercussions, at CITYterm. While studying there, I became so inclined to take in each word as it was a bite of chocolate cake, and savor the meaning and beauty of the flowing of words.
The Art of Racing in the Rain, a book that I have spoken of many posts before this, is one of those books that I am taking my sweet time reading. I have had the book for a little less than two weeks, and I am only on page 148. Some days I take off from reading to let last nights chapter soak in. Some days I read three or four chapters because I am so engulfed by Garth Stein's word choices that I cannot help but to keep the book gripped tightly in my palms.
If you didn't get the point of that whole to do, read the freaking book! I do not want to take all of the credit for the recommendation, so thank my mother, after you read it, the next time you see her.
I am sure you are reading this to hear about my life and my crazy, and sometimes not so smart, stories, so I will not let you down and fill you in!
It is now Sunday morning at eleven. Last night was fun! My friends and I went out for a delicious dinner at Pizzeria Napoli. We all had pizza of course! After coming back home to watch the movie, The Water Horse, which I would never recommend to anyone, no matter what. We then schlepped the two blocks into downtown to find a good bar to celebrate John Lennon's 70th birthday (don't judge), and failed miserably as we always tend to do. People in New Zealand are crazy and do not go out until one in the morning. Us Americans cannot handle such craziness. Also, that is when we went to bed.
Yesterday was also great because I did two things that I wanted to do while I was here. One of them was have a Subway sandwich for lunch. Just kidding, not on my to-do list, but I did it. It was just me and Jeff, and we took the Cable Car to the top of the Botanic Gardens. Neither were as exciting as we had hoped, but it was well worth the few good pictures. After, it was still early so we went to Te Papa. We made it through the five floors that I had not managed to see upon my last visit to the massive museum.
I was hoping that today was going to be nice weather so I could take my friends to the Sanctuary and hike on some of the trails, but it looks as if the skies are about to open up any minute! Today might just be a chill at home day with popcorn and a movie.
I am very excited for this week! I go back to school tomorrow until Wednesday, and then I leave on Thursday morning for my trip with Jeff and Noah to the South Island! On Thursday morning, we are taking the Interislander ferry to Picton, and then a Naked Bus to Nelson. We spend the day and night in Nelson. On Friday, we are venturing to Abel Tasman National Park, right outside of Nelson for some hiking and possibly kayaking! That night will also be spent in Nelson. On Saturday, we get onto the Magic Bus and travel to Greymouth. Sunday we travel again to Franz Josef, which is famous for its glacier hiking! On Monday, we finish the Magic Tour in Queenstown, apparently the coolest city in New Zealand! I only have time to spend one night there, but I will try to see as much as I can in that one day and night! On Tuesday, I leave the guys, and begin my journey back home. They have more time to travel around because they are here for two more months, where as I will only have a week and a half left at that point, unfortunately. I fly to Christchurch for a few hours, because it was four-hundred dollars less to have this layover. I have about eight hours in between my flights, so when I get to the airport, I will see if I can change to an earlier flight because my parents don't want me traveling alone! If not, I can hang out in the airport for a while and catch up on my sleep. This trip is certain to have a bunch of great stories and I cannot wait to share them!
Keep checking for updates and pictures from my adventures!
These two categories do not just apply to reading books, but to every day life. Am I going to eat my food as fast as I can because it is so delicious, and then regret it because I inhaled it so rapidly that I do not even remember what it tasted like? Or, am I going to eat small pieces of the moist chocolate cake as slowly as I can, to make the most of each bite? I hate to admit it, but when it comes to cake, I will eat it quickly because it is so delicious, and then take another piece and eat it carefully, using my fork to precisely choose my next bite. That is just greed.
I mange to be more reserved when it comes to reading (in comparison to eating scrumptious chocolate cake). I take at least two minutes to read a full page. It is possible that I attained this habit, which has neither positive or negative repercussions, at CITYterm. While studying there, I became so inclined to take in each word as it was a bite of chocolate cake, and savor the meaning and beauty of the flowing of words.
The Art of Racing in the Rain, a book that I have spoken of many posts before this, is one of those books that I am taking my sweet time reading. I have had the book for a little less than two weeks, and I am only on page 148. Some days I take off from reading to let last nights chapter soak in. Some days I read three or four chapters because I am so engulfed by Garth Stein's word choices that I cannot help but to keep the book gripped tightly in my palms.
If you didn't get the point of that whole to do, read the freaking book! I do not want to take all of the credit for the recommendation, so thank my mother, after you read it, the next time you see her.
I am sure you are reading this to hear about my life and my crazy, and sometimes not so smart, stories, so I will not let you down and fill you in!
It is now Sunday morning at eleven. Last night was fun! My friends and I went out for a delicious dinner at Pizzeria Napoli. We all had pizza of course! After coming back home to watch the movie, The Water Horse, which I would never recommend to anyone, no matter what. We then schlepped the two blocks into downtown to find a good bar to celebrate John Lennon's 70th birthday (don't judge), and failed miserably as we always tend to do. People in New Zealand are crazy and do not go out until one in the morning. Us Americans cannot handle such craziness. Also, that is when we went to bed.
Yesterday was also great because I did two things that I wanted to do while I was here. One of them was have a Subway sandwich for lunch. Just kidding, not on my to-do list, but I did it. It was just me and Jeff, and we took the Cable Car to the top of the Botanic Gardens. Neither were as exciting as we had hoped, but it was well worth the few good pictures. After, it was still early so we went to Te Papa. We made it through the five floors that I had not managed to see upon my last visit to the massive museum.
I was hoping that today was going to be nice weather so I could take my friends to the Sanctuary and hike on some of the trails, but it looks as if the skies are about to open up any minute! Today might just be a chill at home day with popcorn and a movie.
I am very excited for this week! I go back to school tomorrow until Wednesday, and then I leave on Thursday morning for my trip with Jeff and Noah to the South Island! On Thursday morning, we are taking the Interislander ferry to Picton, and then a Naked Bus to Nelson. We spend the day and night in Nelson. On Friday, we are venturing to Abel Tasman National Park, right outside of Nelson for some hiking and possibly kayaking! That night will also be spent in Nelson. On Saturday, we get onto the Magic Bus and travel to Greymouth. Sunday we travel again to Franz Josef, which is famous for its glacier hiking! On Monday, we finish the Magic Tour in Queenstown, apparently the coolest city in New Zealand! I only have time to spend one night there, but I will try to see as much as I can in that one day and night! On Tuesday, I leave the guys, and begin my journey back home. They have more time to travel around because they are here for two more months, where as I will only have a week and a half left at that point, unfortunately. I fly to Christchurch for a few hours, because it was four-hundred dollars less to have this layover. I have about eight hours in between my flights, so when I get to the airport, I will see if I can change to an earlier flight because my parents don't want me traveling alone! If not, I can hang out in the airport for a while and catch up on my sleep. This trip is certain to have a bunch of great stories and I cannot wait to share them!
Keep checking for updates and pictures from my adventures!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
My Week At A Glance
I'm going to be blunt. My life has not been too interesting since my last post. Well, it has been interesting, but not in comparison to the other adventures that I have embarked on.
Let's see...Monday I "Bellbirded" for a while, yes I have turned watching bellbirds into a verb. I still was not feeling great, so the sanctuary let me finish my day at lunchtime. I went to the grocery store for a few things and finally picked up The Art of Racing in the Rain. I started it and could not put it down! I am already on page 110, and for me to read that much so quickly is a miracle! Especially on my own!
Tuesday was spent back at the sanctuary making Weta Hotels again. The kids had a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day outside, so I sat outside for a while and spoke to Brett and Lindsay Szper and Jamie Leslie, all while basking in the strong New Zealand sun! It was great to catch up with everyone. I was also really happy because Jeni came back from Australia! It was nice to not be the only girl in the house any more! We went for Middle Eastern food at a little restaurant called Casablanca down the road. It was pretty good, but I wouldn't be caught dead there ever again.
Wednesday (yesterday) was a new and fantastic experimental activity at the sanctuary! There were four kids, and they were split into teams of two. There were different stations set up in which they were given different bird "beaks" and they had to use chopsticks for example, to catch a piece of flying popcorn. This experiment was to figure out what bird gets certain foods the easiest. After an hour of scientific experimentation, Ian (an American tour guide at the sanctuary) and I had given up on the kids to figure out a conclusion to the hypothesis they never came up with! Oh well...it was fun anyways!
Today, I helped out with the Flex Weaving class. It was great because there were only two kids. I then ran into one of my students, Piper! It was great to see her, she's one of my favorites! She was very happy to work on weaving with me! I learned how to weave a horse tail, a fish, and a more complex flower the last weeks. It was again, a beautiful and warm day, so I brought my camera, and took a two hour walk around the sanctuary to photograph some wildlife. I'll post the pictures on facebook at a later date...facebook was being difficult before. Tonight, a few of us went to the movies to see Dinner for Schmucks...funny at times but I wouldn't recommend it.
Tomorrow is my last day at the sanctuary and I am excited to have one last chance to work with the bellbirds. This weekend is supposed to have nasty weather, so who knows what I will be doing!
More adventures to come :)
Let's see...Monday I "Bellbirded" for a while, yes I have turned watching bellbirds into a verb. I still was not feeling great, so the sanctuary let me finish my day at lunchtime. I went to the grocery store for a few things and finally picked up The Art of Racing in the Rain. I started it and could not put it down! I am already on page 110, and for me to read that much so quickly is a miracle! Especially on my own!
Tuesday was spent back at the sanctuary making Weta Hotels again. The kids had a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day outside, so I sat outside for a while and spoke to Brett and Lindsay Szper and Jamie Leslie, all while basking in the strong New Zealand sun! It was great to catch up with everyone. I was also really happy because Jeni came back from Australia! It was nice to not be the only girl in the house any more! We went for Middle Eastern food at a little restaurant called Casablanca down the road. It was pretty good, but I wouldn't be caught dead there ever again.
Wednesday (yesterday) was a new and fantastic experimental activity at the sanctuary! There were four kids, and they were split into teams of two. There were different stations set up in which they were given different bird "beaks" and they had to use chopsticks for example, to catch a piece of flying popcorn. This experiment was to figure out what bird gets certain foods the easiest. After an hour of scientific experimentation, Ian (an American tour guide at the sanctuary) and I had given up on the kids to figure out a conclusion to the hypothesis they never came up with! Oh well...it was fun anyways!
Today, I helped out with the Flex Weaving class. It was great because there were only two kids. I then ran into one of my students, Piper! It was great to see her, she's one of my favorites! She was very happy to work on weaving with me! I learned how to weave a horse tail, a fish, and a more complex flower the last weeks. It was again, a beautiful and warm day, so I brought my camera, and took a two hour walk around the sanctuary to photograph some wildlife. I'll post the pictures on facebook at a later date...facebook was being difficult before. Tonight, a few of us went to the movies to see Dinner for Schmucks...funny at times but I wouldn't recommend it.
Tomorrow is my last day at the sanctuary and I am excited to have one last chance to work with the bellbirds. This weekend is supposed to have nasty weather, so who knows what I will be doing!
More adventures to come :)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Into The Wild 2
You might as well call me Rachel Supertramp. Well...not quite I guess, but I came pretty close to having a similar experience to Chris "Supertramp" McCandless, but for one night instead of a few months.
It all began on a beautiful Sunday morning. Jeff and I left the apartment at 11 in the morning to catch the thirty minute bus to Island Bay. When we got there, we sat in a beautiful park to wait for Jenny to meet us. After a few texts exchanged with Jenny, she finally found her way to the park we were sunbathing at. We walked down a Cape Cod-like path that lead to the beach, and began our forty-five minute walk to the Marine Reserve. The perfect weather made for a beautiful walk along the ocean.
When we finally arrived at the Reserve, we stopped for a quick snack and bathroom break (I, like my dad [sorry dad] can never turn down a bathroom!). We then began our hour and a half walk on the sand, that soon became rocks, that changed back to sand, and then a stream, and finally back to sand. We stopped often for pictures and random adventurous climbs on tall rocks sporadically placed along the shoreline. We knew we were close to where the seals were when the rocks changed from grey to red. The excitement of Red Rocks didn't end there. We walked for five more minutes. We ventured out onto the rocks that were stranded in the ocean, and found seals!
The seals were awesome. Smelly, but awesome. They were extremely lazy, probably equal to Mr. Bojangles and Latka, but moved occasionally to find a warmer rock. It was really interesting to see because Red Rocks is where all of the reject male seals go in the winter. I even got to see some man on man action...big fight over a rock. That must have been some rock. After a while of photographing them, we took our well deserved lunch break.
We were all very happy with our successful journey, but little did we know it was nowhere near over. Some of us *cough Jenny and Jeff cough* were still hungry for more adventure. We walked a little ways back up the beach and discovered an area with a map and some trails. What a great idea, some thought, to start a hike at 3 in the afternoon. I was strongly considering walking on the beach alone and meeting them at the end because I was still feeling a bit weak from my cold. After some convincing, the next thing I knew I was half way up a mountain. The trail we were taking was supposed to take us up a few peaks, and down an old quarry. It was only supposed to take thirty minutes longer than walking on the beach. Then again, a lot of things were supposed to happen.
The first mountain was massive, or so we thought. Getting up was a mission because the ground was all rubble and slipping underneath our feet with every step. After a lot of concentration and some pictures, we looked up to discover a family with a small child. We thought, psh, if a little boy can do it, it can't be so difficult. Boy were we wrong.
When we finally reached the top of the first peak, we sat down feeling accomplished. We though, yes! We did it! Now all we have to do, is walk down this, and we will be back on the beach. Nope...not even close. While we were sitting, resting on the grassy mountain top, a few hikers and a guide passed us by. We asked the guide if we were close to the quarry and he said, and I quote, "You are a few minutes away, its not so bad!" We were excited as ever to continue.
Six mountain peaks and two hours later, we were nowhere near the beach, nonetheless the quarry. It was 5 in the evening, and I was starting to become concerned that we were not going to get out of the mountains before dark. We had no food, a limited supply of water, no warm clothes, and no flashlight. We were still joking around about finding a killer seal on the top of one of the mountains, but that joke was slowly becoming dull. The thought of anything killer on the top of the next mountain was becoming a legitimate concern, especially the killer dark. Now, I know that it seems as if I might be over reacting, but I was seriously freaking out.
We decided to go a little further into the mountains. We couldn't really tell if we were going in the right direction or not because it was so foggy, that we could barely see the next mountain peak. As we were walking down a final hill, we were laughing about how much it would suck to have to walk up it. This grassy mountain was the steepest one yet. When we got to the bottom, our knees were killing us, but we had no choice but to keep searching. We looked for the stream that we thought lead back out to the ocean, but it turned out that it just winded through the valleys and let out somewhere unknown. Even if we wanted to follow it out, we couldn't because the bush was way too thick.
We were standing in a valley for five minutes. Jenny and Jeff wanted to continue on the journey to the quarry that wasn't there, and I was a mess. After much convincing, I finally talked them into backtracking. We knew that the path back was only two hours, that would get us down to the beach at 7, just as nightfall approached. Continuing might take fifteen more minutes, or another four hours.
When we started to walk up the huge grassy mountain that we were saying would suck to walk up, I started to not be able to breathe. I had to stop walking every two minutes to catch my breath and hold back my tears. I didn't do so successfully, because I ended up crying for most of the hike up that freaking grassy mountain. Jenny and Jeff did a great job of comforting me, despite my freak out. I had an amazing turn around though, when we finally reached the top of a familiar mountain. The fog had finally cleared, and we were able to once again, see the ocean, something that has never been so beautiful to me in my life. We called Angela, the director of Live New Zealand, just so someone was aware of our situation just in case we didn't make it down before sunset. Fortunately, the walk down took only an hour and a half, and was pretty easy! I only almost fell twice, and they were both down the first rocky mountain. They were even real falls because my butt never touched the ground! Woooooh!
We made it down to the beach just as the sun was beginning to set. We walked forty-five minutes up the beach back to the entrance of the reserve. We also checked out a map, and if we hadn't turned back, we would have kept walking for four more hours until we would have reached a road that was not in the mountains. Disaster.
Hunger stricken, we walked into downtown Island Bay and snacked on some Pringles in a movie theater. We caught the bus to Cuba Street, and had Thai-styled fast food. We were so tired and sore, that we couldn't even manage to walk the few blocks back home, so we took the bus. I have never been so happy to get back to our apartment...ever.
So that was my seal adventure. Never again.
Saturday was a less adventurous day. I took a walk with some friends down to the beach because it was beautiful. We saw a few car accidents (two) and walked back home. Friday night was pretty quiet too. Jenny came over and we walked around for a while. I was still feeling sick so it was an early night.
Anyways, moral of the story. Never start a hike at three in the afternoon with no water or warm clothes or food or maps or flashlights or brains.
Please, no more adventures to come?
PICTURES
It all began on a beautiful Sunday morning. Jeff and I left the apartment at 11 in the morning to catch the thirty minute bus to Island Bay. When we got there, we sat in a beautiful park to wait for Jenny to meet us. After a few texts exchanged with Jenny, she finally found her way to the park we were sunbathing at. We walked down a Cape Cod-like path that lead to the beach, and began our forty-five minute walk to the Marine Reserve. The perfect weather made for a beautiful walk along the ocean.
When we finally arrived at the Reserve, we stopped for a quick snack and bathroom break (I, like my dad [sorry dad] can never turn down a bathroom!). We then began our hour and a half walk on the sand, that soon became rocks, that changed back to sand, and then a stream, and finally back to sand. We stopped often for pictures and random adventurous climbs on tall rocks sporadically placed along the shoreline. We knew we were close to where the seals were when the rocks changed from grey to red. The excitement of Red Rocks didn't end there. We walked for five more minutes. We ventured out onto the rocks that were stranded in the ocean, and found seals!
The seals were awesome. Smelly, but awesome. They were extremely lazy, probably equal to Mr. Bojangles and Latka, but moved occasionally to find a warmer rock. It was really interesting to see because Red Rocks is where all of the reject male seals go in the winter. I even got to see some man on man action...big fight over a rock. That must have been some rock. After a while of photographing them, we took our well deserved lunch break.
We were all very happy with our successful journey, but little did we know it was nowhere near over. Some of us *cough Jenny and Jeff cough* were still hungry for more adventure. We walked a little ways back up the beach and discovered an area with a map and some trails. What a great idea, some thought, to start a hike at 3 in the afternoon. I was strongly considering walking on the beach alone and meeting them at the end because I was still feeling a bit weak from my cold. After some convincing, the next thing I knew I was half way up a mountain. The trail we were taking was supposed to take us up a few peaks, and down an old quarry. It was only supposed to take thirty minutes longer than walking on the beach. Then again, a lot of things were supposed to happen.
The first mountain was massive, or so we thought. Getting up was a mission because the ground was all rubble and slipping underneath our feet with every step. After a lot of concentration and some pictures, we looked up to discover a family with a small child. We thought, psh, if a little boy can do it, it can't be so difficult. Boy were we wrong.
When we finally reached the top of the first peak, we sat down feeling accomplished. We though, yes! We did it! Now all we have to do, is walk down this, and we will be back on the beach. Nope...not even close. While we were sitting, resting on the grassy mountain top, a few hikers and a guide passed us by. We asked the guide if we were close to the quarry and he said, and I quote, "You are a few minutes away, its not so bad!" We were excited as ever to continue.
Six mountain peaks and two hours later, we were nowhere near the beach, nonetheless the quarry. It was 5 in the evening, and I was starting to become concerned that we were not going to get out of the mountains before dark. We had no food, a limited supply of water, no warm clothes, and no flashlight. We were still joking around about finding a killer seal on the top of one of the mountains, but that joke was slowly becoming dull. The thought of anything killer on the top of the next mountain was becoming a legitimate concern, especially the killer dark. Now, I know that it seems as if I might be over reacting, but I was seriously freaking out.
We decided to go a little further into the mountains. We couldn't really tell if we were going in the right direction or not because it was so foggy, that we could barely see the next mountain peak. As we were walking down a final hill, we were laughing about how much it would suck to have to walk up it. This grassy mountain was the steepest one yet. When we got to the bottom, our knees were killing us, but we had no choice but to keep searching. We looked for the stream that we thought lead back out to the ocean, but it turned out that it just winded through the valleys and let out somewhere unknown. Even if we wanted to follow it out, we couldn't because the bush was way too thick.
We were standing in a valley for five minutes. Jenny and Jeff wanted to continue on the journey to the quarry that wasn't there, and I was a mess. After much convincing, I finally talked them into backtracking. We knew that the path back was only two hours, that would get us down to the beach at 7, just as nightfall approached. Continuing might take fifteen more minutes, or another four hours.
When we started to walk up the huge grassy mountain that we were saying would suck to walk up, I started to not be able to breathe. I had to stop walking every two minutes to catch my breath and hold back my tears. I didn't do so successfully, because I ended up crying for most of the hike up that freaking grassy mountain. Jenny and Jeff did a great job of comforting me, despite my freak out. I had an amazing turn around though, when we finally reached the top of a familiar mountain. The fog had finally cleared, and we were able to once again, see the ocean, something that has never been so beautiful to me in my life. We called Angela, the director of Live New Zealand, just so someone was aware of our situation just in case we didn't make it down before sunset. Fortunately, the walk down took only an hour and a half, and was pretty easy! I only almost fell twice, and they were both down the first rocky mountain. They were even real falls because my butt never touched the ground! Woooooh!
We made it down to the beach just as the sun was beginning to set. We walked forty-five minutes up the beach back to the entrance of the reserve. We also checked out a map, and if we hadn't turned back, we would have kept walking for four more hours until we would have reached a road that was not in the mountains. Disaster.
Hunger stricken, we walked into downtown Island Bay and snacked on some Pringles in a movie theater. We caught the bus to Cuba Street, and had Thai-styled fast food. We were so tired and sore, that we couldn't even manage to walk the few blocks back home, so we took the bus. I have never been so happy to get back to our apartment...ever.
So that was my seal adventure. Never again.
Saturday was a less adventurous day. I took a walk with some friends down to the beach because it was beautiful. We saw a few car accidents (two) and walked back home. Friday night was pretty quiet too. Jenny came over and we walked around for a while. I was still feeling sick so it was an early night.
Anyways, moral of the story. Never start a hike at three in the afternoon with no water or warm clothes or food or maps or flashlights or brains.
Please, no more adventures to come?
PICTURES
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)