Australian Adventures & the end of Dunedin

I think my luck in the southern hemisphere is beginning to wear out. My flatmate Rina and I decided that there was no better place to study for finals than Australia, so we packed up and left for the Dunedin airport on June 10. Prior to heading to the airport, Rina decided to go to the student health center to try to figure out why one of her glands was insanely swollen, and after getting their feedback we spent an hour before our flight driving around to doctors and chemists in order to get her ailment figured out. Little did we know that this was only the beginning of our traveling difficulties. We had done little planning of this trip, and had only a general outline of what we wanted to do and see while in Brisbane and Sydney. Upon arriving at the airport, we were asked the seemingly obvious question of “do you girls have visas for Australia?” We were both in shock that we hadn’t even considered the fact that traveling in foreign countries typically requires a visa, but luckily we were able to get them on the spot at the airport.

Once we finally got into Brisbane, we discovered that our New Zealand cell phones did not have coverage in Australia, and therefore we were unable to use them to get in contact with Rina’s friend, Shira, who we were going to be staying with in Brisbane. After exchanging our NZ dollars for a much smaller sum of Australian dollars, we used a payphone but ended up getting Shira’s voicemail. After asking a stranger to use a cell phone, we were on a train heading toward downtown Brisbane where we were planning to meet Shira. As Rina explained to me, Shira is always on “Shira time” and is chronically late, so we ended up walking around and waiting for her for quite awhile. It was totally worth the wait though, and we were able to get a tiny taste of Brisbane. Rina and I were both overwhelmed to be in a real city, not just tiny Dunedin. One of my favorite parts of Brisbane was that everything is based around the river that runs through it – we took water taxis to and from Shira’s apartment. It was a nice alternative to the typical public transportation!

Went to a farmer’s market in Brisbane and spent the day with Shira, then caught our flight to Sydney. We had been planning on staying with Rina’s other friend, Beckie, who lives in Sydney, but plans fell through and we ended up having to book a hostel an hour before our flight. We arrived around 10 pm and after taking another train we hopped off into the pouring rain and waded our way to our hostel. Rina learned, upon staying one night in her first and only hostel ever, that she does not like hostels much, so we ended up getting a cheap hotel for the same price for the next three nights. We spent the rest of our time in Sydney exploring – saw a Latin dance show at the Sydney Opera House, went to the aquarium and wildlife center, walked all over, stopped for cupcake breaks, and drank lots and lots of coffee. We flew back to Brisbane for a final night with Shira, which included a pizza making party with some of her study abroad friends, as well as a trip into town to see Jennifer Coolidge (the busty blonde from Best in Show, Legally Blonde, etc.) do a standup comedy show. Met her and got her autograph, and had a lovely last night in Australia.

Our flight back to Dunedin was supposed to get us back a day before one of Rina’s last exams – plenty of time to settle in and do a bit of study. However, the Chilean ash cloud had different plans for our itinerary. Our flight was canceled, which resulted in us spending about 4 hours and $50 worth of coins using the internet to try to figure out different ways of getting back to Dunedin. We contemplated several different options, some more ridiculous than others (Singapore is NOT closer to New Zealand) but eventually found a flight from Brisbane to Wellington and then another one from Wellington to Dunedin that would get us in at 10 am the day of Rina’s 2:30 pm exam. Luckily Air New Zealand had more flying confidence than the other airlines, and we were able to make it to Wellington at midnight the night before her exam. Although the Wellington airport typically closes in the wee hours of the morning we were escorted to a “special area” that we were allowed to stay in until the airport reopened. We entertained ourselves for 9 hours before our flight, pumping ourselves with caffeine and slowly going delirious in the process. While booking our tickets from Wellington to Dunedin we had a bit of a laugh and decided to book our tickets under the titles of Dame Rina Cohen and Lord Allison Lodine, which became increasingly funnier as the hours rolled by. Finally made it back at noon, and Rina had a good 2 hours to prepare for her 50% final exam. No big deal.

It was strange to be back in Dunedin and see people start packing and leaving the life that I’ve been so used to for the past five months. I was one of the last to pack up and leave, and by the time everybody had already left and the flat was empty I was ready to leave. Had a lovely final day and evening with my friend Gen. We ate fish and chips and drank Speight’s while chatting about everything under the sun, then met another friend for a BYO dinner at an Indian restaurant, then attempted to hit up some of our favorite bars, although it was a Wednesday night and most people had already left town, so it was a quiet night, but the perfect end to my time in Dunedin.

I’m currently waiting in the Dunedin airport for my flight to Wellington in an hour. My alias for this flight is Captain Allison Lodine. Looking forward to spending another week with Abby, and for seeing Wellington, Taupo, and more of the north island. I’m also really looking forward to summer in Portland in a week!

One month left?!

I can't believe that I only have a month left in New Zealand. I haven't been out of Dunedin since mid semester break, but it's been really nice to be around here. The weather has been amazing recently, and although it's starting to get noticeably chillier, we've had a lot of clear sunny days. I've been taking a class on wine tasting called Discover Wine through the uni. There are 7 of us in the class, and we show up every Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. for a 2-hour tasting/information session on different types of wine. We sit at a long table with big candles and 6 bottles of wine per class, with a little tray of bread and grapes in the middle. Quite enjoyable. I usually consider myself to be a white wine person over red, but through taking this class I've started to change that idea. The sickly sweet dessert wines don't appeal to me as much as they used to (not that I consume much wine...) and it's been interesting to learn about the different types of grapes and regions of wine making. The instructor, Geoff Weston, is the owner of a winery near Dunedin that is (I believe) the southernmost winery in the world. For our final class this week we each have to buy a bottle of wine and we're going to take them out to his winery to enjoy.

Went to another rugby game last night - Highlanders vs. Lions. It was a fun game to go to, and much more mellow than the previous one, since there weren't as many students there. Got a free pint at The Baa afterward, too!

This week is the final week of classes, and then exams begin. Apparently exams here are a big deal, because they're typically worth about 50% of your grade, which is a little different than what I'm used to at Whitman. I've got exams on June 9th, 18th, and then two on the 21st. With the nice break between my first and second exam slots my flatmate Rina and I decided to book tickets to Australia for six days. Good timing! Looking forward to the trip though - maybe I can get a bit of color before heading back home and being the ghostly New Zealander that I have been as of late!

Roadtrip of the South Island

Two weeks ago marked the start of our mid-semester break, which provided a welcome escape from Dunedin. My flatmate Sam and I decided that for our week off we would rent a car and drive all over the South Island and see everything we possibly could. We made 8 CDs each for the car, and after packing up our backpacks we headed out.

Initially we were intending to buy groceries on our way out of town, but the day of our departure was conveniently Good Friday, which meant that all of the supermarkets were closed. Who knew that New Zealand adhered so closely to Catholicism? We pooled our rations and our crackers and peanut butter lasted us for the drive to Te Anau. We checked into our hostel, went to an early dinner at 5:30, finished dinner by 6, and were back in our hostel (and in our beds) at 6:15. Our exhaustion from driving and from life in Dunedin had finally caught up with us, and it was a struggle to stay awake until 9, which we determined was an ideal time to go to bed. The next morning we woke up early and caught a water taxi across Lake Te Anau, where we began a hike upwards to the Mt. Luxmore Hut. This trail is a segment of the Kepler Track, which is a multi-day tramp. We opted for the shorter, less grueling hike, although it was quite steep and took us awhile. I had not had a chance to break in my new hiking boots (thanks, mom and dad!) and the coming down process was quite long and arduous. The whole tramp took us about 8 hours return, and the last hour was so bleak it was humorous.

We spent one more night in Te Anau, then departed on Sunday and headed toward the Franz Josef Glacier. Checked into our hostel, then wandered around the tiny town of Franz Josef. The next morning we walked into town where we had booked a glacier guided walk. We got geared up and boarded a bus which shuttled us out to the glacier. It was about a 45 minute walk in to the glacier, and we spent around an hour on the ice. We had crampons, which was quite a strange feeling. I was a little uneasy about being on top of a glacier at first, especially since our guide kept saying things like, "See that hole? If you fall in there, you're a goner" which was not very reassuring. But it turned out to be less of an actual hike/walk and more of a stroll around the glacier, since it had been raining the previous two days, which had washed away a good chunk of the trail. Overall it was less thrilling than I expected, but it was definitely cool to see the glacier and to walk around on it!

The next two nights we spent just outside of St. Arnaud at a bed & breakfast called Wairau Pass B&B. This was definitely a highlight of the trip, due primarily to the generosity and overall spirit of the owner, Helen. We each had our own rooms which were amazing, and we welcomed a chance to use a legitimately nice shower after having spent the past few nights in hostels. Helen spoiled us with nice meals, cups of cocoa, cookies, and even a guided tour of her favorite nearby trail.

After St. Arnaud we headed to Blenheim, aka wine country. We rented bikes in Renwick, which is just down the road from Blenheim, and ventured out to start our day of wine tasting. We started at around 10:30 a.m. and went to several wineries, biking along the highway between all of them. It was a beautiful autumn day, and we were both loving being on bikes and tasting good wine. We stopped and had lunch at a winery, and also split a bottle of wine. Then we proceeded to go to several more wineries, where we each bought a couple of bottles. As you can imagine, the day got more and more ridiculous as we went along, and our biking became a bit less reliable. There was a group of middle aged women who were also doing a wine tour, but they were being driven around. They got quite a kick out of our biking escapades, and would cheer every time we would make it to a new winery. It was quite a silly and enjoyable day, and I'm looking forward to bringing home the bottles of wine that I bought during our adventure.

The next day we drove to Mt. Cook National Park, which was stunning. Absolutely breathtaking to drive into, and the weather was sunny and clear, which made viewing Mt. Cook a possibility. We stayed one night in a hostel, and had planned to hike up to the Mueller Hut which has views of Mt. Cook and stay there the following night, but decided against staying in the hut and opted instead for a day hike up. This hike was really tough, and involved clambering over large rocks and walking at a steep uphill for several hours. We hiked for about two and a half hours, and decided to go back down since we were driving to Queenstown that afternoon rather than staying in the hut. Grueling hike, but it had great views, and was a killer leg workout.

We went to Queenstown a day early than planned, and checked into our first hotel, which had lakeside views and big, comfy beds. We got takeout Indian food the first night, and ended up lounging and watching movies - quite a luxury! The next day, we decided to do a jet boat ride through Skipper's Canyon, which was really fun and quite the adrenaline rush. This boat was much smaller than the other jet boat I went on in the Rogue River, and therefore could go a lot faster. We finished the afternoon with ice cream on the waterfront, reading by the pool, a delicious dinner, and more hotel room movie watching. It was a perfectly relaxing end to our time away from Dunedin.

We were both a little hesitant to go back to Dunedin after having such a good time exploring and adventuring around, but it was nice to come back to our little flat and hear about how everyone's weeks had been. It's crazy to think that I have less than two months here, and that I have less than one month left of classes. Looking forward to making the most of the rest of my experience here!

P.S. Happy Mother's Day, mom!

Catching Up

Life in New Zealand is going by pretty quickly and it seems like I've been here for a long time, but I still have two and a half months left. Crazy!

A big thing for Otago students in general and my flat in particular is "Red Cards" which basically means that every person in my flat gets to "pull a Red Card" that everybody else in the flat has to participate in. This usually entails doing ridiculous competitions around the neighborhood. I decided to pull my Red Card last week, and it was The Amazing Race themed. Everyone had to bring a partner to compete with them, and then they were required to compete in various challenges. The first was a scavenger hunt, where they had to find items such as potato and a straw before advancing to the next challenge. The next was an eating competition, where one team member had to choose an item to eat from under a bucket. The options were Spam, sardines, and a spicy pepper. The third challenge was an obstacle course at a local field, which everyone ended up cheating at anyway. The final was a round of trivia. It was a silly night to say the least, but good fun. I already have plans to bring Red Cards back to Whitman next year!

 Mid-semester break begins on Friday, and my flatmate Sam and I are going to be renting a car and driving all over the South Island. We've mapped it out, and she and I have both made several CDs to keep us occupied in the car. We're going to be doing several day hikes, including one near Mt. Cook, as well as a half-day glacier walk on the Franz Josef Glacier. Sam initially wanted to do the full-day walk, but when I read that it involved "squeezing through tight blue crevasses," "sliding through ice caves" and "shuffling down near vertical walls of ice" I decided that I'd rather not spend the day crying on a glacier and convinced her that the half-day walk will be equally thrilling.

Other than that, life in New Zealand is cruising right along. I was thrilled when I had two missed calls and messages from Karen and Josh, and it was worth every cent of the $7.00 I paid to talk to Karen for 12 minutes. Looking forward to break!

Netball & Puppies

Although I've gotten into a pretty regular routine here, there are little opportunities that I have been taking advantage of that keep life in Dunedin interesting. For instance, Abby plays on a coed, social netball team, and has games once a weekend. Netball is similar to basketball in that the objective is to throw a ball into a hoop, but it's different in that you can't run with or dribble the ball. Instead you have to throw it to your teammates and move it down the court that way. It's played inside a netted area, and gets to be quite fast-paced as people use the nets to their advantage. Anyway, the social teams require 3 girls to be on the court at a time, and Abby's team was short one girl, so I volunteered. It was quite an experience, and I didn't ever quite get the hang of the rules. Regardless, it was fun to run around and participate in a traditional New Zealand sport.

The other day, Kelsey stopped by my house at around 11 am and asked if I wanted to go walk dogs at the local animal shelter. Obviously the answer was yes, so we headed off through the Botanic Garden toward the kennels. We got there and were told that there were only two puppies left to walk. What a shame, who likes to walk and play with puppies for an hour?! WE DO. They were soooo cute, and we walked them all over a nearby trail, and had a nice long chat. It was the perfect beginning to my day, and I fully intend to return to walk dogs again soon. My dream is to get a puppy and walk it down to my flat and play with it there for an hour. Oooh puppies. It's nice to know that there are people and things other than college students in Dunedin!

This last Friday night I headed to the Catlins on the southern coast with Sam, Abby, and Abby's friends Gen and Rachel. We had rented a "batch" or small vacation home, and after figuring out how to turn on the power and killing a few spiders, we settled down and hung out for the night. We dragged a few mattresses into the biggest room, and all slept in their, which was a nice girls night. On Saturday we headed out to explore the surrounding area, and ended up seeing a few sights, including a waterfall and a sketchy little garden called "Teapot Land" which housed about a thousand creepy dolls and figurines. Yikes.

After turning in two essays last week, I have a little break this week with only a small assignment due. I'm looking forward to mid-semester break in a few weeks and further exploration of the South Island!

The Bog and beyond

It was absolutely lovely having my parents in New Zealand for a little visit. They began their trip in Auckland, then flew down to Dunedin on Thursday, March 17, which happened to be St. Patty's Day. The plan was that I would go to my classes on Thursday then meet up with them in the afternoon. However, I began the day by dressing in shamrocks and heading to an Irish pub, The Bog, with my flatmates for breakfast and beer. As we were preparing to leave The Bog, however, I walked right into my parents as they were coming in! It was only about 11 am, but they too were in search of a beer and some breakfast, and they happened to choose the right place to go. My flatmates and I ended up staying and having another drink and basking in all of the drunk and green-clad people in the bar. Needless to say, it was a fantastic first encounter with them.

After leaving The Bog, my Kiwi host convinced me to skip all of my classes and spend time with my parents since we had a limited time together. So I did exactly that, and took them on a short trip to some of the noteworthy sites in Dunedin. First we went to Tunnel Beach, where the intense waves on the peninsula have eroded the sandstone to form large and picturesque tunnels. I also took them to Baldwin Street, and then we went to St. Clair Beach for dinner.

On Friday we headed to Queenstown, where we spent two nights, enjoyed some delicious meals, and even rode a gondola up to the top of a tall hill where the view was spectacular. As we were about to leave to go back down, my dad and I decided that we had to do the luge ride, which is similar to a go-cart track that goes about 800 meters downhill. Quite a silly little ride, but well worth it. We met up with my flatmate Sam and her parents for dinner at the Speight's Ale House, as they happened to be in Queenstown for the weekend too. Good food and great company, and a perfect end to our time in Queenstown.

On Sunday we headed out to Milford Sound for a cruise, which was absolutely beautiful. I've heard that Milford is typically quite rainy, but we lucked out and had a beautiful clear day. We then drove back to Te Anau for the night, which was a sleepy little town, but perfect for the time we spent there.

We got back into Dunedin yesterday, and my parents came over to dinner at my flat. My Kiwi host Abby had cooked some Silverside meat that her parents had given her, and we had roasted veggies, salad, and wine. It was a perfectly relaxed dinner, and it provided an opportunity for my parents to get to know my flatmates and friends better. It was the perfect end to our great weekend together.

I have my first assignments due this week, so time to get back into the student mindset. It was great to get away from Dunedin for a few days and explore other parts of the South Island with my parents, but I'm also glad to be back in my little flat!

Boulders & Beaches

I've loved exploring Dunedin, but there are loads of places nearby that I want to explore as well. Last Friday, my flatmate Sam and a couple other friends and I rented a car and drove to the Moeraki Boulders, which are about an hour drive away from Dunedin. We picked up a rental car and headed out at about 11 am, and stopped in a little town for breakfast/lunch/a break. It was a rainy day, but once we got to the boulders it was totally worth it. The beach was beautiful and the boulders are really cool. They were a lot smaller than I thought, but it's crazy because apparently they're a geologic mystery.  My Kiwi host thinks they look like dinosaur poop, but I think they look more like giant eggs. We decided to stop at the Evansdale Cheese Factory on the way home, and got to sample some deliciously fresh cheese. Overall, it was a nice little day trip, and a good way to escape Dunedin for a few hours.

On Saturday morning, I went to the Otago Farmer's Market at the train station. There were tons of booths with fresh fruit, baked goods, and other good things. I bought some nectarines, pears, and blackberries, along with a chocolate croissant. Delicious.

Yesterday (Sunday) Abby, Sam and I went out to St. Clair beach and we all got burgers at a local cafe before lounging on the beach. It was a beautiful day, and nice to relax in the sun. After heading back and sitting in the sun for awhile longer, Abby and I decided it was too hot, and that the best solution was to go for a swim in the freezing cold water at St. Clair. We drove back and jumped into the chilly salty water, and then dried off on the beach. So cold but absolutely necessary!

My parents made it to Auckland, and will be flying into Dunedin on Thursday morning! I'm looking forward to driving to Queenstown and Milford Sound with them this weekend!