I didn't know that 4 months could go by so fast. Four months ago today I was getting into Auckland, without luggage and not having a clue of what New Zealand was like. Now I have 6 days to get everything in that I want to do while here.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to Rotorua. It smells. Bad. Like rotten eggs. And sulfur. Because one day it will probably be one giant pit of boiling mud.


Those are bubbles in mud. The mud doesn't smell. Everything else does though.


New boiling spots are popping up everyday. This was just part of the park ground. No barriers around it. Yet. Soon probably. Once it's big enough to fall into or something. But you can't sue in New Zealand, so I don't really know why they have so many barriers around dangerous things.


A boiling lake. And dead trees. We couldn't see the path in front of us more than about 5 feet because of all the steam.


Wednesday morning we went out to breakfast to the Fat Dog Cafe, which was highly recommended by Lonely Planet. You pick who the nuts are in my family :)


After breakfast, I got some alone time when I went for a short hike in a Redwood Forest. What??? In 1901, they replanted a forest with California Redwoods to replace a forest that had been logged. So Kat felt right at home. And to show that she felt at home, she drove on the right side of the road - which is the wrong side of the road.


I'm all about signs.


This was the weirdest candy store I've ever been to. So many things in New Zealand don't make sense - at least not when you compare them to the US. And this store was one of them. It's in the middle of nowhere, as are most things, but if they'd put this in a town, instead of on a back road, there might have been more than the 6 customers I saw there (including the 3 other people I was there with and myself).

Another thing that doesn't make sense - Zorbing. Someone thought it'd be a good idea to invent a hamster-like ball that was big enough for people to get in and then put some water in it and roll it down a hill with 1, 2 or 3 people in it. I went with Kat. We rolled down a hill in a giant hamster ball. How much sense does that make? Not much. Possibly the weirdest thing I've ever done. It was a lot of fun though. Definately worth it, as are most things I do here.

This ends my study break. Second final tomorrow. Wish me luck. Still 3 left. And 6 days. See you in a week.

I know I just posted yesterday, and I haven't been posting as often, so this is a surprise to everyone, and wait until you read what it's about.

I almost went to church this morning...

I live in Railway Campus, in the center of downtown Auckland (hence the address I gave you to send me things). When I moved in, Vector Arena (the biggest arena in New Zealand) was almost finished being built right next door. If you live on the right (or wrong, depending on how you look at this comment) side of Railway, you can look into the Arena, and the people there can look into your room. Awkward. The first performance there was Red Hot Chili Peppers in late April. Since that show, there might have only been one other performance, but I don't remember what it was.

And then Friday and Saturday, June 8-9 (yesterday and today), Benny Hinn Ministries came with the Miracle Crusade. I'd never heard of him before, but I've realized I may as well live in a hole based on what I don't know about the world. So you might know who he is. A few of my friends were really interested in going to see miracles, so I decided to go too, I had nothing else to do. Thought it'd be interesting.

We didn't go Friday night. But we walked through the crowd of people. An hour before it started. There were hundreds of people. It was a surprise. We didn't think people would actually go. There was more traffic last night on our walk to dinner than I've ever seen in any part of New Zealand. Not that it says much, but think of rush hour in the US. On any major road. Near any city. That's not quite what it was like. At all. But I'm able to drive in Auckland (on the left side of the road) and I don't do city driving - just to give you a sense of what traffic is usually like. Anyway, there were tons of people showing up for this event. Parking was a problem - for them, not me because I don't have a car.

This morning, Anna and I walked next door not knowing really what we were getting outselves into. It started at 10. We got there at 9. The line was already looping around the entire space that was there. So we got tickets (for free - titled "Holy Spirit Miracle Crusade Partner Pass"...I don't know who's "Partner" I was part of) from people handing them out. We stood in the giant group of people that turned into a line. I felt like a sheep. Especially when we were herded into gates. And then let through doors instead of being sheared. We finally got seats inside around 9:45. At 10, someone started talking and telling us what to expect...a 3 hour sermon. He said, "Those of you who were here last night [what??? people go to more than one of these???] know what it's like. I don't know what your pastors at home allow [ummm...neither do I], but there's no moving around once it starts. You can't get up and leave [oh shoot]. You don't want to distract the person next to you, they could miss the words that they need to hear." So we got up and left before it started.

Getting out of the giant room was easy. Then we were in empty halls because everyone was inside listening. But getting out of the actual building was harder. A few people were still coming in. We were the non-believers who were leaving. We were asked a couple times if we had passes "to get out" [you need a pass to get out???] We showed them what we had. They said we had to go back in and get passes because once we left with only what we had, we wouldn't be able to go back in. Then we awkwardly had to tell them that we weren't planning to go back in.

I guess we were the black sheep of that crowd.

Instead of staying there, I went to the farmer's market and Anna went back to bed. Tonight is the miracle crusade event (I don't really know what word to use there). We're going out to dinner instead.

Daddy, is that your old house? Because if it's not, then I don't know that I'll ever see it. And then I was sketchy for no reason. That was my adventure when we had a rental car for an extra day in Auckland unexpectedly.


Just made me happy that I saw this and actually had my camera to take the picture. I was in Devonport - 2 volcanic cones with a town west of them. I went on the last Wednesday of classes because I didn't have class until 5. I finally took advantage of my free time in the last month of classes. If only I'd realized at the beginning that I wouldn't be here forever.


The All Blacks getting ready to do the Haka - the Maori war dance. You can see it on youTube. Or wait until I get back because I taped it. But it's from the back. Eh, whatever. It was really cool. It was the reason I went.

After classes ended, my friend Sara and I went back up to the northern tip of New Zealand. You can see/read more about that area in general in a post from 3 months ago. This time we camped, didn't take tours and figured everything out on our own. So after leaving Auckland, and all of our other friends, we made a few tops on the way up.


EELS ARE DISGUSTING!!!! But we also saw a kiwi, which is something you HAVE to do in NZ. They're shy. And nocturnal. So they aren't spotted often. This one was in a kiwi house, so it wasn't wild, but still. Saw a kiwi. Also, there was a glowworm cave at this stop. That was scary. The glowworms were cool - they were on the ceiling of the cave and it looked like stars. But apparently I'm a lot more afraid of the dark than I ever knew. We held onto each other and our flashlight barely worked. It was sketchy. Sara said, at the beginning, "Shine the light over there so we know there aren't any creepy people in here." There were no people in there.

Our goal had been to sleep on 90 Mile Beach. Unfortunately, there is no camping allowed there.


We got the southern end just for sunset, so we played there for a little while. There were cars driving on the beach, and I had to use my persuasive abilities to talk Sara out of driving on it. We stayed for a little bit, then went to the northern part (94 miles away) and camped in a camp ground. It rained. I hate camping in the rain. Not really. But having a more reliable tent than what we had would have been nice. I love camping actually. And making camp food.


This hopefully looks familiar. If not, then you can go back to March 4 and read that post. And look at those pictures. This is the very northern tip of New Zealand - Cape Reinga. This is where the spirits of the dead depart the earth, according to Maori legend. In the ocean, the Pacific meets the Tasman Sea. Those waves can be 10m high, according to Lonely Planet, in stormy weather. Luckily, it wasn't stormy.

What surprised me most was that everything was still so bright. The weather was definately cooler from March, but the grass is still the neon green I remember it, and the sky and water are still perfect blue. This really is the winterless north.


Turning our back on the northern tip, Sara and I took a short hike down to the beach that was at the bottom of the hill, and then walked along the beach, hoping to make it to the sand dunes at the end and play on them for a while. We were getting close, and had seen about 8 rainbows already, with no rain, when it started raining. This is pre-rain picture. It came on fast and only lasted about 10 minutes, but by the time it'd gone, we were wet and had run part of the way back in sand that you sank up for 4 inches in. So we continued back, ate food and drove to giant sand dunes that we played on instead.




The last time I was in the north, Sara opted not to go on the tour to the very northern tip. That was the inspiration behind this trip - she wanted to see it. The tour had taken us to these dunes, given us sand boards (like boogy boards) and we went down head first. It was so much fun. Since we didn't have boards, we made due with what we did have - legs. We walked up to the top, and ran down. Sara said it was one of her favorite things in New Zealand. I have to agree. The whole trip was incredible. It was a lot of driving, but we both agreed that it was the perfect length. I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of this travelling thing. Too bad it's almost done.

12 days + 3 finals + 1 more NZ trip + 1 long flight home = SO WORTH IT!!!

I had sushi for the first time last week. I liked it. But I'm cutting fish out of my diet when I leave New Zealand. I've learned too much about fisheries and the non-sustainability of them in my classes to be OK with eating fish. But it's so good! So leaving here will be the end of it. But last week, Butler (the program I'm here with) had a farewell dinner for us at a Japanese restaurant. And there was so much food. And it was all delicious. I'm not usually a fan of Japanese food, mostly because I don't know what any of it is so I never know what to order, but this was all ordered for us. So it was easy, and I didn't have to make any deicions, I just tried some of everything. And it was so nice to be able to eat so much and not have to pay or do the cooking.

This weekend trip was cut short. By choice. Friday afternoon, 8 of us drove about 4 hours to Turangi where we camped for the night. It was cold. There was a siren going off in the middle of the night. The next morning we drove by a prison. It was so cold. I don’t think anyone slept. So when we got up at 6:45 to drive to Taupo or to the Tongariro Crossing, we decided we wouldn’t camp a second night and we’d stay in a hostel instead. So we quickly packed up.

Lisa and I went to Taupo for the day where we took out my Lonely Planet guide and did enough of the must dos to not have to spend a second day there. We had planned to rent bikes for the day and bike along Lake Taupo, which is a crater lake from an old volcanic eruption that was huge. We were sent on a wild goose chanse in search of a bike rental place, and never found one. So instead we drove to a few different places.


We saw Huka Falls. It’s on the Waikato River, the longest river in New Zealand. There are enough hydroelectric dams along the river so that it provides 15% of all power in New Zealand. There was so much water.







Next we went to Craters of the Moon. It’s a geothermal area. Lots of steam. Lots of stink. Lots of boiling mud. It was really neat. There was a one hour walk along a raised track that we went on. At some points you could hear the steam coming out, not just see it. It was really cool…hot, but cool.

By the end of that walk, it was around noon and we were getting hungry. So we went to Honey Hive, where they have bees living there and tons of honey products. There were free tastings, so I tried about 10 different kinds of honey. I never knew there were different kinds, or that it’d taste different. But it does. Some were really gross. And some had fruits in them – there was a sticky date one, a fennel one, a kiwi one, a fig one and probably others that I don’t remember. And then there were just a lot of different kinds of honey from different kinds of trees – Pahutakawa, Rewarewa, Kamahi, and lots of others that I’ve learned about in one of my classes. It was a lot of sugar.

Eventually, I was sick of being in a town and shopping, so I took my book and read on the shore of Lake Taupo. There were crazy ducks. They followed me. About 40 of them. I thought they would attack when I sat down to read, but they didn’t.

Finally, our friends who were hiking the Tongariro Crossing started calling to tell us when they expected to be done so we could pick them up from one end of the trail and bring them back to their car at the other end. Turns out, one friend had gotten lost, yadda yadda yadda, I was preparing myself to hike in from the end she was finishing at with food, clothes and flashlights in case she got caught hiking the last part in the dark. That ended up not being necessary because she’s a super fast hiker we learned – the 7-9 hour hike took her about 5. She ended up being fine and having great views. Our other friends, the ones who didn’t get lost, couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of them for the first 4 hours. It rained, and was windy, and they were not all dressed appropriately for that kind of weather, so strangers gave them extra clothing. I learned all of this when we picked them up (with snacks that were a surprise for them, and much appreciated) and was really glad I’d hiked the crossing with the tramping club a month ago, and was not regretting not hiking it again with them yesterday.

So instead of spending another night away from our bedrooms that we are starting to consider home, we drove back after the hike because most people were tired, sore, wet, hungry, cranky and wanted a shower. Since we still have the rental car today, we’re heading up to Whangaparoa Peninsula where we had our orientation.

Hi.

I leave in 4 weeks. That means I have 4 weekends left. And probably only 4 more trips. If that. One weekend I'll be taking finals. And packing.

Anyway. Let's not wish away my time here. Who knows if I'll be back.


Last week, 9 of us went out to dinner at SkyTower, the space needle building. We got dressed up. I commented on how we were the group of people I'd make fun of with mom. So I did make fun of us a little bit in my head. Not really my scene, but it was a lot of fun. Once. And if I go back before I leave, I now know that you're allowed to wear jeans there. I felt a little over dressed.


Hot Water Beach on Coromandel Peninsula. The weather is getting colder, and it was raining a little bit on Saturday, so seeing everyone in bikinis (and some guys in speedos???) was funny. We dug holes (hard to do because we didn't have shovels and the hot spring was running through where you did - otherwise you're digging a hole and it'll fill with cold water and where's the fun in that on a cold day - so it would fill up before you got deep). It was a losing battle. But we dug deep enough to lay in them for a few hours.


It's the most crowded beach I've seen in New Zealand. I could not imagine it in the tourist season. But it was fun to do. Once.


After camping for the night in Hahei (have fun with that name), we went to Cathedral Cove. I think it's supposed to be really pretty, but again, the weather wasn't great. Oh well. It was fun. I was on the beach all weekend. Rough, right?


Tuesday, my only class was cancelled, so I took the opportunity to write a paper and then go to the aquarium that's about an hour's walk away. So I walked. There were 2 meter long sting ray!!! They're huge!!! I hadn't really thought about how big 2 meters was, so I was pretty blown away when I saw them. Everything is bigger in New Zealand I guess...except the roads. And cars.


I thought these were emperor penguins and I was pretty excited about that. But I was wrong. They're king penguins. And there were some Gentoo penguins. But the king penguins were bigger than I was expecting too.

OK, I'm sick of posting lots. So you're all spared the need of skipping things. This is it for now. Off to my first class soon in over 48 hours. Tough life, I know.

Last Wednesday, I went sailing. On an America’s Cup boat. At the beginning of the semester, back in February, which feels a lot longer ago than it actually is, I won a free sailing trip worth $135. That was pretty nice. So I spent 2 hours on a boat with about 30 other people, none of whom I knew, but everyone else knew someone. There were 2 company groups there, and then me, so that was awkward. It could have been a lot more fun if it’d been a smaller group of people I didn’t know or if I’d known someone. [I learned I’d rather be alone than with people I don’t know.] But it was cool to have done it. I got to steer. And crank a handle to move a sail (they called it grinding, that just doesn’t sound right if you don’t know what it actually is).


The sail. I didn't get very good pictures of the boat, sorry Todd.


It was a touch job driving, hence barely hanging onto the wheel. That's Rangitoto in the background.


Auckland is the City of Sails. For good reason. Water all around it.

This weekend I went to Great Barrier Island with Kat, Kate and Kate’s boyfriend who is visiting from home, Sam. We camped. I was the one who had everything we needed, that was fun. And I was the one who thought of things we’d need. So we had 1 fork, 1 knife, 1 spoon, 1 bowl for the 4 of us all weekend. It was a good weekend.

We didn’t have a plan going into the weekend, so when we got off the ferry (which turned out to be 5 hours long), we were surprised to find we couldn’t walk to a campground. So we got a ride. [I learned how to not get seasick – take medication, lie on your back and close your eyes.] We spent the afternoon hanging out at the beach and at our tent (which was in the middle of a field surrounded by sheep that were fenced in, but could get under the fence, so we had friends) and recovering from getting up at 5:30 to walk through Auckland and catch our ferry. I love camping because there’s an easy excuse to go to bed early – it’s dark.

Friday night was weird. It rained. It was windy. They woke us up a couple times. Kate didn’t like it. (She and Sam aren’t big campers.) Then at 2:30 am, there was an ATV going around in circles on the field that we were calling home for the weekend. We all woke up and thought we were going to get run over. When the light was directed at our tents, it was scary. Finally, after the ATV died a couple times, the driver realized there were people there and they went to the beach to ride. But it was 2:30 am. What were you thinking???

Oh well. Saturday night, the only thing stopping us from sleeping on the beach instead of in tents was the fear of being run over by an ATV in the middle of the night.


We were camping about 100ft from here. So we spent a lot of time on the beach, with no one else there. There are about 800 (give or take as much as you want) living on the island in the off season, about 5000 in the summer. So there was hardly anyone on the island. There would be cars driving by the field we were staying in, going to get shellfish from the beach. But other than that, there was no reason for anyone to drive down there. It was at the end of a gravel road.


This is Port Fitzroy, the furthest town from where we got off the ferry in Tryphena. There is nothing on this island. No real towns. A few permanent houses. Plenty of summer homes. A main road that is paved. A couple gravel roads. A couple schools. Lots of beaches. That's about it. It was great to spend a weekend there.


This island only has about 30 miles of paved roads. It took an hour to get to Port Fitzroy. And we weren’t even as far from it as you can be. On the way back, we got dropped off to walk to a hot spring. A natural one. A real one, in my mind. It was hot. And smelly. And you couldn't put your head under because you can catch some kind of fatal virus that gets up your nose. And I might or might not be making some of that up. There was a sign about something being fatal if you went under because something could get up your nose.

The rest of the day was for being lazy again. It was a rough life.

Sunday was another adventure. The four of us hiked up Needle Rock which took about an hour including a long walk from our tents. The trail was not well marked, but as long we were going up, we figured we were fine. We spent a little while at the top, looking at the ocean and a lot of the island and getting sunburned. Then Kat and I started down, with Kate and Sam telling us they’d meet us back at the tents.

Remember how I said the trail wasn’t well marked? Well, going down wasn’t as easy to be in somewhat the right place. After a little bit, I turned around and told Kat that I wasn’t on the path anymore, was she? No. Ok. As long as we’re going down, we’re ok? Suuure… Everything bad that could happen was going through my head. We had no food. We had plenty of water. We had no more warm clothes than what we were wearing. Our ferry was that afternoon. How long would it take Kate and Sam to realize we were missing? How would anyone be able to find us on an island that’s 30 miles long, with hardly any people living on it, so there are lots of forested parts? I kept my cool. Later Kat told me that she was deferring all responsibility and decisions to me. Great. For the first time since being in New Zealand, I was wishing there were more cars so I’d be able to hear which way the road was.

From the few cars that did drive by, I realized we had gone too far down the hill and had passed where the road was. The cars were above us. So I started bushwhacking toward the sound of cars. When we found the road again, we’d only been lost for about 30 minutes. And we came out of the woods about 20 ft from where the trail head was. Kate and Sam later told us they lost the trail too.


There's the black sheep in every family. These guys lived about 20 ft from where we slept.


You know the reality show Survivor? There’s a British version called Castaway. It’s being filmed on Great Barrier Island right now. Has been since February. Our van driver told us that they’ve been writing funny things on all the cow signs.

One more thing…
I’m coming home for reals. I leave Auckland June 20 at 9:45 pm, 5 hours and 15 minutes after my last final finishes. I get into LA June 20 at 2:40 pm. (Think that one over.) So call me starting at about 4 pm Pacific time (7 pm Eastern time) it’ll make my day. Then I don’t leave LA until 11:40 pm on June 20 and I get into Boston at 7:43 am June 21. So, see you then. I start my job June 26 but will leave for VT June 25. That’s my life.

Off to class.

I'm starting to realize that I'm coming home soon. I have plans for almost every free time I have left. So all my free time is scheduled, what an oxymoron. That's scary. I love having the freedom (and excuse) to do whatever I want and to spend everything I have. I might start doing that back in the US. But coming home is starting to be a bigger reality. I have confirmed my summer internship! I'm working in VT with Green Mountain Club this summer for 7 weeks. I emailed the travel agent about my flight home and should have a confirmation within the next 48 hours (that's my guess, she didn't say anything since it's still Sunday in NY). If everything goes how I want it to, I'll fly out of Auckland June 22 and get to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands on June 21 (not a typo). Then spend a few days hiking, relaxing on the beach and snorkeling before flying out on June 25 and probably arriving in Boston on June 26. At this point, I'm planning to spend as little time at home as I can manage so I can finish my internship before Sophia's wedding and then have a week at the end of the summer to spend at home getting ready for student teaching. Making the decision to go to Rarotonga was really hard. It was either spending a few days there or spending a few extra days at home. As much as I miss everything, I knew that if I didn't stop in Rarotonga (or Fiji, those were my 2 options for a free stop over), I'd regret it. So I'm sucking it up and spending very little time at home. I might regret this, we'll find out in a month a few weeks.

I love learning new things, just not in class. This weekend was incredible. It was socially acceptable to be covered in cow poo. Being covered in cow poo is not so exciting, but it's nice to not care about what is on your clothes. And to know that there is someone else who is at least as dirty as you are.

Friday afternoon, I took a public bus with 4 other Americans on my program to Rangiriri. It was about a 2 hour ride because of traffic (who knew...), it only took about an hour to get back yesterday. When we got off, Joyce was there to pick us up and she was the most welcoming person I've met. She was so happy to have us there. She and Trevor own a 500 acre dairy farm and have about 450 cows that they milk twice a day - a small farm. They're from Australia and used to have a farm in Papatoetoe, so we talked about that. Apparently it's not quite the same as anyone reading this will remember it. I'm getting closer to having a real plan to go there. It's not a farming town anymore, it's part of Manukau city, which I don't think was there 40 years ago. And it's not a good place to be at night.

Joyce and Trevor have retired a few times, but can't seem to stay away from farming. They love it. They said that they aren't very social, so their social life is to have people come stay with them for a few days. Like we did. It seemed like a bed and breakfast, but I've never been to one, so I'm not an expert on the subject. I've never adjusted to being in someone else's house so fast, and it was really sad to leave yesterday and come back to Auckland.

Friday night, we ate a huge dinner and then sat around and talked. It was so nice to be in a house again! I miss that so much! Being in a dorm building just doesn't cut it. The 4 of us all shared a room and we had the comfiest beds I've slept in in New Zealand. We had the nicest bathroom I've seen here. We woke up to cows mooing. And then a delcious huge breakfast. As long as we were still eating and the food was disappearing, Joyce kept making more. There was always more than we could finish, but we'd keep eating because it was there. And there was always dessert.

Saturday morning, Olivia (Trevor and Joyce's 6 year old granddaughter) showed us around the farm a little bit. She brough us to see the 4 kittens they have, the calves that get sold each Monday (there are about 400 calves born each year), the hay bales that we climbed on and the horses that we got to ride later.


The calves are taken away from their moms after a day and kept for about a week before they're brough to the calf market to be sold.


It's not as cool to do this at 21, but hanging out with a 6 year old made it more fun. She didn't seem to get that we were three times her age, and her size. We managed to get into spaces I didn't think we'd fit in, but then did somehow. On the bus ride to the farm, I had told Kat that I hoped there were kids there. Then there was Olivia. It was great. I miss kids.

Joyce and Trevor brought us all to another piece of land down the road where they had just bought some more cows to fatten up and sell. Joyce and Olivia lay in the bed of the truck under a cover. I know another grandmother who would probably do that :) While they went and looked at the cows, we hung out with Olivia some more. She's hilarious. I love kids.

After getting back to their farm, we got to all get on Patchy - Olivia's favorite horse. Saturday was only the second time Olivia got to ride him, she'd just upgraded from a pony. I love that she's growing up around horses and the amount of confidence she has with them - and all the animals on the farm - is incredible. It makes sense because she's always around them, but it's still surprising too.


I was the first of the 4 Americans to get a ride on Patchy. And the only one of us to get to ride up and down the driveway. That plan might have been srapped after I fell off. Oops. He spooked at a puddle - they're scary you know - when he was cantering, and I went off the side. Then I got back on. Because that's what you do. And I got back on on Sunday too. I love horses. And riding them.


After a huge and delicious lunch (and dessert), we went out on the back of a pickup truck to get the cows. Not that the pickup is really needed. As soon as the gate opens, the cows know where to go.


To the barn!!!


I GOT TO MILK A COW!!! That was actually a goal of mine before coming here. And I'm really glad I got to. I got poop on my hands. Gross. But cool, I got to milk a cow!!! They whole operation is so structured, and organized. I didn't know that it was so easy to manipulate 450 animals. It is. There a really slowly rotating platform with food in the middle, so one cow at a time walks on, eats, gets hooked up the milking pump thing (ya, didn't learn the word for it), the platform rotates, the pump gets removed, the cow backs off and another one takes its place. I asked so many questions. Where does the milk go? Why is Mark milking each cow a little bit on his hand before the pump goes on? Does it only take one rotation to milk a cow? How many are there? How long does the whole thing take? etc. etc. I think Trevor loved it. I loved it. Alfred - teach me about dairy farming?


I got to put the pump on too!!! Sophia and Adrian - remember when we were at that party where they were milking cows? (Wow, that's a weird question) This wasn't nearly as smelly as I remember it, and it was much more organized. But I was a lot younger then. So I wasn't really paying attention as much. This was cooler. But everything is cooler in New Zealand.


Instead of worrying about being pooped on for 2 1/2 hours (note to self - don't hang out under a cow's butt), I went outside and played with the kittens. This one was really hyper at first, but then fell asleep, purring, on my lap. So happy. Such a good day!


Sunday morning was our last chance to see stuff on their farm. The 4 of us went for a walk around the farm and just took in the last of being away from Auckland for the weekend. Joyce came out and showed us the calves that had been born the night before. This is one of them. With its mama. Then we got another chance to ride Patchy (note to self - don't wear white pants on a farm) and eat some more food, read the paper, sit in the sun, do whatever. Then a bus ride back to Auckland, where it was no longer OK to smell like cow poo. Oh well. It was still a 20 minute walk fro mthe bus back to our dorm, so we might have had a lot of funny looks because of the smell we were giving off. Oh well. Smelly Americans. What's new?

Time for city life again - grocery shopping, planning this coming weekend (Great Barrier Island?), eating a kiwi fruit (there are 2 kinds of kiwis here: the people and the bird, the fruit is kiwi fruit) and eventually getting my act together to go to class and/or do some work. Four weeks of classes left. Crazy.

Miss you.

There's a 5k roadrace sponsored by a local bar every Tuesday. So I did that last week. Then I ran again on Wednesday. But I haven't met runners high yet. I think I'm doing the roadrace every Tuesday with Anna. You get a beer after. Or an orange juice, but sounds better to me, especially after running. So I haven't met runners high, but hikers high is my friend.

1. RE: one-way Milford Sound tunnel... I drove through it at 7, after the light was off. I just followed the car in front of me. None of the people (Americans) I've talked to about it know what would happen if there was a car coming the other way. But backing up seems like the most logical solution. The tunnel isn't too long, so it wouldn't be too bad.

2. Study abroad has killed brain cells. Maybe because one of my lecturers thinks we're all morons I'm starting to become dumber.
2a. Example: "If you have two - signs and put them together, they make a +." Thanks for that, I will actually always remember it.
2b. Example: Question on my test Thursday night... "What are the 4 types of waves earthquakes generate?" My answer: "Tsunamis..." and then I couldn't think of anymore, thinking it must have been something that came up in one of the lectures I didn't go to and wasn't in the online powerpoint. It never even occurred to me that the question was referring to the types of seismic waves. Starting that grade out at a 90. Oh well, a 58 is a C. Weird.

3. This weekend, on a tramping club trip, I learned lots.
3a. Don't fall into false advertising.
Example: My raincoat is not waterproof even though EMS thinks it is. It rained a lot on Saturday and I got wet through it.
3b. Fleece is not as quick drying as you might think.
Example: It rained a lot on Saturday and my fleece under my raincoat got wet. It took all night in the drying room (giant dryer?) to dry. My fleece pants got soaked and still are soaked 2 days later.
3c. Hiking in the rain sucks.
Example: Jeremy (leader of the trip): "If you want to go on the lake walk, there is no shelter, there are no trees, so it will be a 6 hour walk in the rain. If you're not confident in your rain gear, it won't be fun." Turns out he was right.
3d. Listen to people who know what they're doing.
Example: See above example. And another one. Jeremy: "If you're afraid of heights or you don't like slippery slopes, you might not like Mt Ngarahoe [try to figure out how to say that one, it took me about 2 months to learn it]."
3e. I'm hardcore. Says Lisa and I'm starting to believe her.
Example: I was the only girl of about 15 people who hiked Mt Ngarahoe fast enough to do that and the fancy lunch (see pictures and captions).
3f. I love the tramping club.
Example: I want to be friends with just about every person I met/saw again this weekend and it was the last trip of the semester.
3g. I love the north island again.
Example: I hiked Tongariro Crossing and it made my week (probably more than just my week, but this was coming on the heels of south island adventures).
3h. I drink a lot more water than the normal person.
Example: I drank upwards of 5 litres of water yesterday when most people I was hiking with drank no more than 2. All day. I've already almost had 2 today and all I've done is sat around (it's not noon yet).

As I've already alluded to, I went hiking this weekend with the tramping club. All of the following pictures are from Sunday because Saturday was boring. The original plan? Do Tongariro Crossing on Saturday (with Mt Ngarahoe as an optional side trip) and then do Mt Ruapehu on Sunday with a fancy lunch on top. That's a tramping club tradition. But then it rained. So instead we took a long walk in the rain on Saturday (stupid choice) and did Tongariro Crossing (rated as the best day walk in NZ) on Sunday with the fancy champagne lunch at the Emerald Lakes after those who wanted hiked Ngarahoe. There were 4 options for Sunday still:
1. Hike from Ketetahi to Mangatepopo (more names for you to work out how to say) which is backwards. But the track isn't a loop so we needed vans on either end. You could choose to hike Ngarahoe is you wanted.
2. Hike from Mangatepopo and not to Ngarahoe. Do the champagne lunch, or not. Hike Tongariro or not.
3. Hike Ngarahoe at a slower pace and not do the lunch.
4. Hike Ngarahoe super fast and do the luncheon after.

I chose to hike Ngarahoe slow. Hah. Turns out I don't know how to hike slow. It's all or nothing, and I usually pick all.

Both groups hiking Ngarahoe started out together, with me a little behind them for some reason. So when we got to the bottom of Ngarahoe, I caught up, took a shorter break than them, and then we all started together. I guess it was fast? I wouldn't have chosen to go any slower though. Oh right, pictures help when I tell my stories...


That's Mt Ruapehu. You might remember (from an earlier entry or the newspaper) that in March there was a lahar in NZ. It was on that volcano. That's where the summit luncheon was supposed to be. I can't imagine hiking that after all the other hiking though.


You might recognize this beast from such trilogies as Lord of the Rings. It's kind of a big deal. The volcano I mean. It's Mt Doom in the movies. This is Mt Ngarahoe (ok, I'll tell you how to say it easier, the 'g' is silent and the 'e' is long). That's the ACTIVE volcano that I climbed. Climbing an active volcano was one of the things I wanted to do while here. Check. I was considering not doing it after Jeremy talked about a fear of heights. And when I heard about coming down it. It takes about 2 hours (fast) to go up, and 15 minutes to get down. The whole volcano is scree - ash and pebbles and rocks from explosions - so you run down it. Dig your heels in and run. WHAT??? ARE YOU CRAZY??? YES??? OK, I'll follow because it's that or being stuck up here alone.


This was from part way up the first hill. It was a good uphill too. It was before Ngarahoe, so I'd already had to work. Some elevation for those who care... we started at about 1225m and Ngarahoe summit is 2291m [3498ft climb from carpark to Ngarahoe summit, 333ft taller than Mt Monadnock; I just worked all that out, and I'm even happier with myself right now]. Not too bad right? Remember that it's all ash and loose rock. Two steps up, one step back. Sometimes it was one step up, 2 steps back. Fun. (Actually, it was a lot of fun.) Oh, but the point of me putting this picture up is because you can see Mt Taranaki in the distance. (I need to find a good map to put on here.) Mt Taranaki is in the southwest corner of the north island. I was in the middle of the north island. It was far away. It was neat to see it, it might be the only time I do.


MT DOOM!!! That's Mt Ngarahoe. Looks like Mt Doom to me. Remember in the other picture that it was really clear? As soon as we started hiking it, clouds moved in. And didn't leave. Oh well. No views from the top. I didn't even care. I HIKED MT DOOM!!! I don't remember how far up this is, but the whole thing was like that. Parts were worse farther up. And running down was so freaking scary!!! I never would have hiked this without someone who had before and knew what they were talking about when they said run down. I was the second one to start running down. That ended soon. I let braver/crazier people pass. I fell. A lot. It was kind of like skiing? Not too much, but that's the closest comparison I can make. I slid down on my butt for about 25ft. That was an accident. It hurts to sit. And move, but that's not just from the fall. When I got to the bottom, my boots were full of ash. And rock. I don't think my boots have ever taken so much abuse. Christmas list: WATERPROOF tall hiking boots. (And a raincoat that works!)


Steam at the top of Ngarahoe. I thought there was gonna be boilding mud in the crater. Apparently that's Ruapehu. Bummer. But steam was cool. Until I saw it along the rest of the track. Oh well. There was snow near this steam. That was cool.


The only girl at the top from our group! There had been 2 girls who said they would hike Ngarahoe slower. The fast group was all guys. The slow and fast group mostly combined, and I was the only girl who made it up that fast. I was up there with about 15 guys. I felt outnumbered, but I've never felt so confident. I was so proud of myself. By the end of the day, 3 other girls had summitted, but I was the only one to make it to the top and the lunch.


The summit luncheon is a dress up occasion. Most of the guys at the top of Ngarahoe had their suits with them, so they put them on...naturally.
Guy that I can remember his name having trouble tying his tie: "That's what a wife is for. Oops."
Me: "I feel outnumbered."
There were some people (me included) who didn't have their fancy clothes at the top. It was either dress up or dress down. So the other people got topless, or as topless as is socially acceptable in public for a girl in my case. It was so cold!!! Had to be quick about it. Then there was the run down. Crazy.


After making it down to the bottom again, emptying my shoes getting back on the Crossing track and taking a bathroom break, I met up with Lisa and Becca who had summitted Tongariro (1967m) as their side trip. We walked down another hill that was ash (I forgot how to normally walk downhill and still tried running, which was easier here since it was only ash and not the giant rocks that would end up above my ankles and scraping up my legs) and came to the Emerald Lakes where people were already dressed up and opening food and champagne. I loved it.




Not many girls got dressed up. I'm all about doing weird things in NZ I guess. It was awesome. Someone said we should do this every weekend, and I agree. Tramping club people are so much fun!!! I found who I want to be friends with here, and there are no more trips. Poo.


It was a long day. I started at Mangatepopo roadend and finished at Ketetahi roadend. You do the math. My feet are yelling at me today. They're saying, "Don't ever do that to us again, Lori." So many blisters. Or just tender spots. Walking is not fun. Not fun at all. And I have to walk (in the rain) to class in an hour. That'll be a good time.


After the Emerald Lakes, it wasn't 4 hours like the sign said, but it was long. And this was our view until we got to woods for the last 30-45 minutes. It was so pretty. But I have the same picture about 15 times because it's so easy to take lots and you always think the next one will be the perfect one. The track was easy, a gradual downhill, but it killed my feet. I took my shoes off as soon as we got to the end, and I haven't been able to put them back on yet. Oh man, my feet hurt. So worth it. I'm still on a hiking high. I love it.

Loving life a lot more than last weekend when I hated Auckland and the north island. Sorry, not ready to come home anymore.

Miss you, but still not ready.

1. Wedges are just big fries - steak fries, but wedge-like. And they come with sour cream and sweet chili sauce. Or aioli, which is delicious. I shouldn't be as excited about them as I am. I might get fat.

2. I'm over my homesickness. Coming back to Auckland was the saddest thing I did here, but now I'm looking forward to this weekend, and then the next and next, where my planning ends. So I'm not ready to come home anymore. Just so you know.

3. Today is ANZAC Day (I think it stands for Australia and New Zealand Armistace Commemoration). Some of my friends and I went up to the Auckland Domain (at the museum nearby) for the ANZAC Day ceremony. There was a lot of religion involved, and it was outside and a government thing because it's for veterans and current soldiers. It was interesting, I'm glad I went.

4. That's it.

Post 5k run. And it was a run. Especially for someone who doesn't run. Better than 10 min miles. Ya, that's slow, but not for someone who hasn't run for 3 weeks. And that last run was slower, broken up in half for a stretch and I was not in shape. Go me. I'm really proud of myself, that's all. But you want pictures.

After a night in Te Anau, Lisa and I drove to Dunedin. The drive was boring. Compared to everything we'd seen, the east coast was a disappointment. But we didn't know what we'd be missing if we didn't do it. So it had to be done. Oh well.


Make a note of the road on the left. That was nothing compared to some of the roads we'd been on and one we were on later that day. In Dunedin, we drove to the end of Otago Peninsula, where you're suppposed to be able to see penguins and seals. Nope. Oh well. That road was crazy. It was only a few feet above the water, but it was a cliff. And no guardrails. Sorry cars that I held up. I wasn't about to play race.


After being disappointed with Otago Peninsula, we went to Victory Beach, where you are supposed to be able to see penguins and sea lions. There were even signs for them. Nope again. But we saw a lot of sheep on the way. When they're dotting hills, it makes me think of lice. Gross, I know.


This is near the octagon - the center of Dunedin. It was a really cute city. I screwed up, should have gone there. Oh well. Better luck next time. Hah. We had a delicious meal in Dunedin. Ohhh wedges. You might make me fat. Oh, and Cadbury World is in Dunedin, so aftre we picked up Kat at the airport the next morning, we went there. And got a lot of chocolate. That's pretty much the reason I'm into running right now. My pants got tight. Oops. (Ryan - every time I write oops, I think of spoo.)


Lisa and I spent the night at the house of the person we met on our Milford Sound cruise boat. In the morning, we walked out her back door, through her garden, down to the beach, and saw this. This is her backyard. Jealous. It was so nice of her to have us spend the night there. I didn't know people did that.


After getting Kat, we drove all day. We stopped here because there had been a sign for a seal colony. And we saw it. Cool.




It took us 2 days of driving, but we made it to Marahau and Abel Tasman National Park. Yay. This is Kat and Lisa being happy to not have to drive so much anymore.


We just wanted to get to the ocean. We wanted to put our feet in the water. Is that so much to ask? Yes. Low tide is ridiculously low. And we were wearing sneakers so we were trying to not get them wet. I gave up and started walking through the water. Bad idea, I can still smell my shoes. Oops. But we made it there. And then the next morning, we woke up to high tide and the water was up to the rocks in the previous picture.


The never ending beach again.


Kayaking!!! It looked just like the pictures in brochures did. It was such a nice day. And our guide was a lot of fun. I think that's a requirement, but he was still a lot of fun.


This is what pictures in brochures look like. And we got it :)





CENTER OF NEW ZEALAND!!! In Nelson. We left Abel Tasman and drove to Nelson where we spent our last night on the south island. We didn't have a plan, and at the hostel, they suggested taking a walk to the center of New Zealand. That was an unexpected adventure. Nelson is where I really want to move to. Not Queenstown. It's close to Abel Tasman, which I want to go back to and spend more time in.


On Otago Peninsula, all Lisa and I wanted was fish and chips. There was no where to eat. So in Picton, before our ferry back to the north island, we got it. And ate near the water. And had more wedges. And kumara fries. Delicious. We made friends with a duck too. It wanted our food and came within a couple feet of taking it.


Kat, Anna and Lisa on the ferry back to the north island and Wellington. Break is over. Poo.


That's what our boat looked like.


That's the end of the south island. Sad. I hope I get back there some day.


Ryan - you get 2 shoutouts in this post. This is put up just for you. At the hostel we stayed in, we got a free dinner in the restaurant next door. It was nachos. Delicious. And I wanted all of it, so I licked my plate, as this picture clearly shows. It was a good night.

Break is over. School isn't any more fun. I can't believe my time here is 1/2 gone. Running tonight definately made me like it here better. It's a good way to get my frustration with the city out. So I'm psyched that I still have 2 months. And I'll definately be sad to leave when the time comes.

Next week I have a phone interview for a summer internship, wish me luck.

Send me emails and cards and anything. It makes me happy to know that people are reading this and thinking about me. I feel pretty cut off from the rest of the world.

Miss you all lots.

Check down farther that you've read the ones before (after kind of) this one. The newest ones are posted at the top (you knew that) but this is my third or fourth today. And they go in order (backwards if you start here) of my break and might build on each other, I don't really know.

Anyway. Left off with the end of Queenstown. Now to Te Anau and Milford Sound. Two more places that must be visited by everyone at some point in their life. Especially if they're in New Zealand. And on the south island. And if you're in New Zealand, you should only be on the south island.

It'll take a little while to get to Milford Sound because the drive there was incredible...


Me loving Lake Te Anau, the biggest lake on the south island. This is another of my favorite pictures from the last two weeks. And now you can all remember what I look like since there aren't many pictures of me on here.


I had to take a picture of sheep, and then share it. There were so many more sheep than people. Seeing people was rare. Seeing sheep was normal. I stood on the car to get a good picture.


The Mirror Lakes. They're oxbow lakes, which means nothing to the normal person, but it came up in geology last semester. So I loved the sign that told about them.


Mirron Lakes again. I don't know why they're called the mirror lakes, they weren't calm enough to act like mirrors. They were really clear though. They were neat. For a driving break.


I loved this stop. I took so many pictures of the same thing. More snow capped mountains. They really never get old. I did something funny with my camera here, and the front is a lot darker than any of the other ones I have. I like it this way.


This is what we got to look at for the 2 1/2 hour drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound. Rough. Nope. Love it!!! The road wasn't actually tilted like that. It was one of the many pictures I took while Lisa was driving by sticking my arm out the window, hoping something good would be caught, and then it was.


A tunnel?? It dug with shovels and wheel barrows. It's one lane. There's a traffic light and it's red for 15 minutes, then green for 15 minutes. We were lucky, only had to wait about 2 mintues. This is where most tourists pull over, park, take pictures and turn around because of the tunnel. Losers. And that's where the keas get the rubber around their windows and on their wipers. We were troopers and went all the way. I don't know why someone would come that far and then turn around.


Playing with the manual setting on my camera. And almost to Milford Sound and the cruise we went on...


This is what we drove through in the tunnel. And then down another road that would challenge the absurdity of Lombard Street. Without guardrails. I prefer driving to passengering on these kinds of roads. Not that I didn't trust Lisa, I just trust me more.


Snow capped mountains never get old. Me writing that probably does though.

Aside for a minute while pictures upload...today I talked to Sophia and Ryan on skype. We talked about hiking. And the only really big hike I did was Avalanche Peak on the first day (1833m and I started from 750m). But they were surprised that was the only hike I did. And for a little while, I was upset that I hadn't done more. But there's so much to see. And the great walks take a few days. I wanted to see as much as possible and spending a few days doing a great walk when I only had 13 days had been why I didn't plan to do one. I have 2 one week breaks during finals. Perhaps a longer hike then. Here comes my cruise on Milford Sound...


One of three waterfalls in Milford Sound that is constantly running. Besides those three, the other ones are seasonal and depend on snowmelt or rain.


Mitre Peak. It takes a normal person 18 hours to hike up and down it. And not just anyone can do it. Someone from Milford Sound area did it in 8 hours. Barefoot. (Amanda - I thought of you and hiking Monadnock.) Mitre Peak is the tallest of all the peaks in Milford Sound at 1683m (I love my detailed map of the south island!!!). It goes another 3000m straight down, so boats can go within inches of it.


This is one place we did get within inches of the rock wall. The tourguides put a try of glasses on the front and collected water from this waterfall. Then we got to drink it. They called it "rainbow filtered water." Cheesy. But it was good water. And I haven't gotten sick from it. Yet.


Same waterfall while water was being collected. Lisa and I were on the upper outer deck, but didn't get too wet.


Yates Point in the distance. It's the western most point of the Pacific plate. West of it is the Indo-Australian plate going under the Pacific plate at a subduction zone. I love geology...


Love this picture!!! We made it out to the open Tasman Sea where there were big waves. I got this one at the perfect time when the wave was coming up. It covered everyone down there. Lisa got it a second later when it was just water. The people were under it. We weren't in the open water too long... and good thing.


Looking back into Milford Sound (which is actually a fjord... which is an estuary with glacial beginnings, and an estuary is an area that has both fresh and salt water influences - good thing I know these things because I'm being tested on them in 2 days). Notice the cloud that is below the tops of the mountains.


Looking back into Milford Sound again. Love it. Can't get enough of it. Jealous?


We saw seals. They were sleeping. A mom and a baby. Anna and Richard had done an earlier cruise (we had driven by them on the way there and later found out it was them) and saw dolphins. Supposedly you can see penguins too. Seals are cool.


The bottom of a 15,000 year old waterfall. If global warming keeps going at its current rate, the glacier that provides the start of this waterfall will completely melt within about 15 years. We got to get soaked by this water. It was really windy at the bottom. Because of the falling water? It was neat. I'd never been on a boat and in a waterfall at the same time.


The top of that waterfall. Big things amaze me. This was a big waterfall. This is the third of the 3 continuously flowing waterfalls in Milford Sound.


Hanging valleys (vallies? that looks funny). They're evidence of different glacial periods. The valleys were carved by glaciers and the valleys at different heights were carved by glaciers in different ice ages. This is also what I was driving toward when I drove the boat. No joke. I drove the boat. Right before this, our driver had told us to turn around and look up. There were cliffs overhanging the water. It was neat. And I was really giddy because there had been free coffee that I had taken advantage of (since I was the driver back to Te Anau after the cruise). Don't give me coffee. So when I was looking up, I was laughing, and our guide was laughing at us. So I asked if I could drive. Kind of joking. Not really meaning for him to hear. I should just keep my mouth shut if I don't want people to hear things. But he said yes. So I got to drive the boat!


Mitre Peak at sunset.


Another sunset picture. We met someone whose camera had broken a couple days before and she asked us to send her pictures. We talked to her for a while after the cruise and she told us she lived in Dunedin, she's from Wales and is getting her PhD there. Then proceeded to tell us that if we're ever in Dunedin, we could have a place to stay at her house. Turns out, we were going there the next day. So we got her number, and stayed at her house for the night.

Milford Sound was great. The drive back to Te Anau was one of the only times we had to drive at night. There are a lot of possums in New Zealand. And they're an invasive species killing lots of vegetation, so the government tells you to hit them. They're nocturnal. We hadn't really seen them yet because we drove during the day. I drove back in the dark. I didn't hit any, but only because I managed to slam on the breaks soon enough to avoid hitting three. At three different times. Sorry government, find a different way to get rid of them, they're too big to hit.

That's the end of the super exciting stuff. The last big thing we did was go to Abel Tasman National Park and go kayaking. But that's the end. And there are few things in between. So much for me doing work this week and not getting through all of break. Too many requests for updates. I gave in to peer pressure. Now I just want to finish.

Lisa has pictures from break that I don't have yet, so I might do a second round of good pictures when I get those. But for now, here comes the last of break.

Picking pictures to post from Queenstown is hard, but it shouldn't be. I don't think a bad picture exists. I could put up any picture I took there, and I'd be impressed with it, I hope you guys are too.


This is Ship's Creek. On the way. It was a long drive from Franz Josef glacier to Queenstown, so we stopped a couple times to walk and stretch our legs. It was cold here, and we saw more people going in the water. They were skinny dipping, we saw them going back to their cars in only towels. COOOLLLDD!!!


I was driving at this point and decided I didn't want to miss this picture. We stopped just before a one lane bridge. Right before we left, a couple camper vans were coming up behind us and I was not excited to be behind them for a while, but they stopped to take pictures too.

RE: Cars for a minute... Kiwi drivers are crazy. So I'm apologizing in advance for any bad habits I pick up here. Like driving on the left side of the road. And having my wipers and blinkers switched. I may struggle with the change back in June. For a little while. The drive from Greymouth to Franz Josef (see post right down from here for pictures) has one cop. It was probably the only cop we saw for the first 1/2 of break. And we'd been warned not to speed along there. The speed limit between towns (which can be many kilometers) is 100km/hour. That's only about 60mph. Not too fast. So we sped. But not as much as a lot of other drivers. It's pretty normal to be passed. Often. There aren't double lines very often. It's OK to pass pretty much whenever you want. There usually aren't cars coming, so it's not a big deal. I even started passing cars. By the end, it was normal for us to be doing the passing. People even pull over to be passed on a regular basis. That's how we were driving at first. But hey, I lived.


Lake Wanaka. We stopped again for another photo shoot. Huge mountains. Huge lake. Again, why am I impressed with big things? This was near the end of the sun for this day. I drove the rest of the way to Queenstown, through a couple small towns, and then down a street that would be stiff competition for Lombard Street in San Fransisco. So steep. Lots of hairpin turns (but those are everywhere, not just on this road, but they were sharper). And it was snowing. It seemed like a one lane road in some spots. No lines on the road. It was a little scary. Oh, but the picture, Lake Wanaka, cool.

Queenstown is the place to be crazy. I thought it was a city. And that only crazy people went there. No, now I know why every tourist goes there. It's incredible. It's a big town, not a city. At least not a city after living in Auckland for 7 weeks. The downtown has lots of cute shops on brick roads. And it's surrounded by the appropriately named, Remarkables. They rise out of Lake Wakatipu.


Lisa and I didn't do crazy things. After getting up really early to get a free breakfast (anything free here is worth getting up for because it's so rare), we took a gondola up to the top of a huge hill (at night it looked like the building was floating up there). From there, we took a chair lift higher and then did the luge down. It's like go carts. But dangerous because it's easy to get distracted by the huge mountains.

We spent more than 1/2 the day up there, and ate delicious wedges. We're really into wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce. I might get adventurous and try to make them. I guess it's not too adventurous. But it'll be branching out from the salad I eat every night (not complaining, I love my salads and have a hard time making anything else because all I really want is a salad).


This was a sign in the bathroom in the building at the top of the gondola. Lisa and I both took pictures of it without talking about it until we'd both done it. Simple pleasures in life...


From the top of the gondola, and 1/2 way down the chair lift, we took lots of pictures of the Remarkables. Every time I saw them again, I'd have to catch my breath a little bit. They're amazing. Don't really know why, but they are.


Remarkables, Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown.


There was a loop at the top of the chair lift that we walked. We saw mountains that looked like they had powdered sugar on them.


The Remarkables. Enough said.


They just don't get old.


After our intense luge riding, we went to the Queenstown Botanic Gardens. Not quite the visit most people have in Queenstown. We were sharing a hostel room with a guy from Ireland who tried to go sky diving. Unfortunately both days it got cancelled because of clouds. But he went bungy jumping, or was planning to, after we left.


Thought that was random. Loved the book Into Thin Air and wanted to read it again when I saw this sign (Sophia, keep good books for me to read when I get back because I'm not reading much here and will get addicted again when I get home).


Through the woods on the edge of the gardens, we walked down to the edge of Lake Wakatipu. Lisa and I left each other for a while (as in, weren't sitting right next to each other) and I had a good life think. I was sad that I'm not able to share this experience with people closer to me. Sharing with words, stories and pictures is one thing, but sharing the actualy experience is so much more meaningful. Later, Lisa asked if I ever felt guilty for being here when so many people we know and want here can't or aren't. I don't. I wish more people could come to see and experience what I'm doing, but oh well. No, not oh well. But it's the way it is. And I'm gonna enjoy it as much as possible, because as much as I'd love to come back and do it again, or do other things, I have to live this as if I'm not coming back. I tell myself, and everyone else, that I'll be back, but I have no idea if that's realistic to think.


Those two pictures are what I was looking at during my life think. Big things amaze me and make me think about the bigger picture, or something. Every time I looked away from them, at the waves, I would look back and be surprised again. It was incredible.

This might be enough posting for now? Maybe too many words for most of you. The word parts are really more for me than for anyone else at this point. It's easy to write everything I remember, but I realize you don't all want to hear/read about it. So don't. Look at the pictures. That's what I'd be doing if I wasn't the one writing it.

Even though I say that's enough, I'm just gonna start a new post because I love remembering everything. And it's either this or studying. I don't care about school. At all. So get comfy, here comes another big one...

One lane bridges are a big thing in New Zealand. There will be signs on either end, one saying you have the right of way, the other saying Give Way. (We also came across one lane roads that weren't one way with the same signs...weird.) On our drive from Rapahoe to Greymouth, we came across one bridge in particular that I didn't like. I had drive across it the day before, so while Lisa drove, I took a picture.


A one lane rail bridge. Not only did we have to make sure no cars were coming, we had to check for trains too.

After stopping in Greymouth to spend money (this was the start of an expensive break), we continued south along the west coast to Okarito. I don't remember the drive being spectacular. Oh, it was cloudy. The clouds were really low (or the mountains were really high), so we had no clue we were driving next to snow capped mountains. We saw on the map that there were mountains to the east, but we couldn't see them. So big deal.

That night, in Okarito, we met up with Anna and her brother who'd come to NZ from Hawaii for our 2 week break. I was pretty jealous that she got a visitor for such a long time and at such a good time. Oh well. It was cloudy and cold when we got to where we were camping, so Lisa and I took a nap until Anna and Richard came. We were right on the beach again, a really rough beach. We saw some people go in, while we were shivering in our winter coats (best idea to have brought that!). When we were playing cards in the hut that was there, the sun broke through a little bit for a sunset.


One of my favorite pictures from the trip. I've seen nice sunset pictures before, and always wanted to take one. Now I can cross that off my list of things to accomplish in life.


We walked down to the beach and the whole ocean was glowing with the sunset. This was probably the only sun we saw all day. What a good time for it to come out. Just in time for it to go to Massachusetts.

The next day was our glacier hike. We were in a group of 11 people, with a guide named Ron and called Rhino. Don't know the story behind that. When I put on the boots, I was not excited to be spending all day in such close proximity with them. And then when I added the crampons, I was even less excited. But it turned out to not be too uncomfortable. And even if it had been, it would have been worth it.


That's Franz Josef Glacier from the valley we walked through to get to the start of it. It's huge. Why am I so impressed by huge things? (That morning we'd woken up to a clear sky and towering snow capped mountains past the row of houses in Okarito. Those houses are inhabited by really rich people, and supposedly eccentric people.)


There is a line of people walking up there. It gives a little more of a scale of how big the glacier is, but I don't know if you can see the people if you don't know where they are.


I have so many pictures of ice. I finished a memory card here and was worried about changing it because I didn't want to lose it in the ice. For a while, I was right behind Rhino and he was cutting a path for us. The first 1/2 of the day, we walked on trails that everyone follows, but then after a break for lunch, we got to go off roading... or the equivalent on a glacier, and walking. One of the first things he did was come to a crevasse that we ended up walking through. To make it possible to walk through, he took his ice axe and started chopping big hunks of ice off the top of the peaks. That made a ground for us to walk on. We were all kind of nervous at first, "Is this really safe?" probably went through most peoples' heads, but it turned out to the normal thing to do. Cool.


Lisa: Why is the ice blue?
Rhino: Food coloring.
Clearly he had that answer ready. He said he's actually had 2 people believe him. This is one of the many crevasses we walked through. Cool again. This is at the farthest point we walked on the glacier. As we got farther up it, the walls got higher and steeper. And Rhino would cut steps for us to walk on. I didn't like the first one we walked over, so he told me to sing to myself. I'd actually been doing that all day. So then we all started singing random songs that would get stuck in other peoples' heads. Apparently someone has died on a tour before. He fell off the stairs into a crevasses. They aren't bottomless. But they're ice. And rocks. So it'd hurt, if nothing else.


That's looking back at the valley from pretty high up. I love that I took geology last semester. This should be a field trip for geology classes. New Zealand in general. Note the u-shaped valley. That is indicative of the valley being carved by a glacier. Note the glacier. That is the glacier that carved the valley. Despite global warming, Franz Josef glacier is advancing. Has been for 3 years. Cool again.

That ends the pictures I've made smaller and uploaded. Next to come is Queenstown...

I've been convinced that posting pictures is a more productive use of my time than studying for my tests or writing my lab report. Those don't matter.

After hiking Avalanche Peak, Lisa and I were quite sore and ready to walk as little as possible. We drove to Greymouth on the west coast. For being a city by south island standards, there's nothing there. We went north to Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks and the Blowholes. Since it was high tide at 4 pm, that was the best time to see the blowholes, so we went a little bit further north to take a walk on Turner's Track. When we were walking to the beach, we walked past a couple girls going the other way who were on a KiwiExperience trip (a weeklong, or longer maybe, trip where you're on a bus and brought different places). Girl 1, "We never would have seen this if we did this own our own." Girl 2, "Totally." Lisa and I laughed.


That's where we walked to. We had driven out of clouds and it was beautiful weather by the time we got there.




Two more pictures of the beach we walked to. It was only a 5 minute walk from where we parked, which was good, because we were having trouble walking.

After spending time on the beach, we drove south again to see the Pancake Rocks at 4.


Those are the Pancake Rocks. They're really neat, to see for about 10 minutes. We were there for a couple hours. We ran into people we knew, 3 different groups traveling around the south island for break. That was neat. It's raelly cool how the rocks were formed, but I forget right now. It's something I'll look up on Wikipedia when I'm not about to leave for class.


There were a lot of pancake rocks. I want pancakes now...


That's a blowhole. When the waves come in, they puch ground water out when they go under the rocks. Kinda cool. It was very anticlimactic because we'd seen cooler pictures of them. Oh well. It was a low key day. Gave our legs a chance to recover before hiking for 8 hours on a glacier...

That night, we stopped to camp in Rapahoe. We even got hot showers and a chance to do laudry, which turned into a huge mess and we should have just stayed dirty. But the shower was nice.


So was the sunset. We were camping 50m from the beach. I have a bag of rocks from there. I'm a dork.

More pictures to be posted in about 2 hours, I have to go to class...

So many requests for pictures. But instead of overwhelming myself with picking a few pictures from the 1000+ I took in the last 2 weeks, I'm gonna do it slowly and post from one or two events at a time. So much happened, it'll probably take me until the end of the semester to get through the whole break. I might just stop once fun stuff happens again here (this weekend I'm hiking Tongariro Crossing, Mt Ngarahoe which is Mt Doom, and then Mt Ruapehu for a champagne lunch).

The first thing Lisa and I did on break after picking up our car in Christchurch was leave. We wanted to buy some more fuel since ours had been taken at the airport, but it was Easter Sunday. Nothing is open on Easter Sunday (or Good Friday) including the 24 hour FoodTown down the road from where I live in Auckland. Crazy? I think so.

We were well equipped with our bigger tent and lack of fuel. Lies. We were not prepared at all. But we made it work. So after our first night of wondering if our car would still be outside our tent in the morning (it was), we got up to hike Avalanche Peak. That had been our original plan (thanks to letting me do most of the planning), but when we got to Arthur's Pass at 7:30 pm in the dark, the smallest town we'd seen seemed scary.

Getting there in the dark allowed for one good thing, we saw a sunset on the drive there. Over mountains bigger than anything I'd seen before...


After I got us out of the city (Christchurch isn't a city by US standards, but I drove in it, on the left side of the road for the first time in my life, so I'm pretty confident in my driving abilities and might even try a real city at home...if I had to sometime, not just for fun), Lisa took a turn driving. I looked behind us at one point and asked her to stop because the view was too good to miss. We pulled over and started taking pictures...the story of our trip. This is just a sunset over the Southern Alps. You know, no big deal, right?

Monday morning I woke up and wanted to hike. We'd been so freaked out the night before with so many things not going our way or not happening as we'd hoped that we wanted to get back to civilization and to the west coast where Greymouth is the biggest town. We didn't have a plan, but once it was light outside, I was ready to hike instead of book it to the next town. So we hiked Avalanche Peak. The DOC guy we asked about hiking asked how energetic we were. He told us the hike (tramp) went straight up the mountain behind the building. He wasn't joking. I loved it. Lisa didn't. That's a different story. This post is about pictures (sorry for all the words then, I learned last night that I love writing emails and love making them long).


That's about 1/2 way up. The road is at the bottom. We drove that to get to the west coast the next morning. We were also told by the DOC guy (DOC = Department of Conservation) that when we reached the tree line, we'd be 1/2 way there. Lies again. But the tree line was really weird. My biggest hiking experience in the US is Monadnock (disappointed in myself for not doing more before coming here, oh well, have the rest of my life for that). But on Monadnock, the trees end gradually, right? They get shorter and less dense. Not here. We walked straight out of a forest. It was surprising. We walked out of the forest and into tall grasses. Then this suddenly ended and it was just rock. It was strange. Cool, but strange.


That's the top. It looks like it's narrow. It is. And the rock isn't stable. It was scary on the way there. But not so much on the way back. It was all about accepting it for what it was. Just doing it. Not thinking so much about falling off a cliff. It was amazing up there. Lisa even said it was worth it. It was such a clear day and all we could see was mountains. The next night, they were supposed to get a lot of snow. Glad we got out before then.


Parrots. Alpine parrots. Called Keas. They will get really close and try to eat anything you have. Another place we went, if you park and leave your car, they'll come and take the rubber off your wipers. Or the sealing around your windows. That'd suck. And about 95% of the people in that other place (Milford Sound) are tourists, so they have rental cars. There were a couple guys at the top of Avalanche Peak (speaking Hebrew) feeding the Keas. The birds would eat out of their hand. And if you left your bag alone, by walking about about 4 steps, the birds would go over and try to open them. I didn't see any get a bag open, someone would chase it away, but I'm sure they're smart enough to figure it out. They supposedly have the intelligence of a 4 year old. For a bird brain, that's pretty good.


First snow capped mountains. They never got old. We saw so many, especially when we got a lot more south (Queenstown is surrounded by the snow capped Remarkables...and that's what they are - remarkable). Nothing else to really say about this picture... except it's a lot better in real life.


Another view from the top. You could turn 360 degrees and just see mountains. All different colors. Trees reaching up about 1/2 way. Waterfalls. Snow. Ice. Glaciers? Clouds sometimes below the top. It was amazing. You could see the road, but we were too high to see cars on it. The town (of 62 people) was blocked by the mountain. It was incredible.


Me on top of the world. No clouds. So blue. Amazing. So happy. Great start to break. Day one a success. Love it. Want to hike it again.

I'm back in Auckland. That's the saddest thing that's happened here. I had to come back.

The last 2 weeks were the best 2 weeks of my life, or at least this trip. Coming back is a huge change, and I don't want to adjust. I have so much work to do and other things to get done, I don't know when I'll be posting pictures, sorry. But they'll be worth the wait.

Just wanted to let people know that I made it back safely and that my trip was amazing. Worth every penny. I feel really accomplished at being able to plan a 2 week trip. I almost feel grown up. More grown up than after anything else I've done. But now I know why we didn't travel when I was little. It's exhausting!!! (Oh, and the greenhouses, good excuse guys :) I need a break from traveling now.

OK, back to real life - grocery shopping is a must because I have zero food. And then a week of work, so check back in a week for pictures. Hopefully I'll find time for a study break to post some. I haven't even looked at them yet though.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIA!!!

The hardest part about traveling is trying to tell everyone about what I'm doing and seeing.

"There's no combination of words I can put on the back of a postcard..."

When Ms Roller told me that she'd move here in a heartbeat if she didn't have family connections at home, I was pretty excited to come. I've found what she meant.

I'm in Queenstown in an internet cafe. I just spent an hour sitting and looking at the Southern Alps over Lake Wakatipu (maybe not really what it's called). I can't even begin to describe what it looks like. It's the most amazing thing I've seen.

And this is coming after hiking to the top of Avalanche Peak in Arthur's Pass in the Southern Alps. There have been so many "oh my god" moments and gasps at the first glimpse of something new. And new has always been exciting.

Snow capped mountains never get old.

Here's a quick over view (the good the bad and the unbelieveable) of my first 7 days of living out of a car...

Sunday 8 April - Had our camping stove fuel confiscated at the airport - oops. Our plan was delayed an hour which made us concerned we'd miss our rental car pickup - we didn't. Picked up the wrong tent from the luggage carousel - oops again. It's bigger. Got to Arthur's Pass in the dark without a definate plan so camped where it looked safe. It was freezing. Ate a cold dinner because of the lack of fuel.

Monday 9 April - Hiked Avalanche Peak. It was tall. It was straight up a mountain. It was hard. My legs still hurt (from later hiking too). It was amazing. I was happy. Lisa was happy. I loved it. It was the best thing I'd seen in NZ to that point.

Tuesday 10 April - Drove to Greymouth and north to see the Pancake Rocks. Spent most of the day there waiting to see the blow holes. THey weren't as exciting as we'd hoped. Camped that night and had a hot shower - best shower I've ever taken.

Wednesday 11 April - Drove to Okarito making stops along the way. The towns are small. You know you're in a town of a significant size if the speed limit drops from 100 to anywhere between 50 and 80. Towns are far apart. We have to plan where we're getting gas. The views are amazing. Driving around is exciting because of what we see and the crazy roads - there are few guardrails, we're driving on the left side, kiwis drive fast, you hardly ever see cars, trucks are big and roads are skinny, the roads are through mountains, along the edges of mountains, and pretty windy.

Thursda 12 April - Took a guided day tour (8 hours) on Franz Josef Glacier. Definately worth it. It was amazing. As is everything else I've done and seen. No words to descibe anything.

Friday 13 April - Drove to Queenstown which took a lot of the day. Found where I'm living when I grow up. Picked the town my bakery will be in. Walked around to get acquainted wtih my future home. I'd been told that Queenstown is a city. It's not. Auckland is a city. THer is no such thing as a city on the south island I think. I love it. Queenstown is surrounded by the Southern Alps. THere are snowcapped mountains everywher. And a giant lake. It's beautiful.

Saturday 14 April (today) - took a gondola to the top of a mountain and then a chair lift up higher to ride a luge (more like a go cart) down. 5 times. It was so much fun. THe most extreme activity I participated in in the adventure capital of the adventure capital of the world. I'd love to have done crazier things, but I need something to bring me back here. And I need money for the next couple months. After that, we went to the Queenstown Gardens. We joked about how it wasn't intense enough of being in Queenstown. It was amazing. We walked down to the water and had the best view I've ever seen. I want to be able to see it everyday. For the rest of my life. Lisa and I just sat there for over an hour, not talking, just taking everything in. I cried because it's too unreal and I want to be able to share this with everyone I know. It's too good to be true. It's too good to be real. Pictures I'd seen before seeing it here are amazing and I couldn't believe that it could really look like it does in pictures. It's better.

We've been lucky with weather, we usually get somewhere as the bad weather is ending and the next day is beautiful. So that's lucky.

I found out my finals schedule - I finish June 20. I'm coming home after that (and hopefully starting an internship on the 21, but that's getting ahead of myself).

Tomorrow we're heading to Milford Sound for a 2.25 hour cruise. Then over to Dunedin to pick up Kat, and then heading up to Abel Tasman National PArk at the northwestern end of the south island. Then across to Wellington back on the north island, and unfortunately back to Auckland in a week. Then it's crunch time for school. Not that it matters. School is nothing. After today, nothing matters. Life is complete.

I'll post tons of pictures when I get back and take the tests and write the labs that are due upon return. I'm pretty excited to share this trip with everyone - here online but more when I get back home. There's just so much. I'm overwhelmed. Traveling is amazing.

Come to New Zealand, but don't visit me in Auckland. Go to the south island. Anywhere on it. It's incredible. Unbelievable. Amazing. Unreal. Spectacular. Any other word that means the same thing.

Miss you.

I'm half done the semester. Woah. I was told that study abroad flies by. I believe it now. This afternoon, classes finished for 2 weeks. We get Good Friday off (everything is closed, including the 24-hour FoodTown just down the road) and then 2 weeks for Easter and mid-semester break. Ending classes was very anti-climactic since I haven't really been doing work. I realized that for my classes, I've completed 8%, 10%, 20% and 4% respectively. I'm not so excited for the 6 weeks after break, and finals, since I have a crap load of % to finish in each of them. I had my first test today. And turned in an essay. And a lab. You'd think I'd worked hard to get all that stuff done. Haha.

Anyway...why am I talking about school? I'm on break. And I leave on Sunday for a 13 day road trip around the south island. I've worked so hard on planning this, and I've loved it. I hope that it ends up being as much fun as I'm expecting. It will, even if it doesn't go as "planned" because everything is new and exciting and amazing. Here's a rough sketch of where I'll be (my times)...

Sunday - fly to Christchurch, pick up rental car and drive (on the left side of the road) to Arthur's Pass with a possible stop at Cave Stream Scenic Reserve.

Monday - Hike Avalanche Peak in Arthur's Pass and drive to Greymouth

Tuesday - Hike part of the Inland Pack Track - to the Ballroom - 30km north of Greymouth. Maybe camp overnight at the Ballroom.

Wednesday - finish the Inland Pack Track and head down to Okarito where Lisa and I meet up with Anna and her brother, stopping along the way for the Harihari Coastal Walk.

Thursday - spend 8 hours on Franz Josef Glacier.

Friday - drive to Queenstown to meet up with Lisa's friend Caroline for a night of chaos.

Saturday - nothing planned yet

Sunday - possible drive to Milford Sound and spend a night in Te Anau

Monday - nothing planned yet

Tuesday - pick up Kat in Dunedin and drive for a long long time to Hanmer and spend the night

Wednesday - Get up early and get to Abel Tasman by noon. Do something fun after a nap

Thursday - spend the day in Abel Tasman National Park.

Friday - take the ferry from Picton to Wellington

Saturday - fly back to Auckland

Saturday night - sleep for a long long time.

I can already think that my first reaction when getting back is thinking how tired I am and how much I'll want a vacation instead of going back to school and having a ton of work that first week back (2 tests and 2 lab reports due that will not be done/studied for). Oh well, New Zealand.

Passover is going on right now. I didn't know what it was until this week. I knew that it existed, and I knew that my friends would go home to celebrate it if they were in the US, but I didn't know what it was. Since a significant number of people in my group are Jewish here, they got together and had a seder on Tuesday night. At first, I think it was gonna be just them, but then we non-Jews asked if we could come. So about 6 people made dinner for 19 people and I went to my first seder. Everyone had to bring their own dishes and everyone elded up getting dressed up. There were prayers in english, and drinking of wine, and eating of food, and prayers in hebrew, and lots more of drinking of wine because you're supposed to have 4 glasses, and lots of laughing. It was a lot of fun. (I want to play restaurant/family every week where people make food for everyone else.) Since I don't usually post pictures of people I met here, you won't recognize anyone here...


I realize that I'm the only one making a funny face. Just having fun before we get to eat. The first part of the seder was going through the story of it and a few prayers. Then a glass of wine. Then more prayers and some songs. And finally delicious food.


It was so nice to eat with lots of people instead of everyone making their own thing and then just sitting together. There was a sign on the door that reserved this room for us and it said the "Butler Family Seder." That's us. Found a family here. And I want to play family again with them. I'm really gonna miss them when this is all done. I have never had this many friends who are all friends with each other. I was talking to Kat a few days ago and she said that after a month of meeting new people, she's never been so happy with her social life. And I completely agree. Although it'd be nice to be better friends with a few kiwis, this has been an amazing learning experience too. I can make friends. Pat on the back Lori. So ya, that's my family eating.


This is Carley, Lisa and Becca - three of the people who worked super hard for a couple days (not all day tho) to make food that fed 19 people and there were leftovers. Good job!!! Thanks for being Jewish :)

Since I have more of a social life here than ever before in my life, I've been invited to play a game down the hall. I'm really excited to leave on Sunday for 13 days. It's still a couple days away, but it'll come. And I'm still getting ready. I went shopping for 2 hours today to get more things that we needed - a map, a camping stove, a pocket knife - essentials so we can eat and not get too lost on the few roads that are down there. I'm ready for a long break from the city. If I get the chance, I'll post briefly while I'm down south to let you all know I'm safe and loving life more than ever :)

Don't work too hard.

If you’re interested in making me happy (which should be your life goal), the best, easiest and cheapest, way to do that is to send me a letter, postcard or card (packages are good too, but more expensive). To do that, write something on a piece of paper of some sort, letting me know what’s going on in your life or telling me a funny story or how much you miss me or how great I am – anything else that strikes your fancy at the time of writing. Then, put that letter or card in an evelope. (If it happens to be a postcard, disregard the previous statement.) Write my address on it. Put a stamp on it. Put it in a mailbox. Wait. Then I get it and get really happy because it means that someone was thinking about me about 10 days before receiving the letter/card/postcard. So to the 3 people I’ve received mail from, you made my day when it got here :) The next best thing is being skyped, and that’s free. But getting mail is way above that one.

Tuesday night has become go-out-for-dessert-night. There’s a restaurant down the street that has a special of some sort every night (except Friday – so if you come, we won’t be going there on Friday). And Tuesday is $5 dessert night, instead of $9.50. I’ve come up with more things for my bakery (and Anna will look for a spot in Newton for it). So when I have my grand opening, you’ll find out what I’ve been eating here. There will be some disappointed people if I never actually open a bakery. I’ve been practicing here. I made crepes for dinner this week. People were jealous. And then I made scones for dessert/breakfast. More people were jealous.

This one restaurant isn’t the only place to get an amazing dessert. Up another road, Parnell (that means nothing to most people, but ask Oma about it – it’s the fancy place where I felt underdressed in whatever I was wearing), there’s a place called the Chocolate Boutique. I think I’m spending every last penny I have after break there. We went with 8 people Friday night. The menu was a binder. Think Cheesecake Factory menu, but all chocolate things. Chocolate drinks, chocolate cakes, chocolate everything. It was amazing. (Michelle – Lisa and I mentioned you.) It made me so happy. I’m having a day devoted to chocolate every week in my bakery. It might need a new name. I’m not sure. And I should tell everyone about my marketing strategy. I’m gonna need someone to make sure I go through with this plan, in like 10 years once I get all of my other life goals out of the way.

Since I’m on that topic…here are some of my life goals. Some are new and some have been coming up in conversation and my life for the past couple years…in no particular order

1. do the Peace Corps.
2. do Bike and Build.
3. do a NOLS course.
4. work for NOLS or Outward Bound or some equivalent.
5. open a bakery.

That’s a short list. Do-able, right? That’s the abbreviated version, and the things that are closer to the present. The real list is a lot longer.

I started a new hobby on Friday. I don’t know if it qualifies as a hobby yet, since I’ve only done it once, but that’s what I’m gonna call it. No one will guess what it is (except Adrian who already knows, but he wouldn’t have guessed it). I ran. I hate running. I hate cities more. So this was kind of an outlet of the frustration of being stuck in one for 4 months. Anna ran the Boston Marathon a few years ago and runs here. So I told her I’d run with her. Slowly and not too far and not too often. So we ran 3 miles. Woah. I was shocked that I could even do that. I was pretty freaking proud of myself. I haven’t run in 4 years. And haven’t been in shape in that long either. I needed something to do during the week when I don’t have hiking as an option. This seemed like a good thing…? Sophia, how’s the training going? When’s the race? If I’m home in time, maybe I’ll even be in shape enough to run it with you! Slowly.

This weekend I was supposed to go with the tramping club to hike Tongariro Crossing. That was supposed to be today. It didn’t happen because of crappy weather (northern New Zealand got 3 months worth of rain in 36 hours – it was gross). So instead of doing that (which also included a hike up Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings and an optional – which I was doing – champagne lunch on Mt Ruapehu which is one of the most active volcanoes around and had a lahar a couple weeks ago – but it’s rescheduled for after break), I went with my program – Butler – to the Waitakere Ranges in western Auckland. We had 2 options – either tramping including waterfall jumps and scaling rock walls or horseback riding. As much as I love hiking and this trip sounded like it was made for me, I picked the horseback riding because it’s something I have to do while in New Zealand and this was the cheapest and easiest way to do it. It was worth missing the tramping (only because I don’t know EXACTLY what I missed out on). We got to ride for 5 hours (which definitely has its drawbacks) and canter on the beach. A black sand beach. The ride there was gorgeous. I was in awe most of the ride there, the beach and some of the ride back (when I wasn’t in agony). Awe has turned into my normal expression when I’m not in Auckland.


This is where our whole group went Saturday morning. We just hung out for about 1/2 hour before the horseback riding group left. We got to eat free food. Always a plus on the Butler trips.


After driving for a long time, 1/2 thinking we were just being taken to the middle of nowhere (that's not a hard thing to do in NZ since once you're out of Auckland, you're pretty much in the middle of nowhere), being scared by the driving, the roads and the top heaviness of the van we were in, we finally found horses. There are over 60 at this place. And it's in the middle of nowhere. A place located in a remote place like this in the US wouldn't see much business.


This is about 15 minutes into the ride. We went down a couple big hills and couldn't see buildings anymore. Everything was so bright. At this point, we were all still pretty upbeat and excited to be riding because we weren't sore yet. And didn't know how sore we'd be in 3 hours, or the next day.


Skip ahead 2 1/2 hours. We made it to the beach!!! It took almost 3 hours. The first 2 hours were good - everything was new, we were riding in New Zealand, we weren't sore or hungry. The last part of the ride there wasn't so happy. But then we got to the beach and everything was worth it. Then the ride back was...painful. More physically painful. Once I ate (on the horse), it got a little more fun. But I am sorer (word?) than I've ever been after riding a horse. Do not ride a horse for 5 hours having not ridden for 3 years. Bad idea.


Memphis on the beach. He was my horse. He was mean. To other horses. I was told he's a bully pretty much as soon as I got on him. I wanted a different horse. But it worked out.


Memphis and me on the beach. Looking at the ocean (well, looking at the camera at this moment). We got to run. Memphis got to run. I don't know if he wanted to. I wanted him to. Cantering was great. It made me use different muscles, so it didn't hurt as much. But the painful ride was definately worth the 3 minutes of cantering on the beach.


Having fun on the way back. I needed something to do to not concentrate on the pain in my ankles, knees, inner thighs, butt bones and back. (That might be oversharing) So Sara and I did ridiculous things on our horses and took pictures of each other. We tried out a lot of different ways to sit so we could stretch our throbbing muscles and not have pressure on the same parts of our butt the whole ride. So this is me riding without hands or feet (they're on Memphis's butt, I don't know if you can tell).


I'm on top of a really big hill here. And we went down it. This is looking out of the woods and back into the fields on the way home. The trail here was sand and it was really steep. Memphis always thought it'd be fun to run downhills, which is a lot scarier than walking.


Got to the bottom of the hill safely. This is looking back up at the woods we just came out of. Even being in the woods is cooler here. Cooler, as in neater than the US woods. And they went all the way to giant sand dunes on a black sand beach. Crazy.


Didn't have to moo at them to get them to look. Rode by on a horse and they were curious.


I rode there. The barn is up and down and up some more hills in the other direction. This is where I just came from going back.




I've noticed these ridges along hills when driving by them. Now I know why they're there. I don't know if they're natural or not. But without them I would have been a lot scareder (word?).


I'm really close to being back at this point. There were slower groups behind ours. And there are 3 of their horses (and riders) on top of that hill. I don't know if it'll show up - I have to shrink these pictures to get them online and the pixels get all squished together. But they're still cool, right?

Speaking of pictures, I'm gonna try to set up an account online where I can post all of my pictures. Then you can look at all of them (without captions because I think there are over 1000, or almost if I'm not there yet) if you want. I'll let you know when I do that. Hopefully before break, so you'll have something to look at for the 2 weeks I won't be posting.

I have 4 days of classes before break. I have 7 days until I leave for a 13 day trip around the south island. I have a test, a lab report due and an essay due in those 4 days. I can’t wait. School is not important here to me. Apparently, Americans are looked at as being hard workers and really smart in New Zealand. Go figure. I thought our education sucked. But I recently found out that first year students here don’t know how to format an essay, how to reference things, know what paraphrasing is, know how to use Excel, know how to figure things out on their own basically. Weird. I wonder what they learn in high school. And what they do. But I don’t wonder enough to find an internship in a high school in Auckland to stay an extra 6 weeks.

Miss you.

I got my camera back today, about an hour ago, so I uploaded a bunch of pictures to give a short overview of my weekend trip to Coromandel Peninsula to hike the Pinnacles... here you go :)


There were a lot of bridges over rivers. I didn't know until the second day that we're only supposed to use the bridges if the river is too high to cross. So on Saturday I used all the bridges, they were kind of scary. And only one person can go on them at a time so they last longer. On Sunday I crossed the river by rock jumping. I managed to not fall in or even get my boots wet.


A lot of the hike felt like we were in the rainforest. There must be a line at acertain altitude that the rainforest stops and there are other trees, because after lunch, there were still trees, but not rainforest-esque trees. It didn't rain until we were out of the "rainforest" too.


One of many stops to take pictures of the green and lack of civilization (or civilisation). It made me happy. Not the stopping. The green.


We might have been in a kauri forest. I'm not sure. But judging from the diameter of this tree (it's sideways, I'm sitting in the middle of the trunk), it might be a kauri tree...?


SO MANY STAIRS!!! The whole mountain had all these stairs in the rocks. I hate stairs. I like hiking. I can walk up and down stairs anyday of the week. But it was still fun. Coming down was scarier on the slippery rock steps, but it was all good. No serious injuries..that I heard of anyway.


This is after we got to the hut (see further picture for the hut). It was kind of cloudy. And we were kind of high. The Pinnacles are in that cloud. And when I was up there on Saturday, all I saw was the cloud we were in.


The hike up to the Pinnacles was worth the trip to the clouds. This is looking out to the ocean - to the east?


Tons of stairs :) Some were steep, so when I was going up, I was nervous about coming down, but it wasn't a problem. Stairs were the easy part...


Down in the middle, right in front of that big bump, is the 80-person hut we stayed in.


We're getting closer to the clouds. There were all these dead trees. It looked like there had been a big fire in the not to distant past that got rid of everything and these are the remains. There's been enough time for stuff to grow back, but not big trees.


Entertaining myself at the top in the clouds and in the rain.


Instead of just having to climb stright up rock faces, there are metal rungs. Got slippery in the rain. Got muddy from gross hands. This would not be allowed in the US.


Clouds clearing? Don't really know. We're on our way down and there's a break in the clouds but I don't know if it was high enough to see anything from the top.


Sunday morning sunrise.


Sunday morning sunrise looking to other way...to the ocean and the rising sun.


The sun lighting up the mountains - one of my favorite pictures


The sun trying, and not being successful, to break through the clouds. We could see the ocean being lit up, but couldn't ever really see the sun.


Still cloudy, but they're below us when we're at the top. They're only in the valleys.


Lord of the Rings - ish.




Facing away from the hut. Oh hiking...how I miss thee.