How has a month gone by???

WOW! the last blog i posted was over a month ago...... i deff dropped the ball and trying to keep up a good account of my life here! Now it's almost a blur! I am making a promise to write at least once a week from now on! Or else even I wont remember what my NZ adventure has been like. ok.... so my papers (classes) have been in full swing for a good 4 or 5 weeks now, crazyyyyy.. I guess thats my excuse for not keeping up with my blog. Haha, maybe not, as I seem to be rather fond of the being Abroad part of this experience, but not so much the study part.... it's almost like an early form of senioritis hitting me. I must admit its been tricky to get out of. Papers overall are pretty interesting. I guess I kind of wish that I could have come and taken random classes and things I couldnt just take at home, but I did need to make sure that I would be able to transfer credits and allow me not to have a rediculous senior year back in the states trying to make up lost credits. My 300 level history course about WW1 is pretty interesting and I think I like it because it feels the most like a class at Hartwick, size wise anyway. The Lecture has about 40 people in it, but the seminar class that I have once a week for two hours, which is down on the Pipitea campus, a good 30-35 minute walk away from my flat, but usually i take the cable car in the morning and that helps, anyway, the seminar is about 15 people and its really comfortable and we have great group discussions. My 200 level history course on Race and Racism in modern Europe is a bit of a drag. The lecturer is rather dry and basically reads straight from powerpoints. Its only once a week, but its two 50 minute lectures back to back and it just gets a bit boring. I guess to a lot of the ideas we are talking about I have learned in various other classes, so I'm just not as into it. There are probably 85-90 people in that lecture as well, so it gets a bit stuffy. I really enjoy my Maori Studies course though. Its my only 100 level class so the workload isnt too bad, but again prolly 100 in the class. The first week or so of the class was a bit difficult because of the language barriers. Here I am in NZ for like 2 months and now Im having Maori being used so plainly in the lecturers speech and i have no idea whats going on. haha. Add the accent to it and it deff got a little disheartening, because even the Pakeha or white students from NZ all know a bit of Maori from everyday use of it. The language almost was lost, but there was an initiative in the last 20 years or so to bring it back and revitalize the cultural heritage. The other thing about the language that gets tough is just the pronunciation. I'll give you one example which is a bit humourous. Whakapupa is translated to mean ancestors or geneaolgy. So you would prolly see this like i did and pronounce it whaka-pupa. Wrong! So Wh- makes an F sound, so its more like saying, Fuk-a-pupa..... haha.... which sounds like your swearing or something. Some of the words are quite tricky and especially when they have like 20 letters. Or the name of this village we did community service at while at orientation in Rotorua is called Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao'. Got that?!! The Kelburn campus is where the majority of my classes are, besides the one seminar downtown near parliment (the Beehive) and the train station, anyway there is the Te Herenga Waka Marae on campus behind the Maori studies department. A Marae is a traditional Maori treaty house which is used for gatherings of families and for special ceremonies. Marae's are located in almost every village of New Zealand and really tell the story of the ancestors or whakapupa. The tiki figures which are carved into them are the links to generations of family. We were invited as a class to the Marae for a Powhiri (po-firi) or a welcome ceremony in which we would be greeted. Though historically such events were seen to determine whether or not people encroaching on the land were friends or foe, it is often used to welcome guests to the University today. We prepared a special song for the members of the marae and as a class we practiced the song for a week or so. It was a lot of fun. Speaking of songs, I went to a Church about 10 minutes from my flat a few weekends ago and about 4 of the 9 songs we sang were in Maori. It was really neat! It helped me to kind of get the hang of some of the words and pronunciations.



Oh yeah, I forgot that I tend to write giant paragraphs. Hmmm.. So classes, Oh I did forget to mention my Ritual Anthropology class. I really like it. The lecturer is from Germany but has been living in NZ for about 7 years. It's such a funny combination, her German accent is definitely still there, but their is also Kiwi lingo involved too. It always makes me laugh because she says the funniest things without realizing it.



Hmm.. it's 12:15 Am right now and I am very tired.. the last week has been pretty rough. Had 4 essays to write. So far I had nearly no actual homework, besides reading and then bam, all at once before break i get nailed. It was bad because I felt like I was in vacation mode still and then it was very hard for me to write papers. It was almost as if I had forgotten, Yet the same procrastination that i have at home kicked in and it hurt me a bit here. Not proud, but i turned a couple of assignments in a bit late. Didnt realize how difficult some of the research was going to be for a few of the classes. The databases here are a bit tricky to figure out and I swear I spent an entire day looking for 20 sources for one of my papers. It was hell. I was not doing so well with it and it was very frustrating. Just finished my last essay a couple of hours ago and I am now free! We have a full 2 weeks off for fall break! from the 2nd-19th of April! I am still in the process of deciding exactly what I am doing for break. I kind of had the intention of going to Invercargil, which is at the very bottom tip of the South Island, fairly close to Antartica. haha, for Uni Games, or University Games with the Volleyball team. I joined the club team and Uni Games is an opportunity for Uni students to take part in like an Olympic competition of sorts. Because there are only 8 Universities in NZ, there is not nearly the same type of athletic competitions as we have in the states. Uni Games has been going on for like 100 years and the University that comes out on top after all the sports have played wins a cup and its a big deal. My Uni, Victoria, has won the overall cup the last 2 years. Anyway, I have been playing volleyball monday and thursday nights and it's been a lot of fun and really good exercise. I had started a decent running routine and then I got busy with classes and such and haven't had a chance to get back into a schedule. Volleyball isn't such a big deal in NZ, but the club team is pretty good and there are some serious players. I feel a bit intimidated too because I am usually one of only a few white guys, haha, and it seems even the Maori have good ups. Its been cool. Anyway, it was decided we werent going to send the vball team to Uni games because not enough people wanted to pay for the travel and accomadation to get to Invercargil. I didn't know till like 2 days ago tho, so I didnt really make plans for break because I was waiting to hear what was happening. Tomorrow I am going to decide whether I am going to jump in with some mates and rent a car and go to the South island and tramp for a week or 2 or whether i mite go to Tonga, which is like north of NZ, East of Australia and South of Fiji. Haha, I found decent tickets there and if my loan check comes in i might just go for it. I kind of feel like I have travelled most of NZ already and it would be cool to check somewhere else out. Plus how many people can say they have actually been to Tonga?! Either way, it will be a fun break for sure, and I want to make the most of it. In June, before I come home I am trying to see if i can hop over to OZ as well, no not like from the wizard of OZ, haha, corny, but im tired, hence the bad jokes, but rather to Australia for a few weeks. Would like to go up to Cairns which is up near the great barrier reef, head to the middle and check out Ayers rock or Uluru. OOOPS, I ALMOST JUST DELETED EVERYTHING I JUST WROTE! good thing it autosaved, that would have been a waste like an hour...... anyway Ayers rock in the Outback and then down to Tasmania. A friend of mine Josh from Chicago might go so we are looking into planning it. He broke his ankle playing Baskeball like a week into starting Uni, haha, feel so bad for him. He will hopefully be out of his cast by May though. What a crappy thing to happen when your studying abroad. So yeah, 2 weeks off for break started a few hours ago and ill know in a few hours what the plan will be.

Life in Wellington has been pretty fun. It's a compact city and it means that you can walk around and theres also great transportation systems. The waterfront is amazing and there seems to always be something happening down there. Festivals and dragon boat races, markets and plenty of venues to sit and look at the beautiful harbour. Wellington is honestly a hard place to beat on a nice day. I think when I first passed though Wellington about 2.5 months ago I was slightly disapointed with it, but then again it rained like 4 days straight. But honestly we have had some amazing weather over the last month. Even people from Wellington have been somewhat taken aback by the amount of sunny days. Were still reaching about 20 celcius now, but the nights are getting a bit chillier, dropping down to like 9 and 10 celcius, or like 40 degrees. Not so cold, but my flat is a bit older and even most NZ houses have very little if no insulation. So we have like individual space heaters in each of the bedrooms and one in the living room as well. Anyway, Wellington has been good. The nightlife is pretty crazy. Wesnesday nights are big student nights, with decent prices and such. Went out a couple times, but doesnt usually work very well having 3 classes on thursday. There is a break on thursday nights, town is usually super quiet. Oh speaking of which, its funny, like Wellington is the capital city and there some 400,000 people living here, yet people still refer to it as a town, and even I have kind of gotten used to it. It's been really nice, becuase as most of you know I am from a tiny nothing town of 2000 people or w/e and Oneonta is only like 20,000 people. I thought that it would be a bit tough to adjust to city life, but it's been really good. My flat is in Kelburn, and its just a suburb about 15 minute walk from the CBD, central business district, Courtenay and Cuba street which house all the pubs, bars, dance clubs and entertainment. Though its hike coming back up from town as its pretty much straight up hill. A lot of stairs if you go certain directions, reminds me of Hartwick a lot of the time, but if possible its a little worse. haha. I usually dont go all out when we go to town on the weekends. It's deff a bit expensive to go to the bars and such. But its fun to see the diversity of them as well. There are some crazy dance clubs with all sorts of crazy lights and see through floors, or 4 floors with differnt music, theres a place called boogie wonderland that plays like all 70's and 80's dance music, with ABBA being a pretty big player.haha, We even rocked out to Footloose! haha. Then there are some other pubs which are a bit more my speed, just more chill enviorments. San Fransisco Bath House is a great place, and on Thursdays they do this acoustic lounge from 6-8 with some up and coming artists. My friend Frank got a gig there last week and almost our whole group from Australearn showed up to support him. It was a lot of fun and there were some really great musicians that night. My friend Reeta from Finland played the same night and she did some traditional Finnish songs, it sounded really pretty. The next night there was a band called Minuit playing at the same place and i really wanted to go see them. Back in the fall i somehow stumbled upon one of their songs on youtube. It's called Aotearoa, which means New Zealand in Maori, anyway, the song is all about NZ and i listened to it prolly 1000x before i left. I didnt really know any of the other songs they played, but i figured it was worth it for the one song i had become addicted too. Waited until the night of the concert to try and get tickets, went down around 830 on the friday night and they told me that it had sold out. I was a bit disapointed, but they told me to come back at like 1030 before the show started at 11 and i mite be able to grab a ticket. Met up with my friends Collin, Greg, Anne, and a few others at Hotel bristol to play some pool and found out Anne and a couple of Kiwi girls i just met already had tickets to the concert. Went with them after pool to see if could get a ticket and i managed to get one of the last like 5! good timing and i was really happy! The cover band was called Naked and Famous and they were from Auckland. They were pretty good and deff think they will do ok for themselves. NZ music industry is kind of interesting. It's very Americanized. All the songs in the pubs and dance places tend to be the top American hits. It's a bit sad, but there isnt a huge NZ music scene and when there is a good band, they dont really get recognition by NZ'ers unless they get recognized overseas in the states or something. Anway, Minuit was just back from getting a song on Greys Anatomy, which is sometimes a really big thing for bands because they get noticed from this and it can really jumpstart their carreers. Minuit came on and it was an awesome concert. A bit of a unique style and she had a pretty cool voice, but I liked it alot. So the night was kind of coming to an end and they hadnt played Aotearoa yet and i was very sad. She saved it for the end because the song has reallly been a cool thing for NZ'ers. It kind of tells their story and such. I was singing along the whole time and it was realllllly cool to actually see it live after playing it so many times on youtube. She finished the song and there was such an outburst from the audience for her to continue and sing it again, all i could hear was ENCORE, ENCORE, ENCORE! and I jumped in and agreed with them. She deff heard the audience and sang it through again. Then there were like 4 other encores with other songs. It was a great nite. So tired by the end of it, but so worth it. Then next night i went to my first Rugby match, which was a little uneventful, the game i mean. But it was fun none the less. We lost at the very end by 3 points to the sharks of South Africa.

OK...... ITS NOW 1 AM.... for sure need to go to bed now. hopefully sleep in tomorrow and then tie together plans for a great 2 weeks off. SORRY I wrote a novel here and didnt do it in smaller increments. I really do promise to keep better records for my blog because its important. I think i just got caught up in the routine of everyday life that it kind of slipped my mind. Also having so much access to the internet now we have wireless in our house, i tend to use Facebook more often for my contact with people and for uploading pictures..... Kia ora and good night! love and miss you all!

classes begin!

Kia ora! So its been a lot of fun adjusting to life in Wellington over the last week or so. It was a bit quiet on my street as most of the other Americans and international students took the time to explore the wonderful regions of NZ. Even my two roomates hopped on a plane to Christchurch and did some camping. Leaving me and my Kiwimate Kirsten an empty house. I was offered to go on a couple of trips, but had to decline mostly because of money issues, as a loan situation hasnt quite been worked out yet, and 2, because i visited a ton of places already and it was nice to just stick home. The weather was amazing the entire week here, with a few days spent going to the beach and enjoying the waterfront and harbour. I even went and got a haircut, haha, so it wasnt such a bad week. It was kind of funny though, it was orientation week for all the first years, basically in NZ most people get there degree in 3 years, and just kind of skip all the introductory classes we tend to take, or the gen-ed classes. So here i am in the quad surrounded by all these fresh 17 and 18 year olds basically away from home for the first time. Kind of made me feel old! haha. Just funny to hear them talk about the parties and going to the pubs and stuff.

Here is a paragraph for Laura! Haha, apparently I just tend to write one larrrrrge paragraph rather than seperating thoughts. This would be true. I got to go to an acoustic lounge at the San Francisco Bathhouse and hear some great musicians on thursday night. They were all really chill and there was just this awesome vibe. Its free on thursday nights, so i deff think it will become a regular hangout spot. I went with my friend Reeta from Finland and she is actually going to be playing at this weeks event. We then grabbed some Indian food, i really havents explored many international foods as of prior to this trip, but we got 2 different kinds of curry and went and sat down by the waterfront. It was a lot of fun. I also had a few friends over to see my flat one night and I made dinner. They said they were suprised by my cooking ability, but i think they may have been flattering me. haha. All I made was pasta, rice, a hearty salad and garlic bread (garlic bread was a summer thing for our apartment last summer in Oneonta). Haha a quick shout out to Laura and Megan in their spanish wonderlands!

Lets see. So this weekend i went down to the waterfront for the anual Dragon Boat race which turned out to be a lot of fun and drew in a big crowd. Basically all the big businesses have these friendly competitions every year for bragging rights. The weather was amazing and the harbour is just awesome. There were all sorts of vendors, crafts and musicans all about and plenty of Hokey pokey ice cream, a NZ favourite! (I have to get used to British spelling, as professors will take off on essays when we dont use it) ugh, apparently you can set your Microsoft word for the British spelling though. There was also a Asian influence to the festival and there were some really cool dragon chains of people with the big costumes on and running around. I got some great photos that day, wish i could upload them, but still unsure of the mystery of my laptop cord and why its taken almost 3 weeks to get here... ugh...

ON the bright side, I received notification from Hartwick that I got a John Christopher Hartwick Nomination, and being recognized as a Faculty scholar! Super stoked about this! A bunch of my friends deserve CONGRATULATIONS as well, as they too were recognized for their achievements. Now im in the running for the final scholarship which is only given to 6 people, but basically means that my senior year would be completely paid for!!!!!!!!! WOULDNT that be nice? haha. Fingers crossed, now i just need to get a bunch of reccommendations and get my resumer all sorted out.

I cant remember if i posted what my classes were yet, but heres a breakdown of my schedule.

Monday- Maori Studies from 4:10-5 PM
Tuesday- Race and Racism in Modern Europe 11:00-12:50, Modern Rituals (an anthropology course) from 2:10- 3pm
Wednesday Maori Studies again
Thursday- WW1- The Great Sacrifice 12-12:50, Modern Rituals, and Maori Studies
and FRIDAYS OFF!

So my schedule isnt toooo demanding, but there are Tutorials which i still need to sign up for. Not sure exactly how they work, but basically, since this is a large university, they are like smaller groups than the lectures and you get a tutor, or a grad student to kind of lead discussions. Should be interesting. So that may add to my schedule a bit and make me not have so much free time.

We have about 2 weeks off for Fall break coming up in the beginning of April. It seems like a really big vacation, so i am trying to see what my options are. I would love to be able to do a little more travelling, maybe even hop over the Tasman and check out Australia, Maybe Tasmania, Fiji or some of the other pacific islands. Im going to wait and see what other people are up to, and if i have the funds or not. If i cant make it out of the country i am going to look into doing a bit more trekking on the south island, maybe try to tackle the Milford Track, world famous for its beauty. I didnt really have the chance or time to do this on the first leg of my journey. Either way, I think break will be a fun way to explore a bit more.

This week we also get to sign up for clubs. I am excited about this, as more opportunities to meet kiwi students and also to work out and have fun. I am looking into joining the tramping club to see some more sights, the volleyball club, i might join a netball team, which is kind of like basketball, but not, its kind of a european sport, and maybe look into the rowing club. University sports are A LOT different here. They dont really have the same system as we have in the states. But they have a thing called the Uni Games in April which are like an olympic styled games set between the main 8 universities in NZ.

Welll thats about all i got for now, HOPEFULLY, FINGERS AND TOES CROSSED, my laptop cord will arrive soon and i will again have access to my photos and upload some of the new ones from around Wellington, including my flat, the view from campus and the waterfront. Next post ill let you know how classes are and whether i can understand my professors or not! though they speak english, the kiwi accent is funny and sometimes a bit tricky to understand. haha. I feel like ive lost mine a little bit since I moved in with other Americans. Haha, maybe ill get it back. Off to my first class of the tri-mester and excited to get my brain working again! I miss you all and hope everyone is doing amazing and braving the snow at home! Ill try to send some of the NZ sun stateside for you!

haere mai to my blog once again, or welcome in Maori! For the those faithful followers I have certainly left you hanging and i apologize. It has been quite a struggle to get online without my laptop and still being on the road for a while, but i FINALLY have settled in at Wellington and hope to keep a better record of all that occurs. Last time i checked in i was still in Auckland and had yet to meet up with the other international students. Well we finally did and it was strange, i mean it was weird to be around Americans again! They were all fresh off the plane and just seemed SOOO American. haha. Listen to me, as if I am saying im not American anymore. Let me explain, its more just the attitude and the outlook and such, i had it when i first got here, but after like 7 weeks, i think it wore off and i started to feel like i really kinda belonged here. It was almost a shock though, i had only met a small handful of Americans on my whole time travelling, and then bam, there were like 80 of them (us). I was a little skiddish around them almost, first off because I didnt want to sound like a know it all becuz i had travelled and knew the country kinda, and second off because idk, just funny to see what they were most worried about, which tended to be centered around where to go out, and what bars were best. I was surprised to see that after there long plane ride here, most were right and ready to hit the town and go to the pubs, so much for jetlag! I think another thing that kind of happened, was i realized how little money i really had, and deff knew my restrictions. This kind of put me in the position to hold back, but yet trying not be antisocial at the same time. In the end I hung out a bit, but still kind of felt a little akward. We spent a night in Auckland and had a few orientation type things, and then jumped on the bus for 4 more days of orientation in Rotorua. There were both students from my Uni, Victoria, and from Auckland Uni, in our group and we did some fun things. The first day we learned how to play rugby and had a few games of touch rugby out in the back field behind the hostel. Then we went and learned the Haka, which is a traditional Maori war dance. It is most recognizable from the All Blacks, which are the NZ national Rugby team who pretty much are like gods here and sweep up at international competition. The haka was a ton of fun to learn the words and the movements, and to put all this energy into making scary faces and sticking out tongues out. Just youtube it, if you want to see more. So we learned all the movements and such and then the instructors split up the girls and the guys and told us to drop down to our skivvies. haha, we did and then put on these like loin cloth type traditional costumes and got our faces tattoed. Face tattoos are representational of power in the Maori culture and tattoos on the thighs and buttox are often only held by chiefs. We performed the Haka and had a blast. The rest of Orientation week we did a bunch of things, got to meet some pretty cool kids and wander around Rotorua a bit more. We did a day of community service where we went to a local Maori settlement, which sat on one of the most geothermal areas of Rotorua, and we got a tour of the village. There were some really cool things here and I got an insight into some traditions that were quite interesting. The geothermal activity plays a big role in the way the live their everyday lives, including earth ovens which they called their own "microwaves" would cook entire meals, to the baths which still were open for everyone in the village to use. Our community service project was basically de-weeding some of the grounds from non native plants. It began to rain and for a bout an hour and a half we pulled up bamboo stalks, and other brush. It was actually really enjoyable and felt good to do some manual labor. I ended up standing in the big dumpster and squishing down all the brush and trees to make more room. haha. That night we went to Tamaki village and were treated with an awesome welcome and showed some of the Maori performances. It was great. Then we were again treated as we were fed a traditional Maori hangi, or earth oven meal. It was awesome, it felt like thanksgiving, because i just kept eating and eating. I literally had to loosen my belt! My friend Corey from Texas got to be the chief of our group and he led us into dinner. We finished off our dinner by singing a song together and learning some words of wisdom. When Maori's are asked what is the most important thing in this world, they respond by saying, "It is people, it is people, it is people". I really took this to heart. It was so cool to see how everyone at the dinner came together after this, and it gave me kind of a simple outlook on life, that we often take for granted. The following day we had yet another awesome experience as we went to Waitomo to go caving. After 2 bus breakdowns, the same bus, haha, we arrived in Waitomo and split into different activities. I chose Honking Haggis Holes and our group of ten ventured off into a cave to abseil, or basically repel into this giant cave with our wetsuits and headlamps. It was sooooooo crazy! man what a rush. Our first abseil into the cave was almost 35 meters! or like 100 feet! Our guides were awesome and it was sucha blast. We made our way through the caves for about 2 1/2 hours and did more abseiling, traversed waterfalls and crawled on our bellies through very small tunnels, certainly not for the claustrophobic! That night we all had a little goodbye party as the two groups were splitting up and all the friends we had made from Auckland were parting ways. Our Wellington group was due to fly from Rotorua to Wellington the next day, but i decided to take the bus instead, as it was over 100$ cheaper, but 7 hours longer. haha. o well, there was another kid who was gonna ride too. He however didnt secure a ticket and was nearly left behind twice. haha. Finally arrived in Wellington, where it was gloomy and wet, haha, on the 18th of Feb. and caught a Victoria Shuttle to my housing. At this point i had no idea what to expect when it came to where i was going to be living during my time in Wellington. I knew i would have a Kiwi-flatmate, but other than that i was completely unsure. We pulled onto my street and it was a dead end, with all these small houses on it, it looked really peaceful and quiet. Got my keys from the RA down the road and went and checked out my flat. I have a kiwi-flatmate named Kirsten and unfortunately, haha, jk, but 2 other Americans living with me. I was kind of hoping to end up with more Kiwi's, but they are pretty cool. Shallin is from California and she was with a different program so she had been there a few days and Brodie is from Westchester New York. He plays rugby and was hoping to play here as well. Our flat is pretty nice. We have 4 bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, kitchen with all the cutlerly and pans there, and a back deck. Laundry is just a floor below and we dont have to pay for it! Our house is on the corner of the street and we have a little front lawn with a tree for some shade. Overall i was very happy with it. Some of the other kids from my group ended up in overflow housing, basically a hostel like dorm, downtown. They were a bit jealous i got a real house. A few others ended up just down the road so its cool. My room is pretty big actually, with a really comfy bed, a desk, a bookshelf and a closet. My window looks out to the next house a few feet away, but it keeps my room really nice and shady and cool. Just a few yards down the road there is a lookout over the city and the harbour and it is pretty amazing. For those of you who saw the picture i posted of Wellington from Mount Victoria, just imagine the view from the opposite side of the city basically. Its pretty amazing. I like how its only like a 15-20 minute walk to the city, but like Hartwick there are SOOOOO many stairs, its rediculous. haha Prolly even 10x worse than Hartwick actually. But its still not bad, and for being just outside the city our street is really quiet. We had a day of international student orientation and went through a few of the protocol things, got registered and enrolled in classes and i just got my student id card. We went to a few of the pubs and saw some live bands which was fun as well. The first year students just got here yesterday and the returners will be here soon too. There are 20,000 students here, so it will deff feel a bit biggger than tiny 15 person classes in Hartwick. I already got to see some of the lecture halls that fit like 400+ people and was a bit turned off by it, but will see what happens. SOOO i got my classses all set up. I am taking four papers (classes). THEY are- A history course titled Race and Racism in in Modern Europe, which is a 200 level course, Another history course titled- The Great Sacrifice: WW1 which is a 300 level course. An Anthropology course titled- Ritual in the Modern World at the 200 level and Maori Society and Culture which is just a 100 intro course. A bunch of us took the bus like 25 minutes outside the city the other day to a beach that was super beautiful. We wandered up the beach for a while, but realized the Red Rocks which we wanted to go see were a few hours out. We still had a lot of fun and i got to talk camera shop with a couple of others. I had come down with a cold a few days before and kinda felt reallly blah... it was one with the barky kind of cough that just hurts your chest. I realllly didnt want to be sick, but i think i caught it from the US kids who all had just come from winter and sickness. haha. idk, but i kinda have been taking it easy the last few days. There was a rugby game the other night i was going to go to, but i was a bit tired. But the Wellington Hurricanes won! i will prolly try to go to the next game. There was also an all whites soccer game last night as well, but again, ill have time to attend these as i still have like 4 months in Wellington. A group of us went to the farmers market on sunday and got some fresh produce, which was sooo nice and it was held just behind Te Papa, the national museum right on the harbour. I actually am contemplating whether or not it is possible for me to get an intership there, or somewhere in the city. Maybe even pick up a small job under the table so i can actually live! it can be a bit expensive to go out and food and such, so will see. I dont want to hold back from going to all sorts of cool things because i am broke, so i am thinking about just taking out a private loan, and just enjoying myself here because it is kind of one of those once in a lifetime thing. Money shouldnt get in the way, but there are also all sorts of art and music events held which are free and tons of things happening around the city. I may not enjoy the bustle of city life, but it has been nice so far, Wellington isn't a daunting city and it deff has it advantages. Welllllllll i think that i have caught you up to speed a bit. I will keep updating as i go to my first classes, which i still have like a week till! so i have all this free time, and some of my friends are going to explore the south island, my roomies are thinking about buying a cheap car and i am just going to find something to do this week! haha. shouldnt be too hard, but to telll ya the truth im ready for papers to start so i can feel busy again, for those of you who know me well, i deff would rather be busy than lounge around and do nothing. Well i am getting a bit hungry, so i am going to go find out what i can do about dinner and then a couple of us might go to a comedy festival tonight! Cheers all!

hey all! Well one leg of this adventure has now officially come to an end!! ;( but at the same time I am excited to start the next! I meet up with the other international students in Auckland tomorrow where we spend a night and then head to Rotorua, to the same hostel i was already at, and have like 4 days of orientation before heading down to settle in Wellington. I still have yet to find out who my flat mates are or what classes im taking, so this should be fun! I am currently staying with the Dorman's in Auckland, and i think i am going to go out for a swim! As it is a beautiful sunny day! Check facebook for new pics!!! I get my laptop cord in a few days and then i hope to start skyping with some of you! miss everyone!

FORGIVE me readers, for its been what feels like weeks since my last post! haha... sooo I last posted when I was in Franz Josef glacier on the west coast and I have done quite a bit since then. From Franz Josef we headed south along the coast and stopped at Lake Matheson which has reflective views of Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ at about 15000 feet! From there we stopped through a few small towns, an old gold mining town and a neat jade or pounamu stone factory. Instead of going straight to Queenstown, I stopped at Lake Wanaka for a night. It was beaaaaautiful there! This leg of the journey took me out of lush rainforest into more dramatic mountain scenery, yet it was barren in parts as well. The lake was this amazing blue colour and it was fantastic! The scenery really started to remind me of the Lord of the Rings a bit. In Wanaka I ended up getting a 6 bed bunk dorm all to myself! it was a change from always having others in the room, and it was almost too quiet. That evening i took a walk up to a 1000 meter look out point and took in 360 degree panaromic views of the southern alps and the lakes that surrounded the region. I had to stay for sunset, and it was well worth it, though a tad chilly with the wind! For those of you on facebook, my profile picture of me jumping is from Wanaka and it was me waiting for the sun to go down, so i got creative and a little bored! haha. Next day i slept in a little, then went and sat by the edge of the lake until i had to catch the bus to Queenstown. Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world and it is a bit commercial, i didnt think i would like it actually. But it was again beautiful, with these jagged peaks overshadowing the city, they are called the Remarkables, and it makes sense. Queenstown had a flair to it for sure, but it lived up to its name. We stopped by a bungy place on our way into the city on the bus and it was good fun watching everyone walk up to ledge and dive off into the canyon below! I reaaaaally had no interest in bungy, but seeing it, mannnnn i wanted to do it! I opted out this time, but if i had more money i defffffff would have done it, though the one we were at was rather lame at only 43 meters, i would have done the nevis at 133 meters!!!!! A bloke in my hostel had just done it and he showed me a video of it, loooooked amazing. In that exhilerating kind of way. Got a free barbie at the hostel that night, which was nice, not to cook or pay for a meal! Next day made plans to climb Queenstown hill track, got all my gear ready, packed a little lunch, made it up this super steep road to the start of the path, took a little break, haha, thought i was in shape, but jeeez..... but this is when i realized that i didnt have my camera!!!!!!!!!! how could i forget that it was in my other bag! I was royally upset with myself, cuz i wasnt going to do the walk without it, but i didnt really want to walk back and get it! haha. so i grudgingly went back down the hill to the hostel, got my camera and decided to go to the beach instead and over to the queens gardens, as it was bloody hot out and i didnt really want to do the hike in full heat. Ran into some British chaps i had met in Greymouth and sat and chatted with them for a while. Finally got up and around and went to do the walk and i again ran into the Aussie girls I had met in Franz Josef, it was Australia day, apparently a big holiday, and they were alll decked out and probably had been drinking since about noon. haha. Paid my respects to their festivities then headed up to complete the track i had planned. It was a little cooler out this time around, but it was a great walk. Met a German guy about halfway up and then was talked the rest of the way up and for a good 2 or so hours, he was pretty cool. He used to work as a guy who would deliver bone marrrow! So he would be sent from Germany to like LA and deliver this like precious stuff! pretty neat job, but lots of pressure id imagine!...... we decided to head back down the hill and i got back into town in time to grab a burger at Ferburger, which had giant burgers, but delicious, then ran into yet another aquaintance from Alberta Canada. I got my burger and then we went down to the pier and watched the sun go down again, it was crazy, it wouldnt get dark until nearly ten pm. Pretty cool. Went out with them as Queenstown is known for its nightlife as well. It was a fun night, we all just enjoyed goofing off and all. They had these drinks at this bar that came in tea pots, and you would pour little like shots out of them, kinda wild! Made plans earlier to go to Milford Sound the next day, so I didnt go overboard or anything. The ride to Milford Sound was stunning, even though i was a bit sleepy due to the eves festivities. The scenery got more and more dramatic as we headed into the fiordland national park, which is a huge World Heritage area. The bus stopped before we got to the Homer tunnel which is an engineering feat. We stopped by a little spot where the bus driver told us we could take our water bottles and fill them up with the water from the stream as it was 99.8% pure and was runoff from a glacier! It was chilllly but oh so crisp! Got to see the Kea, a mountain parrot, and then we headed into the Homer tunnel, which took something like 40 years to complete. Its only 1.3 kilometers long, but its through this massive mountain. Apparently they have a naked run through there every year! Haha, sounds like fun! The scenery was even more dramatic on the other side as we approached Milford. Now Milford Sound is a major iconic image of NZ, and in the world really, you prolly have all seens pics of it and didnt realize it. But as we got there, it was almost as if i had been there before, as its image is plastered upon so many guidebooks and postcards, it was almost a letdown, DONT get me wrong it was nice, but it wasnt the same. We took a cruise through the fiord, which was neat, a bit cloudy though, to the Tasman sea and then back through the fiord and under some really big waterfalls! Drove back out through the tunnel and instead of going back to Queenstown, i jumped off at Te Anau for a night where I had thought about doing the Kepler track, a three day hike in the area thats well known, but easier to do than the Routeburn or the Milford, which you have to book with the DOC like 6 months in advance!!!!! Did some laundry at Te Anau, which was nice and was looking for a quiet nite, until i got asked to stop by the pub by my Dutch friend to get her to grab food to make dinner, turns out i got a beer, and then this Mexican-Canadian guy decided to buy us all shots of Tequila.... UGH... haha.... Disclaimer, i am not an alcoholic, and have spent very little money on alcohol this trip, but since queenstown it seems i have been give more opportunities to go out. Well we had a few, they had karaoke (sp?) and we just had fun making fools of ourselves. Back to Queenstown, where i spent another 2 nights, Did another walk up to the other side of the city and had some good views, tried to sneak onto the Gondola to ride back down, as it again was a bit of a hot day, but i got caught, haha, and walked back down! It was ok...... OHHHH right, so one of the reasons i havent really blogged is because at this point, i somehow misplaced or Lost my power cord to my laptop!!!!! Ughhhhh so frustrating, i could not figure out what happend to it! I called the bus and asked if i left it there, the last like 3 hostels i was at and retraced my memory, but i still dont know what happend to it! So i havent been able to upload any new pics at all, im running very low on my memory cards, and i have had to pay outrageous prices for internet, the last place i was at was $1 for every 10 minutes! This hostel has free internet! Hence me taking the time to update you all on my travels, and at other places theres always someone waiting to get on, but its quiet here. Ok, so then i headed on the bus to Dunedin on the East coast, our bus broke down, and we spent about 3 hours sitting outside in the middle of no where! Ended up chatting with this Korean guy who came to NZ to learn english, it was neat trying to test and see how much he had learned, he deff needed a little more work, but nice none the less. Spent 2 days in Dunedin, it was a decent place, but i didnt really plan anything, i was a bit tired from the last few days, i hadnt gotten the best sleep and had been trying to solve the issue of my laptop. Decided to go and do someting normal in Dunedin so i went to the movies! haha seems dumb, but it was nice. I saw Sherlock Holmes and it was pretty good! Headed to Lake Tekapo from Dunedin and spent 3 full days there! it was a tiny place with a population of like 300 people, but its a very scenic place known for its sky! There are hardly any lights thus making is super clear. The lake was again this crazy blue colour and it was frigid as it tooo was fed by a glacier. SOOOOOO refreshing, but you shiver when you get out, but then the sun attacks, the weather was amazing the last nearly 2 weeks, its been great, but almost too much sunshine! haha. Ok. Did a couple of hikes around Tekapo, opted out of going to Mt coook as i ended up in a room with these 2 guys who snore like there was no tomorrow, I DONT KNOW HOW SUCH NOISES CAN COME OUT OF A PERSON! i really got like an hour of sleep, not fun. Jumped on the bus yesterday and instead of going straight to Christchurch i took a night in Methven, small place, where i am now and heard there was a walk about 15k outside the city which is supposed to one of the best short walks in NZ. Couldn't turn it down, the hostel offered free bikes, so i jumped on the bike at around 2 and set off on my way, turns out it was more like 30k away!! thats like 19 miles! ughh... im not a biker by any means, and it again was quite warm, deff needed to stay hyrdrated..... FINNNNALLY got to the place after a relatively flat start of the trip, a nice downhill then walking my bike for a while up this gorge... what did i get myself into! haha. it was 430 by the time i started the walk! Which was in pretty place, this huge farm of sheep and red deer..... they said the wlak took like 2 hours, i only went about an hour in to the Washpen falls, stopped there for a bit, then walked back as i knew i would have to get home before dark, I was sooooo tired by then, and i got this crazy biker arm tan. haha. I was sooooo close to hitching it back to town with my bike, cuz it was hell... the hills were endless, but i stuck it out, just hoping to get back in time to go to the store and get food for dinner as i was starving. Turns out i took a long way there, and then realized there was a little bit of a shorter way back, which i actually cruised back . Spent the night here, wish i had slept better, again a crazy snore-er mannnn how do these people sleep themselves! Got free breakfast here, which was awesome, the first time i have had eggs in like 6 weeks! Got to go shower and pack up, the bus comes in an hour then off to Christchurch for 2 days i think, THEN to Kaikoura for a couple, then my trek comes to an end as i fly out of Christchurch on tuesday the 9th back into Auckland, where i spend a couple days then meet up with the other university students and have orientation in Rotorua! Sooooorrrry i havent posted any pics yet, its frustrating, but thanks to mom i am getting a new power cord in a few days!!! Misssing everyone! Its hard to believe this trip is over, yet a new journey is about to begin! cheers all!

the rugged south island!

hey guys! Sorry its been like a week since my last post...... had some issues with my computer and havent had much wireless or anything.. Found out last week that I had 0% space left on my hardrive... yeahhhhh that wasnt that good for uploading like 800 pictures at a time. It was a wee bit frustrating, so i had to delete a bunch of things off my computer, that didnt help much and then ended up using my USB to save other pics and had to buy another memory card for my computer... anyhow, enough complaining.... soooo where did i leave off... wellington, sunday morning i caught the Interislander ferry across the Cook strait to Picton and the south island. It had been raining for about 2 days in Welly and thus making the crossing a bit of a shaky one. It is already a bit rough on a nice day, but the captain was like welcome to the washing machine! haha. It wasnt that bad actually, but the top oberservation deck was closed due to weather and thus making the rather scenic crossing over the charlotte sounds less appealing through the window of a giant boat. Ferry took about 3 hours or so, with the last 20 i got to go on the deck because the weather had cleared a bit and started to see blue skies again as we came into Picton, just a small port town at the tip of the south island. I couldnt catch the bus till the next day so i hung around picton for the afternoon and did some cook treks out to see the sound better. It was beautiful! Picton was a nice little town and the hostel that i stayed at was probably the cleanest and one of the nicest that i have stayed at so far... it was run by a man and a woman and they did all they could to make everyones stay go nice. I coooked a nice meal for myself and got a bottle of savignon blanc, which is produced locally as wineries are scattered much across NZ... Like i said before i am growing more and more to like a nice glass of wine... Caught the bus on monday the 18th on my way to Nelson, which is supposed to be the sunniest place in NZ recording something like 3600 hours of sunlight a year, a nice change from the weather in Wellington. Stayed at a rather busy and pretty nice hostel called Paradiso. I was staying in my tent there. But i got to play volleyball!!!! Figured i would have gotten the chance at the beach when i was up north, but not once. Took a walk my first night to the geographical center of NZ which is located on a hill overlooking Nelson.. it was only like a 20 minute walk but it was a really nice view over the water and out to Abel Tasman national park. I would then visit the park the next morning and we drove like an hour to it and then took a water taxi about 40 minutes up the beach, they dropped us off and then we walked back to the landing point. We had an option for a 4 or 6 hour walk..... I figured i would go all in and do the 6 hour walk. It was pretty with amazing golden sand beaches... but i think i should have done the 4 hour walk instead. It was a bit of a warm day and turned to a pretty tiring afternoon as i thought i was rushing back to catch the bus back to Nelson.... It was about a 25k walk in total and the last like 1.5k i decided i had gone to far and thought i had to backtrack an extra couple of K to get back to where we were getting picked up.. i kinda had a lapse of judgement.. haha i was tired and got really upset with myself for walking more than i had to...... turns out i was like super close to where i was supposed be but i figured it out with a little help from canadian guy named Ben. Was super tired after that walk. Spent the next day in Nelson and just figured out what i could do with my computer and checked out some of the local sites. It was a bit rainy again, but it wasnt too bad out. That night i went to set my alarm on my watch so i could wake up for the busride to Greymouth and the watch died.... greaaaat... pretty much my way of knowing when to wake up for all the early morning buses and everything else. So i set the alarm on my ipod which i had never done before and prayed i wouldnt miss the bus...... soo around 2am that night i woke up paranoid about the time and there was this crazy noise outside my tent. I knew it was some kind of animal but i wasnt quite sure what it was.... i assumed that it was a possum because they are supposedly like everywhere here. I tried to shew it away and it decided it wanted to stay another like 20 minutes making rediculous noises....... woke up and had no idea what time it was in the am, turns out i had plenty of time to pack up.... it was raining again though and it was a bit miserable trying to take my tent down and pack my bags.... got on the bus on thursday morning and we headed towards Greymouth. Stopped a few times on the west coast, once at a beach which has a seal colony which was pretty cool and then at this other place called punakaiki rocks or pancake rocks. It was cool as well. Its 1215 am right now as i am writing this, so i apologize if i am not being the descriptive. Got into Greymouth and was warned that it wasnt that special of a place. Decided to go on the brewery tour at Monteiths, cuz it had a voucher for dinner with it as well so it was a good deal. Went to a pub after witha buncha international people from the bus and we got 6$ pints which is super cheap for NZ, decided to just have fun with it........ it was about 2 am by them time i walked back to the hostel, which i forgot was animal themed. It was called Noahs ark and each room had a diffferent animal all over the place. I ended up in the monkey room with two of my new swedish friends. Anyhow, got a little turned around walking back to the hostel after being at the pub and stopped at a petrol station (gas) and there happend to be a policeman there and i asked him for directions, welllllllll he decided to give me a ride, haha...... it was funny... i was only really a street away from where i was supposed to be, so it wasnt that bad..... i realized no one else from the bus was staying any longer in greymouth but i had forgot to book for the next day to Franz Josef, where the glacier was....... so the bus driver didnt know if there would be a space for me cuz he already had 55 people and only 49 seats.... got up with everyone else in the room, a bit tired stilll from my late night adventure and happens i could still catch a ride on the bus.. i was happy...... made a few stops between Greymouth and Franz Josef, one at a little gold mine village called Ross and another at a Green or Pounamu stone factory where we saw the artisans making all sorts of cool jewerly and like things....... Got into Franz Josef and the weaher had cleared up finally. Decided i couldnt really afford a guided glacier walk so i did the valley walk to the glacier with Simon from Sweden and then went my own way and took a ton of pics. It was a breathtaking site.... its a World Heritage site and for good reason. Its so amazing to see all this green mountains and then this giant ice glacier. It almost doesnt make sense to me.... spent a good 4 hours or so just chillen near the glacier, Get it?!!, chillen! haha.... ok im tired and sense of humor is poor, but anyway, walked the 5k back into town where the hostels were, hung around, made some dinner and then did a cool little night walk with 3 australian girls to a trail that has glow worms, much like the ones in Waitomo, but without the caves. We took a torch, (flashlight) but we really didnt need it. They were some crazy girls, but funny as all get out.. we kept scaring eachother as it actually was a bit spooky being on a dark trail winding through native rainforest almost.... we thought we would scare some other people so we stood in a dark place and turned out torch off, turns out the people we were scaring werent who we thought and we nealy gave this german???? lady a heart attack, felt a little bad about that.. haha....... slept in bit this morning which was really nice and then did about a 15-20k walk called the Alex Knob, which runs kinda near the glacier and gives some pretty good views. It was rather warm today and i was sweating only a few K in..... this was really the most rainforesty type walk i have done, as the west coast of the south island get heaps of rain. but it was beautiful, but ruggen trail...... i am in shape, but it was a bit tricky in some places.... i didnt end up walking the whole way up.... the DOC sign said that it was an 8 hour trek return, i walked about 3 hours in and decided not to go up to the next lookout as the clouds were covering the higher peaks anyway.. sat up there for a bit and relaxes and ate some snacks and just admired the shear beauty of the glacier, the amazing waterfalls falling near it and the snow covered peaks around it....... the walk back down was challenging as well, but didnt seem like it took as long... did a small detour to Wombat lake and it was very serene.. also got to see my first Kea or mountain Parrot!!! they were pretty cool and rather large, i snuck up on it with my 400mm lens on my camera, but im not sure i got a good pic as the lighting was rather crummy..... got a bite to eat when i got back to town, took a shower and got on the internet again for the first time in almst a week. Played some cards with my Aussie walking buddies and the swedish kids and here i am now...... deff need to crash and get a little sleep. Bus leaves at 745am for Queenstown, and we dont pull in till about 5ish, which is gonna be a loooonnnng day.... not sure if i am going to go straight to Queenstown, or make a stop in Wanaka and stay a night there, i have heard that it is nice......... then Queenstown and a day trip out to another world heritage site, MILFORD SOUND! which is a very iconic NZ scenery, reallllllly looking forward to it...... anyhow, i cant believe i have been here for almost 4 weeks now! its crazy! i have been having quite an amazing time and it is a beautiful place and easy going, I WOULD RECCOMEND YOU ALL COME SOMEDAY IF YOU GET THE CHANCE! OK, bedtime for me! i will upload more pics to here and facebook in Queenstown! cheers!

hey all! This is gonna be a short blog I swear! The last couple days have been very quiet and kind of relaxing which is fine. Stayed at Hannies and extra night and the weather has turned crapppppy, true wellington style im told!, raining and cold for the last 2 days... blahhh.... Got dropped off in center city this morning and left my stuff at the Base Hostel because I couldnt check in till later. Took a very rainy walk over to Te Papa the National Museum of NZ. It was opened just about 10 years ago, but it may be one of the coolest and most interactive museums i have ever been in. It was a perfect day to escape the rain and just meander through the museum. There were some really cool exhibits on how NZ was formed and all the volcanic activitiy around it. There was also this giantttt squid that was caught off the lower southern island near antartica....... there were some pretty cool Maori exhibits as well. i spent a good 3 1/2 hours in the museum and then walked around a bit since it had sort of stopped raining. Ate at Burger King for the first time since being here and it was in the coolest old building and the food wasnt half bad, though it still wrecked a little havoc on the stomach later on, haha..... checked into the hostel, took a little break and then journeyed out to find Victoria University. I got a little turned around on the map, but finally found it, It's way up on the hill overlooking the city and the harbour, a little like Hartwick overlooking Oneonta! The campus isn't that pretty..... idk, i mean not compared to the Wick, but it certainly is going to be different. We shall see! Ventured back down the hill and grabbed a bite to eat for dinner and here I am now. Thinking about grabbing a couple of beers tonight at a local pub, the rains been a bit depressing and i could use a little human interaction, the last couple days have been almost too quiet....... But it will be a light night, first off I dont have tons of money and second, i have to wake up at 630 to catch the shuttle for the Ferry Crossing over the choppy Cook strait. It's a 3 hour ferry ride to the south island. I will land in Picton, a little port town and stay one night there, then get picked up by the bus on monday and head to Sunshine capital of NZ Nelson. Thinking i am going to explore the Abel Tasman National Park a bit while i am there.... Well thats all for now, no new pics, or anything so just check back in again another time!

Wellington

Good Morning! It is Friday the 15th of January already!? How did that happen? I have been in NZ for about 3 weeks now, on the road for two and I pretty much tackled the North Island. I am currently just outside of Wellington, soon to be my home for 4 months, staying with an ex-water polo player from NZ. Drove from Taupo to Wellington yesterday morning into the afternoon. It was a pretty long drive and we went across NZ's only true desert, which wasn't much like a desert you would think of but it was pretty barren. Saw the other side of the Tongariro national park and the other volcano which inspired Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings. Which we watched in the hostel the night before! haha. Stopped through a few small towns along the way to Wellington and then drove into the city. I am not a huge city person, but from my first impression Wellington seems pretty nice. It has population of about 400,000 people and is the capital of NZ so their is a lot of cultural and entertainment perks to the city. It is also home to Te Papa (meaning our place in Maori) the national museum which is considered one of the most amazing museums in the world, apparently its technology is like a couple years in advance or something. I havent gone yet, but it is free and I will probably visit it frequently once i settle down. Wellington is not known for its beautiful weather, rather its terms Windy Wellington and often it is gray and raining, like it is at the moment! But when we pulled in yesterday is was a beautiful day, warm and with blue skies! We drove through town a little, having landmarks pointed out and told that there is at least one earthquake everyday in Wellington as it lays across a pretty major fault line! Usually don't feel the quakes at all, but they said that you will occasionally feel a little shake here and there. Should be fun! We then drove up to Mt. Victoria to overlook the city and the awesome harbour. It was quite the view of the place I will call home. Got dropped off in city center at the hostels, tried to make a call on the payphone, wouldnt accept my card and so i got some coins, and they didn't have a coin slot, so I had to wander down the street searching for another payphone. Didn't walk to far, but at this point i had my huge hiking bag, nearly 30+ lbs full and my camera/laptop bag on my front. I deff overpacked, but Hannie told me I could leave a few things behind as i go to the south island and then pick them back up when i come back through for Uni. Deff will be nice to lighten the load! Finally got a hold of Hannie and got picked up to head to her flat like 20 minutes outside the city. She was having like 4 of her girlfriend's over for dinner so I kind of felt like I was interrupting ladies night, but she said it was fine. She made an awesome dinner, rice and curry and a great salad and I had a few glasses of wine. I usually don't really like wine that much, but there are some amazing wineries in NZ and I have taken a liking to wine now. Deff not a connasuer (spelling?) but I think it's a nice change from drinking beer mostly. One of her friends also brought her mom's homemade gingerbeer which was awesome as well! So tasty! Hannie works at Victoria University, where I will be attending, in the Classics department and all of her friends were in the field as well. It was really neat talking to them as some of them were going on for their PHD's and talking about that process a bit. It was pretty cool. Went to sleep around 12ish and slept in a bit, to about 930. Which is pretty late because most days i've had to catch a bus around 730 or so, so I have a programmed wake up time of about 730 now. Hannie had work today, so I am going to try to get a hold of Siany, a current kiwi water polo player at Hartwick, and see if I can catch up with her today. I am planning on heading down to the South Island on Sunday and I have to take a 3 hour ferry ride across the cook strait. Heard it can be a bit of a choppy ride! I am not a huge boat person, but I doubt i'll get sick since their pretty big boats. So from here on out I have about 3 1/2 weeks left to travel down both sides of the South Island and make my way back to Auckland before February 10th or so, then meet up with the other study abroad kids and settle in a bit. Well that's all for now, mite be a few more days till I get online again! Cheers all!

Hey everyone! Let's see where did i leave off..... So I left Auckland on Saturday morning. Glad to get out of the city... Drove pretty much all afternoon through small towns and more farms. Hard to believe how many cows and sheep their are in this country! Haha. Pulled into Rotorua that afternoon and stopped by Agroventures, a place where they have all sorts of adrenaline rush rides, which are overpriced AND were stopping there when i go back to Rotorua for Australearn cultural week. Then went and stopped by the Redwood forest which was really beautiful. Dropped off that night at Kiwipaka hostel, decided to stay in my tent for a couple nights. Had some cool tent neighbors, Galen from Scotland and Star from Canada. Speaking of Canada, I have been mistaken for a Canadian about 4x now. haha. I actually don't mind much. Eh? Went out on a walk that night to try and find the grocery store and i wandered around for a good 2 hours, it helps to have a map! Rotorua is a geothermal wonderland aka realllly smelly as there is sulpher everywhere. There is steam even coming out of the sewer vents. Finally ended up at the government gardens where the Queen stayed when she visited NZ. It's a pretty cool place. Finally found the grocery store and then walked back through a park we were warned not to walk through at night. haha. It wasn't that dark. Signed up to go whitewater rafting in the morning. It was through a company called Katiaki rafting and the rapids are class five, which is the highest. Their company is the only commercially operated rafting company to raft down a 7 meter waterfall! Thats like 21 feet! It was a beautiful day and it was AMAZZZZZING. Such a blast, the guides were awesome and the ride was sick. I ended up in a raft with with a girl from Maine, One from germany and one from Holland. We all paid like 7$ and got a cd of the pictures. I was so exhausted that afternoon! I also think i got a little sick.... I made a stupid judgement of error and had bought some like salami at the store the night before, didnt even think about refridgerating.... felt like i was gonna throw up kind of that afternoon and my stomach was just in such a knot...... learned my lesson. Spent the next day in Rotorua as well, but it was a bit of a lazy day. Got on the bus monday morning and headed to Waitomo caves. Its a pretty cool little place but we stayed for like 3 hours. Most people went black water rafting and spent more money, but i just went into the caves where we had this guided tour through the caves and they had these really cool things called glow worms. So the cave was super dark but up top on the roof of it there were all these glowing things. It was pretty cool. Sat around for a couple of hours talking with a couple girls from Germany. If I were to take a tally of where all the people are from who i have met i think that the german travellers would win. Went on our way to Taupo, got here and stopped by Huka Falls, New Zealands version of Niagara falls. Stayed in a YHA hostel and made plans to do the Tongariro crossing on tuesday. It is supposed to be the best one day trek in the north island. The weather up there can change very rrapidly and so we werent really sure we would be able to do it or not. Woke up at 530 am to catch the bus at 6. We were told we could go do it. But the guide warned us to take warm clothing and plenty of food and ater just in case the weather changed drastically and we stuck on the volcano. Oh yeah, Mt Tongariro is the biggest mountain on the north island and has 3 volcanoes around it. One of them which is still active. Last eruption was in 1996. We got there in like an hour and it was the first time since i left NY that i was cold. It was probably 35 degrees at the base of the walk. And their was snow up on the peaks. I was wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a thermal shirt, and wool sweater. I was warm enough, but i had to put on my gloves and a warm hat. It was a total 19.5 kilometer walk. They dropped us off there and then would pick us up at 330 at a park on the other side of the walk. So thats like a 12 mile or so trek. It was amazing! The snow topped volcano and the unchanged countryside was beautiful, but cold. haha. Started the trek. Oh by the way I had on a hiking pack, had emptied out most of it in the hostel, but still was carrying about 20lbs. I knew it was gonna be rough. The first 5k was relatively flat and not to bad but then the next half was super extreme. haha. I was pretty sure i was in shape enough to do this walk. It was deff a challenge, but it was amazing. Got up to the center of the first crater and walked across it. The snow was becoming a bit more evident, but it didnt cover everything. But the wind was howling and the blue skies started to change some as we got higher up towards the clouds. Another steep ascent and the wind was blowing like 35 miles an hour and prolly only 10 feet visibility. It was as if i was climbing everest or something! Took a little rest at the highest point and made a stupid mistake. Had a photo taken and then continued on. Started to head back down and went to grab something out of my pack and realized i was missing one of my camera lens's. I was a littled frustrated. I figured i hadnt left it too far up because i remember changing my lens not to far up. Started to make my way back up, but realized how hard it was to go back up with the wind. Then, Thankfully, a man and his wife from London who i had spoke with a little earlier called to me and asked if i was missing a lens. I was so grateful! I was going to get very upset with myself if i lost my $200 lens on top of a volcano or someone picked it up. People are good in nature and I was happy. Started back down the path and reached the most amazing spot, the 3 baby blue geothermal lakes which stood out drastically against the arid and rocky desolate landscape of the volcanic area. I was getting pretty exhausted at this point and I was only like 10k into the whole walk. Took a lunch break and got some more great photos of the larget of the volcanic crater. It was breathtaking. Finished the last 9k in a slow pace, taking more and more photos. Had an amazing panoramic view of Lake Taupo and the other mountains nearby, by the way, Lake Taupo is supposed to be the size of singapore. It was the 4th volcano in the area and it erupted a few hundred thousand years ago and created this monster lake. Got back down the trail to the other carpark around 330 after leaving originally at like 730 for my walk. The last 2k seemed to drag on forever and i was just ready to be off the mountain by then. haha I fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hostel and then grabbed a bite to eat and sat in the hottub for a while to ease my soreness. Got a decent amount of sleep, minus this old guy who was in the bed next to me who must have had one of those holes in his neck from smoking or something. So every breath was like super loud. Didn't mean to sound upset, but i really just needed to pass out. Woke up this morning and here i am. Going to relax today and then back on the bus tomorrow to Wellington, the capital and where i will be attending university. I am going to stay a few days with some Hartwick best, but i am really looking forward to the South Island. Well until i get on again, adios all!

The far north!

helllo to all! Its 7:30 on Thursday night and I am in Auckland city, just on the other side of the skytower. I am exhaussssssted! Litterally could fall asleep right now. I am not much of a city person, so unlike most of the other hostel-ers who will prolly go to the bars tonight, I will prolly just go pass out. Lameeee... i know... Haha, but last nite in Paihia I had a good 7 or so beers with 4 German guys and an Israeli. It was fun. We all just shot the shit and it was just a chill night outside the hostel. All talking about whatever and enjoying some cheap beer. Nothing better! haha.... ok so i skipped a couple days... so last time i posted i was at Coopers Beach. That next morning after staying in the suite i got dropped off prolly 5 miles down the road at a holiday park on Hihi beach. Deff off the tourist path, and their wasnt even a store there, but it was really beautiful. I was just afraid that I would have to hitchhike all the way back to Coopers Beach to catch the bus the next afternoon with my like 35lb pack! Man i deff overpacked and get a killer workout everytime i walk more than like 5 minutes! And it hurts on the sunburn I managed to get.... soooo i hung around Hihi beach for a while, took a bunch of pictures and set up my tent behind a camper van. Didnt really have any food besides a couple apples and some granola bars. haha. There was like a mini little camp store at the office so i bought a loaf of bread and some salami ( i think). haha. and pretty much over the next day ate the whole loaf of bread and the like 12 slices of salami. Nutritious eh?? haha. Went swimming a bit and decided to dig for mussels, even though I had no idea what i was doing. Kind of just started digging in the mud as the tide was going out. I found prolly like 20 or so, but had no idea how to know if they were full grown or how to cook them really, or a pot to even cook them in. So i put them back in the water, hoping i didnt somehow kill them in the process. Went back to the beach at sunset, and it was beyond amazing. Took my camera down and was kind of being a beach stalker, haha, but it was worth it. Got some cool shots and then followed the sun going down as well. Went back to my tend as it was getting dark and was gonna go take a shower and the camper in front of me invited me to eat with them. They had grilled up some things and even offered me like 3 drinks out of this like bag? It was like vodka and orange juice kind of. The dad of the family kept telling me how much he liked Americans and we all talked for a bit. It was pretty funny and I was happy to have a little company and they were so nice. Seems i haven't met a kiwi who hasnt been amazingly hospitible (spelling). They even offered to drive me to Manganoui which is like 1 kilometer from Coopers Beach where i needed to be picked up. They dropped me off the next morning around 1130 or so, the wife gave me her business card and her address if i ever was in Fongaray and neeeded a place to stay! Sweet as! Called to make sure the bus would pick me up, then started the like mile or so walk to Coopers beach, decidng against hitchhiking and just go for it. It was quite hot but i made it in like an hour with a few rests on the side of the road. Sat on coopers beach for like 2 1/2 hours just reading and relaxing. Dont know why but my arms and legs are super tan, but my stomach doesnt tan much, so i look rather like i have the worst farmers tan ever. SO i had my shirt off while i was reading and well, that night realized i was soooo pink all over my stomach and chest. I had sunblock on my arms and face, but forgot to put it on my stomach, give it another day or 2 and it will brown up, but it sure makes sleeping a bit uncomfortable. Caught the bus that afternoon all well, got back into Paihia, tried like 4 hostels, they were all booked. A guy came in behind me and we offered to drive me over to the one i had stayed at previously, i was just glad not to have to walk with my pack again. haha. He was from Israel and had baught a car in Auckland. We got seperate rooms in the the hostel, but went and grabbed a bite to eat with our new German friend. And now where i started the post. We grabbed a few beers from the grocery and just sat outside the hostel. Had to wake up around 7am, which was a bit rough, to pack up and catch the magic bus back to Auckland via the west coast. Made the bus and we did some cool stops in these little villages for lunch and visited the 2nd largest tree in the world behind the Redwoods. Its called a kauri tree and it could supply enough wood for like 10 houses. It was enormous. Rode sleepily back to Auckland, hit a traffic jam and rememberd why im not a huge fan of the city. Got a bed in a much larger hostel than previous nites and here i am. Gonna wander around Auckland tomorrow, then stay another night and catch the bus to Rotorua on Saturday, which is like a geothermal wonderland that aparently reaks of sulfer but is a cool spot. I am pretty pumped so far this trip has been really great with relatively few issues, Unlike my new German friend Martin whose rented bungalow burnt down when he was in Thailand! He was charged like $5000 Euros for the damage and almost ended up in a Thai prison! haha.. makes me feel like i have had pretty smooth sailing so far! Well my wireless is running out. Until next time!

Good morning from Coopers Beach! I am about 3/4 of the way up the very north island on the east coast or the pacific side. I left off on sunday in Paihia after the bus forgot me, spent the day kinda relaxing. Went for another trek along a different beach, took a bunch of photos as always. There was a sandcastle building competition! There were some really great entries! Spent that nite in my tent for the first time for $10 NZD a nite, so like $7 US prolly. Slept all of like 3 hours maybe. Just couldnt settle in. Got up at 6am monday to get packed up and catch the bus to Cape Reigna, which is the very most northern point of NZ. Caught the bus this time, our drivers name was spike and he was crazy. haha. It was the first crappy day ive seen while ive been here and the first time it had rained in the northland in like 2 months! We got up to 90 mile beach (funny cuz every other measurement is in kilometers) and there were 2 meter high swells on the ocean. It was pretty crazy. I guess that would have been the Tasman sea actually. We drove the bus prolly 35 minutes right down the beach!!! It was a pretty crazy experience. Its actually like a road as it had a speed limit. We had to go fast cuz we were racing the incoming tide, because there was a full moon on the 1st, and because of the rain and the hugeee waves. Our busdriver had been on this trip 550 times and it turns out theres a bluff that we were supposed to pass to get to these sand dunes. Well we tried for a good 20 minutes but he finnally made the decision to turn around. HIS FIRST time bailing out! I could tell it hurt his ego a bit, but he knew it wasnt safe! A few people on the bus were freaking out! It was kinda funny. So then we had to race back down the 35 minutes we had first come on the beach again racing the tide!!! and then drive another hour and 10 minutes to the dunes, instead of the extra 15 we would have had to from the bluff!! It was ok though. We got to the dunes after driving the bus through a river, and Spike took us up a 150meter dune with our boards, showed us how to go down and i went 2x!!! It was a blast! Prolly was only going like 20 MPH down the dune but it was still fun. It was rainy and cold however so it was a bit chilly in just my trunks!...... from there we continued on to Cape Reigna where there is a lighthouse at the very tip. This land is very sacred to the Maori as it is believed to be the final resting and departure place for their spirits as they die and make the Journey to Hawaki, or their original homeland. It was somewhat desolate land, but amazingly beautiful. I am still amazed by the rollling hills that all the sudden collide with the ocean. This is also the point where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific tides hit one another! They are opposing tides and it was quite a sight to see. It was verrry foggy and misty at the cape, so it was unfortunate, but it started to clear as we were walking back to the bus. At the lighthouse there is a big street sign type thing with all the distances to places around the world and in what direction they are. There was LA, London, the Equator, Buenos Aires. It was cool. Got back on the bus after an hour or so there. Drove through the largest man planted forest, as forestry is a huge industry here. Then stopped at the Ancient Kauri forest where the biggest trees in the world are. There was actuually a staircase carved out of one of the huge logs and it went up to the second floor. These kauri are protected now, but the ones here were dug up from swamps and dated to around 45,000 years ago! There were all sorts of cool souvenirs and statues made out of the logs. Even a couch that had a $15,000 price tag! Got dropped off at Coopers Beach after the driver forgot about me one more time. I had a contact named George Van Valkenburg here. He used to live in Salisbury, my hometown, across from where the post office is in that really cool old house thats been renovated. He moved to NZ about 30 years ago and he and his wife have a B&B right on the beach. He wasnt around when i got here, but his wife Janet was. She is from the states too. We talked for a while and she told me I couldnt stay here. I understood cuz this is their busiest time of here. However there was 1 suite which was vacant. As we were talking someone called wanting to book it, but they had 5 people and theres a 4 person limit. Around 630pm or so Janet was like, You might as well stay in the suite tonight, because at this point it doesnt look like anyone is going to come. I was amazed, she seemed a bit weary to do it, but this place goes for $250 NZD a night! She no sooner told me that, literally 2 minutes later, a woman walks in asking to stay the night!! Janet was like sorry, we dont have any vacancy!! Man i was lucky. The place is really nice, just a bottom floor, but with a living room, awesome bedroom, I GOT TO SHOWER!, and a little kitchen. With views right out to the ocean. And wireless! so i watched a little tv for the first time in a while, used my laptop and got some goood sleep! and here i am now, blogging while looking out the window at a sunny blue skies and the sound of waves behind me.......... man im lucky. Tonight i am going to stay at a campsite down the road. Then get picked up tomorow, wednesday the 6th and go back to Paihia for a night, then catch another bus on the 7th to venture back down towards Auckland to make plans for the rest of the North Island. Well i have to check out in about an hour, so im gonna pack up, maybe shower one more time and say my goodbyes.

a few pics that i meant to upload!

hey hey hey! wew..... where to start... its been almost a week since ive really been able to post anything. Lets see, soooo I want to thank the Blacketts for their awesome hospitality. Jess Dorman picked me up last tuesday and took me to her house just outside Auckland city. It was a beautiful house and her family was a riot. I walked up to One tree hill just outside her house and it was a pretty cool sight of the whole city and tons of sheep! Those things are everywhere. Got talking with this australian lady for like an hour and a half on top of the hill. It was pretty funny. That night i tried to some Kiwi pizza. Certainly not the same as good old Sal's but it was interesting. I have been trying food all over the place and trying not to be picky and so far its great. I think that the portion sizes are most alarming. US seems to supersize everything. haha makes sense why so many americans are supersized themselves.... That night jess took me out to meet a few of her Uni friends at a mexican bar just outside of the skytower in downtown Auckland. It was pretty cool. Such a nice city. Didnt seem to have the same hustle and bustle as New York yet there are still like a million residents. The next morning we headed off to her bach (no i am not spelling beach wrong) but rather a bach is a beachouse. The difference between the two is that a beachhouse tends to be a rather luxiorous place, while the bach is a bit more lowkey. The ride to Mangawhai was pretty. Leaving the city and going into the countryside was neat and its quite like home actually. Rolling hills and a ton of farms. We drove through this kind of dense wooded area where apparently a section of Lord of the Rings was filmed. it actually did look familiar. The bach was awesome. its right on a tidal bay that connects to the ocean. it was low tide so i went for a walk up the beach as jess napped. The Dormans were such awesome hosts. They also had some family friends from the UK staying witht them the same nites as i did. Sarah and her daughter Alice. We all hung out and it was fun distinguishing differences between the kiwi accent and the british. That nite we went to dinner about 45 minutes away at another friends house. Theres was actually a beachhouse and it was impressive. Glass walls almost all the way around with just sliding doors to let air and light in. Decorated to the nine's, its certain they had a bit of money. We had an amazing dinner of lamb and kiwi potatoes which are actually a mix of sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. More mussels, salad and tiramisu for dessert. Oh before i forget there were pink sheep on the way! a great debate centered around how they were pink, whether it was dye on the outside or whether they actually fed them things that grew pink wool. haha i was slightly gullible! At the beach that same day i quite stupidly forgot i had my cell phone in my trunk pockets and pretty much killed my phone i had for all of like 2 days..... haha..... oh im special........... tried our hardest to dry it out, but that didnt work...... the next day was new years eve and we went back to the beach but did an awesome and stunning trek alongside the moutains overlooking the white sand beach. it was so cool. then we walked the beach back and walked through this super cool rock archway. Jess had other plans for NYE and i was getting picked up by the Tour bus the next morning closer to their house, rather than driving an hour and a half back to Auckland. Had a great dinner with Jess's parents, Sarah and Alice and then we went to the Mangawhai tavern to bring in the new year. it was a cool tavern, with most of the doings happening outside where a few bands were paying. Drinks were a bit pricey, but i hadnt really spent much money at this point so i didnt mind enjoying a few. Said some goodbyes the next morning and jumped on the magic bus to Paihia in the bay of islands. I am still here at the moment, sitting at an open fronted cafe overlooking the beach. I didnt realize how tropical this place is. Spent the first afternoon after i settled into the Hostel doing a cool trek called Haruru falls. It was about a 5k walk through the bush and a neat mangrove swamp. The falls at the end were pretty cool. Wish i didnt have all my gear and camera equiptment tho! I would have jumped into the water like all the others were. it was prolly a good 25 foot drop but it looked like a blast. The walk was also a reserve for some of the last kiwi's in the north island, though their nocturnal, so i didnt get to see any. Grabbed some food and walked around that night. Hung out with 4 NZ'ers in my 6 bed hostel room. Talking about uni and things in the US. They were super chill. So that was the 1st. The 2nd i went over to Waitangi where the treaty grounds are between the Maori and the Pakeha or Europeans. Its quite a historic site. Saw some really neat things. A giant Maori war canoe was awesome and the lodge with all the great wood carvings was pretty cool as well. That afternoon i used one of the hostels sea kayaks and paddled out to Motomaire Island. It was about a 20 minutes paddle. but pretty secluded once i was out there, minus the crazy bird that kept dive bombing me!!! haha. i think i may have been kinda near its nest. Did a bit of walking around and in and out of the souvenir shops towards the end of the night. Then walked and sat on the beach as the sun was going down, though it was opposite the beach. Back to the hostel my nz roomies were gone and i had like 4 korean girls and another girl from Europe somewhere. Didnt realize that these hostels were co-ed. haha. even the bathrooms are! it was alright tho. Except i really wanted to get a good nights sleep and was in bed by 10, but they were up till like 12 and there was only one light so it was one. and someone was talking loudly outside my window as they smoked a few joints. haha. needless to say i slept some, but was concerned i wouldnt wake up for the bus that was supposed to pick me up around 730am. Well i woke up, but for some reason my alarm went off like an hour early. I didnt realize it, made a mad dash to pack up and such and then realized it was barely 645. haha. i had turned in my keys already so i just like sat by the road with my pack. Wellllllll the bus never came. haha...... i was a little peeved. Went to the bus place and they rescheduled me for tomorow, Monday the 4th. Didnt plan on staying another night in Paihia, so i checked out of the hostel and walked with my veryyy heavy pack about 20 minutes to a camping site where i only paid 10$ nzd or like 7$ US prolly. Put my tent up, took a nap and here i am sitting in the cafe mooching off wireless! I bought a sandwhich tho, so i am a customer. haha............ soooo this afternoon i am going to do another walk because i have some time to spare, do the day trip (not missing the bus) to Cape Reigna which is the very northern tip of NZ along 90 mile beach. on the way back down i am going to get dropped off in Coopers beach where i have a contact George Van Valkenburg who grew up across from the post office in my hometown. He owns a B&B along the beach up there. Spend 2 nights there then back to Paihia wednesday night, where i will catch the bus back towards Auckland on Thursday morning, going down the west coast. It may be a few more days before i get some computer connection! But i hope everyone had a great New Years! and to all my Hartwick friends heading off on their J-term adventures in the next few weeks have a blast and enjoy!!!!!!!! love to all!