The rest if Contiki!!

We spent one night and one half day in Fox.  A group of us did a helihike up the fox glacier  where we took a helicopter up into the glacier and spent about 2 hours hiking around and listening to how the glaciers are formed and move. It was a trip I don't know that I would ever do in Canada, so it was a lot of fun. Plus, now I want a helicopter...

We left Fox midday yo continue our travels southward, and took an amazing ride through a series or turns ans bumps named the rollercoaster by the coach drivers. We also came into Queenstown on a road that apparently we weren't supposed to take because our bus w alas too long! The last leg of it had an amazingview followed by a decent through a series of switchbacks that required us to let the driver know if any cars were coming up the hill to meet us!

Queenstown, our next stop, is known as the adventure capital of the world. Here you can do just about anything from hi jumping out if a plane, off  a cliff, off q bridge or out if gondola. We spent 3 nights and 2.5 days here. Our fist dinner was at.the skyline restaurant that overlooks all of Queenstown and some of the nearby lakes and mountains. The view was amazing, and the food almost as food. We then went out for the evening to a bar fir dome partying. Our group of 47 only had about 9 guys, if that many, so we made for an  interesting spectacle when we entered the bar. We turned alot if local guys' heads!

The next morning I was up early to go skydiving, but our trip was nearly cancelled, and ended up being postponed to noon ( we were originally supposed to jump at 830). Then I spent the rest of the day walking around the town. That night was a big night our fir mist of us.  We had dinner at Ferg Burger (biggest and best burger EVER!!!) then went to the boiler room to wait for our half-hour turn in the -5 Ice Bar. We got to put on Ugs and massive warm jackets to go into a freezer to have some Vodka at the proper temperature. It was alot if fun! My party night didn't end until 4 am when Anita and I finished our long walk back to the hotel from the club we left at 330 am.

I got about 45 min sleep before I had to get up to go River Boarding with Mad Dog.  River Boarding is basically white water rafting on a boogie board instead of in a raft, so you get hit in the face by all the rapids, and kick with your fins instead of paddling.  AKA, its major awesome and a great way to wake up after a loong night!  In the afternoon I want to do the Canyon Swing, which is similar to a bungee, but it's 60m of freefall then a massive 150m swing over a river! It's also different from a bungee because you can do just about anything to jump! Flips, run and jump, sit and release, sit and wait while they CUT a cord holding you up, or dangle upsidedown while they pull a release cord. (and your second jump is free if you go naked..which I may or may not have done...) Oh! And there's the invisible chair: sit back blindfolded into the void nit knowing it's there - we had a guy on our trip that got tricked into doing this!

For our last dinner in Queenstown we had pizza at Winnie's and then while some people went out, we went back to the hotel to chill and play cards.

The following morning we left for Dunedin where we toured and ate at the Speights brewery then headed off to a ghost tour of the Octagon and one of the cemeteries.  I caught an orb on film, and a few other peeps caught bunches of them in varying pictures. Before leaving Dunedin the next day, we toured the Cadbury factory and witnessed the only chocolate waterfall in the southern hemisphere ( I think...) and where I ate too much chocolate, including drinking  chocolate!!! It was delicious! We also climbed the steepest street in the world, then departed for our last destination: Lake Ohau.

We arrived in Lake Ohau mid-late afternoon, and 4 of the boys, Sinead ( one of my roomies) and I decided to go down to the lake for a swim.  It was definitely worth it!!! The water was freezing (maybe 12¤? So I've been in colder!), but if you swam out a bit, you could do a 360 and see mountains all around you!  The sky was beautifully blue, and the water slightly milky from the glacial minerals; plus, the company was great!  After our last dinner, we got sheets from the hotel to make togas for our final night's Toga Party! It was our tour manager's last trip before he moves from Contiki NZ to work at either the Canyon Swing in Queenstown or Contiki Asia, so we planned a going away event for him.  It started with all the girls dancing for him, then out came the boys one by one, each with a letter on his chest to spell out Brendan, and each doing a dance! It was hilarious to watch as Brendan had only a toga and a mask on, and each guy came to give him a bit of a lap dance all in their togas!!! I ended my night with a short stint in the spa ( aka hot tub).

The last day was spent travelling tailback.to.Christchurch.and saying goodbye to.the people flying out that night.  We had our final farewell dinner at the Flying Burrito Brothers (Mexican) for those that were still around, and had a few drinks at our hotel for those staying there or nearby.  The next morning many people had left already, and Anita and I saw off the reminder of our tour.  Only she and I had booked in for another night in Christchurch, so we went with Mike, our driver, to check out some cars, to get his iPhone fixed, and we wandered around on our own. We also helped him do a bit of cleaning on the coach because he started a new tour the following day.  That night was uneventful, save for a chat with 2 of Mike's next tour, an English banker from New York and a French woman from Australia, and for watching Date Night.  In the morning we said goodbye to Mike and saw off his coach before catching our shuttle to the airport.

Whoa! That's alot of writting! I started in Christchurch this morning, and I've been writting snippets since then, in the plane etc.  So I apologize for any and all of the mixed tenses!!

I'm currently in bed in Auckland. It's nice to be back in one place and nit bouncing from hotel to hotel, though I'll likely do that one more time.  I think I'm going to be moving into rez this week (I found out that I got excepted mid last week, and I think at this point it's prudent to take it rather than continue my own search).

Anyway, im off!  TTFN

Ps. If you're thinking of doing a Contiki, I totally recommend it!

Christchurch

Tonight im sleeping in Christchurch.  It's been a long day of travel: I woke at 510 get to the hotel where I met up with the tour, we then headed across the Cook straight on the Interislander Ferry, followed by 5 hours of long windy roads. (we stopped to see the seals, and passed an Antilo bus or 2-aka, Contiki's name for old people buses - sorry mom...)

Christchurch is both erie and sad.  There are abandoned homes and buildings along the streets closest to the epicentre while the latter is closed off. Three of my tour companions and I walked down to the  site of the old cathedral, and past the Knox Church, both of such are now condemned.  I've always been fascinated with old and derelict buildings, and the ones here are ever so tempting to enter, but I don't dare. As much for fear of getting caught and deported as for the thought buildings collapsing in around me. We felt a tremor while getting ready for bed, and my heart is a bit overworked still; I'll feel better in the bus out of town tomorrow I think.

We made it out of Christchurch safe and sound, and we're en route to fox glacier where we'll stay at a backpackers.

On The Road

One of the things I love about hostels is the occasional gem in the fridge labled "free."  My last night's meal depended on one such gem.  I ate the last of my pasta with an an Alfredo style sauce made with milk gifted to me by a fellow backpacker that flew home earlier Wednesday, and flour, table spread (the closest thing to butter I could find) salt and pepper all from the free box, and the Gem: a garlic clove left in a small bag in one of the fridges and labeled free. With these ingredients I managed to piece together a cream sauce that, with the garlic, wasn't half bad!

I had an early mornning today, dropped off my bag at the YHA hostel, AMD made it to the bus station at Sky City by 730.  Im on the bus now. It's a double decker tour bus, and it makes passing cars seem bug like. I am so very goad I am nit driving. The road is quite narrow and the turns windy; though, this may be imagined  due to the height at which I'm sitting.

We stopped for lunch in Taupo, then moved on to drive along the lakeside.  I fell asleep in lush hilly lakeside, and woke in a desert. Part of me is sad that I won't be coming back this way because the scenery has been gorgeous and LOTR-esque, but I might get my chance later on.  I purchase my flight from Christchurch to return to Auckland already, and it was a pleasant experience given my 89$ flight actually cost me 89$!! ( ok there was a 3$ booking fee, but that acme nowhere close to DOUBLING the price like in Canada.  (eeee! Cute sheep look cuddly! Sorry, I just saw some...but they aren't as cute as Lesotho goats!) The same went for the aloe I bought yesterday - it actually cost 7.99$! (ok, 8$, 1 cent pieces don't exist here anymore)

One of my favourite signs: open every day, Owlcatraz!

I arrived in Wellington around 730, and took the next hour or so to try to take out and deposit money into my NZ account. I then dropped my stuff at the hostel, and went in search of food. I wandered the strip, but didn't find anything I was craving, so I went across the street from the hostel to the New Market ti grab some snacks for the following day and to try to.rind something for dinner.  Mom will be happy as I settled on a steak and cheese pie (and a random carrot because I was craving veg); it was delicious! Perhaps a lil salty, but i ate it outside on a pier sitting behind a decorated stone seat to hide from the cool salt wind coming off the ocean which too the bite from the salt of the pie.

Red Lobster

When I was in Barcelona 3 years ago,  I missed my train and spend the day on the beach; by the time I got to the train I was burnt and crispy and I vowed never to do it again.  On Monday, I forgot to remind myself to put on sunscreen, and despite the fact that I never saw the sun that day, I wound up burnt and crispy all over again.  I am not a happy camper.


Monday was a national holiday, so I couldn't do what I'd planned (set up my banking/school stuff).  Instead, I went out to take a look at an apartment, and it was nice enough, but too far from the university.  I spend the rest of the day wandering from Freemans Bay (the neighbourhood where the apt. was) to Parnell, past the Sky Tower (where I watched someone jump off) and the waterfront. There are "baths" (swimming pool) out in Judges bay near Parnell, and Reserves
seem to be dotted everywhere. The Reserves are my favorite. They're little oasises in the middle of neighbourhoods,  like miniature jungles or fields. I descended into one from a random street and was slightly concerned at one point that there might be something in there that wanted to eat me, but I came out unscathed!
























 I also happened upon the sign to the left, the picture on the right shows exactly how they will inflict tire damage!  Eek!














Yesterday was mostly spent reeling from my burns, but I did get out to the university for my ID, set up my banking and talked to the engineering department to try to sort my courses out. The latter still hasn't been solved, and it's really frustrating... Probably the best part though is the bank draft I brought over so I could have instant access to NZ funds won't clear the bank for 21 BUSINESS DAYS! Which is a royal pain in the ass as it means I am currently living off 70$ NZ.  I'm trying to figure out another way to get funds, but I have a feeling its gonna cost me mucho $$$.


I haven't yet found a place to live, but I have 2 more viewings today, and I found out that I can store my stuff at the other YHA hostel just down the street for 10$/week, so I'm not under as much pressure as I felt when I first landed. I leave for Wellington and my Contiki tour tomorrow morning, so I likely won't check in for awhile, but we'll see how it goes.

 ---I ended up seeing 5 places today. Two this evening that I planned and 3 more this afternoon that were haphazard. I really liked the last two, one was in a university dorm style apartment but it cost 300+$/week!  The last one is a room in a flat with 2 guys working in website/graphic design. They were really friendly, and the room is great, but I won't know until Saturday if I get it... 

~Laura

The hunt part 1

I had an appartment viewing this morning. The place is about 20 min from the university (according to the guy that lives there. It took me 30 min from my hostel, and its closer, but maybe he knows a short cut?). The place is decent, it's part of a complex, so you enter off the street and decend 2 flights of stairs (outside) to get ti the front door, but the whole area is covered in foliage a la Vancouver on steroids style that seems to be the norm here. 

I'm eating lunch( ham and cheese croissant with a mocha) in a coffee shop while being harrased by a sparrow that helped himself through the open front door.  That's another norm it seems: the front doors to shops and even some of the malls are open. I've walked past 3 or 4 different shopping centres where you can see an escalator inside from the street. Everything is dirtier and more run down than I was expecting, but I think this indicative of the climate rather then the lack of upkeep.

Arrival

I'm sitting in a cafe on Queen Street across from the Ferry Building eating my first meal since landing; a chicken, brie, spinach, tomato and cranberry pannini-style sandwich with a yummy latte. It's just after 10am but it feels like well after noon.

I've walked for awhile down Queen street from my hostel to reach ferry terminals, and I've walked a ways in either direction parallel to the water. When I first left the hostel this morning, everything seemed deserted, but it's picked up now.  I suppose it was 7 on a Sunday morning, so only crazy people would be about, but it didn't feel that early to me. I did break my fast at 4am on the plane though...

When I was picked up at the airport by someone from the Uni, I was given a free SIM card with minimal credit to call home, so I've checked in with home and taken out some monies.  As it turns out, tomorrow is a national holiday! So much for getting my bank account and school stuff sorted tomorrow! I'm not sure what the plan is yet, but I need to do some apartment shopping before the week is done.

Not only have I been supremely confused by which way to look first before I j-walk, but you know those intersections near Eau Claire that everyone hates? The pedestrians-cross-every-which-way ones? They are everywhere here! And they are actually pretty awesome (but this is coming from someone who is likely be a perma-pedestrian while she's here...

-----------------

After my stint in the cafe where I wrote the above, I spent about 2 hours checking out apartments online and contacting people.  Once those 2 hours were up, I checked into my hostel and moved into my own room (vs. The closet where my stuff was kept when I first arrived)

I spent this afternoon wandering the university which is nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding city, and I happened upon a Chinese Lantern Celebration.  There were multiple lantern displays set up around Albert Park, and all along the nearby street were food and stuffs vendors.  You could get just about anything from foodstuffs to an Angry Birds toque type thing with dangly ear bits. I wandered around briefly then returned to my explorations of the campus. It’s not far from my hostel, maybe 5-10 min. I got groceries on the way home and made pasta. I sat down to eat with a Chinese man who is visiting from Australia where he is finishing up a year on a scholar’s exchange. His English was quite broken, and difficult to understand, but he seemed quite intelligent and friendly.

Another funny thing happened: when I was in the airport in Vancouver waiting to board the flight for NZ I met a guy named Vincent from Ottawa. I asked him to look after my stuff while I sorted by boarding pass , and we didn’t sit near each other on the flight, so one might think that was the end of it, but the funny part is, I’ve run into him three times since!  Once more in the airport, then again on the Queen Street, then I found out he’s here at the same hostel! It’s very random...

I’m off to catch the sunset.

Laura

Enroute

<p>I'm writing this from my window seat overlooking the vastness of the pacific ocean high above the clouds, close to the stars. We're still 5h44 from Auckland, and it's 32min into Feb 4th, according to the local time displayed in the NZ Airshow on my seat console. I won't get to see much of Feb 4th this year, well fly over the international date line shortly. It's worse for the woman in the seat in front of me though. Feb 4th is her birthday!<br>
Air New Zealand has the coolest safety video I've ever seen, and it's no wonder they won Airline of the year last year. The staff make air Canada staff seem like grumpy unfun people, and I'm not just saying that because the booze is free! (I only had 2 glasses of wine...) The food wasn't as good as South African Air; the beef curry I had was decent for plane food. <br>
<br>
At this point my nervousness has been taken over by excitement, save for the tea gifted to me that I fear won't make it past customs. That's making me nervous, but I suppose there's nothing I can do but hope...</p>
<p>The entire plane appears to be passed out at this time, it's 2h44 Vancouver time (I think that's Van time...) but it's only about 11h45 in Auckland, so still time to party! </p>
<p>I'm excited to get there, but I feel like I have a long ever growing list of things I need to take care of when I land: find an appartment, open a bank account, book my hotel and flight to Wellington where I start my Contiki tour on Friday, get my courses settled, find my way around, set up my cellphone. I'm not sure if giving the list form eases my kind or stresses me out; at least I'll be less likely to forget something<br>
</p>
Public Service Announcement: I'm writing this on my phone and the silly thing keeps getting confused and thinking that I'm writing in HTML so if there are random numbers/letters/symbols I apologize, and please ignore! (same goes for funkily autocorrected words...) PSA OUT.

When we first boarded you could smell TERRIBLE BO coming from someone near by, but this has subsided. Now we get occasional wifs of Axe or something like a lemongrass air sterilizer, or a wiff of feet which isn't bad in comparison...

The console in front of me also displays that we are currently flying at mach 0.83 (just a fancy lil tide bit for all you nerds!) we're now 5h05 from Auckland and Im going to go back to sleeping/reading Game of Thrones/ watching the stars go by. 

G'night
Laura.

Ps. I kinda wish I could "check in" facebook style or something just to say that I'm somewhere random over the pacific, but of course there are no interwebs here. Alas, I must wait till we land. (so of course the time info I provided herein will be moot at that point...)

PPS. We've passed over the Equator now, but not yet the date line. It's still Feb 4th!