The last melon...

 I am beginning to wonder if anyone will ever fully appreciate my packing skills...  After 3 hours and 4 bags I managed to pack up an entire 6 months of my life, cleaning out all the drawers, cubbies, and crannies.  It is starting to actually look sad and lonely in here, but it feels good to have everything organized and put away.  So this will be my last post from New Zealand, seeing as the cab is picking us up tomorrow at 6am (hopefully, I've been on hold for awhile now).  You will hopefully hear from me (and seester) in Fiji, but I plan on spending most of my time in the sunshine and not on the computer.

Perhaps it is a good time for some highlights from the past week of enjoying Wellington with Al and getting through the things I put off until the last minute.






We went and did the Parliment tour, and buzzed around the beehive.

We went up to the top of the cable car and went to the observatory and learned about space.

We climbed the trippy tree at dusk. We went to the water front and ate half priced sushi.

And of course we almost froze to death going to visit the Weta Caves to see all the movie stuff from Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Avatar.

At least today, when I have to spend time inside packing up my whole New Zealand life, it is cold and windy out there in Wellington.  Makes me even more excited for Fiji though, and when I'm back in two weeks none of you better have forgotten about me.

A return journey

Nelson at sunset

Post classes, post finals, post Allie's (troubled) arrival, she, Hope, and Mikayla and I set off for the South Island once again.  Saturday evening we headed down to Christchurch on the cheapest flight we could find to start off the trip.  Interestingly we went through no form of airport security at all, unless you count being asked "are you caring any dangerous or hazardous materials with you?" by a computer screen at check-in.  After all the worrying about how much shampoo to bring and our carry-ons being under the 15 lbs. limit (our tickets didn't come with the whole checking a bag thing so it was a tight fit since they have carry-on weight limits here) it turned out to make no difference at all, and we walked right up to the gate, scanned our boarding pass and crossed the tarmac to clamber on to the little plane taking us south.  Makes you ache for the simplicity of the past.  On the plane we came across an interesting tidbit in the airline magazine about a play currently being put on in Dunedin featuring 5 bridesmaids and taking place in, get this: Knoxville, Tennessee.  Now I must say I was more than a little tempted to head down to Dunedin to see Kiwi's try to do a Tennessee accent, much less pretend to be from the hometown of 3/4 of the people I was traveling with, but alas these things might be even better imagined.  Now you might be wondering after my picture happy blogs why there are no pictures yet, but really I just don't have many Christchurch pictures, since all the earthquake damage makes everything look so sad and gives me the feeling of being at the funeral of a stranger.  That kind of detached melancholy where you still laugh at something amusing but feel like it's inappropriate.

So onward and upward, we headed off to Hanmer Springs and stayed at the best hostel yet (and I've been to 20 here--yes I did just count)  It felt like going to visit grandma or being at camp.  The whole place was heated by a wood burning stove so it smelled like home.  There was the usual free coffee and tea, but for the first time there was also the (completely logical) free milk to go with it.  And on top of that there were fantastic free kiwis everywhere and 6 different flavors of ice cream in the freezer.  Each bed got a hot water bottle and two down comforters, so even with the cool cabiny feeling at night we stayed nice and cozy.  The showers however were the one less than adequate part, when Hope got in the other one mine just flat turned off, and only after a few minutes of awkwardly standing around with shampoo in my hair it returned in a dribble.  But I guess that's what comes with free ice cream and ambiance.  

The next day we did some wandering in the woods and walked up to the look out over the city.  After a day of adventuring and such we packed back in the car for an afternoon drive back up to Kaikoura for mostly what was more of the same of my favorite KaiKoura activities: baby seal adventures and eating Indonesian food.

But hey, this time we decided to mix it up a bit and also went horse back riding!  The seals were extra curious when we stopped by again on our way out of town, and one even decided that I looked like so much fun that he should attack my face with love.  I didn't think that was the best idea though.  Hope was especially intriguing to the seals and many liked to come up and sniff her knees.  

The horse trekking was through some gorgeous scenery, and we knew we had to do it after waking up to a view out our bedroom window of sea, snow capped mountains, shining sun, and green rolling hills that look more like illustrations from a children's book than real life.

Not Real Life

We went through very muddy rain forests, a huge rocky river bed, and some farm land.  My horse was named Doc and kept farting at Mikayla and was displeased by the pace of Hope riding Dale the Snail in front.  Doc was sassy, so we got along well.  We also did a bit of cantering at the end leaving us all sore for the next few days.  But we fared alright since we headed up to Nelson and had a picnic on the beach on the Winter Solstice.  I have decided that Nelson has the best pick of hostels in the South Island.  I've stayed at 3 and all of them have been great.  This time we stayed at the Shortbread Cottage.  So named for the shortbread cookie on your pillow when you arrive.  We did some walking around town and went to a farmers market, and then gathered supplies for our trip friendship bracelets (adorable no?).  Using our dear father's technique we each melted on a pretty blue cord bracelet once we had made it to Blenheim (not before stopping to pick up a bag of mussels for dinner).

We soon transformed these mussels into a delicious meal even Mikayla liked (though when the sauce is essentially butter, wine, cream, and garlic you could dip cardboard in it and serve it to millions).  We even remembered our veggies and picked up a hot ciabatta at new world to finish our masterpiece.  Very full and proud of ourselves we climbed up to the top of the triple bunkbeds for the night and went on our wine tour the next day.  Our tour guide was named Kerry too and showed us to all the best wineries for sparkling wine and dessert wine making it a very girly and very glorious tour ending with a liqueurs tasting and a chocolate shop.  Now I'm off to eat some of that fudge I was just reminded of and wish with all my might my packing will get done for me by some sort of magic.

Roto and Welly

As usual many interesting things have been happening with interesting people.  But also many cold things with cold people because these southern parts are in winter time, and I must say I am not a fan.  At the end of classes and before finals started I was forced to do a classic Wellington sight seeing trip with Caitlin to climb to the top of Mount Victoria.  Well I though oh sure, sounds great a little hike and a great view of the city.  What I got was an hour walk up hill both ways just to get to the hike, and then climbing a mountain, oh and did I mention that in true New Zealand fashion is was raining.  And in classic Wellington fashion this rain was of course sideways.  Because here rain does not fall straight down, that would be silly and boring.

A comical depiction of a well known scientific fact: Wellington rain does not fall from the sky, it attacks your face.

Deceptively Smiley

So after finally making it to the top (and learning that they used to do day trips to Antarctica from Wellington before global warming made it too dangerous and was a fun sucker for the rest of us) and enjoying the views and a few moments of sunshine and some slight feelings of accomplishment, we headed back down the hill for some Vietnamese lunch and back to the world of learning and responsibilities and such nonsense.

So we soon had more than enough of such things and decided smack in the middle of much exam sitting and paper writing there was a nice little trip to Rotorua, also known as Smelly Town run by Mayor McStinks-a-lot.  Thanks to a completely unnecessary amount of geothermal activity the entire city smells like rotten eggs in a good spot and death farting when you hit a bad patch, which you do, frequently.  Just walking down the street thinking "Ah this isn't so bad, I think I'm actually getting used-" BAM! You are holding your breath for the next 30 seconds and wishing you had some steel wool to scrub your tongue with.  But really it's a nice place, though pretty touristy.  There are lots of gloriously fun things though like the swoop (pictured) which is a fun name for what is basically a monstrously large swing.  By monstrously I mean they lift you 150 feet into the air by a crane and lashed together in what seem to be a mix between a sleeping bag and overalls, and then one of you has to pull to the cord to send you free falling.  That was Hope's job.  And the entire experience was as fun as it looks.  The face in the picture is mostly because I was unaware that Hope had already pulled the cord and found it somewhat startling to suddenly be flying towards the ground.  Totally worth it.

There were also cows.

The very daring Mikayla did work up the nerve to bungy jump.  And she did it over a donkey.  And a very pretty steam since I got to see the views once I made it up for the swoop.  Even after making herself jump off a platform 43 meters in the air, the big swing scared her, but we were all very proud, especially since the girl before here didn't manage to jump at all.

Some of the most interesting stories from Rotorua though have no pictures to go along with them.  First there was Tom taking us to go see the glow worms,  I'm not convinced that he wasn't trying to kidnap us, and it didn't help that at one point he asked if we could stop by his house for a minute and on the way home he took us to the liquor store.  More importantly when we got to the area where the glow worm caves were supposed to be (a dark empty parking lot in the middle of nowhere) he wasn't sure where to go or where the caves where exactly.  So we headed down the steps to the waterfall and when we reached the bottom our flashlights revealed something interesting.  The path way was completely underwater at the foot of the steps, and just on the other side of the meager railing was the fastest moving rapids I have ever come across ready to sweep us away into darkness.  Tom casually asked if we minded getting our feet wet and when he met silence he suggested we turn off the lights and check to see if there were any glow worms on the rock on either side of the stairs.  Luckily there were and they were really pretty, I felt like I was in Avatar.  And then Tom took us back home safe.  Luckily.

That night however we were not so safe because not only did our hostel have a sugar ant infestation (woke up with some even in my bed not to mention everywhere else) but possibly an infestation of the dead variety.  At one point I heard someone get up and walk across the room, but the door never open.  Curious I turned over and saw a man standing in the room relatively near my bed.  Freaked out I flipped back over, but after awhile I heard sleep breathing and just assumed the Canadian Carsten was sleep walking.  When it continued I started to wonder what I should do and if he was ever going to get back in bed, so I glanced over at his bed, and sure enough he was in it and there was no one in the room.  Now normally I would just assume I am just hearing and seeing things, but the next morning Mikayla greeted us with "You guys, last night something really weird happened"  Apparently around 4am she woke up to a light on her face form the open door.  As she watched it slowly shut from the and latched (which you have to have a key for) but she didn't hear any footsteps move away form the door in either direction and the floor was quite squeaky.  We mostly just figured it was weird and jokingly mentioned the "haunted" hostel to our driver taking us to the Swoop place.  She promptly replied "Oh yea, I get a weird feeling every time I go in there.  It makes my skin crawl, it's a really old hostel too so I'm sure someone has died there at some point."  So that was fun.

I just like this picture as it is a pretty accurate representation of our friendship.

Brrrrr Wellywood, Brrrr!

Wellywood has finally gotten cold. for reals. (and it's finally getting it's wellywood sign. classy)  Though of course some days are colder than others, but my giant penguin pajama pants ride up and i have cold ankles all night.  Being such a tough and hardcore person though, i manage to persevere.  Luckily I've had the help of some pretty spectacular people and activities along the way.  Things definitely ain't the epic journey of mid semester break, there have been no baby seals or glaciers, but there has been some moments worth reliving... first worth mentioning was my awesome 21st birthday party!

Celebrating in style

Let's just say it was a classic 21st birthday party.

Then there was our super duper day of adventure.  Four wheeling through rivers and practicing our archery skills (for the inevitable orc invasion).  I became quite good at archery, especially since it was my first time, 6 bullseyes! So watch out.

Pictured: Legolas

Oh, and then there was a really gorgeous sunset.

The next incredibly awesome and entertaining thing we did was the Wellington Food show!  Spent a day wine tasting and filling up on gourmet food samples and snagging fab deals.  Best decision I've ever made, and now I feel oh so posh in the grocery store when I recognize more than just the label on the boxed wine.  We also ran into a number of stalls that had been at the amazing Hawkes bay farmers market, I felt like a real kiwi.

I've also spent much of my time knitting, and I must say I'm quite the champ.  I taught myself (with the help of youtube) to knit cables and I've made my first few hats.  I've also knit a bunch of presents and everyone is always hassling me to finish up their knitwear.  Oh the woes of greatness.  Well I'm afraid I don't have much more to say, so enjoy the pretty pictures!

Here is a picture of Wellington being pretty

Life is good when you're loved (I'm the one whose head you can't see)