South Island Trip: Pt.1

I have been super busy so blogging has kind of gone by the wayside. I went on my 15 day trip around the South Island during our Spring (Autumn) Break, so I thought I should blog that. I went with 3 other people from my AIFS group: Nick, Gina and Aimee. We rented a car and did a big loop of the island. Believe it or not this is only the first week. A lot of it’s right out of journal so it’s a lot of stuff …feel free to skim. I will get to the rest a little later.

Saturday April 7^th- Arrival in Christchurch

Today our flight was leaving at around 5:30pm to Christchurch so I left around 2:10 to catch the bus to the airport. The flight to Christchurch was really pretty, we went at sunset and the sun looked really yellow. We flew into Christchurch at around 6:30 and took a shuttle to where were staying that night, “The Old Countryhouse” We had some trouble with booking so they ended up putting us in a 3 person private room with our own bathroom, a double bed and a twin bed. We got fish and chips and some groceries. The fish and chips were really yummy because we were so hungry, they were also really cheap here! I eat a lot of fish and chips here, instead of McDonalds or fast food I will have fish and chips because it’s fast and cheap. Though the hostel was really pretty and nice, the town we were in was pretty sketchy, the most run-down place I had been in New Zealand yet. This is probably because of the earthquake though.

Sunday, April 8^th- Easter in Christchurch

Today we woke up and picked up pur car from the rental company. We got a Nissan sedan. The trunk was pretty small and we already had a lot of stuff, and another person was coming, so we really had to squeeze. We then went to the Botanic Gardens and had lunch in front o the lake, then we walked around and climbed some huge trees. They also had a rose garden similar to the one in the Wellington Botanic Garden. They had a “peacock fountain” that was really pretty. Because of the earthquake that happened last year in February, and then another one this December, a lot of the city is blocked off in a “Red Zone” where there is construction being done to repair all of the condemned buildings. There is a stream that runs through Christchurch and lots of trees, so it looks like it used to be really beautiful but everything is really destructed. Sidewalks and railings are cracked and don’t line up in a lot of places, buildings everywhere were missing windows. Some stores were not in the red zone but were still condemned; it was like they were frozen in time. The stores had signed advertising events and sales that were dated around the time of the first earthquake. On our way back to the car we stopped for ice cream. I got Boysenberry, it was so yummy! It reminded me of black raspberry. Then we headed to the Rapaki Track, about a 3 hour walk. It was a beautiful day and I ended up hiking in a tank top and shorts. The track was beside a valley that had SO many sheep. When we got to the top the view was amazing! There were so many hills in the distance across a body of water. Then we climbed some more rocks up to the summit of the hill we were on. I was really scared to climb them because they were pretty much vertical but the view from the top was amazing! By the time we were done the sun was setting so I rushed to see it set past the other side of the mountain. We saw Christchurch at night with the lights and the sunset and it was beautiful. We then headed to Ashburton to camp, which was on the way to Dunedin where we were headed the next day. It was out first time in the tent and it was tiny. I bundled up to stay warm!

Monday, April 9^th- Penguins and Seals

This morning we started our continued drive to Dunedin. We had about 4 hours left. Our first stop was the Moeraki Boulders. These boulders were on a beach and they looked perfectly round. I read that they were formed from erosion. It was amazing how round they were. They looked like huge marbles stuck in the sand. It was kind of chilly out so we didn’t swim. There was seaweed on the beach that looked like huge black octopi and felt like rubber, it was weird.  Next stop, Shag Point, to see seals and penguins. This beach also had the weird seaweed. There were tons of seals there! We saw some fighting and swimming and some were about 4 feet away from us. Then we went to see the yellow-eyed penguins, which are the rarest penguins in the world! There was a little island out in the ocean that they were all on. We probably saw about 20 penguins. It was so windy on the peninsula that I almost thought I would blow away. We got back in the car and drove to our hostel, Central Backpackers, in Dunedin. The place was really clean, modern and nice, with a great kitchen. It also had free wifi which was nice. Dunedin council also provided free internet to “The Octagon” which is an area surrounded by an octagonal street in the centre of the city. I wish that York had free wifi! The one catch about the hostel, this time we stayed in a room with 10 people, was that it smelled really bad, like sweaty guys. I got to schedule my classes tonight, too.

Tuesday, April 10^th- Butterflies and Beer

The first thing on our agenda for today was going to the Otago Museum. It was a good day to do this because it was kind of rainy out. Luckily this was our only rainy day! The museum had a lot of stuffed animals and information on Maori Culture. The coolest part (the part you had to pay for) was a discovery zone like the Whitaker Centre, for children and a tropical butterfly exhibit. After playing around for a little in the discovery zone we headed to see the butterflies. It was really hot in the exhibit and there were birds and butterflies flying around trees and waterfalls with so many colourful flowers. Some of my favorite butterflies were pink and black, neon green and black, and bright blue. When the bright blue butterflies closed their wings they looked like they had eyeballs. After walking around Dunedin for a bit we checked into the hotel we had booked the night before. Nick was arriving that night and it was cheaper for us to stay there than a hostel. It was called the Law Court Hotel and had a very old-timey feel. It had a bar, stained glass windows, a slot machine area and old staircases. That evening we went to the Speight’s Brewery tour. They are one the only breweries in the world that practice gravity fed brewing. I learned that back in time they had beer testers and one of the ways they tested the beer was by wearing leather pants and sitting on a bench that had beer on it for a few hours. If the tester could stand up after this time, the beer was good, if they stuck to the seat it was too sugary. They brew over 20 flavours of beer. At the end of the tour we got to try 5 different types of beer and a cider for 30 minutes. The cider was my favourite and I liked the lighter beers a lot better than the dark beer. The porter that we tried tasted just like coffee. We tried to go to a few bars afterward because we heard Dunedin was a really cool place to go out but because it was a uni time and everyone was on holiday it was pretty dead. The one bar that was open had an open air deck with a fireplace and tvs that played music videos so it definitely looked like a fun place if there were more people.

Wednesday, April 11^th- World’s Steepest Street and Cadbury Factory

            This morning we woke up and went to the World’s Steepest Street, Baldwin Street, which has a gradient of 1 to 2.86 meters. The fastest someone made it up was a minute and 14 seconds. The houses looked slanted. I took my time and it took about 10-15 minutes to walk up. After this, we went to the Cadbury Factory for a tour. Unfortunately, the factory was closed so we could only go on a half tour. The coolest part was a huge chocolate factory that poured one ton of chocolate out. We got lots of free samples. At the end I got 3 blocks of chocolate blocks. Crunchie which has hokey pokey in it, Chocolate Mousse and Cookies. We tried to go to New Zealand’s only castle, the Larnach Castle, but it cost 27 dollars so we decided not to and started our drive to Queenstown. The drive was amazing, the scenery is just unreal. There are rolling green hills everywhere ad huge mountain ranges everywhere. Practically anywhere could make a postcard. I remember watching Lord of the Rings and thinking that they must have picked only the good parts of New Zealand and that I wouldn’t actually see anything like that but instead I see it more often than not in the South Island. We stopped in Alexandra and I took a turn driving! It actually wasn’t that weird but I did tend to drift to the left white line a bit and put the windshield wipers on instead of the turn signal a few times. The weirdest part was that the speed limits were in kilometres instead of miles so I drove at 100 a lot of the time. We stayed at a campground in Queenstown that night that had a really nice common area, showers and a trampoline! We went to check out the city for a little and it reminded me of a ski-lodge town. You can see that it is a town that relies on tourism because there were a million souvenir shops everywhere. Queenstown is the adventure capitol of New Zealand, the location of the first bungee jump, so adventure companies advertising skydiving, bungee jumping, quad tours, jet boating, parasailing, etc. were all over!

Thursday April 12^th- Queenstown Hill

            We went to town early this morning so Gina and Aimee could bungee jump. I chose not to because I had already gone skydiving. While they were bungee jumping Nick and I went to do the Queenstown Hill hike that I had seen advertised as having great views of Queenstown and surrounding mountains. The whole thing took about 3 hours It was so gorgeous at the top. The advertisment was right. All of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu on the left and a mountain range with snow capped mountains on the right. I said it was the prettiest place I had ever had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When we were about to walk down we saw a rainbow. The day we needed to be in Milford Sound which was about 5 hours away and our cruise was at 9 am so we neded to drive at least some of the way that night. We decided to stay at conservation site in Te Anau. Conservation sites are run by the DOC and range from free to about 10 dollars-typically they cost about 5 or 6 dollars, which is much cheaper than a holiday park that charges upwards of 15 dollars per person. We went out to the field to stargaze that evening and while we were looking we saw a helicopter searching the nearby mountain. We thought it was searching for a person but later we found out from another camper that they do helicopter deer hunting at night for sport. Tonight I slept in the car instead of the tent because no one else wanted to and it was pretty comfy.

Friday April 13^th- Milford Sound

            We eoke up at around 6:00 so that we could get on the road by 7:15 and make it to Milford Sound by 9:15. We were glad we left early because the road was super windy. Milford Sound is supposed to be #1 on some lists of things to do in New Zealand. There are tons of waterfalls on mountains that are lined up beside each other with the Tasman Sea pooling between them. Milford Sound is in Fiordland which gets huge amounts of rain each year. I think the record of rain in Milford Sound for one day was something like 4 meters in a 24 hour period. Milford Sound is one place that is actually better during rain because it produces waterfalls. The captain told us that if it is raining there can be thousands of waterfalls. The day we went it was only drizzling but there were still a lot of waterfalls produced from the little drizzle. Milford Sound was really amazing. I felt like I was going into another world. Because we were on a small boat we got to go underneath the Sterling Falls which were huge. Milford Sound also had seals. Back at the dock there were great views of the clouds and mountains. We didn’t plan our trip very well and Milford Sound is about 30 minutes away from the Divide where we were ending our Routeburn Hike in a few days. Since we only had one car we figured we should drop it off at the end to avoid driving back to Queenstown for one night and then having to hithchike back at the end of the hike. We hitchhiked back in groups of two. Hitchhiking is an accepted mode of transportation in New Zealand. I have only heard about good experiences hitchhiking and it is usually other backpackers who pick people up. We rode back with two young guys who were travelling the south island after apple picking. They were from Germany and France. They were very nice and stopped for pictures. When we got back to Queenstown we checked into Base X, our hostel and then I met up with Katie, and our friend Grant from Scotland that we met at another hostel a few weeks back, who were all in Queenstown at the time. I was very happy to see them again! We ate at a place called Fergburger, which is like a right of passage for Queenstown, they have HUGE delicious burgers. We ate it by the waterfront. That night we went to some of the bars and it was really fun. Queenstown has a very upbeat vibe.

First day in WELLY

2/27/2012-Monday

Today I woke up at 6:00 to catch a plane for NZ. I was sad to leave Fiji because it was so beautiful and I had such a great experience but I was excited to be heading to the place where I will be living until July! We got on the plane and headed to Auckland, first. When we got to Auckland we had to sit on the plane for a very long time because someone had stolen a wallet and then ditched in the bathroom trash with the money stolen and they got police involved. Auckland was very warm! We got our flight to Wellington, (it was only about 45 minutes long!) and arrived at around 7ish. Wellington was not as warm as Auckland but it was still beautiful. We got in vans and headed to our flats. I am living in a large, old, home that has been renovated to allow for 10 people to live in it. One of the living rooms/parlours is someone’s bedroom. There are 2 bathrooms, one with a shower, one without, and 2 other showers. We have 2 fridges and 2 washers and dryers. It is a big house! Outside our kitchen window we have a lot of hydrangeas. I am living with 9 other girls. Bernadet from the Netherlands, Alex from Italy, Brianna from State College, Natalie from Vietnam who is an international student who studies here, Leann from Connecticut, Sarah from California, Lauren from Massachusetts and Maria our Kiwimate (A New Zealander who lives with us). I met everyone and called home then called it a night. 

Fiji Days 4-10 (21st--26th)

2/21/2012-Tuesday

On Tuesday we got up early for our day of lectures, this is what we earned the 1 credit in Pacific Studies for. Our first lecture was on the Colonization on the Pacific, then we had a Q&A with a man who was going for his doctorate in Pacific Studies and grew up in the Marshall Islands. This lecture was very interesting because he showed a side of missile testing and international relations that is not always shown. Next we had a lecture on global climate change, and then a lecture on Pacific art in which we got to see USP artist’s work and ask them questions. After class it was a girl in our group birthday so we went to a local bar recommended by our host families, called O’Reilly’s.

2/22/2012-Wednesday

Wednesday was supposed to be a day for “studying” but it actually turned out to be more of an excuse to give us another day to study. The previous night at O’Reilly’s my camera was stolen so we started the day off with a trip to the police station with the Volau’s daughter-in-law Anthea. They sent me to the tourist police where they had AC and couches, strangely nicer than the regular Fiji police. After this we went to the Holiday Inn where you could swim in their pool if you bought food or drinks. It was beautiful weather and even a Holiday Inn in Fiji had a great view and made you feel like you were in paradise. We ordered pizza for lunch and just spent the day lounging by the pool.

2/23/2012-Thursday

The next morning we woke up early for our exam. It turned out to be a 2-page essay for each of our lectures. I finished in about an hour and walked around campus before lunch. Lunch on Thursday was one of my favourite meals, we had spaghetti and gravy like meat sauce, yummy bread and roasted pumpkin which was delicious! After lunch we went to the  Prison Art Gallery, which was actually an art gallery of work done by prisoners. It was a great idea, the prisoners were able to do artwork which they could sell in order to get money for a second chance once they are released. They have something called “The Second Chance Project” in Fiji, so that prisoners do not become repeat offenders. Part of this initiative entails the inmates visiting their family before their sentence is up so that they can reconcile. The artwork at the gallery was very good as well! After the art gallery we went to Fiji’s one and only museum. It was quite different than an American museum, but it was still very interesting. They had an assortment of items ranging from a 3,000 year old pot to petrified birds to a mannequin dressed in a blow-fish hat. Next the bus dropped us into town and we had a look around the flea market. That evening we had dinner and then met up with some friends at the movie theatre but the movie we wanted to see was at a different time so we had to go to a political movie which my homestaymate and I left early from because we couldn’t seem to stay awake through it.

2/24/2012-Friday

On Friday we went to a Fiji village for an authentic day in the life of a villager. When we first go there we participated in a welcome “kavas” ceremony. Kavas is like a relaxing drug in Fiji that is legal in many people participate in. It is a plant that is squeezed into water and then drank. It numbs your throat and tongue and relaxes you if you drink enough. While at the village we all had to wear “sulus” which are like sarongs. We first walked to the lavo where they were beginning to cook our lunch. We then saw how the women catch crabs. Next we went to the farming part of the village where we saw the main crops they eat, taro- a potato like plant and cassava, which means tapioca. One of the villagers chopped down a coconut and we drank from it using a piece of straw as a straw. Then we saw the churches, they had two a Methodist and Catholic church. They also had a kindergarten. The houses that they lived in were 1-2 rooms with openings for doors and windows and made of wood and tin. We watched them make and trap for mud crabs which are like a mix between a crab in a lobster. For lunch we had taro, chicken and cassava from the lavo, which gave it a smoky flavor. We also had the crab and mud crab that they caught. After lunch we watched a performance that much of the village participated in. A group sang while other villagers danced traditionally in  realistic costumes. We got up and danced with them at some points as well. After the performance they had a closing kavas ceremony. I only had about 3 small cups (made of coconut) because I was worried about the water so I didn’t really feel anything. During this time, though, the village men were very interested in us and a few girls got marriage proposals and contact info. The men seemed very sad to see us go. At night we went to O’Reilly’s

2/25/2012-Saturday

Today was a free day with our families. In the morning we went shopping in town with our host mother. Then we drove up to a national park that had a waterfall that formed into a pool you could jump into from a rope swing. I swung off of it about a million times before we headed home for our farewell ceremony at the university. We had dinner with all of the host families and students and then we went to a performance at their new building donated by the Japanese government. It was a traditional Maori story told in a mix of traditional and contemporary called Vaka: Birth of the Seer. The US Government helped fund the production that cost 17,000 dollars and I ended up sitting next to the American ambassador! For our last night in Suva we went to O’Reilly’s again.

2/26/2012-Sunday

On Sunday morning we said goodbye to our host families and got on the bus to go back to Nadi After the drive back to the hotel and stopping at Tabua Sands for lunch, I packed my suitcase properly to fly to NZ and we had our last Fiji dinner at a local church made by the women’s association.

Video of Fiji Scenery

Where we had class in Fiji

The blowfish helmet at the museum 

                                      Everyone in their sulus at the village during the performance
                                                      

Drinking out of a coconut at the village

Swinging off a waterfall at the National Park

Fiji Feb 18th-20th (Days 1-3)

This is my post from the first 3 days in Fiji, I will try to post more soon! It takes much longer than expected, but I am working on it, I am now in New Zealand in case you didn't know. I have also posted some pictures from Fiji. Also, I didn't really have time to proofread so there may be some repetitions or errors.

2/18/2012-Saturday

Bula! That’s how you say Hello in Fiji! Fiji was so incredible! It was by far the most beautiful place I have ever been. While there a local said, “You live in a city, we live in a bush.” I couldn’t describe it in a better way. It just so green there, everything is untouched and the scenery is extremely diverse. While driving one moment you will be looking at green rolling hills, the next it looks like grasslands and then you will see crystal blue water crashing onto to white sand beaches. It is very mountainous. We arrived in Fiji at 5:15 am on Saturday the 18^th. We got to our hotel called the Trans International and had a breakfast of fruit, which by the way is soooo much better here than in America; I think I ate my weight in pineapple this week, I also tried papaya which was pretty good, toast and beans in red sauce. Then we had introductions and afterwards a group decided to go to the beach around 8:30 am. I was so excited to already be doing something so quickly. We went to a beach that was off of some hostels about 15 minutes away. The sand on this beach was pretty wet but the water was really nice and of course everything was beautiful, there were palm trees everywhere. We then went over to lay on the hammocks and chairs of the hostels and I purchased my first beer, a Fiji Gold, which turned out to be the alcoholic beverage of the entire Fiji trip. We went swimming in the pool and then around 11:30 we went back to the hotel for lunch. The food in Fiji is a mix between Chinese and Indian with a lot of tropical plant foods like taro, potato like food and cassava. We had a lot of lamb, stir-fry and curry. They give you a ton of food in Fiji, you are definitely well fed. After lunch we went to Hindu temple and then walked around town and went to the grocery store to buy snacks for the next day when we would be going to Beachcomber Island. We went back and swam in the pool before going to bed at around 8:00 because I was so tired.

2/19/2012-Sunday

Today we went to Beachcomber Island for the day. While we were there I first took some pictures of the beautiful paradise we were in. When people say paradise, they mean this place, no American beach could ever compare. The water was perfect and there were palm trees and greenery everywhere and when you looked off into the horizon you saw more islands and picturesque mountains. After this I signed up to go parasailing, it wasn’t too terribly expensive and I figured I would probably never get to go parasailing in such a beautiful place so I went for it. It was really cool and I got some great pictures! It almost felt like flying, definitely worth it. Then later in the day I went snorkelling. A boat took us out a little farther into the ocean where some coral was and I got to see blue starfish, some colourful fish, these clear squids with rainbow spots and I even touched a purple jellyfish! After this I went to a pool with baby turtles and got to feed them and then hold them, they were adorable! My friend Maura and I then explored for a little while and found a nice spot with a hammock that overlooked waves crashing on the beach, it was beautiful! I went back and swam in the spectacular clear blue ocean for a while before it was time for the boat to take us back. The sun made us all very tired and I went to bed shortly after dinner again. I also definitely got a little red this day!

2/20/2012-Monday

The next day we went on a hike of the Sigatoka Sand Dunes and to the Tavuni Hill fort on our way to Suva where we would be meeting our homestays. The Sigatoke sand dunes provided great views before we headed to the actual dunes where there was a lot of washed up debris and wood. There has been a lot of archaeology done at these dunes and they have found remains of humans as well as artefacts. We got back on to the bus and headed to the Tavuni Hill fort, a fort where an actual tribe used to hill, here we had yummy sandwiches and fruit for lunch. We then got a tour from the grandson of the last chief of the tribe. He showed us where the various huts/areas would have been and explained to us that tribes in Fiji used to practice cannibalism and showed us the “killing stone” as well as the “lavo” or underground oven that they used to cook the prisoners. Tavuni means “unhidden” in Fijian and this fort was given this name because at the top of the hill you could see for miles on end. It was one of the best views that I had ever seen. Then we got on the bus to finish the 3 hour drive to Suva. This drive was absolutely gorgeous. We drove along the coast to the other side of the island and the scenery was just amazing. There was crystal blue water, rolling hills, palm trees, and everything was incredibly green. It was so pure and untouched. There may be a view resorts or small houses along the way but it was mostly just stretches of beautiful green scenery that you would never see in America. We got to the University of South Pacific where we would be meeting up with our host family. My host family was the Volau’s. The mother, Martha, worked at USP as a secretary and the father, John, was a captain for a ship that took tourists to islands. The had two sons that lived with them, Gary (19) and Stanton (22), they also had another son Adrian, who lived in a house that was built right next to their home and was connected by a walkway with his wife Anthea and 3 children. Luckily the family had wi-fi so we were able to connect home before having a delicious dinner of stir fry and chicken. Martha made so much food and it was great! We relaxed and hung out with our family for the rest of the night. 

View from our hotel room 

Beachcomber Island

Picture from parasailing of Beachcomber Island

PARASAILING

The group at Sigatoka Sand Dunes

The view from Tavuni Hill Fort

On the plane to LA

(This is what I would have wrote had they not cut off my internet after a half hour unless you paid)
Right now I am sitting on the plane to LA! They have WiFi which is awesome. I left Philly today around 2:30, staying in Philly last night was a good idea because we didn't have to rush at all. I was worried about baggage but my big suitcase weighed in at 44.5 lbs and then when I got to the gate the flight was so packed that by the time I boarded they were having everyone check their large carry-ons complimentary so I sent that bag off to Fiji and didn't have to worry anymore about whether or not it would fit or if I would have to pay fees and I didn't have to carry it around anymore  I got to keep my backpack which is all I really needed. When I got to the gate I met two other people who were in my program who go to Penn State. Once I get to LA I will meet the rest of the group. It is still pretty surreal that I am not going to be back until July but I am getting more and more excited and I am no longer nervous. It was pretty hard saying goodbye to everyone, especially Blair, I am still excited for the adventures ahead, though! I've attached a picture of my entire luggage that I will be using for the rest of my trip! I left an entirely full closet and set of drawers at home.

Last night in my bed!

Well, here I am, my last night in York before I leave tomorrow for Philly to catch my flight on Thursday. I thought I would make a blog because it would be an easy way for everyone, even people without Facebook, to keep track of my journey. This way I'm also not clogging up the news feed with my trip info.  I just got finished packing, which was a massive task. I think I took things in and out of suitcases about 16 times but I think I am finally done. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything, but I do need to remember to put my toothbrush in tomorrow, that would be bad. I will be arriving in Fiji, where I am going for 10 days before getting to New Zealand at 5:15 am on February 18th, Fiji time, which is about 12 o clock on the 17th, American time. I will try to post a message that I arrived safely as soon as I get a hold of some internet. So anyway, I thought this would be a good way to keep in touch. I put a picture of the city, Wellington, where I will be living. I still cant believe I will be in another country until July, surreal!