O week

This has been a very eventful week! So much to do! The day after my adventure in the Catlin's I took a train trip into the Taerie gorge just outside of Dunedin. The train trip was offered for free to all international students! It was a great way to just hangout and relax with my fellow study abroaders. The views of the gorge were also so stunning, and it was fun to chat with new people. IT was a really fun day. That night I went to town with some of my friends, and it was the craziest thing, on our way home just outside of my house on the street there was a small student riot where they were burning two couches! (They do this just for fun and to be a little crazy! no harm done, all though the police and fire departments don't much like it). The next day I attended my first ever RUGBY MATCH!!! WOOOO! There is a big stadium right in Dunedin where we cheered for the home team, The Otago Highlanders! Even though they didn't win :( it was still a really fun experience! We got all dressed up and I got to learn the rules to a sport very new to me! What fun! The next day a few of my friends and I took a trip to the north part of Dunedin to visit Baldwin street. It is the steepest street in the world according to the guinness book of world records! It was really hard to climb up but it was such a fun experience! And the views of north Dunedin were amazing! Today some friends and I took a trip out to Aranowa beach! There was a beautiful rock formation that has a whole in it that looks just like a heart! It was pretty cool. There were also some very big sand dunes, that of course I had to climb, and I jumped and leaped all the way down to the bottom. I also got to sit in the sun for awhile and climb some rocks. We then stopped in the little port town on the opposite side of the peninsula and stopped for some fish and chips, or as the Kiwis say if "fush and chups". All in all I have been having another amazing week. I start class on tuesday so I am pretty excited about that! Hope to hear from some of you! I always look foreword to emails! Cheers!

The Catlin's!

Today was an interesting day.... Some of my friends and I took a day trip down from Dunedin to the Catlins! Its is beautiful down there, we drove along the coast and stopped at Nugget point, Pukaterie falls, and Cathedral caves. Nugget point was awesome, we took a little hike out to a lighthouse that had stunning views of the cliffs and a seal coolony. We then went to the falls where we waded in the pools, climbed up the falls and crawled in and out of a rotted tree stump. We then went to Cathedral caves. It was this beautiful set of caves that were carved out by sea water! They are only accessible during low tide and we were super lucky to get there just when it was low tide. We had to wade through the water a bit but it was so worth it! It was awesome. Then came the interesting part. Just as we were about to leave, Catherine locked the keys in the car! We didn't know what to do because we were in the middle of no where! There was no cell service so Catherine and I had to hitch a ride from some random Canadians to the nearest town so we could call a lock smith to come break into the car! After two hours of waiting and chatting with the lady that runs Cathedral caves finally someone showed up to let us into the car and we were able to drive home :). All in all it was a crazy eventful day. One for the books!

Beach Days!

The past two days we have had the most beautiful weather in Dunedin! I finished all of my course approval stuff on friday and monday so I am all set to start classes on monday! Because we have been having the most amazing weather my friends and I have gone to the beach both days! It is so amazing. The water is so blue and it is fun to see all of the surfers! The water is freezing but I went in both days! I figure what the hell! I live in a place where I am 10 minutes from the ocean, why not take advantage of that and go swimming! miss you all!

Around and about!

I still haven't started classes, I wont for another week and a half!!! But I have been doing some fun things! I took a trip to the reservoir today. It was a little hike to a lake nearby the city and a bunch of the international students went together! It was quite funny, we looked like such tourists! I also went to the farmers market a few days ago. Dunedin has one of New Zealand's best farmers markets, with fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods, sweets, eggs, and meat. It is all so delicious! It is in Dunedin once a week at the train station, so I will for sure be getting my food there every week! I have also had to do some things that aren't as fun like setting up my New Zealand phone, opening a bank account and applying for a license to prove I am of legal age!! I have been having tons of fun though, and will get to pick my courses in two days! I am going to try and get at least one if not two days off so I can have a lot of time to travel!! Exciting! I'll try to keep everyone updated! Cheers!

Settling into Dunedin!

The bus trip here was 6 hours and was brutal because I was quite tired from all our my traveling! But I finally got there, I had a long trek home through the city but it was nice to stretch my legs. When I got home my Kiwi host Becca was there, she was really welcoming and introduced me to a bunch of her friends. I went to the gym with them to work out then we had a girls night to watch movies. I also met a girl from Sweden named Lena (Grammi, she said that she would write you a letter sometime in swedish!) I am here a bit early so there aren't many internationals here yet but more are coming everyday and I am meeting lots of people. I also took a hike up to signal hill in Dunedin which gives us great views of the whole city. That night some of the Kiwi hosts and their friends took us out to town to hangout and party a bit with the locals. We had a blast, and it was awesome to meet the local students! Right now I am sorting our my classes and setting up a bank account, just some house keeping things, but O week starts soon! With will be awesome! Hope everyone is well!

Kaikoura and traveling!

Today we left Nelson, we drove to Kaikoura, a cute little seaside town on the east coast of the south island. We stayed at a really cute bed and breakfast just a little bit out of town called The Donegal house. It is a super Irish establishment! It was very funny actually just how Irish it was. The little pub inside and the irish music, it was a really fun place. We were sitting outside our room looking at the gardens when we heard these huge sirens coming from town that lasted from about 5 minutes! I jokingly said that it must be a Tsunami warning because they don’t really have tornados and such here. It turns out I was right!!! There was a huge earthquake at the Soloman Islands and there were tsunami warnings for most of New Zealand! Beth was a bit freaked out and wanted to stay inland where we were staying but I was curious and wanted to go to the seaside and see what all the fuss was about! We ignored the warnings to stay off the beach and had dinner at a seaside pub and then went for a drive down the peninsula. When I realized that there was no tsunami coming  L we drove home and called it a night! A bit of excitement but all in all a good day! The next morning beth and I got up early to enjoy our complimentary breakfast and get ready for our whale watching excursion. It was so cool! The Kaikoura area is really known for having a lot of whales. There is a big canyon only a kilometer off the shore where there is the edge of the continental shelf, and many whales use this area for fishing and finding food! So we get into our whale watching boat, which is quite small and head off! There were huge rolling waves, that made many people sick, except Beth and I because we took motion sickness pills haha. The whales we were looking for were spermwhales, that are known for their deep dives and the length of time they spend underwater. The people who work for this whale watching company have this down to a tee. They know exactly where to find the whales, how long they dive for and how long they will be at the surface. So we get out to the spot where the whale is supposed to surface and there are like 3 boats waiting and three helicopters and two planes above all waiting to see the whale. Finally the spotter on our ship sees it so everyone raced over to see him! It was incredible, seeing these majestic creatures in the wild is truly a remarkable experience. It will not be something I will soon forget.  The whale dives and wont be up for another hour, so we leave the kaikoura canyon to go to shore to see the seals on the beach. We then finally get back to the harbor, grab some lunch and drive back to Christchurch. We returned the car, checked into our hotel and had an amazing Italian dinner! We then packed and settled all of our stuff and went to bed. Beth’s alarm went off at 3:30am so she could get to the airport on time. I helped her carry her bags down, and we said our goodbyes. It was sad to see her go, but I was also really excited to begin my exchange down in Dunedin!

Abel Tasman

This morning Beth and I woke up really early so we could drive to Marahau to catch a water taxi to take us into Abel Tasman National Park. But it was pouring rain! I am pretty sure Beth was 100% against going because it was raining so hard, but I knew this was one of the most beautiful national parks in NZ and that we had to do it! So we drove up to Marahau, all the while its still pouring, and we get there and hear the lady behind the desk telling people that everything was cancelled! I was so disappointed because we only had the one day in Nelson to do this trip! But we lucked out! Only Kayak trips were cancelled so we were still good to go. We load up into the boat so that they can drive us down to the launch so the water taxi can be on its way! As we got closer I kept wondering to myself how this was going to work, because the whole bay was in low tide and there was no water covering the bottom of the ramp and only a few feet of water in the bay for a few hundred meters! Don’t worry, they had a solution. The tractor pulling us, just went straight down the ramp and started pulling the trailer out into the bay, when we finally got to the end of the sand bar and they could back us into enough water to launch the boat, off we went! Huge swell coming up around the boat, and we had a 45 minute boat ride to our drop off point! When we finally got there the driver says “well, its low tide so you’re gonna need to take your shoes off and roll up your pants cause I’m going to have to drop you off in the water. Once again I think Beth was unhappy, but she took it like a champ and we got to shore! We put on our shoes and socks and began our 4 ½ hour hike! Just as we were starting off on our walk the rain was stopping and the clouds were parting. We ended up having the most beautiful sunny day and walk through the park. Abel Tasman became a national park because of its beautiful golden beaches and blue waters, and the cliffs and hills of thick rainforest that come right up to the beach. The walk was amazing, the most amazing sights and weather, We could not have asked for more. We got to our water taxi pick up sight about an hour early, so I raced and put my swim suit on and go swimming in the warm and turquoise waters of the Tasman Bay. It was truly an amazing experience, and Beth got to sit and look at the ocean for awhile, which is one of her favorite thing to do. On the Taxi ride back we got to see a dew seals and sea birds and admire the beautiful coast we had just been walking on. We were so exhausted driving home though we had to take turns driving so the other could take a few naps. We grabbed a quick meal of wine crackers and cheese and called it a night. It really was so amazing.