Hey All!
I realized (or realiSed in NZ) that I skipped last week, which is probably not the only time I will do such a thing, but to my defense, nothing MUCH happened. I am currently sitting in the library in between classes and should be writing my essay that is due on Thursday but I am writing this blog instead.
Wednesday – Thursday: Nothing much happened, I just went to class and attempted to research for this paper. I found articles for it, so all I had to do this week was actually write the thing. I think it was quite cold (cool, not cold) in the mornings but it warmed up throughout the days. I could see my breath in the morning when I walked to my bus stop but by noon, it would be fine to wear shorts and a t-shirt. In Dunedin, you have to wear layers, or else you will either freeze or sweat to death.
Friday: Alex, Katie, Brie, Emily and I went for a bike ride out to the peninsula. I had gotten a bike from Noora the week before, but the others had to rent theirs from a bike shop. So, we made our way downtown to the bike place where they had reserved 4 road bikes for the trip. But, as our lucky has it, the booking did not go through and there were only 2 road bikes left. Luckily, they had two mountain bikes that were available, so we took those and were on our way. The guy at the bike shop told us to go up one road and back by another, so we set out for the day hoping to see some penguins and sea lions as they reside out on the peninsula. Right away Brie realised that her bike was hard to stop as the breaks were at a weird angle, so she went back to the shop and traded for another bike, and then we were really on our way. The road to Portobello was VERY steep and VERY hilly (like most NZ roads) so I was the lazy one to walk up almost every hill, while the other girls rode up the hills (I realize that I really need to start exercising more often!). The one good thing about this high road was that it had beautiful views and a nice big hill when we biked into town! (That’s my kind of bike ride! HA!). We finally made it to Portobello at 5 (when leaving Dunedin at 1:30) and ate our premade sandwiches/fruit and started back into Dunedin at around 5:30. (NOTE: We did not see any penguins or sea lions because they are farther down the peninsula which we didn’t bike to. We did see lots of sheep, cows, goats and seagulls though.) The bike ride back was wonderful compared to the ride there. Almost no hills! The only thing that was a little nerve wracking was that the road was right on the water and very windy and cars zoomed up and down the road very fast. We held up traffic a couple times because there wasn’t much of a shoulder, so a few times we saw our lives past before our eyes, but lived to tell the tale! We got home around 10 to 7. I called Greg for a ride because the busses had stopped for the day, and they were just going into town to pick up pizza for ‘tea’ (dinner). I was extremely tired and sore from the 44km bike ride and went to bed pretty soon after tea.
Saturday – Sunday: I knew I had this paper due and I wanted to get a head start on this paper because I knew I was away the next weekend, but as it seems that I really can’t do work unless I’m in the library, I didn’t get much done. I lazed most of the day but did end up having some lovely Skype sessions with people. Katie and I wanted to try another church on Sunday night and Greg had suggested a church called ‘Elim’. It was great! Sang some songs I knew, and it was very student-y. We met some people after and are planning on going back this week.
Monday – Thursday: As I knew I had this paper due, I researched and planned some things out, but didn’t do any writing for it. I went to class and planned for the weekend with Brie and Alex, which was a feat in itself, because the bus company kept messing up the ticket dates and numbers, and we finally thought that we figured it out.
Friday: Got up early and finished packing. I caught the early bus down to town and walked to Alex’s before catching the bus at the Train station. There was much confusion with the bus company still to how many of us were going and how much we paid. Let’s say the bus company is not very organised and they need help with their administration. It was just really frustrating, but all six of us got there (Brie, Alex, Katie, Emily, Bill and Me) and found our hostel. After checking in, we decided that we should book skydiving the next day. The girl at the desk told us that Saturday didn’t look like it was going to be a good day, so she phoned the skydiving place to see if there was any spot left for that day. So, she signed us up for some and said that they were going to pick us up in 15 minutes. So, we got changed into our running shoes and were on our way. Alex and Emily weren’t going to skydive so it was just four of us going, but Alex and Emily could come and watch. We got suited up and we briefed before we were sitting in the plane going up to jump out! I think that it was good for me to go on such a whim, because I had no time to premeditate what I was getting myself into. I was actually pretty calm until a guy jumped out of the plane before me (We all did the highest jump from 15 000ft, but some people do 12 000ft). I was the first one of my group to do it, and my skydiver was the last one to attach me to him, so I was a little weary of what was going to happen! My skydiver was pretty funny and a good match for me. We basically just joked around. He told me that 4 people had died the day before and that they were still looking for them...he was joking though. He also told me not to complain and whenever I mentioned that the others had their hat on or had been attached to their skydiver, he told me not to complain. He was a funny guy. Before I knew it, I was hanging out of the plane and the only thing keeping me there was I was attached to a guy who was about to jump out of the plane! The feeling of falling out of the plane was indescribable. I didn’t get the stomach drop that you get while on roller coasters, it just kind of seems like you are floating. It was SO amazing! As many of you know, I do get motion sickness, but the feeling of falling didn’t make me have it. It was only at the end, when there was spinning involved that made me feel a little motion sickness, but it wasn’t bad. I’ve heard that when you get an adrenaline rush that you just want to do everything afterwards, but it worked the other way for me. I was exhausted, but it might have been the long bus trip that we had that day too. We found something to eat and went back to our hostel to find other Otago students sharing our hostel room. It was pretty sweet! I didn’t actually know any of them, but Bill and Emily knew who they were. We were pretty tired so we went to bed pretty early.
Saturday: We got up early to go on a hike up Rob Roy’s Peak. We took a taxi there because it was a distance away and started walking. It was very overcast when we started walking, and we were basically walking in a cloud. We started out in a sheep field and there was a good amount of sheep poop on the path, so you had to watch were you stepped. I am kind of happy that it was overcast on the way up or else, I’m afraid that I would have given up on the walk there. Once again, I realized how out of shape I was as I puffed up this hill. To my defence it was a pretty steep walk at times, but it’s no excuse as to how many times I stopped “to look at the scenery” (and to catch my breath). Alex wanted to take it slow too, so we ended up at the back while the others went ahead and got to the top in about 3 hours and 15 minutes. We stopped at the top, had a photo shoot, ate some PB and J sandwiches and then started to make our way back down the mountain. The view was incredible. It, once again, didn’t look real. It was like it was a big green screen that projected the mountains in the background and the lake in the foreground. On the way down, the sky was clear and we saw the view that we didn’t on the way up. Our knees, hips and toes were killing us at the end of the hike, but it was so worth all the pain. We all got a little bit burnt, and of course, I was a little more than a little burnt. It’s still not as bad as the first burn I got here, but it was still pretty bad. After the hike, we taxi-ed back to the hostel, changed into our bathing suits and went kayaking for an hour. (Bill walked back from the hike along another trail back into town, but us girls were exhausted, and wanted to kayak before it was closed.) We basically just kayaked into the middle of the lake and sit and talked. It was nice to be on the water after a long hike. It was Earth Hour at 8:30 so we went down to the pub attached to our hostel and listened to some acoustic band and then went back to our room. We were planning on doing something that night, as we had not done anything the night before, but we sore and tired from the hike that we ended up watching a movie (or half of a movie) and then going to bed.
Sunday: We had to sign out of our hostel by 10am, so we packed up and stored our things in the storage closet in the lobby. We were all still pretty tired/sore from the hike and it was raining off and on. I didn’t want to really spend money either, as I had spent a lot already this weekend. We tried to book paintballing, but it didn’t work out. Then we tired booking other activities, but they were either really far away, or didn’t have any spots available. So, we went back to the hostel and watched movies for the day until the bus came. Katie and I got Subway to eat on the bus ride home and the others got other types of food. (NOTE: Katie is highly allergic to shellfish and bees) and caught the bus home. Once again there was a conflict of booking. Somehow, the bus ride that I booked didn’t show up on the list and there were not enough seats for me to come along. (There was in Wanaka, but we were supposed to pick up more people and take them back to Dunedin). The bus driver was quite nice though and let me stay on, and he told us to cross our fingers that someone wouldn’t show up. Luckily, someone didn’t and I had a seat all the way home! When we were about 45 minutes into our trip, Katie felt like her throat was closing up. We were VERY lucky that we were in the town with the only hospital in the region. The bus driver (again, very nice) drove us there and the whole bus waiting to see if Katie had to stay overnight or just get treated and get on our way. Katie only had a minor reaction to something (We think it was from Subway, because the girl serving us said that she had eaten the crab sandwich earlier that day) and kind of reacted to it to make it worse. Anyways, she didn’t have to stay over, and the whole bus was very understanding. (We would have had to wait in Alexandria for half an hour anyways, because the bus driver was switching and it would take 30mins. So instead of waiting in Alexandria for 30mins, we waited in Cromwell at the hospital). (Yes! Only 30mins to treat her! It was amazing! Haha!) We were on our way again, and got into Dunedin about 10:30pm. I got Greg to pick me up (Both him and Celia are wonderful!) and went to bed.
Monday- Tuesday – I haven’t really done much these past few days, except working on this essay, and more class related things. I am also attempting to plan for reading week. A bunch of people are going to Australia for the break. I would LOVE to go; I just have to decide on if it’s in my budget and such things like that. I hope it all works out because that would be SWEET!
More New Zealand Quirks:
- Pancakes: When I got here in February, I give Greg and Celia a jar of maple syrup and they said that they wanted to make pancakes on day. Saturday, I went downstairs to ‘pancakes’. In NZ, pancakes are crepes, and our pancakes are called something different. I didn’t complain, because crepes are wonderful, but just an interesting fact!
- Rat-tails: ARE EVERYWHERE! I sometimes think that I have gone back in time and arrived in the 80s. A lot of the guys here think rattails look good for some reason. I kind of want to carry scissors around with me to cut them off when they sit or walk in front of me.
- Bare feet: I’m surprised that I haven’t mentioned this before now, but a lot of people just walk around in bare feet, everywhere! I’ve seen people in class, in stores, around town, just everywhere. I think it’s pretty crazy, but I kind of like it, because I don’t like wearing shoes either!
That’s basically it for this week. I should get writing my paper and I have a reflection due tomorrow. I actually just looked at my budget and I realized that Australia will not fit into my budget. So, I might just stay around here. We’ll see what happens.
Love to all!
Cheers,
KB
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