I had a quiet past weekend at home here in Dunedin, but my life here in general is anything but quiet, as I am a very busy lady. I thought it was about time I updated you all on the classes and activities and such that I occupy my time with here in my home away from home!
In terms of classes I am taking 4 this semester. My favorite class so far is Food and Cultural Perspectives, a food science class that involves very little science and very much cooking. At our lab once a week we team up with a partner and each make a dish of our choosing, from whatever unit we are currently studying. For example, last week we studied Pacific Island food and my partner made Taro (a strange root vegetable that looks like a log before you peel it, really, google it!) in coconut cream while I made raw fish in coconut cream. My recipe was quite interesting, as the raw fish marinated in a vinegar, lemon juice and onion mixture, and after a couple of hours the acid in the marinade actually cooked the fish. Food is so cool! At the end of each lab each pair sets their creations out on a long table and then we pretty much just have a giant class feast. If there are any leftovers then we are allowed to take them home with us. This class is just too good to be true!
Besides cooking class I am taking 2 religion classes: Religions of South India and Buddhist thought. Both are very interesting, but also quite confusing, because they both have so many foreign words that it’s easy to confuse the two. While Tamil (the language of South India) and Pali (the language of Theraveda Buddhism) are very different, I have to admit that to me they just mush together!
Finally, I am taking a philosophy of religion class, which while it sounds quite interesting, so far it has been rather dull. I have never taken a philosophy course before, but my first impressions have left me thinking that philosophy is just a giant debate over the meaning of words. I’m optimistic that the class will pick up soon.
As far as extracurricular activities go I am still involved with special Olympics, coaching soccer each week. One player comes up to me every single week, gives me a hug, and tells me that I’m his friend. I’m not sure he actually enjoys soccer all that much, but he certainly enjoys all the friendship aspect, and that always makes me smile.
I am also a member of the collegiate orchestra, a community orchestra comprised of students and community members of Dunedin. Or at least in theory this is how it is supposed to be, but in reality I am the only student. I’ve made some lovely older friends, and it’s nice to get to know a different part of Dunedin, because otherwise I am surrounded by students 24/7.
I am also partaking in the Language Match program here at my university. The idea is to practice speaking whatever foreign language you are studying with a native speaker. You fill out an application and are then matched accordingly. Well, I am not actually taking a foreign language, but the program also works to help students who do not speak English as their first language. My partner is a Japanese boy who wishes to improve his English, and also practice some basic Spanish, as that is what he is studying. We meet once a week, usually over a cup of coffee, and discuss all kinds of things. So far I have learned that the word “taco” is the word for “octopus” in Japanese (spelled ‘tako’) which my partner explained after his look of bewilderment at my suggestion that we make tacos sometime. Language is a funny thing!
That pretty much sums up my life here in Dunedin, and now I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Erica! My friend from home who has decided to come visit me! I am too excited!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
I am now officially a WWOOF-er!
Yard work has never exactly been my calling. One of my least favorite activities in the entire world is mowing lawns, so at home when it was my turn to do this I would always do the job at a run, so as to get it over with as quickly as possible. While this technique was quick, it always left some untidy bits around the lawn. My Dad used to think that I sabotaged the lawn on purpose so that he wouldn’t ask me to mow it anymore (I swear I didn’t Dad!). Now what does this have to do with my New Zealand adventures you ask? I swear it’s relevant, because I just spent this past weekend working on an organic farm, and it was a completely voluntary experience!
I will explain how this works, because working on a stranger’s farm is actually much easier than you might think. There is an organization called WWOOF, which stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, which involves a system of WWOOF hosts (farmers) and WWOOF workers (can be anyone!). You register online in the country of your choosing (New Zealand in my case, but it exists in the US and other countries as well) and create a profile of yourself or your farm. From there it is up to the hosts and the workers to contact each other via email or phone and try to arrange stays. In my case I found a lovely family in Wanaka who was willing to take me in for a long weekend.
The deal is that the worker comes and helps out for 4-6 hours a day in exchange for a place to sleep and meals. The tasks required of the WWOOF-er vary from place to place and season to season, but I’d say my experience was a pretty standard one. I did all kinds of different things, and given that I have zero farming experience the family was very kind, patient, and willing to share their knowledge of organic farming with me. On my first day I went out and fertilized the vegetable garden. I did so with this giant, rectangular, plastic backpack with a pump on the side and a long extension pole-thing where the spray actually came out. The fertilizer was made from compost drippings, so it was completely natural and wonderful. I felt like Buzz Lightyear preparing for blast-off as I stood out there pumping my giant plastic backpack.
Other tasks included taking down a wire fence, feeding chickens, helping to cook dinner, baking cookies with the kids (ok this wasn’t really a task, but it was a really fun activity!) weeding the garden, raking the compost, overturning soil, and my personal favorite…herding sheep! I feel like my New Zealand experience is complete now that I can say I have herded sheep!
I’m not really sure that I’m cut out to be a farmer, and I still definitely hate yard work (weeding the garden was less than thrilling), but overall I had a great experience this weekend doing things I’ve never done before and learning all about basic skills I really knew nothing about. The family I stayed with really welcomed me in to their home and helped me to have a successful first time WWOOFing and I’m definitely thinking of staying with them again. Thank goodness they have sheep, so I don’t have to worry about them asking me to mow their lawn!
I will explain how this works, because working on a stranger’s farm is actually much easier than you might think. There is an organization called WWOOF, which stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, which involves a system of WWOOF hosts (farmers) and WWOOF workers (can be anyone!). You register online in the country of your choosing (New Zealand in my case, but it exists in the US and other countries as well) and create a profile of yourself or your farm. From there it is up to the hosts and the workers to contact each other via email or phone and try to arrange stays. In my case I found a lovely family in Wanaka who was willing to take me in for a long weekend.
The deal is that the worker comes and helps out for 4-6 hours a day in exchange for a place to sleep and meals. The tasks required of the WWOOF-er vary from place to place and season to season, but I’d say my experience was a pretty standard one. I did all kinds of different things, and given that I have zero farming experience the family was very kind, patient, and willing to share their knowledge of organic farming with me. On my first day I went out and fertilized the vegetable garden. I did so with this giant, rectangular, plastic backpack with a pump on the side and a long extension pole-thing where the spray actually came out. The fertilizer was made from compost drippings, so it was completely natural and wonderful. I felt like Buzz Lightyear preparing for blast-off as I stood out there pumping my giant plastic backpack.
Other tasks included taking down a wire fence, feeding chickens, helping to cook dinner, baking cookies with the kids (ok this wasn’t really a task, but it was a really fun activity!) weeding the garden, raking the compost, overturning soil, and my personal favorite…herding sheep! I feel like my New Zealand experience is complete now that I can say I have herded sheep!
I’m not really sure that I’m cut out to be a farmer, and I still definitely hate yard work (weeding the garden was less than thrilling), but overall I had a great experience this weekend doing things I’ve never done before and learning all about basic skills I really knew nothing about. The family I stayed with really welcomed me in to their home and helped me to have a successful first time WWOOFing and I’m definitely thinking of staying with them again. Thank goodness they have sheep, so I don’t have to worry about them asking me to mow their lawn!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Travels with the Fam: Part 2 and long overdue
This entry is way past overdue…but I will go back and summarize the rest of my lovely travels with my parents!
After Dunedin we headed over to Queenstown, where Kevin, my Dad and myself enjoyed a great day of skiing. It was strange to be going for a ski in the middle of summer! Down in Queenstown there wasn’t any snow, but as we drove up the mountain it steadily increased. The view from the top was absolutely incredible, as we were on this snow-capped peak looking down at a green valley below us.
The next day we made a quick stop at the Kewarau Bridge, also known as the world’s first bungy jumping site. Kevin and myself geared up and scared my parents and Jill half to death as we did a tandem jump off this terrifying structure. We were relatively calm and collected right up until the last second when we were standing on the platform and there was nothing but open air between us and the river below. It was so much fun to jump with Kevin, but we wish Peter had been there too!
Here's an action shot of the jump:
From Queenstown we headed over to the wee town of Franz Josef, which exists only because of the tourists who come to visit the Franz Josef Glacier. We were in fact a part of that tourist flock, and went on a guided tour of the Glacier. The only way to actually climb on to the Glacier itself is with a professional guide, as Glaciers can be a dangerous thing if you don’t know what you are doing. It felt pretty hard core, since the climb on Franz Josef required cramp-ons, these metal spiky things that attached to the bottom of your shoes. The Glacier experience was beautiful and unlike any hike I’ve been on before.
Here are some photos from the hike. A group shot of all of us on the glacier, Kevin and my Dad climbing through a tunnel on the glacier, and the whole glacier itself from a distance.
After the Glacier we made our way up the South Island to an eventual stop in Picton (or if you are my Mom “Ping-ton”, New Zealand town names seemed to be a struggle, even if they were in plain English…) where we hopped on the ferry that took us across to Wellington on the North Island. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, but it is by no means a huge city. Compared to the quaint little South Island it felt big, but for a capital it is tiny. We went on a tour of the Beehive, the Parliament Building, and it made me realize I have never even had a tour of my own country’s national buildings! The tour of Parliament displayed how different this country is from the U.S. in that we felt that we were given access to areas of government that we could only dream of seeing back in Washington.
Here are a couple pictures from the ferry ride. One of Mom, Jill and Kev playing cards, and another of the beautiful view from the ferry.
The next stop on the trip was Hawkes Bay, where we met up with Werner, my Kiwi host from last semester, and had dinner with his family. Now, just to make things confusing, Werner and his family are not actually native New Zealanders, they are South African, so we enjoyed a lovely traditional South African meal in the middle of New Zealand! It was a delicious lamb with rice and vegetables, followed by brownies for dessert made by Werner (who I know will read this and appreciate the shout out). On our day in Hawkes Bay we toured various wineries, which I really enjoyed because I am actually of age here in New Zealand so I was allowed to partake in the tasting!
Here's a picture of Werner displaying his enthusiasm for the wine tasting:
Next on the list was Rotorua, where we enjoyed a touristy/actually relatively authentic Maori dinner. Our dinner was cooked in the traditional geo-thermal way in this underground, hot volcanic type thing (I’m sure it has a proper name, but it escapes me). We enjoyed watching the Pohiri, the Maori welcome ceremony that was originally used to determine the intent of the visiting tribe. We had to elect a “chief” to represent our group, and they went up on stage and everything to receive the peace offerings from the local Maori chief. Once it was established that we too came in peace we enjoyed a show complete with the haka, a war dance performed before battle, which is also infamously performed by the All Blacks before each match.
We eventually made our way up to Auckland, where my family and Jill departed for America and I made my way back down to the South Island. I think we were all finished living out of our suitcases, but I was certainly not ready to say good-bye. I’m so fortunate to have family and friends who were able and willing to travel half way around the world to see me. Thanks Mom, Dad, Jill, and Kevin for a fantastic time, and Peter you were very missed!
After Dunedin we headed over to Queenstown, where Kevin, my Dad and myself enjoyed a great day of skiing. It was strange to be going for a ski in the middle of summer! Down in Queenstown there wasn’t any snow, but as we drove up the mountain it steadily increased. The view from the top was absolutely incredible, as we were on this snow-capped peak looking down at a green valley below us.
The next day we made a quick stop at the Kewarau Bridge, also known as the world’s first bungy jumping site. Kevin and myself geared up and scared my parents and Jill half to death as we did a tandem jump off this terrifying structure. We were relatively calm and collected right up until the last second when we were standing on the platform and there was nothing but open air between us and the river below. It was so much fun to jump with Kevin, but we wish Peter had been there too!
Here's an action shot of the jump:
From Queenstown we headed over to the wee town of Franz Josef, which exists only because of the tourists who come to visit the Franz Josef Glacier. We were in fact a part of that tourist flock, and went on a guided tour of the Glacier. The only way to actually climb on to the Glacier itself is with a professional guide, as Glaciers can be a dangerous thing if you don’t know what you are doing. It felt pretty hard core, since the climb on Franz Josef required cramp-ons, these metal spiky things that attached to the bottom of your shoes. The Glacier experience was beautiful and unlike any hike I’ve been on before.
Here are some photos from the hike. A group shot of all of us on the glacier, Kevin and my Dad climbing through a tunnel on the glacier, and the whole glacier itself from a distance.
After the Glacier we made our way up the South Island to an eventual stop in Picton (or if you are my Mom “Ping-ton”, New Zealand town names seemed to be a struggle, even if they were in plain English…) where we hopped on the ferry that took us across to Wellington on the North Island. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, but it is by no means a huge city. Compared to the quaint little South Island it felt big, but for a capital it is tiny. We went on a tour of the Beehive, the Parliament Building, and it made me realize I have never even had a tour of my own country’s national buildings! The tour of Parliament displayed how different this country is from the U.S. in that we felt that we were given access to areas of government that we could only dream of seeing back in Washington.
Here are a couple pictures from the ferry ride. One of Mom, Jill and Kev playing cards, and another of the beautiful view from the ferry.
The next stop on the trip was Hawkes Bay, where we met up with Werner, my Kiwi host from last semester, and had dinner with his family. Now, just to make things confusing, Werner and his family are not actually native New Zealanders, they are South African, so we enjoyed a lovely traditional South African meal in the middle of New Zealand! It was a delicious lamb with rice and vegetables, followed by brownies for dessert made by Werner (who I know will read this and appreciate the shout out). On our day in Hawkes Bay we toured various wineries, which I really enjoyed because I am actually of age here in New Zealand so I was allowed to partake in the tasting!
Here's a picture of Werner displaying his enthusiasm for the wine tasting:
Next on the list was Rotorua, where we enjoyed a touristy/actually relatively authentic Maori dinner. Our dinner was cooked in the traditional geo-thermal way in this underground, hot volcanic type thing (I’m sure it has a proper name, but it escapes me). We enjoyed watching the Pohiri, the Maori welcome ceremony that was originally used to determine the intent of the visiting tribe. We had to elect a “chief” to represent our group, and they went up on stage and everything to receive the peace offerings from the local Maori chief. Once it was established that we too came in peace we enjoyed a show complete with the haka, a war dance performed before battle, which is also infamously performed by the All Blacks before each match.
We eventually made our way up to Auckland, where my family and Jill departed for America and I made my way back down to the South Island. I think we were all finished living out of our suitcases, but I was certainly not ready to say good-bye. I’m so fortunate to have family and friends who were able and willing to travel half way around the world to see me. Thanks Mom, Dad, Jill, and Kevin for a fantastic time, and Peter you were very missed!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Traveling With the Fam
I am writing from Havelock North, a town very far from Dunedin on the North Island of New Zealand, and I am up here with the fam! (minus Peter who has a real life job in State College, PA and couldn't take 2 weeks off) and our good friend Jill. We have been travelling for about a week and a half now and have done SO many things, but I will try to recount as much as I can before I am kicked off the internet to go grab some breakfast.
Our journey started out in Dunedin, where I had one day to show my family where I've been living for the last 4 and a half months. We started out the day with Dunedin's historic Railway station, a beautiful old building built back in the early 1900's. From there I took them to my new flat (I have moved flats for the next semester, a common thing for students to do who are abroad for a year) and after that we headed to the central part of Otago's campus, where I showed them the infamous Clocktower building. Then we had to run to make our 11 30 tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory, located in central Dunedin. The best part of the tour was the Chocolate Drop, where we went in to a giant silo and watched 1 ton of melted chocolate fall from the ceiling. It was just like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! From there we had to book it to make it to our next tour- the Speights Brewery Tour, one of New Zealand's oldest Beers. That tour concluded with 20 minutes of unlimited beer tasting, in which my parents even let wee 14 year old Kevin have a test of beer. I think they are getting a little more relaxed in their old(er) age...
After the Speights tour we had just a bit of time before the sun set, as it is winter time here and the sun goes down pretty early. We decided to use our last bit of sun light to climb Baldwin Street, which is allegedly the steepest street in the world! The brutal climb is worth it, once you get to the top and are able to see the rolling hills of Dunedin.
Here are some pictures from our day in Dunedin: They are the Railway Station, my dad and myself in my kitchen at my flat, Jill, Kevin, and I in front of the Clock Tower Building, Kevin and I at the Cadbury Factory, and finally us in front of the Speights Brewery.
Now I am off to breakfast so I will have to recount the rest of our trip later. Here's an idea of what's yet to come: Bungee Jumping off a bridge, climbing a glacier, and dinner with a South African Family!
Our journey started out in Dunedin, where I had one day to show my family where I've been living for the last 4 and a half months. We started out the day with Dunedin's historic Railway station, a beautiful old building built back in the early 1900's. From there I took them to my new flat (I have moved flats for the next semester, a common thing for students to do who are abroad for a year) and after that we headed to the central part of Otago's campus, where I showed them the infamous Clocktower building. Then we had to run to make our 11 30 tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory, located in central Dunedin. The best part of the tour was the Chocolate Drop, where we went in to a giant silo and watched 1 ton of melted chocolate fall from the ceiling. It was just like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! From there we had to book it to make it to our next tour- the Speights Brewery Tour, one of New Zealand's oldest Beers. That tour concluded with 20 minutes of unlimited beer tasting, in which my parents even let wee 14 year old Kevin have a test of beer. I think they are getting a little more relaxed in their old(er) age...
After the Speights tour we had just a bit of time before the sun set, as it is winter time here and the sun goes down pretty early. We decided to use our last bit of sun light to climb Baldwin Street, which is allegedly the steepest street in the world! The brutal climb is worth it, once you get to the top and are able to see the rolling hills of Dunedin.
Here are some pictures from our day in Dunedin: They are the Railway Station, my dad and myself in my kitchen at my flat, Jill, Kevin, and I in front of the Clock Tower Building, Kevin and I at the Cadbury Factory, and finally us in front of the Speights Brewery.
Now I am off to breakfast so I will have to recount the rest of our trip later. Here's an idea of what's yet to come: Bungee Jumping off a bridge, climbing a glacier, and dinner with a South African Family!
Friday, June 25, 2010
The First Semester Comes to a Close
The month of June has FLOWN by, which means that the semester is over and I am having a hard time believing it. This past week or so has been too full of good byes, as most people who go abroad only do so for one semester. I didn't realize that I would be such anomaly in staying in New Zealand for 2 semesters! It has been very sad to say farewell to all the friends that I made these past 4 months, but I am looking forward to meeting a whole new bunch of people next semester.
In other, less depressing news, I went on a lovely trip to the Otago Peninsula last week. It's about a 40 minute drive out to the peninsula from my flat and it is absolutely beautiful. I wish I had known sooner that I live right by such natural beauty! There are all kinds of beaches and wildlife to check out on the peninsula. My friends and I went to Sandfly Bay, where we saw sea lions and even a yellow eyed penguin! It was so cool to see these animals in their natural habitat. The sea lions are pretty tame animals, so we were told it was ok to be a few meters away from them and take pictures with them, but as my friend and I approached one of them it suddenly snapped it's head and BARKED at us! It scared the bejeezus out of us, and luckily my other friend was able to capture the ridiculous moment of terror:
After Sandfly Bay we went to check out the albatross center, but it was too late so it was closed. However, a lady who worked there who was just heading out for the evening told us to stick around until dark and to watch the blue penguins come in to their nests for the night. Well that sounded pretty awesome so we headed down to the water and after waiting for what felt like ages the little penguins came in! It was dark so it was difficult to see them, plus they are the smallest type of penguin in the world, but we heard them coming in and it was SO COOL. I wanted to sneak up on one and take it home with me, but I figured it wouldn't like that too much so I refrained. Now, you may think that I live in the arctic tundra seeing as I live right next to penguins, but no worries it has yet to even snow here.
Unfortunately I was unable to take pictures of the blue penguins, as the flash would terrify them, but here are other pictures from my afternoon out on the Otago Peninsula:
Now I am just hanging out and anxiously waiting for my family to arrive!!! Then I'm off on a 2 week New Zealand traveling adventure with them!
In other, less depressing news, I went on a lovely trip to the Otago Peninsula last week. It's about a 40 minute drive out to the peninsula from my flat and it is absolutely beautiful. I wish I had known sooner that I live right by such natural beauty! There are all kinds of beaches and wildlife to check out on the peninsula. My friends and I went to Sandfly Bay, where we saw sea lions and even a yellow eyed penguin! It was so cool to see these animals in their natural habitat. The sea lions are pretty tame animals, so we were told it was ok to be a few meters away from them and take pictures with them, but as my friend and I approached one of them it suddenly snapped it's head and BARKED at us! It scared the bejeezus out of us, and luckily my other friend was able to capture the ridiculous moment of terror:
After Sandfly Bay we went to check out the albatross center, but it was too late so it was closed. However, a lady who worked there who was just heading out for the evening told us to stick around until dark and to watch the blue penguins come in to their nests for the night. Well that sounded pretty awesome so we headed down to the water and after waiting for what felt like ages the little penguins came in! It was dark so it was difficult to see them, plus they are the smallest type of penguin in the world, but we heard them coming in and it was SO COOL. I wanted to sneak up on one and take it home with me, but I figured it wouldn't like that too much so I refrained. Now, you may think that I live in the arctic tundra seeing as I live right next to penguins, but no worries it has yet to even snow here.
Unfortunately I was unable to take pictures of the blue penguins, as the flash would terrify them, but here are other pictures from my afternoon out on the Otago Peninsula:
Now I am just hanging out and anxiously waiting for my family to arrive!!! Then I'm off on a 2 week New Zealand traveling adventure with them!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Hangin out in Dunedin
Due to looming finals I have not gone on any great traveling adventures lately, but there has been plenty going on right here in Dunedin.
A little while ago my friends and I had the great idea to make cookie monster cupcakes...which are as awesome as they sound. First we made chocolate chip cookies, then we made the cupcakes, and then came the tricky part of constructing the cookie monster. We made blue icing for cookie monster himself, and used white chocolate chip buttons stuck to dark chocolate chips to make the eyes. We cut a little hole in the frosted cupcake, stuck in a cookie, plopped on the chocolate chip eyes, and voila! A cookie monster cupcake! Our artsy friend took a picture of the final product:
This past week my flat decided to host a giant slumber party! We pulled all of our queen size mattresses together on our common room floor, invited over our neighbors, and had a grand ol' time. We made some delicious homemade poptarts (although they took SO much work!), watched a movie, and told some stories. It was just like those big slumber parties we used to have back in the day, although we are not the care-free kids we used to be. I woke up at 10:30 the next morning surrounded by empty mattresses, as everyone had gotten up early to get on with their busy days.
Here are some candids from the night:
Classes are done and finals are starting this Wednesday, and I can't believe my first semester here is already come to a close. In the next couple of weeks many of my American friends here are heading back to the States, as most people are just studying abroad here for the semester. I'm glad to be staying for the full school year, as there is still so much I want to see!
A little while ago my friends and I had the great idea to make cookie monster cupcakes...which are as awesome as they sound. First we made chocolate chip cookies, then we made the cupcakes, and then came the tricky part of constructing the cookie monster. We made blue icing for cookie monster himself, and used white chocolate chip buttons stuck to dark chocolate chips to make the eyes. We cut a little hole in the frosted cupcake, stuck in a cookie, plopped on the chocolate chip eyes, and voila! A cookie monster cupcake! Our artsy friend took a picture of the final product:
This past week my flat decided to host a giant slumber party! We pulled all of our queen size mattresses together on our common room floor, invited over our neighbors, and had a grand ol' time. We made some delicious homemade poptarts (although they took SO much work!), watched a movie, and told some stories. It was just like those big slumber parties we used to have back in the day, although we are not the care-free kids we used to be. I woke up at 10:30 the next morning surrounded by empty mattresses, as everyone had gotten up early to get on with their busy days.
Here are some candids from the night:
Classes are done and finals are starting this Wednesday, and I can't believe my first semester here is already come to a close. In the next couple of weeks many of my American friends here are heading back to the States, as most people are just studying abroad here for the semester. I'm glad to be staying for the full school year, as there is still so much I want to see!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Flat Hiking Trip To Silver Peaks
My most recent trip was a hiking excursion with my four flatmates. We did an overnight hike to Silver Peaks, which is only about a 20 minute drive from our flat to the start of the trail.
We woke up early Saturday morning (Early meaning 8 am) and started our trek. It took us about 3 ½ hours to hike to Jubilee hut, a tiny hut in the mountains where we were sleeping for the night. We dropped off our packs, grabbed a quick lunch and then went on an off-track hike to find a cave. We had a general idea where it was, but it took us about 2 hours of wading through waist high grass to find it. The cave was really neat, it was right on the mountainside and it had a platform, bench, and shelf built in to it for campers to use. There were a few hunters (they were hunting wild pig, there’s really not much to hunt here in New Zealand) staying in it for the weekend, so we chatted with them for a bit and then made our way back to the hut. Then we made the best dinner EVER, although everything tastes ten times better after a full day of hiking. We had a pasta, ground beef, vegetable stew, and it was so delicious. For dessert we had Tim Tam slams, my new favorite cookie and way to eat it. You take a Tim Tam, which is just a chocolate wafer covered in chocolate, bite off the ends, stick it in warm water and try to suck up the water through the Tim Tam, so it’s like the cookie is your straw. The hot water goes in to the cookie and makes it melt in to gooey chocolatey goodness, which you then pop in your mouth and enjoy. Voila! That is the Tim Tam slam.
The next day we had to make our way back, but the only way back to the car was via the Devil’s Staircase, which was just as brutal as it sounds. It was an incredibly steep trek that went straight up and up and up. My kiwi host Werner, who had never been on a hike as big as this, was less than thrilled to go up the Devil’s staircase, and halfway up he turned to me and said “The next time someone suggests we go hiking remind me to say NO”. But by the end of it I know he was happy to have conquered the Devil’s Staircase.
Overall it was a really fun weekend and all 5 of us made it through in one piece. It was a great flat bonding experience and it made me realize how much I’m going to miss Heather, Sammy and Erin next semester, as I am the only one in the flat who is staying for 2 semesters.
Here are a couple of pictures from the trip: a group picture at Jubilee hut, where we spent the night, a scenic picture of what we were surrounded by as we hiked, and a picture of the hut from a distance, if you look closely you can see it, it's the tiny little house in the midst of the mountains.
We woke up early Saturday morning (Early meaning 8 am) and started our trek. It took us about 3 ½ hours to hike to Jubilee hut, a tiny hut in the mountains where we were sleeping for the night. We dropped off our packs, grabbed a quick lunch and then went on an off-track hike to find a cave. We had a general idea where it was, but it took us about 2 hours of wading through waist high grass to find it. The cave was really neat, it was right on the mountainside and it had a platform, bench, and shelf built in to it for campers to use. There were a few hunters (they were hunting wild pig, there’s really not much to hunt here in New Zealand) staying in it for the weekend, so we chatted with them for a bit and then made our way back to the hut. Then we made the best dinner EVER, although everything tastes ten times better after a full day of hiking. We had a pasta, ground beef, vegetable stew, and it was so delicious. For dessert we had Tim Tam slams, my new favorite cookie and way to eat it. You take a Tim Tam, which is just a chocolate wafer covered in chocolate, bite off the ends, stick it in warm water and try to suck up the water through the Tim Tam, so it’s like the cookie is your straw. The hot water goes in to the cookie and makes it melt in to gooey chocolatey goodness, which you then pop in your mouth and enjoy. Voila! That is the Tim Tam slam.
The next day we had to make our way back, but the only way back to the car was via the Devil’s Staircase, which was just as brutal as it sounds. It was an incredibly steep trek that went straight up and up and up. My kiwi host Werner, who had never been on a hike as big as this, was less than thrilled to go up the Devil’s staircase, and halfway up he turned to me and said “The next time someone suggests we go hiking remind me to say NO”. But by the end of it I know he was happy to have conquered the Devil’s Staircase.
Overall it was a really fun weekend and all 5 of us made it through in one piece. It was a great flat bonding experience and it made me realize how much I’m going to miss Heather, Sammy and Erin next semester, as I am the only one in the flat who is staying for 2 semesters.
Here are a couple of pictures from the trip: a group picture at Jubilee hut, where we spent the night, a scenic picture of what we were surrounded by as we hiked, and a picture of the hut from a distance, if you look closely you can see it, it's the tiny little house in the midst of the mountains.
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