This weekend we went to Queenstown to celebrate everyone's birthdays. Ryan, Jackie, Lauren, Kate, and Olivia all had birthdays within a few weeks of each other so they combined a weekend getaway. 25 people went. It was a lot of fun, and the first time in Queenstown I was able to just hang out and experience the town.
Everyone stayed at Nomads, but I didn't want to spend the money so I slept in the car. It worked out very well.
We hung out, ate food, walked around the city, went to pubs and clubs, and just had a bast together. The weather was amazing and the views were even better.
Other than hanging out and going out, I went with Abby to the Nevis bungy and was her professional photographer for the morning. Rocking a Nikon D3100 and a D5000 with three different lenses, I felt legit. She had so much fun and it was awesome watching her freak out and come back up so excited.
The last day there we went to Coronet Peak, one of the few ski fields in Queenstown where there was snow. We played in it, threw some snowballs, and headed home.
Very fun, relaxed, enjoyable weekend in Queenstown.
Next week is the last week of lectures, but instructors are not allowed to have assignments due the final week (so they have grading time before finals), so I am all done with assignments!
One more week of lectures for exam review and then just it's just trying to squeeze studying, preparing, and taking finals for the whole month of June around my ski and flying schedule.
Headed to Queenstown this weekend to scope out the terrain and hang out with some friends.
All the Arcadia study abroad students and staff got together at an Italian restaurant called Estrusco for a farewell dinner. We ate great food, drank great wine, left halfway through the meal to go across the street to the dairy and buy more bottles of wine to bring back (full advantage of the NZ BYO option at restaurants), had great beer, and great friends.
They did some photo awards, I won "Funniest Moment:"
This weekend was my first weekend in Dunedin. Well, technically my third, but the others were the first weekend here in February (most of the time spent moving and handling the transition) and the other was the weekend of Hyde street and the Rugby match (not much down time). It was nice to just relax and hang out.
Saturday was Lauren's Birthday! Her mom was here for the week and flew back home Saturday morning, so we spent some last minute time with her (she is AWESOME by the way) then hung out. We gave Lauren her presents and then got ready for our next door Kiwi neighbor Liz's Cartoon Network party. I went as Johnny from Ed, Edd, and Eddy (Plank was a hit):
I got back to Christchurch International Airport at 10am, caught the metro to Riccerton, and got my Southern Cross tattoo finished at City of Ink.
I packed my gear up, and began my hitch hiking journey.
I walked from Hagley Park in Riccerton to route 73, where I was picked up my a Samoan who brought me about 5 mintues further. Then was picked up my two girls from Rolleston who brought me there. Then was picked up by a guy who brought me all the way to Dunedin. I started around 2pm and was home by 8pm.
The guy who picked me up last was a missionary from the deep south working in Christchurch. He was a great guy, with probably the strongest faith I have ever encountered. We had great conversations, prayer, and laughs. What a great experience.
God rocks my socks off.
I got up the next morning, went to the lab, and 12 hours straight later, I was finished with my project. Ownage thy name is boom.
Wednesday night I crashed in my old flat in Christchurch with Ben, Jasiah, and the new flat mates. I caught the bus in the morning (after getting my Canty t-shirt) to the airport where I met Matt and Lauren. We took off for Wellington mid morning.
The flight was only 30 or so minutes long, but the sky was clear and the Cook Strait looked real cool.
We took the bus to downtown, walked around a bit, then met Preston and Rafaela (friends from Arcadia orientation) at Preston's place. We bunked up there as home base for the weekend.
The weather was great, so we went down to the Wharf and did some flips into the harbour. After a photoshoot with random tourists and a cut toe, Preston showed us more of the city, then back to his place.
Victoria University and most university housing is all on a big hillside. My calves got quite the workout. Cool terrain and a great view of the city and harbour though.
We met some friends for a party, got to see a bit of the city nightlife, saw the campus, ate a lot of food, drank probably too much beer, and watched every Dom Mazzetti video at least once.
I had a lot of fun hanging out with Preston again, he's a rad bro, but I had to leave early to get back in time to finish a project due Monday morning.
Today I got up in the pouring rain, made my way to the the ferry (about a 20-30min walk), and went across the harbour to Wings and Waves for the last time.
Reuben and I did a spec check of my new Gin Nano Speed Riding glider and harness, had a few cups of coffee, took care of the finances, and then shit hit the fan.
My credit cards were all declined (I wasn't aware of the $1,500 transaction limit at the time), stupid amounts of rain started up, and we both lost track of time where it was too late for me to catch the ferry to catch the bus to catch my flight.
So Reuben drove me to Auckland (20-30min drive) where Alex (the friend I stayed with Monday and Tuesday night) met us to then bring me to the airport (another 45 min drive). The rain didn't let off and I got there just too late to catch my flight. Fortunately, it was only a $39 flight so the $90 change fee only hurt a lot, but didn't kill me there (after spending more than I should have buying the glider).
I got on the 5:30pm flight from Auckland to Christchurch instead of the 1:05pm. Only issue was missing my appointment to get my ink touched up, but I can get that done saturday instead.
Credit cards worked after a mad scramble at the airport, so everything was sorted and Wings and Waves.
After Katy Perry on Sunday night, I had a few days to kill in Auckland. My flight wasn't until Wednesday because it was cheaper than Monday or Tuesday. So, I called up Wings & Waves, a kite boarding, paragliding, blah blah all this in the air company. Two very neat people who love flying sports that teach, rent, repair, etc.
I had been slightly in contact with them before just gaining some knowledge and info on Speed Riding. I randomly emailed them Sunday afternoon because I knew they were in the Auckland area and I had some time to kill. I planned on just chatting with them about equipment, where and how to do it, all hat fun stuff.
NOPE.
I showed up at 10 am after my short ferry ride across the harbour, got in a car, and learned how to paraglide.
Literally the best decision I have ever made, and the coolest feeling ever. After just a short hour or two of playing with the canopies and teaching, Reuben had me taking off a cliff and landing on the beach 200m below. By the end of the day, well, this is me:
I am officially addicted, and will be getting into paragliding, speed flying, and speed riding asap.
Monday night, Kate surprised me with a free ticket to Katy Perry in Auckland. Bam, be jealous.
Story behind this:
Back in Christchurch, Kate and our friend Nelsy were bragging to me about having tickets to the sold out show. I told them i'll only be their friend if they get me a ticket. Last week, Nelsy contacted Kate and said something came up and she couldn't make it. So Kate said Nelsy wasn't going to sell it, and gave the ticket to me =]. What wonderful friends.
I found decent airfare out of Christchurch. MY flat was driving up to Christchurch Sat morning anyway to go visit Kaikorua, so I rode with them up, had dinner with Jasiah and Ben (my old flatmates) and Jasiah gave me a ride to the airport.
The girls I went to the concert with:
Kate
Katie
In Auckland, I met Kate and Katie downtown, and went to the Nomads Backpacker for the night. Next day, we hung out in town for the day. It was a great day, so we got Sushi and ate at the Harbour. It was my first time trying Sushi. I don't like any seafood, so I had never tried. I never knew they made chicken and beef Sushi. Yumsauce:
We killed some more time, then had dinner at the bar in Nomads. They gave us coupons for a free drink and $7 pizza, we took advantage. It was a very cool old building. Kate was in love with it:
After that, we went to the Vector Arena to see Katy Perry. It was packed.
Fantastic show regardless of your thoughts on KP. Some cute and clever kiwi remarks, lots of energy, great singing, and a surprise acoustic cover set where she sang Rhianna, Jay Z, Rebecca Black, Ill e Gal. Her versatility is mind bottling:
Great concert, great friends, great weather, great food, and overall just a fun weekend!
We were granted a week off for our mid-semester break from April 23rd to the 1st of May. While most of the flat and friends took off for Sydney for the week, Noah and I took Wootie on a joy ride. Our friends Reid and Rafaela came with us.
Day 1 - April 23rd:
We drove from Christchurch to Nelson stopping in Kaikoura on the way. We saw some great coastlines and big mountains.
We stopped at a Holiday Park where we set up our tent and crashed for the night. It was the first night Noah's tent got use, and man did it fail. It started raining a few hours in, and rained stupid amounts overnight soaking most of us.
Day 2 - April 24th:
The tent leaked quite a bit but we toughed it out, got up early and dropped Raffy off for her bus ride back to Wellington where she goes to uni.
We then continued on our way to Motueka where we met up with some other friends and picked up Taylor (who joined us for the rest of the trip). We made a few sight seeing stops on the 24th:
Hawkes Lookout
Ngarua Caves
Pupu Springs
Takaka
Cape Farewell (South Island's northernmost point)
We got our hut tickets and set up the hike for the next day (Abel Tasman Coastal Track). Everything was soaked from the night before so instead of camping we bunked up at a cheap motel in Motueka. We snuck 4 into a room for two and took advantage of the dryer and the TV (We watched Beverly Hills Chuaua and House Bunny...judge us.) while we could.
Day 3 - April 25th:
We packed up the car early, got some food, and headed to the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.
We cranked out the 8 hour hike into the hut in 5 (with a nice long lunch break on a river). Hung out on the beach, got eaten by sand flies, cooked some dinner, played cards, and made some friends. The hut was very cool, and we all got a good nights sleep.
Day 4 - April 26th:
We got up early, made some porridge, and took off to finish the track. There were two tidal crossings that we had to hit at certain times when tide was low, so we had to be on time. At the second crossing, we saw Alex, Jenn, Suzy, and some friends from a distance. Alex and I were excited to see each other...
We stopped and had lunch after the second crossing, then finished the track around 1. We were supposed to take the water taxi which would bring us back to our car via the ocean, but the weather was harsh. They couldn't get to us so they sent us a bus:
We took the bus back, got a nice nap, then continued toward the west coast. Pit stop at Split Apple Rock:
We stopped at Lake Rotoroa in the dark to set up a tent for the night. Successful tent night with no rain!
Day 5 - April 27th:
We got up early to head toward Westport on the west coast. On the way out, we checked out Lake Rotoroa because we couldn't see anything te night before (too dark when we got there). It was AWESOME:
We kept driving and got to Westport mid morning. We saw Cape Foulwind, got some food, then went to Denniston (and old gold mine site):
After that we kept driving as we drove down the west coast toward Greymouth. We stopped at the Pancake Rocks to check them out:
In Greymouth, we stocked up on groceries, set up our glacier hike for Friday, and continued south (oh, and saw this:)
Then made a pit stop at a sweet gold mine:
After a few hours of driving by sunset over the ocean and windy gnarly as mountain roads, we arrived in Franz. Continuing on, we headed toward Gillepsies Beach where we camped the night. On the way, we saw what Noah, in his delirious late night driving trance state, thought was a white wolf. So we backed up to confirm his sight for it to be a sheep...
We got to the site, built a fire and Taylor made us burritos. Set up camp and tented the night.
Day 6 - April 28th:
We got up early again, saw a beautiful sunrise over Mt. Cook and the glaciers, and went to Lake Mathison to see the reflection lake:
We got some breakfast at a small cafe, set up a skydive for Taylor and Reid, then went for a hike. The hike was up the Franz Josef glacier valley. It was a beautiful day, and some great views. We got up to the base of the glacier and checked the area out:
We brought Taylor and Reid to the drop zone, cleaned out the car while they were in the air, and got some pictures and videos of them on their way down. It was a cool, very small dropzone; so we could get right under them for pictures and chat up the jumpers a bit:
After that, we drove to Okarito Beach and Lagoon to check it out, then back to the campsite at Gillespies. We caught a cool sunset over the ocean, had a nice dinner and fire, and star gazed as we went to bed.
Day 7 - April 29th:
Another early morning to see the sunrise over the mountains. Next we were off the Fox glacier for an all day guided hike. We got geared up with cramp ons, hopped on a bus, and drove to the glacier. We had a cool guide who took us around on the glacier for the whole day. It was AWESOME. Bluebird day:
When we finished, we got back in Wootie and took off through the mountains to Haast, which is further down the west coast. We crashed at a small backpackers and finally got to dry clothes, take a shower, and relax a bit.
Day 8 - April 30th:
Final morning, rise early again. We packed up and headed to Wanaka through Haast Pass. It was a super rad drive through rugged mountains, cool streams, waterfalls, and cliffs. Once in Wanaka, we went to a bike hire shop and for $20 we got some bikes. We peddled a few kms on the edge of Lake Wanaka and down a river to a place called Dean's Bank Track. It was a brand new, very cool track:
After a crazy workout, and one of the most fun days I have ever had (my first time downhill mountain biking - New addiction), we hung out at the beach and relaxed. We drove around a little after we got bored and checked out Treble Cone (a ski field) where we saw some speed flyers land (AWESOME!) and some rock climbers climbing and bouldering.
We got back to town where I bought a new pack for AT trips this winter and we got some dinner and a few beers at a local bar. When we were all done, we got back in Wootie for the last time and drove back to Dunedin.
This trip may have been the most fun I have ever had. It was great to just live in a tent, not worry about anything (showers, what clothing, school work, etc), and be totally disconnected (no cell service or internet connection). I couldn't have asked for better traveling companions: Reid is a gnarly backpacker from Alaska who is never affected by long days, Noah likes some extreme stuff like me and is really into hiking, and Taylor gave us someone to crack sexist women jokes at the whole time. She took it like a champ and she was awesome the whole trip. Taylor is a hard core hiker too so everyone was just happy to be out doing stuff. No whining or complaining (serious that is, we all whined about stupid things for entertainment, of course).
p.s. - I rocked a Fu Man Chu stache and sideburns the whole time
