Windy Wellington

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Got sandwich lunches and left for the airport. We had a little plane with propellers and seats 2x2. It was only a 1 hour flight to Wellington, but as always, Air New Zealand gave us great service. Even for such a short flight we got water, a hot beverage, a biscuit, and a hard candy. Got on the van to Nexus. My room has a very big window, which is lucky since there are several rooms with just one tiny window way up at the top of a very high ceiling.

View from my window

Nexus is half-dorm and half-apartment rooms around a central kitchen, but it has a lot of confusing doors and passageways. Its at the base of the hill on the edge of the valley the city is in, with the campus on the top of the hill. Or mountain. More of a mountain when you have to climb 175 steps straight up to the street over us, then another 50+ depending on the route you take to campus. Plus several steep ramps.

A very small part of Hell's Staircase

Went with a small group of people to go phone and food shopping. Got a cheap vodafone, and went to the big New World grocery store. Came back then went with a group to eat, half went to find sushi on Cuba Mall (equivalent to 16th street mall), and my half of the group found a little Irish pub but we needed passports as valid ID’s to be allowed in the pub even just for pizza. They went to go get passports but I was really hungry so just went back to Nexus and got some 63 cent budget noodles. Everyone is complaining a lot about Nexus, but I really don't think its that bad. There are a lot of study abroad students who don't have any place to live at all, but the Uni guaranteed housing for abroad students.





Thursday, February 18, 2010

Orientation started at 9:30 am. Had a lecture hall meeting then a lunch of sausage on bread and ice cream. Then another lecture about adjusting to life in New Zealand. We were told its very difficult to make Kiwi friends and you have to put in a lot of effort to do so. Then we had an enrollment meeting. Finally finished around 4 pm. Heather, Raizel, and I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond for bed sheets, then we stopped at a French Crepe place on the way to the New World for more groceries. Raizel went back to campus for her dorm food and Heather and I cooked noodles with garlic and olive oil.


Friday, February 19, 2010

Got to the library at 9:30 am to enroll in classes. Dropped one and added “The Earth Systems” an e-bio and geology / geography type of class that Raizel is in and told me it has field trips. I am also in Design, National Cinema A, and The Pacific Heritage. Mondays off.

View of the city from campus

Went to Raizels room in Te Puni campus village, which has an incredible view of the city. Then to check out Heathers flat at Everton on the other side of campus. Went to Subway then walked to the Warehouse, a Target-like store on the other side of town. Wellington feels like a very big city but is extremely small. Came back to Nexus and Raizel left, Heather and I booked our trip to Bay of Islands through Inter-city busses and Stray. There are only 4 internet Vodafone USB sticks in the building that everyone is fighting over. Hopefully we will get wireless net in a few weeks.


Saturday, February 20, 2010

Everyone was discussing why they don’t like Nexus at breakfast this morning. They told us bed sheets would be provided but we had to get our own, it said internet and we have none, the “sky TV” is a little TV in the corner of the kitchen that doesn’t work, we have one pot for cooking, only two washers and dryers for the whole building, they don’t want anyone drinking since it will be a bad influence on the freshmen, most people have been stuck in temporary rooms until everyone else moves in tomorrow, no table or chairs for eating, one fridge went out last night and only one microwave works. The fire map says this is the St. George Hostel Annex (annex = nexus). It was closed down and just recently bought by the university and opened a few months ago. One thing I do like is the instant boiling water box above the sink.
Went to campus for internet, then met up with Heather and we went to subway for a lamb sub with mint sauce. Saw “Precious” at the theatre, it was very intense but really good.



Sunday, February 21, 2010

Ah, a wonderful day of nothing! The Kiwis are moving into Nexus, and I’m told Kiwis love marshmallow fish so I made a Kiwi trap. Heather and I leave tomorrow morning for an 11 hour bus ride to Auckland, 4 days with the Stray bus around Bay of Islands, then Saturday we are coming back to Wellington.

Next update: Bay of Islands!

The Kiwi trap, operated by my rat

Kia Ora!

They sure had some expensive internet at the hostel in Rotorua, and it was much too slow to upload photos. Here’s a summary of the AustraLearn orientation week:

Friday, February 12, 2010

Walked from Nomads to Base backpackers and waited with a few other students for everyone. Eventually the group arrived, 60 students for both Auckland Tech and Victoria University of Wellington. They fed us sausages on bread for lunch, then we went to the first lecture meeting. This was the most interesting of the meetings, and we covered culture differences as well as some new Kiwi words: bach, knackered, tramping, cuppa, root, whinge, dairy, jandals, tea, chilly bin, petrol, lift, togs, dodgy, shout, pissed, jumper, sweet as.
After this we checked into our rooms then went out to explore Auckland. Watched the sky tower jumpers for a bit, and discovered some neat little parts of the city.



We also stopped by a dairy to see all the different foods (new Pringles flavors!) and got some chicken flavored crisps. They’re not bad, just tastes like a light dusting of the chicken flavoring packets from ramen noodles.





We went to the Waterfront restaurant for dinner with the AustraLearn group, then Heather and I went exploring more of the city until our feet couldn’t take anymore walking.



Saturday, February 13, 2010

Got on the busses early and headed out to the Kiwi Paka hostel in Rotorua. Had a rest stop in Hobbiton on the way.


After a short meeting and lunch, we split up and half of us learned the Haka and the other half played rugby (with all the brainwashing I’ve been experiencing I need to mention here how the All Blacks are the greatest team ever).
The group I was in first learned the Haka that the All Blacks perform. Once we got the words and actions down, we dressed up and got some makeup on our faces to perform the final for video and photos.




I’m not sure how many people actually learned rugby and how many were just running in circles, but I am rather confident that more people were in the latter category.
For dinner, Sam, Monica, Heather, Raizel and I all wondered into downtown Rotorua to a place called Ambrosia.




Sunday, February 14, 2010

They haven’t been feeding us all that well, this morning we got corn flakes and milk with no spoons. Rumor has it there were pancakes for the early birds, but they went pretty fast. This was the free day, and all I had scheduled was the Polynesian Spa which was open all day. So I got on the van to the Zorb and went from there to the Agridome. The place had several busses with tourists from Japan, Germany, UK, etc. A big tourist stop but still very interesting.
The sheep show was introducing 19 of New Zealands most popular sheep breeds, a sheep shearing demo, cow milking demo, and several sheep dogs running around herding ducks and jumping over the sheep.

See the dogs in this one?

We went by ostriches, ducks, pigs, red deer, sheep, and cows on the farm tour. Stopped in a kiwi fruit orchard (sadly they weren’t ripe yet) and sampled kiwi fruit juice, honey, and kiwi fruit wine. The wine would have been very good if it hadn’t tasted like alcohol. After that we stopped to feed some alpacas and more sheep.


I walked back to the Zorb at 1:15 pm and watched several people roll down the hill in giant hamster balls with a few AustraLearn students from another orientation group. At 3:45 pm the Kiwi Paka van finally picked us up.



After dinner a large group of us went out to get ice cream and sit by the lake. Sam and I went to the Polynesian Spa after that to use our tickets, and we ran into a few other people we knew to walk back with.




Monday, February 15, 2010

Went to the thermal Maori village, Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao. If you have trouble remembering or saying that you can shorten it down to Whakarewarewa. Or Whaka if you’re still having problems. But it doesn’t get any easier than that. We took a tour of the village and learned how they use the thermal water in daily life.




As our volunteer day, we cut bamboo along a trail in the village. When the rain picked up it got too slippery passing the bamboo up the hill so we stopped early and wondered around the shops in town instead. The hot spring and steam vent cooked food looked amazing, but we got fed some rather unappetizing hot dog buns filled with who knows what.



Went back to the Kiwi Paka for our final meeting, and to sign up for cave tours tomorrow. Picked up for a hangi dinner at Tamaki Village. The bus driver was very entertaining and started the drive by explaining “Kia Ora” in 38 different languages over 10 minutes. A sample of his explanation: If you are from America, kia ora means “Howdy y’all” or “Wasssssup.” Aussie is “G’day mate. Have you seen my dingo?” If you are from France, I’m sorry, but the All Blacks are the greatest rugby team ever.
When we got to the village, we got a Maori greeting and peace offering, then walked around a small town setup to learn about Maori life, saw a music and dance performance, then the hangi dinner, and afterwards learned how the food was cooked with hot rocks and dirt. The bus drive out was just as entertaining as the drive in.






Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The bus for the 9:45 and 10 am Waitomo cave tours left at 7:40 am for the 2 hour drive. No more than 30 minutes from Rotorua the bus broke down. 45 minutes later we got a new one, and continued onwards. A tire or two popped and shredded later on this new bus and the driver pulled over to check it out, but he reported back “We’re going to keep on keeping on!”.


I went on the St. Benedict’s cavern tour. It started with 25 meters (82 feet) of abseiling (repelling) down to a small platform, then another 30 meters (98.4 feet). Walked across a log then climbed over lots of rubble and old roof, and found some fist-sized sea shell fossils. Stopped for a snack of juice and marshmallow fish. Then went on the speedy 30 meter (98.4 feet) zip line in the dark. Cave dark. There weren’t any glow worms in this cave, but it definitely had the most amazing formations I’ve ever seen. At the end we came across several large weta bug, and left the cave through a hobbit hole.

Postcard photos to show a few of the formations

Back at the Kiwi Paka hostel

A Day in Auckland

I got reservations at Nomads Backpackers in Auckland since that's where the AustraLearn orientation group was supposed to meet, but now they are meeting at Base down the street. When I was here before, Base was in the building that Nomads is now, so I'm already very familiar with the area. I have roommates from Ireland, Chile, Germany, and Canada. I haven't met anyone from the US yet, but I did see a large group of AustraLearn students this morning that had just arrived for their orientation.

The hostel rooms, 6 bed girls only floor

Had breakfast and the favorite little French bakery from when Sasha and I were here, eggs on toast and hot tea.

I really wanted to go to the northern tip of the island, but I would need at least 3 days to do that. I was also very interested in eco-tours just outside of Auckland but they all needed reservations a week in advance since its summer and the peak season for travel here right now. So, I hiked across the city and up Mt. Eden.

Top of Mt. Eden, looking into the crater of the volcano

View of downtown Auckland from the top

Later in the day I walked around the city for a few hours. I finally found a place with mincemeat pies, after passing hundreds of sushi and kebab restaurants. Also got some golden kiwifruit manuka honey ice cream, then went to the Sky Tower to pick up some brochures. Unfortunatly no ghost tours tonight.

Pictures Thus Far

DIA goodbye, February 8, 2010

Apparently I will be missed.
Either that or they are trying to steal my ticket.

Denver to Honolulu, 6 hours and 51 minutes in the air

Leaving Denver, clouds on the front range

Flying into Hawaii

Downtown Honolulu

Honolulu Airport lounge

Hawaii sunset!

Air New Zealand plane

In front of the plane before departure

Honolulu to Auckland, 8 hours and 35 minutes in the air.
Wow, look at that business class leg room!