Queenstown!

I'm warning you now....this is going to be a long post! I left Dunedin around 1:55pm on Wednesday September 2nd and took a bus to Queenstown. The ride was around 4.5 hours. Totally worth it though....the ride there was amazing! Snow-capped mountains surrounded me and we gradually kept going up the mountains so I was able to get some great pictures of the mountains and the rivers. I arrived in Queenstown around 6:10pm. When they let us off I had no idea where to go! I happened to see a parked taxi across the street and called the number, but the first time it said I dialed the wrong number. The second time I tried putting a local area code in front of it and this time I got a lady named Deb. So, I hung up. I decided to walk and I found a local man standing outside a building and asked him if he knew where Pinewood was. He said he did but that it was too complicated for him to describe to me, but that it would only be a $5 taxi. So with his advice I went in search of a taxi. Unfortunately I couldn't find one, but ended up in front of the information center. I went in and asked the lady if she knew where Pinewood was and she said she hadn't heard of Pinewood and I got really nervous. She looked it up on the computer and seemed to know where I was talking about once she saw the address. She gave me a map and I started on my way. It took me about 10-15 minutes to get there. Once I arrived the receptionist asked if I was Lindsey and I said yes...I guess I was the last one to check in. She gave me my key and I saw I was staying in L9. I got to my lodge and went to my room and opened the door to see only 2 sets of bunks. I saw the bottom bunks had stuff in them so I took the top bunk furthest from the door and decided it was still pretty early and I decided to go exploring. Before I left, I made myself a peanut butter sandwich. After eating I headed back into town. I spent about 2 hours exploring and going in and out of souvenir shops. I got a t-shirt for my dad and myself. When I got back there were 2 girls occupying the bottom bunks. K.J. was the one I was sharing a bunk with. She is a kiwi and is from the north island. The other was a girl named Hannah and she is from Norway. After talking a bit I found out that they go to Uni with me and we actually live about a block from each other! We talked for about an hour and then they decided to go get tea (dinner) because they hadn't had any yet. They left about 9pm and they didn't get back till about 11pm. We stayed up and talked for a little bit and went to bed about midnight. That night I slept terribly. Right before I fell asleep I pulled a muscle and it bothered me all night. Around 4am our neighbors were loud and were slamming doors. That lasted about 2 hours. Thursday I got up around 8:30am an got ready to go to the Gondola before my Shotover Jet ride and Nomad 4x4 safari. The view from the top of the Gondola was amazing! I took tons of pictures! I met Hannah up there and we had lunch together. Around 12:40pm I left and started heading back down the mountain for my Shotover Jet and Nomad Safari. Tony was my driver and it looked like I was going to be the only one, but he went inside and picked up 3 other people. They were getting the tour because they were going to promote the service at their hotel or travel company. We started on our amazing journey around 1:30pm. We went to Arrowtown and crossed a river about 12 times and we also went off-roading through the mountain. It was beautiful and Tony knew so much about the area. We stopped for tea and biscuits and pinned for some gold. Tony showed us how to pine for gold and we found 3 or 4 little flakes of gold! It was so cool! After tea we started heading back in and he took us up to a really high peak and the view can only be described as breathtaking! It was the New Zealand version of the Grand Canyon! We were running late so Tony rushed us to the Shotover Jetboats. We got there and put on huge rain coats and life vests and got in the boat. We started out going down the river and our top speed was 85km/hr. We did at least 10, 360 degree spins. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous! I took lots of video and some pictures. The ride was about 30 minutes. It was super cold and I got wind burn really bad on my cheeks. I was so glad I wore me sunglasses because we got sprayed with water a lot. After getting back to town I checked in with the Visitor Center to see if the roads were still closed up to Milford Sound. They had been closed all week due to snow on the roads and avalanches. They lady told me that most likely it would be closed. I grabbed some brochures for ideas of what to do incase it was canceled. After dinner we went to the Minus 5 bar which is a bar that is completely made out of ice! It was super cold (-5 degrees Celcius, hence the name) but it was super fun! We got back late and crashed. On Friday (yesterday) I got up early to meet my bus for Milford Sound, but the roads were still closed so I went back to my room to try and find out something to do. After about an hour I decided to go back to sleep for a bit and then get up and go explore the town and go to the Observatory and Kiwi Conservation Park. I headed to town around 9:30am and stopped in Starbucks for some hot chocolate and a chocolate muffin. I hung out there for about 2 hours and wrote in my journal and looked through pictures and videos I had taken. After that I went to the underwater obervatory. It was probably one of the coolest things I saw while in Queenstown. At one point there were 7 eels surrounding this feeding thing. They had to be at least 3-4 feet long! THey were amazing. There were also a lot of trout. Some had to be at least 10lbs. The best part was there 3 ducks calssed Scaup ducks. They are able to dive up to 26 feet and can hold their breath for 45 seconds. I took so many videos and pictures of them! When they shoot back up to the surface they have an air bubble on top of their head and it makes them look like they have a helmet on. After I was done there I had a picnic lunch on the peir. After lunch I went to the Kiwi Conservation Center. It was interesting. I saw lots of birds and heard a lot about them. I saw 3 kiwi birds. They are pretty weird looking things. After getting done there I headed back to Pinewood and watched a movie and rested. About 6:00pm I went out to dinner. When I got back I was so tired so I started another movie but fell asleep. I got up about 6:45am this morning and got to the bus station. I got back to Dunedin about 12:30 and caught a taxi back to my flat. THE END!
I had an amazing time, but later this month I am going back to go bungey jumping with my roommate and also go up to Milford Sound. Check out the 200 picture I uploaded to the left of this post. I'm going to try and put up a cumulative video of my adventures as well!

Mid-Semester Break!

Today I'm leaving for Queenstown for a trip that I planned. I mentioned a lot of the detail in my last post so no need to repeat. I will be gone Today through Saturday and I'm super excited. I have had the entire flat to myself for 4 days now and I'm ready to get out and do stuff! It's raining right now, which sucks because I still have to run one quick errand before I leave! I won't be able to write till I get back. Keeping this one short because the next post will be very big! Wish me luck and I post all my details later this weekend!

My Sincere Apologies...

I know, I know...its been 19 days since I last updated...Let's see what all has been going on here? Well, since my last update I have gone to the beach twice and have been busy with classes. I had my first exam today and I feel really good about it. The beach was beautiful and I have two different albums on here from the two times I went. Last night my two roommates, Liz and Sofie, and Sofie's boyfriend Pow, and I went out to a very very nice restaurant! It was 5-stars at a 5-star price. Lol. BUT, it was totally worth it! I had a tuna steak with eggplant, tomatoes, and celery, also a small salad with grapes in it, a glass of white wine, and a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream on top. It was the BEST meal I think I have ever had! We were there for 3 hours talking about everything from the movies, to politics, to religion, back to Disney Movies, and the wrapped up on the good old USA. A week from today I will be on mid-semester break. I get a week off and for 4 of the days I'm am going to Queenstown which is a town about 4 1/2 hours away by bus. There, I'm going to be staying in a hostel and plan on doing heaps of stuff there! One of the days I'm taking a cruise of Milford Sound which is a really scenic area. During the tour they take you 10 meters underwater! I'm super excited! One of the other days I am going to the Gondola which is a tram thing that takes you way up in the air and you can see the entire city! Another one of the days I am going Jet boating which is a super fast boat that takes you on a tour and they do cool tricks while you are in the boat. After that I will be doing a Lord of the Rings tour either on horse back or in a 4x4 Land Rover. Not sure which one yet. The tour is 4 hours and I'm not sure if my butt can handle me riding a horse for that long! And that's it of my exciting 4 days! I plan on bungy jumping off the second highest point in New Zealand here in a few weeks! New Zealand is known for hosting the FIRST commercial bungy jumping shop...or something like that. Well, one of my roommates left today to go on a 2 week holiday throughout New Zealand with her boyfriend. I'm hoping to get feedback so I know what to try and what to skip. Well, after break it is going to get super busy! I have like 3 essays that are due when I get back and will only have 6 weeks of school left then EXAMS! Ahh! Time here is going by so fast! My weeks fly by me! I've had some down points, but am slowly learning how to deal with them and the ones I can't control/handle I look to God for guidance and help. He is the only one who is there for me 24/7 and during this trip that has become more and more apparent to me. This is truly a trip of a lifetime and I want to thank everyone who has kept me in their prayers. I promise to try and update more often!

Portabello Road

Hey Everyone! There are some new changes to my blog that you should be aware of. I have added a "comments" box to the left of this post...for some reason my comments box at the end of each post has stopped working. Therefore any comments that you may have please write them in the box to the left of this post. Also, underneath that comment box I have added pictures. If you click on one of them it will take you to my new Picasa online album...this is where I am going to start putting up pictures. It allows me to put up heaps of pictures at once instead of how I have been doing it...5 at a time. So check over here for new pictures and have a look-see! Thank you to those who have written comments...they keep my spirits up!

This week has gone by fast! Not much happening here other than school is really starting to pick up! This month is going to be tough...Yesterday I went on an 8 hour journey through New Zealand. My roommate and I decided to find a beach on the peninsula. I had heard that Portabello road is where the beaches are so we went there. We started out almost missing the bus and ran 4 blocks to get there when they were pulling away but we waved frantically and they stopped. We got on and the bus ride was about 15 min. It took us on a long and curvy road along the coast. We reached our destination...a three store town next to the water but no beach! By this time it was about 2pm and our bus was leaving at 6:45pm! We decided to walk along the road till we found a beach. Soon after we started walking we figured out there was no sidewalk and that we were pretty much walking on a curvy highway! We kept walking for a while, stopping and taking pictures along the way. We kept passing through towns, but there wasn't anything...no stores, just houses. We saw the bus stop at each town and decided to go to the next town and maybe we would have more luck. Each town we passed through was just as empty as the rest. It was starting to get dark so we decided to try and make it to the next town. We made it at about 5:15 and still had an hour and a half till our bus came. We sat and listened to music on my phone for a while and then it started to rain...the bus stop we were sitting in was enclosed but had no door and we were right by the water so it started to get really cold. So we started to dance to the music to help keep us warm. It got about 20 degrees and it was still raining. About 6:45pm we didn't see our bus and started to get nervous. All of a sudden a car pulled up along side the bus stop and a man asked if we wanted a ride. I asked if he was going into town and he said yes. I saw he had a woman in the car with him (later to find out was his wife) and figured what the heck...so we hopped in the car with them and they drove us into town. They were a young couple from Bombay originally, but were living in Wellington (a town about 1.5 hour flight from here). They were visiting for the weekend. We got into town and helped guide them to the railway station. I asked if we could give them any money and he refused. So Liz and I started on our journey back home. On our way back we decided to stop and eat. There was a Mexican restaurant that I wanted to try so we went there. We got there and found they were closed. So we started walking away from our house to find a place to eat. We walked about 15 min and went in 3 or 4 restaurants and found they were all booked and had ridiculous waiting times. We finally stopped at a place called Tokyo Garden. The food was pretty good. We were so happy to just be inside, warm, and eating. After we ate we started our 15 min walk to home. After stopping for some candy on the way we finally made it to our destination, home! After 8 hours of walking we were so glad to be home. I later figured out that if we were to talk back to town it would have been about 12 to 15 miles and would have taken us all night! I also figured about how far we ended up walking on the curvy highway and I estimated it was about 5 miles. It took us about 2.5 hours to walk it, but we stopped a lot to take pictures and explore.

Well lets just say I slept like a rock last night and am about to go get groceries with my roommates. After I get back I have some homework to do and then start my week all over again tomorrow.

I'm having a blast here and hopefully in the next few weeks I plan on bungee jumping, skydiving, and possibly fostering a cat till I leave. Hope everything is well with you all back in the States! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

Peace,

Lindsey

This Past Week

It's been a while since I have written. Here are some updates. Two Saturday's ago I woke up kinda crummy. I didn't do much other than just take it easy. The next few days I felt a little worse each day but nothing to really be concerned about. Tuesday morning I woke up feeling ok and went to my first class which was Animal Biology. Around 10:40 my professor showed a quick clip of a movie about Evolution. A little bit up until the showing of the clip I felt really bad. I didn't know what I was feeling, but I knew I was getting sick and fast. Right before the clip started I passed out. I woke up when the clip was over and class was dismissed. I found my stuff on the floor and I think the guy next to me noticed something, but asked if I was ok and I told him I was fine. I knew something was wrong because I had never passed out before. I got up and went straight to the doctor. When I got there I told them what had happened and they asked me if I would like to rest and I told them yes. They put me in a room with a lady who had a serious blood infection (gathered the info from overhearing doctors) and kept getting sick. I was glad that I don't have a problem with hearing people get sick. Anyway a nurse came in to check on her and noticed me lying on a bed in the corner. She asked if anyone had come to help me and I told her no. She apologized and assured me she would be right back and that I would see the doctor very soon. She checked my vitals and asked me my symptoms and told me the doctor would be right in to see me. I saw the doctor and had a nice chat with him about my passing out in class and my cough and conjestion. He then told me I had swine flu. I was a little suprised to hear this, but I asked him again and he said that yes I had swine flu. He wrote me a note for school and my job was to rest the next few days and just let it pass. I got back to my flat and told my roommates what the situation was. They were a little freaked out. I took a day and a half of classes off and then returned Thursday. I don't feel I'm too behind just feel I'm still trying to catch up on sleep. I feel a whole lot better now...still have a cough and some conjestion, but overall I feel tons better.

This last week it has been pretty rainy, but have had warmer days so that has been nice. I'm now wearing only one jacket when I leave the flat instead of two. Last night I went to a cross-cultural event in downtown Dunedin. It was held at the octogon which is like the center of downtown and the streets literally form an octogon. I have some pictures of the buildings that I will post with this entry. The International night was filled with performances from about 15 different countries including: India, Japan, China, Malaysa, Key West, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malan, and Africa. The performances were great and I have lots of video that I will try and put up. I didn't realize how long the event was and it ended up being over 3 hours long. Anyway, after the event my roommates and I went around town with our neighbors and stopped in a cafe. It was very nice, but a little expensive for my taste. After a long night we turned in.

Today I slept in a little and then got up and went grocery shopping with my roommates. After shopping we went on a walk because it was a beautiful day today. After we got back I have been catching up on some reading for my Sociology class. Tomorrow is Monday and my weekend flew by. :(

I will try and post more often then once a week!

Baldwin Street and the Jaffa Race

On Friday I went to the Jaffa race on the steepest street in the world (Baldwin Street). Jaffa's are like oversized m&m's that Cadbury makes. For the past few weeks people in Dunedin have been able to buy tickets to the Jaffa race. Each ticket cost $2 and you are given a ticket with a number on it. That same number is on a Jaffa ball that is rolled down the hill during the race. The first 5 Jaffa's that make it to the bottom of the hill win a prize. I believe first prize was $1,000. This is a huge event and there were over 30,000 Jaffa balls that went down the hill this year. I've posted some photos from the race. I was standing at the finish line. I am going to try and see if I can upload the video I also took. It's way better than the photos! Saturday I woke up sick again...nothing major just sinus and chest stuff. Feeling better today, but when I lay down I can't seem to stop coughing. Last night I went out with my roommates and we went to a local bar and we watched the "All Blacks" game. They are New Zealand's rugby team. We played Australia and won so everyone was very excited. I am not used to watching a sport and not understanding what is going on. I am going to have to do some homework on Rugby because it looks like an intense game! Well I need to get some homework done before classes tomorrow. Grrr...Monday.