getting the air inside my lungs is heavenly

the weekend of 20-21 may, laura, david, evan, and i drove over to paradise (yes, there is a place in this country actually called paradise, although i think the whole country qualifies) - which is north of fiordland, near the routeburn. the tramping club did a massive trip there at the beginning of the semester, but none of us had climbed "sugarloaf pass" so we opted to go up and over on saturday and camp near a lake before heading back on sunday. as this is near the end of the year, all of us were swamped with work, but determined to get out of dunedin anyways, so we opted for an early out on sunday.

we camped saturday night at one end of the routeburn track (someday, i will return to do this track) and headed up and over. it was a great walk, encompassing a little bit of everything: (except for snow, which we somehow managed to avoid) bush, forest, alpine, tussock, lakes.



[looking up to the pass]


[tussock illuminated by the sunlight]


[threatening rain clouds over the mountains]


[view back towards fiorland]


evan carried his gun and fishing pole with him on the off-chance that we'd (he'd, rather) spot anything. most mammals are considered pests here and while you need a permit to have a gun, there aren't any specific regulations or seasons for most hunting. at one point, a deer literally ran right in front of us, with evan dropping his pack and going running after it, but to no avail. a good thing i think, since it was on the way up; how would we have gotten the thing out? strap it to our packs, antlers and all?



[photo taken by david]


no luck though, in the end, either with fishing or hunting. too bad about the fishing, really since it would have been awesome to cook it for dinner or breakfast.



[river]


we did, however, get to build a campfire (banned most places). there is something incredibly satisfying about fires - you can just stare into it for hours without getting bored. we had carried up two bottles of sparkling wine (read: really cheap "champagne", we're talking six bucks a bottle), so we sat around the fire, eating lollies, drinking wine, talking, and laughing. it was fabulous - and what camping should be like.



[laura and i - i'm the scary looking one (what is my face doing on the right. again courtesy of david]


the kiwis don't roast marshmallows and have s'mores here, something i consider a crime. but, i suppose it's for a good reason: they're marshmallows aren't big and puffy like ours in the states: instead, they're more like squashed discs (but available in either pink or white); there are also no graham crackers, but this shouldn't deter them since there are heaps of biscuits to choose from.

the point being that having a campfire without s'mores is slightly disappointing.

i do like this picture of david and i though:



[evan's picture]


i've been tramping with these three a few times, and it's nice to have a solid group to go with. they're great fun and we always have fun. i'm just sad i found them near the end of my stay here.

laura and i also decided that there will be no more camping - it is just getting too too cold.

extremists, anyone?

[pictures from the past two weekends are coming, really]

this morning at the bbc's day in pictures they had this picture:



so i promptly emailed it to my daddy,
"what do you think daddy? running a marathon at everest?"

and he replied,
"What do I think? That's really going to extremes!

Running a marathon is hard enough. Doing it at high elevation, in snow no less, is really crazy.

When can I sign up?"

work it

this is incredible - through the university library website, i can download past final exams for all of my classes.

13 for maori society,
5 for marine ecology, and
3 for oceanography.

what a fabulous idea. this will definitely help out with studying! boston college, are you paying attention?

feel the break and i gotta live it out

not this past weekend, but the one right before, i went to the west coast with some people from the tramping club to the copland hot pools. i must say, absolutely nothing beats ending a days walk by soaking in geothermal hot springs with snow-covered mountains surrounding you.





it was such a relaxing weekend - a good group of people, an easy, flat walk to the hut, and more wine than we could have possibly finished. i actually brought a bottle in and then walked it out because there was so much.

[sidenote]
i love that university kids drink wine here ... definitely something to bring back to the states. only in new zealand do you go to parties and tramping where people bring boxes and bottles of good wine.
[/sidenote]





[cool bridge]


[welcome flat hut]


really great though, we made dinner in the hut and then everyone gathered their drinks and we sat in the hot pools for a few hours before everyone went to bed. it was quite amusing to watch. i enjoyed my two glasses of red wine and watching other people drink more and more and the resulting antics. ohhhhh college students. it was great, absolutely hysterical to witness.





i leave dunedin one month from today. i ... don't know what to think. i'm crushed to leave this place, the adventures, experiences, beauty. at the same time, there are some things i really miss about the states - family, friends, brad, central heating, mexican food, filtered coffee. i just can't believe it's almost over.

i go walking just to find

first, i must introduce you to my new pack:





awwwww. isn't it magnificent? all full and with all that technical sort-of looking gear. (unfortunately, this picture isn't even that good since the flash went off because it was early early saturday morning)

but. anyways.

last weekend was my pack's first trip! it performed magnificently - really comfy to wear and, as you see, beautiful too. thank you parents!

right, i wasn't going to gush over my pack anymore.

last weekend i went with two guys from the tramping club (rich and evan) to the east matukituki range near mt. aspriring. it's in the southern area of the southern alps, near wanaka. the plan was to climb mt. sisyphus and camp in wilmot saddle (almost directly below)

we left early friday afternoon and got to the park around 6:30 - and walked along a track for about two and a half hours until we found a camping spot. we didn't get as far as we wanted to, mostly because the track wasn't very well marked, and in the dark, well, we got a bit lost. but, camped at a great little place along a river, made dinner, and went to bed in rich's 2-3 person tent. a 2-3 person tent means it's really tight with 3 people. and then original plan had been to have 4! it could have been really interesting ...

the next morning, we continued along the track until we got to aspiring flats. it's ... remarkable. there you are, walking along a track in the forest and then boom! out onto a flat surrounded by snow covered peaks rising steeply around you.







stunning.

then it was up rainbow creek,



[sorry for my hand/camera case - the sun was runing my picture]


and up a rather steep ridgeline to wilmot saddle. it got a bit snowy and slippery near the top, so we used our ice axes and crampons - my first time using them. it's incredible how much better i felt with crampons strapped to my feet. i have bad footing to begin with (always tripping all over myself), and they just offer so much more security. the main safety instruction? "don't stab yourself with them"

[sidenote for concerned parents/readers: we did go over proper safety things before using all the technical gear. how to fall properly and use your ice axe to stop yourself. avalanches. and so on. thankfully, this being both evan and i's first time using all this stuff, it wasn't anything too technical (i.e. not a lot of snow or any crevaces or anything.]

i got to the saddle first since evan and rich had to stop to fix something with evan's crampon. i love the feeling of reaching the top alone. after all the hard work to get there, you can just stand there and ... soak in the feeling.



[the side of the saddle we didn't go up. overlooking ruth's flat]


[the peak farthest to the right is mt. aspiring]


[the volta glacier]


[rich and evan coming up the saddle]


we (the boys, that is. i wanted to go up that night) decided not to go up mt. sisyphus that night because it was "getting late". it's one of the peaks that creates the saddle, and would have only taken about 30 minutes to reach the peak. but we decided to get up early and climb it the next morning, so we made dinner and, because it was so freaking cold, went to bed. at ... 7:30.





sadly, when we got up the next morning, sisyphus (and the whole saddle for that matter) was covered in a big cloud, so there really wasn't any point in climbing it - no views, you know? disappointing, but it's ok. the views from the saddle saturday night were still amazing.

we went down the same way we came up, and geeze, it was a lot steeper than i thought:





this country is absolutely incredible. everywhere i go is beautiful, stunning, and so so different from the other places i've been.

i'm doing a ton of tramping this last month (god, how is that possible?). i can't wait. and, somehow, i'm still not doing so much this country has to offer. but .. i figure ... everything i don't do or see this time is just an excuse to come back again.



[ice formation along rainbow creek with avalanche debris (we saw some avalanches on the way up - pretty cool (since they were far away))]


[rich and evan]

it all will fall, fall right into place

the monday after my parents left, i spent the day wandering around the peninsula. i ... needed the time to think about a few things here, namely the friends situation, and just clear my head a bit. so i left around eight and spent the whole day walking around.

there is nothing like walking when you need to clear your mind.

i left portobello (the town out there) and walked out to the pyramids, oh so cleverly named "small" and "big"





there was a little walking track complete with guide down to victory beach from the pyramids, so i wandered down there. along the way was this great formation in the rocks, that the guide explained, but of course i don't remember. still, pretty cool looking.





and then past papanui inlet, hooper inlet, and up sandymount where i saw the "lover's leap"





sandymount is on the southern side of the peninsula and is above the rest of the peninsula, allowing for great views. you can actually see where i walked in this photo - i started on the other side of the peninsula, but then walked out to that cliff you can see just above the closer hill on the right and then on the inside of all those inlets and then up to sandymount.





the peninsula isn't very big, but it really does take a long time to walk all that way. i think i walked something around 20 km that day. i also walked right up to larnach castle, the only castle on the south island (or something like that) and managed to get this picture. you have to pay to see the gardens and they stop you when you drive it, but as i was walking, i just went right past the little booth. and so when i actually got to the castle, there was a security guard there waiting for me to tell me i needed to go away, or pay the $10 just to see the gardens and $20 for the castle. i told him i just wanted to get a picture, and then i'd leave. he said that his back had to be turned, otherwise he'd lose his job ... but i did get my picture:





pretty cool looking, even if they do charge an outrageous amount of money to see it.

i also got a great view of dunedin and the otago harbor on the way back down to the bus stop on the main road:





-------------

the next friday (28 april), i went to a rugby game. it was really something i had to do while i was here - you can't come to new zealand and not see a rugby game. i went with my friends gareth and neil, after basically begging them. it was rainy and cold and the highlanders (otago's team) aren't very good. but they had promised they'd come, and so yes, i guilt tripped them into going with me.

we went over to gardies, a pub, to catch a ride over to the stadium. the pubs give you a speights/highlanders cape to wear to the game (which i loved) and usually they give you discounted tickets too, but they were all gone by the time we got there, so no discount (oh well).





the stadium is absolutely tiny compared to any college or pro football stadium, and was basically empty because of the rain, which didn't do much for the atmosphere. yes, the student standing section was fairly full, but nothing like a bc football game. and they don't play music or anything during the game, so it's ... rather quiet. very strange.

anyways, the game starts with this guy coming out onto the field and singing the otago highlanders song, followed by this guy:





(the mascot, i guess) doing his highlander threatening dance thing. probably the best part of the entire match - definitely hysterical.

the game was alright. i was proud of myself for at least sort of understanding what was going on (i know what a scrum is! hooray!) it was definitely something i needed to do while i was here in new zealand, but i don't think i'll be going to another rugby game unless it's the all blacks or something.





[a scrum!]


[gareth, neil, and i]

happy as a 1950's tv family

i was lucky enough to have my parents and granijo (dad's mom) come visit me over our mid-semester holiday. we had an absolutely packed full week, covering just about everything you can do in dunedin and also making it to christchurch and the catlins.

with all four of us having cameras, i didn't take as many pictures as i should have, and often let them handle pictures, saying i'd get them from them later. when this later is, i have no idea. probably next time i'm in tucson ... the point being i don't have a pcitures from a lot of things we did, since i let them handle it. and no pictures of us.

we had absolutely spectacular weather the whole time they were here: no rain, warm, sunny. definitely not the dunedin i know and love. and then they left and it rained so much the leith flooded.

but anyways.

they arrived easter sunday and we had a nice afternoon in my flat and a brief driving tour of dunedin (it's amazing how quickly you can drive everywhere compared to walking). we went down to st. claire's beach - a great surf beach - that i hadn't been to and walked around, watching the surfers and down a little path.

monday we met up with one of my dad's friends from grade school, mike, and drove north to see the moeraki boulders - a sort of geological anomoly where little balls of sand get rolled back and forth so much and for so long that they form these boulders. this does happen in other places, but what's so unique about these is that a) they're so big and b) there are so many of them.







pretty cool, really. although it is a bit of a tourist trap, with a gift shop and cafe above the beach that actually tries to charge you for beach access when there's a free access point via DoC right down the beach.

everyone was (obviously) quite keen to see penguins, and both mike and i had heard that there was a great place to see them in oamaru, a little town just north of the boulders. it was early afternoon, and the best time to see penguins is at dusk, so we decided to bum around oamaru for a little while - the lonely planet claimed cool architecture and a historic district.







we stumbled into a pseudo art gallery / theatre company which was quite strange, with all these masks and faces staring out at you. i tried to take pictures of it, but none of them quite capture the bizarre atmosphere of this place.





there was also a book binders and a fantastic second hand bookstore where my momma bought me middlemarch and the shopkeeper even wrapped it up in brown paper and twine. quite cool.

the best part about oamaru though, holding up to its reputation, was the penguins. my dad's pictures are heaps better, i'm sure, but still, these are pretty cool:







my god, they're adorable, aren't they?

it was absolutely fantastic. the penguins were right there - we could hear them calling to each other and watch them come up from the surf. incredible. it was amazing to see so many and to have them so close.

we stayed in dunedin on tuesday and visited the otago museum and the public art gallery. the gallery had a great exhibit by ans westra who has photographically documented kiwis, particularly maori, wince the 1950s. it was really remarkable to watch history go by as you walked through the exhibit.

on wednesday, we drove down to the catlins, a national park an hour or so south of dunedin. the area is covered with all these little walks and beaches, so we stayed mostly along the coast, visiting a beach,







the purakaunui falls,





and nugget point.





everywhere you go in this country, there is another beautiful landscape or scenery or beach unlike anything else you've ever seen. it really is amazing.

on thursday, we rode the taieri gorge railway, which runs (surprise surprise) through the taieri gorge. back in the good 'ole days during the otago gold rush, the railway was huge, but now it's just run for tourists.





it was great though - there was a running commentary all the way up the gorge done by an absolutely hysterical kiwi guy, complete with stories, history, and random facts. it was very nice and relaxing and i really felt like it gave me a greater understanding of the history of otago (which i am embarassed to admit, wasn't very great before this trip).









[the end of the railroad]


we also went to robbie's on thursday night. i couldn't have my parents and granijo come visit me in dunedin and not take them to jazz. i even think they enjoyed themselves.

due to various complications, we had decided to do a day trip (rather than an overnight) to christchurch, which is about four and a half hours drive from dunedin. christchurch is the biggest town on the south island and is considered really artsy, english, and good for shopping on the south island. [and the perfect place for me to buy a pack]

we left at 7:30 am and managed to get there by noon, which is pretty impressive, considering that the kiwis only have two lane motorways. for most of the afternoon, we split up and did our own thing. my parents came with me to look for a pack - always an interesting experience. we went into a few different shops and i tried on a number of packs - adding weight, walking up and down stairs, adjusting the size, considering different features and so on. i finally found one later in the day on attempt number two and store number three. a 60 L vaude (german company) which i am quite proud of :)

but. anyways, my mom and i went to the center of contemporary art (coca) in the afternoon. it's more like an art gallery than an art museum. there were a few great exhibits by some local artists and then one full of work by grade school students with a "global citizenship" theme. our favourite was by a 14 year old boy - a green landscape that had a barbed wire fence with ripped pieces of flags from all over the world on it. his comment was that he thought that global citizenship meant no borders or fences. really quite a powerful and impressive piece from someone so young.





we got through coca pretty fast, and so headed over to the arts centre - a collection of different galleries in an old building for a bit of a wander.





and then back to cathedral square to meet dad and granijo and see the cathedral.



.

we went to dinner at a little sports pub and then headed back to dunedin, arriving around 11:30. i sat in the front and talked to my dad on the way back to help keep him awake - it's quite a long drive for one day.

it was really great because i got the chance to talk to both of my parents independently. i think one of the strangest things about growing up is the divide that forms as a result of distance (i hear almost nothing about their day-to-day lives) but also how much easier it is to relate to their lives. obviously, there is a generational gap, but i love being able to talk about bits and pieces from my life and theirs and feel some sort of mutual understanding.

on saturday we spent the day in dunedin again. went to the farmer's market at the railway station and did some souvenier shopping. we also drove out to the peninsula and out to tairoa head to try to see some albatross, with no luck, but the drive really is beautiful. and the view from the head is stunning.





it was granijo's birthday on monday, so we had a little party for her that night. granijo was off early the next morning to join her tour (she stayed in new zealand for a bit longer after my parents left), so i said goodbye to her that night. the next morning, my parents came by my flat to say goodbye before their flight left.

i feel quite lucky for having parents and a grandmother who would travel halfway around the world to spend a week out here. it was so, so nice to spend time with all of them (and i promise i'm not just saying that because you read this).