Kia Ora! I am currently (this was written on Monday but this is the first time I have internet since) sitting on my laptop in the cozy lounge room of Tasman Bay Backpackers in Nelson, which is on the North coast of the South Island. So far, my time in New Zealand has, I think, been well spent. I left Brisbane with a broken heart but was soon uplifted by a very kind and funny old man sitting next to me on the plane to Auckland. He lives on the gold coast and is spending some time on the North Island for business. Lets just say after three bottles of airplane wine, this guy was funny. What else could I expect from someone on the Gold Coast but a relaxed and entertaining personality. We left Brisbane early, which meant we got into Auckland earlier than expected. Going through customs I claimed my food items just in case; when I sheepishly muttered that they were Tim Tams, my customs officer just chuckled, said, “Enjoy those, I’m jealous,” and stamped me through.
My first couple nights in NZ I was pampered in a hotel thanks to my parents and their parental-ness of having their only daughter traveling alone in a foreign country. I couldn’t complain. I got in, checked out my room, turned on the tele (yes!!), made a cup of hot drinking chocolate (mmm…), and sat on the bed catching up on the news. I could get used to that :P The next morning grabbed the airbus from the airport into town to check out the grand city of Auckland. I started at the Sky Tower, which is in the center of the city and went to check on how much tickets were. I walked down and I saw a movie on the history of Auckland to my left…with two very familiar faces watching intently. I couldn’t believe that I got to run into Butler kids while there!! Joe and Laura were still in Auckland and had a 5 o’clock flight out to Christchurch. They were just as excited to see me, so I tagged along with them for the rest of the afternoon going to lunch, walking through gardens and then alongside the harbour. They left me around 330, and I went exploring some more, but I had seen all I wanted to of Auckland and headed back to the hotel after another couple hours of wandering. I spent the evening in the hotel and watched Heroes and Mythbusters before going to bed pretty early. The next morning I woke up with the sun and headed down to the airport to catch my flight to Nelson.
I checked in and saw that I was sitting at 8B. Middle seat. But atleast it was near the front. I make my way down to the “gate” aka the runway where this little propellor plane stood. Row 8 was 8 out of 12. I got quite a kick out of this; I have never been on a plane that small before! I sat next to this really nice Kiwi named Chris, who was from Nelson and we chatted it up for the 1 ½ hour flight over tea. It’s always nice to have a good seat mate. I grabbed my luggage after landing (the baggage claim was the airport hanger) then was picked up by a guy named Stu, my paragliding instructor! We drove through the beautiful grassy mountains up to the top and then just went higher still in the glider. It was amazing. The chute went up in the air, Stu said, “keep walking, keep walking” (towards a cliff, mind you) and then before I even reached the end, I was in the air. I wriggled into my harness, which when standing, makes you look like you have a turtle shell, and then grabbed the straps as if in a swing. We swirled higher and higher catching the hot air as it rose, and we were soon soaring with the birds above Nelson. I felt like I was one of them! I could see all the way to the gold sand beaches of Abel Tasman Park and down below the other girls were waving and snapping photos. “Welcome to the South Island, Kelly!” Stu yells in my ear. I’d say that’s a pretty good welcome, hey?
Well, we landed, and I lay in the grass on top of this beautiful mountain as the other two girls went up in the air. Stu dropped me off at my hostel around 2 and I dropped my stuff off before heading to town. Nelson slightly reminds me of a mix between Asheville and Black Mountain. I’d say that’s pretty darn awesome. Surrounded by mountains of 4 National Parks and then to the North, the ocean, all the while being a crafty town (they had a whole brochure just on Nelson pottery). I was in love. I explored the galleries of various artisans and trekked around the entire town. After that, I returned to the hostel to ask the owner, Georgie, where a good hike was. She gave me directions to the centre of New Zealand, so of course I couldn’t pass up the chance to be right in the middle of the country! The first half of the hike was really steep inclines, but it flattened out at the sheep fields. These lucky sheep had a kick ass view…if only they knew it. Their grazing area looked over all of Nelson and the Tasman Bay. Yes, I was jealous of sheep. At the end of the hike there was a 360 lookout and a monument for the centre of New Zealand. Needless to say, it was quite beautiful. If I had left an hour later, I would’ve been able to watch the sunset, but I was quite happy with the result I got.
I climbed back down just in time for….free homemade pudding and icecream at the hostel!! Yummmm. That was the perfect way to watch the sun go down, a bowl of pudding in hand and all fulfilled from my hike. I spent the night inside reading and chatting with this nice guy from France who had been traveling around New Zealand for the past month. Then his French friends came in and started speaking French, so I took my cue and went up to bed. I’m about to leave for Greymouth in the next 30 minutes or so. I’m excited to be moving on down the West coast, and this was the perfect way to start off the trip. It was beautiful and cozy and friendly and exciting. I can only imagine the rest of the week will be the same. Love to you all!!
25.11.07
20.11.07
Crikey! Ain’t She a Beaute?!...I'll Bet on Whatever Katie Does!
Well, for the last week, it has been amazing. Tuesday I went to the wonderful Australia Zoo for the day. For those of you that don’t know, that’s Steve Irwin’s zoo (Steve Irwin Day was on the 15th.) and he was there all over the zoo. Wow, it was awesome. I saw everything: koalas (I got to pet them and see a little joey!), red and gray roos, echidnas, wallabies, snakes, wombats, tons of birds (including a stare off with an emu), gators, galapagos turtles, baby tigers, elephants, dingos, tasmanian devils (no, they don’t look like Taz), and, of course, crocs! Crikey! I got to participate in the croc show we saw, and I won a picture of Steve Irwin. Good times. It was totally worth the long train ride out there. It was a great day. I absolutely loved it.
To top it off, that night Bree, John, and Katie came to pick me up, and we drove up to the top of Mount Coot-tha around 10:30 PM. 360 degrees of city lights shimmering under the lights in the southern sky. B-E-A-U-Tiful! Did you know that you can see Orion down here? Except he’s upside down! ha! Bree and I were having the hardest time locating the Southern Cross until she discovered a compass in the ground, so we found south and with it, the Southern Cross! The lights of the city were beautiful, and we all sat up there for about an hour. I don’t think I could’ve asked for much more than that.
Wednesday night was the last night at the Regatta :( it was definitely a good night. Great music (instead of all techno) all night and dancing with my Butler girls and some frisbee boys. It was sad to have it be the last night since it was such a normal Wednesday thing, but it was a good time from the first to the last week of the semester! Thursday was the last night at UJ's (I these couple days packing and cleaning with breaks in the city or at the pool. nothing to highlight). We had Laura's good bye party at her place before going down to the city. UJ's to start followed by Friday's. I'd never been there ($10 cover usually!!) but I'm sad cause it was really fun once we got inside. I was there with frisbee folk, Dan, Jay, Katie, Peter, Chris. Overall, very good night.
Friday I spent with Jess as it was her last day in Brissie. City for some shopping, I went to uni to print off plane tickets, then we went to the pizzeria formerly known as Castelli's in Toowong. Yummy pizza was eaten, fun times were had, the end was near. We said our goodbyes the next morning as she took a taxi in the rain to Toowong Station. I got back to the apartment to realize that I was the last one at Sandford St! Joe left shortly after Jess, and it was sad to realize almost everyone was gone. I finished my packing that morning and went down to Katie's around 5 to hang out. We were having a good bye party that night with all the frisbee folk, and I went over to help set up/chat. John showed up around 6 by climbing over the balcony ("It was talked about all semester! Figured I might as well check it off the list!") Everyone else started showing up around 9ish. Good times that night. Kings, horse races, high or low...Julian, Dan, Terk, Jay, Katie, Bree, Brett, Johnny, Chris, myself. It ended up with an angry dan ("look what I found, a bag of goon!"), a late night macca's run, 230 am good byes (more like see you later's) and Johnny and Jules sleeping over so as not to drive home at 3am. I said good bye to John and Jules in the morning, and ate the last of my sultana bran. I went to see Amy, text Shamiso, hugged Ashton, and walked to uni once more. My last morning was sunny and beautiful just as it has been every day (it rained when Deb and Jess left so I was relieved to see it was nice).
I about lost it every 5 minutes. I didn't want to go. I still want to be back there. It was harder to leave than I thought it would be. I guess because I was getting excited about home and Christmas that I thought it'd be easy. It was not easy by any definition. I miss my apartment, the purple flowers, UQ, City Cats, the Regatta, my professors (haha Debbie). I miss seeing my friends, hanging out with Jess and Deb, hearing what funny thing Debbie will say next. I will never forget the movie nights, the 4am SBS movies, the late night disc golf, all the nights out, the trip to Cairns, my friends in Sydney, the surfing in Byron, diving on Moreton Bay, frisbee at Coolongatta, the numerous Starbucks dates...I could go on.
I do realize one huge thing though. As much as I will miss my friends and the people I spent time with, if I went back and none of them were there, I would still enjoy myself. I fell in love with more than just the people and the experience. I fell in love with that city. Brisbane was the perfect place to study abroad, and I could not have asked to change anything about this semester. Even the blunders, the sad times, and the rainy days added something unique to my experience that was worth learning from, experiencing, and making my own. I will go back. There is no doubt in my mind. I dont know when, why, or how long, but that was not the last time forever that I will see the beautiful Brisbane skyline. It may be in a different way and in many years, but Brisbane has not seen the last of me.
Well, now I'm in New Zealand and am finishing up my first day on the South Island, and tomorrow I will hopefully post about this. I don't know when I will have internet as I am changing location everyday, but I promise to post once more (atleast) before home. Home. Is it actually here? Good thing? SUCH a good thing I didn't fly straight home from Brisbane. I would have been depressed and frustrated at the fact that I was no longer in Brisbane. Yea, I'm sad I'm not there, but this is easier to travel by myself for a week and reflect before I peace out of the Southern Hemisphere for a while. Alright, kids, it's been real. I'm gonna go take a hike to "the Middle of New Zealand." Be jealous. Love to you all!
To top it off, that night Bree, John, and Katie came to pick me up, and we drove up to the top of Mount Coot-tha around 10:30 PM. 360 degrees of city lights shimmering under the lights in the southern sky. B-E-A-U-Tiful! Did you know that you can see Orion down here? Except he’s upside down! ha! Bree and I were having the hardest time locating the Southern Cross until she discovered a compass in the ground, so we found south and with it, the Southern Cross! The lights of the city were beautiful, and we all sat up there for about an hour. I don’t think I could’ve asked for much more than that.
Wednesday night was the last night at the Regatta :( it was definitely a good night. Great music (instead of all techno) all night and dancing with my Butler girls and some frisbee boys. It was sad to have it be the last night since it was such a normal Wednesday thing, but it was a good time from the first to the last week of the semester! Thursday was the last night at UJ's (I these couple days packing and cleaning with breaks in the city or at the pool. nothing to highlight). We had Laura's good bye party at her place before going down to the city. UJ's to start followed by Friday's. I'd never been there ($10 cover usually!!) but I'm sad cause it was really fun once we got inside. I was there with frisbee folk, Dan, Jay, Katie, Peter, Chris. Overall, very good night.
Friday I spent with Jess as it was her last day in Brissie. City for some shopping, I went to uni to print off plane tickets, then we went to the pizzeria formerly known as Castelli's in Toowong. Yummy pizza was eaten, fun times were had, the end was near. We said our goodbyes the next morning as she took a taxi in the rain to Toowong Station. I got back to the apartment to realize that I was the last one at Sandford St! Joe left shortly after Jess, and it was sad to realize almost everyone was gone. I finished my packing that morning and went down to Katie's around 5 to hang out. We were having a good bye party that night with all the frisbee folk, and I went over to help set up/chat. John showed up around 6 by climbing over the balcony ("It was talked about all semester! Figured I might as well check it off the list!") Everyone else started showing up around 9ish. Good times that night. Kings, horse races, high or low...Julian, Dan, Terk, Jay, Katie, Bree, Brett, Johnny, Chris, myself. It ended up with an angry dan ("look what I found, a bag of goon!"), a late night macca's run, 230 am good byes (more like see you later's) and Johnny and Jules sleeping over so as not to drive home at 3am. I said good bye to John and Jules in the morning, and ate the last of my sultana bran. I went to see Amy, text Shamiso, hugged Ashton, and walked to uni once more. My last morning was sunny and beautiful just as it has been every day (it rained when Deb and Jess left so I was relieved to see it was nice).
I about lost it every 5 minutes. I didn't want to go. I still want to be back there. It was harder to leave than I thought it would be. I guess because I was getting excited about home and Christmas that I thought it'd be easy. It was not easy by any definition. I miss my apartment, the purple flowers, UQ, City Cats, the Regatta, my professors (haha Debbie). I miss seeing my friends, hanging out with Jess and Deb, hearing what funny thing Debbie will say next. I will never forget the movie nights, the 4am SBS movies, the late night disc golf, all the nights out, the trip to Cairns, my friends in Sydney, the surfing in Byron, diving on Moreton Bay, frisbee at Coolongatta, the numerous Starbucks dates...I could go on.
I do realize one huge thing though. As much as I will miss my friends and the people I spent time with, if I went back and none of them were there, I would still enjoy myself. I fell in love with more than just the people and the experience. I fell in love with that city. Brisbane was the perfect place to study abroad, and I could not have asked to change anything about this semester. Even the blunders, the sad times, and the rainy days added something unique to my experience that was worth learning from, experiencing, and making my own. I will go back. There is no doubt in my mind. I dont know when, why, or how long, but that was not the last time forever that I will see the beautiful Brisbane skyline. It may be in a different way and in many years, but Brisbane has not seen the last of me.
Well, now I'm in New Zealand and am finishing up my first day on the South Island, and tomorrow I will hopefully post about this. I don't know when I will have internet as I am changing location everyday, but I promise to post once more (atleast) before home. Home. Is it actually here? Good thing? SUCH a good thing I didn't fly straight home from Brisbane. I would have been depressed and frustrated at the fact that I was no longer in Brisbane. Yea, I'm sad I'm not there, but this is easier to travel by myself for a week and reflect before I peace out of the Southern Hemisphere for a while. Alright, kids, it's been real. I'm gonna go take a hike to "the Middle of New Zealand." Be jealous. Love to you all!
12.11.07
Wow, it's been a while.
So it's been some time since I've written in here. Sorry guys!
the past few weeks have been full of adventure and excitement. We had our Farewell dinner with Butler the last week of October which meant the beginning of the end. Swotvac was spent in rainy Brisbane, but it was a great week with Halloween and a dive trip on Moreton Bay! Okay, so they really don't celebrate Halloween here, but of course, we as Americans needed to show them how it should be done. Halloween night was spent at the Regatta with a mix of Butler and Frisbee kids. The night was full of dancing, laughing, and walking.
Diving the first Saturday of November was AMAZING. Best diving I've seen in a while. And I was the only American on the boat for a change! It was a large boat, small dive group, great crew, and beautiful scenery. The water was "Australia Blue" as I call it. There's Caribbean Blue, but that's a totally different shade and tint. I'm telling you, it's all on its own. Anywho, the first dive location was a reef dive off the coast of Moreton Island where we dove with HUGE sea turtles! They swam right by us and they were the biggest I'd ever seen. beautiful. The visability was great on there and the coral had amazing color. The second dive was a 4 boat wreck. I love diving wrecks and my dive buddy was very enthusiastic which made for a great 40 minutes in the water. The vis wasn't as great, but the wreck was awesome; the fish used the railings as underwater road ways which was quite funny, and the fish that hung out beneath the boats were lined with a glow-in-the-dark purple colour. that was a great day.
This past week I spent alot of time in the city wandering around and slowly studying for my one final on Friday. Thank goodness that's all done and I can properly enjoy my last week! Debbie left Saturday morning, so we went out Friday night in celebration of finishing uni and as a good bye party. Saturday I went shopping in Brisbane with Jess then over to my friend, Jonathan Potts's, house. He's moving to Sydney in the next week and threw a good bye party. Let's just sum it up with 1AM tennis, push ups, hiding in the bushes, and getting to bed at 6AM. Good times. Sunday I spent sleeping in the afternoon and then Johnny came over that evening to play some guitar and chill. We shared Christmas Traditions and swapped crazy stories till the early morning.
Man, I'm gonna miss this place. This time next week I'll be in New Zealand? Far out.
I'll get in atleast one more post before I get there, and then maybe one after New Zealand before I get home.
Peace out friends!
the past few weeks have been full of adventure and excitement. We had our Farewell dinner with Butler the last week of October which meant the beginning of the end. Swotvac was spent in rainy Brisbane, but it was a great week with Halloween and a dive trip on Moreton Bay! Okay, so they really don't celebrate Halloween here, but of course, we as Americans needed to show them how it should be done. Halloween night was spent at the Regatta with a mix of Butler and Frisbee kids. The night was full of dancing, laughing, and walking.
Diving the first Saturday of November was AMAZING. Best diving I've seen in a while. And I was the only American on the boat for a change! It was a large boat, small dive group, great crew, and beautiful scenery. The water was "Australia Blue" as I call it. There's Caribbean Blue, but that's a totally different shade and tint. I'm telling you, it's all on its own. Anywho, the first dive location was a reef dive off the coast of Moreton Island where we dove with HUGE sea turtles! They swam right by us and they were the biggest I'd ever seen. beautiful. The visability was great on there and the coral had amazing color. The second dive was a 4 boat wreck. I love diving wrecks and my dive buddy was very enthusiastic which made for a great 40 minutes in the water. The vis wasn't as great, but the wreck was awesome; the fish used the railings as underwater road ways which was quite funny, and the fish that hung out beneath the boats were lined with a glow-in-the-dark purple colour. that was a great day.
This past week I spent alot of time in the city wandering around and slowly studying for my one final on Friday. Thank goodness that's all done and I can properly enjoy my last week! Debbie left Saturday morning, so we went out Friday night in celebration of finishing uni and as a good bye party. Saturday I went shopping in Brisbane with Jess then over to my friend, Jonathan Potts's, house. He's moving to Sydney in the next week and threw a good bye party. Let's just sum it up with 1AM tennis, push ups, hiding in the bushes, and getting to bed at 6AM. Good times. Sunday I spent sleeping in the afternoon and then Johnny came over that evening to play some guitar and chill. We shared Christmas Traditions and swapped crazy stories till the early morning.
Man, I'm gonna miss this place. This time next week I'll be in New Zealand? Far out.
I'll get in atleast one more post before I get there, and then maybe one after New Zealand before I get home.
Peace out friends!
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