Randi's NZ Journal

Well I suppose this will most likely be my last post, unless I decide at some point to post something random about my trip that I've forgotten. In the course of 26 days I took almost 300 photos, crazyness. Here are the best/most interesting ones.

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/Idnar/

Well, as the time goes on the little memories of how things looked and felt are slipping away so I want to get down as much of it as I can before it's all gone.
Firstly, the most random thing in the world... the game "Clue", they call it "Cluedo" there. What meaning does the d and o have? I don't get it.
I miss hearing people say "Good on You"... "Bloody" and "that's just jolly great". Carry out or to go is "take away". A wrench is called a "Spanner". A parking lot is a "car park" and a parking space is simply a "park". I like saying "she talks a lot of rubbish" or "rubbish bin". I also somehow still haven't adjusted to saying fries, chips just sounds better. I miss deciding to just walk over to the square to look in shops or find people to talk to. I miss meat pies and seeing signs everywhere that say "Hot pies!" and they're not talking about apple or cherry. I actually miss Black V even though somebody thinks it's gross, I think regular cough syrup is gross. Oh and I can't forget Pavlova or Tim Tams. Or hokey-pokey. That's a flavor of ice cream and when I asked what was in it they just said "hokey-pokey". Clearly that helps. I liked the white stone sculptures of mostly men and a few women. I think I'll find a Moa in Minnesota, I know it can be done. And a Kea too. Oh and I can't forget how little stores are called a "dairy". And remember "The warehouse, where everyone gets a bargain." And the smell of the kelp rotting when the tide is out, so strong it made me gag. I'm not sure when it's called a pie and when it's called a savory.
It was great going to the west coast and discovering that even New Zealand has hicks.
Well I can't think of anything else for now, and I'm sure most of this made no sense to most of you.

Well, as I think is normally the case, I have mixed feelings about my trip being over. On the one hand, I have people at home that I miss a lot and I have been missing the comforts of home these past few days. At the hostel I stayed at for the past week or so, it is mostly young people who drink a lot and so they're quite loud a lot of the time. The walls are thin so I've had a few nights where I've had trouble falling or staying asleep because of people talking or banging things around. So on that side of things I am very much looking forward to my own private space, my bed, my own bathroom that nobody else uses.
On the other hand, I will miss a lot of things about New Zealand. The way the houses look with fences and hedges and flowers everywhere. Seeing hills everywhere. The accent. And of course the people that I've met. Most of all I think I will miss being somewhere else, doing something different. You have to pay the price of comfort and stability in order to get the excitement and anticipation, and I think in the end it is worth it. I'm really not looking forward to boring, ordinary life again with work and school. I was hoping I would come home feeling refreshed and focused for school, but that's not the case.
Ah well. I guess I should do a little catch up about how I spend my last week and a half or so here. Last Sunday Madison and I took the tranzalpine train from Christchurch on the east coast all the way over to Greymouth on the west coast. The scenery from the train was awesome. I had a bit of trouble with the bridges. We could see them coming and see basically a bridge connecting one side of a mountain to a side of a different mountain, and then huge ravines below us. I admit I closed my eyes a few times, but mostly I did alright. I was surprised by how different the west coast looks in comparison to here (Christchurch). I kept thinking of Costa Rica, because there are just tons of hills and mountains absolutely covered with bush and rainforest. A lot of palm trees (different ones than here) and HUGE ferns everywhere. I especially remember riding along in the train and out the window all I could see was the tall side of the mountain with ferns just shooting out from the vertical earth of the mountain.
We spent 2 nights in Greymouth, and on one of the days we took a shuttle to a nearby town called Punakaiki which is famous for its' pancake rocks and blowholes. There are these huge towers of rock all along the coastline, some of them look like holes have been eaten out of them by some kind of animal. The pancake rocks are gray and are called that because they have hundreds of horizontal lines going across them which makes them look sort of like stacks of pancakes. My favorite part was the blowholes though. When the tide is in, the water comes in under the rocks and fills up these pools, and then there are blowholes just like whales have, and the water comes shooting out of them sometimes going very high up in the air. We got a bit wet a few times but it was awesome. I got water on my face and when I licked my lips I was surprised by how salty it was.
Also it was nice that the hotel we stayed at was literally about a 1 minute walk to the Tasman Sea so I spent a lot of time sitting and walking on the beach there. I walked along the tide line where it was sandy, and quite a few times the water came rushing in so strongly it just about knocked me over. Then when it went back out to sea I could feel it take about half of the sand and rocks with it, it would just look like it was all being drained away, it was really cool. One of the nights we were there and it had gotten quite windy so the sea got very white and rough, while I was trying to go to sleep I could hear it roaring and rushing. I love that sound.
Other than that Madison and I went to a wildlife park and I got to see some kiwis. They are quite strange looking, their beaks are so long and narrow that they really don't look like beaks at all. The weather has been really beautiful the past few days and I've been going out and basking in the sun while I still can.
Well I think that's about all I can think of for now. My plane takes off tomorrow at 2:40 pm. I hope everyone is doing well, and I'll see most of you soon.

Well for some reason photobucket wouldn't let me upload any more today, but here are just a few.

Lake Tekapo :

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/Idnar/IMG_0153.jpg

Typical Christchurch street :

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/Idnar/IMG_0127.jpg

Beach in Kaikoura :

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/Idnar/IMG_0086.jpg


View of Lyttleton Harbour from the gondola :

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/Idnar/IMG_0049.jpg


The Cathedral and Chalice :
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/Idnar/IMG_0003.jpg

Well let's see, where to start. On Tuesday I took a shuttle bus ( a small van really) from Tekapo to Mount Cook village. Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, but apparently it's less than half as high as Mount Everest. The man who drove the van was full of information about everything, and most of it was actually interesting. I love mountains. The drive was very pretty of course, and a lot of it was us having to drive almost completely around a big lake in order to get to the village. The lake is surrounded by hills and mountains, and in several places you can see Mount Cook rising out of the range over the water, or at least that's what they told me. The one specific area where Mount Cook is was covered with clouds the whole time I was near it. So, I didn't actually see Mount Cook. It's okay though, because I still got to spend my day in a little valley with picturesque mountains all around me. I went for an hour and a half hike up and across the side of one of these mountains, parts of it were steep with stones and wooden planks for stepping on, but it was worth all the effort when I got to the mid and highest point of the walk, from there I could see all around me and see the entire village. Naturally I tripped and twisted my ankle, but it wasn't a really bad sprain or anything and it's only a little swollen and sore today. Other than that I had a nice time relaxing in my hotel room which looked out over Lake Tekapo.
Now, I'm staying in a different hostel called Kiwi House. I'm happy because the internet access is much cheaper here than it was at Dorset House.
Oh, something really funny happened that I forgot to mention. On Tuesday after I got back to Lake Tekapo I hung around my hotel room for a while, and then went out to dinner. When I got back to my hotel building (the doors leading into the individual rooms are outside) there was this calico cat sitting near my room door. I'd seen the cat around outside all the time and figured it was a stray that lived in the area. I said hi to the kitty and then got out my key and stepped up to the door. As soon as I got near the door the cat rushed right over my feet and sat about an inch away from the door, right at the spot where it opens. It sat there staring at the line where the door meets the wall and sniffing that spot occasionally. Clearly, other people had let the cat into their rooms because it knew exactly where to go. I stood there for a minute trying to figure out what to do and the cat just sat there staring at the crack, and looking up at me every few seconds and meowing. So I decided to go for a walk and hope the cat would go away. I walked around by the lakefront for about ten minutes, and when I came back the cat was still there, laying near my door and when it saw me it jumped up and sat by the door again and meowed at me. Every time it looked up at me it seemed to say with it's eyes "PLEASE let me come in, it's cold out." I almost thought about letting the cat in, but of course I'm so allergic it would have been really dumb, plus it probably would have peed on the carpet or something.
I know how fast animals can slip in doors so I wasn't going to try to open it and get in with the cat RIGHT there, and I was afraid to push it away because who knows if it would scratch or bite me. In the end I went to the supermarket about a minute's walk away, got a little single packet of cat food (lucky they had that!) and tore open the package and put it down a few feet away from my door. The cat came over and started eating and I was finally able to get in my room. Of course, then when the cat was done eating I heard it meowing outside my door for quite a while. I know this sounds crazy but I swear it's true, it was nuts.
Anyways, the weather's pretty miserable today, pouring rain, very windy and a bit chilly. So I've spent my whole day inside here reading and napping. I think that's about it for now. I have one more little trip coming up on Sunday and that will be the trainride through the southern alps. Until then I'll be doing a few more things around Christchurch.
Hope everyone is doing well.

Well, I'm now in Tekapo, a pretty small town where everyone stops for like an hour on their way to Mount Cook. The lake is very very blue and most of it is surrounded by hills and mountains. It's very pretty. There are also these wild flowers everywhere that look kind of like lilacs except they come straight out of the ground everywhere and are all different colors... pink, purple, yellow, white.
The bus ride from Christchurch to Tekapo was beautiful of course, and now I think I've seen about 5,000 sheep when I add the ones I saw on the bus to Kaikoura. The rolling hills are so picturesque. Anyways apparently the "normal check in time" is 2:00 pm which nobody told me, and my bus got here at 11:30 am so I've just been hanging around the lake and all the little shops alongside it. There was just a little snow coming down but it hardly feels cold enough, I was standing out there in my t-shirt and all the NZers and Asians and who knows where the other people are from, were all bundled up. I think it's like 45 out or around that. It feels warmer than that because the sun is out. The sun feels so much hotter here. When it's out I can just feel it burning me. I've been putting sunblock on everyday but I've still gotten a bit pink a few times, but nothing bad.
So anyways I am sitting in a little internet cafe waiting until 2:00 so I can go chill in my hotel room for a little bit. I just had a VERY New Zealand lunch : A mince-meat pie, a custard square, and an L&P to drink which are all NZ classics/favorites I've been told. I'm going to miss meat pies when I go back home, they are sooooo delicious.
I pictured this place as kind of out in the middle of nowhere with not very many people around. It's lame how you can't go anywhere without there being gobs of people. I know there is a lot of land in the far south where there aren't many people, but all the really pretty areas draw all the damn tourists. I need to find some places where there are no tourists. Does such a place exist anymore?
Also, I was really pissed off earlier because here we are in in one of the most beautiful scenic places in the world... and people leave their bottles and cans and wrappers lying on the shore or walking path. What the hell!? Grrrrrr, People ruin everything.
Sorry, despite that ranting I'm having a pretty good day. Tomorrow I will take a shuttle from here to Mount Cook and spend most of the day there. Wish me clear skies everyone!
Then I will head back to Trizzle Chizzle (Christchurch) on Wednesday.
Well, I hope everyone is doing well!

Today Madison's mom drove us through the "port hills" as they are called, which are really beautiful. We walked around in a little town called Lyttleton which I found out to day is the first place that the European settlers landed in New Zealand. There were a lot of old buildings, and we saw the old jailhouse and area where they used to hang people. We also wallked out on a very long dock, near where the water comes into the harbor from the ocean. This is the same harbor I saw from the gondola that is surrounded by hills.We then went to two different beaches. For the first time in my life I got to walk on the sand along the shore and have the waves tumble in over my feet. I absolutely LOVED it. I find the sound that the water makes so soothing. I could have stood there for hours just watching the water come in and listening to the waves crash. It's kind of hypnotic.

I'm sure I've told some of you how when I went to the casino with some of my friends, they would be winning and then when I walked over they would start to lose.They would tell me to go away, and once I did they would start to win again. I also never got ANY of my money back when I tried to play the slot machines. Most people get some back, but I guess I'm just not a lucky person. What I'm getting at here, is my lack of luck. Madison and I took the bus up to a coastal city called Kaikoura to do some whale watching. The day that I randomly picked, the sea was very very choppy. As a result #1) about half of the people on our whale watching boat got sea-sick and #2) the whales don't come to the surface as often or for as long when it's choppy, and #3) if there is a whale up on the surface, it's hard to get the boat very close to it when the sea is choppy. Needless to say, my very high expectations for the whale watching were not met at all. I had a hard enough time dealing with the fact that there were people throwing up all around me, (always into bags, fortunately)... so then if we had had some awesome experience getting really close to a whale it MIGHT have made being around all that vomit worth it... and that's only a might. But alas, the whales did not like us. They use planes and helicoptors and listening devices to look for the whales, so 4 different times the crew would hear over the radio that there was a whale nearby and so we would rush to that location. Twice we rused over to a location and right as we got there it had just dove down so we saw nothing. The third time we got there right as it dove so I saw the tail, Madison didn't even see that. And the fourth time, we got there and I could barely see a tiny bit of the top of the whale. It was pretty far away so I really couldn't see much. About 20 seconds after we got there, the whale dove down again. Sigh. Well I'm pretty much over it now, but I won't lie, I was pretty bummed out.That will teach me to look forward to things and have high expectations.
Anyways, on a more positive note, the drive from Christchurch up to Kaikours was absolutely beautiful! There are these high hills everywhere, I've never seen so much green grass in my life. There are just miles and miles of both flat plains and hills that are almost entirely grass (a few trees here and there) and of course this is so that the sheep can graze everywhere. I didn't think there would really be so many sheep, but I must have seen thousands and I am not exaggerating. They were all over the hills and flat fields. It's crazy.
I'm also happy to say that I FINALLY saw the ocean. We drove along the rocky coast for about 15 minutes before arriving in the town, and I can't even put into words how pretty it was.
After the whale watching Madison and I were able to walk along the beach and sit by the shore a bit, I absolutely loved it.
On our way back when we were driving along the coastline again I saw several seals laying on the rocks, that was pretty awesome. So, even though the whale watching was a bust, I really enjoyed the scenic drive and seeing the ocean.

Now I want to post some general observations so I don't forget.
First of all, every single house has a fence, cement wall, or hedges, or a combination of the three, surrounding it. There are often flower bushes sort of hanging over the sides of these. It's interesting, even out in the middle of nowhere all the houses you see are completely surrounded by some kind of barrier.
Also it's very convenient how the tax is already included in the listed price, so if it says $3.80 you actually pay $3.80
And you don't have to worry about tipping.
Another random thing, there are ducks everywhere. You could say the city is overrun with ducks, but I don't mind. You can't walk along the Avon river for more than a minute without seeing a group of ducks. If you leave that group you can't walk for more than a minute without seeing another group. And they are completely not afraid of people. They'll come up literally inches away from you, and many of them will eat right out of your hand. I had fun today sitting by the river and feeding the ducks, seagulls, and other little birds that all come flying down instantly when they see someone throwing bread.Oh, and there are seagulls everywhere in the downtown/Cathedral Square area too. They'll come hang around anyone who has food. I keep expecting to see squirrels begging too, but there are none here, or so I've been told.
Another big thing I've noticed is that everyone is really friendly. If you're sitting in Cathedral Square strangers will just come sit next to you and start talking to you. Everyone smiles and says hi to eachother, which is quite nice actually.
Well that's about all I can think of for now. I've gotten quite comfortable with making my way around the city now, and feel like I've got a pretty good handle on the layout.
Other than the Kaikoura trip, Madison and I went to the art gallery, and I've walked around the city alot. That's pretty much it for now.

Oh and any FAMILY MEMBERS like KARA, AMY, MOM who read this, I'll be calling at around 4:00 on Thanksgiving, so make sure you answer. Talk to all you family folk soon.
Hope everyone else is doing well!

Today, first of all the weather was absolutely perfect, sunny but not too hot, and the skies were mostly clear. The gondola is a kind of small cable car that rides up these cables up the side of a very steep and high hill. From the top we could see in all directions, looking out over the entire city on one side. On the far side of the city I could just barely make out the southern alps and their snow caps. To the east of the city we could see the ocean cutting a C shape into the land, with a long tan beach for a rim.In the other directions were hills and Lyttleton Harbor, where the ocean makes it's way into a valley area. Imagine beautiful bright blue water surrounded by hills. The hillside we were on was covered with yellow flowers. We could have walked down the hill all the way to the Harbor. It was probably the most picturesque thing I've seen to date in my life.

Well it's been a bit difficult to keep track of the time and the days. I usually get really exhausted at around 4:00 pm here and then I realized that when it's that time here, it's bed time in MN. It's annoying because I got a good 10 hours of sleep last night, so I shouldn't be sooooo tired by this time. Stupid time difference.
So yesterday (saturday) I had a nice walking tour of the main part of Christchurch. I love how so many of the buildings look Victorian, and a lot of the alleys and sidewalks are something similar to cobblestone. There are also long strip malls facing eachother across something similar to a large alley that roads cannot drive on, which is also the brown cobblestone. The cathedral was very pretty, I love old churches like that, with the stained glass windows and stone carving decorations that take so much detail. We also went into a pretty small aquarium area that had a lot of fish and sea creatures that are native to the seas in the area. I liked the seahorses and the octopus. We went into a Kiwi viewing area too, but they're nocturnal and it was so dark that I couldn't really see them at all, even though one was right up against the glass less than a foot away. That was a little sad, but I've been assured that at the big wildlife preserve we're going to in a few days, I'll actually be able to see the Kiwis.
Today we went to the Canterbury museum which had a LOT of Maori artifacts including tools, wood carvings, household items and objects used in rituals. They had pretty big displays containing huts and fake people to show how they lived. There were also exhibits of European artifacts brought over by the settlers, little boxes and jewelry and teacups and teapots, and furniture etc. There were a lot of little boxes and gold medallion portraits that had very detailed tiny paintings or carvings of figures or scenery, they were pretty amazing. All of those things were so delicate and intricate.And Fancy, that word comes to mind a lot. There were A LOT of snuff boxes and tea sets.
Then we walked through the Botanical Gardens which was very pretty although I think it would have been even more beautiful had it not been chilly and drizzly. There were a lot of palm and other exotic looking trees, as well as flowers everywhere that had just bloomed. It's funny because there are ducks all over and they're completely not afraid of people, they'll come right up next to you, inches away. I guess they're just so used to people. Madison and I were standing at the counter area getting our food and these ducks waddled over to where we were standing, and then followed us over the to the table that we sat at. Crazy.
Anyways I hope that the weather warms up and clears up so that we can fully enjoy the gondola and going to a beach. It's pretty sad that I am ON an island right now and still haven't seen the ocean, but I'm sure that will be fixed soon.
And I must say thanks to Madison for walking around with me even though I know she's been to these places dozens of times, I appreciate it.
Well I suppose that's all for now, hope everyone back in MN is doing well, and you guys have to let me know when you get some snow there!

Well this all just feels like a dream, so very surreal, but it probably doesn't help that I got about 4 hours of sleep the night before I left and then travelled for 28 hours straight. I'm jealous of the people who can sleep so well on the plane, I just could not get comfortable. Anyways, I made it here without any plane crashes, lost luggage, getting lost myself, and everything else that might have gone wrong. On the plane from LA to Auckland I was soooo uncomfortable and had a horrible headache towards the end and was feeling like coming here was not worth so much trouble and pain... ( my ears and sinuses KILL during take off and landing) but then as we were landing I saw my first glimpse of the coast with cliffs and beaches, and it was so pretty even from there. From that point on my attitude turned around I knew that it was going to be worth it. As soon as we got in the car and started driving around my headache was gone and I forgot how tired I was. It's awesome, there are just flowers and trees everywhere you look. Madison's mom was kind enough to drive around to show me where things are, and take us out to lunch. Now I just got back to Dorset House and already met a guy from England named Louie. I can't wait to take a shower and sleep for a few hours, which I will do now. Anyways, I'm doing fine everyone! More to come soon, I'm sure.

Well, there are only 5 full days left until I leave, which I really can't believe. It seems like yesterday that I was counting down at 45 days, where all those days went, I just don't know. I'll try my hardest to update almost every day, or at least on the days that I do something really exciting. I'm not making any promises though, because for one there might be times when other people are using the computers at the hostel. Anyways, the next time that I write in this journal, I will be in New Zealand. =0 I can't get my mind around that. I still have a lot of little things to get done before I leave though, so I best be off to bed.