“Ending The Adventure at the Adventure Capital of the World”- Queenstown, New Zealand 7/29-8/1

The drive to Queenstown was not very exciting, so to say the least I was excited when I finally got there to start enjoying the Adventure Capital of the World. I got checked in at Bumbles Backpackers in Queenstown first. This backpacker was very different than the other ones that I’ve stayed in because it was more modern looking and there were a lot more people near my age (as compared to a wide variety including small children and elders at some of the others).

I was starving when I got there, so I dropped my stuff and then ventured into town by myself to find Fergburger! Ferburger is this hamburger place, or more like a social club, that if you haven’t been to it you haven’t fully experienced Queenstown. I could really tell this was a popular spot when I arrived and saw a huge crowd and then when I ordered they said that it would be up in about a half hour. While I waiting for this amazing food, I enjoyed a cider and started up a few conversations with other travelers standing near me in the crowded area. Once I got the burger, I couldn’t believe how big it was! Probably the largest burger I have ever had… and it was probably the fastest I had ever eaten a burger because I don’t think I had anything else to eat that day. I would have to say that I’m not really a huge fan of burgers but it was pretty tasty.

After the absolutely necessary trip to Fergburger, I headed back to Bumbles to socialize with a few others in the common room before calling it an early night in preparation for the next fun filled day.

In the morning I went to this little Saturday craft market with Emma, a really nice girl that I met in my room from England. We each found some neat items that we couldn’t live without before we ventured over to Pategonia, another must see place, for a morning hot chocolate. Multiple people had told me to go to Pategonia for coffee and gelato because they have the best. I decided to go for hot chocolate because I don’t drink coffee and it was way to cold to even think about eating something frozen! We both really enjoyed our hot chocolates and the fun atmosphere of the place.

After our warm up, we each had a little time before we needed to get to our activities for the day, so we walked along the water front to the botanical gardens and then back through the city to look through a few little shops. Queenstown is beautiful! Probably one of my favorite places that I’ve visited in New Zealand. It’s just a small little ski town, a little like Sun River in Oregon but with a larger area of shops and much more beautiful landscape surrounding it!

My huge adventure was about to begin as I boarded the shuttle to go to the Shotover Canyon Swing. I was getting a little nervous as we drove up the windy road (that was two way, but hardly looked big enough for one car...and I felt like we were going to fall off the side.) Then we got to another shuttle… coming the other direction! I swear they almost ran into each other head on before we backed up and went up on to the side of the cliff.

When we finally arrived after the nerve racking drive, the gut wrenching nerves started to set in when I first saw this platform that I would be jumping off of into the Shotover River Canyon. A group of 6 of us walked along the edge of the cliff to the platform to get suited up for the swing. I wouldn’t say that I am scared of highs but I was pretty nervous about jumping from that high because I had never done anything like it before. I was also a little nervous that it might hurt my back more, but the chiropractor said that it would be ok to do the swing but not do the bungy jump. I decided to do the forward jump which was ranked “very, very scary”. The people running the bungy were really funny and would tease with each person, making you think like they were going to push you off.

At first when I jumped off, I couldn’t believe that I had actually done it. The initial 60 meter freefall was a really weird and scary feeling, but once it went into the 120 meter swing it was so much fun! The whole thing was a blast, and it was super smooth with no jerky motion at all, so I was very happy! I am so glad that I did the Shotover Canyon Swing! (I got a video of this as well, so if you’re on facebook you can see it on there, or I can show you when I see you)

After the Canyon Swing I headed up the Skyline Gondola to get ready to see the Kiwi Haka Maurie Cultural Performance. I really wanted to go to a show to actually experience some of the New Zealand culture. This was really neat with 3 men and 4 women performers that danced and sang their cultural songs. There was also an audience participation part where I was forced to go on stage and do this cultural dance which involved twirling around a ball on a string. It was actually really funny! They started the dance slow and then sped up, so you can see by my facial expression in the pictures that I was a little confused.

After the adventure activities for the day, I met back up with Emma and went to Winnies, a gourmet pizza bar that was recommended. We each got a small pizza and shared a little. The pizza was really good. We decided to enjoy a couple drinks there before going home because we were forgoing the night out due to early mornings.

6:30 am the next morning arrived very fast. I was off on my bus tour to go on the Milford Sound Cruise. This adventure started very early and went late into the night, but it was totally worth it. The best part of the day was probably the drive down the Milford Sound. I was lucky to be able to actually go on this trip because the entire last week the road had been closed due to an avalanche. It was a long drive, but the sights were magnificent, especially the stop at Mirror Ponds.

The cruise was not exactly what I pictured after seeing such amazing stuff on the drive, but it was still very neat. The bus driver said that some consider it the 8^th Wonder of the World. Towards the end of the cruise we saw 3 dolphins swimming at the front of the boat which was a fun way to end the cruise on the ocean.

Queenstown was an awesome adventure and a great way to bring an end to my trip.

“Chocolate and Castles”- Dunedin, New Zealand 7/27-29

On Wednesday I caught my bus from Christchurch to Dunedin. I met a nice couple while I was waiting for the bus who lived a little outside of Dunedin that had moved here from the US about 5 years ago. It was good to talk to them about a few of the fun things to do in Dunedin. The bus ride was about 5 ½ hours, but didn’t seem that long because I was taking in the sights most of the time, listening to music, and sleeping a little bit. We also had a really good bus driver. He said that he normally drove the bus that did big tours with commentary and stuff, so whenever we came to something important or interesting he would tell us a little bit about the things we were seeing. The drive was beautiful. Most of it was right along ocean. Some of the drive actually reminded me of the Palouse near Pullman, WA because of all the rolling hills.

I arrived at Stafford Gables YHA in Dunedin that evening where I stayed for two nights in a 5 bed female dorm. The first night, I was the last person to get there so I got the top bunk, which was a killer on my back to get up and down but luckily I was able to move to the single bed the next night. The hostel here is actually really nice. It’s a medium size hostel with about 60 beds in it or so. There is an internet lounge where I sat for a while that night and met some new people. A girl named May from Malaysia was really nice. We sat and talked about all of our adventures so far within the area. We decided to meet up in the morning and try to book a chocolate factory tour together in the morning.

On Thursday morning we got up and made breakfast before exploring the city. My favorite part of the city was the Historic Railway Station, which is the 2nd most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere! (Can you guess what the first is?.... The Sydney Opera House! Wow what an opportunity to get to see both in one trip!) There were a lot of beautiful buildings all over the city and we took heaps of photos!

After our little excursion through the downtown area of Dunedin we headed to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. It is the first Cadbury Chocolate Factory in the world. This week is actually their Chocolate Carnival week, so they had a variety of different activities going on, but these were all booked, so we just went on the normal tour. Before the tour started there was an area with different displays of Cadbury Candy from the past. The tour was pretty fun where we got to see a lot of different machinery and chocolate being made and got to try some of the liquid Dairy Milk chocolate. It was so good! At the end of the tour there was a huge chocolate waterfall too! They also had some old Cadbury milk trucks that we got to take pictures with.

After the Cadbury tour I had a little time to relax before my tour to the Larnach Castle. I thought it was going to be a tour bus that was going, but the tour guide pulled up to my hostel in a small car with one other lady. They were almost not going to do a tour that day because they had a big event at the Castle that morning but since two of us wanted to go, they made a small tour for us. It was really nice to just have two of us for a personal tour. The tour guide was really nice and took us around town to see a few different sights first and then stopped at some beautiful view points just so I could take pictures! He was very knowledgeable about the Castle as he told us history and stories as we drove through the hills to the Castle.

The Castle was beautiful from the outside and even more magnificent on the inside (but I couldn’t take pictures inside). It was really neat to see all the history and culture within the place. We even got to climb up on the roof and see the views and take pictures from there. It was amazing!

“Icing on the Quake”- Christchurch, New Zealand 7/26-27

I arrived in New Zealand on Tuesday afternoon. I was actually really lucky to be able to get into Christchurch because they got ‘heaps of snow’ in their terms that continued falling on Sunday and Monday. Many flights were cancelled coming into Christchurch on Monday and numerous flights could not get out on Tuesday, but thankfully mine was able to land, or that would have screwed up my whole schedule of plans.

I got through customs and security pretty fast, Australia and New Zealand are pretty lax compared to America… I’m not looking forward to going back through customs when I get to America. I then proceeded to try to figure out where I needed to be to find a way to my backpacker. There was this information desk in the airport but nobody was there… what help is that? So I waited outside for about 15 minutes until I found someone that looked like they worked at the airport and she said that it would be best to take a super shuttle but I needed to go over to the domestic area instead of the international area, so I trucked my bags over to the other side of the airport and got on the super shuttle which was $24 instead of the $50 or so that a taxi would have cost me!  

There were 7 other ladies on the shuttle and most of them were actually from the area so they all were telling me about different things we passed in the city and how things were before the earthquake. The shuttle driver said that the snow was just “icing on the quake”. It was a shame to hear that Christchurch hardly ever gets snow, but they had a bunch which was just another dagger in the reconstruction process of buildings.

There is pretty much nothing to do in Christchurch because the whole city center is considered a red zone, where it is all closed down that nobody can go into it. (I figured I would still be able to see some of the older buildings and stuff even though they were damaged, but there was no way.

Once I arrived at my backpacker, the Chester Street Backpackers in Christchurch, I was very surprised that it was still standing. A lot of the other buildings on the street were closed up with fences around them meaning that they were going to be torn down. The lady at the backpacker said that since their house was built of wood, it was still standing, because with a quake it just sorta rocks…. Not really sure how I feel about this…. She also said that they get an earthquake pretty much every day! Now that really made me feel reassured! HA!

Well the backpacker was just a little house with like 5 rooms in it. I was in a room with 3 beds and met a nice girl named Roxanne from France. It was actually really cute with a super nice lady working there, but it was freezing! I don’t think it would usually be that bad, but since there was snow outside, that made it worse. They had a stand up heater thing in each of the rooms, so in the gathering room where we watched TV we sat right by the heater.

Roxanne and I decided to venture out in the freezing weather to try to find something for dinner. She had gotten directions, but didn’t speak English very well and did not know how to get there. We ended up walking around for a long time asking people, but were unsuccessful at finding food because everything around us was closed down, so we gave up and went back to the backpacker. Unfortunately I was unprepared with no food, but they had a shelf of free herbs and stuff where I found something like a beef bouillon cube, so I made beef broth and had that for dinner…at least it was warm I guess.

Eventually we made our way to bed where I wore two pairs of pants, 2 shirts and a sweatshirt, and was still freezing, even with a heater in the room. Didn’t get much sleep, but by the morning I was glad I was leaving Christchurch very soon.

“Sydney Excursion” 7/23-25

We went with our group on Saturday to Sydney. The plane ride that morning was a little rough because we had been out pretty late celebrating Sabrina’s 20^th birthday the night before. Once we got into Sydney we took a shuttle to our hostel the YHA Sydney Harbour hostel. At first glance it looked very strange because you go in the doors into this archeological dig site before you go upstairs to the check-in and main area and then go back down some other stairs to get down to our room.

Our room was really fun in the hostel. We got the biggest room with 3 bunks for 6 of us: Taylar, Sabrina, Hannah, Daniel, Mark and I. It was a great group to share the room with. Every night was filled with laughter and jokes.

The first night we got to walk down through Circular Quay to the Sydney Opera house to do a little sightseeing and take some awesome photos of the area. It was really beautiful because we went right before sunset so the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera house were spectacular with lights.

Following our sightseeing we went to the Sydney Observatory where we got to watch some neat 3D star movies, tour the museum area and we got to see Saturn, rings and all, through the oldest telescope in Australia.

Sunday morning we went to Paddy’s Market. This was a huge market with lots of fun and reasonably cheap souvenirs. I was glad that I hadn’t bought very much in Adelaide for souvenirs because most of the stuff was the same and was way less expensive. Everyone seemed to find a lot of good things to take back as remembrance items from Australia. 

After the market everyone was pumped up for the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. The bridge is an international symbol of Australia and it is “the largest single arch span bridge in the world.” I was a little worried about the bridge climb because I had been having a lot of pain from the pinched nerve in my back but I decided that it was an opportunity that there was no way I was going to miss.

For the bridge climb we got all dressed up in these really attractive blue jumpsuits and safety gear. At the beginning of the bridge climb we were a little skeptical because we were walking along wooden planks on the edge of the bridge that were super skinny… then we got to the actual climb. It was actually so much fun. At the start and end there were these sets of latters we had to climb up and down and then duck and squeeze through some small areas (the latters were probably the worst part because you couldn’t see very far ahead of you to know when the latters would end. Once we got to the actual edge of the arch that we walked along, there were steps along it where we walked to the very top and then back down again. We were kind of sad that we weren’t allowed to take cameras onto the bridge because it was an amazing 360* view of the harbour, but we did take a lot of breaks where the leader took pictures of us (except they were super expensive). At the top of the arch we were 450 feet above the water. By the end of the bridge climb we had climbed over 1,390 stairs! What a workout! HAHA. Everyone was saying that their calves were sore… but I didn’t think mine hurt very bad because of the extreme leg and back pain that I have been in. I was surprised that I made it through the climb without much pain, but that night and the next day were pretty horrible, where I was close to tears in pain. (I am getting really tired of this, but I don’t think it’s going to get any better because the chiropractor said that the misplaced disc in my back would take 3 to 6 months to heal.

After the bridge climb we all rested a little before we got on a ferry to take us to our farewell dinner at a really nice restaurant at Darling Harbour. I had some delicious swordfish for dinner with some garlic flat bread. It was one of the best meals that I’ve had while abroad… and the best part, it was paid for!

On Monday morning a smaller group of us went on the Sydney sightseeing bus to Bondi Beach while a few other girls went surfing and skydiving for the day. Bondi Beach was beautiful! I was surprised how many people were actually swimming and surfing in the water though. The group went on a scenic walk around the rocks on the edge of the beach, but I chilled out on a bench and took a short nap in the sun because I wouldn’t have been able to walk that far. (I tell you though; we really lucked out on weather! It was supposed to rain the whole time while we were in Sydney, but we only had once short time where it dumped for like 15 minutes one day and then the sun came back out.

After exploring around Bondi beach we hopped back on the Sydney Sightseeing double decker bus to continue on the narrated tour through the city. It was fun to hear some different stories and see the sights that we wouldn’t see by just walking around down town. One thing we learned was where the name Kangaroo supposedly came from. They said that when the British white men invaded Australia they pointed at this hopping creature asking what it was. The Aboriginal people yelled out Kangaroo which actually meant that they didn’t understand, but I guess Kangaroo stuck because they couldn’t come up with a different name. We continued on the tour until we reached the Botanical Gardens where we walked around and went to see the Queens chair built into the rock.

Our last night in Sydney we went out to another nice dinner with everyone there to celebrate before people went home to pack and say goodbye. I had to say goodbye to everyone before people went to sleep because I had to catch a cab the next morning at 4 am to go to Christchurch, New Zealand.

               

“Last Week in Adelaide” 7/18-22

I can’t believe it’s the last week in Adelaide already! Everything went by really fast. This week has actually been reasonably relaxing because my Australian Politics lecture is all done with so all I had to do for that class was finish the super long paper. For Indigenous Cultures and Histories I had 3 more lectures and tutorials with a paper on top of that.

I finished both of my papers by Thursday afternoon, so I was able to have some down time to just relax and do some last minute things before leaving the city. I wrote the Australian Politics paper on the Northern Territory Invasion and the Indigenous Cultures paper on Kinship in Australia. I actually learned a lot from both of these classes, so hopefully the papers are good.

Friday was a lot of fun, of course it had to be because it was our last night there! We were all celebrating our last night there and Sabrina’s 20^th birthday! A few of us went out to get Sangria and a small dinner at the Mexican restaurant across the street before we joined the rest of our group to go out to Swish, the 90’s music club that we went to the weekend before. It was a really fun way to end the trip in Adelaide with everyone.

“Here’s To The Corkscrew” 7/11-17

“Here's to the corkscrew - a useful key to unlock the storehouse of wit, the treasury of laughter, the front door of fellowship, and the gate of pleasant folly.”- W.E.P. French

Monday started out with a trip for Taylar and I with our Australian Politics class to the South Australian Parliament. We really felt like tourists because most of the people in the class had been there before and we were aw-inspired and taking a ton of photos! We got to listen to two different men who sat in the different houses of parliament, learned some more history about the practice of politics and got a tour around the building. We were both very happy when Wednesday was over because we were done with all our politics lectures and tutorials… now all that leaves is our massive paper.

Thursday was another fun day because I never have class on Thursdays. Another Kelsey and I went to Glenelg which is the beach everyone told us to go to. It was the first beautiful day we had seen in a while, so when we got up to the sun instead of the rain we were excited to take the 45 minute tram ride to the beach. Glenelg was a cute little town and the sites were pretty. Even though it’s winter time, we still went down to touch the water. The beach here is really different than the Oregon and Washington Coast because there are like huge piles of seaweed stuff all over the beach and the water doesn’t look very clear…so I was kinda glad we were not going swimming in it. (However, when we go to Bondi Beach in Sydney, some people are planning on going surfing… so we’ll see. That beach sounds like it is a lot nicer though as well) That night we went out to this Irish Pub, but it was super crowded and not very fun, so a few of us left pretty early. (When I heard Irish Pub, I got my hopes up to high after the awesome experience at Kells Irish Pub in Seattle with Scotty and Elora!)

Friday morning and afternoon was spent researching a lot for both of my long papers for my classes before our whole group got together for a night of fun. Most of us went to this club called Swish and Friday nights are all 90’s with 2 for 1 vodka drinks! This was probably the best night out so far. Taking it back to the 90’s with all the music was so fun…. S Club 7, Britney Spears, N Sync, Backstreet Boys, and many more! (We all find it hilarious that almost all the music we hear at the bars is American music!)

Saturday is the day that everyone has been waiting for! We got on our GroovyGrapes tour van to McLaren Vale and Victor Harbor. Our van driver was awesome and played great music that we were all singing and dancing in our seats for the hour ride to McLaren Vale- where the vines meet the sea. Our first stop was Shingleback. We had the whole wine tasting facility to ourselves…which was probably a good thing since we had 29 people. The tasting room was set up very nicely with couches and even a fireplace inside. I think they went through about 15 wines with all of us there. I would have to say that there weren’t any that I loved at this winery, but my favorite was a Riesling that they served.

We got done with the first winery a little early so we stoped at this little chocolate factory along the way that is famous for Fruitchocs. These are only sold in South Australia and I guess they are highly know and liked… but I was really not a fan. It was like an apricot/peach inside covered with chocolate. I don’t know if anyone in our group liked it.

Our Second winery we stopped at was Woodstock. This was a little drive further into the hills where we got to see some neat scenery. This winery was a little more crowded because there was a wedding going on there… I’m kinda surprised they let our huge group come. Luckly we were off in another tasting room where there were only a few other people… and they left fast. This room was a lot smaller and crowded but it was still a lot of fun. We got to try probably about 8 different wines there. I really liked a Strawberry Rose wine that they had there. (That was my favorite except for a Mascato wine that I have bought at the wine shop on our street. I have to find a Mascato at home, because it’s actually a wine I enjoy drinking with an Italian Pasta dinner) At this winery they also had dessert wines to try. I was excited because I thought I would like them because they are sweeter. Boy was I wrong! I thought they tasted gross! They were pretty much like syrup… no thank you!

We ended our excursion by going go Victor Harbor. We walked along the beach at Victor Harbor and across a foot bridge to get to Granite Island. Granite Island was where we went on a penguin tour. It was pretty cold for the tour because it was night time, you have to go on the tours about an hour or two after sunset because that is usually when the penguins come to the island for the night, but I guess since it was a really nice day and a full moon the penguins decided to stay out a sea longer. We only saw two penguins from a very far distance behind a rock and then two more tiny babies that were in a burrow where you can only see their heads. We all tried to take pictures but you can’t use the flash… so that was hopeless. Everyone was a little disappointed in this tour because it was freezing and we hardly saw anything. At the end we went to a nice hotel for dinner before heading back to Adelaide. They had a good salad bar and I had fish and chips for dinner. The fish was so good! (Especially since I love fish and haven’t had any in Australia so far!) And my friends were excited because I gave them my chips since I don’t like potatoes.

We had a pretty long ride back home where most people crashed on the bus and then went home to bed in preparation for a dolphin cruise on Sunday.

Today (Sunday), when I woke up it was nasty and rainy outside so I and most others decided not to go on the dolphin cruise. We figured being on a boat when it was cold and rainy would make the ride rougher and not be very fun. So today I’m working on getting a heap of both papers done before we go out to Outback Jacks for a birthday dinner for Sabrina. (Her birthday is next Friday, but that is the last night we will be in Adelaide, so she wanted to go out tonight for dinner and next week to the bar.)

I can’t believe our time in Adelaide is almost over! We leave in less than a week. Time to get down to business and finish stuff up!