This weekend, we didn't go on any crazy adventures or anything remotely wild. We did, however, stick around Dunedin to try and soak up the cool stuff that's in our city here! Here are the pics for your viewing pleasure!
We've been eating NZ$3 lunches at the Clubs & Societies building for most of the week (M-Th) and decided that maybe we should spice up our lives with a little variety. So, after waiting for SOMEONE to finish blogging, we ended up at the Flying Squid where they have some tasty fish & chips! The kumara chips, in particular, were a big hit with everyone so we most likely will end up at the Squid more often!
Ryan Bailey...Animal lover?! He buys a brand new Kathmandu fleece and helps to keep a panda (and her baby) warm. We know he's got massive love for the veges but how nice is that?
At Kathmandu, Ryan also bought a balaclava (the ski mask like head warming thing). For the rest of the evening, the balaclava became a favourite photo object (as you'll see in the following few pics). Here's Cat posing with her new headgear.
Here's Ryan rocking the balaclava AND his nike dri-fit headgear. So that's how all yawl UNC Balla's supposed to do it. Fa sho!
So we went around to a couple clubs for a bit of the dancing thing (admittedly, not really my favourite activity) but it was pretty fun times. My cousin Nat played guide as she led my friends and I around from place to place. Thanks Nat! After all the dancing, we decided it would be good to get some dessert. Take a guess as to what we got (answer coming a little later in this post). Anyways, we walked over to the Night&Day 24 hr convenience store and bought our dessert. There, we ran into Nat and invited her for some dessert as well. We also took this pic with the balaclava. Cat the culprit holds up Jen the innocent shop-goer with her white glove gun.
If there was any doubt, we bought Hokey Pokey ice cream...surprise, surprise! Anyways, moving on to saturday, we decided to go down to Tunnel beach. Unfortunately, as is quickly becoming a routine, circumstances arose making the journey to Tunnel beach a little too difficult (namely we were unable to figure out which bus to take and when those buses come). Luckily for us, Stuart, Ryan and myself, we were within walking distance to Saint Kilda's beach. It took us over an hour of walking there and back but we made it to the beach and had quite a treat. We even bought a cheapo rugby ball (they two guys talked me out of buying a Gilbert Super 12 Match Ball which was 50% off) and played American Football with it. We also tried a little rugby passing but that didn't last very long. Anyhow, the above pic is of St. Kilda's beach which looks real nice and has some good waves. Too bad it's still way to cold for me to even put on my boardshorts and wade in the water...
We had an eventful walk back into town during which we were presented with two opportunities to interact with Kiwi girls. Observe: 1) The 3 of us were walking in a row, with Stuart & I flanking Ryan, when a girl yelled in our direction "Hey guy in the middle, you're hot!!!" We looked over in their direction in amusement when the girl asked Ryan if he had a mobile number. He replied no. 2) We were waiting at a crosswalk when a car full of girls pulls up to the intersection closest to us. They are sitting in the car bobbing their heads while listening to music when they see us standing on the side of the road. They sorta look our way and we sorta look their way. We sort of bob our heads a bit. They roll down their window and say "Hi" and we say "Hi" back. The light changes and they drive off. I don't know why i just spent this much time mentioning all this but it was somewhat amusing. It's even more amusing when you take into consideration that whoever is the first guy to get a date with a Kiwi girl gets hokey pokey ice cream from the other guys. Aren't we mature...
Anyways...here's what we ate for dinner when we finally got back into town. Filadelfio's gourmet pizza restaurant came with a pretty good recommendation from my cousin so we decided to try it out and see if we'd like it. It really is quite tasty stuff! Cat & Jennifer split a medium Italian pizza while us guys split a large Four Cheeses pizza. We'll have to try them again sometime...when we have more money and all that.
Afterwards, went to see Batman Begins with some of people in Flat A on Moat street and it was quite enjoyable. Beyond my expectations really. After the movie, Ryan & I returned to the Captain Cook tavern in order to enjoy some live coverage of the Tour de France. It's pretty cool for me to watch the Tour knowing that I was able to see it in person a year ago. The only unfortunate thing was that we had to wait over 30 min to get into the Cook. Apparently they're really busy on a Saturday night because some people like to go there to drink & dance? What's up with that? They're just getting in the way of people who are there to watch sports!!! Go figure.
This Sunday morning marked the start of the Cadbury Chocolate Carnival and we celebrated by going to the Octagon, downtown, and getting some tasty treats!
The above is a Chocolate covered crumpet! My first crumpet in a LONG time! How I miss you so Golden Crumpets!
And here we have a chocolate pikelet with fresh whipped cream, raspberry jam and chocolate chunks.
They even had some entertainment including a climbing wall, a band, face painting (amazing stuff...I don't have a pic but hopefully Cat will post hers in a little bit), a guy in a bee suit and these clowns (pictured). Such balance & grace!
They even made a giant Moro bar that they were cutting up to give to people!
So, that's all for the time being folks. I've got to check on my hanging laundry and also go buy some groceries so I can cook me some dinner! If I can cook a tasty meal (Salad, Lamb Cutlet & Mashed potatoes are the plan) then I'll post a pic of my first successful cooking adventure in NZ. If not, just assume I went to the local supermarket and bought pies to eat. Take care everyone and I hope to talk to some of you online sometime.
Thanks to Cat, who FINALLY uploaded her highly anticipated photos, I can show you guys a few more pics from the last week or so. Enjoy!
Cat's wearing my ultra warm Kathmandu Goosedown jacket (oh so warm!) and I'm wearing Cat's ultra white jacket (oh so white!). It was a bit tight in there, but somehow I squeezed into it without damaging the jacket. Now I know if I'm ever somewhere and I'm really cold and Cat has her jacket, I could possibly keep warm...uh...yeah.
At the albatross colony, there was a very Makapu'u like view of a lighthouse & cliffs & the ocean. As you can see in the pic, the day started out miserably overcast.
Jennifer and I on the bus ride to the peninsula. Or was it from the albatross colony? Uh...Cat, can you remember? Those of you observant enough will also notice the camelbak big bite valve I'm holding in my hand.
The rest of "the team" on the bus.
Our buddy Karel (sp?) doing a baywatch-esque romp through the water. He's hardcore.
On the way over, our bus driver jokingly got in the way of another bus driver. The other guy gave us the "two finger salute" (in jest of course). I explained the meaning to the group and we decided to take a group picture. Observe.
Here you get an idea of what other sort of weather we had that day. While at Allan's beach, it really cleared up and became sunny. You can see plenty of blue sky in the pic and some lovely sea mist as well. Ah New Zealand...
And here's how it looked at the end of the afternoon/early evening. Not only can you see the sheep in the foreground, you'll also notice the storm clouds in the background. These storm clouds proceeded to dump lots of rain, hail and lightning on the peninsula. So we really got a taste of almost everything in one day!
Ryan strikes a Heisman-like pose next to one of the Moeraki boulders. That's probably as close as anyone at UNC will get to the Heisman. I'm expecting someone from USC will be bringing back the real thing this season. Good luck Matt & Reggie!
Cat being semi-Atlas like with the Moeraki boulder. Or, what was the name of the Greek guy who kept on having to push the boulder up the hill in Hades?
The photo we've all been waiting for: BLING BLING MOTORS! Holla atcha Boi! Thanks a bunch for posting this Cat cuz it's probably the coolest pic on the whole ChCh trip (well, in that bizarre sort of cool way). We had a lot of time to kill and this is one of the places we stopped by to check out. We just couldn't resist. I don't know if you can see in the pic, but I'm spelling out "blood" with my hands. Very gangsta like!
Cat taught us how to play "This is Fun." Basically it's a game about trying to keep a straight face. Here, Ryan the "Zen Master" preps for a showdown against yours truly.
Another pic from Moeraki, this one is from the sign that tells you the story of the formation of the boulders. And that's all I'll say about the pic.
In celebration of my laptop finally getting connected (thanks to Jennifer for letting me borrow your ethernet cable), let me put up some pics that have been on my laptop and, until today, I have not posted for all to see. Enjoy!
Here I am chillin' and watchin' Auckland Waitakere advance in the semifinals of the National Basketball League on my last night in Auckland. It seems like so long ago...
The next few pics come from my first day in Dunedin. This is the Sew Hoy building. I've been told that if I ever want a good home cooked meal here, I should go knock on the Sew Hoy's door. It's good to know us Chinese look out for each other...or something like that.
Here is the former Municipal Building located in just near the center of the Octagon. Such old world charm!
And here are the pics you've all been waiting for...my flat! Actually, it's just my room. Here it is in all it's glory. The bed above is much bigger than I expected and that's a really, really, REALLY nice, warm duvet (goosedown!) that's resting on top of the bed. And below is my messy desk & closet-ish area. It still looks about the same now. I don't really sit at my desk too much since I'm always here in the library!
Otago bussed us all out for a day on the Peninsula. I had a fantastic time and it was all great fun. We visited the albatross colony, Allan's Beach, Seal Point and they cooked us a barbie. There really were only two problems: a) We had 3 season all in one day (clouds, sun, lightning & hail!) b) I ran out of camera batteries.
Finally, here's dessert from last night. Very Berry Boysenberry Ice Cream with Pavlova (a traditional Kiwi dessert) and a Kiwi Gold slice. Gotta love the Tip Top ice cream and the other goodies!
And there you have it. I still have a few more pics to collect from everyone else. When I finally do, you'll all be the first to see 'em. Then you'll be all caught up on my adventures! Woo Hoo! Hehe. So far classes have been alright. I'm managing and I really hope I can do well this semester to get my academic frame of mind back on track. Gotta keep the momentum going from last semester so let's see if I can do it! Also, I'm looking forward to having a good time this weekend doing who knows what. I've been keeping an eye on trademe.co.nz (NZ ebay) to see if I can score a cheap(ish), yet reliable motor vehicle that my friends & flatmates can share. Then we can let the real adventures begin. Until then, we're playing things by ear and trying not too freeze to death. I hear there's a snow storm coming in over the weekend and if that's the case, you'll all have some lovely, fresh snow pics to enjoy come next week. But for now, I'm outta here! Take care and peace out homeys!
So on our first weekend in Dunedin (which was also subsequently our last before classes begin on monday), we decided that we should go to Christchurch to see the Blackseeds (a Kiwi music group - link here). First, we [Me, Cat, Ryan - A "UNC Balla" from Nashville and Lily - Our resident Canadian...eh] contemplated hitchhiking - one of the tried and true methods of traveling around NZ. Since there were quite a few of us (4) with a relatively high ratio of Y chromosomes (2), it became pretty clear that if we hitchhiked, we probably wouldn't get to Christchurch in time to a) See the All Blacks v. the British & Irish Lions or b) See the Blackseeds. We then decided to rent a car and road trip to Christchurch. And there you have the beginnings of the following photo blog:
First stop on the long drive to "ChCh" were the Moeraki boulders. As you can see in the above picture, these rocks are unusually round. This is the result of the pressurization of calcium deposits in the ground that, over time, have become exposed due to erosion. Well, I actually don't know how they were formed or why they are round (because I didn't read the handy little sheet) but the above is courtesy of Cat, who did read it.
Here I am gazing out at the horizon and contemplating New Zealand's isolation. In fact, the closest land mass in the direction I'm looking is probably South America. That's a long way out there... Oh, and damn that's a nice pair of Emerald Oakleys I'm wearing... Come to think of it, I've got a nice adidas ClimaWarm Fleece Pullover on too... Oh, and thanks to Lily for the Chicken sandwich in my hand.
To give you a vague idea about how big some of these boulders are, you can sorta tell in the above picture. All of us were able to fit on top of the boulder without too much trouble. Ryan is in the back and Cat, Me & Lily (flatmate) are in the front.
Here we are re-enacting the birth of an alien (or dinosaur) from the boulder. Not much more can be said...
Here's a close up of one of the boulders. Look how unbelievably round it is! Mother Nature works in beautiful, yet mysterious ways.
Here is our glorious, "bling bling" ride: A 5 spd, 2000 Holden Barina City, with a monstrous 1.4 L engine, in a champagne lime green (if you have a better description of the colour of the car, please let me know). She was all bark and no bite on hills but she roared to life on the flat. Many a car was passed while driving up SH 1 on the Canterbury Plains.
5 hours or so later, we arrived in ChCh an hour before the test match. W thought it would be a good idea to figure out what the deal with the concert was so Ryan hopped out and asked around. He found out that tickets were a mere NZ$42 which turned out to be a bit out of our price range (no offense to the Blackseeds). Then, we decided we would figure out lodging. After 3 rejections, we landed an 8 bunk room at the 4th hostel we visited. More on our "exciting" hostel experience later...
In the hostel lobby, we saw this awesome posting for a used vehicle (since I'd still like to get a car of my own here). I'll let the image speak for itself.
During check in, the game was well underway and by the time we made it to Dux de Lux, an amazing vegetable/seafood restaurant, for dinner, it was 17-12 to the AB's and Cap'n Tana was back from the "sin bin." Lucky for us, Dux de Lux had a big projection tv outside where we were able to enjoy the NZ victory and our vegetable lasagna. Afterwards...
We walked over to the Holy Grail...aka "the place we should've watched the test at." Not only did they have a huge movie theater-sized main screen and a ton of Canterbury/Crusader memorabilia, they had this cool thing. Canterbury lock Chris Jack stands a shade over 2 meters tall. Cat doesn't quite make the 2 meter mark...but that doesn't mean she can't be a great halfback in rugby (c'mon...you're in NZ, at least give rugby a go...).
After standing around outside the place where the Blackseeds were gonna play (we were looking for cheaper tix but, unfortunately, they had door sales so scalpers were nowhere to be found). Since we still didn't want to cough up NZ$42 per person, we decided maybe the Blackseeds concert wasn't for us. We then drove around Christchurch looking for something to do and we ended up deciding that bowling might be a good idea. Unfortunately, we were given many different directions to this mythical bowling alley which we thought we had seen but was nowhere near where we thought we saw it.
At first, we thought the big cinema/entertainment center might have the bowling alley inside, but the security guard told us to head down the road. Following his instructions, we ended up at the above. Personally, it was a highlight to be able to visit (albeit outside) one of the hallowed grounds of World Rugby. I've been to Eden Park (another GREAT ground), I'll have the chance to go to Carisbrook (the legendary "House of Pain" here in Dunedin) and, to a lesser greatness extent, I've been in North Harbour Stadium. Jade Stadium, home of the dominant Canterbury and Crusader teams is a really, really special place to be. Lucky for us, we also saw a couple of kids riding a bike who were able to give us proper directions to the bowling alley.
So we bowled a game at the very modern bowling alley (that's Lily in the pic). It was pretty fun to do the bowling thing after quite a long hiatus (they closed Bowl-o-drome back home and I haven't seen my bowling partners in a while). We've all vowed to become better bowlers as the semester progresses and we'll have to head down to the local lanes (wherever they are...hopefully they're easier to find) regularly to make that happen.
Lastly, we ended up in the hostel lounge with a liter of hokey pokey ice cream, wedges and a lot of creativity. With that one container, who knew you could not only feed your hunger and addiction for ice cream, specifically hokey pokey, but you could also experience sport, art, comedy and many other assorted entertaining things. A "This is Fun" tournament, "This is Art" and Hokey Pokey racing and diving events punctuated a great night in ChCh (hopefully I can upload a video for you all to see what I mean). If I can look forward to fun times like this road trip to Christchurch, I know this is gonna be a great semester!
Just when we thought the night was over, our bunk mates arrived from a night of fun. 3 Northern Irishmen came in and, much to our dismay, the light didn't go off till 2 hours after our original designated sleep time. Apparently, "Diddly Dee Potatoes" is a very typical Irish phrase which our bunkmates took 5 whole minutes to constantly remind us. They were pretty disruptive, to say the least, but it was pretty fun meeting them. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired on the drive back to Dunedin but we made it back in good time and without any pitstops (no bathroom breaks, tea breaks or things of the like).
Because you all are so grand, I'll toss in this one random pic from this evening, in my flat, that just happened to be on my mobile phone when I uploaded the rest of these pics. If I haven't mentioned already, Dunedin is COLD. Furthermore, my flat is cold (the inside that is). In the above pic, Jennifer & Cat are so cold that they must stand near the heater (which has the range of a broken potato gun) in order to warm themselves. How sad. Earlier in the day, when I tried to take a nap (in case you're curious, I was unsuccessful), I could see my breath condensing...this, mind you, was in my bedroom!
Anyways, classes begin tomorrow and I think I'll start my job search tomorrow too. More to come from Dunedin at a later date. I hope you all are doing well and continue to take care of yourselves and one another. Peace out homeys!
First of all, the events that took place in London yesterday morning were truly terrible. I remember where I was when I first heard about 9/11 and I will remember where I was when I first heard about these bombings. I was sitting in the Otago University Library computer lab listening to the radio when they made an announcement about what had happened. I cannot comprehend how people in this world can believe/hate so strongly that they would wish to inflict such harm upon their fellow human beings. Surely there are better ways to go abouts changing things you don't like in the world. There is no need for such horrendous violence in the world. Whatever happened to tolerance and compassion and all those good values that we all should have instilled? My thoughts are with those in the area and also on my family and friends around the world. Stay safe everyone and take care.
Kia Ora (Hi) everyone. Greetings from the DEEP south! Here I am at the bottom of the world (or top...depending on your perspective) and it's bloody cold here!!! I think I'm settling in quite nicely here. I've gotten down a general layout of the city and I know how to get from my flat to school, to the shopping areas, to other places and most places in between. Classes begin on monday and it's both exciting and a little not exciting (in the sense that I don't want to hit the lecture halls just yet). It's also been pretty darn good weather (if not very cold...as previously mentioned) which has helped me get used to the climate. Bad weather is on the horizon so let's hope I've sufficiently acclimated...keep your fingers crossed. Anyways, the flat mates are pretty cool all around and I'm very optimistic about how this semester abroad will be! Here are some pics to keep you all happy. I would also have pics of the flat but they've already been uploaded to the lappy and I'm currently on a library computer...oh well. In any case, enjoy.
This is the Clocktower building which is probably the most memorable building on campus. Being at the oldest Uni(versity) in NZ means that these buildings have a nice "old world" charm to them. You won't see anything like this at USC! Notice the overhanging clouds...if I just had waited a couple hours, it cleared up and it would've been a much better looking pic...such bad luck.
Here I am standing by the University of Otago sign. It's still cloudy in this pic too...dammit.
Dinner on Tuesday night was this lovely Sausage & Mash dinner from the Speight's Ale House. I tried watching the Auckland v. Lions match there but no such luck since we got shoved into the corner of the restaurant far away from the big screen telly. Drats. You can see the nice piece of toast that also came with the meal and the piece of beer battered fish that Cat traded to me. Those of you with sharp eyes will notice the glass of L&P in the background. I love that stuff...World Famous in New Zealand!
We did a bit of shopping after the international student orientation on Wednesday. Kathmandu was visited as was the shoe shop in this pic. I didn't need to buy shoes but Jennifer (one of my flatmates) & Cat (fellow USC Trojan & "Hawaiian" Cat) were both looking. Both of you should've bought those shoes...then, because of the sale, I would've been able to get the 3rd pair for free...
Thursday, I embarked on a great journey to see the World Famous Baldwin Street. As you can read in the pic, it is the world's Steepest street.
Here's a pic of the actual street. It may not look that steep in the pic but you'll have to believe me when I say it's damn steep. It's hard to see in the pic but it's so steep that the sidewalk is actually a continuous flight of stairs.
After climbing all the way to the top, as you can imagine, I was really, really tired. Nothing like good Kiwi music (I was listening to the new Blackseeds album that I just bought on my iPod)and a good hike. You'll notice the water fountain next to the bench. How thoughtful of them...I took full advantage of the fountain and, one good thing about the climate, it was actually cold! Sweet As!
Last but not least, I walked through the Dunedin Botanical Gardens. Really, really beautiful stuff (though I expect it looks much prettier in warmer weather when you might actually see some flowers). Very well manicured gardens and endless trails. This will be an excellent place to do some trail running since there is some elevation, beautiful scenery and lots of variation.
There you have it folks. A bunch of pics to let you all know what I've been up to here in Dunedin. Shoot me some emails if you'd like (or drop a comment) and I'll check as often as I possibly can. It's great here and I'm really looking forward to a wonderful semester! Pics & Blogs will come as often as time will allow and if I have adventures to share with you all. Also, please let me know if you'd still like to donate to the car fund...I'd really appreciate it!!! Cheers and Aroha!
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