Last night in Dunedin town for Stuart and I. So, to commemorate the occassion, we had dinner at the Speight's Ale House. Here's a horribly blurry pic of Lily, Stuart, Ryan, Jen & Myself. I hate how these pictures look ok on the small viewfinder... I digress. We chose the Speight's Ale House because of their generous portions (you'll see in a moment) and because my first encounter with Ryan (ever) resulted in dinner at the Ale House with him, Cat & Jen. Such wonderful memories.
The obligatory food pic with a twist. Rather, with a twisted looking Ryan. There he is with a crazed gaze hovering over his vegetarian filo parcels with my lamb dish in the foreground. Let me tell you, that is a lot of good tasting food right there. We were all stuffed afterwards.
Jen & Lily: Life partners. Actually, they were just really friendly.
Our last night in D-town also meant it was the last time we (Stu, Ryan & I) would see some of the wonderous sights around town. So, with Bonar Creek sign in tow, we did some photographing. Here we are in front of the iconic Otago University clocktower. Shooting with the slow shutter produced the lovely background but, unfortunately, it also meant blurry people...
We also went to the Captain Cook Tavern (favourite student bar) for a photo. Lot's of drunk "scarfies" (Otago University students), who had just finished exams by the way, applauded the sign and were more than happy to take our picture for us.
And that leaves us to the last photo in the flat and the last photo in Dunedin. At 1 am, Stuart & I departed Dunedin and started driving towards Auckland. Jen, Lily, Stu & I took this picture just before we headed out the door. We were the last 4 flatmates out of the original 6. And then there were two...
About 7 hours of later (with a 1/2 hr nap sandwiched between straight driving), we arrived in Kaikoura along the east coast for this beautiful picture of the Pacific Ocean, lovely mountains and the bluey sky. Breathtaking.
A couple hours after that, we made it to Picton. Here, we would catch the Interislander ferry from the top of the South Island to the bottom of the North Island. The picture above is of Picton's harbour and, in the middle of the photo, our ferry. The Aratiki, as she was called, is the largest ship in the fleet and she was a pleasure to sail on.
We had lots of time to kill in Picton waiting for the ferry. So we played a bit of football and I decided to take this picture of Mickey playing as well. Reggie Bush he is not...
Here we are looking aft from the ship's viewing deck towards Queen Charlotte Sound and the South Island. Farewell South Island!
Here are Stu & I with the ocean and edge of the North Island as backdrops. This photo was taken just after witnessing the scuttling of the HMNZS Wellington. The Wellington was an old NZ Naval Vessel that they just sunk in order to encourage the development of an artificial reef.
Once we got off the ferry in Wellington, New Zealand's Capital, we had a bit of time to do some sightseeing and that meant checking out the major sights. The first thing we did was walk through the Wellington Botanical Gardens (which sorta put Dunedin's to shame with its size and impressive collection of flora) to see the railcar and a view of the city/harbour.
Another major sight is the "Beehive" which houses the Offices of Parliament. Pretty cool looking government building if you ask me.
After spending the night in Wellington with some relatives, we made it up to Auckland by the next afternoon. I think the total trip took some 40 hours which isn't too bad for around 1400 km! Getting back to Auckland and spending time with family was a real highlight as was doing the full South to North drive. Stuart spent a full day in Auckland and I took him around a little bit before he had to fly to Sydney to meet up with Ryan. One thing he did get to see before leaving was this:
The Auckland Memorial Museum. It's probably my favourite place in all of Auckland. Located in the middle of the Auckland Domain (big park) with a lovely, pillared entrance and great exhibits, the Museum just draws me in. Unfortunately, this time, we didn't go in.
So I met up with Ryan & Stuart over in Australia for a few days of fun in the sun. It sure was interesting and the photos will sort of tell that story.
My first night in Australia was spent at Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast a few hours north of Brisbane. Me, Ryan & Stu enjoy an Aussie sunset at Noosa Beach in the hot Queensland weather. Let me tell you, it was very similar to Hawaii there. Very hot, very humid, lots of plumeria, hibiscus and hala trees. I got a few flashbacks and starting missing home a lot.
The next day, Stuart and I went deep sea fishing on the boat above. The Laguna Cat took us out for some good, old fishing fun on the seas. I caught myself a handful of fish, including a good sized Pearl Perch before, embarissingly enough, I succumbed to sea sickness and spent most of the morning lying down. As fun as the fishing was, the sea sickness was horrible. Not the best of days.
That afternoon, back on land, I took a walk through Noosa National Park in the hopes of seeing Koalas. No luck, but I did see some nice shoreline & foresty areas. I believe this is Rocky Beach above...I can't say for sure...
That night was Stuart's last night before heading back to Brisbane, flying back to Dunedin and then going home for good. He's the first one to get back stateside. Wuss. Anyways, hopefully he's doing well back home in (wintry) Colorado!
After Stuart left us, Ryan & I went to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. Filled with plants, lakes, beautiful scenery and dingoes, Fraser Island seemed like a really cool place to visit (even the receptionist at the hostel, Roz, said she really enjoyed it there). We took these huge 4 wheel drive buses that drove us around the island. It was great!
Getting to the island required taking a short ferry ride which lasted all of 15 mins or so. Then, there we were...
First stop was a trip to Lake Wabby, which required a hike over this rather large sandy dune area. And just so you all know, that sand was damn hot walking back!
Lake Wabby has the most species of fish (around 12) of any of the lakes on the island. This is due to its more neutral pH and it was a joy to swim in. Here's Ryan just before we ran into the cool water.
In Lake Wabby, there were these cool little fish that would nibble on your feet when you're in the water. It made for a really interesting sensation that was sorta ticklish. Quite cool. There were also these big, black, maybe foot-long catfish. I tried to get a pic of the cool fish swimming around in the lake but, as you can see, I didn't have much luck.
The next major stop was Lake McKenzie. This is the largest lake on the island and, because of it's low pH, the water's are known for having a beautifying quality. The fine, white sand also works really well for cleaning jewelry. My one regret for the entire trip to Fraser Island was not getting to spend time here while it was nice weather. This was the one time where it was really cloudy and ugly (as the pictures show). Lake McKenzie is what's most shown in the tourist pamphlets and it's really cool to see the contrast between the green vegetation, brilliant blue water and bright white sand.
Here's a cool phenomenon...the vine like plant envelopes the "host" tree and leeches nutrients from the poor tree and surrounding soil till it eventually takes over. Horrid scenario, but pretty cool picture.
I can't remember the name of this creek but just look at how clear the water is!!! It's so clear, you can drink from it...
and I did. Here I am filling up my water bottle with some fresh, crisp, clean (I hope) Aussie creek water. Yum!
To commemorate Thanksgiving dinner, Ryan & I decided that since we couldn't get a hold of turkey (or, in his case, tofurkey), we would just eat as much as we could. The result was that we both had to lie down after dinner and we completely shocked the two Scottish girls who ate dinner with us. Hooray for the Pilgrims & Indians!
Later that night, after the food coma wore off, Ryan busted out his backpacker's guitar and strummed some tunes out by the pool. We also watched as a dingo walked through the hotel area looking for food.
The next day started with a trip to the Maheno shipwreck. This old, rusty ship ran aground and was left here because it would've cost too much to move it.
Here I am in front of the aft of the Maheno.
Next stop on the tour was a trip to the Champagne Pools (large tidepools).
On one side of the pools, there was a cool little bit of flowing water which was fun to sit in...
Like so.
All the cool kids are doing it...
The German guy who shared our hotel room, we think his name was Herman, took this picture (actually, about 10 times since he must not have heard the camera take the picture) of Ryan & I in the pools.
Looking out towards the Champagne Pools from our next stop, Indian Head. On the drive to Indian Head, the bus got stuck in sand and the guys had to get out and push the bus. A Swiss girl, Veronica, got a picture and I'm hoping she'll email it to me soon so I can post it.
Looking down at the ocean from the top of Indian Head.
There was some good viewing from the top as the water was so clear you could see things swmming around. We saw schools of fish, a shark and, as shown in the pic above, turtles! Look carefully. That reddish brown thing in the middle is a turtle (I promise).
Next up: Eli Creek.
The water was, again, crystal clear and there was a pretty strong flow.
Here we are walking upstream.
And here we are just 'round the corner from as far as you can go. As you can see, people like bringing floaty things and floating downstream. I tried floating down myself but I guess I lack bouyancy... It was fun nontheless!
Here's the star of Fraser Island, the Dingo! I didn't get a pic of the one the night before, but here's a good pic of one just outside of the bus as we drove down the beach.
And after we left the island, on the drive back to Noosa, we drove through some parkland and saw several kangaroos! The picture is blurry as (what's new...) but you can sorta make out the shape of a couple of them. They even bounced around a bit as we drove by. How awesome!
Dinner was Mexican and it was courtesy of Ryan's parent's in honour of Thanksgiving (thanks Mr. & Mrs. Bailey). I had a beef burrito & enchilada (bottom) while Ryan had the vege equivalent (top).
And that was basically the end of the Australian (side) trip. We had gelato for dessert and then headed back to the hostel to chat a bit with our (drunken) roommates from Sweden. The next day, we caught the bus and then train back to Brisbane. I headed straight for the airport while Ryan headed for the City centre since his flight was later in the day. Out of pure coincidence, we sat behind a family from NZ and had a nice chat with the guys. Thanks a lot to Ryan and Stuart for the good times in Oz and all the other memories from Dunedin town. It was a bloody awesome semester and you guys sure are lucky to have met and gotten to know me!!!
I got to watch my cousin Josh play some cricket the other day. It's been a while since I have been to a true KID sporting event and it just made me remember how sports should basically be all about FUN! These kids love what they're doing and it's good to not see parents at each other's throats, yelling at umps or fighting on the sidelines.
For the uneducated, the main parts of cricket are batting (this pic and the above) which is the offensive portion of the game (similar to batting in baseball).
And bowling, which is the defensive portion of the game (similar to pitching in baseball). The bowling action is an overarm style where you swing your arm around in a circular action that is NOT at all like the actual throwing style of pitching (that's illegal in cricket and is know as "chucking").
Beautiful sunset as seen from my Uncle's balcony. I don't think I've quite mentioned enough how much I love New Zealand.
Two days ago, I tagged along with my other Uncle's family who went on a group tour (arranged as an Office Xmas party for my Uncle's work) up to the Zion Wildlife Park where you come up close and personal with some BIG cats! First up was this little guy who I absolutely cannot remember what kind of cat he/she was. I do remember it's got big ears for listening to prey.
Next up was this baboon. The only non-cat in captivity up there. Very camera shy. She'd walk around her enclosure staring at you until she saw a camera. As soon as you tried to get a picture of her, she'd turn around. Timing was key.
An awfully big female, tan Lion. She was just lounging around near the edge of the enclosure and when my cousin Callum got a little too close to the fence, she swung her paw towards him, making a loud noise as her claws hit the chainlinks. It was pretty startling...
A cute, little baby white tiger. There were about 3-4 in this enclosure where 3 of the park people were sitting around and playing with them like you would with normal domesticated cats. That would've been fun...
And here is the mother of those little baby tigers. In a matter of 10 months or so, those little cats put on enough weight to become much larger. It's quite amazing!
A fairly angry looking, and solitary, black leopard. After I took this picture, I got some video of it after it hopped off its box and started pacing in the front of the enclosure.
Big, male tan Lion. This guy's name is Zion and he's the main cat in the park. He was used in the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia" (which was filmed in NZ). A cool little fact, lions sleep about 16 hrs everyday to conserve energy.
Big, male white Lion. The white ones are really cool looking!
And finally, a Bengal tiger.
Well folks, now you're all caught up on my recent activity. I hope you enjoyed the pics and weren't put to sleep by the sheer size of this update. I start working at the University of Auckland Bioengineering Institute tomorrow (for 4 days or so) and I'm really looking forward to getting some cool work in. So, I better go to bed! Au Revoir all and, until next time, take care of one another and remember to recycle.
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