Study Week

I am sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog.  Since I have come back from Wellington I was studying a lot, taking finals and then I was packing.  I am now heading back to Wellington to start my end of semester adventures.

I am going to start with where I left off at the beginning of study week.  On Monday morning Ashley and I got up with the sun shining through the window.  The sun was shining and it did not look too windy outside which were both good signs for that we would be able to go sky diving.  1.5 hours before we were going to picked up to go skydiving I gave them a call to see if the weather conditions were good for skydiving that morning and they gave us the all clear.  An hour before pickup Ashley and I head out to walk there.  The night before we used google maps to get directions and they said it would take about 45 min to walk there.  The directions worked most of the way but we had to ask directions twice to some locals but as always they were always helpful and friendly.  We finally made it to the pick up spot only a minute or two late but earlier then the van that was picking us up.  We got into the van and headed to skydiving sight.  This van ride took longer than we thought but we finally made it.   Ashley and were given jump suits to put on and then we were harnessed up.  I met my tandem master and he made sure my harness was all set and then we got into the plane.  Ashley and I were the only ones on the plane doing tandem and the rest (about 10 others) were all from the flight school.    As the plane climbed up I was looking out the window at the beautiful scenery.  My tandem master pointed out Mount Cook to me on the way up.  Right before we got to 12000ft my tandem maters started tightening my harness and double-checking everything was ready to go.  Once we got to 12000ft everyone started piling out of the plane.  I thought it would take a couple of minutes for the 10 people before us to jump but about 30 seconds after they opened the door I was hanging out of the plane about to go. 

It was a very fun experience first free falling and then parachuting the rest of the way down.  During the free fall it was very hard to move because of the wind blowing as you fell.  Once my tandem master pulled the parachute we floated our way down slowly.  During this part I was able to look around at the amazing scenery.  Once we landed I got freed from the harness and went inside to wait for our photos.  Ashley and I had to what for a while because we were waiting for one other person to jump before we headed back.  It was a really nice day so Ashley and I decided to wait outside in the nice weather.  After waiting for the other person to get her photos we all got back into the van and headed back.  We were able to get dropped off a lot close to my flat, right by the grocery store where we had to go get some food.  Once we made it back to the flat Ashley and I reheated the pizza and then sat out on my balcony eating.   We then spent some time in the kitchen backing some more cookies, (71 total) and then we worked on making mashed potatoes and chicken parm for dinner.  On Tuesday we let ourselves sleep in some and then headed to brunch with one of my friends.  I ended up getting French toast which was really good.  One the way back we stopped by the British store and got some lemon sherbets and some other candies.  Once we got back to the flat we started baking more cookies.  We decided that we were going to make three batches of chocolate chip cookies at once.  Near the end we started to make our lunch but were also trying to skype with some people in Maine.  We got a little flustered trying to do so many things at once but everything turned out well, we had very yummy gnocchi for lunch and 125 cookies for the days total.  After making all the cookies we took a short break from spending time in the kitchen and then got back to some fried rice with fresh veggies and chicken.  We also had to figure out a way to pack up all 266 cookies we made minuses the ones we ate.  We wanted to make 300 but we realized that making that many was  ridiculous and we ran out of sugar and vanilla.  We ended up filling four old bread bags with cookies to bring up to Wellington with us.

On Wednesday we got up packed to head to the magic bus.  I went outside into the rain to go check on the timing of the bus before we were going to have to leave.  I came back and we decided we would head down around 1040 so we would be early for the bus.  When we got there the schedule said the bus would be there in about 15 min.  Since it was raining Ashley and I were trying to keep our stuff dry by keeping it under the shelter but it was also windy so it only kind of worked.  After waiting about 5 min we notices that the time for the bus was not getting shorter like it should.  After a while we started getting worried about how late the bus was going to be.  We were told to be at the Antarctic Center at 1130 but I also checked online that morning and it said 1145.  We were starting to get worried that we would not get there by 1130 and hoping that the Magic bus would not leave until 1145.  We finally saw the bus down the street but it was not coming any closer.  There ended up being something in the road and the bus had to go around the block.  We finally got in the bus to the airport at about 1115.  The Antarctic center where the Magic bus was picking us up was close to the airport so we were taking the bus to the airport and then going to walk to the Antarctic center.   The drove by the Antarctic center around 1145 and then dropped us off at the airport.  Ashley and I grabbed out stuff and tried to get to the Antarctic center as fast as we could.  It was still raining at this time and many large puddles that we ended up having to go through.  We got to the Antarctic center at 1147 and I asked in the café where the magic bus picked up.  They said that it would be in the parking lot.  Ashley and I walked all through the parking lot looking for the Magic bus.  Since last time when Ashley and I got dropped off in CHCH it was around 1145 we thought that maybe the magic bus was just running late like that time and it would come around 12.  We stood outside in the pouring rain and wind waiting for the bus.  We decided that around 1215 or 1230 we would give up on the bus.  At 12 we tried to see if we had a number for the bus to give them a call but we could not find one.  A while later we looked at our watches and noticed only 5 min had gone by.  By this time we were both soaked and so was our stuff and we were getting really cold.  We really did not want to get sick because we had finals coming up.  We remembered that I had brought my magic booklet and that the number might be in there.  So in the rain I got out the booklet and tried to locate the number.  As the book got wet we found a number to call the Magic Bus people.  At this point we decided we would head to an area away from the wind and gave them a call.  When I called them they said that the bus had gotten a late start from Lake Tekapo because it had snowed there and the bus would not be there for a couple of hours still.  I was annoyed at this because we had been standing and waiting for busses in the rain for while know so I told the lady on the phone this and she said that we could go inside and she would call the bus driver and see how long they would be and give us a call back.  At this Ashley and I went to a sheltered part of the café and sat down.  As we waited for the phone call back we got some dry clothes out of our bags  and took turns going to change.  The bus driver called us and said that we could sit inside and he would come in and find us when he got there.  After getting dry clothes on the next goal was to get warm from the inside out so we got some hot chocolate and a mince pie to eat. 

We finally got picked up by the magic bus and we were on our way to Kaikoura.  We made a stop along the way at a café and got some more hot chocolate.  We made it to the backpackers and checked in having to give them very wet twenties down for our key deposits.  We went up to our room and tried to open the door.  We tried both of our keys many different ways but could not get it to work.  We could not get it to open so we ended up asking the guy at the desk and he came up and opened it easily without any trouble, apparently you had to pull the door toward you as you opened it.  Once we got inside it was time to go through our bags and see want was wet.  We made a pile of wet things for the dryer, used one of the beds to  put dry things and another bed to lay out our wet things.  We also spread our papers that had gotten wet around the beds to try and help them dry.  We then went to the dryer with all our wet things and loaded them in.  After some trouble with getting the money into the machine we finally got it working.  We took our food bag down into the kitchen to sort out our wet food.  The kitchen was right next to a lounge that had an gas fire place.  We thought that it would be a good place to dry our stuff that we could not put in the dry.  I finally got it on and we went upstairs to grab our shoes to bring down to dry.  When we got back down the fire turned off and we could not get it started again.  We ended up heading back to our room and turning our heater on high and placing our shoes near it to dry.  We sat around for a while reading and using Ashley’s hair dryer to dry our papers and books that had gotten wet.  We had left over fried rice and mash potatoes for dinner and then went to bed early because we were both exhausted from our day of travel.  We spent the next day, Thursday, in Kaikoura.  We walked along the water, looked in shops and got some gifts.

For lunch we had fish and chips that we want to a bench by the water to eat.  The seagulls that were around knew what it meant to have people sitting on a bench with brown paper, FOOD.  Many birds began to come around and squawk at us.  As one of the birds flew by to land in front of us it’s wing hit me in the head.  We learned that if you pretend to kick them that they back away a small bit for a short time but if you pretend to throw something at them they will jump into the air and try to catch whatever you are throwing.  After lunch we walked around some more and got a couple more gifts.  After getting all the gifts we needed we went to the grocery store and got ourselves some food to cook for dinner.  We went back to our room and relaxed for a while and had dinner.  It was a very nice and relaxing day compared to Wednesday.  On Friday we got up had breakfast and got back onto the magic bus and went up to Picton.  After dropping our stuff off at the backpackers we walked around the city.  We then went back to your backpackers for lunch.  At the backpackers they had a tree house like place that Ashley and I went up to after lunch and read.  We spent most of the afternoon up there reading.  After dinner we went into town to the Flying Haggis with a couple of guys from the backpackers to watch the third place world cup game.  It was Australia vs. Wales so naturally I was rooting for anyone playing the Wallabies (Australia).  The Wallabies won but Wales got the last try which was fun to watch.  On Saturday morning Ashley and I hung around the backpackers reading and then having lunch.  We then headed to the ferry terminal to head up to Wellington.  That night we went out for pizza and gelato.  Sunday morning we went to the Warehouse and look at the rugby souvenirs.  We then decided to go to Courtney Place and see what the fan zone would be like there but it was not up yet so we walked to the waterfront and saw that the fan zone there was still up and decided that we would go there.  We then walked around a little we found a toastie sandwich shop.  It was not quite lunch time so we decided to go to Te Papa museum for a hour or so.  We then went back and got toasties for lunch, mine was a cheese, ham, corn, onion and cream cheese toastie.  On the way back to the sandwich shop we had pasted two Sunday markets that we decided we would walk through and ended up getting a chocolate muffin, a kiwi fruit cake and some really yummy dumplings.  After all this we went back to Ashley’s flat and hung out there for a while.  That night was the finals of the world cup so we went to get some fish and chips and then headed down to the fan zone. 

It was a great experience being with all the local kiwis cheering for the All Blacks.  It made it even better that the All Blacks won.  After the game and the trophy ceremony  Ashley and I headed back to her flat and went to bed. 

I am sorry again that this took sooooo long for me to post.  Until next time (as soon as I can but hopefully no longer than in two weeks) have fun and smile :)

Playing Cards

I have more excuses for this post being so late but the basic idea is that it is Ashley’s fault.  This week a couple of exciting things happened.  I continued to go to lecture but it was the last week so I will no longer be writing about lecture.  The first exciting thing that happened was on Wednesday I broke out in a rash that I did not know what from.  I took a visit to the health center here, something I was hoping not to do, and after going back Thursday morning it was decided that the rash was an allergic reaction to something.  After some anti histamine and sleep I was a lot less itchy.  To try and figure out what cause the reaction I took everything out of my diet and slowly started adding things back in.  After going to my last lectures of the semester and turning in my exam I was able to relax.  On Friday evening I went to another operation friendship dinner.  I had made some cookies earlier in the week and brought them because I could not eat them.  I also could not eat many of the wonderful looking foods that were at the dinner which was sad but I did eat some very good sticky rice.  We played a big game of spoons and I ended up getting second.  I think the more impressive part happened before the final round. I was helping shuffling cards to instead of handing me a deck of cards I was thrown some cards to shuffle and I caught them and then they threw another deck and I caught that one also, I ended up catching four decks of cards.  After playing spoons some of us played BS but instead of having to go from ace though king you could chose to play the same card, the one above or below.  I did not do as well in this game but it was very fun.  Even though I could not eat the dinner it was a great way to end the semester.  On Saturday I was waiting for Ashley to come.  We decided to make some fried rice for dinner that night and we watched France vs. Wales in the semifinals of the world cup.  Sunday morning we got up and went grocery shopping and then started making cookies (we made only 70).  Sunday evening was the second semifinal with the All Blacks vs the Wallabies.  Ashley, one of my old flat mates, one of her friends and I all went down to the fan zone to watch the game.  On the way we stopped by a pizza place and got pizza to take with us.  Once we made it to the fan zone we sat around and ate our pizza and got ready to watch the game. 

It was a great atmosphere to be watching the game, the All Blacks were in the semi finals and they were playing Australia which is a big rivalry.  The Wallabies did not play very well compared to the All Blacks and they ended up winning 20-6.  It was so much fun being there with kiwis watching them play and a way to end the week.  This next week will be full of exciting adventure to tell you about.  If you want a sneak peek here is a photo of one of the things I will be blogging about next week.  

I am not sure when I will be posting next, hopefully by Wednesday.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

The Moody Earth

Not much has happened this week.   This is what is has been like the last couple of weeks.  This is not a bad thing, during the week I go to lecture and do some work for my papers and then on the weekends I do more work and then relax so there is not much to talk about.  Since there is not much to tell you about I will first tell you about the weather and my cooking skills and then a short story about Sunday night.  Last week the weather was great, nice and sunny, spring was finally coming but then winter decided to come back and it has been raining most of the week.  I have been a little more adventures since break when it has come to my cooking.  I have been making a lot of cookies to share.  I have also made  fried rice and chicken parm a couple of times and they have not burned.  I think I got all my burning of food over that one time.  Now it is time for my story:

Once upon a time New Zealand was planning on where the rugby world cup games were going to be played.  The planed that on the 9^th of October the fourth quarter final would be played in CHCH.  The Earth was not in a very good mood in CHCH and it decided it would let the people know by shaking.  The Earth shook a number of time causing very large earthquakes.  These earthquakes cause enough problems in the city making the stadium* unsafe.  This meant that the quarter final that was going to be played in CHCH was not going to be able to.  Today the All Blacks played Argentina in the quarter final.  All of NZ was paying attention to the game being played in Auckland all excited about the game.  The Earth wanted to join in the excitement so like it does best it decided to shake in CHCH again during the match.  I guess this means that it was a good thing that the game was not being played in CHCH. 

The point of this story it to tell you that as I was watching the game there was a 5.5 earthquake.  Also the All Blacks won so next Sunday they play Australia and I will hopefully be going to the fan zone to watch the game and hopefully there will be no earthquakes during it. 

I did not take any photos this week so here is a picture of me in the rain from a while ago. 

Next week will not be very exciting until Ashley shows up on Saturday evening.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

*the only type of stadium that is important in NZ is a rugby one

Remember to Smile

I am sorry that it is now Tuesday evening and I am just posting from last week.  I don’t have any good excuse for why I did not post already but I am going to give you a couple.  Last week was not very exciting so I did not have very much to write about.  When Sunday night came around when I normally write I did not have any good ideas for what to write about and then I forgot to write.  Monday morning when I write when I have forgotten to write on Sunday night my computer was being funky and freezing.  When I was waiting for it to fix itself I started doing some maths and got distracted by it and did not want to stop.  That afternoon when my computer was working again I need to work on my psyc report so still no blog writing yet.  Today I was busy working on my psyc report and enjoying working on my maths.  Today I went to my psyc lecture and then lab and turned in my report and now I am back at my flat working on this blog post finally.  I still do not have much to write about but I will tell you about two different things that happened last week.

Story 1

 On Monday I made many cookies (about 4.5 dozen) and I could not eat them all so I decided I would bring them to share at soccer.  I brought 16 of them and there are 5 people on each team so about 10 people and I thought it would be easy to get rid of the 16, at least 8 of the people would need to eat 2, once chocolate chip one peanut butter.  This ended up being much harder than I thought it would be.  I was asking everyone if they wanted a cookie.  There were building a barbecue (in side and I am not sure why) who took some and then the people in the office took some also.  When I was leaving the office one of the guys said “Thanks for the biscuit.” Then it dawned on me that that might have been my reason I could not get rid of cookies I should have been getting rid of biscuit.  I finally convinced one of my team mates to bring home the left over cookies to his family. 

Story 2

This story is not very exciting as the last one. For my CHCH final part 1 the assignment was “What is the best way for you to express how you will change our world?” on an A4 piece of paper.  For me it took a while to figure out what I wanted to make to expresses this.  I decided that how I have been trying to change the world and want to do more is to make and remind people to smile.  As you can see at the end of every post I remind people to smile.  The way I decided to express this idea of making people smile I decided to make a jar over flowing of jokes.  I spent a while working on this project.  First I was looking up many good jokes.  I found many of them and I would like to share some of them with you

Q: What did one wall say to the other wall?

A: Lets meet up in the corner.

Q: Why did the algae and the fungus get married?

A: They took a liken to each other.

Q: What is the difference between a writer and a park bench?

A: A park bench can support a family.

Q: Why do you divide Sin over Tan?

A: Just cos!

Q: What did the dentist say to his computer?

A: You have a severe Megabyte!

And here are my two favorite jokes

Q: What does the force and duct tape have in common?

A: They both have a light and a dark side and they both hold the universe together.

Q: What did the buffalo say to his son when he went off to college?

A: BISON

So after finding a bunch of jokes I used powerpoint and created a jar full of jokes.  I then printed and cut out the jar.  I then used some clear plastic bags and wrapped the jar in to make it look like a glass jar. I was not sure how that was going to work out but it ended up working out well. I then taped on cut out letters that said, “Grab a Joke End Up With a Smile”.  I was really proud of the result and sad I had to turn it in and was not able to keep it.  Here is a picture of the result

I hope this blog worked by making you smile today.  Hopefully I will have another post up next Sunday if I don’t come up with any more lame excuses.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

Not in the USA

I am not sure what I should talk about this week.  I could tell you about the weather but it has not been very exciting.  There has been a couple of nice mornings when I have opened my window but after about an hour or two it starts to get windy so I close it.  The weather mostly is sunny in the mornings and then grey and windy in the afternoons. Nothing too exciting in the weather.   I could tell you more about my lectures but like the weather they are not too exciting.  Last week I went to my lectures and labs and did finished up my geol report and started working on my psyc lab report.  Other than that lectures have been the same.  Nothing too exciting during lecture.  This weekend was a nice and laid-back sort of weekend.  I spent most of my weekend working on readings for my psyc paper.  On Saturday there was another All Blacks game so I went to one of my friends flats and watched it there.  Nothing too exciting happened this weekend.  As you can see my week has not been very exciting.  I am not complaining about this because it is nice to have a slow week once in a while but it does make it hard to write a blog about the week.  I have decided instead of telling you about my unexciting week I am going to play a little game.  My mum taught me this game when I was younger and we went to the UK.  The way the game works is you are to name as many differences between where you currently are to where you came from so when I was in the UK we would play “How can you tell we are not in CA (or not in the USA).”  I am now going to play the game for you but now I am in NZ so I will be playing “How can I tell I am not in the USA (or Maine or CA) but instead in NZ.”

1)      They drive on the not right side of the road-I am still trying to get use to this when I cross the street.   I have decided that the best way to cross a street is to look both ways when crossing each lane so it does not matter which sided the cars are coming from I will see them.  This also means that they go the other way around roundabouts

2)      The steering wheel is on the right side of the car-I have messed this up many time when getting in the car coming back from soccer. When walking I have also thought that kids were driving the car.

3)      The drinking age is 18-This has not had that much of an effect on me but it is fun that if I go to a bar/pub with some friends I get carded and they still allow me in. 

4)       Life moves on even if there is a small earthquake -Back home when ever there was an earthquake (they were always small) everyone would be very excited about it but here earthquakes are old news and as long as the building is still standing there is nothing to worry about.

5)       The night sky -I am still very excited whenever I see the Southern Cross.

6)      They use “ey” at the end of sentences to ask a question. - I am still trying to learn how to use “ey” properly

7)      There is also other vocab differences such as “sweet as” which means sounds good or cool beans.  They have jandles and togs not flip flops and swim suits.  They “touch wood” not “knock on wood.

8)      They have the awesome sport of rugby that all sports people follow.

9)      They are really creative in their team names.  All Blacks = rugby Tall Blacks = basketball Silver Ferns = net ball Football Ferns = women’s soccer All Whites = men’s soccer, Black Caps = cricket

At least they have names for their teams unlike in the states they are all just Team USA
10)       There are more sheep and cows then people
11)       You cannot use the ocean as a way to tell east and west because it is such a small island when you ask where the ocean is they say all around -This confuses me but not as much as it does going from west coast to east coast

This is just start of a long list there is but I should probably get back to getting work done.  I may add to the list here or in future blog posts if I think of more good things.  I may also play the game “How can I tell I am at Bates but instead am at UC”.  Hopefully this week there will be more exciting adventures that I will tell you about in the next blog post.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

P.S. Since there were no pictures this week here is a picture I took during break.  

Mince Pie

Well, this week was not very exciting.  Monday through Friday I went to lecture and lab.  In my geol paper this week we learned about rock fall and different types of landslides.  In my pscy paper this week we learned about self esteem.  We also did a lab about how people’s self-esteem fluctuates daily and there constant self esteem.  We are going to have to write a lab write up about this and if there might be any relationship to peoples self esteem and the way their parents treated them.  In my maths paper we are continuing to do logic things and are learning different proofs.  In my CHCH class this week we focused on connecting.  One of the things that was brought up was doing service learning in school.  I feel I did some in high school and I enjoyed it so it was interesting hearing others opinion. 

On Wednesday night I played soccer again.  The game I played in was a lot of fun because we were able to work well as a team and do combination passes.  I also enjoyed it because I got to talk with people who are not students.  I talked to an Irish women about the rugby world cup, which was fun because the USA and the Irish are in the same loop.  (I do not really care how the USA team does because I am an All Blacks fan but it was fun to joke around about it.)  On the topic of rugby the second game for the All blacks was on  Friday against Japan.  Sadly there are no games in CHCH because the stadium is not standing any more.  There is a fan zone area at North Hagley Park that shows all the games on big screens.  With one of my friends we headed over there to watch the game.  Once I got there I felt like a true fan.

As you can see in the picture I am wearing an All Blacks jersey and it is raining so I was a true fan going to watch the game.  I was hungry so I decided I was going to go kiwi style and get a mince pie.  It was soooo good.  We had an adventure trying to get back to campus after the game.  We tried to go on the same bus that we took going to the game but the opposite direction and the bus we wanted did not stop there.  We were not sure how we were going to get back.  We walked towards a busy road hoping to pass a bus stop.  When we finally reached one we were looking at what busses stopped there and in how long.  Most of the busses has stopped running for the night including the bus we wanted.  A bus did drive up and we asked the driver if he was going near the university.  He said he did not go but he would make a stop at a road near it for us.  It was really nice of him to do that so we did make if home finally safe and sound.  On Saturday I went grocery shopping and did some work.  That afternoon one of my friends came over and we baked some cookies.  It was fun to hang out and make some very yummy cookies.  Sunday was just another work day, trying to get my reports done. 

This week I do not have any exciting plans so far but I might go down to the fan zone again to watch the All Blacks play the French.  Until next time have fun and smile :) 

Lack of Adventure

I am now going to start writing about the last week of break.  On Monday we left Franz Josef and headed for a long bus day to Queenstown.  (did you notice we did not get lost in Franz Josef, it would have been hard considering there were only three streets)  The first stop that the bus made that morning was not very far to a trail to the lake that we kayaked in the day before so everyone could see the reflection.  It was around a 30 min walk through a tree area and then we came to a dock that looked out onto the lake with the reflection of the mountains on it. 

We then all piled into the bus and continued our way down.  Another stop we made along the way was at a waterfall (I do not know the name of it sorry). 

Cam our bus driver told us to stare at one point on the waterfall for 30 seconds and then look to the rock next to it.  When you did this it looked like the rock was moving up.  I understand why this happens but it is still cool when it does.  We then got back onto the bus and continued making our way down to Queenstown.  One of the activities that we were told about that we could do was to go bungee jumping.  We were going to make a stop at the original buggy places and if anyone wanted to jump they could.  I decided that I would jump again.  I ended up being the only one from the bus jumping so they were all able to watch me jump.  I think I was a little more nerves this time because I knew what was coming and everyone was watching.  This jump was 43ft high.  It was really fun.

As you can see from this picture and I was told after I did a great swan dive off the edge.  After jumping the bus headed the rest of the way to Queenstown.  That night many people from the bus met up for pizza and drinks that night.  It was nice to be able to hang out with the people from our bus from all around the world.  After a while Ashley and I headed back to the backpackers.  The next morning, Tuesday, we had all day in Queenstown.  The original plan for the day was to go skydiving in the morning and then hang out in the afternoon.  We headed to the skydiving place around 8:30 and got there only to find out that due to wind they had put all flights on hold until 9 and they were going to check again so they told us to come back at 9:10.  We walked down to the water edge and walked around until 9:10. 

We then headed back up to the skydiving office to see if the hold had been taken off.  When we got there they said it had not been yet so we could reschedule for some other time.  We first thought that we would go back around 1ish.  We then walked around some of the shops.  After about 15min we decided that we would rather try to skydiving earlier so we went back for a third time and decided to rescued for 11:30.   After that we walked around more of the stores.  We walked back to the backpackers to drop off a couple things and then headed back to the skydiving office around 11:10 to see if the hold had been lifted.  The hold had been lifted so we walked around for a little longer and then headed back to the office.  We went in filled out paper work watched the video and was about to decided if we want to get photos of our skydive when one of the workers walked in and told us that the wind has picked up and they were going to have to cancel all flights for the day.  This was a disappointment because we really wanted to go skydiving.  We decided we should do some sort of activity in Queenstown so we went to an information center and asked what we should do.  We decided that we would go jet boating.  The lady who was booking it for us said that the company said that we were the only two signed up for that time and they need at least 4 people to do the trip.  She said that there was a good chance that two people would sing up so we should get to the dock about 10 min before the trip.  We went to a fish and chips shop on the water that had good food.  We then went to the jet boat place about 30 min before the trip was going to leave to see if anyone else had signed up and no one had but they told us to come back in 20 min to make sure.  We were a little disappointed because at this point it seemed that even though we were in the adventure capital of NZ we would not do any adventure.  We went to a bench on the water and sat there for a while waiting to go back to see if the trip was on.  We ended up losing track of time and only got there five min before the trip left instead of ten.   When we got there a group of four people had signed up so the trip was on.  They handed us huge black raincoats and life jackets, we put them on and then they had Ashley and I stand together for a photo. 

We then got on the boat and went off.  Jet boats were designed in NZ by a farmer, he build them so they could travel in shallow water.  These boats were also able to travel fast and make really sharp turns.  This made them into a tourist attraction also.  We went out onto the water and we did our first spin.  The driver said it was not going to be the fastest because the water was choppy from the wind.  I am glad the first spin was smaller because then I realized that I really did need to hold on tight during the spins.  We then headed across the water and into some of the rivers.  We did many spins along the way and had a great time out on the water.  After the boat ride Ashley and I went to the store and got some food that we were going to cook with two people from our bus.  We cooked and ate food and hung out.  After cleaning up we played skip-bo and Elise may have won but don’t tell anyone.  The next morning we got up early and headed to Dunedin.  We got to Dunedin around lunch time so we checked into our backpackers and ate some sandwiches and then headed out.  We went to an internet café to check our email and on the way out Ashley noticed a poster on the wall for Avenue Q.  On the way up to Dunedin Ashley and I listened to the songs from Avenue Q so the chance to see the show seemed like coincidence that we could not pass up.  On the poster it said the name of the theater so we went to an information center and asked them where the theater was and headed to the theater to see if we could get tickets for the show that night.  There were three sets of two seats available and the ones that we chose were front row just off center.  After getting the tickets we were excited to see the show that night.  We then headed over the Cadbury world factory for a tour.  Here we went around and saw many of their assembly lines where they make different packages of chocolate.  Throughout the tour we were asked questions and were rewarded for correct answers with some form of chocolate.   At the end of the tour there were two of the old Cadbury cars.

The end of the tour dropped us at the Cadbury store.  Throughout the tour many people were talking about the roses and Ashley and I did not know what they were so we each got one of each kind to try later.  We then headed back to the backpackers, ate dinner and got ready to go see Avenue Q.  I think it was a great atmosphere to see the show because most of the audience members were young adults.  It was also interesting because some of the songs reference American culture and things in NYC and Ashley and I were the only ones who laughed at those references.  It would have been cool if they had changed those references to things in NZ.  Over all it was a great experience and I am really glad we happened to go to that internet café and that Ashley saw the poster and there were still seats available.    The next morning we got up and got in the bus and headed up to Lake Tekapo.  On the way up the bus stopped at the Moeraki Boulders.  The Moeraki Bloders were very round rocks on the beach.  Some of them were cracked and looked like eggs.

We then continued our way up and happened to drive through was we think is Richie McCaw’s home town.  (for those who do not follow ruby he is the captain of the All Blacks)  They had painted these straw bales to show their support for the world cup. 

The next stop before Lake Tekapo was a hydro power plant.  The water was very blue. 

We were told that it was that blue because it is all from the glaciers so it is very pure.  We then stopped at Lake Pukaki.  From this lake you would be able to see Mount Cook if it was not cloudy .

Sadly when we were there the only clouds in the sky happen to be covering the peek.    We finally made it to Lake Tekapo around 3:30 that afternoon.  The backpackers was very conveniently placed.  It was right near the lake, a place to go sledding and ice-skating and a playground.  Ashley and I decided that we were going to walk over and see what the prices were for the sledding and ice-skating were but we got distracted first by the playground.  They had an elephant jungle gym like thing that we had to play on.  After many attempts and a couple of bruised knees we ended up with this photo.

We then went to look at the prices and decided that we would have more fun taking photos by the lakefront than sledding.  We had a lot of fun taking the photos and after many different photos we ended up with this great photo.

On the bus Ashley and I had signed up for a tour of the observatory.  We were being picked up down the street from our backpackers but when we were waiting we were starting to get cold so we did some jumping jacks.  They ended up getting us very warm.  We went to the office where we were meeting up with other people who were going on the trip, including our bus driver Cam and one of his friends Chris.  We were given big warm jackets to help keep us warm up at the observatory.  When we got to the observatory there were some people who worked there with telescopes to show us different things in the night sky.  My favorite part was seeing the southern sky including the southern cross.  It was sometimes confusing for me looking at the night sky because some of the constellations I could see looked upsidedown compaired to what I have seen in the northern sky.  Over all it was really interesting to be there looking at the sky. The next morning, Friday, we got back on the bus for the last time and headed up to CHCH. Ashely and I were dropped off not that far from campus and walked back to my flat.  We then made a shopping list for things that we were going to cook.  We then went the store and got a lot of food and then headed back.  We then spent the rest of the day in the kitchen cooking.  We started by boiling some potatoes for mashed potatoes that we were going to eat for dinner that night.  We then started making cookies. 

We continued to make many cookies, so many that I could not even stack them well on a plate

While in CHCH we did a lot of cooking.  We made over 100 cookies, mashed potatoes, chicken parm, and fried rice.  (I think we broke my burning evertything that is pasta and pasta sauce record, YAY)  When we were not cooking we were hanging out and cross stitching.  Sadly on Sunday evening Ashley had to leave and head back to Wellington.  Over all those three days were really fun and relaxing.

The two weeks I spent traveling around NZ were amazing.  They were really busy but full of many adventures.  I am now back to everyday life at uni.  I hope you enjoyed reading about these adventures.  Until next time have fun and smile :)

P.S. If you want to read what Ashley thought about break you can read it here at http://lifeinwindywelly.blogspot.com/