Sheree's Kiwi and Aussie Updates

2006-08-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

1) Anders and Marie (Norwegians) at my place
2) Goon bags ($12 4L bags of wine...provides the worst morning headache ever!) passed along the bus at International Pub Crawl
3) Katie, Andrea, Mossop and Jen at Hip-E Club
4) More pics from International Pub Crawl, Andrea and friends
5) Norwegian girls at my place

2006-08-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

Sports and costume parties
1 & 2) My black eye from an elbow to the face in soccer turned out handy when I had to dress up as a hostage for our quiz night group raising money for Unicamp for Kids
3) Mossop and Boysa's Rugby game in Cottlesloe
4) One of the soccer girls had a hero and villian dress up party and I was a last minute dragon (it was a weak costume cause I didn't have time!)

2006-08-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

Roomies:
1) Darren (left) and Ryan (right on the other side of Scottish random!) on a night out to see some local bands and a band from Melbourne
2) Ryan and I
3 & 4) Heather, Ryan's girlfriend, and I attacked Ryan's hair on a request for "something different"!!! He didn't originally want it short but with a slip of our scissors, he didn't have a choice.

2006-08-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

My house in Subiaco:
1) My room before I painted it
2) A little gathering of International Students in my backyard
3) My room after I painted it
4) The front entrance way...notice the broken and cracked wall and arch!

2006-08-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

Perth:
We were picked up at the airport just before midnight by Andrea’s 2 roommates Alex (Mossop) and Mike (Woodsy). They are great fun and took us on a Perth tour the next morning ending at a pub in Cottlesloe right on the beach, The Ocean Beach Hotel (OBH), which was packed in the afternoon for what the Aussies call “Sunday Sessions”. Perth is in a great little city and UWA is in a prime location bordering the Swan River. The river is home to dolphins, pelicans, black swans and other fascinating creatures and there is a great running path along the river into the city. The white sandy beaches and turquoise ocean in Cott is only about half an hour from Uni but you have to go a bit further north for good surf which is on my list of things to do in the near future. It’s a bit windy and rainy in the winter but I still plan to pull out my wetsuit and suck up the cold to get a few good surfing sessions in! After being Andrea’s couch bandit for a week I moved into my new shack in Subiaco. Subi is a great central location between the city and the Uni. It takes me 10 min bus and bike ride to Uni and a bit longer into the city but daytime transportation is great. It’s a little out of the way at night because the latest the buses/trains run is around midnight but I just bought some bike lights so I’ll be able to get around easily and now safely. After 2 weeks of painting, cleaning and more cleaning, I had my first house warming this past weekend which was fun but small because half of the people where still hung-over from the river cruise the night before so it was mainly the European/Scandinavian International students who are great fun. We headed out to the Subi clubs/bars later on which are apparently upper-class because everyone was in dresses and suits (not our student affordable scene so we won’t be going out in Subi very often). I’m joining the UWA women’s soccer team for their last few games before the finals because they invited me to be on their first team. It looks like the mens and ladies teams have a blast together on different pub crawls and such so I’m looking forward to meeting some locals and playing on a team again. I am in week 3 of classes but it hasn’t really started getting busy yet so I thought there was no point in rushing into things and starting school work just yet! I’m taking Neuromuscular Biomechanics, Bioenergetics, Skills Acquisition and Motor Skills and Coaching Psych, all of which are pretty interesting and applicable for my coaching and physio careers. I’ve been on the job search and may start working in a café close to Uni called Domes…I was rejected at many restaurants because I have never worked in a restaurant before but if I can handle coaching 20+ kids at a time I think I can handle making a coffee and sandwich so my fingers are crossed!
1)UWA Clock Tower...there are clock towers everywhere in Australia!
2) Marie and Lene, 2 Norwegian girls looking over South Perth from Kings Park
3) Woodsy, Mossop and Andrea looking over Perth city from Kings Park
4) Jen (Montreal) and Andrea on Cott Beach
5) Cott Beach

2006-08-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

Brisbane and the Train Ride:

We had one fun final night in Airlie Beach and then headed down the coast via public train. Proserpine to Brisbane on the train takes 17.5 hrs, DO NOT RIDE IT EVER!!! It turned out to be filled with very poor, dirty people and the train itself was far from clean. Our seats had baby food smeared everywhere, a bag of squished rotten bananas and other trash under the seats, and according to a nice elderly couple we met, there was a mother picking nits out of her child’s hair one cart up from us. I was disgusted and we considered buying anti-lice shampoo in Brisbane but after clean showers at our hostel we were feeling better. I ran into Marie and Kari, two of the Norwegian girls from Auckland who I hiked the Tongariro Crossing with, another pleasant surprise and spent one final night with them (it was quite a coincidence because I couldn’t make their going away party in Auckland because I was finishing up my research presentation so we had our own party). The next day, Rob (from Toronto doing his masters in Brisbane) took Andrea and I around Brisbane, it was raining for the first time in a long stretch of sunshine though, so sightseeing was not great. I plan to stop through Brisbane again on my way to Fraser Island in December when the weather is more pleasant.

2006-08-03T01:04:00.000-07:00

1) Parrots from South Molle Island (there are millions of these little guys in Perth and they are really loud)
2) Relaxing on the boat after Whitehaven Beach. Right to Left: Dan and Sara, Andrea, Gerard (Irish), Sadie, Ben(Irish)...???
3) The crazy Czech chick pretending she is a mole, who knows!?!
4) Not one of my most flattering pictures but I had a parrot on my arm!
5) The ginormous iguana that scared me half to death
6) Whitehaven Beach
7) Sara, Andrea and I on Whitehaven (I match the sand compared to these two!)

2006-08-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

Whitsundays

The apparent 3-day sail trip with 20 people on the Pride of Airlie boat turned out to be a 2-day sail with about 60 people and was a great party atmosphere after the initial shock of boarding the boat late afternoon and going straight to the South Molle Island Resort. It was a nice family resort with a pool and hot tub, golf course, sport courts, a bar and great snorkelling about a 10min walk from the resort. Koala, the company that owned the Pride of Airlie, owned the rundown part of the resort with their own hostel-like dorm rooms and bar where everyone on the boat spent both 2 nights partying before we got onto the rockiest boat I have ever been on. We met a couple from Kamloops (Dan and Sara) and another from Toronto (Rob and Leslie) and many other International travellers. The Irish boys we met were great fun and boy can they drink and dance! There was a girl from Czech who kept the party going 24/7, finishing off a 26er every morning on the boat and loving every minute of life. She was definitely the craziest person I have ever met but she made the trip very memorable! The second day on the boat there were some spewers at the back of the boat so I stayed up near the front with those on the verge of spewing loving every minute of the waves splashing and rain! The sun came out just on time when we arrived at Whitehaven Beach where the sand is so white and fine that it cleans jewellery. I swam to shore then went into the bush looking for the toilets when I heard movement in the tree 3m from me. A huge iguana climbed down the tree right in front of me and I froze then ran for the camera and friends to protect me! After some beach soccer with the boys, and swimming in the clear turquoise water, we had to return to the boat for lunch. I was mad that I didn’t have time to go snorkelling because as soon as I got on the boat I saw 2 turtles where I was going to go. We returned to the resort and everyone played golf while I went snorkelling just off the shore looking for as many chances to see a turtle because there was only one more opportunity on the third day but I did not get lucky! The third day was rough for many more people after 2 heavy drinking games but I was chipper and ready to see some turtles! We went snorkelling in a well-known location of the Great Barrier Reef and I took some underwater pictures of fluorescent coral and fish. The sun wasn’t out so I don’t know how great they will turn out but it was fun chasing fish as deep as I could go until I got too close to the coral that really hurts and cuts when you touch it. When I was forced to return to the boat because all the others were too cold and I couldn’t be out alone, I stayed in the water near the boat where people were feeding bread to these huge flat fish and hoped a turtle would pass by. I felt some stinging on my foot and arm and when I caught a glimpse of a large enough jelly fish to scare me I swam faster than ever and stayed out of the water for the rest of the day…well we sailed back to shore so I didn’t have any opportunity but I was scared for my life. Poisonous jelly fish, poisonous spiders, and sharks are all on the top of my fears list.

1) South Molle Island Resort at night, the pool was freezing!
2)The view from the Resort, you can't see the colourful parrots in the trees but you could sure hear them!
3) The sunset view from the Resort

2006-08-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

Airlie Beach

I ended up throwing away half of my possessions (including my jacket which was old and I didn’t think I would need one in Perth…very wrong!!!) and other old clothes and things I did not “need” to reduce our weight. Our travel agent from Student Flights (do NOT trust their knowledge!) misinformed us about weight restrictions flying to Proserpine Airport with Jet Star so Steve, a nice English lad, pretended he was with us so we could share his weight allowance. We arrived in the dark exiting the plane on a staircase onto a little tarmac where there are apparently heaps of kangaroos during the day so I still haven’t seen one! The airport was a tiny building and departing patrons were lined up outside to board while a tractor brought our baggage to us so everyone could fight over it all at once. We stayed at Beaches, a clean hostel but our room was right above their bar and the last couple World Cup games were playing everynight so the bar was always full and loud which was fine because we didn’t sleep very much anyways. The night of the final game the rule of the Beaches bar was that to watch the 5am game on their big screen you had to be at the bar before 3am so most people were there from early evening until 7am because of overtime. I tried to stay up but ended up just watching the last bit in our hostel room after sleeping through the noise keeping everyone else up all night…I’m very thankful to be able to sleep in any environment when I’m tired! While I was on my way to the internet café to tell Caitlin where on the entire East Coast of Oz I was, she was walking out of the kitchen as I was walking by and called out my name. It was so good to see a familiar face and we only had less than an hour together but it was a fun hour! The weather was only nice the day we left on the sail trip and there is not very much to do on rainy days in Airlie, which is unfortunate but we did get a few warm rays on the boat.

1) The English lads Steve, Tom (his roommate) and I at the Beaches bar
2) Andrea and I at Morocco's on our Whitsunday sail reunion the night we came back from the Whitsunday sail in Airlie
3) View of the Ocean from Airlie Beach
4) The Airlie Lagoon (often referred to as the gene pool due to it's reputation for being the location of intoxicated promiscuous activities), but it was very pretty!

2006-08-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

Goodbye New Zealand, Back in Australia:

Sydney- Once again my awesome luck delayed my flight from Auckland by 4hrs. After Sandra and Amy took me to the airport at 2am so we could pull one last all-nighter, my plane didn’t depart until 10am. The positive was that my terrible luck brought about a fun goodbye with Sandra, my Danish sister/roommate, after realizing how we could have slept and had a normal night. Andrea, also from SFU going to Perth, waited 5hrs for me at the Sydney airport because we planned to travel together before school. We made it to Mia and Neeraj’s place, then headed out to run some errands such as planning our trip very last minute! Apparently in Oz it is a bad idea to book flights closer to the date because prices increase, especially during school holidays! That night we went to a German restaurant, Lowenbrau with Neeraj, Mia and her friend Trish. The food wasn’t great probably because I’m not too keen on sausages due to the disgusting New Zealand “lamb-flour-who knows what’s in them” sausages but they made up for their food with a cute elderly live German band. Trish was a great tour guide of the Opera House and gave us a little tour of the Rocks around the harbour after dinner. The next night after a long day of more trip preparations, Andrea and I stopped by the Lansdowne pub for a drink after pizza dinner while Neeraj packed for Chicago. We accepted an offer from a guy who worked for a promotions company to drive around in a limo tasting beer for 15 minutes. They had already taken 3 rounds of 5 people so we figured it was safe even though it sounded odd. We convinced 3 others: Paul, Brad and Vanessa, to come along for the ride and after our ride, we were offered to carry on to the next location, a gay bar on Oxford Street. Paul was in his glory because he is gay and the rest of us danced up a storm. I would have to say it was one of the best times I’ve had on a “quiet pub night” that turned out to be a random escapade!

1) Mia and Neeraj (Getting married Oct. 18th!!!) with Andrea and I
2) Vanesa, Paul, and Brad taking Andrea and I to our first gay bar experience on Oxford Street

2006-08-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

Couples and friends I hope to see together forever:
1) Obviously my wives, Em couldn't make it in this one!
2) Steph (Canadian who I will live with if I go to postgrad school in Toronto) and Raveen (Kiwi)
3) Just a fun shot of Vane and I at the Casino bar
4) Anne (Dutch who will be coming to Canada to visit Eric) and Eric (Toronto)

2006-08-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

Good times, fun people:

2006-08-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

Second formal dinner pictures and a spoon session after the feast:
1) The Islander boys, who am I going to wake up for now???

2) My 3 Wives Steph, Vane and Em! The long distance relationship will be tough but we'll pull through it!

4) The after-spoon in my bed with Steph, Vane and Anne

4) A little Magnum/Blue Steel action!

2006-07-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

'

1) Mission Bay with Steph, Vane and Lizzi for one last Movenpick experience
2) View of Auckland city from Mount Eden (a dormant volcano)

2006-07-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

Final Days in Auckland:
1)Tamaki Campus at Uni of Auckland

2) Takapuna Beach with Kirsten

3 & 4) Auckland city during the day on the ferry ride over to the North Shore and at night returning

2006-05-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday Night in Auckland:

The Zoolander "Magnum" posers: Raveen(left), Caleb and Jason before we headed out to Degree in the Viaduct (downtown) having a little pre-party in my room: Vanesa (from Peru...you can count on her to keep your glass full at the bar, a great party animal!), Addy (States) and Steph (Toronto...will visit her for sure when I get home, great laugh!):
Out for shisha (mint this particular time I think) at the Little Turkish Cafe on K Road (the hippie road where you find very interesting people going to interesting bars and cute second hand stores!)- Balwin, Anne, Lizzi, Jim, Eric and Sandra (my roommate):

2006-05-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

The Chocolate Boutique in Parnell: Balwin and Eric with their chocolate quadruplicious desert! chocolate ice cream and chocolate mousse with hard chocolate covering, chocolate mud cake, chocolate truffles, chocolate fudge to pour over everything and a side of whip cream! The ladies had to help them finish of course! The three little pigs (well not so little after this chocolate meal!):

2006-04-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

April 22nd- Day 3 (8.8km from Panekire Hut to Onepoto Hut). The first part of the hike was along the mountain ridge and you can see the mountain peak in the first picture where we left fairly early in the morning after watching the most fascinating sunrise. Along the horizon, the deep red, orange and yellow colours appears to disintegrate the bottom of the clouds at 6am. The clouds looked like they were made of sand which was slowly falling from the sky in wisps and after half an hour of watching the clouds shrinking, they had for the most part disappeared. We had to hike quickly to get to the water taxi at 11:30 instead of 1:00 so that they could pick Auri up and we would still have time to drive Auri to Rotorua to catch her bus to Auckland. Robin and I were supposed to carry on back to Gisborne on the East Coast but after 3 days of smelly hiking and no warm showers, I decided to return to IH and get clean. After a week of travelling and seeing amazing scenery, I figured I would enjoy Gisborne and East Cape's sunrise (furthest point east in NZ) more if I travelled there another time. So the only parts of NZ that I still have on my list of things to see are: Rotorua (mud pools, geysers, and so many natural hot springs...the whole city smells of sulfur and driving through I felt like I was driving through an active volcano!), and the Northern East Coast to be amoung the first in the world to see the sunrise!...and if I have time go up north again but along the west coast to see the gigantic Kauri trees.

2006-04-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

April 21st- End of Day 2 at Panekire Hut (19.7km, 8.5 hrs half of which was a climb to the peak= exhausted!): Auri and I had left the first hut after Robin because we wanted to sleep in longer and Robin wanted to make sure she left herself enough time to complete the 9 hour trek. Auri and I never passed Robin and reached the midway hut at around noon to find that she must have taken the hour waterfall extra hike. When Robin returned about an hour later, we had little time to spare to start the hike if we wanted to get to the hut before sunset. We convinced Auri not to continue (very hard because she's one of the strongest minded people in the world who could do anything if she tried!) because she had hurt her ankle in the 5 hour morning trek and 4 hours of uphill climbing was asking for more trouble. We left Auri with most of our belongings (thank goodness or I don't know how long the rest of the hike would have taken!) at the mid-way hut and I made it to the peak hut half running to make sure I got there for sunset in just over 3 hours. After doing an additional hour hike and not having time for a long break, Robin was unsure how she was going to manage the climb so when I got to the peak hut I dropped my pack and ran back to make sure she was ok. I was a little worried that she had turned around at the beginning of the climb and that I wouldn't encounter anyone and then not know if she had turned back or got lost and be worried sick all night and throughout my day 3 hike. However, after about 25 minutes of running and calling out her name, I had almost decided that she had turned back, I looked up and we both screamed because we weren't expecting to see another human being on the deserted track! She was determined to carry her pack to the peak so I ran back to make sure I caught the sunset and she made it just as the sun was setting which was a great windup to a scenic day! I was surprisingly not sore but we encountered a nice stranger staying in the hut who saw me giving Robin a massage and thought he should give me some pointers because he had taken a course. We both ended up getting awesome massages as he taught me some techniques, most of which I pretended not to know of so that he had to show me! We were hiking along mountain ridges for quite some time which gave us 2 awesome views. This is the view looking away from the lake, on the other side of the mountain side. This is the lake view from the Panekire Hut. The sun and moving clouds (so windy up there!) together made constant kodac moments, it was worth the 4 hour climb!

2006-04-29T01:44:00.000-07:00

April 20th- The beginning of our 3 day hike around Lake Waikaremoana: We took a water taxi to the opposite side of the lake where we started our 14.2 km first day hike at 1pm and reached our first hut (Marauiti Hut) as the sun was setting. We were semi-prepared as far as clothing goes after all purchasing 1 thermal and doing laundry the night before at a hostel in Napier to find that the dryer didn't work! Fortunately the weather was on our side the whole 3 days and the damp clothes had plenty of time to dry on the outside of our packs! I was the most experienced hiker of the 3 of us (the longest I have ever hiked straight is 6.5 hours on the Tongariro Crossing!) so we had no clue what to bring or expect and I was designated the communal carrier along with my own necessities because I'm "Coach"! We had enough food to last us a week (of course we picked healthy food like apples and carrots which weighed a ton) and water supply to last us 2 weeks! We ate and drank as much as we could on the first night so that we lightened our loads reducing our water weight from 5L to 3.5L! It was quite funny for me but Auri and Robin did not find their aches and pains quite as amusing and we had been told that the rainwater at the huts was not safe to drink. The huts did not have electricity so we ate a candlelight dinner and were sound asleep by 8:30 (without showering or lake swimming because it was too cold after sunset, which was disgusting!). The stars were stunning when I woke up to rid myself of the gallons of water I drank before bed. Without the kitchen candlelight or torches (flightlight) or city lights nearby there appeared to be twice as many stars as usual. The huts were filled with 18 smelly hikers, most of which were on day 4 finishing their hike, and everyone knows how much I love stinky sleeping breath! I forced myself away from the star gazing in fresh air back into the smelly hut to go back to bed because I needed sleep for the 19.7 km hike the following day. Auri (long-legged speedster) slipped on a rock which almost got me several times, and landed on her ankle. She's tough and made it to the first hut without complaints and we found some anti-inflammatories and cream that seemed to help her out. I am a little rusty in my injury assessments so I wrapped her ankle with my tensor bandage (I was so proud that I had remembered to bring the only piece of first aid equipment I owned!) for the second day of hiking. My legs got attacked by flax leaves which cut you if you run by them against their grain. Somehow I was cut several times and no one else even felt them but that was the extent of my war wounds!
A swan taking a bath near the first hut:

2006-04-29T01:19:00.000-07:00

April 19th- Te Mata peak with a great view of Havelock North just outside of Napier. The rock formations were crazy, and these particular mountains (or hills with peaks because they weren't very tall) looked as though grass had been poured along the peaks and streamed down both sides of the mountains like a blanket.The sunset on Te Mata peak was the most powerful sunset from a mountain view that I have ever seen. Auri's wingspan added a nice touch to the view!

2006-04-29T00:08:00.000-07:00

April 19- Visiting the MacLennans and Bennets in Waipukurau (just south of Napier) for afternoon tea and Ian Maclennan 83rd birthday. In picture from left to right: Anna ( Ian's daughter), Ian and Adrienne, Anna's 2 sons, Bill and Elizabeth(Ian's sister) Bennet, and me! I also stayed with Sheena (Bill and Elizabeth's daughter) and her family in Wellington for 2 days which was a pleasant visit. The relation goes back 5 generations I think! My grandma's grandfather moved from Scotland to Salt Spring. Ian and Elizabeth's grandfather moved from Scottland to New Zealand. The relation isn't very close but it is nice to visit rellies in New Zealand. I just had dinner last night with Robyn (Bill and Elizabeth's daughter) and Margaret (Ian's daughter) in Ponsonby at Robyn's house about half and hour walk from my hostel. I have appreciated the great company, delicious meals, and many welcoming offers from all my rellies here in New Zealand. April 19th- Auri and Robin found a duck at a toilet stop driving back to Napier from Waipukurau...it must have been the tea that made them overly excited to take pictures with the big yellow duck!

2006-04-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

April 18th- Longest Place Name in the World in Porangahau (An older version of the sign I saw on a sweet as postcard had a Guiness Book of Records on it but I didn't see it on this sign). Auri compared her 6'5" height to the length of the sign as we slowly made our way into Napier in Hawke's Bay. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu means: the hill of which Tamatea, the chief of great physical stature and renown, played a lament on his flute ot the memory of his brother. Taumata (it's abbreviation) means the summit, a Maori name for a hill. April 18th: The sunset coloured the sky with a pink and purple haze on our drive to Napier from Wellington. Unfortunately my camera did not reproduce the beauty of the sunset but it did a great job capturing my lioness hair! April 18th- The Central/Eastern highway from Wellington to Napier was a pleasant country-side drive, we even saw some yellow leaves meaning autumn is on it's way. The rolling hills spotted with sheep and cattle, and a mirror pond in the middle of nowhere gave this particular area a peaceful, untouched look.

2006-04-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

April 17: City of Wellington (New Zealand's capital) from Mt Victoria lookout.April 17th: Auri and I hiked along the Southern Bays in Wellington from Tarakena Bay (next to Palmer Bay) to Breaker Bay. This is a picture of Point Dorset and the beach at Breaker Bay.
Same place but from a different view, too gorgeous to not include it!

2006-04-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

April 16th: Walking through the Pukekura Park gardens in New Plymouth. April 15th: View of Mount Taranaki driving into New Plymouth. April 15th: 3 Sisters by the mouth of Tongaporutu River...Sorry this update is out of order, I'm computer challenged!

2006-04-24T01:18:00.000-07:00

The beginning of mid-semester break trip with Auri and Robin (April 14th-22nd):

april 15th- Exploring caves by the 3 Sisters ( 3 huge lone-standing rocks) in Tongaporutu just by the mouth of the river on the way to New Plymouth. They were very dark and scary without a torch (flashlight) but since there is nothing in New Zealand to be scared of in caves that are usually filled with water, besides a few crabs and not knowing when the tide comes in, it was fun. Auri was the only one who didn't get her shorts drenched because her legs are twice as long as mine and Robin's and we didn't have time to wait for the tide to go out.April 15th- Mokau Beach: Auri and Robin surfing while we stopped for a quick swim driving south from Waitomo to New Plymouth along the West Coast of the North Island.
April 15th- Waitomo Glow Worm Caves: We took a tour of the limestone caves (Waitomo used to be covered by the ocean and limestone is created from sea creature sediments, so fossils and calcium carbonate over millions of years forming limestone rock), which have been shaped by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions pushing the limestone up from the sea floor and allowing water to flow into the cracks, dissolving and carving out the caves. Stalactites (hang down from the cave ceiling like those shown in the picture below) and stalagmites (grow up from the cave floor where there was not water) are formed from water dripping from the roof leaving deposits of crystalline calcium carbonate which accumulates making a tube-like sculpture hanging from the ceiling. Where the water drops from the stalactites, it still contains sediments of calcium carbonate forming stalagmites. It takes approximately 100 years to form 1 cubic cm of stalactite. After the dry part of the tour, we hopped in a row boat and the tour guide lead us through the dark caves using ropes to navigate us as we gazed at the millions of glow worms scattered all over the ceiling. Glow worms in their larvae stage put down sticky lines to trap insects to feed. They emit a bluish light to attract food which I believe is created from a chemical reaction from digestion which leaves a majestical, starry night-like scene on the roofs of the humid dark areas of the caves.

2006-04-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

Bay of Islands trip April 7-10: Beach in Russell just out of Paihia (3 hours North of Auckland).

Catamaran sailboat: Bay of Islands day tour with Susan (left), Balwin, Dieter, Auri, me, Anne, and Alex
Eric and I went rock climbing to get to a really neat cave in Russell, a little town just out of Paihia.
The end of a long day sailing around the 144 Islands in the Bay of Islands where we saw dolphins right under us on the trampoline part of the catamaran, stopped to kayak/swim at a gorgeous beach, and sailed in the calm and crazy waves of the Pacific Ocean.

2006-04-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

Cape Reinga: the Northern tip of the North Island about 7 hours North of Auckland. Auri, Anne and I left Eric and Balwin and went on a day road trip from the Bay of Islands (Paihia) to Cape Reinga. I am only 11222km away from home in these pictures!

Picture 1: Cape Reinga Lighthouse

Picture 2: Where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet (picture is taken from the lighthouse). This is sacred Maori land: On death, the Maori believe that the spirit travels to the Pohutukawa tree which sits on the very tip of Cape Reinga, at the top of the North Island - as far as man may go in New Zealand. The spirit then slides down a root of the Pohutukawa, to the sea below. The spirit emerges onto Ohaua, which is the highest tip of the Three Kings Islands, for a final farewell before rejoining the ancestors (I overheard a tour guide's explanation so don't take my word for it!).

Picture 3: Cape Reinga view, couldn't capture half of the beauty!

2006-03-30T00:14:00.000-08:00

Coromandel Peninsula (Weekend of March 25/26th)

Cathedral Cove beach near Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga because Wh is pronounced F...I just learned that last weekend after having all the Kiwis laugh everytime I try and pronounce the towns around here!)
Our first car rented from "Priority" didn't last 5 minutes on the way to the Coromandel Peninsula before the door fell off while we were driving!

Hahei Beach on Saturday near Hot Water Beach where the weather did not cooperate enough to allow us to dig our own hot spas. We arrived Sunday (March 26th) morning to dig our hole right on the Pacific Ocean's edge when the tide was supposed to be out but the crazy strong winds kept the tide in so we couldn't get to the boiling hot sand about 5 m from the shore line.

We didn't have the best weather on Sunday of our 2 day trip to Coromandel so Anne and Auri were trying to see a view through the rain and really strong wind at a scenic lookout on the drive home!

2006-03-29T23:53:00.000-08:00

Right before the 45 second freefall, Thea(Norwegian) and Dieter(German) get ready
Robin(Ontario) skydiving in Taupo
Left to right: Eric(Toronto), Josh(Kiwi), Auri(Dutch), Isei(Fijian), Liz(Kiwi), Robin(Ontario)
Ready to dive!

2006-03-29T23:36:00.000-08:00

left to right: Isei(Fijian), Anne(Dutch), Dieter(German), Eric(Toronto), Auri(Dutch), me, Josh(Kiwi) out for drinks in Taupo
Anne, Auri and me in natural hot springs on the river's edge in Taupo
Marie, Thea, and Kari (Norwegians) and I after our 6.5 hr Tongariro Crossing hike...blister mania!
Emerald Lake about 3 hours into the Tongariro Crossing hike

2006-03-22T23:50:00.000-08:00

Tongariro Crossing: 1 hour south of Taupo (Lake Taupo is the biggest lake in NZ) there is an amazing 6-8hr hike if you are lucky enough to have the weather on your side! Thirteen friends and I filled our 8 seater van and 5 seat car, yes I did my math correctly it was a squishy 4 hr drive, and arrived in Taupo at midnight on St. Pattys. Josh, a friend from IH, has a sister in Taupo who kindly let us cram into her flat but the 3 smart Norwegian girls (Thea, Marie and Kari) were smart enough to stay at a hostel! 6 of us (Dieter-German, Anne-Dutch, and 3 Norwegian girls) set off to do the Tongariro Crossing early while the others stayed in Taupo to skydive on Saturday morning. The weather turned out to be gorgeous once the sun broke through the clouds and we finished our fairly difficult hike through Volcanic craters in 6.5 hrs. After a Sat night out in Taupo and a short sleep in the van (definitely more comfortable than the floor!), I went with the hikers to do our 12000 ft skydive. The weather was once again cooperating with us which was fortunate because the Saturday skydivers were pushed back hours because of wind and clouds and we had to leave Taupo to return the van on time. It was an amazing 45 sec freefall and then a couple minutes floating with a parachute before approaching the ground way faster than expected! I was strapped so tight to my experienced tandem jumper and I had total faith in his confidence so I was disappointed when I didn't get the same adrenaline rush as in bungy jumping and canyon swinging. I have to admit that tried to make myself a little more scared while I was hanging out of the plane (attached so tight to my guide but thinking "what if" questions!) and he was still sitting on the edge. I was only in that position for about 2 seconds so there wasn't enough time to pysc myself out and then it was pure exhilaration as we picked up speed getting closer and closer to the ground before the chute was pulled. The view of Taupo from up there was amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better day to skydive. It is definately an experience that has to be completed before you are 75...Mom, Dad?!? We had just enough time to check out the hot springs which were a perfect hot tub temperature before we headed back to Auckland. Driving on the left side really isn't that hard either!

2006-03-13T23:45:00.000-08:00

Auckland Uni Canoe Club: I joined this white water kayaking team “A drinking team with paddling problems” because they go places far away from Auckland so that I see more of the North Island, and they know how to have a good time! I went to Puhoi to practice flatwater paddling, which ended up in crazy mud fights and capsizing anyone still in a kayak. The clubs boats are mostly little small surfing kayaks made for white water waves and are very hard to steer. We had a BBQ (every BBQ means disgusting sausages wrapped in a piece of bread with onions if you’re lucky!) at a pub after the full day of kayaking and then went to a toga party, which summed up a great day to get to know everyone (200+) in the club! I went to a roll practice at an outdoor covered pool and saw a swim team finishing up their practice, which made me miss my biggest family (Sunfish) back home. The experienced kayakers taught us what to do when you flip upside down in a kayak, which I can now do but not with confidence. This weekend we went to kayak down the Fuljames Wave near Taupo, about 3 hours south of Auckland unless you are travelling in a Booze Bus that stops at pubs on the way there! We arrived at a Maori reserve, our campground for the weekend, to set up tents in the dark before going back to partying with the smart kayakers who arrived in daylight and had their tents already set up. Saturday morning I did my first kayaking run while the river water level was high and the rapids were flowing fast. As comfortable as I am in water, it was by far the scariest thing I have done in a long time.

We had a ratio of 1 instructor, most of which had already drank a few wobbly pops by mid morning if they weren’t already too hungover from Friday night, to 2-5 beginners. If we capsized (flipped), we were supposed to wait until an instructor came to T-rescue us (put their boat perpendicular to ours so that we could use their boat to flip ourselves over without having to swim). If we did swim (which means break the seal of the spray skirt to let yourself out of the kayak) then we owed the instructor that took us to shore a beer. If we lost our paddle and kayak that would be 2 more beers. So the whole idea was to stay upside down in the water for as long as it took an instructor to get to you. Let me tell you, 10 seconds feels like eternity down there and one girl won a prize for waiting over half a minute to be T-rescued! I swam twice and was T-rescued 3 times, but fortunately my instructor was the only one not drinking because he was DD for the bus into Taupo so I only owed him Gingerbeer (NZ soda)! I decided to go on a big raft, less work and far less scary, that afternoon on the second run before we headed into Taupo for the beginning of another long night of partying. We returned to our campground, after stuffing 30+ people into the 3 buses, to a dance party in a huge tent we set up with a DJ and everything. The next morning was rough for everyone, mainly the instructors who did not have to buy a single drink all night, and although it was pouring rain we went on another morning run. The water was much less intimidating (I made it down the river without even flipping once!) and we stopped at thermal pools along the way, which was amazing. Since New Zealand sits on the border of tectonic plates there are hot springs all over the North Island. I’m not sure how it works but the pools were perfect hot tub temperatures and the rocks along the rivers edge were burning hot. We got back to Auckland at 2am Monday morning after unloading the trailers so it was nice to not have Monday classes. Joining the canoe club is definitely worth it for the Fuljames trip alone and I plan on going to Rangataiki in 2 weekends for another trip. Next weekend I’m heading back to Taupo to go skydiving with 11 friends…so excited!

2006-03-07T01:07:00.000-08:00

O-Week Pictures

2006-03-07T00:47:00.000-08:00

O-week at the University of Auckland: I moved into a twin deluxe room at International House (IH) on Feb.18th after some fast rearranging of bed placements. I had checked out the double dorm rooms and cafeteria before signing a contract late January because I was terrified of the meal plan idea and sharing a room but the residence is close to the city so I made a quick decision and then took off on the Kiwi Bus! When I walked in my room on Feb.18th to find 2 single beds, side by side, I almost had a heart attack! Ann Dorey helped me rearrange the rooms so that I now have my bed in a tiny room with a bathroom attached. Sandra, my roommate from Denmark (she’s awesome and we get along great!) has her bed and desk in the huge room but I have to go through her room to get out of our room. My desk/office is on the other side of her room. I can’t say much for the engineers of our building but the people living here are friendly and great company. I have already started to detest the catered food, which is expected but have planned to be away most weekends so I should survive! Orientation Week started with a Maori welcome (Maori are the native New Zealanders) which was a great experience…and pretty scary at the same time. They did their cultural warrior-like welcome where they charged at us half naked with beady eyes and weapons until our assigned chief accepted a fern to symbolize our “coming in peace”. I had problems with class enrolment, still am only enrolled in 3 papers (courses) but will hopefully be enrolled in the 4th soon, so I missed the Auckland Museum tour, but of course I made it to the New Zealand sports introduction. I had learned the rules of touch rugby on the Kiwi bus and ended up being one of the team coaches because none of the international students knew the rules. I became well known as the Canadian girl who knows sports and have kept up my reputation playing volleyball at IH with the Asian guys whenever I have time because they play every night! So I am trying my best to give Canada a good name for sports but I can’t say I have done my share to make us look good in academics. I am getting better now that we’re in the second week, meaning I have now read 6 pages in 1 of my text books, but I’m starting to feel the weight of assignments and lab reports building up so I’ll get on top of my school work soon enough! To carry on with O-Week events which are totally out of order because it happened way too long ago, I toured the University Marae (the Maori sacred house), went to Rainbows End (like a small Playland), went bowling and to laser strike, spent a day at the beach, went on an IH pub crawl around downtown Auckland (there is only 1 main street, so we walked instead of bussed along Queen Street and the Viaduct). Then the next night I went to an International Pub Night dressed in Canadian costume (thanks to my siblings for the coolest Canadian costume and making me look ridiculous!!!). We had a quiz night through the University and another at IH. There were concerts put on pretty much everyday in the Quad at Uni, which is the main common area, and the bands were great and so were the beverages! The atmosphere at Auckland Uni is much more friendly than at SFU because people actually stop to chat for more than a few seconds before running off to class! I went to a Starlight Symphony laser/firework show in the Auckland Domain (the park that I run in right beside the Grafton campus about 10 minutes from my rez), which was pretty good for being put on in New Zealand with a crowd that seemed to consist of about half the population in Auckland! We went to Rangitoto Island, a dormant volcano a short ferry ride from Auckland city, and hiked up to the top, explored the pitch black lava caves with out flashlights, and inhaled enough volcanic rock dust to last me a lifetime! We had a formal dinner and a toga party at IH, and then I had another toga party the next night with my canoe club so I am now a practiced toga dresser! That pretty much sums up my 2 weeks of a lot of meeting people, keeping busy exploring bars and pubs (getting to know the best parts of Auckland!), being quizzed on my Canadian culture and proving my Canadian athleticism, and now a great need for recovering and catching up on sleep and schoolwork!

2006-03-05T03:36:00.000-08:00

Lake Pukaki: on the way to Christchurch from Queenstown we stopped for lunch at this overwhelmingly beautiful turquoise clear lake. In the background we had a clear view of the highest mountain in New Zealand, Mt Cook.

2006-03-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

Milford Sound (Also known as Piopiotahi is North from Te Anau in the Fiordland National Park. It is the most famous of the fiords, which means glaciers from the mountains have made valleys, which are now filled by the Tasman Sea.): I went on a cruise boat the first of my 2 days in my favourite scenic location of the entire South Island. The captain told us to go out on the deck if we wanted a “little” spray because he was going to get “close” to a waterfall. Of course, I was keen to be “close” to a waterfall, but I did not expect to get absolutely soaked to the bone! The weather was not great so I was so glad that I had booked a night at Milford Sound Lodge, the only hostel in the town which consisted of 1 restaurant/pub about 10 minutes away from the hostel and 1 gas station! The power shut off at 11pm and turned on at 6:30am, so I got ready for my Rosco’s Sunriser Kayak Trip in the dark without a flashlight after an amazing sleep in a 4 person dorm room which I had all to myself! The weather was awesome, the water was calm, and our guide was so cute so I couldn’t have asked for a better day to kayak. We saw a few seals on the shore about a meter away from our boats, which was exciting, but no dolphins. I caught the Kiwi bus back to Queenstown that afternoon to finish my bottom bus tour.

2006-03-05T03:23:00.000-08:00

Te Anau (South-West in the South Island): I went for a run around a small portion of the largest lake in the South Island, Lake Te Anau, wishing that I had enough time to do the 4 day Kepler Track. The glow worm cave tours were all booked up so I had my first quiet early night and woke up to see a full rainbow across the lake before leaving to travel deep into the fiords towards Milford Sound.

2006-03-05T03:09:00.000-08:00

Stewart Island (the Anchor of NZ according to a Maori tale): Similar to the Gulf Islands in BC, Stewart Island has a quiet chillax atmosphere and gorgeous scenic hikes. I flew from Invercargill and of course had flight problems with my good flight luck! It was the first time in many months that fog had been too thick to postpone flights but I finally made it to the Island after a 4 hour wait! Our driver, Bloke took us to Bluff, the most Southern point of the South Island while our bus waited to drop me off and pick up the people stuck on the Island so that made the wait a little more fun! I did as many hikes as I could in 2 days around the Island by myself. I thought it would be totally safe doing the hikes alone because there are so few people on the Island and no dangerous wildlife but the birds turned out to be crazy! The native wood pigeons flew at me and I had to duck several times to avoid being attacked by these huge birds. Unfortunately I did not see any Kiwi birds, but I saw the most gorgeous sunset in the “Land of the Glowing Skies”, another name for the Island, which made my Stewart Island trip definitely worth while.

2006-03-05T03:03:00.000-08:00

Curio and Porpoise Bay (South-east corner of the South Island in the Catlins where the sheep population is ginormous!): From Dunedin to Curio Bay we stopped at many beaches and walks to see huge sea lions and fur seals. When we got to Porpoise Bay I decided to go in the freezing cold ocean to swim for free with the wild hector dolphins, which were 15m from shore. I was with 2 not very experienced swimmers so besides being worried that we were swimming out a bit too far while being eaten alive by the huge waves, I kept seeing fins getting closer and closer. As much as I would like to say I wasn’t afraid of being in the ocean in NZ because there are rarely ever sharks, I was scared to death when the dolphins popped up suddenly within 2m of us! It was a great heart attack-like experience though! Then we went on a tour of the petrified forest, a forest that has solidified into rock right along the shore, and saw some almost extinct yellow-eyed penguins. I woke up super early to see the penguins again in the morning leaving to go feed for the day which was super cool until the sand flies got out of hand, meaning I had 20+ bites that don’t ever seem to disappear!

2006-03-05T02:55:00.000-08:00

Catlins: Sheep, sheep and more sheep on never ending rolling hills! There are 4 million people in NZ and around 43 million sheep!!!

2006-03-05T02:50:00.000-08:00

Dunedin (First destination on the bottom bus on the south-east coast, known as the Scottish Edinburgh of NZ): the weather was not great for us but we got to see the oldest, steepest street in the world (the Kiwis are convinced that it was built before the steep street in San Francisco). We drove by the Otago University and past the Speights Brewery and Cadbury World but I chose not to go on any tours and go for a run in the Botanical Gardens instead which were beautiful. The roads through out this student town are covered in black charcoal patches where students have had couch bonfires in the winter.

2006-03-05T02:36:00.000-08:00

Queenstown: Home of the extreme sports, this town is great at emptying your wallet and bank account as well! It is the Whistler of New Zealand and I spent a total of 4 days here. I went canyon swinging (109m high, 60m freefall, 200m arc!!!) leaving the platform with my hands behind my back in a pin drop position because the pamphlet read: “we guarantee your heart will be in your mouth as this is one of the scariest jumps available.” It was amazing and I was so close to doing another jump hanging upside down but thought I’d save my $ for skydiving in Taupo up north! Everyone on the Kiwi bus spent most of their time in the Altitude Bar since a new bus comes into Queenstown everyday, someone always wants to party! On Monday Karaoke night I was dragged into singing “Simply the Best” by Tina Turner with my friend Sophie from Sweden and somehow I made it through with only knowing the chorus, at least I think I made it through! The World bar is famous for their teapots, yes a teapot filled with your choice of beverage, and again the Kiwi bus never failed to fill the bar so there was never a dull moment throughout the night. Besides the best bars in the South Island, the Ben Lomond Summit track was a great 4 hour hike along the peak of the mountains. Even though the weather was typical NZ, 4 seasons in a day, the sun shone through the misty clouds showing a stunning view of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, and the Remarkables before the heavy rain came. Queenstown is amazing and a “must visit” if you come to NZ!

2006-03-05T02:20:00.000-08:00

Lake Wanaka: A small city south from Franz Josef that reminded me of miniature Okanagan cities back home. After an adventurous kayak where both Russ and Jo capsized, I went for a run/hike up a mountain to discover the best view I had seen up to this point. I was on top of the world, alone, with huge mountains and 2 gorgeous lakes (Lake Hawea is right beside Lake Wanaka) surrounding me. When I reached the top I had about an hour and a half until sunset and I could not leave Wanaka without capturing the view so I ran back to the hotel and ran the hike again, camera in hand. I could barely walk the next day when we went to Puzzleworld but it was worth it!

2006-03-04T23:14:00.000-08:00

Franz Josef (home of the Franz Josef Glacier, around the central part of the west coast of the South Island). It is amazing to see a clear blue ice glacier protruding from the snowy peaks of the Franz Josef mountains surrounded by a luscious rainforest. I went for an 8 hr guided tour hiking up the glacier 700m in a freezing cold, wet day. The sun started to appear 6 hrs into the hike to put a nice shimmer on the blue ice crevasses. My joints were so cold I had to ask the fit, young, very nice guide to help me remove my ice talons (they were attached to my shoes!) and it took a good 2 days for my body to recover (from the cold, not from the fit guide touching my shoes!).

2006-03-04T23:08:00.000-08:00

Lake Mahinapua (A lake in the middle of nowhere with one hotel between the ocean and the lake): A “P” costume party (dress as something that starts with a P) organized by Kiwi because there wasn’t anything really exciting to do when the sun went down at this destination! We stopped in Greymouth at a warehouse on the way to go costume shopping and I bought copper wire and high knee socks…get your mind out of the gutter, I was Pippi Longstocking! I went for a night stroll to the lake to see the glow worms which was like walking in fairy land. Since there was no city around to light up the skies, the glowing specs along the sides of the path made the atmosphere very romantic!

2006-02-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

Pancake rocks and blow holes (Punakaiki on the way from Westport to Lake Mahinapua)

2006-02-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

Westport (Northern West Coast): I went jet boating on the Buller River, 2 hours of speed boating, spinning and cliff skimming on really shallow water. It was cold and raining but a great thrill.

2006-02-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

Abel Tasman National Park (Kaiteriteri Beach, northern tip of the South Island on the way from Nelson to Westport): I took a taxi to see Split Rock and drop a group of us off to walk to Appletree Bay, the view of the turquoise Tasman Sea walking through the Abel Tasman rainforest was gorgeous and we had great weather to top it off.

2006-02-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

Nelson (Northern Coast, known as a hippy town): started having unlucky bank problems which lasted for another 4 destinations…note to future travellers, get your international pin number for you credit card before you leave Canada and make sure you have your new NZ account card before leaving on a 20 day trip!, went on a late night walk to the “Centre of NZ” where we (my first group of friends who stayed in Nelson when I carried on) had an amazing sunset view of the city and then a sky full of stars with a couple of refreshing drinks!

2006-02-24T18:58:00.000-08:00

Kaikoura (North from Christchurch along the East Coast): went on a 4 hour hike along the rocky beach with the sheep and a great view of the East Coast.

2006-02-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

Kiwi Experience: Bottoms-Up around the South Island

The city of the gardens, Christchurch is where I started and ended my Kiwi Experience bus tour. A hop-on, hop-off option tour around the South Island of New Zealand for 20 days before Uni Orientation starts on Feb. 20th. I flew to Christchurch from Auckland on Jan. 28 (Happy Birthday Janice and Spencer!) and got on my first bus early on the 29th to Kaikoura. The Kiwi Experience is great to make so many international friends for however long you are on their bus. New people are hopping on and off the bus everyday, since buses run through the destinations each day, so as well as making new friends, I left behind great people who stayed longer at each destination. At the beginning of my trip it was a little frustrating how every time I would meet someone knew, I would leave them behind in a day or two and feel a little lonely until I met someone new within half and hour. Backpackers are really friendly and usually put an effort into meeting new people so I had no trouble starting conversations that turned into a day or 2 of good times, crazy adventures and sad goodbyes! I had to carry on quickly and could not stay more than 2 nights at each stop because I was on a tight schedule. Finally in Westport (day 4) I met 3 Calgarians, Joanna (Jo), AJ and Rus, who I spent the next week with because they were also in a hurry and we had a great time together. There were mainly English, Irish, Germans and Canadians on the tour and I met 2 people from UBC going to the Uni of Canterbury in Christchurch. I did not meet anyone from Kiwi (short for Kiwi Experience) staying in Auckland or even many people who even enjoyed their stay in Auckland. Apparently the Jafa’s (Just Another Friggin’ Aucklander…sometimes said a little differently by the Kiwi drivers) are not the favourites of NZ! I did meet one Swedish girl, Sophie with an amazing enthusiastic attitude about life who lived in Auckland and thoroughly enjoyed herself so it gave me hope!

My highlights in Christchurch were: going to the Sumner beach with Jo, running through the Botanical Gardens, shopping at the Cathedral Square market, and of course checking out the Christchurch nightlife!

2006-01-27T15:23:00.000-08:00

Pictures of Sydney

2006-01-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

Blue Mountains Hike

Megan and I hiked the Katoomba Falls trail in the Blue Mountains by ourselves after being warned that it was a treacherous hike by Tracy who experienced a rainy day tour. The weather was hot and sunny when we arrived after a 2 hour train ride so the leeches were in hiding and we did not encounter any scary animals. Megan was pretty good considering her fear of spiders and other little creatures. She only jumped once when a butterfly flew too close to her peripheral vision and she thought it was another cockroach like the one that landed on her shoulder in her apartment…pretty funny if you ask me!!! She barely flinched when a wild turkey jumped out of the bush and scared me half to death so apparently she deals well with bigger animals and it’s the small ones that you have to look out for in Megan’s world! We started our hike at Echo Point, the 3 sisters look out and the hour hike to Katoomba falls from there was a gorgeous hike similar to the Grouse Grind except more tropical. We passed many smaller waterfalls and dark caves which I decided not to explore in Megan’s presence due to her small creature phobia! There really is a blue haze cast on the mountains that are full of so many interesting flora for as far as you can see. It is a must see hike and I hope to see more Blue Mountain trails when I return to Sydney.

2006-01-27T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hunter Valley Wine Tour

I spent most of my time in Sydney with Megan, who I coached with last summer. We had a great time walking around the city, parks, and the harbours throughout the entire days. We usually got back to her apartment near Coogee Beach around 10:30 and were always too tired to cook. However, we made 2 good dinners, steak in wine sauce with mashed potatoes, and lasagne. Both attempts made great stories since we were always so tired by dinner time. When the white wine was added to the hot oil for the steak sauce, Megan’s kitchen became a splattering burning mess. By 11:00pm the night we decided to cook lasagne, we did not want to wait 45min while the noodles cooked in the layered sauce but who would have known that boiling gluten free lasagne noodles is quite difficult!?! We ended up eating stuck together lasagne noodles with an awesome spaghetti sauce! One of the highlights of our trip was the wine tour to Hunter Valley about 3 hours from Sydney. Our tour guide, Gaz was hilarious and along with many older couples we met Tracy, a nurse from Richmond who travelled around with us the following day as well. Hunter Valley reminds me a lot of the Okanogan and even though it was raining, the gardens and vineyards were gorgeous. We went to 4 different wineries: Rosemount Estate, Audrey Wilkinson, Drayton’s Family Wines, and McGuigans. My favourite wines were Semillon, Chardonnay, Traminer Riesling (those are all white wines for people like me who did not know that before!) and for the reds I like Merlot and Cabarnet combinations. If anyone needs any wine experts, you know who you should be able to ask…but there were so many different types of wine I doubt I would really be much help! We also tried port, white and dark chocolate liqueurs, desert wines, sparkling wines, and of course cheese and chocolates which summed up our delicious tour.

2006-01-27T02:03:00.000-08:00

Up the Coast From Manly to Palm Beach

One of my roommates from residence at SFU, Elena, and her boyfriend Mike live just out of Manly, which is half an hour ferry ride from Circular Quay in Sydney. They took me on the best beach scouting and surfing adventures on the 2 hottest days I had in Sydney on the weekend, Jan. 20,21. Mike drove us up the North Coast starting at the beach right by their house, Freshwater Beach (the first beach north of Manly Beach). We stopped at about 5-6 beaches to see the view and just drove past the others on the way to Palm Beach where Mike taught me to surf for the first time. It was hard because you are supposed to learn on a huge board that gives more support but we didn’t have time to hire one so I more attempted to surf because I didn’t actually stand up for very long. That night we went to a crazy party in Sydney where there was a huge variety of people with so much going on. Inside there was a DJ set-up and outside there were people jamming with bongo drums, saxophones, guitars, pots and sticks, and everyone with out an instrument was clapping or singing. The next day, we went to Long Reef Beach where I hired a big foam long board that is great to learn on. After a second day of Mike helping me out I’m further on my way to becoming a professional surfer! I plan to travel up the East Coast of Australia either between semesters or before I come home to see all these gorgeous beaches again.

2006-01-24T02:33:00.000-08:00

The Beginning of My Travelling Luck

Who would have guessed that I would have bad travelling luck!?! After a nice family farewell, I read my cards that Janice and Kasandra purposefully wrote to make me start to miss them before I even got on the plane! I dryed the only tears I have allowed myself to shed for the whole year while I waited for my flight to LA that was supposed to leave at 7:17, and boarded at 7:30. We sat on the plane for an hour waiting for insurance papers to be faxed back and forth so that it was “safe” to fly…I was not feeling so safe due to the fact that the papers had to be faxed back and forth several times thinking that meant it was a bigger problem than they had announced. We made it to LA alive at 11:25 and the 10 passengers catching the Sydney exchange, who were supposed to have over an hr to switch gates for the 11:45 flight, waited patiently while the customs team chose our plane to come aboard. Finally after taking their time to remove a man from the plane, the seat belt sign turned off and the 10 of us jumped out of our seats ready to sprint to our departure gate. Right then, the captain announced that the huge plane that had started undocking beside us was our flight. We were put up in the Clarion Hotel in LA overnight…I couldn’t complain with 2 double beds, a hot shower and a free breakfast…and caught the noon flight the next day. The only down side was having Mia and Neeraj, some of Kasandra’s friends from Sweden, waiting at the airport for 3 hrs since I was not on the flight I was supposed to be on and did not have their number to warn them…note to travellers, have phone #’s in your carry-on! I found only 1 of my bags, and really should be grateful because the other 10 people from the LA flight, who were also told the baggage would be transferred, did not receive any luggage. You can imagine how grateful I was to see that Mia and Neeraj made another trip to the airport at 10:00pm to pick me up after my long travels. It was 25 degrees that night in Sydney and that was the last of the hot days without rain for about a week. Of course with my luck, the Vancouver weather has to follow me wherever I go! I had about 4-5 sunny days towards the end of my 11 days in Sydney where it rarely rains. I arrived today in Auckland into a rainy windstorm that is also very rare, so I guess the weather man knows that I don’t mind the rain! Despite the terrible weather and bad flight luck, the temperature is perfect and the rain has given me time to adjust to the hot climate. The rain also makes the hot beach days seem that much more enjoyable!