Did I eat that?

Well I haven't been updating weekly like I planned. Kinda busy with plenty to write about, but I just haven't been motivated. With that being said I'll provide a short synopsis of the going ons as it were.
I attended the Wild Food Festival in Hakatikia (spelling?) which is about 7-8 hours drive from Dunedin. Its on the west coast of NZ and so we got to drive through the fabled alps. It was gorgeous. Speaking of driving, I got my firsttaste behind the wheel of our rental car, the demon. Twas a fun adventure that took up the whole weekend. We did it roadtrip style, stopping where we felt like there were deserving attractions etc.
At the festival, everyone dresses up in crazy outfits/costumes and you go from stand to stand buying weird sometimes disgusting food. I ate...Huhu Grubs, Deer Heart, Bull Testicle, Kangaroo, Shark, Liquid Sunshine, Rose Wine, Bison, Wild Boar, and Wild Waffle (which were basically waffles, maybe a little unruly, but definitely not wild). Most were not as bad as one would think and often quite tasty. Good times. Also to note that the hostel we stayed at was awesome and we did a nice hike on the way home. If you want to see the slew of pictures from the trip, and my entire trip for that matter, I have them up on facebook because...
I got wireless for the flat. Hell yea. This past weekend the highlight was a Rugby game that we got tickets for which was a fun outing. Also yesterday I put a deposit down for a '89 Toyota Corona which we'll be receiving in a week. Look out NZ I'm on the road. Peace!

PS I cannot forgot two important people we met. Jesse is the first. A cool American backpacker just living the dream in NZ for a few months before college starts who accompanied us on our Wild Food Festival extravaganza. Also Stacy, a mid 30 year old Kiwi who befriended us in a junk yard. He was hammered. He cracked beer open with his teeth and chased us around. Also he did a head beer. I must note that for what he lacked in sobriety he made up for in perseverance because man he must've whacked that beer on his head at least ten times before it started to spray. Hilarious.

Here's why you should visit

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New Zealand is amazing. To start, as I am typing his I am eating a bowl of Hokey Pokey ice cream. A Kiwi treat, Hokey Pokey is vanilla with honey comb/honey mixed in. Maybe my new favorite ice cream. If that isn’t enough to make NZ great here’s a short list of reasons…

1. About a thirty minute walk away from Dunedin is Mt. Cargill, a lovely 3 hour round trip hike that has stunning views of the town, ocean, and surrounding mountain scenery. Right in my own backyard. Me and some friends decided to do this hike last week and we happened to pick a gorgeous sunny day. Sweet as.

2. A wave of sunny days it translates to ocean waves. Beach time! I hit up the same beach again on Wednesday and it was quite fun. No surfing this time because the rentals were all used up but still a nice day in the sun. I even ventured into the Pacific without a wetsuit to do some body surfing. After all your body goes numb the water isn’t that bad.

3. I went to a late night metal show on campus, so there’s a small underground hardcore music scene. The night included three NZ bands, Ashes of Eden who opened, Made in China, and Incarnate. The latter two are kinda metallica like metal so it’s not quite my style. The opener and local heroes (they go to the Uni), Ashes of Eden, are quite awesome. A mix of scream and sing with some nice metal twists make them perfect for me. I’m going to go pick up their EP from the drummer’s flat once I text him. Note that they don’t have a myspace and there’s another Ashes of Eden metal band that isn’t so hot when you search myspace.

4. We traveled this weekend on a group activity weekend (so that means the Arcadians) rolled into Queenstown. It’s about a 3-4 hour bus ride which stopped a few times for lunch to get lunch (I had meat pies which are good despite the name) and to a local fruit stand that had amazingly delicious fruit. Once we arrived it was rainy, which has been the only downside for this trip so far, so we didn’t get to go luging (like an Alpine Slide in the States). Instead we just kicked it around the hostel for the rest of the night. Queenstown is nestled next to a big lake and in the middle of the mountains. I named it Rivendell.

5. The next morning we went on an 8 hour hike called Routeburn (or something like that). Giving further proof that this place isn’t real on the bus rise to the trail head we saw numerous rainbows (both full ones and double ones). I kept expecting to see mythical creatures or dinosaurs walking around this magical place. The scenery was breathtaking. It’s right by where they filmed the Misty Mountains from LoTR and the whole last sequence in Fellowship of the Ring. Despite the misty/rainy weather it didn’t detract from the experience at all. The hike was about 13 miles roundtrip so we were pretty beat when we returned.

6. Sunday (today) gave us a taste of Queenstown that makes it such a tourist attraction, extreme sports. So to start off the day we did something called jetboating. This involves your group getting into these big, red, fast boats that whip you through a rocky canyon. The drivers are amazingly good and slide you within a few feet of these big rocky cliffs. Not only are they fast and dangerously close to the walls, but every now and then the driver can make the boat do 360’s. Needless to say it was pretty sweet. Then came the big even, Bungie Jumping.

We had the option to do a bridge jump, which is the first bungie jump in the world, or a bigger one. Go big or go home. Although the bridge jump allowed you to be dunked into the river below, which is a gorgeous blue color because of the glacier melts. The bigger jump, Nevis, is three times higher than the bridge jump, a whopping 134 meters (about 450 feet) up. This jump is from a suspended gondola car that you take a short ride out into the middle of this canyon with a river far below. Even the bus ride to the gorge was somewhat scary with a windy road that teeters on the edge of the cliffs. Once we were all harnessed up, we went out to the big platform-gondola thing. It has some glass floors so you can view your fate. I wasn’t that nervous despite my previous incident. Once they call your name, you get into a chair that resembles a dentist chair near the edge. They strap you in (the bungies around your ankle and again to your harness). Then you kinda waddle out to a small platform that overlooks the gorge with nothing in front of you but open air. That part was a little scary. With an attendant holding your back so you don’t fall forward, a count down progresses and then off you go.

I had my arms out in a crucifix-esque position (I’m a good Christian and figured it’d help my chances) and took a giant leap off the edge. The freefall is unreal. It’s just you and the ground for a few seconds as you plunge into the chasm. Not a thought crossed my mind because I was so in awe of what I was doing and just caught up in the moment. After a few second straight freefall, the bungie starts to kick in. Scary enough as is but for me but it felt a little loose around my ankles, yet still held up much to my relief. You bounce a couple times until your hauled back up to the gondola. It was amazing and the biggest thrill of my life. I definitely suggest it if you get a chance. After the whole group went, we hopped on a bus and returned to lovely Dunedin.

7. We went out to eat at a Thai restaurant after we exited the bus and dropped off our stuff. Since NZ is pretty close to Asia there is a lot of Indian, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese places. It’s all so delicious. Even the regular food is better than home. Everything just seems more fresh (kinda like in Germany, but the food is just better). Also since Dunedin is a big college town there are many options.

It was an amazing weekend. Hopefully soon I will return to Queenstown to cash in my voucher to do the luging. Additionally I will hopefully go white water rafting and ultimately sky dive. Thankfully I returned in one piece with no accidents. Still alive and kicking.

Oh, one more thing. My friend had pretty big party at his place over the weekend. There’s a tradition at Otago to burn couches and furniture. I experienced my first taste of this there where a few chairs were torched. Cops showed up (but didn’t break up the party, kinda silly) and the firemen put out the blaze. Additionally as I was walking over to the party a large gathering of people were down the street surrounding something. Upon further inspection they had flipped a car. Crazy kids.

So it begins...

The sun shines and it is good. I think its crazy how much weather can change my mood. So far in Dunedin its been 70% crappy rainy-ish cold weather, although recently the sun has been shining reminding me that it’s summer here. Don’t get me wrong, even in the rain I’ve been happy, but when the sun shines I cannot stop smiling. The Kiwis (New Zealanders) assure me that it’s not usually like this.
So the flat is pretty sweet. It’s got a common room joined with a nicely sized kitchen, 4 bedrooms (we all have our own room), a small bathroom with just a toilet and sink, and finally a bigger bathroom with a shower, washing machine/dryer, and sink. It’s set back from the street a bit and we also share the house with another group of flatters, so we enter through the back of the house. There’s a nice little lawn for the kids.
Otago (my university) is not far and the center of campus is about a five minute walk, making it a pretty sweet location. It’s a pretty school, with neo-gothic architecture. There’s a nice river that runs through campus and by my flat. Sweet as (that’s the Kiwi version of cool). I really want to and probably will tube/raft down it. I’m excited.
I’ve just been getting acclimated with the town (aka going to bars) and exploring the area. It’s “O”-week right now which is Orientation week. This translates into a week full of debauchery. It’s a big drinking fest with some musicians and entertainment that come to campus. It’s been pretty fun but classes and a semblance of a schedule will not be bad. We had surf lessons the other day (happen to be the first awesome sunny day since my arrival). The beach is about a 10 min bus ride from Dunedin and is amazingly beautiful. Surfing was a blast and a half. I even got up on the board a few times. After surfing we played some touch rugby on the beach and then went to a cliff side that overlooked the water to have lunch. Man o man was it gorgeous along with the fact that the food here is damn delicious.
Additionally, I’ve been playing Frisbee about 3 times a week, along with tennis, soccer, etc, regardless of the weather. The ultimate team is a bunch of good guys and I’m making some friends I think through that, beyond the Arcadianz (we’re named Arcadianz, the nz for New Zealand). We hiked a nearby mountain, about a forty minute trek to the trailhead then a 3-4 hour roundtrip hike. The sight from the top and along the way is breath-taking. It reaffirmed my choice to come here.
Classes started this past Monday, so vacation is over. I’m taking 4 classes and the 3 I’ve had so far seem pretty engaging. We’ll see what happens once work starts to pick up soon. We’re also getting internet soon in the Flat which is very exciting because that means I won’t have to tramp down to the library to check my mail. Speaking of mail, if you want a post-card, letter, etc please get me your mailing address so I can send you stuff. After class I think I’ll be going surfing again, so we’ll see how it goes. Oh and there are sharks here (great whites among others I think) although most people I talked to say that its not a big problem, although Kiwis are notoriously laid back about that kind of stuff. Wish me luck!

Fuck Zorbing

The story continues. Warning, this one is long because it recounts a jam packed orientation. If you have a short attention span skip down to the Zorbing story. Last I left off, I was chilling out in LAX and Andee had just arrived. I met up with her and Hillary shortly joined us and I found the giant group of people that were part of the Arcadia Crew. Greeted by friendly faces and welcomings, the group immediately seemed friendly and people that I could get along with. It was much like those first days of college where for the most part everyone is outgoing and trying to make as many friends as possible. I spent the rest of the time hanging out with these new found friends then before I knew it the plane was boarding.

I ended up next to Andee and the window seat so it was nice to have a familiar face for the long flight. The plane was gianormous and had TV’s in the back of all of the seats which helped pass the time. There were something like 80 movies, a bunch of TV shows, and games that were all free. The take off was weird because the airport is right by the water, so when we finally left, LA is this glowing expansive myriad of lights which ends abruptly where it meets the Pacific. There was a weird isolated feeling due to the complete blackness of the ocean, yet the good company and movies made it all go by quickly. I watched two Simpson’s episodes, 12 Angry Men, and most of W. Got about 6 hours of sleep and it was all over before I knew it.

We landed in Auckland, NZ which is the largest city in New Zealand boasting 1.5 million people, making up almost half of New Zealand’s population of 4 million. The airport was nice and we go through customs relatively quickly. The big deal in NZ is the BioSecurity so they make sure you don’t have any food, animals, plants, or dirt from where ever you are traveling. After getting through all that, we piled into a bus which took us to our first hostel. The weather was in the 70s with high humidity.

After checking in, we quickly left to go check out a nice beach that has a hill that overlooks the city and the water. Awesome view and beautiful blue water. I also got my first taste of the pacific when we all went for a swim. It was a nice refreshing plunge after the long flight. The plants are really cool there. The trees are massive and are in interesting shapes and patterns. The limbs are more tangled and start lower on the trunk which make them perfect for climbing. Also there are more palm plants and ferns.

Next we went to a miniature aquarium place where we saw penguins, sharks, fish, and a giant sting ray. It was a cool little place. Then we hopped over and grabbed dinner at a pizza place, which serves gourmet pizza with lots of interesting combos. Apparently that’s all the rage in NZ. After making sure we stayed up all day so we could beat the jet lag quickly, they let us retire to our rooms around 7. Instead of trying to sleep, myself and a few others hit the town to see the sights. Stayed up until around 11-12 (missed a fire alarm wake up, score one for me) and fell asleep rather quickly.

The next day we packed up our bags and headed outta Auckland for Rotorua, about a three hour drive south east. We drove through lovely rolling hills with lots of pastures and farmland. It was the area where The Shire was shot for LoTR. We stopped at a small town for lunch which was proudly self proclaimed Hobbiton. Quite cool and snapped a few shots of some of the cooler pieces, like the Gollum statue. Tried a NZ staple, the meat pie which is basically a pot-pie filled with whatever meet, gravy, and cheese you desire. Not too bad.

Finally we arrived in Rotorua which reeks of sulfur because of all the geothermic activity. We went to a “farm show” with loads of different sheep and they sheared a sheep right in front of our eyes. Also they showed off how a herding sheep dog and how it worked. Sounds lame but was really cool. We also did a quick hike through a park that had some of the local fauna. We settled into a really nice hotel and grabbed some delicious dinner food. They don’t tip in NZ which is clutch when going out to eat. We hung out on a beach for a while and then went to a geothermal spa at night. The next day we saw some of the sights, a boiling mud pit which only needed dinosaurs to be complete. Went to a geyser which shot up 20 feet into the air and did a tour of the surrounding area. Apparently the whole place, including Rotorua is a caldera volcano spanning 50 km in diameter. Quite impressive with some really unique geological sights to see.

To cap off the day we went Zorbing which is an extreme sport activity started in NZ. This is where it kinda got crazy. We were all really excited to try this sport. You and two others get into this giant plastic ball filled with some lubricating water and roll down a hill. Sounds simple and nice right? Not so much for me and my group. First we all laid on the hill and let it roll down across our backs then got in line to head up the hill and subsequently back down. I went with Andee and my friend Justin. After a quick ride up the hill, we jumped into this giant ball. We had talked earlier that we’d see who could stay up the longest before succumbing to gravity. We started off alright, but after a few seconds things got bad. The inside bubble developed a rip in it, tossing us into the outer one that has a mess of cords that keep the Zorb shapely. So instead of a smooth ride down the hill, we were getting slapped and cut by these wires. Not to mention the fact that we were slamming into each other. The scariest part was when my head and neck almost got caught up in the spinning wires, which in hindsight was very close to serious injury. The ball deflated about halfway down and we eventually stopped after a terrifying ordeal. Andee was laying at the bottom of the Zorb and I quickly went over to ask if she was ok, which much to my chagrin she said no. Fortunately she was just upset from the freak accident. Justin was hanging by the cords and dropped down to safety. We all walked away from the accident with a whole bunch of cuts and bruises. They said it was only the second time this has ever happened. After filling out some paper work we were given free T-shirts as an apology. I got my ass kicked by a zorb and alls I got was this lousy T-shirt. I’m just thankful everyone walked away. I had a good bruise/scrape down my face, on my leg, neck and arm. Andee definitely got the worst. That night we went to a Maori (the indigenous people) village where we were entertained with traditional stories and dances. Also they cooked a mean dinner for us. Cool people with an interesting culture.

The next day we parted ways with the kids who were studying at Auckland, and the Otago group flew down to Dunedin (pronounced Do-need-in). It was a quick flight with an hour layover in Wellington. Dunedin has been unseasonably cold, needing long pants and hoodies with unrelenting rain. Still is a pretty place. My flat is nice, with a big room to myself. I have three flat mates, Emma my Kiwi host, an American named Dan, and a Canadian named Shannon. We all get along well. The past few days have been spent getting acclimated with the area and living situation. Everyone is really nice and we’re all having a blast. Finally it got warmer today and I played Frisbee with the club here at Otago. Things are good. Until next time.