2nd half of New Zealand

There is something truly magical about taking a photograph.  I think we all have an innate part of our self that is drawn to a specific scene that we just must capture on film.  For me, and many others, it is the ocean and the sun.  The sun and the light/ darkness that it creates is something I have always loved to take pictures of.  Ask Todd, he is constantly giving me grief for taking so many pictures of the sun instead of more important things like my friends :)  Todd is drawn to people and I am drawn to the sun and the water and the beautiful symbiotic relationship between the two.  In any case, Becky and I woke up at 5:30, which is actually sleeping in for me, and walked to the tip of the Queenstown bay in order to watch the sun rise over the mountains.  It was so beautiful and calm and we froze our fingers while happily clicking away.  The rest of our voyage consisted of eating at a lot of amazing restaurants and visiting the cute little souvenir and knick knack shops in Queenstown and Arrowtown (the gold mining town near by).New Zealand was absolutely beautiful and I definitely hope I get to return at some point to do some more exploring!!

From New Zealand I have headed directly into hermit mode as I am working 8 hours or so a day on my dissertation.  It is coming along nicely and I am desperately trying to only work during the week so I can have my weekends free!

Last Sunday, Todd and I biked to the Carrara Markets, an outdoor farmers/ random stuff market, and then biked to Pac Fair where we watched “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”  It is a Swedish movie based on the Millennium series by Steig Larson and we both thought the movie was just incredible.  It is a pity that Hollywood feels the need to remake this film because the story was edited perfectly and the acting was superb.  I highly recommend it! 5 gold stars, two thumbs up, etc :)

My bike has been an absolute life saver.  I use it daily and bike to the gym and the market and home and back, round and round in circles.  It has saved me so much time and money and I love how I must be helping my carbon footprint at least a little ;) Seriously though, best present ever!

Some updated count downs:

9 days till Becky leaves :(  

42 days till my paper is due

71 days till Mom and Jan arrive!

110 days till I go home  

SEASONS!!! :)

On the Gold Coast, I miss seasons. Not that I have ever really experienced them in my years growing up in LA but I miss seasons. New Zealand has seasons and right now the land is slowly transforming into the red, gold and brown colored pallet of fall. I love visiting the east coast and experiencing the change and I loved the subtle changes in my four years at Berkeley. This is the first time in four years when I have felt that summer is NEVER going to end and the sun is going to blaze forever. If you can’t tell already, I am not a huge fan of the constant heat. I love getting bundled up in layers in order to experience the crisp, fresh air that greats you outside. In New Zealand, I am a bundled up marshmallow and I love it! Becky and I often walk down the street arm in arm in order to keep our heat recirculating between us :)

We arrived in Christchurch on Sunday afternoon and took a shuttle to our hotel that was located 30 min from the center of town. After taking a significant amount of pictures of our gorgeous room, Becky and I jumped into a bus and got off at the center of town that is located near a beautiful stone cathedral. We were supposed to meet Kate and Deb back at the hotel in an hour and a half for dinner so we knew that we only had a small amount of time before we had to catch the next bus back. Consequently, we walked in a small 4 block radius away from the bus stop because we were both timid and nervous about missing dinner… we love to eat! Honestly, I would say that our trip so far has rotated around our meals and I am not complaining AT ALL because the meals have been incredible! That night for dinner Becky and I shared a Morrocan lamb pizza which was delicious (and our breakfast the next morning) and Deb ordered a curried carrot soup that I can not wait to try and reproduce at home. We crashed hard after a short adventure into the sauna where we met a couple headed out to Queenstown on the same 8:35am flight that we were on. Becky and I set my alarm for 5am fully intending to go for a walk in the hotel gardens but when we awoke we realized that the sun was not yet up and fell back to sleep only to awake at the time when we were supposed to be downstairs… oops… We quickly flew into action and were downstairs only 10 minutes late without leaving one item behind (at least nothing we have noticed so far!)

I slept for the entire flight to Queenstown and when we arrived we were greeted by the crisp fall air. I happily put on my fleece sweatshirt and crammed into a cab for the spectacular drive along the Queenstown Bay to our accommodations: the Glebe Hotel. I write this blog sitting next to the fire in a huge and beautifully decorated living room with the mountains and lights of the town clearly visible through the enormous glass doors surrounding me. We are staying on the 5^th floor in the penthouse courtesy of one of Deb’s friends from home. He owns a vineyard that we went to visit today called Gibbston Valley which was located in a beautiful tree lined valley. Look it up :) The apartment is incredible but the views and the mountains around Queenstown are breathtaking and ever changing. Becky and I keep dashing outside onto the deck in order to capture some different light on the lake or the cloud rimmed mountains. The silhouettes are very unique due to the sharp jagged mountains that seem to drop off into the sky. I think Cradle Mtn in Tasmania had the same jagged appearance and this association has me itching to climb these mountains. The slightly rainy weather and my lack of preparedness means that I will not be putting my head in the clouds but Todd, you and I are coming back and climbing some of the big ones! It is a must!! ;)

SYDNEY!!! Finally... I know :)

So since I am going to New Zealand tomorrow I figured I better get Sydney out of the way or my writing is REALLY going to back up. It was so amazing to show Steph and Anna around my new home. I really enjoyed seeing them get excited about the things I got excited about when I first got here. I know that I am so lucky to be briefly living in such an amazing place and I am reminded of my good fortune through them.

Our first full day in Sydney started with a trip to Coles (supermarket) for snacks and then to a bakery for breakfast. Hot cinnamon-y roll in hand we began to walk from Kings Cross to the botanical gardens. We walked through the gardens to get to the Opera house and then towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We met up with my friend Miles (from middle school) and traipsed down to the Sydney Fish Market. We were hot, sweaty and tired but quickly became revitalized as we looked around at all the amazing seafood on ice. I think seafood is definitely one of my weaknesses and was the perfect pick me up! Next, we headed to Darling Harbour to walk around and enjoy the $3.50 happy hour drinks. Darling Harbour is just one of the amazing spots in Sydney. Miles says that ¼ of Australians live in this city. It is HUGE and composed of many little pocket communities that change constantly as you walk around the streets.

Anna and Steph were amazing travel companions. We all had the same budgetary concerns and were happy to walk everywhere! Our constant walking led us to early nights and early mornings. My perfect schedule ;)

Second day we headed to Manly beach on a ferry that left from the rocks, this really nice area with museums and outdoor markets. After a puttering 30 minute ride we ended up at Manly beach. We were pretty exhausted from the day before so we relaxed on the beach, got up to find food, relaxed some more, found some ice cream, relaxed some more… repeat :) On the way home we watched loads of sail boats cruise around the bay and then had an amazing last dinner at this restaurant overlooking the water in Darling Harbour. Dessert was another 50 cent soft serve cone from McDonalds while we watched fire works celebrate the end of our amazing trip. We headed to the opera house in order to see it lit up where we were treated with another fire works show over the opera house. It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend! I miss Steph and Anna tremendously but had an INCREDIBLE time with them!

Ps. I am sorry for this hasty blog. I know it is not top quality but quantity over quality is sometimes necessary ;)

Interlude Before Sydney

I know that Sydney is next in the laundry list of my adventures but I felt that ­­my recent discovery of Australian’s Good Friday/ Easter traditions deserved a jump up the list. In Australia, Easter is almost as important and as big of a holiday as Christmas. Last week Todd asked me if I was planning on getting him anything for Easter. “Uh… no…” I replied, “should I?” He responded by saying that most people get Easter eggs for each person in their family, their boyfriend/ girlfriend and pretty much anyone else important in their life. I know that Americans do observe Easter traditions like hiding Easter eggs and dressing up in their Sunday’s best but Australian traditions are very very different. In Australia, Easter is the biggest camping day of the year. Of course some people go to church and stuff I am sure but the camping sites are choc a block full of people. Becky, Todd and I went for a short one night camping trip yesterday and we passed a few campgrounds that had so many people booked in that it looked like an LA beach in the summer time. On Good Friday, no one eats red meat. I mean no one. It doesn’t matter if you are Christian or not, religious or not, it has become an Australian tradition to only eat fish on Good Friday. Similarly, the only day of the year you cannot buy alcohol in Australia is on duh duh duh duh: Good Friday. One of Al’s friend’s works at a bottle shop and he said the night before Good Friday is absolutely packed. Everyone goes and stocks up because G-d forbid you run out of alcohol on Good Friday! The bars are also closed at midnight the night before Good Friday and open again on Good Friday at midnight. Ahhhhh Australians, you sure do love a good party :)

Speaking of party, Todd and his mates have had a really good reason to party lately.

Last weekend as I am waiting to board my plane from Sydney back to the Gold Coast, a very ecstatic Todd called me to let me know that they broke a world record. After 6 years and 8 attempts they managed to break the previous record of 100 people water skiing behind one boat (a record that had been previously set by a water ski club in Cairns.)

On March 28^th they awoke to the sounds of bag pipes (random I know) and waded into the freezing water. After 80 seconds of holding perfect form and being dragged through the water, 114 skiers managed to stay up for the necessary 1 nautical mile. Todd and his friends from the Horsehead Water Ski Club (the oldest water ski club in Australia) will be in the 2011 Guiness Book of World Record and he has promised to sign loads of copies for me so now you all know what you are getting for Hanukah and Christmas next year ;)