AUCKLAND WEEKEND!

So! Insanity in New Zealand forthwith! Much has passed since I last blogged!!! Now I shall tell you of all my adventures since then! First, Becca and I took a weekend up to Napier AND SPENT THE NIGHT IN PRISON…

It is the oldest prison in NZ, and has been turned into a backpackers… We got to stay in a cell-type room, though it wasn’t an actual cell. It was just a room… We were told later that some girl had a ghost-experience in it, but we couldn’t decide if they told us that just to make us feel brave and what not. Nevertheless, it was fantastic and a great place to stay. Plus they had a cat, who didn’t like me very much…

Other than that, we pretty much just wandered around Napier. It’s a really beautiful city on the coast… I even took a dip in the water for just a second, because it is the Pacific (or possibly a bay… we weren’t completely sure)…

directly afterwards, we saw a sign that said not to swim at all because it was a deadly body of water… so that was scary and I was glad that I was only in for a moment! There was also a really pretty waterfall…

and we ate some fantastic Indian food, as well as seeing a drunk guy run down the street wearing only a sock… and then no sock… but I did not take pictures of that. The whole town is filled with art deco architecture, so it was fun just walking and looking at the buildings. They also had some nice craft stores, and they had these huge pine trees along the streets that had Christmas lights in them all year long.

I got back from Napier and literally had about four hours before I was leaving for Auckland. Bri and I still found time for a quick drink at the Celtic though. We took the overnight bus up to Auckland, and had a very trying morning wherein we were shanghaied by a taxi driver to a faraway suburban mall just to get dunkin donuts… but I got my damn donuts (which they have only in Auckland) and I was quite happy. I’m hoping to get one of those “I did stupid crap for a sugary pastry” stories there. After that misadventure, we took a BUS back to downtown Auckland and finally met up with Allison, our intrepid tour guide and bestest friend!

Bri’s on the left and Allison’s on the right…

Bri did the SKY JUMP in Auckland, which is like a controlled bungee jump. It was pretty frigging awesome to watch and I was very proud of her doing it. She is quite scared of heights, so it was cool that she conquered that!

Then we dressed up in colours and headed over to the ALL BLACKS game… We took the bus over, and amongst the many things yelled on it, my favorite was “GO THE BUS LANE!!!” The All Blacks won, of course, despite some scary moments. Then we got to mock all the Aussie fans that had shown up. Ha ha, lame os!!!! Then we ended up walking all the way back to the downtown area (don’t worry, it was through safe areas, just a long walk, and there were three of us… plus some kiwi guy who we befriended along the way). After powering up with some Chinese food (I had Mexican food made by Turkish people, I believe), we headed over to Tourist Central—a little bar called Minus 5. The whole place is made of ice, including your cups and what not. You pay 30 dollars and then go in for a half hour or something like that. Plus, you get a free drink! AND SNOW JACKETS AND GLOVES!!!

Then we walked over to a sports bar to chill for a bit, and I got come cider!!! And ran into an old friend…

That’s Shakespeare for you slow ones… And then we headed back and collapsed in bed. Sunday we headed over to a place called “Butterfly Creek”, which was out by the Auckland airport.

We were all looking at the airport, sighing… home… and then we were like, anyways, back to having fun! So Butterfly Creek is a butterfly house… example:

AHHH ATTACK OF CUTE BUTTERFLIES!!! But really, it was cool because they’d just land on you and flutter about. Then we found out that there was also a PETTING ZOO. So, of course we had to go… I got to hold a floppy bunny rabbit, further convincing me of the need for an angora bunny in my life…

We also met Bruce the Goat… And fed him cheezles, which we were told was okay… ish… anyways, best picture of the trip so far:

Finally to end our trip we went down to the wharf for a bit. And I got an awesome picture of ME! We also got ice cream and did a ton of shopping…

Then we once again took the night bus home and got back to Palmy at about 5 am on Monday, just in time to begin classes. Luckily we have mastered the art of sleeping on buses, once Bri figured out how key it is to hop in your sleeping bag… That made it ten times better. I had an uneventful week, gearing up for midterms. Then that weekend, we rented a car to do a case study of a natural area. Which we finished in about 3 hours, and quickly realized we had the car for the whole day. So, after stopping by an interesting museum

and a salvo army to buy some yarn, we headed out to Wellington. There, we tried desperately to find some tree that Orlando Bloom stood next to. Instead, all we found was a path that he probably walked on. And we tried to overhear what one of the movie tour guides was saying, but couldn’t figure out where to go next. Lots of fun, despite all the rain and cold. Then we had the best Mexican I’ve had here yet, and I got some huevos rancheros, which y’all know made my heart happy. On the way back, all the raining had caused a flood so it took almost 5 hours to get back… And the radio got about no channels, so Becca and I nearly drove Bri nuts by singing Newsies the whole time. At the end of it, Bri realized that she had her ipod the whole time!!! Ha!!!

Oh yeah and on Sunday, Bri spent 10 HOURS (I love you Bri!!!) DREADLOCKING MY HAIR!!!!!!!! I am currently needing to keep it back in a bandana…

otherwise, it looks like….

So that’s exciting, now I’m just keeping up with it and hoping for the best!!!

Over the last week, it was midterms, which was quite stressful but is now thoroughly done and over with… which means, SOUTH ISLAND!!! That’s right. Tomorrow morning we depart for a week of insanity. I will tell you all the wonderful details when I get back, and also next Saturday or so is my birthday!!! Oh and also I got my package from Papa Steve, and totally couldn’t hold back and opened it!!!! This is what my room looked like afterwards:

So, thanks so much to everyone that did anything for it!!! And for those of you that didn’t, I will deal with you later. Bums… Ha!!! Also, just to show how awesome I am:

It’s now on my wall… For real… Okay, time for me to get to bed so I am rested for the fantastic week ahead!!!! My love to all…

Probably the most boring blog by me, ever.

 SO GET READY!!! Just to give everyone the bad news up front, we did NOT get to go ice climbing this weekend. The weather up on Ruapehu was apparently quite formidable and, as we did not want to die a horrid, Shining-inspired death, we were forced to give up our trip. And we don't get to do it later because there aren't any other open weekends. So that sucks...

On Friday, Becca, Rob, and I attempted to see "An Inconvenient Truth", but it was sold out-- which was almost awesome just because it was the only sold out movie on a Friday night. Instead, we rented "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" which was very enjoyable the second time around. If you have not seen it, go see it. It is, after all, Papa Steve's namesake. HI PAPA STEVE!!! And I subsequently got the joy of crocheting for quite some time.

On Saturday, Rob and I watched an insanely large amount of Dr. Who (Season 2, bitches), then went to town and drank hard cider, then ate kebabs and walked back to campus and watched some more Dr. Who. AKA, best night ever.

On Sunday, Becca, Rob, and I went to Te Manawa, a very cool museum right in Palmy. We looked at some very cool Kiwi art and some historical exhibits. Then we went into the kids area, where we served as key detectives in solving a murder mystery and rhino kidnapping. We believe that we have discovered the identity of those involved, but we cannot be certain until late October... When the exhibit closes, and I think they do something that will tell us for certain...

So that was my weekend. Very relaxing and I got ahead on some of this so-called "schoolwork", not to mention my yarn crafting! I kind of feel like I'm finally really getting settled. I have my orientation, I know who I like to hang out with, I have a routine. It's almost like I feel normal here! (as normal as I ever get that is)...

Just to amuse myself and others, I was telling the lovely Miss Julia about how sensational the newspapers are here, and here is a wonderful example... Look at the headline on the far right...

Sensational, no?

So, boring blog! But next weekend I am going to Auckland to see the Mighty Mighty All Blacks and then there will be many pictures and other things! I love you all!!!

Well goodness gracious…

So long without a blog, I am just trying to type one up before I head out for the weekend. And I’ve just finished a ton of studying (apparently they DO have that in NZ… boo…) with a few hours to spare before going to sleep, so I will update my web log o’ goodness. First, let me congratulate MYSELF because for the last two weeks I have been going to the gym almost every day!!! I am going to come back even hotter than I was when I left… Especially once I get my tan on in Ozzy land… Now, on to more interesting things for y’all!

Thursday night the Massey University Alpine Club held some CAPTURE THE FLAG at the Victorian Esplanade in town. It’s basically a playground, arena, and walking gardens all in one. Becca, Bri, and I soon discovered that American playgrounds suck in comparison to New Zealand ones. For example, they had a flying fox—one of those ziplines you jump in and barrel forward screaming for a while. Bri conquered her fear and did it (like five times), as did I (like twice)… The weird thing for us was that it wasn’t roped off, or had an attendant or anything—just a warning to not do anything too stupid on it. It reminded me of the NZ ACC (accidental compensation… something), which basically says “if you get hurt, we’ll pay for it” rather than the US system of “if you get hurt, find someone to sue”. There were multiple other awesome parts of the playground, including a human-sized hamster wheel, trampolines, and some massive slides. I forgot to bring my camera but I will get some pics that Becca took (and Bri and I took with her camera) before I leave… Anyways, we played Capture the Flag, and TWICE I almost won it for us, but the mud made me fall on my butt. Plus, we didn’t have any way to recognize which team a person was except by recognizing them—and we were playing at night, so that was a bit difficult. It was all fun and games until one girl tackled a big guy and ended up BREAKING her ankle!!! We all felt really bad and went home after that, but she was really tough. Nevertheless, it was a good night until that point.

Friday morning Bri and I went into town and had breakfast at a little bistro which was decent and later brunch at Café Cuba, which was excellente.

Friday night was in fact my one year anniversary with Tyler (if you didn’t notice from the other 3 times I mentioned it on this very website!). So, of course, I went out to see Concord Dawn and Minuit at the MuBar and drank some Tui… Nevertheless, Bri (as usual) managed to drink more than I.

Note Becca’s expression in the back… I have no idea if that had to do with the photo or not. Bri drank so much that with a little help from me, she got the much desired TUIVERSITY shirt. I am working my way there, and now Bri will help ME!!! Here she is semi-modeling the shirt with Rob looking very British (and comatose) next to her.

Then we were all really hungry so we ordered two pizzas—they had a deal delivering to the student bar. We went through those babies like nothing…

What’s that? You’re sick of pictures of people other than me??? Okay, fine.

On Saturday I went on a trip to Wellington (NZ’s capital), and Bri was able to come along! First we hung out in Te Papa, an awesome museum and we visited…

stop drooling… and we found a wonderful photo op…

The exhibit was fairly fantastic. It consisted of props, costumes, and some of the mini sets from the films. Unfortunately we couldn’t bring our cameras in (which seemed a bit absurd… I have no idea why…) but it included the miniature of Helm’s Deep, and some “life size” orcs, SAURON (that was crazy scary), and lots of video commentary about how everything came together. It was really awesome and as Bri pointed out, helped bring together the movie plot because of all the descriptions of places and characters (and who was who’s son, etc). We almost bought the dvd set, but they would not play in American dvd players, so that was a short lived fantasy.

After that, we spent the rest of the day wandering around the downtown district. We got a long lunch at a semi-Mexican place and also looked at a ton of clothing stores, which made Bri very happy. Then we took a quick stroll on the bay (I’m not sure if it’s actually a bay, but it’s bay-ish). This is what the city looks like:

It’s almost Mediterranean looking from that view. We also found some poetry that had washed ashore, so I got a picture of it… with me on it…

Then, my favorite part of the trip, we found this little “diving board” that went out over the bay. It was more of a huge wooden plank bolted into the boardwalk. Below it (about… 40 feet? 20?) was the water of the bay and one of those floating swim things. Again, like the flying fox, it just said “hey don’t be stupid” and was just there. For anyone to jump on… SO,

and then

AND THEN

It was pretty awesome. An old guy stopped and looked at me sitting there and asked if he could take my photo. It was awesome to think that I was worthy of a photograph. I felt muselike. Then he asked if I was going to jump and I was like, “alright let’s not get crazy, sir artsy man”. If I had had a change of clothes, I might have but as it was, it was a bit chilly to be jumping into large bodies of water. Bri also went out—made it like halfway, which was awesome because she is really scared of heights! I was like “GO BRI!!!” and then she looked like she was going to faint and I was glad to have her back on stable ground.

So, this weekend I am going up to Mount Ruapehu to get an introduction on ice climbing. We’ll be up there all weekend, and Bri will be with me. If this weekend is anything like buying the gear for the trip was…

Then it will thoroughly rock. Hope all the pictures didn’t kill anyone’s internet (dad… mar… jor…) and I hope everyone is doing fantastic. Finally, I’d just like to pass on something that a certain wonderful lady in my (and dad’s) life said: "I pray for you every morning and every night. I know you are like hours ahead, but I still pray for the day I am in. God speeds up the time zone, I feel sure." It is absolutely awesome that I have such genuine and loving people in my life!!!

Oh and if you are bored and want to look at some more pictures, check out my little album here

The blog in honor of Tyler and my's one year anniversary!

Tyler really likes birds and if it weren't for him, I would probably not be nearly as interested in the wildlife in New Zealand as I am. I used to just be like "Birds... yes, anyways..." but since I have spent time with Tyler and seen him love his little birdie (what's up, sherbert???) and make comments on them, I've realized just how much attitude they have and how they are kind of human but in a much less anthropogenic way...

Anyways, I went over to the pond at Massey and took some pictures of the big birds that are over there:

First, I took a picture of these two ducks. The Mama Duck kept QUACKING like she was really really angry at the world, Riot Grrl style. So I took her picture, which made her stop for about two seconds and then she just cocked her head and kept yelling... 

Then I kept watching her (because I couldn't really ignore her) and then a DIVING DUCK swam up:

Just in case you can't tell, the diving duck is the smaller, black one that has suddenly appeared in the photo. Diving ducks are the best ducks in the entire world. For one, because they apparently annoy the hell out of all the other ducks. Secondly, they quack in the most absurd way. Instead of "quack!" its more like "QUAAAAAAAA" and then they just paddle off. I tried to get a video with the sound they make, but I couldn't do it... Anyways, a very similar (or the same) type of duck lives around the Florida Keys. I know this because I was there once and saw this weird little duck DIVE under the water and then resurface a few yards away, a minute later. It is very unnerving if you don't know it's going to happen. I did get a video of how silly they look when they swim, and if you would like to see it just go here (and if that link doesn't work, be a doll and let me know)

Finally, there are HUGE geese and swans that just wander about campus. Sometimes they attempt to attack people, other times they look serene and majestic. After taking a ton of photos of the swans from faraway, one of them actually swam right underneath the bridge I was on. I took a few pictures, and then I think he realized I didn't have any food for him (which I apologized for)... So the best picture I got was the indignant look on his face:

Still absolutely beautiful... So that's all, lots of bird pictures and videos! Hope y'all enjoyed 'em...

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Can anyone figure out why the picture below is funny? Anyone? Anyone? Tillman???

Seriously... I laughed aloud... Very strange...