Farewell New Zealand!

This is it. I sit in my nearly empty room, suitcases packed, ready to turn my flat key into the office in the morning. 4 months of a life changing experience has flown by, and now its time to go home. How crazy is that?! 4 months of living in this beautiful country, surrounded by amazing people.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of the great people of 378 Leith for making this a truly memorable experience. You guys made this home away from home so great, and I had such a great time meeting all of you, and hope to see some of you in the future!

The people of 378 Leith

Another thank you to my ISA family - I really felt like we all bonded so much right when we landed in Auckland, and you wonderful people made the transition to New Zealand that much easier. I was so afraid of traveling in this group of people that I didn't know, but you were all so welcoming! And let's not forget all of our great moments with 'Dad' and Momma Dee! 

My ISA family <3

A big thanks to Erin, Jordan, Caitlin, Max, and Aneka for being the best kiwi hosts ever! You guys really opened all of us up to the culture of New Zealand, and made sure we felt at home in the complex. I'll miss our movie nights, and being able to barge into your flats and eat dinner with you guys! 

A shout out to Orla and Molly - thanks for letting me tag along on your adventures and being part of your squad! You two made my days so fun, even when we were lazily lying about watching movies all day. Hopefully I'll see you guys in Nashville! 

Me, Molly, and Orla after completing Jack's Point

There are tons more people I want to mention in this post like Dimitri, Evie, and Joana for being such great, wonderful people, and for being there to geek out with (shout out to Evie!), but it's getting late and I have to be up early for my flight! 

This is my last post, and I just wanted to say what a wondrous adventure this has been. I don't know when, but I'll be back for you New Zealand! 

I sure will miss the New Zealand sunsets

xoxo

Tina 

ISA Wildlife Excursion

Hey everybody! Finally done with exams, WOOHOO!!! In all of the excitement of going on my South Island trip, and getting ready for exams, I forgot to make a post about the wildlife tour that ISA took us on.

For the afternoon of May 27th, those of ISA that chose to attend the excursion, went out to the Otago Peninsula to go on a tour with Wildlife Encounters. It wasn't necessarily a great day for it, on and off rain the whole day, but we made the most of it. Wildlife Encounters loaded us up into these golf carts looking vehicles with tires like a four-wheeler, perfect for driving through the mud and the rain!

Our first stop was an outlook over a beach on the peninsula, I couldn't catch the name of it, but it was still pretty nice to see.

Some more rippin' and tearin' through the mud brought us to a fur seal breeding area. So many pups! I think seeing the fur seals is definitely one of my favorite things about the peninsula! They were so cute. One pup and its mom came over to the fence line to watch us, and another pup almost came under the fence to see us. The tour guide told us that sometimes the pups will come up to people and lay on their feet. I wanted this to happen so bad! 

The mom and her pup watching us

This pup was right next to the fence! 

Relaxing on the rocks

This pup almost came under the fence 

After watching the seals, we went to a hide at a different location in an attempt to look for yellow-eyed penguins. Unfortunately, we didn't see any, BUT the guide did open a small window that was in the wall to show us some Little Blue Penguins in their burrows! I was so flustered at trying to get by quietly that I didn't even realize it, and missed my photo opportunity. We then piled pack into our all-terrain vehicles and made our way back to the center to head back to Dunedin. 

It was a great way to end my semester with ISA, even with the rainy day, we all had tons of fun! 

Tekapu and Many Stops to Dunedin

Our last day of our whirlwind trip around the South Island began with watching the sun rise in Tekapu. What a beautiful sight that was! The sun was peaking over the mountains, and steam was rising off of the water (quite a cold morning). Our sun rise was cut a bit short when one of our group realized they dropped their phone at our last campground.

Sun rise in Tekapu

The sun light peeking over the mountains 

After (thankfully) finding his phone at the campsite, we began making our way back to Dunedin to hopefully make it in time to say goodbye to Dimitri. Along the way, we made quite a few stops to conclude our tour. Our first stop was along the fossil trail to see some of the Maori cave drawings. Many of them are quite faded and hard to see, but after learning a bit about the Maori culture while here, it was so cool to see them. 

A guide to the drawings

The actual drawings

 After the cave drawings we made a stop at the elephant rocks, the filming location for the epic final battle of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Molly was pretty excited about this place (so many rocks!) and everyone had a great time 

The Elephant Rocks

"This is our new album cover"

"Action shot!"

Molly, Queen of the Rocks

After spending a good amount of time playing on the behemoth sized rocks, we piled back into the car and made our last stop before Dunedin: the Moeraki Boulders. Maori legend explains these boulders on the beach as washed up calabashes, sweet potatoes, and eel baskets from the legendary canoe, the Araiteuru, that wrecked at Shag Point. 

The famous Moeraki Boulders

A broken boulder

Finally, it was back to Dunedin to unpack the car and say farewell to our dear friend (and my flatmate) Dimitri before he headed back to America. That was beginning of many farewells, and the end of my exploration around the South Island. But hopefully I'll be back in New Zealand in the near future! 

Wanaka, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Marine Reserve and Fantail Falls - Oh My!

Whoa, are you guys still there? Sorry yet again for another long absence from my blogging, but I do have to complete the 'study' part of study abroad (and its finals MONTH). But shall I continue with my journey from the last post? Where was I? Oh that's right, we were just leaving Queenstown.

After completing our hike, and Tyler having completed his bungy experience, we packed back into the car and headed to the town of Wanaka. It was a beautiful drive through the snowy mountains, to this little bustling town wedged in between with the large Lake Wanaka by its side. After heading to the grocery store for a few more snacks and dinner, we headed to a picnic area down by the lake to enjoy our meal with the sunset. We wrapped ourselves in blankets and sat around the table playing Cards Against Humanity, such a great time!

The mountains across the lake

The sun setting behind the mountains 

The rest of the picnic area

After finishing dinner, and with the cue of the lack on sunlight, we decided to pack up and find another camping area to spend the night. We found a nice area up on a hill with a beautiful view of the night sky, where I was finally able to get my camera to take semi-decent pictures of the stars and milky way! 

A view of the stars

Even the milky way shows up

After another rough night's sleep in the car, we awoke early again and made our way further up the west coast toward Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier. Our first stop was a lookout point where we watched the sunrise, and ate some breakfast before heading onto the rest of our journey. Driving through the rainforests and fog of the West Coast brought us to Fox Glacier, located in the Westland Tai Poutini National Park. 

Watching the sunrise over the ocean

Beautiful colors in the clouds

On the way to view the glacier

Fox Glacier

Walking through the forest

After thoroughly exploring the area around Fox Glacier, we moved onto Franz Josef Glacier. Both glaciers have experienced great reductions in their overall size, so seeing what was left of these natural wonders was a must! 

Franz Josef Glacier Trail

Franz Josef Glacier

They have helicopter tours of the glacier

I trusted Molly with my camera...tsk tsk 

Standing between two of the waterfalls 

After viewing the glaciers, we made our way back down the West Coast in order to start our trek back over to the Otago region. Our first stop on our way back down was Fantail Falls, which drops into the Haast River. Much to my surprise, we were met with snow here despite the beautiful day we had at the glaciers! We also made a stop at Lake Moeraki in a final attempt to see the Fiordland Crested Penguins, but no luck there. It was still a beautiful sight to see. Our last stop on the West Coast was Tauparikaka Marine Reserve, or really, a protected beach area. It was such a nice day out, being on the beach really topped it off! 

The Haast River

Fantail Falls 

Lake Moeraki

A fish in the shallows in the lake

The Marine Reserve

Study Abroad 2016!

A curious fantail that danced around me on the track

We ended the leg of a trip making our way back to the Otago area, stopping at an outlook of Lake Hawea to eat dinner and watch the sunset. It was a long day! But I was glad to see so much of the South Island. 

The sunset over Lake Hawea

Nice to See You Again, Queenstown

Just got back from finishing my first exam, so I figured why not celebrate with another blog post!

After our tour at Milford Sound, and our quick pass through the Fiordlands, we made our way over to Queenstown so that one member of our group could complete a bungy before his return home (such a brave soul). When we first arrived we spent our time just wandering around and looking into the shops, since it was still pretty early. We made our way over to the 1876 bar for some drinks and little dinner (I had manuka smoked BBQ baby back ribs - TO DIE FOR). Although it was still pretty early, we headed back to the car to get ready for bed (not much to do in the dark when you're freedom camping). We parked on the side of the road by Lake Wakatipu for a snooze. Around 4:30 in the morning there was a knock on our window, and a man (either a stranger or cop, we're still not sure!) told us its a $200 fine for freedom camping in Queenstown. OOPS! So we quickly hopped out of the car and switched spots so we could drive out of there! Being awake so early we decided to find a heated place to hang out for a bit. Luckily there was a local BP station open with free wifi (thank the internet gods) and some really great meat pies (my fave). After relaxing for a bit, we decided on a plan. We were going to watch the sunrise in the botanical gardens.

Watching the sunrise over Lake Wakatipu 

The Remarkables across the lake

Molly and Orla were excited to see the sun rise! 

Beautiful colors as we were leaving

   After watching the sun rise, it was off to drop off Tyler (Molly's friend from the states) to go meet his people for his bungy, and we headed off to the souvenir shops to gear up for a hike. After acquiring some hats and gloves, we drove out to Jack's Point for our hike. What we thought was going to be snowy and wintry weather ended up turning around to prove a very nice day! Though the hike was still tiring, but the view was worth it at the top. The three of us enjoyed a nice little picnic at the top and took in the scene of the Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu. It was a quick trek back down the hill to meet up with Tyler and to head to Wanaka before it got too dark outside. 

Walking up to Jack's Point

The view from the top

I made it! 

Me, Molly, and Orla enjoying our view above Queenstown

 It felt nice to get out of the car and to do some hiking! The nature is definitely my favorite thing about New Zealand. Can't beat the views!