Saturday, April 30, 2016

Queenstown Excursion Day 2 and 3

Finally caught up on assignments, and done getting ready for the Great American Bash, so now I can tell you all about my second day in Queenstown!

After the nightlife of Queenstown, the next morning the whole group woke up to go to Bob's Peak. We rode the gondalas up, which are basically like little cable cars that take you to the top of the Peak instead of hiking. Once up to the top we were able to go to a landing to look out over Queenstown and the Remarkables mountain range. The views were absolutely breathtaking!!!
The Remarkables beyond Queenstown

Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. Lake Wakatipu is one of few tidal lakes found in the world

The gondolas

Sitting inside one of the old gondolas! 


After taking in the sights we made our way down to the luging track. Many of you may know luging from the Olympics, but the luging we did wasn't in the ice and snow. Instead we each hopped to our own sled fitted with wheels and brakes. You ride on a paved track going super fast! Basically like go-karting but without the motors.
Megan, Daisha, and Momma Dee getting ready for their luge track! 
I was coming around that corner pretty fast!!! 


The lift to take you to the top of the track

After several rounds of racing down the track we were all ready for some lunch. Where else to go other than the legendary Fergburger of Queenstown! A group of us waited in line for about 25 minutes to put in our order for these burgers of legend. I ordered the Sweet Bambi: a venison burger with Thai plum sauce, aioli, lettuce, tomato, and red onion, and a salted caramel milkshake to go with it. After waiting another 20-30 minutes for our order to be completed, we grabbed our food and went to eat on the beach of Lake Wakatipu. Biting into this burger was absolute heaven!!!!!!! All the waiting was worth it, and the milkshake was also spectacular! Definitely the best burger and shake experience of my life! And such a marvelous view to go with my food, as well as some ducks for company (I fed them my tomatoes and they accepted me as one of their own). 
The Sweet Bambi

Salted Caramel Shake compliments of Mrs. Ferg

The view from our seats

Thanks for the awesome burger Ferg! 

After lunch a few of us went to take a stroll through the botanical gardens and soak up some sunshine! On the way back to our hostel we happened upon a street performer who not only was full of wit, but actually performed some pretty cool tricks. 
Strolling through the botans

Ducks! 



Across the lake

The street performer

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, and so now its on to Day 3/Going back to Dunedin. This past Monday was ANZAC day so there were no classes. ANZAC day is a day to commemorate all of the New Zealand and Australian soldiers who died while fighting in Turkey (for more info: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/anzac-day/introduction). Many towns hold a dawn service, which was an optional activity (my body was not awake enough to attend).

 After the service, the ISA group had breakfast and then packed up to head back to Dunedin. We had one last stop to make before reaching home. Our program leaders planned a stop in Naseby to have a go at curling. Curling, another Olympic sport, was definitely not my forte. You slide these large "stones" weighing about 25 kgs across the ice trying to make it as close to the center of the target at the other end. If the stone isn't going fast enough then your two sweepers take brooms to sweep in front of the stone and make it slide farther. The sweeping causes the ice to melt therefore allowing the stone to slide more. Don't ask me how the point system works, I still have no idea after two hours of playing. 

Trying to understand the game of curling

Overall it was another great trip, and I really enjoyed myself! I'm excited for my next adventure! 



Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Queenstown Excursion Day 1

Hey all! It's me again! Finally back to blogging and adventuring after about 2 weeks of being sick and catching up with homework (ugh!). This past weekend I was able to go on an awesome trip with my ISA group to Queenstown, about 3.5 hours west of Dunedin. We were able to stay over night thanks to the holiday weekend (Monday was ANZAC day, which I'll talk about more later).

The excursion started Saturday morning bright and early. The group met at 7:30 to meet up with our advisers and get on the bus. We drove a few hours to stop at an orchard famous for their real fruit ice cream (a welcome treat after the early morning brought upon us). Walking in the store reminded me a lot of Fifer Orchards (cue homesickness), but the excitement of ice cream brought be back to good old New Zealand. I bought a mango real fruit ice cream (vanilla ice cream mixed together with mangoes, YUM!).
The inside of the country store

My delicious mango ice cream! 

Enjoying the fall colors of the orchard

After ice cream and some picture taking it was another couple of hours on the bus to get the rest of the way to Queenstown where we met up with the rest of the ISA group that went early to go bungy jumping (such brave souls). As we couldn't check into our hostel until about 3 pm we took a trip over to Arrowtown to take part in their Autumn Festival. Here they have tons of stalls to buy nifty New Zealand goods and to try some awesome food. A friend and I made our way to the Arrowtown Cafe for some lunch. I had a pie (filled with steak, bacon, and cheese) with mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas. Quite the meal! After lunch we had some time to explore, and made our way down to the Arrow River. FUN FACT! The Arrow River was used to film the scene in Fellowship of the Ring where Arwen crosses the river while being chased by the Nazgul and uses her elven magic to keep them at bay with riptides. I'M BREATHING IN THE MAGIC OF MIDDLE EARTH! I touched the same waters as Liv Tyler and Elijah Wood, and any of you that know me should know that's a huge deal! 

The autumn colors of Arrowtown to compliment the festival

Looking down the Arrow River

Walking by the river

A look into Arrowtown, once a hub for panning for gold

After a thorough explore of Arrowtown the ISA crew met back up for our return to Queenstown, but not without a quick stop to watch some bungy jumping. New Zealand has several locations where you can bungy jump, the tallest being the Nevis bungy which is over 400 feet high (wicked scary!). 
The bungy bridge

The view from the balcony. Such beautiful water! 

The couple that bungies together stays together

Almost to the bottom

They made it!
Safe to say that I will probably never go bungy jumping! I'll admit that it takes some serious guts. Props to all of the ISA crew that bungied! 

Finally it was on to Queenstown. We had the rest of the day as free time to ourselves, so we first got dinner (a couple of friends and I ate at a wonderful Japanese restaurant) then it was out to experience Queenstown nightlife! Our first stop was the Minus 5 Ice Bar. Parkas and gloves were provided as we stepped into the -8 degrees Celsius room made entirely of ice. The walls were made of ice, the tables were made of ice, the chairs were made of ice. Even the cups were made of ice! Here I ordered a chilly vanilly (made with Absolut vodka, and quite tasty). Next it was on to Cowboys, though we didn't stay here very long. The bar was super crowded and their mechanical bull wasn't working (so why even bother?!). Last stop of the night was a bar called Winnie's, and that one was probably my favorite. It had a huge dance floor, awesome tunes, and overall was a really great time! A great experience for my first time going out to the bars in New Zealand. 
Enjoying my chilly vanilly

The bar and bartender

Some ice decor

More ice decor

I ended up getting back to the hostel at 2:30 in the morning, but I'm sure glad I went out. Stay tuned for adventures from day 2! 



Sunday, April 10, 2016

Nichol's Creek Track

Hey all! So I got to do a little exploring of the Dunedin area this weekend. This past Saturday a couple of friends and I decided to go on the hunt for the rumored glow worm cave nearby (glow worms, how cool!).

Before we can even get to that, let me share with you the most amazing pancake I've had in my life. We decided to treat ourselves to a hearty breakfast before heading up to the trail, so we made a stop at Capers (a local cafe). Capers is legendary for their pancakes, and I had to see what all the fuss was about. Safe to say I was impressed! The pancake was BEAUTIFUL as well as DELICIOUS!! I decided on a chocolate pancake, with cream and fruit in the middle. YUM

My chocolate half pancake from Capers

After breakfast we hopped on the bus to Ross Creek, got off at Fulton Road, and made our way up Leith Valley Road toward the Nichol's Creek trailhead (a 15 minute walk). 
The walk up Leith Valley

Finally we made it to the trailhead, and it was only an eight minute walk to the glow worm "caves". Once we got there, much to our dismay, we couldn't see any glow worms! It wasn't actually a cave, like the glow worm caves in Waitomo, but this was more of an open area with a creek running through it. Oh well! Looks like we'll have to make another trip near sunset to catch the glow worms.
Home of the glow worms

 Luckily, there were other things to see on the trail. About another 20 minutes up a side trail you could find yourself at a waterfall! 
Myself at Nichol's Falls

It was nice to get out and see some of the sights around Dunedin. Hopefully I'll get to explore the area more pretty soon! 

"The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark."
~John Muir




Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Christchurch Part 2: Willowbank Wildlife Reserve

Here I am finally completing the last part of my mid-semester trip. I ended up spending two days in Christchurch, and after my day of exploration I decided to make a visit to Willowbank. Willowbank is a wildlife reserve that is home to many animals native to New Zealand, as well as some not so native. But it was a perfect place for me!

It took me two buses to get there, but I started my tour around 11 am. This is a self-guided tour through the reserve, and you begin by going through the "Wild New Zealand" section of the park. The first thing I saw when walking out of the center were domestic eels that you could feed! You could take spoons of the food and the eels would swim right up and eat off of the spoon!
Welcome to Wild New Zealand!


The feedable eels! 


After the eels, I walked past some ducks (so many ducks) and made it to the deer yard. There I got to pet the cutest little deer. They have such soft noses!! Interesting fact: Deer are actually considered agricultural animals as New Zealand has many deer farms. This makes venison pretty cheap in restaurants and supermarkets!
Fallow deer

Then it was onto the Lost Swamp portion of the park. Here there were all sorts of interesting birds and animals that I got to see. The coolest part I think was that I got to pet a wallaby! These are technically native to New Zealand, but they are super cute!

To the Lost Swamp!

Me petting the wallaby. Now I need one!

Asian Short-Clawed Otter

Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo

Ring-tailed Lemurs

After walking through Wild New Zealand it was on to Heritage New Zealand! Here they had various farm animals that could be found in New Zealand, such as Kunekune pig, Arapawa goat, and the Miniature White Galloway! The best part about the farm animal section was that you were able to pet pretty much all of the animals (have I died and gone to heaven??). Not to mention there were chickens roaming all around. Let me tell you a story about this Miniature White Galloway. There I am trying to pet it, and what does it do? Sticks its head through the gate and tries to eat my jacket! Crazy animals!
Welcome to Heritage New Zealand

Kunekune pig

Chicken!

Arapawa goat

Miniature White Galloway

Petting the Galloway! 

Finally, it was on to Natural New Zealand. Through here I saw tons of native birds, and most importantly I SAW A KIWI!! No, not the fruit. I'm talking about the bird! They occur only in New Zealand, and are an endangered species here. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because flash photography wasn't allowed in the nocturnal house. They are so much bigger than I had imagined them to be! Another fun fact, they're the only birds to have their nostrils at the end of their bill, allowing them to sniff out prey when they probe the ground.

A picture of the Brown Kiwi

Morepork, the native owl of New Zealand

White-faced Heron
Overall, it was a fantastic trip! Definitely appealed to my wildlife biologist heart. And what a perfect way to end my mid-semester break!