Queenstown Blog

I promised you all I would write about Queenstown, so here goes!

The drive from Nelson to Kaikora took about 5 hours or so, and Kaikora isn't too far outside of Christchurch, so we drove a bit further and camped about 25 minutes outside of CHCH (thats the abbreviation...Wellington is WGTN and Queenstown is QT as well). We then took the scenic route, through MackenzieCountry, to Wanaka. Wanaka is a tourist town, but it has beautiful views in every direction, and delicious pizza too! I made Eoin sleep in a cabin because, really, after a week in a tent I am not the happiest Alexa you've ever seen.

So we slept in a cabin, ate delicious pizza and then started off towards QT (Queenstown, remember?). BUT FIRST. We stopped off at Puzzling World. It's basically a museum of holograms, puzzles, and illusions. It was pretty fun. There was one room where everything was on a slant, and there were stairs you could stand on that made it look so crazy! I can't even explain..here is a picture:




Woaaaahh! What is going on? :)

They also had one of those cool rooms that makes it look like one person is a giant and the other person is teeny tiny.





Anyway, after that we drove into Queenstown, pitched a tent, and started the hunt for jobs and apartments. We got an apartment our second day here. It is a studio apartment (bed, livingroom, kitchen and bathroom) with internet, TV and a washing machine for only a bit more than what we were paying in Wellington. Eoin also got a job our first day here, and I am still looking. There is nothing available except Housekeeping and bricklaying. I'm a bit frustrated because I had such good luck and fun in Wellington with jobs, I just expected it to be like that everywhere...oh well.



Anyway, aside from getting an apartment on our first day here, Eoin and I also went on the Skyline Gondola which overlooks the town. From there you can also luge, paraglide, eat expensive food and go to a giftshop. We did all of it except the expensive lunch (its about $30 per plate for a buffet!!).



The luge was really fun. We got two rides, and the first time you go you have to do the scenic route. It's really tame with wide turns and maybe one or two dips. The second track is steeper with sharper turns, more tunnels and more dips.



After the luge ride, Eoin told me to think about paragliding. I thought about it and decided to ask the people at the ticket desk about it. I convinced myself to do it, along with the help of the skilled sales people at the booth, and here are the results:


It may look like I was having fun, but shortly after this picture was taken I felt really sick. I rode the rest of the way down with a barf bag in my hand. I didn't get sick, but I felt really out of it the rest of the day. Don't worry. I am done doing crazy things for the rest of the trip. :)


Well, unfortunately I have nothing else exciting to say. I posted some pictures and some videos and the links are on the right-hand side of the blog.

Waitomo Caves and The Whanganui River

I am in Queenstown now, but before we get to that I wanted to continue telling you all about the rest of our holiday.

When I left off last time, I mentioned zorbing and the coromandel peninsula. After we left Hamilton, we drove to Waitomo which is famous for its many caves and the glow worms that live in the caves.

In order to see the glowworms, you can either take a short guided walk that leads to you an indoor overlook OR you can put on a wetsuit, jump off a waterfall and black water raft your way through the caves. Eoin and I chose the latter. Here we are in our awesome wetsuits, gum boots, and helmets.

Look how excited we are!

We had a brief training on how to jump off waterfalls (butt-first) and the proper way to carry our inner-tubes (over your right shoulder) and how to eel (sitting in a line holding onto the person's feet behind you).

Here is what it looks like to eel..


After our training, we rode up to the top of a hill and walked into the beginning of the cave. It was very dark and wet so the lights on our helmets came in handy as we tried to find our footing in the caves. For the most part, we were walking in ankle deep water or floating along the river occasionally bumping into rocky walls or other people. The glow worms looked like stars in the sky, but in actuality we were looking at maggot poo. Gross?

There were two waterfall jumps, one was about 3 feet high and the other about 5. We had to walk to the edge of the cliff, turn around, and jump backwards in our inner tubes. It was actually a lot of fun. Towards the end, we got further from the "rapids" and had to paddle ourselves with our hands. Not unsurprisingly, I was the last one out of the cave. No matter how hard I paddled I kept going in circles and bumping into the walls, so one of the guides simply pulled me the last part of the way. Embarrassing.

We got complimentary hot showers along with bagels and soup when we got back to the main building. Amazinggggg.




After we ate and warmed up a bit Eoin and I headed out to Taumarunui, a small town known for absolutely nothing. This is the town where our canoe trip started. We had one night to relax a bit and back up our four blue barrels with the supplies we'd need on our trip (rain gear, pjs, mess kit, food, sunscreen, polypro, socks, sleeping bags and a tent). Early the next morning we headed to the Canoe rental place, which happened to be a family's home, and they were some of the nicest people! They gave us some insight on what to expect on our canoe journey and how to handle to RAPIDS we would encounter. Eoin and I set off a bit before another couple that was also there, but they had never canoed before and needed more training than we did.

We canoed for about 5 hours our first day, and went approximately 51 KM. There were 45 rapids (up to level 3's) before we got to the first campsite, but we didn't stop until the second campsite (about 20 more rapids away). We never capsized, although we definitely came close once! The rapids were a lot of fun, even if we occasionally went through them sideways or backwards :)






Our canoe at the campsite. Some rapids can be seen in the background. Those are the rapids that almost tipped us over.

We put our tent together, and put on our pajamas before making some dinner. Eoin had collected some fire wood and leaves and whatnot, and we attempted to make a fire. However, it would not stay aflame without someone constantly tending to it, so it wasn't the best campfire ever, but it was nice and warm :)

We went to bed pretty early because we had to get back in the water by 9 AM. My arms hurt so bad from all the paddling, and my hands and wrists were sunburned too. But we managed to sleep alright. We got up earlier than planned, and got back into our canoe by 8:30 AM. We made it to the end of our journey much earlier than the 2:00PM van would be there to pick us up. So we pulled our boat ashore and walked around Whakahoro (pronounced quite vulgarly, fuk-a-hor-oh) while we waiting for our ride.
One of the many waterfalls along the Whanganui River.

This is quite a long blog, so I think I will write about Queenstown in my next entry. But just know that I am having a blast!

:)

Pictures to keep you happy

Here are some pictures from the Tongariro Crossing.

Here I am at the begining of the track. Look how happy I am!

Mount Doom aka Mount Ngauruhoe

Here we are at the top of the Devil's Staircase. Wooo hoo!!

Coromandel Penninsula

One of the beaches on the Penninsula.

Some people digging on Hot Water Beach.

A huge cave carved out on Cathedral Cove.

I could probably climb Everest next.

I am amazing.

Well, most of you already knew that I'm sure, but I am just restating how amazing I am.

I am so amazing, that I completed an 18.5 km hike (UPHILL!!) in 8 hours (including breaks).

Amazed? You should be. I am so out of shape and un-athletic its not even funny. Eoin already described the hike, but I am going to tell you how it really was...

First, it was very misleading. You get dropped off in a parking lot and walk the path that is fairly flat that leads you towards the mountains. Then, there is a boardwalk! How easy. I was totally digging that part, if only the entire walk was on an elevated flat surface...SUDDENLY you see huge rocky staircases that zig-zag all over the world. We started in New Zealand, went through Indonesia, stopped for a breather in Mexico and climbed higher and higher until we made it to the top (or so we thought) in Nigeria. We rested for a bit, drank some water, looked around, and realized there were MORE STAIRS. Who ever invented the Tongariro Crossing must have hated me. Eoin points out, "at least it had stairs"...well shut up Eoin. I hate climbing and exercize, so there. Anway, we climbed the rest of the stairs and found ourselves on Mars crossing a huge crater. This part was also slightly misleading, as we had climbed so much and were rewarded with a perfectly flat walk right up to the most dangerous/vertical/intense climb on the mountain. This was not hiking, my friends, this was rock climbing. Good thing Camp Micah has the rock wall so I was a bit of a professional on the mountain. Hannah Churwin taught me well, I totally made it to the top (except I climbed it, I wasn't hoisted up by buff male-counselors).

This part of the mountain was called the red crater, and it is also the "Point of NO Return". Intense! On bad days, hikers have to literally CRAWL up the rocky ledge. If you slip and fall into the crater, you don't come back out. Thank goodness we had nice weather, huh? At the top of the steep climb is a rocky area that most hikers stopped to have lunch. We ate there too, and then Eoin was all "I'm going to the top of Mt. Tongariro!!!111!!!". This was an extra 1.5 hour hike, and I only went as far as where the snow started. It was fun watching people slip and slide down the side of the mountain, but it got cold after a while waiting for Eoin.

When he returned from the summit we continued our hike. We tramped along until we came to our first downward descent! And guess what, it was 100% Skree. WHat is skree? Well, its basically rocks and dirt that allow you to have no solid footing so you end up sliding down the mountain. Eoin opted for the "Run down the mountain" technique, but I opted for the "Join the old ladies and walk so slow" technique. I ended up with less dirt in my boots, so I think I made the better choice.

At the bottom of this part, were two small lakes that were turquoise/neon green color. Very cool. From this point on it was mostly flat/downhill with a few random and annoying up hill sections. (Really, who puts trails going UP HILL on the way DOWN a mountain??). We stopped for about 10 minutes at the hut (where people doing the overnight hikes stay) and shortly afterward my right ankle began hurting with even the slightest ammount of pressure. The last two hours of our hike I hobbled, but we managed to make it to the end of the trail just in time to catch our bus back to the camp ground.

My legs still hurt, but my ankle is doing much better..despite the fact I now have cankles!!

Anyway. I am running out of time and don't want to bore you all, but I just wanted to do a quick run down of everything else we've done on our mini-vacation so far...

-Zorbing. SO AMAZING. It is basically a giant gerbil ball that Eoin and I went in and rolled down a hill. It was filled with water, and we were slipping and sliding and bouncing all over the place, but it was one of the most fun things I've done.

- Hot Water Beach.Hot water beach is situated on top of a volcanic area, and apparently if you dig a shallow hole you will find hot water! Eoin tried to find us a hot water spot, but couldn't. Neither could anyone else on the beach digging. Sad.

- Cathedral Cove. Awesome beaches and scenery. If it wasn't such a cloudy rainy day when we went we would have most likely stayed all day. However, on an overcast day an hour was plenty of time.

-Hamilton. A nice city where we are currently staying. We went to the zoo today, and walked around the downtown area. Not terribly exciting, but it is nice.

Alright, we are going to get some dinner! I will post pictures later when we have more time/better internet.

Alexa

"Does this store connect to a grocery?"

So, as most of you know I absolutely love my job. However, as with any job, there are some small annoyances. My main annoyance is the stupid questions customers ask. I am going to list these questions so that you all will be better educated shoppers.

Buy One Get One Free

Sounds pretty self explanatory, right? Wrong. I have been asked countless times, "Do I have to buy one to get one free?" Um no, just take it. Thanks. We don't want to make a profit.

Or even, "If I pick something from the 'buy one get one free' rack, do I get anything in the store for free?" Again, seriously? Did you really just ask me that? NO. Only items on the BOGOF rack are available for FREE once you BUY another item from the same rack. Gosh.

"I want a dark black shirt" or "I want a light black shirt" Okay, because we have several shades of black.

"I saw a pair of pants in an ad, where are they?" Sorry, but we have a lot of ads,we also have a lot of pants. Maybe you could be more descriptive??
"They were jeans, with pockets on the front and back, and a button and zipper" Ohhh well NOW I know which pants you are talking about.We only sell about 10 different pairs of jeans.

Also, people frequently ask us what time we close (usually about 5 minutes before closing time) and then proceed to shop around some more, bring 8+ items to the fitting room, and take their sweet time trying things on, asking for different sizes and making us wait around until the shop has been closed for 15-20 minutes. That's not nice, its rude. Don't do that.

Recently, we had a promotion where you could buy two tshirts for $35 (or one for $24.99). All the shirts in the promotion were on a specific table, with a clearly marked sign. Nearby, another table had capris and shorts. I don't even know if I can count as high as the number of people who asked if the shorts were a part of the "Two T-SHIRTS for $35" Promotion.

Similarly, we had another promotion on summer cardigans, two for $45 (or one for $40). All the cardigans that were a part of this promo were on a separate rack with a HUGE SIGN declaring that these were the cardi's on promo. Still, people were asking all day long if they could get a cardigan from another section of the store and a promo cardigan and STILL get the 2 for $45 deal.

Basically, it's all about reading and common sense people. Read the signs, and use your brains. It might hurt, especially if you are not used to using your noggin, but in the end it will make the sales staff a whole lot happier.



On a less sarcastic/passive aggressive note.... Eoin and I went to the Weta Workshop. That is where a lot of the swords, masks, make-up, editing etc for Lord of the Rings (and several other movies..like Narnia, Black Sheep (thanks radio jon!) etc etc) are all made. We weren't allowed in the studios or anything, but we did get to go into the Weta Cave! It was three rooms, mostly of books and figurines for sale. A small "museum" was in the back (it had next to nothing interesting in it) and a little movie theater where they show you all the cool things you aren't allowed to see at the studios.

jerks.

Sheep Brains and Skinks

As you all know, Eoin and I have to eat in order to survive out here in New Zealand. We go to the grocery store in Kilbirnie (about 3 minutes away) and get the majority of our food. We get our fruit from the farmers market on Sunday, and occasionally browse other grocery stores too see what they have that good ol' Pak-N-Save doesn't have. We have discovered a variety of...things..that one would not normally find in a Shaws, Wegmans, Hannafords or Publix (to name a few).

HEARTS: Sheep, chicken, and lamb. Deeelish! Sheep and lamb hearts look like normal hearts. Chicken hearts look like really big kidney beans.

BRAINS: Sheep and Pig. Looks exactly how you think it would.

STOMACHS: Sheep and Pig. It looks like regurgitated vanilla pudding with noddles mixed in. My favorite!

KIDNEYS: Lamb. Look like giant kidney beans. Duh.

INTESTINES: Pig. Looks kind of like a brain, actually.

PARTS: Chicken and Goat. I don't even WANT to know what "parts" are.

If you want to know, Eoin and I have been sticking with chicken (sausages mostly), fish fillets and the occasional lamb.

Anyway, on to less disgusting things.

Yesterday (Sunday) Eoin and I were supposed to go Sea Kayaking, but waking up at 8AM on a Sunday was just not what we were ready for, so we opted to go back to sleep and wake up a bit later to go to Sommes Island. We took a ferry to Sommes Island, but first it stopped at Seatoun, Days Bay and Petone. It was beautiful outside, with just a bit of breeze and the boat ride was really nice. We got to Sommes Island just around 11:30.

Sommes Island is another wildlife reserve that is home to birds, reptiles and bugs. We got to see tons of Skinks, which are a type of lizard, similar to a gecko. We also saw North Island Robins, Variable Oystercatchers (look like crows kind of) and Red-Crowned parakeets. The island is also home to the illusive Tuatara, which we didn't get to see, and the worlds smallest penguin, Little Blue Penguins. Unfortunately, it is nesting season for the penguins and they were all holed up in the nesting boxes being anti-social.

Before Sommes Island was a reserve, it was used in WWI and WWII as a holding place for enemy aliens. Prior to that it was a quarantine station for animals and humans. There is also a lighthouse on Sommes Island, and it is the first lighthouse in country. Impressive!

Eoin and I walked every trail on the island, all three of them :) We saw where the quarantined animals were kept, where the detainees stayed and where the WWII artillery was placed. We also saw sheep! It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful place.

Looking out towards Wellington from Sommes Island.
Sounds...delicious?

Should have done this a while ago...

I never actually showed you all what Wellington looks like! So on Sunday Eoin and I took a walk around town and I took pictures of the city. It was a really nice day, and I totally forgot that there is a huge hole in the O-Zone layer over us...we both got sunburns!

The first place we stopped on our walk was the Basin Reserve. This is where the National Cricket Museum is, as well as a Cricket Field. We actually saw a team at practice, here is what Cricket players look like when they are practicing:

We then walked to the central business district where Courtenay Place is. Courtenay Place is the hub of night life( pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants etc). They are doing a bunch of construction there, putting in new lights, so I didn't really get a good picture, but here is one section of Courtenay Place:

We then walked down to the bay. There was a skateboarding competition going on at the park nearby. We saw some ducks swimming in the bog, and some were sleeping on the beach. There were also some children playing in the water. Here is a picture of some of the sailboats docked in the harbor. Notice how clean and clear the water is!

We then walked along Queens Warf, this is basically just a nice walk from one end of town to the other. It goes right along the water, and there are parks, restaurants and a few ice cream stands along the way. Here is the view from the boats of Queens Warf.

Well, now that I showed you around a bit, I hope you are all jealous of the beautiful sunshine we had.... it is raining now, and it supposed to rain for the rest of week...but when it is sunny outside it is gorgeous here!

Miss you all!

You DON'T want to stay at a Weta Hotel...

Hey everyone! It's another wonderful day in Wellington. Work has been going well, and I am enjoying myself very much.

Today, Eoin and I went to the Korari Wildlife Sanctuary. We weren't sure how it would be until we got there, because it has been raining on and off all weekend, but we decided to take our chances! For the most part, it was windy and a bit chilly but no rain (except for a few sprinkles). So we lucked out.

The Korari Wildlife Sanctuary was built to try and promote the native birds and reptiles of New Zealand to mate and produce. A lot of the native animals became extinct when settlers arrived and many more are close to extinction. So, the reserve is completely "pest free" (no rodents or predatory animals can get in) and then even check your bags apon arrival to ensure you aren't sneaking any mice or rats into the park!

Some of the animals they have at the sanctuary are Tuatara (a reptile that is definitely worth a wikipedia look-up), Wetas (nasty gross bugs), Kaka's (a parrot that is sooo cool) and Tuis (neat birds) and of course, Kiwis. We saw all of these but the Tuatara and Kiwi. Tuatara don't like the cold, and today was too chilly for them, they stayed in their burrows where it was warm. Eoin was really bummed, but I am sure we will have many more chances to see a tuatara on our adventures. We didn't see the Kiwi because, well, they are nocturnal and very good at remaining hidden in the forests.

Another interesting highlight at the sanctuary was the Goldmine. Back in the day, there was a goldrush in New Zealand. One of the places people looked for gold was in Korari. They have re-opened one of the mines and Eoin and I got to go in it. We wore hardhats and had a cool flashlight that allowed us to look for cave weta (gross bugs). We found one, and that was good enough for me. I don't know what I would have done if there were several of them all hanging out in there. Gross...

Anyway, I think that is about it. I am sure Eoin will have a lot more to say...he is the writer out of the two of us you know...

Here are some pictures for you!

This is a weta that is staying in a "Weta Hotel". Basically, it is a huge log that has small holes cut in it for the weta to crawl in. Inside, there are "rooms" for the weta to sleep in. They are such gross bugs.

This is a Kaka at one of the bird feeders in the park. There is also a Tui in the lower right hand corner, behind the Kaka. The Tui are afraid of the Kaka, but not scared enough to eat its food when he isn't there. It was funny to watch the Tui eating the birdfood and then fleeing when the Kaka came close by.

Here we are, at the top of the observation tower! Ooooooo

I get motion sickness too easily...

It has been 10 days since my last post, and not a lot of exciting things have happened.

However, I have been working like crazy at Glassons and am really enjoying myself. I tend to work Tuesday - Saturday 11-6, with the occasionally 11-8 or 9-6 (however that is a very rare "occasional" but it happens). I get my first paycheck on Wednesday and it should be about 1 million dollars. Not bad :)

This week Eoin and I have been working hard, trying to save up as much money as we can so that we can do some fun trips! We really want to go to Karori Wildlife Sanctuary next weekend, so hopefully my next post will be about that! We also heard that we can go to Sommes Island and see penguins and tuatara as well as other New Zealand animals. That is also on our agenda for an upcoming weekend trip. Lastly, Eoin and I have plans to go Sea Kayaking the first weekend of November. Now that I've typed it all out, it looks like we have a few busy weekends ahead of us.

This past weekend, Eoin and I took it pretty easy. We went to Te Papa (again) and nearly finished the entire museum! It only took us....3 trips? They have a new exhibit called "Our Space" which has an interactive map of New Zealand. You can step on any part of the map, and on a separate screen a picture or sometimes a movie pops up and shows you something unique about that part of NZ. Pretty cool. There is also a wall that is made up of large computer screens that anyone can upload pictures or videos on to. Eoin and I put a picture of ourselves on the wall. There was also a picture of a crying baby, videos of Maori Haka's and pictures of native plants. Everytime you go in to the exhibit the wall looks completely different, it is constantly being changed by various visitors to the museum. The highlight of "Our Space" are two rides. The Deep Ride and the High Ride. They are both simulation rides, the former being a journey to an underwater volcano and the latter being a skydiving, bungy jumping, vomit inducing never-would-i-ever-go-on ride. Guess which one we did!

I wish I had pictures to show you today, but it seems like everytime I get my camera out to take a picture it is either...
A) got dead batteries
B) got dead batteries that I JUST bought
C) got dead batteries

So, I will try again next update.

I miss you all and hope everyone is doing well! It is about 60-70 degrees here and sunny (with the occasionally huge gust of wind). How is it in NH/NY/MA/Wherever you are?

<3 Alexa

How to speak like a Kiwi (the person, not the bird)

Here are some words and phrases I have learned so far in New Zealand.

Sweet As = It's okay, it's fine ... can also mean awesome
Example: You accidentally bump into someone and say "oh sorry!" and they say "it's sweet as".

Fizzy Drink= Soda/Pop
Example: My favorite fizzy drink in NZ is LIFT.

Singlet = Tanktop
Example: Do you have any singlets in a size 8?

Does it suit you? = How does it fit?
Example: How did that dress suit you?

Cardis = Cardigans
Example: Cardis are great to wear with a dress on cool days

straight away = right now
Example: I need a chocolate bar straight away!

Capsicum = Green Pepper
Example: I would like some capsicum please.

Bin = Garbage Can
Example: Put the rubbish in the bin.

Dairy = Corner Store
Example: I'm going to run to the dairy and get some gum.

Lollies = Candies (gummies or hardcandies)
Example: Lollies are soooo delicious! Eoin smells.

Jandal = Sandal
Example: You can only wear nice jandals to work at Glassons.

Long overdue update

Sorry that I haven't written anything for a while, but nothing exciting has happened since my last entry.

I love my job at Glassons, its actually really fun playing with clothes all day long and helping people put together cute outfits! I also absolutely LOVE my 40% discount and I have been taking advantage of quite a bit. Woops :) I will post some "modeling" pictures of me in all my new outfits later, I know you are all dying to see them.

However, today I am going to post pictures of flowers. Why? Well, who doesn't like a nice picture of a flower? Eoin and I went to the botanic gardens today, and it was the perfect day for it! Last time we went (remember..the cold windy day that we just went to the cable car museum) it was horrible. Today it was sunny, warm and the flowers were in full bloom. We did the basic walk (there are several trails and paths to choose from) that cuts through the center of the gardens and loops around a few highlights such as the Lady Norwood Rose Garden, which had no roses, the Fern Garden and the Peace Garden which features a small duck pond. We saw two mother ducks with their ducklings, and it was so cute! For the most part, the ducklings stayed close to their mothers, but there were two daring little ducks that swam all over the place and climbed around with no fear... until a little girl ran after them and scared them back into the pond. I have never actually seen ducklings before, so it was really neat to see so many of them together and swimming around.

We definately want to go back and see the Herb Garden, Large Duck Pond and Rock Garden to name just a few of the gardens we didn't get to see today.

Thats about all the excitement for today, but hopefully later this week I will post some more! If anyone wants a post card just let me know!

The Succulent Garden which features plants such as Cacti, Aloes and Begonias.

Some flowers in the Main Garden.

I got a job!

Yep! You read it correctly, I have a job. I start Tuesday and I am so excited! I will be working full time, most likely Tuesday-Saturday. I get an awesome discount (which I have already used to buy a pair of pants) and I am just really into the clothes at this store so I am pumped.

Anyway, on to more things....
Eoin and I went for a walk yesterday on the Southern Walkway. It is a path that goes all over Wellington. You can (but we didn't do this) start at the bay near Central Wellington and walk all the way to the Zoo (near our house) or Kilbirnie (where we get our groceries, about 10 minutes up the road). We just did a loop from our house to the Zoo, it took us about an hour I think and it was actually pretty nice. We got to see an ostrich for free!
Today we took another trail up to the top of Mount Victoria. That was more intense than the other walk, it was pretty much all up hill. However, there are apparently filming locations for Lord of the Rings along the Mt. Victoria path, we didn't see Frodo or Samwise or Gollum though. We also couldn't figure out what the filming spots were, but when we take the LOTR tour (at some point, its expensive!) we can let you all know.

From the top of Mount Victoria (called Mt. Vic by all the local Kiwi's) you can see all of Wellington. I learned, after our walk, that people were killed up there by a low flying helicopter a few years ago. We didn't see any helicopters, so we were safe. Don't worry.


:)

This COULD be where the Hobbits were fighting over mushrooms and Frodo saw the Nazgul and shouted, "Get off the road!" But it could also just be a really pretty spot on Mt. Victoria.

The view of Wellington's central business district from the top of Mount Victoria.
This is from one of our visits to Te Papa. It is a display of fruits and vegies brought to NZ by settlers. Apparently, they had canned peaches back in the day!

Video Link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVLQIDGCNsM

That is the link to the video of the Fur Seals. You may have to pause it in order to see the seals.
Also, on the left hand side of my blog is a section called "Blog List". There you will see some links. One of them is Eoin's blog and the other is my good friend Lucas's website.

Lucas is such a wonderful little boy and gives the most amazing hugs in the world. Check out his website and find out why he is super special ( and see pictures of how adorable he is too!).

There is no news to update you all with. My references are being checked tomorrow, so some of you out there may be getting a phonecall! Please say nice things. :) Hopefully my next blog will be more exciting and will have things in it like "I am so tired because I work 30hrs a week and make a million dollars" or "today I won the lottery and now I have a mansion and get pedicures every day" or "i really like when Eoin brings pizza home from work".

The last one is true, actually. Alright, thats all for now. I miss you all so much!

Alexa

Quick Update

I am sitting in our room listening to some music and waiting for 8:10 to roll around so I can hop on the bus and meet Eoin for dinner. He got a job and works nights, the hours aren't set in stone yet but it seems like he will be working 4-8:30ish most nights. As for me, I have a job interview tomorrow morning at Glassons. I already had my phone interview, filled out two separate surveys and now I have an interview. It is for a full-time position at their busier store in Wellington (on Lambton Quay..amazing shopping!). Eoin and I also are both going to be working events at the WestPac Stadium, so that will bring in some extra money as well, plus we get to see rugby and cricket games for free! We should be hearing about that job in the next couple of days and go in for training on Wednesday night.



Eoin and I went to the zoo a few days ago, its a really nice zoo actually. It's really clean and the animals have a ton of space. Each "cage" (I put it in quotes because they are really not cages, you will see in the pictures) are made to be as close to what the natural habitat is in the wild. I was about one foot away from the head of an ENORMOUS Giraffe, saw some Kiwi Birds and even learned that when female Baboons have a swollen red rear end it means they are ready to mate. I am so much more knowledgable now.



Today we had planned to take the historic cable car ride to the top of a big hill that overlooks the city and is connected to a botanical garden, but on our walk to the bus stop it started to rain. Plan B was to go back to Te Papa (the National Museum of New Zealand) and explore some more. We still haven't seen it all. We have two more floors to go, not to mention the temporary exhibits we didn't even see yet.



Well, tomorrow/today/Thursday your time at about....6 PM EST think of me because I will be at my 1.5 hour long interview with Glassons. So scary! What are we supposed to talk about for 1.5 hours?!



Wish me luck! Miss you all!





A Kiwi bird named Kahi. Kahi only has one leg, but learned how to hop around instead of walk. The zoo made him a prosthetic leg, but by the time they tried it on him he had already adapted to hopping and didn't use the leg.


A capuchin monkey. Eoin and I got to throw walnuts to the monkeys, but this one hoarded them all and didn't share. Meanie.


I am not making this face to be funny, it was really scary standing so close to a giraffe. His tounge looks like raw chicken and he kept licking the posts. He also kept staring at me with his enormous eyeballs.

In Wellington

The past few days have been interesting. We got a room in a building about a 10 minute bus ride from the city center. It takes about 30 minutes to walk from our place to the city center, and we plan on walking to work (once we get jobs) when it is nice out to save some money because bus fares here are not cheap. We have our own room with a bed, desk, dresser and closet and we share a bathroom and kitchen/living room with the other people that live here.

Eoin and I wandered the city looking for jobs and handing out our resumes (called CV's here) in the hopes that SOMEONE would want to hire us. I have a few promising leads but haven't heard anything yet, although it is Sunday so maybe tomorrow the phone will start ringing! I applied for jobs at Glassons (a clothing store), Base Wellington (A hostel), a gym and another clothing store I forget the name of, woops.

Aside from job hunting Eoin and I did some exploring of the city. Cuba Street and Lambton Quay are the main shopping areas. Cuba Street is funky, with costume shops, cafes, book stores and clothes (mostly second hand/super funky stuff). Lambton Quay is more high fashion clothing, home furnishings and businesses. We also spent a few hours at Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand. We went in an earthquake simulator, saw a bunch of dead animals that were stuffed so they looked real but they were totally dead. They also had a large exhibit on the Maori, and even had a real Marae inside. A Marae is a meeting house used by the Maori. We are definitely going to go back because we didn't even cover half of the museum.

On Saturday we went for a walk at Te Kopahou reserve. Te Kopahou has a beach that is very rocky and is home (in May - October) to male Fur Seals. There were around 400 fur seals and we probably saw at least 50. They blend in really well with the rocks and the water, and I was actually standing about 6 feet away from a sleeping seal without realizing it.

On to the pictures!!

A nice view at Te Kopahau. Eoin kept asking if I wanted to walk up a trail the side of the "hill." I am so not ready for that.







This was taken after I realized the seal was there and ran away. I was closer before I knew he was there and posed for the picture. Do you see him?



A link to a video of the seals will be posted soon.

Kia Ora!
That’s Maori for Hello/Welcome.

We are in Rotorua, a pretty town on a lake that is surrounded by hot springs, geysers, spas and camp grounds. Eoin and I made our way down from Auckland yesterday in our new car. He only drove on the wrong side of the road once, and every now and then I have to tell him when he is about to go off the road though. Other than that he is doing a good job.

Today was pretty busy, but very fun. We woke up early, around 8 AM, and headed over to the Buried Village. The New Zealanders call it the “Pompeii of New Zealand”. I wouldn’t go that far, but it was nice. In 1886 a volcano erupted in Ta Wairo and covered the town with mud, lava and ash. Almost everyone perished. They have excavated a few of the houses and shops and you can walk around the fields. They also have a museum that tells you a bit about the people that lived there and shows artifacts that were found in the ruins.

Then we went to Wakite Thermal Springs. That was amazing. It’s about 5 pools that are filled with hot natural spring water. They also have private pools (hot tubs basically) and those were nice too. It was very relaxing and definitely something I will do again. We were at the pools for about an hour or so and then drove a mile up the road to Wai-O-Tapu.

Wai-O-Tapu has geysers, boiling mud, sulfur caves, water falls and lots of smelly pools. It smelled horrible, like bad chicken soup, wet dog and eggs. The water in some parts was a turquoise color, and there were random steaming rocks all over the paths. They also have craters that were formed by acidic steam rising out of the ground. It was very beautiful but again, smelled horrible.

It is about 5:30 now and I am so tired from all we did today. It was a great day though and it was worth every penny (er…dime…they don’t have pennies here) spent.
Here are some pictures from our adventures today.
Talk to you all soon. If you want a postcard send me your address, I left my address book at home.

Alexa








A fireplace that was left in Te Wairo at one of the Hotels.

A waterfall at Te Wairo.
The Devils Bathtub at Wai-O-Tapu.

I made it!

We made it!
The flight to Syndey wasn't bad at all. I slept on and off for about 7 or so hours, ate some food and walked around the plane a bit. We had a layover in Sydney that we spent wandering the airport and emailing our parents to let them know how we were doing.
We arrived in Auckland around 3 PM and settled into our hostel. Eoin and I walked around downtown Auckland and had dinner at a really good restaurant. They had amazing french fries. I fell asleep at 8PM and woke up this morning around 5. Nothing is really open until 7, but we went for another walk and explored the city some more. We went to the harbor and saw some boats, and then opened up our bank accounts, applied for TAX ID's and bought a car!! (we will get it Friday or Saturday) It needs a few minor repairs, but as soon as thats done we have a 1990 Toyota Corona. Not a Corolla, but a Corona.
Anyway, I am extremely exhausted right now (Its 5 PM) and my feet hurt from all the walking we did today. But we got a lot accomplished.

The space needle thing. You can bungy jump off of it and walk around the outer edge. No, I did not and will not do either of those things. Thanks.


Palm trees in one of the parks. Eoin was convinced there were monkeys in the trees. He also says every bird we see is a kiwi...but really all we have seen are sea gulls and pigeons.




Some sailboats.

Packing Up

So, right now Eoin and I are packing up some of our things to get ready to head out to NZ! We put our sleeping bags, tent, books and dvds (along with some other random junk) in a suitcase and HOPEFULLY all of our clothes, shoes, more books, toiletries and even more random junk fits in our backpacks.
Eoin will be fine, but I tend to be a bit of an over-packer so this should be interesting. I will probably end up putting some of my things in Eoin's bag...but don't tell him this yet. He probably won't want to carry around my shoes or toiletries.
Anyway, we also got some of our NZ Dollars the other day. Just enough to pay for a few meals or an emergency hostel overnight or two. Or an emergency shopping spree. I might see a really cute shirt or shoes... it's best to be prepared...right?
Alright, I have to get back to packing and stuff. I leave in a few days and I am really excited and a bit nervous too.
-Alexa

I got my Visa!

I got my visa the other day. Now it is totally official... I am going to New Zealand! Now all I have to do is photocopy everything I have (plane tickets, passport, insurance information etc etc) and then pack.
I read a good portion of the New Zealand travel guide last night and I am getting so much more excited! There is so much I want to do, I hope I get to do it all.
I will write more later, there really isn't much to write until I get there, but I am soooo excited!

Bought my ticket

I leave on September 1st and arrive in Auckland, New Zealand September 3rd.
This weekend I am (hopefully) buying my humongous backpack. I am so excited!

Work In Progress

I am just setting this up in preparation for my New Zealand trip. More will be added soon.