Family Vacation: Begin

The fam has landed, ready to take New Zealand on by storm!

Well, maybe not quite by storm yet, seeing as they almost fell asleep into the AWESOME lasagna my flatmates and I cooked for them (which was super amazing, did I mention that already?) but close enough. They are now sleeping off the jet lag, as instructed by their new beautiful tour guide, to prepare for a busy busy day of gardens, chocolate factories, and penguins tomorrow!

Let the family adventures begin!

Cheers!

The Catlins

The Catlins area is almost the furthest south you can go without falling off the edge of the earth. Located at the absolute bottom of the South Island full of beautiful rugged and above all isolated terrain, a few friends and I went for an overnight in this "hidden gem" of the South Island.

It took awhile for me to shake off the feeling during the beginning of our trip that I was in a horror film--all of our mobiles blinked no service as soon as we entered the Catlins. I could hear the tense music start to build as we wound our way through dirt roads, passing seemingly deserted towns and arrived at a huge empty backpacker's with a slightly unnerving owner (he was nice, a little too nice, duhn duhn duhn!). But, no horror stories to tell here, we made it out alive, and happy.

Our main goal of the trip was to see some serious New Zealand wildlife. The Catlins is home to some of the rarest species in the world, including the Hooker's Sea Lion (which we SAW), the Yellow Eyed Penguin and Hector's Dolphin (which we didn't see, although we went to their homes, they were out snacking in the ocean I think), and of course lots of birds and trees and pretty but not as interesting as HUGE SEA LION sorts of things.

The high point of the journey for me (besides making an appearance at the local pub where the entire farming population of Owaka was present and staring as soon as we entered, or stuffing 4 people into a 2 person tent, or the many waterfalls and sea lions we saw, or bush treks we conquered) was our horse trek!!! We stopped off at Ta Taunga Adventures for a 2 hour guided trek before we left the Catlins. Upon arrival we were each matched with horses, well, except for my very small Texan friend who was paired with a pony, much to our amusement. Our ride started through rolling farmland. We herded around cattle and calves, and terrified hordes of sheep as we rode over the organic farm and learned some of the history of the area. There was a slight scare as we plodded out onto the road, and a dirtbike charged past, it added some fast paced excitement to the ride. Once through the road, we climbed our way down onto the beach, the horses slowing as their heavy hooves sank into the sand. It was beautiful splashing through the beach, admiring the waves charge into the bay.

My horse, Racey (Racie? Raceigh? Who knows...) was a bit lazy, and we had a couple close calls on our ride. He was old and would try to walk right behind one of the other horses, with his head resting on their butt, and then fall asleep. To him, this was a flawless idea, because he didn't have to think or look where he was going, and I applaud him for his laziness. However, for me, this meant that I was sent jolting forward every so often as he tripped over something and almost fell. We battled it out a few times for control of where he would walk, I won.

After riding along the beach, we circled back to the farm, this time taking a different way back. Our horses huffed and puffed up an extremely steep hill that we had to zig zag our way up in order to make it. I felt slightly guilty as our horses necks started to darken with sweat, and their breathing get heavier and heavier, but not guilty enough to walk up it myself, that thing was a killer! The view from the top was beautiful. It felt as though we were walking right along the clouds as we looked over the Catlins--farm hills bubbled up from the landscape, misty clouds sank down onto trees, beaches circled houses as the tide crept in. All in all the ride was amazing, and well worth the sore butt I nursed for the next few days.

Less than a week until the Lund family storms New Zealand!!!! Woohoo!!!!

Cheers!

A Message from Wendy

Happy Halloween!

From Peter Pan, Wendy, Tinkerbell, the Crocodile, and HOOK! (Not pictured: Lost Boy 1, 2, & 3, and Tiger Lily.

In a far far away land where one is likely to see students dashing around madly dressed up like bunnies, sheep, cowboys, gladiators, 80s pop stars, and well you get the picture, on a regular basis (seriously, hardly a DAY goes by without some crazy guy running in front of the flat rolling a tire dressed up as one of the Village People) I was slightly shocked at how small the Kiwi Halloween celebration is. They virtually don't celebrate it.

But, with a little pixie dust, Peter Pan and friends and nemesis managed to seek out those few die-hards (mostly other internationals) who would not allow the Kiwi apathy toward Halloween stand any longer. As with most Halloweens I've noticed since I've began to "grow up," the skirts continue to get shorter, and most costumes comprise of more nothing than something.

But all in all, a fun time was had. Although I did spend a hefty portion of the night comforting my friend who realized this was one of our last nights together and proceeded to shed some crocodile tears...It's a strange feeling knowing that the people who I've gotten to know so well (and are really the only tangible people I've got right now since I moved halfway around the world away from everyone and everything familiar) will be gone in a few weeks. The reality is setting in, and I'll miss them. It's a conflict of emotion knowing how excited I am to have my family come visit and then go home with them, but at the same time feeling a twinge of sadness to leave. No time to think about that now, I've got three finals to go in the next 2 weeks, and little studying so far to assist me with that...Goodbye internet for awhile (I'm so optimistic about my abilities to avoid distraction, aren't I?).

Hope everyone has a fun snowfall-free Halloween,

Cheers!

Lazy Sunday

I'm not sure about you, but I do some of my absolute BEST procrastinating during this time of the school year. Wonderful things happen--enter--the Lazy Sunday.

This past weekend my flatmates and I did possibly the cutest thing we've done all year, we went out for Sunday brunch together. What started out as an innocent brunch/minor procrastination tactic spurred into an entire day of adventure and, of course, avoiding the fact that we were all supposed to be stuck in desks on the top floor of the library studying.

First of all, brunch was AMAZING. We went to this place called the Croq-O-Dile Cafe. It sits right in the middle of the botanic gardens a few blocks from our flat. Every time we walk to the grocery (at least a few times a week) one of us always points to the cafe insisting (more or less) that (insert classical music and warm tropical breeze) someday we will perch on that quaint balcony, overlooking the gardens as we sip on espressos behind owl-shaped sunglasses, chatting in our Kiwi accents.

That day finally came, and boy am I glad it did. I indulged in a marvelous caffeinated beverage and the Crepe Croq-o-dile--filled with cherries, chocolate, sour cream, and sugary goodness. Although, I do have to admit that I always seem to have magical experiences with crepes--it sort of comes with the package of being a thin folded pancake with sweets slopped inside I suppose.

After brunch we took what was supposed to be a short stroll through the lower gardens. We're not great at forecasting the future, because we ended up hiking up the entire hill to the aviaries, where I got way too bird happy and took way way too many pictures of New Zealand (and other cool but not as cool as the New Zealand) birds. The sound that the New Zealand birds make is unlike ANYthing you've EVER heard (do I sound like an infomercial for NZ, 'cause I'm tryin!). They can make some of the wildest sounds--you'd think you were listening to an old cartoon. You know the ones with the crazy sound effects that whistle and slide while poor Wiley Coyote races and smacks into the side of the mountain before inevitably freefalling down a canyon and then boinking up and down on cracked desert ground or something? It's like that. Except cooler, because it's real!

Once my eyes were about to explode after too much bird colour exposure, we attempted to make our way down the hill, but ultimately got a bit turned around in the winding gardens. We get lost often though, so we weren't really phased, just enjoyed the views and the flowers. Once again I took way too many pictures. What is it about being in a new place and seeing trees or flowers and feeling as though you've never seen anything quite like it before? I was taking a million pictures from every angle of this "New Zealand Tree"--you'd think I'd never seen a tree before! At home I don't start yelling on the top of hills because I saw an extremely vivid red flower, and I certainly don't whip the camera out to take pictures of the trees in the Potlatch forest. Regardless, I fall into a shutter frenzy every time something semi-pretty crosses my path in New Zealand. I guess being somewhere different makes everything, and I mean everything, seem exotic. I almost took a picture of the freshly mowed grass here yesterday. That's right, the GRASS. It's just so greeeeen, I kept telling myself. Then I stopped and thought about it a bit and realized, wait a minute, we have green grass in Minnesota too...Maybe I'm just losing it, who knows.

Anywho, back to the Sunday. Deciding that we hadn't done quite enough procrastinating for one day, we managed to hitch a ride with a friend out to St. Clair Beach--renowned in Dunedin for its surf-worthy waves. We watched a few surfers and played a never-ending (because no score was kept thank goodness) game of beach volleyball with some AMAZING volleyball players! Get this--they were ALL guys!! I was shocked. Granted, of course they did all kinds of illegal moves (typical guys), but some of them were just awesome. It's not what I'm used to being surrounded by powerhouse girls I'm always trying to keep up with in the Cloquet area. There was some serious vball being played and I felt super rusty trying to keep up...with BOYS. Embarassing. Maybe they have more guy vball teams here than in Cloquet...I'm going to keep reassuring myself with that thought.

After over an hour of volleying, I carefully and methodically dipped my toes in the ocean, only to have it later splashed onto my face...(ahem thanks a lot Dan!) It was...cold. Basically, it was Lake Superior except more salty and probably a little less cold because I didn't feel as though knives were stabbing and twisting into my feet before they went numb.

Overall, it was a great Sunday, finished off with a nice trip to Pak-N-Save--the NZ equivalent to a Super Walmart except with just food and not all marketing-prettied up. It had a big warehouse feel to it, and was supposed to be cheaper than the other groceries, but I bought so much I couldn't really tell... Those warehouse chains can trap me even when I'm halfway around the world apparently.

The countdown has commenced, I will be back on American soil (fingers crossed--I haven't had the best of luck here) in 26 days!

Cheers!

Sun Sun Sun

Nelson is known as the official sunniest city in New Zealand. Feeling as though we needed to experience this sun after far too many gloomy cloud covered days in Dunedin, a few friends and I decided to take a road trip. We were lucky enough to be accompanied by Gayla, a Canadian whose family moved to NZ a few years back and live in Nelson. She wanted to surprise them by visiting, and so we ended up surprising her family with not only a visit from their lovely daughter, but 4 other stranded visitors as well. They graciously welcomed us with open arms, plates of delicious food, and comfy beds. We are so grateful to them for letting us stay last minute, they were the best!

Our trip began with an, umm, short, 9 hour drive. We went up along the east coast of the South Island, and then took a shortcut through the Southern Alps by way of Lewis Pass. When we arrived in Nelson, the Mask Parade had just finished, so we missed the parades of people in costumes, artsy masks, and concerts, but we were just in time to see the remnants of what looked to have been an extremely fun night...

These are a few pictures of the drive there. We kept seeing these fields of yellow flowers, and of course fields of sheep. In the land of 44 million sheep, it was difficult not to pass sheep farms every few miles, or kilometers I should say I suppose.
The morning after our first night in Nelson, we stopped at the Nelson market. It was filled with local artists boasting all sorts of handmade crafts. We were in a hurry to make it to kayaking, so I had to be extra decisive, and probably bought way too much.
Following the market, we rushed to sea kayaking, after having gotten lost looking for a Petrol station. Fortunately they hadn't left without us, although the coordinator of the Kayaking trips yelled at us quite a bit, and even had the gall to say we were lieing about getting lost... She certainly managed to ruin the beginning of our kayaking, but once we were out on the water with our guide, far away from her burning glares, things looked up again. The water was a bit choppy, a storm was coming in later, but it made for some roller coaster waves. We kayaked through caves, around rocks, and even saw some wild seals out sunning! My eyebrows were crusted in salt by the end of the trip, and my arms were incredibly sore, but it was really fun.


The next day, we drove out to Golden Bay, westward along the Northern coast of the South Island, to go Horseback riding on the beaches there. The drive was slightly terrifying, as it started pouring rain as soon as we entered the winding mountain roads. I'm not going to lie and say we didn't have a few near death experiences involving hairpin turns, hydroplaning, and head-on almost collisions during the long hours of driving in the weekend, but I won't give you any details either. My mom's worrying heart won't be able to handle it... Once we arrived in Golden Bay, the coordinator for the horseback riding informed us that she wouldn't take us out on the beach because of the weather. After we had driven hours and risked our lives for that beach ride, we were pretty upset. So we went exploring on a few beaches by foot, then stopped at a chocolate shop and the Mussel Inn to eat our sorrows away.

Another stop we made was at the Pupu springs, supposedly home to the clearest water in the world. They had set up mirrors above the water so you could see all the way through into the bottom of the springs.

Once we got back to Nelson city, we took a hike up a very steep tall hill to the geographic centre of New Zealand, there was a large needle at the top pointing to the exact centre. The view of Nelson was spectacular.

On our way back to Dunedin the next day, we stopped at the Marina where Gayla's family keeps their sailboat. Originally from Canada, they decided they were ready for a change awhile back and so up and moved to New Zealand to sail around the Pacific Islands for 3 years. So adventurous!
The drive back was complete with crazy NZ weather. It rained, then it snowed, then it hailed, then it was extremely windy, then it was sunny.

Here is the snow from when we drove through Lewis Pass. It was rather scary, especially since my flatmate Arely (from Texas) who was driving at the time, informed us that she had never driven when it was snowing before...but she made a Minnesotan proud!
After about 11 hours (it took us longer the way back because of the snow) we were back in Dunedin. I'm not sure if I would take such a short trip with such a long drive again, but I really loved Nelson. The city has a certain charm about it.

Cheers!

Butterfly Flower

This last week and the next few weeks are stress-filled. I only have one day left of classes (hoorayy!) but just around the river bend is a whole month of finals. Despite this impending doom, I have been rather unmotivated lately. I've got a pretty bad case of the end of semester lazies.

This all changed in the morning when I did something rather unheard of in the last week (or ever really, let's be honest).

I woke up before 10 VOLUNTARILY.

I have to say, it was worth it. I went with a few others to the "Butterfly Release" at the museum here in Dunedin. At 10:30 they release young butterflies for their very first flight after their transformation! They were released into the Tropical Forest section of the museum, rightly named as it is kept at a toasty 23.6 degrees Celsius or maybe it was 26.3, I don't remember, Celsius confuses me. Anyway the Tropical Forest came complete with waterfall and periodic thunder storms to keep the humidity high and the Kelseys sweating. It was faintly reminiscent of the weather in Thailand, well, except in Thailand I avoided close contact with pretty green areas where I was sure to be attacked by a 10 foot snake hungry for my blood. Multiple levels of stairs, a swing bridge, Koi pond, huge rainforesty trees and plants, bright flowers, birds, and geckos created this beautiful, hot, pseudo tropical realm.

Once the butterflies are released, a lot of them are quite sleepy. I can imagine, they've been through a lot! For some reason, I looked like a comfy resting place. I had butterflies on my hands, my foot, my back, my chest, even my hair a few times. It's a good thing I'm not that ticklish. Initially shocked at the butterflies' attraction to me (they weren't as friendly with the others) I quickly solved the mystery--I told you I'm basically Harriet the Spy. That morning in my half-asleep zombie routine, I had dabbed on some perfume from Bath & Body called "Butterfly Flower"--now that is truth in marketing! I'm going to look up online what other scents they have over at Bath & Body, because if they have something along the lines of "Aced Final" perfume, I'm overnighting it.

Overall, it was such a fun experience, I almost want to wake up at 9 tomorrow and go back! Then again, I'm pretty sleepy...

Cheers!

Goodbye Charlie

It was a sticky summer day. Someone had left the gate in front of our house partially unlatched. That was all the encouragement he needed.

Soon a white blur was seen terrorizing through the neighborhood--chasing squirrels, barking at robins, blazing through mud and burs not thinking about the bath he was securing for later. I called, I yelled, I screeched, I attempted a meager whistle, but nothing could stop him when he got into one of his wild n' free states. I was chasing him up and down the steep hills leading to the golf course. He was leaping over yards as if they were puddles, speeding through gardens, knocking over flower pots on his way.

My dad caught up with us as we were circling an old brick building sticking out from the forrest. Soon Charlie was racing through dense Pine trees, bounding through piles of needles and leaves. My dad managed to cut him off on one side of a hill. He turned. There I was.

It was a face off.

Only ten feet stood between me and my dog who wasn't quite trained enough to be left with unlatched gates. Suddenly, as if inspired by Charlie's own running and leaping skills, I dove. Arms outstretched, flying through the air, I straight up tackled that dang dog. He of course, thought this was great fun and proceeded to lick my face off.

Just a week ago, Charlie went for one last freedom run. I'm sure he ran through yards and knocked over flowerpots, chased squirrels into trees and barked wildly beneath the taunting robins. He said goodbye to the burs and the mud puddles, to the neighbors yelling at him as he ran through their gardens, to the wildlife that would learn to miss the excitement he had provided them. Although I wasn't there to tackle him, Charlie had since learned how to come home after being left with unlatched gates. He came home that evening after saying goodbye to the running adventures he lived for.

A week later, his cancer made it impossible for him to live the active life he loved. After only 8 years of being my favorite dog in the world, Charlie left it.

Cheers to my speedy dog who will be greatly missed.