Last weekend I went on a cruise with my program to Doubtful Sound. I had already been on a cruise there with my mom but it is still just as impressive the second time around. We did an overnight cruise. The first day we cruised around for a while, and then went kayaking for about an hour, and then jumped off the cruise ship into the water. It felt like you jumped into an ice bath.....burrr. Later that day we saw tons of dolphins swimming and jumping out of the water. They would also ride the waves at the front of [View Full Entry]

---

---

A few weekends ago I went to the Catlins national park with my friends Clara and Jenny. We drove to Invercargill on Friday and then spent saturday and sunday driving around the catlins and getting out to do short walks, see look out points, and see waterfalls. It was such a fun and relaxing weekend with those girls. We all really enjoyed ourselves and got an entire hostel to ourselves on saturday night which was really nice. The Catlins is so beautiful. I guess everybody will have to get used to me saying this about everywhere I go, but New Zealand [View Full Entry]

---

---

Last sunday I rented a car with some friends and went to some of the different beaches and bays surrounding dunedin, the city I live in. We first went to a bay called the boulders, which has perfectly shaped round boulders that look pretty strange. After that we had lunch at a beach called St.Claire. Then we went to a look out called lovers leap. The last thing we did was go to sandfly bay. It had lots of people on it but also tons of wildlife. It was surprising seeing people play rugby right next to the monstrous sea lions. [View Full Entry]

---

---

After playing around in sydney for a while we flew back into queenstown, New Zealand. I know I already have tons of posts up about that place but there is so much to see there. I think it is the best place in new zealand. On the first day we had booked a cruise around milford sound but couldn't go there because an avalanche fell in the morning and closed off the road. We then got on a cruise around doubtful sound. It was a day long trip and of course was very beautiful. It is something that you couldn't see [View Full Entry]

---

---

This week is spring break for our university. My mom came for the break and we took a trip to Sydney, Australia. I really like the city. It is very pretty and had a ton of stuff to do. On the first night we just walked around and got dinner. The next day we climbed the sydney harbour bridge and looked all around sydney from up there. It had great views. We then walked around the markets, botanical gardens, down town, the warf, and of course went running. The next day we spent the day at manly beach. I was so [View Full Entry]

---

---

I took Andrea to Queenstown while she was here for the weekend. It was one of the most busy and fun weekends ever. On friday we went up the gondola and went luging and walked on a walking track up there. Afterwards we went to queenstown's famous fergerburger (burgers literally the size of your face-we shared one and were stuffed) and then we went to a rail competition in the middle of the town. They pulled snow out from the mountains and had a rail competition between the snowboarders and skiiers. On saturday we spent the entire day at Coronet peak [View Full Entry]

---

---

I have fallen in love with the trails here. The first time I ran through this forest I considered taking up illegal immigrant status and staying here forever. I took my sister on a walk through some of these trails when she came. You could get lost in this place because there are so many different trails and all of them are so beautiful. These trails are only about a five to ten minute walk away from my flat. The pictures speak for themselves. [View Full Entry]

---

---

A few weeks ago there was a week long cadbury festival that is held in Dunedin every year because it is the home of Cadbury world. The festival is filled with fun chocolaty activities. On the last day of the festival, a Jaffa race is held. What happens is you buy a jaffa (a big orange chocolate ball) and on that jaffa is a number. 30,000 of these jaffas are rolled down the steepest street in the world (Baldwin st. in Dunedin) and the people who bought the first five jaffas that make it down the street win prizes. It is [View Full Entry]

---

---

There is much wildlife surrounding Dunedin. It is home to the albatross which have an impressing three meter wing span, seals, many different kinds of birds, and yellow-eyed penguins. I went on a wildlife cruise/tour where I got to see all the wildlife. The best part was watching the yellow-eyed penguins which are an endagered species and are the second larges penguins in the world. Every night the penguins come onto the beach after a day of fishing in the ocean to go to their homes. When I saw the penguins, I was in a hide out on a penguin reserve [View Full Entry]

---

---

My program from the U.S. (ifsa-butler) did a Speights tour and ate at the Speights Brewery afterwards. Speights is the pride beer of the south island, and there is a factory here in Dunedin. The tour was pretty interesting and afterwards there was 20min. of tasting. I just ended up giving my glass to someone else cause I didn't like it. The restaurant was nice. Pumpkin is everywhere here, which I love. Pumpkin soup is a staple that is in every restaurant. They don't eat it as sweets at all, just as a main food. Yesterday all the international students (I [View Full Entry]

---

---