Kia Ora Katou!- (Hey everyone!) Long time no blog! My apologies! These past two weeks have been just overwhelming with all my schoolwork coming to a big pile. AGH! But I managed to survive and turn it all in. SO now I have a week until my Finals and then traveling the North Island, then FIJI! It has all flown by SO quickly, can you believe I am done with my classes at Vic, already? My time at school here has been a great learning experience. For the most part I loved all my classes, (Music in NZ, Maori Society and [View Full Entry]

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Today was by far one the highlights of my time here in Wellington. Like I said previously, I met with the Victoria, the Education Director at NZ's national museum, Te Papa, for a job shadowing day. I feel like this opportunity has allowed me to take full advantage of my resources while in NZ's capital city. Te Papa is a special museum with International recognition- it is HUGE and it has the most interactive exhibits, events, falculty and programs I have ever witnessed at a museum. It is truly an honor to be invited to go behind the scenes for a [View Full Entry]

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NEW ZEALAND HAS NOT FAILED ME!! I am happy to report that I have faith in the Kiwi music scene after last week's musical events. I think i mentioned this before, NZ has a lack of live music. A typical night out consists of bad cheesy american pop/hip hop/ rock. OR there are those nights one jams out to baaaad techno euro trash music. OR- how bout this nightslubs/bars that advertise "Live DJ's"? what is that about, like there is an alternative- a 'dead dj?' c'mon! That being said..my quest to find Live real kiwi music has been sucessful. Last week [View Full Entry]

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Prime Minister Helen Clark The perks of being in a small country about the size of CA with a population of 4 million- and being in the capital of this country..in the middle of the national elections: The Prime Minister comes to visit your campus during her lunch hour! Just crazy man. Can you imagine our president doing that? hell no. What an experience this was! FYI: new Zealand not only was the 1st country in the world to let women vote, but also it was the first country to have a female national leader such as the Prime minister! Way [View Full Entry]

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Ever since I became friends with ngaire I wanted to visit vist her hometown. It is something about going home with someone, when you really understand them as a person. Plus, getting out the hussle of welly is a good thing- NZ hometowns are where the cultural immersion really happens-in my opinion. Welly is such an international city- with ppl from all over the world. hastings, rather, is a genuine NZ town. purely kiwi. just what i was looking for! Hastings is a small town of around 40,000. It is in the middle of Hawke's Bay- a region on the eastern [View Full Entry]

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Kaikoura: Land of Crayfish Food Kaikoura is a popular beachside town on the East Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It has strong roots in the Maori culture and is best known for its whale watching tours. Sitting on the South Pacific, the blue waters are surrounded by White capped Mountains that reach right up to the sea. it is a remarkable place. We checked into Cray Cottage, a cozy little hostel (the tiniest we stayed at!) owned by a transplanted middle aged british couple, Jacki and Don. Apparently, the two had a little bit of a mid life crisis and [View Full Entry]

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My good kiwi friend ngaire told me that a great place to visit while in NZ is the hot pools of Hanmer Springs. So, after a few minor adjustments we added it to our itinerary. Once we were awake in Punakaiki, we packed Sunny with our adventure packs (who acquired some rather affectionate nicknames while on the road..i.e Mine is "Big red" and rachels is "the Jolly green Giant" and Lauren's borrowed pack from Liz = "Ol blue") and checked out of the Beach Hostel. We were on the road again, and headed for some more fun filled adventures. Before leaving [View Full Entry]

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Drive from Fox Glacier to Punakaiki As if to spite us, the sun decided to come out and shine on the day we left Fox glacier- after it had rained non stop for 2 and a half days. But we took full advantage of the sunshine and stopped at Lake Matheson on our way out of town. Lake Matheson is considered NZ's most photographed lake, due to its mirrored image of Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook(the tallest peak in NZ). We walked the circle around the lake, through yet another bush clad NZ forest and made our way to the lakefront. [View Full Entry]

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...ICE COLD Seeing as I am from hot and humid South East Florida, I just had to see a 'real live' glacier while in NZ. From Wanaka we drove Sunny to the small township of Fox Glacier. Along the way we stopped in Mt. Aspiring National Park, and in the pouring rain, hiked a short rainforest walk to the Blue Springs Pools. unlucky for us, the 'blue pools' were nothing but green pools because of all the rain pouring down. Still, the walk was peaceful, we could hear all the different types of NZ native birds and the river running by. [View Full Entry]

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G'day! After an invigorating jump off of a cliff in Queenstown, we all excitedly jumped into our rental car, "Sunny". No we ddint name her this cheesy to the max name. Its a silver Nissan model name -Sunny. no joke. pretty crazy. And to our dismay there are heaps of sunnys running around NZ. Sunny got us (with the help of Rachel) to Cardrona Ski Field in Wanaka -about an hours drive from Q-tip. i mean queenstown. Here, we were met with windy and cold, cloudy conditions. BUT it was an experience skiing in NZ! Who else can say they skiied [View Full Entry]

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