The return to oz and Canada Day

Hey all, sorry about the gaps from posts. I've been pretty busy, and no where near computers with internet. which is pretty much becoming my lifes story.

I ended up going back to queenstown, getting a haircut, and getting some other errands done. I left from the Dunedin the next day, which is the most Scottish city in all NZ, if anyone was wondering. Because i was on a timeline (for the first time in my trip, i had somewhere to be) i could only stay one night there. I ended up doing the 'Elm Wildlife Tour' where we got to go see Albatross (we got to see breeding pairs, as they only come to shore to nest; the little chicks were white and fluffy, as well as being fairly heavy for their size), as well as some fur seals (from a distance), some sea lions (who were too lazy to move, so we got nice and close), and yellow eyed peaguins. The latter of which was absolutely amazing! They come in and out of the water at sunrise/sunset, so we were waiting in this little hide, peering out at these little guys. they were sooo funny, because they wouldnt come up the beach by themselves, for safety purposes, and there was a seal lion by some rocks so they wouldnt go near them, but they wouldnt realize it was there until it moved. it was very silly but intensely amusing. They ended up hunkering down amongst the grasses, and for some reason the sheep decided that it would be a fun to go and visit them. Turns out that sheep and peaguins get along very well, and live pretty harmoniously. which just makes me smile.

THat night i went out to the Terrace, a sports bar, with a french busmate to watch the rematch between the french and all blacks. it was a good game, with a few close calls and some cheap beer (NZ beers can be pretty good .I'm fairly partial to Speights and Macs Gold) but the All Blacks won which was pretty awesome. It also happened to be fathers day in canada that day, so happy belated fathers day dad!!

The next day we headed out early, which was kind of funny because i saw a few people i had previously bussed with at the Terrace, and they had been hanging out with our driver. It pretty much became standard to know that your driver was hung over for the first part of any bus trip. Anywho, bright and early we all piled onto the bus, went to Baldwin Street, which is the steepest street in the world. Which i climbed. And it was a very long 15 minute walk up a single street. Theres a place at the top where you can get a certificate saying that you climbed it, but it was closed and we all had pictures and feelings of accomplishment. Apparently once a year people try to actually run up the hill, with people throwing tennis balls at them. Its for charity. I can forsee many skinned knees happening there.

From there we carried on to Lake Takepo, where the entire busload was spending only one night. It was a very nice little spot, not too much there, but there was the most photographed church in the world where we took a pit stop. We all stopped to take pictures, which seemed to annoy the person inside (it was a very small church, and i guess it must get a little tiresome with so many people coming over just for pictures). That night i went to Mt.Johns, on an absolutely clear night minus some Milky Way (which was pretty astounding to see) and there learned about the southern sky (the southern cross is pretty small, but here they try to make it out to take up the entire night sky). It was absolutely breathtaking. We got to look through different telescope magnifications at different constellations, such as the Jewel Box Galaxy, the brightest star in the sky (some Major), and a few other things which were pretty amazing. We got to look through one of those amazing telescopes where you actually had to sit in a chair, or stand on a box to see through the eyepiece. It was 75x magnification, and we were able to peer through it and see the rings of saturn. Which absolutely floored me. I wanted to be an astronomer when i was little, but gave it up because i dont like math. Kind of regret it after looking up at all that, but inversely i still hate math and they said they use it all the time. There are two spots in the sky which are always 'milky' because those are two galaxies which swirl around ours, and i just think thats an amazing thing.

Btw, Ireland is on the other side of the world from NZ. which i think is pretty cool.
I also happened to be the only canadian on site, which made a few people smile and joke about. there were a few 'ehs' thrown my way by our guide. He would ask people questions, and i was in the front row and just kind of said the answers quietly, but he heard me and would get all excited and say that i was right. And that it usually takes a lot longer for people to get the answers. It was also great because for shits i decided to wear the antartic jackets that they lent us, which turned out to be super soft and i didnt want to take it off. I am seriously considering seeing if i can buy one from one of the old excursions, and just wear that in the winter. i know it would be total overkill, but it would be sooo nice to curl up in. And then my torso would not get cold. and i could laugh at the weather if i so chose.

The next day we went back to christchurch, where i met up with Courtney and had dinner in a mexican restaurant. It was really nice catching up with her, finding out whats shes been up to over the course of the month, and seeing what she was planning to do. SHe was leaving for OZ the next day to meet up with her mom, and i was heading over to Kaikoura for a second time, so neither of us could stay out particularly late. Her boyfriend drove me home, which was a very nice change. It was also my last day with magic, which was a little sad. many fond memories made during the trip with that company, and i would suggest it to anyone who was considering what bustour to take.

The next day was the 7:30am trip to Kaikoura, where i had my first major backpacking experience. I consider it my first one because i had to actually carry my backpack somewhere. And somewhere ended up being a half an hour walk to my hostel. Which was a pain. I got all checked into my hostel, and then walked into town to visit a few people i had met previously and wandered around to the surfshop. There i bought a 6'11 board, slightly pointed tip but still buoyant and the step down from a mini mel. i then had to walk it back to the hostel, which was another half an hour along the road, which winds along the beach. it was tiring, but beautiful. Went back to christchurch day after , where i had to book an early morning shuttle for my early morning flight. On the 25th, i had a 6:30am flight back to sydney, go down from sydney to wollongong and stay with my brother nick. Plane and everything went well, landed and arrived ontime, they just forgot to unload about half of the luggage which they had. So we had to wait about an hour so that we could get all our stuff before leaving the airport for the train. From there it was a 1 1/2 hour train ride down, and then walked to weerona. We went off to see the second transformers movie that day, which was absolutely awesomeness. Not as great as the first one, but it was entertaining and they inserted some pretty random things into it.

Next day we left for a friend, Stu's, house. we had rented a hatchback for the weekend, and nick, tornado dave, myself, nina and ninas friend siri all piled in and went to Jindabyne. Along the way we stopped at a Giant Sheep (one of the many giant things that oz has), and then we made it the rest of the way to Jindabyne. Along the way we saw a lot of kangaroos, a few dead but the majority alive (we defyed all odds, having our first wild kangaroos being alive, and not road kill). We met Stu's parents, found out that it was too cold for our original plan of camping so we just decided to chill at stus for the whole weekend.

The next day was my birthday (oz time), and the night before people found out about it, so the next morning people came in and wished me happy birthday. Stus mom knocked on the window and shouted happy birthday to me through the window. it was a really fun day.We tracked down the two resident alpacas, who were fairing interesting characters. one sneezed on a person in our party and we had a good laugh about that. We went to see snow, as sophie (a girl who came with us) had never seen snow. We ended up making a snow individual (we didnt want to assign gender) we went to another friends house who lived in the area, went on kangaroo watching expiditions, and saw a live wallaby. I actually made them stop the car, as i was more then slightly hyper due to a free redbull. Other then that all the ones we saw were dead, curled up on their backs on the side of the road. That night Stu's mom had gotten me a cake, a card and some chocolates, and we went into town to celebrate. We went to one of the best bars in the state, which was neat, but came back pretty early and chilled in the hottub for quite awhile. Poor tornado dave wasnt feeling well, so he didnt come out with us and was asleep by the time we got back. Nick bought me a drink called the three wisemen, which i feel wiser for drinking because i know to never drink it again.

The next day we were heading back to wollongong, which was pretty sad. said goodbye and thank you to Stu's parents, piled back into the car and drove back. we went to the Capital, Canberra, which is pretty mucha park with a city hidden in it. There were lots of war monuments which were pretty cool to see, and they had some fairly interesting momorials. We were going to miss dinner, so we called ahead to a friend who put a few plates together for us to share. I dont know why, but for some reason traveling is always so tiring.

Over the next two days we did slaclining, which i was able to start to do by myself and was even able to take a few steps. we played Yatsi, which is also an interesting game. Went over to a surf spot called the Farm where siri surfed for her first time. I'm still trying to stand up, and failing, but getting better at paddeling and the little things. Its a pretty technical thing at times, until you get it. then it becomes fine.

On canada day we celebrated in style. went surfing again, at North Beach this time, amd then went to a friends house for a canada day party. it was a fairly even split between canadians and ozzies, so we had a pretty fun time. Ended up taping our arms to our sides and having a trex party. i lasted the 2nd longest, and nick was the only one who outlasted me. The rest of the days have kind of blended together, and today we left weerona to spend a night at the same friends house as the party. tomorrow nick and i are hopping on two different trains to go up to a place called brisbane, and then we're going to be traveling together for about a week before we part ways. All in all, it should be an exciting time. XD

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