Reed-Ruff Honeymoon Part Un: The North Island

            I haven’t posted in a while, but this one is going to be long and action-packed so I hope it makes up for the delay.

            For some blessed reason, the University of Canterbury has a three-week midterm break in April.  Apparently, it’s usually only two weeks but the way Easter fell this year they ended up changing it to three.  How dare they.  We decided to take full advantage of the break and do some extensive traveling.  And by “we” I mean Danica and I essentially went on a honeymoon together.  The first part of our trip was spent on the North Island in Auckland and Wellington.

Day 1: We flew out of Christchurch at night and got into Auckland fairly late.  We walked down Queen Street, which is the hub of the city.  Anything you could possibly want/need is either on or just off of Queen Street.  We walked down to the harbor and went to the grocery store where we purchased our rations for the week: white bread, peanut butter & jelly, and some fruit.  This seemed like a good idea initially, but if I never have to look at another PB&J again it will be too soon.

Day 2:  After surviving our first night in a hostel (I slept on top of the flat sheet they gave us since it didn’t seem like they changed the fitted sheets very often), Danica and I had some toast for breakfast and made our sandwiches for the day and went on an adventure.  We took a ferry across the harbor to a little hamlet called Devonport.  While walking through the ferry terminal in Devonport, we passed a bike shop, and Danica had the inspired idea to rent bikes for the day.  Alas, the price for individual bikes was too much for our budget…but a tandem bike seemed cheap enough.  While our strategy was good, our execution was not as successful.  After several failed attempts to coordinate which almost resulted in us taking out a car and the guy that rented the bike to us, we finally got a semblance of the hang of it.  We biked around the beach with stops at the Navy Museum and the war battlements of North Head before making our way to the top of Mount Victoria, an extinct volcanic cone.  By the end of the day, we were quite proficient in the art of tandem bike riding, as long as we weren’t going up any hills because Danica was a freeloader and never remembered to pedal.  I paid her back by riding in the street instead of on the sidewalk.

View from North Head

Downtown Auckland from Devonport

Devonport Beach

Steps to the top of North Head

We spent the entire day in Devonport and then headed back to the city.  After showering, eating another PB&J, deciding we needed something other than that for supper, and getting a $5 teriyaki bowl, we headed to the Sky Tower Casino downtown.  We had every intention of spending a few bucks gambling but got so overwhelmed when we got there that we just headed straight for the bar.  The only open space at the bar was next to two older gentlemen who bought our drinks for the rest of the night.  Well-played.

Day 3:  We took a 2-hour roundtrip bus ride north of Auckland to a beautiful beach called Long Bay.  The scenery was incredibly beautiful and made the never-ending bus ride completely worth it.  After spending a few hours napping and laying out we jumped in the water for a little bit and watched as we got circled by a group of guys on the beach.  After about 20 minutes, two of them finally came up and talked to us.  We exchanged numbers with them and made plans for meeting up in the city the next night.  At least that’s what we gathered from their texts, but Kiwis don’t believe in predictive text so they have weird text vocabulary. For example, “Wea bwtz u guys stayn? N u guys duen anyfng 2mrw nyt?”. Translation: “Where about are you guys staying? And are you guys doing anything tomorrow night?” Another example: “Aw yea mean soundz lyka plan. I knew u guys drnk hardowt. Sowi 4 b.ing randum”. This one was a little harder to decipher but here’s what we came up with: “Aw yeah man sounds like a plan. I knew you guys drank hardout(?).  Sorry for being random.”  It got to the point where we couldn’t decipher them at all so we gave up.

  

Long Bay

Aotea Square Concert-The Hypnotics

When we got back from Long Bay, we went to an outdoor concert in Aotea Square right across from our hostel as we supped on veggie pizza and chips (fries) after a failed hour long search for fish n’ chips.  We went back to the hostel, showered, and went out to a tavern with one of our hostel roommates.

Day 4:  Kiwis take their religious holidays VERY seriously.  We decided to stay in the city on Good Friday and quickly discovered that EVERYTHING was closed.  We ended up doing a lot of walking around the harbor and then ended up at Albert Park across from the University of Auckland campus.  The art museum happened to be open so we spent some time in there and I am so glad we did.  I’m not a soap opera person, but I have gotten really invested in New Zealand’s soap Shortland Street.  The show is based in Auckland and I got really excited when I found the actual street after which the show is named.  That paled in comparison to the surprise I got at the art museum.  While trolling around in the modern art section, I walked right by one of the main characters from the show and his daughter.  I really wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t want to be one of those creepy fans.  I played it cool and took a mental image.

Albert Park

Harbor Sunset

Date Night

Honeymooners

Danica and I had a date watching the sunset on the harbor with some Indian food before heading back to the hostel and showering to meet up with the boys from the beach.  Danica and I brought essentially the same outfit to go out in, black tank dress and vans, so I’m sure we looked real cool walking together.  While waiting for the guys to find a parking spot, we started talking to two Spanish guys who unsuccessfully tried to guess which states we are from.  After giving them the hint that mine started with an “M”, their best response was “Mew York”. I got them to “M-I-S-S” which they were absolutely certain meant I was from “Misschigan”.  FAIL.  The one fact that they knew about Americans: “You love “How I Met Your Mother!”.  Yes, yes we do.

We ended up not meeting up with the guys from the beach and just did some bar hopping of our own, a good last night in Auckland.

Day 5: We flew out of Auckland in the afternoon and landed in Wellington, NZ’s capital, around 5.  After discovering that Danica and I were not booked in the same dorm room at the hostel, we got upgraded to our own double room.  We dropped our stuff of in our honeymoon suite, FINALLY found some fish n’ chips, and reunited with some of our friends that were already in Welly.  We went out on Courtenay Place, but since the next day was Easter Sunday, all of the bars closed at midnight so it was an early night.

REUNION!

Finally found our elusive friends

Day 6: Even though it was Easter Sunday, the Te Papa Museum (NZ’s national museum) was open and we spent a few hours exploring in there.  They have the world’s only on-display giant squid and a huge Maori exhibit.  After the museum we walked along the harbor, parts of which had been completely redesigned for the Rugby World Cup last year.  We took a cable car up to the Botanic Garden and walked around before finding a park to eat lunch and sit in the sun for the rest of the afternoon.

When we got back to the hostel, Danica and I headed up to the top of Mt. Victoria for our traditional Indian food and sunset date night.   This time we added a bottle of wine and sat overlooking Wellington for a few hours.

When we headed back to the hostel, we stopped by the Embassy Theatre and walked around inside for a little bit.  The Embassy is where the final LOTR movie had its world premiere.  Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  I walked on the same steps as Viggo Mortensen and Sean Bean. DREAM. COME. TRUE.

Wellington Harbor

Park for Rugby World Cup

Park for Easter lunch

THE EMBASSY

Day 7: We woke up at 5:30 AM to watch the sun rise from the top of Mt. Victoria and look for some of the Lord of the Rings filming spots.  Our ferry from Wellington to Picton left at 8:30 AM and we spent most of the day traveling on the bus from Picton to Christchurch.  We stopped for a little bit in Kaikoura, which is known for its whale watching, and got to walk along the beach.  The views were absolutely incredible.  This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen since I’ve been here.

Sunrise over the harbor

Picton

Picton Harbor

Kaikoura

Beach at Kaikoura

We had an incredible trip, but we were both ready to get back to Christchurch and sleep in our own beds and not spend money for a few days.  We’re heading out to Queenstown on Sunday for 5 days of tramping, bungy jumping, and sightseeing.  Ruff-Reed Honeymoon Part Deux coming soon!

Happy trails,
Bess

Vocabulary

·      Splash out-splurge

·      Togs-swimsuit

·      OpShop-thrift store

·      Mufties-casual clothes

·      Lollies-candy

·      Pokies-slot machines

·      Macca’s-McDonald’s

 

Wild Foods...Wild Time

            I’ve been in New Zealand for a month now and have settled in to my classes and more importantly my workout schedule.  After pounding the pavement around town the first few weeks my knee decided it was time for a break so I’ve been taking a lot of classes at the school gym.  My favorite is supercircuit which is like a less intense version Insanity workout but still worthwhile.  I also like the NRG (pun) class which is a more intense version of Zumba.

            This past weekend I made my first trip outside of Christchurch to the town of Hokitika on the West Coast for the town’s annual Wild Foods Festival.  The drive took about 3 ½ hours, and I finally got to see the New Zealand landscape. I wasn’t disappointed.  About 15 minutes outside of Christchurch, we started seeing hills and mountains that were incredibly green.  Whoever came up with the shade of green in a box of Crayola crayons must have just visited New Zealand.  Seeing as I am the queen of shotgun, I had the perfect view to take tons of pictures.

Finally found some sheep!

            My flatmate Mary, who lives in Hokitika with her husband Nigel when she’s not at school, gave as a small tour of town when we got there Thursday night and then we headed to her house just down the street from the town center.   We met Nigel and the three most entertaining pets I’ve ever been around: Chester the dog, and Larry and Jack the cats.  The only way I can think to describe Chester is to compare him to Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates.  He loved us on Thursday night, and on Friday morning he barked and growled like he’d never met us before.  Larry looks like a leopard and Jack weighs about as much as a kindergartener.

            Since my always prepared self left all of my toiletries on my bed in Christchurch, I got an extensive tour around town Friday morning while looking for temporary replacements.  They don’t have my Aquafresh Bubblemint toothpaste here so I was forced to buy mint toothpaste for the first time in my life.  Worst. Day. Ever.  Also, you can’t buy contact solution at the grocery store so I had to go to the chemist (pharmacy) to get it. After solving this dilemma we spent the rest of Friday morning/afternoon exploring the small downtown area and playing out on the beach.  We had lunch at Fat Pipi’s pizza, which according to Mary has been deemed the best pizza in New Zealand.  After lunch we walked back to Mary’s and pitched our tent in her backyard.  And by “we” I mean Abby and Kate did the actual constructing and Danica and I monitored.  

            By this point Mary and Nigel’s other friends started to trickle in and pitch their tents in the backyard.  After a rough afternoon of tent pitching, of course we were hungry again.  This time for fish n’ chips.  Instead of walking into town this time, Mary offered us her car, and I got to have my first driving experience in New Zealand.  After a rough start just getting the car to turn on, the rest of the trip was uneventful, but fish n’ chips is now my new favorite food.  We spent Friday night getting to know Mary and Nigel’s friends and then went to some of the bars downtown.  Danica, Abby, and I decided to make friends with some people on the beach so we could warm up by their bonfire then headed back to Mary’s to rest up for the big day on Saturday.  I’ll admit it, I wimped out on sleeping outside and ended up curled up on the couch in Mary’s living room.  In my defense though I didn’t have a blanket or a sleeping bag to keep me warm in the tent. 

            Saturday morning started bright and early with some eggs to line our stomachs for the day’s events.  Mary put a number for each stall at the festival in a bowl and everyone had to draw a number and eat whatever was at that stall.  Now, when they say “wild foods” they’re not kidding.  There were the typical venison stalls, but you also had places serving mountain oysters (bull testicles), huhu grubs, kangaroo burgers, and horse semen shots.  Yes, horse semen shots.  I drew Dutch donuts. WEAK. So I drew again and got moonshine. Yeehaw! Once everyone got their numbers and had their costumes situated (we were Tom Cruise from Risky Business—very original) we walked to the festival.  Here’s a list of everything I tasted/ate:

·      Live huhu grub

·      Crocodile bite

·      Kangaroo burger

·      Wild boar corndog

·      Dutch donut

·      Mountain oysters

·      Moonshine

·      Rabbit patê

·      And the piece-de-resistance…A SHOT OF HORSE SEMEN

Danica, me, Abby, and Kate

Mountain Oysters

Mountain Oysters sauteed with onions. NOM.

Live Huhu Grubs.

Shot of moonshine

Shot of horse semen!

Kangaroo burgers with plum sauce.

Oddly enough, other than the kangaroo burger, the mountain oysters were my favorite followed closely by the horse semen shot.

            After the festival we walked back to Mary’s, napped, and rallied...to Mary’s kitchen table where we hung out for pretty much the rest of the night with a side detour to her kitchen floor to play Thumper and then to her backyard to play Abby’s game “Say good day to Bob”.  Saturday night Abby and I enjoyed some casual pillow talk as she joined me on an air mattress in Mary’s living room…while everyone else was getting soaked in the rain outside. #Winning. 

            Sunday morning we learned the finer points of cricket before heading back to Christchurch to recover…and watch Survivor of course.

Peace, love, and mountain oysters,

Bess

New Vocab

·      Kumara-sweet potato 

·      Mountain oysters-bull testicles 

·      Thickshake-supposedly a thicker version of the milkshake, but the NZ version barely passes as a regular American milkshake 

·      College-high school

·      University-college

 

It's O-Week Y'all!

              Ah O-Week: the official rite of passage for ALL college freshmen.  A week of parties without having to worry about waking up for class the next morning.  A week of meeting countless new people (whose names you can never remember when you see them in the daylight).  A week where every college stereotype you’ve ever seen on TV or in movies is confirmed.

Or if you’re like me and have always had soccer preseason, the week where you have to wake up at the crack of dawn for practice and are back before your friends crawl out of bed. The week where you can hardly stay up past 9 o’clock.  The week of serving as a chauffer to all your NARP (Non Athletic Real People) friends.  

So you can imagine my excitement when my newly-NARP self got to experience an official O-Week without the threat of a fitness test or a 6:30 AM practice looming over my head.  Expectations were high, especially since I had to pay ninety New Zealand dollars for the official O-Week parties.  But these were not your typical Old House parties with beer pong and a sea of freshmen anxious for their first college social event.  

RECAP:

TOGA PARTY

            After a few casual hangouts in the common room and in various flats, I was ready for a school-wide party.  Or at least I thought I was.  A large group of us walked over to the party together, conveniently located across the street from our flat.  After going through security that was stricter than New Zealand airport security, we headed for the dance floor.  To my horror, the dance floor turned out to be a mosh pit.  No swing dancing.  No space to dance with anybody.  Only a head-banging, sardine-packed mob.  I had found my own personal Inferno.  Reeling from having my dreams of dancing the night away dashed, I headed to the bathrooms with a friend.  While waiting for her outside, some guys came up to me, and we proceeded to have the typical “what’s your name, where are you from, what’s your major, etc.” conversation.   Everything was going great until we got to the “what year are you?” question.  Oh dear.  Since university is usually a 3-year program in New Zealand my American friends and I have had to decide how our status in 4-year American universities translated.  We decided to go with calling ourselves third years.  When I responded with this answer, the guys I was talking to paused and then asked how old I was: 21.  I had hardly given my response when they started laughing; they were 18.  Next thing I know, they’re calling me a “cougar” and asking me how I “stalk my prey”.  Game. Over.  Time to go home.

PAINT PARTY

            With the toga party being such a bust, the pressure was on for the paint party to be a good time.  It didn’t disappoint.  The fact that I got to wear Nike shorts and a huge t-shirt helped.  This time I had my Kiwi flat mate Mary to guide me through the basics of moshing.  The most important thing is to keep moving no matter what.  You’ve got to keep with the flow of the mob.  After losing a few toenails and catching a few elbows Mary and I made it to the front and enjoyed some casual head banging.  And then the paint came.  Members of ENSOC (Engineering Society/arguably the best party throwers at UC) shot red and blue paint from the top of a van out into the crowd.  A few of us also engaged in guerrilla warfare in a tent next to the bus where we found large bottles of paint.  I managed to hold onto my jandals, both my IDs, my contact lenses, and, unlike the toga party, my pride.  Great Success.

SummerStein

            This all-day music fest was the most casual of the three parties, featuring Kiwi bands, beer, and sunshine.  There was more room to dance in front of the stage so of course I was a fan.  My favorite act was The Babysitters Circus, a group of white rappers/singers in velour tracksuits.  The best way for me to describe them is that they were a cross between Eminem, Weird Al Yankovic, and Michael Franti.  Six60 was the headlining band for the day, but I was so hungry I wanted to leave before.  Every Kiwi looked at me as if I had just committed the worst of all blasphemes.  So I stayed…for one song.  And then I went back to the flat and roasted some vegetables for supper.  No regrets.

            To cap off O-Week my American friends and I decided to treat our Kiwi and Canadian friends (but mostly ourselves) to an American Food Night.  Abby made her “famous” chili with her secret ingredient: peanut butter. Danica made mac n’ cheese.  Kate made REAL biscuits. And of course I made dessert: Paula Deen’s banana pudding.  Minds were blown, stomachs were stuffed, and America’s spot as the fattest country in the world was secured.  

 

Best dishes y’all,

Bess

Vocabulary for the Week:

·      Jandals-flip flops

·      Stubbies-rugby shorts

·      Foot path-sidewalk

·      Hāka-Maori war dance

·      Sweet as-alright, sounds good

·      Heaps-a lot

a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build

Today (Wednesday, Feb. 22) marked the first anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake which left the downtown part of the city destroyed and 185 people from 14 countries dead.  Even a year later, the inner city continues to look like a war zone with shipping containers being used as supports for buildings that are being examined to decide if they can be saved or if they need to be destroyed.  The downtown area of Christchurch was world-renown for its botanical gardens and breathtaking cathedrals, a tourist hotspot.  Now, that part of Christchurch is spoken of in solemn tones of regret and sorrow towards its utter devastation.  Even at the University of Canterbury, the prevalence of the earthquake is inescapable.  Several buildings are closed and under construction and posted in every classroom is a list of procedures to follow if an earthquake were to occur during the lecture.  Apparently, we had a minor earthquake at the end of last week, but I was asleep and didn’t feel it.  I also didn’t feel the one in Lexington this summer so maybe I’m immune?  But in all seriousness, in the short time that I have been here I have seen how heavy 12:51 PM on February 22, 2011 weighs on the hearts and minds of the people of Christchurch. 

In remembrance of February 22, 2011, both the University of Canterbury and the city of Christchurch hosted memorial services to commemorate the earthquake.   Classes were cancelled from 10AM-2PM to allow faculty and students to go to either service and fortunately for me one of my classes fell in this time period and the other was cancelled.  A bunch of us decided to attend the city-wide memorial service at Hagley Park close to downtown Christchurch.  The destination usually requires a bus ride but Danica, Stephanie, and I decided we would pack our own lunches and leave early enough to walk the 3-ish miles to the park.  The closer we got to the park the more people we saw converging on the same spot.  It was a really bizarre sight, almost as if we were all part of the same cult and had been called in for a special ceremony.  Everyone from construction workers and high school students to business people and families converged in the middle of the park in front of a large stage and a big screen containing video of the action on stage. 

Once we got there, we settled down in the back with thousands of other people (about 85,000) to listen to Christchurch mayor Bob Parker, New Zealand prime minister John Key, and several other notable public figures speak about the disaster.  A letter from Prince Charles of Wales was read to the crowd and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a video address.  A few of us were a little perturbed by her message, as well-intentioned as it might have been.  To us, it seemed as if Clinton focused more on what the United States had done to help Christchurch than remembering what the people of the city and the Canterbury region had suffered.  Leave it to Americans to try to make everything about us (I originally typed “them”; only a week and I’m already subconsciously disassociating myself).  The most moving part of the 90-minute long service was the reading of the names of the 185 people who were killed in the earthquake followed by the release of 185 monarch butterflies commemorating their deaths.  

As someone whose only connection to the earthquake is the fact that I now reside in the recovering city, I found myself quietly observing the people around me throughout the service.   Most were there as a symbol of community solidarity, but every now and then I would find someone who looked genuinely tormented by the memories of that day one year ago.  The ground shook for two minutes but their lives were changed forever.  It was an incredibly moving service well worth the 6+ mile, round-trip walk. 

In an effort to better understand the far-reaching effects of last year’s earthquake, I am taking a course at the university called “Rebuilding Christchurch”.  The course is a combination of classwork and community service designed to assist in the recovery of the Garden City.  The students get to determine to some extent which projects we participate in and how many hours we contribute each week.  I’ve heard nothing but good things about the course so I think it will be a great help in better understanding how the city continues to be affected by its “darkest day”.

Before & After Earthquake Pics: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/4705106/Photos-Before-and-after-the-Christchurch-earthquake

“The time is ripe for looking back over the day, the week, the year, and trying to figure out where we have come from and where we are going to, for sifting through the things we have done and the things we have left undone for a clue to who we are and who, for better or worse, we are becoming. But again and again we avoid the long thoughts….We cling to the present out of wariness of the past. And why not, after all? We get confused. We need such escape as we can find. But there is a deeper need yet, I think, and that is the need—not all the time, surely, but from time to time—to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as a part of the present, where the dead are alive again, where we are most alive ourselves to turnings and to where our journeys have brought us. The name of the room is Remember—the room where with patience, with charity, with quietness of heart, we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived.”
―Frederick Buechner, A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces

Kia ora,

Bess