New Zealand 101

I'm back in Christchurch, after almost completing my loop of the south island...a few more places to hit up before venturing to the north, but it's hard to believe it's been three weeks. Seems like I just started, yet like I've been here forever...
I had been hanging out with a few girls from the UK (UK travelers are almost as much in abundance as the NZ pesky possum population...but probably more appreciated), and two girls from Sweden. Seeing as how the two Swedes were leaving today for Kaikoura, and one of the sweet little UKers, Ruth, was flying out as well, we decided to go out for pizza last night. I lost a chunk of hair in the process. I didn't bring a hair dryer with me, so to speed up the primping process beforehand, I asked my dorm buddy Anna if I could use hers. I should have known no good could come from it, because I've had several travel dryer mishaps in the past. Sure enough, the little bastee sucked in a tangle of hair and I admit to uttering a few choice expletives before managing to turn the dryer off. No amount of tugging could realease my locks of vanity, so I had to attack them with scissors. Poor Ruth couldn't bear witness and had to leave the room. Fortunately, the section I had to shorten by a few inches was underneath, so it's not noticeable...even if it was, I probably would have just fit in with the eccentric, hipster and volatile fashion sense of the locals.
It was at dinner that I decided I'm going to adopt as many UK terms and sayings as I can...made much more effective by a light lilting accent. They have an amazing way of making everything sound so...colorful and interesting. I love it. For example:
Carolyn: "This chicken satay pizza is damn good."
Ruth: "I know, isn't it just gorgeous?! The peanut sauce is just so brilliant!"
Carolyn: "The lamb is damn good too."
Expressive as a door mat, I'm sure.

Anyways. From Queenstown, I did a Milford Sound day trip and took a boat tour of the fjord. In some ways, it really reminded me of the boat trip Jesse and I did in Alaska (with mountains and the smaller waterfalls)...but maybe a little less cold. Milford Sound gets rained on about 300 days of the year (more than 7 meters!), and we just happened to get lucky enough to have a sunny day.

Charie, from Texas

While in Queenstown, I hiked up the gondola trail and also did the Queenstown Hill Walkway to the top of the mountain overlooking the town and lakes...

The Basket of Dreams, built for the year 2000...an ideal vantage point of the city below.

I was sad to leave Queenstown...it was such a nice, relatively small town, settled in the mountains, and had a lot to do and see, but I figured it was time to move on to Dunedin. There were quite a few travelers who were not looking forward to Dunedin, and said there wasn't much to do there...but when you're comparing it to Queenstown, adventure capital of the world, then yeah, I guess there's not a whole lot! I really liked it though...it was surrounded by great, rolling hills (which I was enthralled by...I loved the mountains, but I wasn't as blown away by them as a lot of the people I talked to were...mainly because some of them had never seen mountains before). It was an older city, with so many great buildings and cathedrals and churches, and little shops and pubs. Twenty minutes away on the Otaga peninsula was the only castle in the southern hemisphere, and Dunedin is also home to the world's steepest street (San Fran kicked up a fuss about that one, but in the end, good prevailed over evil, and it was officially put in the Guiness Book of World Records). I also visited the Cadbury Chocolate Factory, and learned that on average, per year, Japanese people eat 2 kg of chocolate, NZ - 4 kg, Australia - 8 kg, UK - 12 kg, Canada/US - 14 kg, Switzerland - 16 kg. Being the only North American, the tour guide asked if I ate 14 kg of chocolate a year...I l said no way, that's disgusting. Shortly thereafter, I lied about answering a trivia question right so she'd give me an extra chocolate bar as a reward.

On the bus, between Queenstown and Dunedin

The Cadbury Chocolate Factory, in front of a golden mound of Crunchie bars. The only pic I got, because they confiscated all cameras for the tour. Clever broomheads...

First Church of Otaga

One of the coziest hostels I've been in...I felt like I was in someone's apartment. There was even a little demon cat to maul your legs when you walked past.

Doesn't really look too steep from this angle...

View from the top



Dunedin University campus...first university in NZ.

Railway Station...the second most photographed building in the south, after the Sydney opera house (I feel like I'm giving a history lesson/virtual tour...you're all going to be so edumacated)

Rocking out with the Moeraki boulders. Bah hahaha...huh? A stop along the way, between Dunedin and Lake Tekapo.

Lake Tekapo...I was going to go into a little description of why it's such a vibrant blue...but I forgot my book which I was going to copy it from. Haha! It's glacier water...with some refratory sediments or other called "flour" ("refractory sediments"?! woo hoo!)...they hang in the water...and yeah, presto! Brilliant blue. Take that, Bill Nye.