A Day at the Beach!

Hello!

Today Alexis and I hopped on the bus and rode out to New Brighton to visit the beach.  Riding through the city center, we got to have a good look at how Christchurch was impacted by the earthquake of a few years ago, and how it is bouncing back.  Some fancy-looking old buildings were crumbled, but bright, modern structures are springing up.  We passed the Container Mall (called Re:Start), which is a mall made out of shipping containers painted in bright, primary hues.  We glimpsed the Transitional Cathedral as well, a building that functions as both a place of worship and as a venue for concerts and events.  The area seems to be focused on local flavor and rediscovering itself as something modern and unique.  Alexis and I made extensive mental lists of things to see here on our next day out.

After a bit, we found ourselves on the New Brighton Beach, and we spent the next couple of hours just walking down the shore.  The sand was dark and dotted with bright white shells.  A lot of friendly dogs came up to say hello to us as we walked.  It was sunny and warm with a nice breeze off the water:  a perfect day to stroll down the beach!
We spent some time walking on a ridge in the dunes just above the beach.  It was adorned with tall grass and a waxy-looking plant that hugged the ground and had round, stringy flowers.  I didn't recognize it.

 Alexis and I stopped at a bench almost submerged in sand to split a sandwich and some chips.  Then we moved down onto the beach itself, where we found plenty of driftwood to play on!  We (I) climbed the branches of huge trees that had been whitewashed by the waves and sun and had come to rest far up the beach.  Some of the wood lay on its side, huge and white against the sand, full trees.  Some of it, however, had been propped up like standards to mark the top of the beach.  Some smaller pieces were stacked into a nest or a teepee.  All was fun to play with, or just to look at.

By the time we reached the South Shore point, we were pretty pooped.  We caught the bus back through town, came back, and sprawled in my room for a bit to recover!  It was a great day out, and it was really good to see more of the city.  Looking forward to my next adventures!

Classes start tomorrow; wish me luck!

Sizzle in the Drizzle

Hello, all!  I'm still waiting for classes to start, but yesterday Alexis and I had a pretty good time walking around campus on Enrollment Day collecting free stuff.  There was a hotdog cookout (or "sausage sizzle"), and plenty of free cookies!  When Alexis asked one person at a table for any free stuff, he gave us four cans of pop and the rest of his Muesli (granola) bars.  We also received two tote bags, which were very helpful for carrying our loot home.
On our way back to our apartments, we were about to cross the road when a car did a U-turn, rubbed up against the curb and popped off both hubcaps!  He then sped off in the opposite direction.  We crossed, removing the hubcaps from traffic and putting them on the side of the road, and wondered at the strange and unfamiliar driving habits on this side of the world!
A word on the local wildlife:  the Ilam apartments are home to a flock of very vocal pigeons.  These pigeons have a habit of landing under our windows and producing the strangest cooing I have experienced.  Sometimes they wheeze.  Sometimes they growl.  Occasionally they sound like normal pigeons.
So those are my adventures so far.  Excited for class to start Monday!

Adventures in NZ!

Hello everyone!  I finally got this video to load.  Yay!  I think it will be a higher quality than the Fiji one, since I didn't have to compress it.  Some of the pics are on Facebook, but there are some new ones in here, too, and a few movies.  It details my adventures since arriving in NZ alongside epic music so you can feel adventurous, too!  I hope you enjoy it.  Thanks for watching, and don't forget to keep me updated on your own adventures.

Settling in and looking around

Hello, again.  I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!  For our Fourth, we were given candy in exchange for doing something American.  Alexis and I said the Pledge of Allegiance in unison.

The past few days I've been walking around Christchurch, getting the lay of the land.  First we saw local shops and banks, then we explored the bus system.  Today I found my way to the nearby church and in the afternoon we visited Christchurch's botanic gardens.  Still can't wait for classes to start.

Waiting....

So here I am in Christchurch.  Waiting.  Nothing is started up yet, though it will soon, so Alexis and I have just been wandering around, exploring a bit and trying to keep ourselves entertained.  This has lead to a Pixar movie marathon in an empty common room, as well as ping-pong and pool games that highlight our lack of grace and skill.  I've put some pictures on facebook, if you'd like to check there, since I don't have a New Zealand collection put together for the blog, yet.  Soon things will be starting up, though, and I'll have more interesting stories to share!

Adventures in Fiji! Now in Technicolor!

I just threw this together so you guys could see a part of my adventures so far!  (Caution--contains music)  Coming Soon:  Adventures in NZ.

NZ Adventures, Finally Here.

So a couple of days ago we traveled to Rotorua, which has volcanic activity like hot springs throughout the city.  The whole place smells like sulfur.  On the way there, we went Zorbing! (Technically, with the company we used, it was OGOing, or in my case, H2OGOing).  They put warm water in the ogo/zorb, a big ball suspended by cables within a bigger ball, then we jumped in and they rolled us down the hill.  It was so much fun!  I've been waiting for almost ten years to zorb, I think, and I was not disappointed.  It was great.

In the city we drove past a lake with black swans, past a fancy Tudor building that evidently used to be "the baths," and near a hot spring that stood right in the town.  We had dinner, then put our swimsuits back on for whitewater rafting!
It was pretty chilly, so they gave us fleeces and wetsuits to keep us warm.  Then we rafted the river.  It was very pretty.  The water was a swirling teal blue, and the river was banked by mossy rocks under graceful ferns.  I was in the front with Alexis.  We rafted the highest commercially rafted waterfall at 21 feet!  The water at the bottom was like a slap to the face as we went over, and the entire raft went under water before bobbing back up to the top.  We made it!  Evidently people often flip on that waterfall.  We kept rafting the rapids farther down the river and even went over one smaller fall while standing up!

In the evening we visited the Polynesian Spa, which tapped into the local hot springs.  It felt really nice in the warm water, but it did smell strongly of sulfur, so we all were sure to shower afterward!

Finally, I flew on the last leg of my journey and ended up here in Christchurch.  I haven't seen much yet, but I can tell you my room is pretty awesome.  But I don't want to be an adult!  Buying groceries yesterday was a little depressing!  Now we're getting enrolled and settled in, and I'll have some free time before things really get under way.  I made a video of my trip to Fiji, so I'll see if I can get that to load so you guys can have a better idea of what I've been talking about.  TTFN!