Mates and Remembrance: A Blog Mixed Bag

First things first, I have a confession to make…the two subjects of this blog, hinted at in the title, are seemingly discordant and potentially have absolutely nothing to do with each other, in even the most creative of ways.  However, perhaps some form of literary trickery can deceive whatever audience is out there reading this full-of-grammatical-errors, infrequently-updated blog.  Enjoy J

Easter has come quickly and since it’s the fall over here, it was about time for a nice break from school!  My plans were pretty simple but I enjoyed them and that is what counts!  Claire and Barry were awesome and invited me to come stay with them for a little while so that I could get away from the city for a bit.  Needless to say, I was pumped.  Not only did I get to help them with heaps of stuff outside, but I got to be in on helping with Barry’s surprise birthday party!  Claire is extraordinary…somehow she was able to get three of Barry’s five sons to show up at the house without Barry noticing…while he was there!  The whole thing was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to talk about some Greek mythology with one of Barry’s grandson.  The kid is wicked smart!

Barry's surprise!

Before the birthday, however, I was able to do some really special things in honor of the soldiers who fought in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).  Barry and I woke up early and headed out the door at 6AM to catch the dawn service in the city.  There were hundreds of people and the cool part was that everyone was just…silent.  Everyone watched in awe as the choirs sang, as the speakers gave their words, and as the soldiers stood at attention.  Cannons fire ensued, rifles pelted the air with sound…it was all really cool.  After this dawn service, Barry dropped me off at a cemetery.  Sounds a little strange, but keep in mind that it was ANZAC day!  I was actually there to help Claire and some people from Rotaract with a project.  We were in charge of setting out the flowers that would be used at a second memorial service.  The work was easy and we were able to catch a quick coffee at a really cool café by St. Clair beach.  The second service was also really spectacular and I felt really good about being there.  Just felt like there was no other place to be at that moment.  Anyways, I took heaps of photos…go on to my Facebook and check them out if you’d like!

Some ANZAC soldiers

More ANZAC day!

One of the most popular requests that I’ve been getting from all you peeps back in the states is for me to talk about my flat a little bit more.  I am living just two blocks down from the heart of the city, so I am right in the middle of downtown…which is really cool!  I live with three Kiwi guys, each one from a different part of the North Island.  I met James and Gerard when I came to look at the flat.  James comes from up around Tauranga and is a medical student here at Otago.  He is one of the funniest guys that I’ve met and it’s really good to have him as a flatmate.  Gerard is from Wellington and is studying Plant Biotechnology (read: impressive).  He was actually the flatmate who introduced me to a little bit of some Kiwi stylings, skinny jeans and v-necks, and he is a pretty suave lad.  Josh is from Whangarei and is also a medical student but is doing an honors year before he heads to Wellington to complete his studies next year.  He is one of the easiest guys to get along with and watching him and James go for the occasional wrestle…crack up.  All in all, things are great here on Dowling Street.  I get along really well with each of the flat mates separately, but we also have a pretty cool scene when we are all together as well.  Know that they are most likely reading this and “lol-ing”…I would expect nothing less!

Also, just wanted to let you guys in on the awesome past few days I’ve just had.  When I was up in Wellington for the Rotary Conference, I met this really cool scholar named Caresse.  Caresse is a scholar from Dallas, but she is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and moved to the States when she was 15.  To make a long story short, she and her friend Kyle (a scholar from Texas as well) decided to do a quick tour of Dunedin over Easter break and I was more than happy to play the role of host and entertainer.  Claire graciously offered to pick them up from the airport and they arrived this past Tuesday.  Our first night was pretty relaxed, though we did opt to see a fair bit of the Dunedin “night scene” later on in the evening.  Ellen came as well!  The night was a success and the tour of Dunedin started off right!  The next day was our “Peninsula Day”.  What an amazing day!  The cool thing about having guests here is that I had an excuse to do all the “touristy” Dunedin things that I’d yet to find time for!  We headed out to the albatross colony…these birds are HUGE!  After having a coffee and a quick snack…we headed for the main event…Penguin Place!  Dunedin is home to a pretty rare penguin, the yellow-eyed penguin, and we were determined to see the little waddlers.  We paid for the tour and set out on our journey.  AMAZING.  The little guys were just coming in from a long day of fishing and we were less than 50 feet from them.  Of course, we were in little “dugouts” or “hides” so that we wouldn’t be too intimidating to the penguins.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention that we saw SEA LIONS and SEALS as well!  At the same place with the penguins!  2 for 1 deal…bargain shopper like my mama I guess?  The sun was setting and our tour drew to a close…but it was such an awesome experience…of which there are plenty of photos to see on my FB page.  We ended the night having dinner with Claire and Barry out in Macandrew Bay…great way to catch up and share some laughs!  Our next day, Thursday, was actually pretty chill…and was much needed.  We just kind of poked around the university, took some pictures, and laid around on the grass by the Clocktower.  Opting for another relaxed night, we headed out to the Northeast Valley to do some cooking with Ellen and to hang out with her flat a bit as well.  Grabbed dinner at an Indian restaurant, had some tea at Ellen’s, and headed back to Dowling St. for the night.  Their final day came much the same way as their first…with a little bit of “spirit”.  Of course this means that we did an awesome brewery tour at the Speight’s Brewery where we could sample any of the available beers for 30 minutes.  Have to say that I’ve become a fan of the Pilsener.  Just before they left, we had an early dinner at the Speight’s Ale House.  My treat to anyone who decides to visit…dinner at Speight’s Ale House…it was DELICIOUS.  Sent Caresse and Kyle off to the airport in the shuttle, headed to the Blues v. Highlanders game, and rounded out the evening with a  little Royal Wedding watching with the Dowling St. crew (+Tristan, Andrew, and Marty).  What a good week!

Some cool Rotary Scholars!

My amazing host counselor, Claire :)

Dramatic chipmunk?  Dramatic penguin!  Boom!

That about covers it since my last post, really sorry that I’ve not been better about keeping up with the blog.  Classes are going well but having to write lots of papers makes me less likely to write a blog when I have deadlines looming.  I do, however, really enjoy updating and keeping track of what’s been going on…hopefully you guys get a kick out of me being slightly awkward and goofy in Kiwi-land!  Look more for to come…after I turn in my papers, of course J

Jay's visit, thrill-seekin, and new beginnings

Well, folks, I've just had my first visitor and I have to say that it's definitely my best time in New Zealand as of late.

One of my best friends from Centre, Jay Russell, decided to make a "pit-stop" down under in Kiwi-land on his way back to the states.  He'd been in China, teaching English, since July and decided that the land of the long white cloud wouldn't make such a bad place to take a breather as he re-inserted himself to a life with English-speakers.  To be honest, I felt a little bad about the first week of his visit.  We had planned all these crazy things, the least of which would include a 5-day glacier hike on the Franz Josef or Fox glacier.  However, an unforeseen paper deadline kept me in the library for the better part of 4 days while Jay was here.  I am a lame friend, let's get past that though.  Jay really got along well with my flatmates and was understanding about my academic trials, which is why he is my best friend.  We did, however, get to hang out in a more social scene at some of the clubs around Dunedin and I think he had a pretty decent time.

Mr. Russell and myself

Once I had made some headway with my assignments, Jay and I sat down to plan out exactly what our next adventure would be...this entailed getting out of Dunedin for a bit to do a little bit of exploring.  We decided that the glacier hike may not be the best thing to try and plan last minute, so we opted for a two day bike ride, ending with some thrill-seeking in Queenstown.  The bike trail we followed, the Otago Central Rail Trail, is a popular destination for people looking to get out of the cities and we certainly met this criterion.  The whole ride is about 160 km (100 miles) and would usually take about four days at a non-grueling pace.  Since Jay had to leave for the States in four days, we decided that a two day ride would be enough...didn't want to overdo it, ya know.  Channeling our best memories of Nate Crimmins, our friend who biked across the United States in one summer, we rented some bikes, mounted our steeds, and set out for the great expanse that is Central Otago.  Our journey started in Ranfurly and would end in Clyde, from which we would catch a bus to Queenstown.  We did about 50 km on our first day, stopping in off in Lauder to bunker down at a friend's B&B (Muddy Creek Cutting).  After a serious case of "biker butt", we were ready to get some rest.  This place was amazing.  The whole operation is impeccably managed by two guys, Kevin and Ross, and we had a great time.  Let's not forget the gourmet meal of roasted duck stew and mashed potatoes with a roasted and raw vegetable salad.  Yea, that happened...did I mention that the duck we ate was raised on the farm we were at...quack.  For dessert, we had locally grown apricots and fresh-made cream.  Jealously is expected, don't worry.

Hard.

After a restful night's sleep, we set out from Lauder to finish the rest of our trail.  The first day of riding was pretty winding, causing plenty of choice words to be leveled against the nor'easter threatening some serious man-pride.  In contrast, the second day was pretty much all downhill and without our cheeky foe (read: wind).  We stopped off in Alexandra for a bit, the town where my host dad Barry grew up, and did some pretty cool stuff!  We stopped off for a little education at the local visitor center, learning a lot about Central Otago's gold-mining past.  We also hiked up to a clock set up in the hills of Alex.  Check on facebook for some pictures of this adventure.  We set out from Alex around 5:30pm and got to Clyde around 6:00pm, after following an amazing trail along the Clutha River.  This last leg of the trail was definitely the best part and it was filled with plenty of hills and dips, enough to quench Jay's cycle-thrillseeking and more than adequate for my own more lesiurely, sight-seeing pace.  We caught out bus and headed to Queenstown!

A view from the trail: Invasion of the Clouds!

After our first night in Queenstown, restless as it was, we spent our only full day seeking some more adventure.  We accomplished various feats of man and ended up quite pleased with ourselves.  Queenstown was its typical, welcoming self and we met up with some people we had met earlier on in the day...our Danish friends.  We had a great night, filled with really fattening desserts, and headed home the next day...or so we thought...We boarded our bus bound for Dunedin around 9am on Sunday, April 3rd.  Having spent most of our energy on biking and other adventures, we immediately passed out.  We woke up about 2 hours later to our bus driver asking if we had accommodation for the evening.  Thinking nothing of it, I responded "Of course, we live in Dunedin!". The bus driver's response?  "Dunedin...we are in Wanaka!  This bus isn't going to Dunedin!".  Oops.  Turns out we were supposed to have deboarded our bus in Cromwell to get on the bus that would head for Dunedin.  Ha, we're idiots.  A little depressed, we stepped off the bus and headed straight for the Wanaka visitor center to see if we could find another bus.  Success!  Another bus would leave from Wanaka in 5 hours and we got the last two seats.  Must have been fate because Wanaka was gorgeous and definitely inspired me to make it back during my future journeys in NZ.  Check Wanaka out on Google, not a bad place to end up, eh?

440ft? That's a long way down...

We made it back to Dunedin and watched the UK-UCONN game that we had one of my flatmates record.  The game ended poorly for two UK fans, but the night was not without its high points.  The friend I mentioned earlier, Nate, had also put me in contact with one of his friends who also happened to be studying at Otago, Ellen.  Ellen has quickly become a good friend and she only climbed higher in my books this night.  She was coming over to say good-bye to Jay and watch the game with us (she went to Butler)...or was she?  When I went to let her in the apartment, she was standing there with two of her flatmates and a birthday cake, brightly lit with candles and looking remarkably chocolatey.  The cake was amazing, the company was better, and the night was a net positive.  I love New Zealand.

Lovin' New Zealand, folks

To bring this edition to a close, I dropped Jay off at the airport the next morning and this also happened to be my first experience driving in New Zealand.  My flatmate courageously let me borrow his car and I made it to the airport and back with no damage to either myself or the car.  Yea, appreciate my skills of driving on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car :)  It was sad to see Jay go, but I was just grateful that he had come in the first place.  To those of you who are thinking about coming...please do!  I really enjoy showing this place off and sharing it with my friends and family.

Well, that's about it for this issue.  Check my facebook for pictures of Jay's Visit!