On My Own

Dunedin (Jan. 3 - Jan. 6)
I started in Dunedin. It wasn't that exciting. The town was dead. The people in my hostel kept to themselves. And I was still adjusting to a more solitary lifestyle. I met a man on the bus ride from Christchurch to Dunedin. His name was Tom and he had just moved back to New Zealand after spending about 20 years in San Francisco. He was really friendly and adamant about showing me around Dunedin. Once we arrived in the city, I got the low-down on good jazz bars, a little historical background, and an invitation to stay at his ranch. I didn't accept the invitation, partly because I had already booked a hostel for 3 nights, but mostly because staying with a stranger alone in his house made me a little nervous. My declination didn't deter him. He gave me his phone number and email and insisted I call if I needed anything. Anything at all.

The first full day I spent in Dunedin, I did what I typically do in any new city: I became acquainted with the city's layout and found the botanical gardens. I spent a few hours in the gardens reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Actually I spend most of my time in Dunedin reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns." Whenever I had extra time (which was often) I found some green space in the city and opened my book. I couldn't put it down; no matter how disturbing the story became I was compelled to continue reading.

I scheduled a wildlife tour for the afternoon/evening on that first day. Dunedin is at the base of the Otago Peninsula, which is famous for its native fauna: albatross, fur seal colonies, blue penguins (smallest species of penguin in the world), and yellow-eyed penguins. I can't remember exactly why I chose to visit Dunedin, but I'm sure the wide array of wildlife was one of the main reasons. The tour was impressive. Longer and more intimate than I expected. Plus they picked me up from my hostel - transportation is a constant dilemma since I hate spending money.

We started at the Royal Albatross center on Taiaroa head - the only mainland albatross breeding colony worldwide. The birds were spectacular. The first ten minutes was filled with seagulls and shags. But once an albatross began to fly, it demanded your immediate attention. Their wings span up to 3 meters and they glide effortlessly through the sky, never once flapping their wings. I didn't get any pictures...once we spotted an albatross I couldn't take my eyes off of it long enough to take out my camera.

After observing the albatross and checking out the small museum we loaded into the tour shuttle and drove to the other side of the peninsula. We parked on the edge of a farmer's land and walked down the side of a steep hill toward the water. We all squeezed into a small wooden hideout and looked down. Directly below us, not more than 5 meters, was a fur seal colony. There were pups playing in pools, adults lounging on the rocks, and others trying to escape the pounding waves and seek refuge in the rock outcrops.

Leaving the seals, we went in search of yellow-eyed penguins. Walking down the other side of the steep hill, we headed toward a secluded beach. The penguins do not nest on the beach, but instead prefer the protection that high grasses provide. Walking through the grasses to the beach we passed two penguins. They let us get so close, and we stood about a meter away, taking pictures - not me, my camera batteries died and I didn't have a spare set. Dumb. We continued on the beach and up to a few wooden hideouts. Occasionally we would see a penguin waddling right next to a sheep, who continued grazing unaffected by the incongruity of the situation. Those sheep don't know how good they have it - grazing on spectacular landscapes, chilling with penguins, eating, sleeping....

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Nightlife

Christchurch (night of Jan. 2)
It was our last night in Christchurch and we finally decided to hit the bars. Megs, Alex, and I first cooked an awesome dinner of leftover pasta, carrots, cheese, a yellow pepper, and Italian dressing. Nothing beats pasta salad. After begging Alex (for hours and hours) to join us on what we promised to be an adventure (she declined every time) Megs and I walked to the city center. I had checked our Lonely Planet to see where the bar scene was, but the entire town looked empty. We walked up and down a few dark streets until we found a promising alley. The alley led us to an outdoor terrace surrounded by bars. Not too many people were there, maybe 10 at the most, but we didn't care, we'd finally found some bars!

First beers we bought were $9 a piece. Isn't that crazy??!! We should have asked before we ordered; luckily we soon made some new, male friends that were more than willing to pay for more drinks. Less than 10 minutes of sitting at a table alone, a guy approached us and asked what we would do if we had a really possessive boyfriend that was constantly jealous? In unison we told him we'd dump him, obviously. His name was Brandon, and breaking up with his boyfriend wasn't all that simple. We invited him to sit with us and quickly the conversation evolved. I love Brandon! He was so nice and hung out with us for the next couple hours as we took turns buying drinks.

Later, Megan met some local guys that started buying her drinks and consequently me and Brandon. The New Zealanders were quite intrigued that Megan and I wrapped our gum around our finger while we were drinking so that we were able to chew our gum once our drinks were finished. In fact, they were so intrigued by our gum wrapping that they continually snuck pokes at our gum, then immediately giggled. Ha, I'm laughing now as I reminisce.

After awhile our local friends decided to head to a new bar and Megan and I were all for that idea. We said bye to Brandon and then Jamin (one of the New Zealanders) picked me up on his back and we were off. Maybe 50 meters from the bar, we thought it was a good idea for Jamin to jump on his friend's back while I was still on his. Awesome idea, I know. I was on the ground in seconds. Just scraped my elbow though, no big deal - much better than my last face dive into pavement.

On the walk to the next bar, Jamin gave us his business card (he sold real estate). Instantly Megan and I were laughing uncontrollably. On the card was his first name spelled in big, black, block letters and dressed in a business suit, Jamin was leaning up against his own name. It was hilarious. I wish I still had the card, but Megan lost it at the bar when she tried to buy drinks with it.

Finally Megan and I headed home. It was a good last night in Christchurch and I had a long bus ride to Dunedin the next morning to sleep the alcohol off...

A New Year a New City

Christchurch (Dec. 27 - Jan. 3)
We arrived in Christchurch the evening of December 27. After checking into our hotel and showering we headed out to find some food. Apparently most places aren't open for dinner after 9PM. Standing on a corner trying to decided which direction to walk, we met a bunch of men in short, tight shorts doing a pub crawl. They were pretty funny and big time close-talkers. They invited Megan, Alex, and me to join them, promising my parents they would take good care of us. Reluctantly, we declined.

We spent the next day walking through Christchurch. We went to the free art gallery, watched a man bounce between banks as he tried to kayak down the small river that flows through the city center, had lunch at a pub with really good raspberry beer, strolled through the botanic gardens, and later got take out from a Thai restaurant and relaxed with a movie.

Alex, Megs, and I woke up the next morning and went and did Alex's soccer workout in a nearby park and then walked with my parents to the city center where every weekend booths are set up that sell locally made crafts, clothing, and food. I had a lamb gyro. It was pretty good, and since I've been in New Zealand I've eaten more lamb than I have in my entire life. I'm still not sure what I think about it. I don't like the fact that I'm eating a baby. Later in the afternoon we took a gondola up to the top of a mountain overlooking Banks Peninsula. Once at the top of the mountain we hiked around a bit, descended on the gondola and drove to the wee (people here say "wee" so much) town of Lyttleton. We first went to a bar called the Wunderbar. The decorations inside were a little quirky and included a lamp shade covered in baby doll heads; it was reminiscent of the bald baby doll head that was jammed on the stick shift of our little Toyota pickup for a few years.

During the next couple of days we went to Akaroa, a small town on the Banks Peninsula, visited the local wildlife park, and celebrated New Years in Cathedral Square in downtown Christchurch. I think one of everyone's unexpectedly favorite excursions was going to a sheep farm. We learned a ton about sheep farming (and the fact that it doesn't seem at all profitable, yet there are 10 times more sheep here than there are people), watched how effective border collies are at rounding up sheep, and even got to help shear a sheep, a big, fat sheep.

Swimming with Seals

Kaikoura (Dec. 27th)
On the morning of Dec. 27th we left Picton and started the 4 hour drive to Christchurch. Halfway through the trip we stopped in Kaikoura, which is right on the eastern coast, in order to go swim with the local fur seals. Tons of local businesses will take you to swim with dolphins and seals. My dad had booked one on their way from Christchurch (where my family originally flew into) to Picton. We all got into wetsuits and got fitted for snorkel gear, then all loaded into a bus with a few others and drove down the road about 15 minutes. We then transferred into a little motorboat and headed a few hundred meters off the coast to a huge rock where the fur seals typically rest and sun themselves after days of diving for food.

The water was freezing. I thought my hands were going to fall off. But, just as the guides said, after 2 or 3 minutes I was fine and in heaven. Not only were we swimming with seals, but we were also swimming through beds of bull kelp, so there was tons of other sea-life to see if the seals weren't in the water with us. The seals were amazingly friendly and I had a few swim directly underneath me and look me straight in the eyes. They were beautiful and graceful and huge! My dad had one glide right up against him! The kelp was awesome too. I loved swimming right through it and watching it sweep rhythmically back and forth with the current. We were in the water for about an hour and by the end of it we all started to get a little cold. Still, the experience was amazing. Being able to be observe such a magnificent animal in its natural habitat is quite incredible. This is still one of my favorite things I have done in New Zealand, this and fiordland.

Christmas in Picton

Picton (Dec. 22 - Dec. 27)
After taking a 3 hour ferry ride from Wellington, I arrived in Picton on Saturday night. I slept most of the ferry ride and then listened to the little boy sitting behind me bitch for the rest of ride: "Lasagna mum? I hate lasagna. Give me fish n' chips." Fish and chips arrive.... "What mum?? I hate fish n' chips." It was quite entertaining and then eventually quite annoying.

My whole family was there to pick me up and we drove back to our bach. The bach, a quaint little cottage, was right on the Marlborough Sound. I didn't appreciate the location until the next morning. From our family room we had a huge window overlooking calm turquoise water out of which rose huge mountains. We also had a covered porch which had the same view as our family room. Absolutely beautiful. Everything about the bach was beautiful. We did Podowski yoga (a combination of my yoga classes, Alex's soccer workouts, and my mom's pilates class) in the mornings on our porch. Megan, Alex, and I all shared a room, which could only be entered from outside, below the main part of the bach. We had two single beds and one double bed, but of course we kept Podowski tradition and all three slept in the one double bed. The only night we actually used the single beds was when I had to sleep in the middle and in the middle of the night had to move because I thought I was going to overheat. We also really had to conserve water as all of our running water came from rain water collected in a basin, and it really didn't rain that much while we were there. Luckily we never ran out of water, likely due to the fact that we only flushed the toilet twice a day, if that.

Our first full day in Picton we went mountain biking on the Queen Charlotte Track. The ride was much more tedious and exhausting (grueling as my mom would describe) than any of us anticipated. However, it was an absolutely amazing and scenic 24 km of track. Almost the entire ride one side of us was bordered by a steep hill that disappeared in the turquoise blue water of Marlborough sound. The ride was about 12 km one way, where we stopped and had lunch/dessert (the only place serving food had a wide selection of cakes and pastries and ice cream, but almost no substantial food). That first leg of the ride was absolutely the hardest and took about 2 1/2 hours, as it was almost entirely uphill). The return trip only took about 1 1/2 hours. No one fell over the side, although I think most of us had some close calls. Megan did go over her handle bars, and some strangers were lucky enough to witness it, however we all missed it. My dad went over his handlebars too, but again, we didn't get to see that one either!

The next day (Dec. 24), still on bikes, we took it a lot easier. We drove to Blenheim, a neighboring town with tons of wineries, and did a wine tour on bikes. We stopped at 5 or 6 wineries, had lunch at one, and brought 6 bottles of wine with us back to our bach. The ride was beautiful and flat and very relaxing. Some of the winemakers were really really friendly, one guy even showed us around his vineyard and winemaking facilities. He was quite excited since he had just recently started his winery business - I'd be excited though, too.

Christmas day was just like any other Podowski Christmas in any other part of the world: slow and relaxing. We spent most of the day drinking wine, reading our new books, had leftover lasagna (our traditional Christmas Eve dinner) for lunch, and made a big pot of soup and sandwiches for dinner. It was absolutely wonderful!

We spent Dec. 26th kayaking on Marlborough Sound. It was just our family, our guide, and a woman on holiday from Australia (Sandra). I'm sure we overwhelmed her at first. Our family can be pretty loud. My mom designated herself as the one who decided who would paddle with who. After some intense contemplation and strategic planning I ended up in a kayak with Sandra, Megan with my dad, and Alex with my mom. The water was beautiful and for the first half of the trip was very calm. We looked in lots of little coves for stingrays, but only saw shags and some huge jellyfish. After kayaking for a couple hours up one coast, we crossed the sound and found a cove to have lunch. We were all very successful getting in and out of the kayaks; no one fell in the water. Megan did however give the women having a picnic on the shore a good show when she not only pulled off her kayaking skirt (seals you in the kayak so no water gets on your legs) but also her pants. On the way back down the coast we had to cut the trip short as dark clouds quickly began to roll in, winds picked up speed, and our guide got a call informing us that hail was about to begin falling. During the entire trip, not one of us fell out of our kayaks - we were much better in boats than on bikes.

North Island - 1st Trip

Auckland:
The day after Megan and I arrived in Austin after driving 24 hours from State College, I boarded a plane to Auckland. I left two days before everyone else in my family, so I was flying alone. Halfway through the flight, I recognized a family friend (Lisa) that we met while living in Liberal, KS. Isn't that crazy? Some of the family members Lisa was travelling with were sitting right next to me and she had come over to talk to them. Lisa and I talked for a little while and then I saw her again when I got off the plane and we made plans to meet for dinner.

I took an airport shuttle to downtown Auckland and checked in at my hostel around 7:30 AM. I quickly threw my stuff in my room and went to explore the city. Auckland is very clean and easy to get around. I found the train station where I would need to be the next morning, found a nice little park that I later ran and slept in, bought an international cell phone, got lunch at a little cafe, slept some more in the park, and then walked down to a restaurant on the water where I had dinner with Lisa and her family. By 9PM I was passed out...

Wellington:
7:30 the next morning and I was on a train to Wellington. I cannot stay awake in moving vehicles. As much as I try and want to see the scenery, I'm out in minutes. After eating breakfast - a meal I absolutely refuse to miss - I went to sleep basically until we took an hour break in Tongariro National Park. The Park was beautiful. From the station we were able to see three different volcanoes and snow capped mountains. I walked around a little and then sat down outside of a cafe and found a little dog that hung out with me until I had to get back on the train. I stayed awake for the second half of the ride and spent a lot of time standing outside between cars in a little observatory space. The air was so refreshing compared to the warm, stuffy air in the train. There are so many sheep in New Zealand. So many. It's sad how much land has been cleared and turned into pasture land.

The best part of the train ride was that near the end around 6PM: all sandwiches went on sale for half price. I was so proud of myself for holding out to that point! Dinner for $2.50!

I arrived in Wellington around 7:45 PM and took a bus to my hostel. I missed my stop because the bus driver forgot he had promised to tell me when to get off. I got off at the next stop, which wasn't too bad except that I nailed every person in my path with my backpack in the process of trying to get off. After getting my room I went directly downstairs to the bar because the guy at the front desk gave me a coupon for a free glass of champagne in exchange for a piece of gum. While at the bar I met a really nice girl from Germany who was making her way through New Zealand and working at farms on the way (WWOOF) and we also talked to the bartender for awhile, who was from Seattle.

The next day I spent the morning in the botanic gardens and then walked around downtown for awhile. That afternoon I went to New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa, and walked through an exhibit about the impact invasive species have had on the country's native wildlife. One thing that is absolutely amazing about New Zealand is that most of the museums and art galleries are free. They should be though, because everything else is so damn expensive. I really liked Wellington. It's smaller and more personal than Auckland. Auckland, I wasn't that impressed. Just another city, really.

That night I took a 3 hour ferry ride to Picton, a small town at the northern tip of the south island. My family was there waiting. I love them!

Ok this is only up to December 22nd. I'm way behind. I'll write more soon!