New Zealand
so, i just returned from New zealand this morning (got up at 3:30am!) and am heading up to heron island in the great barrier reef with my Australia's marine environment class tonight. 9 hour bus ride! woo hoo! the weather here in brisbane is such a change from the crisp autumn of new zealand. today feels like late spring at Dickinson when classes are ALmost over and everyone just wants to frolic outside or sleep in the sunshine.
anyway, the rest of our time in NZ went pretty perfectly except for the last day where we were met with very disapointing inclement weather, which in a way we deserved b/c we had been WAY too lucky with weather the rest of the trip. but, in our free day in Queenstown - the adrenaline capital of NZ, I shunned the rafting, bungees, and sky diving, and went to Milford sound, which was a freakin' 4 hour bus ride away - but completely worth it. it was the first time that i've been so overwhelmed by the absolute beauty and power and wonderlessness of nature that I actually cried. Milford sound (which is actually a fjord) is on the southwest coast of NZ and was carved out by glaciers, so there are these HUGE, sheer cliffed mountains rising strait from the water. the cliffs are incredibly rocky and steep, so there's not a whole lot of vegetation on them, but get this - the entire mountain sides are covered in waterfalls. just imagine being on the water surrounded in mist, waterfalls, mountains, waterfalls, and waterfalls. and get this - there are only four permanent waterfalls in the whole sound. we were lucky enough to come on a rainy day, which produced literally thousands of smaller waterfalls, which combined to create an astounding sensory overload for lisa maas. i stood out on the unsheltered front almost the whole time and ended up completely drenched and when i walked inside for some hot tea was confused by all the dry people there. although i contribute the majority of my wetness to when the boat motored into the spray of one of the enormous permanent waterfalls. it felt like i was in a really cold hurricane. so then it was a rather wet bus ride back.
then we were off to Dunedin, which was sadly a city-city. But, cadbury world was there! so of course we went on a tour of the chocolate factory and ate tons of free samples and got our picture taken with the easter bunny, which was pretty hilarious b/c i sat on its lap and in the picture it looks like i'm squashing it.
then up to lake tekapo, which is another amazing green glacial lake. and the stars there were amazing and incredibly bright. when we went out to gaze, the southern cross was situated right in the milky way and we saw a couple shooting stars.
then back to christchurch where we started from. i was supposed to go white water rafting, but it had rained too much, so the water was too high. Disappointing. Then I decided to join up with the other people i was traveling with and go sky diving!!!! But it rained and was windy, so we couldn't go. Really disappointing, especially b/c one of the guys had won this free sky diving voucher at this bar in Queenstown and now couldn't use it! so we ended up just souvenier shopping (I got some postcards) and went out for a nice dinner. not a bad time, but rather a downer after all the exciting hype of rafting and sky diving.
so - now i really need to do laundry. and maybe print off articles for this zoology project although i really have no motivation to do work. maybe after a nice stroll I'll feel more inclined.
anyway, the rest of our time in NZ went pretty perfectly except for the last day where we were met with very disapointing inclement weather, which in a way we deserved b/c we had been WAY too lucky with weather the rest of the trip. but, in our free day in Queenstown - the adrenaline capital of NZ, I shunned the rafting, bungees, and sky diving, and went to Milford sound, which was a freakin' 4 hour bus ride away - but completely worth it. it was the first time that i've been so overwhelmed by the absolute beauty and power and wonderlessness of nature that I actually cried. Milford sound (which is actually a fjord) is on the southwest coast of NZ and was carved out by glaciers, so there are these HUGE, sheer cliffed mountains rising strait from the water. the cliffs are incredibly rocky and steep, so there's not a whole lot of vegetation on them, but get this - the entire mountain sides are covered in waterfalls. just imagine being on the water surrounded in mist, waterfalls, mountains, waterfalls, and waterfalls. and get this - there are only four permanent waterfalls in the whole sound. we were lucky enough to come on a rainy day, which produced literally thousands of smaller waterfalls, which combined to create an astounding sensory overload for lisa maas. i stood out on the unsheltered front almost the whole time and ended up completely drenched and when i walked inside for some hot tea was confused by all the dry people there. although i contribute the majority of my wetness to when the boat motored into the spray of one of the enormous permanent waterfalls. it felt like i was in a really cold hurricane. so then it was a rather wet bus ride back.
then we were off to Dunedin, which was sadly a city-city. But, cadbury world was there! so of course we went on a tour of the chocolate factory and ate tons of free samples and got our picture taken with the easter bunny, which was pretty hilarious b/c i sat on its lap and in the picture it looks like i'm squashing it.
then up to lake tekapo, which is another amazing green glacial lake. and the stars there were amazing and incredibly bright. when we went out to gaze, the southern cross was situated right in the milky way and we saw a couple shooting stars.
then back to christchurch where we started from. i was supposed to go white water rafting, but it had rained too much, so the water was too high. Disappointing. Then I decided to join up with the other people i was traveling with and go sky diving!!!! But it rained and was windy, so we couldn't go. Really disappointing, especially b/c one of the guys had won this free sky diving voucher at this bar in Queenstown and now couldn't use it! so we ended up just souvenier shopping (I got some postcards) and went out for a nice dinner. not a bad time, but rather a downer after all the exciting hype of rafting and sky diving.
so - now i really need to do laundry. and maybe print off articles for this zoology project although i really have no motivation to do work. maybe after a nice stroll I'll feel more inclined.