Photos: Mueller hut!

Good Morning Lake Tekapo!

Lunch at Sealy Tarns

First part of the trail - stairs

Thought this rock looked like a cougar.... or bear.... or something

Top of Mt Oliver

Up!

At the top before going around the other side to the hut

Climbing up Mt Oliver

Angry skies in the morning!

Hut from a distance

Mt Cook sunset

Climbing down from Mt Oliver

Avalanche! Looks tiny but its really not...

Up, up, up the steps. And then... the TUNNEL

ALRIGHT so the time has come to update you on what I actually did last weekend.. I once again got out of the city (surprise surprise) and did a couple nights of hiking / camping / hutting in Mt Cook National park with a few people from the tramping club! Yup, tramping. Our adventure started Friday evening, when we left Christchurch for Tekapo to camp overnight before we started our hike the next day. May as well get the 4 hour drive over with while we have the time, and give ourselves a tiny sleep in on Saturday morning. Anyways, you may recognize the name Tekapo because yes, Sarah and Hannah and I had indeed visited here before. It is renowned for its night sky, and luckily enough, this time around we camped on a particularly clear night, even set our alarms for 2am and got up to check it out! It doesn't rival the stars at Mabel though... let me tell you that :) Saw the Southern cross bright in the sky, and the only constellation I recognized was Orion's belt... felt so flipped around! Anyway, we got up nice and early at 7am to pack up and head to the trail head. We had to sign in at the Department of Conservation office in Mount Cook village beforehand, that's the only way you can secure a spot in the hut; so we wanted to get there early! We arrived in great time, paid for our spots, and then had a little breakfast and rearranged our packs (since we didn't need to pack in sleeping mats - they were provided. amazing). We set off at about 11am and I immediately was down to my bottom layers - sun + endless stairs means TOASTY times. Yes - the bottom half of the trail was mostly extremely well constructed STAIRS - spoiled! About halfway up, we reached the Sealy Tarns, glacial lakes just chillin' on the mountain sides. Perfect place for lunch, so we sat and enjoyed the fabulous view and ate our gourmet lunches (cucumber and cream cheese bagel YUP). I forgot to mention that we were basically on the side of a wind tunnel, so it was great to have a breeze while hiking, but as soon as you stopped for more than 3 minutes it was CHILLY. After lunch we suited up and continued up the mountain, this time without the aid of stairs. It was about half hiking up a rocky trail, then half boulder-hopping/scrambling once we got up past the vegetation. Loose rock is my FAVOURITE. Once we reached the top, we had a FANTASTIC VIEW of Mueller glacier and the mountains beyond. We saw about 3 avalanches in our 10 minute photo-break at the top they were so loud! I think it was from the serious melting the sun had done there was so much ice collapsing. continuing around the back side of Mt Oliver (the mountain we had climbed up) we walked about 20 more minutes and aha! The hut was in sight! Mueller Hut was our destination, and once we arrived, we realized it was NICE. Guess its because it is such a popular walk that it is really well kept. It slept 24 people, was overseen by a volunteer warden who came and told us the weather report at 7pm (!!!), had 4 stovetops and provided gas for cooking, AND had water available for our use. It was sweet. It was basically a hostel. On top of a mountain. Where you had to battle fierce winds in the middle of the night if you had to pee. Anyway, we arrived with plenty of daylight left, so we threw our bags on some bunks to claim them, and continued to explore! We climbed to the ACTUAL summit of Mt Oliver, which was the windiest boulder-hopping ever, ended up leaving my water bottle behind to collect later so I could fully use my hands to climb. When we arrived at the top, there was a cairn set up, but the other girl on the trip (from Edmonton!) and I decided to set up an inuksuk, for good measure. We collected what small rocks we could find, and quickly threw one together. It was time to head back down and get dinner started, so we descended back down to the hut and claimed a burner to cook our dinner. THIS day was also St. Patrick's day, so with our dinner we donned our green items and enjoyed the GUINNESS we had hauled up the mountain. I, for one, don't think I have ever had Guinness from a can before, and was very disappointed to find out that I had in fact NOT won a prize because there was a ping pong ball in my drink..... Anyways, after dinner, we received the weather report (amazing), played some cards, and watched the sun set over Mount Cook. Bed time was nice and early, and it was so warm in the hut compared to the tent the night before. The night we spent in the hut however, was SO. WINDY. I had myself questioning the structural integrity of the building, telling myself it had already been there for 11 years... but what had happened to the old Mueller Hut? Yup, don't think about it. Needless to say, slept on and off, and I have little faith that our inuksuk survived the night. The next morning, we watched the sun come up through the clouds, the wind as relentless as it was throughout the night. So we bundled up and tried to get off the mountain before the dark(er) clouds arrived. We made it down SUPER fast and just as the rain really started! It was perfect. We had plenty of time to get to Christchurch, so stopped for lunch on the way and were back in time for dinner! Monday morning, let me tell you, me trying to walk DOWN stairs to go to class was probably the funniest thing to watch.. My legs were sooo sore from walking down stairs the previous day for hours on end. Up? No problem. Down? Definitely an issue. Anyways, I have survived another week of class and this weekend am just doing a day trip... got some HOMEWORK (WHAT) before the break arrives that I need to handle. Hope everyone is well and spring had arrived back home!!

The days are getting... shorter?

Alright SO it's been a while! I suppose that's because I am now settled in one place, and don't really feel like I am traveling anymore... and my daily happenings aren't SUPER interesting (unless you want to hear about my classes and school things - BORING) anyways I had been pretty much in Christchurch just for classes then leaving on weekends... up until two weeks ago (March 10 and 11 I believe), when I stayed in town mainly because a group project needed to be worked on. It was ok though, because it involved visiting the museum (hello, tourist) which was in fact FREE! Awesome. The museum had a ton of different exhibits, the one we had to see was concerned with Antarctica, but there was also a wearable art exhibit (cool but kinda weird), a typical 'old things and artefacts' exhibit (haha), and then an exhibit dedicated to the earthquakes. So needless to say, after my group peaced as quick as possible, I stuck around and took full advantage of the museum! Also that day I bought a book, wrote some letters and did some homework. Exciting! Anyways here are some photos I snapped at the museum and around Christchurch that weekend - couple weeks old but check them out :) Also, the days are getting shorter here, it is so bizarre. Daylight savings is on April 1st and I JUST realized that we will probably be gaining an hour... so strange. I'll probably google this.

Giant, lighthearted quartz crystal

USAR dog gear that was used by dogs after the Feb 22 earthquake.

Breakdown of the mechanics of the fateful earthquake on Feb 22.

Spire from the Christchurch Cathedral, who's fate is still undecided.

Bell from the Christchurch Cathedral.

Hagley Park

Botanic Gardens

The months I am here! Giant sundial + feet :)

Far far away

Hagley Park Tennis Club

Photos: Dunedin!

Start of our tour

Train station in Dunedin

DO NOT TOUCH CRUNCHIE MOUNTAIN - Cadbury World

Sandfly Bay - South side of the Otago Peninsula

Hannah and Sarah on Baldwin Street

Scenarios - there are Orcs chasing you!

Delish

Down to Dunedin

After another week of school, it was time for me to once again head off to see more of the country - this time I headed South to Dunedin. An early Friday morning bus ride got me to Dunedin around 230 in the afternoon, where I was collected by Sarah and Hannah in their Toyota Corona (those exist?). We headed off to a hostel that they had found for us for one night - apparently there was a big Canterbury vs. Otago rugby game that none of us knew about, so it was a pretty busy place! We got all organized, figured out what we wanted to to the next day. Hannah had seen an ad for a joint tour of the brewery and Cadbury world that was a STEAL, so we planned on doing that. However, when I asked about it at reception, we ended up deciding to do the brewery tour RIGHT now so we could potentially watch the 'big' rugby game the next day! So, we ditched what we were doing, and literally jogged the few blocks over to Speight's Brewery - barged into the tour a little late but HEY its fine. We got a 90 minute tour of the brewery, which is one of the only gravity-powered breweries left in the region, meaning all the ingredients are taken up to the top floor, and distributed through pipes etc. to their respective floors for their part in the brewing process. After a tour of the 7 FLOORS of this Brewery, we had a free 20 minute period in the 'sampling room' to try out the 6 beers that are brewed by Speight's: YES. We were very efficient with our sampling time. Not naming names, but Sarah scored 2 glasses... Needless to say, between the 3 of us and the 4 glasses we acquired, we got some good samples of their beer. It was a GREAT way to spend $20. After the tour, it was definitely time for dinner, so we hopped into a happening bar upon glancing at the 'specials' board. Pumpkin, kumara, spinach and feta phyllo wrap with a fresh salad? YUP sold. We got the TASTIEST dinners and ended up joining a couple from our brewery tour at their table because it was just THAT busy. After dinner, feeling super great and about ready for a nap, we walked around for a bit before deciding it would be a great night for a movie. We opted for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was really good! After a rowdy night out (at the movies), we tucked in to get ready for our actual full day in Dunedin. Upon waking, we checked with reception and gladly found out we were ok to stay one more night! Yay! After some breakfast, we thought about figuring out how to get out to the Otago Peninsula to check out some wildlife. Namely, penguins and seals! Unfortunately, buses are pretty limited on weekends, it was pretty chilly out, and the rental car was being a piece (battery was acting up, needed to get it boosted for the 3rd time). We waited in the car for a while to wait for the booster man to show up, playing tunes, solitaire, and typing up blogposts. After he arrived and sorted things out, we were advised to keep the car running for 30 mins - so that's what we did. Afterward, unfortunately the weather still hadn't improved, so we bundled up and headed for the train station to check out the Saturday farmer's market! Ended up grabbing some classic meat pies for lunch - not too bad! After checking things out for a bit, we couldn't avoid the giant looming purple Cadbury's building any longer... Time for a chocolate factory tour! It was awesome, the workers even were wearing purple overalls! I felt like we were at Willy Wonka's. We got plenty of free chocolate, and ended up buying 2 Cadbury's treats that are exclusive to NZ: Pebbles (essentially Smarties) and Jaffas (chocolate covered with a hard orange coating). I have to say JUST chocolate is my favourite - that candy just gets in the way of the awesomeness. After our chocolate time, we headed back to the hostel to drop off some groceries we bought for dinner, and headed off to check out the world's steepest street - Baldwin Street. It is official - even has signs and a gift shop! After trekking up the hill and watching others attempt to DRIVE up (would not do that) we took some photos and ran up parts of the hill. It was quite a bit of a walk from town and where we were staying, which was perfect for after the chocolate factory. By the time we got back, it was time for homemade tacos! DELICIOUS. Kitchen was a bit of a gong show in the hostel, but we made it work. After our dinner, we all felt like going to bed, but made ourselves hop over to the pub the receptionist had recommended we watch the rugby game at - we ended up seeing the last half, with Sarah attempting to explain to us what was going on... People were pretty into it. After the rugby game, a live band came on literally BESIDE us, and we ended up moving to the back where there was a giant screen with another game on - becoming rugby fanatics! Hah. After a few more Speight's' (we are connoisseurs now), we headed to bed, our plan to check out the Peninsula in the morning before I caught my bus back to Christchurch. Alas, the car had other plans. We woke in the morning to find it dead AGAIN, so Sarah called the rental company and the mechanic and sorted it out - after an hour of waiting, the guy finally showed up and ended up replacing the battery, but really didn't figure out what was wrong. Anyways, we got the car running and headed out to the Peninsula! We drove into the entrance of Lanarch Castle, found out it was about $40 each, and drove out again (budgets!) and ended going to Sanfly Bay, a serious wildlife spot on the South side of the Peninsula. South side of Peninsula means the WIND IS FROM THE ANTARCTIC. I kid you not. It was COLD. Maybe cause we only have warm-ish weather clothes, but STILL. We did not wander far, as it was a long walk to the point, but checked out the lookout and the beach, maybe saw seals in the distance, and headed back to the car as it was time for me to go! Caught the bus, and ended up back in Christchurch just in time to start another week of classes! Photos soon! Keep up to date with the other two too. They are up to some pretty sweet stuff!

School and sightseeing

Hey guys - sooo not much super exciting is going on over here, except that I just finished week #2 of school so things are STARTING to get kinda sorta intense.. not really though! I feel like things are still slowly getting sorted out ie, scheduling and such. A little difficult with the situation with facilities on campus. ANYWAYS I just spent the evening making some delicious snacks and meals to take with me on the bus tomorrow and for this weekend in DUNEDIN! Hannah and Sarah have been doing some adventuring (I know, I've been checking their blogs as well, BUT I get to hear stories when I see them!) in Queenstown and Milford Sound, and will be meeting me in Dunedin tomorrow afternoon. I don't have a Lonely Planet NZ unfortunately so my next task is to do some research online and maybe come up with some weekend activity ideas. All I know so far is: Cadbury chocolate factory in town... tour? YUP. I'll be sure to update you when I return to Christchurch! Everyone HAPPY Feb 29 (back home), hope you enjoyed the extra day, and have a fantastic weekend! Thought I'd give you a little taste of Christchurch from the photos I have so far!

View East of downtown and out toward the Pacific Ocean! so weird that the Pacific is to the EAST...

Re:START - the shops housed in storage containers getting business going downtown

Hannah on our pre-Belgian festival walk

Front window of a closed down shop - eerie how everything is just like someone took what they could and couldn't go back

Our bike destination - viewpoint above Christchurch