Dave's last night in Auckland

Yesterday was a lot of fun! Flora and Dave and I walked to Parnell Village, but we walked through the Auckland Domain. The Domain is a huge park with tons of awesome New Zealand-only trees and flowers, incredible statues, and duck ponds and things. It’s only about a ten minute walk from where I’m living, and it’s SO fun. There’s wonderful trees to climb and the Auckland Museum is right in the middle of acres and acres of grass and woods, so that’s also pretty cool. We spent a lot of time on one tree called a pohutukawa tree, because it literally grows sideways and is super easy to climb. They have beautiful red flowers in the winter, and they also cover islands such as the poor knights, where they look like the island has just turned red once all the flowers bloom. It was so nice to get out of the concrete and asphalt and into the grass and sunshine.

Then, we all went shopping in Parnell. Dave got some things to take back home with him (because he’s leaving today), and Flora and I were seeking out gifts for other people. With some Easter money from my parents I ended up getting myself a New Zealand Pandora charm- which is really cool because I didn’t think they even make those. They also had commemorative Christchurch Earthquake charms, which look like a house with a big crack through it. I’m not sure if I want one that looks like that or not. Flora and I got gelato (Italian ice cream. I got benaffo or something like that, which is banana flavored ice cream with caramel and shortbread in it. Parnell is a really nice village to do some shopping and we found the greatest souvenir shop ever!

Dave bought some greenstone, which is called pounamu, which is a beautiful rock like jade that they shape into pendants and things. There’s a lot of legends about it, like if it breaks when you wear it then somehow it deflected a whole bunch of negative energy meant for the person wearing it. They’re carved into meaningful shapes and are kind of pricey. Not sure if I’ll get one or not, I’m trying to be thrifty!

Then we came back and relaxed, had a quick (free!) dinner with my friends, and Dave and I went out to a comedy show. Danny McChrystal is a British comedian that came here as part of the international comedy festival. It was a really small event (maybe about 40 people), but it was actually really funny. Then, we did a bungy ride right next to the sky tower, where we got strapped into this egg-shaped thing that bungies you straight up into the air, you sort of bounce mid-air, and then come back down. It was pretty cool! I guess you go from 0 to 200 kph (kilometers per hour) in about 2 seconds. Then, we met up with my friend Njeri, and ended up really enjoying Dave’s last night in Auckland city. Now he’s packing and I’m trying to get a head start on my homework!

the weekend... finally!

Yesterday was a really productive day. I returned both Dave and my own scuba gear, and I finished and handed in my two lab reports. What a relief it was to finish those! I took a nap and then Dave and I went out to a Japanese restaurant. I had teriyaki chicken and rice, gyoza (dumplings pretty much) and takoyaki, which is basically like fried octopus balls (think like octopus-fritters). Dave had fried stingray fin (pretty much stingray jerky), raw kingfish, wasabi flavored octopus (not sure if it was actually cooked at all), gyoza, and grilled squid. Very interesting! I tried the stingray fin- very fishy and gross. I don’t think I’ll ever need to try it again.

After that we met up with my other friend Dave (also in the scuba club) and we went to the Sky City casino. I started playing roulette with $20 and I ended up walking away with $200!! Both times I’ve ever gambled in my life really worked out for me.
Then, the three of us met up with my friend Marc and his friends at the Mexican Café. It’s so refreshing to be in a place where there’s real dancing going on (think salsa or other fun dances). I danced with a bunch of my friends and there was this guy that was going around teaching all the girls the right dance steps. It was so much fun!!!! I think I’m going back there tonight with a lot of my International House friends to have a good time.

Today is shopping in Parnell Village and then we’re going to go to a comedy show later tonight. We’re going to see Danny McChrystal as part of the New Zealand international comedy festival. Then, Dave flies home tomorrow and I get back to studying and not spending money!!

Friday, short post!

Today was great! Handed in two labs and then went to the casino and out to dinner, then to meet some friends to go dancing at a bar. I played roulette with $20 and left with $200!! I also tried octopus tonight- it was actually pretty good!! I'll post pictures either tomorrow or the next day!

Super tired, I only slept 3 hours last night, because I had to finish my papers. I'll totally post more about this either tomorrow or the next day, I took pictures of the food we ate!!

Study, Study, Study

Not too much exciting today, my geography class got cancelled which was great because it gave me that much more time to study for my logic exam tomorrow night. I also went to the bioscience computer lab and got my graphs done with a program that's only available on that computer. Other than that, I'll be a part of my friend Njeri's blog, where she's making a short video of Kiwi phrases and the differences in how Americans say them. Hopefully when she finishes the video I'll put up a link to it.

Wish me luck on my logic exam!!

Back to school..

Today I traded in the computer that I had bought that had some problems for the one I currently have, and I love this computer! I paid a little extra for a lot better of a machine. Also today we returned all of the dive gear, I helped Dave move into an apartment-style hotel room for the next few days, and we returned the car. This afternoon I set up my new computer and started some homework. I've got two big lab reports due this week and a big Logic test on Thursday, so I'm pretty stressed! It's also crazy trying to move things onto a new computer and get programs like word and excel so that I can actually work on my reports. Also, some of my other friends came back today, like Olly, so of course we had to stop and chat and catch up. So much is going on this week! It's so hard to focus on school but good grades are still really important to me so I'm pretty sure the next few days will be study study study!

Back to class tomorrow!

ANZAC day

Today was a good day to relax. I skyped with family from home today for Easter which was really really really nice. Then, I vacuumed my room and worked on my marine science labs. Dave came back this afternoon and then we hung out with all of my friends. Bruno, Flora, Njeri, Jo, Anisha, Anna, Dave and I all hung out in Njeri’s room. We ended up ordering Hell’s Pizza, which makes amazing pizza and they deliver. I got one with barbeque sauce, venison salami, bacon, onion and capsicum (green pepper). It was amazing! It was so nice to see all of my friends again and just be able to relax with everyone. I think tomorrow morning I am going to exchange my computer for the one that I am going to get to keep.

One thought for the day, I was going to order a dress from Old Navy and see how much international shipping was, but it costs over $300 to send a dress to New Zealand! Unbelievable! Also, some more thoughts about kiwi language: pronounce “fillet” like fillit and “buoy” like boy and use the word “knackered” to mean tired. Interesting!

Today is also ANZAC day, which is kind of like veterans day in the U.S. It is a day of remembrance for the Australian and New Zealand armies that fought in Turkey, where they were fighting on a beach and even though they did really well, they lost the battle. They have dawn services for that and all businesses are forced to be closed until 1:00 pm.

Matauri Bay!

First of all, notice that I just posted a few new entries (from the road trip, the Bay of Islands, and Matauri Bay so be sure to look at all of them, lots of pictures!).

Matauri Bay was amazing! It was so nice to get out with the Auckland Uni Dive Club- I love all of those people. I hung out with a lot of friends I’ve met on other dive trips and made a few new friends as well. Everyone is so relaxed and chill- perfect for weekend diving! We got to Matauri Bay on Friday at around 1 pm, then Dave and I headed into the water for two shore dives. I guess I should have given a better description of Dave because I know you are all wondering- he goes to UConn with me but he’s studying in Leeds, United Kingdom for this year (he’ll be back in the U.S. in May). We’re 100% just friends and dive buddies. I’m really glad he came out to New Zealand, so that I’d have a dive buddy I knew and trusted. Plus, diving here is amazing! So we did the two shore dives on Friday, where on the first dive I saw my first octopus EVER! Not only did I see one, I saw three!! Two were about the size of your hand and the third was a lot bigger, with tentacles longer than my arm. They hide in cracks in rocks and caves, and it takes a bit of coaxing to get them to come out. Dave was tapping his dive knife on the rock and got the octopus to come out and grab it! Unfortunately, we told the spearfishers about the octopus and they went in the water and caught it, cut off its head and cooked it up. Apparently you have to cook an octopus for a couple of hours, leave it overnight to tenderize, and then it’s all set to eat. (Look for the three different octopus in the pictures)

Yesterday we dove the Rainbow Warrior shipwreck and then Teapot Island, which is an island that looks just like a teapot. The Rainbow Warrior was a Greenpeace ship sunk by the French navy, because Greenpeace was protesting the French using beautiful remote tropical islands to test nuclear weapons and bombs and things. There’s a huge memorial statue at the top of the hill right by the campsite (you can see it in one of the pictures). Teapot Island was cool because there were dolphins around the boat right until we were about to get into the water, and then they left. We didn’t get to swim with them but it was neat to see them so close. There were also tons of blue mao mao, two spot demoiselles, and kingfish. Kingfish are what the spearfishers go after (in addition to snapper, marlin, and goatfish) and we ended up eating grilled kingfish for dinner. The meat is white and flaky like swordfish, and kingfish can grow to be over 3 feet long. Last night we had a bit of a cider drinking competition (called scrumpy hands if you know what that is). I won out of all of the girls playing but realized that I never again wish to drink that amount of cider (1.25 liters) so quickly.

I got a ride back to Auckland today so I can start getting my homework all sorted out (I have two big labs and a test this week) and Dave stayed up at Matauri Bay with the club for another day with the van. Tomorrow I also have to figure out if I’m going to exchange this computer or not. Last night the Easter bunny came around to all of the dive club’s tents and cars and left us chocolate eggs. Happy Easter!

Pics from the Bay of Islands part of the trip

Here's some pictures from when we went diving in the Bay of Islands-- we dove the Canterbury wreck and even went inside of it!!! We went into the helicopter hanger in the back and out a side door, and then through a hallway where you end up in the pilot house. One of the pictures is even of me looking out of the pilothouse windows!! Also, pay attention to a white and brown cleaner shrimp (which kind of looks like a spider in the picture). The eel picture is a freshwater eel in the river outside of the Cowshed Backpacker's Lodge that we stayed at-- pretty crazy!

Pictures from earlier in the road trip

Here's some pictures that I managed to get off of my old computer's hard drive:

I've included pics from the road (like one-lane bridges where you have to pull over if a car is coming the other direction) as well as the pictures from when we saw the sunrise in Gisborne. There's also a picture from one of the roadside picnics from when Flora was in the car with me and Dave.

Here's some pictures of the road trip since then, sort of all mixed up. One picture is of the van getting stuck (Dave accidentally bumped into a grassy hill when we were turning around, which blocked the exhaust and made the engine shut off.) There's also a picture of the campground at Matauri Bay as well as the rainbow warrior statue which is at the top of the huge hill next to the campsite and very near the actual shipwreck.