Technology is hilarious.

As if we didn't know that already.

But item A) I didn't bring my Blackberry to New Zealand because it wouldn't have been useful.

So...

I am currently texting mom who is in Philadelphia with sister #2, from my dinky New Zealand vodafone.

I haven't talked to her in a month, between being on a Caribbean cruise with sister #1 a couple weeks ago (that sister's Senior trip finally rain-checked), me camping in the sticks of New Zealand, and now her across the country in another time zone.... she was probably at dinner when I tried to call a few minutes ago (from Skype, not the dinky vodafone).

And obviously, couldn't reach her in the Caribbean, because that's "international" by political barrier, but not really that far from the US physically. I'm sure Verizon could have set up an off-shore cell tower, EASILY, like a communications satellite embassy (pun intended!) or something.

Oh, and why is video chatting on Skype or Gmail free but calling my family's house in California to voice chat on their telephone via my Skype not?

Oh technology. I'm having another "if women ruled the world" moment, if you can't tell...

All's I can tell my dad's pretty lonely at home. Poor Henry. He's been forwarding me pictures of animals, HUH? No, Henry, not even Easter is an excuse to send pictures of bunnies and your typical heartwarming stories to accompany. I mean, he is whom I got my dislike of animals trait from! Who is this father of mine?

I think this calls for an intervention. Good thing I'm home Friday... 4/9 of my immediate family will be in one place. Which is a good ratio for us in recent years. It might even be 8/9 at one point... kind of stupefying.

As you were...

Rife with inside jokes, so just indulge me...

A girl from our group wrote this poem and presented it at a talent show a week ago...and you know, not to be all ME ME ME, but it is my blog about my adventures, and I did get a shout out. Holler.


Years from now if I am ever feeling sad
I can look back on this trip and all the fun we had

From arriving off the plane with eyes oh-so-wide
To immediately start exploring the scenic country side

We traveled along in the vans so trusty and true
Green machine, white trash, red rumbly, and smurf—that one’s blue

On we went from the Tip Top of the island way down to the Deep South
Loving each flavor we put in our mouth

Within five minutes at each campsite we made a tent city
But were gone the next morning, lickety-splity

There was so much to do just in Rotorua, I recall
Some rafting, some sledging, or rolling in a big ball

In a Hamilton evening we reached a spiritual height
Much different than Manganui we saw at that morning light

Hamilton also gave us the chance to make a new friend
For some of us girls though… we wish the contact would end

Our minds were blown as we saw each wonderful sight
Blown almost as much as on the ferry where we almost took flight

The perils of Mount Doom we did check off our list
The journey was so bad, Julianne cut her wrists

Some highlights of early on we remember
Frisbee, black water, avoiding bad weather

The long daily drives, Adam wouldn’t stop singing
And Christina just couldn’t seem to stop eating

Of course there was Alex and her blue suit
And Carly’s poor legs were to big for her boot

All Rachel and Tressa wanted to do was play touch
But Rusty couldn’t join because boy/girl would have been too much

We had no time to hinder though a suitcase and sleeping bag were lost
Luckily, Jas was still clothed but Van’s top half while sleeping is what suffered the cost

Soon we made it to the end of our two week route
But I guess it wasn’t complete without seeing Cromwell’s big fruit

Invercargill, finally, we made it at last
No one was safe from a biker riding past

Arriving didn’t mean we had time to slow down
There’s a beach, mating seals, and head to Queenstown

There we found bungy is not self-inflicting murder
And celebrated after with a juicy Fergburger

In town we biked to school and church, even in rain
But at least now our butts are not in so much pain

Church was a treat with Bro. Naunau’s leading-slash-dancing
But Matt and Erica did not notice, they were too busy romancing

Classes did have to start, but not too much dismay
Jennie just taught us naughty words… that made it ok

The rest of our classes we had it sooooooo rough
Except for kayaking…. Which actually was tough

Remarkables was a trip some also found as a trial
Becky even sprained her ankle, to fly out in style

However, the learning in these classes would have been in vain
If it wasn’t for reflecting, 8 minutes in pouring rain

Speaking of which while I reflect on the awesome bushwhacking we do
I guess it taught me; I can do hard things too

Climbing, tramping, and surfing were not the only things to cheer our mood
How could we ever forget about all the delicious food?

There was plenty to make anyone’s taste buds shout
Of Cadbury Chocolate, and finding out what hokey pokey really was all about

And finding even more to get your arteries in a jam
“fush and chops” followed by a Tim Tam Slam

Eating, playing, even sharing lice helped us get to know eachother so well
Perhaps too much as now we can even distinguish flatulent smells.

As the trip went on the closer we got
All I remember is when – I – fought

But now as it about time for us to all take flight
I wish you all never receive another sand fly bite

And that we can think of our time we did spend
Laugh, and look back, because SIT did happen

Dunedin: Round II...with pictures!

We rolled in to a farmers market downtown by the famed train station. Before getting some delicious falafel and having Greenmarket NYC flashbacks, I opted to ride this old school circus bicycle. Hilarious.

NZ has the most cases of skin cancer in the world so they have free sunscreen dispensers. Awesome.
.


aaand, the Highlanders Rugby game!

Versus the Sharks from South Africa...boggles my mind a team would travel half the world for one game. South Africans and Kiwis are a traveling bunch.

Scrum, ruck and tri...I know what they are now! ...amazing. My two friends on the BYU women's rugby team said the Highlanders played terribly. I have never been more confused about a sport in my life. Except maybe Cricket.

I was almost more excited for the Black Seeds concert after...

People I have come to LOVE. We have such different personalities, but we all have an incredibly fun time together.

Some music musings

My roomie gave me all these rare Coldplay tracks I'm listening to as I type. Manna to my ears. I do this because Christina is away...she left early for a little beach excursion and we meet again tomorrow night at a Highlanders rugby game in Dunedin.

Coldplay concert in Salt Lake City November of 2008 was life-altering. Loved every second. Tears even streamed down my face in "Fix You." And they even played another rare favorite "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face."

Enya. It has been with me since Christmas of 6th grade when my cousin Marnie gave me the Paint The Sky With Stars album. That Christmas was also when Into Thin Air- the IMAX documentary about Mount Everest came out- the first of it's kind. I remember going down to the Reuben H. Fleet Center in San Diego with several aunts, uncles and cousins to see it. It was so awe inspiring. Maybe that's when my sense of adventure ignited....
I also associate my foray into my teenage Bath and Body Works obsession with that Christmas (random). I was and am that nerd who listens to Enya melodramatically when they are feeling a little melancholy and travel hungry. It makes me think of elephants and tigers and jungles in India. Hmm. Enya was my music of choice as we drove through Milford Sound last week.

I just made some sugar cookies, hot out of the oven. Who wants some?


If you have read this far in this poorly written, randomly thought, and impulsively posted post, you are a true friend. Cheers.

Reason #49823049 why New Zealand is awesome

It has towns named:


Athol


Alexandra


and my favorite...


Nightcaps. Yes. Nightcaps, New Zealand.

A few Remarkable updates...

A few things. New Zealand internet works in such a way that it charges for amount used (tabs open, downloads, photo uploads), not time used, so we've had to cut back... this is why no photos.

A couple notable camping trips have occurred.

A couple weeks ago it was Mavora Lakes for some kayaking and hellish bushwhacking excursions. Of course, scenes from Lord of the Rings were filmed here. We re-enacted some. I also faked a strained ankle on the bushwhack because I am NOT a troubled youth that needs character re-alignment. Assume as much. Anyway, I was worried the program director would be mad at me so I kept it a secret from everyone for a good, um, 4 days until I told Christina. Then I found out everyone else also thought the whole trip was miserable, wet, cold and that my 'injury' was hilarious.

Milford Sound day trip. This should be on everyone's bucket list. Worth the trip here itself. Breathtaking. Dolphins playing around the bow of the boat for at least half an hour. Forests. Craggy cliffs and mountains. Bliss.

Today we got back from a 3-day-er to the Remarkables ski area near Queenstown. Remarkable, although I still do not understand the allure of hiking. I quizzed the most outdoorsy of outdoorsy folk on the trip but still do not have a clear answer. My knees and quads are burned and shot out. I know, lack of gratitude strikes again. While on the trip, a girl in the group fractured her ankle and had to be flown out via helicopter. Politics is complicated and ultimately fruitless (I still admire the ground on which Michelle O walks), but socialized health care when you're playing abroad in New Zealand and have a minor injury here and there... is AWESOME. Helicopter ride through gorgeous mountain canyons, gratis? I was contemplating another injury fake!

Maybe more remarkable is the shower after the three days of the sweat/chill/repeat process in two sets of thermals.

or

that my dad created a Facebook for himself while I was away? Yes, the Henry we know and love! (HA!)

Um...really happy...

So ridiculously happy right now. Went to Dunedin with some friends last night.

Lots of love. Lots of laughter. Lots of dancing. Lots of fun (teehee!) ;)

And this song randomly shuffled to on the iTunes. YES.

Neverland snapshot

Friends over at our house in our detached "sleepout" ...

(Here is our adorable room that Anna, our host mom, decorates with pretty flower arrangements - she's the NICEST!)

we looove our huge window...and our fold-out couch people sleep on when it gets too late ;)

while chill music (The Beautiful Girls, Atmosphere, 311, etc) plays throughout...

chatting about weekend plans...

one is out jumping on the trampoline...

and then,

to gild the lily...

Anna (not only is she the NICEST, she is uber-cool and an amazing cook) walks in with a plate of sour cream blueberry and lemon zest muffins..

Just another day in the paradise the Kiwis, and I currently, call home.

Pizza delivery!

This is why I love my roommate...

The Kiwi pronunciation of "Fish" ends up sounding like "fush"... and so naturally, being the old Kiwi English ladies we are, we talk about it to no end.

This is when we were delivering the pizza to the beater car winners (see previous post).

Sorry the video is shaky; I was laughing too hard...

The kiwi life...

So we have been in Invercargill the last three weeks (less a day trip to Queenstown and a 3 day tramp to Borland)...

Needless to say, it has been pure Neverland bliss.... here is what you can find us doing around town...

Riding our bikes to the beach...

and just when you thought the beach couldn't get any better...an ice cream truck pulls up... gild that lily!

After day 1 of school classes. Rough life, I know.

Queens Park: our default meeting/play place in the center of town. We spend a lot of time here and it is glorious.


Riding bikes through Queen's Park.

Queen's Park even has a reindeer, llamas, and an ostrich whom we named Ozzy, naturally. Everytime we ride past him Christina and I chortle like old British ladies. Actually, we talk like that regardless of Ozzy's presence...


Slacklining near the kiddie playground in Queens.


Come home from the park to the kiddies jumping on the trampoline with a sprinkler.
Go to the Sport Southland complex for some cycling championships...


Play Ultimate Frisbee in Queens Park... can you spot me? Yes, on the ground. I was never really that competitive haha!

And get too lazy to take off our helmets indoors...this is a sign for our school. Best face forward!!


Oh and the blue suit has already made a few appearances...stay tuned...

Growing with the wind...

After winning a beater car as part of our school's orientation festivities...

(they held their elbows on the car for 8 hours and all we did was deliver them pizza, hand them things they couldn't reach, and cheer them on!)


a few of us took a trip down to The Catlins national preserve area....

Biggest sea lion I've ever seen, or probably will ever see. Sea World had nothing on him...

Are we in Maine??

Found out we could fold down the backseat...sweet!

Christina crawled into a tree...

And these gorgeous waterfalls...

they even let me drive the beater a little! this was before I was going 100 clicks over the one-way bridges...



My favorite image was of these trees. If you look close, they are slanted, growing with the wind... like life, where you have to find a way to grow with whatever the wind blows your way...

Queenstown: Go big or go home!

I am TERRIFIED of heights. My palms start sweating whenever I think about high dives, or the Eiffel Tower, or window-washers on the SWKT (Kimball Tower) at BYU.

Just thinking about 440 feet (134 meters) of the 4th highest Bungy Jump in the world (and highest in New Zealand) used to make my stomach do cartwheels, back-handsprings, cartwheels, vaults, uneven bars, AND pommel horse routines.

But last week when they tallied people who were going to do the big kahuna, THE bungee jumps of all bungee jumps, I at first did not raise my hand.

Then I thought of how I would go home, call my mom, and gain sympathy. I'm convinced that one of my mom's primary jobs in life is to calm me down.
She's quite excellent at it, because she is the queen of phasing out what people think. Whenever I bring something to the table that I'm hung up on, she always feeds me lines of "You don't have to prove anything to anyone, including yourself." That is my mom in a nutshell...or perhaps it's not her, but what she knows I need.
So of course, when I brought up bungee jumping thing a few months ago, she just said, "I don't think you'll die doing it, but you don't need to bungee jump to prove anything, for goodness sakes."

Of course, it made it easier that people in the group confessed that they were just as terrified of heights as me.

(Of course, listening to heaps of Imogen Heap pre-jump helped too...as well as "Holiday" by Green Day!)

We spent the rest of yesterday running around town (while our adrenaline faded)... It was gorgeous, felt a lot like Park City...but even prettier!

And yes, now it feels silly how worried I was ... anyone want to go skydiving?

Greymouth, Green Jades, and Glaciers = The West Coast of New Zealand

First stop from Christchurch was Greymouth...at a campsite with a short trail to the beach, falling asleep to waves crashing, just like my childhood.

Green jade stones are a novelty. Nearly everyone purchased something from this shop in Greymouth, to the owner's delight.

Then along the west coast to the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers.

The last bit of coast in the west...

Then through the mountain passes through Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. Gorgeous.

After a quick night sleeping under the stars in Cromwell, we arrived in Invercargill, ready for a bed and a non-communal shower.

(I'm loving it here, can't wait to further share what we've been up to!)

Kaikoura and Christchurch

So I am not getting any comments, but apparently my mom told some family and friends about this blog, so hey guys! Love you all and miss you too!

Our first stop on the South Island after spending a night in Picton off the ferry was Kaikoura, followed by Christchurch.

Kaikoura is the whale-watching capital of New Zealand. It was cloudy and overcast the half-day we were there, so it wouldn't have been that fun had we done it. Driving the east coast of New Zealand feels a lot like the northern California coast- beautiful and green.

Can you see the seals?

From there we were off to Christchurch, a stretch of drive that was not without being stopped by the Kiwi policeman! Basically, he pulled the vans over because we weren't spacing them out on the highway enough for people to pass. It was such a 'spirit-of-NZ' experience though, as after he stopped us, he walked by our vans, smiled wide and asked if we were having a good trip, before talking and cracking jokes to the drivers and sending us on our way. Such friendly people.


Then onward to Christchurch.

The first night a couple girls from the BYU rugby team taught us how to play in this huge field we found, and we had fun with that. I made up silly words for the formations (ex/ for the flock of geese pattern that you ideally form behind the ball on offense- I would tell people to 'Geese up'). Basically, acting like I was 12 again, again.

The next day was Sunday, so we attended church, followed by walking around downtown and the Botanical Gardens, and then went to the Institute building for dinner and a ‘fireside,’ which is like an hour long casual religious sermon. Because I’m already with BYU students so everything has a religious overtone, with spiritual wrap-ups to each day this trip … plus we had already done 3 hours of church that day, I felt like the fireside was going to be unnecessary religion overkill and was frankly, not looking forward to it.

I was initially so peeved that we had to sit in another meeting I ended up writing emails from my iPod and hanging out with a couple people from the group in the corner while people were eating. Then we got the idea to play tricks on the crowd and effectively shushed them for a few seconds, until the Institute director said “Whoa, what happened?!” You had to be there, but trust me, we still laugh about it.

But after everyone was done eating, and despite it being 2 hours long, the Institute director ended up delivering a really awesome message about how and what we can learn from the scriptures (I found out later he is also a professor at the University of Canterbury- makes perfect sense)…

I told my parents that if anything dire ever happened to Southern California, Christchurch would be a fantastic place to relocate… good weather (their #1 priority), coastal (#2), bright people (probably #3), and city with a smaller-scale London-like feel to it (not necessary, but a nice #4).

At a concert in the Botanical Gardens. It was Sunday afternoon and the band's name was "The Unfaithful Ways." hilarious.

The Busker's Festival was going on. There were street performers from all over...Kiwis, Aussies, and even a duo from New Hampshire, USA! Represent!

This was the 'Rubber Band Man'...bet you can't guess his shtick...

I suppose it's never too early!

At the Institute Building.

From Tongariro to Wellington

From Tongariro National Park, we drove to Wellington, where a bunch of us walked around the pier, had some fish and chips while listening to Matt's sobering stories regarding his LDS mission to central Russia...

jumped IN the pier,



made some Kiwi friends who were also pier-jumping...

then jumped in some of Wellington's fountains to rinse off....


Took pictures of the Wellington skyline...


The next day we went to the Wellington National Museum where we saw some exhibits on subjects including the Waitangi Treaty, early New Zealand immigration, and Maori art...

then boarded the Picton Ferry to the South Island across the Cook Strait, where our on-board passenger mates included crates of sheep...




and Kiwi kids running around playing imaginary cricket with motion sickness bags on their heads.

(Kiwi joie de vivre in a nutshell.)