summer/winter/summer/wellington part II

alright everyone, as promised i'm finishing my update (instead of looking for housing, so feel special).

right, so after spending my 1st day of 2009 on coogee beach, and getting called out of the water because of a shark (very exciting, no injuries, and they didn't say what kind of shark it was), i set off to do my last bit of sight-seeing. that saturday i went to the royal botanical gardens, sydney opera house, and the australian museum. it was quite the day filled w/tourists, but i really enjoyed myself. i went on the tour of the gardens and practiced using my new camera (which nathan gave me for xmas-panasonic lumix...very nice ;) thanks again dude), and learned this interesting fact: each species of fig has it's own species of wasp, the blind, wingless male sits inside waiting for females to come by and mate with him. the extra pollen that she brings then pollinates the fig. (there was a man in my group who asked if the males have little tvs and kegs of beer inside...too funny). i also went on the tour of the opera house. i really debated spending the money on it, but i think it was quite worth it. they took you around inside and showed you the details of the architecture and you were also able to see 2 of the theaters. all week i had been seeing adds for the 'best nature photography of 2008' which was being displayed at the australian museum. naturally with my enjoyment of photography, and my new camera i was off to see the show. also...waaay worth it. the photographs were amazing, plus i got to hang out w/some cool cuttle fish (pics of which i'm quite proud of, thanks to my cool new camera!). i haven't quite been able to figure out the loading of the pics yet, something to do w/the file type...once i get them all converted i'll upload them. on sunday i finally made it to manly, after fighting the crowds on the ferry and fighting the wind, did i made it to to shelly beach. which is famous for snorkeling, but i didn't have any snorkel equipment so i just enjoyed the sun and continued reading my new book, son of a witch (squeal to wicked, and i'm actually almost done...i really need to slow down so i have time to find a new book to read next...never thought i'd be saying that).

then it was off to wellington!! after a quick flight (well, quick when compared to my us-->aus flights), i was in nz, land of the kiwis. my friend amanda, who is part of my program, offered to let me stay @ her apt until i find housing, and so she picked me up from the airport. after getting in we took a little walk around the wharf downtown and had a few beers @ mac's (they have a 6 beer sampler...very cool). on wednesday, we meet a friend of amanda's, jughnu, at his restaurant, little india. i can now say, that i have eaten indian food...i was always too scared before cause i didn't know what would be spicy. but don't worry, i survived :) jughnu also invited us to join him in his box seats at the nz vs west indies cricket game. so i can also now say that i've been to a cricket game. it was about as exciting as i expected, but i got to play w/my new camera some more :) after the game the 3 of us went to dinner, and then out for drinks. the next mornining amanda went to the airport to pick up christina, also in my program and will be be staying w/amanda until she finds housing. she barely had enough time to unwind before we were off on our road trip north. we were headed to parihaka, the peace festival about 3 hrs north of wellington. we made 2 stops on the way, one to lindale farm were we got ice cream and free honey samples, and two to amanda's mom's, cathy, beach house. at cathy's we had lunch and went ocean kayaking (which i had also never done before). i was really worried about flipping over in the waves, but i made it out w/no more than a few big splashes :) after out small detour we continued to parihaka. at about 9pm we set up our tent, took a small walk around to survey the stage areas and went to bed. there weren't very many highlights of our time there but i'll give you a few: the craaaaaaazy wind, the craaaaaaazy hippies, the 'roots' music, and the beautiful mount taranaki which (on the clear days) was the backdrop for the concert. it was really neat to walk around and see all the different kinds of people and learn about the maori culture (the native nz's). on the 1st offical day of the festival the local maori tribe welcomed us on to their land w/a small ceremony followed by a hongi line (you shake hands and touch noses to the elders). also, one night for dinner we had hangi, which is a traditional style of cooking. they make a fire to heat up many medium size stones and dig a big pit. the put the food in the pit, cover it w/wet clothes or fabric and then cover the whole pit with the stones to heat the food. it wasn't very exciting food, but it was a cool process to watch. they also had wood and stone carvers at the festival, which were really neat to watch. and i've def decided that decorating stones w/carving is a great way to dress up nature :) on sunday, the sun FINALLY came out (which caused me to get sunburned :-\ boo) and everyone's mood significantly brightened...after 3 days of crazy wind and clouds and rain. sunday afternoon we headed back home and stopped at cathy's again for dinner, and so amanda could finish her package (she does new segments at a nz radio station and was reporting about the festival-if you're interested in hearing her report...you might also hear someone you know ;) click the 2nd link below. the 1st link is to a tv report and you can see the hongi line, keep an eye out for me :) i'm a nz celeb already!)

http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/peace-festival-attracts-thousands-2437421
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/summerreport/20090112

we stayed the night at cathy's on sunday because amanda didn't get finished until late, and then on monday we helped her do some chores, spent a windy hour lying on the beach, and then went out to dinner (for more indian food!) before getting back to wellington. so it was a VERY busy weekend...well thrusday to monday. since i've been back in welli i've been looking for places to live. yesterday we went to the beach for a few hrs and then out for drinks last night. so i'm still not quite settled here in nz, but having a free place to stay while i'm looking is really great, and amanda is making a wonderful wellington ambassador. hope things are well @ home and you're not too cold!!! :-P