Australia

Hello family,
So I am currently in Australia at my friends place in Wollongong.  Its loveley here, but will prob be pretty low-key for the next week since it is summer break here. We went to Sydney and China town and got delicious food!   Went to Darling Harbour, got drunk and had fun. I was so excited to be back in a city that I almost peed myself.  I just came back from a mini trip around New South Wales.  Of course I forgot my camera at Aggies (my friend from aussie) so I did not take any pictures.  Life is sad.  I also was just bathing and the fire alarm went off.  Lucky for me, I risked my life to be clothed, but alas there was no fire... so no harm done.  
I will give brief descriptions of the highlights of my mini trip...

Blue moutains:
-stayed in a cute little town called Katoomba.  Yeah its fun to say.
-Our hostel called 'Flying Fox' was legit and located next to an awesome, cheap fruit market. Ate a salad for dinner one night, GO ME!
-on day one, went to see '3 Sisters' which is  basically three drip-castle looking rocks next to eachother.  It was alright.  Did some touristy things, got some gifts and felt accomplished. 
-Day2: Hiked this really awesome place called "Wentworth Falls".  As you can imagine by the name there were lots of waterfalls.  The end was hot and was filled with endless stairs, but its ok because at the end i felt accomplished once again. 
Final day in Katoomba:  Intense heat wave.  Walked for 25 minutes to the store and felt like death.  Hopped on a train.. Bondi beach bound. 

Bondi beach + Syndey:
-Our start here was a bit rocky considering the only hostel room was pretty sketch.  We were also pretty cranky due to the heatwave and train travelling and whatnot, but the walk along the beaches made it all worth it.  Got a spicy falafel kabob and life was good.
-Day2:  Beach day! Bondi is similar to any cliche scene depicting spring break. There were big waves and we played in them and I felt like I was 5.    I travelled with two other girls from Otago and we all got fried.  After applying large amounts of aloe and lotion, we decided to go to dinner along the beach.  Got a small feast for a pretty good price (that seems to be the pattern of Aussie) and then got the most delcious gelato.  YUM LOVE FOOD!
Day 3:  went to the Bondi markets and got HEAPS of gifts.  Also felt accomplished.  I want to go back! Hopped on train to Sydney.  Got a free upgrade at my hostel, pretty exciting!
-walked around Sydney, Went to this fantastic budget sushi place called "sushi train"  I wish i had my camera so i could take a picture of the life supply of sushi on the conveyer belt.  Walked to the Opera house, took lots of pictures.  Sat in a field of grass to listen to a undistinguishable concert taking place next to the opera house only to realize later it was Australian Idol the finale.  The winner was Stan by the way.  Also, during the same time period, in the same grassy field overlooking the opera house, fire works began to go off.  Magical? Yes, yes it was.  I found out yesterday that the fireworks were for darling harbors 21st anniversary.  This all happened in near perfect dress-wearing-at-night weather.  Perfect evening!
Day 4: Strolled around Sydney.  Fell in love with a neighborhood called "The rocks".  Walked along the bridge (the free version) and had a lovely day.  I think I am going to a ballet at the opera house in the near future and im stoked. 
Today I am back in Wollongong, happy as a clam, about go to see Jacob and Edward battle it out for dear bellas love AKA. New moon screening.  I will be home in 21 days.  Its weird!

Love
Kirsten

The end of the beginning (corniest title of the centure)

So this will prob be my last blog for NZ, but ill still update with pics of my next month, which by the way involves minimal planning, a backpack and some good hard cash.  Almost lost my sanity yesterday, but Im getting excited to go home.... i mean summer cant last too long. 

Saying bye to our car, Ricardo. 

We did the Speights ("southern man ale") tour to commemorate our memories of drinking in the Dunners.

Our guide had a great 80's doo.  Oh yeah the baby keg is the amount of daily beer that thier workers are able to drink on the job and take home at the end only to come back to it the next day... gotta love the kiwi mentality (1800's)

So kiwis, and some americans, say skull it to mean Chug it, kill it, drink it, finish it (its your choice, really)  This is where it derived from.. interesting....

This mirror is worth 45,000... i felt the need to take a pic

At the end, they gave us 30 min to drink as much as we possible could.  Me and Michael were running.  Embarrassing?  Ithink not! 

15 minutes in, about 15 mini cups of beer in

a kiwi, that my flatmate Abby saw.  Now I can believe they actually exist 

Milford: Halloween style

sorry about the mass amount of photographs in this post, I took 300 pictures (estimation).  Anyways Te Anau= pretty

Only one movie theater in Te Anua, it just happens to be the film my flatmates dad filmed.

Day #1 Lake Te Anua sunset

Day #2: Lake Te Anua

We forgot a day pack so had to do a day hike with my 70 litre pack.  Sweet

We hiked part of this... This track also contains multiple LOTR filming sites that we got to see FO FREE (high five)

Despite the 20 or so signage going on, this was the closest thing we saw to kiwis.... although i did almost get attacked by a giant ravenous Kia which forced me to then Jump off a cliff only to be pulled up by Dani's lean and rather potruding muscly arm. 

Could be middle earth, could be narnia, could be magic of some sort.. you decide

gfgfdgdfgd

Hi there peter jackson

Could also be fern gully

Beach we stumbled on ... also a LOTR shooting local

We dressed up as tourists... i clearly am too extreme for my own good, therefore I was an extreme NZ tourist

Yeah,  I took a picture of myself in a mirror.   Deal with it, i had to see the kiwi love headband. 

Mountains or lake? you decide. 

I guess the avalanche warnings on the Milford were legit. 

 Dani's classy halloween tshirt... she was clearly a 5-star tourist... from GORE (lol at NZ inside joke)

First glimpse of Milford... NZ dressed up as paradise for halloween.  Did quite the job.

Milford sound... yeah I took over 300 pics, but I will try not to bore you

 fdfd

Just baby seals chillen on the rocks

 

Yeah, there were mad dolphins.  So sick!  I could almost touch it

So ugly, Milford sound.. oh yeah, it apparently rains like almost every day in Milford/ Te Anua... we somehow did not see one drop over a three day period.  Thank you life!

 Two funky looking tourists

 Our nutritious meal for the weekend

Somewhere off the Milford road.

fdfds

This little Kia wanted in on our sweet 70s love-making, badass, avalanche defeater mobile.

Yeah, we dressed like that all day.  It was Halloween

 Just a waterfall next to a highway... only in NZ

We stopped to skip rocks for like an hour.  Frank was all about it.  I think my record was 2 skips... beat that bitches.  This little hick in front of me may have had three. GO US

Sorry about the amount of pictures. Literally have like 200 more if you are interested of seeing multiple angles of the same thing.

See ya in a month(ish)! :)

lovely saturday

So I'm done with finals, and no one else is.  So I have nothing to do  for the next two weeks.  Which is when I'm actually going to Australia to see my friend who I met at UMass last year... pretty stoked.  I'm leaving in two weeks from everyone I have learned to love and a home I managed to create in 6 months.  I've been excited, been sad, you could say Ive been riding the rollercoaster of emotions for the past few weeks and will continue for the next few weeks.  But I'm also going to be travling for a solid month after I leave which definately should be enjoyable. 

Anyways heres so photos.

Big waves= sea kayaking... I viewed from the shoreline

So we (flatties and myself) discovered the art of homemade bagels because NZ likes to be cool and make a package of four bagels like six bills.  Kiwis clearly dont like the carb-heavy, sink to the bottom of your intestine deliciousness of bagels like us americans.  We changed that. 

I cant take sole credit for this particular batch but I took part in the process.  PS we spiced (sweetened) it up with some cinnamon and sugar.  Jealous?  No worries, family, i'll bake them for the next family gathering... which will hopefully be at my return... which is December 15. 

View from the Otago Peninsula, very close to where I live.  Note the clouds.  Story of this place, sunny one minute, intense rain storm the next

View of one of the many beaches within a 20 minute radius from me. 

Yeah, a few friends and myself drank Mamosas to celebrate Sara's birthday and our car Ricardo for allowing us to drive him illegally for so long and not getting a ticket. The next few pics are for Mama and sisters of Rhododendrons from the Rhododendron dell in the Botanical Gardens literally two minutes (walking) from my flat.

 

and im case any of you are wondering what I would look like as a 50's housewife/ prostitute

Mamosa's in the gardens on a sat morning/ afternoon= perfect day followed by a massive headache at night