Here is a picture of my group! From left to right:Front: Leo (my instructor), Lesley, Ursula, Tony, Me, Lindsay, Carolyn
Back: John, Brian, Michael, James, Doug, & Scott (instructor)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wellington Friday 1/29 Day 14
So! As you've probably read I survived my canoing trip and have hopefully gained some nice arm muscles! I am now in the capital city of Wellington and earlier this afternoon I visited Parliment. My group and I got a tour of the building and learned all about the system/history. It was very interesting even though some of it went over my head.
I now have a free weekend in Wellington to relax and sightsee. I might see some penguins, rollerblade along the beach, island hop, kayak, and also...sleep! It will be nice to have the down time.
That is all for now and I hope you like the pictures I posted!
Kia Ora!
Natalie
I now have a free weekend in Wellington to relax and sightsee. I might see some penguins, rollerblade along the beach, island hop, kayak, and also...sleep! It will be nice to have the down time.
That is all for now and I hope you like the pictures I posted!
Kia Ora!
Natalie
Whanganui Canoe Expedition Day 10-15
The canoe trip was fun but also a lott of work!! For two days we paddled for 8 hours so at times it was difficult to enjoy the gorgeous sceneary. When I was not to busy paddling though, I was busy pretending I was in the Lord of the Rings and kept my eyes out for Orks (yes, I am a huge loser). Every now and then I would also be caught singing the theme song...
Anyway! Here is some information about the Whanganui River (Fanganui):
With a length of 290 km, the Whanganui is the country's third-longest river. Much of the land to either side of the river's upper reaches is part of the Whanganui National Park, though the river itself is not part of the park. The Whanganui river has always been an important communication route to the central North Island, both for Māori and for settlers. It is, however, also a difficult river, with many stretches of white water and over 200 rapids. Despite this for many years it was the principal route to the interior. (we wentt over some small rapids that were really fun!...but really small)
Here is the day to day:
Day 10 Monday January 25
-5am wake up and depart city of Taupo
-Arrive at Blazing Paddles and head into the river!
-Paddled for 8 hours then camped (rained a little that night...bummer)
Day 11
-Paddled for another 8 1/2 hours until we reached a campsite
-We enjoyed the scenary and played "Guess The Actor" game and more
-Had the campsite to ourselves and chilled the rest of the night. We arrived there around 3:00.
-For dinner each night we had cooking groups of 4. We cooked over these little cooker things that were very portable. Each group planned 3 breakfasts 4 lunches and 3 dinners.
Day 12
-Tony's birthday! We got to wake up a lot later (9:00am) and had an egg breakfast
-We only had to paddle 2 hours so we took our time...it rained a little bit
-Reached the Marae (is a sacred place which served both religious and social purposes in pre-Christian Polynesian societies)
-We were greeted on the Marae by the head woman who sang a song and called us over. Everyone who camps on the site overlooking the river lined up (girls first) and shook the woman's hand and then touched noses with her. This is an old tradition to show a sign of peace.
-Relaxed and watched the sun set, bed
Day 13 1/28
-The last day on the river! Since there was a little bit of rain the day before the river was flowing faster and it only took 3 hours to finish our river trip. Luckily it ended well with the sun out! We explored this one cave filled with clay mud... it was gross/scary/but so adventerous! We then explored this other cave that had a waterfall in it and we went swimming in it-- collld water!
-Arrived to the docking station and loaded our boats into the trailer
-Drove to our second Marae for the night (we had it all to ourselves)- once again we were greeted with a song and nose "shake"
-I took a nap underneath the beautiful sun....and finally showered
-I was the cook and made some wraps for dinner
-Chilled out under the stars and then went to bed!
Anyway! Here is some information about the Whanganui River (Fanganui):
With a length of 290 km, the Whanganui is the country's third-longest river. Much of the land to either side of the river's upper reaches is part of the Whanganui National Park, though the river itself is not part of the park. The Whanganui river has always been an important communication route to the central North Island, both for Māori and for settlers. It is, however, also a difficult river, with many stretches of white water and over 200 rapids. Despite this for many years it was the principal route to the interior. (we wentt over some small rapids that were really fun!...but really small)
Here is the day to day:
Day 10 Monday January 25
-5am wake up and depart city of Taupo
-Arrive at Blazing Paddles and head into the river!
-Paddled for 8 hours then camped (rained a little that night...bummer)
Day 11
-Paddled for another 8 1/2 hours until we reached a campsite
-We enjoyed the scenary and played "Guess The Actor" game and more
-Had the campsite to ourselves and chilled the rest of the night. We arrived there around 3:00.
-For dinner each night we had cooking groups of 4. We cooked over these little cooker things that were very portable. Each group planned 3 breakfasts 4 lunches and 3 dinners.
Day 12
-Tony's birthday! We got to wake up a lot later (9:00am) and had an egg breakfast
-We only had to paddle 2 hours so we took our time...it rained a little bit
-Reached the Marae (is a sacred place which served both religious and social purposes in pre-Christian Polynesian societies)
-We were greeted on the Marae by the head woman who sang a song and called us over. Everyone who camps on the site overlooking the river lined up (girls first) and shook the woman's hand and then touched noses with her. This is an old tradition to show a sign of peace.
-Relaxed and watched the sun set, bed
Day 13 1/28
-The last day on the river! Since there was a little bit of rain the day before the river was flowing faster and it only took 3 hours to finish our river trip. Luckily it ended well with the sun out! We explored this one cave filled with clay mud... it was gross/scary/but so adventerous! We then explored this other cave that had a waterfall in it and we went swimming in it-- collld water!
-Arrived to the docking station and loaded our boats into the trailer
-Drove to our second Marae for the night (we had it all to ourselves)- once again we were greeted with a song and nose "shake"
-I took a nap underneath the beautiful sun....and finally showered
-I was the cook and made some wraps for dinner
-Chilled out under the stars and then went to bed!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
1/25: Off to a 4 day Canoe trip!
After an adventerous weekend of white water rafting (falling down a 21ft waterfall), zorbing (rolling down a hill in a plastic ball), and sky diving, I am off to a rugid canoe trip for 4 days. This means no showers, a lot of paddling, and a lot of dirt and sweat. I am so ready to get my arms toned though! I won't have contact for another 5 days or so but when I get back I will upload photos of all my adventures!
Paz
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Adventure Weekend and Skydiving
Day 8 Saturday January 23
-Left the hostal a drove to Rotoura and went ZORBING! Zorbing is the funnnnnnest thing EVER. You go into this plastic ball and roll down the hill/track. There is a little bit of water in it so you slide and bounce around. You can stand up and push yourself or just slide--the track I was on was curvy so when I hit the wall I went flying to the other side of the ball....it was giggggles of fun, I can't even tell you!
-After Zorbing we got a quick lunch and went WHITE WATER RAFTING!! And get this, we fell off a 21ft waterfall. It was heaps of fun! It was my 3rd time and each time is just amazing. Our guide was really funny and did cool things. We then went to our hostal in Taupo and relaxed for our big day of skydiving the next day!
I just went skydiving and it was AWESOME!!!
I jumped out of a plane 15,000ft high...the highest sky dive in the world. It was incredible and I can't wait to do it again!!!!!!!!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Bay of Islands Service Work! Day 4-8
Bay of Islands was gorgeous! Every day from 8:30-3:00 my group and I worked with New Zealands Department of Conservation. The first day we pulled up onto our campiste: a white sand beach, crystal blue waters, and gorgeous mountains. There were other "Kiwi's" or New Zealanders there because it is the only campsite you can stay at on the Bay of Islands. We met really funny kids who challenged us to games of vollyball and rugby... we killed them at vollyball but they showed us up on the rugby games! Anyway, the island was amazing but the work was also fulfilling. Here are the tasks I completed:
Day 1 of service: cleared and old Maori(indigenous people of New Zealand) lookout on top of a mountain. We cut down trees and stacked them on the banks to uncover the old grounds of the lookout. The Maori people dug into the mountain creating ditches on both sides and then surrounded the bottom with spears. It was hot and a lot of work to stack the tree branches but the amount we cleared was amazing.
Day 2: Cape Brett Island-- worked on this huge Possom fence that split a island/mountain in two. We had to climb really high up the mountain/hill fixing it back up, under the hotttt sun. This seemed like the longest day of work...it seemed like it would never end! The reason why they have a fence is because one side of the island is virgin and hasn't been invaded or touched by possoms yet and therefore they are trying to keep them out.
Day 3: Lindsay Ursula and I cleaned out an old WW11 observation tower. THe tower was on Mototura Island and overlooked the Pacific to the North...looking for the japanese. The tower had cables linking to other towers on different islands for communications. There was 4 years worth of water built up in the tower that I worked on. Between the 3 of us we bailed buckets from like 10:00 to 1:30 or so. My lunch break was incredible though with a breathtaking view.
Day 4: Cleared trails on Urapukapuka Island. We walked for 2 miles clearing out overgrown brush and hid it in the forest so it wasn't visible. The views walking along the island were awesome and it was worth the long hike!
To get to work everyday we took a boat called the Barg--it reminded me of the boats in on DDay in WW11 when they landed on the beaches. I always felt like I was going into combat haha
Those were my work days but here is what we did for fun after 3:00!
-The leader of the D.O.C. team took us tubing and wake boarding!! My favorite!
-Sight seeing
-watched the sun rise-Vollyball: we played the conservation team but they beat us...they were good!
-Rugby
-Frisbee
-Swimming
-Relaxing/tanning
A few activities. For meals we were in cook teams. All the food we have prepared has been really good thanks to my instructor, Leo, who loves to cook!
That is all for now but the last week has been just great. The weather for the most part (one night it stormed) has been really good and I am working on my tan!
Me and a DOC worker
Tomorrow we all go white water rafting and I am so exciting! I'll be sure to let you know how that is.
Cheers!
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