Paua, Crayfish, and Corn Fritters

Tonight one of my Kiwi hosts, Ella, used her fresh caught Crayfish and Paua to make a delicious flat meal for us. I'm writing about it because those of you that know me know that I am a very picky eater and would not normally eat any of this. So here are descriptions of those foods.

"Paua" is the Maori name for 3 large sea snail species endemic to the waters around New Zealand. The American name is abalone. Anyway, Ella sliced them up into thin little bits and cooked them in butter and garlic. very tasty.

Here's what they look like before they're cooked

This is a polished Paua shell, they sell them to tourists all over the place here

Crayfish in New Zealand is more akin to lobster in the U.S. except a little bit smaller. I was really surprised when Ella said "oh yeah I have 3 crayfish for us to eat tonight" and I looked around and was like "all six of us?". Anyway, really good tender meat.

Like I said, really big.

We also had corn fritters which are like corn bread pancakes with peppers and stuff in them. We put sweet thai chili sauce on them which apparently is a thing here and it turned out pretty well. So yeah, that was my gourmet meal for this evening!

Little bit fancier, but you get the idea.

I also had my first history lecture yesterday and I think that class is going to be really informative. It not only goes over the historical events of NZ but also the social issues and global impacts of those events and how that effected the development of this country. I'm pretty pumped. I am already about 1/3 done with one of the recommended readings for the class because I can't put it down. The history nerd is coming out.

I've also been discussing spring break plans with some of my complex mates and I think we are going to do the Milford sound tramp which goes out to the Tasman Sea, one of the most isolated and wild places in NZ and also the world. More information to come on that, it's just a hope right now.

Rugby, Classes, and Sunrise on the Harbour

Kia Ora, everybody! (That's a traditional Maori greeting, not the everybody part though)

So this past weekend was pretty eventful, it was the end of Orientation week and also the official beginning of classes. I'll start with the Rugby.

The rugby game was held at the Forsyth-Barr Stadium which is about a 10 minute walk from my flat. It's also right next to the rec center for the Uni. The Otago Highlanders were playing the Auckland Blues. I had never seen a rugby game before this so everything was new to me, but I was surprised at the lack of fanfare before the game. There was a "scottish" crew that marched across the field before the game with bagpipes and drums and then the teams were announced and then the game just began, I didn't even hear a whistle. I think the kick began the game but I don't know. Anyway, the game was just as violent as I expected. They had medics running around the field wiping up blood and taping the cuts. They didn't even stop the game when one of the Blues went down and stayed down, they just moved over a bit and kept playing. All in all the game is pretty intense. The Highlanders won 29 to 21 after the two 40 minute halves ended. Another rather annoying thing I discovered about kiwis is that because they never had to learn to comport themselves somewhat soberly in public due to the drinking age being 18, there was very little reserve in the behavior of the students. People were just blatantly rude while being too drunk to even realize it. One guy tried to throw a full beer at my friends and I before his friends convinced him to drink it instead, another few guys stood up on chairs in front of us (we were already standing so we could see) and had to be told to move before they realized what idiots they were being. Oh well, maybe next time I'll get seats in the grown-up section and not have to deal with drunken freshmen.

The band

The Highlanders are blue, and the Blues are white.

On Saturday we also went to St. Clair Beach which is one of the biggest and most popular beaches in Dunedin. It is on the Pacific Ocean, not the harbour so you can surf and stuff there which was cool to watch. We just walked along it but it was still really cool to see. The beach is framed on two sides by hill that go out into the surf and along the back by dunes.

The south end of the beach

A sign post, you can maybe pick out the distance to NYC

My kiwi host in the surf

The dunes and the north end of the beach

Today was the first day of classes and I had 3 lectures. I had Statistics 110 at 10:00am, Physics 131 at 11:00am, and Environmental Economics 207 at 4:00pm. I have to say I was a bit nervous while I was reading the syllabi and looking at the requirements etc. but after attending the lectures I feel much better. Statistics looks just like a fast paced version of high school and my Kiwi host Ben is in it with me, so I'll have someone to work through stuff with.
Physics 131 looks like it will be my most challenging class just due to the subject matter, but I also got the vibe that my professors are going to turn out into some spectacular physics nerds which makes me happy because I am an uneducated one myself. The lecturer was saying that most class time would be devoted to demonstrations (YES!) and so I am hoping for more mind bending ice breakers (shout out to Mr. Michels and honors physics).
Environmental Econ could be my favorite class. It remains to be seen but the lecturer was super animated and intense about the subject matter. She walked all over the hall and was even out of breath a little bit after talking so intensely about just the introduction. She was trying to "sell" us on the class and she briefly went over some issues we would cover in class and all of them were super interesting. They were "Land pollution in China cuts 2% of arable land from production", "Dirty Dairying (this just sounds naughty)", and "Loss of top predators exacerbates global climate change". All of these are economic issues in some way or another and this class is all about calculating the cost of those environmental factors and putting them into terms that can be held up in court so we can fight the oil companies and other industries that want to take advantage of the environment for monetary gain. Now that's what I'm talking about.
I have my last first lecture tomorrow which is History of NZ from 1300-2000 at noon. I'm pretty excited to get a taste of kiwi history and culture along with a different view of major world events from a small country so far from the U.S. I'm hoping my lecturer is a good one because the class could hinge on that.

This morning I had another perfect NZ moment. I decided to get up early and go on a 10 km run down by the harbour. It was very brisk this morning and as I ran I could see my breath, however once I got to the harbour the warm water made a noticeable difference in the air temperature. I got to the water just as the sun was peeking up over the hills surrounding the harbour and it was just so beautiful. The water was calm and the rowing teams were out on the water with the sun glinting off the water and a slight breeze to stir the air. Moments to live for people, today was a good day.

Sports Day, Cadbury, and the Big Shindig

So two days ago my flatmates and complex mates went to sports day which was a orientation event for all the first years. You could play netball, touch rugby, volleyball, or soccer. I got put onto a soccer team with a Frenchman, two Kiwis, and two Americans. We won 2 of our games and tied one but the tie was a fluke. The Kiwis here are actually pretty poor at soccer on the whole, although to be fair their main sport is rugby. Anyway, it was really fun and I got a free t-shirt out of the deal.

This is sports day at Logan Park

Yesterday we took a tour of the Cadbury factory here in Dunedin. They are the major chocolate provider for all of NZ and for some of Australasia. The tour was kind of flat because not a lot of the machines were working because most of the chocolate for the Easter rush had already been manufactured and the machines were now going unused. However, they did have a chocolate waterfall that let out a tonne of chocolate in about 45 seconds. They wouldn't allow us to take pictures so just imagine a huge purple silo about 45 meters tall with a deluge of chocolate falling through it. They gave us quite a bit of chocolate on the tour although I was a bit put off my appetite because they were making Turkish Delights downstairs which smelled horribly sweet. Anyway it was very cool.

We had to wear hair nets and I have a beard so I had to wear a "beard net" as well.

Then in the afternoon I went and played soccer with Colin and Martín. It was actually one of my favorite moments so far here just because it was an almost perfect day. We went to this field up in the hills surrounding Dunedin where the grass was like green velvet. The climate here must be perfect for grass because every field I have gone to has absolutely wonderful turf. The scenery was beautiful as well. The field was surrounded by these gnarled old pine trees and beyond them was either a view of Dunedin below us or a view up the mountains with clouds skidding across the sky. Absolutely beautiful.

Then last night we had a complex party and about 300 people came. My Kiwi host Ben had one of his friends come and DJ for the party so we had all the DJ stuff set up on our deck. Then at about 11:00 a fire breather showed up and did some fire tricks. He had little poles with fireballs on the end that he threw around and twirled and then he did some actual fire breathing and then he got out a whip which he set on fire and was snapping around, that's when we told him to tone it down a bit and he did but it was pretty cool none the less. 

Fire breather

This was taken from my deck

Baldwin Street and Signal Hill Tramp

I am going to post about these two together because they both involve walking up excessively large hills for a few photographs.

Two days ago we hiked up Baldwin Street, the steepest residential street in the world. It's about a ten minute walk to the street and another ten minutes up the street because it is so steep. They put stairs into the sidewalk next to the street because it is so steep. They couldn't pave it with asphalt because it would just melt down the hill because it is so steep. Here are some pictures:

A view from the top looking down (it's so steep you can't see most of it)

The gang at the top, we all live in the same complex here at Otago

The next day we hiked up Signal Hill to get to a lookout that covers the whole of Dunedin. We could see the whole harbour beneath us and the ocean beyond as well as almost every detail of the city itself. We also decided to hike down a mountain bike trail to get back and quickly realized it was a super difficult trail even to walk. We made it though and got some great pictures besides.

The view from the lookout

Claire (left), Lia (right), and I at the top. We're flatmates.

 

 

The hike down through some NZ bush.

We also saw some pretty cool animal life on our tramp. Check out this mushroom and spider:

So This spider's body was about the size of a quarter, the legs were even longer.

It was delicious. ;)

Tunnel Beach

Tunnel beach is a famous landmark in Dunedin. The story goes that once upon a time there was a father with a daughter who wanted to play on the beach, however, this articular length of coastline is mostly cliff unsuitable for little children to play near, so the father decides to cut a 20m stairway down through the cliff to get to a small beach nestled between the rocks. Here are the pictures:

The view from the top of the cliff

Halfway down the tramp

The view from the little peninsula seen above looking at the beach

The door to the tunnel

The view from tunnel beach

My First Few Days in Dunedin

I have been in Dunedin for 3 days now and I am loving almost everything. It has rained pretty heavily for the past 2 days so that put a little bit of a damper on things but it is super nice out today and that makes everything better.

I registered for classes today through one of the most inefficient systems that I have ever had the displeasure of working with. First we had to obtain printed records of our classes and of course mine got lost so I had to wait a day for them to print it out. Then we had to take our class list to each of the advisers listed on the sheet and get them to sign off on it. Otago helpfully scattered all of the advisers across campus making it impossible to get anything done easily. Then once you had your signatures you went back to the place you started and they re-entered your information into the computer system. It has to be one of the worst ways to complete such an easy task. Anyway, now I'm all registered and will soon get my schedule.

I also got my student ID which is actually really cool looking, I won't put a picture up because it has personal details, but it's got ferns and Maori designs and stuff on it.

I also bought rugby tickets for the game next Saturday, they were 15 NZD which is pretty cheap and the game is between the Highlanders from Otago and the Blues from Auckland. They are like NFL but rugby, so that's exciting!

I'm off to the beach now with some other internationals so that's all for now, pictures when I get back!

The Road to the South

Ok, so my last post ended with our first evening in Picton two nights ago. This post will bring you guys up to speed on everything that has happened since then.

So our morning in Picton was really quite eventful. We woke up early and trekked to the city center where we rented a two person sea kayak for the morning. We took the kayak out along the edge of the harbour and then crossed the sound into an adjacent inlet. During our expedition we saw starfish, jelly fish, sea urchins, lost of birds and dolphins. The dolphins were the coolest part I have to say. What happened was a pod of these dolphins was coming out of the inlet and a whale watching boat was playing calls for them. If you haven't, check out my Facebook page for a video. You can hear the noises in the background. So anyway these dolphins swam probably 20m from our kayak and were jumping out of the water and stuff. Super cool.

Here is a dolphin.

After we turned in our kayak we ate lunch on the beach front and then went over to the ferry terminal to grab our bus to Christchurch. Sadly the ferry coming in had some technical difficulties and our bus left about an hour later than expected.

Lunch on the ocean front.

It was about a 4 hour ride to Christchurch and we got in around 7:00. About 2 years ago Christchurch had a huge earthquake that devastated the central city. Even while we were there they were still tearing down buildings and stuff. Construction is everywhere and empty lots are very common. It was cool to see how the businesses had made temporary malls out of shipping containers but other than that it was kind of a hole.

A demolished building site and 2 other condemned buildings.

Anyway, we caught our bus to Dunedin at 7:45 yesterday and got into Dunedin about 1:00. Dunedin is exactly what I hoped it would be from what I was told. My apartment is about 4 minutes from campus by foot and about a 10 minute walk from the ocean. The campus buildings are old and intelligent looking and everything feels like a college town should.

My apartment is actually very nice. It almost feels like a skiing cabin that someone plopped down on a university campus. It has wood paneling, a timbered ceiling, lots of windows and a deck that looks out across the "complex" which are the other 5 apartments in 378.

The living room and kitchen

My room, it's got north facing windows for warmth!

In my apartment right now we have Ben, one of my Kiwi hosts, Lia, an American from Brooklyn, Claire, a Scot, and me. Eventually we will have another American and another Kiwi but both of them have not arrived yet. I've met people from so many different places in one day alone. Last night I met about 5 Scots, a Canadian, a Chilean, an Italian, a bunch of Kiwis, a spattering of Americans from Oregon, Vermont, Michigan, Kansas and there are more to come! Everyone here is very nice and inviting and I feel right at home.

Welli, The Ferry, and Picton.

Alright Folks it's been two days since I last posted because I spent last night couch surfing at a house in Welli. Welli (Wellington) was all filled up for a weekend on rugby tournament called "the Sevens". The main theme seems to be dress up in a crazy costume, get roaring drunk, and go watch a rugby match. After we dropped off our car at Ace we headed to the train station and what we saw was like Halloween mixed with VEISHEA (a large ISU festival for all you non-cyclones). We saw transvestite "Dora The Explorer"s and crayons, fruit, the entire Flinstones cast, a bunch of army commandos, etc. SO MANY DRUNK PEOPLE.

The entire station reeked of booze

Anyway, we got on the train and took it out to a suburb of wellington called Tawa where we stayed at a house. The owners, The Digbys, are Rob and Shannon the parents and their two young kids, Olivia (3) and Isaac (1). There were also 5 Brits sleeping in a tent in the back yard, two Californians sleeping in the living room, two Frenchmen sleeping in the basement and myself and my friend in the guest bedroom. Talk about a full house. Anyway it was good fun and they were very welcoming and it was a great place to stay.

Hoofin' it

Dani and I woke up at 5:30 so we could walk 15 minutes to the train stop to catch a 6:46 train into Welli to be at the port by 7:00. We made it and took our seats for the 3 1/2 hour ferry ride across the Cook Straight to Picton.

Entering the fjord to Picton

Once we arrived in Picton we took a bus to our hostel then walked into town and rented some bikes to go mountain biking in the bluffs surrounding the fjord. We spent two hours riding around and then came back in and ate dinner at an Irish pub recommended to us by some locals.

Look how safe we're being, Mom!

The Interislander ferry leaving Picton

Tomorrow we are getting up early and walking into town to go kayaking on the fjord and then we will be catching a bus to Christchurch and spending the night before catching another bus the next morning for Dunedin. More updates to come soon, hopefully a virtual tour of my apartment and Dunedin and all that good stuff.

Huka Falls, Aratitia Rapids, and Wanganui

This morning we woke up in Taupo and had a relaxing breakfast looking out over the lake and the mountains. The above picture is looking out from the deck of our hostel. The tallest peak is Mt. Nguowhoare that is a dormant volcano.

We hiked up the Waikato river to reach the Huka falls. "Huka" means "foam" in Maori and it is very aptly named. The Waikato river is the only outlet for Lake Taupo to the sea and therefore has a huge volume of water going through it.

The water flows through a 500m long chute of volcanic rock before dumping out the falls at the back end.

Also, the water in the Waikato is unbelievably clear. It is crystal clear all the way through even though it was flowing really quickly. I am very impressed with the water quality here in NZ.

After we left Taupo we headed south on SH1 and had lunch on the bank of the lake. Very picturesque.

 

Then we made our way to Wanganui, a city on the southwestern coast of the North Island. It was originally the only place where goods could be sent upriver into the mainland so it was a vital port to the settlers and was developed very quickly. Now a days it is a sleepy town beside it's namesake river with a feeling not unlike that of Winona, MN. This town is famous for river craft and glassblowers. We walked up 167 steps to the top of a tower to get a good view of the city and the Tasman Sea beyond.

The light gray horizon beyond the shore is the Sea.

This town also has an incredibly eclectic and fun main street. Called Victoria Street it is lined with shops, cafes, boutiques, and pubs. We walked down along the boardwalk then up Victoria St and back to our hostel this evening.

Tomorrow we are hoping to canoe a bit on the river before we head to Palmerston North to drop off Dana at her College and then Dani and I will head South to Wellington to drop off our car and catch our ferry in the morning. We'll be "couch surfing" with a family that lives just outside of Wellington. Their names are Rob and Shannon and they have two young kids ages 1 and 3. I'm excited to see how that experience turns out! More updates to come as they come up!

The Hangi, Waitomo caves, and Lake Taupo

Hello folks!

So it's not even been 24 hours since I posted last, but I have a bit of time in the hostel so I'll put up another one.

Last night we attended a "traditional" Maori village called Mitai. I say "traditional" because it was very touristy. However, it is located on the site if an ancient Maori village and has some very cool things to do and see. We first walked down to a ancient spring that feeds into a stream, some "Maori warriors" paddled a Waka, or war canoe, up the stream and we got to see them do some chants and stuff. Then we saw how our Hangi, or Maori feast, was made. The Hangi consists of chickens, lamb, potatoes, sweet potatoes and stuffing put into baskets and warmed with hot rocks for four hours. It is then cut up and served. After seeing how our meal was made we got to watch a concert of traditional Maori songs and culture. We saw a welcome dance, the famous Haka war dance, and some new age Maori songs as well. Afterwords we ate our Hangi then went back outside to see the glow worms around the freshwater spring.

Warriors rowing the Waka

The spring, it's about 3 feet deep to show you how clear it is.

Our Hangi in the cooking pit.

So this morning we woke up early so that we could make our way to Waitomo Caves. However when we got out to our car we saw that it had been crashed into by another car and had a huge dent in the rear fender with no insurance information or anything. To make matters worse the trunk wouldn't stay shut. So we duct taped the trunk shut and made our way out to Waitomo and found a payphone where we called in the incident to our rental company. FUN. Anyway, we went black water rafting in the Waitomo caves which was awesome. Tubing down underground rivers with glow worms on the ceiling is a crazy experience!

"Make your best explorer pose"

The blue lights are the glow worms.

And finally we ended the day at Lake Taupo. Another picturesque lake surrounded by mountains. Took a walk along the beach although it is super windy here because a storm is coming in.

The largest peak in the center is a volcano. It's very faint but it's there.

Tomorrow we head to Whanganui and then to Wellingotn to catch the Ferry. should be interesting!