The Final Leg

After one of the best weekends I’ve had in awhile it was bittersweet coming back to Wesley University where this whole trip began. After getting in from the airport around 6, we all were too tired to do just about anything. I know I was for sure so I ended up going straight to bed around 9. It was hard getting comfortable because instead of a cozy bedroom it feels like we are sleeping in saunas. Not very fun when you wake up and it looks like you have been in one too. The next day we met in front of the dorms at noon and headed to the Sydney Opera House to get a tour of this piece of art. It was really interesting to learn how it was constructed and see just how much time, money, and labor that was put into it. It was sad to learn that the architect who designed the opera house left Australia before its completion never to return to see his masterpiece. After touring the opera house and getting to see some of the different performing rooms, we all split up some of us heading out to do some souvenir shopping while others headed back to the dorms. Meghan’s mom is in town here in Sydney for the last days of our trip and wanted to treat us to drinks and dinner. Let me tell you, it was AWESOME! We started off by going up to the 34 Floor Bar for a few cocktails overlooking the Sydney Harbour before heading up to the 360 Restaurant. This fine dinning restaurant is located at the top of Sydney’s space needle like building over looking the entire city. We got to see it from 360 degrees because throughout the course of the meal, the floor was constantly revolving in circles, hence the name 360 Restaurant. The three course meal, the wine, and 3 revolutions over the few hours we were there was just what we needed to pick our spirits up a bit about being back in Sydney and it’s all thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Joyce! (BEST meal I have eating this entire trip…by far) Only a few more days remain between here and the SOUTH.

 

The Fellowship

The greatest weekend of my life just recently came to an unfortunate and abrupt ending. After everyone last read we were in Auckland and we were about to start our “free weekend” trip. And let me tell you it is definitely one that I will never forget. After we parted from the group last Wednesday, the 4 amigos headed to Omaha Beach just an hour outside of Auckland. A fella named Chris who is actually a family friend of Meghan’s picked up Meghan, Patrick, Stuart, and me in Auckland. His family owns a beach house in Omaha which when we got there reminded me a bit of Seaside back in Florida. The house was absolutely spectacular, resting right on the beach with the most amazing views. Once we got unpacked and settled in we headed to a local restaurant that is one of Chris’ favorites. Dinner and a few beers at a relaxing beachside restaurant, what more could you want. We have reached that point in the trip where after going non-stop for 4 weeks, we are all exhausted. It was evident since we all hit the sack and slept well into the mid morning, catching up on some much needed sleep before heading down to the beach to snooze and catch some rays. It was really neat to learn that Chris used to play professional rugby for Auckland and actually knows a few members from the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. He told us that one of his friends from the team was coming to the beach house later that day to hang out, unfortunately, something came up and he was unable to make it. Sorry Jay but couldn’t get an autograph! One full day at the beach doing nothing was exactly what the doctor ordered to refuel the tanks. The last night there we all cooked another “family dinner” and watched the Nadal vs. Federer match at the Australian Open. But as always, all good things must come to an end. However, we were headed to something better. We rushed to the airport the next morning to catch our 10:20 to Queenstown, which is located on the south island of New Zealand. When we landed it looked as if we were on the set of a movie, specifically Lord of the Rings. The snowcapped mountain surrounding up and a few vast plains were all around us. Pictures cannot even begin to capture the beauty of the landscape. After retrieving our back we took a short 10-minute cab ride to the hostel that we were staying at for the next few nights. It was like an over crowded college dorm. Meghan and I were put in the same room with 4 other people. One guy from Canada, two from London, and a girl from Ireland. Even though it was a bit sketchy at first, we got to know them and it turned out to be a pretty neat experience getting to meet some people from around the world. We semi-unpacked and headed out to explore the town which was no more than 4 blocks wide and 4 blocks long. It reminded me a lot of any ski town out in Colorado, nestled in the mountains. The view from everywhere in the town was absolutely picturesque to a point where it looked fake. After an hour of wandering around aimlessly it was time for JETBOATING! Talk about a rush. We got on the Shotover River Jetboating bus that shuttled us about 10 minutes outside of town where we were suited up and put into a 750 horse powered jet boat. Our boat driver gave us a brief (30 second) safety talk and shot off down the river. The boat with its twin engines sucking glided on top of the water as it slid at some points completely sideways down the river missing jagged rocks, overhangs, and trees by inches. It was neat to lean over the side and look at the bottom of the river that was no more than 5 inches deep in some parts and thinking if we were going to bottom out. But we never did. Then came the 360 degree spins. Yes, the boat was able to whip around and do 360’s. It was insane! Definitely one the highlights of our trip to the south island. We headed back to town and ate dinner at one of the most well known restaurants in Queenstown called Ferg Burger. It was absolutely delicious. We met up with the rest of the group that had gotten to Queenstown a day earlier than us and headed out to the Kiwi Bar Crawl. It was a neat experience since we got to go bar hopping at some of the coolest bars in Queenstown. One of them was Minus 5. It was a bar where everything was made out of ice except the floor (duh, that would be a bit dangerous). The glasses, benches, tables, and bar was made out of carefully sculpted ice. The only down side to this bar was that it was a chilly 23 degrees Fahrenheit and with flip-flops on, my toes quickly became numb. But hey, I was in an ice bar with some awesome people so I wasn’t going to complain too much. After walking around town to 7 different bars with about 40 people or so, it was time to call it a night. The next morning (Saturday) everyone seemed to have slept in a bit. I got up around 9:30 and decided to go walk around some more and take in everything I could with what little time we had. Just a few steps from our hostel and I was standing at the shore of the lake. I did nothing but stand there for a good thirty minutes just taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. As cheesy as this sounds I’m hoping a few of my pictures can paint a small picture of just how beautiful and serene it was there. Across the lake I could hear some folk music drifting in and out of my ears through the wind and thought I’d head over to see what was going on. There were tables set up all around a small grassy areas where venders were selling everything from pottery, paintings, and jewelry to melted down beer bottles made into clocks. I wandered around the market checking everything out and listening to the music for about an hour before I headed back to get Meghan so we could go eat finally. The rest of the group had left early that morning to board a bus and drive up to Christchurch, the town that was devastated by an earthquake a year ago and are still having a few tremors and aftershocks every week. They had gone bungee jumping the day before off of the Nevis, which is 134 meters high, about a 45-story building. They all suggested we go jump and I was up for it however with time and money constraints, we decided to save that for another time. After lunch, Meghan and I headed up the gondola to get some good views of the surrounding area and to go down the luge that was on top of the mountain. It was fun especially since I beat her racing down! The picture of me prior to the luge doesn’t quite express my true feelings of the trip; I was just caught off guard! (go with it, y’all will see). We still were unable to get in touch with Patrick and Stuart but later found out they had gone mountain biking down a few trails near by, so Meghan and I decided to head back into town and look for something else to do until they finished up. We found a boat tour that lasted an hour and a half and decided to hope on and do that. We pulled out of the bay through the extremely choppy water and set out to tour the lake and the surrounding area around Queenstown. The views, again, were absolutely breathtaking everywhere you looked. The tour guide told us a bit of the history of Queenstown and showed us some of the famous sites around town and then my favorite part. He pointed out where some of the Lord of the Rings were filmed and believe it or not looked exactly like some of the scenes from the films. He told us that the hill had been closed to the public by Hollywood since the movies and while they were filming the most recent movie, The Hobbit. We headed back throught the rough waters to the bay where Meghan and I met back up with Stuart and Patrick and headed to get dinner and pack up so we wouldn’t have to do it early in the morning and wake the others in our room up. We made one last visit to the World Bar before calling it a night. Sunday morning came quick and we were up and on the way to the airport to fly back to Auckland and then straight from there back to Sydney on the last leg of our trip. I sort of wished the trip had ended in Auckland where we could just take a flight back to the states but our trip is going to end where it began, back at Wesley University.

Omaha Beach view

View from porch

Queenstown, New Zealand

View of town from mountain

Filming location for Lord of the Rings

Looks like Mordor

Another filming location

Black Sand?

Yesterday was the first day that we were able to get out and see a bit of the country- side and some of the famous scenery that New Zealand is known for. We boarded a bus outside of the apartments at 8:30 to head to Piha that is known for its black sand beaches. The hour-long bus ride was just enough time to get that little extra it of sleep. We finally got to Piha and headed straight to beach. The black sand was so bizarre. But it was nice to get out and have a day to relax. We were told that we had 2 hours until we had to board the bus and head back. Piha was a bit similar to the 12 Apostles in terms of the landscape. There were large rock formations in the water, however the ones at Piha were accessible from the beach and of course most of the group headed straight there to climb. A few of the group of course ignored the “Danger, do not climb past here” sign and made it to the top. We enjoyed the crashing  of the ocean waves, the scenery, and a beer with lunch then headed back to the city to pack and begin our free weekend! This will consist of going to Omaha Beach to stay at one of Meghan’s family friend’s beach house, headed to the South Island to see the scenery, and also to do some adventurous things such as bungee jumping! I will update the blog after the free days! Cheers.

What. A. View.

Piha

Lion Rock

The famous black sand

Jason is now Maori

Another day, another school. This morning was another early day as we left the Waldorf around 8:30 to head to Unitech, another local university that focuses a lot on architecture, construction management, landscape architecture, and other studies involving the built environment. The head of the school began talking to us and to be honest it was quite boring. It was boring until a man from the states came in to talk to us. He had moved to Auckland from Arizona and was working as a teacher, an architect, and builder.  He was really interesting to listen to because he didn’t butter anything up. He was very upfront about his thoughts and his opinion on how things in New Zealand and America were handled in terms of what was said about “sustainability”. Mark Mismash (yes that is his real name) was involved with helping come up with the L.E.E.D. rating that is used in the states. He is not a huge fan of any rating system that is used to determine the “green” factor of buildings since they are nothing more than check lists. He is in favor of a system that bases the “green” factor of a building based on the building performance and just how environmentally friendly it really is. After being entertained for another hour by Mr. Mismash, we headed back to the Waldorf to have another meeting with Mrs. Rogers. All of these meeting have been helpful in determining if I am headed in the right direction with my studies. After the meeting the rest of the group were going out to eat but us ENVD kids decided to relax indoors, order some pizza, and do laundry.

One Tree Hill

New Zealand is my new favorite place, by far. We haven’t really been able to get out and see some of the scenery but I know it is going to be amazing. Well today is the 22^nd and it is another day filled with exciting adventures. The first part of our adventure was a trip to AUT, Auckland University of Technology. It was just like all of the other visits that we have had so far. We had a brief meeting with a few of the staff members from the school of construction management. Then we had the usual campus tour but this one was different and a little better. Instead of twenty of us moping around the campus, we were broken up into smaller groups. This way we could ask questions in a better setting. After a few hours of walking around in the heat, we made our way back to the Waldorf Apartments to grab some lunch and get ready to head to One Tree Hill. This is not the t.v. show that most may know, but a large hill in the city. Oddly enough when we got to the top of the hill, there was no tree. Where’s the one tree on the hill? As we were sweating and trying to catch our breath, we were able to enjoy the amazing view over looking all of Auckland. The scenery and landscape here in New Zealand is absolutely captivating, nothing like I’ve ever seen. Luckily I had my camera to snap some pictures so I can look back and see exactly what the view was instead of through sweat. Here in Auckland we didn’t buy any bus tickets or anything and have had to walk everywhere. Thankfully today, Anoop bought us day bus passes that we took back to the apartments to get ready for our evening activities. We were headed to the Sky Tower! The views from the top of the Sky Tower at night were absolutely amazing. Getting a 360 degree view of Auckland is a sight. It was sketchy at times since the parts of the floor suspended over absolutely nothing were made out of glass that was supposedly as strong as concrete. I find that hard to believe since the glass was only about 33 centimeters thick. I tried my best to walk around these sections of the floor. After having a few beers at the Sky Top Lounge it was time to head back and call it a night. Another long yet amazing day in the books.

Downtown Auckland

This is the tree at the top of the hill?

Maori? I think so.

Our first full day in Auckland was met with rain, fog, and wind. Not much of a way to start off our time in a new country, especially New Zealand. There was a slight misunderstanding (and a mean a debacle) with what time the group was supposed to meet this morning. A good bit of us thought we were to meet around 7:30 however this wasn’t even close. Our plans for today had us hiking up Mt. Eden which is a volcano not far from here, however, with inclement was postponed or another day. Since we hadn’t set up our New Zealand phones there was no way really for anyone to get the word out about the change of plans. After wandering the halls for a few hours making sure we hadn’t been left we hear that we didn’t need to meet until 10! A few more hours of sleep would have been nice. We all headed over to the Maori War Museum and this time we were allowed in. I thought it was going to be another building to walk around looking at old cracked pieces of pottery, ships, and weapons. However, we were greeted by some native Maori people dressed in their traditional clothing and were led into a room. We were told that they would be performing some of their native chants and songs and teach us a little bit about their culture. It turned out to be an awesome experience and after hearing and watching the guys scream and beat their chests I wanted to run out of the room and punch someone. But I refrained. It was really interesting to learn some of the ways of the Maori people and the different weapons and chants that their warriors used. One of the most famous chant, the “Haka”, that might still be recognizable is done by the New Zealand All Blacks, rugby team made up of Maori men. They chant, scream, and make these ridiculous faces at the opposing team in order to intimidate them. After watch the performance of just 4 averaged sized men I can see how 13 of the most ginormous men yelling and beating themselves might have that affect on people. After watching the performance and learning a bit about the Maori culture, we headed out to find food. Hungry, yet again. Seeing that we have only been in town not even a day of course we knew our way around the city and how to get back to our apartments. About an hour later we decided that it was best to catch a cab even though we weren’t too far off! The rest of the day today is devoted to a nap and some reading of a casual book, nothing too exciting. As the Maori people would say,  “E haere ra”, or goodbye!

Maori War Museum

Maori natives

Where is Bilbo Baggins?

Yesterday we finally arrived in NEW ZEALAND! I am so pumped to be here, but wish it were for longer. Because of the time change between here and Australia plus the delayed flight, we didn’t get to our new accommodations until around 6 pm local time. The Waldorf is by far the nicest place we have stayed so far even if we are on the 13^th floor. Since it was so late, we didn’t have much planned other than to head to the Maori War Museum. The Maoris for those who don’t know are the native indigenous people of New Zealand, and they are awesome. That’s for another day though. When we got to the museum, of course, something big and important was going on inside so we couldn’t get in. Well there went our only plans for the evening. By this time though, we were all hungry. The story of this entire trip. Our accommodations luckily are right down the street from a good bit of restaurants and little eateries. After eating some kebabs, it was time to call it a night. Not much of an exciting day but there will be plenty of those to come!

Sweet rooms

Creepy graveyard across the street

Drive-by photography

Always a tree to climb