Arriving in Brisbane

My time in New Zealand went by so fast, but overall I felt like I got to see so much in the time I had and if anything, I now know what places I would love to go back to and what places I would like to visit that I didn't already visit. It is impossible to see everything in one visit, but I am happy with what I did see and am excited to go back one day!

Finally getting to Brisbane was kind of surreal. I didn't feel really anxious or really excited on the flight over- I just felt like this was the next thing, the thing that I had been planning for so long, and now it was finally happening. Kinda hard to explain. Upon arriving, an older man from UQ was there to pick me up. UQ picks up international students from the airport which is so helpful! He was really nice and talkative. He pretty much talked the whole way to school. It was dark already, so I couldn't really see that much, but we drove along the river and through the city. When we arrived at Emmanuel, the residential college where I am living, the hall porter was waiting for me. He took me to my room, gave me my welcome packet and told me that I could come and see him if I had any questions. I heard some loud music and students cheering so I went to check it out. All the new students were "bush dancing," which is pretty similar to square or line dancing in the States. They all had colorful pinwheel hats on and looked like they were having a good time. Check in was actually earlier that morning, so I missed the first day of orientation, but it wasn't a big deal. The president of the college happened to be standing next to me. He introduced himself and the residential adviser who was next to him. They were very friendly. They went to find my "wind leader," which is like an RA in the States. Her name is Karin and she is actually from Singapore. She was very friendly as well. She told me a few things about the schedule and then let me call my parents to let them know that I had arrived safely. I pretty much just went to bed soon after that because it was already late and New Zealand is 3 hours ahead. It was weird and overwhelming being in a new place and being in the "dorms" again, but kinda exciting as well because there was still so much unknown.

This past week was "O week" or orientation. There are about 200 new students at Emmanuel and about 350 students all together. The way it works here at UQ is that there are 10 different residential colleges. All the colleges have their own mascot and motto and sports teams and all that. It's kinda like the Greek system because we all have college pride and loyalty to where we live and we all compete against each other and have mixers together and stuff like that, but we also all go to the same university, UQ. Oh and by the way they call it "Uni" here. They also call freshman, "freshers." It has been different here for me because I am 4 or five years older than some of the students, considering some have just graduated from high school and are only 17. But, it is still cool to meet new people and I know that once classes start and all the older students return and sports start there will be more people my age. There are quite a few international/study abroad students here from the States which is kinda funny, and they are older, so that has actually been good. All in all it's not the age that matters, just the maturity level. :)

This week has consisted of lots of informative meetings, both at Emmanuel and at UQ, as well as a lot of activities, like going to a water park, having a Toga party, and visiting the city. UQ is huge and way different from Pepperdine, so I know it will take me a bit to get used to, but I also know that I came here to have a different experience, meet new people from around the world and just experience Australia in general. I trust that the Lord has great plans for me down here and I am excited to see what He is going to do through me and what He is going to teach me.

So far, it is really hot and humid here. Classes start next week and sports teams start in a couple weeks. I am planning to play soccer for Emmanuel and hopefully for the club team at UQ. By the way, our mascot is the Blue Dog. (Like the bull dog, just blue). I also signed up to play this touch football type sport that apparently is super fun and our school is really good at, so we'll see about that. I have my own room here, but live on a hall with about 14 other girls and there are about 14 guys on the bottom floor. The name of my hall is Gibson. There are about 10 other halls and we all make up Emmanuel. There are common rooms, a tiny little computer room, a tiny little gym, some big conference type rooms, a chapel, and some open courtyards within Emmanuel. Our college borders the river. We get three meals a day, they do our laundry and clean our bathrooms here as well which is so nice. I guess we are paying for it though, so don't think I'm too spoiled. :)

Whelp, I guess that is the gist of it for now. I will post pictures of Brisbane and UQ and all that soon!

Small Town Pride

So New Zealand has a lot of small towns in the middle of nowhere, and in order to put their names on the map, they make up some random festival, like the Gum Boot Throwing Festival in Taihape, or they grow giant vegetables and set world records, like the World's Largest Carrot in Ohakune.

Anyway, along the way to places, I stopped to see a giant Kiwi, the replica of the biggest carrot (3:1 scale), and a huge gum boot. Apparently the female winner of the gum boot throwing contest had a record throw of 43 meters! Impressive! I had a chance to try some gum boot throwing myself and I actually wasn't half bad. It's all in the wrist...:)

Stray Friends

On my travels with Stray I met some really fun, interesting people from around the world. Here are a few pictures of those friends. Colleen and Tracy (both have dark hair) are from Portland, OR. Lara and Ryan are from England, Ruth from Ireland and BP, our driver, is from Auckland. Everyone else is from all over. One of my favorite things to do during my travels was to ask everyone who was from a different country what the main differences were that they saw in me and how I talk and I would tell them of my observations. I have a notebook full of all these words and what they mean in different countries. Pretty funny! It's amazing how we might all speak English, but yet each country has it's own slang.

Some examples from NZ include:

"Keen"- excited or ready for it
"trolley"-shopping cart
"jumper"-sweatshirt
"jandals"-sandals
"togs"-swim suit
"Give way"-yield
"sunnies"-sunglasses
"mate"-friend
"cueue"-line up
"sweet as"-It's all good

There are plenty more differences, but I will list more later.

Along the way...

So I think I have highlighted all the main stops of my trip in NZ, but there were a lot of cool places that we stopped at along the way that I want to share with you all. So much beauty in New Zealand! It was seriously so neat to experience God's creation so powerfully each and every day!

The pictures are in order from bottom to top of this list.
1. Don't remember the name, but a HOT water creek in the middle of the bush. Seriously too hot to go in. So weird!
2. Mud/thermal pools near National Park in the North Island
3. Punakaiki Rocks, aka Pancake Beach.
4. Blue Pools- Glacier fed pools. Extremely cold, but so clear and well worth jumping into. The bridge getting to them was kinda sketchy though.
5. Queen Elizabeth Park-Looked like a nice beach to relax on.
6. Knight's Peak Lookout-Views a secluded beach at the bottom of a cliff.
7. Mt. Cook- NZ's tallest peak and where Sir Edmund Hillary trained before climbing Mt. Everest. It was pretty cloudy the day I was there, so the peak is kinda hard to see.
8. Lake Matheson- You are not supposed to be able to distinguish the real image from the reflection because it is that clear!
9. Kawarau Bridge- Home of the first commercial bungy jump. Scary!
10. Church of the Good Shepard at Lake Tekapo- One of the oldest churches in NZ. Supposedly there is an 8 year waiting list if you want to get married there!

Okay, so I think the pictures are out of order. I will try and figure that out soon. Bear with me as I get used to this blog thing.

Ponsonby and The Brown Kiwi

My last day/night in New Zealand was spent in Auckland. I stayed at this cute, homey hostel called the Brown Kiwi. I was supposed to have stayed in it my first night in Auckland at the beginning of my trip, but since all the delays occurred it never happened. So my last night I finally made it to TBK. I spend the day walking around posh Ponsonby, which is a suburb of Auckland. Lots of fancy little cafes and bars, boutique shops and fashionable people all around. It was fun to check out the city and just relax for a day before heading to Australia.

Christchurch

It was long bus ride to Christchurch, but fine otherwise. I was on my own again, but it was good. To be honest I really wasn't that impressed by Christchurch, except for Christchurch Cathedral. Maybe I just didn't have enough time to see all of the good stuff in the city, I don't know, but it just seemed kinda dirty and sketchy if you walked out of the center of town. Oh well. I visited the cathedral and walked around Cathedral Square which was cool. The architecture of the cathedral was very intricate and detailed. I flew out of Christchurch the next morning and made it to Auckland safely.

Queenstown

My day in Queenstown was the last day I got to spend with my original bus driver and friends. Queenstown is a nice city, full of restaurants and shops and is nestled on the shores of crystal clear Lake Wakatipu and in the midst of the Remarkables mountain range. After checking in to our hostel, I walked around town with Lara. We got ice cream from this amazing place called Patagonia Chocolates- Waffle cones and big scoops! Anyway, that night Lara, Ruth and I treated ourselves to a nice meal out since we had been cooking in dinky little hostel kitchens for a couple weeks. It was nice to go out and eat some good food. I was sad to leave my bus and the people I had connected with, but we had a good night hanging out and I'm glad that I actually had met people that I would miss. The next morning I caught another bus to Christchurch, which would be my last destination in NZ before flying back to Auckland. These pictures are of the Remarkables, but it was kinda rainy and dark and I was on the bus while I took them, so they really don't do justice to just how "remarkable" they are. Sorry!

Makarora

By Feb. 12th I was well into the South Island of NZ. I stayed at the Makarora Wilderness Resort, which is nestled amongst native bush right on the edge of the Mount Aspiring National Park. The day we got into town I decided to go jet boating down the Wilkin and Makarora Rivers. Jet boating consists of skimming along in just inches of water at about 30-40km. With the pristine river valleys and rugged ice capped mountains the surroundings were breathtaking! It was super fun to go so fast in such shallow water. The boat driver would also get really close to the river banks and do 360 degree spins which were exhilarating! This one older lady got on the boat thinking she was just going for a leisurely cruise down the river. Let's just say she was in for a surprise and wasn't too happy about it! Wouldn't the word JET before the word BOAT make you question it a little? Anyway, she didn't ruin our ride or anything, I just thought it was something to note.