Weekend Bliss

Oh, the places you can go with two feet!  This weekend, I partook in my very first tramping excursion in New Zealand.  My friend Brady and I hiked Mount Cargill, which is located northeastern of the city centre of Dunedin.  We walked to the base of the trail, which is about 2.5 miles from my flat.  It was interesting to see a different side of the town, which is less commercialized and has touches of farmland and rolling green hills.  First, we had to hike through a gulley, then it turned into the steep incline that I missed so much.  It was such a relief not to have to be on the lookout for wildlife, as this area doesn’t really contain many predators on land.  There are quite a few birds though, and their cheerful songs kept me going…not really but in other words I wasn’t that annoyed by the chirping.  The summit was so chilly and the winds were so strong that you couldn’t stand still and enjoy the view for very long.  So we quickly snapped some photos and praised the scenery, and headed back down.  We took a different route back and it ended up coming out to this road that was about 3 miles from the place we went up the trail.  It was kind of a good accident, as we took a little countryside stroll through sheep farms, cattle land, and old buildings.  I kind of wanted to hitchhike for my first time, but figured I better save that for later when there is a little bit bigger group…mom don’t worry I still have some common sense left! J We made it back in 5.5 hours, with 13 miles of walking/tramping complete!  All in all, it was beautiful, fulfilling, and tiring.  Too bad my little sisters aren’t around to massage my feet!

My current favorite picture...

No camera can capture what the naked eye sees...

We met up with my neighbor and his friend near the top!

The Otago Peninsula

On our way back through the country part of Dunedin

These yellow flowers are prevalent here

Today, I took advantage of the day of rest and slept in.  Then I looked outside my window and was a bit disgusted with myself for wasting a BEA-U-TIFUL morning!  There was not a cloud in the sky all day and the temperature reached above 50, which is warm considering it is winter here.  So to make up for it, I got a group of people together via Facebook for a casual stroll up Signal Hill.  You would think with 7 people, we could have easily found our way to the trailhead, but that was not the case.  So thank the kind people of Dunedin for explaining to us a couple times how to get there! We ended up walking up a very steep road to get there, and then taking the trail back down.  It was definitely worth all the trouble.

The view from the top of Signal Hill

Fun people I met up with to hike!

I started school last Wednesday, and it is going just dandy!  All of my lecturers are enthusiastic and so much more fun than US professors.  My Maori lecturer said to “shout things at him whenever”.  I am not so excited to buy the books for the classes though…they are even more expensive here.  Life in my flat community is fun, and I have met a lot of cool people! We are going to start cooking dinners for each other about 4 nights a week, to ensure a healthy lifestyle without our mother’s home cooking!  In fact, I made the first dinner tonight and to be honest I was quite nervous.  Not to be partial or anything, but I thought it tasted pretty dang good!!

The meal I made--I needed to take a picture because I don't think anyone will believe that I made it! ;)

The first week has proved to be successful and I cannot wait to experience more of Dunedin and beyond!  Happy Sunday to all in the states…and to my family: We should have another joke night on skype soon J  Miss you! Kia Ora (the equivalent of Aloha here in NZ)!