Dunedin

I arrived in Dunedin 3 days ago and so far I like it :)) It's quite big city, 2nd biggest in the South Island and quite beautiful as well. There are lots of old buildings and people seem nice and friendly too. My hostel here though is probably the crappiest hostel I've ever been to... It's stuck in the 1960, smells like an old attic, moldy, and the rooms are freaking cold here as well. I feel like sleeping in the fridge, I'm so cold during the night I have to sleep with my fleece jacket and gloves on. I wish I had a hat, I'd put that on as well. The heating system they have in there is crap. The electricity in the room stays on only for 45min, so last night I got up pretty much every 45min to put the heating back on.. that's what you have to do in order to get at least a bit warmth in the room, but it doesn't help a lot, the ceiling is too high for that to warm up the whole room. I booked the room for 4 nights so I have to deal with it one more night and then I'm changing in to a different hostel.

I decided to stay few more days here in Dunedin, as I'm not really in a hurry to go anywhere, so why not :) There's a lot more to do in this town than there is in Wanaka. They even got McDonalds here and loads of other restaurants to choose from. I think I already tried everything they have in Wanaka, so it's a nice change to get something else to eat in here :D

Yesterday I went to this Wildlife Tour that lasted for 5hours, we left at 1pm and got back a bit after 6pm. First we went to this Albatross Centre, where we got to see Royal Albatross chicks that they are protecting there from the predators. Unfortunately no adult Royal Albatross on site, but it was nice anyway to hear a bit about the work they do there in order to protect these animals. Then we drove on to this private property only this company has access to to check out some other wildlife animals they have here. We got to see furry seals (they were adorable, I wanted to take one home with me!!), sea lions (huge and a bit scary, we got really close to those guys!!), Yellow Eyed Penguins (cute little creatures :)) and we saw some Pukekos (these funny looking birds) on the way too. So all and all a very nice trip :)) We had to go up and down some hills so there was a lot of walking involved, but somehow I managed to survive all that ;D

I haven't done much else here so far, I went to the movies one day and I've been just walking around the city, doing some window shopping and that sort of thing :) Tonight there's a Midwinter Carnival here in the city centre with some performances and live music, fireworks and that sort of thing, so I'm definately heading there to see what kind of festival that is. I'll take my camera with me and in case I get some nice shots, I'll add them to facebook later on :) I have lots of pictures from the wildlife tour as well, I'm just having a bit of difficulties on connecting to the internet with my laptop at the moment, so as soon as I can get it to work, I'll be uploading those first. I think my laptop is coming to an end of it's life... I'm not sure how much longer will it last, there's some signs already it might be a goner soon... :(( I just hope it will hang on until the end of my trip.

Speaking of the end of my trip, I've been seriously thinking of maybe coming home next month. Getting a job seems to be impossible around here and frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of even trying... So summer at home seems more and more tempting. I'm just having hard time making a decision for sure. And I think I need to make it fast so I can book my flights. Another one of these moments when it's tough being alone... oh well, we'll see what happens I guess, I'll try to come up with something next week. If you have anything that will make my mind come to a some kind of conclusion, let me know, I'd appreciate a bit of a help here :))

That's all for now, see you later alligators!! <3

Homesickness...

Yes, today it finally hit me, homesickness. I just realized how much I miss home, I miss my family, my friends, our dogs, my godsons and goddaughter, my little nieces and nephews... oh man, I miss it all. Me and my sister used to talk on the phone pretty much everyday (even though we saw each other pretty much every day :)) and now I haven't talked with her in ages!! And I miss talking to my best friends too... :( I wish one of them were here so I could figure out what to do. I've been in Wanaka over a week now and I've applied for few positions I'd really like to have, but I haven't heard back from them yet. The ski season hasn't started yet, as there's still on important element missing; the snow, so that's one of the main reasons there's no jobs around here now. And I also heard that you really have to know people around here to get a job, so with connections mainly. That sucks for lonely travellers such as my self.

I'm still surviving with money, but that's only 'cause I get help from home (thank goodness I have a loving and supporting family, I'm blessed). But I do feel I can't keep on with this for much longer, so I'm actually thinking of going back home soon.. I'd hate to quit, but I don't know what else to do. And going home when it's summer there doesn't sound bad at all to me :) And I do know people there miss me too, so going back to that sounds pretty good to me right about now :)) I'm happy I got to be here for so long already, it was more than a holiday and I've got to see loads of places around this whole country, I've met loads of awesome people (new friends, yey!) and I've done lots of things and I have so many lovely memories of this country already <3 I do love it, I absolutely love New Zealand. It's a beautiful country filled with souch a friendly people and I'm super happy that I came here. And I know already, I'd love to come again some day :)
Hmm, I think I've just managed to cheer my self up a bit :)) hih, ok, I don't feel so bad now just thinking about all I've got to experience in this place so far :))

So tomorrow I'm heading out again, I'm going to the east coast, to a second largest city of South Island, called Dunedin. I've heard it's a nice place and I want to go and check it out for my self. It's not included in my Kiwi Experience bus pass, so I just ordered bus tickets from the tourist information centre and booked my self a hostel online. I'll be there for 4 nights and then I'm thinking of coming back to Wanaka, to see if any of those job applications I've sent out paid off. But I'll decide that once I'm in Dunedin, maybe I'll like that place so much that I wanna stay there for a while, who knows! :)) I'm keeping my eyes and options open, going as I want to and doing what makes me happy (to avoid these homesickness days when everything just seem to fall apart). Let's call this my plan D, :D I've never had to change my plans so many times as I have here, but hey, life doesn't always turn out the way you've planned it, right? Sometimes you just need to change your plans and go with the flow. See what life brings in front of you the next day. Well, wasn't this a lovely 'dear diary' moment...
I better stop now and try go to sleep soon, as I need to get up early tomorrow to catch that bus to Dunedin. I'll let you know how it is once I get there and will be taking some pictures too to put in to Facebook :)) See you laters alligators, love ya!! :)) <3 *Loads of hugs and kisses*

Earthquake!

Today, Monday 13th June 2011, I experienced my very first earthquake ever here in Wanaka, South Island, New Zealand. I was sitting at a cafe when all of a sudden I thought I felt a bit lightheaded, like my head was spinning. I looked up and saw how the lamps hanging from the ceiling were swinging from side to side and this guy sitting next to me saw the expression in my face (which was pretty much 'what the heck was that?') and said; yes, I felt that too. Was so surreal, it wasn't really like the ground was trembling, but it was more like swinging. Kind of like being in a boat on a heavier waves, just rocking from side to side. It didn't last long though, it was over before you even realized it was an earthquake. I'm glad it was a small one, these I can handle, I don't even want to experience the bigger ones... I heard they had another big one again today in Chirstchurch :( That city doesn't seem to get a break from those big earthquakes... I'm glad I'm not going there. I heard it's pretty much like a ghosttown now days anyways..

The last update I wrote on this blog was from Franz Josef so an quick update after that: From Franz Josef we came to Wanaka. Now I absolutely fell in love with this place after just few minutes when walking around this lovely little town and I spend two nights in here. Then I left to go to Queenstown to check that place out and to meet with my friends from the bus. I spend 4 nights in Queenstown, but I wans't really exited about that place. And I got sick there too, it was really, really cold down there! The best thing about Queenstown was the famous Fergburger. Seriously, the best burger ever!! :D So everybody going to Queenstown, you HAVE to try it, it's so freaking good. So after few days in this city, I decided I don't like it that much and that I preferred Wanaka so I booked a bus ticket back to this lovely little town :)) Oh and the hostel in Queenstown was the worst ever, so that was probably one of the reasons as well that I didn't like it. I'm much happier here in Wanaka now. I even got the same room back I stayed in the last time I was here and again, all to my self :)) It has a bathroom and shower in it too, so it kind of feels like my own place now :)) I hope I'll get to keep it to my self for a while at least. I'm trying to look for a job here, but as the winter ski season hasn't started yet (usually there's snow on the ground by now, but this year the winter seems to be a bit late), the town is pretty quiet and it's hard to find a job now. I went to the job agency today and the lady told me to come back in 2-3 weeks when the town will get more busier, to see if they have something then. Apparently no one is hiring at the moment... I'll just have to keep my eyes open and hope something will come up soon!! So I'll get back to you when I have something new to report :) I'll have to stop writing now as my internet is cutting me off every 10minutes and it's driving me nuts!! :) See you later alligators!! <3

Franz Josef, Heli-Hike 3.6.2011

We arrived to Franz Josef yesterday and as it was such a nice weather (unlike today, it's been raining all day now) we got to do our Heli-Hike trip in the afternoon. We go in to the office a bit before 1pm and we went to get our gear on, boots, jackets and pants on (all waterproof as it is a warm glacier so you have water ponds here and there) and got on the helicopter. This was my first time ever in a helicopter (that's one reason I wanted to do this option, instead of just a hiking trip up to the glacier) and it was pretty cool. It was kind of like being in a rollercoaster :D

The helicopter took us all the way up on the glacier and then started to zigzag down. We landed on the glacier where there were two guides waiting for us. The hiking part in the glacier was about 2h 30min and we got to see waterfall and some pretty cool ice caves :) I went though the first ice cave they took us to and was pretty close to get a really bad panic attact so I didn't want to go through any of the other caves they took us to. It was really narrow and you had to slide down on your stomach, holding the rope and trying not to slip on your way down. It was horrible, I was hanging on to that rope like my life depended on it and I absolutely hated it. Claustrofobia kicked in hard. But I survived :D Walking up on the glacier wasn't what I expected. It was kind of like walking on the soft snow instead of slipping on the ice, as I thought. We did have the spike thingys on our boots, which were really good. But it was also hard as you had to really stomp with your feet to get a grip on the ice and snow so you wouldn't slip. This two hour something walk was just hard enough for me (as I'm not fit enough to do any demanding hikes), so I was happy not to sign in for the half or full day hikes for today :) After the hike, we got back down with the helicopter again and finally got to the hostel. I hadn't been eating since breakfast at 11am and we got back to the hostel at 5pm so I was starving already :D

So all and all, I enjoyed my Heli-Hike experience, I thought it was too expensive, but hey, you only live once, right? :)) Tomorrow we're heading down to Wanaka and I'll be spending there few days before going to my final destination (for now), Queenstown. So I'll write again, when I have something to report about. C ya!! <3

My very first SKYDIVE!!!!

Tuesday 31.5.2011 Nelson, South Island, NZ
I still can't believe this my self, but I actually jumped off from an airplane at 16,500 ft few days ago in Nelson!!! I've never ever wanted to do skydive before, but now I've been thinking about it since Taupo as many of my friends did it when we were in Taupo and told me it was great. After that I still thought I'm not going to do it, as it's not something I've always wanted to do and I don't want to do something I think I might not enjoy of (like for example bungy jump, no way!!).

So we were driving along on a Kiwi Experience bus on Tuesday, heading to Nelson and the bus driver started talking about the skydive you can do in Nelson. It's the highes one you can do in this country, 16,500ft when in other placed like Taupo you can get up to 15,000ft. It was an absolutely gorgeous day that day, sunshine and blue sky, so the driver said if you're ever going to do it, do it today as the scenery will be absolutely amazing. So I thought about it for a while, was worried about the money (as they are quite expensive, but then again, not as expensive as it would be in Finland for example) and then decided 'oh why not' :D

I got a bit nervous when we got closer to the place where we were going to be picked up from, but I was also starting to look forward to it. So we were picked up with a minivan and driven to the skydiving place. It all happened super fast once we got there as it was closer to 4pm and they had to get us up in the sky as fast as possible to get some nice photos and videos before it got too dark. So we got in, got our suit and harness on and off we went on to the teeny-tiny airplane (could barely fit the 6of us in). I was scared that it would be just horrible to be in that small plane as I'm claustrofobic as well as not so fond of small planes, but it wasn't actually bad at all. Once we got higher and higher, then I started to feel nervous again and a bit nauseous too. They gave us oxygen with a mask when we got up, just before we jumped out of the plane. There was only me and one other girl jumping and she was the first one to get off the plane. Oh and we both had our own camera mans as well, to shoot our videos :) So Astrid was the first to jump of the plane with her instructer and camera man and man, that was wild to see them jump off knowing it's gonna be your turn next and there's no other option than to jump :D So we got to the door, there was a camera on the wing to take our picture, I was told to grab my harness and bend my legs under the plane, the guy on my back counted to 3 and off we went. The first few seconds were absolutely the worst thing ever. I think I even closed my eyes for a second we jumped from the plane, it was just so scary!!! :D But when we got to the 'flying part' and I got to put my arms out to the sides, it was pretty damn AWESOME!! Camera guy was all over us during that freefall taking pictures and recording that video and I was just smiling and giving him thumbs up :D I absolutely enjoyed every second of it and was so surprised I didn't scream or started swearing or anything :)

When we opened the parachute, that was another part I didn't like that much, as you get pulled up really fast, so that was kind of a nasty feeling for a second or so, but once it was open, you couldn't help but see how amazing the view was. We were so freaking high up, it was a bit scary, but I still loved it :) It came down surprisingly fast as well and I was smiling like an idiot all the way down :) When we landed and the camera guy (who was already down there waiting for us) asked how it was, I think my words were 'that was awesome!' :D And my video turned out great, better than I thought it would be as they edited it and added music to it, so it's really cool. I can't wait to get home and show it to everybody!!!

So that was my first skydive, would't mind doing it again some day ;D I do recommend it to everybody now, it should be in your bucket list if it's not there already :)))

TransScenic train to Wellington and LOTR-tour

I got up super early on Sunday morning to take the train down to Wellington at 7.25am. It was one of these TransScenic trains they have here, so it had big windows and an outdoor area to take pictures of the beautiful landscapes we passed by. And I didn't know this before hand, but they also tell you about the places you pass by, which I think is really good. So it's just not that you get to watch out the window, but you hear about what you see as well. I was a bit scared at first as it is as 12hour ride on the train, but it really didn't feel that long. I was reading my book and taking pictures, so the time went by faster for me :) We got to go out on some of the stations to stretch our legs and we also got 30min lunch brake around 1pm. The only bad part about the train ride was that it really, REALLY wasn't a pleasant drive. The train was shaking from side to side like all the time and not just a bit, a LOT. Everytime I got up to go to the toilet or restaurant car, I was bouncing from side to side hitting my legs and arms on the seats on each side. I even got neuseas which I normally don't in a train, so I had to take travel sickness pill... I would rather not go through that experience again. I was lucky to get the ticket cheap, I think it's normally around 130dollars, but I got it for 49 (sorry I've lost my dollar sign on the keyboard), so it wasn't that bad at least. I hope that I got at least few decent pictures from along the way, which I'll be posting to facebook asap.

Today, Monday 30th May, I went first thing in the morning to the i-Site centre (tourist information point) to book my self that LOTR-tour that I didn't get to take when I was in Wellington the last time. That was in the afternoon, so in the morning I went to the Weta Cave on my own. Got a free ride there from a tourguide that happened to be at the i-Site at the same time and over heard me saying I wanted to go there. So thanks Nathan for the ride :)) Weta Cave was nice, but it's a really small place, so there isn't that much to see. Good thing is that it's for free :) And they show you this 'behind the scenes' video and tell you a bit on how they make the special effects and masks and all that stuff.

After that, I got to the cable car (another thing I missed the last time as it was broken then) up to the mountain where you can get a view from the whole city and there's also Botanic Garden there. It was nice as it was a sunny day, so I think I got some cool shots from up there :) After that, it was time for lunch and then off to the tour. There was only me and one other person taking the tour :D So it was pretty private tour :D Our guide was cool, he knew all sorts of things from the movie and the actors I had no idea about. But boy, did he like to talk :D But then again, you have to, being in a profession like that :) But he was really nice, we talked a LOT about all kinds of movies, he seemed to be a bit of a movie freak him self too (again, quess you'd have to being in a profession like that :)) I liked getting all the new information behind the movies that I didn't know before. Some of the locations we got to see were actually looking familiar too, like that one scene where the Hobbits are on the road (from the first movie, only starting the journey when Merry and Pippin are joining with Frodo and Sam) and the black rider comes and they have to hide. That I actually did recognized. But then again for example Isengard is just a field with some trees and fresbee golf course on it :D So I'm afraid as there was nothing left to show that the movie was actually made in some places, it didn't really impress me that much. Only the parts I did recognize. And yeah, it is fun to know that you've been to some of the places where Legolas, Frodo, Arwen, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli and all the others have walked on :))

But hey, it's been a pleasure to write to you guys again, but I just noticed it's getting really late so I need to go to sleep, and soon. I have another super early wake up call tomorrow as the bus to the ferry leaves at 7am... Going to take the Interislander ferry down to the South Island :) I'll try to get back to updating my blog more again, as I'm gonna be travelling from a place to another pretty much every day for the next week or so :) So I'll let you know what I've been up to! :) C U <3

My very first Ta Moko

So as you probably know by now (if you're my friend in Facebook and check it pretty much every day as I do :)), I got my very first Ta Moko done last Saturday, 28th May!! It was my 6th tattoo, but my first Ta Moko, so it's a Maori design tattoo and one of a kind. The guy who did it (thanks Scotty from Otautahi Tattoo) freehanded it on my leg, which I thought was pretty awesome. And I absolutely LOVE it!!!! It's gorgeous, turned out better than I expected!! Still looking forward for it to heal properly, so you can see the shadings he did on it. Oh and it has a lot of meaning to it too, that's the cool part of it. It has my whole family on it, my sisters, my brother and my mom and dad <3 Now I can say they'll be with me where ever I go from now on :))) It's also got water element that represents my travelling, it has a symbol that represents like a new start in life (which this kind of is again, I'm in a country I don't know so I'm starting all over again) and it has this guardian on top, that protects my family. It's just awesome. Because all the symbols it has, it makes my other tattoos look... well, not that cool, as they're all just pictures, made with stensils, not freehanded. But I still do love all my tat's, they all mean a lot to me. This is just most meaningful of them all and no one else has it, it's unique. Can't wait to show it to my family and friends back home :)))