Left Behind

Makarora

Please keep Samoa, Tonga, Indonesia, and Vietnam in your thoughts for today.

So Flash

Somewhere in the Golden Bay region.

Simplicity

Nelson

The Good One

I took this image in Christchurch while we were waiting for the Stray bus to come pick us up on the start of our journey (for the 2nd week of spring break at least). It was the first time in my life I could say that I was happy to be in Christchurch and meant it (although every time I said it I shuddered at the thought of being back at that other Christ Church in my life). I didn't get to spend much time in the city, but I am hoping to go back with my parents and visit the areas surrounding it.

Cheers

The internet was out all day today and yesterday I went on a day trip back to the Coromandel Peninsula. Anyway, here is the photo for today. I am sad to say I don't know exactly where I took it. I just know that I took it out of the window of the Stray bus on our way from Makarora to Queenstown (closer to Queenstown) while on spring break.

Koru

I don't have much time to write today because I have two papers due on the same day next week and I want to write one today (have I mentioned how much I miss the block plan - having Mondays and Fridays off are great, but having 4 different subjects at once is not). Anyway, this is an image I took while tramping in the Abel Tasman National Park. I like the fact that you can see the fern in the background as well as the spiral in the foreground - both national symbols of New Zealand. I promise to post more landscape images soon, but I took over 5,000 images so I'm still sorting through them and I haven't had much time lately. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed the ones I've put up so far!

Bogan

So, the last few posts have been named with New Zealand saying that have caught on with us Americans - or, at least we've tried to get to get in the habit of saying them. All I can say for boan though is to just look it up. I took this photo at Wharariki Beach (remember my other post here). In the photo is Ben again. I took this as the sun was setting and we were headed back to the car. You can see how rough the waters were that day, which made the whole expierence of Wharariki even more profound. We literally just sat and walked around the empty beach for 2 or 3 hours - losing track of time completely. With the elements extremely strong that day, everything seemed to be against us, but the beauty and isolation of the place kept us there. It was by far one of the most spectacular places I have visited to date. As Ben said, something about that day on that beach just made us understand a little bit better how the world works.

Dodgy

Oops, I forgot to update this morning. This is yet another image that I took through the car window on my IFSA-Butler adventure weekend (I promise we didn't spend all of our time in the car). More photos from my spring break are still to come!

Cheeky

You may recognize Mt. Doom (LOTR) in this photo, but it's really just Mt. Ngauruhoe. It had a lot less snow on it than a month ago when I went skiing, which hopefully means summer is coming fast to the North Island. Just like yesterday, this photo was taken from the car window while traveling on our adventure weekend... Now for Sunday, we woke up bright and early, had breakfast, packed up, got geared up, and headed out to a gorgeous river to do some white water rafting. Our guide said the water was murkier than usual, but I still thought it was beautiful (I swear this country has the most beautiful water I've ever seen). We rafted all morning and into the early afternoon, I had never done it before but I was awesome. The rapids were pretty mild, but still got us soaked sometimes. We also came to some gentle water where we were allowed to swin - er, to put more precisely, I was thrown into the water (apparently it's customary to throw the birthday girl into the beyond freezing water). Well, eventually everyone in our raft ended up in the water and it was refreshing even if I couldn't feel my hands or feet for a while afterwards. Overall, the river was absolutely gorgeous as were its surroundings and I had blast. Anyone up for rafting with me when I get back to the states?

Choice

I know I have barely posted any photos of my spring break yet. However, I had to take a break from sorting through them to show you a photo from this weekend. I took this out of the car window while driving through Taupo on the way back from our IFSA-Butler adventure weekend. In the background you can spot Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Ngauruhoe (left to right).

We left Friday night to head down to the Tongariro National Park region for our adventures. On Saturday we were supposed to do the Tongariro Crossing; however, the weather had other plans for us. Instead we did a less intense tramp, but it was still fun (however, I don't have many photos from the tramp due to clouds & very numb hands). After the tramp we went caving, which had to be one of the coolest experiences I've had in NZ so far. We split up into small groups and headed into a cave with a guide. We had to use our own flashlights and we got to see glowworms without other tourists breathing down our necks (like Waitomo). However, the best part was when our guide left my group in the cave, telling us to find our own way back (by following the water). We had to crawl through minuscule openings and extremely cold water. Gratification was ours when we managed to climb up a waterfall in the dark and through the smallest opening I think I've ever gotten my body through and saw light. We ended the day with a soak in some hot pools (as we do after every event), some homemade pizzas, and great conversations. As for Sunday, I'll write about that tomorrow.

PS: You may remember my other posts from skiing at Whakapapa: Blessed, Look Directly Into It, Break Time, Perfect, An Ad, Drama, and Watch Out.

Layers

Another short post today because I am way way too busy. This photo was taken at Wharariki Beach, in the Golden Bay area of the South Island. I won't be able to post this weekend because I'll be off tramping and white-water rafting for IFSA-Butler's adventure weekend.

High Tide

So, Ben and I missed the water taxi we were supposed to take in order to do a day tramp, but instead of freaking out, we just took a few photos and then found another place to head off to (the Golden Bay area, which turned out to be absolutely amazing). This photo was actually taken during high tide, but during low tide, the tide falls back so much that you can literally drive on the sand for quite a distance. I'm pretty sure the sign was talking about the street, but I'd like to think that there are some people who would attempt to camp on the sand, only to wake up to waves. I guess I just enjoy amusing mental images.

Picture Frame

There are several well-known tips for always getting an interesting photograph. One of those is to frame your subject, so I did that here. Actually, I wasn't wondering into the cave just to frame these cool rocks on the beach; I just wanted to explore. However, when I turned around to walk out I realized I could get a great shot. I took this on Stilwell Bay in the Abel Tasman National Park. On this day, Ben and I tramped a little over 12km to the Bay and back; it was absolutely unspeakably gorgeous.

Park Bench

This is a bench in a park in Queenstown. I want to move there - it's the perfect mix of adventures, skiing, and water. Absolutely wonderful. Now I have to awake from daydreaming and get to class.

Model Pose

On our way from Nelson to Christchurch, Ben and I stopped to spend a night in Kaikoura. I instantly fell in love with it (you'll read that statement a lot in the coming posts). Once we got there, we met up with two other friends, Lauren and Jill, and went to a seal colony to hang out and take photos. Then, Lauren, Jill, and I decided that we wanted to wake up to see the sunrise - one of the best decisions made during my break. We woke up the next morning - not so bright, but very early - and went back to the seal colony. I'm a skier in Colorado, which means I get to see my fair share of sunrises in the rocky mountains on winter mornings that I didn't think could compare with anything else. However, I was wrong. Not only did I get to see snow capped mountains turn to gold, I also got to expierence the waves crashing at their bases while seagulls and seals wondered why we were disturbing their peace. It sounds like a scene from some Disney princess movie, but it was ten times better than that. On our way out of the parking lot, we noticed a group of very large (to say the least) seals and had to stop to capture them on our cameras. This was one of them...

Click Here to read an inspirational blog. It is written by Lisa Ray, who has been one of my favorite actresses ever since I saw Water (you may remember my blog post about it: here). Most people who know me, know that I love actors and actresses that haven't quite made it big; because when an actor or actress's high-profile personality gets bigger than his or her talent, it's time for me to tune out. I no longer see the character, I just see whoever is playing them. However, Lisa Ray is different. I have now seen five of her films and I never notice her, the actress, I notice and connect to her characters - that is what I consider great acting. However, now I am paying attention to her for another reason: because she's not afraid to talk about what the rest of us are afraid bout: cancer. Every single person I know has been effected by it, one way or another, which is probably what makes it so difficult to talk about it. However, if you still can't talk about it, at least you can read about it on Lisa Ray's incredible blog.

Droplet

This is pretty much the ultimate New Zealand image. The silver fern is New Zealand's national emblem and one can see it literally everywhere. I took this photo while tramping in the Abel Tasman National Park after a bit of rain had come through. I have tried to get so many fern photographs, but not that many seem to turn out well, so I was very excited when I saw that this one did. Abel Tasman is a marvalous area, with more beaches than one can count and so much more. Ben and I went on a tramp over 12km one day in the park and we didn't even see a 3rd of it. More photos of the beattuiful landscape of the South Island to come, so keep coming back!

Check out my youtube page for two videos I uploaded from the break (one of bungy jumping, one of skydiving): http://www.youtube.com/crescentcompositions
Click Here for my facebook album (mainly photos of friends on the trip).

The Elements

Just got back to Auckland after spending two wonderful weeks exploring the South Island. This is just a taste of photos to come. I took this while exploring caves on Wharariki Beach, easily the most spectacular beach I have ever seen in my life. The elements were in full force: the wind was pushing us off of our feet as the rain played stop-and-go with us while we ventured into different areas of the beach. In the photo is Ben, who I spent the first week of my spring break with. However, now I have to go to laundry and start working on the papers I have to write in the next two weeks, so you will have to wait for more information about how incredible the South Island is.