You First...

This is another image from my spring break trip to the South Island (seems like only yesterday... or 2 months ago...what?). I took this somewhere between Franz Joseph and Makarora. Though it's beautiful, the West Coast is barely populated because of its ruggedness (yea, I want to see you trying to make it down to that beach...). I was reminded of this photo because my parents are coming to visit on the 21st, but only have two weeks to hit the best spots in New Zealand. You see, I haven't planned a trip since I've been here, I've just pointed at a map and headed in the correct direction (thank goodness for isites!). However, now I have to be a giver of advice and it have become more complicated than I anticipated. Apparently my subjective opinion is acting as an invisibility cloak over reality. Where is my enthusiasm from my arrival back in Auckland after an amazing two weeks in the South Island? I wanted to show my parents everything then, yet now I find myself being overly critical and selective. Yikes! (did studying change me that much!?!) I think my issue is that I want to be outdoors, tramping, taking photos, and letting the earth calm my soul before I just back into the excessive culture that is the states. Yet my parents are more keen on seeing everything possible (who can blame them though, this country is amazing).

My solution: come back to New Zealand after graduation with a friend who wants to live out of a campervan for a bit and do some real tramping and camping... any takers? please?

PS: I'm free! Exams are over! Time to let off the steam built up from cabin fever! However, I had a "poetic" moment (as Ben C. put it) yesterday when I took my last exam (for my favourite class, Politics and Media) in the same lecture hall that we had International Student Orientation in... I began and ended my sweet as semester at Auckland Uni in the same room... choice, bro.

Also, I'm very much looking forward to this documentary (and I don't say that often): Anne Perry - Interiors

No Worries

Continuing with the animal theme... these are some pretty chill seals outside of Kaikoura. If I had a wall of water coming at me I don't think I'd be scratching me ear (maybe that's just me). At any rate, I was delightfully and gently woken up today by the WSA fire alarm (sarcasm heavily intended). Note to whoever: when a fire alarm goes off, "fire alarm activated, stand by for further assistance," is probably not the best automated advice to give over the intercom. Something along the lines of, "fire alarm activated, get your butt outside," might do the trick.

Oh well, these made me feel better for having to wake up so early: Graphs of Favourite Songs

Stradbroke Shade

The rest of my Stradbroke Island posts had a double "S," so I thought this one should too.

Hard to Resist

I was feeling a bit nostalgic last night while looking for an image to post today, so I peaked back into my orientation folder (we spent time the first 3 days overcoming jet lag and shock in Shakespear Regional Park). It's hard to believe that my semester at the University of Auckland will be complete in 2 exams and 4 days, and I'll be departing the land of the long white cloud in 27 days. This is when I ask myself, "wtf?" Where did all of the time go? I loved glancing at a few of the photos from the first days in New Zealand because I remember taking them and being so overwhelmed about standing on land all the way around the world (on the edge of the world as I've learned New Zealanders view it) with completely new people and knowing I was going to be here for what seemed like an extremely long time. Now I'm sitting here wondering, what the hell was I thinking? 5 months is an extremely minuscule amount of time. Thinking about everything that I still want to do is making it harder and harder to get myself into the land of hardcovers and silence (aka the library). I never actually knew what studying was until I came to AU and met some kiwis, they motivated me for a bit when classes got out, but I'm quickly losing steam; the 21 year-old American in me is saying, "who cares about studying when spring is upon us?" (Is this perhaps why we're called "lazy Americans"?) In addition, this video is highly distracting: They Just Turned Life Into A Musical

Bouncing Colour

Another spring break photo for today. I took this photograph while on a boat tour of the Milford Sounds. It was a pretty cold and rainy day, but that didn't diminish the wonders of the area for a second - in fact, it may have made the sites even grander. It was quite possibly one of the most magnificent places I have ever been (even if there are way too many tourists), so I didn't think any of the images that I took did it justice. Therefore I decided upon posting this photo simply because it shows the atmosphere of the day and I liked how you can see the picture that he is taking on the back of the camera (any one who knows me knows I love taking photos of people taking photos).

Walking Along

I took this photo over spring break while in Queenstown. The afternoon we arrived I dropped my bags off at the hostel and immediately headed out to see the town. I ended up finding the beautiful lake shore and a path that took me into a park. I was expecting to explore, but I wasn't expecting to have such a spiritual experience. There was just something about the town that made me beyond ecstatic. The beautiful lake, the mounains rising straight out of it, the great people all combined to make me peacefully happy and never want to leave the place. However, it could have also been the fact that by this point in time I had already signed up to jump off a 134m platform with nothing but a rubber rope tied to me the next morning...

Stradbroke Shark

So, Kaite and I thought that the Aussies on Stradbroke Island were just trying to see how gullible two Americans could be when they told us that a shark had washed up on the beach. Well... apparently, there actually was a shark down the beach from us. We finally saw it and marveled at it on our walk into town. The back half of its body was gone, as well as its eyes and all of its teeth (people had taken them I presume). At one point I did see one of its teeth still in and I got closer to grab it, but then.... the smell hit me. Ten times worse than anything my nose has ever encountered before. I couldn't handle it and therefore backed away without the tooth, oh well. Needless to say, this encounter made us really eagar to get in the water... oh, wait... haha

Water

I've been pretty slack this week on posting images, but it's been hectic around here. Every time I think it's going to calm down, the work load just picks up again. It's hard to believe that I only have two week left of classes (although, my last exam is not until the 11th of nov.) I took this image outside of Makarora, on the South Island over spring break. I liked the reflection on the lake as well as the steam rising off of it. It also ties in nicely to a link I want to share with you. I check the blog http://artisticthings.com weekly, it has some pretty out there stuff on it, but I always find something on it that absolutely blows my mind. Today I went searching the blog and landed on a link to Elena Kalis Photography. Her skill and creativity astounds me, I cannot stop looking at her photographs. Anyway, I just had to show y'all the link.

Unfortunately, the slack in updates is going to continue until Wednesday, because I will be just outside of Brisbane for the weekend. My main mission: to hug a koala. I hope you enjoy the links and I apologize again for being so lazy with updating!

Rope And A Hard Place

While exploring the island on the Stray Bus, we took a day hike/climb on the Franz Joesph Glacier. Once fully equipped with crampons, we made our way up the glacier, zigzagging along. It was tons of fun and an awesome way to get a work out. The ice and surrounding mountains were beautiful... but we did get in a few situations. I can see why they don't allow this in North America, but they definitely should. Why play it safe when you can have fun?

As beautiful as New Zealand is, you can only find these landscapes in the States: Huffington Post. I feel so fortunate to have visited all but 3 of these parks (thank you Block Breaks!)

Mirror Image

Mirror Lake - can you guess where it got it's name?

I promise longer posts next week, but this week has been crazy! So much work to do... it's hard to believe I only have 3 weeks left of classes and then 2 weeks of exams. I can't wait for classes to be over, but I'm really no where near ready to leave yet.

So Flash

Somewhere in the Golden Bay region.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Stripes

Lots of work to do before break!

Beauty Rethought

On Sunday I went to the Auckland Zoo with some friends and got this beautiful photo of a peacock. Most of the time people focus on the peacock's gorgeous tail feathers, but I believe their head is just as beautiful... so, that's what I got a shot of. For me, going to the zoo is much more a spiritual experience than most. I have been so lucky that I have been able to travel and see many animals in their natural habitat. So, every time I go to a zoo it is bitter sweet, especially when walking through the "pride lands". I love seeing the animals, there is something so magically peaceful yet curious about them, but I despise seeing the wire and metal surrounding them. I am glad zoos are working together to help endangered species, but I am devastated that humans as a whole are working against almost all animals. By the end of my trips to the zoo, I begin to think of what humans are doing to each other - we treat each other like we treat animals. What right does anyone have to kill, lock up, control, and interfere with others (human and animal alike)? I apologize for the rant, but I guess, in the end, I just don't understand why love and equality are so controversial.