New Zealand 2006: September 2006

weekend at Lake Brunner

Last weekend I spent at Lake Brunner, on the west coast of the South Island. My Rotary host counselor Valda, and her husband Rex own a bach (cottage) in Moana, the small community on the shore of Lake Brunner. We had a really relaxing weekend- on Saturday we went out of their boat and I water skiied a bit but it was freezing! I was wearing a 3mm wet suit but it the water was a mere 52F (11C) and my hands were numb after about 20min. We did a bit of fishing and caught 3 brown trout!

The west coast is well known for its mining and fishing- a lot of coal and gold mining went on there in the mid-late 1800s. The Brunner coal mine (pic below) is an old mine that is not a heritage site- a lot of the old machinery is still there. We also went to Nelson Lakes gold area- they used huge water cannon to cut out deep trenches in the hillside and then washed the gold out with water and filtered it. There are countless of these deep crevases in the hillside, some of which were also dug by hand using rock picks.

On Sunday (in the rain) we drove north to the Punakaiki blow holes and even though the weather wasn't great, we were there just at high tide so it was pretty impressive!

Enjoy the pictures...

cheers-
s.

Punakaiki Blowholes

Water Cannon for gold mining- Nelson Lakes area

Brunner coal mine

me and my somewhat slimey brown trout!

Water skiing on Lake Brunner--there was actually snow on the mountains around the lake and I could see my breath...insane.

Rugby!

Spring did start on September 1 and even though there are still from frigid nights and frosty mornings, it’s definitely getting warmer! I spoke at the Bishopdale-Burnside Rotary club last week and was invited to the rugby game on Sunday at Jade Stadium- Canterbury v. Counties Manakau. Their club has a contract with the stadium to sell programs before each game. Daisy and I went along on Sunday afternoon and after donning some very attractive gear we were off to shout “programs for sale!” for the next two hours outside the stadium. It was actually pretty fun and we met some interesting rugby fans. A lot of people thought that a) the programs were free, or b) that I worked at the stadium…so it made my job interesting! The best part was that we got into the game for free and I sat beside an avid rugby fan so I picked up some tips on how the game works.

cheers-
s.

Sydney and Melbourne

During the second week of our two week midterm break (I love this school schedule), I met mum in Aussie! We had a great week of sight-seeing, eating, and of course, shopping! I flew direct from Christchurch to Sydney (at 7am) and then had the joy of getting held up at immigration in Sydney, apparently because of some problem with my Canadian passport. After getting told by a man in an official uniform that he was “sending me home” (although I’m not even sure where he would send me) I was able to leave his little office, collect my bags and walk out into the sunshine of Sydney. The first thing I noticed is that Australia is, overall, much warmer than New Zealand. In Sydney we took in all the sights, the famous Opera House, the Rocks (cool market area), Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, the SkyTower…the list goes on. We took the ferry to Many, a cute little beach town about 30min from downtown. One night we saw the Sydney Symphony perform in the Opera House which was impressive to say the least.
After our whirlwind tour of Sydney we flew to Melbourne (on the southeast coast) for a few days. I really enjoyed Melbourne, although I think I preferred Sydney! We checked out the downtown area which includes Bourke Street mall, an outdoor pedestrian mall, and the Immigration Museum a really cool interactive museum that tells the story of people who settled Australia…the convicts and all. We also spent a day down at the beach in St. Kilda- complete with a great boardwalk and cute cafes!
We had 6 great days in the land of Oz which definitely wasn’t enough time to see even half of what there was to see…and that’s just in two cities! I’ll be going back for sure…

cheers-

s.

Downtown Sydney, Circular Quay

Sydney Opera House + rainbow

Harbour Bridge, Sydney

Mum checking out the view from the SkyTower, Sydney

St. Kilda's beach, just south of Melbourne

blenheim and nelson Rotary week

We had a midterm break for two weeks (August 18-September 4) and for the first week, I headed up to the "Top of the South", the area of beautiful vineyards, stunning coastline, and really really friendly people. I spent the week with the other five ambassadorial scholars who are studying in Christchurch spent the week together in Blenheim, Picton, and Nelson- the area at the tip of the South Island. We were hosted by various Rotarians and between the six of us, spoke to all 10 Rotary clubs in the area. While we weren't wining and dining with Rotarians, we were touring wineries (and tasting!), boating on the Marlborough Sounds, and hiking in Abel Tasman National Park. Overall it was a great week!!

Glen, Jesse and me in Kaikoura at the seal colony on the way to Blenheim

On the boat in the Marlborough Sounds- Glen, Andrea and Henrik checking out the catch. We caught some really tasty scallops!

The group on the boat 'Eliza' in the Marlborough Sounds- Andrea, Henrik, Daisy, me, Glen, Miriam (daughter of a Rotarian), and Jesse

Daisy and Henrik hiking down to Anchorage- the first part of the Abel Tasman walk (one of NZ's 8 Great Walks)