Tag Archives: adventure

G’wan Donegal!

To preface this post, I’d like to first explain the title of my post. In Ireland, especially at sporting matches, it is common to hear the crowds yell “G’wan!” (AKA, “Go on!”) followed by the team or county they’re supporting. I heard a lot of this when my friend Mary and I went to a Connacht Rugby match on March 1st – we joined in the crowds yelling “G’wan Connacht!” as if we’d lived in Galway all our lives. Even after the match, the phrase stuck with us, so if we were happy about something, we’d yell “G’wan Connacht!” Alternatively, we started using the phrase as an affirmative or an expression of praise, as well. For instance, one of our conversations might ensue as follows:

Mary: Do I get a medium order of fish and chips or a large order?

Maddison: Go with a large. You’re in Ireland, so why not?

Mary: You’re right, I’ll order a large.

Maddison: G’wan Connacht!

(I’m fairly certain this exact conversation has taken place between us multiple times.)

G’wan Connacht!

So, to continue with my post… as you can tell from the title, we have changed our “G’wan Connacht!” phrase (which we still use sometimes) to “G’wan Donegal!” Why? Well, this may be a bit of a long story, so prepare yourselves.

There are several different accents within Ireland, as many of us study abroad students have realized. The subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences appear as you meet new people from all over the country. Many people we’ve met at school and in town hail from County Donegal, on the north west border of Ireland. Donegal borders Northern Ireland but is still part of the Republic of Ireland, making it a unique county. It is the second largest county within the Republic and also boasts one of the most interesting accents. It wasn’t difficult for any of us to fall in love with the unique sound of the accent – speaking with an individual from Donegal could turn the most loquacious conversationalist into the best listener.

Because of our interactions with individuals from Donegal, my friends and I had a little running joke about Donegal because we liked the accent so much. When I visited a sporting goods store to buy a Galway GAA jersey, I had to try on the Donegal one just for fun!

It suits me better than it should, right?

Well, all of this fascination boils down to one obvious conclusion: we needed to go to Donegal. My friends Mary, Nicky, Amara, and I took an early morning bus from Galway to Sligo, and then spent a bit of time exploring Sligo before we caught the bus from Sligo up to Donegal. The views on the trip were incredible – the mountains in Sligo are unlike any I’ve ever seen before.

Gorgeous, huh?

Once we arrived in Donegal Town, I fell completely in love with the place. The quaint town centre, called “The Diamond” is filled with shops, tea houses, pubs, restaurants, and chippers. As soon as we got off the bus and oriented ourselves, we decided to stop in a tea house, called Blueberry Tea Room. We filled our stomachs with the most amazing lunch dishes and plenty of tea before heading out into town to do some exploring.

Within the town centre itself, we visited Donegal Castle, which was an amazing experience due to our ability to explore, learn, and interact with the castle and grounds.

Donegal Castle!

The beauty of the exterior was only heightened when, at night, the Castle was lit up by a green spotlight against the darkening sky. But some of my favorite parts of the castle were inside – the intricate fireplaces, the gorgeous wooden dining tables, and the stone stairs, rooms, and passageways were mysterious and fascinating. The O’Donnell’s, who owned Donegal Castle, sure were lucky to be surrounded by such beauty! I had a lot of fun exploring – there seemed to be surprises everywhere we turned!

Me with deer antlers just behind my head

Oh deer!

We also stopped in Saint Patrick’s Church, where we all admired the beauty of the building and said a prayer. After that, we stopped in a small sweater shop, where we befriended the elderly man who owned it. Mary bought a beautiful light blue sweater, Amara bought a gorgeous teal sweater, and Nicky bought a lovely green infinity scarf. Since I already bought a sweater at the Blarney Woolen Mills, I didn’t allow myself to splurge, but I’m glad my friends all found things they liked! Little did we know that their decision to buy warm clothing would definitely pay off the next day.

Saint Patrick’s Church

We partook in the pubs, the chippers, and even did a bit of shopping in the town before heading back to our lovely B&B, called Ardlenagh View, which was only a five minute drive from town. Our hosts, the Mulherns, were so welcoming and kind – traits we noticed in many people we met in Donegal. Their B&B was absolutely stunning, as it was surrounded by beautiful mountains, valleys, and the breathtaking Donegal shoreline.

After a good night’s rest, the four of us awoke to a scrumptious Irish breakfast with plenty of tea to keep us awake for the day. As we packed up our things and got ready to check out, we noticed the sheep that filled the field just beyond the balcony of the B&B. I jumped at my chance to ask if we could go see the sheep – a prospect which our hosts, Tony and Eileen, found immensely entertaining. They gladly granted us permission to see them, and soon enough, both Eileen and Tony were watching us out the window, happy to see how much fun we were having. I even got the chance to make one of my dreams come true, as I called some sheep. If anyone is in need of a shepherd, you know where to find me.

After we said goodbye to our sheep friends and our wonderful hosts, we headed back into town on a pleasant Mother’s Day. In America, Mother’s Day falls in May, but in Ireland, it is celebrated in March. Luckily for us, the Donegal Bay Waterbus was sailing on Mother’s Day, and we were just in time for the 11:00 AM sailing. Because it was a chilly day, the four of us were the only ones on the top deck of the boat in the open air – everyone else opted to stay warm in the inside of the boat. Needless to say, as soon as we established ourselves at the top of the boat, we threw extra layers on and bundled for the remainder of our sail. Nicky and I even indulged in a pint of Guinness to warm up a bit while we all took pictures of the ridiculously incredible views. Donegal is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in all my life – the beaches, the mountains, the water, the ruins and castles, the people, the culture – it all paints a picture of what life should be like and how it should be lived.

Sail away, sail away, sail away…

As we were sailing, I noticed shapes bobbing up and down in the water – upon closer look, I realized some seals had come to say hello! I yelled to the other girls to look at the seals, and to my surprise, Mary wowed us all with her seal call. The rest of us just stuck to waving to our new friends! We saw more seals on the beaches we passed – they seemed curious, so we waved to them as well!

Our seal friends!

We enjoyed sailing and singing some Irish songs that were played through speakers to the four of us chilly passengers up top! We even did some dancing on the boat, which I’m sure the captain found amusing. It was a great boat ride and we all really enjoyed ourselves!

Dun na nGall! (AKA, Donegal)

Afterwards, we visited the ruins of the Donegal Friary, where we admired the old architecture and walked around the cemetery. To my surprise, I found headstones marked with the surnames Martin and Gallagher, which are two of my family surnames! I was overwhelmed with excitement – I knew from what my great aunt told me that the Martins and Gallaghers from our family were from Donegal, and it looks like she was right! I couldn’t wait to email Aunt Esther to let her know about my discovery. Up until that moment, I had felt a particular draw to Donegal, but seeing the prevalence of my family surnames in the cemetery there made me feel an even deeper connection.

Sitting among the beautiful ruins.

After our visit to the friary, we were ready to refresh with some lunch and tea. We stopped in a quaint cafe, chatted with some locals, and then took a taxi to the nearest beach, called Murvagh Beach. It was a cold day, but the sights were still incredible. Walking along the shore brought me such peace. Hearing the seashells crash against each other as the waves carried them in and out was captivating. I couldn’t have been happier with our decision to explore such a pretty place.

The heavens opened up and shone down on Donegal.

As we all walked along at our own pace, we lost track of time – it wasn’t too long before we were all separated and enjoying our solitude. Breaking away from the business of daily life to experience natural beauty is one of the most therapeutic experiences… which isn’t a difficult thing to do in Ireland. I walked along the shore and collected interesting seashells, but eventually I met up with Mary and Nicky who had climbed to the top of a cliff which marked the end of the sandy beach and the beginning of the rolling hills just beyond it. Needless to say, I climbed right up there to meet them!

The view from the top!

Nicky went to find Amara, so Mary and I sat on the cliff and had some deep life discussions. It felt as if we were on top of the world – in every direction, we saw beauty, and we did our best not to take a second of it for granted. Naturally, we took pictures of us sitting on the edge of the cliff with beautiful Donegal in the background.

Me sitting on the cliff edge with the beach in the background

Taking it all in.

We didn’t want to leave Murvagh Beach by any means, but we knew we had to get back into town and eat dinner before catching our bus back to Galway. Before we left the beach, however, all four of us stood on the cliff and took a few group photos to remember our amazing trip to one of our favorite Irish counties!

Me and my friends posing with Donegal in the background

Never forget Donegal!

G’WAN DONEGAL!

Location: Donegal Town, County Donegal, Ireland

The Cliffs of Moher

One of the most famous landmarks in Ireland, as many will know, would be The Cliffs of Moher located in Counties Clare and Galway. I was fortunate enough to be able to visit them with my friend Mary when two of her friends from home, Claire and Erin, came to visit over their spring break.

The four girls standing with the cliffs in the background.

Mary, Claire, Erin, and me at the Cliffs of Moher!

Our tour started off with several stops as we made our way through Galway down into Clare. We visited Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara, The Burren, Corcomroe Abbey, Ballyalban Ring Fort, and Poulnabrone. Each one is pictured below!

Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara

Corcomroe Abbey

Ballyalban Ring Fort

Poulnabrone Burial Tomb

We stopped for lunch in Doolin, County Clare, and then continued on towards the cliffs. It was a chilly day, and when we arrived, a wind and rain storm overtook the entire area. We all piled from the bus into the tourism center, taking time to learn about the cliffs while the storm passed. Within about fifteen minutes the storm had passed and the sun came out – in Ireland, weather patterns hit and subside frequently… we could have rain, sun, snow, hail, wind, etc. within the span of an hour. Mary, Erin, Claire, and I all bravely ventured out of the tourist center and were greeted by some incredible views.

After visiting the Cliffs of Moher, we stopped at the “Mini Cliffs” which were also incredibly beautiful. We had fun jumping from rock to rock to get nearer to the water.

Mary trying not to get blown away by the wind at the Mini Cliffs!

On the way home, our bus driver, Gary, made some of the passengers sing to us. Why? Well, Gary instituted a rule at the beginning of our trip: if you were late back to the bus at any point during the journey, you’d have to sing and/or dance on the bus back home to Galway. Mary and I were going to ask if he’d take volunteers, but we thought better of it! (And no, we were never late back to the bus, if you were wondering!)

By the time we were back in Galway, Gary told us that he would show us how he could make a dog dance. I was fortunate enough to capture it on video – every time I re-watch it, I laugh hysterically. See if you can keep a straight face!

I hope you enjoyed it! As you can hear from my laughter in the video, I certainly did!

Until my next post,

Maddison

Location: Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

Taxi Adventures

The title says it all 🙂 I am here in Puebla with a group of 8 other students, and for four weeks we had nothing but great luck with taxis. I mean, the occasional driver would shun us and drive away if we tried to bargain too low, but that was the extent of any misfortune. The day we visited Cholula though, the taxi Gods were not on our side.

The ride there was proceeding normally- we flagged the one of three taxi drivers waiting next to the curb, asked him the price, hopped in, and went on our way… until we hit standstill traffic. I was sitting in the front seat admiring the highway view when I noticed a rapid change in the driver’s facial expression from content to extremely distraught. He quickly looked over his shoulder and in the rearview mirror, then down at his wallet. He clicked the door open, and marched outside, swiftly and definitively, waving his arms as if he had just won the lottery, but with furrowed eyebrows that said something much different. We had been hit on the bumper by the car behind us, and the taxi driver was not happy. After three minutes of lecture, he returned to the car and inadvertently taught us some not-so-nice Spanish words (never to be said of course, only understood). The driver’s anger fizzled as we began moving again and we all burst out in laughter. We laughed and joked about the incident the rest of the ride. I’m sure the taxi driver appreciated that dent like he would the flu, but hey, at least it was a conversation starter! 🙂

Cholula was fun! We climbed the famous Great Pyramid, and saw the view from the top where a Church was built a hundred years ago. It was truly magnificent (Mexico is full of amazing views!!) Afterwards, we broke off into smaller groups to sight-see and buy refreshments. Another friend and I went to buy ice cream, and as we were talking, the nightly rain began to fall.

We decided to leave at around 8:30. After a 7 minute long search for a taxi in soggy sweatshirts and jeans, we finally spotted one. Again, we asked the price, hopped in, and went on our way. We told him we needed to go to “9B Sur, 43 Poniente in Puebla,” which he seemed fine with. He called his guide person (which many taxistas do) to ask for directions. My friend and I were chatting away, when we started to notice the time was going by a little too slowly. Looking around, the neon lights of the surrounding night clubs were anything but familiar. I reminded the driver, “Puebla, Se�or” and he replied that we were almost at 9 Sur. My friend and I exchanged knowing looks- we were lost. We told him we needed to go to Puebla and he repeated what he said, we were almost at 9 Sur… 9 Sur in ANOTHER town! We attempted to tell him that this was not the correct route, but he remained confused. Four weeks in Mexico still did not provide us with quite enough vocabulary to communicate our needs clearly. However, after about twenty minutes, our broken Spanish somehow got us to Angelopolis, the mall nearby to our neighborhood. The landmark was a relief and we told him we were close! (emphasis on the exclamation point). As we neared the correct street, our relief turned to shock as he drove straight past it. It took fifteen more minutes for us to process this incorrect direction (we were in shock for a bit), tell him we needed to turn around, and for us to actually arrive at our destination. Neither of us felt unsafe during that ride, but the experience was definitely an eye-opener!

Moral of the story: Taxi rides are good for learning both the map, and the language. Taxi problems, although take some extra time, enhance learning even more. Be open-minded to learning everything you can in your new country, and there will never be “problems,” only experiences and stories to tell!

Location: Puebla, Mexico

Kings Cross and Other Adventures

Well, last night was my first night in Sydney and I was not disappointed.

After a very, very, very long flight in I was surprised I had any energy left, but once I met some of the kids living at the same house as me it became apparent it was going to be a fun semester. So far the house I’m staying at is relatively empty with only 4 other students besides me here so far (all from the US as of now) and we all went exploring in the heart of Sydney.

This adventure lead us to Kings Cross, or as Sam described it, “Vegas without gambling”. Kings Cross was active all night long and just walking around the block it was interesting to see how the nightlife has a mix of American and British culture for various pubs, clubs, and other hangouts. The British culture is distinctly apparent in most places though, and I honestly feel I might be studying in London (partially because it has rained the past two days straight) if I didn’t hear any accents.

There are fish and chip shops every few blocks, pubs are basically the same, and the queen is on various forms of money. Speaking of the money, only one term can be used to describe the Australian currency system, and that is “pirate money”. The coins don’t make any sense to me still and a small silver coin is $1, while a massive silver coin is $0.50, and finally the tiniest coin (it’s honestly smaller than a penny) is worth $2.

Given that it’s only my second day here, there’s still a lot I need to get accustomed to. Hopefully by the next time I write I will understand the monetary system and have seen more of Sydney!

Location: Potts Point NSW 2011

North Island Exploration

Warning: Any apparent misspellings are due to me typing in New Zealand English on my Microsoft word.

The second week of my Easter Break has been spent traveling around the North Island. Two of my flat mates and I hit 5 cities in 10 days. So of course I have to break the North Island down city by city.

Auckland

Thursday the 12^th we took a flight out of Christchurch to Auckland. It only took an hour and cost about $60 NZD. It was pretty expensive to stay in Auckland but we managed to find some pretty decent logging with YHA. YHA hostels are all over the country and always have really great reviews. I would suggest getting a membership if you plan on coming here and backpacking. It’ll save you a lot of money.

We only spent a day in Auckland but the city was immaculate. It reminded me of New York, bustling and full of people. First we headed to The Sky Tower. It was built as a tourist attraction and stands at 328 meters. You can go up to two different levels to look down on the city and you can also either pay to walk around the perimeter (on the outside of course) or jump off its highest accessible point (192 meters up.) We decided to just go up and look down on the city. It was very pretty and very quiet.

From there we decided to take a journey to the Auckland Museum. It ended up being much farther away than we expected so we got to see a lot of the city being lost. We got a good look at Auckland University and we stopped in a park with the most eclectic looking trees and a huge water fountain. We hung out/ slept there for a while and got to see a group of people dressed up doing a scavenger hunt. The best costume was of course Pikachu.

Once we got to the museum we spent a few hours checking it out. Needless to say it had to be one of the oddest museums I have ever been in. Every floor and every section had a different theme so it was hard to see a thread or a central idea going through all of it. Mostly it just seemed like a complete mess. There were heaps of cool artefacts but there were few explanations for them so usually I had no idea what they were. There were a lot of Māori artefacts and stuff from wars. Including a Japanese plane which they never explained where it came from. The weirdest thing of them all had to be the stuffed elephant in the childrens section. It was creepy and I jut could not bring myself to photograph it.

The following day we took a bus to Hamilton.

Hamilton

When you first get off the bus in Hamilton the city feels really drab. I said to my friends that it felt as if it were dying even though we had been told that it had the best shopping in all of New Zealand. Unable to find this shopping district we decided to head to the local zoo after dropping off our things.

The Hamilton Zoo was rather extensive and had plenty of exhibits. Most of these sorts of places you can get into with a student discount so it’s advantageous to carry around your student id. My favourite animal is the giraffe so naturally most of my pictures and attention was spent on them but there were plenty of other interesting animals to see like chimps, baby rhinos and oddly enough piglets (on sale for $50).

My friend also got chased by a particularly territorial duck who would poke is beak through the fence to try to bite her shoes. Of course we may have teased it a bit and kept walking by over and over again to get its attention but it made for a good laugh and funny photos.

The following day we were determined to find this shopping district. So after a bit of wondering and asking around we found a questionably white washed Narnia-esk side lane that led into a French Quarter feeling patio surrounded by shops. It immediately held a feeling of elegance with its concrete horse caped water fountain, hanging gardens and wrought iron tables. We knew we had finally found it. Every shop window displayed the products of elegant boutiques and trendy cafés. It was a place where even a paperback book would run you $30. Through the lane and back out into the open on the other side lead way to a many others stores, eateries and a mall full of people.

We managed to spend the whole day shopping before catching the 7pm bus to Rotorua, the spa capital of New Zealand.

Rotorua

Be forewarned that due to the plethora of natural hot springs in Rotorua, that have high sulphur content, the entire city smells like rotting eggs.

But don’t be deterred because eventually the smell becomes tolerable and the place is quite wonderful. There are plenty of sulphur spas within walking distance of city centre and a lovely museum. There are also plenty of places for backpackers to stay. My mates and I decided to stay at CRANK; an oddly constructed accommodation that mirrors a warehouse and has a rock climbing wall in part of the building. They also get their customers great deals with local attractions including “Hells Gate”.

The first day there we were attracted to a Wild Life Refuge that boasted the ability to allow tourist to “pat the lion cubs.” The brochure showcased a young girl holding a lion cub in her arms so of course in pure excitement we got their as soon as possible only to discover we were literally only allowed to pat them through chicken wire cages with a plethora of other people around. Though it is still pretty cool to say we were able to touch lions it was not nearly as interactive as we had hoped but they were super cute.

The rest of the refuge was still quite charming despite the first upset. It was more of a nature walk that was set up so strategically that it made me feel like we were discovering some of the animals in the wild. And toward the end it turned into a petting zoo style with goats, sheep and mini horses that children (and I) loved.

Day two was explore the town day. We hunted for the beach and any interesting shops just to stumble upon a life size chess set in a park. After the current game finished we played a few games the reigning park champion and only beat him once. The pieces came up to the middle of my thigh, were solid wood and King was heavy enough to warrant dragging it across the board. It felt like Wizards Chess from Harry Potter even though the pierces didn’t move on their own.

The following and last day in Rotorua was spent at the thermal spa “Hells Gate”. We got a great deal through CRANK (a tour, mud spa and sulphur spa for $60) and I had a pretty good time. Hells Gate is a large plot of land that is the thinnest layer of crust in all of New Zealand. Thus allowing the magma to heat the water table above it hot enough in some places that it could kill a man if he fell in. It was incredibility fascinating to learn about how it was discovered and what the products that came from the land were used for then and now. Maori used the different pools for everything from healing to throwing their enemies bodies into for disposal. Since each pool is fuelled by a different water source they all have different sulphur content and temperatures. The muds there are also rich in all sorts of minerals that they package and sell. They have a unique mineral content that opens the pours and removes oils with ease and can even level out skin tone and increase circulation.

After the tour we were finally able to indulge in the magic of the mud bath (but only for 20 minutes since extensive exposure can remove too high levels of vital fluids from opened pours.) Everyone is reduced to a 5 year old boy smearing mud all over their bodies and throwing it at each other.

After were removed from the mud we had to take a mandatory cold shower to close the pours and remove mud before the sulphur spa. It was less then enjoyable and we did it quickly. The last spa section was a sulphur tub that mimicked a hot tub but smelled like eggs. Once you get in the water makes your skin tingle and is supposed to decrease muscle pain and make you relax. To be honest it was quite fantastic.

Napier

The Art Deco Capital of the world.

This place has a classic 1930s feel that you just cannot miss. The buildings, statues and cars all flash back to that definitive period and possess such a friendly atmosphere.

We spent most of our time here wondering around the lovely town, popping in and out of boutiques, resale shops and book stores. It’s one of the best places to go to buy unique gifts for friends.

It is also right on the water, so it was nice to be able to go down and get some sand between my toes and feel the ocean breeze.

Though we didn’t do much else there it was one of my favourite places on the trip.

Wellington

The great capital of New Zealand.

Though it does not have the hustle and bustle of Auckland it is still a rather busy place to be.

There is constant movement and always people on the streets, which I love.

We had a lazy first day (since we got there in the afternoon) there and hung around the YHA, did a little walking around and site seeing. This town is filled with all sorts of random sculptures and art depicting everything from rugby to just a giant ball of wire hanging in the air.

The following day we headed down to the Parliament building to do a tour. The most striking building is called The Bee Hive for obvious reasons.

Oddly enough there are two other buildings attached to the Bee Hive that look nothing like each other. And by the way, the Bee Hive is not even the Parliament Building. It is just used for organization dinners and things of that sort. But the building next to it is the Parliament Building and the building next to that is the Parliament Library. It was weird for me to see such inconsistency and living so close to Washington DC where there is a clear theme running through all of the architecture. It really felt like they just developed the buildings in different time periods and went with the popular design of the decade and didn’t think about them blending together. Then just plopped them in the middle of the city on top of a hill. They just look…random.

But despite this the tour was rather nice. Sadly they did not allow you to take pictures so just take my word for it that it was a pretty cool tour and I actually learned things about the NZ government. Like the fact that they dissolved their upper house in 1950. Now the room where it meetings were held for the upper house is used for formal occasions.

From there we headed to the cable car. The car will take you up the side of a hill so you can get to the gardens and so you can look out over Wellington. Different ones can take you all over the city and some people use it like we use the Metro in DC. The view was really spectacular.

The last thing we did was go to the national museum, Tepapa. It is a huge museum that covers everything from contemporary art to women’s revolution in New Zealand. (Which reminds me that on my tour of Parliament I learn that NZ was the first country to give women the right to vote) I was personally partial to the entire contemporary art floor and spent most of my time there. And I got a cool picture of an exhibit before I saw a sign that told us not to take pictures. But I really like it so I’ll post it anyway.

Though it was a lot to undetake in just 10 days I had such a good time on the North Island. I’m really looking forward to some more adventures.

Until then, cheers.

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

The Chroni-WHAT-cles Of Narnia

Saturday morning, we had planned to travel up to the Coromandel Peninsula, east of Auckland on the coast with Jenna, meeting a bunch of her friends when we got there. On the way we passed the town of Paeroa which is the birthplace of the L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) fizzy drink. Consequently, they have a massive L&P bottle statue in the town. We obviously needed a picture with it.

We continued up to Coromandel and checked into our cute little hostel in Hahei which is pretty much the tiniest town imaginable. They had a caf�, restaurant and convenience store, that was all. We changed quickly into bathing suits and drove over to hot water beach to meet Jenna’s friends. Hot water beach is situated over heaps of geothermal activity making the ground and water underneath the sand very hot, even in winter. The basic premise is that you dig a huge hole at low tide and the ground water seeps up and fills your hole creating a spa which you can relax in as the sun sets.

The crew in our spa ^

Digging the hole was pretty easy, the hard part was finding a spot that wasn’t too hot and wasn’t too cold. Then once you’d found a spot you would move an inch to your right or dig your toes in and all of a sudden, scalding hot water is burning you. When people got up out of the pool, their legs were red and basically cooked! Some little kids got over excited and started splashing through abandoned pools only to start crying when they got stuck in near boiling water. That night we watched the Waikato chiefs lose spectacularly before getting an early night for our 7am start the next morning.

The next day dawned bright and clear which meant it was the perfect day to take the walk down to cathedral cove. A few movies have been filmed there, the most well known being The Chronicles of Narnia. It was about a 30 minute walk down to the cove with beautiful views out across the pacific. We braved an extremely muddy path down to Stingray Bay and took in the sun on the rocks for a while before continuing on to Cathedral Cove. It was even more beautiful in real life than in the movies.

White sand beaches with an amazing arch made of white rock. They had fenced the arch off and you weren’t supposed to walk under it to the beach on the other side. We figured we’d be safe if we ran through though, because running way different that walking! We swam out to a huge flat rock about 100 metres off shore and spent quite a while jumping off it.

Haley and I on the rock ^

There was a cool underwater archway that you could walk on next to the rock.

After sunbathing for a while, we decided it wasn’t really summer anymore and we were all really cold so we headed over to Whitianga, a beach town but bigger than Hahei. Jenna’s friends had switched to a hostel in Whitianga and they let you borrow kayaks for free so we grabbed a couple and headed out onto the water to paddle. The rest of the evening was spent playing Frisbee and collecting shells on the beach before Jenna Haley and I decided to grab a dinner of Fish and Chips and head to the ferry which would take us 20 metres across the harbor to where we parked our car. We were waiting in line for our dinner when Jenna reminded us that the ferry took a dinner break from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Of course it was 6:25pm. Just enough time for us to make it if we ran but not enough time to get our food and make it. Jenna and Haley ran on ahead to try and get the ferry to wait while I waited for the food to be ready. As soon as it was, I sprinted as fast as I could, with only a towel wrapped around my bathing suit to the ferry dock only to find out that the although Jenna and Haley had arrived on time, the ferry guy had refused to take even them. So we ended up having to sit in our towels on the dock and eat, all the while looking at our car across the harbour that was sooo close to us.

Finally we managed to make it back across the habour to our car and once we had showered and changed, we headed back to Jenna’s friends hostel to work on our project for Women in Management and hang out. We managed to hit a possum on the way which was a slightly traumatic experience. Sadly the next day was spent driving as we headed to Auckland airport to drop Haley off and boarded our bus back to Hamilton, or Hams as we affectionately call it.

Location: Coromandel, Whitianga

Another Penn Stater in NZ

A few weeks ago, my friend from Penn State, Haley, decided to fly out! It was a spur of the moment decision but luckily I didn’t have any assignments due that week so I could take a few days off. We rented a car and braved the early morning Hamilton fog to go to Lake Taupo for the day and I somehow managed to convince her to bungy jump! It was so different from when I went before because it was windy and pretty empty without the hot sun and tourists. In Haley’s video you can see me standing by the drop off jumping up and down and clapping when she jumped because I’m an adrenaline junkie and I was so happy to be turning someone else into one. We had bought deserts (mine was a Leamington, a cake dipped in strawberry flavouring, rolled in coconut and filled with cream, mmm) from the Hillcrest Bakery before our trip so we decided to walk to Huka falls and eat them, or share them with an extremely angry duck as it turned out. On the way back we went and sat in the same hot springs that I’d visited before only they were so much better this time because we were pretty much the only people there. We braved the really hot part of the spring and sat under the pounding waterfall for a while. Reallyy cheap way to get a massage! After, we walked down by the lake and found some delicious scones with cream and jam, English style.

Me under the waterfall ^

The next day I had my Women In Management class that I had to be in so Haley came with me. Obviously it happened to be the one class out of the semester when we broke into groups and role-played a bureaucracy picking a work contract from work gangs and the whole time we were just hoping the professor wouldn’t call on Haley! That would have needed some explaining as to why she didn’t know the three perspectives of feminism used in the scenario…

Then it was cake wheels for lunch!

These are pretty much the best thing ever invented. They’re officially called Taiwanese Wheel Cakes and are sold from a tiny cart on campus. The guy makes two deep pancakes and then sandwiches your choice of filling between them. My personal favourite fillings are mozzarella, corn, ham and pepper and chocolate fudge although you can get anything from chicken pot pie to green curry. During the semester, it had become somewhat of a tradition between Jenna and I to get cakes wheels after our Wednesday morning class.

YUM ^

I didn’t drag Haley to my accounting class, but that night we continued traditions and went to beer pong.

Wednesday night in Hamilton hosts a beer pong championship league which I’m proud to say I’ve now achieved “regular” status at. We went into it at the beginning of the semester very confident thinking that since we (as in Americans/PSUers) basically invented beer pong, we should have no trouble winning the $100 bar tab. The semester is over now and I haven’t won so much as $25 third place. Kiwi BP is played on super high tables with absolutely no calling on leaning. People will lean as far forward as possible over the table to take their shot. You’re also allowed to catch the ball if the other team airballs which means they lose a cup. There are no boucebacks or double cups for bounce, no island or man on fire. It’s crazy! Beer pong is much more relaxing than a normal night. There’s no dancing so everyone just hangs out in the booths and challenges each other to pool matches when they aren’t competing.

Me making a valient effort, despite lack of hand eye coordination ^

Thursday I decided to show Haley around Hamilton so we went to lunch, wondered around the shops and then went to a leaving dinner for a kiwi friend who had just graduated before hitting the town for Thursday night. Another difference between here and PSU is that Thursday is the big night out with Saturday as the second, but no one goes out on Friday. I’ve been traveling for most Fridays but usually my flat just hangs out in our lounge or gets schoolwork done.

The next day, we picked up Meg and headed to Rotorua. Our first stop was the Maori Village of Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao or Whakawarewa for “short”.

They gave us a guided tour of the village which actually has many Maori families living in it. The whole area is geothermal so there are pools of bubbling mud and boiling water scattered all around the village. Our guide showed us where she and her family and friends cook, bathe and meet. They had a tattoo artist in the village who draws out traditional ta moko (tattoos). It was really interesting to learn about their traditions, what they consider tapu or sacred and how they put the volcanic activity to good use. We also saw a cultural performance featuring the Haka which is a war dance, nowadays more commonly performed before the All Blacks Rugby Team plays and a poi dance with soft balls on strings that the women twirled.

Meg Haley and I after the performance ^

After the village we decided we needed our fix of adrenaline so we headed over to the Zorb track. Whoever invented Zorbing is both a genius and very stupid. Basically, they throw you and some warm water into what looks like a huge inflatable hamster ball and roll you down a steep zig-zag hill. The result is akin to a blind slip and slide where you might flip upside down at any moment. The guy at the counter was really cool and gave us a multiple person Zorb plus our own single rides for really cheap, because our coups weren’t valid for what we wanted. We did the multiple ride first down the steep but straight track. We were laughing so hard from the minute all three of us climbed, or rather dived very ungracefully inside. The water made it so slippery that we were all squashed together as the ball rolled and pretty much tangled up by the bottom. The second ride was down the zig-zag track so you had no idea which way was forwards.

I thought that it couldn’t possibly be that exciting after bungy jumping and skydiving but it was actually a ton of fun! And you had to wear socks so I was rocking a ski sock and bikini look.

Win.

Location: Hams, Taupo, Rotorua

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