Spring Break: First to Otago!

So I begin in an attempt to document my spring break. Sure, 12 days, cant be that hard Luke! Well it is. Over those 12 days we almost covered the entire perimeter of the south island!

Well, first day we used the van to go shopping for the trip, driving through the city of Christchurch was quite nerve-racking with this large van with many blind spots (not to mention I've only driven on the left side of the road for a total of 1 hour before this trip.

Out of the city, we head to Dunedin! No problems at this point, although I had to be reminded a couple times by my fellow passengers I was driving on the wrong side of the road. Most of the roads outside of town centers are 100 kilometers per hour, or 60mph. I'm used to 60mph, but the "Main Highway 1" of New Zealand is usually as wide as my home street which is usually 30mph! The rental company said they just completed this national highway last year. A little different from our road infrastructure eh?

Our first stop on the way to Dunedin was the quaint town of Oamaru, where we saw yellow-eyed penguins.

Next, the Moeraki Boulders! These were strange perfectly round rocks along the coastline huddled together.

We arrived at Dunedin at dusk and we now began our next challenge: Trying to find a place to sleep... for free. We were able to find a nice campground on Brighton Beach with a clean set of toilets! Score! We braved through our first attempt at cooking and sleeping, and it worked out surprisingly well!

The next morning we went to the beach and enjoyed some oatmeal. eating mediocre food in awesome places seems to make the food taste better

So we hit the city! Home of the most photographed building in the southern island, the Dunedin Train Station!

Then off to the art gallery, which was quite nice.

Because we didn't want to be spending any money, that was about it for activities in town.
So we headed out to the Otago Peninsula! where we saw some sheep (they're everywhere), albatross, and Shags

and... that was about it for Dunedin.

Breaking News Update: I Have Bad Timing When I Travel Abroad

That's right, there was an earthquake.

7.1 magnitude, 41km west of the City center, it was around 4:30am when I woke up.



I thought someone was shaking my bed, so i was yelling "stop stop stop, I'm trying to sleep!" until i heard my flatmate yelling I realized hmmm, I think this an earthquake!


Standing in the doorways feeling the aftershocks, we decided to get out of the building. (it took about 2 or 3 minutes to wake Prateek up, having watching the exorcism a few days ago, he thought it was the real deal. Jj on the other hand, was trying to find high ground for the possible Tsunami) Maybe I shouldn't have waited to get on all my clothes, but it was cold out!(some people were in their boxers waiting outside while i had my flannel shirt, my wool sweater and my thick leather jacket, i was happy!


Waiting outside with a bunch of Ilam residents, you could look up at the stars with no light pollution due to the power outage. not as good as the west coast, but cool to see the stars so bright in the city. Ilam apartments didn't really think this through, and we were waiting around outside while they tried taking attendance of hundreds of people with no electricity for their database of residents. So my flatmates and I decided to head back, told our RA we were good, and left.

In this desperate time of need I did the brave act of finishing my flatmates ice cream because of the freezer melting.

Going back to bed was tough, due to the excitement and just when you were about to go to sleep, another aftershock would come. Usually there are 2 to 3 aftershocks. Even today one day after it happened, were still getting strong aftershocks. they've reported over 45 til now, and some were as strong as 5.2 magnitude.





In the morning, I was able to survive on no electricity by eating a can of spaghetti-o's (well spaghetti in a can, they don't know spaghetti-o's here. what do kids eat here then?) along with a beer. Hey! no judging, its natural disaster and I cant drink the water supposedly due to sewage and fresh water lines breaking. I'm starting to like natural disasters.






I took a walk around to see the damage, and it was such a lovely day! Not many people outside, not a lot of cars on the road, quiet. Man, I wish I was a brick-layer because I'd be in business now! almost every other chimney i saw had either cracked or fallen down.








I walk to the school and... campus is closed! I decided to walk around anyway, trying to avoid the security guards. The campus seemed quite okay, other than the library.








Windows cracked, lights and ceiling hanging down, and bookshelves that looked like dominoes knocked over. I thought, I'm not having school on Monday. In fact, later on I discovered schools closed til the 13th! Spring break, extension by 9 days!

I didn't walk down to the city center, but due to the state of emergency granted to police, you were not allowed to enter anyway. a lot of the brick buildings had collapsed, and many roads were impassable. An Indian restaurant near my flat that i wanted to check out, had its roof caved in.


well, that's about it for now, overall the city was very lucky. No fatalities, only 2 people severely injured. electricity was restored sooner than expected about 7 hours late, and the water and sewage is still an ongoing problem. The aftershocks are still happening, which some you don't know if its the start of another earthquake, which there is a 10% Chance.



p.s.

to my exes, please stop sending natural disasters

Spring Break, 2700km around NZ in a Van

Well, Here's my attempt at trying to recap my 2 week spring break in New Zealand.

I thinned out a few photos out of the enormous collection the four of us adventures took (there's over 1000 photos) on my facebook album located here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057674&id=1090560130&l=2a8d31d30e

So as an introduction I'll give the ol' Who/What/When/Where/Why shpeel:

Who:

Me: Pretty self-explanatory




















Julianna:Raised in Brooklyn, Julianna goes to Binghamton university and if there's an adventure, Julianna's down for it. Which is the reason why we go on so many adventures, like the upcoming aussie trip! Look at the enthusiasm! This girl has it 24/7, needed for a long trip like what we had

Sophie:

Raised in Michigan, Sophie believe it or not goes to school at Marist, a stone throw away from back home. Shame she's graduating this year. because this girl is legit, studying abroad from freshmen year she's been all over europe, africa, lived in Alaska and a bunch of other locations, she's now conquering New Zealand








Mark: My Kiwi homeboy, marks slowly teaching me Kiwi culture and slang, and always knows the way to the nearest party. Mark was our savior on the trip with his hook-ups in Queenstown halfway through the trip. Being able to use the showers at his mom's motel and the guidance was awesome. Wasn't able to go with us on the trip because he had to work, but we would meet up with him from time to time throughout the time






Ivanna:
From Slovakia, goes to school in Prague. I can always rely on Ivka as a dancing partner. She seems to always be wearing one shade of purple. The language barrier (mainly my poor hearing) can lead to either frustrating ,or hilarious conversations.













What:
The van was rented from Escape rentals out of Christchurch, and we got a sweet deal for the 13 days we had it for. Within this van we slept(tightly),cooked, ate, swapped stories, marveled at the scenery, and cringed watching me trying this beast to drive all over New Zealand



During the day the rear of the van could be transformed into a table and two benches. At night it turned into a double bed.

The trunk sported a kitchen, with some camping supplies, a sink, and a propane cooker on which our meals consisted of rice and beans, spaghetti, pb&j, and Oatmeal. Boy did I miss eating meat.


When:
13 days, leaving on Sunday morning the 22nd of August and even though we had the van til the 3rd of September, we caved in to the thought of our very own beds and drove straight back to Christchurch the Wednesday night before.








Where:
Basically, we drove 2700km along the coast of the southern island minus the very north of the island. Heres a vague sketch of our route

Why:
Splitting the van rental which had off-season prices between 4 ppl, which took care of transportation and lodging gave us the cheapest way to see new zealand in our alloted time. Having the freedom to pull over at any site and the ability to change our plans made the trip amazing.



Man, this is gonna take a while. Hold on while I recollect my thoughts.