Windmill Hike and a Beautiful Spring Weekend

As it turns to fall in the United States and I read more and more tweets pumpkin spice lattes, apple picking, and falling leaves, its beginning to be spring in New Zealand! Although its a little bittersweet missing fall in New England, weather getting warmer in Wellington is a welcome change. Last Saturday, a few friends and I decided to celebrate warmer temps and the sun shining by hiking up to the Brooklyn Wind Turbine. It was a clear day, which provided us with great walking weather and beautiful views of the entire city from the top.

According to Meridian Energy, the West Wind wind farm in Wellington (seen in the picture with multiple windmills above) provides enough energy for 71,000 homes a year. Its an awesome way for Wellington to take advantage of its natural windiness and create sustainable energy (after all, it is nicknamed Windy Welly!) It was also a pretty cool experience to stand directly under a wind mill. They're huge!

Thanks for reading!

Second Week of Break: Australia!

Well, I'm back from my second week of break and back to reality! I got back to Wellington late Sunday night, and it has been nice to settle back in and relax a little after all of the traveling! I spent last week in Australia, spending the first two and a half days in Melbourne and then the rest of the week with my friend Steph who is studying in Gold Coast!

The week started off by waking up at 3 am in order get checked into the airport with plenty of time for our 6 am flight to Melbourne. Once we finally arrived, checked in to our hostel and got some much needed coffee and breakfast, we went off to explore the city and get our first taste of Australia! Below are all pictures taken in Melbourne:

Federation Square

An artists work of people's regrets written on paper water (or tear?) drops

After the early wake up and quite a bit of walking and exploring, we all took a well deserved nap in the afternoon, and took it pretty easy for the rest of the day. On Tuesday, we bought day/night passes to go up the Eureka Skydeck, which is highest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere. The views of Melbourne from up so high were awesome! Personally, I preferred the night time experience, being able to see all of the city lights from above.

Before dinner, we also walked down by the harbor and continued to see the walkable parts of the city. A delicious dinner was followed by gelato (there were gelato places EVERYWHERE) before heading up for the night view from the Skydeck and then exploring some of the (limited) Melbourne nightlife.

Wednesday, I was off to Gold Coast to visit Steph! I spent most of the day in Melbourne, and then arrived in Gold Coast around 10 PM. Thursday was a busy day, as we started off at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to see some Australian wildlife. The highlight was getting to hangout with some kangaroos!

These guys were everywhere!

Dingos

After hanging with all of the animals, the next thing on our agenda was surf lessons! I was pretty nervous for my first ever lesson, but once I got going I had a ton of fun and even managed to completely stand up a few times! The remaining days we spent at the beautiful beaches in the area and by the pool, as well a good amount of time in Surfer's Paradise, which is the downtown area. Then on Sunday night I headed back to Wellington!

The week (and all of break) was amazing and I'm so lucky to have had the opportunity to do so much traveling. Also a big shout out to my parents for the early Christmas gift which allowed me to go to Australia! :)

Update After a Long Break!

Sorry it has been forever since I've blogged! It came from a combination of being swamped with work before the break, not having internet in my flat for around ten days, being generally busy with things and work before the break as well as most recently being on vacation in the South Island!

A lot has happened since the last time I've blogged, including taking my first exam and handing in my first papers of the semester, as well as a 6.2 magnitude earthquake a few weeks ago! However, the most exciting event is that I just got back from a week with 7 of my friends on the South Island for our first week of break! I'd been looking forward to this trip since we planned it near the beginning of the semester and it for sure did not disappoint. On Monday, we began our journey by flying to Christchurch, where we briefly spent some time in the city before hopping into our awesome purple and green van, which we used to get to all of our other destinations.

There is still significant damage and construction in Christchurch due to major earthquakes in February of 2012, as you can see in a lot of the pictures below. It was really shocking to see how much the city is still strongly affected, and how much is still being rebuilt. 

After eating in Christchurch, we went on to drive to Lake Tekapo, where we hiked to the Mount John lookout for the first of many beautiful views.

 The next morning, we did a shorter walk with views of Lake Alexandrina and then headed off to Mt Cook! We were admittedly unprepared to be entering a town with no grocery store or bank, but it provided a great two days of isolation, especially after coming from the city. Our hostel was also very homey and comfortable, which really added to the experience. Once there, we did a hike to see the Tasman Glacier.

View from our walk in the morning

Remaining parts of the glacier in the water, it has melted significantly due to climate change

The next day we had planned our longest hike, which was the Hooker Valley walk. Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favor and we ended up spending our four hours braving the cold, sleet, and the strongest winds I've ever felt. Despite the facts that the visibility wasn't great, I was able to get a few pictures.

One of three bridges we crossed

Rainbow!

 On Thursday we headed to Queenstown, but not until we did a hike to Kea Point, which gave us the ability to finally clearly see Mt Cook! Snow had fallen the night before, and the skies were incredibly clear which provided some breathtaking views.

Mt Cook

I don't know what these are, but they were everywhere and are painful

Once we got to Queenstown, it was time for a classic Queenstown dinner: Fergburger! I had been hearing about Fergburger ever since orientation, so it was an obvious choice for dinner for our first night. Its known for its delicious and HUGE burgers, and having a huge selection of them.

SO good

I was able to get a veggie burger made with falafel, which was great! That night, we explored the town and got some sleep in preparation for our activity on Friday which was...
 
Bungy jumping!! (Sorry Parents...)
Going into New Zealand, I was convinced that I would never bungy jump, however as the saying goes, "if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space."

5 of us did the Kawarau Bridge bungy, also known as the world's first ever commercial bungy. The drop is 43 meters (141 feet), which compared to other jumps is pretty tame (although still very, very scary). I've never had a more terrifying or more thrilling experience.

A little nervous...

 After the adrenaline rush, we spent the next day exploring Queenstown more before heading back to Wellington this afternoon.

 

 On Monday, I head off to Australia, and I will be sure to put up pictures from that trip as well! Thanks for reading :)