The Last Post

I’ve returned from Australia and my final road trip through the northern regions of New Zealand safe and sound. But there were definitely some close calls!

After arriving in Australia and meeting up with my former Halifax roommate Ben, we made our way to his place in Burleigh Heads (just south of Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast). He’s very lucky to be able to call this place home, where he lives only a 3 minute walk from one of the world’s top surfing destinations. My first full day in Aussie was spent in the ocean, attempting to surf. Though the weather was much nice than that in Wellington, wetsuits were still needed as the water was just past the comfortable temperature. Regardless of only catching a few waves it was incredible to just relax out on the water, float around with Ben and his mates, and watch some pretty talented surfers.

As things were winding down and the sun was setting I noticed a large, dark grey fin pop up out of the water only 15 feet in front of me, and only 5 feet ahead of Ben’s mate Adam. Without wasting a second, I swam for my life. (Ben later told me he’s never seen someone move their arms so quickly) After only 2 seconds of swimming Adam called out to me that it was a dolphin – but I was still swimming. He yelled for me to look to my right, and I noticed a 10 foot bottle-nose dolphin surfing in a wave only 20 feet away from me! It almost felt like a religious calling from nature. The image of both the fin, and then the dolphin surfing are engraved in my mind and will remain crystal clear for an eternity. While I was relieved, my heart must have still been racing well over 200 beats per minute. Overall, a very exciting first day in Australia!



Unfortunately Ben was bogged down with school work for the majority my time there, yet he introduced me to many of his friends which I surfed and spent a few days relaxing on the beach with. On the whole the trip was a great way to unwind from my one week of heavy school work!

My last day in Australia was very busy. It began with an early morning surf as the sun was rising. Though my ability to catch waves hadn’t improved, it was incredible to see the older gents out on their boards for their daily session before heading to work. It reminded me of my dad heading to the gym at 6 am before taking off to the office; there seemed to be a great community of white collar men enjoying the swells in their wetsuits before tossing on their ties and suits. What a life. After taking the two hour trip back to Brisbane, I managed to meet up with Lynn – who was the trainer for the Kings Soccer team this past season. She had just arrived in Brisbane that morning to work for one year, and it was a very nice coincidence that we were able to spend the day together. Just before we took off for a National Rugby League game, Ben, Lynn and I met up with Lenny and his girlfriend Shayna who were touring the Gold Coast during Lenny’s exam break. Even though it was only a 45 minute encounter, it was a very nice way to see each other for the last time until Lenny and I reunite somewhere in Canada – and finally meeting his girlfriend was great too! After watching the rugby game and heading to an international student’s party, Ben and I crashed at Adam’s house and I left early in the morning to head back to New Zealand following a great week in Aussie.

After an uneventful flight to Auckland, I picked up the rental car, waited for Sonja to land, and we on the road heading north. With no set plan on where to go or what to see, it was a rather laid back trip. Our first night, we were a little too easy going and couldn’t find a hostel so we ended up sleeping in the car – which was a Toyota Yaris. We folded the back seats down but my head was touching the rear hatch door, while my feet were touching the gear shift; needless to say, it wasn’t comfortable.

We spent the next few days touring all parts of Northland and the Bay of Islands. Some of the highlights were finding some great wind and kite boarding at 90 mile beach, watching the sunset at Cape Reinga (New Zealand’s most northern point), finding the giant Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) in the Waipoua forest, and exploring around Goat Island marine reserve. I thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of road tripping without a set timetable, especially with all the beautiful scenery of northern New Zealand.

After returning to Wellington, I played in my final football match for the University team; a 4-0 win. A clean sheet was a great way to culminate my experience of playing football on NZ soil. The team expressed their appreciation for my contribution over the past four months, and saying goodbye to them was tough as I have spent more time with those guys than just about anyone else. I know that they’ll be some of the first people I contact when I get back here.



That same night, I attended a New Zealand All Black game. I secured my tickets months ago, and I was pumped to watch the legendary team square off against France. While Westpac Stadium wasn’t completely sold out, the place was filled with great enthusiasm for both teams; I was shocked at the number of French supporters besides the three French exchange students I went with. Witnessing the Haka (war chant performed by the All Blacks) was truly an incredible experience. Though the weather was terrible (with rain, wind and 5 degree weather) the All Blacks came out on top – it was a very memorable experience!

I’ve got my final exam of my undergraduate degree tomorrow, and I’ve been spending the last two days preparing to leave. My bags are almost packed, and I’m about to embark on the longest day of my life. I leave Wellington at 6:40 am, fly to Sydney, then to Vancouver and I’ll arrive in Ottawa just before 7pm, same day. I’m praying that everything runs smoothly through each airport and that I can get home to see my family before racing up to camp the day after.

This truly has been the trip of a life-time. I have done some amazing activities, seen much of the stunning scenery this country is blessed with, and made lasting relationships with individuals from all corners of the globe. Though this fairy tale had to end at some point, I have many good reasons to return. I have no doubt I’ll be back!

More of Wellington

With less than three weeks remaining, I’m not ready for this adventure to be over! The month or so since my last post has been much less interesting as previous periods, so this is sure to be short-winded update.

I have been spending much more time on school since the end of April because I have had papers due weekly. Though my time in the library has decreased, I have end up working long hours in my residence room (complete with many distractions).

Soccer has played a significant role in my time away from my studies. The Uni team has come around recently after a few slumping weeks. We are the best team in the league when we are motivated. Since the beginning of the season, I've been getting closer with many of the players. One of the strikers and I have been engaging in lots of little competitions throughout the season in training and this past week. We’ve ended up with some great highlights as he managed two goals against me in our last training session together while I completely robbed him of an entirely empty net after giving up a juicy rebound. Since I won't be seeing him until I end make I way back to NZ (or if he makes his way to Canada), it was a bittersweet ending to the practice. There are a bunch of quality individuals on the squad that I will not soon forget. From our Argentinean coach to my 40 year old Maori center back to our talented French and German midfeilders and the rest of the team, these are great people that have left a lasting impression of Kiwi culture and all around good memories in my heart.

Other than school and soccer, my main pastime has been kitesurfing. Though I haven’t been out as often as I would have liked, I am rapidly falling in love with the sport. A Finnish friend of mine, Mikko, has been helping me out by organizing rides out to Waikanae beach (which is about an hour outside of Wellington). While he quickly developed into a better rider than me, he is one of the most positive people I have ever met as torrential downpours won’t discourage this fellow from hoping for sunny skies. I’ve secured a few photos of our excursions so be sure to check them out. I’m very excited to get a chance to try kitesurfing back at camp on the windy days!

As for my last three weeks, I’m flying to Australia in just a few hours. I’m heading over to the Gold Coast to stay with Ben McDade (a former roommate out in Halifax) who is on exchange in Brisbane. I’m going to be there from the 6th until the 13th to hopefully experience some of the good life of surf and beach. Afterwards I’m heading flying to Auckland, NZ where I’ll drive to the very Northern tip of the North Island on my last road trip of New Zealand. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be seeing as I haven’t got any set plans yet… I’m just excited to see more of this incredible country!

Since I handed in my last paper today, and have only got one exam left (Conflict Analysis – I’m not worried at all and really don't plan on styding for it) the only thing which has got me worried is saying goodbyes. I knew it was going to be a challenge. Just having returned from a dinner where I had to say goodbye (potentially for the last time) to my wife and a few other friends was tougher than expected. I’m really no looking forward to these last few weeks where every time I see someone, it may be for the last. I’m doing my best to enjoy every moment, and I guess that’s all I can do.

So it’s nearly 2 am here now, and I’ve got to meet my friend at 3:30 so we can catch a cab to the airport. I’m looking forward to some sleep as the bottle of wine with dinner hasn’t made staying awake any easier!

I really can’t believe that this incredible adventure is almost over…

2nd Half of the Break: South Island Road Trip

So just when I thought things couldn’t be better after the euphoric emotions from the overall victory and all around good times at Uni Games, they did! (I’m going to apologize to anyone reading this in advance for the length, I swear I’m doing my best at sticking to the highlights)

After finally getting one good night sleep back in Wellington, I woke up at 6:30 in order to catch the Interislander Ferry. Lenny and I were accompanied with Lis (an American rugby girl who lives close to Lenny) and Nat (Lis’s boyfriend who was in visiting from upstate NY), and were excited to get going. Similarly to the beginning my last adventure, there were some unexpected hiccups; namely we were late for the ferry. Luckily enough for us, because we arrived within minutes after the final boarding call (the gangplank had already been pulled), we were able to exchange our tickets for the next ferry free of charge. So we sat and swapped old travel stories while waiting. Once on the ferry, we were all just happy to be on the move.

The ferry ride was relatively uneventful 3 hours from Wellington to Picton. We picked up our rental car and were on the road for Fox Glacier (name of the glacier and nearby town); roughly a 9 hour drive. The car ride was full of sleeping, beautiful scenery (through Nelson, the Marlborough region, and down the West Coast), and a plethora of inappropriate jokes. We arrived at the hostel in Fox Glacier at about 11:30 pm and promptly passed out.

We were all signed up for a full day Glacier walk following day and awoke at 8, as to make our way to the guide center. Lenny was a bit tough to wake up that morning, so Lis enjoyed jumping all over his bed; much to Lenny’s dismay. Upon arriving at the Fox Glacier Guide center, we were issued boots, crampons (metal spikes for conquering the glacier), and any warm gear we wanted. Our group was comprised of a great number of people from the UK, USA, and Germany. Our guide was a young Kiwi who preferred to walk rather than talk. He told us the important facts and answered any questions we had, but it was really nice to have a guide who was just as interested in exploring as we were. There was a reoccurring theme throughout our entire trip – we were just simply blessed with outstanding weather. The only cloudy day we had was our last day of the trip, and every other day was just about perfect! We had a bit of a hike to actually access the glacier; our guide equated it to climbing the stairs of a 50 story building! Fortunately, this hike was through the middle of rainforest and was full of gorgeous foliage and beautiful birds. After climbing some steep faces, and crossing some apparently dangerous crossings, we arrived at the access point to the glacier. Everyone strapped on their crampons, and ascended onto the glacier. It was an interesting feeling walking on ice, but the crampons really worked well. They apply such incredible traction once you dig into the ice that you can climb up virtually anything! The traction was great because one slip could result in a slide that could last several hundred meters on ice that can act like a cheese grater – not a pleasant thought. We spent 5 hours wandering the glacier, getting tidbits of information every so often. The most shocking fact for me was that the ice on this particular glacier, which is nearly 13 km long, takes only 60 years to travel from start to finish! We were shown some markers which track the ice flow, and the glacier looses nearly 2 meters of ice off the surface every 3 weeks. Caves, bridges and crevasses we saw would remain the same for a week at most. One bridge we saw (in the pictures it’s the gigantic circle of ice) probably melted out by the end of the day we were there. We were very luck to see some of the sights, and the weather just made the day incredible.

After descending the glacier and rainforest and returning to town, I took the wheel and we were off to Queenstown, another 6 hours of driving. We arrived late in Queenstown, found a cheap motel, and got some much needed rest. Because we were all fairly busy in the weeks leading up to this trip, none of us had taken too much time to make a set itinerary, which was wonderful. Traveling without worrying about time was a nice break.

So the next morning we decided on heading straight to for Milford Sound. It was only a 4 hour drive and the weather was pristine again, so we went for it. We made our way along some surprisingly straight roads until we hit Te Anau where we made a quick stop for lunch. Little did we know at the time, Nat had left his wallet at Subway. This posed a problem as Lis was relying on Nat for paying for just about everything (not that Lis is that kind of girl, but he’s working full time back in the states, while Lis is a student – but frankly I don’t blame her!). This left Lenny and I spotting a fair chunk of cash for the rest of the trip, but we know where she lives…

The drive from Te Anau to Milford Sounds was absolutely gorgeous. Words can’t describe the rolling topography, still lakes, steep cliffs, and bright blue sky (just look at the photos). We made several stops for photos, the most eventful was a traffic light for a tunnel leading to the sound. The sign above stated that the light changed every 15 minutes, so we turned off the car, and threw rocks until the light changed. The other side of the tunnel was even more stunning. Some serious switchbacks gave us a full view and we were in complete and utter awe.

Arriving at Milford Sound, we quickly booked the next ferry trip as the overnight cruises were fully booked (there were a few spots left for the upper class cruise, but we just couldn’t afford the $450 per person price tag). For $55 each, we hopped onto a 100 person ferry and spend the next 2 hours seeing all the Milford Sound had to offer. There were waterfalls everywhere, and the scenery was exquisite. I do not have the linguistic skills to properly describe the beauty of Milford, anyone who’s been there can understand. Just look at the photos, and I’ll put up some of the videos I took at the bottom of this post.

After talking to a few people on the boat, we realized that there were very limited accommodations at Milford and were told that our best option would be to return to Queenstown that night. While we dreaded the thought of doubling our driving that day, we figured it was our best option. So we got back in our car, with Lis behind the wheel and got a move on.

The drinking and driving laws are slightly different in NZ than they are in Canada and the States. Obviously the driver is forbidden to drink and drive, his/her passengers on the other hand are free to booze as much as they like. With Lenny and I in the back seat, and having a decent amount of beer left over from the night before, we got to work while Lis got us back to Queenstown. Along the way, we passed some wayward hitchhikers and decided to pick them up. The only issue was that we were driving a mid-sized sedan with 4 people and a full trunk. We managed to squeeze this mid 20s American couple from Philly into the back with us, along with all of their camping gear, leaving Lenny and I with limited arm room for our consumption; but we managed. Lis made incredible time back to Queenstown. We dropped off the hitchers, found a great little motel, and hunkered down for the night.

I managed to wake up the next day feeling like shit, and it had nothing to do with the alcohol. I couldn’t breath through my nose, I couldn’t swallow without significant pain, and I had a splitting headache. It was the worst cold I’ve had in a very long time, but luckily we had nothing planned and looked for something low key for the day. We found an animal park, Deer Park Heights, and decided it could be a lot of fun, for very little money. We packed two of our other friends from the State in the car with us; Tara and Megan (Megan joined Lenny and I on our first road trip). We drove through the park and saw tons of animals like pigs, ducks, lamas, goats, sheep, donkeys, rams, red stag, buffalo, and yak. We had some good fun with all of them as they were very accustomed to human contact. But the most impressive aspect of this part was the 360 degree view from the top. We could see the entire Queenstown region with mountains in every direction. While still feeling completely under the weather, I took some nice R&R while at the top and just took in the sights. It didn’t make me feel any better, but it sure was pretty!

After making the 20 minute drive back to Queenstown, I loaded up on some cold medication, grabbed some Furgburger (yet another high quality burger joint – the second best I’ve had. I’m still loyal to Burger Fuel), and fell asleep. We all had big days ahead of us.

The next day was our typical, scare-the-crap-out-of-yourself, day in Queenstown. Lis, Nat and I were off to NZONE for a 15000-foot skydive, while Lenny was of to the NEVIS Canyon for a 134 meter bungie jump. We wished Lenny the best of luck, as he had to leave before us, and were off to sign our lives away. As I was filling out the forms I noticed a huge warning at the top of the sheet, “WARNING: DO NOT SKYDIVE IF YOU HAVE A COLD, SORE THROAT, CONGESTED SINUSES, FEVER LIKE SYMPTOMS, ARE HUNGOVER, OR PREGNANT.” I was rather nervous, being 4 for 6, but my thought process was – you only live once! I signed the forms, took some more cold medication, and got on the bus heading to the airfield.

I met my tandem master, Kras once we arrived. He was a Bulgarian man in his late 40s who had 26 years and 21 days of experience. With Kras having over 9500 jumps under his belt took away most of my worries as we suited up. After going over the instructions a few times, we were in the plane and climbing to 15000 ft. The area we had in the plane was about 4 ft wide and 12 ft long; not exactly roomy with 4 jumpers, 4 tandem masters and one camera man (for the random Brit we had with us in the plane – it was $179 for photos. Lis, Nat and I didn’t think it was worth it). We were blessed again with perfect weather and from the plane we could see mountains in every direction. As we achieved 15000 and the door of the plane opened, it suddenly hit me that I was about to actually jump out of a plane. Even going over it now just gets my heart pumping! I was third out of the plane, and our Brit was first. I felt sorry for the poor guy. His hands were trembling from take-off. But he fell so fast out of the plane I couldn’t even hear him scream. Lis went next, and then my legs were suddenly dangling out of the plane. Kras asked me if I was ready, and every bone in my body said no; but I yelled YEAH! (Everything was yelled at this point as you couldn’t hear anything with the door open). Kras had told me on the way up to keep my eyes open the whole time as he was going to try his best to scare me; I was encouraging him. We did 2 back flips out of the plane as we started the 10000 ft free fall. It was by far the fastest 60 seconds of my life. At 200 km per hour the loose skin in your cheeks is really flapping around. It was an incredible experience that I recommend to everyone!

We all made perfect landings and made our way back to Queenstown to meet up with Lenny. Lenny was just as giddy about his adrenaline filled afternoon as we were. We all swapped stories as we grabbed dinner and got into the car. Because Lis and Nat had to return back to Wellington earlier than Lenny and I, we drove back up the West Coast to Franz Joseph to meet up with Tara and Megan for the remainder of our trip. We all slept at a great hostel that night.

When Lenny and I woke up, Lis and Nat had already left as they had to a ferry to up in Picton. Since Tara and Megan were doing a full day glacier walk, Lenny and I found a hike which took us to the base of Franz Joseph glacier. We spent 4 hours hiking, eating, taking photos and just enjoying each other’s company. Lis made the comment earlier in the trip that we had some good bromance going on. We found ourselves at the base of Franz Joseph glacier playing rock golf (we would pick a maker and have to hit it with a rock – match play and we played 9 holes). Realizing how far a walk back it was, we managed to hitch a ride back from the parking lot near the glacier back to town. It saved us a 1.5 hour walk which was lovely. We returned for a hot tub at the hostel while waiting for the girls to return from their trip.

They swung by to pick us up, and we were headed for Greymouth. After spending the night at another wonderful hostel, we did a long day of driving by Pancake Rocks and up to Kahurangi National Park and ended our trip back in Nelson. The day was mostly spent driving, though we did see some very cool caves and arches.

Our final day of our trip was spent on a winery tour. We figured it was a perfect way to cap off the trip. Touring the Marlborough region was incredible. We made stops at wineries such as Drylands, Haast, Cloudy Bay and a few others which have slipped my mind. The wine was incredible. I found a new appreciation for Riesling, a variety I normally despise for being too sweet and tart. In Marlborough, the Riesling is very popular and is made in a varying array of styles. I was very impressed.

We caught the ferry back that night, and all the wine had us feeling very sleepy for the ride. I’ve now been back in Wellington for a very uneventful week which I have spent most at the library. I finally finished my term paper for the History of the Holocaust and Genocide which had been keeping me occupied all week. Lenny and I are now furiously trying to figure out ways in which to watch playoff hockey. We are very frustrated that we can’t watch Ovechkin and Crosby go head-to-head in the second round. But I somehow believe that we won’t get any sympathy from people back home.

1st Half of Easter Break: Uni Games

Things here just keep getting better and better!

Almost three weeks ago, I decided that I would commit to the sport of kitesurfing. 1830 NZD later, I have myself a 10m kite and a harness. While expensive, I know that I’ll get good use out of it – while I’m here, at camp and in the future. My first time out with it was just a perfect day. Consistent wind at about 17 knots, a slight overcast, and some really great people made it really easy for me to embrace my pricy purchase. I’ll be sure to keep you all updated with photos once I’ve got some!

This past week Lenny and I have been very busy. Last Saturday, we woke up to catch a train to Taupo for a late Seder with Isaac – a student from North Carolina whose parents are in NZ for a work exchange. The start of the trip had Lenny and I quite worried as we couldn’t find Isaac before the train left. We hoped that he had jumped onto another car, but we both thought that he had slept in (Lenny and I were just hoping for the best). The train left at 7:25 am, and at 9:30 we got a phone call from Isaac. He forgot to set his alarm and thus had missed the train. All was not lost at he had booked a flight to Taupo that had him arriving in Taupo nearly 2 hours before us – 45 minute flight, but a 6 hour train ride. Isaac met us at the train station, and was very upset to see that he missed out on our train car which had happened to be filled with many gorgeous blond women on some type of organized tour. Lenny and I would have gladly continued on with them if Isaac hadn’t managed to make it to Taupo.

Isaac’s family was incredibly nice. In typical Jewish motherly fashion, the brisket and matzah ball soup was ready and waiting upon our arrival. After spending the last 2 months eating mediocre cafeteria food, home cooking was a wonderful treat. We had a lovely Seder, played numerous games of pool on an enormous pool table, and called it an early night.

The next morning Isaac, his father, Lenny and I woke early to hike the Tongariro Crossing. We packed a box of matzah, macaroons, some apples, lots of water and were on our way. It was nearly an hour drive to reach the beginning of the trail, but the weather was absolutely stunning! Even Isaac’s dad, who had done the crossing 4 times, claimed that it was the most gorgeous day he had seen for the 7 hour hike.

The whole area had been used as a filming site for Lord of the Rings – Mt. Doom and Mordor are in a few of my pictures. Words just really can’t describe the sights, it was just incredible. Our day just got even better from there. I fully realized how small the world is on that hike. My first realization was a couple of Israelis we met on our way up. Lenny and I overheard Hebrew and got to chatting with them. Over the course of the day, we met 9 Israelis some of which came over to congratulate us for bringing matzah on the hike! We met some Canadians from Toronto and Ottawa, some Americans from NC near by where Isaac was from. Additionally, we bumped into all those attractive women from our train car. Isaac, Lenny and I walked behind them for a while and tried to guess where they were from. While we all guessed countries in Scandinavia, Lenny was spot on with Denmark. The girls were quite impressed. But my greatest realization of our small world came out of something that Lenny noticed. He pointed out a girl in front of us who was wearing a shirt that said ‘rebuilding New Orleans in 2008’. He knew about my Habitat for Humanity adventure of last year, and asked me if I had worked with her. I asked her when she happened to be volunteering there. She mentioned that it was over her reading week last year, which was the same time that I was there. When talking about camp hope (the place we all stayed while volunteering) she even remembered singing me happy birthday; along with the other 1200 people who joined in at the dinning hall. I couldn’t believe that all this happened in just a few hours of hiking on the other side of our small world.

Isaac had arranged to drive us to Taranaki the next day for Uni Games, as he was competing in basketball while Lenny and I were playing volleyball. The uni games are an annual sporting event which pits all of the NZ (and some Australian) universities against one another in 22 competitions. The overall winner of the competition gets to keep the uni games shield – which was in Victoria University of Wellington’s possession. While the events can be rather competitive, there is just as high an emphasis on the nightlife. The majority of the Vic team was being housed on a Marae – a traditional Maori community center. After receiving a traditional Maori welcome, we set up 105 mattresses on the floor of the main hall. There was just barely enough room for everyone. The food on the Marae was excellent, especially considering they were cooking for nearly 120 people. On the walls, there were pictures of all sorts of individuals who were from the surrounding communities. PGA golfer, Ben Campbell was up there, and his aunt was one of the head chefs. It was an incredible to experience authentic Maori culture.

Our volleyball team had never played together before our first match but we were mainly there to have fun. Our setter was a 50 year old PHD student from Texas named Keith. He made most of us look young with his constant hustle. (As a side note – Keith also kept up with Lenny and I for our nights in town. Incredibly, he came to all the bars with us. Everyone just loved the guy!) We had two Samoans, Shalom and Morgan, who just had a blast at everything. These big guys were obsessed with national anthems and could sing the national song for 13 different countries (it was 11, but we taught them Canada’s and America’s). Peter and Marco were incredible players. Peter was one of the top beach players in his age group in NZ, and Marco was the setter for the under 19 national team – though he just wanted to swing power instead of set for this tourney. Then there was Lenny and I, two Canucks who hadn’t played much volleyball in the last 4 years. Overall our team progressed with every game and we managed to win a silver medal over two days of competition.

The following day was the beach competition. After a heavy night of drinking, I can’t say Lenny and I were the most fearsome competitors – but then again, everyone was in the same boat. Vic had three teams in the competition and we finished 1st, 2nd, and 10th – not too tough to figure out where Lenny and I finished. But Lenny’s motto of ‘refuse to lose’ applies as there were 12 teams in the beach tourney. While we didn’t play to our potential (there are a few different rules for beach volleyball which had us giving away many easy points), the weather was gorgeous and we really couldn’t complain.

That night was the closing ceremonies for uni games. Though we were exhausted, Lenny, Keith and I ate dinner at Burger King and finished off the rest of our rum from the night before. We all admitted that drinking at a BK was serious low point, but we laughed it off. The ceremonies were hilarious. Everyone was thoroughly intoxicated, and the shenanigans were both incredible and embarrassing at the same time. It was great to socialize with the rest of the teams from our competition and many people were very nice to us Canadians. In the end, Vic took home the shield for the second year in a row, a feat that no school has done before. Overall, it was just an amazing experience.

With another 3 hour night of sleeping under my belt – it was the 3rd in a row – I made it back to Wellington today just in time to play a soccer match. We ended up winning 5-1 and I am now beyond exhausted. I’m gearing up for my early morning ferry trip to the south island tomorrow with Lenny, Liss and her boyfriend who’s visiting from the States. We’re planning to hit up Fox Glacier, Queenstown and Milford Sound. I’m sure it will provide me with many more stories for when I get back.

A student life in NZ

It has been too long since my last confession. I don’t have the excuse of being on many outrageous adventures, all I can say is that I have settled into the normal student life. Therefore, procrastination is my life!

I have yet to leave Wellington since my return from the Northern road trip, and I am just itching to see more of this country. My time has mostly been passed getting to know people in my hall, hanging out with international students, playing soccer, trying to organize kitesurfing lessons, going to class, and of course, partying.

While I was a bit nervous about living with people 4-5 years my junior, things have been going really well on my floor. In an attempt to get everyone closer, a few of the girls on my floor decided to create a family tree (where each person on the floor is a member). Fortunately I was given the role of ‘big brother’ (I was dreading being a grandpa). So I now have a mum, dad, grandma, 7 sisters, a brother, a stray cat, a drunken aunt, and a wife. Safa (my new bride), moved onto our floor after the first week and happens to be in her 3rd year. With too many sisters, our mum decided to marry us before we even met. We generally all get together for drinks on the weekend, eat meals together, and sit around chatting in our common room.

One floor below, there are a bunch of rambunctious kiwis. I can easily equate some of these guys to the small town Canadian boys who get to university and can just out-drink everyone. I spend a fair bit of time one floor down with the boys. There is a lack of males on my floor (not that I would ever complain about that), so it’s nice to go down and learn the ins-and-outs of cricket and rugby, while teaching them about hockey and all it’s glory! It’s definitely nice to mix it up every once and a while. Plus, these guys have all offered their homes to me during our Easter break, so I’m really looking forward to them showing me the real kiwi experience. All-in-all, things in my hall are going really well!

Soccer is taking up a decent amount of time, but I am enjoying every minute of it. I solidified my spot on the 1st team with a shutout in a pre-season game last Sunday. We’ve got two more exhibition games this week, and the regular season starts on April 4th. Guillermo (our Argentinean coach) is great, but is forcing the quick play of Latin American football on our team. It’s so fast, and really works on quick plays starting at the back, so my play is improving rather quickly. There’s also a former keeper who used to play on the team years ago, who is out coaching and training me. The guys on the team are great; really friendly and outgoing. Needless to say, I’m really enjoying playing soccer.

Kitesurfing has not being going as well as I would have liked. I have so far had one lesson, and 6 cancelled due to poor conditions. Two of those lessons were cancelled after I had been out in the water already. Just as I was learning to body drag (where the kite just pulls you along in the water) the wind picked up, and therefore so did I. I was very lucky that my instructor was hanging tightly to my harness as we were both lifted about 6 feet out of the water (had he let go, I was told I would have been slingshot nearly 20 feet in the air). We crashed back down in the water, and called it a day. We called it a day after that, and I’m headed out on Thursday morning (early) this week to try and finally get some nice weather. The possibility of me seriously getting into the sport is looking slim over here due to the distance I need to travel for a good location, the costs, and the fact that the weather is slowly turning to shit here. Winter in Wellington consists of heavy wind, rain, and fairly mild temperatures (3-10 degrees – which isn’t awful, though being in the water makes it just a tad bit colder).

Lenny and I have also been seeing a lot of each other. We now have a class together, Conflict Analysis in International Politics. Basically, we sit there and talk sports all class. It’s a second year class, and we’ve spent the first 3 weeks on Realism and Liberalism (which we’ve both been learning about for the last 3 years). It’s a joke. Naturally, we’ve also been up to some fun and mischief over the last few weeks. We’ve managed a couple of wonderful dinners with some international students, providing a break from our hall meals (they’ve been progressively worse), and kiwis. Lenny and I (along with two others) managed to fabricate bracelets to sneak into Homegrown. This enormous music festival (featuring exclusively NZ music), had tickets going for $90 a piece, and not knowing any of the groups left us with very little incentive to shell out that kind of cash. But thanks to Lenny’s work on ‘paint’, we printed tickets off a computer and walked in without incident! The music was pretty good – though I would not have paid for tickets. With tons of people surrounding us, it was an exuberant atmosphere.

With all that Lenny and I have been hearing about Israel Apartheid Week back on Canadian and American university campuses, we’ve been feeling a bit useless here. There is very little talk of that on campus here in Wellington. However, on separate occasions we both noticed an enormous sign draped off the side of a house near an on-ramp to the highway which stated “Israel and USA get out of Palestine”. This obviously upset us both, and we felt a nighttime sting operation was in order. We snuck into the yard of this house, cut a couple of ropes holding the sign up made a stealthy exit. We’ve yet to see the sign back up, and we’ll be sure to keep these operations ongoing as needed!

Overall, the student life in NZ is very similar to anywhere else in the world. My classes are going well (other classes are: Holocaust and Genocide; and History of NZ – a Settler society), though I’ve yet to really get any work done. It is starting to bother me that the weather back home (Halifax, Ottawa, or GP) will soon be nicer than it is here. My goal of 8 months of endless summer will most definitely not be realized – though I’m sure I won’t get any sympathy from anyone back home.

1st Road Trip in New Zealand

Man, what an awesome road trip! Myself, Lenny, and 8 Americans had an incredible time (Suzie, Meagan, Michelle, Dana, Arvind, Joe and Shane were all from Penn State and Becky from Rhode Island). After piling 10 people (and all their bags) into two Corollas, we were driving down the left side of the road (a true mental challenge). Working with the signals and wiper blades reversed as well made a great game for the backseat drivers. They would count how many times the driver would signal with wiper blades, instead of lights – I was definitely well over 10 in the first 10 minutes. Force of habit just kept kicking in. I did manage to make a rather potentially costly error at one roundabout. While figuring out which direction to go, I turned the wrong way (into the direction of oncoming traffic) and then turned out of the roundabout onto the wrong side of the road (the right side) all while signaling with my wiper blades. Thankfully there was no traffic anywhere to be seen, except for the second car on the trip behind me. They were laughing and honking at me for a while – and I absolutely deserved it!

We had to drive roughly 6 hours that evening to make it to Rotorua for our hostel reservations. My car got shafted with only one CD, and while it was a great mix-CD I definitely got sick of hearing each song 7 times. We arrived to our hostel at 10:45, got settled, and headed out to Lava Bar for Becky’s 21st birthday. This girl is hilarious. She drank a bottle of Scrumpie’s Cider towards the tail end of the car ride, and was trollied (my new favorite Kiwi term for beyond-drunk). Becky can’t weigh more than 100 lbs and admitted to us that she had never drank before she came to NZ. As we started walking to the bar, Becky began to put on an incredible British accent (which surprisingly lasted until we put her to bed). The bar was nearly empty with the exception for a few local creepers. This however did not stop Becky from racing to the dance floor (she is one of those girls that just loves to dance, and is quite good too). After a couple free drinks from the bartender, Becky was a dancing machine with virtually no one to dance with except for a couple of locals. Just to clarify, the rest of us were stone sober and exhausted from the drive, but with it being her birthday we were happy to look out for her. The night was cut short as the bouncer was knocked unconscious by a bottle, and all 20 people in the bar were asked to leave.

With Becky being unable to walk on her own I piggy-backed her all the way home. It was incredibly entertained with her ramblings in an excellent British accent. She was explaining how she thought she was different from other Americans because of her innocence and I can’t really go into full details about her exact sayings, but they were unforgettable. Upon returning to the hostel, we were sitting in the common area when Becky started mumbling something to Lenny. After not being able to understand the first couple of times, Lenny then realized she was finished with her alcohol and called for me. We raced her to the bathroom, and were only a ½ second too late. It was a messy next couple of hours for Lenny and I, but again Becky’s British accent was worth it. I won’t embarrass her further, but Lenny and I agree that my inspirational, Barak Obama ‘Yes We Can’, speech for getting Becky to drink water was legendary.

The next morning the sun was shining on what was a gorgeous day! Our first stop of the day was a hike to the top of Mt. Maungakakaramea (yeah, just try pronouncing that – it stood for Mountain of coloured earth). It was a short hike and there were geothermal vents everywhere which were incredible. At the summit we could see 13 different lakes! There was a radio tower which I just felt needed to be climbed and the view from up there was even better. Becky was a little worse for wear, though she stuck it out like a champ. After hanging out for a bit up top, we made our way back to the cars in search of some thermal hot springs. In our quest for sulfur infused water, we got lost. It was only a 30 minute delay, but we did manage to catch a couple of clear cuts which had been planted (I felt right at home!). The stop at the thermal hot springs was incredible. It felt as though you just slipped into a bathtub it was so warm. What was most amazing was this was a location where two streams met (one hot and one cold). Finding the happy medium made the temperature just right!

Once we dried off, our sights were set on the Coromandel peninsula. Our only obstacle, quite possibly the most terrifying roads I have ever navigated. I’m talking about roads where they are only two lanes (if you can really call it two lanes, it’s more like one and a half) with a 25 foot drop to the ocean on one side and then a straight rock wall on the other. There was literally no margin for error. Oh, should I also ad in that we were driving at night, and transport trucks were taking these roads as well. With no guard rails, some of the turns had signs saying 10 km/h for corners (to show how tight some the corners were). It was a very tough stretch of driving and we found out afterwards that there are easily a dozen or so cars that go over the edge every year.

We arrived at Coromandel City intact (though some people’s stomachs may have been slightly upset and minds a little blown after surviving the roads) after the city had shut down at 9:45. The hostel had enormous hippie influence in everything from the owner to the sheets and room decorations. Lenny suggested that he and I take the room for two, as we all had to split up. We hadn’t seen the room, and completely burst out laughing when we did. The room (if you could call it that) was a futon with maybe two feet of room around the entire bed. There was colourful tapestry draped across the ceiling. We truly got the honey-moon suite! The following morning was my birthday! It was hilarious to wake up next to Lenny. We packed up and headed to Hot Water Beach. There was a great surf break and Shane, Joe and Arvin raced into the water with their body boards and got to the surfing while Lenny, myself, and the girls played some Frisbee and relaxed. After a while Lenny and I took the boards for a spin and had a pretty good time catching the waves with little effort! I really couldn’t have thought of a more perfect way to start the day.

We then headed to a marine reserve (Sting Ray Bay and Cathedral Cove). Lenny and I picked up some beer, sausage and crackers for the perfect mid-afternoon snack to share at Cathedral Cove. All of us went swimming, lay on the beach and did a little exploring. The scenery was very similar to Thailand. But I was most impressed with the vegetation of the area. It appeared to be a perfect cross between North America and a sub-tropical region. There were enormous pine trees surrounded by giant ferns and palm trees. It’s tough to describe so check out some of the pictures. We decided to get back on the road as to not get into wherever we were staying too late. We had no se plan though we all wanted to let loose that night, have a nice dinner and a few drinks for my birthday. Lenny was excellent at browsing through Lonely Planet while we were driving and spotted a town on the way called Whangamata. This is the actual description from Lonely Planet,
“While Auckland’s socially ambitious flock to Pauanui, the city’s young and horny head to Whangamata to surf, get stoned, and hook up. It can be a raucous spot over New Year, when the population swells to over 40,000. A true summer holiday town, in the off-season there may was well be tumbleweeds rolling down the main street.”

After hearing that, we hit the exit found an absolutely perfect hostel which had a vacant room for 10. Things really couldn’t have worked out more perfectly had we planned it. Arvind cooked up a great pasta dinner for everyone, as we all began putting back glasses of wine. We had our own kitchen, and a massive dinning room for a hostel which was perfect for eating and playing a few drinking games. After enough drinks we decided to head to the lone town bar for a little karaoke with the locals. Lenny was nice enough to offer me a tequila shot (little did I know he turned it into a Prairie Fire – added a little Tabasco to the shot) which went down anything but smoothly. After that I was up to sing a rendition of Sweet Home Alabama before calling it a night. My walk home was a little more rough than getting there. Michelle and I actually wrestled most of the way home from the bar (now I know how that sounds, but we actually, legitimately wrestled a good ¾ of the way home from the bar. I can only imagine what Lenny though, as he had a perfect view of us from the stairs of the hostel. I’m happy there were no cameras available that night.). I somehow made it to bed after what was an incredible birthday!

I awoke with a, well deserved but wicked, hangover. We were headed to Mt. Maunganui for a mid-day hike. At first I only managed to crawl out of the car and onto the grass, though I sucked it up. It was another short hike up the mountain which was littered with sheep. There were stunning views from the summit but we managed to meet up with a couple of paragliders who were waiting for the right wind direction to take off (Paragliding is a sport where you open up a parachute from the top of a mountain and then run off, flying free as a bird). I started chatting with one of the gents and the conversation turned to kitesurfing. As it turns out he was one of the New Zealand’s top kitesurfers a few years back (check out Dave Edwards on Youtube – he’s got some unreal clips of him jumping some rocks in Maui). He gave me the name of a great kite school in Wellington and wished me the best of luck as he flew off the mountain.

As we descended the mountain, I along with a few others became absolutely famished. Lenny and I were craving Burgerfuel (by far the best burger establishment ever!) As we were driving, we got split up from the other car (the whole time I was talking about how I would kiss the ground if we found a Burgerfuel) and pulled into a strip mall to wait for the other car. Like a sign from g-d, at the end of the mall was Burgerfuel (and yes I did kiss the ground)! The burgers were oh-so delicious. We finished up and were on our way to meet up with other car in Gisborne.

Our car made one stop along the way at a batting cage to stretch and hit some balls. The attendant was hilarious and joked with us the whole time (check the video at the bottom). We only stopped for about a ½ hour and moved on to Gisborne where we were banking on sleeping on the beach with the hopes of catching a sunrise. We met up with the other car, found a great spot on the beach for a fire and hunkered down for the night. Wine was drank, naked people were in the ocean, the fire was roaring and great conversations were had before the night was through. The only downside of that whole experience was our night under the stars and sunrise was completely ruined by thick cloud cover and spitting rain. It was a good effort and we only got off with a warning from a park ranger for spending the night on the beach before heading back to Wellington.

We managed to miss the worst part of the storm as it caught up with us during the drive home. The roads also got increasing sketchy as the weather took a turn for the worst. On some insanely winding roads into Wellington, we saw several car accidents which easily could have resulted in several staggering drops should the cars have tested the guard rails any further. Needless to say, we weren’t rushing home along the dangerous roads. We all arrived home safe, sound and exhausted. I am now preparing for my first week of school in Wellington but, more importantly, my first kitesurfing lesson is on Wednesday…

Getting settled in Wellington...

So I have now spent over one week in Wellington, it is an incredible city! They don’t call it windy Wellington for nothing. I have definitely felt some of the gusts knock me around a little. Now I know not every one reading this has been to Halifax, but I always reckoned that Hali had some pretty steep hills in the down town area. But they are nothing compared to the hills here in Wellington. Most of the slopes are too steep for roads, and have ‘switch-backs’ and stair cases instead. I have to say, I’m getting a great work out coming home from downtown in Wellington. My hall is definitely a 20 minute walk to the top of a mountain! I’m not exaggerating at all, parts of the road definitely get to a 70 degree slope and the rest of the way up is straight stairs. It’s half the time to get downtown then it is to get home, and I’m sweating every time. Fortunately I’m not walking up that hill to class everyday, but I’ll have calves of steel by the end of my stay here! So far the weather has been great, which is definitely a blessing in disguise. There appears to be a hole in the ozone layer directly above NZ, and I’ve burned the backs of my legs and my lips (an awful experience which I highly recommend avoiding!). So I’m being very precautious about spending time in the sun. The harbor is gorgeous, and there a beautiful boardwalk by the water. Everywhere you look there is just jaw-dropping scenery, you’ve got to experience it if you can.
After spending three nights at a backpackers hostel waiting for my residence to open, I was shocked to see my brand new building. Te Puni Hall was just finished after 2 and a half years of construction, and is completely state-of-the-art (and most importantly earthquake proof!). My room is definitely adequate and comes complete with a great view of the city! While I’ll have to get back used to sleeping in a single bed, I can’t complain about my living situation at all. I have definitely settled in nicely. It was a little quite for my first few nights because the international students were able to move in 4 days before the Kiwis. The other international students are great. Surprisingly, over 50 % of the international students are American. I guess I just wasn’t expecting that. I’ve met some very nice people from Penn State as well as a great group of French students from Paris and Tunisia. It’s really neat to have met people from all over the world in just a matter of days.
One thing that I have been hoping to do at this university is play soccer. It didn’t take me long to get a tryouts; a whole 2 days. And after only one other training session, I started my first game for UVW 4 days after the first session. While I was a little rusty, and my distribution being a bit sloppy, I managed to come up with a few decent saves and the victory – a 3-2 win! I am very excited to play a home game, lots of the international students were expressing interest so I might even get a nice turnout!
As for Lenny (a friend from Camp George who is also on an exchange program to UVW – we didn’t plan it at all, it was such a pleasant surprise when I found out last year), he arrived early in the morning on the 18th. While I didn’t have a phone, I did know where he was living and met him at his hall soon after he landed. We wandered the town and campus together, catching up on life. It’s really great to have someone here who I have a close connection with. While we’ve both been meeting tons of new people, we’re also spending a ton of time together – which is great!
The orientation day was a bit more inspiring than watching paint dry, but there were a couple of bright spots. Firstly, I managed to be quick on the draw in a room of about 200 people to answer the name of Wellington’s soccer team (Phoenix – I had seen tons of signs around town) and won a pair of tickets to a Wellington Hurricane’s rugby match (which was the next night)! I also managed to meet heaps of people from ‘round the globe.
That night was my first real night out on the town. The culmination of the orientation was at a bar exclusively for international students. It was great to mingle with them, and the people running the show organized a number of mixers, which only got better as more alcohol was consumed! (I also found out that tipping in NZ is discouraged. I tried to tip one of the bartenders and she gave me back my money!) I wasn’t too into most of the games, but the last game they had was a old fashioned limbo. Lenny and I both entered to try and win some prizes. I told Lenny that he had to win something because I was taking him to rugby the next night. As the limboing went on, Lenny and I got fairly far until there was maybe only 15 people left. Lenny and I were at a huge disadvantage because we were definitely one foot taller than everyone else in the group. Lenny bailed with about 10 people left, and I was the only Canadian hope left. It got down to myself and 5 foot tall Korean, but my flexibility finally paid off for something as I managed to win, and thus another set of tickets (this time to a comedy festival in March). The rest of the night was great, drinking with total strangers is pretty fun! So while the events of the day were a bit of a drag, I came away with two pairs of tickets, and a ton of new friends!
Man, I thought the orientation was dry but the day of registration was just stupid. This was by far the most unnecessarily complicated system I will most likely ever experience. The multiple hour wait in lines wasn’t so bothersome (just another way to meet people) it was just that there were 3 separate lines that everyone had to wait in. I wasn’t freaking out or anything, but Lenny and I went through the process and at least every 15 minutes we would just look at each other and say, “This is soooo stupid and inefficient!” Neither of us were freaking out, there was no point. It was just an entire day of waiting in lines, to have different people process the same information into separate computer systems. Anyway, I don’t want to spend anymore time on this, the highlight of that day was the rugby match which I won tickets too! In a stadium of about 30,000 people we saw a great home team, come-from-behind win in the late stages of the match. I still don’t fully comprehend the sport, so not much more to say. With lots of international students there as well it made for a great experience!
I seemed to have come to Wellington at an ideal time. Yesterday was a huge festival in this city, the Cuba Street Carnival! I would have to say that it’s fairly similar to Mardi Gras, though this one is only held bi-annually. During the day, there was a plethora of shops set up, tons of food vendors, and many roads are blocked off for the insane crowds. I spend the whole day wandering with Lenny and a few other international students, just wandering and taking in all the crazy street performers (most were juggling fire, performing impressive stunts, and making fun of Australia)! But the real highlight of the carnival is the big parade at night and the partying afterwards.
Lenny and I purchased some cheap costumes and then headed back to my hall for dinner and split on a 12 pack before the parade started. This was poor planning because upon arriving at the parade, we realized that there must have been 20,000 people hoping to catch a glimpse of the floats, dancers, musicians, and fire eaters! So we got creative. We managed to secure about 5 great spots, though each time we had security as us to move. Basically, all of our creative ideas ended up with us high off the ground. We were up in trees, on fences and on roofs of trailers and buildings. But our best spot was by far our first one. We ended up in a boat which was set up on top of an information booth for the marine center of Wellington. We sat side-by-side with a manikin in this old wooden rowboat while observing the parade with an amazing view. The worst part about security asking us to leave was that it was never Lenny and I which attracted the attention. There were always people who would recognize our creative ideas, and follow with much less discretion (like our friend Sophia, who probably couldn’t have made more noise while climbing up onto one of the food trailers with people inside…).
When the parade ended, there were literally thousands of people rushing into the pubs and bars. We decided to risk the police and purchased beers from a convenience store and drink in the streets. The cops were only really after those being belligerent and flaunting their alcohol, so were flew completely under the radar. We were waiting for a band, Drop Kick Cousins, to come on hoping that they were a cover band of Drop Kick Murphy’s. Though we were sadly disappointed with the group as not only was it the opposite of Irish rock music, it just wasn’t particularly good. So we ended up at a club for the rest of the night. Overall, it was a great day!
February 22nd marked the move in day for all the first year students living in all the residences. With all of them being 17 and 18, it’s so funny to see these new students going through the same motions I went through only 4 years earlier. The whole time, the international students had been warned that Kiwis truly like their drink. After chilling with a few people, I definitely see that some of these Kiwis would give even my most alcoholic of friends a run for their money. And while I was worried about hanging out with people who were born in the 90s, I have to say that I’ve met some pretty stellar people so far. But there were moments where I actually was wondering ‘what the fuck am I doing living in a hall with these little kids’.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of the fire alarm at 6 am. I assumed that some shit-faced Kiwi had pulled it, but I was amazed to wander into the halls to see all the RAs dressed like the village people! They had pulled the stunt in order to teach every one in Te Puni the hall chants (all to the tunes of the Village People). We moved to the field behind my hall, at 6:30 am, and there I was singing with 300 teenagers. Not exactly how I envisioned the first day, but I had to give the RAs credit, they were in great costumes and full of energy for the early morning after policing drunkards all night! There’s a hall chant off this morning in Wellington Civic Square and a number of other frosh events this week. Though I’ve done most of these types of events with my two years of living in residence before, I’ve never done them in NZ. I’ve got to know all the RAs (because they were the only other people living in the hall before yesterday) and they’re responsible for not only patrolling at night, but also planning everything for Orientation week. I’ve got to say that overall, I’m pretty impressed thus far.
We had a huge chant off that morning in Civic square where we were greeted by the mayor of Wellington. There must have been 1500 students sitting with their hall groups listening. He was noting that there were students from countries all over the world. He started naming countries as people from those places cheered. He mentioned over 15 countries but left out Canada. I happened to be wearing a straw hat and my Team Canada hockey jersey and thought to myself, ‘this just has to be done’. So I stood up and yelled, ‘you forgot about Canada!’ It was great to not only hear cheers from the maybe 10 other Canadians who stood up from around the crowds, but I was more impressed that there were a great deal of other people cheering as well. It seems to be a typical reaction to when I mention that I’m Canadian, Kiwis just really love Canada!
I’m about to take off on an excursion north of Wellington with Lenny and 7 Americans. We’ve rented two cars and leave this evening! While I’ll be missing a soccer game, I’m so excited to see some more of this amazing country. We have a slight tentative plan to head to Lake Taupo and Rotorua area to see some sights and check out the Maori culture. I’m sure I’ll have some great stories to write about upon my return...