Settling In and The Routeburn [2/4]

Hello again!  One week has passed since I arrived in this country and I am so thankful to be here.  I have become very comfortable with the town of Dunedin and am getting around just fine.  The UniFlats office has been very accommodating to the international students that have arrived early, such as myself, and have helped them network with other international students in the area.  I have become friends with a guy named Kemper (a Whitman College student studying abroad who is my age), Jenny (a Kiwihost and Community Support Person), Edward (Kiwihost, NZ native), another Edward (from Colorado currently studying at Otago), Markham (from Florida but resident of NZ), and Ondřej (from Czech).  

Edward, Jenny, and I took a trip to Tunnel Beach this past Tuesday, located about 20 minutes outside of Dunedin (More Info).  It was a great morning.  We hiked down to the beach and stood on top of some of the vast rock outcroppings.  We also went down the man-made tunnel carved out in the 1800s, which allows visitors to walk all the way down to the ocean and swim in the water.  See more pictures below.  We also went to the grocery store called "Pak N Save" and grabbed some essentials. Food is more expensive, so you have to be a bargain hunter.  I was almost ecstatic when I found a giant slab of lamb that was on sale for 49 cents!! I was about a metre (trying to get metric down) from grabbing it when I realized that I was in the dogfood aisle and this was a cut of meat made for dogs.  That was unfortunate.  I have been told that students that don't have a lot of money have been found to EAT dogfood meat and two minute noodles.  These students are the same students that typically come down with scurvy.  I think I'll pass on any food designed for animals.  Jenny was having a man named Carl stay at her flat as a favor to a friend.  Carl was from Britain but had gone to Uni in Canada for the past half-decade or so.  Carl was a very nice man but every time I talked to him about something he told me I was wrong (sometimes not explicitly). It was a very humbling experience I suppose (and probably healthy for me), but at least he explained how Cricket works and it seems like a blast to play.  So that's good.

On Wednesday I decided that I would take a job offered to me by Edward (Kiwihost) to do some landscaping at a friend's house, because I need the cash until my banking is finished setting up.  I met a guy named Mike who was doing most of the work and he was quite a character.  He said "aeh" at the end of just about every sentence and I had no idea if he was asking me a question each time, or if he was instructing me to do something.  We drilled these massive holes for posts for a retaining wall, and Mike and I manned the two person motorized drill that was about 4 feet high and one foot wide.  The drill nearly jerked my arms out of their sockets a couple times.  We poured concrete in the holes and got the job done.  I was the dirtiest I've ever been.  One thing I've noticed about Kiwis so far is they love to get their hands dirty and get to work, whether it's fixing something or building.  I like the attitude.

On Friday I got a text message from my friend Edward asking if I was interested in taking part in the Routeburn Track.  The Department of Conservation in NZ has designated 9 official walks in New Zealand that are designed to be backpacked over the course of a few days.  The trails are very maintained and well funded.  I would liken this to the US Forest Department designating different hikes to do in National Parks in the States.  I knew I couldn't turn this opportunity down--I had been in NZ for about a week and was ready to head to the backcountry.  We grabbed the food we needed, I packed my backpack for two nights, and off we went.  Edward (from CO), Markham, Ondře, and I. Four fellas ready to take on Fiordland National Park.  The drive was a very peaceful drive along two-lane highways through central Otago and much hilly farmland.  We picked up a hitchhiker (always good karma to do so) named Jack, and dropped him off during our journey.  Jack had such a thick accent that we couldn't tell whether he said he used to be a "sheriff" or "shearer" (of sheep) back in the day.  I would like to assume the latter, because he didn't appear to have the personality of an ex-policeman.  Not to worry, however.  Hitchhiking in NZ does not have the same dangerous stigma attached to it as it does in the US.  

We arrived in Queenstown around midnight on Friday.  Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ.  If you can name it, they have it, whether it's skiing, kayaking, kite jumping, bungee, zorbing, etc.  We had driven a mini-van and Edward knew of a secluded spot on a hill overlooking the town where we could park and head to bed.  Ed and Markham volunteered to sleep on top of the van (I roll over in my sleep and this van had zero roof rack), so Ondřej and I slept inside of the van.  The moonlight actually kept me awake for a while and I felt like finding a chiro/masseuse in the morning but after a brief stretch, shower, and breakfast, it was all systems go. Queenstown would be an incredible place to live.  It reminded me of a Colorado ski town situated on the biggest lake in New Zealand and surrounded by some massive mountains.  We took a 40 minute drive to the trailhead for the Routeburn, applied some Goodbye-Sandfly (bug repellent, sandflies are these bugs that just love to bite people here), and started hiking.  The hike was an incredible one.  We passed a few different types of huts on the trail, which had been entirely built from materials flown in by helicopters.  Many people pay $54/night to stay at these huts.  They offered great shelter and a good spot to take a break though.  The river valley we hiked through and eventually out of was very cool.  The water in the rivers at this elevation is crystal clear.  There is no need for a filter and giardia is not even a concern.  Take the water you would see in the Bahamas, and that is what you get.  Please look at the pictures below from this trip, I can't describe how cool some of the scenery is.  We hiked through a mountain pass and climbed Conical Hill to get some cool views.  It was interesting meeting some of the people on the trail.  We met a man from Sydney who was a civil engineer.  He would work on a project for the city, get paid for it, and then go out and travel to another country and do activities until his money ran out.  He would make his way back to Sydney, get another project assigned to him, and do the whole process over again.  Sweet. We ate dinner in the Mackenzie Valley and continued to hike through the evening until about 11pm, since it was light until about 10pm anyways.  We finally found the free campsite we could stay at and ended up backpacking 21 MILES that day.  When we arrived at 11pm, the four of us were covered in sweat, repellent, blisters, blood, tears, etc. and decided that a late night swim in the mountain lake was appropriate. We enjoyed a celebratory beer that we had each brought with us and went to bed.  

The next morning we hiked out of the campsite and finished the Routeburn Track within an hour.  Markham/Ondřej and Ed/I split up and had to find a way to get back to Dunedin.  After about 15 vehicles passing us, a very kind couple from India picked us up and said they'd be happy to take us back to Dunedin.  It was a stroke of good karma that got us that ride.  Rakesh, the husband, was a triple major in Math, Chemistry, and Physics in India.  He got his masters in Physics and phD in Accounting and Auditing but was also working on a masters in Philosophy while having attained some level of astronomy education as well.  I don't know if it gets any smarter than that.  Manci, the wife, had gotten her MBA from Melbourne in Australia which is one of the best in the world, apparently.  They didn't seem to be too stressed about their future, and were just starting to live in Dunedin for the first time.  We talked about India (Ed had lived there for 8 months), arranged marriages, education, spirituality, and other fun topics for the 5 hour ride.  I am happy to say that I made it back to Dunedin in one piece.

Yesterday I was able to catch the Super Bowl in a sports bar at the "Octagon" which is the central part of Dunedin.  I enjoyed watching it with a few Americans as well as some New Zealander's that were fascinated with the sport.  I thought it was a great game, but I haven't seen any of the commercials because it was piped through some ESPN network for us to get it.  It was nice to stay in touch with my American roots.  I have been hanging out and trying to meet more people as I get the opportunity.  So far, many people here are working on their Masters and have high aspirations for graduate-level schooling.  Going to college in New Zealand is much less-expensive compared to the US -- it would cost less for a Colorado resident to go to college at Uni of Otago than it would to go to college at CU Boulder or CSU, and Otago and CU are both rated similarly on a world-scale.  

Things are going well and life is good.  I look forward to meeting more Kiwi's, international students, and anyone that offers a cheerful hello.

Funny NZ Sayings/Words:
"Good on ya, mate"  -  "Good for you"
"Aeh" - added to the end of many sentences for no reason, even if the sentence isn't a question

"Are you keen?" - Are you down? Keen is a buzzword here.

"Let's go down for a feed" - suggestion to go have a sandwich or something

"Do ya reckon?"  - "Do you think?" Reckon is used all the time when asking someone something

"Heaps of ______" - tons, many, heaps is another buzzword



Photos (CLICK on photos to zoom/slideshow)

More photos to be posted on Facebook soon.

Tunnel Beach (Photos 1-26) - Me, Edward, and Jenny

Routeburn - Me, Markham, Edward (CO), and Ondřej