Pieces of the fragile land lay in my hands

Hello people. AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I apologize again - It's been over two month since I wrote the last time.. Okay, I've been busy, that's my best excuse, coz, well, I've been lazy too.. And I blame Blogger's slow speed of downloading photos! I hate it! I guess I just gotta start only writing - no photos....  A lot has happend: I was in South Island for the perfect 17 days in November-December. Then I went back to school for a week to hang out and now I've been on holiday since the beginning of December, chillin' and shopping with my homies. one more week of holiday! And it was my birthday too in December! Happy B'day, Lotta. It was a special b'day - not only coz I'll be 17, magical age aye - it's probably going to be my only kiwi birthday. I won't have a birthday in New Zealand ever again. Never again will it hopefully RAIN on my birthday - I prefer snow. Most of my friends came to my house to celebrate and we had such a good time! I felt loved, I wasn't so sad that I couldn't be in Finland celebrating with my friends there...  But of course I miss you guys but I do feel more and more that my life is here now! It's such a strange feeling.

Then it was Christmas. Kiwi Christmas. No snow, no cold - Sun, Sand, Beach, BBQ... On boxing day, 26th Dec, I was off to a paradise island called Great Barrier Island with my next host family. I spent about 3 weeks there with my lovely host brothers (who have now gone to their exchange to Sweden and Germany) without any reception or internet or or except in one part of the island, so it was no worth calling me. Ill tell you more about this holiday later because first I gotta write something about the South Island. I know, i know. I hope I still remember something. So NOW I'll tell you something about the highlight of my exchange year.

SOUTH ISLAND TRIP

WHEN: 18/11/11 - 04/12/11

WHERE: around New Zealand's South Island

HOW: by plane, by bus, by bike, by ferry, by boat, on foot

WHO: 18 Rotary exchange students around the world living on North Island, Auckland and above + two Rotary leaders

WHAT......

DAY 1

Running around & packing things till the last minute

Auckland-Wellington by plane

free time in Wellington: Botanic gardens

Welington cable car

Te Papa (national museum)

shopping

WINDY (like wellington always is)

climbed on Mt.Victoria for catching the sunset above the city with a camera ft. Yannik from Germany (my photographer buddy)

I prefer Wellington than Auckland, wish I could spend my exchange year in that cute 'little' city'



Wellington cable car



       

From Mt.Victoria towards the wharf

Wellington in the night time

Agathe & Catalina <3

DAY 2

Interislander ferry across Cook Strait (between north and south islands) to Picton
kayaking for 4 hrs,
glowworms and shooting stars in the night

Picton

DAY 3

4 hrs kayaking

bus to Christchurch

seeing some earthquake marks

spa time with chocolate fishes (we emptied half of the jacuzzi with 10 people)

Buzzy Bee - famous NZ toy

DAY 4

Christchurch sightseeing: Antarctic centre, Canterbury museum

Bus to Timaru - traditional maori evening with dance and singing performances

I took a photo a photo of doing traditional Maori tattoo at Canterbury museum

Traditional Maori food - Hongi - is cooked underground and includes beef, pork, sweet potato (=kumara), potato and carrot, finely steamed. Delicious, I say! And brings my thought to finnish traditional food.

DAY 5

By bus to Dunedin

stopping at Moeraki Boulders (i fell into the water haha was very funny, had to beg for the bus driver to dig my clothes from the bottom of the bus)

University of Otago, climbing up the steepest street in the world- Baldwin street

DAY 6

Visit in Cadbury chocolate factory (free GOOD chocolate)

Shopping - new dress

Museum train for 2 hours on Taieri Gordge Railway to centre of the island

Catalina forgotten at the railway station - turned back to get her



BELGIUM FINLAND SWEDEN SWITZERLAND GERMANY CANADA





Finland Germany Brazil



DAY 7

First day of biking tour on Otago central rail trail (old railway trail, now used for biking, tramping)

23 km

I WAS FIRST AT THE CAMPSITE

in the evening teaching useful finnish phrases to Yannik and Romain to go and pickup a girl in Finland ;)

DAY 8

25 km of biking

6 of us did 10 km extra

Horrible wind, hyperventilation because of the wind

Lord of the Rings landscapes
Bus to Wanaka
DIDN'T HAVE MY CAMERA WITH ME ON THE BIKE TOUR!

DAY 9
Really warm day - went for a swim in the lake - freezing
Puzzling world (like heureka in finland)
Met a bus full of other exchange students from district 9940 on their south island trip - had heaps of fun talking to them for couple of hours

Lake Wanaka, +5 C



Feeling good in Wanaka




DAY 10
Queenstown
First day of tramping on Routeburn track approx. 9 kms
Backpacks heavy, weather really warm, uphill
Climb on a small mountain

first at the hut!

Routeburn track landscapes



Water from the pure mountains - pure to drink




DAY 11
Routeburn track part II - 13 kms
Rain, fog, chilly, almost snowy...
1-minute-helicopter ride above avalanche danger (there was snow!)

wet gear wasn't nice but i stayed strong!

first again in the destination

swim in only a few degrees warm lake, like ice swimming

The tramper with the backpack

Mountain lake - that's where we swam

Aotearoa in a wrist

DAY 12

Routeburn finished - 10 kms

Climbing on key summit to get good views

Hot day
Saw a kea parrot
Listened swiss legends and tried to tell some finnish ones
Got a horrible blister
Bus to amazing Milford Sound
On board on Milford Mariner
Saw penguins on a jet boat ride

Played the piano for few hours in the evening while people were singing, felt so good when people were 'impressed' about my playing :')

stayed up till 2:30 am and forgot to wake up to photograph the dawn

DAY 13

Milford Sound and beautiful pictures of this one of the most amazing places in NZ

had the best weather could hope for

Queenstown & shopping, bought new shoes (yellow high heels, still love them!)

Booking for activities for the next day

Perfect day at Milford Sound - one of the most amazing places here

My french girl enjoying famous burger after the action day

Look at us two we're cute - and come from Germany and Austria!

DAY 14

Bungy/Skydiving/jetboating.... I DID BUNGY!

Nevis Bungy, 134 m, highest in New Zealand

AMAZING FEELING!

bought new shoes (yellow high heels, still love them!)

Skyline & Gondola

Fine, 'last' dining above the city

Nevis Bungy - 134 m - highest in southern hemisphere

My jump wasn't the best but... I did it!

Bungy team Finland Sweden Switzerland

DAY 15

Arrowtown - found Panda licorice in a sweet shop. had to buy and feed people with this lovely finnish treat which tastes even better on the other side of the world

Bus to Mt. Cook - highest mountain of NZ

The first bungy in the world - Kawarau Bridge Bungy

DAY 16

tasman glacier and jet boating on a glacier lake
Sir Edmund Hillary ( first to climb Mt. Everest - he was from NZ! ) arctic centre and few movies
Farewell party

DAY 17
Last day - living in the bus, feeling melancholy, not letting go of these people yet...

Writing at Lake Pukeki, perfect weather

By plane from Christchurch to Auckland

Driving on the harbour bridge and feeling home

On south island I experienced a lot of things I have never experienced before. I fell in love with tramping, gotta do more in Finland though I've always liked it, remembered the enjoyment of kayaking, I got to know new amazing people, some people really grew very close to me and I will never let them slip away from my life. I did unusual things. I learned a lot. I had fun. I laughed, I cried. I talked and talked and talked. I took photos, so many that I could never put them to this blog or this website would be jammed. This programme I wrote is just a draft, something small, because I can't tell every lovely detail - I wrote 39 pages of this trip to my diary..... that maybe tells something?

There was something on the South Island that left my heart there. Something in that wild nature is the thing. and only a few people are living there. I love North Island but if I had to choose, I would choose the windy fields, the wild mountains, the clear lakes and the fascinating atmosphere of South Island. That. is. pure. New. Zealand.

Hope you enjoyed travelling on South Island with me though the places and my explanations must have been all greek for you!

Next post will be about my b'day and christmas. And the next one about Great Barrier Island. Keep on reading! Cheers!

x x Lotta