Skiing in Wanaka

This weekend i went to Treble Cone in Wanaka to go skiing with four of my friends. We left friday night, stayed in a hostel and woke up early and hit the slopes, returning to Dunedin saturday night.

It was my first time skiing above tree-line and it was really cool. I wasn't sure what that was going to be like, i thought it might be boring without woods to play in, but rocks to jump off of, and bowls and face shoots were soo much fun. It was also really warm, the mountain was lacking some snow in a lot of places, but all in all a great day of skiing!

Weekend in Dunedin

I spent this past weekend in Dunedin, had a relatively quiet and relaxing weekend. On Sunday I played in a badminton tournament hosted by the university. The badminton is much better here than in the states, at least much better than at Middlebury. Still, it was a fun today, besides the fact that i had to wake up at 8:30, after going out the night before.

I will finally have to do some work this week as i have 4 papers due over the next two weeks. But it will be good, giving me something else to do on weeknights besides watch movies. The past two days have been beautiful out, making it warm enough to go around town without a jacket. When the sun comes out here it really heats everything up, and things get drastically colder without its presence.

Time continues to march on here, as I am almost reaching my two month benchmark for being here. It has seemed to fly by, which is bittersweet at times. I am having a great time, but also miss friends, family and Middlebury back home and can't wait to return.

Christchurch!

This past weekend (becoming more like a week ago) we embarked to Christchurch for an ultimate tournament during the day saturday and sunday and the All-blacks vs. Australia rugby game Saturday night. It was a GREAT weekend. I left friday afternoon with my friends Colin and Spencer with a member of the dunedin frisbee team, arriving in Christchurch a little after eight. We stayed with family friends of spencer who were great hosts and put us up and fed us friday and saturday as well as driving us and picking us up from the tournament. We woke up early saturday morning as games started at 9. It was an exhausting but fun day and I enjoyed playing with everyone on my team. As part of the tournament we got access to a pool that was part of the complex we were at and we got to go swimming afterwards and go into sauna and hot tob. Apart from having both legs cramp up in the pool and almost drowning it was very relaxing.

After racing back home, changing and grabbing a quick bite to eat, we walked the hour to the stadium barely making the beginning of the match. We were lucky not to miss the haka, performed at the before the match, which was the highlight of the game. The game was pretty low scoring and not the most exciting but it was fun to be there and witness it. After the game was over we followed the rest of the crowd into the streets of christchurch and wandered around the city going to various bars and clubs over the course of the night. I went back around 1 which was pretty early because we had to get up early again the next day. After another long day of frisbee sunday, we returned back to Dunedin just after dinner (it's about a four hour drive), exhausted and sore.

CATLINS!

This past friday and saturday I spent in the Catlins located in the Southlands (Southeastern tip of NZ). We drove up friday, camped out (stars were the best I've seen in my life) explored two falls and a couple beaches on saturday and drove home at nightful...
Just delightful.

Pictures from Bush Ball