The Catlins

This weekend, we set out in a rental car for the Catlins, a region on the south east coast of the south island, about an hour an a half south of Dunedin. Our first stop was Nugget Point, where the rocks are in the formation of chicken nuggets.

We also walked down to Roaring Bay, a prime penguin spotting location. Unfortunately, we were there in the middle of the day which is not prime penguin viewing time, but, as we were hanging out on the beach, one rogue penguin did appear out of the surf on the other side of the bay. I wish my camera had a better zoom, but, if you look closely you can see that it is a yellow-eyed penguin.

Driving down to the Catlins was fun, especially driving on the left side of the road. Far more difficult than remembering to take wide right hand turns was trying not to turn on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. Also challenging: navigating around stampedes of sheep.

Get out of the road!

We camped at a Department of Conservation campsite at Purakaunui Bay. The view from out tent site was awesome -- better than a 5 star hotel.

Here is a picture of our tents and our sexy rental car.

And a lovely sunrise that we had at our campsite.

On Saturday we drove south, stopping along the way for a few short walks. We saw waterfalls and petrified forests at Curio Bay. We didn't see dolphins at Porpoise Bay unfortunately, but we had a lot of fun at Cathedral Caves.

We also went all the way down to Slope Point -- the southern most point on the south island.

Here is a picture of the intrepid crew at Slope Point:

The five of us really enjoyed the fantastic weather we had in the Catlins. Camping was really fun and we made some excellent camp food including, Mexican night with tortillas and re-fried beans and we had a vegetable stir fry with quinoa and tomato sauce. Yum. (More pictures coming soon.)

More Cooking

Ok, so there is a significant chance that this will, in fact, turn into a food blog, but I've just had so many things I want to make this week.

On Sunday, we went to a practice river crossing in the morning (in preparation for a trip to Fiordland with the Tramping Club). When we got back, cold and soggy, I warmed myself up with a bowl of egg drop soup made with fresh ginger and cilantro.

Then for dinner, in keeping with the Asian theme, Cameron and I prepared a huge pan of pineapple fried rice for our flatmates. We put a lot of vegges and some egg in it and it came out really well.

On Monday, I had a bit of time after class so I went to the super market. I couldn't decide on what to make, so I ended up spending the better part of the evening making several dishes and had an amazing dinner.

First a made mini spinach and feta pockets with a simple homemade pastry dough. They were delicious, but I think if I make them again I will try filo dough, even though it is difficult to work with I think it will come out even better.

I also tried my hand at making polenta, which came out quite well with a bid of cheese and herbs. I made a sauce with onions, tomatoes and kale to go on top of the polenta.

And with the extra kale I made crispy kale chips in the oven.

Dinner is served.

If you want the recipes for any of these dishes, you will have to guess from the pictures, because I have basically been cooking from what I have in the kitchen. I used a few websites for inspiration and the rest I'm just making up as I go.

Now, I actually have to do a bit of reading for my food class (coincidence?) for my group project on the role of chocolate in the industrial revolution. Yum...

Food Day

At the risk of this blog becoming a food blog, I am going to talk about some of the other delicious creations I have been making in our lovely flat kitchen. One of the best things about flat life is cooking. Another great thing about living in New Zealand is that right now all the late summer crops are abundant (peaches, nectarines, apricots, corn, apples, pears, and more)

Saturday morning we went to the Dunedin Farmers Market at the train station and I brought home some delicious fresh fruits and veggies. Here is a picture of the spoils:

After the farmers market I made myself one of the worlds finest grilled cheese sandwiches (if I do say so myself) with avocado and tomato.

I went for a little jog around the reservoir, working up an appetite for a dinner cooked with flatmates. The dinner ended up being a smorgasbord of really delicious food. I prepared vegetable fritters with zucchini, potato, onion, and carrot served with Greek style yogurt.

Maria and William combined forces to make the greatest pizza ever created. Here is a picture of Master Chef William delicately adding the mozzarella cheese

and here is a picture of Master Chef Maria showing him how to really add the cheese generously!

The pizza was then topped with so many toppings we could hardly fit them all on top. There was tomato, pepper, mushrooms, broccoli, salami, olives, spinach, and feta cheese. YUM!

To add to the feast, Cameron got home a bit later and made some Asian inspired stir fry. Here is a picture of Master Chef Cameron deboning a piece of chicken (perhaps for the first time).

And I helped him out by preparing some rice -- my first time using a rice cooker!

All around a very tasty day.

**Also, be sure to check out February's blog post about surfing. New photos just added courtesy of Steve.

Tunnel Beach

On Friday, after class, my flatmates and I went for an adventure to Tunnel Beach. Before departing, I made an INCREDIBLE omelet with onions, spinach, and feta cheese, eaten with a side of NZ corn and a nectarine:

We caught the bus to St. Clair beach and then hoofed it all the way to tunnel beach. Though far, the walk was enjoyable thanks to having truly spectacular weather and a great destination. Here is a picture of the archway from the farmland above.

Upon descending to the rocky cliffs, we found the tunnel of the beach's namesake, which was built to access the small sandy beach below the cliffs.

Finally, the intrepid adventurers made it back to the bus stop in time to catch a bus back to the Octagon where we feasted on sushi and udon noodle soup at a Japanese restaurant.

Queenstown Adventure Weekend

Over the weekend, Arcadia bused us all out to Queenstown for our biggest adventure so far. Queenstown is the home of commercial bungy jumping and is known as the adventure capital of the world - people regularly pay to partake in activities such as white water rafting, canyoning, paragliding, hang gliding, sky diving, helicopter rides and other daring activities. We left Dunedin early on Friday morning, for a 4 hour drive on a winding road through Central Otago. The first thing we did when we got there was Jet Boating on Shotover River. We donned these fashionable splash coats and life vests:

and went on quite a ride! The boats can speed along in as little as 4 inches of water and reach speeds of 80km/hr. Here is a picture I snagged from the website:

Basically, the driver speed up and down through the canyon, driving so close to the canyon wall you could probably touch it by sticking only one finger out of the boat. He would drive straight towards a rock and then turn at the last second. He also spun us around on several 360 degree turns which created huge waves that soaked the boat. So fun. (Found this Youtube video of what it was like.)

Later on Friday evening we strolled around in downtown Queenstown and went to Ferg Burger and had one of the most amazing burgers ever. I have been craving one ever since.

Saturday was the best adventure of the weekend: a full day on the Routeburn Track. We hiked for 8 hours and went 26km on the track (one of New Zealand’s Great Walks) to summit Conical Hill (1515m). We were fortunate to have spectacular weather on the track, very sunny, not too hot, and we got some of the most spectacular views I’ve seen in my life. This first picture was taken about half way up, with a view of the valley we walked through down below.

This is the view from the saddle, with Harris Lake in the foreground (1255m).

And finally, the view from the Conical Hill, 360 degrees of snowcapped mountains and sky so clear we could see all the way to the sea!

At the end of the day, I was so tired all I could think about was getting back to the hostel and going to sleep.

Then on Sunday morning we took the Skyline gondola ride up the side of a hill above Queenstown and we went on luge rides (basically go carting, but on the side of a mountain). A fun activity for sore legs. Before driving home on Sunday, we stopped at the Kawarau Bridge (below) so the more adventurous members of the group could go bungy jumping. I was content just to watch, but all those who went plummeting head first from the bridge said that it was worth it.

Classes Begin (finally)

Yes, I have actually started attending classes at this point. After the first week all are going quite well. I made a schedule swap on Thursday, out of Marine Ecology (sorry fishies, just not for me) and into a Sociology course on the Global Politics of Food. This course has a great lecturer and I will be doing a group project on chocolate…yum. Below is my revised timetable:

The other classes are good too. Geography is huge (315 students) and mostly freshers, but the course is growing on me. So far we have been studying tectonics: faults, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and other topics. New Zealand is a perfect case study for many of these subjects and it has been interesting to learn about the physical history of the country.

Maori Society and Environmental History of New Zealand are both full of international students, but I am enjoying learning about New Zealand history, culture, and perspective on the world and the US.

Outside of class, I have not spent much time on campus. The university has a really neat library, but I haven’t exactly been hitting the books all that much (we’ve only had one full week!). I’ve been on a few more walks around the city including the botanical gardens, the reservoir, and signal hill (again)…

On Thursday, we had a potluck BBQ with all the flats in our complex. It turned into quite a kebab-fest! Here is a picture of the kiwi hosts tending the kebabs on the grill.

Surfs Up

For our first activity weekend (Saturday, Feb. 25^th), Arcadia took us to St. Clair Beach for a surf lesson! After a long week of O-week activities, it was really fun to hit the beach. The water was freezing cold, but we were toasty in our stylin’ wet suits (photo thanks to Amanda S.).

Its great having a beach so close to the University and I hope to get out here again while the warm weather holds because surfing was great! I really feel as if is my true calling in life. I was able to stand on the board several times and even managed to ride a few waves (maybe). But seriously, it was a blast, and a good work out too—my arms were super tiered after all the paddling and pushing myself up into the proper surfer stance (seen below).

** NEW PICS ADDED **

First, some dry-land training...

In the water!

First try!

Now shes got it...

Wahoooo!

WIPE OUT!!