On My Last Week(end) in Sydney

So, rewind just a bit, and we have the last few days in Sydney. First, though, I'm going to say "Hi!" to Mickis's mom :).Ahem, so we played squash for the first time, instructed by our resident squash pro Miss Mikaela Annerling, who looks oh-so-professional with those long "walking but running" strides. Squash is super fun, and if I can make myself do it, I would certainly like to try playing again in San Diego or something. Maybe they have squash instructors or something.

The squash pro, the clumsy tennis head jerk

The tennis pro-turned squash player, the all-around rookie

Then, we went to watch a play at the Sydney Opera House. This particular one was called "When the Rain Stops Falling," and it was kind of awkward because there was this very long monologue at the beginning, and at one point, I just didn't know if it would ever end. It ended up being a very interesting play, but yeah, for a few moments, I was just really scared. Either way, we finally watched something at the Opera House, and that's one more thing we can cross off the list.

We took the bus home, but before we could, we had a mini cry-session because the fact that we're going to be leaving Sydney and everyone soon was a bit overwhelming. As you can see, though, we got it together enough at the end to get a nice picture in.

On Friday night, we went to ivy for the last time! We finally made it up to the pool-level lounge, which was super fancy and all, but of course, we made it back to the regular dance floor at the end of the night. And even made a Macca's run across the street at the end, just like old times :). I will forever associate Kings of Leon with this trip in Australia.

Poolside at ivy, and the pool at ivy itself!

Saturday night, we had dinner with Jente and Marco at Jente's place, with a delicious prawn pasta dish before going out with Mickis's friends from class. An interesting/awkward night for several reasons we will not go into here, but fun nevertheless.

And then, one day, I cut Mickis's hair. In the midst of an afternoon of eating and reading gossip magazines and then making a shake-and-bake mud cake and eating almost the whole thing. Yum, yay, and yum.

Mickis's hair cut, and our mud cake leftovers...

Thus endeth my time in Sydney. Of course, after a few more goodbyes and a final and what not. But I'll have to write about those when I'm home home for good.

On News from New Zealand

We'll fast forward a bit and then jump back to the last days in Sydney in a few days, since I have yet to compile all the pictures from those outings...

So, I went to New Zealand! Christchurch and the Canterbury region for the most part. This here is the aptly named Cathedral Square, and I lived across the street from this very nice and quaint centre of town. I arrived in the afternoon and proceeded to climb to the top of the tour there, where you can see the whole of the city centre and get a nice glimpse of some of the mountains around it, along with large amounts of green.

Christchurch is a relatively new city, some 150 years old or so, so the city planning was really extensive, including lots of "green areas," this being the time when the British were really keen on parks and what not (I'm trying to remember my Brit history class, but I can't really - sorry Professor Vernon!). They took it to an extreme--there are over 900 parks in Christchurch, and one of them, Hagley Park, is the same size as the entire CBD (Central Business District)!

Anyways, Cathedral Square itself has a large chess board, some interesting "sculptures," and is the basis of the "cultural precinct." There's an art gallery nearby (also part of this cultural precinct), but it wasn't that impressive. I did like the water installation outside, though, with the city lights being reflected. As much as we try, I feel like the "newer" countries can't really compete with Old Europe in terms of art culture. I am biased, of course, because I can't really seem to appreciate modern art, with only a few exceptions.

But I digress. The second day, I went skiing on Mt. Hutt, which is a good hour away from Christchurch, and then about another 45 minutes up a very scary unpaved access road to the actual base of the ski field. But, this was one of the first (not from a car) glimpses of the Southern Alps! Quite pretty, no?

Southern Alps of New Zealand, Trail map at the summit of Mt. Hutt

Mt. Hutt itself is not a very big skifield, and I didn't think the summit felt as high as it does at home in Lake Tahoe, and if you look at the trail map, it looks super extensive, but only a few runs (3 from the summit) were open, and only the centre area was open. The conditions were okay (I like them kind of icy), but they had the snow making machines on, so there would be patches with large amounts of power that made it inconsistent, and it would make me slow down too much or whatever.

Anyways, a few views from the summit. The sign, I just found really funny. I don't know why, but there were a bunch of these posted everywhere, with the little rocket-thingys in different colours. And more of the Southern Alps.

As for this, I think some car might've driven off the access road when we were leaving the ski field in the afternoon. They stopped everyone and told them the conditions were extremely icy, and then on the way down the mountain, there were a bunch of ambulances and a rescue helicopter, along with a bunch of people in rescue gear looking down the side of the mountain. I hope everyone was okay!

The next day, I went on a Lord of the Rings Tour! Laugh all you want, I like those movies (The Return of the King in particular), and so I wanted to see some sights! On the way there, we ran into a traffic jam--New Zealand style! Look at the onslaught of cows being herded by men in orange on these mini-tractors! They were next to us, in front of us, beside us, so many cows! Then again, New Zealand is the land of the cows/sheep, right? Oh, and kiwis, of course. I didn't get to see any, though.

New Zealand traffic jam!

A nice view from the Rakaia Gorge, looking up at the Southern Alps. We stopped for morning tea at this little town called Staveley, which is literally just a general store and a school for all I could see, and then a few farms scattered here and there. I tried this "World Famous in New Zealand since ages ago" drink called Lemon & Paeroa, which was actually pretty darned good, much better than your normal Sprite or 7up. I think I'll crave it every once in a while when I get home.

Rakaia Gorge, L & P mmmm

Then, we drove into the mountains, stopping at this place called Lake Clearwater. There are a bunch of vacation homes up there (196 or something), built years and years ago when this guy donated the land up in the mountains for people to build their vacation homes, on a few conditions: 1) you can't live in it year-round, 2) you must generate your own power, and 3) you must have your own water tank. These vacation homes were pretty small, and pretty old. Apparently they're passed down in families, and since you can't build anymore, they're very hard to come by. But look at that view! I wouldn't mind spending a few weekends up in the mountains with that view, even if it's freezing cold. Notice how part of the lake has frozen, so you can't see all the reflection of the mountains anymore.

And then, there we were! Our first glimpse at the "rocky knoll, surrounded by mountains, with a silver river winding by," which is a paraphrase of the Tolkien description of Edoras. The red arrow indicates Mt. Sunday, which is where the Golden Hall was built. Unfortunately, because of the terms of the Tolkien Estate, no movie locations still have the buildings, with the exception of the Shire, I think. So we'll use our imagination, and screenshots from the movie?

Closer to Mt. Sunday, I am wielding the sword of Isildor, a la Viggo Mortensen. Tehehe. It's a beautiful place, no?

In front of Mt. Sunday, wielding the sword, and Mt. Sunday in all its glory

We hiked to the top of Mt. Sunday ("hiked" is an extreme term, it was more like 20 minutes of vigorous walking), where we could see a rusty old nail sticking out of a stone. And that was all that was left of the Golden Hall. That pile of stones, incidentally, was where the guard tower where they had to light that big signal fire to see if they could get the other kingdoms of man to join in the war. And the top of the mountain had this old surveyor's marker, that was pre-graffitied for me. How kind of them.

Site of the signal fire, graffiti for me!

To get to Mt. Sunday and to get back to the other side of the river, we had to drive through shallow rivers and some frozen little ponds. A four wheel drive experience, for sure. Made me feel like I was going to fly out of my chair, and very thankful for seat belts.

I went skiing again on Saturday, and then prepared to leave on Sunday. In order to give a proper farewell to Christchurch, I got up super early, before the sun rose, and went out to take fun pictures. Here I am running around on the chess board; it was so early that they hadn't let the pieces be taken out yet.

Running around like a little kid, how juvenile.

If Stockholm is so depressing that their cars commit suicide, then what does this mean for Christchurch? I don't know about you, but it looks like that car is trying to dance and getting its legs/wheels tangled together. Perhaps Christchurch is such a happy city that its cars try to dance? Or what about this one? That bike doesn't seem happy. Yeah, I would make a horrible comedian, I should leave the jokes to Jon Stewart.

Dancing cars? Murderous bikes?

This is the Arts Centre, which is the original site of a Christchurch College or something like that. Now they have a market where you can pick up some crafts, a theatre, and some museums and stuff. Oh, and a Fudge Cottage. Good thing I was there early so they hadn't opened yet.

Arts Centre

Then I took a walk through the Christchurch Botanical Garden, which is rather gloomy, seeing as it's winter and all. So I used my camera to "warm" it up a bit. Doesn't it look so much more inviting and all? It's the Avon River, another homage to the good ol' Brits.

The Avon River, "Warming it up"

And then, there was Victoria Square, which had this very interesting water fountain, and this Maori totem pole-ish thing.

Cool water fountain, Totem Pole

All in all, a very nice trip. A bit cold, but then again, it's winter, no?

'Til next time!

On Vivid, Birthdays, and Walks

I have just spent my final weekend in Sydney, and the countdown begins! One weekend in New Zealand, and then two travelling up the East Coast, one more day in Sydney, and then I'll be home. It's really rather scary to think how much time has already passed, and how little time I have left.

This picture is of a Toblerone bar I saw at Target. I have never seen one of these Toblerone & on & on & on & on...'s at home, so I had to take a picture. Imagine eating one of those...yum...

As for this last weekend, due to the bulk of my camera, when going out in these situations, I very rarely bring my camera, so I will get those pictures from my wonderful friends and put up a post about it later.

Therefore, here is the first week of June. We went to see Vivid (or rather, viv[d], as they promote it), which is a huge light show they put up on the Opera House and other locations throughout the Rocks around Circular Quay. A nice walk around Circular Quay took us from the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Side) to the Opera House. My camera isn't the best, and I don't have the steadiest of hands for long exposure times, so forgive the blur.

There are lots of pictures of Viv[d] online, so if you would like to see more (better) pictures, look them up on Google! Still, I have mixed feelings about this whole light-show-on-the-opera-house business. It looks really cool, but it seems to take away from the pristine-ness of the white Opera House. That being said, the Opera House isn't really that white anyways, so I guess it's just an image I have in my head. I suppose a valid comparison would be the light show on the Eiffel Tower; I understand people have mixed feelings on that, too. It just makes it look a little...cheap, I guess. Whatever, you don't care what I think about Vivid anyway.

Then, it was Marco's birthday! We had a great night at the Bank Hotel in Newtown, where Mr. Fancy-pants Marco had a VIP section :) There was this delicious strawberry and pear caipiroska that was just like candy. Yum yum.

Sina pre-partying, in my shirt; The birthday boy and I, Mickis on the phone with Oscar outside (aww!)

Then, over the next few days, Mickis and I took a couple of morning walks. The first day we walked to the Harbour Bridge and over it, then back, and the second day we went to Sydney Park. I don't have pictures from the second day, but here are some pictures from the Harbour Bridge. See how we are walking across it, so the angle of the Opera House changes? :)

Like how Mickis is wearing her scarf around her waist? It's going to be a new fashion trend. On the other hand, the bridge is eating my head.

And then, the Swedish Meatballs! Köttbullar is the proper term, I believe, but is pronounced something like "schottbulla". Mickis made them for us and her whole house. Delicious :) I actually don't remember what IKEA's taste like, but these were super tasty, and we ate them with some kind of gravy, jam, and potatoes.

So, the last week and this week have been spent: watching a play at the Opera House, saying goodbye to Ivy, our favourite Friday night place, hanging out with friends, and studying for my single final. I actually do have to study because I went to a grand total of 4 of those lectures. Thanks, archaeology. I am leaving for New Zealand tomorrow, for a few days of skiing and other assorted fun, so I will post when I get back!