Welcome Back to New Zealand

Bonjourrrr

As most of you know, well I'm sure all of you know actually- I've been back in New Zealand for about two and a half months almost. Time has absolutely flown by it is incredible how fast it goes. I'll be heading back to chilly Canada in two weeks tomorrow to be precise and I cannot explain the rush of different emotions I have going on in my head at the moment! I've got quite a bit of time on my hands in the next day or so, figured I might as well reconnect with everyone back home and give you guys extremely delayed updates on my life thus far!

From my post earlier, Out of Hibernation I believe, I mentioned I'd be back here for another 3 months and since then I've had a great time catching up with old friends and making new ones. Some standard things have been going around my central location and what I like to call home, Auckland, New Zealand. Since then though I have gone back to my heaven city of Queenstown for a holiday with my mates and have changed my home base to a city called Whangarei, just a few hours up North and insanely beautiful.

I'll give another recollection of my second trip to Queenstown but here's a tad from my Auckland time so far

Arrival at Base Backpackers!

First night out at our watering hole!

This was a real exciting time as it was my very first All Blacks Rugby Game :) They played against South African Springboks and had an amazing game. If anyone ever has the opportunity to see them (They did come to Canada for a friendly game) then you really need to see them! Incredible players and when they do the Haka it literally leaves you speechless! Here's a link from the Rugby World Cup Final in 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gbj_ig09WQ

Opening theatrics before the Haka

Fiona and I

Also took a little evening off from drinking (you're welcome Mom) and went to a haunted asylum and maze just on the outskirts of Auckland. Loads of fun but extremely scary as well! They didn't do any action scary shots haha but we did get one just before heading into the asylum, a definite must do if in Auckland, it's open year round!

Cam, Sarah, monster, myself, and Dan

So far that's a slight catch up of things around town that I got around to documenting :P I've been a bit slack this time around but nonetheless it's still been just as amazing!

hope all is well back home, miss everyone!

Sliver of Whangarei

Not too long after Queenstown, and just about a week before I left New Zealand I took a week trip to Whangarei. A city in the North Island, a couple hour bus ride north of Auckland. It was friend's hometown so having access to a car was a nice treat. Didn't do too much except drive around the city, see some beaches and enjoy the nightlife there for a change.

The area was so cute, and so gorgeous. Access to the water is plenty and the views are spectacular. I didn't get too many pictures but hopefully will get to re visit the area again and see some more. Just a quick glance:

view from Kitchen

cute little beach

beach front

family room view

beauty area, it's definitely somewhere you could just sit back and enjoy the scenery

Queenstown - Adventure Capital of NZ

Let me just start off by saying this is a MUST DO for anyone travelling to New Zealand. Seriously, google image this place or just read up on it if you're interested, it's just breathtaking. 
http://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/information/
Next word of caution, this will be a long post, and I've cut it down soo much haha. Lots of words, lots of pictures. Hope that's alright...................

I have been here before on my first trip to New Zealand years ago and I remember loving it but don't think I spent too much time there. It was my first time snowboarding and I'm pretty sure it traumatized me but still amazing nonetheless. Last time I went in July, this time it was in May.

This time around it was still pretty short, 3 days and 2 nights but my 2 friends and I managed to pack in so much stuff during that time, including all our travel time. I think this is my first post about these two girls, I met them doing housekeeping and also worked at the restaurant with one of the girls. Their names are Sarah and Ariana. The thing about Queenstown is that it has something for absolutely anyone! It's an amazing city to visit in both the summer and the winter, I don't think anyone would ever tire of it. Furthermore, it's picture perfect. EVERYWHERE. You look around and it's gorgeous, mountains, blue skies, clear waters, just incredible. I've never seen anything like it before (although I've heard it's somewhat comparable to the gorgeous areas of BC). I'll give a little run down of what I accomplished there, although as I'm sure people have seen on facebook or heard the complaints my parents have made, most of you already know the shenanigans I got up to whilst there. Albeit, here's another look:

Day 1.
After arrival we settled into our hostel (keeping it in the family we stayed at the popular BASE Hostel there as that was our place of employment in Auckland). We decided to walk around a bit and get familiar with the immediate surroundings, take in some of the beautiful sites. We walked through a park, along the Lake Wakatipu and in the downtown core stopping off at little shops here and there. 

yayy arrival in Queenstown :)

Sarah - me - Ariana

Walk in the park

Before heading to the boat cruise we grabbed a bite to eat at this burger joint I was WAY too excited to eat at. It’s pretty infamous around New Zealand, Australia and I’m sure parts of the world know about it. Only one location, in Queenstown. It had an incredible variety of burgers to choose from. It’s called “Fergburger” and honestly you cannot go to Queenstown without eating there, everyone will tell you to go! The only downfall of it is that you’ll want to try every single burger haha, unfortunately I don’t think your wallet or stomach would appreciate it. What’s also really interesting is that they opened up this new bakery beside it called “FergBakery” (wasn’t there when I was here years ago). You can get dessert baked goods, pies, sausage rolls, etc. All amazing as you would imagine.

Fergburger smile

chowing down

Next on our list to enjoy the city was to take a boat cruise around Lake Wakatipu. Gorgeous views and the water was incredibly clear. We went during the fall time so it was a little chilly but very refreshing, nothing a Canadian couldn't handle ;). Our boat driver stopped in the middle of the lake and let us have a drink of the lake water, and honestly it so good haha. Tasted clean and fresh and obviously untreated, delightful. We heard some history about the area, the towns around the lake and headed back to the city after some tea and biscuits. After returning from our boat cruise we wandered more of the town, seeing it in a different light at night time. We had a nice little dinner at the casino restaurant, and called it an early night as we had big adventures the next morning we were so anxious for and didn’t want to be tired or feeling ill after a night of drinking! EEEEEEEE :D I get excited just thinking about it!!

our cute little vessel

drinking our lake water!

Day 2.

Waking up BRIGHT AND EARLY for our day of facing fears and fun. I honestly don’t think I can explain to anyone how amazing and incredible and thrilling and nerve-wracking and exciting and heart stopping and gosh so many other things this adventure is. On our way to do the heart racing Nevis Bungy – a whopping 134 m high wire bungy jump into the valley. The HIGHEST bungy in all of Australasia. After being weighed, and branded with your jump number and weight we set off on a bus ride up the Nevis Canyon, steep ride up but spectacular views. Once you have your harness on you take a cable car ride into the middle of the canyon and step onto another little high wire waiting pod with everyone else doing the jump at that time. You wait and wait for your name to be called to prepare for your jump. This thing is incredible, you’re just suspended in the middle of nowhere with the wind blowing you ever so slightly. There are window panels in ground so you can see the little creek running beneath you. Your name gets called and you say a frantic goodbye to your friends as you walk to the holding chair. Take a seat and enjoy the brief conversation the very good looking male workers try to make with you to calm you down. Give a wave to the overhead camera as they tie your legs together and wobble on over to the edge of the platform once everything is secure. It’s about a 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft square that juts out from the rest of the pod. You look down/up/side to side and all you see is canyon and nothing else. So so breathtaking. Give another little wave at the camera or a nervous smile, which ever suits you and just wait for their call. “THREE, TWO, ONE, BUNGYYYYYY!” That’s your cue, don’t you dare hesitate, just jump out and do not, I repeat, do not close your eyes. And, don’t jump feet first or else you’re in for a world of pain haha. You’ll never see anything like it. You’ll never feel anything like it! The feel of flying, you don’t get that dropping sensation like on a rollercoaster, you just feel blissful. Even the bounce backs are so relaxing and so smooth, no jerking of the back, no neck snapping, just very easy bounces. After a couple of bounces at the height you pull this cord out of your leg wraps, tug on it a little and you’ll flip upright- giving you the best seat in the house for this remarkable land. Enjoy your ride back up to the pod and feel proud of yourself for accomplishing this incredible feat.  Once you get your feet back on almost solid ground you just wait until they’ll cart you back over to real ground on the cable car. Spend immense amounts of money on your pictures and videos because why not and you put on that Nevis Bungy shirt to show off to everyone how awesome you are! Woooooohoooo :D  that’s about it for the Bungy. But you’ll never really understand unless you do it yourself, so please go go go and do it, or do any bungy anywhere, it’s amazing. Just one thing I ask of you, bring me with you because I’m already addicted and I’ve done it once haha.

This was taken for my parents, notice the palms of my hands!

first time and couldn't help but be smiling and excited instead of nervous

After that adrenaline rush we decided to some more fun but low key stuff, the Queenstown luge. Take the gondola up the mountain providing you with yet another reason to take hundreds of photos and take a few rides down the luge track, fast track and scenic route. It’s so much fun and worth the money, as well as the rickety ride up one of the gondolas haha

not a fake background!

suited up for our luge

panorama of beautiful queenstown up on the luge area

Day 3.

This day was just a day for rest, a few more walking treks, and nursing our heads after a night out of celebrating. Had lunch on the water and got the catch of the day, absolutely mouthwatering. Snapped some more pictures of course and got our butts back on the plane to head to what now seemed like boring Auckland haha

sharing the best views with the best friend

still act like children at a restaurant

there's so much more to do in Queenstown, definitely going to make a solid effort to head back that way one day! 

another post to come very soon! won't be nearly as exciting however

talk soon!

Out of Hibernation... sorrrry

Hi all,

I know it's been absolutely ages since I wrote anything, but to be fair I wasn't in New Zealand for 2.5 months so it was irrelevant to write anything during that period of time. However, I did miss out on a few exciting trips I had taken which I would love to share with everyone. If you're still following the sleeping blog thank you :) I'm back in New Zealand for another 3 months now and I've already got lots more planned this time around! Enjoy the upcoming posts, sending love from the other side of the world.

Alanna
xo

Alsooo,
welcome home to my big sister, Steff, who came back from a year in Scotland doing her masters :)
AND
good luck to my baby sister, Kenze, who has just started her first year at Guelph for Zoology!
woohoo for smart sisters!

Welcoming the princess back to her castle!

killing 3 birds with 1 stone

the fam moving in the baby!

SDX

So I was feeling a little adventurous the other day and had a day off, headed back over to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium and had a little diving fun!

For those of you who don't know, back in Canada before I left I was working towards completing my scuba diving license. With my luck, near the end of the course I came down with 2 weeks of cold symptoms, 1 week of flu symptoms and a case of shingles! Didn't have the ability to finish my lessons or complete my certification but I still want to and I know I still will, in time.

Luckily, this diving activity doesn't require a certification, they give you a mini lesson on basic things you'll need to know and then you're good to go!

Not too much else to say, the experience was a lot of fun and I would recommend it to my friends, even though I thought we would get to do more stuff instead of just sitting around, but still a fun activity :)

SDX = Shark Dive Xtreme

"Sweet As" hand signal, they said it was mandatory to do it if you're in NZ

That's me with the thumbs up!

Missing everyone loads, thinking of you all

<3

Living Things

Ever had one of those nights or days when you just can't believe that whatever you're doing is actually happening to you? You can't comprehend that it's actually working out, it just seems so surreal?! Well, mine happened Thursday night :)

On Tuesday night, after a ladies night out, we all met up with some other house keeping friends and went to a little Irish bar called The Fiddler. Cute little place and my friend is really good friends with the bartender there so he let us stay late and enjoy our evening out with great music and great company. There were about 10 of us from work there and 6 other people in the bar that we didn't know. I started talking to a group of 3 people and struck up a conversation about music since one of the guys had an Incubus t-shirt on and it was pretty nice. We got to talking about bands we like and concerts we've been to, which I thought were the best and which I was a little disappointed about. These guys and one girl knew everything and had seen everything it was incredible to talk to them. I told them that one of the concerts I was the most pleasantly surprised about was Linkin Park, back in February of 2011. I was not their number 1 fan by far, in fact I didn't buy the tickets for me, but the concert blew my mind, it was amazing and so insanely entertaining! Even after seeing my favourite bands in concerts I will always remember that one. I had started listening to them more and more after it and was even looking forward to the release of their new album that came out. So the good part is, I was talking to the exact right people about all of this. Turns out these three people actually work for Linkin Park and are on tour with them at the moment, their show in Auckland happening Thursday night. Could you say perfection? On tour for their new album, "Living Things". There was Warren, the DJ tech for Joe Hahn; Megumi, the production assistant; and Ethan, stage crew. After some more beers and hearing all their stories about where they've been what they do and everything in between, they innocently asked me if I wanted to go to the concert. Without hesitation I pretty much screamed the word "YES" to them and we had a round of celebration drinks. At about 6am we decided to call it a night and get some rest for my 9am shift.

The whole next day I thought about the concert and kept thinking it wasn't actually going to happen. Too good to be true, you know? I was scheduled to work Thursday night, who knows if they were just joking with me, how do I go about asking for tickets at the counter when I have no other information except for their first names. But nevertheless I texted her and tried to get some clarification on what was happening. She told me to show up at will call around 8pm the night of the concert and give them my name, and to bring my friend Sam.

Thursday night rolls around, and nervously I head over to the arena, not knowing what to expect. I get to the ticket counter and find one booth that says "Guest List Only." Walking up I hope I don't make a fool of myself. I give the lady my passport and say I'm here to pick up tickets, she checks my name and hands me an envelope with my name and a "+1" beside it. It happened

Needless to say we were feeling quite good about ourselves at this point, figured we saved money on the tickets so let's splurge on t-shirts!

Our seats? No seats..... we got tickets for the floor!! paid $0 for that baby

Some snapshots during the concert:

great night, wish it lasted longer!!