An All Blacks night

My fellow adventures!!

My first blog regarding my extended weekend will start with Friday, on which day I went to the All Blacks versus Fiji game.

Before meeting up with my friends to head to the game, I went to meet some other friends who told me I absolutely could no go another day without trying a local ice-cream shop.  In addition to this, they had made plans to get their ears pierced.  I was more than happy to join them and had told them that I too had wanted (once upon a time) to get my cartilage pierced.

Well, it would appear I had miscommunicated my intentions for once I joined them, one told me that another was rather nervous about it and she had told her to not worry about because I was going to do it along with her.  This meant that I was not allowed to back out.  I was a little dumbfounded, but at the same time excited to finally get it done.  I will not lie, it has been a few years since I got a piercing and i was definitely nervous.

The thing about piercings that frighten me is the sound of the gun.  It always surprises me when it goes off and I always fear that I will move.  This gun however was a very silent one as it was all manual.  No spring or anything!  So when it was done, I felt rather stupid for being nervous (in addition to there being no pain).  So now I have yet another piercing!  Along with my chain, it is hardly noticeable whatsoever! ;)

After that, we treated ourselves to the ice-cream.  This place sure knows how to do business!  If you chose a single size but two flavors, you get two heaping scoops for the price of one!  And the flavors are delicious!  A definite must if you ever visit Dunedin!  It is called Rob Roy's Dairy and is on the corner of Albany St. and George St.

So after that little adventure, I went to join my All Blacks fan friends to head to the game!  I showed up at their door with one minute to go before the taxi arrived to find most of them with their faces painted.  Feeling left out (especially since no one had told me this was happening) I grabbed the pot of black paint, took a small scoop of it, spread it on my hands and made an impression of my hand across my face to make up for it.  Many loved it and I think it turned out rather well (even though I look more to be dirty around the mouth than purposefully painted).

So we all loaded up in the vans and got to the stadium with plenty of time before the game.  And what a game it was!  First we got to see the famous haka which was performed after the Fiji team did their traditional dance, and then the All Blacks just pummeled the Fiji team to win by a whopping 60-14 points!  Just incredibly fun and entertaining to watch with some amazing points scored by both teams!  A really fun night!  Someday I certainly do hope to see another game, but for this trip it will be the one and only, especially since the All Blacks don't play again in the South Island during the World Cup.

Once we returned home, I chilled out and ate dinner with my good friend Morgan before I headed to my room to pack for my unexpectedly long weekend full of adventure!  But that story will be saved for another time!

Until then, this is W.W.A. Rhondiggity, signing out.

Birthday on the road =)

My dear fellow adventurers,

Today as many of you probably know is my birthday.   And I must say this has by far been the most interesting one yet!  First of, I have many great stories of the weekend to tell you and so it will take roughly 3 or 4 blogs to tell you of them.  But today I will focus on my birthday, and will catch you up to speed on the past event leading up to it within a few blogs.

So, after having discovered that I would be stuck in Alexandra for yet another day and that I would be spending the night in a high school's classroom, I decided I would head to the store to buy some wine and cake to celebrate my birthday slightly early.  Upon my return from the store, I found that the rest of the Tramping Club was deeply enthralled with Monty Python's "the Meaning of Life."  Just what I needed before my birthday! =) haha...

So while at the store, I purchased a cake and two bottles of wine to share with my comrades.  Once the movies (along with the "Breakfast Club") were finished, I had my newly made friends gather around to share a glass and celebrate.  All in all, many had sung me Happy Birthday in 7 different languages until we were told to "shut up" by fellow sleeping friends in a neighboring classroom.  But it didn't matter!  This has been such an experience and awesome birthday!  One of my impossible goals in life was to celebrate my birthday during the school year along with my classmates (in July), which was whole-fully accomplished last night, as well as today!

Upon waking this morning and packing up all our gear, as well as brushing our teethes, I was completely surprised when receiving a birthday card singed by the entire Tramping Club, along with 3 birthday cakes to share with everyone (courtesy of Jess, Tess, and Sasha)!  I was so touched!!!  One thing I have learned over the weekend is that you don't have to know someone for an eternity to know how wonderful they are!  And that is what I discovered about the members of the Tramping Club!  Along with the cake and birthday card, the organizers gave me the gift of returning home, which after 3 days on the road was greatly appreciated!

This drive consisted mostly of me acting as DJ, with loads of sing-along songs (including "I will survive") and many others!  Once home, I caught up on emails and homework, followed by baking a cake and dancing in the kitchen.  Like I said, BEST DAY SO FAR!!!!  And to top it all off, I opened my present from my older sister, which was a TV series we apparently used to watch since I was a child called "White Fang."  This led to a gathering of the neighborhood with whom I enjoyed some wine and cake while watching the dvds (and having a good laugh too).  Finally, I went out with some  great friends and enjoyed some live blues in a local bar.

To sum it all up, I had a great day!  And I would especially like to thank all the people I got to share it with, along with my parents and siblings!

I love you all and miss you!

Until next time, this is W.W.A. Rhondiggity, signing out. ;)

How to keep warm in New Zealand

My dear fellow adventurers!

My apologies for not having updated you lately on my adventures.  I recently went through one that I believe we have all experienced before know as a viral upper respiratory tract infection (aka a cold).  This one was brought on rather rapidly, as I was fine on Saturday and bed ridden on Sunday with a very sore throat and stuffy nose.

As with all negative situations however, there is always something positive!  In this particular one, I was able to discover the secret to staying warm in New Zealand that don't require wearing more layers and drinking lots of tea.

First off, the hardest places to be warm is during the first ten minutes in bed.  Especially seeing as no one wishes to really sleep in a down jacket or socks which can cut off blood circulation and lead to a late night stroll to get rid of the pins and needles in our toes.  So it is necessary to 'pre-warm' the bed before getting into it every night.  This allows us to fall asleep faster and to have a much better night sleep.  In order to this, you can either use a Nalgene or hot water bladder and fill them with boiling water, which works well but requires you to move it around under the covers so that it gets the whole bed warm.  Or you can use the "Feortan Method," which I know for a fact some of my readers have already used in the past.  In any case, due to my cold and need to keep all nice and warm in my bed, I have come to perfect this method.

In order for this method to work, it is strongly recommended that you eat some baked beans (in which ever way you like) a few hours before bed.  Half a can ought to do it, but if your intestinal bacteria cannot produce enough gas in the first place, you may need to use the whole can.  If you are skeptical that beans won't work, I just saw a news show tonight discussing the nutritional value of baked beans and their side-effects.  It has been proven that on average people fart 65% more after eating them for three meals.  Finally, if digestion is not your friend, drink a nice hot cup of green tea to help your stomach with the beans.

A few hours later, get yourself all nicely snuggled up in your down comforter.  If you can tuck it around you or literally wrap yourself in it the more success you will have, as it will not allow as much air to escape, especially the heat produced.  And there you have it!  A nice toasty bed!  I highly recommend a shower in the morning, along with washing your sheets at least every two days.  This method also works to warm you in the streets if you are wearing reasonably thick layers.

As a warning, this method is not recommend for people who have diarrhea, the outcome would be much worse and on top of that you would have to take a shower.  The less you have to take your clothes off, the better.

On another note, upcoming adventures are the Bushball this weekend, as well as a trip to the Karaoke bar hopefully on Thursday.

Until then, this is W.W.A. Rhondiggity, signing out.

A celebration with the Tetrises

My fellow adventurers,

Today I had the chance of running into the Tetrises yet again!  And what an amazing species they are!  Although they can be very fun and entertaining, they are also rather polite and collected at the same time.  Especially when hitting the town and traveling around their environment to meet up with their friends.

After spending most of the evening with them, I have come to understand that today is a special day for them.  It is the day that the paysans and other lower class people of their home country rebelled and created a revolution against the monarchy in 1789.  It is a rather fascinating history, and if you wish to get the gist of it or refresh your mind, just copy and past this link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_revolution

I had a wonderful time with these people to the point of getting swooped up into the festivities.  We got so excited that we sang their National Anthem in front of everyone at a local bar (the clip of this is below).

Other wise, I have little to tell you at this time other than that I am currently learning plenty on the local Maori culture thanks to my classes, however I am having a rather hard time deciding if I ought to learn the language or learn about their society.  My thinking is that which ever I chose should be one in which I will do best, and then still tag along to the other just to learn a little more.  So what would you think I would be best at?  Writing papers on an unknown culture or learning a language for which I will also have to write a few papers here and there?

Until next time, this is W.W.A. Rhondiggity, signing out.

Mount Cargill

My fellow adventurers!

What a day I had yesterday!  My first tramping trip in New Zealand! Here are the stats:

Walked 46.18 km which is about 26.89 miles
Took us 6 hrs (maybe a little more but we hung out and explored at the top)
Crawled during 1hr of the hike (we got ambitious and headed through wild bushes)
Nearly got blown off the mountain 2x
Was awed by the views: 100x
Feet: sore
Back: sore
Knees: sore

Worth it?  Absolutely!!  Not only did I have a great time with some new friends, but just look at this view!!

New Zealand is amazing!  And I have only been able to explore the one town so far.  can you imagine the rest??

By the time we got to the summit, we thought we might stay for the sunset, however as only 1 out of 5 of us brought a headlamp, we decided it best to head back down the mountain with natural light, rather falling off a cliff in the dark.

At the summit though, I got my first aerial view of Dunedin (below and above).  Although the campus is small, the town is BIG.  And I mean it spreads all over to the point I was unable to get all of it in one shot (it continues past both sides of these photos).  There is so much to see that I fear 5 months will not be enough to discover all there is here.  And that is just Dunedin!  I will have to make sacrifices so that i explore the rest of the country too, and not just this one part.

While at the summit we explored some other peaks and interesting rock formations, such as the Organ pipes:

And Butter's Peak:

Just before sunset really hit and we headed down the mountain though, I got to view an amazing pre-sunset.  It made me wish we could stay for the finale, but like I said, we did not have enough head lamps to prevent our fellow travelers from falling off a cliff or the hillside.

For you entertainment, I made a very brief video of our crawling through the bushes when we wanted to reach the very top of the Organ Pipes.  It is by far not my best video, but I still hope you enjoy it!!

My assumptions of the people who climbed this regularly are that they were short, with windproof skin and hair, and that they survived on the vegetation, as we did not see any animals except for a few birds, and that they probably resided underground or in caves.

This is the first week of studies, and tomorrow is going to be my busiest day yet.  Unfortunately, it is also the day where I hope to meet up again with a few of the 'Tetrises' I met on the train.  Apparently there will be quite the festivities going on along one of the streets starting at 9am tomorrow.  Lucky for me, I will be in classes until 6pm.  I would be most excited if I see any odd behavior at any odd times (such as in class) to report back to you.

Until then, this is W.W.A. Rhondiggity, signing off.

Tetrises

Dear readers,

I regret to inform you that this morning was not the opportunistic one for a hike and sunrise.  But do not fear! There are still many more weekends to come!  In the meantime however, I wish to tell more of my tales from the train ride yesterday.

I have discovered some interesting creatures which I like to call 'Tetrises.'  During my explorations thus far, I have run into a few of these fascinating creatures and find them quite amusing.  For starters, these creatures speak another language, one that is not so different from French, but amazingly they seemed to speak english quite well too.  Thanks to their and my knowledge, I was able to discover some interesting facts about them.

The first of these facts are that they are rather attracted to people who can speak many languages such as me.  One of these Tetrises bumped into me while on the train and as a test of superiority, he declared he can speak Moroccan, English, French and German.  Being the explorer I am, I was able to match his test except for the Moroccan and passed with flying colors after he tested the truth of it.  After this first and only test, we spoke for a while and he appeared to be very much intrigued by me.  He then invited me to meet his fellow Tetrises and sit with them, but I had yet much more to explore on this train so I had to turn him down.

Later that day, while enjoying a free barbeque being served at the Dunedin train station, I discovered their manner of eating and digesting food.  Another Tetris came and joined me and a few friends at our table.  He was quite the energetic Tetris, and by the looks of his plate, rather hungry too.  He explained to all who were sitting near us his manner of eating.  He described it as similar to a game of tetris, hence the name I have given them.  Apparently, they mostly don't chew and direct the food as it enters their stomach so that they may fit as many pieces in as possible.  If they finished their plate of food and were full, than all is well.  However, if they had over filled their plate and their stomachs were overly filled, the end result would be similar to the game of tetris.  I could describe it, but I think you can get the picture.  I will admit it was rather hard to keep a straight face during this interview.

All while eating and directing his food however, I found that he too was fascinated to meet a English speaker able to adapt and speak along with him.  This too led him to introducing me to his friends, which leads me to think that these creatures are very much interested in cultured people.  He has invited me to explore his neck of the neighborhood, where apparently reside some other and potentially more interesting creatures.  Looking at my schedule thus far, I may not be headed that way in the next few days, but tonight should bring plenty of discoveries as we will be having our first neighborhood get together.

Until then, this is W.W.A. Rhondiggity, signing out.

Interesting Train Ride

Isn't it odd how you forget some of the small pleasures of life?  I can think of a few things in my life that I miss dearly, most of them obviously are from when I used to live in Switzerland.  Here are a few:

-the sound of the valley waterfalls heard from our chalet, with a fresh early morning breeze in the air
-the sound of the old oven clock in our chalet when all is quiet in the house
-the smell of the furnace in the backroom where we would store all our wet gear to dry (and the warmth it would bring for that matter)
-although still doable in the US but none the less different, sitting in a small cafe at a train station or in town while enjoy a reasonably sized cappuccino in an actual porcelain cup (that is a 12oz or less cup, not the enormous ones in the US)
-amazing historical buildings (such as the train station above)
-sitting on a train to travel from point A to point B, observing the country side with no thoughts running through our mind, other than admiring the beauty of the world we live in with sounds of the train tracks in the background.

Today I realized just how much I missed that last one.  It has been over a year since I have been in a train, and as part of our welcome to Dunedin, we were given a free train ride along Dunedin's country side.  All I have to say right now is I am going to like it here.  I am certainly more eager to go tramping now.  Especially since the train had to follow along a "valley" and so you can't see the amazing views from the top of the hills.  But after what we saw from below, the above will be even better!  It is for that reason that I plan to wake before the sunrise tomorrow to go on a short hike where I hope to get some breath taking views.  As I am sure you have already hear, live in the now and not in the tomorrow.

Although I love to fly, I cannot think of a better way to travel than by train.  You get to stand whenever you want.  You can walk along the wagons, and walk greater distances than in planes.  You can get some fresh air.  And the best part, you have a view that is ever changing, and is not just the ocean or the tops of houses.  That is not to say that I do not love flying, but acrobatic flying or gliding is a lot more fun and entertaining than commercial flying.

During my train ride, we passed many farmers and hill sides.  As an adventurer, it is my duty to document what I have discovered.  As such, I counted every animal I saw.  Here are the stats:

Lamas: 3
Horses: 15
Sheep: around 400+

It would appear that just as in England, New Zealand like their sheep.  A fellow traveler asked me if New Zealand used sheep for more than just wool and meat, such as maybe milk or cheese.  As far as I knew they did not, however with a bit of research I did find that they do.  Not only do they make cheese, but they also make ice cream!  Here is the link so that you may check it out yourselves! http://www.blueriverdairy.co.nz/

As an explorer, I will have to find this ice cream and cheese (depending on the price) and taste it, so that I may report back to you.

Until then, this is W.W.A. Rhondiggity, signing out.

Good Morning New Zealand!

When traveling to the Southern Island of New Zealand, you discover that they do not believe in central heating, while at the same time it is a good 10 degrees C colder than in the North Island.

However, there is nothing better than curling up in your half frigid bed at night, only to wake up in a comfortably warm and toasty one.  Getting out of bed will be hard for me to do while here.  The first few nights I went to bed wearing a very warm sweater and sweatpants, but now that I have acclimated I wear nothing but a t-shirt and pajama bottoms.  Those first 5 min after waking up in a nice warm bed however are the best!  I did not want to move, but by 8am I finally forced myself out of it and into an equally warm and inviting shower, only to walk down the hallway to see this incredible sunrise.

It is forecast to rain today and so we do have some clouds, which makes me very excited to see what a cloudless sunrise might bring or a sunrise from the top of one of the surrounding hills.  In either case, seeing this made my day, which amounted so far to 3hrs of waiting in line to get courses approved, as well as another 45min waiting line to get my student ID.

It is official, I am a University of Otago student for the next 4+ months!

Until next time, this is World Wide Adventurer Rhondiggity, signing out.

Not another blog!

Hello,

My name is World Wide Adventurer Rhondiggity.  For years now, I and many of my World Wide Adventure comrades, have explored the unexplored mostly because they don't need exploring.  Until now we have mostly posted videos here and there, but today I decided that in order to share and remember some of my best moments during my travels and adventures, I will start a blog.

I know what your thinking, 'How many millions other blogs are already out there! What could you possibly bring that is different?'  Well I don't plan on this being any different than the others, other than an opportunity to share my experiences and hopefully bring a little entertainment to your laptops and desktop computers at least once a week. =)

As an adventurer, I have traveled over most of the globe, except for anywhere east of Europe.  I am glad to say that as of July 3rd, this is no longer the case.  Currently, I am in New Zealand on a study abroad program, which is a another term to explain that for the next 5 months I will be tramping all over New Zealand and skiing every mountain, with a few studies on the side.

Thus far I have yet to have a serious tramping adventure, however I have managed to get myself lost a few times in this new town, while also meeting many people from America, Britain, Canada, and France.  During my plane ride over, I also happened to bump into an old acquaintance and coach from Wanaka, NZ who has set me up with ski training for the rest of my time here, which might get in the way of my tramping adventures.  But not to fear!  I can always delay my flight home, and spend a few extra weeks to make up for it.  This might in fact be more beneficial, as it will be spring by then, thus warmer and more pleasurable tramping. ;)

Otherwise, my first impression of New Zealand and of this new town is that it is a mixture of Boulder and London, two towns and cities I love, so I reckon my time here will be most enjoyable!  However, the price of a latte here is much higher than back home, which means I might have to cut it out of my daily routine and switch to tea.  Again, this would be nothing but good for me, as tea is much healthier.
This is all I have to report for the moment.  As my time here progresses, I hope to make and post a few World Wide Adventurer Rhondiggity videos and some pictures.

Until then, this is World Wide Adventurer Rhondiggity signing out.