Milford Sound, Catlin's Coast, Dunedin

One of the main things I was looking forward to on my trip of the South Island was a trip to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is thought to be New Zealand's most famous tourist destination as well as the 8th wonder of the world. We decided to take an organized tour that left out of Te Anau, the closest city to Milford Sound. When we were in Te Anau we stayed at a really nice holiday park that had a great kitchen, cable TV, and a fireplace that was always working. Rachel, Chrissie and I cooked an amazing steak dinner before relaxing in front of the fire to watch a movie. We were joined by a lovely Swiss couple that gave us slices of their cheesecake. It was a wonderful night. The next day, as we drove from Te Anau to Milford, we passed giant mountains filled with snow and beautiful lakes. The scenery on the drive was just beautiful. When we arrived in Milford we boarded our cruise boat for a 2 hour cruise throughout Milford Sound, all the way to the Tasman Sea. We saw gigantic waterfalls, towering cliffs, and seals! The first picture is of Mirror Lakes, the second is of Mitre Peak at Milford Sound, and the third is the group of girls on the cruise boat.




After our exciting trip to Milford Sound we continued driving south towards the Catlin's Coast, which is the southeastern coast of the South Island. It's known for its scenic coastline, so we would drive and stop periodically at different landmarks. Our first stop was Curio and Porpoise Bay, which is a petrified forest area that is home to penguins and dolphins. We also stopped at a bunch of waterfalls including MacLean Falls, Matai Falls and Purakaunui Falls as well as some beautiful beaches! We camped at a beautiful campsite at Purakaunui bay right by the beach. The next day we ended our driving tour of the Catlin's Coast by driving to the Nugget Point Lighthouse. before driving up to Dunedin.



The first thing we did when we got to Dunedin was visit the Cadbury World Factory. It is one of 18 Cadbury factories in the world. We did a tour and got to taste a ton of free chocolate. It was a lot of fun! In Dunedin I got to spend a lot of time with Daniel Kahn, a good friend from Year Course. He is studying at the University of Otago in Dunedin. It was so great to see him and he showed us all around Dunedin. We had a huge dinner at his apartment and had a great time!

Wanaka, Queenstown, Fiordland National Park

Once we finished climbing glaciers on the west coast, we drove towards Wanaka, which is considered to be the smaller, less touristy version of Queenstown. We just drove straight to the I-Site, which is the information center located in every city. There was so much to do in the city, so all of us just split up to do different activities. I decided to go kayaking on Lake Wanaka with Chrissie, Zach, and Rachel. It was a beautiful day and I loved being out on the water. We kayaked to a small island in the middle of the lake, had lunch and kayaked back to town. Afterwards, we drove to Rippon Vineyard for wine tasting! It was such a beautiful winery and the wine's were so tasty! Then, we explored Wanaka for a bit before driving down to Queenstown.



After some trouble finding our campsite in Queenstown, we ended up at the local holiday park, which is basically like an RV park. The holiday parks are all around New Zealand and allow you to park in a spot and have access to hot showers, cooking facilities, electricity, and lounges. We were happy to have a hot shower and cook a great dinner. I loved being in Queenstown. It is such a beautiful town that is surrounded by giant snowcapped mountains. It's also really touristy because it's known to be the "adventure capital" of New Zealand, so it's filled with shops advertising activities like jetboating, skydiving, and bungy jumping. Because of the city's reputation, a bunch of people in my group decided to go bungy jumping. Even though I had no intention of bungy jumping, I was able to join them as a spectator and witness them jump from within the launch pad. It was so much fun because I got to be there with them without having to jump! Here's a picture of Queenstown and of Zach bungy jumping!



The rest of our time in Queenstown was spent exploring the town, eating at Fergburger (the best burger place in the South Island), and relaxing! From Queenstown we made the trek to Fiordland National Park. We also camped near a few lakes in Fiordland, and when we woke up at the Lake Monowai campsite it was snowing! One afternoon we hiked part of the Kepler Track, which is one of the "Great Walks" of New Zealand. It was a beauitful hike through rainforest that brought us to a great beach!



Our next adventure was Milford Sound!

Arthur's Pass, West Coast, Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers

I have safely returned back to Auckland after my adventurous 2 1/2 week trip to the South Island. It'll definitely take some time to recount the highlights from this incredible trip, but I'll just have to start at the beginning. We flew into Christchurch and began by picking up our Escape campervans and our impromptu small yellow car. We headed to the local grocery store and stocked up on our necessary food items such as pasta, rice, canned tuna, and granola bars. After some small obstacles, we hit the road and headed to Arthur's Pass, which a small village in the middle of the Southern Alps. It was raining pretty heavily the whole time we were there, but we still enjoyed camping there for the night. In the morning we hiked to the Devil's Punchbowl Waterfall before continuing on to the west coast.



Once we made it to the west coast we drove to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. The rain finally stopped by then so we were enjoying being outside. The pancake rocks were really beautiful and unique looking. After spending the evening in a small town called Hokitika, we camped near Lake Mahinapua. Our next adventure was conquering Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. But before we went there we stopped at Lake Mapourika, which was gorgeous!!!





Franz Josef and Fox are the most accessible glaciers in New Zealand and have hiking tracks that bring you right to the face of the glacier. After walking to Franz Josef we decided to relax for a while in the famous Glacier Hot Pools, which is basically just really hot swimming pools enclosed in a rainforest setting. Since it is so cold most of the time, we enjoyed some must-needed warmth. We also did a guided hike on Fox Glacier, which allowed us to walk on top of the glacier. It was a tough hike, but definitely worth it. The views were amazing!



Although the places we went were so beautiful and fun, some of the best times of the trip was when we were just hanging out at our campsite talking and cooking dinner. We had some great meals throughout our trip like rice and hot dogs, pasta with marinara sauce, and rice with beans. It was definitely a culinary adventure. Also, it was always an interesting challenge to cook dinner, organize the campervans, and get ready for bed in the dark. But it was all part of the fun!

Spring Break in the South Island!

I've been waiting to travel around New Zealand since I arrived about 6 weeks ago and now the time is finally here! We have 2 weeks off from school for spring break and I'll be flying down to the South Island for about 17 days from August 27-September 12. A group of 8 of us from the group are renting campervans and road tripping across most of the South Island! After Mia's wonderful experience doing this 2 years ago, I had to do it! I'll be out of touch most of the time since we'll be in the middle of nowhere for most of the trip, but I will have my cell phone with me in case anyone feels like calling. Here's our itinerary for the trip and some links to see pictures:

Friday, August 27th
• Fly into Christchurch
• Drive northwest to Arthur’s Pass
Saturday, August 28th
• Hike the next morning in Arthur’s Pass
• Drive west to Punakaiki Pancake Rocks
• Drive south to Hokitika and stop in Greymouth
Sunday, August 29th
• Drive south to Franz Josef Glacier
• Hike around Franz Josef glacier/Lake Mapourika
Monday, August 30th
• Drive to Fox Glacier
• Hike around Fox Glacier/Lake Matheson
• Gillespie’s Beach
Tuesday, August 31st
• Drive south to Wanaka and explore
• Drive to Queenstown
Wednesday, September 1st
• Explore Queenstown and do fun things!
Thursday, September 2nd
• Another fun day in Queenstown!
Friday, September 3rd
• Drive to Milford Sound
• Hike around Milford Sound
Saturday, September 4th
• Kayaking/Cruise at Milford Sound/Lake Manapouri
Sunday, September 5th
• Hike in Fiordland National Park
Monday, September 6th
• Drive south and drive along the Catlin’s coast
• Stop at Cathedral Caves, Curio Bay, Nugget Point, Purakaunui Falls
Tuesday, September 7th
• Drive to Dunedin and explore!
Wednesday, September 8th
• Hiking on Otago Peninsula and see wildlifes
Thursday, September 9th
• Drive to Moeraki Boulders
• Drive north to Lake Tekapo and explore
Friday, September 10th
• Drive to Mt. Cook
• Hike around Mt. Cook
Saturday, September 11th
• Drive to Akaroa on Banks Peninsula
Sunday, September 12
• Fly out of Christchurch

I know I will have so many amazing pictures of my own after this trip, so there will be several entries once i get back. I hope everyone has fun moving into school and starting the new school year! And I hope everyone is doing well!

Love, Dafna

Internship, Otara Market, Auckland Rugby Game

After working at my internship at Oranga for about 4 weeks now, I feel really comfortable at the school and with the students. All of the teachers and teacher aides are so friendly and make the workday really fun. Also, I've already seen progress with the students as I've gotten to know them better and they learn new concepts at school. This week, I was able to work individually with some of the students to teach them math and english. Each student has a specific learning program that you must follow and track their progress. I've also been able to observe the OT's and PT's working with the students, which has been really cool. Here's a photo of the school from the outside, as well as a photo of my classroom.



On Friday, the whole group went to a going away party for our friend Kahu. He works with the group and is moving to Gisborne, which is on the east coast of the North Island. It was a really fun farewell party, and a good chance for our group to get together to hang out. On Saturday a few of us went to the Otara Market. It's located in South Auckland, which was pretty far away. It is supposed to be the largest Maori and Polynesian market. There were so many stands of fruits and vegetables, as well as prepared food and other random stuff. I bought all kinds of good food, like silverbeet, which is a form of swiss chard, and kiwi's! I was hesitant to try the black Maori potatoes...



Today a big group of us went to the Auckland vs. Northland rugby game at Eden Park. It was really cool to watch a rugby game live. It is so violent! But luckily, Auckland won the game and we had a great time! We even got to meet some of the players after the game!




We leave for the South Island in 5 days! I am so excited! I hope everyone is doing well!

Love, Dafna

Auckland Museum, AUT, Devonport

So this weekend was somewhat of a bust, since we were unable to go camping in the Coromandel Peninsula. There were severe storm warnings so we opted out of doing the two day hike, only to find out that the trail was closed due to flooding. After planning this trip, I was disappointed that we couldn't go, but we'll reschedule and it will be great! But now I can catch up on all kinds of things that I've been doing recently. A few weeks ago our friend Kahu took us to the University of Auckland marae. A marae is a sacred, traditional Maori meetinghouse and is usually intricately carved and decorated. Each post represents a tribe, or a god, and tells a mythological story. He taught us a bunch of stuff about the Maori and it was a lot of fun!



Also, this week marked the ending of our group class that took place every night of the week. Everyone was always so tired during the evening that a three hour lecture from 5-8pm after a full day of classes or internship was difficult. Luckily, we took our final exam and it's over! Now we will have our afternoons and evenings free to explore more of the city. The class took place on AUT campus, so here's a few photos of AUT campus, including Hikuwai Plaza, which is the main area of the university with the library, bookstore, gym, and food court.

<

This week was also pretty great at my internship. On Monday all of the teacher aides had a lecture on Wheelchair Mobility and Vision Impairment that was really interesting. And on Thursday my class had a class trip to the Auckland Museum. The Auckland Museum is located within a giant park called the Auckland Domain. The museum is technically the war museum, but it encompasses mostly everything about New Zealand culture, including a huge section on Maori and Pacific Islanders. It was really fun to go there with all of the students. We brought their walkers with us and the kids had a great time using their walkers to maneuver around the museum. There was also a special exhibit called Kai to Pie, which showcased New Zealand food culture. It was a great exhibit, and my Gastronomy professor was even honored as one of the best Kiwi food historians. It was a great day at the museum.


So even though we're staying in Auckland this weekend, I think we'll have a good time. Tonight we saw Inception, which was a great movie. I haven't seen such a crazy and unique movie like that in a while. For dinner I ate at The White Lady, which is a famous Auckland truck that parks in the city and serves delicious burgers and milkshakes! Here is a photo of The White Lady.


On Sunday Rachel, Kavitha and I took the ferry to Devonport, which is a suburb of Auckland that is across the harbor. It's an old town and is known for its cute shops, restaurants, and great views of Auckland. We walked around the main part of town and found some cool used bookstores and poster shops. We also walked up to Mt. Victoria, which is an extinct volcano. We had a panoramic view of Auckland harbor and the surrounding islands and volcanoes. It was so beautiful! The first photo is of Devonport and Mt. Victoria from the ferry. We also stumbled upon an open house and we just had to go inside. It was such a unique house, from the 1900s, and so well decorated. Here's a picture of the house from the outside.



I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
Dafna

Just a Regular Week in Auckland

I have been having a great time just living life in Auckland. I spend two days a week at my internship, and the rest in classes at AUT. We didn't go on a trip this weekend, but I managed to do a lot of fun stuff around the city. On Friday I went running along Tamaki Drive, which has a really nice waterfront path for runners and bikers. It was a beautiful day and I went as far as Mission Bay Beach, which is a nice area for restaurants and beach cafe's.



On Saturday we went to the Auckland Farmer's Market. There were all kinds of speciality cheeses, pastries, vegetables, fruits, and fish. In the evening the whole group went to our friend Kahu's house for a potluck dinner and to watch the All Blacks rugby game. The All Blacks won and we had a really great time. Today we went on a free trip to Kelly Tarleton's Underwater World, which is Auckland's aquarium. There were all kinds of fish, shark and stingrays, but the main event was the antarctic penguin colony. There were so many penguins and we got to see them up close. It was so amazing!


Now, I'm busy organizing a group camping trip to the Coromandel for the upcoming weekend. It should be a lot of fun. Along with some others in the group, we are planning an awesome spring break in the South Island of New Zealand. We plan to spend 17 days in the South Island from August 27th to September 12th. I am so excited to plan this trip! In the meantime, I have 3 more weeks of class until break! I hope everyone is doing well!

Love, Dafna