when we got to queenstown, we stayed at a hostel by the lake. it was the most beautiful view i had ever seen. the first day we were there we walked around and just enjoyed the sights and the stores in queenstown.
that night we went out with 2 of our hostel roommates, one who was from nor cal, who moved to hawaii for college and the other one was from london. we found this bar that is made entirely of ice. they gave us jackets to wear and gloves to wear inside and we stayed there for about 30 mins, it's so small that they go inside in groups. it was so amazingly awesome. i unfortunately forgot my camera for the night and so neille was in charge of the pictures. after we left that bar we went to another pub that my friend in newcastle told me about. the roof apparently opens at a certain time, but we were all so tired that we didn't last too long and we didn't see the roof open. it was however canada night at the bar so we got to see what the kiwis thought of all the canadians plus there were some real canadians there.
the next day i slept in and got ready for our long drive back to christchurch for our flight to auckland.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
goodbye aussie land, hello kiwis
friday july 26 neille and i made our way to christchurch, new zealand.
we left around 11:30 in the morning and rode a train to sydney. dean came with us so we wouldn't get lost and to help us with all of our stuff that we had.
we got on the plane, and the plane was a hour late because of there was some new staff members, so they had a delay. we got into christchurch around 1 am, and we got a hostel for a night. this hostel was amazing! they had electric blankets, we did not want to leave. the next 2 nights we stayed at the kiwi house. this was a pretty nice hostel, at 16 bucks a night-anything is awesome.
we walked around christchurch for the first full day and got gifts for people and just relaxed. this trip to new zealand is technically our vacation-so we don't mind that we just walk around and look around the town. plus it is freezing cold outside. it is about -4 degrees celsius-which is about 30 degrees and lower back home.
the next day, we met a girl from london named laura. we showed her around the town and we helped her get settled into the hostel. she's a sweet girl and she is going to be coming to l.a. in august. so hopefully i can see her then.
the next day, neille and i got into a bus at 8 am and we started our all day bus ride to queenstown from christchurch. on our way there we saw a lot of sheep and cattle farms and even a few red deer farms. we also saw a lot of snow-we were able to escape most of it being indoors and in the bus. we got stopped on the road because we had to put chains on the bus and that delayed us for about a half a hour. but we eventually got to queenstown and we got safe and warm inside and we found our nice hotel. the hotel is a little ways away from the town, but it has a spa and a bowling alley and that brings you to where we are right now. you are all now officially updated on what is going on in my life.
now for me, most of you have probably wondered what is going on with me personally. long story short-i'm pretty home sick. dean was very helpful with my not being so sad about missing home and such, but i still miss it. i miss my home and i miss my family and i miss my friends. i think most importantly, i miss myke-i miss that boy who makes me so extremely happy. i actually get to see him for a few days a week after i get home and for that i am truly truly thankful for.
i will be writing when i can-we were just able to get internet for a day while we were at this hotel.
thanks to all those who read. i'll be home in about 9 days. love you all.
love, allison
we left around 11:30 in the morning and rode a train to sydney. dean came with us so we wouldn't get lost and to help us with all of our stuff that we had.
we got on the plane, and the plane was a hour late because of there was some new staff members, so they had a delay. we got into christchurch around 1 am, and we got a hostel for a night. this hostel was amazing! they had electric blankets, we did not want to leave. the next 2 nights we stayed at the kiwi house. this was a pretty nice hostel, at 16 bucks a night-anything is awesome.
we walked around christchurch for the first full day and got gifts for people and just relaxed. this trip to new zealand is technically our vacation-so we don't mind that we just walk around and look around the town. plus it is freezing cold outside. it is about -4 degrees celsius-which is about 30 degrees and lower back home.
the next day, we met a girl from london named laura. we showed her around the town and we helped her get settled into the hostel. she's a sweet girl and she is going to be coming to l.a. in august. so hopefully i can see her then.
the next day, neille and i got into a bus at 8 am and we started our all day bus ride to queenstown from christchurch. on our way there we saw a lot of sheep and cattle farms and even a few red deer farms. we also saw a lot of snow-we were able to escape most of it being indoors and in the bus. we got stopped on the road because we had to put chains on the bus and that delayed us for about a half a hour. but we eventually got to queenstown and we got safe and warm inside and we found our nice hotel. the hotel is a little ways away from the town, but it has a spa and a bowling alley and that brings you to where we are right now. you are all now officially updated on what is going on in my life.
now for me, most of you have probably wondered what is going on with me personally. long story short-i'm pretty home sick. dean was very helpful with my not being so sad about missing home and such, but i still miss it. i miss my home and i miss my family and i miss my friends. i think most importantly, i miss myke-i miss that boy who makes me so extremely happy. i actually get to see him for a few days a week after i get home and for that i am truly truly thankful for.
i will be writing when i can-we were just able to get internet for a day while we were at this hotel.
thanks to all those who read. i'll be home in about 9 days. love you all.
love, allison
school is out..let the adventures begin
it is official. i'm done with school at the university of newcastle.
yes, i'm writing this a while after, but it was exciting when i was done. since that time, i hung out with my new friend dean. dean was a guy that was in my theatre craft class and who gave me rides home to save bus rides.
i've had dinner at dean's house, his mom makes the best meat pies. and dean and i have seen the new terminator, transformers, night at the museum 2, and the hangover. one of my first big adventures when school was done was seeing dean's play-something like lost, something like found. it was an interesting play that was revolved around mental disorders. not only was he in it, but a few other friends that i had met were in it as well, one of them being a girl named tracy. i went and saw it twice-once for free and the other time because i wanted to go support the theatre company he and tracy were a part of.
we also have gone on adventures to the rock wall, which is on the coast of newcastle where the oil ships come in. they were pretty cool. we also went to singleton, to see our friend mitchell, who also was in theatre craft, in the play beauty and the beast-playing gaston.
we went on a lot of different small adventures. one was back to sydney to go to hillsong church. that was a fun adventure to see this famous church in action. seeing that church reminded me a lot of how much i miss my church and how excited i am to go home.
dean, along with tracy, is hoping to come to california next june until about december. i hope to show them around california and show them around and show them my home like they did with me.
yes, i'm writing this a while after, but it was exciting when i was done. since that time, i hung out with my new friend dean. dean was a guy that was in my theatre craft class and who gave me rides home to save bus rides.
i've had dinner at dean's house, his mom makes the best meat pies. and dean and i have seen the new terminator, transformers, night at the museum 2, and the hangover. one of my first big adventures when school was done was seeing dean's play-something like lost, something like found. it was an interesting play that was revolved around mental disorders. not only was he in it, but a few other friends that i had met were in it as well, one of them being a girl named tracy. i went and saw it twice-once for free and the other time because i wanted to go support the theatre company he and tracy were a part of.
we also have gone on adventures to the rock wall, which is on the coast of newcastle where the oil ships come in. they were pretty cool. we also went to singleton, to see our friend mitchell, who also was in theatre craft, in the play beauty and the beast-playing gaston.
we went on a lot of different small adventures. one was back to sydney to go to hillsong church. that was a fun adventure to see this famous church in action. seeing that church reminded me a lot of how much i miss my church and how excited i am to go home.
dean, along with tracy, is hoping to come to california next june until about december. i hope to show them around california and show them around and show them my home like they did with me.
mom and dad visit!!
i'm so sorry that i have not been blogging-it's been really busy with school ending and all of that stuff happening.
but the biggest news was that mom and dad came to visit. they were more excited then i was to have people come visit. they got to see a new country that neither of them had been to.
they arrived in newcastle late at night, they were staying at a B&B while i was at school for the rest of the week. while i was at school, mom and dad went to hunter valley on a winery tour. after that they had a day in newcastle. the day after that, i left my class early to go to sydney for the weekend. i was very excited since it would be the first time i was able to spend a long time in sydney.
mom, dad, and i got on the train to sydney, which is about 2 hours. while on the train my mom read up on sydney and dad helped me with my paper that was due the next week.
we got to the hotel and we walked around sydney for a little bit. we went up into the sky tower, which is basically a bird's eye view of sydney and it was beautiful!
the next day we went to the sydney aquarium, we walked around and saw a lot of cool looking fish and other cool animals like penguins.
that night, my parents took me to the one place that i've wanted to go for the past 9 years, that is ever since i saw the sydney olympics: the sydney opera house. it has been my dream to see that place, and when we got there i was like a little kid in a candy shop. i couldn't stop smiling and taking pictures of what i think is one of the most beautiful places in the world. we went on a backstage tour and it was so much fun to see all the different stages and backstage.
the nice thing about mom and dad visiting-besides me missing them less, was having them pay for me. things here are a lot more expensive then i expected here, so money has been tight-but so is the rest of the world, so what do i have to complain about.
anyway, thanks for reading and i'm sorry for being so horrible at all of this blogging business. hope all is well.
love, allsion
but the biggest news was that mom and dad came to visit. they were more excited then i was to have people come visit. they got to see a new country that neither of them had been to.
they arrived in newcastle late at night, they were staying at a B&B while i was at school for the rest of the week. while i was at school, mom and dad went to hunter valley on a winery tour. after that they had a day in newcastle. the day after that, i left my class early to go to sydney for the weekend. i was very excited since it would be the first time i was able to spend a long time in sydney.
mom, dad, and i got on the train to sydney, which is about 2 hours. while on the train my mom read up on sydney and dad helped me with my paper that was due the next week.
we got to the hotel and we walked around sydney for a little bit. we went up into the sky tower, which is basically a bird's eye view of sydney and it was beautiful!
the next day we went to the sydney aquarium, we walked around and saw a lot of cool looking fish and other cool animals like penguins.
that night, my parents took me to the one place that i've wanted to go for the past 9 years, that is ever since i saw the sydney olympics: the sydney opera house. it has been my dream to see that place, and when we got there i was like a little kid in a candy shop. i couldn't stop smiling and taking pictures of what i think is one of the most beautiful places in the world. we went on a backstage tour and it was so much fun to see all the different stages and backstage.
the nice thing about mom and dad visiting-besides me missing them less, was having them pay for me. things here are a lot more expensive then i expected here, so money has been tight-but so is the rest of the world, so what do i have to complain about.
anyway, thanks for reading and i'm sorry for being so horrible at all of this blogging business. hope all is well.
love, allsion
Saturday, May 2, 2009
the countdown has officially begun!
4 more weeks of school. that simply means essays are going to take over my life. luckily i enjoy writing...most of the time.
it thunder stormed last night. lightning and thunder. we were excited but wondering how many of these are we going to have before the year is over.
since school is almost out-we are starting to plan new zealand. it will be fun, but stressful to get there. so far we are staying in our house until the contract is done so we can use that house to it's advantage. then fly to christchurch and do mini trips around the island and then fly to auckland and stay with neille's family. that is the general plan so far.
next week is neille's 20th birthday so we are going out to dinner with friends, so that will lighten our spirits a little.
hope everything is nice and sunny where ever you are-we sent the sun to you i guess.
love, allison
it thunder stormed last night. lightning and thunder. we were excited but wondering how many of these are we going to have before the year is over.
since school is almost out-we are starting to plan new zealand. it will be fun, but stressful to get there. so far we are staying in our house until the contract is done so we can use that house to it's advantage. then fly to christchurch and do mini trips around the island and then fly to auckland and stay with neille's family. that is the general plan so far.
next week is neille's 20th birthday so we are going out to dinner with friends, so that will lighten our spirits a little.
hope everything is nice and sunny where ever you are-we sent the sun to you i guess.
love, allison
Thursday, April 30, 2009
ANZAC day
so australians and kiwis have this thing called ANZAC day. ANZAC day is the day that they celebrate the day that the 2 countries entered WWI with the attack on Turkey. this is a day similar to our memorial day and veterans day. this day was april 25, and we went to celebrate it with about 2000 other people on the beach.
there is a dawn service on april 25th that starts at 5am. we got up at 3 to walk to the beach where it was taking place, little did we know that there were going to be about 2000 other people there. the service was beautiful, there were people that read poems and they shot off cannons to honor the veterans and the people who died not only in WWI but in other wars as well.
the rest of the day consisted of people getting drunk and playing a game that is only legal on ANZAC day. the game that is illegal the rest of the year is basically heads or tails and people throw their money away on it, so that's why it is illegal the rest of the year.
it was a fun day, but we were tired cause we had been up since 3am. so we watched movies with friends and roommates and hung out.
i will put up pictures, but my computer is being weird, it won't let me send random emails and sometimes it doesn't let me put up pictures up..it's a very temperamental computer :)
hope everything is going well and i can't wait for my parents visit in a week!!
love, allison
there is a dawn service on april 25th that starts at 5am. we got up at 3 to walk to the beach where it was taking place, little did we know that there were going to be about 2000 other people there. the service was beautiful, there were people that read poems and they shot off cannons to honor the veterans and the people who died not only in WWI but in other wars as well.
the rest of the day consisted of people getting drunk and playing a game that is only legal on ANZAC day. the game that is illegal the rest of the year is basically heads or tails and people throw their money away on it, so that's why it is illegal the rest of the year.
it was a fun day, but we were tired cause we had been up since 3am. so we watched movies with friends and roommates and hung out.
i will put up pictures, but my computer is being weird, it won't let me send random emails and sometimes it doesn't let me put up pictures up..it's a very temperamental computer :)
hope everything is going well and i can't wait for my parents visit in a week!!
love, allison
Monday, April 27, 2009
Cool Random Sighting
So it wasn't really a "sighting" but when we were on the ocean road tour, there was one other american on the bus. neille and i got to talking with him and we were talking about all the things that australia doesn't have. one thing we mentioned was that they had no costco. however, when we were in melbourne we saw one, turns out that the guy we were talking to is the guy who travels around and oversees the building of costcos all around. he oversaw the one we go to at home and he was there in australia to oversee the building of the very first costco in australia-the one that we saw.
we were so excited that we saw the first costco in australia being built and we met the guy who builds them.
it was very very exciting.
we were so excited that we saw the first costco in australia being built and we met the guy who builds them.
it was very very exciting.
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