Hiking and being a tourist

Heya.

You can tell I've been doing stuff on my days the last couple of weeks since I haven't posted anything. Have done a bit of hiking and been feeling like on a holiday in town (which was weird since I consider myself a local).

So, three weeks ago I finally did a hike I've been wanting to do for like 6 months already. And I'm glad I did it. One of the best ones in this area.

I haven't done much hiking in quite a while so let's just say my legs were dying at the end of day. It took about three hours or so going up, and a bit less than two coming down.

At first I planned on going only to a day hut along the way (since my legs were already dead by the time I got there...) but I saw a couple who said going up to the Heather Jock Hut is totally worth it. That was my original plan, and I'm so glad I ended up going all the way up there. The views were incredible. And the hut was to cutest ever; there was only 3 bunks, such a small hut. Would've been amazing to stay the night there.

Villivuohia!

Next week I met up with Ziggy and her brother in town - they're travelling around for a few weeks and it was nice to catch up with them and have drinks and stuff in town. Ziggy's one of my best friends here but we rarely get any days off together so that was really nice.

Last week? Not much happened, just been having relaxing days off. Did go for a evening walk yesterday and just can't get over the fact how pretty it is out here.

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So that was last few weeks. This week been having a lazy day and had quite a touristy day in town yesterday - had some Queenstown 'famous' burger and their ice cream as well and went through quite a lot of the souvenir and gift shops; there's so much touristy stuff I'd like to buy even though I don't really need all that...

Winter mode

Two weeks since I posted but there's a good reason for that - I got a bit sick last Friday morning and didn't feel better until two days ago. It was just some fever and a bit of stomach ache, nothing serious though.

Not much has happened in the last two weeks except we got full winter mode on again after the beautiful snow fall we woke up to last Saturday! It's always kinda funny how excited I get after seeing snow here, as if I've never seen it before ha. But it's just so prettyy!

We've had snow on the ground before but it has always melted during the afternoon but this time even the next morning there's was loads of snow left! See the photo below.

And these are the views when driving into Glenorchy, to the closest town.

And I'm never getting tired of these views when driving from Queenstown. Even on a cloudy day, they impress me.

Weekly update

Oh look at me, posting weekly.
Seems like Fridays have been a good day for some posting, as it is my Sunday. The last few weeks been having lazy Sundays as the weather's still a bit cold to be outside the whole day. I do have plans to do some hikes in the next couple of weeks as soon as it gets a tiny bit warmer. Usually on Thursdays I go to town to do grocery shopping and whatever else I need to buy as there's no supermarket around here where I live. So Queenstown's the closest place for that and it takes about an hour to drive one way. It's kinda funny to think I have to drive an hour to get to a supermarket. Yes, I do live in the middle of nowhere ha.

Below you can see the view I have when driving back home. Lovelovelove.

Not much has happened this week, just been working and hanging out with my work mates. At the moment there's 5 of us living at the house here; French-Austrian couple, two English girls and me. And a few casual workers living in other areas but most of the time hanging out here at the house as well.

On Mondays we have a game night where we play whatever board or card games we feel like and maybe have a few drinks. It's a bit weird day for that, a Monday, but that's when three of us are off and the other people don't have an early start the next day. Lately we've been really into the Monopoly cards game - it's the best ha. 

This Monday was a bit different though - we did play some games but also had a huge bonfire at the beach. Andreas, the Austrian, has his birthday on Saturday and as there's an English couple leaving on Saturday, we decided to celebrate Andy's birthday that day.  It's really nice we're keeping our Monday games night and do all this fun stuff together.

On Tuesday I finished quite early so went for a walk just a bit up the road. There are a few fords (small streams/rivers) going across the road where I went for the walk so couldn't go that far away though.

And as I was walking back, saw Ziggy, Andy and Rob walking down and joined them for an evening kayak. We went to a nearby beach (only takes about 15-20mins to kayak) and had a small fire there. Such a nice ending for the day.

See ya next week. Hopefully.

Days off

Don't know where to begin as I don't have much to tell.

Been off the last couple of days I was off Wednesday and today and worked yesterday, but usually I have Thursdays and Fridays off. Which are a bit weird days to be off but I really don't care as long as they're two days in a row.

On Wednesday me and my workmate Ziggy went to do a ziplining tour in town. And when I was say town, I mean Queenstown. The tour was heaps of fun and was really nice doing something with Ziggy as normally we're not off the same day.

So today I've also been off and been just doing stuff I've been meaning to do for a while now - tidy up my car and room etc. And went for a small walk, which I need to start doing a lot more. I would say now is a perfect time of year for walking and bit of running - it's not too cold anymore but not too hot either. I'd like to do some hiking on my days off but I've done most of the day hikes in this area so would have to travel a bit further away, to Wanaka or something. I do wanna go to Wanaka soon though, it's such a lovely town.

Time flies when you're having fun

... such a cliché but kinda true.

Almost a year and a half since I last posted here. I wish I had been posting regularly. So much has happened and I don't forget any of it. No promises but I want to try and start posting more often again. 

This has always been more of a diary for me than for other people to read. I know, could just have it as private but I guess it's also a good way for people back home to see what I'm up to over here.

In a way it's a bit weird that I haven't posted anything (well once) since I came to Kinloch. This is the place where I would say I've experienced the most in New Zealand. Of course I've travelled around but this is where I'm based. This is my NZ home.

And speaking of NZ - I've been here for two years and am on my third year now. That is insane to think.
Two years. Gone so fast. 

Kinloch

Travelling - it gives you home in a thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land.

Such a long break without blogging. Not on purpose tho, life's just pretty great right now and I don't feel like spending a lot of time with my laptop. I don't even remember the last time I've opened it, maybe a month ago?

Just a quick update; left Auckland after Christmas, travelled around the South Island for a month with two different groups of friends and now I am here in Kinloch, Otago. This is such a small town (actually not even a town, just a place haha), here is only a lodge/hostel and a campsite but I truly love it here! Surrounded by mountains and beautiful views - what else would you need.

There's so much I would need to write on here (all my travels, around the both islands) but right now I feel like I don't have time for that, I'm too busy enjoying my life. :)

Whakarewarewa

On Sunday we first visited the Whakarewarewa Maori village. I didn’t know pretty much anything about the Maori culture before so it was so nice to get to know some things about it. First we had a guided tour around the village where the guide told us about their way of living, cooking, bathing as well as some history and facilities. One of the most interesting things to learn was the Maori alphabet. They have only 13 letters (a, e, h, i, k, m, n, o, p, r, t, u, w) and also two letters that form one sound (wh, ng). The guide made us repeat some words and for me it’s quite easy to pronounce the Maori words because they sound (at least in my opinion) like they could be Finnish so I know how to pronounce them. And the names of some places are the same, easy to pronounce. For example Rotorua, Takapuna, Punakaiki, Mount Ruapehu, Piha, Paihia… See, they sound like Finnish, right? :D

After the guided tour, there was a little cultural performance of the Maori people. They sang and did some dancing. And we also got to participate in Poi dance. ‘Poi’ is a ball with a small rope that they use with the dancing.

After the Maori village, we walked to the Redwoods and did another walk over there. This time it was a bit longer than the previous day and totally worth it! We ended up in a lookout where we saw the whole city area. It was such a great view!