snow, chocolate, and The Remarkables
August 21, '04

(click on the first picture to get started; captions are at the bottom of each picture page)

You see, it really is winter here! This is my flat the morning after it snowed. All the Kiwis were extremely excited, as it apparently hardly ever snows, let alone sticks, here. Not a good day to drive... and many classes were cancelled!
Another view. The situation is somewhat of a contrast to Williams, where it blizzards and the next day the roads are clear... After touring the Cadbury Chocolate Factory housed here in Dunedin, a few of us pose in front of the "Cadbury Bunny". I would have shown you more, but they didn't let us bring cameras into the factory... and to stifle our protests they just fed us more chocolate ;-). I don't really know any of these people except for Hilary, the girl with the red scarf who I plan to do some travelling with.
On Friday evening I drove to Queenstown with a friend. We decided to go at around 5pm, called hostels until we found one that had vacant beds, threw some clothes in the car, and set off around 6! This is just a taste of the scenery to come... On Saturday bright and early we went snowboarding at a resort called The Remarkables. They were... remarkable, as you can see here... this is the view from the ski lodge.
Yeah, here it is closer up. :) Sweet. Me attempting to snowboard! This was my third time ever. It was tons of fun and I think I fell down about once every few metres. I had a snowboarding lesson in the afternoon, which was supposed to be a group lesson but I was the only one in my "skill" level so I got one-on-one advice. This was *extremely* helpful and although I fell on my ass about a million more times during the lesson I felt much improved.
With confidence restored, I took to the lift... and this is the view! Can you *believe* it?!? Unbelievable!
I took a few deep breaths and admired the scenery before attempting to make it down the mountain in one piece. It may have taken me over half an hour, but I made it all right! There were these cute little birds outside the lodge. Actually they were kind of big.
The view driving back down from The Remarkables Yep, I was really there... this place *actually exists*.
On the way down, we stopped at a viewpoint perfect for another panoramic photo. This was the kind of moment that makes me wonder what I did to possibly deserve spending a semester wandering around this breathtakingly gorgeous place.
Yep, I was really there... this place *actually exists*. Sunday afternoon on our way back to Dunedin, we stopped to check out bridges and bungi jumpers (who jump from the bridge I'm standing on to take this picture)...
...rivers and canyons... ...wineries and mountains (and check out the rainbow just left of center)...