New Zealand 2011

MOERAKI BOULDERS AND WHALES

2011-07-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

bees: Today Ann's homestay dad took me, Ann and her two homestay sisters to Moeraki, where we had a great time at the Moeraki Boulders. Those are stones that were shaped like dinosaur eggs by the sea. You can actually climb into those stones. It is so beautiful out there, a great opportunity to take some really nice photos. As we walked along the beach we saw whales swimming in the sea. That was amazing, I've never seen a whale before and those ones we didn't even see through a set up whale watching trip but just like that. It was awesome. Before we went back to Dunedin Ann's homestay dad gave us all a piece of cake. Ours was banana chocolate cake and I chose the piece with the most chocolate icing (naughty:))

My week

2011-07-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

Anne: I want to tell you a bit about my week. School went to the end, so that wasn't too interesting.
But there were quite a few events at home. First of all did my big host-brother bring a deg home he bought when he was at a farm last week. Now he has two dogs and a turtle and there are three dogs, a turtle, a cat and a fish at home now. His new dog is a border collie mixed with a golden retriever (he looks like a mix between Anton and Stella). He is probably one year old, what we don't know because his old family didn't tell the birth date and his name is Rusty.
On Sunday I had my farewell dinner with my host-family already because they have quite a lot to do with "Gang Show" the next two weeks. That's a show which takes place every two years in Dunedin and one of my host-sisters is in it. I went and helped my host-mum sewing the costumes a few times.
However the next two weeks will be very busy at home.
Now we just have nine days left, tomorrow is our last day at school. That's so sad. But I'm also looking forward to seeing you all again!

MOERAKI BOULDERS

2011-07-10T01:44:00.000-07:00

Krissy: hey guys, well, today Jule, Sophia and I went to the Moeraki Boulders which is in the north of Dunedin and it takes 1 hour to get there. The Moreaki Boulders are stones, which are formed like balls, it looks pretty awesome:) Of course we took a lot of pictures with them. Fortunately it was sunny but too cold, well, its winter...:) Anyway, we stayed there for about 3 hours and went back to Dunedin later, where we went to the Boldwin Street and bought a certificate, which says that we walked up the street!

Stewart Island

2011-07-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

Sophia: Last week, I went with Lena, Katharina and Jule to Stewart Island for a week. It was really amazing. We stayed on a sailing boat called the Elwing and then we sailed from bay to bay for 5 days. We often went on land and walked right through the bush away from the tramping ways. Then we went snorkling and kayaking. In the evening, we always wrote into our Logbooks and we got a hot chocolate from our skipper :)
On our last day, we made a camp fire in the bush and we cooked stuff like mussels which we collected the day before. Then we went back to the beach, but it was totally dark and we had just two torches for 10 people. It was quiet funny :-) In the same night, we had to do a "nightwatch". Everyone had a turn to sit outside alone and watch the boat, because the skipper was afraid that the boat might drift into the shore. I was lucky, because I just had to stay up from 11 p.m. until 12 p.m. but other people had to get up two o'clock in the night :)
Anyway, the trip was awesome! I simply love the nature on Stewart Island. Everything is so green and untouched. So here are some pictures to share the beauty with you ;)

All of us on a rock :)

The amazing view from one of the lockout points!!

More of the amazing view :)

The land of the glowing lights (the Maori name for Stewart Island)

Driving!!!!!!

2011-07-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

Anne: Hey guys, after a long time you hear from me again! Today my host-dad took my hos-tbrother, my host-sister and her boyfriend off-road-driving at the beach. Because I sat in the front when we got there I was the first one to drive. I´ve never done it before and actually the school doesn´t allow us to drive :) But my host-dad said I wouldn´t have to tell them, so I just did it. It was awesome!!!! I really enjoyed it!!! My host-sister was second and my host-brother third. We all had two goes. My host-sisters boyfriend already has his licence, here you can get them when you´re 15. So he didn´t have a go and just watched and took pictures.

Mountainbiking with Oued

2011-06-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

Lena: From Sunday to Tuesday we went to Naseby with Outdoor Education for mountainbiking!
Sunday at about 12 o'clock we started our trip to Naseby. We loaded the trailer with our bikes and packed our bags into the van. After 1 hours drive we arrived in Middlemarch. There we took 3 other bikes for Krissi, Jule and me. Then we continued to Naseby. After about 3 hours drive we arrived in the camp where we stayed the 3 days. We had a house with a kitchen and a bath for 9 people and a hut for 4 people. Jule, Krissi, Kathi and I, we stayed in the hut for 4 people, but we were all the time with the others in the other house.
Monday evening we did our dinner and then we went curling. Most of us did it the first time, it was real fun :D I liked it!
At 9 o'clock in the morning we went biking. It was cool, so much fun! Although almost everyone fell down sometime, noone got hurt. For lunch we came back to the camp and then we went in the afternoon again. Krissi and I stayed Monday afternoon at the camp, because we didn't feel so well, but its alright again ;) We had a hot chocolate and sat in front of the oven. It was a nice afternoon! :) :D
Tuesday morning at about 9 we went biking again. We did our assessment this day. Everyone did really well actually ;D!
After that we got a hot chocolate in a cafe :) That was nice :) Then we still biked for about 1 hour, then we went back to the camp had lunch and loaded up the trailer again. Then the 3 days were already over and we drove back to school. At about half past 5 we arrived at school and got picked up from our hostparents/parents.
It were awesome 3 days!!! I totally enjoyed them !!! :)

Five Women wearing the same dress

2011-06-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

The setting of the play (sorry, it's a bit dark)

Sophia: On Wednesday night we visited the Fortune theatre here in Dunedin. It was organized by my Drama teacher and pupil from year 11, 12 and 13 were there. We watched a play called “Five Women Wearing The Same Dress”. It was about five bridesmaids, who all were totally different and all had some “serious issues”. It was really funny and I had a nice evening. In the break we had some Hockey Pockey ice-cream, which I will really miss in Germany, but I got a recipe to make it now. That’s all I have to write about today, but my dad forces me to write stuff every week now, so you will here more from me :)

We felt an earthquake!!!!

2011-06-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ann: Today in PE we felt an earthquake!! It was cool, because we never felt one before. It was just ca. 1 minute and not really hard, so nothing happened to us, but it was quite shocking. Later we found out that this earthquake was in Christchurch and it was so hard that we could feel it. There are quite e few earthquakes in Christchurch since there was that big one in februrary, but none was as hard as this one.

Larnach Castle, Rock climbing, Baking and more!!

2011-06-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

Sophia: I have been a bit lazy about writing on this blog in the last couple of weeks, so I just wanted to write a little summary of what I did in that time.
First of all, I went to Larnach Castle which is supposed to be the only castle in New Zealand. It’s not really an old castle like I know it for example from France, but it’s still quiet interesting. From the gardens, you have an amazing view over Dunedin and the sea. Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera.
On the same weekend I did some German baking as well. I made some bread, which was really good in comparison to the stuff you get here. Moreover, I did some “Zimtsterne” which were a full success and my homestay family loved them.
Last Thursday then, we went rock climbing on the beach. It was really cool. In Germany, you never do stuff like that. You just usually stay indoors, but in New Zealand you often leave the school to do sports or other excursions outside.
This weekend was luckily a long one, because of Queens’ Birthday. On Sunday I met with Lena and Krissi in town and on Monday I went to the beach again. Even if it gets colder now, the sun was still shining all the time. So I had a nice day on the beach with my homestay and afterwards we backed some Honey snaps to get warm again :)

Bowling with all internationals!!!

2011-05-31T01:52:00.000-07:00

Krissy: As Ann has already told you, yesterday we went bowling with all internationals! Of course we took a lot of pictures, which we want you to watch.

It was so awesome and we had a lot of fun (I hope you can see this :))!!!

Bowling!!

2011-05-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ann: Hey everyone! I just saw that we stopped writing for a while! Well, I have something new for you! Yesterday night we Internationals went bowling together. I think almost everyone was there. It was quite a lot of fun, although I lost in my group. We took a lot of fun photos, maybe we'll put some of them up here, and when we all finished our games we had some snacks. It was a really nice evening! I really enjoyed it.

40 HOUR FAMINE

2011-05-29T01:52:00.000-07:00

bees: From the 27th 29th of May we had the 40 hour famine. We tryed not to use any thegnology or not to eat anything for 40 hours and then asked people to sponsor us. The money goes to people in East Timor. I raised about 60 dollars and I wasn't even hungry after 40 hours. It's not as hard as everyone thinks it is and it's a great chance to help people in other countries. I'd so do it again, it's really worth it!

Formal, 13.05.2011

2011-05-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Lena: On Friday the 13. of May we had a awesome evening + night! It was our school formal ! :) Katharina S. and I went in the afternoon to the hairdresser for makeup and our hair :D It was a great experience. :) After that I went to Jule's house for changing. At 7.00 o'clock we met our partners at the town hall. It was so amazing. The food was so yum and we had just fun! I sat at a table with Kathi, Kathi, Jule, Charlotte and their partners :) We had a great tabel!
After the formal we went back to Jule's house for changing for the Afterparty. I dressed up as Hawai Girl, Kathi S. as Moviestar, Kathi as Cowgirl, Krissi as R&B, Jule as Easterbunny, Britta as Barbie, Anne as Airhostess :) The night was awesome!!! We danced almost the whole night and the music was great!!
It was a night I will never forget!!! <3

PICTURES!!!

2011-05-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

Krissy: Yeah, finally we got our pictures which we took at the formal! I think they are so awesome!

This weekend!!

2011-05-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

Ann: This weekend Jule, Krissi and I went to town while Britta and Olivia went to the cinema. We three had quite a lot of fun, but the shops already closed at around six, so we went to Starbucks, where we met Britta and Olivia. We had ordered a table in the Asian, a nice restaurant, for 7, but it was so boring after a while that we already went there at 6.30. Luckily Our table was free, so we could order our meals. We took a menue for 5 people. The food was very nice and we were so full after it. Britta, Krissi, Jule and I did a sleepover at Krissis' house after that. We had bought popcorn and biscuits and we watched 3 movies that evening, so we went to bed at about 3 o'clock. The next day we watched the third film, but Britta and I had to go earlier, because we met Olivia in town to go shopping with her. She actually wanted to buy a new jeans, but she didn't find one. Never the less she was successful. She bought herself some new shoes.
On Sunday I had sup for tea, which was very yummi, and it was no fast food!! ;)

I had a really nice weekend, although I just relaxed and had fun with the others.

Formal and Afterparty!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-05-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

Anne + Krissi: Last night was the best night we had in newzealand!! We went to our formal and after that most of us went to the afterparty. The formal was so awesome!!! The food was really yummy (especially the dessert!!) and we all look forward to getting our photos, we took there. We could take as many as we wanted. After that we went dancing, because the liveband was quite good we had alot of fun!

The motto of the afterparty was " wear something that begins with the first letter of your partner´s name", so krissi dressed up as R'n'B lady (red and black lady) and Anne dressed up as air hostess. We danced a lot and laughed about all the drunk guys around us.

It was an awesome night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

South Island Trip - ISENZ

2011-05-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

Lena: I had a really amazing trip around the South Island in the holidays! Just awesome!
First Katharina and I flew to Wellington to meet everyone there. It was cool to see "old faces" again, most of them we got to know at the meeting in Germany and the two days I spent with them in Auckland. They were all from my organization.
Arrived in Wellington we took the ferry to Picton, back to the South Island. The first day we went to an aircraft museum, which was interesting.

Sunday we had lunch in Nelson at a beautiful beach. Overnight we stayed in Pohara.
On Monday we went kayaking in Golden Bay. Amazing! We saw seals and the weather was just great.

Tuesday we visited the seal colony. This was cool. Seals are so cute animals. The night we stayed in Westport.
The next day we went to Shanty Town for "gold mining". It was funny and in the end everyone had a bit of gold. Overnight we were in Franz Josef. The next morning we had a look at the Franz Josef and the Fox Glacier. They look so cool. The white ice between the green nature:)

This day we also went to Wanaka and had a look around the town
On Friday we went to Puzzling Word. There is a labyrinth and illution rooms. That was fun! Then we went to Queenstown. I love Queenstown!

Saturday morning we went jetboading. That's so fun!!! I loved it! Then we went with a Gondola up to a luge. Unfortunately it was raining. But nevertheless the view was amazing! In the evening we went to a '-5 pub'. Everything was out of ice, even the glasses we drunk of!.
Sunday I actually wanted to go Sky Diven, but it was to windy and so it got canceled. I was so disappointed! I hope I will have the chance to do it sometime...
Next day we went on a ship and looked at waterfalls and the nature. The night we stayed in Teanau. Tuesday we went to Bluff, the place of NZ which is the most in the south. Not that pretty actually!
Then we went to Dunedin. It was cool because we could show the others the town. Wednesday we ran up Baldwinstreet - steepest street in the world - that was exhausting!

In Oamaru we had lunch and overnight we stayed in a Youth Hostel in Mt. Cook.
In the morning we went on a boat trip to see the Mt. Cook Glacier. Awesome!!!
Then we continued to Chch and had a look at the damage. So sad... Overnight we stayed in Chch. Friday we drove to Kaikoura and went to town. In the evening we went to a waterfall to see baby seals. Lovely! There were so many! Unbelievable!

Saturday - last day - morning at 5.30 we went dolphins swimming. Highlight! We could swim with about 300! We could even touch them. Just amazing!

After that we went back to Picton to take the ferry to Wellington. Because our flight was just at the next morning we had to stay at backpackers. Next morning we had to say goodbye to everyone. I was sad:( They got so important to me! They were almost like a family for me. Maybe I can see them again if I do the North Island Trip in July.
The tour was just awesome! Best 2 weeks ever!!! I already miss this time and I will never forget it !! <3

North Island Tour part 2

2011-04-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

Krissy:
As Kathy already said, the tour was soooo awesome and we had a lot of fun.
But I want you to watch these cool pictures so you can imagine how amazing it was!!!

North island tour

2011-04-29T00:11:00.000-07:00

I just arrived back from the amazing north island tour we went to for the last 11 days.:

Day 1: We arrived at the Wellington airport yester day evening and today we did a parliament visit in the Parliament of Wellington then a shopping tour through Wellington and afterwords a visit in the famous Te Papa Museum. Tonight we had a free night, where we went to the movies.

Day 2:We are a group of 46 people and with our managers 50, who come from Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden, Finnland, Brasil, Japan, Thaiwan, New Zealand and so on. Quite big but after a time learning names wasn't that hard anymore. The group is divided into 5 cooking groups. I am an elefant. Today we went from Wellington to Taupo where a few guys had theire Bungy Jump.On the way we saw a active vulcano. At the evening when it was already dark we went to hot water pools, which are like boiling.

Day 3:Today was awesome. We could sleep till 8 o'clock, which fells quite long for us. It was 'pick a German'-Day so everybody had to sit next to a German in the coach. We were being at the Mud Pools, which look like lakes but full over mud instead of water.

They smell trrible and the whole town called Roturua smells after this pools, but you get used to this smell after a while. In Roturua we did Luge, which is like cart riding, but without gas and just down the hill. it was so much fun. Because I am in the elefant group i had to help in the kitchen today.

Day 4: Today some of our group did white water rafting. It was amazing and so scary. When we went there they told us, that it's grade 5 from 6 and that there is a 7 meters waterfall is. How you can imagin this WAS quite scary.

In the evening we went to a typical Maori festifal with an Hangi and this typical Maori song and dance thing. It was so awesome and I loved it.
Day 5:Today we had to get up early. After breakfast we started our 9 hour drive trough Auckland to Paihia. We arrived for dinnertime and so we could have our tea directly.After this the girls learned two Maori songs and the boys the Haka. Then we performed this at the beach, which was amazing, because it already was dark and couldn't actually see anything.Afterwords we played group games which was so much fun.
Day 6:Today we went to the 'swimming with the dolphins' cruise and although we weren't allowed to swim with them because there were so many baby dolphins, it was awesome just to see them. I the afternoon did parasailing with a sail on the boat. And because this area is called 'Bay of islands' I could see heaps of them from above. It was amazing and I could do this all day, just hanging around in the air:-D
Day 6: on this day we had our trip to the nothest point of the North Island: Cape Reinga. unforunaly it rained likeit was the end of the world and when we did sand boarding on an amazing huge sand dune, we all got totally wet and were covered in sand. So we had to go to the see having a quick cleaning up swim. It was very cold after that, because everything was already wet, but we had heaps of fun. Cape Reinga was awesome because the two seas Tasman and Pacific meet there and because i was so windi. Actually it's a place of death because people normally come there for thinking about theire dead loveones.

Day 8: This day was awesome. We went on an boat trip to small islands for go snorkeling and kajaking there. Sadly some people had to throw up and couldn't enjoy the trip because of the stormy wetter and waves. We also went to Auckland with the coach, where we went to town and where I had the best ice cream i have ever eaten.
Day 9: Today was our last day. We went to the sky tower in the morning, where we had an amazing view of the city although it was really cloudy. After that we had a free day in Auckland and in the night we had our goodbye party with signs, group fotos, buddy gifts, pizza, and a lot of hugs.

This trip was amazing!!!!!

South Island Adventure Tour!

2011-04-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

The last 10 days I have been travelling around the South island together with Britta and Anne from this blog. It was awesome to see more of New Zealand. The landscape is just stunning. We started in Christchurch where we met all the other students that were travelling with us. We were 47 pupils in total, 42 of them were Germans, 3 were Japanese and 2 were Brazilians. So nearly all of us were Germans. We couldn’t stay in Christchurch, because of the earthquake in February. So a bus took all of us directly to Kaikoura.

Kaikoura is famous for going Whale watching or for Swimming with dolphins, but sadly the weather was not that good, so that the boats couldn’t go out on the open sea. That is why we watched a seal colony that day. They had a lot of cute Puppies and they were sitting just two metres away from us.

Then we drove up too Motueka, which is a little town close to the Abel Tasman National Park. We did a professional Group Picture in the morning and then we went Sea kayaking in the Abel Tasman. It was really easy for me, because I had done it before as you may know. The Abel Tasman was looking like the Paradise again, so it was nice to be there again.

On the next day we drove along the stunning West Coast. We stopped at one of my highlights. The Pancake Rocks! On pictures they look just like rocks, but when I saw them life they were so fantastic. When we finally arrived at our Accommodation I did my first optional activity. I took a helicopter flight up too the top of Franz Josef Glacier. It was really cool to see the Glacier from above. While the Glacier looks dirty at the bottom, it is so white and clean at the top. After dinner we could relax in pure hot water glacier pools.

The next day we drove to Wanaka, where we visited Puzzling world. This was so funny. You could go through rooms where thousands of faces were watching you or you could explore techniques they used in the Lord of the Rings. By the way, the whole time we were in the bus, we watched Lord of the Rings, which was really cool, because at the same time you were driving through nearly the same landscape.

My personal highlight was Doubtful Sound. We arrived there the next day. Doubtful Sound is a huge Fjord. We slept on a boat in the middle of the Sound for one night. We had a really nice buffet in the evening and it was so much fun on the boat.

We spent our last three days in Queenstown. On the first day we visited the famous Kawarau Bridge, where we could do an optional bungy, but I was to scared J

On our second day we took a ride on a Shotover Jet Boat. It was so cool. They Boats were super fast and suddenly they turned around by 360° or they really close to the stone walls around you.

Afterwards I went horse riding, which was amazing. I haven’t been on a horse for 3 months, so I was super excited. My horses name was Earnie. We were riding through “The Lord of the Rings “- landscape the whole time. The guide could always tell us where they shoot a scene of the film. We were cantering a lot, so it was not boring at all.

On the last day of the whole trip we took the Gondola in Queenstown. You had an amazing view over the whole town, which is so beautiful. On the top of the mountain we took the Luge, which is a bit like a “Sommerrodelbahn” in Germany.

In the evening we had a Farewell Party and everyone got the group picture we took in Motueka. It was a nice time and I am so happy that I could see more of the stunning South island! Sorry that the text is so long, but I simply had so much to write.

On the boat

The amazing Doubtful Sound

Me on Earnie

The Pancake Rocks

2011-04-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

Sealcolony in Kaikoura

Cathedral in Nelson, where we had a lunchstop.

Kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park (again).

Helicopter flight to Franz Joseph Glacier.

Jule with her horse.

Some pigs at the farm.

Me enjoying horseriding. ;)

South Island Tour

2011-04-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

Ann: I´ll tell you something about our south island tour.
We were three japanese girls, one brasil boy and girl and all the rest were germans. There were just nine boys and 37 girls. We had one leader and two other adults to take care of us and they all were female, too.
Our tour took 11 days. We met in Christchurch and went up the east coast through Kaikoura, Motueka, where we went kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park, where Marie, Bees; Kathy and I were with our PE-class before and then we went down the west coast to Franz Joseph, where I did a helicopter flight. After that we went to Wanaka and to Milford Sound and we were one day and one night on a boat in Doubtful Sound. From there we went down to Queenstown, where we stayed 3 days and our tour ended. Sadly we couldn´t stay in Christchurch because of the earthquake, so we straightly went to Kaikoura, where we wanted to go whale watching and swimming with dolfins, but the weather was too bad, so we couldn´t do that eather. The first days were a bit borind then, but so we had enough time to get to know all the others and never the less the trip was awesome!!
In Queenstown we went jet boating and took the gondola up a hill, where we did two lugerides. The rest of the time in Queenstown we went shopping or did some optional activities.I want to tell you something about the optional activities I did now.
I did a 20 minutes helicopter flight up to the Franz Joseph Glacier with snow landing, which was very cool.
We could walk on the Glacier and of course we took some photos!
I also went 2 hours horseriding through some places where the lord of the rings was made. It was very nice, the nature is amazing! We were 8 people, Jule and I and some other people we don´t know. Jule and I were the only ones that have been horseriding before, so we just did 3 trabs and 4 or 5 gallops - or counters, how they say here - which was a bit boring, but I really enjoyed it and it was good to do horseriding again. We also saw a horse that played in the lord of the rings!!

Easter Holidays!!!

2011-04-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

Today the easter holidays have started!!! We can recover from school for weeks...we could...but of cause there is nothing like recover for us;-D today my sister and me, will fly to Wellington, where our trip through the nord island will start. I am very exited about that and wish you all wonderful holidays and fantastic eastern...see you in two weeks then...when we all come back from our trip:-D

Last Weekend!

2011-04-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

Marie: Even when it is already in the middle of the week, I want to write about my last weekend. On Saturday we wanted to do a barbecue. So we went to the super market and we bought some really yummy stuff. Then we went to a barbecue place close to my home, but sadly it didn’t work. Krissi and I went all the way back to cook everything at my homestay. In the end we had a nice meal, but it was already four o’clock and we ate lunch J

On Sunday we went to the museum here in Dunedin. It was really cool. In the Discovery centre, which was just 5$, you could do a lot of cool things. You could try out funny experiments and then you could go into a butterfly centre, where you could see a lot of different kinds of butterflies.

Netball

2011-04-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

Ann: Yesterday my hostmum, her daughter, my two hostsisters and I first went shopping and then we went to a netball game. It was quite cool. It was a women competition and our team won! Netball is a quite important game in new zealand, many kids at school play it and many people watch it. It was a very cool game, we had a lot of fun!