Queen's Birthday Weekend III - Greymouth to NSN

So yeh, and the last part was a 6-hour-bus trip back up to Nelson!

On the way, we saw some great scenery:

The Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki! Impressive!

The Buller Gorge between Westport and Murchison!

So, yeh. That's it! Thanks again to all people who I stayed with! Hope 2 c u again!

Greetz,

Chris...tian

Queen's Birthday Weekend II - CHC to Greymouth

My second part of the weekend took me from Christchurch over the Southern Alps to Greymouth on the South Island's West Coast!

It is a very rough countryside but really beautiful - with lots of Nikau palms, ferns and cliffs! But have a look yourselves:

At the foot of the Southern Alps. It had just rained the night before so we had a thin layer of snow on the mountains... =)

It was sunny but freezing cold and misty. We might have had around -2 degrees which is even colder on a fast train!

But still, we could see the snow-capped mountains and the countryside was just AMAZING!!!

Just behind Arthur's Pass - the Gateway to the West Coast. The countryside is already much greener and seems friendlier!

Arriving at Lake Brunner

In Greymouth, we stayed with Matt's cousin Laura McIlroy. She showed us around:

The former Brunner Mine - destroyed by a coal dust explosion in 1896! Around 60 people died.

Shantytown - a former gold-digger town, today it is a museum!

Goldpanning - of course they put some gold in the pan for you to keep!

So, that's Greymouth! Thanks to Laura McIlroy and Patrick Sweeney! Enjoyed staying with you guys!

Chris...tian

Queen's Birthday Weekend I - Blenheim to CHC

The latest thing or trip I've done is this one:

Over the Queen's Birthday Weekend, I went down to Christchurch with Matt to visit his grandma over there. We took the train down from Blenheim:

Through hilly grassland ....

... through vineyards....

... and the salt fields of Lake Grassmere (100,000 t of salt per year!) ...

... we finally came to the Pacific Ocean which we followed southbound for about 200 km to Christchurch!

Christchurch is really beautiful and for those of you who have read carefully: yes, I have been to Christchurch once before but only for about 2 hours and I couldn't see much! Here comes my true impression of Christchurch:

Cafe-Restaurant Takahe Sign

Christchurch from the top of the hills

The Banks Peninsula

Christchurch City

Oh yes, and I would like to thank Mary & Laurie Brennan, Matthew Prater and everybody else in Christchurch who has made my stay so agreeable! It was a really really awesome time and I hope I'll be able to visit you again sometime!

Chris...tian

Gumboot-throwing 25/05/07

Hey!

I guess this was the weirdest thing I've ever done at school! Well, on 25th May, we went out on the tennis courts with our New Zealand Studies teacher Mrs Greenland to throw gumboots!

Well, New Zealanders think that the name for them is a unique NZ-thing BUT I can tell you: it's not! Translate it directly into German: Gummistiefel! Haha, see! =P BUT it is a unique New Zealand sport that actually exists!!! ^^lol.

So, yeh, it was really weird but we had fun and the pictures are so great. Have a look:

Hans Han from China

Laura from Germany

Ryan Mahuze from Indonesia

Let this inspire you! lol.

Have a great day.

Chris...tian

My birthday down under - May 23rd 2007

Hey,

well, yes - my birthday this year was not only down under but also upside down! We had chaos that morning, there was no school (nice pressie!) and we had the worst flood in 20 years!

I loved that day though - not only because of my b-day but also because of all that rain! I haven't seen anything like it in my life - well, yeh, now I have! ;-P

The streets were completely under water, cars had difficulties coming through and there really was water everywhere. Nothing really happened to me, neither to other people but houses were flooded, little footpaths turned into streams, streams turned into rivers! Amazing... =)

Just to give you an impression, here are some pictures I have taken during the flood and about 7 hours after the rain:

About 9 am, Fergusson Street (where our house is), photo taken out of our living room window!

The "little creek" flowing through our school campus. 4 buildings were flooded - result: no school on my birthday! This about 7 hours after the heavy rainfalls!

Also on the Nayland school campus (the gym in the background) - half of the footpath eroded and is still not accessible!

The Highway 6 under-bridge to Monaco - we can now use it again but machines had to clear it from dirt, wood and big stones!

Pretty cool, ey? Well, that was certainly the most exciting weather I've ever had on my birthday! Haha... Other than that, the birthday was very nice, we had pizza for dinner and I got a chocolate cake! yum... =P

So, yep. That's all about this then...

Have a good one!

Chris...tian

School Pics

Heyhey!

I'm sorry about not having written back in ages but well, you know, there's always something else to do here! =P

Well, recently, I've been taking photos of my school - Nayland College - and classroom situations etc.! So here are a few pics:

That's Hospitality - f.l.t.r.: Danielle, Winnie, Amy, Matt (our teacher) and Cheryl. We're discussing a menu for the "Board of Trustees Meeting" - don't ask me what that is! ^^

Preparing the food

Here are a few results of our work:

New Zealand Studies:

From left to right: Mrs Glue (International Department Coordinator), Mrs Greenland (our teacher), Juliana Ribeiro (Brazil) and Ayaka Ueno (Japan)

So, yeah, that's all about Nayland College. I'll see if I can get some more pictures and I'll then update this post!

Chris...tian