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

MY FLYING KIWI TRIP, Part II, South Island

Hey everybody!

So, here's Part II, the South Island:

Kaikoura

Christchurch

Lake Tekapo

Lake Pukaki

Mount Cook National Park

Moeraki Boulders

World's Steepest Street, Dunedin

Milford Sound

Te Anau Horsetrek

Gore

Queenstown

Yep, so that was my trip. Hope u like the pics!

Chris...tian =)

MY FLYING KIWI TRIP, Part I, North Island

Hey again!

So, as I have been to so many places all around New Zealand, I'll just give you one picture per location. I am sorry but I can't publish all 1,300 photos I took on this trip!


Auckland

Coromandel Peninsula

Hot Water Beach

Cathedral Cove

Rotorua

Wai-O-Tapu

Huka Falls

Taupo

Tongariro National Park

Wellington

Well, that was Part I, the North Island. I'll do the South Island in another post!

Till then,

Chris...tian

Golden Bay with Matthew and his parents

Heyho!

How's it going?

I am very very good and after I had visited my penfriend in Dannevirke, I was just back in Nelson, when I got Matt's invitation to come to Takaka and Collingwood (Golden Bay) with him and his parents.

As you know, my schedule was quite full for these holidays but it just fitted in - between my visit in Dannevirke and my Flying Kiwi trip around New Zealand. =P

From my point of view now, I am more than glad that I did this because I saw so many new things that I had only heard and read about before! But also, this trip was made so agreeable for me by Matt and his parents Jeremy and Leonie who are such a great family to spend time with!!

Matthew, Jeremy and Leonie - and of course Zac, their dog! =)

On the 13th April, I came back from Palmerston North at about 6.30 pm. Matt asked me if I wanted to sleep at their house for we would have to leave early in the morning to be able to use the day to travel around in Golden Bay. So I got a few things ready and then, they picked me up. I can tell you, guys: New Zealand's people are likely to be the most spontaneous and flexible people in the world - and if you just admit to it, you can be sure that your life is going to be an adventure!

And so was our trip: on our way to Takaka, we stopped at a carpark and went for a little walk to a lookout. And this is the view from there:

It was quite windy up there - Matt almost lost his cap!

On our way, we also saw a sign "Ngarua Caves" and once we were there, we went into the Caves.

And this was the scenery waiting for us at the other end of the caves when we came back up:

Have you ever heard of the "Pu Pu Springs"? Probably not, but they're said to be the purest waters of the world. Every day, some 2,160,000,000 litres of water come out of this rather small lake in the area of Golden Bay and flow towards the sea in a big river. Because of avoiding the spread of Didymo, a plant, people are neither allowed to swim in nor to drink the water anymore! Here are some pictures:

The water doesn't seem as deep as it actually is: you can see the ground clearly, as in a tropical reef. Guess how deep it is!

Around 2-3 metres?

Wrong!

These waters are approximately 7 metres deep, the temperature is always around 11 degrees.

After this, we went straight to our campsite in Collingwood which is directly at the beach. In the afternoon, the light was just right to take a nice picture:

This is a huge river-mouth, therefore the water is quite fast-flowing! We saw a lot of birds and even a seal!

Farewell Spit, where we went the next day, is a long dune which is located in the north-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is about 30km long and from above, it looks like the head of a kiwi-bird:

We couldn't go right to the end and $80 for a bus ride there would have been very expensive. We "just" went over to the west side of the spit which offers a great view and the most lovely beaches you can imagine!

The Wild, Wild West... eh, Coast!

And here, you can see why Golden Bay is called Golden Bay. A stop on our way back to Nelson:

I had the most wonderful time with you guys and if you ever want to come over to Germany, you're invited to do so! Thank you so much!

Right, guys, that's my post about Golden Bay and there's still much much more to come!

Talk to you later,

Chris...tian

My stay in Dannevirke! =D

Hey guys!

Well, since my last post, there was soooo much that happened and I am sorry that I only tell you about it now. But I had to get the pictures burnt onto CD first which took a while so finally, here are some more posts about... well, you'll see!

The first thing after Kaiteriteri was my visit in Dannevirke, North Island, where I visited my penfriend George. I took the plane to Palmy (Palmerston North) where we spent the day having a look around and watching a movie... =)

We went over to Dannevirke in the late afternoon and during the next days, we also visited dairy farms that are quite common in the area around Dannevirke. On George's grandpa's sheep farm, I saw palm trees on farmland which looks quite strange:

The rest of the farmland were rolling hills as the pictures below show:

On another day, we went for a walk along a stream - somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs as we arrived. Well, in fact, in rained all the time when I was there... =/

These are (from left to right): me, my penfriend George and his brother Nathanael.

Later, we visited George's uncle's farm:

All in all, I enjoyed my stay with the Frame family very very much and it was sooo nice to eventually meet George! If you read this sometime: thank you so much! I had a lovely time and I would have stayed longer if it had been possible!!! =) I hope, I'll meet you again sometime and if you come to Germany someday, you're invited to come over to my house so that we can spend some more time together!! =)

Greetz,

Chris =)