Paintball a.k.a. Running through the woods with no idea of what I'm doing

Weeks and weeks have gone by without too much excitement.  Welp, that all changed today when I played paintball for the first time!

I joined Erin and her friends for a 2-hour game of shoot-anything-that-moves as part of her 30th birthday celebration.  Early on I noticed that I have the aim of a blind person and so it was easier to just take one for the team by running down the middle of the playing field so that the opposing team would shoot at me thereby giving my team a chance to rain paintballs on them in return.

I wasn't entirely running around like a chicken with its head cut off the whole game, though.  I managed to take advantage of a wooden helicopter during one game... it was kind of a rush to sit in there scanning the woods for movement and then firing away when I saw someone moving towards my direction.  Unfortunately, the trees took the brunt of my shots.

The highlight of the day for me was at the very end.  I had a handful of paintballs left when I got shot for what I thought was the last time since game time was running out.  I quickly raised an arm, yelled "HIT!" and walked over to the other players who were out of the game.  I sat down and noticed three opponents sitting comfortably behind a barrier, just taking their time picking off my teammates while the clock counted down.  I had the bright idea that if I ran down and tagged home base to get back in the game then I could run back to where those players were and try to hit them (it had been nearly 2 hours of play time and I hadn't hit anything but trees).  So, off I went.

I managed to run back and find something to crouch behind while I took aim and fired at the other team.  We were so close to being done that eventually I stood up and just ran at them firing off shots.  As soon as I ran out of paintballs the game ended, so I was pretty happy that I went in to be the last person on my team that made it to the end.

Getting hit hurt as bad as you would expect, but the adrenaline prevented from me dwelling on the stings too much.  One shot to my right hand hurt pretty bad because the ball hit my ring which cut into my ring finger.  Two shots clipped my thighs.  Several shots got me right in the bum, but I didn't notice those until I sat down for the car ride home.  Despite the pain, I think paintball is going on my list of things to do again.  Next time, I'll have a little more strategy...I hope!

Kiwi Christmas 2012

Last night will go down as one of the most memorable Christmas Eve's.

My friend Max invited all the orphans over for a traditional Christmas BBQ.  The picture above was taken from Max's deck at about 10pm when the last bit of sunlight was disappearing behind the mountains.  I kept my eye out on the harbor to look for dolphins, but they must have been chasing salmon somewhere else.

We spent hours chatting, eating, playing with the cutest 3-year-old boy, and even watched Finding Nemo (guess who picked that movie?).

To thank Max for his hospitality, he asked for me to entertain him and I obliged.  Max is French and so I like to practice the vocabulary that I remember from five years of French classes with him.  He gets a particular kick out of me saying things like, "La vache aime nager" and "One egg is un oeuf!"  (I just learned that there's a joke to that... "Why do the French make their omelets with one egg? Because 'one egg' is un oeuf!).  I even sang him a song that I was taught to learn French vocabulary for the weather.

I think the night wrapped up beautifully... we indulged in Max's glorious chocolate cake and Alia's cheesecake (that took her about 6 hours to make, but nonetheless came out as a gloppy, but delectable, mess).  Then we bid our adieu's after taking in the moonlight with La Vie en Rose in the background.

Merry Christmas!

We walked uphill BOTH ways!

This past Saturday, I sat on my rump. All. Damn. Day.  What did I accomplish?  A read-through of one research article.  Pitiful! I was determined to make the most of Sunday by hiking to the Mt. Cargill summit.  I figured six hours of hills would be good for me.

Here's a view of Mt. Cargill from the Pineapple Track (it looks like a green pimple on the top of the hill):

I asked a friend if he wanted to come on a walk with me.. I mentioned that the summit was "just up a hill," and I made sure to leave out lots of details about how boring the first few hours would be and how long the uphill part lasted.  My trick worked.  Bryce thought it sounded like a good idea and agreed to join me for a nice outing.

Sunday turned out to be a little warmer than what we've become accustomed to and the hills to the summit seemed a little steeper and longer than what we've become accustomed to as well.  I'm pretty sure that I heard someone say, "This is tedious," no less than a dozen times... in the first hour.

Is that a cloud in the shape of a sheep?

The little blue blob in the middle is Otago Harbour.

We were troopers and eventually reached the summit (it really was two hours uphill to get there).  Once there, we snapped some photos, had some nibbles, and prepared to take the track down to Bethunes Gully.

Mandy gave me this book for my birthday. It's awesome!

Mt. Charles is wearing a cloud scarf.

As I was surveying the area for the start of the track, I noticed two police officers getting out of a patrol car and start walking towards us.  My first thought was Um, I can't think of anything we're doing wrong; I can honestly use the I-didn't-know-because-I'm-a-foreigner excuse for whatever they're about to tell us. (I may or may not have feigned ignorance in a similar situation not too long ago).  Surprisingly, after we exchanged greetings, one of the officers offered to take our picture for us.  Really?!  My jaw dropped in disbelief (because it was such a nice gesture, not because my first picture taken by a cop wasn't a mug shot).

Bryce is saying under his breath, "You promised there'd be one hill and no cops on this hike!"

Unfortunately, the track to Bethunes Gully was closed.  This meant we had to go back the way we came.  Hmph!  We made the most of the situation - at least the track to the Organ Pipes was accessible! 

The Pipes are columns of stone similar to the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.  

Truth be told, it wasn't a very exciting hike.  The view from the summit was pretty neat and scrambling across the Organ Pipes was fun, but driving a car to the carpark at the summit would have been much nicer.  The experience didn't have the bang-for-your-physical-exertion-buck that I hoped for.

Things got a little interesting on the way back to Abbey.  A chicken decided to plunk itself in the middle of the road and was not bothered when a car drove up to it and honked to get the bird to move.  Bryce decided to help by nudging the chicken...she was clearly not impressed and walked a safe distance to give us evil looks.

Well, I guess we know why this chicken crossed the road.

This weekend I hope to hop over to the other side of the harbor for a little jaunt up Mt. Charles.  Fingers are crossed for good weather!

Orokonui Ecosanctuary

We had a surprise ending to the weekend: after severe weather (rain and wind) warnings for Saturday and Sunday, the sun finally came out!

Today's adventure brought me to a nearby nature reserve.  It was a wee bit windy at Orokonui Ecosanctuary, but in the protection of the forest it wasn't a bother.  The nature reserve is home to all sorts of birds: kiwi, takahe, and saddleback.  I saw tui, fantail and bellbirds.  Here's a video of some kaka:

Not sure what we were hearing here, among the gum trees:

Speaking of the gum trees, one of them, not far from where I took this video, is supposedly New Zealand's tallest tree.  Cool, huh?

No shoes? No shirt? No problem! Dunedin naked rugby...

The All Blacks were in town!

Last weekend, Kate, Mandy and I watched the All Blacks crush South Africa's Springboks 21-11 here in Dunedin.  The tickets were $90 each, but I was willing to fork over the cash since it's such a unique New Zealand experience to watch the All Blacks play and see their famous pre-game haka in person.

Despite barely understanding a lick of the sport I really enjoyed the game.  The atmosphere in the stadium was awesome because thousands of fans were on the edge of their seats in anticipation and busy heckling the other team (the four young drunk guys sitting behind us were an added entertainment bonus).

Surprisingly, it's hard to say if watching the All Blacks win was the highlight of my day (I think if I were a New Zealander this would be a no brainer, though).  Earlier in the day, a friend texted me to say that I needed to head to the rugby pitch just down the road for a 3pm naked rugby game.  Surely, they wouldn't be completely naked, right?  Being a curious gal, I walked over to watch the Nude Blacks take on the Nude Boks.  

Much to my surprise, the field was lined several spectators deep on all four sides.  There were hundreds of people watching some very naked men play rugby with some men who also became very naked when the boxes affixed around their waist finally fell off in competition!  At first, I thought I'd have to duct tape my jaw back into place - it's quite a shock that there were men and women, children and adults, standing around watching such a spectacle. Interestingly, it didn't take too long to adjust to the fact that these men were playing a sport with no clothes on.  In fact, it became quite hilarious as one by one the players were tackled to the ground.

So, who's ready to come visit me in New Zealand now?

Ghost Hunters International Visits Larnach Castle

Thanks, Deb, for pointing out this episode of Ghost Hunters International to me!  There is footage from the ballroom... the same one that we spent the night in last month for the Highland Gala Ball.

Mud Sweat & Tears 5k

Moats filled mud, tunnels filled mud, runners covered head to toe in mud: welcome to my Sunday!

This was the first year of Mud Sweat & Tears in Dunedin at the Wingatui Race Course.  The 5k course started out easily enough with a few hay bales to jump over, but then the fun began when we had to wade through waist-high muddy water.  The slippery obstacles proved to be more challenging than I expected, but the average participant would have been able to conquer them all.  I particularly enjoyed bum-sliding down a hill just before I arrived at a monstrous slide which sent me right into more mud.  

Our handsome reward for completing the race? A nice cold can of Tui! Yum! There were also mugs of hot soup waiting for us as well.  The pumpkin soup was delish!

More pictures can be found on the Dunedin Mud Sweat & Tears Facebook page. I definitely recommend doing the race; I'll plan on the 10k next year. 

Speight's Birthday Brewery Tour

Jeez Louise!  How did I forget to write about my birthday brewery tour?  Back in June, I organized an adventure to Speight's Brewery, right here in Dunedin.  What more could a girl ask for besides beer and quality time with friends?

The cost was $20/person because we had enough people for a private tour.  Our guide was a perky woman who lead us around and eventually set us free in the tap room to pour our own beers.

The first bit of educational-ness that we encountered was a display on the history of beer.  Thank you, Egyptians, for your contributions! 

I decided to pose for a picture with Mr. Speight. 

Unfortunately, a fair amount of time has passed and I've been busy doing this, that, and the other thing, so I don't remember much about the tour.  Plus, my camera was being dodgy, so there aren't any pictures to wow you with. Sorry. 

Basically, you've got some stuff to make the beer... 

Then stuff happens here... and then it becomes beer.

And, when it becomes beer, this is one place where you can go and consume it: the tap room!

But, alas, all good things must come to an end.  Eventually, the tap was turned off and we were escorted out.  I was a wee bit sad about this.  In my defense, would you blame me? I was the birthday girl, after all, and I wanted more beer.

If you're a beer drinker and you'll be in Dunedin then definitely check out this tour!  We had loads of fun.  Even non-beer drinkers can have a good time.  The folks in our party that fit in this category enjoyed their history lesson and the walk around the buildings.  A tip for the beer drinkers: strategy is key!  I believe they had six beers on tap (one of them was a cider, actually) and so I had to delicately balance enjoying each beer and quickly moving on to the next one to taste in the 30 minutes we were allotted in the tap room.  Bottoms up!

How not to find the Pineapple Track (on the first try), but still have fun anyway

Once upon a time, someone told me I'm just like my dad.  He had this, "I'm going to X place at Y time with or without you" 'tude.  Unfortunately, I also inherited the Dennis Boucher curse... something that should take 30 seconds ends up taking 3 hours.  In my case, I decided to go on a quick walk to the Pineapple Track when my other weekend plans fell through.  That quick walk ended up requiring a 2 hour detour 6 miles away...

Each day that has passed since I arrived in Dunedin back in February, I've looked out my window to see a pretty mountain that gets prettier depending on how the clouds, sunset, snow, etc. alter its appearance.  Often, I say to myself, "I want to go there and check it out."  Today just happened to be THE perfect day to do just that.

I've been to the Ross Creek Reservoir a few times and no less than four people have told me, "Just take the road past the reservoir to the start of the Pineapple Track."  It sounds so simple, doesn't it?

I decided that I'd start walking towards the track around 10am and then take my time on the mountain until I was ready to come back.  I packed enough stuff to be prepared for anything: map, rain coat, rain pants, flashlight (a.k.a. "torch"), two sandwiches, two bags of nuts, mueslix bar and an orange.  Off I went.

Hard to believe that today is the Mid Winter Carnival when it was this green on the way to the reservoir...

Now, here's the point where things got a little hairy.  I walked past the reservoir and followed "the" road.  But, I didn't find the start of the track.  I did find a mountain biking path that would take me to the start of the track, but no walkers were allowed. Hmm... I noticed the light gray dashes on my map, indicating trails that would take me to the Pineapple Track, so I started walking down Wakari Rd to look for signage for one of these little trails.... and I kept walking... and walking... and walking...

New Zealand needs a little help in the signage department.

I realized that I had walked past the three trails that would get me to the track. *grumble* It seemed easier to just walk to the car park at the start of the Flagstaff summit walk. So I did. This meant a drastic change in scenery...

 I walked through this residential section for so long that it reminded me of the orphans who walked all the way to Daddy Warbuck's house in search of Annie.  (They walk forever, realize they found the correct street, and get terribly sad because they have to walk many, many more blocks to the correct house.  Sorry, couldn't find the related YouTube video.) Eventually, this sign gave me hope that my adventure on one of Dunedin's great Skyline Walks would soon begin.

There was still more walking to be done before I reached the track, so I chowed down on my cottage cheese/beet root sandwich (I know, How delicious! you're saying to yourself) and enjoyed the sunshine.

A nice couple was walking their beautiful fluffy white dog when I reached the start of the track.  They told me to avoid the mucky trail and take the one with better views instead.  I think they did a good job pointing me in the right direction!

Only problem (and it was minor) was the wind.  I tried to pick a video with the least amount of wind whooshing in the background to share.

The trail was VERY easy to follow.  I'd recommend it as the perfect trail to walk if someone wants to get out and has to go by him/herself.  There were few enough people that it was peaceful, but enough people that if I fell and broke a leg I wasn't worried about being stranded.

This is where I had to hang right to head back to the city.  Someday I'll see where the trail on the left goes.

Total trip time was about 4 1/2 hours.  Total distance walked was about 12 miles.  Absolutely worth it!

Ants in His Pants

For some reason, my mind still has moments where it forgets that I live in the southern hemisphere.  Today, Kate (flatmate) and I walked to campus together.  On our way, she scraped some snow off the top of a car and threw it at me.  To my dismay, there wasn't enough snow on the car for me to make a snowball to throw back in my defense (the snow covered cars parked on Cumberland St. had driven in from the outskirts of the city-we didn't get any accumulation in the northern part of Dunedin).  So, yeah, snow... in June!!!  I can't believe it!  It feels like January.

Yesterday, I measured two participants for the MInT study.  The first one was a severe burn survivor.  Poor kid was head to toe in scars; I couldn't help thinking they are so lucky to be alive.  As I wrapped the measuring tape around the participant's stomach I noticed what was once a belly button was now a small dot the size of a pin hole.  I worried for the participant because I didn't want them to feel self-conscious. I made sure to keep reading the participant's face just to be sure they were comfortable with me taking the measurements; it all went smoothly.

The second participant was a six year old boy who would not stand still!  Honestly, if his feet weren't moving, it was his knees.  If his knees weren't moving, it was his head. And, on top of that, he was one impatient little thing!  This was a follow-up visit and he knew where to stand to get all the measurements taken, but when I tried to explain that he couldn't just jump onto the BIA machine because it gets confused (I have to plug in numbers from his measurements so it can do it's calibration thing) he started huffing!  To his defense, he had already been to the hospital for a DXA scan and he told me he was ready to go home.  I couldn't get mad though, it was just too funny to see such a wiggly kid.

So, I can definitely say it has been interesting working at MInT.  Each family is so unique; and it's been an honor and an adventure to meet so many great people through this study.

Brrrr! Who turned the temp down?!

It's officially cold in Dunedin.  And you know what? It's only going to get colder!

Here are a few recent pictures from a walk around campus:

Next weekend, I'm hoping we'll get to go on a trip to get out of Dunedin for a day.  Unfortunately, I lost my wallet this weekend and it contained my license - I'm supposed to be the driver.  Fingers crossed it shows up!

How Sweet it Is

Chocolate is the elixir of love. - Casanova

~~~

Sometimes when I think of a chocolate factory, I envision oompa loompas and rivers flowing with milk chocolate.  In New Zealand, one would even expect hobbits making chocolate, at the very least.  This wasn't entirely the case at Cadbury World (there was a chocolate waterfall).  But, it was still a grand time.

I purchased a GrabOne voucher for $10 and went with a lovely Abbey College group last Saturday.  Since it was the weekend, we didn't see anything on the production side of things, just videos of the production process at various stages of the tour.  This was fine by me because the videos were interesting... or, maybe it was the fact that Carol, our guide, had pockets full of candy that she handed out to us just before she was about to snap on a video or break into a monologue on chocolate making.

We weren't allowed to bring cameras on the tour, but I'm sure you're okay with not knowing what chocolate crumb looks like.  The walk around the factory was nice - people who have difficulties with stairs probably wouldn't appreciate the short climb to the tower where we saw the chocolate waterfall, though.  I learned about Cadbury's history (the first bar of Cadbury chocolate made in New Zealand was here in Dunedin in 1930) and some other facts that aren't coming to mind at the moment.  Within 45 minutes we were back at the start.  So, it was a nice way to get out and see something without devoting an entire day to it.

I'm looking forward to the Chocolate Carnival in July, particularly the Jaffa Race!

Autumn in Aotearoa

The Mãori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, "the land of the long white cloud.” 

Fiordland trip March 2012

Lately, it seems as though that long cloud has been bringing cold, wind, and rain with it!  But, on a nice day like today, there is plenty of sun and just enough of a breeze to watch leaves softly floating to the ground.

Yesterday, I volunteered at the Lovelock Relay races, an annual event held to honor Jack Lovelock.  Lovelock was from New Zealand and a gold medal winner in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.  

My job was helping Helen keep track of teams as they came across the finish line.  Hands down, the under 12 relay was the cutest event.  This little girl was on a team of other kids no older than 4 or 5.  

Last night, I attended a birthday party where everyone had to dress up as a famous person.  I tried dressing up as Lady Gaga, but only managed to pull off the hair. Sort of.

Still, it made for a fun evening!  There was a Katy Perry, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson and even a Paper Bag Princess.  

It hasn't been all play, though.  I'm still working on a manuscript on the response rates to a mailed survey based on the type of incentive the women received.  I turned in a rough copy to my advisor, but I have some major work to do. Here's hoping I turn out something brilliant, or at least publishable, when it's done!

Must Love Goats.

I keep a map of Dunedin in my room and after a run I draw my route on it.

Today, I pre-planned a route along Pine Hill Rd.  Almost immediately after I started, I found myself slogging up the hill.  My body was fighting every step and I thought about calling it quits.  Perhaps it was the steep incline or perhaps it was the two glasses of wine, two pints of beer and swig of absinthe that I drank the night before that made this such a labored run?  Regardless, I bucked up and carried on - I'm not training for anything and I didn't have a running buddy that I was holding backs, so what difference did my pace make?

After about 20 minutes of huffing, puffing and cursing, I was rewarded with a sweet view of the Otago Harbour and the peninsula on my climb.  

But, alas, I had no camera with me to take pictures.  This is something I will have to remedy at some point, not bringing a camera on my runs, because the view of the harbor wasn't the only thing I would have documented on film.

As I climbed up Pine Hill Road, I enjoyed watching farm animals go about their day picking at bits of grass.  Just as I (finally!) was about to turn left and start my return back to Abbey, a goat caught my eye and scurried away. Hmm...

As I got closer, I found quite the scene: five young male goats were hanging out hidden out of sight from other farm animals behind trees with empty beer bottles scattered about.  It's as if the goat that scurried away was rushing over to tell his buddies, "The jig is up! Hide the booze!"  I stopped to chit chat with them because they were cute, furry and friendly then went on my merry way - wishing I had a camera to capture the moment that I caught 5 goats looking something like underage yahoos trying to have a good time.

Start of Week 2 in New Zealand

Today's weather was b-e-a-utiful.  It was just too awesome outside to be inside.

So, I went for a walk...

I wanted to check out the neighborhoods in the hill across from where I live.  That meant I'd have to walk up those hills first.

But, it's worth it to walk up the hills around here.

And, it's not such a shabby deal to walk down a path or two...

...Hydrangeas are everywhere.  The colors change depending on the location.  I've seen them blue, light purple, and red.

I am not too cool to say it.  I am mesmerized by the sky here.  It's beautiful how it changes constantly. The blue is such a pure blue and the clouds make me think they've been filtered to take the ugly gray out and leave the pretty white and gray behind.

 The sun was still shining later in the day.  That meant another walk.

Even though summer is wrapping up around here the flowers don't know it, yet.

I thought I'd have some fun with the editing features on my computer.  I like this picture below because it made the flowers so pink and my eyes so blue (they're actually green with some blue speckles).

The last picture for today cracks me up.  I was trying to figure out why the camera hadn't been capturing pictures the way I wanted to - the colors just looked so dead compared to what they are in person.  Well, I finally got all the auto features reset.  And, what a difference.  The light in the picture is cool, in my humble opinion.  The funny thing is my windows are NOT that filthy!