Hello all! Just wanted to preface by letting you know that I’m okay; I’m sure you’ve heard about the Christchurch shooting this past week. Dunedin is about four hours away from there, so we were safe. More on that later.
This week was another good one! Class projects and assignments have started to ramp up a bit, but still very manageable so far. One of the most interesting projects has been coding this little guy for my Artificial Intelligence class!
Unlike my talented brother, I’ve never worked with robots before, so this has been a bit of a challenge. Luckily it’s a group project, so we can struggle through it together.
Monday I went to the botanical gardens again, this time with my flatmate Autumn. There was still so much there I hadn’t seen before!
Tuesday we had our second swing dancing session; still loving it!
Thursday I didn’t have class until 2:00, so I took advantage of the time and went on a hike up Signal Hill. I walked along the road on the way there, then came back down a mountain biking trail. It did not disappoint.
Friday, however, was the biggest adventure: we camped. In a cave. On a beach. With penguins!!
Unfortunately, we never saw the penguins. We sure heard them, though! We did get some amazing views, though, especially at sunrise.
This is Jessica and Megan, by the way. Love these two! So lucky to have found them.
Next we packed up and made as much use of the rental car as we could. Cue brilliant scenery.
Our first official stop was the Organ Pipes. These are tall, vertical, hexagonal rocks that look like… well, organ pipes. A lot of the ‘pipes’ have broken off and fallen to the bottom, and they make for good handholds to make it to the top. Thanks to the random couple that (*cough cough* unknowingly) made it into my photo!
So pretty…
Next we went to the farmer’s market, where I got some pears and a yummy danish.
We went grocery shopping so that we could save ourselves from walking with groceries… Then off to St. Kilda beach!
We finally had to give the rental car up, but we still had some fun at a low-key game night.
Sunday I was rudely awakened by loud music blaring at 8:30, until I realized what day it was. The answer to “do Kiwis celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?” is an emphatic YES.
This was taken on my street around noon:
I escaped and did some shopping downtown before going to evening church. We then hit up an Irish pub afterwards and enjoyed the atmosphere despite the lack of any decent Irish music and ordering the possibly least Irish drinks ever (orange juice and Malibu rum, if you were wondering – delish!).
Afterwards we went to McDonald’s and got ice cream like the ice cream lovers we are. Shamrock Shakes aren’t a thing here, but a lime shake made a nice green substitution!
That pretty much wraps it up in terms of the fun stuff. I really am a lucky gal (actually, more like blessed). To be here, in this beautiful country, getting to have the adventures of a lifetime with people I’m coming to love, is more than my heart knows what to do with.
Now for the serious part: please pray for New Zealand. There’s a lot of people in pain and shock over the Christchurch shooting that happened Friday. New Zealand has literally never had anything like this happen before, and the fact that someone for this reason and others would come to tear them and their immigrants down has left many reeling. Please pray for the victims and families involved, especially the Muslim community. As New Zealand’s national anthem prays, God defend New Zealand.
Ray of Sunshine Travel 