Music

So I gave in and started using Spotify to listen to music online a while ago.

I've been making a playlist on Spotify of music by people from New Zealand and music by international musicians that is particularly popular here compared to the States.

Spotify is in cahoots with facebook and I can't figure out how to share the playlist without facebook, so go to my page and if we're friends you can find it there.

If you want a truly multi-media experience, listen to it while you read the blog!

North Island Adventures

A map!

"Greetings, loved ones. Let's take a journey." 

This blog is a departure from my usual format, because words are boring and pictures are awesome!

Palmerston North

Friday

6:30 Take shuttle to airport.
7:30 Fly from Christchurch to Wellington.
8:30 Take city bus from airport to bus departure point. Walk around aimlessly, kill time by stopping in a cafe and ordering chocolate caramel muffin and Earl Grey. Kill more time by watching one-footed pigeons fly around the railway station.
10:40 Board bus.

Statue outside of rugby musem

1:15 Arrive in Palmerston North, walk around town, visit small museums on Maori and European history of the area, mirrors, Manawatu river, and Rugby. Succeed in kicking a small rugby ball through miniature posts. Be pestered by elderly museum guide who is the grandson of Charles Monroe, the man who brought rugby to NZ, and is apparently important enough to have a bronze statue on the street.

5:00 Meet Ray and Micah for dinner at kebab shop.
6:00 Eat licorice with Micah.
10:00 Fall asleep.

Saturday

7:30 Wake up
8:00 Go with Ray to Sue's house (Sue being a lady who Ray works with at Toyota, who has friends in Napier)
8:30 Go with Ray and Sue to wind farm look out outside of Palmy
11:00 Arrive in Napier, meet Ian and Sandy, Sue's friends. Walk around Napier and see art deco architecture, as well as old-fashioned cars and people dressed in 1930s fashion.
1:00 Sample fancy chocolate, dark chocolate covered damson plums in liqueur. Have "duck and pork rillettes with onion jam" for lunch.
2:00 Drive around Napier, stopping at various look-outs.
4:00 Go to aquarium, see assorted fish, sharks, etc. See a kiwi bird!

Famous building in Napier

5:30 Bring Thai take-away back to Sandy's house and spend the evening with Sandy and Lily, a three year old she's babysitting. Watch Finding Nemo and Monster's Inc, and rugby. Try vegemite, which to me, tasted like very thick soy sauce.
1:00 Fall asleep.

Craters of the Moon

Sunday

8:30 Wake up.
9:30 Eat cake for breakfast.
10:00 Depart Napier.
12:00 Go to Crater's of the Moon geothermal site in Taupo. See craters, fumaroles. and mudpools. Get soaked with Rain.
1:00 Go to Huka Falls. Continue to be rained on.
1:10 Got to Huka Honey Hive. Learn about bee hives and taste several different kinds of honey, including Manuka Honey, which is famous NZ honey, and Five Finger Honey, which is tasty, but rare because it is only produced every 5-10 years.
2:00 Eat at Subway. $5 footlongs do not exist, the cheapest 6" sandwich is $4.90.
2:30 Depart Taupo
5:00 Arrive in Palmerston North.
6:00 Have fish and chips for dinner, with kiwi pavlova for dessert.
7:30 Return to Micah's apartment. Chat and watch TV.
10:30 Sleep

Huka Falls

Monday

4:45 Wake up.
5:20 Board bus to Wellington
8:30 Arrive in Wellington. Have tea and scone. Walk around. Have more tea.
12:45 Fly from Wellington to Christchurch.
2:30 Return to apartment.

The Great Green North

I've had a nice couple of weeks, but it's time for another trip, don't you think?

I thought so, too.

Pull out your maps, boys and girls, because I am going to the NORTH ISLAND!

I'm flying into Wellington and immediately catching a bus to Palmerston North. There I will do a bit of sight seeing while I wait for my friends Ray and Micah (the two I went to Queenstown with) to get off of work.

Saturday and Sunday we'll be in Napier, which is on the east coast and is supposed to have good weather. I'm looking forward to temperatures in the 60s Fahrenheit. I packed sandals so I hope I have a chance to wear them.

Early Monday morning I will take the bus from Palmerston North back to Wellington and then I'll fly back to Christchurch in the afternoon.

I probably won't be online as much as usual over the next few days, but I'll put pictures up when I get back, so be on the look out for those!

What I'm doing when I'm not gallivanting around the country

           I have only four weeks left in New Zealand. It's going to be great to see everyone, but it will be hard to leave this amazing experience behind. Since I've been working at Bio-Mer for 6 weeks now I thought I'd share a little bit about what I do here.

            Bio-Mer is a small nutraceutical company that specializes in mussel based health products. For example, you've probably heard that fish oil is good for you because of omega 3 fatty acids, well mussel oil is similar to that. Bio-Mer's largest market is in mussel oil capsules which have some amazing health benefits. Seriously! Do a quick google and you'll see what I mean.
            I've spent most of my time doing research on product development. I don't want to spill the beans too soon on new products, but I will tell you that I've been looking at ways to incorporate some of the most recent developments in arthritis and cancer treatments into the existing products. It can be quite difficult to research, even using some really nice scientific databases, because not all of the answers are figured out yet for the relatively new area of study. It's difficult, but also very rewarding! Since I've only got one year left of study, I've got a pretty wide background in chemistry, but this research required some serious learning. None of my courses at school prepared me for this particular vein of research, but I knew enough to jump in and start trying. I think I have found a solution to my first research question and now it is just a matter of testing it out. For a variety of reasons that has been put on hold, but in the meantime I've been doing more research on oil purification. It's a big change from college, where the TA or professor can tell you if you've got the right answer. The staff here is pretty small and they keep busy with their own tasks so I've learned to work fairly independently. Everyone is willing to answer my questions when I have them though and sometimes I am even able to answer their questions!
          It hasn't all been paper based research, though. Since I've been here I've also done a variety of odd jobs in the lab and in the office. I've learned, somewhat successfully, how to use lab instruments that were completely new to me. I've also seen what it takes to run a business like this, even if I'm not much help with it. Six weeks does not seem like a very long time, but it's amazing looking back at how much I've learned. I can't wait to look back at the end and see everything I have accomplished.
            My internship is not what I expected when I first signed-up months ago, but I'm so glad to be here that I don't mind at all. Nothing will be quite like you imagine, sometimes it's better and sometimes it's worse. Even the most mundane things, like working, or talking with my flatmates, or grocery shopping have combined to make this one of the best summers I've ever had.

Queenstown Part 2

So where was I? Right. 

Micah and I spent the morning in Arrowtown and got back to Qtown just in time to start walking to the zip line. The beginning of the zip was on the same hill as the skyline gondola, but rather than pay for another ride, we decided we'd take the scenic route and follow the walking path up the mountain. We knew that it would take about an hour and we had just over an hour before our check in time so we headed down the trail. And by "down the trail" I mean "up the mountain."  The trail itself was not that long, but it was very, very steep. At points the rocks were cut into steps, but some sections were just dirt trails. The trail was not well marked but we managed to stay with it. About 2/3 of the way there we encountered a very icy section, which was difficult to walk up. We did a lot of shuffling and slipping and crawling. It was not fun. We had no alternative though. We could go back the way we came, pay and wait in line for the gondola and be late or keep going. The walk would not have been as bad if the occasional sign also included a distance. We stopped to catch our breath a few times and the ice slowed us down quite a bit so even though we had time to take it a little easier, we had no idea how close we were. Well, we made it, ten minutes early, no less. With that sorry adventure over it was time to have some fun!

We spent three hours making our way down the mountain on six different zip lines. That time includes waiting for the other people in the group to zip and one 20 minute walk between platforms. Let me tell you, going down was exponentially easier than going up. We were wearing full body harnesses and helmets the whole time, so don't worry. I've always enjoyed zip-lining at camp, but I knew it was shorter and closer to the ground than this one so I thought I might be nervous about it, but instead of jumping off the platform, all you had to do was walk down a set of steps connected to the platform and after a certain point the harness would tighten and next thing you know you're flying. The second time, after the guide explained how to, I went upside down! The lines gradually got longer, but all of them were too short! The last line is said to be the steepest tree to tree zip line and even with a brake line slowing you down the whole way, they estimate that you go about 70 km/hour, or about 44 mph! I had SO much fun. According to the website, the same company set up the zip line in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl, so that's cool! It got to be pretty cold so when we were done Micah and I had hot gelato, which is melted gelato with steamed milk and someone needs to make that a thing back home because, as you can imagine, it was delicious. Dinner that night was at Hell's Pizza, a NZ pizza chain that has some very interesting topping combos. I had wrath, which among other things, included venison peperoni, which, like everything else I've told you about, was delectable. 

On Saturday we took a motorcoach to Milford Sound, where we got on a boat, took a two hour cruise, and then got back on the bus to Queenstown. It's a good thing that the landscape between Milford Sound and Queenstown is beautiful because it was about a 4 hour drive. The driver gave some commentary on the way there and told us some of the local history and talked about the wildlife in the area. We saw a few Keas, which are alpine parrots, and on the boat we saw a small colony of fur seals. Milford Sound is not technically a sound and is really a fiord, but I hardly knew the difference. The water was an amazing bluish green and the mountains around it are impossibly steep and covered with bright green flora and around every corner is another gorgeous waterfall. On the way home on the bus we watched The World's Fastest Indian, which is about a NZ man who goes to America to set record speeds on his old Indian motorcycle. It was actually a much better movie than I expected and if you want a small taste of NZ, give it a watch! It stars Anthony Hopkins, and he didn't get the accent right, but that's alright. When we got back we had Indian food, and yep, you guessed, it was delicious. Some of the best naan I've ever had. 

Micah and Ray had an earlier flight than me on Sunday so I was left to amuse myself til about 1 in the afternoon. I wasn't too keen on spending more money and most everything in Qtown is expensive so I decided to head into town and figure something out, when I happened upon a lovely little church. I had timed it rather well and the Sunday service was about to start so I joined in. I've never been to an Anglican church before, and it was much different than I'm used to, but it was a nice service. There were maybe 30 people there total and after the service they insisted I join them for tea and cookies so I chatted with them for a while before heading to the airport. My flight was delayed about an hour, but I got some reading done so it wasn't too bad. 

All in all, a very fun weekend! After traveling on my own and having to be responsible for everything, it was nice to relax and let someone else hold the map.

Queenstown (Part 1)

This weekend marked the halfway point of my time in New Zealand and to celebrate I went to Queenstown with my intern friends Ray and Micah.

We flew in Thursday morning and the view of the mountains blew me away as soon as my feet hit the tarmac. Every time. You'd think seeing mountains would be less of a big deal after 5 weeks, but no. Also, these are Different mountains so that's got to count for something.

Queenstown (henceforth called Qtown, for my typing convenience) is in the southwest of the south island, between the Southern Alps and Fiordland National Park, and those names should give you a pretty good idea of the scenery. Qtown sits on Lake Wakatipu and on the other side of the lake are the Remarkables, a truly remarkable mountain range. They are the only mountains to point exactly north and south and when the sun sets behind them the sky turns a lovely shade of purple. The town is a basically a tourist destination, and with it being school holidays here and in Australia the town was keeping plenty busy. The main attraction is the ski fields around the city, but other tourist attractions have sprung up. Skydiving, bungy jumping, and parasailing are all popular excursions but I didn't do any of them. The closest I got was a zipline, but more on that later.

We didn't have many plans for Thursday so we walked around town and looked in the tourist shops. They all have the same things so after a while it was just a reason to step out of the cold for a few minutes. I did buy some sunglasses though.  We went to the Below Zero Ice Bar and enjoyed ourselves despite the low temperatures. There were ice sculptures, a gas fire in an ice fireplace, and even a little ice hockey table.  Next on the agenda was the Skyline Gondola. The gondola takes you to the top of the mountain behind Qtown (I think it's technically a hill, but it looked like a mountain to me) to the Skyline complex, which has a shop, restaurants, a viewing deck, and a luge track. We had a good ride around the track in our little gravity powered carts. I came in last, but we weren't really racing. For lunch we ate at the Fergburger, which apparently is quite famous, and for good reason! Every time we walked past the line was out the door but the wait is worth it.

There were a couple of Mexican restaurants in town, and those are not very common in NZ so we figured we had to put one to the test. I got a duck enchilada with mole sauce and I don't care if it was 'authentic' because it sure was delicious. Our waiter was an American guy from PA that moved to NZ a few months ago instead of going to law school and we had a nice chat.

On Friday Ray went skiing and Micah and I had our own adventures! What we had planned originally was cancelled because of the weather, but there was plenty more to do. We went to Arrowtown in the morning and had a much bigger adventure in the afternoon.

Arrowtown is a small town not far from Qtown which boomed in 1862 when gold was discovered. Now it's home to local farmers and primarily tourists. Everything is still set up in quaint little mining town buildings. Outside of town is a historical site of the Chinese Miner's Village. I think some of the buildings are reconstructions from the village that was empty in the 1920s. The Chinese were initially invited into town for gold mining, but once a large group of them arrived they were treated badly by the white people and set up their own village outside of town. Some of the buildings set up were proper houses made of stone, but some were just sheets of metal and wood stuck in the side of the mountain. It's a little lower in the valley than the rest of town so it was few degrees colder and a layer of snow was on the ground. I don't know how they did it. Micah and I had lunch and bought some fudge, after sampling quite a few flavors I settled on a chunk of creme brulee and a chunk red velvet with cheesecake layers. Oh yes.

I think I will end here for now, and put the rest in a part 2. I've added pictures to both, and plenty more in the album (click on the thumbnails to the right)!

Swords

Hello my friends!

I've had a good week and I hope you have too.

It was a slow week at work, but now that they have finished redoing the floor in the production area things should be up and running again soon. New equipment is also on its way so it's a very exciting time here at Bio-Mer. Actually, my supervisor just said there were some complications, so the new machine is delayed. Still good stuff though.

Friday and Saturday I slept in and relaxed and got to talk to some of you lovely people! The real excitement, however, started Saturday evening. I had my ticket and I was ready to watch some bona fide New Zealand Rugby. Riding the metro is free if you have a ticket so the bus quickly filled up with rugby fans and we were on our way to the stadium. There was an older man waiting with me at the bus stop and he started to explain things to me. When we got to the stadium he pointed out where the buses would be at the end of the game, and it was a good thing he did because it was the opposite direction from where they dropped us. At this point it was an hour before the game started, but the stadium was already filling up fast so we parted ways and found our seats.

I had a cheap seat, but it wasn't too bad. The group with the seats directly next to me didn't arrive until directly before the game started, but there was plenty happening before that. The players were warming up on the field, and I give them mad props, because doing anything in below freezing weather is difficult, let alone sprinting and tackling with nothing but a jersey to protect them.

The Christchurch team, the Crusaders, has the best record in the Super 15 league, which is the 15 best rugby teams in the southern hemisphere. On Saturday they played the Wellington Hurricanes and the fans were ready for a fight! Before the game started they had crusaders on horses riding around the stadium and as they circled the crowd cheered and waved their foam swords like there was no tomorrow. As a horseman in the Hurricane team colors road around everyone booed except the few Hurricane fans, to whom the Crusader fans good-naturedly yelled "I know where you're sitting!"

At first I was just trying to watch the game, but after a short time I gave up and asked the person next to me about the scoring. There was a group of friends next to me and when they realized I had no idea what was going on one of them would lean over and explain something to me. I learned about scoring and scrums and toss ins and off-sides, and during half time, the best places to go skiing. The Crusaders lost, 22-23, but it was a good game, I think.

On the way home the man next to me on the bus thought I sounded Canadian, until he asked me say "eh." Apparently I failed the test because that was enough to convince him that I was American. It's interesting, when people realize I'm American, most of the type they are politely interested and ask what I'm doing here, but sometimes I'll meet someone that is just fascinated by my Americanness. I got home, had a grilled pb&j, and went to bed because Sunday had an early start.

After a quick breakfast I got on the tour bus and headed to Mt. Sunday, or what is famous as Edoras in the Lord of the Rings. There were four other people on the tour, two from Australia and two from the UK and everyone was quite nice. It's about 170 km from Chch to Mt. Sunday, but we made a few stops along the way. The first one was at a cafe in a tiny town that had only a cafe, church, and school. And sheep. After having a cup of tea and a sausage roll, the tour guide got some muffin scraps from the cafe waitress and we fed a couple of sheep that were outside. They weren't part of a flock, they were more like pets and they sure did like the muffins. They were so soft and fluffy! Dreams really do come true. We also stopped to take pictures at some other scenic spots before we arrived at the base of Mt. Sunday. The little four wheel drive bus had trouble making it up very far because the ground was quite muddy so we walked the rest of the way. The tour guide had a backpack full of goodies for us to play with at the top.

Mt. Sunday is a relatively small mountain compared to the mountains around it, but it was plenty tall when we were walking. It is amazing. I can understand why they chose it for the set. Huge mountains on either side and a fairly level valley between the two with a river flowing along one side. We got to the top and took pictures with some swords, an ax and a flag, all replicas from the movies. The guide had pictures from the set and it was quite easy to see, yes, this is exactly where they filmed this bit. My inner and outer nerd were having a great time. Apparently it took them 8 months to build the set on Mt Sunday and they filmed there for about 12 days. Crazy. And the conservation department were quite strict and said they couldn't move any rocks and if they moved a plant they had to put it back in the same spot.

We walked back to the tour van and then rode back to Mt Pott's Station, where we had our lunch. Pumpkin soup, tuna salad sandwiches, white wine, and chocolate cake. Everything was delicious except for the wine. I can understand, I think, why people like to drink it with fish, but I thought it tasted awful. Anyway, after lunch we headed back to town and on the way we watched a behind the scenes DVD about the movies and Edoras and now I really want to movie marathon.

If I have inspired you to watch the movies, the Two Towers has several scenes at Mt. Sunday for your viewing pleasure. If you want to wait to watch the movies until I'm back, I'll be more than happy to be that obnoxious person who says "ooh, ooh, I've been there!" at every chance I get.

I'm at work, killing time because my supervisor has some friends of his here and they are talking business and other old man stuff and now he's trying to explain to his buddy how to use a touchscreen phone. "You've got to touch it gently, caress it."

This post has gotten really long, so thanks for sticking around if you've read this far. I should probably find something productive to do.

More Pictures!

I had a blast this weekend and I'll put a proper blog up soon, but for now I wanted to let you know that I've put more pictures online!

I'm trying to keep the number of pictures on facebook to a reasonable minimum but I wanted to share more so I've started an album on Picasa. Blogger and Picasa are both Google products so hopefully it will be easier for me to include pictures in my posts. One downfall is that I've already used more than half of my free data allotment on Picasa so at some point I might also put pictures on Flickr. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

You can see some of the pictures on the upper right hand side of this page. Click on those or the link above to get to the album. I'm still trying to iron out the technical details, so please let me know if it's not working.

One reason for doing this is that I'll be able to add comments to pictures so that I'll remember why I took the pictures that I did. These are going to be more for my benefit than yours, but if you want to know more I'll be glad to share.