Mt. Somers

So, I figured enough playing around on day trips to the mountains, time to pack my big bag and go tramping for a few days. The perfect opportunity arrived as a there was a long weekend a week ago and the tramping club was organising a beginner friendly 3-day trip, so I jumped at the chance to join :)

This was to Mt. Somers and what a wonderful experience it was! Gonna break it down a bit.

Day 1:

We set off Saturday morning with a group of 9 people, all super awesome as I was about to find out. The weather wasn't great, so even though the walk itself wasn't the most enjoyable, what came later was all worth it. It was great to reach the hut where we were going to stay the night, even if it was completely full, with people having to sleep on the floor, or in tents (luckily we had a couple guys run up the track faster and save us a couple of beds). We spent the evening socialising and sharing songs from our countries (benefits of multinational groups!) and then just singing, managing to get the whole hut to join in when we started Wonderwall :P We cooked dinner together which is always nice, with the added challenge of it being vegan so that everyone could be included. Came out delicious on both days!

Rain can't stop me!

Day 2:

The weather was a bit kinder to us on the second day and even though the wind was quite strong, it was blowing from behind and so actually helped us to climb up :D (Thanks wind!). We also decided to side track a bit and visit the water caves, right next to our path. These were awesome, had to squeeze through narrow tunnels and climb boulders. Had to go knee deep in the water, but hey no pain no gain and gotta get the full experience right? After we reached the hut it started to snow from a blue clear sky, not something I had imagined I'd ever see, but hey, that's mountains for you. So, we all got cosy inside playing cards, I thought my group how to play 'Durnius' so the evening was well spent :P Also, had a bit of fun teaching a five-year-old girl to build card houses (ended up building a pirate ship :D) and she taught me a game, which seemed to have one rule from each snap, rock paper scissors, and some others :P

Day 3:

This day we walked my favourite part of the track as it was mostly forest and wasn't a continuous uphill or downhill walk but a combination of the two. We took a long rest by the river after a refreshing dip under the waterfall because the weather was perfect, sunny and warm. There we bolder hopped along the river and one group member even attempted to catch some fish while the animal rights activist among us hoped he would fail in this endeavour :P This track included quite a challenging bit of steep and very muddy uphill climb which I was happy to have done on the last day, when my pack was much lighter. The satisfaction after the hike was great, so much seen, done and hey I survived a long trip with a heavy bag with no casualties :D

We ended our trip with a food stop at this cool pizzeria where I ordered this amazing chicken cranberry pizza, something I will definitely have to cook one of these days :)

Thoughts

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Sometimes, although maybe not as often as I could, I write out my thoughts into a notebook.   Now, what's written in this notebook I very rarely share with people. My writings include songs, poems and general thoughts that I just had to write down after they were just pouring out of my mind and could not be contained anymore. However, some things that I have shared with my closest friends seem to have had a positive impact so I've decided to share a few on here. So here's a little something that I had thought about many times before actually writing it out as a letter to myself, hope you like it :)

Time is continuously flowing, don't segment it into periods, enjoy it in it's wholeness. Live in the moment, don't treat time as an obstacle to be happy now, you never know what time will bring.

A short time spent with a loved one is better used than time spent wondering what might have been. If you have a chance, take it. Temporary happiness will bring you joy for a while, while waiting for long-term contentment can lead to depression or sorrow. 

It is not worth slaving in the present and putting off being happy for happiness in the future, a euphoria that may never come. Make the most out of every stage of life, you never know how the winds will change. Don't use your situation as an excuse not to be happy, as an excuse not to find love, as an excuse not to live. 

Don't give up, make your own destiny, build your life the way you want it. You are the main character of your story and you call all the shots.

Micro lab

This week I did some lab work (Yay!). I did a full DNA extraction of a heather beetle and then amplified it by performing PCR and sequenced it to find whether a microsporidian (a micro-parasite) has infected it. Now this was a pretty long multi-step process and involved me playing around with a number of cool machines and materials (liquid nitrogen ftw :P ). Even though I made one mistake and had to repeat the last step of the process (could have been my ingenious plan to spend more time in the lab...) I completed the whole process and got great results so am pretty proud of that. Active learning through participation is the best!

For those interested in learning how DNA sequencing works, I found this cool site that has videos which give a brief introduction to DNAprocesses: http://www.dnalc.org/view/15924-Making-many-copies-of-DNA.html

My first month in New Zealand has come to an end... time flies by so fast! So, here are some things I've been up to this past week:

Firstly, went on another hiking trip, this time, to south Canterbury to Peel forest and climbed Little Mt Peel. Even though we waited for an hour to be picked up as it was forgotten that the time changed (now 12-hour difference to the UK and 10 to LT!) and it was rainy and cloudy, it turned out to be a good experience none the less. Got to walk through the clouds on the mountain (...mystical...) and because by the end my shoes were already soaked it didn't bother me that we had to walk through the river (which was actually pretty fun) :P Also, I'm gonna go ahead and say that we hiked through a rainforest, felt like it anyway since it was raining and we were walking through... a forest... Oh and can't forget the landmark of the day - The Big Tree (whoever came up with that name is a pure genius...)

Secondly, that same weekend I was invited to this Indonesian fair by some of my new International student friends who have been super welcoming and with whom I meet up every Friday to play games and such :) So, I went and got a chance to try out playing an Angklung - this Indonesian instrument which I got to keep after the fair and is now sitting on my shelf, giving my empty room a bit of life :) It only plays one note (mine is Fa) so to play a song I'd need a few more people who have different notes to join me :p any volunteers?

Finally, I marked my first month in NZ by driving on the left side of the road for the first time ever, and it felt great! I'm not usually a fan of driving so I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it :) And how quickly I picked it up (ok turned on the windscreen wipers instead of showing a turn signal for the first couple of times, but meh) I think as long as I don't have to drive a stick I can manage to do this while I'm in New Zealand, should be handy for travelling around :)

First week of work

Bit behind to write this post, but here goes. So last week I started my placement at Landcare Research, the reason I have come to New Zealand. And so far so good. Started the week by doing fieldwork at an experimental site showing how effective the bio-control of St. John's wort is which involved driving out of the flatlands of Christchurch by a quite scenic route. The next day I spent the day working in the quarantine facilities where they are rearing heather beetles for the control of heather. Had to feed them, document their development stage all while in this tiny extremely bright room and while wearing a lab suit which just made me feel like I was doing real science work :P Unfortunately we had to sacrifice a few adult beetles to test for micro-parasites and so a few brave souls gave there lives for the noble cause... Anyway, going to do some molecular testing soon which I am looking forward to :) Finished off the week by experiencing my first earthquake :D It was very small, but can now cross that of my list of things to experience and hope that a bigger one isn't going to come along... So, bring on the next week, plenty more to do, see, learn :)

Mt. Isobel

So even before arriving to New Zealand I decided that to see as much of the country as possible I will join the CU tramping club and embark on many adventures to the mountains on the days I have off work. And so I did. My first destination was Mt. Isobel, a beginners day trip they told me. Well I am not gonna lie it was pretty hard and I did have to use a some help to reach the top. But when I did it was definitely worth it, the sense of achievement was incredible and the views were breathtaking.

And of course, no first would be complete with some random adventure in there. We decided to take a little shortcut at the bottom which involved going through the bushes. Now I am talking native New Zealand brambles with thorns and thick undergrowth which were not easy to go through. Still have the cuts and scratches to remind me of it. Maybe not the best idea, but an experience nonetheless and something that made this trip even more memorable.

A waterfall we used to refill our water bottles

First days in Christchurch

Well, I made it! Finally in New Zealand :) Got a chance to walk around town a bit yesterday and be a tourist (hopefully won't be too touristy in a short while). Anyway, it's spring here! Took a stroll down the botanical gardens and everything is blooming whereas back at home the leaves will start falling soon if they haven't already. 

For those who don't know, Christchurch suffered from an earthquake not too long ago so much of the city has been destroyed. However, they are making up for it nicely with new installations and architectural ideas like the Re:START mall made up from shipping containers and the Cardboard Cathedral which is as the name suggests made from cardboard. One street is lined with posters that tell the stories of people on the day of the earthquake which brought me to tears so I only read a couple before I had to stop in order not to become a crying mess in the middle of the city... It's amazing to see how the city is rebuilding, how people can move on and try to make the best of the situation.

185 Chairs - A memorial for the lives lost during the earthquake