CU Abroad – Alison Keggan

As a college student, of course, I always look forward to breaks: Spring break, Fall break, Winter break!  Anytime that I can have the opportunity to forget about classes for a little bit, to visit with the people I care about, and to experience those things I may have missed while busily studying for exams.  Fortunately, this year I had a two week “Spring Break.”  Okay, so it wasn’t so much a spring break as a fall break, since April on the southern side of the equator is autumn.  Nonetheless, I had two amazing weeks travelling Australia and the south island of New Zealand.  While I would love to tell about everything that I saw, did, ate, and experienced, to do so would take way too much space and thus, this is just some of the highlights. 

My journey began with a mid-morning flight to Auckland, New Zealand and then onto Sydney, Australia.  The first day included walking around Sydney to take in some of the “big-city” sights including various statues, buildings, and parks.  We walked through the many hectares of flowers, trees, and shrubs known as the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Walking through the gardens, I was amazed to see hundreds, if not thousands of Flying Foxes, a type of bat, hanging from the trees!  It was really an amazing sight. 

Being in Sydney, we of course had to visit the famed Opera House.  The Opera House’s unique design, I learned, was the result of a design competition.  Designing the structure without first seeing the Sydney Harbour, Jorn Utzon is considered to have wonderfully captured the essence of the site, allowing visitors to see straight out to the Harbour. 

Situated just across from the Opera House is the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  On Monday afternoon, I experienced Sydney from a new dimension: on top of the Harbour Bridge.  Every day, nearly a hundred people make the climb to the top of the bridge for a spectacular view of the city. 

Having seen quite a bit in Sydney, the next stop on my journey was Brisbane, Australia.  I took a 14 hour overnight train to the Queensland city, where I had trips planned to two animal parks.  I could barely believe it: I was going to visit the Australia Zoo, home of the late Steve Irwin, aka “The Croc Hunter.”  Growing up, I loved watching Animal Planet and seeing the adventures that The Croc Hunter would get into.  Now, I had the chance to sit in the “Crocoseum” and see a live croc-show. 

While in Brisbane, I also went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  The sanctuary is home to several dozen sleepy koalas.  At the sanctuary, I got to hold one of the Koalas and also to hand food some of the kangaroos.  Both were pretty amazing experiences for me, the animal lover.   

With my time in Australia coming to an end, I was next headed to the South Island of New Zealand.  Arriving in Christchurch, New Zealand felt like Ithaca cold weather after being in Australia for a week.  So I said goodbye to the shorts, t-shirts, and jandals and said hello to my jacket and gloves. 

While in Christchurch, my first stop was the Christchurch Cathedral, which costs nearly $3500 a day to run.  We then made our way to Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House to see the New Zealand icon, the Kiwi bird!  After seeing the Kiwi, several sharks, some eels, vatious frogs and other wildlife, it was time to learn more about the history of Christchurch at the Canterbury Museum. 

The next stop on my journey was the town of Kaikoura.  Docked in the bay in Kaikoura was a boat known as “Earth Race.”  In 2008, the boat set a world record for travelling around the world in just under 61 days.  It did so, though, with 100% renewable biodiesel.  While I enjoyed seeing Earth Race, my favourite part of Kaikoura was walking out to a seal colony and seeing the beautiful creatures in their natural habitat. 

From Kaikoura, my trip continued on to the town of Nelson.  In Nelson, I enjoyed visiting some neat little shops in the town and also spending a day hiking.  While I’m not certain how accurate it is, I had the chance to hike to a location known as the Centre of New Zealand.  Marked with a big white monument, the location was a popular hiking destination and also a great way to bring my break to a close. 

Refreshed and with many great stories to tell, I am ready to finish the second half of my semester.  Nonetheless, I wonder where the time has gone and worry how quickly my abroad experience will be coming to a close.  However, if the next two months are as exciting as the past two months, I am ready for everything this great adventure called life has to offer! 

Throughout life, I have considered myself to be many things: friendly, hardworking, motivated, etc. I have also considered myself to be pretty physically fit. However, this weekend, I definitely had that thought tested during a hike through the Ruahine Forest Park. Having been hiking quite a few times before, I didn’t think I had much to worry about this time. I figured I could easily do the hike. The hike was six hours up the mountains of the park and with multiple river crossings and I didn’t even blink an eye when I heard that.

The hike began Saturday morning through a sheep pasture (yes, there are sheep everywhere!) and then across a small stream. Within minutes, we were already ascending the mountain. For quite a while, we continued going up and up the mountain. My legs burned, my heart was pounding, and every breath I took was as if I had just come off a sports field. As I looked around, I wondered if others on the trip were finding this as difficult as I was or if they could tell I thought the trek was hard. Of course, not wanting to show anyone my weaknesses, I pushed on as hard as I could. For a moment, I felt oddly out of place, until I realized there were others on the trip who were having just as much difficulty as I was. Fortunately, I had my friend Katy looking out for me- asking me frequently if I was doing okay and making sure that I had plenty of water.

After several hours, we had reached the mountain peak! We had accomplished our goal and it felt pretty good to see how far we had come. During our hike, we had a strong hiker in both the front and back, while those like me who were a little more fearful stuck in the middle. Kay in front guided the way and would frequently stop to let everyone catch up, while Dave in back made sure everyone was okay. It was interesting to think about how our team operated- frequent stops to let everyone catch up and we encouraged each other through difficult parts of the trek. What a great thing to apply in other situations- ensure everyone on your team is being supported and that they are okay. A few words of encouragement can go a very long way and can get a whole group of eight people up a mountain. And so, on our way down, we followed the same principles!

This weekend, I had the fortunate opportunity to visit New Zealand’s capital, Wellington.  Wellington is approximately an hour and a half from Palmerston North and my friend that I was travelling with and I left mid-morning Saturday.  Upon arriving in Wellington, our first stop was “the Beehive.”  The Beehive is the executive wing of Parliament and is where Parliament conducts much of its business.  

After visiting Parliament, we walked through Wellington to take in some of the sights of the city.  Our next stop was to the Botanical Gardens.  However, in order to get to the Botanical Gardens, we had to take the Wellington Cable Car.  From the cable cars, we could see a great portion of Wellington.  Wandering the botanical gardens, we saw many plants native to New Zealand.  Once we had seen enough of the botanical gardens, we ascended the mountain we were on via the cable car. 

As dinner time was nearing, we headed toward the wharf to look for a restaurant to eat.  We saw several Thai restaurants, but decided we eat enough curry in the dining hall and kept walking.  Quite some time later, and rather famished, we found a place called “The Fisherman’s Table.”  The restaurant was situated right on the water and had a great lookout to see Wellington.  I enjoyed a delicious meal of Blue Warehou, a type of fish that I have never tried before, let alone heard of.  As 8 o’clock neared, a waiter at the restaurant brought a candle to our table in preparation for an event taking place in Wellington that evening.  From 8:30 to 9:30, New Zealand was celebrating “Earth Hour.”  Businesses and individuals in the country were asked to turn off their lights for an hour to show that they care about the environment.  Thus, the restaurant we were at was participating. 

Leaving the restaurant, we came upon a large group of people on the wharf who were celebrating Earth Hour with live music.  We sat down to enjoy the music and the great night in Wellington. 

The next day, our main stop for the day was to Te Papa: The Museum of New Zealand.  The several story museum featured everything from a preserved giant Colossal Squid, to the replications of a bird that once lived in New Zealand called the Moa, to garments common of the Maori, to a display about flooding. 

Our weekend was coming to an end, but before we were headed back to Palmerston North, we managed to sit down for coffee with a friend in Wellington. 

Being interested in politics, the highlight of the weekend was definitely visiting Parliament.  As we toured the Parliament building, I couldn’t help but think of all the political leaders that have walked through that building and the power they have had to affect other’s lives.  Members of Parliament have the power to affect thousands of people’s lives, yet, each of us has that same power.  We can make a difference in someone else’s life by simply smiling as we pass them on the sidewalk, saying thank you to someone who has helped us, or being the listening ear that a friend needs.