Australia Day

January 26 was Australia Day, so naturally we had to do something fun to celebrate.  Originally our visitors were due to arrive at noon, but due to flight trouble unfortunately we had to quickly change our plans.  Lucky for us Justin and Kelsey were free, so we had a barbeque on the beach.  We had some chicken skewers, but cooking them on the little charcoal barbeque turned out to be problematic and quite sandy due to the wind.  We also had veggies, paté and crackers, and of course, Tim Tams (an Australian cookie covered in chocolate).  My contribution was the Australia Day party hats.

It looks like we were alone on the beach, but really as far as you could see people had brought massive tents out for the occasion.  Many people brought full patio sets, and one group even carried a massive barbeque onto the beach.  Not many people were swimming, but of course we had to go in for a short swim.  The water was warm but quite wavy and unfortunately a bit dirty.

After our sun shade blew down we decided to go back to our house where we promptly polished off an additional 4 bottles of wine (on top of the beer at the beach) then cooked 4 frozen steaks for dinner.  Luckily I had ice cream cones for dessert!

Overall, despite the travel setbacks my family had, we managed to have an excellent Australia Day.  It also means we can eat our roo burgers and kanga bangas (kangaroo sausages) for dinner tonight to keep the party going!

New Zealand: Christchurch to Omaru

Hi everyone!  Thanks for waiting around for me.  I hope I didn't lose too many readers over the past two weeks.  I have purchased a new computer so my only excuse for not writing from now on will be because I'm too busy having fun!  This week we have our first visitors - my aunt and uncle from BC arrive tomorrow.  I'm super excited, but I'm trying to get at least one New Zealand post in before they get here.  Enjoy!

December 25, 2011

We departed for New Zealand with only our two red extra large MEC "hockey" bags, and somehow we fit all of our camping gear in them.  This will definitely encourage us to do it again!  We had a minor panic when we checked in because of our visas, but all ended well.  Clearing customs in Auckland was far easier than we had expected, and we easily made our connection to Christchurch.  The second plane was much smaller than the first and the crew was a riot.  Since it was Christmas they all dressed up and sang us a song to the theme of "Jingle Bells" instead of reading their usual pre-flight speech.  Just before we landed, Santa made an appearance to hand out candy canes and lead the plane in a few Christmas carols.  This was the most festive our holiday got, so we really enjoyed it.

The downside was that they didn't have food on that flight or in the airport when we arrived, so at 11pm our first experience in Christchurch was looking for a gas station for some food (since everything else was closed).  All they had left was one sandwich and a muffin, so our Christmas dinner was slightly disappointing.  Luckily the "check in" at our hotel went smoothly (the key was in a lockbox) so we were able to get to sleep after our long journey.  In a change of events, Ryan was awaken by one of the Christchurch earthquakes!  He had never felt one before so it was a unique first experience.  He said the walls and headboard shook quite a bit, but surprisingly I slept through it.  (Sidenote: when I felt an earthquake in Australia Ryan told me I was crazy and to go back to sleep!)

December 26, 2011

The hotel owners had left us a really nice breakfast in the fridge, so we feasted on cereal, yoghurt, and a new food for us: golden kiwis!  They were yellow instead of green, and a bit sweeter.  So yummy!  We didn't stick around long in the morning, eager to get our trip started, but the hotel was quite nice (and highly recommended: Airport Christchurch Motel).  Our first stop was another gas station for fuel for our camping stove, and then a grocery store.  We tried to buy a cooler at the grocery store, but sadly they only had display ones and they refused to sell one to us.  It was very awkward at the check out. 

Initially the drive south was quite exciting with lots of farms, but we quickly got over it. 

One point of note is that farmers seem to really love hedge fences.  We noticed them from the airplane because they are made from extremely tall trees of all different varieties and they were everywhere.  It seemed to be a competition over who could get the most geometric shape because some were amazingly trimmed.

Our first stop of the day was in Timaru where we had a delicious picnic lunch on the beach.  It was funny because to get to the beach we drove down this long circular ramp (like an off ramp but longer) and there was a basic park in the middle of it absolutely packed with people.  This was strange since literally 200m away was he parking lot for the beach, which was beautiful and uncrowded.  Obviously that was our choice for a picnic!  We put our feet in the water and considered a swim because it was so warm.  It was the warmest water of the trip so we should have done it, but we were excited for the next destination. 

During the trip from Timaru we passed through Rakia which has the longest bridge in New Zealand, so that was another first for us.

We were looking forward to Omaru, the next stop on our journey, because of the penguins.  Supposedly they come into the town for the night and they're fun to watch, but that was not exactly correct.  The town has built what is essentially an enclosed grandstand viewing area with night vision lights around their sleeping area so tourists can pay $25 (!) to sit in there and watch them.  NO THANKS!

A more fond memory of Omaru is our Boxing Day shopping experience.  We still needed a cooler, so we went to this weird store (kind of like Giant Tiger) and asked for a "cooler" or an "esky" (the Australian word).  The clerk looked at us like we were crazy, then said "Ohhhh….you mean a chilly bin!"  Seriously!  That's what they call them in New Zealand!  So we proceeded to buy the exact same chilly bin as the display model from the grocery store.

Our final mission of the day was to find a campsite, so we took a beautiful drive along the coast to get to one recommended by the tourist centre. 

The only charge was a $5 donation, and was probably the best site of the trip. 

Since we were there early we quickly set up the tent to claim our spot, then went for a swim.  The water was freezing but we had a blast jumping in the waves.

Dinner was an (albeit delicious) adventure since it was the first time we used our stove.  When it lights it makes a fireball so we were a bit leery at first, but it worked great after we read the instructions and found out that was normal.  The unfortunate result of that dinner was a sunburn on my face which lasted (then peeled) throughout the duration of the trip.

And thus concludes, with a bottle of New Zealand wine (Matua Valley, Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc, 2011) and a board game, our first night on the road!

Temporary Hiatus

Unfortunately when I arrived at work this week I discovered that my computer won't charge, meaning I have to take an extended break from updating this blog.  Hopefully when I get home in 2 weeks I will be able to fix it, but sadly you'll have to wait until then.  Sorry!

An Introduction to New Zealand's South Island

Well, we survived our first overseas trip since being in Australia!  It was harder than you might think, considering we had visas to worry about and a ton of camping gear to get through customs.  You know that question on the customs forms about freshwater streams and farms?  We actually had to declare that we were in those places!  But, like I said, us and all of our gear made it without too much trouble.

For this blog post I thought I would just give an overview of our New Zealand experience and talk about things that might not make it into later posts.  It also buys me some time to get our pictures organized.

This is the route we took.  We flew into Christchurch on Dec. 25, 2011, drove down through Dunedin to Stewart Island, up to the Fiordlands, over to Queenstown, then to Mt. Cook and back to Christchurch.  We flew home on Jan. 9, 2012 after driving over 2300 kilometers.  Originally we had planned to see Franz Josef Glacier, but we would have had to backtrack pretty far after Mt. Cook so we decided against it.  As you can see, in 2 weeks we only did about half of the South Island.

We slept in our amazing tent almost every night, and for the most part that was an excellent decision.  I would say we could have our campsite set up in about 5 minutes if we were both taking our time, and about 10 minutes if one person did it and couldn't find something in the car.   Our meals were quite basic, but I think I have Ryan eating couscous now!  It was a great food since you only have to add boiling water to cook it.  The campsites were unlike anything I have ever seen before, so I will elaborate on them in a later post.

Many of the roads were windy and steep or gravel so I'm glad we had a little car.  Unfortunately gas was about $2.06NZD/litre, so that ate up quite a bit of cash.  Many people say that the South Island is very similar to British Columbia in Canada, and we definitely noticed the similarities.  The weirdest part for Ryan was because it was so similar he was amazed that he didn't have to watch out for bears!  What kept throwing me off was the tropical plants and trees mixed in with the "Canadian" scenery.  Oh, and there really are as many sheep as you expect there to be!

While we were there the weather was unseasonably warm and dry.  We felt very lucky for that since we were camping in a tent without any chairs or a cooking shelter.  It would get up to about 27 degrees Celsius during the day and down to maybe 15 at night, so it was absolutely perfect compared to Australia.  I sunburned my face on the first day and it didn't really get better for the rest of the trip.  The sandflies (blackflies) were also pretty bad like we expected, but that certainly didn't bother us as much as it did others.

Before we left we went to the bank to figure out what we should do for money.  They recommended a reloadable money card that you use like a credit card, so that's what we did.  First off, things were a lot more expensive than we had anticipated so we quickly ran out of money on the card.  Some of the campsites had internet, but when we went to reload the card the bank required us to confirm the transaction via text message.  That would have been fine, except of course our cell phones didn't work in New Zealand.  Consequently, for the second half of the trip we had major money problems.  We had to keep finding bank machines and withdrawing from our Australian account, which of course incurred high fees.  By the last day we were actually counting the change in the car to see if we could buy a plate of potato wedges (we couldn't).

That's all you're gonna get about New Zealand for now!  Today is our only day off before work, so we've got lots of packing/unpacking to do.  I'm hoping to be able to post while I'm at work this time, so don't worry, pictures will be coming soon!

Merry Christmas!

As 2011 comes to an end, Ryan and I are crazy busy and getting very excited for 2012.  This week we have been catching up with the few people we know in Adelaide, we went to a work Christmas party, and we have been packing like mad for our trip.  I can't believe we leave for New Zealand tomorrow!!! 

Christmas for us will be spent in various airports, concluding with a late arrival in Christchurch.  Yes, Christchurch is where all of the recent earthquakes have been, so wish us luck!  Is it bad that I want there to be an earthquake while we're there so we can have an experience money can't buy?  Just a small one of course! 

Australians have a few different holiday traditions here, but for the most part Christmas is the same.  Their Santa still wears his fuzzy hat and coat (and probably puts ice packs under his shirt to survive the heat), they listen to the same Christmas carols (even the ones about snow), and they even put up plastic pine Christmas trees despite the fact that I'm pretty sure real ones don't exist here.  Of course they can't have the giant roast dinners that we're used to because it's so hot, so they have barbequed seafood as a traditional meal. 

So with that I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.  Thanks for following my blog, despite the long silences these days, and I promise many great posts about New Zealand upon our return!

Happy Holidays!

Love Steph and Ryan

Code Red (Take 2)

Today at work we had yet another day of excitement, with my second code red lightning storm.  Some people have been up here for almost a year and have never experienced one, so I count myself (un?)lucky.  This lightning storm was way more fun than the first one, mainly because I didn't have a plane to catch.  It also came in much quicker,  but consequently it left quicker than the last one.  All up we were only in lockdown for 1.5 hours instead of 4.5 hours.  Also, this time my camera was working so I got some pictures of the action.  Enjoy!

The storm moving in over the village.  This is when we got the code yellow, which means "prepare for code red".

Code Red!

The storm is right over us, heading for the mine.  Still no rain...

Massive downpour!  Shortly after this the storm got to the mine and we got a great show of lightning.

Two quick updates:

1. I now have internet at work through my phone!  Hopefully I'll be able to post once in awhile, but only if something interesting happens or I get some good pictures.
2. They now have bananas at work!  For those of you who don't know, bananas were averaging $18/kg when we got to Australia in May because of a flood that knocked down all of the banana trees.  Recently I've seen them on sale for between $3-$7/kg which is why work is now supplying them.  Very exciting for me!  Now I can eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches and freak out the Australians who think they're disgusting.

Second Week at Prominent Hill

The second week of work was much better than the first because I was getting used to the long days on my feet.  I finally know sort of what I'm doing, so now I can listen to music and podcasts while I'm working which makes the time go by much faster.  I don't have a lot more to say about the job, but I thought I would post some pictures. 

First, this is what my room is like.  The bed is pretty comfy and I have my own bathroom, so all in all it's pretty good!

Another part of the job is going on "core runs", which means that we drive out to a drill rig to pick up more trays of core to work on.  I think right now we have 5 rigs drilling within a 4 hour radius and core needs to be picked up from each of them every day.  Going on these runs is highly coveted since you basically get some time off work and you get to go on a nice drive.  Anyways, that's how I came across the dog fence!  Do you remember back when Ryan explained about the dingo fence that runs across the entire country to keep the dingoes out of the south?  Well I got to see it!

It's not that impressive, but I hear it's the longest fence in the world and is owned and maintained by the government.  Also in that picture you get to see my beautiful work outfit!

This is one of the drill rigs, and you can see the core lined up right in front waiting for us to pick up.

Some scenery out in the middle of nowhere:

Here are the cool lizards called goannas that hang out at the worksite.  They can get pretty big, and when they're scared they run up the tallest thing they can find.  That would be okay anywhere else, but in the Outback humans are the tallest things!

And finally, some sunrise pictures.  The sun comes up around 5:45am now, which is just when our bus is getting to the worksite.  Usually I'm inside and miss the sunrise, but luckily I saw a few.  The sun rises directly over the mine which makes for kind of a cool view.

The most eventful thing that happened my entire stint was actually the day I came back home.  We knew we were in for a rainstorm, but at lunchtime we got a "code red" alert because of a lightning storm.  That just means that lightning has been within 15(?)km of the work site so no one is allowed to go outside or drive, and we were not allowed to continue working.  There actually was lightning, and since there are no trees to get hit it makes sense that people needed to stay out of harms way.  To add to the chaos, the mine was in shutdown which means that half of the mine closes for repairs and the number of people at camp doubles.  Consequently there was an increased number of planes coming and going from the site that day.  During the 4 hours of code red I think 4 or 5 planes needed to land, but because no one was allowed to go out to check that the runway was clear the pilots had to circle overhead to check for themselves.  Also, once they landed, no one was allowed out of the planes.  Finally, an hour after my flight was set to depart, we got the code yellow alert and everyone made a mad dash for the village to pack their things and get to the plane.  Unfortunately almost immediately it turned back to code red so we still had to wait another hour for it to be safe again.  All in all it was pretty chaotic, but I only got home 2 hours late.  All in a day's work!