Jackie makes a video before I even upload pictures to facebook

http://youtu.be/Xw-SvP_TsU0
Another awesome video blog about our adventures (and a little bit of a misadventure)
I'll sit down tomorrow and write a little about it as well, but I do have several cameos in here, packing a 1.3L car with 5 big people's gear, sticking my head, shoulders and feet out the window, partying to I gotta feelin and even unknowingly adding sound effects at the end as I splash through sawcut gorge!

O Week, some hiking, some shenanigans

First day of classes! This is the events fair.. about the only time I've felt alone in Christchurch! Being surrounded by a thousand people I'd never seen before and sorting my way through the booths was rather different when on a different continent

...I did hit the strong man hammer hard enough to break it though... it wasn't back the next day either.

Back up to the Port hills! This was a monday after class, pretty sweet. I NEVER would do this in Rochester, but we had a great hike. Went into Victoria park this time (I'll put the gpx of that up too)

This was a good scramble to get to! Awesome volcanic rock in all directions and Lyttleton down below

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In Antarctic Studies class. We were discussing all the nation's bases before getting a primer on international law and it pertains to sovereignty in territories down there.

EXCITING UPDATE: I FOUND THE PHOTO CAPTION BUTTON IN BLOGGER! No longer need to write my own inline css for EVERY caption I do. It'll look nicer in the next post. The little smatter of web design was kind nice though

It rains here too. This is a few feet outside my window, looking at the common room . The trees beyond are the greenbelt separating us from Ilam ("I lum") fields.

Christchurch Memorial service for the 1 year anniversary of the quake. Quite sobering to have the  Jackhammers running in the background at a building that was just declared to have to come down immediately. 

The best treat on the way back! It even had a inductive sensor buried in the sidewalk that knew I was there!

Lots of fitness classes! I'll be getting my $70 worth for the semester..

Paint party aftermath! I had paint in my scalp, nose and ears for a few days.. it was pretty wild.

Sumner and the Banks Peninsula Forray

It's getting rather late here once again, but here I am with anohter set of picturs I need to get up! Today I had the most amazing weather and activities I have yet!! Took off from Ilam around noon, bussed to Sumner with a few friends, enjoyed the beach and swimming in the (warm!) Pacific, then a pub with free BBQ sandwiches. Mini, but a great snack before a long bike ride.

Looks like I'm on the Mediterranean!

These are Norfolk Pine. Love the layers of branches.

My friends headed home on the bus, but I was just getting started! I headed off up the hill to views of Sumner, the estuary and back toward Christchurch.

Down at the bottom of Taylor's Mistake (named for the ship that thought this was the entrance to Lyttleton harbour). This is the lifesaving club drilling (it's a competitive sport apparently!)

My new (borrowed, thanks Ainsley) bike at Scarborough head

Gorgeous view toward Lyttleton harbor. The forground is a mini cattle (sheep) guard for mountain bikers to cross

Look back at part of my trip. I made it to a little left of the middle before the road was closed due to rockfall.

Diamond Harbour Panorama

If blogger uploaded it right, here's a 45 MegaPixel panorama looking down toward Diamond Harbour and the hills beyond. One of my flatmates grew up a few bays down!

Port Hills Hike

Got out of the "Uni" as they always call it here, and headed for the hills today! Christchurch is very flat but just on the edge of town is the port hills (here's the summit at about 1600'). Jackie (hike advisor all summer in the Adirondaks) and I bussed up to the edge of the park and hiked about 20km from there. It was a GORGEOUS day, no clouds, pleasant breeze and lots of sun (the ozone hole didn't bite today luckily, it did last week though). The hike took us all around the park (I'll probably post a map eventually) and back down a bike trail towards the city. The pictures don't quite get all the beauty, but the fullness of the landscape, great views toward the ocean/ harbor and city and even company of a few sheep made it a spectacular hike, especially for being within the city limits.
Dinner was a little mince with rice, lentils and veggies, and the delicious putoneverything siracha sauce, followed by watching the other IES kids betting on dogs.
If mental bets counted, I doubled my money!

Orientation week

Maybe not the most exciting set of pictures, but we have orientation week here! There are a LOT of events going on, might go to a few, but as with the theme of coming to Christchurch, I'm planning to spend the weekend hiking rather than partying.
International students had to register in person (thank GOODNESS for the internet) and I had to scurry off to the MechE department to find some signatures. As the paper shows, I was approved for everything!
Also got a few shots of the bus map for the city and surrounding area, and campus map if you care to look :)

First week in video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLAOFOKvJYQ!

(Thanks Jackie)

Castle Rock! Up in the mountains

Our day up past Porter's pass on the road to Arthur's pass was great. Everyone in the group got a kick out of watching me scamper alllll over allll the rocks in the Castle Rock area. There was great climbing to be had, even some top ropes! I didn't bring my shoes down unfortunately.. need to get those sent or buy a pair! Very fun, fairly sunburnt and man did I sleep well at the hostel we stayed at - Smylie's, excellent place to sleep if you're ever in the Springfield area!

The other pictures are in the "cave stream" area. It's pretty clear that at one point the stream took a left turn where the entrace to the cave is now (railing picture looks downstream in the little valley that would have been the streambed). Today you can spelunk through the cave without much trouble. Need your torch though - not a straight shot at all. Golum would be well suited here.