TravelStream™ news feed for member sarahteveldal on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/sarahteveldal en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:17:08 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1228916340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1228916340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1228916340/tpod.html Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:17:08 -0500 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Chaweng, Ko Samui, Thailand

Thailand continued...

From Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand, Anca and I flew to Koh Samui, an island off the south east coast of the country. Here we stayed for 5 nights in a resort on the beach. It was quite rough I tell you. But for $15 a night per person I wasn't going to complain too much.

You can probably imagine how we spent our days-- not much too it. Sunning ourselves on the beach all day and enjoying the occasional massage and Thai beer. We made plenty of local friends since many roam up and down the beaches all day trying to sell everything from masks to beach toys and jewelery to tourists. They are constantly asking you to buy from them; we discovered that befriending them stopped the hassling.

We were lucky enough to be there during the infamous Full Moon Party which takes place (you guessed it) during every full moon. It's basically known to be one of the biggest raves in the world that takes place on the beaches of the near island Koh Pagnan. DJ's pump out music from the early afternoon until the sun rises the next day. We met 2 awesome gals from Australia that day and took speed boat taxi to the island with them that night to experience the madness. We had a great time and (FYI mom and dad, made good decisions ;)

We also met many other travelers. This area is all built around tourism. You could relate it in this way: Thailand is to Europe as Mexico is to America. I didn't realize that it was such a neat vacation destination. I would definitely like to go back someday and see more of the islands. If you've seen the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo Di Caprio, it is filmed on Phi Phi island in Thailand. There are many beautiful places and many things to do. It is known for some of the best diving in the world and is a great place for rock climbing and other extreme sports.

Well my time in New Zealand is nearly over. I've gotten the opportunity to do a bit more traveling of the South Island, note the photos attached. On December 15 a friend from College, Lindsey Nelson and I will be flying up to the North Island where we'll travel for 8 days and then fly to Australia. I'll be in Melbourne for Christmas with a group of friends and then we'll be renting two vans between 7 of us and driving up the east coast to Sydney for New Years. After our little road trip, my friends will fly to their homes and I'll stay in the country. Potentially I'll be spending a year in Australia!

So I'd like to wish you all a very very Merry Christmas and times that by TEN because I won't be able to spend it with you this year. I'll be missing you but you'll be in my heart (awwww :)

Cheers to all!!! and HAPPY NEW YEAR! see you in 2009 folks!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1228223100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1228223100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1228223100/tpod.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:21:55 -0500 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

Hello again,

In continuation from where I left off on my last entry, Anca and I spent a few more days in Chiang Mai...

On DAY TWO we did a tour of a Burmese village where the women spent their days weaving fine silks. They live off the land and obviously any income they need comes from the tourism profits. It felt like we were intruding tourists but they carried on with their normal lives and seemed very welcoming. In the end, we're both benefiting from each other I suppose.

From there we did a long walk through rice fields, to a waterfall, and then another small village that sold handmade crafts. A quick stop for some quality homemade Thai food filled us up and got us ready for our next adventure, elephant riding!

We rode elephants in pairs up into the jungle, to the top of a hill for great views and back down just before it started to rain. This experience was way better than the circus-- there were no scary clowns and there were only two or three people per elephant instead of ten. The best part was feeding our elephant bananas as we went along... my elephant, however, was the delinquent one of the bunch, refusing to move unless we fed it bananas continuously. It was like, A.D.D. elephant. That's okay though, just meant I enjoyed a longer ride!

Onto the next part of our adventure trip: rafting down the river! It was still raining at this point but we didn't care, we knew we were probably going to get wet anyways. The rafts were probably about 15 feet long and only 3 feet wide, made of tied together logs. We had three people on a raft plus a Thai guide guy who directed and steered us with a really long stick. They didn't speak English but still played around with us, splashing us with water and having a laugh. We got to see wild elephants and villages here and there along the way. No pics from this as I didn't have my camera.

Later that night we toured the hundreds of stands in the night markets.

DAY 3

We decide to spend the day traveling around the city and visiting temples as there are many many temples in Chiang Mai. The first one we go to is located right near our hostel. As we walk to the entrance we are approached by a tuk tuk driver who introduces himself and makes friendly conversation. He tells us that for only 100 Baht ($3) he can take us to a bunch of different temples around the city as well as a couple of factory shops where we can buy souvenirs and see how things are made. He showed us a route on the map and we liked the plan! So we visited our first temple then hopped in our tuk tuk. He took us to one temple and then another and then long story short, spent the rest of the day taking us to many factories where he earned a commission for taking us tourists there.

Now, don't get me wrong, even though that wasn't our plan, we still enjoyed our little "detour". We visited a The world's largest jewelery store (which, I personally think, was pretty small. but who's checking, right?) also an umbrella "village" where they painted on umbrellas, a Jade factory, a Carving factory, a Leather factory, an Icecream factory, a Silk factory, and a Carpet factory. and I probably missed one...okay I guess we didn't visit an Icecream factory, but I wish...

We were exhausted by the end of the day, didn't really see much for temples, but came back with plenty of souvenirs and a brief education on the processes of making each of the products.

That night we spoiled ourselves with 1 hour full body massages-- did I mention Thai massage is known to be the best in the world? I met people from the states that were there just to study it. For only 250 Baht ($7.50) I got 60 minutes of pure relaxation. And with that, we're ready to fly! The next day takes us on a flight to Koh Samui, an Island off the lower east coast of the country where it's a completely different scene.

So more to come! Stay tuned...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1224388920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1224388920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1224388920/tpod.html Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:15:49 -0500 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Bangkok, Thailand

Hello to all!

Seems as if Thailand and Christchurch have gotten the best of me. Since I've been back in New Zealand I have hardly touch my computer. So here's my little update on life and the two week vacation I took in September.

I'm back in Christchurch now, trying to make back the money I spent in Thailand. oops. well spent though. Seems like I can't get away from those Irish pubs. I'm now working at a different one from before, called Sullivans. For once in my life I'm not doing table service, no food orders, yay! Basically just working behind the bar which is good fun most of the time.

I'm also working 10 hours a week in exchange for rent for my roomate Kurt, (photographer) doing graphic design work and dropping off leaflets around town. The leaflet dropping has been a great way to see the city and since he's sending me to the more "well-to-do" neighborhoods, I'm getting to see some gorgeous houses. The houses here are a bit different than back home. All very original looking. Most don't have lawns, just gardens of bushes, flowering trees, and sprawling plants. Each house is surrounded by a fence unlike how ours are usually just separated by a driveway.

Okay well Christchurch is boring to me right now. I'm over it. (maybe you can tell with my quick, lack of writing about the above subject)....Just waiting to get to Australia in December! Although I do make time to do fun things here and there. Last week I tried surfing for the first time and then a couple days later went snow skiing up in the mountains. Will throw some pictures on here later about that.

Okay on to Thailand!!!!

First of all, it took me awhile to get there. My flight from Chicago to Narita Japan was delayed thus causing me to miss my flight from Japan to Bangkok. I was put up in a hotel at the airport in Narita because the next flight out wasn't until the next day. So that was an experience in itself. All alone in Japan, what do I do?! Well you watch some Japanese television and try to figure out the Japanese vending machines. I had a good rest and was off the next morning.

Touched down in Bangkok. It is a FAST-PACED outta-control city. People say you either love it or hate it. Well, I decided in the first 10 minutes of being their that I hated it. But then again, hate's a pretty strong word, maybe there's a small part of me that actually found it quite intriguing. But anyways, my first 20 minutes of Bangkok were spent in the backseat of a taxi with a non-english speaking driver, sliding around without the option of a seatbelt. The man, and well, everybody else on the 6-lane road were swerving in and out of the speeding traffic with no signal to warn. I actually know what a proper high-speed chase would be like thanks to Bangkok. All I could do was say my prayers and hope the guy got the address right. To add to the madness, motorbikes accounted for a third of the traffic and evidently it is completely normal to fit an entire family on one little moped. Helmet-less baby and all. No exaggerations people!

Well I ended up getting dropped off at the intended address. I was to be meeting Anca at Heidi and Matt's Apartment, an American couple (family of a friend) who offered to let us stay with them. I paid my taxi driver and then walked to the building he pointed at.

Yep, definitely NOT the right one. Let's get a visual for you:

So here I am, standing on the side of a packed, busy, slow moving, one way traffic road that looks like an alley with a neon orange backpack on my back...(mind you, this thing can easily hold a five-year-old, and that's about how heavy it was) and then a regular backpack hung on my front with my purse slung over my shoulder. The air was just thick with humidity and the temperature around 85 degrees. (felt like 100) I had to keep moving around just so I wouldn't tip over. What the hell am I supposed to do now? Go from building to building like this? Everyone is staring at the blonde American white girl right now and it's not funny. And then, believe it or not, like straight out of the movies, I realize I am 30 feet from a payphone. But not just any payphone-- this is a beat up, graffitied, broken-looking, FOREIGN phone.

And so before panic can settle in too much, I pack myself and my bags into the sauna room, grab whatever Thai change I had from the airport and start feeding it coins as if it's a slot machine. (I need to win big). On my second try, believe it or not, I got ahold of Heidi!

She sent Anca out to greet me and we had our big reunion right there in the chaos of Bangkok. :)

So moving on: We spent that night and the next day in Bangkok. We took the sky-train to get places, so saw a bit of the city that way. We got manicures and pedicures and went shopping at a MASSIVE mall where everything is cheap as chips. We bought our fruit breakfast at a market and ate a nasty lunch on the street from boiling kettles. For dinner we met up with Heidi and Matt and ate at a Lebanese restaurant.

Bangkok: seen it. done. don't want to go back.

We bought our tickets for Chiang Mai and flew out the next morning.

I've tried uploading photos from around Bangkok, but for some reason some of them became corrupted in the process.

So moving onto Chiang Mai, much more interesting anyways.

Chiang Mai is large, but not as modern as Bangkok. There is much more culture, it seems older, poorer. There are massive markets everywhere and not a shopping mall in site. A river runs through it and there are temples everywhere. We take a taxi to the center and walk around to find a backpackers hostel. We end up getting a room with two double beds for about $12 a night. Not luxury, but you won't find that here. It's homey and friendly, kind of clean, and all you need.

Our main mode of transportation for the next 4 days is "tuk tuks". Little motorized three-wheeled vehicles with room for 2 passengers. Same idea as a taxi, but much more fun! You're in the open air cruising along feeling, well, a bit like western royalty to say the least...

The first day we walked around the city a bit and found a great English Pub owned by an English man who married a Thai woman. They were both so friendly, we felt like we had a place we could call "home" for the time we were there. She cooked us amazing thai meals and we all exchanged jokes, laughs and stories. I think we ate there every day!

That night we went to the zoo to check out their "Night Safari", one of the three largest in the world. The park is massive and open, the animals are out in the open with each other, deer with the lions, giraffes with the alligators. We rode a tram through it and spotlights pointed out the animals.

In the main entrance workers were walking around with young elephants. We fed them bananas and petted them. Later on Anca and I ordered fruit at a stand and one of the elephants came straight up to me and tried to take it out of my hand! It's cool to be in a country where there are not as many restrictions on things. They're not as guarded as western cultures, you can't sue people here!

I'm getting a bit winded and this is getting quite long so I will continue in the near future!

Happy Halloween folks! Miss you!

Sarah
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1220286660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1220286660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1220286660/tpod.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:35:27 -0400 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Britton, South Dakota, United States

I tried to make a promise to myself that if I was going to do this blogging thing, I would have to stick to it and not get behind. Well I I'm pretty proud of myself, I didn't do too bad documenting the first couple of months I was in New Zealand, but I did leave off right in the middle of the one roadtrip I took when I was there. I'll attach a few more pics from that, but the main purpose of this entry is to update you on where I'm at now.

First of all: I have to thank you all. I came back to the states in May to spend a couple of months to visit and ended up staying for four months. I am so blessed to have such amazing family and friends and am so grateful for the support you've given me while living out my dream. One of the most valuable things I've learned from this experience is to really enjoy where I'm at at the time and who I'm with. Knowing that I only get so much time with people, whether it was the people I met in New Zealand or the friends I hung out with this summer or time with family, (like seeing my niece walk and get smarter and smarter everyday) has made me appreciate each moment where before I may have taken it for granted. What a simple thing to realize in life!! I just want to make clear how thankful I am for all of you.

Here's my plans, most of you already know, but just to give you dates: I am flying out of Minneapolis on Friday, September 5th to Bangkok Thailand. It's over 20 hours of flying--yuck! My flight will be getting in on Saturday at 11:50 pm. I'll be meeting my roomate that I lived with in New Zealand there, (Anca) and we'll be spending 2 weeks traveling all around the country. It's extremely inexpensive there. You can stay in a hostel for a couple of dollars or get a 4 or 5 star hotel room on the beach for under $30. A large Thai meal on the street might cost you a dollar. (who knows what's in it though, right?) No, actually the Thai people are known for making some pretty amazing food. Thai cooking classes are a popular tourist activity.

The country is fairly large, Bangkok has millions of people, very advanced, crowded, busy. But outside of the city, the culture is extremely modest. It's not uncommon to see fully clothed Thais swimming in the ocean. Almost 100% of the people are buddhist, and they practice prayers and offerings daily. I am so excited to visit the ancient temples and learn more about their history and culture. One of the things I want to do is a 2-3 day trek/tour in the northern part. Guides will take you through the jungles to different hill tribes and historical sites.

We'll both fly back to Christchurch New Zealand on September 20th. I'll be living in the same place, with Anca, Kurt, and now another gal from Australia whom I haven't met yet. I'm pretty sure I could go back to waitressing at the Pub I was working at before, but I would like to try to find something new if I can. I'm looking into care jobs online. Most involve working with the disabled or elderly in their homes. Positions are very part time, several hours a day, so doing that and waitressing or working in a coffee shop would be ideal.

Because our economy is, well, basically falling apart here in America, New Zealand is feeling the effects there as well. Kurt (my photographer roommate who I did graphic design for) cut down his assistant Sarah's hours from full time to just one day a week due to a lack of incoming business. We were starting to really push and market his portraiture part of business when I was leaving last time so it will be interesting to see how that is going when I get back.

To add to that: When I first arrived there in January last year, I could not believe how many people would ask me who I was voting for for president this year. They are just as, if not more (than some people) interested in our politics as we are! I found a huge appreciation for that and was reminded of the role our politics have in the rest of the world. So don't forget to vote, people!!!

New Zealand only offers 1 year work visas and mine will be expiring in January of 2009. So on December 20th I will be heading to Australia to spend a year working there. The transition will be easier than I thought. I am lucky to have 4 friends that will be taking vacation during that time from their New Zealand jobs so we will all go over together. We'll be spending Christmas in Melbourne at one of the friend's parent's house, then drive up the coast to be in Sydney for New Years. After that we'll keep heading north to the gold coast, a.k.a. surfers paradise. My friends will head back on January 10th and I will be staying.

I have two friends from college that will be in Australia at the time. One girl will be working in Brisbane and the other going to college in Newcastle, just north of Sydney. It'll be nice to know that I'll have people I can count on if I need a couch to crash on while I'm finding a place of my own to live. I'd like to find more graphic design work if I can and possible even work with a photography studio again.

So that's the tentative plan!

Attached are photos from last April/May. For the last part of Stacie's and my trip around the South Island we took a boat cruise around Milford Sound. Some have called it the "Eighth Wonder of the World". It's a fjord with towering cliffs and lush rainforests. Seals, penguins, and dolphins can be found here and with it being one of the wettest places in the world, dozens of waterfalls cascade down the shear cliff faces.

The other photos included are from various places in Christchurch. I took them a couple of days before I left in May, during the first part of their fall season.

Thanks again for all your love and support. I will be missing you so much this next year so please keep in touch and drop me a line sometime! And one other thing to add, every time I go somewhere new it just makes me think of how much I appreciate where I come from. There's no place like home!!!

I'll leave you with a well known Maori saying (Maori are the indiginous people of NZ).

Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, Kia tere karohirohi i mua i tou huarahi.

May calm be spread around you, may the sea glisten like greenstone and the shimmer of summer dance across your path.

Sarah
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1206076140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1206076140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1206076140/tpod.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:20:42 -0400 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Wanaka, New Zealand

So where did I leave off....

We left Franz Joseph and worked our way down the coastline. With thick rainforest on the left and stunning ocean scenery on the right, the three hour drive was nothing short of breathtaking. About half of the drive wound us through the mountains until we got to our destination, Wanaka. This small city sits on a beautiful lake spotted with all sorts of recreational activities--skiing, wakeboarding, sailing, fishing. We find our hostel right away, "The Purple Cow Backpackers". The rooms are just as cool as the name. Again we stay in a little cabin like room with its own kitchen and bathroom. There are two bunk beds this time, and our only other "roomate" is a lovely English girl with an awesome name--Sarah :) She was on a round-the-world ticket and had just come from the states before New Zealand. Soon she was heading on to Vietnam. We've been so lucky so far to have shared rooms with such interesting and friendly people.

There's not much to do in Wanaka, it's more of just a stopping point for us before we get to Queenstown, our main stop. We took a drive around the city and chilled by the lake. After seeing many tourists and backpackers fill the sidewalks during the day, we figure there might be a bit of a nightlife in town so we went out to have some drinks, only to find the place almost completely deserted. Somehow, we still managed to have a good time. (of course!)

The next day we drove an hour and a half to Queenstown, considered New Zealand's adrenaline-activity capitol. There are so many things to do here: bungy-jumping, caving, rafting, sledging, jetboating, skiing, skydiving, hanggliding, luging, and more. The scenery is amazing, Queenstown also sits next to a lake, Lake Wakatipu which is thousands of feet deep formed by the glaciers millions of years ago. (sorry for the vague number estimates).

All morning our stomachs have been turning (and no, it's not from the beer the night before, haha) we are preparing ourselves for the third largest bungy jump in the world at 440 feet! We've scheduled a jump for later that afternoon. The time comes and we hop on a bus for an hour ride out to the site. We see the platform hanging on a cable out in the middle of this MASSIVE canyon with rocks and a wee little river hundreds of feet below it. What are we THINKING?!! In groups of 5 they take us out to the middle, about 20 of us in all. One by one we get harnessed up and freak every time someone disappears over the ledge. Everyone is coming up with smiling faces (the best part--they're coming back up). We're getting really pumped up and nervous all at the same time. One girl is practically bawling out of fear and sobbing uncontrollably--this is not helping. Out of the two of us, I was the first to jump. In two minutes I'm hooked up "um, you wanna double check that? maybe triple check it?" .... I waddle my way to the edge, apologizing to the guy leading me for grasping onto his shorts. He tells me not to look down, yeah right buddy, I would like to see the ground i'll be heaving myself towards, thankyou.

Three...two...one...

I don't even give myself that extra second to look like a wus, on three I go and for 8.5 seconds freefall into thin air. I can't describe what that feeling is like, but I've never felt that way before. The rebound up was smooth and graceful, not a whiplash like you would think. On the second bounce I pulled a cord and from there was flipped upright in a sitting position and was able to take in the majestic view of the valley and the river rushing below me. It was such a high. I would definitely do it again and again! Stacie enjoyed her jump just as much as I did. We have a good video of her jump, mine didn't really turn out. The world's highest jump is located in China--bring it on!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1205838480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1205838480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1205838480/tpod.html Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:41:46 -0400 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Franz Josef, New Zealand

Sunday: We've been prayin' for sunlight, but wake up to the rain again. We cross our fingers things will clear up because we've scheduled a 5 hour glacier hike for the afternoon in Franz Josef. Luckily, after an hour of driving the sun decides to work it's way out. Yay! The 3 hour drive down to Franz Joseph all along the west coast is stunning. Everything is very rainforest/jungle-like. The mountains are just THICK with trees and vegetation.

The Franz Joseph glacier is ...well, let's skip my description and make this easier. ahem--just going to take it straight from the brochure:

"From its origins high in the Southern Alps, the Franz Josef Glacier descends deep into the lush rainforest of Westland National Park. This offers novice visitors the opportunity to explore the most spectacular glacier environment anywhere in the world". And there you have it. We were guided by professionals up steep rocks down cliffsides, through the river (and into the woods, to grandma's house we go...) and up steep ice stairs. It was something I will never forget, standing on the massive ice that carved the valley we stood in. It was breathtaking and powerful. I could try to use all these descriptive words to tell you what the waterfalls were like, what it was like tramping through the river or down steep ravines guided by rope, but really it's just one of those experiences you can't justify with words. So I'll leave you with the pictures and your imagination...

That night we got the very last hostel room in town, an awesome new cabin with 3 bunk beds and it's own bathroom. We stayed with 3 kiwi middle-aged biker men. They totally reminded me of the movie Wild Hogs. You don't find many older people staying in hostels (obviously because they can afford the luxury of a hotel) but you could tell these guys were out to have a good time and to "relive those younger days" A little japanese girl that was traveling on her own shared the room with us as well.

Still to come: Wanaka and Queenstown...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1205403000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1205403000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1205403000/tpod.html Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:22:34 -0400 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Punakaiki, New Zealand

Stacie, a friend of mine from college took off on her spring break and came to visit me here in New Zealand. She's been planning the trip for months now and I impatiently awaited her arrival. Finally I was going to get to leave the city! Our plans were to rent a car and travel the South Island--and that we did. I will be writing a series of blogs to detail the trip.

I picked Stacie up at the Christchurch airport at 8:00 in the morning Friday, March 1. I was so excited to see someone from home! (got a bit teary-eyed, not gonna lie). We spent the day in Christchurch, letting her jetlag wear off. I took her to the botanical gardens and then to Sumner Beach where she saw the ocean for THE FIRST TIME!!! She was so excited. This was my first time to Sumner Beach. It has an awesome rock formation with caves that've been washed out by the water that you can walk through. A small lighthouse sits on top where a romantic married couple were taking pictures by.

That night we hit the hay early; we had a big day of driving planned for the next day!

Saturday: Our adventure started as soon as we jumped in our car--on opposite sides, stearing wheel on the right. Note: I made it a point to purchase extra insurance. :) We should've plastered an American flag sticker right next to our "Backpacker Rental" sticker on the bumper. It would've went along with all the screaming we did in the first three blocks of driving. We didn't even get out of the parking garage and the car was making funny noises. Great, did we get a crappy car? No, it took us a block to figure out that our hand brake was on. Awesome--this is going to be an interesting trip. It doesn't stop there though. After we figure the "funny noise" out, we take our first right onto another street. Stacie is navigating and reminding me to stay on the left side of the road when I turn, got that down...BUT all of the sudden a car is coming at us in our lane!!! So I crank the car into the first place I can turn into and we take a deep breath. I'm thinking "Idiot!"--I turned onto a one way! So I pull out into the street, vowing to be more careful, only to realize that it actually wasn't a one way, it was the other car that was in the WRONG LANE. haha, stupid tourists...

We're on our way. We just needed to get out of the city and the driving would be simple. It ended up raining all day. Was not a very pleasant start to the trip. We drove 4 hours to the west coast through the mountains. These mountains were so amazing, much different from any I've seen before. They shot up into the sky with at such a steep slant, that you would come around one mountain and another would be right next to your car. It wasn't like the mountains in Colorado for example, where you're just gradually getting to them and all of the sudden you realize you're halfway up. These ones just towered above you. (Remember Lord of the Rings? Reminder, it was all filmed in NZ)

We made our way up to Punakaki, a small town next to the sea where we walked out to the "Pancake Rocks". These huge rock formations are limestone that's been weathered for over 100,000 years and now look like stacks of pancakes.

That night we stayed in a backpackers hostel in the small town of Greymouth. It's only $20-$30 to stay in hostels in New Zealand so that was our means of accomodation for the entire trip. For those that aren't familiar with hostel situations, most offer 6-8 person dorm rooms. You can also pay more to get your own room or shared with just one other. Most hostels have a communal kitchen and lounge. Our room was a four-person room, with one bed being a double. Stacie and I shared the double bed and we were joined by a Polish man who was on vacation for a month and a younger English bloke who was hilarious! Had great conversation with both.

To be continued...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1204107240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1204107240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1204107240/tpod.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:36:18 -0500 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Christchurch, New Zealand

Okay so it's been awhile since I've written a blog. I told myself I wouldn't slack, not only am I keeping everyone at home updated, but I'm trying to keep record of my trip for myself; it's my digital journal you could say.

There's a reason for the slack though, work and fun have been consuming a lot of my time! I started working for my flatmate Kurt doing small graphic design jobs here and there. We've been working on magazine ads and invoice layouts and eventually will get going on some brochures. I'm really excited to be doing this so I can keep up on my computer program skills that I feel seem to be lacking since I graduated college. So I work here and there for him during the day and 5 nights a week at the Bog. I've been lucky to get a lot of weekends off. It's fun working there at times, but it's real busy almost every night of the week. I meet a lot of Americans because many work in Antarctica through the military or through other jobs and come stay in Christchurch on their time off. Ha-they're always a big plus because we know they'll tip :)

I recently turned (oh no) another year older, if you don't know how old--too bad, I'm not telling. So last friday we had people over for a gathering--um, (well, a party)...a 70's theme party at that. And the bonus of living with a photographer: we went crazy with a photo shoot. I think we took almost 250 photos! I'll just post a couple on here :) It was hard not being home for my birthday, but everyone made a big effort to make the day special for me. And the best part-- my first birthday ever in the SUMMER!!!!

I finally got out of Christchurch for the first time since I've been here, but it was just literally over the hill to the next city only a few miles away--Lyttleton. Lyttleton is a small little harbour town with lot's of little cheeky restaraunts and shops. They had a street fair there on Sunday so Anca and I took the bus there to check it out. It was funny--I ran into three different groups of people I knew; made me feel like I'm becoming a part of this place.

My good college friend Stacie is arriving here Friday morning from the states. She'll be here for one week and I'm so excited because I'll finally get to see some of the scenery everyone's been raving about!!! We're renting a car for the week and touring the South Island. I have a route all planned out. We'll be staying in hostels and spending only a day or two in each town we go to. Mom and Dad--you'll be proud of me--I spent the extra money on insurance for the car (you taught me well) haha, I figured two girls trying to drive on the left side of the road for the first time distracted by stunning scenery gives good reason. Wish us luck, most of you know how I drive :) (maybe even say a prayer or two, thanks).

(included are a few photos from the city: Canterbury University, one of the Botanical Gardens, and one of the Art Event Center--there are many specialty shops here, outdoor events/festivals, and cafe shops)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1202341320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1202341320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1202341320/tpod.html Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:05:40 -0500 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Christchurch, New Zealand

Sunday: Went to the beach with friends. It was windy and the water here is really cold so we just did some sunbathing. You definitely need to lather on the sunscreen or you'll burn in 5 minutes! Even though the water's too cold to swim in, there's plenty of other things to keep you entertained. People play rugby, there's kite-boarders (people on large skateboards cruising on the sand powered by the kites blowing in the wind), seagulls are everywhere--they're entertaining if you're not the one they're hassling for food. You can walk for hours on the beach and come across all sorts of shells, sea plants, and bright blue jelly-fish. There's surfers, boogie-boarders, and kite flyers. There's also the pier, a library, and plenty of cafes and fish-and-chips places.

Super Bowl MONDAY: The big game was on here at noon on Monday. An American friend and I planned to meet up at "The Holy Grail" to watch the game. Thinking we'd be the only people in the bar, I was extremely surprised to get there and see the bar was PACKED with at least 300 people or more. I couldn't believe it! We watched the game on a 15 foot screen--go Giants! Afterwards we went and ate at The Bog, the Irish Bar I wanted to get a job at. Talked to the manager over his smoke break and in 5 minutes I had a job, starting the next morning.

Tuesday: Without much training, just jumped into the waitressing job. This is working out much better than the marketing job. The staff I work with are so fun and friendly. I love the atmosphere! Every night there is live music. Tuesday's always has a 20 piece band of every sort of instrument playing Irish music all night long. The bar gets so packed that I have to crawl over people just to get back to the kitchen. It's busy and fast-paced, but I like it. Considering its location, the majority of the customers are travelers. It's a challenge to understand all the different accents and choice-words. I get made fun of regularily for a lot of things I say. It's not a schedule, it's a roster. It's not a tablet, it's a docket. It's not silverware, it's cutlery. There's so much to get used to, but that's what I'm here for--the challenge!

It's not customary to tip in New Zealand so the way they do things at The Bog are entirely different from what I'm used to. We all wait on all the tables since you're not working for tips. So one person might take the drink order, someone else the food order. Everyone runs the food and just EVERYONE DOES EVERYTHING! Personally, I think this makes for really poor service because you have no way of knowing who's done what unless you can see it or they tell you. It's just a little less structured than what I'm used to. Check out the website for more pics/info etc. http://www.thebog.co.nz/christchurch/

Wednesday: Today was a national holiday--Waitangi day; it celebrates the signing of the Treat of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document signed in 1840. Most people get the day of of work. It is also Bob Marley's birthday so a group of us went to the beach where a small "One Love" festival with reggae music was held.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1201923480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1201923480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarahteveldal/1/1201923480/tpod.html Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:57:27 -0500 Sweet as bro! Adventures in New Zealand

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Christchurch, New Zealand

So my first day on the job was quite interesting. Basically, I became the person I hated. My job: stop as many people as possible in the mall and try to get them to sign up for month to month donations for Unicef. I tried to stay as open minded as possible; I was working for a great company doing something that would eventually teach me valuable people skills and would teach me how to sell. I could also go home at night feeling good that I was raising awareness and money for a great charity. The pay was commission-based, but really good. For each sale, we were paid $70 and most people averaged 3 sales a day. On my first day I made one sale--everybody back in the office was very impressed, this was encouraging. On my second day, I made 4 sales, my boss and fellow employees were so surprised, as was I. So maybe I wasn't bad at this! So adding up all the positives, I felt like this was a great job, a real job, and something other than waitressing that I can put on my resume. I was movin' on up...

...except for the fact that: I ABSOLUTELY HATED DOING IT!!! I hated selling and bothering and annoying and having old men tell me that these kids are just going to GROW UP AND BOMB US ANYWAYS (so the answers were to just get rid of them). yep. And the hours-- I was to be at work at 7:30 in the morning and didn't get home until 7 at night. I didn't come to New Zealand for this! Sooo, after 3 days of wanting to stab my eyes out with a fork, I QUIT. Ugh, it was so hard to do, but I guess, at the same time, easy.

Back to waitressing I guess...

There's an Irish Pub across the street from my apt. that has a really "chill crowd". It has bands every night of the week so I think it would be a fun atmosphere. And I love that NZ has no smoking in the pubs, I'll be able to breathe. Just took my resume there today, waiting to hear back from them.

Since I quit my job on Thursday, I had all of Friday for myself. I went to the Cathedral Square a couple blocks away and watched a band, people playing a life-size chess game, and artists painting a huge mural. Later that night I went along with my roomate Anca and her work friends to a Mexican-themed pub where they had a Latin dancing night. These people were so good!
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