Posts tagged nz
October 28, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, backpacking, bike dunedin, bike new zealand, bike otago, blog new zealand, dunedin, dunedin new zealand, mountain bike new zealand, mountain bike nz, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, new zealand mountain biking, nz, nz bike, nz blog, outdoor adventure, recreation blog, swap working holidays, travel, travel blog, traveling, travelling, travelling new zealand, work new zealand, working overseas
By day 5 I was tired and didnt mind that the weather went to shit. It was windy, cold and rainy.
Last day of the trip and the weather went crook! It was all grey skies, wind and rain. To be honest I really didn’t mind too much as I was pretty tired and my knee was stiff from my crash. Mark and I had a good break fast of salmon, bacon and eggs. Cant say I didn’t eat well on this trip! Mark is an advocate for big feeds and big rides.
After breakie I cleaned my bike pretty thoroughly and packed up my gear in the camper. My flight was at 6 and I was ready to go by 1. I decided to head back to the airport and chill there as I figured Mark had shit to do. I was at the airport by 2pm, broke down my bike for transport and then it was time to wait. I had pretty much 4 hours to kill at the Dunedin Airport. If you have ever been to the Dunedin Airport you would know there really isn’t much to do. I ended up laying on a bench watching television. First Ellen and then some Moari show.. ya I was pretty bored. I have to say I was living up to the dirty backpacker sterotype as my clothers were muddy, I hadn’t shaved all week and looked like a dirtbag.
As soon as I boarded my flight I fell asleep and awoke to a flight attendant asking me to turn off my airport as we were about to land. Once on the ground I got my bike and bag and jumped on the airport bus. 40 minutes later I was home. I then unpacked my bike gear, repacked my bag for my work trip/Hanmer Springs trip and went to bed. The next morning I had to be back at the airport at 7am to catch a flight to Wellington for work.
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September 30, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, AUCKLAND, auckland blog, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, bike, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, christchurch, dunedin mountain biking, hanmer springs, iep new zealand, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike dunedin, mountain biking, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, new zealand mountain biking, nz, nz blog, outdoor adventure, ride new zealand, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling new zealand, wellington, work abroad, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad, working overseas, www.swap.ca
After doing back to back winters my prayers are being answered! Warmer than usual temperatures are being predicted across the whole of New Zealand in late spring. This is great news and hopefully (fingers-crossed) it will come true. There has been a lot of rain in my life the last couple months and I’m done with it. I had tomorrow off to head down to Rotorua to do some riding, but a big storm is moving through and luckily I’ve been able to postpone it until next Friday! I’m pretty stoked to get back to back days in riding! I was actually thinking I may do one day in Rotorua and then one day in Taupo, since I’ve never ridden there.
This good weather will hopefully arrive for my 5-day mountain bike ride down south in Dunedin. I am camping the entire time so I’m hoping that it won’t be raining! My buddy Mark is letting me camp at his place.. cheap accommodation! It should be pretty epic and I am hoping my fitness will be ok. It will be 4 days in a row of 6-8 hour rides I think. It will be a variety of tracks as well. There should be a couple day of single track with huge climbs and a couple days of downhilling.. yeeha!
After my time in Dunedin I am heading home and the next morning I am off to Wellington and Christchurch for 2 days of work. It is going to be a whirlwind! I am going to be beat to hell for those two days in Wellington and Christchurch. I rode with Mark for 2 days straight about 4months ago and my body hated me, so 5 days should really put me through the ringer! After my 2 day work trip Michelle is flying into meet in Christchurch. The next morning we are getting a car and heading down to Hanmer Springs to hike the Mt Isobel track – 6 hour track return. After the hike we will hit up the hot springs and mineral pools! That night we will be staying at a lodge where we will be getting massages and being pampered! Not bad eh! The following we will head back to Christchurch for flight home.
October is going to fly. Im pretty busy with work and a few riding trips too. Now that the nice weather is arriving ill definitely be putting some km’s on Priscilla! Im sure there will be a couple more trips to Rotorua to ride and Ive heard Napier has a sick mountain bike park.. so I have to check that out!
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May 21, 2010 · Filed under NEW ZEALAND, WORK · Tagged backpack new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians working abroad, hamilton, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz, nz blog, swap working holidays, swap.ca, travel blog, travelling new zealand, work abroad, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working overseas
I cant believe I am stuck in this city for another day. We have an info session at 5pm so we have all day to waste. We really should have organized the info session for lastnight, as we could have left last night, saved some coin on accommodation and wouldn’t have had to spent any more time in the Tron. Fuck me!
We had to check out of our shite hotel by 10am and then we decided we would go to the public library to do some work. At all of the fairs we’ve been attending we have run a promotion; Join our mailing and list and you have the chance to win a Work USA program and free flight to the USA through STA. There has been plenty of interest, as students love free, so we have a lot of data entry to do – names, emails and programs of interest. Hell day! Im not a fan of data entry and im not a fan of Hamilton – so long ass shite day!
We finished that up and then hit up a food court for a late lunch/dinner. After that it was off to the venue for the info session to set-up. The info session was actually pretty good, had about 25 people attend so I would consider it a success. The session lasted about 2 hours and then we were on the road back to Auckland. Goodbye Tron.. I hope I never see you again.
I have taken Friday off as I have a lot of lieu time to use from this trip. The weather in Auckland is rainy. Sounds like winter is here – rain all day, all night! Reminds be of winter in Vancouver.
There is an industry party on Friday night.. sweet as! Trying to get some riding in on Sat and Sunday other than that, it’s time to relax and catch up with Michelle.
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May 21, 2010 · Filed under NEW ZEALAND, WORK · Tagged backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working overseas, change of life, hamilton, iep new zealand, live and work in new zealand, NEW ZEALAND, nz, nz blog, swap working holidays, swap.ca, work in new zealand, work new zealand
Today I was up at about 6:00am as Amy and I had to head off early to Hamilton for a career fair at the University of Waikato. Ive only heard negative things about Hamilton or as a lot of locals call it the Tron. Well it lived up to it. What a boring hole of a place. The career fair was brutal, very slow traffic and the uni kids really didn’t seem to interested. I guess they all want to stay in Hamilton. It kind of reminded me of being in Palmy – another place to skip if you are visiting NZ.
After the fair Amy and I checked into our accommodation, The Victoria Suites. What a shit hole. It was cold, drafty and all under construction. The room was huge, but that didn’t help when trying to warm it up with one little ass heater! So far the Tron has not impressed!
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May 12, 2010 · Filed under NEW ZEALAND, WORK · Tagged adventure, AUCKLAND, auckland blog, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, canterbury university, christchurch, iep new zealand, NEW ZEALAND, nz, swap, swap working holidays, travel new zealand, travelling new zealand, work abroad, work christchurch, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad, working in christchurch, working overseas
Today Amy and I did a free coffee giveaway at Canterbury University. The plan was to give away about 200 cups of coffee to students and let them know about the opportunity they have to go the US with IEP NZ. After bbq’n 300 sausages in an hour, I figured we would get rid of 200 cups of coffee in well under an hour. Well I was wrong! It took us 4 hours to get rid of all the coffee. We were set-up in the main walkway between a 4 buildings and I was asking every student that went by if they wanted a coffee or thought about working and living in US or Canada – promote, promote, promote. It’s funny though, we gave away 200 cups of coffee and over 600 brochures. I would have thought they would have jumped at the free coffee and steered away from the brochures, but it was the exact opposite. So the day was actually a success.
We finished up around 2pm and decided we deserved a good feed, so we headed off downtown. We found a food plaza and got some eats. It was cloudy/cool day with a chilly wind so it was nice to be inside and to finally warm up. I did have my share off coffee, but I was starting to crash a little.
After our feed we headed back to the hotel (the Pavilion) to prepare for our info session. The session was huge! We had 44 people come out! Sweet as! I did the Canada section and there was a lot of interest. IEP is pushing the Work Canada and Work Canada Job Fair program in its current marketing, so most people were there to hear about home!!
I did my part of the talk and then headed to the back of the room to field questions from those who were interested. I talked with heaps of people and I think me coming from Canada has totally benefited IEP, as I know the inside scoop and can really tell kiwis what Canada is like and what to expect.
I met a some kiwi brothers that want to live in the Canadian ski fields. Pretty funny guys, hope they join program and head to Canada as they will love it. It did make me miss my bro and wished he were able to be experiencing life in NZ with me…
I did get to see a bit of Christchurch and it is a very nice city. It has a tram like back in TO and a very English feel. They have parks throughout the city, old churches and old stone English style bridges. In the evening the bridges are underlit and it is quite beautiful. I will have more time to explore on Friday. I am hoping to rent a bike and maybe hit some local trails if the weather permits. If the weather doesn’t cooperate then I will most likely bum around the city and check out the local scene.
Tomorrow we’ve got a career fair at Canterbury…wahoo another career fair!
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May 11, 2010 · Filed under NEW ZEALAND, WORK · Tagged backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadians working abroad, christchurch, live and work in new zealand, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz, swap working holidays, swap.ca, travel new zealand, work in christchurch, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working in christchurch
Today I worked a career fair at Otago University. It was probably the best one yet. Lots of foot traffic and interest in the program – so it was worth while. It was a long fair; 10am-2pm and I was happy when 2pm rolled around as I was beat. Ive been to a couple fairs now in a week and a bit, and find myself getting sick of hearing my same old speech person after person.
Amy and I then had to head out to Dunedin airport to catch a flight to Christchurch. The plane we flew in was tiny! Definitely the smallest plane ive ever been in. It actually had propellers ahah. Compared to the bigger planes ive flown in it was loud and a little shakey, but we arrived in one piece after a short 1 hour stint in the air. After collecting all of our luggage we took a taxi to a rental car place, picked up our rental and checked into our hotel.
Tomorrow we do a free coffee promotion Canterbury University campus. This trip is a whirl wind of rental cars, universities, info sessions and hotels.
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May 7, 2010 · Filed under NEW ZEALAND · Tagged auckland blog, backpack new zealand, backpacking in dunedin, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, blog new zealand, cadbury chocolate factory, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, cycle surgery, dunedin, dunedin public artgallery, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz, nz blog, outdoor adventure, swap, swap working holidays, swap.ca, work abroad, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad, working overseas
Church in Dunedin
My first full day in Dunedin was a busy one! I walked around and got a feel for the city, did a tour at the Cadbury factory, walked to the steepest street in the world and then hiked my ass up it, hit up the Dunedin public art gallery and rented a bike for tomorrow. Phew, Im beat!
Cadbury factory : was your typical tour, this is what’s in chocolate, this is how we make chocolate, now taste some chocolate. Not really that exciting, but I expected that much. It was tasty, but not worth the $18 for admission. If you are looking to kill time, as I was then it is a time filler.
Baldwin St, Dunedin New Zealand. The Steepest St in the world. The picture really doesnt do it justice. It is steep.. really.
Bladwin Street – the steepest street in the world: there are tours and a bus that runs out to it, but I decided to walk it. It took about 45 mins from the city octagon. It does live up to the record. It’s a really steep ass hill, that I wouldn’t want to live on. I couldn’t imagine carrying your groceries or even driving standard on it. If it were in Canada during our snow season, no winter tire in the world would make it up it.
Dunedin Grafitti- it wasnt part of the art gallery... but i liked it
Dunedin Public Art Gallery: this was probably the best thing of the day. There was a wide variety of artwork and some of it was really old. I spent a good hour and half there and for me that says something. There was a school going through so I kind of tagged a long in the back letting the tour guide explain everything.
Cycle Surgery: I can rent a bike from a shop called Cycle Surgery. They had a Scott Scaple, which is a mtb hardtail, that I can take out tomorrow and Sunday. The best thing, if it happens, is that I met a kiwi rider on my walk back from Baldwin St. He was at a petrol station and I noticed his bike on the back of his car. It was a big all-mountain bike, so I figured he would be the guy to ask about trails and where to ride. Turns out he is hitting up some trails tomorrow, somewhere 2hrs outside of the city. He tells me it’s the best riding around and offered to take me out. I think he wants to head out early morning to ride and I cannot pickup the bike until 930am so I may miss the ride. Either way it was such a nice gesture – so kiwi. I know there is some access to trails around here as well, so even if it doesn’t play out I still have another option. I just really hope the rain holds off!
This is the Hilton in Dunedin. Nice place. Take note of the motorcycle in the doorway.
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Dunedin: It’s a nice city, has Otago University really close to downtown and has a friendly vibe. I don’t think anyone would need to spend more than 2 days here.
If I cannot ride for the next two days I have no idea what to do here. I really do not want to do another tour ie Speights. Even though it is beer and I love beer – it’s still just a walking tour with a few samples.
I still have to hit up a grocery store to grab some food for tonight and for riding. Ill most likely hang around the hostel and shoot the shit with whoever is staying here. I know the Irish girls and Scandinavian boys moved on, so that leaves me with the Brit; who is a cool guy and a Yankee doodle.
I have taken some photos just do not have time on the internet to post them. Will do when I get back to Auckland.
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