Oscar pics

Here are my Oscar pics, in case anyone is interested:

Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich
Costume Design: Alice In Wonderland, Colleen Atwood
Film Editing: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Art Direction: The King's Speech, Production Design: Eve Stewart, Set Decoration: Judy Farr
Best Picture: The King's Speech , Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin 
Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Music (Original Song): We Belong Together (from "Toy Story 3"), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman 
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Short Film (Live Action): Na Wewe, Ivan Goldschmidt
Music (Original Score): The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Writing (Original Screenplay): The King's Speech, Screenplay by David Seidler
Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Visual Effects: Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Cinematography: True Grit, Roger Deakins
Sound Mixing: Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
Short Film (Animated): The Gruffalo, Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Sound Editing: Inception, Richard King
Documentary (Feature): Inside Job, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Makeup: The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Foreign Language Film: In a Better World, Denmark
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Documentary (Short Subject): Strangers No More, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
Directing: The Social Network, David Fincher

Art Deco in Napier and the Tongariro Crossing take 2

So, its been a few days since I've written because honestly I'm still a little bit in shock about the Earthquake. I also felt a little funny about writing about my adventures in a country that is currently in a state of emergency. But I suppose, life must go on, and if anything, tragedies such as the quake in Christchurch make you appreciate the preciousness of life and make you want to live each day as if it's your last...so that's what I've been trying to do during my last few days in this country.

I was in Wellington when the quake hit, but the day after I caught a public bus up to a small town on the East coast of the North Island called Napier. Napier is known solely for its art deco architecture. In February of 1931, Napier was hit with a massive 7.8 earthquake which killed at least 256 people and destroyed the entire city. (It was a little strange to be there just a day after the Christchurch quake because of the similarities, almost 80 years to the day...). Anyway, the city had to re-build itself, and because art-deco was very in fashion in the early 30's, the entire town is made up of little art deco masterpieces, all in pastel easter egg colours (very Miami Vice). I stayed in a lovely hostel called the Criterion Art Deco Hostel (see below):

The buildings and all the details were so stylish. It's such a shame that people (for the most part) don't build beautiful buildings anymore.

The next day, I headed back to Taupo (the town where I jumped out of a plane a few weeks back). The drive there was pretty interesting because I noticed all the planted trees alongside the highway. It gave me flashbacks to my planting days, as I saw seedlings and trees in all different stages of growth, including, little pods planted down long scarified corridors with what looked like brackies (shudder, shudder).

In Taupo, I headed out to a natural hot spring which was fantastic. The hot spring empties out into a fast moving cold river, so as you sit in the water, you have hot bath temperature water flowing over you on the surface, but on the bottom, it is cold. It makes for a very cool sensation. I spent quite a bit of time there just relaxing (as did others).

The following morning I got on a bus at 5:40am (yuck!) to head to Tongariro national park to do the Tongariro Crossing which is said to be the best 1 day walk in NZ and, one of the best in the world. You may remember that I tried to do the walk about a month ago, but couldn't because the winds were too strong (something like 150km/h!), so I am so happy I got the chance to do it this time. The weather could not have been more perfect either! Blue sky, sunny, warm, not too windy. It was a tough walk though, 19.4km, about 7-8 hours of walking.

I met this lovely local gentleman named Graham at the beginning of the day and did most of the walk with him. Get this: he is about to turn 73 and it was his 18th time doing the crossing! At certain points, I had to tell him to go ahead of me because I had to stop to catch my breath on the steep parts of the climb, but he kept plugging along! He was a great walking partner and gave me some advice about Nepal (he did Everest Base camp 2 years ago!) It was a really wonderful day. I'm sore and tired now, but it was totally worth it for all the views (Mt. Doom from LOTR, red craters, emerald pools etc). I took a bazillion photos, but here are the best (including one of me and Graham, my walking buddy!):

Today, I am just chilling (there is absolutely nothing to do where I am staying) and then tomorrow I head to Auckland for my last two days in NZ. One of them will be spent watching the Oscars (obviously) as it is my favourite day of the year. It will be strange to watch them alone, esp. without my brother Alex, as we make a point to be together for them every year. We have, however entered an internet pool to win quite the prize, so keep your fingers crossed that all of our pics are correct.

March 1st I head to Melbourne, Australia for 2 days, and then on to Kuala Lampur. In Melbourne, I'm going to get together with 2 old friends from high school which should be fun!
Until next time, keep your thoughts and prayers with the people of Christchurch and all those suffering in Northern Africa under a lunatic's control.

Earthquake in Christchurch

As I'm sure everyone already knows, there has been a massive earthquake in Christchurch, new Zealands second biggest city. Thankfully when it hit yesterday at ten minutes to one in the afternoon I was already in Wellington on the north island, far enough away that I didn't feel it. I want to thank everyone for their emails and calls of concern. I am so very lucky that I wasn't there because I was there just 4 days before the quake and the hostel where I stayed collapsed and killed the backpackers inside it. There are now 75 confirmed dead and 300 people missing and the city has been completely destroyed. My heart goes out to all of those who are there and those who have family and friends there. Because it is the second largest city almost everyone in New Zealand knows someone who lives there. I found out about he quake from my friend Curry who is from Christchurch and whose family is all living there. She was in absolute shock when I ran into her yesterday. Thankfully her parents and brother are okay but I know that others wont be so lucky. They are showing a picture of the cathedral on the news which has been destroyed along with many other old beautiful buildings. It is so strange to look at the pictures I took of it in the town centre on Thursday. When disasters like this happen it really makes you think that anything can happen anywhere at anytime. I am so thankful to be safe but so saddened for the city of Christchurch.
Sending out lots of love into the universe,
Astrid.

Dolphin Photos

I got my hands on some photos that other people took of the dolphins underwater. I wanted to post a few so you could see what it was like. Crazy eh? They are so lovely!

Spike as a Seal

Today I walked down the coast to a place called Point Kean to see if I could spot any seals.
I did, and watching them lie in the glorious sun made me miss Spike again. Basically, Spike is just a smaller version of a fur seal. Let's compare, shall we?

Kaikora Dolphins: the best early morning of my life!

I arrived in Kaikora yesterday, which is a really cute little town about 200km North of Christchurch on the Pacific ocean. This will be my last stop before I head back to the North Island. I'm staying in this bizarre hostel that me and my friends have been calling "grandma's house" because it kind of reminds me of living 100 years ago, or perhaps staying at Norman Bates' hotel. Very Hitchock. The hostel is complete with hundreds of farside cartoons and a collection of about 500 VHS tapes.

 The big thing to do in Kaikora is dolphin swimming, or anything else related to sea life because there is so much of it here. In Maori, Kai means food, and kora means crayfish, and there are apparently tons of crayfish here (I hear they go for 100 bucks a plate at restaurants). The reason for all the sea life is because of the Kaikora canyon which is right off the coast and is about 1600 meters deep where a warm tropical current and a colder current meet. This makes the water rich with plankton, dolphins, whales, seals etc. Kaikora is also one of the best places to see the Albatros which is the more graceful version of a seagull and has the largest wingspan in the world.

Anyway, this morning I got up at 4:30am to go for an early morning dolphin swim. I watched the sunrise on the Pacific ocean which was beautiful, and because it was a full moon last night, the sun and moon were in the sky at the same time this morning.

 I got to jump into the ocean 4 times this morning to swim with the dolphins, which was one of the most special experiences of my life. They swim right past you, underneath you, beside you, and if you can entertain them, they will stick around. The dolphins are completely wild but interested in people and what we are doing I suppose, since the early morning is there time to play and socialise (they feed at night). All 4 times I was in the water, dolphins got as close to about 6 inches from me, and you should have heard me. The skippers on the boat said that because dolphins are very vocal they are attracted to sounds. I was singing and screeching and making all the most dolphin like sounds I could! When they swim by you, they turn on their side to look at you, and if you catch their eye, they will circle around you to play. You can play back by swimming around them in a circle too. Its like playing tag. I did this a lot and it was amazing! Being underwater and swimming around making eye contact with wild dolphins while you swim together--just unbelievable!!!

We saw hundreds of dolphins, all so playful and incredible. I obviously counldn't take pictures because I don't have an underwater camera (and who would want to fuss around with a camera while you're hanging with dolphins?) but some other people did, so I'm going to try and get some just to show you what it's like under the water. I did get a few shots when we were heading back to shore though. (I didn't use the zoom, this is how close they were!)

On another note, I'm really glad I don't get sea sick. SO many people were puking in buckets on the boat. Sick! My digestive system might be a mess, but I have a stomach of steel! (Only Kili has defeated it).

I said goodbye to the last of my friends this morning and now I'm on my own for the last 9 days of NZ. I'm gonna stick around here for a few days to relax and then it's off on the ferry to head back to Wellington. Ta Ta!

Mount Cook and Christchurch

I finally got out of Queenstown the other day and spent 2 wonderous days in Mount Cook. I know some people may slap me for this, but I didn't love Queenstown. It was crazy expensive and seemed like everything was a money grab. It's also party central which isn't really my thing and unfortunately I encountered more than a few very unfriendly kiwis. Oh well. I'm outta there now.

Mt. Cook was outstanding and we had the most prefect weather for the entire time I was there (if you have bad weather it is a really bad time because there is literally nothing to do there if you aren't walking/hiking on the Mountain-no grocery store, no shops, no houses-nothing. Just a few hostels).

The day I left to go to Mt. Cook started out really good. While waiting outside my hostel to get picked up by the Stray bus, my awesome driver that my friends and I had for most of the trip, Curry, pulled up to get me. It was a glorious reunion for us! After we arrived, me and my friend Doris decided to Hitchhike to a place called Lake Tasman to see some glaciers and blue pools. Its a 9 km walk before you even get to the walk, so thankfully a nice guy from South Carolina picked us up and an Austrailian couple from Melbourne drove us all the way back to our hostel. The walk was really nice and one of the better days I've had in NZ. When we got to the blue pools, we were the only people there! So, I stripped down and went swimming in my underwear. It was awesome! The views of Mt. Cook and Lake Tasman (which has little chunks of glacier floating in it that recently broke off of Mt. Cook) were breath-taking!

I was planning on getting up really early the next morning to go and book a hut on the mountain to sleep in for the next night and do a killer hike, but things did not go according to plan. I didn't end up sleeping because this awful old German woman who was sleeping in the bunk below mine was sickly and snoring honestly like a dying wildabeast all night long. (This is not me just being over-sensitive. All the other girls in the room didn't sleep either!) So, my plan for the big hike was dumped. I did however walk the Kea Trail with my friends Davin and Cally and it gave us fantastic views of the Mountain.

I also discovered that the peak of Mt. Cook sort of looks like Jaba the Hut. See for yourself below:

That afternoon, a bunch of our other friends rolled into town from the South and the bar at our hostel had a trivia night which clearly I was all over. At halftime, my team (of 3 people I might add) were tied for 4th, but the second half was all NZ based questions which clearly we had no idea about. I did well on the other stuff though, including a bonus question which asked to name King Henry VIII's 6 wives in order (thank god I've watched the Tudors!)

This morning we left for Christchurch, the biggest city on the South Island, and the second biggest city in NZ (after Auckland). On the way we stopped at Lake Tekapo which has a beautiful little church. I knew my brother Ales would kill me if I didn't go and see it, so despite time constraints and walking distance, I high-tailed it over there during our stop instead of using the toilet or eating lunch. It was really beautiful.

They now call Christchurch the shaking city on account of the number of earthquakes there have been here as of late. In September, there was a 7.1 quake here (same size as the one in Haiti) and since then, there have been between 4500 and 5000 more which is pretty mental. The city's buildings have taken quite a beating-everywhere you look there is scaffolding and things closed down etc.
Christchurch is also NZ's most "British-like" city and it does feel British. It's nice. I took a walk through the botanical gardens today to smell the roses and say hi to the ducks. It actually reminded me of the gardens in London.

Donay has asked me if there are any "hicks" or "white trash" in NZ and the answer is a definative yes. I probably should have taken a video at the old Pack and Save tonight while I was buying groceries. It was ridiculous, and clearly I was pretty close to a rage attack.

Tonight I'm going out to say farewell to a few friends that I've been travelling with. Everyone is starting to go off on their seperate ways which is a bit sad. Hell, I'm leaving NZ in 11 days which is crazy!

Tomorrow I'm off to Kaikora to go dolphin swimming and chill for a few days hopefully on the beach with nice weather. Until next time...

My Italian friend Anika

Well, I'm in a bit of a depression because my friend Anika left this morning, so now I'm flying solo without my Italian pal. Yesterday we went to Milford Sound, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but unfortunately it was rainy and foggy and windy, so we didn't get the best view. Oh well, it was still cool.

I decided against doing a long walk or camping because its probably better to do with someone else rather than on your own. It's kinda pricey as well and I've been spending money like it's going out of style. Queenstown is such a money grab. The resident population here is 20,000 but during the summer months (now) there are 170,000 people in town. Those extras are all tourists. It's mental. Hence why I had to go to 3 different hostels today to get a bed. And why I paid $15.50 for a veggie burger ("the Bun Laden") today. It was from Ferg Burger though which I think is pretty famous around these parts.

Today, in attempts to lessen my depression, I went to the Bird Conservation Centre and saw kiwi birds for the first time. They are incredible, more akin to mammals then birds with fur like feathers. They look like furry bowling balls with a long beak. I think the craziest thing about them is that the female lays an egg that is one fifth of her body size (like a woman giving birth to a four year old). Yowser!

I also saw a bunch of NZ's other native birds, most of which are endangered. But the conservation centre is doing a really great job with breeding programs etc.

I think I did a good job schooling Anika in Canadian/English slang and swear words. She's going to go home so rude! I feel like I should write to her mother and apologize. Anyway, one of the "English" things I taught her was the "Dick in a Box" song from SNL and I finally managed to video her doing it last night. I hope it will upload here because trust me, her doing it in her accent is hillarious!

In 2 days I will head to Mt. Cook which I believe is the highest peak in NZ, or at least on the South Island. I'm going to spend 2 nights there and hope to hike up part of it and sleep on the mountain overnight. We'll see how that works out.

2 weeks today to the Oscars. I kinda wish I was home for it just to watch all the lead-up smut, but hey, I'm not complaining. I'm having a pretty grand time.

This one's for you Tony and Alex

Well, after 10 years of harassment from my brother Alex and 6 months from Tony, yes, I did indeed jump off a bridge outside of Queenstown yesterday. 43 meters and I was terrified. It took me 2 tries to do it because the first time I burst into tears. I've never been that scared in my life, but I conquered the fear and its done. Never Again.

Today I went horse back riding and it was amazing. I rode in the valleys of the mountains where they filmed a lot of LOTR. It was beautiful and being on a horse for a few hours was so cool. I'm really happy I went, because it's something I've always wanted to do.

Tomorrow is my friend Anika and mine's last day together, so we are going to Milford Sound to see the beautiful sights. After that, I'm either going to do a three day walk in Fijordland or rent a tent and go camping on my own for a few days. Suggestions?...

Makarora to Wanaka and beyond

After Franz, we headed to Makarora and to better weather thankfully. While in Franz Joseph, it was pouring rain, and I mean pouring (hence, why my camera is dead). My friend Anika couldn't even sleep through the night because of the rain (and because she got scared that Franz Joseph was coming to get us-it is a moving glacier after all).

We stopped off at lake Matheson which is the famous mirror lake, but because of the weather, it didn't look like anything, so we all just bought a postcard of it and left it at that.

We drove through a place called the Haast pass which was incredibly beautiful. It looks a lot like the Rockies. Mountains and waterfalls everywhere. Because of all the rain, there were waterfalls flowing down the mountains over rocks everywhere, and the rivers were very full.

We stopped off at another place called the blue pools, but again, because of the crap weather they weren't so blue.

Makarora itself is tiny. I don't think you could even call it a town. Maybe the population is 40. Maybe.
It was beautiful though, right in the middle of the mountains.

The place we stayed had a bar with karaoke. Clearly this made me irrationally excited. I started off the night with a little Bryan Adams, eased into Bohemian Rhapsody, busted out Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio, and closed with Summer of 69, a real crowd pleaser. I won the karaoke prize (no big deal) which is a pub crawl in Queenstown. I don't know if I'll use it, but I was quite pleased that I won.

Looking up at the stars in Makarora was something. Because we were in the middle of nowhere, the stars were exceptional. You could see the outline of the milky way. Also, no moon. You don't see the moon here when its dark out because it is so far south (you see it in the evening when the sun sets, but then it dissapears). That, I think, is wild.

The next morning it was off to Wanaka, which is a smallish town close to Queenstown. Tony Pringle and my brother Alex told me I HAD to come here, mostly on account of the amazing movie theatre, and I'm glad I did. It's awesome. Anika and I did a walk around lake Wanaka and pretty much everywhere you looked could have been a postcard.

Then, last night, we went to Cinema Paradiso, which Tony called the best theatre he's ever been to. It definitely lived up to the high expectation. Instead of movie seats, there are old couches and barka loungers. Before the movie starts, you can order your dinner, and then at the intermission when you come out to the lobby, your food is waiting for you. They also bake cookies that are straight out of the oven at intermission. The place is the best!

Tomorrow I head to Queenstown, the "adventure capital of the world" and will stay for a couple of days. After that I want to go to Fjordland, but I don't know what exactly I'm going to do there, so stay tuned.

One last thing: there is a resident hostel cat here named Smokey. He's bitchy. He makes me miss Spike.

Also, if you want to see more pictures, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2463385&id=13604583&l=4701a60eda