Pictures for previous post.

here are some pictures from our first leg of our trip.

The tour begins... and is almost halfway done.

Well, the first leg of our New Zealand journey has come to an end. Today, we are leaving Wellington for Christchurch. During our stay in Wellington we visited the Te Papa Museum. The Te Papa Museum is the national museum of New Zealand. It is home to many different artifacts and exhibits that show New Zealand’s rich history. The best part of the museum was seeing the colossal squid they had on display. Fisherman in Antarctic waters found the squid attached to their line in 2007 and donated the squid to the museum.

On day two of our Wellington adventure we visited the New Zealand parliament chambers. Parliament and government buildings were spread across three different buildings that had all been refurbished and connected together over the years. It was pretty cool to learn about New Zealand’s form of government and to see where policy making takes place. We also visited the U.S. Embassy; however, we weren’t allowed in… or to take pictures. Even though we didn’t get to go in, we did find a Notre Dame fan all the way in New Zealand. The guard behind the window motioned to my Notre Dame cap and gave me the thumbs up. After that we just enjoyed the city and had fun by the harbor.

Monday, we flew into Christchurch from Wellington. Upon arriving at the airport we were greeted by Brother John O’Shea, a Christian Brother that our John had been put in contact with. Brother John was such a nice man and he greatly enhanced our trip to Christchurch. He collected us from the airport and we went to the International Antarctic Centre. There we learned all about the animal life and scientific research that is going on in Christchurch. We got to see rescued penguins up close at their habitat there and even got to ride in an arctic vehicle called a Haggland. The Haggland is a specially designed vehicle to be able to traverse steep hills and gain traction on any terrain. It was pretty neat driving up and over huge, steep mounds of earth on the track.

After finishing at the Antarctic Centre Br. John picked us up and took us up to the top of a mountain for us to gaze upon the city from. That was pretty cool; however, I thought on several occasions that Br. John might not be the best driver for navigating the narrow mountain roads. Luckily, we survived. Afterwards, Br. John dropped us off at our hostel and we said goodbye. I think it is safe to say that Christchurch would have been much less interesting without his help and guidance.

Thursday, we took a bus from Christchurch to Dunedin. In Dunedin we stayed at the “Hogwartz” backpackers. I guess they were going for some Harry Potter theme, but lets hope that J.K. Rowling’s copyright litigators don’t find out about this place. We did know about the Harry Potter Theme, but what we didn’t know was that the backpackers was at the top of the steepest street in the world. It was quite a hike up the hill with all of our gear.

After settling into the hostel we headed to Cadbury world to take a tour of the famous chocolate factory. The tour was really really cool. We saw how they made their chocolates and even got to sample many different types that we don’t have in America. We were also lucky enough to see them manufacturing the Easter eggs; however, the Cadbury eggs here are much larger and ornate then the ones we eat at home.

Afterwards, we walked down to the local university to experience what college life is like in New Zealand. The University of Otago reminded me of a lot of state schools in the United States where old, ornate looking buildings meet 60’s/70’s architecture and then late 20^th century glass structures. After touring the campus we went to our tour of Speights Brewery. It was the best thing we have done so far on this trip. We got to learn all about the history of beer and how they make it in New Zealand. Our tour guide was really funny and had a wealth of knowledge about not only his company’s beer, but about beer around the world. Also, as a side note, we learned that the cable cars in San Francisco came from the city of Dunedin. Where they not only one of the first cities to use cable cars, but the first to invent a cable car that could turn corners. Oh the things you learn while on a brewery tour. At the end of the tour we got to sample all the different types of beer they had on tap, and even operate the tap ourselves. I would like to point out that beer direct from the brewery tastes much better than any thing you can get out of a bottle or can.

Wednesday, we left Dunedin for Queenstown… the adventure capital of the southern hemisphere. After the 4.5 hour bus trip we found or hostel and then proceeded to take a Gondola trip to the top of a mountain to see the landscape. Queenstown is in the mountains so it is quite a bit colder here/there is some snow. The best part of the Gondola trip was the luge car track at the top. We raced down the track in little carts that had what was essentially bicycle handle bars on them It was a lot of fun. After that we had dinner and went back to the hostel. However, the most exciting part of the day came later that evening. As I was watching T.V. in the lounge, Queenstown and all of the south island experienced one of the strongest earthquakes in decades. It was pretty exciting. Apparently they evacuated the opera house in Sydney for fear of a tsunami; however, the tsunami only ended up being about 20cm in height.

Today we were supposed to go Skydiving; however, the fog didn’t clear in time and we pushed it back to Saturday morning. Hopefully it will be clear enough to go then.

That’s all for now. Sorry there are no pictures. The bandwidth here won't allow pictures to upload in a timely fashion

Tp

Final weekend

Well friends, I am in my final week here at Lindisfarne. The international boys school coalition conference is getting underway here this week. The Americans and I are helping out wherever we are needed here throughout the week. Not the most exciting stuff; however, it should give us a good amount of time to finalize our trip details.

The past week has been fairly eventful here. Thursday we went to a Maroei, an ancestral house of the native Maori. It was a really cool experience. We were told all about the house which represents the Maori father and his offspring. Each offspring is linked to every Maori alive today and is represented by a carving on the wall. It was really neat how the house, which is a huge meeting area, showed the family heritage of the Maori.



Thursday evening we had a concert with some youth orchestra from America. It wasn't the greatest experience, but I won't go into detail.

Friday through Sunday was a three day weekend for us. Saturday we celebrated the 4th of July by going to Alexis' host family's or dinner. We played with sparklers and watched youtube videos of fireworks.

Sunday, John took us to lake Taupo and showed us many of the sights that we missed. We went to the hydro electric dam and watched the spillway open up to fuel the turbines.




That was pretty neat to see this huge gorge fill with water within minutes. After that we went to Huka Falls to look at the waterfall.

That was neat; however, it was raining all day so it kind of put a damper on things. From there we went to watch Bungee jumpers jump into a gorge. It looks pretty cool, I might just have to try it. Then we went to a honey shop and looked at Bee's and sampled a bunch of different honey products. After that we went to look at some steam vents and then headed home.



Tp

P.S. The movie is of the gorge filling with water.

Final Week

Hello Friends,

This past week has been fairly eventful here at Lindisfarne college.  Last Wednesday was my most fulfilling/rewarding day here yet.  Not only did I teach 3 lessons to students who were actually interested in playing and not just trying to get out of class, but I also directed the jazz band rehearsal.  After getting the  boys under control we had a lot of fun playing and learning about jazz.  

Friday evening we went to Matariki, or the Maori new year celebration. We got to see several school groups performing Haka's and other traditional Maori songs and dances.  It was an interesting event to say the least; however, it quickly digressed from the Maori groups to a reggae band, then to a Chilean rapper, and then a group of dancers from the cook islands.  All in all it was a very interesting evening however.  

It has essentially been raining non stop since Saturday.  As a result, the past weekend was pretty laid back and relaxed.  

I have been working fairly hard on several arrangements for concert band and for the chapel services.  I also had the opportunity to conduct the concert band here at the school for about 20 minutes yesterday evening.  That was a lot of fun; however, half the band was gone due to illness so the sound was a bit sparse.  

Well that's about all from here.  Tomorrow is my last day teaching at the school.  Next week we are helping with the international boys schools conference, and after that we are off on our trip. 

Tp

Weekly Update

Hey Friends,

So the past week has been incredibly busy.  Last Tuesday Dr. Dye gave a seminar on how to arrange and such.  It was very interesting and informative.  The students here seemed to get a lot out of it.  We also had extra practices last week in preparation for the concert on Sunday.  Both the school band and community band practiced on Tuesday and Thursday night.  Since I played in both bands I had to be here for the entirety of each 3 hour rehearsal.   I have also been teaching a lot of individual lessons as well as helping with the classes.  The year 9's just finished their individual assessments and I had the  privilege of grading them.  

Saturday the four of us booked all of our hostels for our trip to the south island at the end of our trip.  We're planning on spending several days in Wellington, the country's capital, Queenstown, Dunedin, Christchurch, Fox Glacier, Auckland, and Waitamo Caves.  More info on what we are doing there to come.  We also watched the All Blacks play France on Saturday, again.  This time the young team emerged victorious over the "roosters."  

The concert on Sunday went fairly well.  The school band sounded fine and performed well, and the community band... well it could have been worse.  I had a solo in Danny Boy that went alright.  I find it humorous that I had to travel to New Zealand to perform a solo with Dr. Dye conducting.  

Monday was a half yet full day.  John Snowling invited the local nursing home to come and listen to some year 11 solo performances.  The year 11's have their public assessments Wednesday evening and they got to use that opportunity as practice in front of a live audience.  The elderly came during morning tea so we had the responsibility of serving them tea and muffins.  It was nice talking to all of them and chatting about where we come from and such.  At the end of the year 11's performances John asked the four of us to perform the victory march for everyone.  

Today has been a fairly lackluster day and will end up being an early evening for myself.  I'm probably going to walk home soon.  Hopefully there will be more pictures next week.  

Tp

Obligatory Update

Hey Friends,

Well I'm sorry to say that there are no exciting stories from the past weekend to tell.  Nor are there any photos.  Saturday we (the Americans) went to see a movie.  That was fun, then later we watched a rugby game.  The New Zealand All Blacks, apparently the best rugby team in the world,  lost to France.  That was a bummer; however, apparently New Zealand loses to France once every 15 years, and this was about that time.  

Sunday we went to the Feilding festival of Bands.  I performed in both the school band and the community band.  Both groups ended up receiving a silver award at the competition.  Dr. Dye was the adjudicator for the event so that might of had something to do with it.  

Monday, the school officially welcomed us, and Dr. Dye by doing the Haka.  The Haka is an ancient Maori ritual, usually done before battle to intimidate the enemy.  It was incredibly impressive. (See picture of All Blacks doing Haka and embedded video) Monday night Dr. Dye gave a conducting seminar that we all participated in.  It was fun conducting the group and receiving pointers from him.  He also gave a seminar today on arranging music which was equally informative and interesting.  

That's about all from NZ.  I've been busy giving lessons to the kids who are preparing for their music evaluations.  It is raining today; however, that hasn't been the case a lot.  The South Island has been getting snow lately, but we won't see any of that until the end of our trip.

Tp

1st weekend out

Hey Friends,

So we had an awesome 1st weekend adventure in New Zealand.  Saturday, we hiked to the top of Te Mata peak.  The mountain is called the sleeping giant as it looks like a giant lying on its' back from the distance.  It was awesome hiking up and through the rocks and across the valleys.  We saw lots of animals including a very special sounding bird that makes an incredible call.  I'll give somebody a hug or some other friendly gesture if they can figure out what type of bird it is. 

The view from the top of the peak was awesome.  We could see not only the surrounding towns of Hastings and Napier, but also the pacific ocean and farmlands as well.  It should be noted that there were sheep all over the mountain, yet they were impossible to catch as can be seen in one of the photos.

Sunday we drove through the mountains to Lake Taupo which is the largest natural lake in Australasia...about the size of Singapore.  The lake was beautiful yet cold.  The best part about this day trip was actually the drive there.  To get there you have to drive up and down several mountain ranges which was pretty exciting.  

So that was our first weekend adventure.  Maybe I should get back to work now. 

Cheers,

Tp

Blog Teaser

Greetings!

The picture above is of Cape Kidnappers in Napier. We've seen this from afar; however, tomorrow, during low tide, we will hike out to the end of it. More info and stories to come soon.

Cheers,

Tp

Finally Here!

Hey Friends,

So we finally made it to New Zealand today; however, today is Saturday as we crossed the international dateline into the future.  Between flight time and layovers the journey took just over 24 hours from O'Hare to Napier/Hawkes Bay.

New Zealand is an incredibly pristine country and is extremely beautiful.  Our puddle jumper flight from Auckland to Napier was on a twin prop plane and flew much lower than the jets do.  This afforded us a birds eye view of the bay, farm land, and mountainous terrain.  There are also a lot of sheep here.  From the plane we could see large amounts of land dotted with white sheep.  

Anyway, not much else to report from here.  My host family, a young couple who are engaged to be married in January, are extremely nice and welcoming.  One couldn't ask for a better house to be put in.  

That's all for now, check back soon for pictures from our excursion tomorrow to the top of a peak overlooking the bay/valley.

Tp

Blog Creation

Hey Friends,

I will be using this blog to update everyone on my journeys through New Zealand and Australia this summer. I will be teaching music at Lindisfarne College, a boarding school in New Zealand, for a month and a half. Following my service there, I will be traveling throughout New Zealand and even part of Australia for two weeks. I will be in New Zealand from May 29th until August 1st so check back often for pictures and updates!