Monday, November 12, 2007

Heading Home

Hello,

Well my room is ashambles despite the fact that I think I've packed everything that can be packed at this point. I'm flying out on Wednesday afternoon. My dorm is more or less empty at the moment. They officially kicked us out Saturday, but as far as I can figure out I'm allowed to stay until Wednesday. Fingers crossed.

My exams are all over, which is a strange feeling because I had about a month with (officially anyway) nothing to do but study for them. There were lots of good-bye parties for various people who aren't coming back next year. There were also some really cool fireworks shows. They had one display for the Diwali festival here (actually a Hindu holiday, but here they've turned it into sort of an Indian festival). Those fireworks were amazing, largely because they were shot off really close to us. They were literally going off overhead and filling the entire sky. It was kind of scary, but very impressive. The other fireworks display was on November 5th for Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates a failed attempt to blow up the British Parliament in 1605. I believe the celebrations started because they used to burn Guy Fawkes (one of the plotters) in effigy, but that seems to be happening a lot less now even in England (or so I read). Anyway, those fireworks were nice too, and it was kind of cool to see personal fireworks displays going off all over the city. This was also occasionally terrifying, as when you saw little kids shooting them off sideways and that kind of thing.

Yesterday I went for another hike. This time I went across the Eastern side of the bay and did a walk along the coast. It was really pretty. I'll put some photos below.

Anyway, I shall see many of you soon!
































The coolest bus-stop I've ever seen.















The lake where I stopped for lunch. This was my favorite part of the hike.















The coast, looking south towards where the South Island ought to be.



















New Zealand's oldest permanent lighthouse (1859).

1 comment:

KAK said...

Glad to hear that your hike happened. Can't wait to see you Thursday!