Finally, we arrived home. It has been a very long and enjoyable trip. I would like to make this final blog post about what I enjoyed over this 4 1/2 month trip.

One of the most enjoyable experiences I had while being in New Zealand was the road trips we took. I don’t have a specific road trip I like over the other. They both had different experiences and highs and lows. I especially liked the trip to the most Southern point of New Zealand. I liked that road trip so much because along the way to Invercargill it had things that I could never see in any other country. For example, the huge steep fiords were a once in a lifetime opportunity to see.

One of the next best things about the trip was just going to school in a new country. There were many many differences between New Zealand schools and U.S schools. For starters, just about every school in the country wears school uniforms, where as no public school in the U.S requires a uniform. I also enjoyed the break from all the hard work. The New Zealand school’s work seemed much easier than what we had been working on in America. I can also say that I am the first person in the Salvesen family that has done a sabbatical!

One of the last things I will be addressing in this final blog post is how the whole experience has affected me. I think this experience has only given me positive times throughout the trip. I now have a feeling for what high school is like. I also know what it is like for the millions of people who ride busses every day instead of driving cars.

Thank you for reading this blog over the past 5 months, I hope you have enjoyed reading all the posts about my daily life in New Zealand. 

Thanks

        -Gabriel

This week is my last week of vacation. Soon we head back to California. My dad was out of town so my mom and I decoded to go to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. We rented a car to get to the fairy at Picton. The waters between North and South island are supposed to be some of the most dangerous waters in the world. Luckily the ride was smooth all the way. 

BEST PLACE EVER!

Wellington is much bigger than I expected. It is a dense city with lots of skyscrapers. On the first night there we didn’t do much. We checked into our hotel at around 7 PM. We then left the hotel to go find some dinner. We strolled around a street called Cuba Street. It was almost 100% restaurants. We finally found a burger place called, Burger Fuel. Little did I know, I would become obsessed with this place. The burgers were too big. They were the best food I have ever eaten. They had creative ways of eating them. It was a 60's decor theme.

After we rolled back to the hotel my mom found something very disturbing in our room. She saw bugs crawling around on the curtains. She googled them and found out they were large bed bugs. She immediately started looking for a new hotel. By the time we packed up it was 10 at night. We left the manager a note on the front desk and left for a new hotel. Thank god the new hotel didn’t have bugs crawling around.

School is out! Finally, term 1 is over. I get a 2 week break until term 2 starts up. Term 1 has gone very well. Like I said in earlier posts, school has been easy. I have made lots new friends and have gotten to know people. What I liked the best so far, school wise, is how easy the homework and class work has been. Another good thing is that the teachers at this school are incredibly helpful Just like at my old school.

 We haven't done much since my last post. So far most of my vacation has been nothing special except a play we went to last night. The play was called “The Women”. It was about a group of women (obviously) that were living a rich life style. The play was set in the mid 1940’s. The play talked about how the women’s friendships were slowly decaying. My ears rang after hearing all of the screaming.

Tomorrow is Anzac Day. A New Zealand and Australia national holiday that celebrates the army veterans who have defended the 2  countries. It is a lot like our Veterans Day. I will report back after the holiday.

Slope Point

Our Epic Easter road trip days  5-6

Today we conquered the Catlins (not the Catalans).  The Catlins is a region in between Invercargill and  Balclutha. We drove from scene to scene. One of the first places we went to was “Slope Point”, the furthest most southern tip of New Zealand. This would be the farthest south everyone in my family would have ever gone. Since the storm over the night in Invercargill was so strong, it brought over super high winds on “Slope Point”. It got very cold as we walked to the edge of New Zealand, the winds were almost knocking us over. After Slope point we took a small drive over to a short hike. There we hiked to go see some small waterfalls. We also ate lunch at the trail entrance. While driving to Dunedin we saw a hitch hiker. My dad decided to pick him up. He told us he had to hitch hike to town because he sometimes has seizures that legally make him unable to drive. We learned he was a fisherman in the small town of Balclutha. After we let him off we had dinner in the small town. Then we drove to Dunedin and arrived late at night.

 Moeraki Boulders 

Baldwin St (worlds steepest street)

In the morning we walked down to a cafe to have breakfast. After breakfast we visited the local Dunedin museum. We learned lots of information about Dunedin. The next museum we went to was the Cadbury Chocolate Museum. There we got lots of free chocolate and we watched several hundred gallons of melted chocolate fall into processing units. I don’t think I ate chocolate for several days after that museum. My mom took advantage of the fact that the chocolate was 1/2 price and stocked up on chocolate. The last thing we did in Dunedin was climb the steepest road in the world! I begged my dad not to drive it as I would have a heart attack half way up. My mom and I braved the road and climbed most of the way up. Believe it or not, many people have houses on the street and drive up it! We left Dunedin later in the afternoon. On the way back to Christchurch we stopped and saw some completely round boulders. It was really strange seeing boulders, completely round in the middle of a sandy beach. Most of them were cracked open and mostly hollow. My dad then made the conclusion that the boulders were slowly being eroded out of the nearby cliff. After we left the unusual rocks we drove to see some more penguins. We stayed in the area for a good 10-15 minutes then gave up. Just as we were heading up the hill, some people pointed out that there was one, lone penguin hopping down on the sand. That was about it for the penguins this trip.

Our epic road trip Day 3-4

Kepler Track

On day 3 we woke up extra early and took a walk on the Kepler Track. The Kepler Track is a path that goes through a rainforest along a river back. The track is 67 km long, but the section we were on takes about 3 and a half hours to complete. We only walked 1/2 way because we stopped to some fishing. We took our fishing rods with us to try and finally catch a New Zealand fish. After 45 minutes or so of walking, we stopped and tried some fishing. We even saw many fish jumping in the water. We fished for around 1 hour then we gave up. On the walk back to the car we saw huge fish just sitting in the shallow water. It made us so angry. The reason we couldn’t get to the fish is that the bank at that point was steep and covered in spiky plants. 

After we finished our walk we hit the road and started driving to Invercargill, near the bottom of the South Island. We stopped on the way there to see some Yellow Eyed penguins. These are supposed to be one of the rarest kinds of penguins alive. Luckily we got to see one, hopping around from rock to rock. Once we got to our hotel we hit the road again to head to to the highest point all around. There my mom took a video of herself saying it was the southern most tip in New Zealand. Unfortunately this turned out not to be true, but you can learn about that in the next blog post. Then we drove back to our hotel. Over the night a huge storm hit.

Our Easter Road Trip Day 1-2.

Last week we began out Easter Holiday road trip. We started our trip. The first day of our trip we took a long drive to the small town called Twizel. That was about it for the first day of our epic road trip. The second day we took a small drive up to a small river. My dad and I started fishing but had no luck. The water here in New Zealand is very light blue colored. My dad thinks the water is so blue from the silt moving around in the water. We have come up with the conclusion that after many days of fishing, New Zealand fish are impossible to catch no matter what. At the end of the day we stayed in a small town on a lake called Te Anau.

Tunnel

Mountains

 The next day we took an amazing drive to a huge fiord. The fiord was called Milford Sound. To get to the fiord we had to take a one way tunnel that had a steep incline. Looking up at the steep mountains was
enough to make you dizzy. I think these sheer rock mountains were probably the best not only in New Zealand, but in the world. But unfortunately no mountain goats, although we saw a heck of a lot of sheep on the way there. At the end of the day we went to a restaurant called the “Fat Duck”. It took us forever to get our meals. My mom and dad were impressed by their food (Green Liped Mussels and Venison salad) , but sadly I wasn’t -_- (Hamburger)

Rugby game

This week was much more exiting than I anticipated it to be. School was normal. Nothing special happening there. This Saturday we went to our first Major League Rugby (Super Rugby) game. We watched the Canterbury Crusaders VS the Souther Kings from South Africa. My dad was in a bit of a knot because he was born very close to the Southern Kings  home town is. In the end he was rooting for the Crusaders. The Crusaders destroyed the Kings 55 to 20. We saw the game in the replacement stadium because the large scale one is being rebuilt due to the earthquake damage. In the upcoming week I get 3 days off of school because of Easter. We are planning another road trip to the other side of the South Island. We don’t know yet what we will do specifically on the road trip but we plan to head to the very southern part of the South Island. 

Rugby game

Today My mom and I went to a local exhibit about “Scott’s last exhibition”. The exhibit was about an explorer named Scott who set off to the South Pole. Little did he know that he would die on this trip. The exhibit was very interesting. The voyage from Wales took 7 months. The team was in Antarctica for 3 years. Scott and 4 others died while getting stuck in the winter of Antarctica. With a large ice patch the ship could not pick them up. They survived many months in an ice cave. They eventually tried to walk back to their home base but died in a blizzard.