new zealand summertime snow day?!

merry christmas! i didn't feel the season starting until today, when i woke up at lake tekapo and found myself in a snow storm. sean and i are calling it our snow day because we've really been travelling hard for a while now (we left stewart island and hitch hiked from the complete south of the south island to somewhere in the middle in the mountains), so we're just chilling out for the day at the lake. it's way to cold to try to hitch hike anyway. the hostel is warm and the showers are nice and hot. i think we'll head out tomorrow sometime... as long as the weather improves. ben said it was hailing on the farm a couple of days ago... so maybe it's just some summertime flurries. which is crazy to me. but i find it funny that i travel to the places in the world where it snows in the summer (alaska snow on july 16 and new zealand snow on november 30) funny.

anyway, i just wanted to say hello. i'm not dead. this trip has been great so far and i'll put up some pictures when i get to a proper computer that doesn't cost $1/10 min. and i know i need to write back to some of you. sorry i haven't got time to do that until next time.

all my love,
genevieve

p.s. mt. cook might be out if the clouds clear up for tomorrow. i think the lake will be absolutely amazing with the lupins, snow, and white huge mountains... and of course the lake water is an electric glowing blue... bluer than the bluest sky. it looks insane, like magic is real or something... ;)

hitch hiking!!!!!

so much has happened since i last updated. i am going to have to save some of this story for when i get home and you ask me and then i can have crazy things to talk about. here's a random amazing sky picture:


first off, happy turkey day (a bit late... sorry). here's my dinner with sean:


ok, so let's get to story telling.

i'm going to be kinda quick because i'm at an internet cafe in dunedin and i hate paying for this. so here it goes:

i did some really cool work on the farm fixing fences. we also cleared a lot of stuff for concreting... it was hard work.
here's a photo of the still very wet concrete... and that's not all of it, but it gives you an idea.


then i built a campus board with ben and we hung it up and it's really kick ass. anyway, i'll put a new photo of it up when i get back to the farm. i just keep forgetting to bring my camera to the wool shed in the yards (where it is hung).

so why am i not on the farm and what am i doing? well, on wednesday (11.22.06) i hitch hiked down to christchurch and met up with sean. this really cool surfer dude gave me a ride and he showed me the best surfing spots in kaikoura. he had two tapes: one was atmosphere and the other was some 80's mixed tape. it was great.

then on thursday, sean and i hitched it down to dunedin. we got a ride from this nice newly wed couple from melbourne, australia, for about a third of the way. then we got a ride from this guy from israel. he bought us lunch and took us sight seeing along the way. here's a photo of those cool moreki (i probably spelled that wrong) boulders with sean and david (israel guy).

here's some seals we saw at shag point:


the people in dunedin were so excited to have sean and i visit that they threw us a parade:


we've been staying at a really nice backpackers in dunedin and we went and saw albatross today. really cool. and we had to hitch hike both ways because the stupid city transportation doesn't go to the spot they are.... anyway. it was quite windy. here's a photo of an albatross... and yeah, that's the best i could to without paying $40 for a stupid tour... they chained it all off so we couldn't go to the observatory without paying. ick.


we also went to the cadbury factory and bought some chocolate. mmm. look at this picture of a really crazy girl... ;)


today, we're headed all the way south. we probably won't make it to stewart island until tomorrow... but we're taking the bus, so we won't get rained on too much.

love you. talk to you soon. everything is great. i am thankful that i'm here in new zealand on this trip in this town enjoying right now :)

p.s. i watched interview with a vampire last night and it gave me scary dreams.

p.p.s. here's my latest artsy fartsy photo... too bad it wasn't sunny when i took the picture...

pictures = fun

so i've uploaded some pretty cool pictures. umm. the catch up: well the farm stuff is going great. i've been playing with sheep, cows, dogs, rocks, weeds, 4-wheelers, landrovers, tussocks, and the throssells and some of their friends.

the latest interesting job (besides the usual mustering animals, dagging sheep, shoveling shit to put around avocado trees, grubbing those narcellus tussock weeds...) has been preparing these two fields for hay. we've literally been walking around them with the 4-wheeler and trailer picking up rocks and moving them to make some sort of bridge over this river. and by rocks i mean smallish stones. and billions of them. also, we've been spraying all the evil prickley weeds so i don't bleed too badly when i pick up the hay and get stabbed by them. i actually like spraying because those weeds are really evil and maybe my biggest enemy in new zealand... hmm.

anyway, here's some photos:

new profile photo = me and lamb blood... no i didn't kill it or anything, but we had to mark their ears and hot iron the tails off... so it can get messy...


um, but backing up a bit, here's some photos of the last two days christchurch...
um. in case you forgot, this photo is to remind you that ducks to new zealand are like squirrels to americans


my favorite part of uc campus is still beautiful:


another random campus shot:


ben and i went driving around port hills at night to take some city shots, but it was a bit rainy/foggy, but we stil got these cool photos:



i bought a south island rock climbing guide:


we had a night of drinking to celebrate the boys finishing finals
drink 1: black velvet = guinness and champagne


this is only after drink two: (ben and james are in love)


we had some nasty pork pie to sober up before heading to bar #2:


and the night continued on and ended with ben and i walking home for 2 hours because the busses were gone. which was nice, until someone threw something at me from a car and it hit me in the leg and left a pretty good welt... poo heads. that's ok. karma will get them back someday. bitches.

the next morning we were like how did the flat become such a mess?

then we realized that we'd all clean it up later... mmm
(in this photo is james, anton, ben (from left to right)

now, what you've all been waiting for!!!!!!! farm photos!!!!!!!!!
so this does not come close to really showing how big and beautiful and mind blowing and yeah you get the point, but here's a few photos to give you an idea.









and if you look close enough, you'll see the skid marks of when ben almost slid/rolled the landrover off the hill. pretty sweet skillz that he didn't.


shooting practice


and me spraying the weeds... those fuckers


all in all, everything is well. i'm having a great time. also, i got to see sean garmire. remember that kid from alaska? well he's still a badass. we're going on a trip to stewart island on wednesday. i'm sure we'll tour around the south of the south for a bit, too. then i have to be back at the farm by december for the insane farming season. where i will be worked. and i will love it.

oh and i'll put up a pic of my room on the farm soon... but i no longer get to wake up in the bright orange happiness...


notes/replies/whatever:

jessi: girl, i miss you. i'm glad you enjoyed the photos... so i hope you'll like these new ones. i'm also glad you love stars. and do you know i love you?

jordan: don't worry. i won't get killed... yet. hehe. you should think of a new theme/name for my thingy... if i like it, i'll use it. anyway, i hope the studies are going well. and um, keep it real.

caitlin: you are nothing but sunshine! i'm glad you love the rapture cd. and i'm so excited for you to go on your trip... it's coming up fast. i can't wait to come home and hang out with you more. :)

steve: you had better sleep in my bed... but watch out, sometimes dan comes in and cuddles with you ;) anyway, you have my permission to enjoy it. miss you still.

nanC: hell yeah you HAVE to come out here. they have a pottery ROOM. you would rock the house and my socks off. but yes, i'll call soon or something.


um, so yeah. i still love you.
-wren

in another computer lab somewhere on uc campus...

haha! i stole ben's swipe card, password, pin, and all other silly stuff i need to use the internet here for practically free... i found my favorite lab (mac lab) in the basement of the 11 story library. cool. not.

ok, so here's those pictures i claimed i put up from last time... (click on the picture to see bigger. i think.)

the view of sunrise from airplane window...

some pics from the bus ride down the north island:
lake taupo:

some mountains:


sunset:



the ferry ride pics:






my room (really justin's, but he's in england) at the flat:

the "door" to my room:




anyway, here's some more updateness:

umm, the weather was nice for some city wandering. so i forgot to tell you pretty much all the exciting stuff that happened since i've gotten to the city. um, the first day, we found this gread book sale thing where it was a dollar (NZ) for a bag of books. sweet! i found this great book called, Get Your Tounge Out Of My Mouth, I'm Kissing You Goodbye!. i loved it. i definitely read it in two days (it wasn't really long anyway). i recommend it to any girl to read and any guy who might enjoy a feminist rant... i forgot the author, but she also wrote a book called, If You Can't Live Without Me, Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?. i want to find that and read it, too. they're a bit older... maybe focused to the baby boomers generation, but i still really appreciated it. but i'm also crazy. and sweet.

i guess most kiwis haven't seen girls with shaved heads (or really short hair) because i keep getting strange looks and there's nothing in my teeth or on my face. as far as i can tell. i went to see toby (youngest brother) and he freaked out. i bet he's never seen that before ;)

the boys have been cooking all kinds of roasts and really fantastic meals that i thought i'd only get from grandma... yummm. i made them beer cheese last night. it was really white and creamy because they don't put coloring in their cheeses ;)

it rained for like 2 days straight, so i've been stuck in the flat... so the boys showed me this t.v. series that is english and maybe one of the best series i've ever seen. it's called BLACK BOOKS. it's really funny. watch it, or die. you pick.

music to listen to that i've been obsessed with:
anything by STARS
or anything by STYROFOAM

holy crap they're good. stars is like a bunch of people from the broken social scene and styrofoam sounds like postal service mixed with some notwist. mmm.

some of you wanted my address, so here it is:
genevieve
parikawa private bag
blenheim, nz

i'll be at the farm (address above) in a couple of days and i plan on staying a while. hopefully i'll be able to put up notes pretty often, but don't worry if it takes a bit. they still have dial up and i can only use the internet and night because it's cheaper or something. i have to ask still.

if you want me to send you stuff, email me your address (genevieve.luken@gmail.com)



replies/notes/whatever:

erin: got your message. sorry i didn't get to see you before i left. i think it's my fault because i was late to the coolest party ever saturday. i'll have to make it up to you when i get home.

emily: i love you. you had better be winning all the horse shows.

britt: i put my address up above. and you look really hot (a.k.a. sexy) today.

deb: i brought climbing stuff, sleeping bag, clothes, sunglasses, camera, ipod, wallet, passport. that's pretty much it. i miss you too. i hear school is treating you well this year... maybe too well ;) i hope things keep up for you.

jay: thanks for the note. i hope climbing is going well.

nanC: the half flush function is that the toilet isn't really full in the first place, so it just flushes with half the tank of water and half the water remains... so it's good if you only peed... but whole flushing is needed for everything else ;)

stella: yep, i meant the garage door. i read it and it didn't make much sense, too. oops.

mom: i like the south island better. more dramatic. bigger nountains, more variety. and i'm just biased. i'm sure there's climbing everywhere, but i'm going to investigate that and i'll let you know. and i wrote in my first blog how to do that... i think. but basically i'll try to put them up on here, so you don't need to worry. otherwise you can go to www.photobucket.com and enter hippie_bullshit_2 as the username and newzealand as the password. that should work.

karalyn: oh i wish you were here... i need another person who will freak out about half flush toilets and hoakie pokie ice cream with me... umm i forget what the beer was. ben got it and said it was really good. i've had tui and speights also... and we're getting emerson's on tap tomorrow. yay! oh and i also had some farm home brew that piers (dad) makes... holy crap his is the best. i wish i could make that... maybe i'll learn.

steve: glad to hear you've been climbing a bit. can't wait to climb with you when i get back. i miss you too. go to perkins lots for me over break.



wow that was a lot. sorry for the long post. love you guys. i'm off to climb for the evening then drive around port hills. i'm hoping to go to castle hill tomorrow if the weather is still nice and if ben can use the car.

love you guys.

in the engineering library...

well, i am alive and safe now. currently i'm in the library with ben while he is "studying" (crossword puzzles). um, i landed in auckland at 6am (nz time) then caught a bus then caught a bus to wellington. that was fun. 11 hours of bus fun time. i made friends with a nice girl from san diego and a guy from melbourne, australia. that passed the time well because by then my ipod battery was dead and i didn't have a power converter to charge it yet. we got off the bus and stayed at the downtown backpackers... which was ok. we played pool and i did awful for some reason, i think i was tired. then we sang a bit and drank some delicious nz beer ;)

i woke up early the next morning and caught the ferry to the south island (a 3 hour ferry) it was georgeous and i chatted with an old couple who were birders and learned a lot about nz and australian birds.

this story is exciting, right?

then i was super lucky and ben's parents picked me up from the ferry and drove me to the farm (parikawa). ben was there with some friends, so then i hopped in the car with them and went down to christchurch. which is where i am now. whoo. lots of sitting and travelling those two days.

all is well now, we wandered the city yesterday and went rock climbing at roxx. it was a perfect day out, so i was a bit sad i didn't get out to castle hill, but i plan on going sometime in the middle of this week. the gym was really fun, though. i did the top half to a 27 (5.13 ish i think) slab problem... but i might have cheated because i used the bolt holes at one part ;)

anyway. i'm working on getting fat already. i forgot how everything is bread and butter and meat and butter and cheese and butter and cream and cream and cream. but it's so good. i made sure to climb hard though... and walk everywhere... tee hee. did i mention that the beer is amazing? because it is.

other interesting thing i forgot about and was amazed to remember... the toilets all have half flush and whole flush... which still blows my mind at how smart that is.

oh and jenna, we saw jia and he looked great. and he's coming to the farm after he finishes his last final for a few days. yay.

and heather, i got stuck in customs for a minute because i forgot i had your blow pop in my bag... which i was delighted about when the found it because i ate it and it was really good. thanks ;)

there's not too much else going on. i'll try to update again soon. i've already got a bit of a sunburn ;)

my hair is long and funny. i might shave it... again.

p.p.s. i almost forgot to tell you the best part so far... i'm sleeping in a room off the garage in chistchurch (which is not connected to the house), so every day i get to open the door and walk out and close it... i don't know i'm not describing it right, but it's totally awesome and hilarious. i love it. and it's painted bright orange because justin decided he likes bright colors.

p.p.p.p.p.s. i added some PICTURES. check them out. i'll try to link them up to this page soon, but no time now. peace and love.