Mid-trimester break; Version 2012

If you recall from my last adventure to the Land of the Long White Cloud, my mid-trimester break was full of beautiful South Island scenery, trying to drive on the left side of the road, bungy jumping, sky diving, and spending 1.5 weeks with Mom. IF at all possible, this mid-trimester break almost beats that. In the last 2 weeks I've read 2.5 books, knitted another penguin sweater, crocheted a hat, and watched about 3 seasons of How I Met Your Mother. True Story.

Tomorrow it gets a bit more exciting. I'm headed north for the weekend to do the Tongariro Crossing, which will include a hike up to the summit of Mt Doom!

(Hopefully with less fire and brimstone)

Alright, so here's a brief synopsis of what I've been up to the last month, with the aid of some pictures.

First, I bought a moped! It's about 4 miles from my house to campus, which took me about 45 minutes to walk. But, I found one on trademe (NZ's version of craigslist) for pretty cheap, so I bought it. And, my flatmate's friend already offered to buy it off me when I leave. Hooray for convenience and saving money!

The Wellington Zoo, as part of Wellington's Sea Week, had an event one Saturday morning to build blue penguin nest boxes! Little blue penguins make burrows on the coast, and since their numbers are declining, they put nest boxes out to encourage penguins to come ashore to nest. Two of my classmates and I went to the zoo to help build boxes, and it was clear we're biologists, not carpenters, cause we had some difficulties. :)

Momoka and Jackie building away.

One of these things is not like the other (guess which one is ours)

Lookout Meerkat

The signs at the zoo are hilarious. The demonic zebra will trample children.

Little Blues!

Saint Patrick's Day, went to a Hurricanes rugby match. The Hurricanes are Wellington's rugby team. They played the Highlanders, Canterbury's team.

Then, one day I made my way back up Mt Victoria, ready to take a new picture on the tire swing....and the tire swing is gone!!!!!!!!! So sad. :(

At least at the top there was a gorgeous sunset!

Sunset over Wellington; couldn't get any better.

That's all the pictures I have for now. Hopefully I'll have some super ones after this Tongariro trip. I'm excited.

PEACE.