Photo of the day MAY 28

New Zealand Fur Seal

Today I went on an off-roading wildlife tour on the Otago Peninsula. It was a lot of fun and really cool to see the seals, penguins and albatross. I caught this cute seal pup yawning, just waking up from a nap. What is cool about the tour I went on was they don't let anyone disturb the animal's natural habitat. Even the people that work there do not hurt, help, or disturb them in anyway. the viewing was through a small cave with a look out point. We were able to get closer to the seals than we did to the penguins, but I really respect that this company doesn't build special shelters or anything, they just view them from afar in nature. This seal was so cute though!

-Whit

Photo of the day MAY 27

St. Clair Beach

I kind of cheated for the photo from Friday by combining photos. But like every photo of the day so far, there is a story or reason behind it. I love the beach and I love the ocean, so when I had a day off on Friday I thought I would ride the bus down to St. Clair. The problem is, it is winter at the beach here. I wanted to walk barefoot in the sand and dip my feet in the water, so I did despite the cold. It was fun and the beach was beautiful (I was there right when the sun was setting) but I paid the price afterward. I had completely lost feeling in my feet and it took about an hour for them to fully dethaw... but it was definitely worth it!

-Whit

Photo of the day MAY 26

Cadbury Chocolate

I was asked at work, "Have you had a picnic?" I must have looked very confused because the people in the room laughed and my coworker held out this chocolate. As you can see, I had my picnic and it was quite yummy! The Cadbury Chocolate factory is located in Dunedin so Cadbury chocolates are very popular here!

<3 Whit

Photo of the day MAY 25

Me above St. Clair beach

Ok so I am cheating a little here because I actually took this picture yesterday, but I liked it so I thought I would add it. This was taken on my tour of the city with my coworker. Note about St. Clair beach... Apparently people surf there year round even though it gets very cold in Dunedin. It is the closest beach to the city. A few years ago they put a bunch of rocks to form a sort of wall around the beach to protect the beach front shops from high tide. Supposedly this addition to the beach made a change in the water and now the surf is not nearly as good as it used to be.

Kiwi word of the day: Bugger-Darn, dangit. or Bugger off-tell someone to go away or leave me alone. My supervisor at work uses these words a lot!

Cheers,

Whit

NZ Photo of the Day MAY 24

Cargill's Castle

I went to different lookout points today when my coworker basically took me on a guided tour of Dunedin. This castle is in ruins and there is no public access to it. It is also 1 of 2 castles in NZ and it is often overlooked because Lanarch Castle is much more popular. I chose my photo of today to be this castle because (1) castles are super awesome and (2) it has a kinda interesting story behind it. ~The castle was built by Edward Cargill who was an important political leader and at one time mayor in Dunedin. The castle is built upon high cliffs that overlook the ocean. The spooky part is, Edward's brother John Cargill dug a narrow tunnel down through the cliffs to give his daughters private access to the beach because he loved them so much. (Tunnel Beach) Later on, one of his daughters committed suicide on that very beach. Some think she drowned and others think she jumped off the cliff to her death.

Oh and my Kiwi word of the day is 'sweet as' - meaning great, cool, awesome, ect.

Cheers,

Whitney

Run to Otago Harbor

On Sunday I went for a run and ended up at Otago Harbor. It was only about a 15 minute run to the harbor and I am glad I ended up at there because I love being this close to the ocean. I have decided I am going to run to stay in shape while I am living here because I do not have access to a gym in Dunedin. The city is very fun to run in because there are so many things to see! The pics below are all the sights I saw on just one quick run. They include Otago Harbor, the historic Dunedin Train Station, bridge that crosses the train tracks and the fire station.

Here is a collage of the photos I took on my run:

Dunedin is a really cool city and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to live here for 2 months. If any of you reading this ever get the chance to travel to NZ make sure Dunedin is a stop you make, it will be well worth it! I look forward to many more runs around the city because this one was sweet as! (Kiwi slang for great) :)

Flying into Dunedin New Zealand

Thursday May 19, 2011 I left SLC, UT to fly to Dunedin, New Zealand. I will be spending 2 1/2 months here doing an internship at Channel 9-Dunedin Television. I left my friends and family back in the States to experience life in an entirely new way. After 20+ hours of traveling and adapting to an 18 hour time difference, I am ready to start my summer in Dunedin. Although international travel is long (12 hour flight), it is awesome. You can play games, watch movies listen to music, eat drink and be merry! But once I arrived in Auckland, NZ I still had one more flight to Dunedin. These pics were taken on that flight.

After I arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand there was a shuttle driver waiting for me with my name on their sign. I got dropped off at Living Space Dunedin, where I am staying, and I went in to get my room assignment. The receptionist told me my room would not be ready for another 2 hours. So I had two hours to kill. I walked around town and exchanged money. I was hungry so I decided to check out the farmers market. It was too overwhelming for me at that point so I left after 5 minutes. Then I killed the last hour siting outside the train station listening to a guy play the bagpipes. It was kind of a rough start to my trip because after traveling for that long all I wanted to do was take a shower and lay down. Eventually I got into my room and got settled in. Here are pics of my apartment.