Author Archives: Kelsey

Last Sunday, Thomas and I decided to get outside and go on another tramp on the Mt. Herbert Walkway, which begins at Diamond Harbour, across from Littelton  Thomas is from Littelton, so he knows the area well and has been up Mt. Herbert a few times and was able to show the way and point out different things that we could see.

We left in the morning and rode the bus to Littleton.  There’s a tunnel through the Port Hills, which is where the Bridle Path, the trail that I hiked a few weeks ago, is.  From Littelton we took the 10 minute ferry across to Diamond Harbour.  From there, we started up the Mt. Herbert, one of the tallest mountains in the area.

Littelton from the ferry- I was at the top of those hills at the summit of Bridle Path

The walk was definitely much easier than that of Mt. Oxford.  There were more flat parts and the track went back and forth to give you a break between the steep parts.  As we were walking I was surprised that the track goes through private property, which is okay to walk through here as long as you stick to the track.  There are steps built onto the fences so walkers can easily cross.  But, this also means that a lot of the property is used as farmland for sheep and cows.  So, as we were walking there were many sheep and cows that were grazing nearby the track and they would just look at us and run away as we got closer.

The whole way, there were amazing views of the harbor and the surrounding mountains and once we got high enough, we could actually see over the Port Hills back to Christchurch city.  The last portion of the climb was the most difficult.  It was really steep, and even though it was a short distance, my legs were tired by then so I was glad to sit down and eat a snack once we reached the summit.  It ended up taking us a little under 3 hours to reach the summit, and the sign said the altitude was 919 meters.

Christchurch city and beaches are behind the Port Hills

After taking a break to rest and take some photos, we headed back down in the same direction we had come, back past all the sheep and cows.  We reached the ferry dock in another 2 hours, so it didn’t take us as long as the signs had said.  Overall, we walked a little over 15 miles.  We waited for a little while and then took the ferry back to Littelton.

I had another weekend of mostly doing homework (the work is definitely starting to pile up), but on Sunday afternoon Thomas, Kaelyn, Bryn, and Malene were planning on going to Cave Stream, which, as you can guess, is a cave with a steam running through it. Although it’s not a difficult walk, everything I’d read about it online said to make sure to wear warm water resistant clothes or a wet suit because the water can be freezing cold and that you shouldn’t go in if it’s been raining or the water is too high to walk through. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, so we didn’t have to worry about the water being too high, but I was still a little nervous that I would freeze to death. Little did I know, this would actually be one of the coolest study breaks I’ve ever taken.

Thomas borrowed his family’s car and we left for the hour and a half drive to the Cave Stream Scenic Reserve in the Arthur’s Pass area. First we stopped at the Warehouse, a store kind of like Walmart, to buy headlights since they are necessary to go through the pitch black caves. After we arrived at Cave Stream we walked down to the entrance of the cave, which is actually the outlet of the steam because it is recommended that you walk upstream for safety reasons.

Walking down to the cave entrance

Cave entrance

We first walked into the water and it was pretty cold, but not as bad as I was expecting.  Just a few steps into the cave we could feel the temperature drop considerably, and pretty soon we were in pitch black, so the headlights came in very handy.  The first bit was one of the deepest sections, where the water came up above my waist.  The rest of the time, the water was usually around our ankles to up to our knees or a little higher.

It was really amazing to walk through the dark caves, see the different ways the water had shaped the rocks, and listen to the rushing water.  A couple times we stopped to turn off our headlights and just stand in the pitch black and listens to the water, which was a cool experience.  About a quarter of the way through the cave, Malene said that she wished she had brought her GoPro because none of us had brought our phones to take pictures since they could easily get wet. We all agreed that the water was not as cold as we expected, and walking through the winding cave was actually really fun, so we were happy to go a second time.

Towards the end of the cave, there were a couple small waterfalls that we had to climb up.  One was slightly more difficult because there weren’t really rocks to easily step up on and every time you put your foot up, the water was strong enough to push it off.  But, all five of us made it up and eventually got to the exit of the cave, where we had to climb up a small ladder and crawl under some rocks to get out.  Overall it took us about 45 minutes to go through the cave.  We walked back up towards the car, rested for a couple minutes and dried off a bit in the sun, and then headed back down to the entrance again.

The second time we went through we went a bit faster, but we took more time to stop along the way.  We were able to find a couple of spots to climb up the rocks or go a different way, and Malene was able to get some footage on her GoPro.  If I can get some of that video I will post it later on.  We got back out of the cave and spent some time drying off.  I walked back down to the cave entrance to take some pictures since I couldn’t take any inside.  I brought another pair of leggings so I was glad to change into dry clothes, and then we headed back towards campus, stopping along the way to grab dinner.

This was one of the coolest places that I have been and one of my favorite experiences in New Zealand so far. It felt like I was walking through a man-made cave at Disney World or something, so it’s amazing to think that it was created completely naturally by the stream over millions of years. Now, I just have to see how long it will take my sneakers to dry out- they’re definitely very clean now!

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to join a group of students going to Mount Oxford for a tramp (what kiwis call a hike). Tramping is pretty big here and a lot of people do multi-day tramps, but I thought starting with one you can do in a day would be a good introduction to tramping. They told us it would be a 6-8 hour tramp and when I looked it up online it said it was easy/medium- a great place to start, right?

Beginning the tramp- we would end up at the top of the mountain behind the hills you can see in the background

Pretty soon into the tramp I realized it was going to be more difficult than I had been expecting. The trail was pretty steep and there were not many flat areas to give your legs a break, so the hike up the mountain was quite strenuous. On the way up, I was walking with a couple other people that were new to tramping and we were able to take our time when we needed to rest. The good thing was that the weather was beautiful and it was sunny with a nice cool breeze. A couple times that I didn’t know if I could go any further, I stopped and looked out at the landscape and the surrounding mountains and farmland. It was so beautiful and calming!

Looking up at the mountains

View on the way up

Finally, around 4 hours into the tramp, we reached the peak of Mount Oxford. The elevation we had reached was 1364 meters. It was an amazing feeling to finally reach the top after such a long and difficult tramp up. We all stopped to eat lunch and enjoy the views.

To get down the mountain, you could either go back the way we had come or continue around the loop that would go by a waterfall and end up where we had started. Continuing on the loop would be longer, but I figured if I had already made it this far I might as well go all in and finish it. We started down the trail and pretty soon it began getting very steep again. There were lots of loose rocks and dirt which made it hard to not slip and fall. Going down was difficult as well, but in a different way. Now my muscles were really working and I could feel my legs shaking if I stopped walking. After a couple more hours of tramping, we came to the junction where we could go slightly out of our way to get to Ryde Falls. We walked for about another hour to get to a beautiful triple waterfall. Some people in the group got in the water but said it was really cold, so I refrained from getting wet, especially since I didn’t want my shoes to be very wet for the rest of the walk.

After sitting by the Ryde Falls for a bit, we got back on the trail and continued our tramp. At this point the signs said it was about 45 minutes back to the main trail and then another 2 hours and 30 minutes to the place where we had parked. I could feel the muscles in my legs getting tighter and the steep up and down of the last portion of the tramp was pretty difficult as well.

We ended up returning back to our cars about 9 hours after we had started. I was excited to sit down and rest in the car on the way back to campus. I looked at my phone to see how far and how many steps it said I had taken. It said I had taken almost 41,000 steps, gone 17.3 miles, and went up and down the equivalent of almost 350 flights of stairs. After getting back on campus I was so happy to get back to my room, shower, and eat dinner. My whole body was sore and it hurt to walk and stand up (now, four days later, I still am a little bit sore). However, I was super happy that I got to experience my first tramp in New Zealand and am excited to do more this semester! The views are so worth the work and tramping is the best way to see all the amazing natural features that New Zealand has to offer.

On Sunday (2/18) it looked like it was going to be a nice day out so I texted the group to see if anyone wanted to go to the beach with me. A bunch of people said they would like to go and one girl, Lara, said she actually lives right next to a nearby beach so if we went there we could borrow her family’s boogie boards and surfboards. So, a group of about 10 of us met up and took the bus to Brighton, an area of Christchurch that is a little over an hour away.

It ended up being a little cloudy for a couple hours and by the coast it was a little cool and windy, but it was still nice to be at the beach. There was a pier that we walked out on and got beautiful views of the beach and the nearby mountains. Right next to the beach there was actually a library, which I thought was cool. It would be so nice to go there and sit and read looking out at the ocean.

A couple people attempted to surf, while the rest of us boogie boarded and body surfed for a couple hours. The water was a little cool, especially without the sun, but we still had a lot of fun. Later in the afternoon the sun did come out and it was nice to lay on the beach and warm up. Because the sun doesn’t set until later in the evening, we had a nice long beach afternoon- a great last day before classes start!

My apartment mate Zac introduced me to a group of students who live in the Ilam Apartments who all arrived earlier than I did and spent some time travelling around the South Island together.  The people in the group are a mix of kiwis and people studying abroad from the US and Europe.  Everyone was very nice and welcoming and is nice about inviting everyone to do different activities and hang out, which was great especially since everyone is new to UC.

On Friday afternoon (2/16) everyone was sitting out on the lawn in between a bunch of the apartment buildings and hanging out since it was so beautiful outside.  I joined them and a couple of the girls, Kaelyn and Bryn (who both study engineering at Iowa State) mentioned they wanted to go ice skating that night at a rink they found in Christchurch.  Although I haven’t been ice skating in a while, I thought it would be fun so I said I would love to tag along.  It ended up being me, Kaelyn, Bryn, Katie, and Kari driving in Katie’s car to the ice skating rink.  We rented skates and spent over 2 hours skating around and talking.  It was really fun and a great way for me to get to know them better.

On Saturday afternoon, another girl from this group, Dingding, said she was going to have the ingredients to make homemade dumplings and that we could go over to her apartment for a Dumpling Party to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  She is from China and has been taught by her mother how to make traditional dumplings.  I really like dumplings, but have never had homemade ones, so I thought it would be fun to help out even though I am not very useful in the kitchen.

A bunch of people ended up congregating in Dingding’s apartment and some of us helped chop up vegetables, make the dough, roll it out, and then form the dumplings before they were boiled.  It was pretty fun and really cool to see how they are made.  Plus they turned out to be pretty delicious!

On Saturday (2/17) night there was an event called Sparks happening at Hagley Park, a large park closer to central Christchurch.  Kaelyn and Bryn told me they were planning on going and that there was supposed to be music and fireworks, but I didn’t really know what else to expect.  We ended up taking the bus over to Hagley Park with several other UC students and as we walked through the park, I could tell it’s very beautiful and I definitely want to go back and spend more time there.  But, for the event there were tons of people and lots of kiwi families.  There were lots of food trucks set up around the perimeter of the site and then people brought fold up chairs and blankets to sit in front of the stage.  The setup was a lot like that of the Talcott Mountain Music Festival that we go to each summer with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

We got gelato and then found a place to sit so that we could see the stage and the large screens which were really nice so we could see what was going on since we were pretty far away.  The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra played and they had a nice program of a lot of classical music that most people would recognize.  They even played parts of the Nutcracker! One thing that was really fun was that they played a song from the movie Moana and had a woman singing the lyrics in Maori, the native New Zealand language.  They ended the night by playing the 1812 Overture along with the fireworks.  It was a cool performance and I really enjoyed the music.  It really reminded me of the summer outdoor concerts that we go to, so that was fun as well.  After the fireworks were over we decided to walk back to UC since so many people would be trying to get on the buses and there would be a lot of traffic.  The walk was a little longer than expected, but it was a nice night and I didn’t mind the long walk.

After over 28 hours of travelling I finally arrived in Christchurch!  The views from the plane as we were landing were so beautiful.  I can’t wait to explore New Zealand.

After arriving it actually didn’t take me too long to get adjusted to the time. I met my four other apartment mates, Sarah (from Seattle), Jordan (from North Carolina), Kate (from New Zealand), and Zac (from New Zealand) and got my room somewhat organized. A couple days after I arrived I had International Welcome and then for the next couple days I worked on getting classes approved and completing enrollment, which turned out to be quite a process.

One of these days I decided to go on an adventure to find the nearest bubble tea shop. It was not to far at all, just a 10-15 minute walk from where I live, and the bubble tea was delicious and refreshing!