This past weekend brought our last big IFSA-Butler adventures. We only have a farewell dinner left and then we’re done. It’s still a crazy feeling to think how long I've been here and every time I look up at my calendar I have mixed emotions. At one point I have fell in love with Wellington and could picture myself living in this beautifully vibrant city forever, honestly every day I found myself discovering more. But on the other hand in less than two months I’ll finally be able to see and hug all my friends and family I've been without for these past months. A truly bittersweet taste is left in my mouth no matter what. I have a solid six weeks still in New Zealand so no need to dwell in these thoughts yet. I have much too much school work to fill my head. Since the mid semester break ended the amount of school work has greatly accelerated and it’s been challenging to get back into the swing of classes and homework again. The work load is still not to the level of what I’m use to so it’s not as stressful. Plus I've noticed the classroom culture is much more relaxed than I’m used too. At my home Uni if we miss more than three classes a semester a lecturer could potentially fail you, but here I have a friend that has been to a total of 3 lectures the whole semester and we have the class twice a week (that’s missing 12 classes…) And the chances are they will be fine, just more independent learning, personally I think that’s crazy. I can understand if something comes up or you can’t make a class one week, but New Zealanders take this to a whole new level.
Onto my weekend adventures though, so on Saturday we all met up to go on a Seal Coast Safari! I wasn't entirely sure what this meant beforehand and sometimes I prefer it that way because being surprised and not having expectations is the best way to go! I figured we'll be in safari cars and would see seals, which both thoughts were right. What I didn’t expect to be shown places in Wellington I didn’t even know existed! It was great! We started up by our driver taking us around Welly and pointing out some of his favorite places and such, which was fun. You really notice how small the city is when you travel by car because it is always so quick to get around. After the city we started going up, up the mountains. I had no ideas there were even more beautiful views of Wellington than the views from Mt. Vic, but these views put Mt. Vic outlooks to shame. It was such a beautiful day for the drive too. We drove near Zealandia, which is an bird sanctuary. Looked like a very peaceful place to be and right near the top you could see this giant windmill and from here was the best views of Welly from down below. From that point we continued on our off roading adventure. We came across castles, giant golf balls and a small heard of deer. Our safari eventually ended up on the coast line where the adrenaline started to pump as we speed threw the sand. It was here that I saw the biggest waves I've seen in New Zealand and this was the first time I saw where the pacific and Tasman sea met (pretty awesome, the waters are different colours so the difference is easy to see). Of course the day wouldn't be complete without seeing a few seals sunbathing on the rocks. It was another wonderful adventure for the blog and oh almost forgot our driver made us this amazing green herbal tea from leaves and such that he’d been collecting throughout the day, amazing. Just a sweet as day!
Sunday was nothing short of beautiful too! This was the day of our volunteer work! Which if I’m being honest I’ve been so looking forward too this whole semester! Since coming here volunteering has been something I’ve missed so much. The feeling you get after helping someone in need is just incredible and this service opportunity came at the perfect time. We met up at 9:15 am near the bay and we were set to take a ferry ride to Somes Island, a rather small island just off the coast of Wellington, a short 10-15 mins ferry ride. I was geared up with my Circle K volunteer shirt that morning and was ready to go! When we first arrived we were greeted my Emma, one of the staff members that works on the island. This island has been pest free for a very long time so upon arrival we were required to check our bags and wipe down our shoes of fungi, not wanting to bring anything into the preserve. We had a quick run down of the island and a safety briefing before we started our service. For me and a few others our day started out with some painting. I found this very peaceful and relaxing. We were painting a wall of one of the buildings and I had the task of painting the blue sections. I got to put on some very bright yellow overalls and soak up the fun of doing service again. After that we took a short lunch break and was onto the next volunteer activity. This time we were helping to clear and re-tidy up one of the walking paths on the island. It’s important to know that there’s a far amount of wildlife on the preserve as well but the one encounter I want to mention I finally got to see a Tuatara. Yup this one’s for you Neil! I found one just like you asked me too. Sadly I wasn’t able to catch it so that I can't bring it back but I did get to see one, another great day. The goodness didn't end with the service though. When I got home I was able to take a short nap and then head over to our floor roast dinner. This was just so much food. I was overwhelmed by the amount of options of meat and vegtables, and there was even cheesecake, chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. In the words of a good friend yum yum!