Queenstown and more...:)

Omg...I've now only 4 and 1/2 weeks left...can you belive that? Well, I can't :) The time here down under went so fast cause I'm enjoying myself soo much! :D
We still have study leave and are doing trips with the international students :)
In the beginning of this week we went to an old hous which was build in about 1900 called 'Olverston'. A very rich man built  the hous for his family and to represent him and his status in the community. The special thing about the hous is, that everything, of the time the house was built, is still there and it's comletely furnished like it was in those days.
On tuesday we had a pretty cool programm. :) In the morning we went up the 'natures wonders' farm, which is a sheep farm but they also do tours in little 'trucks' (or whatever you should call them) around the farm cause on the farm there are also some seals, sealion, pinguins and many birds who only existe in a very few parts of New Zealand. So we first had a tour with these 'trucks' and saw many seals and also some pinguins. :) After this tour we went inside the farm and were shown how sheep are shorn. First it looked really violent and as though they would hurt the sheep...but we soon learned that the sheep don't feel anything and that it's really good for them. :) It was a real 'kiwi' experience cause here are sheep everywhere!!!!!! :P

the trucks :) 

our fancy green jackets to protect us against the dirt :) 

a two day old seal...cute!!!!!

sheep shearing 

feeding a lamp whch lost its mother ;) 

On thursday we went up to 'Larnach castel' it's New Zealand's only castel and was built by an austrailian banker who moved over to Dunedin in the 19th century. The castel wasn't as big as many castels in europe but it was very pretty and I personally really liked the garden! (that might be because at the moment everything is blooming here in New Zealand).

Larnch castel 

the beautiful garden :) 

On firday we had a hip hop lesson at school in the morning. :)
In the afternoon Sophie's hostparents took Sophie and me to Queenstown for the weekend. :)
The whole weekend was very nice! When we arrived after a 4 hours drive we checked in into our very nice apartement with view over the lake and to the mountains. :)

our apartment 

The next morning when we got up we enjoyed a nice breakfast on our balcony, dressed up and went to town. There we first went on the skyline gondola to a very nice viewing platform from where you could see the whole town of queenstown, the lake, the beautiful 'unforgetable mountains' and many other really amazing things. Later we did threre rides down on the luge :) nearly the same as we did in Rotorua on my northisland tour but it still was sooo much fun. :)

infront of the skyline :) 

the view frome the top! 

Sophie and me on the Luge :) 

 At lunch time we went back to town, to a restaurant where you can get the biggest burgers of whole New Zealand....They were huge!!!!!! They were nearly as big as a cake...but really yumm! :)

yumm!!! 

 Later we spent some time at the lake chilling out and in the afternoon Dave (sophie's hostfather) drove us up to the very first bungy jump of the world and we saw a short movie about the man who invented bungy jumping. :)

the lake :) 

oldest bungy jump! 

 By the time we got back to the apartment it was still very warm, so sophie and I decided to go to the lake again and have a swim. Unfortunately the water was to cold so we just went in with our feet and legs. :)

beautiful evening at the lake :) 

On sunday we drove to Arrowtown a small vilage next to Queenstown where we saw an old chinese settlers township who came to New Zealand during the gold rush to find some gold. Also the rest of the Arrowtown was very nice and we spent there the whole morning. :)

one of the chinese settlers houses 

After that we went up to the winter ski fiels of Queenstown from where we had a great view over many parts of central Otago. Of cause there was no snow anymore but you could still see where the sking in winter was done. :)

view from the ski field :) 

Monday morning we packed our stuff and started our way back home. We stopped a few times to visit some small towns on our way back. For example Cromwell, Clyde, Alexandra and Lawrence.
When we arrived back in Dunedin I was really tied but also very thankfull and happy about the whole weekend the nature is absolutly  amazing and unbelievable!!!!

weeks passing by...

This week was a pretty busy week... :)
On monday a model agent and make-up artist came to school and showed us how to put on make-up and style our hair. When everybody was styled and made up we had a small photoshooting where everyone got some lovley photos. :)

the whole group 

two of the pictures we took :) 

The next day we had our international farewell that means that all the hostparents come and the international student performe somthing, hold a speech or do a reflection about their time they have had here.  Over the last two weeks Chiara and I designed the programm and we all practiced for whatever we were performing on this evening.  So everybody was pretty excited but also a little bit nervous about the fact that we had to talk in english infont of an audience of at least 100 people. Karla, Sophie, Chiara, Jess, Maxine and me were doing a reflection about our time here with many pictures and some funny stories to these pictures. Luckily everything went fine and we all were very happy to finaly recive our St. Hilda's teddy bear and the certificate. :) It was really a very nice evening.
Wednesday we were taken to Omaru and Moeraki. Omaru is an old little town with some really nice buildings which were build in the time of the gold rush. We also watch a short film about the gold rush and how fast it came and went over again. In the afternoon we went on to the beach of Moeraki to see the famous ''Moeraki boulders''. These are circular stones who were formed like tis by the ocean and only exist on this particular beach. It was really amazing to see them and we took many, many pictures with them.

me, riding an very old bike :) 

on one of the boulders 

the boulders 

...more boulders 

a seal at the beach :) 

The following day we did a boat tour in the harbour of Dunedin where we saw many animales... f.e. Albertross, sealions and two dolphins which was really amazing. Unfortunately I didn't feel very well that day and when I got home after the tour I realized that I had fever and soo I went straight to bed and slept 2h or 3h. In the evening my hostmother took me to the doctor because I felt really bad. :(

on the boat

a seelion 

the beautiful cliffs at the entrance of the harbour 

On friday when I woke up I already felt much better and didn't have any fever anymore but I still stayed at home for the day to completly recover again. :)
On saturday Sophie, Alina ( a girl from christchurch who we met on our north island tour) and I went to a concert in a church which was a little bit borring but in the end I actually enjoyed it. After that I slept at Sophie's cause my hostparents were invited to a wedding. :)

study leave :)

Hey Guys!
And again one week is over...:/ and I'm really not sure if that is a good thing or a bad one. On the one hand I'm really looking forward to go home and see my friends and family again but on the other hand I don't wanna leave NZ because everyone and everything is soo nice here and I'm really enjoying my time!!! :)
Well, this week we finished school on wednesday, because all the Kiwi girls are writing their exams in a few days and they have study leave before that. It means that we don't have any school anymore to prepare for the exams. But because the international students don't have to sit the exams, Maggie, our international teacher has organized a programm what we will do during the time the exams are on.
But back to the beginning of the week when we stil had 'school'. Monday was a normal school with nothing special happening. On tuesday we had 'parties' the whole day. :) Not parties like what we call a party in germany...when you say 'let's have a party in class!' then that means everybody brings something to eat (ex. cookies or chrisps...) in class and you eat it during the lesson. They usualy have it at the end of the year to have a nice time before the hard study begins. So you maybe can imagine how full I was at the end of tuesday, after I had parties in every subject...:P
As I allready said on wednesday was our last day at school. In the morning we had normal class and at lunch time we had a big barbecue. :) Then suddenly all the year 12 students started to sign on each others shirts and we all were wondering why they were doing that. But then we were explained that they do it because it's the end of year 12 and in year 13 they don't have to wear school uniform animore. As a memory they sign their shirts.

me with my signed shirt :) 

On thursday we had our first day of the programm and went to Orokanui, which is a resort, where they try to get the nature back to how it was before europeans came to New Zealand. It was really interresting to see all the plants and birds. Later we went on to Port Chalmers where we had a nice walk around in a little garden full of blooming flowers and later we went to the sea to see some seals. :)

new silver fern

area of Orokanui 

in the beautiful garden 

Chiharu & I 

old, unused harbor 

really cute seal :) 

Friday we went to the Settlers museum where we learned a lot about the first settlers who came from Scottland here to Dunedin. We were shown how Dunedin looked in 1848 when they arrived and how it developed until now. But it wasn't borring like you might think now because we also were able to dress up and act like women and men in the 19th century. That was really fun and everyone enjoyed this day in the museum.

my acting group :) 

Sophie, Moe, Karla, Chiara, An, Chiharu & I 

me in my 'beautiful' dress :) 

My weekend also was very nice. :) On saturday I met up with Chiara and her two hostsisters and we went to Tunnel beach together.  It's named like this cause there is a tunnel through which you have to go to get to the beach. A 'old' legend says that a father built this tunnel for his kids for them to be able to get to the beach. That was really beautiful and we spent the whole day at the beach. :) The only thing that sucked was getting up the really steep path back to the road...:S

very cool landscape 

the tunnel 

the beach 

hole in the rock 

On sunday I met Chiharu a Japaneese girl who lives next to me and we just chilled out and had a nice sunday together. :)

Weekend with Heidi and Kirsty

And again an other week is over...and it was also my last complete week of school :( Now I've only school until wednesday left and then study leave and holidays! :)
On wednesday we were supposed to go surfing with outdoor education but unfortunately the weather was to bad so our OE teacher Mrs Fletcher invited us for a hot chocolate because she is leaving school now and it was her last outdoor education lesson. So we were all a bit sad about not going surfing but we had a nice afternoon in the cafe which was also very good. :)
I spent this weekend at Heidi and Kirsty's (my hostsister) because Sue and Peter (hostparents) went to Christchurch to meet some friends. So I was picked up after school on friday afternoon by Kirsty. She took me home where I just got changed from schooluniform in mufty and then we went to Heidi and Kirsty's. In the evening we just watched some movies and went to sleep.
The next day we had a lazy morning and enjoyed just chilling out and doing nothing. :) Then in the afternoon we went 'ten pin bowling'... that was really fun but I wasn't very good and lost the first game and went second the second game. :S Later Heidi wanted to show me her favorite place in New Zealand, so the drove me to Brighton beach wich was really very nice. :) For dinner we went to to a restaurant and back home we we watched a couple of movies again.

Heidi's favorite place :) 

ocean and river meeting 

Heidi & Kirsty  

On Sunday we had a brunch together and then wanted to go to a look out point but changed our mind halfway through and went further to a very nice beach where Kirsty and Heidi also haven't been before... so we discovered a very nice new place with cliffs, beach and ocean. :)

endless beach 

how can this tree survive? 

me & Kirsty at the new discovered beach ;) 

massive rocks 

On the way back we stopped at a 'little' path to walk up a hill. Unfortunately we didn't know how steep it was and started walking...after a few minutes we realized that it was a really hard and steep walk and we all struggled getting up. After 15min tough hiking we finally arrived at a beautiful rock formation and enjoyed a very nice view.

little hike :P 

 When we got down again we drove back to Dunedin and they droped me off at home. It was really a very nice weekend and I really enjoyed staying with them!!! :)