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  • Steve Wyngaert
  • Steve Wyngaert

New Zealand

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    22. april 2016
    Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    First breakfast in new zeland

    23. april 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Just got up and registered my new cell phone, which doesn't have international calling or texts so I won't put the number here.... But it does have data so I will be easier to reach by Messenger, Skype and what's app.

    Wanted to try surfing today but missed the tour, I might book it for tomorrow if the weather keeps up like it has been since I have arrived. I still have a few more days and I hope to get to mount eden for the sunset tonight, not sure what else I will do on my free days.

    On the lighter side I scared the crap out of myself when I woke up expecting to be in Canada and was in some appartment. The guy that I am staying with is actually Canadian who grew up in Winnipeg. He is pretty nice but pretty flamboyant. Took me a few minutes to remember that I am in new zealand. FOR REAL! Driving on the wrong side of the road is also still bothering me.

    I always mean to take a nice picture of my food but I always eat it before I remember, so here is a picture of me in a coffee shop. They don't have regular coffee here, I have been to several coffee shops and they all want me to order weird drinks that cost a lot. I've been sticking to Americano which is normal coffee right?

    Anyways that is enough for now, I hope you enjoy my first update. We will see how long I keep this up before you/I get fed up.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Long hike.

    23. april 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Today I got up early and booked surf lessons for tomorrow (Sunday morning). I wanted to go this morning but I got up too late. Oh well, ill do it tomorrow. It is supposed to rain and when I mentioned that to the organizer he told me that I will get wet either way. Well played sir... Well played....

    I also noticed that the back pack that I brought is already broken and ripped. It really sucks and i have no clue what I can do to fix it. Does anyone have any ideas.

    I went back to where I am staying and looked in my new zealand books for something to do that doesn't cost anything. I found a walk called the coast to coast walk, which starts like 4 blocks from where I am staying and it is a 16k walk(they estimate it's 4 hours long because of the hills we climb and stuff).

    On my way, we pass by the university and i saw a guy in a full said of armor with an axe. He was heading in th opposite direction that I had to go but I followed him out of curiosity. He went to a park with a bunch of people in costume and weird coloured hair. I kind of regret not taking any pictures but I had it on my mind that I had to complete my trip under the 4 hours and this was killing my time so I left him there.

    I walked up mount eden( which is an inactive Volcano ) , and saw amazing view of the city and took a ton of pictures before heading off to the next part which is another Hill called one tree Hill (there was no actual tree because they cut it down years ago.). There I saw my first sheep!!!!!! 🐑🐑🐑🐑
    Once I got to the top of the hill I notice that I had dropped my sunglasses after swearing a but under my breath I cut my losses and finished the walk without taking too many more pictures.

    On my way back (yes I walked back too). I found a sunglasses hut so I stopped to get a new pair. I ended talking to the guy behind the counter for about an hour and he gave me his number to go out and get drinks with him tonight.... Actually now that I am writing this I can see how things could be taken differently.... Not sure if i will text him or not. We will see tomorrow night how I feel after the Surf attempt.... Maybe I'll finally take out my go pro tomorrow.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert
    1

    Surf and so much more.

    24. april 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    So this morning I ended up getting up at 4 because I was scared to miss my Surf lessons today. It actually started at 8... Couldn't fall asleep which really sucked so I ended up going right beside to where I had to meet and had coffee and food before heading off. It was pretty good. When we arrived I actually put my wet suit on backwards like a moron but I laughed it off pretty well. I went for the lesson and it was the instructor, an Asian guy from Hong Kong who has been surfing for about two years, a French guy who was on his second consecutive day of Surf and a German dude who has been going out surfing everyday for the past three weeks. So i was the only real new person which was really nice since the instructor pretty much gave me one on one lessons. I ended up standing at my second wave which blew my freaking mind. We ended up staying out there for about 4 hours and afterwards I wad freaking
    sore!

    On our car ride back he told me I had the ride of the trip and he was really impressed in front of the others( because I was able to get all the way back to the beach) . I would not have been able to however if he had not helped me and kind of pushed me off (it was kind of cheating but ill take it since I'm a really new person at this and am terrified of water). I chose to not use my go pro quite yet since I spent most time falling then actually surfing. Ill probably bring it next time for sure.

    I tried another thing that is supposed to be New Zealand based called Cookie Time. It was pretty good but not really a smart lunch.

    I then went to where I am staying and the people I am staying with actually made me supper which was really nice. It was a really spicy pasta with shrimp. It was amazing. I guess that I eat some seafood now.

    Anyways, enough for today. Ill include a little sneak peak for tomorrows post. I met a redhead (surprising because of how elusive they are!) today and am supposed to go out for a bite to eat with her tomorrow. We will see if she actually decides to show up or not. Just throwing it out there, I texted her a few times and she keeps saying yip. I thought she wanted to say yup until I said it out loud and realised that is just how they spell it.... It's yes with an accent.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Boring but productive days

    27. april 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I AM STILL ALIVE!

    Sorry that it has been a while since I have posted but these past few days have not been the most interesting. I have not really done anything of note other than meeting new people, trying new and interesting foods as well as trying to open a bank account (which is still not done yet. Yesterday I spend three hours at the bank and on the phone with them, im actually there again now waiting for an appointment).

    Below are the candy bars that I have tried. Really not so great, they are too sweet. Oh well.

    Anyways I think that I'll start a list of things that are different than back home.

    1. Coffee is amazing here but they don't have as they call it "drip coffee" and nothing under 4$ a cup. On top of that, if you order coffee in the afternoon they kind of look at you funny.

    2. Pretty much everything is closed by 8 except for fast food restaurants and really expensive restaurants. This includes all the coffee shops. It makes me wonder where the university students hang out and study.

    3. When I'm walking I am new quite sure if in supposed to walk on the right or left side since people drive on the wrong side.

    4. When crossing the street the poles play music when you are allowed to cross and the sign shows an actual green person walking when to walk and a red person standing when you are not supposed to walk (not a hand).

    5. Paying by credit card is much cheaper than paying with cash. They use the bank exchange rate and don't charge me fees so I will usually save about 0.10 on the dollar which is nice since most things here are significantly more expensive.

    6. Bacon is included in pretty much every breakfast meal but they are not strips they are round-ish. It's weird but it tastes the same.

    Last night I went to a meet up and met a bunch of people. It was an hour walk away but was worth it. It was a mix of locals and travellers but they have all been here longer than me and they gave me a list of things to see and do (And eat) while I am here. They also invited me to a couple parties. One I will miss because of my trip but I would make the second it I chose to come back to Auckland after my tour which is a possibility that I had never seriously consider.

    I can't wait for my trip to start tonight so that I can finally travel a little bit more than I have been these past few days. I wonder what will happen and what I will get to see. Ill try to post every few days if I can.

    Anyways right now I need to go to the bank to try yet again to open a bank account. I kind of wish there was an easier way to get this done.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    And we are off!

    28. april 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C

    So last night i met my tour group and they all seem pretty nice. I have been working my Dale Carnegie skills and learned everyone's name that night. We had our introduction meeting then went to a bar to drink, get to know each other and just generally mess around. We ended up in a pool tournament where I did the best of our group and finished 4th out of 20. That was the first time I did well in pool in my life.

    We left early the next morning and have been on the bus pretty much ever since stopping every hour ot so to move a bit and see some sights. At our last stop we saw this amazing waterfall. I can't wait to see what comes next.

    On the bus he passed around the clipboard to sign up for the activities for the next couple of days. I ended up being pressures to do the cultural walk (where they perform the Haka and just teach us of Maori culture in genrral) and skydiving. So if you don't hear from me in a couple days that means I am dead. That's all for now, I am pretty sure we are arriving at the house boat that we are staying at tonight.

    Cheers,

    Steve or as I told them to call me steeeeeeeeve    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Little update back home.

    30. april 2016, New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    So we ended up spending nearly a full day on the house boat (on our way out the captain said we were with him for 22 hours) and i actually did quite a few thing. We went kayaking at night and every time we would row the water would light up because of this luminescent algea or something of that nature. I was not able to get a picture unfortunately but I wont forget it. Afterwards people went swimming around the boat and i went in. As most of my family is aware, I am not the biggest fan of open water but I said when in Rome and jumped in. It was the first step because after that I realised that it wasn't top bad and the next day I went swimming in the Bay and even snorkeling.

    On our way back we tried sea urchin. It was salty and i wouldnt want to have it again but once again im glad that I tried it. We were then supposed to Sky dive but the weather wasn't good enough so it got pushed back to this morning as I am writing this. The people I spent time on the boat with told me that when the guy coordinating it told us I got color back in my face which is probably true because I am absolutely terrified to do this jump.

    Once we got back to dry land our guide drove us to this little Forest where there is this nice little waterfall. At the end of it one our our Swedish friends explained that it is a rare type of forest but I couldn't quite grasp what type of forest it was and why it is so special.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    The Maori people are terrifying

    30. april 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    This morning I ended up going for a run at 5 am to calm my nerves about jumping out of a plane later that day. It was amazing running on the beach as the sun rises but it wasn't quite nice enough to keep me completely distracted. I was even too distracted to take a picture. Fuck!

    Oh well, I have loads of other chances to take pictures. We then hopped in a van at about 6:30 to head to the sky diving. We waited and waited for them to give us the okay. Until they finally said the weather was too bad so there won't be a jump today. Oh well, maybe I'll die later then.

    We then went to the place where the Maori (the native people from there) signed a peace treaty with Britain and we learned about their culture. We then watched a Maori peace offering and they chose me to be the British chief. They told me not to laugh, smile or flinch as he came at me with a pointy stick (it was a lot scarier than what I am describing please believe me) and screamed at me then jumped at me before offering me a sign of peace, the weird bamboo thing. I wish I would have had a picture of it but I was kinda busy trying to not die nor shit myself. I will see if I can't talk to the people who I am with and to try and get a picture of me with the tribal leader.

    We then went inside to finish the whole thing when they told me I needed to do a speech. I dove quickly into my Dale Carnegie knowledge and then failed miserably. Oh well, maybe I'll have another chance to redeem myself next time I am attacked by a man in a skirt. The entire cultural experience was amazing and in the end I didn't need to go skydiving to have the shit scared out of me.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Taking the scenic route

    2. maj 2016, New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    Well I am a few days behind so I will separate this post by days.

    May 1st:

    We woke up early-ish to head down to a town called Raglan where we boarded a boat to get to a private little cove which is connected to the ocean and we did some kayaking to a little farm.

    The kayaking was nice and super scenic.

    At the farm the lady explained the mating cycle of eels as well as a lot of information on bees. She really did try to convince us all to be scientists. She gave us some home made biscuits, honey and jams. She was very opinionated. So much that it made me feel like I was back home again. She also mentioned that she was looking for workers during the coming months and my new friends did what they are good at and threw me under the bus.... Again.... So i may very well after the tour return there and work. We will see.

    We then went to a private house where we stayed at for a couple nights in a small town called Raglan . Well we let the girls have the house and we took the trailer out front. Or kind of got stuck into taking it. Oh well it was still pretty sweet. We ended up having quite a nice party with some pina coladas (is that how you spell it?) and ate some fish and chips. SWEET AS!

    May 2nd:
    We got up relatively late after the drinking of the night before but luckily all we had was surf lessons to do. We went up a hill where they showed us some basics and safety rules before we headed down to the ocean. I later heard our tour guide say that the waves were terrible (because there were none....) but it was okay because we were learning. I got up a few times but also had my fair share of wipe outs (someone from our group didn't surf so they took picturea from the beach and she got one of me. But i cant tell which one it is so ill post one and just hope that it's me, if not ill go through the pictures on the a computer once the trip is over and post it on facebook).

    After the surf lesson in raglan we headed into the town to eat and do some shopping before having some nice time off. The afternoon was full of board games before some yoga on a mountain top as the sun would set. I am not a person that enjoys yoga but I would do it again in that setting with that view. We then had one of our surf instructors come in and he cooked us a supper of lamb chops, chicken, sausage and salads. It was really amazing. To be honest, I have really been enjoying all of my meals.

    I will cut this into two posts even though I am missing days because I have a max of 6 pictures on my posts. More pictures should be coming up on Facebook as well as another post in the next few days.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Adrenaline route

    3. maj 2016, New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Today we woke up early-ish to go to the Waitomo caves which are the caves with glow worms lining a big part of the ceiling. I decided to do a black water tubing option which means in parts of the cave we are swimming and in tubes as we look up at the magnificent glow worms. Unfortunately there were no cameras allowed inside the caves but they said that they would send us a link in order to get the pictures that they took. I am still waiting to receive it. Our guide seemed to know a lot of caves and different things found in them.

    He would often lead us through a path and after we would squeeze our way through he would say, yup that was the tight path, we could have also taken the easy path here.... Great thanks man. As we were getting on the tubes he gave us an adrenaline option where we climb up the side of the cave and jump ass first into the tube. But watch out because there is a rock that you can hit if you jump too high and another if you don't jump far enough.... I just had the phrase, what's the worse that can happen ( something that one of the other people on the tour keeps repeating to me) and decided to take the leap. Fun shit. Also when getting off he gave us the same adrenaline optoon but would not tell us what it was.... So i did it and next thing I know i was flipped in the freezing cold water laughingy ass off. The rest of the group opted not to do it after they saw what it was. All in all it was a great day and I am glad that I decided to do it. No regrets.

    We then went to a modern Maori town and spoke to a man there and learned more about the Maori people in the past and today. I also had to give another speech since I was elected chief of our group, sang a song to the man that let us into his home and he taught us a haka. We also played a classic Maori game that was used to practice their crazy eyes and screams which just reminded me of a drinking game.

    We only have two more days on the north Island then we are off to the south.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Climbing the tongariro alpine crossing

    5. maj 2016, New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    So yesteday we woke up extra early (5am) to get to the Tongariro alpine crossing (for you Lord of the rings fans, it's mount doom in the films... Or so I've been told). It is a 19.4km hike up and down a mountain. The peak that we hit was 1886m and it was calculated at about 40, 000 steps.

    I made sure to bring enough food and water for the trek and actually packed way too much. I kept offering it to the people I was climbing with because I was hoping to lighten my bag. This was actually really good because they didn't bring enough food. They repeated that chief steeeeeeeeeeve takes care of his women and that made me laugh on several occasions. I kept with a pretty big group of people because they had a really good pace and they pointed out several amazing picture spots. The trek ended up being about 7 hours and was beautiful. It has been the highlight of my trip so far but that doesn't mean much since I have been thinking that every day.

    Today was a relaxing day so ill include it here too. We got up and then drove down to Wellington. We stopped a couple of times, once to do a rubber boot throwing contest at a small town that is known for it called Taihape. We split the group into the girls and boys and our group leader said he would buy a drink for the winners, and I won! Yay!!!!! I tried throwing the boot like a baseball and it worked pretty well. Just checked into the hostel for the night, tomorrow we will lose about 6 people as we head off to the south Island but we gain 5. So it will be a bitter sweet night. Anyways, I'm glad that I caught up to real time. Hopefully i will be able to keep up from now on.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Long day of Traveling... Ugh

    6. maj 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    So last night we had a freaking shit ton of alcohol and did a mini bar crawl in Wellington. We went to three bars which was pretty good since the bars down here are really strict and won't serve you if they feel like you have had too much to drink. One of the people we were with actually got kicked out of one of the bars that we were at.

    Well a large portion of us didn't sleep very much that night and ended up leaving really early to catch a ferry which is 3 and a half hours long to cross over to the south Island. Most people just slept the entire journey. Once we got off the ferry we were back on the bus for three more hours to get to Abel Tasman national park. On our way we stopped at several places including this River bed that was in the hobbit movies. I wish I would have got the name but I can't remember it for the life of me. It was great to spend some time after the long car ride just to skip rocks. This road trip has been long winding roads on the side of mountains with ocean on the other side. In other words really amazing scenery!

    We then had a little stop to eat in Nelson. Then headed to where we were staying, a small little place called old MacDonald farm. Yes, there are animals roaming around on this farm. We ended up turning it in early after a late night the day before.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Sea kayaking

    7. maj 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    So this morning we got up and was picked up by a sea taxi. It was a boat that was being pulled by a tractor. The tractor pulled us to a little boat launch where it launched the boat. It was really interesting seeing how well these people worked together to grt a bunch of these taxis in the water efficiently. They do this daily with big tractors because of the huge variation of water levels due to the tides. The guide said that it that day the tide would be the biggest variation of the season. Sweet as. Once on the sea taxi we drove up by some seals and got some pictures. He explained how it used to be real easy to hunt them because seals are lazy and curious so they would just sit there as people would come to them. The Americans said to keep us Canadians away from the seals so we wouldn't club them. Until that point I had forgot that they club seals in the north.

    We then docked the boat in anchorage and hiked a bit taking in the scenery before heading to the beach for some sea kayaking. I feel like by the end of the trip I'll be almost a sea kayaking expert or at the very least a semi competent paddler.

    After a couple hours of kayaking we headed back to the farm and took a well deserved shower before supper and a camp fire. Sitting by the campfire telling stories under the stars was a nice little detail that I had never really expected coming into the trip. I kept hesitating to go to bed or to stay up because I knew that I would be getting up early the next morning in the hope of falling out of a plane. I was really hoping for shitty weather in the morning so that it would be cancelled again but I would not be so lucky.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Then there was one

    23. maj 2016, New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Just a quick note. I know i missed a lot of days of my tour and i will go back and add them in probably within the next week but I wanted to get this one out first.

    Well today the last two people from my Gadventure group left which was really hard. I didn't realize how close I became to my group. I cried my fair share of tears and i really hope that u will get the chance to see every single one of them in the future but I am afraid that the chances of seeing them all is very slim. I will forever cherish you guys and it made me realize that I need to do a eurotrip at one point to see a fair share of you.

    After they left I finished my ird application and applied for about 5 jobs. I will do more tomorrow. I stopped because two new roommates came in and I wanted to learn a little bit about them.

    That's all I wanted to say.... Just I miss you guys and hope everyone gets home safe. I'm going to listen to Candyman now to bring back some of the epic memories.

    Cheers    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    A little update on my current situation

    27. maj 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    I know I haven't really had a chance or really wanted to go back and make a few posts about my Gadventures trip. I just don't feel like I'll be up to it just yet. So I will give a little update on what I have been up to and what is going on.

    I have spent the past few days applying to pretty much everywhere. I talked to the lady at the desk and she offered me a job at the hostel for accommodation. It's 3 hours a day, yesterday I did dishes and today im pretty sure they said that I had to walk to Halls and make sure that no one is drinking since it's a dry hostel. It is okay for now but I feel like i want to work somewhere where I actually get paid.

    Today I got a call from a company that asked if I wanted to be a caller for a non for profit to try and get people to donate money. I told them that I would be terrible at that which caused then to laugh and say thanks anyways. I would be a terrible call center person. I then got an email from someone who wants to interview me to manage a hostel up in the north Island. Only issue is that he wants me to potentially start in July. The bright side is that i am getting call backs right?

    The more time I spend in Wellington the more I realize that Montreal is just as beautiful here, the only thing that I don't like is the French. I like being served in English and being able to strike a conversation with random people in the bar or street on English without getting a weird look. Yes, I have actually been doing that actually because I feel like if I don't I will end up leaving new zealand sooner than expected because I will have made no friends.

    This post is a bit boring and kinda more depressing than most but I meet new and interesting people everyday even though I never see them again afterwards.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Ird number

    3. juni 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    So today is my day off so I can do anything. Well instead I decided to sleep in and catch up on game of thrones. All in all I think that I made the right choice. After that I called the government of new zealand to know about my tax number which was approved and they gave it to me so now I can legally find a paying job for the next 10 months or so while I am in here. On top of that my new roommates seem really nice and we get along super well so far. We will see how that continues as we start to smell each others farts and hear each others snores every night. With that in mind someone clogged the toilet yesterday and they wanted to call a plummer to fix it because they didn't want to deal with it. I called them wimps and unclogged it.

    Every night I seem to meet new people and it can be anywhere from just sitting and talking to strangers in a coffee shop to laughing at random peoples jokes as they walk on the street then introduce myself. I have a theory of why I can do this here while back home I can't communicate with people and I feel like that is the fact that I never have a clue of what language to talk to them in. French or English... Maybe things will change when I get back home but for now I am enjoying myself.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Need to make a change

    11. juni 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Yesterday was my day off so I didn't do much other than drink and hop around various bars. I started early to go and watch game 5 of the NHL playoffs. It was nice and it felt like I was back home for a bit. Then I went out for late lunch with my boss at a little Irish pub which was really nice. I got to know a lot about him. Then that night we did something different, we went to a jazz show. It was different but and interesting because the age demographic was significantly older than us (most of them had white hair) but man could they dance to that jazz!

    With that in mind, I'll say that I am loving it here. The people are great and I am having an amazing time but I feel like shit. Too much unhealthy eating (and drinking) and not enough exercise is making me feel like absolute shit. I spend most of my days on my computer and applying to many jobs, working in the hostel then into the bar next door. The nights are starting to add up and it is about time I start to cut back a bit. I keep seeing hiring signs on doors then ignore them as I go back to my computer to apply to other jobs. I know that I will be able to find a job when I finally decide to go out there and hand out my cv door to door. It will be a little bit of leg work but will be nice to get some more sun and some exercise. I am going to try to go to bed earlier and run in the mornings.

    I heard that Gordie Howe died yesterday and the worse part is that I keep mentioning it to people and how sad it is and they keep asking who he is. It is a clear difference of cultures that I am still trying to wrap my head around.

    By the way the pictures are from the botanical gardens here. Also is included is a picture of our room door, not sure why we have so many shoes on it.

    I'll end with that it was nice talking to my brother recently even if it wasn't for much other than let me know of some bad news back home, which is kind of sad that no one else wanted to mention anything to me. I may be across the world but I would like to know what is going on back home. Hope you guys stay safe, i am thinking of you back home.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert
    2

    See you later Wellington

    23. juni 2016, New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    This past week has been a pretty huge range of emotions.

    On Saturday, after a little chat with an amazing kiwi that I have met I decided to give my notice at the hostel that I have been working at for the past 4 amazing weeks. I was planning on heading up North a bit before coming back down to Wellington for my birthday. It was meant to re-energize myself before getting back into the job hunt mindset and really push my CV hard to recruitment agencies and every building in the area with jobs.

    Then my computer broke on Sunday, which was mildly frustrating. After bringing it to a repair shop and then being told it was trash I considered for a while not getting a new one. But in the end after looking at the prices of computers here I decided to put a little money into a new computer. Nothing special, just one that will run internet and will be able to let me send my resume to various places on the go.

    With my new computer in hand I found a job that I am actually qualified for, an ice rink attendant and ice skate tutor. I was so excited and sent them a pretty long email of why they should consider me which worked because about an hour later I got an email back asking which time would work best for an interview! YES!!!!! After the interview, they asked for references and about 24 hours later they offered me the job. Only issue is that I already had a ticket to leave Wellington in the opposite direction on Sunday so I asked if I could start late next week rather than early in order to get my things settled which worked for both sides because they said it might take a little bit for them to find me accommodation.

    The day that I sent out my signed contract, I received a call from a different job that were really interested in me and wanted me to work for six months in Wellington. It would have been an accounting job and I would have been able to stay in Wellington but I feel like it would be similar to something that I would do back home and I wanted to really try something different while I am here.

    The issue is that it is going to be a challenge for a bit leaving my friends that I have spent the better part of one month with. This also means that I won't be in Wellington for my birthday which I was starting to really get excited for. That is until someone mentioned that I could always come back if I can get two days off in a row because it really isn't too far to do a little weekend trip. But if I don't get the chance, I will be back in three short months anyways with a bucket full of new stories and experiences.

    If all goes as planned I am supposed to head out to a rink today to make sure that I didn't forget how to skate in the past couple of months and also try and teach one of the guys here to skate backwards. Hopefully it all goes well!

    I have included a couple of pictures of where I will be heading for those who are curious.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Very small and quick update

    2. august 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Well it's been a real long time since I have written anything so I decided to out a little note to show that I am still alive and well.

    I have been here in tekapo for well over a month, it will actually be two months in a week, which means one more month before I can go back to Wellington. Here are a few short points of things that have been going on.

    So for the first month that I was here I got a little lazy and decided to not shave. I got a nice little beard going for a while but decided it didn't look super clean so I shaved it off last week. Yay. I took a couple of pictures right before and after I shaved it.

    I went skiing for the first time and didn't die. The owner of the place that I worked paid for lessons and i took beginner lessons which I instantly regretted after he spent abiut 15 minutes explaining how to put on the skis. Oh well, I have a strong base to work from right now.

    When I came to new zealand I expected to lose out on a lot of hockey but for the past two weeks I have been playing hockey three times a week in full equipment. I may not be learning too much or improving but every time I get out there I feel my confidence building. Maybe it's because most of the time I am knocking over 14 year olds but they kind of asked for it when they asked me to join them.

    Other than that the job itself and lessons are fun on most days. The days that you are given more freedom to talk to people are a lot of fun. Last week I was teaching four little boys how to skate and they wanted to see how fast I could skate. I wanted to get away from them for a bit so I decided why not and skated in a circle and when I stopped I gave them a snow shower right in front of their parents. I instantly realized how bad of an idea that was but the kids seems to love it as they wiped the snow off their jackets (a snow shower is when you stop abruptly in front of someone and snow flies in their face....).

    Anyways, I'll just leave this for now.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Missing society

    2. september 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Well I am in the last month of my contract. The rink will close in two short weeks and the tube park will close shortly after (basically when the snow melts, in this weather it seems like it will be sooner rather than later). This means it's time to start looking ahead to what I will do next.

    This past weekend I took advantage of having a friend down from Wellington so I went a nice little road trip to mount Cook which was outstanding and finally went into the hot pools at my work. It is better late than never.

    I spent the past two days being really proactive. I put my car here for sale, updated my cv, started to run once again and sent a few dozen applications to various positions inside Wellington. I don't know what it is with that city but I am really keen to return. Not sure if it is because of the people I met over there or if it is just that there are people there. I have been finding myself going to work on my days off because I need to see and talk to people. I guess that makes me more of an extrovert than I ever thought I was.

    Anyways, I will try to post semi more regularly for a bit at least to show that I am still alive.

    I miss you guys.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Just keeping up what I'm doing

    5. september 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Well it has been about a week since my friend left, and that I have been sending my cv to every opening I am remotely qualified for in Wellington. Unfortunately they rarely post real entry level positions online so i know it will be challenging to find something from tekapo but I am keeping my hopes up.

    With only two weeks left of the rink I decided to go to every hockey game that I can while I am here. I played hockey all three days last week even though I had to skip out of work early twice in order to make it. I also decided to make the most of the opportunity while I am here and went to climb mount John before my one late shift a few days ago. It led to some pretty amazing pictures as always. I just wish I had some people to share these amazing sights with. I am starting to realize how much of a people person I really am which goes against what I always used to think about myself. It is incredible how much people can change in a few years. With that being said, there are some things that never change. My terrible knees being one. All this constant activities and hikes are really doing a number on them.

    Today was an interesting day which is partly why I decided to make a post today. First off, after well over two months at my job we finally got name tags! I know it sounds stupid but I find it quite amusing how they bothered to give us some when a few people only have a week left before the end of their contract. Secondly, after having a little too much to drink last weekend I decided to get a little trim (from my flat mate). I woke up the next morning freezing and full of regret. Oh well it will grow back... Today however I had a few comment on how nice it looked. Guess that shows even more how useless my opinion is. And lastly, I got a call back from a job in Wellington but since they wanted me to show up to an in person interview tomorrow, I had to forget about it. I tried to convince them to give me a Skype interview but no luck. I guess I will have to just continue doing what I am doing.... I was going to include a little cheesy quote to end it but decided that it's too much work and I just don't care enough. So yeah, insert your own interesting motivational quote here...

    To next time.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Days off! FUN DAYS!

    10. september 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Well I have had a busy past few days trying to make the most of my last few weeks here in Tekapo (while enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather.... well mostly) while trying to not drive myself crazy at the same time.

    Thursday, I was lucky and got a lift to Mount Cook (which is the tallest mountain in New Zealand) by my boss. She is also the lady that owns the house that I live in. She is an amazing person and is one of the reasons why I have been able to last this long in the job. I was having problems coping with a lot of things which I will wait until the contract is completely over to say exactly. Anyways she picked me up along with a couple of my other coworkers before doing the hour long drive to the tracks. Of course the day that we decided to go was the coldest day we have had in the past week and it was actually snowing/hailing most of the time we were there. On top of it the mountain was mostly hidden behind a very thick layer of clouds. Oh well, we still made the most of it. I finally decided to take my GoPro back out and try to use it as best I can so most of my pictures were me kind of testing out several different settings to see what looked best and what I could use later on in my trip. I actually found a time lapse setting and had that on most of the hike with it attached to my bag. It caught some pretty amazing scenery and a few funny moments. I think I will start to use that setting a little bit more often.

    The next day, it was another "active" day. I cooked most of the day, did my laundry, applied to a shit-ton of jobs and obviously went to the Springs to take advantage of the ice (which is closing in a week!), and the tube park. In the end I didn't even bother going to the rink, deciding to go to the pools and sauna instead of the rink. I got a few more pictures and a video from my GoPro by using the clip I bought on my foot instead of on my bag. It worked... Well kind of, I kept dropping it and forgetting to hit the start button. Oh well.... I then went to a coworkers house to have a drink and a bite of the best restaurant in town.... Hmmmm kohans..... I need to go there a little more often since I have only been there twice so far.

    Oh well, today I am off to work before going out with coworkers to celebrate the end of winter and wish all the best to the people who are leaving next week (pretty much nearly half of the staff....). Anyways enough for now, I need to get off.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    So little time

    12. september 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    75 days. It's been 75 days since I stated my contract here in Tekapo. It took me over two months doors learning that I have 20% off nearly any tourist attraction in the area, it could be anything from a helicopter tour, the earth and sky tour or even sky diving. I will try to do some of these things on my days off but that won't be easy. I spent 75 days mostly enjoying the nearby area and only went skiing once. That leaves me with only 18 days until my contract expires and between now and then I have to sell the car that I have here (i have been working on selling it to some coworkers but I don't know how that will go), trying to renew the registration of said car to make the sale go easier, find out a way out of this town, deciding whether or not I need to go to the dentist,and trying to find a job in Wellington as well as a place to live while I am there. All this in just over two weeks while trying to take advantage of this newly found discount. Busy schedule that will keep me busy when I am not working but doable.

    Side note, I still have yet to receive the package that my amazing friends from home sent me but I talked to the marketing person (which is when I learned about the discount...) and she told me that she would forward it to me in Wellington if they receive it after I leave. Whoo thank god that is one less thing to worry about.

    .....

    Late edit. I am hoping for some advice. Today I got two more calls for interviews both seem really promising but they were not willing to interview me through Skype. After a week and a half I have had 6 calls for interviews while my entire month in Wellington last time I had a grand total of 0. I am starting to wonder if I should just cut my loses here and head up to Wellington early. I spoke to my manager and she told me that she would be fine with it (but I would lose my bonus) and she is willing to give me a good reference. What do you guys (the three of you that actually read this) think? I keep flip flopping on what to do. I need to make a decision by tomorrow night.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Need to focus

    18. september 2016, New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    So these past few days have been interesting and quite a bit has happened. After talking on the phone with a few companies who wanted to have interviews with me on friday I seriously considered flying to Wellington to try a get one of the jobs. After much debate, I decided to stay here in the South Island to save some money and enjoy the sights that I will be missing out of in about two weeks. So on Thursday I decided to drive down to Wanaka with one of my awesome coworkers. On my way there I started to feel something funky with the car so I pull over and realise that my tire blew. Luckily we had left quite early in the morning and between the two of us we got back on the road and got a new tired withing an hour before continuing our road trip. We really lucked out that the closest town was two minute drive away and they had a garage that was able to help us right away. In Wanaka we took some amazing pictures, enjoyed seeing people and SIDEWALKS! Basically things that we don't have here in Tekapo. We did some Kayaking and also some rock climbing.

    Friday, I wanted to stay in and get my stuff together but I got a call from my old roommate Jesse and he wanted to do a little road trip out of Tekapo so I decided to go back to Wanaka yet again! On our way over we noticed a hitchhiker so we did what anyone would do and picked them up. They were heading to Queenstown (which is about an hour from Wanaka) so we told them that we would drop them off in Wanaka. By the time we got there, they decided to stay in Wanaka for a couple nights instead of going to Queenstown because it is so beautiful there. With Jesse we had a couple drinks then enjoyed the beach and went rock climbing. I am absolutely shit at it but it is something new that I would never try at home because of the whole terrified of heights thing. I'm slowly learning to face that fear and I think I may have gained a new hobby, I just need to learn how to trust my buddy which has been the hardest part so far.

    Yesterday morning I finally a lot of the things that I wanted to do done. I booked my flight out of this town, tried to push my car onto some of my coworkers who had told me they were interested, attempted to convince a few people to drive me to the airport on my flight date and booked a room in the hostel for the weekend that I arrive from Tekapo. Unfortunately I didn't quite have the will power to get to applying to jobs or cooking my meals for the week so that will have to wait until today after work.

    Quick side note, its now been three straight days that I have slept less than three hours and other than climbing and throwing people off the tube park that I haven't worked out. I am not sure if it has anything to do with it but I will see how it goes. Last day of the ice rink today, I am off to open it for the last time this season. I'll try to get some pictures of me on the rink before it closes down.    Læs mere

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  • Steve WyngaertNew ZealandSteve Wyngaert

    Oh happy day!

    13. oktober 2016, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I have been back in Wellington for about two weeks now and things are moving forward. I am pretty sure I have found a job working at the hostel again. It will be paid starting in a couple of weeks which is nice. I feel like despite the fact that they are starting me off slow with few shifts I am catching on quite fast. The only issue with the job is that it will be part time for a bit while they get things together.... Oh well, it's better than nothing. Ill try to stick it out until they figure out how awesome I am and decide to make me full time. 😉

    Since I am starting to work and get paid I think it is about time for me to find my own place to live. It isn't too bad because it will be for more or less the next three to four months and there are so many places open right now with students moving back home for the summer. I've already seen two flats which I fell in love with but each have their advantages and disadvantages. I am viewing four more today so we will see what happens. Ill hopefully have somewhere signed by this weekend.

    I also finally got my package from my friends back home. They are awesome, thank you so much. I will try to call home soon but lately things have been crazy. Other than that I went out for karaoke this week. I don't know if I got better as the night went on because of the alcohol or practice. Ill go with practice and better song choices. Starting off with Celine Dion's my heart will go on is never a smart move. A group of 7 guys singing that song quite terribly was magnificent though.

    I am starting to miss my friends from home, my g family and I know I'll miss my tekapo friends soon enough too.    Læs mere

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    Slut på rejsen
    12. oktober 2016
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