Paradise trip and such

This past weekend I spent my time on a trip to Paradise which is near Glenorchy and Lake Wakatipu, in Mount Aspiring National Park. About 100 people from OUTC (Otago Univ. Tramping Club) took one bus and two vans, and split into groups of 10-15 people for the different tramps. We slept under flies, which are tarps tied to trees and anchored down with rocks.

Saturday my group, made up of ten lucky people, started out on the Routeburn track(one of the Nine Great Walks of NZ), and eventually split off to a tougher, steeper and non-paved track, called Sugarloaf Tarns. We hiked to the top of the mountain where you could see a remarkable view of various other mountain ranges. At the top we also blew up an inflatable raft that we used to float around in a shallow pond. Our hike, compared to the others was rated easy/moderate, yet for most of the new OUTC members, it was the toughest hike we'd ever done. NZ tramping standards are completely on another level compared to the US hiking, its ridiculus. Once we reached the bottom, we started preparing Mexican food for the gourmet cooking competition which we later in the night we won! (it pays to beAmerican in this regard!) Oh, and the river next to our camp had amazingly clear and clean water!

Saturday evening was a worm wrestling competition, where we had sleeping bag wrestling battles on a tarp. They were country battles, as well as cities: Chicago(Rach) vs Cleveland(me!). Fun fun. Sunday we took a small hike to Lake Wakatipu, and then passed through Queenstown on our way back to Dunedin. I met a lot of new and cool people on the Paradise trip, and most of all I was glad it was a dry weekend!

Other than that, I've been going to my classes (Hinduism and Buddhism, Maori Society and Governing Bodies/Women and Gender Studies) as well as hanging out at 480 where we had 5 days of consecutive birthdays. Lots of celebrating, cake, singing and yes, absenth for the birthday kids. Robin, my neighbor was sick for her 21st yesterday so my flatmate Cat, decided to take it back 10 years, and have a little kids bday party. It was seriously hilarious. 25 of us played "Pass the Parcel," "Musical Statues," and "Lollie Scramble," all the while listening to Disney music. It was great to hear the Europeans singing Disney in a different language.

It's also a great week because I'm finally over last week's sickness that I had.
Cheers!