The Chinese Garden

Today we visited the Chinese Garden which is located quite in the centre of the city, right next to the famous Octagon.
The garden itself was smaller than we had expected, but nevertheless it was a great afternoon especially due to the amazing weather! So we used our free afternoon to relax in the beautiful garden and to took some nice snapshots.

 Marcell posing in front of a little waterfall.

 Me on top of the rock where the waterfall arises from.

 One of the many Chinese buildings. In these little houses you can either try some traditional Chinese clothes on, play Chinese Chess, or purchase lots of different sorts of tee.

 View onto the beautiful pond in the centre of the garden and the little stone-hill with its waterfall that´s hidden on the back side of the hill in this picture.

 Some more typical Chinese buildings around the pond.

 "Chinese version of Marcell"

 Playing Chinese Chess, in German-speaking countries also known as "Halma", can obviously be a lot of fun!

The day (or should i better say afternoon) in the Chinese Garden was definitely a lot of fun and we were really able to enjoy the beautiful and warm weather (at least for a winter in Dunedin 13° Celsius are definitely awesome). For the next weekend we are planning a trip to Wanaka in the South Alps of New Zealands South Island to go hiking, skiing and go-kart driving. So stay tuned!

Tunnel Beach

On Friday 17. July we decided to explore Tunnel Beach, one of the most stunning landscapes in New Zealand. So Marcell, Madeline, Nicole, Josh and I drove to the starting point of the 1 hour hiking tour at Tunnel beach. Our visit to Tunnel Beach was definitely one of the most amazing trips I´ve done so far in my entire life. I don´t want to loose many words on it, I´ll just let the pictures speak for them self. So lean back and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Tunnel Beach.

Somewhere on the way down to the beach.

The shore north of Tunnel Beach.

Standing on top of the rock!

The shore south of Tunnel beach, showing some nice waves breaking at the rocks.

Marcell at the edge of the cliff.

Finally we reached the actual beach at the bottom of the rocks.

You can only enter the beach through this tiny tunnel, which a single man dug through the stone for his daughter.

Visiting the Botanic Garden

Living right next to the Botanic Garden, Marcell, Madeline and I decided to take a short walk through the garden. The garden itself is divided into different parts, each showing plants and trees from a different region all over the world.

 A small fountain in the middle of the Botanic Garden where you can relax sitting on one of the various benches surrounding the fountain.

Two sweet little birds in one of the many aviaries.

Me and Marcell, a good friend of mine who went to the same high-school as I did; he will be staying in Dunedin for one semester before going back to Ithaca College in the US.

 Me and Madeline, my flatmate from the US, in front of one of the tall trees in the "South Africa"-part in the garden.

 Probably the highest tree in Dunedin, standing on top of a little hill within the garden.

 On top of the highest hill in the middle of the Botanic Garden from where you have an amazing view over Dunedin and its surrounding hills.

Walking back to our flat that is just 3 minutes walk away from the Botanic Garden. Now that we have our own car we will definitely do a little trip on the weekend. So stay tuned for more news from the southern hemisphere.

Big News: We just bougt a CAR

Within the first couple of days here in New Zealand Marcell and I decided to buy a car. Especially for trips during the weekends, or larger trips during the summer-break, it´s absolutely necessary to have a car and be able to drive around the island by your own. So we started to look for a car (mainly on the Website trademe.nz, which is quite popular for selling used goods and other stuff here in NZ) and also did some test-drivings to find a suitable car. We did not really like the first ones and some of them were also quite expensive, so we kept looking for a few more days. And finally we found it, our little new baby, a Mazda 323 Astina, 1994 model.

After buying the car we went for a little drive through the city and up the hills that surround the beautiful centre of the City. And of course we had to fuel our car for the first time, as we bought the car with nearly no fuel in it. We then drove to the post office and changed the registration of the car to our names (Yes, it´s absolutely normal here do to things like this at the post office). And you can believe me, it was quite a challenge to not only drive on the left side of the road but also shift the gears with your left hand. You do literally everything just the other way round than in Europe.

Although our car is nearly 20 years old, it seems quite new and fashionable compared to some of the other cars you can see here in Dunedin ;)

My first week in NZ

During my first week here in Dunedin I visited some sightseeing attractions within the city, the Botanic Garden and went on a hiking tour into the hills around the city. 

The railway station of Dunedin, that you can see on this picture, is definitely one of the most beautiful buildings within the city.

The clocktower-building is in the middle of the campus of the University of Otago, just 2 minutes walk from my flat. On the way to my classes during the week I pass this beautiful campus nearly every day.

On Saturday 11. July we went on a hiking tour into the hills around Dunedin. 

Our hiking group of Austrian-, German- and American exchange students on the way to the top of the hill. We met most of the boys and girls on a flat party the night before and spontaneously decided to go on a hiking tour the next day.

View from the top of the "pineapple track", how our track was called. The hike itself took us longer than expected and after about 3 hours we finally reached the top. 

Beautiful view from the top of the "pineapple track"-hill over Dunedin, the other hills surrounding the city and the freezing cold ocean in the background where we want to go surfing in a few weeks.

Selfie on top of the "pineapple track"

Marcell on the way to the top

My new home

View onto our little flat from the front side. My room is up on the first floor on the left where you can see the open window, just above the entrance.

Our little backyard that we own together with 4 other flats. A little river called "Leith River" is flowing by in the background. I am already looking forward for the summer when we can hopefully sit at the riverside and have a little barbecue or just hang our feet into the water.

Our living room that is right next to our kitchen is the room where I meet my flatmates most of the time if they are home. Sitting on the cozy couches we enjoy eating together, having a little chat or just watching a movie on our new flat-screen TV.

This is my room, with everything in it what you will need for your everyday life.

From Munich to Dunedin

 I arrived at the airport in Munich at 8:30 pm. Here I am waiting for boarding the Airbus A380, which will leave Munich at 10:30 pm. I´ve never seen a plane as huge as this one!

 First stop: Dubai International Airport, home to my flight company "Emirates". After about 7 hours of flight and maybe 1 hour of sleep during the whole night I am feeling quite tired. During my 3 hour long stop in Dubai I got some breakfast and tried to sleep on one of the many couches. From Dubai my journey continued to Bangkok that we reached at about 6 pm local time and after a two hour stop our Boing 777 took off to Sydney.

 Waking up at 6 am local time somewhere over Australia. What a beautiful morning!

View over one of the most amazing cities in the whole world: Sydney. I´m definitely coming back to Sydney during my summer break! For this time I´ve unfortunately only got 3 hours here until our Boing 777 will bring me from Sydney to Christchurch. From there on I will take a small propeller aircraft to Dunedin which is only 1 hour of flight south of Christchurch.

I finally arrived at my destination: Dunedin International Airport. A nice guy from Dunedin whom I´ve just met on the plane brought me from the Airport directly to my flat in the centre of the city. What a nice start into my first semester here in Dunedin!