Rugby then Wanaka

Hello Friends!!

It's been a few weeks since my last blog so I'm ready to update again! A couple weeks ago the New Zealand National Rugby Team was in town playing South Africa. Unfortunately, the All Blacks lost the game in the final minutes but it was a great game to watch! People go NUTS here for Rugby and especially for the All Blacks. People traveled from all over the South Island to see the All Blacks play here in Dunedin. Central City was actually blocked off for the game, concerts were being played in the street, and big screen TV's out in the middle of town. A group of us went to a local pub to watch the game and it was great!




Between weekends just catching up on some work. I'm currently reviewing about 3000 article abstracts to include in a systematic review I will be writing up and hopefully submitting for publication this December/January. Between reading the abstracts and fighting the New Zealand internet which is a dinosaur at downloading things, you would be amazed at how long this actually takes me to do! I'm also working with the Dean of the School of Physiotherapy on another project as his Assistant Research Fellow so that it taking up some of my time as well.




Doesn't take up too much time though because this past weekend a bunch of my mates and I traveled over to Wanaka for some snow skiing!! First time skiing in New Zealand and it was beautiful. They are due for some more snow and the mountains aren't as high as the Rockies so it's more equivalent to East Coast skiing where it can get a bit icy!! However, the views are spectacular and you are looking down on the glacier filled lake from the top of the mountain. Did 2 days of skiing and will be going back a few more weekends in the next few months.

Cheers!

Go All Blacks!

The view of Lake Wanaka!!

Treble Cone Ski Field

Treble Cone Ski Field 2

It just keeps getting better in New Zealand!! Milford Sound Weekend!

Dan, Emily, and myself at Milford Sound

The Chasm at Milford Sound



Cool looking stuff at Milford Sound

The Tasman Sea


Bowen Falls at Milford Sound (yes, this is a real picture!)

Milford Mariner on Milford Sound (our boat!)

Well, I have to admit one thing...the kiwis may have socialist medicine and weird food but they sure do their landscaping right!! This past weekend was Queen's Birthday Weekend which meant we had Monday off work (even though they don't even do that in England!) But Kiwis love themselves some holidays so if there is a questionable holiday, be certain we will have it off! I'm not complaining...just relaying the facts.

Anyway, Dan, Emily, and myself made the most of the weekend by traveling 3.5 hours to the western part of the country to Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound. What a beautiful place indeed! Snow capped mountains surrounded by glacier carved Fiords and Lakes clear out to the Tasman Sea. We were able to take a boat out to the Tasman Sea while sailing the Milford Sound. AMAZING! We also visited Te Anau and took a boat cruise out to see caves and glowworms which was pretty awesome.

Off to the good 'ole USA next week for conference in San Antonio and then home for a week to see family!

Lex

Easter Weekend - Queenstown Adventure Part II

So I survived Queenstown once again! Easter Weekend was a blast as 7 of us went over to a small town called Arrowtown about 15 minutes outside Queenstown. It was one of the clinicians from the PT clinic, his wife, myself, Dan and Emily.

We spent a lot of time NOT doing anything related to the PhD which was a nice change. Ate a LOT of chocolate and by a lot, I mean ridiculous amounts of sheep's milk chocolate! :)

So being the adventure seeker I am, I decided to forego bungee jumping this trip (been there, done that) and decided to take a little trip down the river on a knee board. They call this Mad Dog River Boarding. http://www.riverboarding.co.nz/ Check it out!!

So basically, you get into a wetsuit because this is all glacier water so it's about 10 degrees celsius. Full on wetsuit, wetsuit jacket, booties, life jacket, helmet, and flippers. They are hard core too because when you sign up to go you sign a waiver saying you won't sue them if you experience death...i'm like, ok....sure...when i'm dead I won't sue you! Anyway, you hit the water with your wetsuit, flippers, and knee board and basically you experience white water rafting, but you are in the water vs. in the boat! About grade 3 rapids but when you are in the water and the waves are eating you they seem a bit larger!! It was hilarious...i'm not sure how much of that water I drank, but i have to admit, probably some of the cleanest water ever, very cold and refreshing...great for drinking! At the end of that, they strap you on the back of a jet ski and pull you around, then i jumped off a 7 m rock into the river, followed by a slide down into the river on the knee board and finally a rope swing!

Lasted about 3 hours in total and I had already run about 7 miles in the morning so I seriously wanted to collapse afterward. Huge amounts of fun though and some near crashing into large boulders!

The rest of the weekend we spent hanging out around Queenstown, grilling out, running down by the river, playing cricket and some tennis. You know, your typical everyday backyard cricket game!!

Back to work tomorrow with our first patient!!

Birthday Kiwi Style!!

So I celebrated my 27th here in New Zealand the Kiwi Way. Not much difference but I'm pretty sure I just turned 27 a day earlier than I was supposed to! Anyway, enjoyed a little Turkish Dinner (which at first scared me but then I realized it was just kebabs and such). Such an American girl, I am.... i'm like, oh..kebabs...that's totally American ..just throw it on the grill and eat with some corn on the cobb and whatever....but OH NO...here it's like a fancy restaurant where I pay good money for meat off a stick...and then they try to pretend like I couldn't have made that myself! But New Zealand is great like that....in a 1 block radius I could have Thai, Seafood, Indian, Thai again, cambodian, turkish, mexican, thai again, some weird deer or lamb burger (GROSS!!), Mickey D's!, Irish pub food, indian...and of course Thai. Have to admit, I've tried lamb a bit but it's just not my style... plus it's like eating my childhood stuffed animal...they are too cute to eat...mary had a little lamb and all and I'm going to eat it....NOPE.

I really need to take some pictures of the lifestyle here....HILARIOUS....for instance, throwing your couch up onto your roof and chillin in the middle of the day....completely normal...no one even looks at you twice unless you are me. Burning couches....another no brainer....and don't try burning chairs, that's just LAME....if you are going to burn, burn for REAL. umm....streaking...yeah, they don't save that for night, it's midday...apparently there is a national nudity day here...what is that?? Are you serious? I need to get into shape before that one! :)

So I figure this much, when I get back to the states I'm definitely bringing back some Kiwi traditions and will try to lift my couch on my roof and sit and drink beer out there...I'm certain I'd be arrested but all I have to say is "It's Kiwi Style" Back off! :)

Off to Queenstown for the Easter holiday and hoping to get myself into some kind of dangerous activity since I already checked bungee over a river off my list.

I think I may try knee boarding down a rip-roaring river and try to bang my head against a few boulders....if I'm not bleeding by the end, I just didn't try hard enough!

Work week and Catlins Weekend 2

Hello everyone!

Haven't blogged since last Sunday so I apologize but work has been a bit busy this week and just now getting the chance to do some blogging.

We are getting closer and closer to our first patient and will actually start assessments 1 week from tomorrow. We have been busy testing out our equipment, finalizing paper forms, and setting things up in the database.

Last weekend, I went out and tried ultimate frisbee and ice hockey. I believe I am better at frisbee than ice hockey as it becomes very difficult to both skate AND flip that little puck around at the same time! I played ultimate again later in the week and also checked out the women's rugby teams. I may actually look into that a bit further! Sounds fun and you could really get rid of some agression that way! They are full contact tackling!

Yesterday, the other PhD student, Dan, and his wife Emily and I took another scenic drive a bit further south this time into the Catlins where we were able to visit McLean Falls and the Cathedral Caves. Both were absolutely amazing! Cathedral Caves was an adventure in itself as it was a bit stormy yesterday so even at low tide it became difficult to actually make it into the caves which lie on the beach. We had to do some dodging and running through the water and let me tell you, that Antarctic current is freezing!!! But pretty sweet once you were able to get to the caves and they probably go as deep as 1/2 football field once you are entirely in!!

Today is a rainy day so I'll probably just stick around home, possibly do some work but that's about it!

Later!

More Pictures!

Ok, here you have the lighthouse at Nugget Point and sea lions at Surat Bay. It's incredible...they are in their natural habitat and you can be within 10 metres of them!!

North Catlins Trip

Hello again everyone!!

Well, it was a busy week and weekend. We start recruiting our first patient in 2 weeks so all of the forms and assessments I've been working on have been submitted to be placed in the database in order to be ready to collect data in the coming weeks. Next week we will finalize our exercise and manual therapy protocols as well as practice our assessments so we are in smooth operation when that first person shows up!

The weekend was beautiful here in Dunedin and myself as well as the other PhD student from the US and his wife borrowed a car from a fellow clinician and DROVE south on the island to a place called the North Catlins. I've placed a few pictures on here for you to see the amazing scenery this place has to offer! The first is called Jack's Bay, then you have Matai Falls, Karitane, Purakaunui Falls, and Nugget Point!

And by the way, the car was stick and it's on the left!!

Sunday I spent the day attending church, playing ultimate frisbee in the 85 degree weather and then made a trip out to the ice rink to try out ice hockey with one of the guys here in my living quarters. Hysterical but a lot of fun!

I finally have internet access here at my place so I should be able to be in better contact now!

Hope everyone is well!