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Courtney's New Zealand Internship

a travel blog by courtneylee89

Six week trip in Auckland New Zealand. Working for DOCNZ: Documentary New Zealand International Film Festival
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Day 1

Auckland, New Zealand

HELLO! I finally got to Auckland today after a very long 15 hr plane ride. There was too much fog for us to land in Auckland so we stopped in Fiji for about 2 hrs to get more fuel...I wish I could of just stayed in Fiji, it was beautiful. The weather wasn't too bad once I got off the plane in Auckland...just really foggy. I got to the the apartment which was awful; dirty, smelly, and small. The other bedroom in the apartment was locked so I am assuming my roommate is gone for the weekend... due to the large amounts of food in the fridge, which would make anyone's gag reflexes react. When another intern got off work he showed me around the city. I had a kebab sandwich and gelato ice cream later on...It gets dark about 5:30 pm so it felt REALLY LATE by 8o'clock. We found a church called the "Baptist Tabernacle" to go to and we're waking up in the morning to check it out. I am so tired, I've absolutely got to go to bed...

permalink written by  courtneylee89 on June 27, 2009 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Courtney's New Zealand Internship
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Day 2

Auckland, New Zealand

Well I woke up this morning at about 9 to get ready for church...and it was raining uncontrollably outside. I also didn't realize the extreme amount of exercise I got last night walking around for 4 hrs up and down the hills of the Auckland streets. I could barely get out of bed. The church service was good but the music was sub-par. It is so funny to listen to everyone's accent's...by the time we got back to the apartment I had give up on the umbrella (its SO windy) and I was soaked. A hot shower was much needed. Tonight we went to the Warehouse, an even cheaper version of a superstore than Wal-Mart. Then we headed over to FoodTown to stock our oh so fancy apartment "kitchenette's" consisting of the rankest smelling fridge in the entire southern hemisphere, a sink, microwave, and two burners, a mug, glass cup, 3 knives, and 2 Forks, a bowl, and about 15 plates. When I returned to the apartment and opened the fridge, as I started to look around, all of the food in the minifridge expired last January...disgusted I started to pull a Lori and throw everything in sight away. I unplugged the fridge to let it defrost and sprayed it down with Clorox. That was several hours ago...its a work in process. Going to bed now, first day of work tomorrow!

permalink written by  courtneylee89 on June 28, 2009 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Courtney's New Zealand Internship
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Day 3 - First Day of Work

Auckland, New Zealand

I woke up at 6:30 this morning, obviously too afraid to go back to sleep (I might not wake up to my alarm). I called my mom, got dressed and set out to figure out the bus system. When I finally asked someone where the office was and figured out how the heck to find DOCNZ, I was so relieved but was about 30 minutes too early for work. While I waited the receptionist Kelly showed me around. She was so nice and friendly it hurt a little. I decided we all need to have a little bit more of Kelly in our personalities...haha. The internet was down until 3:30 so there was really nothing I could do until then. My lunch break was of course Asian food which is 90% of the cuisine and the population here in Auckland (I hear the rest of New Zealand is not this way). Also, my supervisor is gone for another week and a half traveling in South America...so I'm hoping tomorrow will be more productive. When I got back to the apartment the elevator was broken...I was so ungrateful for my asthmatic background, but very thankful for my inhaler waiting in the my room on the 17th floor. Oh yeah, did I mention I climbed 17 flights of stairs tonight.....twice. I talked to Lacie on the internet for about 2 hrs and I am so ready for bed. Night!!

permalink written by  courtneylee89 on June 29, 2009 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Courtney's New Zealand Internship
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Day 4

Auckland, New Zealand

Today was my second day of work and my first time to really see the sun. I woke up and it was finally okay to use the fridge since it had been airing out for about 12 hours. I’ve got the bus system down now, so I won’t have to leave at 8:40 to be at work by 9:30!! I could actually work today since the internet was working, so I spent 8 hrs looking up films and their contacts to invite them to submit their films for the festival next March. After work I made some pasta in my now clean kitchen and went to bed early….I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll do something exciting after work, since I’ve finally caught up on sleep…

permalink written by  courtneylee89 on June 30, 2009 from Auckland, New Zealand
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Day 5!

Auckland, New Zealand

Another successful day working for DOCNZ… After work another intern, Holly, came to my room and we made plans to go Waitomo Caves Friday and go cave repelling and black water rafting. My only hesistation is that the bus leaves at 8 am Friday morning…I hate early mornings...but I guess I'll survive. I also got to meet all of the other American interns, they all seemed really nice!

permalink written by  courtneylee89 on July 1, 2009 from Auckland, New Zealand
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Day 6

Auckland, New Zealand

Another day at work....but my last one day of work for the week!!! So after today we're headed to Waitomo Caves in the morning. I'm pretty excited. I ended up hanging out with all of the other American interns last night, and they were so fun! Early morning tomorrow...better get to bed.

permalink written by  courtneylee89 on July 2, 2009 from Auckland, New Zealand
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Days 7-9

Waitomo Caves, New Zealand

So Friday and Saturday we went black water rafting...it was so fun, but the water was freezing. We woke up Friday morning and headed down to sky city bus stop, where a charter bus took us to Waitomo and dropped us off in front of our hostel. We went to the black water rafting company and they said the next tour wasn't until 3 pm...so we had about 4 hours to waste. We took the 15 min walk into town and found a little pizzeria and then took a tour of the cave museum. We learned all about glowworms which are worms that live in the top of the Waitomo caves and light the way down the twisted pathways. I couldn't wait to start our rafting tour. At 3 we showed back up to the rafting company where we proceeded to put on our wet wet suits. They were already freezing and soaked from the last tour. As we put them on we all looked like penguins and it was pretty hard to move. To top it off, literally, we had bright blue and yellow helmets with lights on them. We headed down into the caves which was a creepy experience because we were actually standing in a creek that was headed down into the ground. Inside it was freezing and so extremely cold. There were a few parts where we could just float down the river, turn our lights off on our helmets, and just sit back and watch the glowworms on the ceiling…it was a pretty awesome experience. Afterwards we got a hot shower, soup, and a bagel…kind of random I know but there isn’t really a reason for anything they do in New Zealand. We stayed at a hostel named Juno Hall that night, woke up the next morning and headed back to Auckland. It was the fourth of July so all of the other interns were going to dinner and then out to celebrate. We ate at this really nice Asian food place right up the street and then headed out to a few different places where all they played was Michael Jackson music. So far that seems to be the theme of my entire trip to New Zealand. The FIBA U19 basketball tournament is going on and Hannah, Laura, and I meet a few players from Canada. They were really nice, funny guys….but its really late so I better get to bed.

permalink written by  courtneylee89 on July 4, 2009 from Waitomo Caves, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Courtney's New Zealand Internship
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