"Don't tell me where the road ends, cause I just don't want to know"

So since I have returned from the past South Island excursion I have spent my time trying to savor all that Christchurch has to offer while enjoying the company of my favorite people at the same time. It's so weird to think that, very shortly, I will no longer be spending every day with these people. They have become some of my best friends and leaving them, and this place, is something that I really don't like to think about. But, I kind of have to think about it because Shona and I leave for Australia in one day. And my room is completely packed up. So goodbye is becoming a serious reality.

In the meantime, our days have been filled with dreads everywhere at Dux-de-Lux along with chill reggae music. There has also been the occasional "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" heard from the casinos as we've made friends with fellow players and dealers. There was the sadness that was felt when I hugged our program coordinator, Eunice, goodbye for quite possibly the last time at our final IES get-together. There has been shopping for Australia and, of course, the ever delicious Pita Pit has been eaten. There has been heaps of excitement when people ask us for directions because we actually look like we know where we're going now. There has been a whole lot of relaxation as we celebrated Courtney's 21st birthday by watching Eat Pray Love in the cutest little local theater in Sumner and then surprising her by spending the next day at a spa getting massages at the greatest place in Diamond Harbour. Perhaps this part was less relaxing for her since we felt the need to blindfold her two hours prior to arriving in Diamond Harbour and continually lead her around aimlessly while confusing her about what we were actually doing. Oh, my bad. There has been lots of throwing rocks at windows and laughter and talking and a general sadness about leaving.

Sitting and waiting in the Bus Exchange today for 20 minutes was all too bitter sweet as I realized this may be the last time that I do that. Walking home alone at a ridiculous hour of the night was far less sketchy last night as I realized that it would literally be the last time that I did that. The walk to Ilam Apartments was nostalgic, to say the least. Dinner last night was just plain odd, because I knew I would never have dinner with this family again. And my room is pretty much just depressing. It is completely packed up and I can't help but realize that this is no longer my room starting tomorrow. This is the last night that I will be able to think of this home as my home.

I still have a full week of excitement ahead of me in Australia. And when I get back, I have one full day to enjoy Christchurch for the last time. And trust me, I am going to enjoy it and I am still living it up. But, still, moving out of my house is sad. This room is far too empty.

Rippin' through the Eggs... (South Island Officially Conquered)

Well guys, SCHOOL IS OUT! I finished up last Friday with a couple papers and since I have NO EXAMS, I'M DONE! You know what that means?? ... TRAVEL TIME!

I turned in my last papers and then literally immediately hopped in a camper van and set out for another adventure around the South Island. For real, this place has now been more than conquered. We set out on the road with a great soundtrack to accompany our ride. And so it began...

So Friday afternoon brought us our first stop: Lake Tekapo again. Oh man, still so freaking beautiful. I really like going back to places that we've visited before. The sense of familiarity makes me realize how much this place has become home to me. We saw a pretty crazy moon rise and sun set on our way out. And when I say pretty crazy I mean quite possibly the prettiest that I've ever seen, which is saying A LOT. Especially considering where I am right now. After marveling at this beauty for a long time, we parked our camper van at Lake Pukaki and made at some dinner as my over-tiredness and Cathy's general HONL outlook on life clashed and the camper van was filled with hysterical laughter.

After dinner we decided to drive the rest of the way to Mount Cook. Normally our night drives are pretty lame, only livened up by incessant talking and bonding. However, because this night was a full moon, we could actually see what we were driving into, which was hugely epic mountains all around us. We knew that this drive was going to be 1000 times more epic in the daylight. We parked our car in a dodgy as parking lot in Mount Cook and went straight to sleep.

Saturday morning brought with it extraordinary sights. When we opened our window and discovered Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, staring straight back at us. We picked an amazing spot to eat some breakfast and then started our morning on a trail that led to a great view of the Tasman Glacier. Which was shockingly almost completely under water. Once we realized this, we knew we had to go and taste some of that glacial water so we found another trail that led to the base of the actual glacier. We sat there for a while and ate glacial ice, which tasted delicious by the way, for a good while. We soon realized that we were starving and headed back to the camper van for lunch. The ride out of Mount Cook was completely breath-taking. With sights that include colossal mountains and the bluest water I've ever seen, how could it not take your breath away?

We made our way to Dunedin, stopping at the Moeraki Boulders once again and marveling at the roundness and crazy sea shells. Once we made it to Dunedin, we immediately knew what we wanted to do -- find the steepest street in the world. After a couple stops at gas stations and a few directions from some very friendly and helpful gas station attendants, we found it. Seriously, it was really really steep. Pretty hard to even walk up, but we made it to the top. After the inevitable touristy pictures, we made our way to Otago Peninsula and ate dinner on a dock while watching the world go from day to night. We headed into a more appropriately re-named Dodge-nedin and found a great place to park.

We woke up in a residential neighborhood on Sunday morning and realized we should probably get out of these people's front yard and find a place to make breakfast. So we headed to the same beach with the horses from our first south island trip and made some delicious breakfast. And then decided that it was nap time. So we napped in the sunlight, with the windows open, and the sounds of the beach in our ears. Perfect.

After the much-needed nap we headed to Oamaru and checked out the Oldest Buildings in the Southern Hemisphere. And, I have to say, this little town was adorable. I thoroughly enjoyed walking in and out of these old fashioned buildings while eating some Tip-Top ice cream. One of the girls that we were traveling with had spent a week WWOOF-ing at a random huge piece of secluded land in Oamaru and, after speaking with the owners, we decided to stay the night there. So after looking at the old buildings, we headed to her land.

We were told that we would be sleeping in a hut. I didn't expect the adorable mini house that we were sleeping in. Walking into this place, I knew this was going to be a good night. My suspicions of this were only verified further when a John Mayer cd was already in the cd player. Hello serendipity.

After a really satisfying meal of grilled cheese, we decided to check out the huge amount of land that these people live on. We didn't even scratch the surface of the amount of land that they have and I was completely blown away. The view that they have absolutely blew my mind. It's crazy that people actually get to live their lives like this. After a long walk, we headed back to the "hut" where I was able to shower, which was much needed and much appreciated. Then we all sat around by the fire, reading our books with John Mayer in the background. It's no exaggeration to say this was a wonderful end to the day.

Monday morning began beautiful and slowly turned into a gray, rainy mess. But it was okay cause we spent the day at Cindy's (that's the house we were staying at) re-routing the rest of our trip and eating a meal that was far more delicious than we deserved (seeing as we paid absolutely nothing to be there). After lunch, we decided to take another look around the land, this time with Cindy's daughter showing us around. We ended up spending the afternoon walking through fields with horses all around and attempting to get the black sheep to come close enough to see. (Side note on the black sheep: Cindy has named each one of these sheep after famous black people in the US. Their favorite one is Tiger.)

After saying goodbye to Cindy, we headed to the town of Oamaru to see some PENGUINS! First we went to see yellow-eyed ones, which are very shy and rarely seen. So we only saw one of those in the distance. After the yellow-eyed ones, we went to see the Blue Penguins. Oh my word, I can't think of anything more adorable than these tiny little penguins. They are literally the smallest penguins in the world. We were technically not allowed to take pictures, but Cathy, being a master stealth photographer, somehow got some pictures of these cute little things. The pictures aren't that good, but you have to cut her some slack, she was taking the pictures from inside her sleeve! After it got too cold to watch these penguins anymore, we made a very HONL drive to Darfield and ended up parking in the sketchiest place we've parked in so far. It was literally behind a dentist office next to a railroad track. Awesome.

Tuesday was a day dedicated to driving and seeing beautiful sights. I mean, to be fair, that's kind of what all traveling in New Zealand is, but this day was even more so. We got up and drove through Arthur's Pass. Now we have done this drive over four times since we've been here and it NEVER gets less extraordinary. It was also a completely different drive because it's no longer winter and the mountains aren't completely covered in snow. It has been transformed with the season. Completely amazing!

We stopped in Greymouth for lunch and then headed up to see the Pancake Rocks. Super cool. Then we roamed around in some random caves and then headed for Westport. We decided to check out Cape Foulwind, which we heard was incredible. When we pulled up to the trail, we weren't that impressed. But the further that we walked along the trail, the more impressed we got. This was an absolutely beautiful place with an incredible view. New Zealand, how I love you!

We headed toward Lewis Pass and decided to park literally on the side of the road for the night. This trip was just full of crazy parking spots. We made some dinner and then sat around and talked and laughed. Once we stopped talking we decided to start reading our books. Well, that's when we started hearing noises. Keep in mind that we are in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Seriously all that is around us is trees. No one knows where we are. So, of course, being the paranoid girls that we are, we freaked out. Cathy and I immediately got into "Survivor Mode" and grabbed huge knives. Of course, these noises were nothing and we were eventually able to settle our minds and go to sleep. Honestly, the whole situation is quite hilarious now.

Wednesday was our final day on the road. We drove through Lewis Pass while listening to some awesome music. This was a completely new drive and was SO pretty! Especially our lunch spot. It was a perfect end to a perfect trip.

Man, how I LOVE the camper van trips. And the South Island. And just New Zealand in general. This place is beautiful beyond reason. We like to call this beauty, and all of the unexplainable perfectness of this place, New Zealand Magic. You can't help but fall in love with this place.

Shredding and Gambling.

Okay, I lied. Maybe just a little bit of galavanting around NZ. What? I only have a month. I can't waste a perfectly beautiful weekend doing school work.

I mean, hacking into your friend's facebook and changing literally everything on it is far more entertaining (haha sorry Court).

Since this was the last weekend that Mt. Hutt would be open, obviously it was time to go snowboarding again. So Shona and I woke up far too early on Saturday morning (especially after being kept up by the loudest flat in the world the night before) and got on a bus towards Mt. Hutt.
It was an absolutely beautiful day minus some windy-ness.

Shona hadn't ever been snowboarding before so we started out on the Magic Carpet. What is that you ask? My answer: hilarity. Full story is too complicated to explain in this blog post. I'll explain at some point, I'm sure. Either way, once we soon moved from that tiny, weird slope to the actual mountain.

Since I had already been before I thought I would pick up where I left off. Um.. totally false. The first half hour was pretty much horrible. I kept wondering why I sucked so bad. But then all of a sudden I got up and it just kind of clicked again. So the rest of the afternoon was so awesome. And so much fun! Oh, and check out the view.

For some reason, hurling myself to the ground instead of learning how to slow down and stop seemed like a good idea at the beginning of the day. However, by the end of the day, I had realized just how stupid that was to do and was stopping and controlling a lot better. And wasn't falling/throwing myself to the ground quite so much. There was a minor incident with a rando Asian woman, but that sincerely was entirely her fault. So basically, I'm not saying I'm a pro or anything, but I think me and Shaun White could be buddies.

The windy-ness picked up quite a bit around 3 o'clock and I almost boarded off a hugely steep drop at one point because of it. Seriously, it was really windy. The mountain ended up closing early because of the wind being too dangerous. So, we headed back to ChCh.

That evening was a re-celebration of Cathy's birthday since her actual birthday was spent recovering from surgery. So we headed into town and hit the casino for some Black Jack and gambling. Shona almost got kicked out for cheating when she took a picture. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but they told her she couldn't take pictures. Apparently, we look like the cheating type. We ended up staying really late because Cathy has a gambling problem. Just kidding. She doesn't.

And today has been quite perfect, despite the fact that I'm too sore to sit down properly. I slept in, which was necessary. When I woke up from my coma I thought seriously about doing work. And then realized that it was far too beautiful outside to stay inside. So I brought my books and iPod with me and walked to Uni to see the Ilam Gardens... looking pretty nice these days. But the vibes weren't right there so I hopped on a bus.

I ended up getting off in town, picked up some Pit Pita and brought it to the Botanic Gardens. It was awesome just sitting in the sun amidst some beautiful flowers and people playing with bubbles and journaling and listening to the Resonate Podcast from home. It really made me miss that community. That's one thing I'm excited to get back to.

By the way, I've been looking for things to be excited about returning to: my mother's cookies and Dr. Pepper are at the top of my list, alongside moments like this.

Needless to say, I didn't open my books for school all afternoon, but it was a pretty perfect and much needed way to spend a Sunday.

One Month Left.

So I'm realizing that I only have one month left on this crazy adventure. We all have known that this was only for a short time, but I didn't realize how quickly it would fly by. I also didn't realize that my problem wouldn't be culture shock, but reverse culture shock. Leaving is going to be so hard. I'm going to be honest, I don't really want to do it. I would gladly stay in this laid back culture where I have no need to wear shoes anywhere and I can just lay in a beautiful field on the way to class for hours and forget about the outside world. I'm just having a really hard time thinking about this chapter of my life ending.

That being said, the good news is that I still have one short month to live it up big time. And I will be, don't you worry...

...as soon as I finish these papers. I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I often forget about the "Study" part in Study Abroad. However, three critiques, two 8 page papers, one 5 page paper, and a final consisting of two essays -- all needing to be completed in the next 8 days is making my focus turn back to academics. No galavanting around NZ for me this weekend. It's time to hit the books (for once).

The Big 2-1

As most of you reading this know, birthdays are a big deal to me. Also, 21 is the most epic number in my life. So when I realized that I would be spending my 21st birthday in New Zealand half a world away from all of the people and everything that I know and love, I wasn't too sure how to feel about it. I just honestly didn't think it could be that great without my close friends around.

Well, I was wrong. This has been the best birthday that I've ever had. I am in the most beautiful place that I have ever been, I am experiencing everything and living my life to the absolute fullest in this place, and I am with people who truly understand this experience and are with me in it. I cannot think of a better place to be on my 21st birthday.

That's not to say that I don't miss my friends and family and all of the important people in my life from home. Which is why I can't help but be impressed by their love and thoughtfulness. I have the best friends in the entire world who knew just how to make this day perfect and special even from halfway across the world. And I just want to say thank you for being so amazing. You guys don't even know how much your package meant to me.

I am here having the time of my life being a part of so many new things and I have met so many great great people who understand it and make it better just by being here and I am SO SO thankful for it all. And the best part is when this experience is over and done with, I have the most amazing friends and family to go home to. And it really doesn't get any better than that.

I am literally overwhelmed by the people in my life who are there for me and show that they care no matter the distance. I am overwhelmed by the new people in my life who I have not known for long, but still managed to make it their top priority to make my birthday celebration spectacular. I am overwhelmed by where God has placed me in life -- in Christchurch, New Zealand with epic mountains and beaches and beauty all around me. I am overwhelmed by just how blessed I am. It's a good overwhelmed, that's for sure. But I don't have the words to express how GREAT my birthday was or how much I appreciate everybody's contribution to it's greatness. All I can really say is thank you. So thank you. Please know that these aren't just words. I mean every bit of this.

Best birthday of my life so far. I can only hope the next 21 years will be as extraordinary as these past 21 years have been.

Procrastination on the reg.

4 am. Presentation in a couple hours. Going to be bad. Real bad. Maybe we'll have some more huge aftershocks that will prevent it from happening. They've been coming around a lot more lately. I'm gonna start praying real hard for that.

Now the big decision... Do I sleep and risk not waking up? Or do I stay up and risk all of the stuff that comes with not sleeping?

"most horribly offensive costume? probably the terrorists"

Well, well, well. Here we area again. I feel as though I should give an update of my life.

Last week, Shona and I became the champions when, after many hours and re-routing, we figured out our route for Australia! YEAH! So right before I leave to go back to good old Greer, South Carolina, I'm going to go to the Outback and see the Great Barrier Reef and have one last epic adventure. Stoked? Why yes, I am.

I'm also trying to figure out what to do in the weeks before that. You see, all of my exams are papers that must be turned in by October 22nd. I fly out November 13th. The Australia adventure begins November 4th. This means I have from October 22nd to November 3rd to finish seeing whatever there is left to see in New Zealand. Keep in mind, this is when most people will be taking exams. I am SO EXCITED!

Other than that, my week has consisted of some crazy laser tag with heaps and heaps of people on Thursday night. SO SO much fun! Even though I got last place. And when I say last place, I mean I had 70 points and the person closest to my score had 700 points. Fail? Probably.

Friday and Saturday consisted of another trip to Kaikoura. This time for Seafest. We drove into the most beautiful sunset and got ready for a great night. Friday night there was a concert but Cathy, Lindsay, Max, and I didn't have tickets so instead Lindsay played at an open mic and completely rocked it. We were all thoroughly impressed. That night some of us slept in tents in some random guys yard while others slept in the car. I was among the ones to sleep in the car. Surprisingly a lot more comfortable than expected. The next day was Seafest, which was basically 1000's of people walking around Kaikoura in costumes eating seafood and having a good time. All in all, a great day.

On Sunday morning back in Christchurch Courtney, Kim, Shona, Cathy, and I decided to rent some kayaks and kayak down the Avon River. Just being legit as. It was super peaceful and super fun. Afterwards, we laid in the sun and sipped our coffees as we talked about life. A great way to start a Sunday.

Cathy's host parents have left her all alone so Shona, Courtney, and I decided to stay the night at Cathy's house and keep her company. We had a delicious Mexican meal, ate Tim-Tams, drank tea, and watched The Jersey Shore as we pretended to work on homework.

As always, life is great. New Zealand is great. And I don't even want to think about parting with this place.

Just Livin'

So this past week has been crazy. Getting back into the swing of school and all of that nonsense is NOT my favorite thing. I think my problem is I have a real lack of motivation. Especially since the weather has been PERFECT.

It's starting to get to be springtime weather. And that makes me completely unable to stay inside. Do you want to know how depressing it is to sit in a lecture hall with NO windows when it is sunny and 70 degrees outside? I'll tell you, SUPER depressing!
This weekend was the first one since we got here that we did not travel. And I have to say, I was SO restless. I don't think I can handle staying in one spot for long. This is going to be a really bad thing when I get back to the States. But lack of funds is making the whole traveling on the reg thing less and less realistic by the day.

This weekend was really fun though, even though we just hung around Christchurch. Because I was able to spend most of it outside wandering around, playing around, and hanging around.
And, at one point this weekend, we did my favorite thing in the entire world: karaoke. Shout out to the rando Asian Karaoke place that we ended up at. What a ridiculous evening!

Oh, also, it was Cathy's 20th birthday last Thursday. All of us had forewarned her that 20th birthdays are like the worst birthdays in the world. I thought I was alone in this, but everybody agreed. Nobody had a good 20th birthday. So we all promised her that we would make sure she had a great one. Well, appendicitis had other plans and came and interrupted her life. And instead of enjoying her birthday party in New Zealand with great friends, she had to spend it in the hospital recovering from surgery. But she took it well. What a trooper.

And this afternoon Shona, Courtney, Kim (Courtney's sister who is visiting -- my sisters should probably take a lesson from her, just saying), and I got in their rented car Fez and took a day trip to Akaroa. It was so pretty. And so fun. We got some fish n chips -- a staple in the New Zealand diet -- and just walked around. Even got to see a GORGEOUS sunset on the way out. What a great Monday afternoon.

Hm... what else can I talk about to avoid my homework?...

Daylight savings occurred on Saturday night so now there is more light in the day and the days are longer. Springtime is my favorite time.

I just started the sixth season of LOST. And just finished watching the first episode of this season. And cannot find a place to watch any of the other episodes because they have all been removed due to infringement. Seriously, why is this happening to me?!

I watched The Sixth Sense for the first time last night. Creepy.

I have eaten more junk food than meals in the past couple days and I'm starting to feel sick from it.

I got back one of my grades from a paper. Clearly the professors here don't appreciate rap music like I do, that's all I have to say about that one.

I have a huge presentation that I need to do for my Social Movements class and I have never been more scared about a presentation. I have no idea what I'm talking about in this class. Why do we have to do presentations anyway? Gross.

My love for Andy Samberg has grown exponentially since I got here.

I am really behind on work. I don't know how they expect us to just jump back into school after a month long break. My heart just isn't in it.

Also, it is quite difficult to write papers when our library is closed down. Not sure how to handle this one.

I have to say, talking to the sister makes me wish I could see the nieces and nephews and just hang out with them. Can't help but miss these kids!

But, despite the schoolwork, life is great. The sun shines just for me and I feel good. (I hope you caught that Boy Meets World reference.)

Okay, this is enough rambling for today. Stay Sweet, my friends, Stay Sweet.

Conquering the South Island Part 2

My South Island adventure was far too epic to fit into one post. So here is part two:

Thursday morning started with a bang. Literally, a man was banging on the window telling us that if we didn't move in five minutes he was going to fine us $100. Perhaps we should have made sure there were no No Camping signs before we parked there. So we moved to a park near the town and ate breakfast. Then we headed towards back into Queenstown and spent the day chilling out and having fun. We ate the most delicious burger from FergBurger and then headed to Milford Sound.

Our drive to the Fiordlands did not disappoint -- with it's views of lakes and the mountains called The Remarkables (for the record, they live up to their name). Our destination was Milford Sound and in order to get there we had to go through this crazy tunnel that was literally carved inside of a mountain. There were no lights and it was a really small space. So freaking cool! The other side of the tunnel was extraordinary, of course. Wouldn't expect anything less. Once we arrived at our campsite, I had Cathy cut my hair in the back of our camper van and then we all went to sleep.

We woke up early Friday morning so that we could take a water tour of Milford Sound. It was absolutely beautiful. We got free coffee and muffins and sat outside to see all of the mountains, waterfalls, and seals that we wanted. Completely astounding. And even more exciting, we were ON A BOAT, don't you ever forget. I mean, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. At one point, we even got to go into a waterfall.

After our water tour, we got into the camper van and headed towards Te Anau. On the way out of Milford Sound, we stopped at a bunch of really awesome sights. There was the Chasm, which was this really cool walkway to this waterfall that had carved out these awesome rocks. Hard to explain, but it was legit. Then we went back through the crazy lightless tunnel. Next was the Mirror Lakes, which were so clear and still that they reflect the mountains around them like a mirror. Really really pretty. What was super cool about these was that when a duck went underwater you could see everything that it was doing. Crazy. Then, we stopped at Dunn Lake where we skipped rocks and sang and laughed and just had an all-around great time. Basically, we just spent a lot of time being too legit to quit.

Once we got to Te Anau, we stopped and got food and gas and then just spent some time enjoying the town. There was this really cool used bookstore where I got Into The Wild and immediately started reading it. Really good book, in case you're wondering. Then we headed to Invercargill. The drive was absolutely beautiful. Especially with the sunset on the way. I mean it literally looked unreal. I hate how much I overuse these words, but I have no other way to describe these sights.

Once we arrived in Invercargill, we sketchily parked our camper van outside of McDonalds (or, more appropriately, SketchDonalds) and ate dinner. Shona, Cathy, and I decided to check out and walk around the town while Courtney went to find us a camping spot. After a while, Courtney came and picked us up and we parked our camper van on the beach for the night certain that we would be kicked out in the middle of the night.

Saturday morning came without any police coming and making us move, which was a win in itself. But then we opened the curtains to see the beach. What a beautiful place to wake up to! After spending sometime soaking in the beach, we drove into Invercargill and had breakfast near Queen's Park. This is where I stopped for a moment to call Brooke and wish her a Happy Birthday. Great conversation. Then we decided to check out Queen's Park. It was a really pretty park and was so cute. So we walked around for a little bit, playing with the ducks and picking flowers. Then we headed to Bluff, the southernmost part of New Zealand.

The day turned to be quite rainy and gross and, to be honest, we all kind of just wanted to chill. So we went to find a camper van site to park and stumbled upon the greatest accommodations. We pulled into what looked like somebody's front yard. It looked this way because it was. And, instead of paying to park there for the night, we were told about WWOOFing. WWOOFing stands for Worldwide Workers On Organic Farms. And basically, you work for a certain amount of hours in order to have free food and accommodation. So, we agreed to work the next day for four hours in order to use the kitchen and park our camper van.

This place was super cute! And it was really nice to finally be in a house after being in a camper van so long. It was so spacious. We spent the first night laughing and talking around the kitchen table for hours and hours. The next day (Sunday), we slept in for the first time in a long time but were woken up by a neighborhood dispute. There was yelling and profanities and policemen called. Totally legit. After a while of sitting and listening, we decided to go inside and cook some breakfast.

After breakfast, we were assigned our WWOOFing duties. Courtney and I cleaned the inside of the house while Shona and Cathy pulled up some potatoes outside. It was such a fun experience. Who would've thought cleaning would be so fun. I cleaned the floors, put the laundry out on the line, cleaned out the refrigerator (which was really gross by the way), and all sorts of other little stuff. Soon, we were finished. And I got to take a long hot shower. It was amazing. After that, Andrew (the guy who owned the place) cooked us a delicious dinner of fish, potatoes, and tomatoes. Then we all sat around and talked until we were too tired and then went to sleep.

Monday morning we woke up and started to head towards Dunedin. It was a nice drive filled with a comfortable silence, reading, and writing. We all have experienced life so fully the past couple days, it was nice to just reflect on it all. Once in Dunedin, we walked around for a bit but soon decided that we were going to come back on a weekend. So we headed towards the Peninsula where we were overlooking a lake and the lights of the city and ate dinner, told scary stories, and laughed a lot. It was a pretty chill day overall.

We left our campsite early on Tuesday and headed to the beach to eat breakfast. It was such an awesome place to sit and eat. After sitting for a while, we headed towards Lake Tekapo. On the way, we stopped to see the Moeraki Boulders. These boulders are the only round boulders in the world. They were super sweet. We stopped for a while and picked up these awesome seashell type thingys that literally sparkle. Crazy.

After spending a good while marveling at the boulders and the sea shells, we ate lunch at a cafe and then headed to Lake Tekapo. The drive was amazing, as always. Once we got to Lake Tekapo we went to the I-site and found a Resort called Peppers. Needless to say, I was excited. Either way, once we left there we saw how awesome this place was. There were all these sweet mountains in the background and the lake was the prettiest blue I've ever seen. This is because it is glacial water. Man, it blew my mind. As we were driving through the town we saw signs for ice skating and immediately knew what we were going to do with our last day.

The ice skating rink was outside amidst these beautiful mountains. They were playing some really good music and so we all just headed out and skated for a couple hours. It was so fun. And the perfect ending to our trip. And, of course, I was the only one who fell. Fail. After realizing we were freezing, we went inside and warmed up before heading back to our camper van and eating dinner overlooking the lake. Great ending.

The next morning (Wednesday)we woke up and ate right on Lake Tekapo, soaking in our last few hours of the trip. Then we headed for Christchurch. Once we got back home, we went straight into the city to see all of the damage that the earthquake had done. You see we hadn't been allowed into the city when we were last here so it was crazy to see. They definitely had cleaned up a lot, but there was still a whole lot of damage. There is even an entire road that is completely impassable because of it. We attempted to get pictures, but you can't see the damage all that well in them. It's a good thing there weren't more people out when the earthquake hit.

Since being back I've taken some days by myself and headed to Sumner and New Brighton Beach. These two places are the greatest places to read, reflect, relax, journal, listen to music, whatever. And at night there's been a lot of hanging out, laughing, chilling, playing hat games on the reg. You know, the usual. There was something completely out of the norm, though, I got attacked by an orange juice bottle. It literally exploded in my face and the cap hit me in the eye. Scariest thing ever. Oh, and we baked a cake for Sarah's birthday. And the next day Courtney, Shona, and I made fudge. (I'm using the fact that I helped very loosely seeing as the extent of my helping was helping to pay for the baking products).

Either way, this month long break has been amazing. Seriously. This has been the best month of my life, and I'm not just saying that. Sadly, classes are starting back and we're having to settle back into the normal routine of things. I guess I can't complain about it too much, though. I mean, I'm in New Zealand. There's not much I can be upset about. This place is perfect!

Conquering the South Island Part 1

We were only back in Christchurch for a few days when the earthquake hit. We were then given an extra week of break for school. So we rented Flossy Senior, made Shona join us, and headed for our trip around the South Island. (In case you were wondering, that means we were fitting four people in a camper van that uncomfortably fits three.) And so week three of our break begins...

We woke up on Monday, picked up our camper van, went to Pak n Save to get some food for the trip, and promptly headed for the West Coast. The drive was once again, absolutely beautiful. Driving through Arthur's Pass with it's rolling, snow-topped mountains can't really be described, only experienced. Just believe me, it was astounding. We covered a good amount of the West Coast and stayed in a park in Franz Josef Glacier that night.

The next morning, Tuesday, we set out to walk the trail to Fox Glacier. When we got there, we were disappointed to find that it was closed. So we saw the glacier from afar and then went back into town and ate at a cafe. Then we set out for Wanaka. On the way, we stopped at so many places. First, at King's Point lookout that overlooked the ocean. Next, we stopped at an actual beach and spent some time having fun in the sand. Then, we stopped and walked down to these amazingly green lakes filled with glacial water.

The drive into Wanaka was absolutely beautiful. It literally looked like a painting. Or maybe artists are just better at painting than I ever thought. But either way, there were rolling hills, mountains side by side, snow-topped mountains, lakes on the bottom of these mountains. I mean seriously, anything you could ask for, we saw it. I don't know how this place is so beautiful everywhere we go, but it truly blows my mind on the reg.

Either way, once we arrived in Wanaka we had dinner and then decided to see what this town was about. We ended up in the upstairs of a cafe with all of these people who looked they were straight out of the 70's. I'm not even kidding. There were epic mustaches and a circle of friends. There was also a radio station right next to where we were sitting which only added to the vibes. Pretty cool place for sure. After we left, we headed to find a camp site and get some sleep.

Wednesday began by eating breakfast in Wanaka Park. This town was so cute! It is a place that I want to visit again before I leave. After having coffee in a cute little cafe, we headed towards Queenstown. Once again, EPIC DRIVE. Apparently this drive is called the Crown Ridge drive. Basically, we were up on top of a windy mountain overlooking the entire town with huge rolling mountains and wonderful green hilly grass everywhere. I mean, I don't know how, but it's continually astounding. And it never gets old.

Our arrival in Queenstown was surprising. Queenstown is a pretty big part of New Zealand. I assumed that it would be really tourist-y. But it was absolutely adorable. And you could see beautiful epic mountains from the street. Overall, a really cool place. Well, we got into the I-site at Queenstown and inquired about Bungy Jumping. I was still a bit shaky about the whole idea seeing as I had spontaneously decided to go the day before. But we ended up paying for it and headed to the site.

This is as much as I can condense the story of my Bungy Jumping experience, but I will attempt to make it short. So, we get on the bus that is taking us to the private Nevis Jump. And the whole time I am pretty scared, just thinking about the jump. Once we got there, we got suited up and the guy who is putting on all these crazy harnesses asks me if I've ever been bungy jumping before. I answer no. And he says something along the lines of, "Oh, starting big ae?!"
That's when I was hit over the head with the fact that this jump was, in fact, 134 meters up a.k.a. the third highest Bungy Jumping place in the ENTIRE WORLD. Awesome, as if I wasn't scared enough.

We were then brought outside to wait for our turn to get into the pod that would bring us to the platform so that we could make our jump. Walking out there only made me one million times more scared. Because we were literally jumping into a canyon. I mean, we couldn't even see how far down the people who were jumping would get from where we were standing. That's how far we were going. What?! My current thought process at this point was, "WHAT AM I DOING?!?!" We were soon told to get on the pod, which was so far up, it was scary in and of itself.

Either way, we arrived at the platform and I don't even know what nerves were going through me. But I was SO EXCITED and SO SCARED at the same time. So Shona was up first. And she took it like a champ. I mean, you could definitely see she was scared, but she just semi-hyperventilated while walking over and when they counted down, she jumped. Then it was Courtney's turn. Can we say Most Composed? She was super chill about the whole thing the whole time. It took her about a second after he told her to jump to jump but she did it with complete ease.

...And then it was my turn. Let's just say, they named my jump Biggest Freak Out. I got to the seat prior to the jump and was like, "Okay, I can do this." I started asking really stupid questions about pulling the leg harness and stuff like that. And then I stood up and headed toward the actual platform and I was fine. And then I looked down. Uuumm.. I can literally think of NOTHING more terrifying than that moment. I'm not even going to pretend like I wasn't scared out of my mind. I immediately started freaking out and saying, "I can't do this. I'm so scared. I'm really sorry, I'm so scared." The guy leading me out there was helpful. He'd say encouraging words and I'd look up and be ready to jump and then I'd look down again and completely freak out again. This continued for a while -- maybe a minute or so, which is a long time when standing 134 meters in the air knowing you are about to plummet into nothingness.

I don't even know what it actually took for me. But finally I just did it, my knees completely buckled underneath me and I jumped. At first I was closing my eyes and then I was like, "Wait, open your eyes idiot!" It was the most AMAZING feeling. Literally free falling. Oh man, and I got really close to the water. I distinctly remember looking down and see how close I was getting. It was incredible. Just hanging out in the middle of canyon. Wow. I would advise everyone to try this at least once in their life. I'm not even kidding. I can think of no better feeling.

I was pulled back up and tried to regain my composure. I thanked the guys for helping me out and apologized for freaking out. And then it was Cathy's turn. She had a mini- freak out also. But in the end, she went pretty easily -- arms flailing and all. It was so cool to share this experience with these girls. We all got to see a side of ourselves we had never seen before. This was how we reacted to pure fear. Some were composed. Others flipped out. But we all did it. Such an extraordinary feeling!

Once we got back, we spent the rest of the night talking about life post-bungy. Oh, also, Eunice texted us to tell us we had ANOTHER week off of University. Hello, month long break. This day could not have gotten any better. So we walked around Queenstown and checked out the town. We soon came back and found a random parking lot to sleep in and ended the most epic day of our lives with smiles on our faces.