Flying south for winter.

Connor and I decided to fly south for a winter wonderland. I have no finals so I needed something to keep me occupied so I was STOKED when Connor told me about this trip. I was game. Everything was all mapped out and it was time for us to leave already. I don't know where the time goes.

Note: If you don't read the whole thing at least read June 10th and 11th!

Monday, June 7th
Connor and I landed in Christchurch. We got a shuttle to Juicy Rentals to pick up our car. We named it "Elizabeth" (after the Queen.) Today was the Queen's birthday and we were so excited that because of the holiday there was free parking that we named our car after her royal highness :) Although I'd already been to the church we went there again. We went up to the top of the tower for a view of the city. Good stuff, kinda windy, but very beautiful city. When we got down we walked around for awhile trying to figure out what to do next. We get a wiff of something tastey...COOKIES!!! But where was it coming from? We had no idea. As Connor and I try to follow our nose we come accross Miss Higgins Cookies. JACKPOT! Two chocolate chip cookies pleeeease!! Nuuuum. After prancing around the city, and shoving our cookies in our face we take off in Elizabeth and head to Kaikoura. The next day was whale watching...we were so excited!! With the tunes going in and out we Connor and I haaaad to talk to each other...meh. Haha we had great talks along the way...some making sense and others...not so much! Love it.

The first backpackers place we found turned out to be a perfect fit. It was 22NZ$ which is 15 american. The place was called Adelphi Loddge. We ate next door which was really good. Had fush 'un chups!! (fish and french fries). There were two german girls that stayed in our room, apparently they were going whale watching as well. Connor and I watched Indianna Jones and the Last Crusade in the lounge. It was a VHS and the audio went in and out haha. It was all good though...we had JUST been talking about how I hadn't seen that movie! They also had shelves FULL of other VHS movies. They looked like they had all been taped by someone...not the originals. Haha...don't know if that's legal. Gotta love backpackers places!!!

Tuesday, June 8th
Connor and I wake up and go out for brekkie (what they call breakfast here) at a little diner. We go check out town a bit and some guy asked us what are plans were for the day. We tell him about whale watching and he was concerned about the weather. It was beautiful out...we didn't think there would be a problem. I guess the tides were bad or something so we decide to go to the whale watching center and ask about it. Sure enough...it was cancelled. We were incredibly bummed out, but at least we got all our money back. We just had a little more free time on our hands at the point.

We started our drive to Punakaiki. This took about five hours. Wonderful drive. Absolutely gorgeous. We saw the pancake rocks and blowholes. So awesome!! (Pictures soon to follow.) We stayed in Greymouth at this place called Neptune and brought Mcdonald's back for supper. We made friends with some Australians there and watche Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Wednesday, June 9th
Shanty Town! Haha since we had basically a free day on out hands Connor and I asked the people at reception what they reccommended for a day in Greymouth. We wanted to go to this miniature town, but apparently it would have been a dissapointment. Even though it's the guy's friend who owns it he told us to go somewhere else, but not to say anything. He said Shanty Town was awesome and also Wood's Creek. We take his word and go to Shanty Town. It was an old mining town. Connor and I got an old time photo taken and even panned for gold. (There just little flakes, but it was great! Must have been such a tedious task!) We also put pennys down so when the train went over them we would have a couple of flat coins! And it worked! After all that we head towards Wood's Creek. This was way more amazing than I even thought it would be! There were caves that we walked through...mine tunnels, and we saw glow worms!! The walk was like a mystical fairyland. One of the best walks I've been on by far. That night we drove to Fox Glacier and stayed at another hostel. We had dinner at Vivace cafe, then went to bed EARLY!

Thursday, June 10th
Before our Glacier Hike we drove to Lake Matheson and went on another awesome walk. We ate at their cafe and ate the BEST wedges of our life! We saw a rainbow on our way to the Glacier, and then did our Glacier hike which was...meh...it was alright. Just kidding! It was sooo cool! We hiked a glacier! Ahhh! After all our fun on the glacier and drinking glacier water and spring water along our hike we started driving to our next location. We wanted to end up in Cromwell (not the one in between Moorhead and Duluth!). It was pouring rain and we were runnin on about a half tank of gas. Instead of stopping...like we maaaybe shoulda we kept on truckin along. The next gas station we came to was in Makaurora or something. We were right on E at that time. Thank goodness, we're thinkin. Barely made it. Ummm...nope. What? The gas station is CLOSED! What the? It's 8:00pm! What gas station closes that early? Yeah...they closed at 5pm apparently. That's what you get for waiting until dinky town I guess. So we were stuck for the night. All the places were also closed for accomadations as well so what do we do? Oh, ya know...sleep in the car! Free night of stay I guess. We found out later too that we missed one of the most scenic drives too! Haha...go figure!

Friday, June 11th
Connor and I woke up and drove to the gas station and situated ourselves right by the pump. We were ready to fill up about an hour and a half before the place opened which was 8am. So we're waiting there...it's still pitch dark out and I have to pee. Nothin else to do on an empty tank of gas and no bathrooms in site but to pee outside :) I get out of the car and pee next to the car. After relieving my bladder I felt much better! I wondered it the place had cameras set up somewhere though. I couldn't help but laugh when picturing watching a security camera and seeing a little white butt on video. Haha...luckily the camera was on the other side of the car so I was safe. Whew! They finally come to open up the store even though they're about five minutes late. We wait a little longer and a lady finally comes out and says: "you do know that there is a power outage from here till blah blah" (whatever she said I wasn't listening at that point) Connor and I couldn't believe our luck! Like really? Haha what a random series of events. It wasn't but 45 minutes later though, thank goodness, that we got to fill up our car. When they said there was power I said; "get outta town! yay! that's what we're gonna do!" This funny old man says..."aww..don't be like that." Haha I didn't hear him, but that's what Connor said he muttered.

We were on our way to the Catlins!! Yeah baby, yeah! :) Cathedral Caves was closed so we drove to Puranaki Falls next and then out to Nugget Point where we saw a lighthouse, penguins and seals. The next stop was going to be Dunnedin. We drove there and stayed another night for free. We stayed with Liz, Jenny's friend. Jenny is Connor's friend and Connor is my friend so we're all friends somehow. I don't know why I thought that was funny, but anyways Liz was studying for finals so Connor and I went out to eat and I FINALLY got to buy him his birthday dinner. TWO months later. The place we ate at was the same one that Mallory, Robbie, Gray, and I went before.

Saturday June 12th
Woke up and headed out. We said goodbye to Liz and thanked her for letting us stay there. We had brekkie at the Donalds. Drove to Tunnel Beach. Apparently this guy dug out the side of the mountain for his family to have a private beach. They had there very own entrance to this beautiful getaway. I couldn't believe the view. Connor and I walked down there and went through this tunnel only to see the whitest sand, the prettiest water, huge rocks, and an enclosed area on three sides to the ocean. What we were seeing was unreal. Taking pictures of such places is so difficult. It's hard to capture on film. This place was breathetaking. We attempted to take a picture so it looked like we were surrounded by water on this rock, but we got all soaked! A wave came by and got our pants wet. Oh well. As we headed back we went out onto this rock that honestly looked like pride rock from The Lion King. We took pictures of each other holding up a sweatshirt and from a distance it was intended to look like Simba.

After that little adventure we drove to Lake Tekapo. Brrr!!! The lake was the bluest I have ever seen in my life. The mountains were covered in snow and were on either side of the lake. THere was a cute little brick church right next to the lake and a wedding was in session. It was a very cold day, but it would be a wonderful location for a small wedding. After freezing our tooshes off to get some good pictures of Lake Tekapo we drove to Methven. Prayer by Madonna was a reocurring song of the trip in the car. Haha. We got to Methven and stayed in a nice hostel. Breakfast was included and it was only 25 dollars! Sisco, a guy who works there let Connor and I borrow his laptop since the computer wasn't working in the hostel. It was very nice to be able to check email and see what the rest of the world was up to. We ate at this place called Blue Pub, reccommended by the man who owned the hostel. There was either Brown Pub or Blue Pub and he said Blue was best. I wanted to ask if the Purple Pub was any good... :) Anyways so we went there and I had the best chicken burger of my life and decided I should have dessert so I got Apple Rhubarb Crumble! De-licious!

Sunday June 13th
Today we went to Mt. Hut!!! Guess what we did. We went skiing! I had never gone before and I am in love with it. To be honest I would love if it was winter back home because I want to do it again. The climb to the top of the mountain was insane. It was completely white. We hired the chains for our tires luckily, because without that we would have been screwed. The drive was about 30 minutes to the top and Connor was driving. (he's afraid of heights!) Don't know how that worked out, but I'm glad he drove. I'm not a fan of winter driving to be honest. We finally made it to the top and took a before shot. Connor and I got all our gear on and we were ready to ski! We took a break and ate at the restaurant at the lodge then we took action shots. We went on the bunny hill about 3 times and then the blue hill 6 times. I think we had a good run. I fell about 3 times. I didn't think that was so bad...I was just getting braver and braver so I was trying things that were going to lead to disaster such as following a snowboarding and seeing him fall cause there was an ice patch and realizing I was in for the same outcome. He moves out of the way quickly as I'm sliding down this hill unable to stop. I felt so bad, but it was fine and we both laughed about it. I didn't want to be done skiing when it was time to go. Connor was like this one is our last and I was like...one more? Haha. I just got the hang of it and started to be faster and go down the whole slope without stopping and we have to leave? Oh well...we did it! One of my favorite days I think :)

night we drove to Christchurch. I could not believe how fast that trip went! It seemed like we had just left!! We stayed at a YHA Base and ate and Elements. (a restaurant next door). I thought about calling up Janet Slack and seeing if we could spend the night there. Remember Janet? The nice little lady that found homeless Robbie, Mallory, and I on the road and gladly invited us into her home? Haha that didn't happen, but Mallory and I want to write her a letter! Connor and I were really hyper before we went to sleep and we were just being weirdos and laughing nonstop. The Brazilian guys that also stayed there I guess said they wanted whatever I had cause I was laughing so much. Connor told me this the next day. I didn't get it. He said that they meant they thought we were high! What?! Haha. I guess they don't know us.

Monday June 14th
Ate breakfast at the cafe attached to the church in the city centre. We filled up the car and drove to the airport cause we couldn't think of anything else to do. The airport...where I'm sitting now. BORED! We have three more hours to go.

The Airport-Gate 3.
Connor and I have been at the airport since about 10am or so. We have been sitting at the airport, bored out of our mind! I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed. It's weird how fast our trip went by. I'm so glad I decided to go though. I saw/experienced entirely different things than my first trip to the south island. I have discovered that I've been to Christchurch a togal of 4 times. I'm excited to be back at the apartment, but sad that our trip has come to an end. I'm worn out, but it means the days here are dropping. I wanted time to fly by, however, because unlike my friends at Uni I don't have exams. Really nice, but I LOVED school so I already miss it. I wasn't going to do much until Fiji on the 25th so I'm glad Connor invited me with him. Thanks Con! I hope I didn't drive you too crazy! ;)

15 days/16 back home. The countdown is almost to just two weeks till I'm back in Minnesota. SO WEIRD! I'm really excited though. I miss everyone at home very much. Connor asked me what the ONE thing I wished I could have done in New Zealand was. I couldn't really think of anything. I didn't come here with major expectations. I just needed that time to myself and to focus on school and me. Everything I have done/experienced has been a HUGE bonus. However, if I had to say one thing I know what that is. I would like to have had someone from back home, anyone, come visit. It's so important for me that someone else back home can relate in some way. So yeah...it's not really what I would have done, but that I would have love a visitor!

I just got up and looked behind me. Amanda, Kathleen, Debbie, Mike, and Amanda were sitting right behind me! How funny! The flight got delayed twice. So we left a little after four instead of GETTING there at four. Bah humbug. Oh well. We finally made it home. I got to catch up with Robbie and Mallory which was wonderful. We sat in Mal's room and watch silly youtube videos. Good times.

That's all my little hand can write for now.
PEACE.