New Zealand

Hello dear friends,

Apparently I suck at updating my blog and staying on track. I have the opposite mentality that should normally occur when I have a lot of stuff to do. Instead of just doing everything and getting it done, I become overwhelmed and just avoid it. Yet, today I decided that I would sit down and tell my tales. It's time to catch you all up!

We had our Spring Break April 11-19, so Gabi and I booked a trip to tour around the South Island of New Zealand. It was one of the best experiences of my life and it really was the most beautiful place I have ever been.

Saturday, April 11:
We arrive in Christchurch and have a free day since it's the day before our tour begins. We decide to check into our hostel (which was really not that great of a hostel...a little disappointing) and then walk around to explore the town. We were so excited to see the mountains to be in New Zealand! After we explored and went out to dinner, we attended a midnight Easter service at a beautiful church. Gabi and I were a little sad we couldn't spend Easter with our families, but were glad we had a good friend to enjoy it with.

Sunday, April 12:
Today is the first day of our tour and I really wasn't sure what to expect. We loaded the bus (which was named Roxy) and set off for our adventure. Our bus ride was similar to the surf camp one - loud music, everyone had to introduce themselves to the bus (all 50 of us), and basically a party. We were on Roxy for a good 6 days (off and on of course), so we all got pretty close to one another and pretty sick of Roxy. Our destination was to Lake Ohau the first day and we made several stop son the way there. We were all really excited - everything was so beautiful and exciting. I took about a million pictures of the Southern Alps. After a while the mountain pictures all start to look alike, so I had to force myself to tone it down a bit. We stopped at Lake Pukaki, which was probably one of my favorite stops. The Southern Alps were in the background with sparkly, turquoise, fresh glacier water; absolutely amazing! We also took a hike (and by hike, I mean uphill walk) through some of the mountains to get closer to Mount Cook. We finally made it to Lake Ohau later on that night and it was peaceful, beautiful, and amazing. We had a very lovely dinner followed shortly by a toga party. I was lame and did not participate in the displaying of a toga (it was really cold and I didn't feel like spilling wine all over my bed sheet), but I still enjoyed myself with everyone and took lots of pictures.

Monday, April 13:
It was an early wake-up call at 6:00 in the morning in order to load the bust at 6:50. The poor people who went all out at the toga party were dragging quite a bit as Roxy made its way to Milford Sound. We made a few stops to have some photo opportunities with the waterfalls, rivers, and beautiful scenery before we drove through the mountain (a literal tunnel that goes through the mountain) on our way to the sound. Once we arrived at Milford Sound, we unloaded the bus, loaded a boat, and began our journey on an overnight cruise. The cruise was a lot of fun and I was able to see amazing waterfalls, seals, and of course the mountains. Before we enjoyed our delicious dinner, we all went kayaking (I even kayaked up to a seal sitting by a waterfall) and then we all went for a swim...bad idea. The water was about 40 degrees and stung the second I hit the water. Gabi decided to swim a lap around the boat (or more so she was easily persuaded by our tour guide who she has a huge crush on) while I just jumped in, screamed in shock, and jumped right out. After our very cold swim, we ate dinner and then played a long game of Monopoly. I was doing really well and winning throughout the entire game, but suffered a defeat when everyone started making shady deals. The game ended a few hours later with one guy owning EVERY property with houses and hotels...there was no hope and I was a little disappointed at my sudden loss. One day I will win a game of Monopoly.

Tuesday, April 14:
After being awoken by the captain's announcement followed by a very loud horn, we cruised a little more around the Tasman sea, saw some more waterfalls and seals, and ported back where we started. Once we were off the boat, we hopped back on our beloved Roxy and set forth to Queenstown - the adrenaline capital of the world. When we first arrived, we walked around the city, went into the little shops and cafes, and just hung out until it was time for our group dinner at an awesome pizza bar called Winnies. After we were done eating, our group went to a bar called 5 below, which is a bar made entirely of ice. There were ice sculptures, the floor was ice, the walls were ice, the bar was ice, even our glasses were ice (I started to eat mine when I was done with my drink). It was really cold in there, but they gave us a giant fur hooded coat, gloves, and boots, so it wasn't too bad. After the half hour rendez-vous in the igloo, we all went next door to a bar called Frasers, where we spent the remainder of our night. The bartenders played our "bus song" and we all got up on the bar to dance while the bartenders made us all flaming shots. It was a small town bar, but a lot of fun.

Wednesday, April 15:
Today is my adventure-packed day. The first half of the day was spent horseback riding through the Southern Alps. It was very relaxing and amazing to be able to see everything. I even got to see where they filmed some of the scenes from Lord of the Rings (which, of course, I was all about). My horse, named Murphy, was a little skiddish and did not like it when any of the other horses came near him. There were a few times that I thought I was going to fall off the mountain when Murphy made sudden movements to get away from the other horses, but I was fine in the end. Murphy also did not understand the concept of picking up his feet when he had to step over an object, so he tripped a lot. There were a lot of gasps and little screams made by me throughout this little adventure. However, these screams were nothing compared to the one I made while bungy jumping. Yes, I bungy jumped off a bridge - the first bungy jumping sight in the world. It was exhilarating, it was exciting, it was amazing, and it was terrifying. I actually was unaware I could make such an atrocious scream, but I managed to accomplish it while I was plummeting toward a beautiful blue river head first. As scary as it was, the fun factor definitely outweighed it; I would definitely do it again. Maybe next time I'll try skydiving...we'll see.

Thursday, April 16:
After an eventful couple of days in Queenstown, it was time to hop back on Roxy and head toward Fox Glacier. We had a 2:00 appointment to go on a 4 hour hike up a glacier, which I was pretty thrilled about. However, our glacier walk got canceled due to all the rain and flooding in the west coast of New Zealand. So we were stuck in this tiny town known as Fox Glacier with nothing there...besides the glacier of course. Well luck would have it that this would be the day that I came down with a fever and a cold, so I just decided to take some medicine and go to bed. Don't worry, I didn't have the swine flu and I have been healthy ever since...besides a minor case of strep throat, but that's all taken care of as well. So this day was relatively uneventful.

Friday, April 17:
I woke up feeling well rested and feverless, so that was a good sign. However, it was still raining and we missed yet another activity on the agenda due to the flooding and a collapsed road. We were scheduled to go to Flock Hill and see all the sheep, cattle, and deer. I was pretty excited to pet a sheep, they look so cuddly (random fact of the day, there are more sheep in New Zealand than there are people). However, we were still stuck in a tiny town at a cafe, so I decided to entertain my friends with a talking teapot. They all thought I was crazy, but it did make the time go a little faster. The road finally cleared up and we were able to go on our re-routed way back to Queenstown. None of us were complaining that we got to go back to Queenstown for a night, even if we had to give up the petting of a sheep. On the bus ride back to Queenstown, our tour guide (who Gabi has a huge crush on and we have both befriended...we are actually going to be staying with him when we go back to New Zealand at the end of the semester) decided to make up some bus games. One bus game was a dating show and he needed volunteers in order to play, so I forced Gabi to participate while I refused. It turned out to be one of those dating shows where the guy has to pick from three contestants without seeing who the contestants are. The questions that were being asked were pretty ridiculous and embarrassing, Gabi was hating me for making her play...I found it quite amusing. But as it turns out, the guy ended up picking Gabi and so she won a date with him that night. Our tour guide set up a separate table for them with flowers, a glass of wine, and a tequila shot (keeping it classy) at the hotel restaurant we were staying at later that night. So thanks to me, Gabi got a free date!

Saturday, April 18:
This was our last day on our bus tour and we were all sad for it to be over. We made our way back to Christchurch where we had our final dinner and night out together. We ate at a fabulous Italian restaurant and then went out to a low-key bar where we could all sit around and talk. It was sad to leave some of the people, but it was overall a great last night. I ended up going to bed fairly early this night since my plane left at 6:10 the next morning and I had to be at the airport at 4:00.

So that was my Spring Break, a wonderful tour around the south island of New Zealand! It was one of the best experiences, I made a lot of friends, and I got to see a lot of amazing things. I'm excited to go back and travel the North Island in just 2 months!

Much love,
Whit