South Island!

I have just returned from traveling around the South Island for the last 5 days. I think summer has finally arrived and I am in shorts and a t-shirt. I wrote each of these posts after each day but I didn't have internet to post them so here they are now. Enjoy!

Day 1: Dunedin to Queenstown
After staying up pretty late from celebrating New Zealand’s victory in the Rugby World Cup, I slept in on Monday morning. Luckily our bus to Queenstown was not until 1:55pm. After quickly packing and getting some things sorted out, I headed over to Julia’s and then to the bus stop. The bus to Queenstown was quite pleasant and we arrived while the sun was still up. We walked around before settling at an Indian Restaurant for dinner. We then headed back to the hostel where I attempted to study. The hostel was very nice and clean. We were placed in a six person room but there was only one other person there. All the sheets were green, which is always a plus. They also provided free tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Both Julia and I opted for hot chocolate, which as INCREDIBLY watery. This was easily remedied by adding two more packets of hot chocolate mix and a ton of sugar.

In front of Lake Wanaka

Day 2: Queenstown to Franz Josef
We woke up around 7am, and tried to dress and pack quietly as there was another girl staying in our hostel room. We headed downstairs for breakfast and to pack lunches. We met up with two guys, one from Italy and one who used to study at Otago. They had been hiking for 17 days and the Italian guy almost had a blocked neck. We conversed a bit, they commented on my five toed shoes and then we were off to the bus stop.

Thunder Creek Waterfall

The 8 hour bus ride from Queenstown to Franz Josef was actually the most comfortable 8 hour bus ride. There were only about 6 or 7 people on the bus, which makes me wonder how the bus company isn’t at loss since gas is so expensive. Anyways, we stopped almost every half and hour to 40 minutes or so to take pictures. We stopped by Lake Wanaka where Julia and I took advantage of the playground for 10 minutes and went on as many things as possible. We drove by Puzzle World and sadly did not stop or I could have easily spent another few hours there. We also stopped at a fruit stand where there was so much dried fruit, but it was expensive. Sometime around noon, we stopped at Thunder Creek where we took a very short hike to the look out point. It had started raining but it was still beautiful. We also had a bunch of Mustangs follow us for a while. They were pretty cool looking. One had a license plate with “USA” on it. This was obviously another picture opportunity.

At Thunder Creek we switched bus drivers and since it was heavily raining we did not make as many stops. We drove through Haast Pass which was pretty cool and kind of like a rainforest. As a result, we arrived in Franz Josef earlier than expected and the bus driver was nice enough to drop Julia and I off at our hostel. After checking in I decided to be studious and started studying but this only last for about an hour and a half before we were eating the free soup that they provide. It was another early night and I was in bed before 9. 

Can't seem to stay away from playgrounds...

Day 3: Climbing Franz Josef

Climbing Franz Josef was by far one of the coolest things I’ve done in New Zealand so far. After a night of heavy rain, the sky began to clear up during our bus ride to the glacier. We geared up with boots and crampons, hats and gloves and headed our way. One thing that I’ve noticed about the west coast is that there are there beautiful majestic grayish black mountains with lots of trees and have waterfalls just spurting out everywhere. It is beautiful. The hike to the glacier is just over a mile and the paths are pretty smooth and well cut out. Upon arriving at the ice we put on our crampons and the exciting adventures began. I basically lost track of time, but we went up and down ice stairs and through narrow crevices. Our guide told us that just in the last couple of years the ice had receded quite a lot. Another really cool aspect of the climb was when we went through the ice tunnel. I went through the tunnel pretty easily, even with my turtle like backpack but the taller people had some more trouble. The tunnel was the ONLY place the entire day where my height helped me. Everywhere else there were really high stairs that were each above my knees and thank goodness for the ropes along the sides that helped me pull myself up. The entire climb was so much fun though.

It was amazingly warm outside and our guide Jess told us that it was much bluer than usual since it had rained so much the night before. Our hike was also particularly exciting because since it had rained the night before some of the trails had washed away. Also, approximately a week ago there was a rocky landslide that covered much of one of the paths the guides usually took. Therefore, they had carved out a new path for us to take. While the new path was very exciting, it also posed some interesting moments. Because of the weather, many new crevices opened up and I found myself hopping over these less than comfortably wide crevices. (I was hopping, I’m sure everyone else was just taking large steps) There was also a rocky portion of the glacier. The way up was not too bad except that hiking on rocks with crampons isn’t great. However, the way back was a little more treacherous and there were more guides there to help us. One of the guides took my hand at a slippery gravely part and I still managed to fall forwards, and then keep on falling because the gravel was so loose and also pulling the guide off the rock, since he was still holding onto me. Both me and the guide are okay, though something seems to have popped in my knee and it hurts now along with the scratches and bruises. I actually felt safer walking on the ice than on the rocky gravel parts. All of it was good though. We returned to the glacier office around 4pm and returned our gear. Julia and I went to the grocery store next door (so I thought Queenstown was small because it is only about 4 blocks but Franz Josef is about 2 blocks) and bought pesto and tortellini to make for dinner. There was also delicious free soup that had pumpkin in it. More excitement happened after dinner as we had free passes from our glacier tickets into the hot pools down the road. We walked in through a fancy building that was (and probably is) a spa but the hot pools were outside in a rainforest type environment. There were three pools, one at 36C, 38C, and 40C. Julia and I started at 36 and slowly moved into the warmer ones. And we quite literally moved very slowly as the pools were so nice after a whole days hike that we spent over two hours there. Finally at almost 10pm we headed back to our hostel. We stayed at a hostel called Chateau Franz Backpackers and we decided that we would choose the cheaper option and share the room with other people. The receptionists were really nice and said they would put us in a room with only girls but as it turns out, we don’t have any roommates. So Julia and I have just been enjoying the privacy, and the nice big room.

 

Day 4: Franz Josef to Nelson

Self exploration began this morning after Julia left to return to Dunedin. I left Chateau Franz at 8:30am to catch my 9:05am bus even though the bus stop was less than a 2 minute walk from the hostel. It was a warm morning so I just sat on the bench basking in the sun. I was happy when the Irish fellow on the glacier hike yesterday also turned up to wait for the bus. I found out that he is also a computer scientist and is currently working for GE in Melbourne, Australia. After some friendly conversation I realized that it was past 9:05 and our bus had not come yet. I called the bus company to re-re-confirm my ticket (I had already called once that morning) and they told me to stay put. Thank goodness the nice Irish man was there otherwise I would have started majorly panicking because there is only one bus out of Franz Josef every day. Anyways, the bus finally turned up sometime near 9:30 and we boarded and were on our way.

One of the first stops we made was in Hokitika. All of the brochures I had seen of Hokitika had made it look really eerie so I didn’t really know what to expect. Upon arrival though I realized it was a small (not surprising) and cute little town that is very artsy. There were numerous jade factories and stores. There was also a glass blowing factory and other crafts stores. Another store I really liked was an artists cooperative store. There were tons of cute things inside made by different artists. The ceramic pieces were quite nice, especially this teapot. Next time I’m in a studio, I want to attempt one of these.

Generally the town was only a few blocks and just about every store was a gallery type art store other than the supermarket and pharmacy. I would have liked to spend more time there as I basically went into each shop and walked around rather quickly.

My journey continued along windy west coast roads. There were mountains and lakes and trees and for parts we even drove along the coast of the Tasman Sea. I have noticed that there are calla lilies growing along the roads everywhere. I had always thought that calla lilies are really rare flowers but they just grow everywhere here. So pretty.

Another very fun stop was at the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki. There was a trail (about 20 minute loop) that took you around to see all these really interesting rocks that look like stacks of pancakes. On the track I also saw this wingless bird, that looked like a kiwi bird, and it might have been one, but I think it’s the bird that everyone confuses for a kiwi bird. I don’t know the name. The pancake rocks made these interesting formations in places and the water from the sea would get “stuck” in these little formations which basically were waves that shot up and turned into mist. I think pictures may describe it better.

Also, during another one of our stops I bought a venison pie. I had never had venison before and it was actually quite good. A bit like lamb. Generally the bus ride was again, very pleasant. In the second half of the ride we passed this area where our driver told us was where the NZ government in the olden days sent the Chinese people when they came to look for gold. They had given them that particular area because it was very difficult to reach. They needed to either swim or take a boat. The Chinese later built a swing bridge that people can now pay to cross. It is one of the longest swing bridges, about 400 meters. There is also a flying fox (zip-line) option if you don’t want to cross both ways. It looked like fun.

The bus dropped me off at the Nelson YHA around 7:45pm and I headed onwards to my room. Sadly my room is not as nice as the other two hostels I was at. I am in a 5 bed co-ed room where all 5 beds are taken. Since I was the last to arrive I have the only top bunk. Usually I love the top bunk but I am also usually with people I know. Now, I’m on top of a stranger (people, it sounds weird no matter how I phrase it, so deal) and I am probably going to wake up the other four people at the crack of dawn tomorrow and then bug all of them for the next 20 minutes while I scurry down the ladder and get dressed. Bah, as I am writing this I am realizing I can’t even change in there because I don’t know any of them. Anyways, it’s about 9:30pm now and I’m thinking its bed time.

Day 5: Nelson and around

I went to the noodle canteen for dinner and bought some curry laksa since I was a little tired of ramen, bread and Nutella, and apples. After getting a little lost for 20 minutes my soup is still too hot to eat so I will write about today’s adventures.

I met another one of goals for New Zealand, which was to skydive. Actually, it worked out perfectly as I was hoping to skydive over Abel Tasman and that is exactly what happened. I was worried that I was not going to be able to do it since I had been in phone contact with Skydive Abel Tasman the past two days because the weather was not looking too good. The skies cleared up though, and at 1pm, a woman named Emma came to the Nelson YHA to pick me up. We drove out to Motueka with five other people who where in Nelson learning English. Four of them were from Switzerland and the other from France. The drive out to Motueka took about 40 minutes. We soon were at the skydiving base where there were multiple little planes and helicopters in the air. The Motueka airport is also an aviation school. We watched a short clip of other people’s jumps and then geared up to go up in the little plane. My jump suit very conveniently matched my shoes. My jump master (I think that is what they are called) was named Kevin and he has been jumping for as long as I’ve been alive; he actually started jumping in 1991. My camera man James is originally from England and used to work in a bank. He decided to treat himself to a tandem jump 10 years ago and has been jumping ever since. Three jumpers, their jump masters and camera men, and a girl named Megan all piled into the tiny plane. Getting into the plane was like a puzzle, we all sat in a particular position in order to later jump out in the right order. At 13,000 feet Megan jumped out herself. She was a skydiver in training and this was her 22^nd jump. She had recently moved to New Zealand from California and has only been jumping for a few months. 22 jumps seemed a lot to me until I found out that Scruffy, one of the other jump masters had done over 11,000 tandems jumps and that James, my camera man has done up to 23 jumps in a single day. Kevin and James have such thrilling jobs. Even Emma, our driver seems to have had such amazing jobs. During the car ride she was telling stories about her previous jobs and many of her stories started with, “When I worked in the sea kayaking industry…” or “I once had a group of tourists that treated me to a bungy jump…” And James went from working in a bank to jumping out of planes for a living. Good to know I have alternative career options.

Anyways, we kept on climbing and about the time that Megan jumped out we also got oxygen masks. We were told that we would probably not need them but they gave it to us anyways. At 16,500 feet the doors of our tiny plane opened and Kevin asked me to sit on the ledge of the plane. This meant that he was going to sit on the ledge of the plane and I was going to dangle out of the plane. Quite frightening but surprisingly not NEARLY as scary as bungy jumping. I think this is because at 16,500 feet, nothing is really relative in size and also, Kevin was jumping and I just happen to be attached to him. Soon we were out of the plane and floating towards the ground at 120 miles an hour. It really didn’t feel that fast but after seeing pictures I can believe that it was actually that fast because I had an extreme case of flubby cheeks. I was free falling for about 75 seconds but it definitely did not feel that long. From above the clouds I could see our plane in the distance getting ready to land. I saw Nelson from beyond as well as Abel Tasman. Abel Tasman does have really crystal clear blue-green water and gold sand. The Abel Tasman skydive is the only one in New Zealand where you can see both the North and South Island at the same time. I don’t think I could see the North Island as it was still a bit cloudy but still amazingly cool. I only realized how fast we were falling when the parachute came out. Because James needed to be underneath us the entire time (to get picture) he kept on falling after our parachute. Once our parachute was out, James was gone because he kept on falling at 120 miles an hour and we could no longer see him. As we continued gliding, we saw James’ white parachute land on the ground. He landed about the same time as Megan. Kevin then asked me if I like roller coasters and I said “sure” so the next minute or so was him steering us in circles. Quite fun actually. Landing was super smooth and we landed on the field right outside the base. Skydiving is AWESOME and I would recommend it to anyone. And really trust me when I say it’s less scary than bungy jumping. It really is.

Earlier in the day I also explored Nelson. I left the hostel at around 8:30am and first went to Christ Church Cathedral. I then walked around center city and stopped in a Swedish Bakery for some breakfast. I had a almond Danish/croissant type thing. It was delicious. One of the shop owners that saw me walking around with my guide book suggested I go look at Queens Garden, which I did after visiting the cathedral. Queens Garden was a serene little park with fountains and little lakes with ducks. There was also a Chinese Garden inside and I took some time sitting in the gazebo reading my guidebook to see where to go next. I decided to walk along Bridge Street to the other Botanical Garden. At the Botanical Garden I learned that the Center of New Zealand was there too. I’m not quite certain if it actually THE center of New Zealand and after reading some things about it I think it’s only the center depending on how you look at it. Anyways, I decided to hike up to the center, in my flip flops which may not have been the greatest idea but I made it to the top where there were amazing views of Nelson. There was also a group of French people up there with two young children. I realized how much French I have forgotten. I just know the little kids were talking about the Haka, but that’s about it.

After the hike I headed towards the YHA so I could wash up before going to skydive. After returning from the Skydive I stopped by The Sprig and Fern Tavern. Emma had gone on and on about how good their beer and cider was. Since they have free samples, I decided to go in and try some. I had a sample of 3 berry cider and it was actually really good. I did not get any because I didn’t want to sit down to just drink beer, and I didn’t want to buy their food, and the only way I could get the beer to-go was if I got 2 liters of it so I decided to leave after my free sample. I stopped by Penguino, a gelato place where I had smoked salmon and dill flavored gelato. It was kind of a major shock to my mouth but it was quite delicious after the third lick or so.  

Overall my South Island trip has been wonderful. Other than the amazing experiences I’ve had I also think I’ve learned a lot. I had a hands on experience in planning a trip from beginning to end and have also travelled by myself for some of it. As usual, New Zealand is BEAUTIFUL and I think it is officially summer now, just as the first snow is hitting some parts of the US. Tomorrow my flight from Nelson to Dunedin leaves at 7:30am so I’m thinking of going to bed super early tonight.

Wellington and SO MUCH MORE....

Time seems to be whizzing by, especially in the past few weeks. So much has happened since I last written and I often find myself saying, "Oh, I should put that in my next post" and then realizing days later that so much more has happened a new post has not yet been started. With that said, I'll try my best to fill you in on what's been going on in the past ten days or so.

Sunrise of the morning we left for Wellington

Two Friday's ago, (14th of October) after a fun night of hanging out and karaoke I set out on an adventure to Wellington with Grace and Miriam. The sun had not yet risen when our taxi came to pick us up to take us to the airpor and when we arrived, the three of us were quite literally the only people in the airport. We walked around and soon took a seat near the children's play place where I went on the slide, many times. I like slides.

About an hour after arriving at the airport we went through some security and boarded our plane and soon we were in Wellington. It was a beautiful morning and after arriving at our hostel and munching on a bagel, we took the free shuttle out to Zealandia, a sanctuary where we saw some incredible birds, wildlife, and other creatures. We spent a few hours there before taking the shuttle to the cable car. After stopping for another bagel and seeing the cable car museum we explored the botanical gardens where we found another playground! This one was EPIC and there were cool swings and a see-saw and a pretty legitimate zip-line and A LOT more. I first climbed the jungle gym and then raced Miriam down the parallel slides. Afterwards I went in line to go on the zip-line but all the little kids were jumping in front of me probably because they thought I was a mother and the mothers were staring at me so I decided i'd better just go an enjoy more flowers in the garden.

Zealandia 

Lizards!

Very rare bird. I believe it is called a Pukeko

I like suspension bridges... and tried to plank across one. 

Cable Car Museum

View from top of the Cable Car (also Botanical Garden) 

Playground! 

In the garden we also found a human sundial. It was actually very cool and highly functional. The sun came out and Grace jumped to where it said we should stand and after raising her arms we saw that her shadow was pointing at 2:30 and it was actually 2:30. Amazing!

Look closely, it really was 2:30

After the botanical garden, we took the cable car back into the city. It was only a dollar which was quite nice. We walked back to our hostel where all three of us napped for a while before Grace and I decided we needed to get food for dinner. The two of us ventured out to New World (supermarket) which was conveniently across the street from our hostel and bought some food that we could cook for the night. I made stir fry with chickpeas, onions, chicken, red peppers, and coconut milk. It was rather yummy and filling. After dinner, we ventured outside again to see some Wellington night life. We didn't see much as it began to rain and we ended up in this gelato place called Kaffee Eis where I had hazlenut and coffee gelato. It was soo good that we actually went back to Kaffee Eis each day we were in Wellington.

Another suspension bridge right outside Te Papa

The next morning we met up with one of Miriam's family friends and had brunch with her at the Hummingbird. Since it was still raining, we headed over to Te Papa, the museum of New Zealand and stayed there for a few hours. One of the highlights in the museum was dancing the haka. There was a little interactive video that would teach you how to do the haka, which is a Maori dance. Most people are familiar with the haka that the All Blacks do before each game. Anyways, we went into the room and we had to raise our hands if we wanted to learn the woman's haka and I raised my hand but ended up being a man anyways. It was fun and we got to see ourselves on video afterwards, which was... entertaining.

Later in the afternoon, after the rain had stopped we took a stroll in center city. We stopped by a few stores along the way and I found a nice pair of shorts in the Canterbury store. We then went to find the Beehive, the parliament building. With the two times I've been to Wellington, it has always reminded me of Philly, but cleaner. The Parliament area reminded me of the art museum in Philly. Anyways, we stopped by the outside to take pictures and then went to visit the old St. Paul's Church and the new one. On our way back to the hostel we stopped by for gelato. This time I had mango and forest fruit yogurt. Om nom nom.

Artwork

Beehive aka the Parliament building

That night after dinner (fried rice) we sat in the TV room at the hostel and watched the Wales vs. France semi final and went to bed soon afterwards. The following day we stopped by the underground market (its like a flea market in an underground parking lot and has nothing to do with drugs...) where I bought some wool socks. The wool its made from is only produced in NZ and they are quite literally the greatest socks ever.

After my sock endeavor we took a ferry ride out to Day's Bay where we walked along the coast and enjoyed our lunch on a bench. There was not much on Day's Bay but the view was pretty incredible. Upon arriving back at Wellington we made our daily trip to Kaffe Eis where I had some interesting flavors: Bon Bon Rocher and After Eight, which in short is Nutella and mint. Glorious. We then went and adventured around Cuba street but since it was pretty close to 5pm many stores were closing. We then walked to Te Papa again and explored it a bit more until it closed at six. Then Grace and I then went on a run along the harbor which was nice after the large amounts of ice cream consumed.

Day's Bay 

Cuba Street

That night we watched the New Zealand vs Australia game at the Fan Zone in the middle of Wellington. It was an amazing game and the All Blacks won. It was also beautiful when everyone around me (like hundreds upon hundreds of people) began singing the New Zealand National Anthem. It wasn't until then that I realized I had never actually heard the anthem before and it was amazing. There were also fireworks at half time. Following the game we headed for bed since we had an early flight back to Dunedin the next morning. Overall Wellington was spectacular and i'm looking forward to more Kaffee Eis during my next layover there. For now though, i'm going on an ice cream hiatus.

Fireworks at the game

This weekend I hung out with Gaia and went on a bunch of successful expeditions. On Saturday I went to the farmers market to buy apples for my upcoming trip. We then went to the public library so I could get my library card and use my free vouchers for CD's and DVD's. Who would have thought that by signing up for the library card I got another set of free vouchers. We then set out on an epic shopping expedition. I needed a formal-ish dress for the horse races I am going to in November and I found one that is mostly white with purple flowers on it. Gaia also found the most awesome May Day dress. After coming home Gaia made me dinner which was amazing Shepard's pie.

Okay, this is kind of a non-sequitur but I just took an 8 hour break from this post and during those 8 hours New Zealand won the Rugby World Cup and I went to town and celebrated. So now i'm back, and it's 4:30 in the morning and i'm going to try my best to fill you in on ALL the excitement before I fall asleep.

Anyways, back to my previous thought before I ramble about rugby glory. After running more errands with Gaia this morning (it was Sunday and one of our stops was K-Mart and there were Christmas trees for sale, mind boggling since its actually just becoming warm outside) I came home for a brief while to do my laundry and clean my room. Oh goodness how my floor needed to be vacuumed, actually I was so happy too see clean floor that I then vacuumed the whole house, which needed more vacuuming than my room did and then spent a lot of time looking at how clean the floor was. Then I went to St. Kilda beach with Tucker, Grace, Kevin, Sophie and Kat. We also met up with Jose and Lydia at the beach. The boys and Sophie went swimming and while I had not planned to get much more than my feet wet, I ended up getting pretty soaked up to my waist. Good thing it wasn't cold.

After getting home yet again and showering, I made dinner and went over to Tucker's to watch the rugby game (New Zealand vs France in the final). The game was really tight, 8 to 7 New Zealand for most of the second half. When we did win (8 to 7), a bunch of us ran out to the sidewalk and we could hear everyone from the Baaa (the bar across the street from my complex) singing "We are the champions". I am quite certain that the Baaa was packed so tightly with people that it was probably a health and fire hazard but it was okay, because New Zealand had just won the Rugby World Cup.

Then a big group of an unknown number of people, maybe 20 (we all ended up separating into chunks anyways) went out to town to celebrate. The entire 20 minute walk consisted of cars honking and people yelling "ALL BLACKS!" and so on and so forth. You can probably guess by now that we ended up at Metro to dance and it was PACKED (as predicted). I wasn't quite in the dance-y mood tonight since I had already showered and did not want to get all sweaty again so I sat around and chatted with the guys I watched the game with. The bass was low enough to change my cardiac rhythm  but the music was good. We started to head home not incredibly late (around 1:30am) but somehow managed to dwaddle around until 3:30am when I finally returned to my own house. I ended up needing to take another shower because while I only danced a little, Metro was about 100ºF and a bunch of sweaty people brushed by me and this guy who was dancing kept on shaking his opened can of Red Bull so I was kind of showered with sugary energy drink. Anyways, great game and great celebration.

Okay, so in my sleepy daze as well as the very busy past few weeks, this may become the most disorganized post ever, but I realized that I never mentioned in my previous post about visiting Aramoana beach. Basically, it was beautiful and the sand was so fine it got into everything. I was still spilling sand out of my ears the next day. The clouds were amazing too. I put pictures up on Facebook pretty soon after I went but i'll post a few on my blog too.

So! That basically sums up the last week or so. I will be travelling around the South Island this week so I may have limited internet access but I will post again soon. Here are the Aramoana pictures:

Catlins

My apologies for not having written in a while. These past two weeks have been full of assignments as the semester is rapidly coming to an end. As of now I have less than a week of classes left before the start of exams.

Two weekends ago I headed to the Catlins with a bunch of people from The Lofts. After going to my morning class and then to the gym for a short while, Tucker, Fredric, Grace, Sara, and I piled into Lady, the purple Ford Telstar for our scenic drive to the Catlins. The Catlins is located about two hours south of Dunedin and is pretty much a rainforest. For more about the Catlins, click HERE. Jono calls it "virgin forest" which is pretty accurate in a way. Everything there was perfectly serene and trees and wildlife grew wild. We first stopped at the little house we had booked for the weekend. It was a cute little house with two rooms, a living room, and a kitchen. There were also two bathrooms. One room had two bunk beds while the other room had a queen sized bed. After dropping off our things and eating some Nutella and bread, we headed out to look for the beach. At the beach we walked around, taking pictures and enjoying the relatively warm day. We also had fun driving around on the beach, which is still rather peculiar to me since you can't drive on beaches in New York, or at least I didn't think you could. Lady made some donuts in the sand and then we swerved around. I really do like car rides. :)

We passed this on our way to the Catlins. Seems appropriate for the World Cup. :) 

Our little room. I was on the top bunk of the bed  to the left that is cut off 

Little living room

VIEW FROM OUR PORCH!!! 

The first beach

The second "beach" though we were just at the look out point

After the beach we went to McLean Falls. It was a short hike (the sign said it was a 40 minute walk but it really was about 10 minutes to the Falls) We reached the bottom part of the falls and while it was pretty, the water was a not-so-appealing color. We hiked up higher to find a much bigger waterfall. At the larger waterfall we walked over slippery and mossy rocks and took pictures.

That night we went home and made dinner. Then we headed over to the upper house where everyone else was staying. On the walk over I looked into the sky and saw more stars than I had ever seen in my life. At the upper house we played some air hockey and pool and this slightly dangerous game that Tucker made up that involved a lot of running and rolling pool balls. We then played a pretty epic game of Kings where I learned a lot of interesting things about people and quite a bit about Scandinavian politics. Upon returning home, Tucker, Fredric, and I continued to have a conversation until early morning before going to bed.

One of the caves at a beach during day two adventures

We also found a lighthouse!

Day two in the Catlins involved much driving around and going to see different places along the coast. We drove in the direction towards Invercargill but I'm not quite sure what each of the places were called. I will post pictures though. That night, we made taco's for a flat dinner. It was delicious. We also went back up to the upper house and hung out for a little while before returning home to go to be a little earlier than 4am because we wanted to wake up to see the sun rise. Also because bed time before 4am is usually a smart idea.

Here is a small side story to our trip. Nutella. All of us brought food because there is only one supermarket and everything is really expensive there. I brought some weet-bix (kind of like cornflakes), fruits, soy milk, bread and Nutella. Everyone else also brought Nutella. When packing lunch for our second day, we all brought out Nutella and bread. So much Nutella as you can tell from the picture. Actually, it would have been even more epic if Tucker hadn't left his jar at the house.

The next morning I woke up needing to go to the bathroom and after attempting to very quietly climb down from the top bunk I saw the big and beautiful purple orange and yellow sun midway in the sky and decided to be not so quiet and wake everyone up in the house to go see the sun rise. All five of us stood on the porch with our eye's half open taking pictures. After the sun was fully up, each of us climbed back into our beds for another two hours of glorious sleep.

We had to check out that next morning and after paying the woman we drove to Kaka Point and Nugget Point. We also met up with Victoria and her crew at Nugget Point.

Another lighthouse!

I presume those are nuggets

From left to right: Tucker, me, Grace, Sara, Fredric at Nugget Point

The week following the Catlins was consumed by schoolwork and the last season of Prison Break. I finished a Chinese essay, a Food Science essay, and started on my computer science assignment. Season 4 of Prison Break was pretty good in the beginning but just became more and more ridiculous as the season went on. On Friday I went on a run with Fredric and Grace to the reservoir. Some realizations from that run include, 1.) I am terribly out of shape 2.)I miss running outside, ellipticals are boring and 3.) Spiky gravel really hurts to run on in my toe shoes. Anyways, I enjoyed the run and hopefully now that is getting warmer i'll run some more outside. Friday was also Tucker's 21st birthday party and was one of the most fun parties i've been to in NZ. 

Saturday I slept in rather late but the headed to Sandfly Bay and Tomahawk Beach in the afternoon. Sandfly was amazing as usual and there were caves at Tomahawk, which are cool to climb through.

Sandfly

Sea lion say "Hi"

From inside the cave at Tomahawk

Sunday night I ended up pulling an all nighter in order to finish my last CS assignment. Tucker had a paper due on Monday and since it was already 4am by the time we finished watching Dexter and when he finally chose his paper topic, I just decided that i'd might as well stay up to do my assignment too instead of waiting until Monday night when I probably would have needed the entire night to do it anyways. We both worked on our respective assignments until about 6:30am when we drove up to Signal Hill to watch the sun rise. We didn't actually see the sun, but it was still pretty and VERY windy and VERY cold. 

Post sun-rise, pre-paper-finish....

I was actually quite awake the whole day. I have to say, that all nighter was probably the most pleasant one i've ever had. This is not to say that I am now fond of them and will be having them as a hobby but I am usually incredibly stressed out during previous ones because my assignment is always due the next morning. This time, I was doing an assignment earlier AND I had company AND there was a decent sunrise. Anyways, that following night we watched some more Dexter and the movie Thor, though i'm not sure how well I followed either as I dozed off a couple of times...

It seems a little surreal that I only have two classes left before the end of semester. It is partly because its mid-October and partly because I am shocked by how fast this semester has gone. By the end of this month I will be half-way through junior year. As for upcoming events, I am hoping to go to the Moeraki Boulders tomorrow and then i'm off to Wellington for the weekend!