Wellington!

This weekend Kelsey and I went down to Wellington to stay with a few friends we knew from our Study New Zealand orientation group! We got in on Saturday morning and had the worst landing ever. Wellington is a very windy city so the landing was extremely scary and the plane was being pushed all over the place. We went to Te Papa museum and did a lot of stuff there. We went in a simulator for underwater volcanic research. That was pretty cool but very rocky. Then we went in another simulator to take you around New Zealand and that was no fun at all because it was so jerky and bumpy that we both felt sick after the ride was over. However, the rest of the museum was really cool! We walked around for a few hours and had some fun. Then we walked around the city and since it was raining, we decided to see a movie because there was not much more we could do that was indoors that day. After that, we met up with Lars and Morgan and went to a few different places. Stephen met up with us later and it was really nice for everyone to be together again! We had a lot of fun that night. The next day, we took the Wellington Cable Car up to the Botanical Gardens and walked around the Cable Car Museum! We bought ponchos from the gift shop because it was pouring rain! Then we walked around the gardens and hung out in the greenhouse and saw some beautiful flowers! The rose gardens were really amazing. We took the cable car back down into town and went to a nice restaurant with Lars and Stephen. We had a really great night catching up with them. I really missed everyone that was in our orientation group. The next day we went to brunch together and then to another art museum. Wellington is a very artsy city so it was nice to get to see some museums! Although the weather could have been better for us, we had an amazing time in Wellington!

The Eastlands

Last weekend I took a road trip to the Eastlands with one of my friends. Our first stop was Tauranga which is on the east coast of the north island. We got there and drove straight to the peninsula called Mount Maunganui. We hiked around the mountain which took about an hour and watched the sunset from the rocks overlooking the water. This was a really beautiful place. Then we went to find a hostel and went grocery shopping. The next day, I woke up early and went for a run around the mountain again. It was even more beautiful in the early morning light! Then we walked all the way up Mt. Maunganui. It took about an hour to make the climb up and it was a pretty steep climb but it was totally worth it. We took so many pictures from the top! Then we got on the road and headed south to Whakatane and we got lunch there. Then we continued on the road and stopped in Whanarua Bay. The man who owned the hostel greeted us with a Maori greeting. It was an interesting experience. Our hostel was incredible! It was literally right on the water and it had hammocks and so many other cool things! We woke up early the next morning and went to East Cape. We climbed up to the East Cape lighthouse which is the farthest east you can get in New Zealand. This was also another challenging climb but it was totally worth it. The pictures don't even begin to capture the beauty that we saw this weekend! On the road, there were cows blocking our path to get through. That was so funny! Then we continuted on to Tolaga Bay and walked the 660 meter pier out into the ocean. It was awesome! Then we drove to Gisborne. A lot of the movie Whale Rider was filmed in Gisborne! We visited Captain Cook's famous statue and walked around the city a little bit. The next morning we woke up super early to see the sunrise! We were the first people in THE WORLD to see the sunrise on the morning of Sunday May 17th! That was also a really cool thing to do. Then we drove to Rere Falls. They were really cool. There is also a natural waterslide there that I was going to go down but I didn't have a boogie board or an inner tube. It would have definitely hurt without one! Then, we continued the beautiful drive back to Auckland. This weekend was amazing. We saw so many beautiful things. The landscape on the east coast of New Zealand is incredible and I loved everything we saw!

Tongariro Crossing

This weekend we went to the Tongariro Crossing in Tongariro National Park. We were expecting to do the hike which is 18 kilometers long and over the most beautiful mountains ever. When we got there, the guide told us that they were not taking trips up the mountains because of snow blizzards. Although we were disappointed, we made the best out of it and did the first 5 kilometers of the hike. We had the most amazing views of Mt. Tongariro, Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Ruapehu. It was exactly what I wanted to see! The snow covering the mountains was just incredible! We hiked for a while and were up pretty high when it started to snow on us. We made our way quickly back down the mountain. The snow was pelting me in the eyes. When we got back to the car, we found another hike to do. We stopped to get hot chocolate first though because all of us were freezing! Then, we hiked 2 hours to see a beautiful waterfall. The view on the way was amazing and the waterfall was incredible! We even went and stood behind the waterfall. That was really cool! Then we found a smaller hike to do. It was a long day full of hiking, or tramping as they say here! Then, we went back to our hostel and hung out there that night. The next day we woke up and it was pouring rain! We had the worst weather this weekend but we made the best of it. My friend Alex and I wanted to do mountain biking while the others slept in. We went and rented them and tried going up the trail but the rain was coming down so hard that we had to turn around. You couldn't see the mountains anyway because the clouds were so low they were covering them. We were not disappointed with having to turn around because we were already soaking wet and not happy! We got back to the hostel, made breakfast and got on our way back home to Auckland. We went back through Taupo. I got to drive!!! It was my first time driving on the left side of the road! I loved it. It was really hard at first because it is totally backwards. I kept putting the windshield wipers on when I meant to put my blinker on! It was awesome though. I drove for 4 hours from National Park Village to Hamilton and then we switched. We got out and walked around the Hamilton Botanical Gardens. We climbed a tree and looked at the pretty flowers. It was great! This weekend was amazing! I had such a good time and saw some more of New Zealand's incredible nature. The landscape here is incredible! I love it :)

Franz Josef Glacier

We got to Franz Josef glacier pretty late at night and when we checked into the Glowworm Cottages, the lady told us that all of the glacier tours had been cancelled that previous day due to flooding. It was still pouring. It poured all night and was still going when we woke up the next morning. Our full day tour got cancelled but there was a possibility of us getting on the half day tour. We waited around and finally got into the tour! It was pouring rain so we were wet and freezing but it was so worth it! Climbing around on that glacier was challenging and amazing. Franz Josef glacier is the steepest guided tour in the world. You cannot be guided on a tour on a steeper glacier! I thought that was cool! It was really hard to get all the way up! The glacier was so beautiful and learning about the history and the science behind it was fascinating. We were ready for it to be over though because we were so cold and soaked through to the very last layer. It was such an amazing experience! We got on the road right after that (the road had been closed earlier because of a bridge collapse but it got reopened just before we left Franz Josef) and drove back to Christchurch! What an amazing trip it was!

Queenstown!

We got to Queenstown around dinnertime on the 15th, right after Milford Sound. So many hostels were completely full so it took us a while to find one with room for us. We found one though and we got some dinner and made friends with the other people there. We all decided to go out for our only night in Queenstown! I ended up meeting someone who goes to school right down the street from me in Towson! It is such a small world! We had a really good time. The next morning, we were going to do a canyon swing, but it was way to expensive. So we took a gondola ride up to the top of a mountain. The view of Queenstown was incredible! When we got to the top, we did a luge ride just for fun. It's a kids ride but we had a good time with it! Then we went to watch the bungy jumpers. We saw someone doing the canyon swing and we decided we had to do it! It was a smaller and a lot less expensive one so we decided we should. We got weighed and all suited up. Kelsey went first. She screamed the whole time! I went next and I took forever to do it! You have to sit in the harness in mid-air and then you have to pull the rope when you're ready to fall. So basically, it's all up to you. I eventually did it and I absolutely loved it! You fly right over the water and the town! It's really just amazing. I was shaking for a while after I was pulled back up but it was so worth doing and I absolutely loved it! Then we rode the gondolas down the mountain again and headed for Franz Josef Glacier! It's a pretty long ride but it's going to be worth it! We had an amazing time in Queenstown!

Milford Sound

We left Dunedin at 5 AM to drive to Milford Sound. We arrived there at around 11:30 and had a 1:30 cruise through the sound. The drive up there was absolutely breathtaking. We saw the most amazing sunrise I have ever seen followed by some pretty incredible rainbows. We took a million pictures before we even got to the sound! The mountains were huge and the water is just so blue. Since we were there early, they put us on the earlier cruise. Kelsey and I were taking pictures when I looked over and saw some of our friends! We didn't even know they were there and had not talked to them since we left Auckland! It was totally weird that we were on the exact same cruise as they were. We had a good time catching up and enjoying the beautiful Milford Sound. We drove the boat under waterfalls and saw a lot of seals laying on the rocks. We got back from the cruise and immediately jumped in the car, heading for Queenstown. It was an amazing day!

Dunedin!

We drove to Dunedin on April 14th which took us 5 hours to do. The drive was incredible! The coastal views were amazing. We took so many pictures! We even stopped at some random beach to take pictures. When we got there, we went right to an I-Site for ideas on what to do. We also walked around the city a little bit. Dunedin is a really nice, small city. They told us to go to the Otago Peninsula to see the yellow-eyed penguins and sea lions! We went to Penguin Place and did a tour of the penguin reserve. We got really close to them! They have underground tunnels that you use for viewing so you don't disturb them. They were mounting at this time of the year which means their feathers were coming off and they were getting new ones. So most of them were not going in the water. However, we did see a few come waddling out of the ocean from a long day of fishing. We also saw some sea lions playing around in the water and laying on the huge rocks. It was really cool to be able to see these animals in their natural setting. The Otago Peninsula was just incredibly beautiful. The scenery was amazing. We had a great time. Then we went back to our hostel which was called Hogwartz. We made some dinner and went to bed super early because we had a very early morning the next day.