ND to NZ: 2016

Monday, November 28, 2016

There Wasn't a Goodbye ❤️

As I sit on the last plane of this journey of mine, I can't help but think how extremely grateful I am for not only the last 2 months since I blogged, but my entire Down Under experience. I guess I figured if I stopped blogging, then it wouldn't have to end. I know I left some people curious as to what I have been up to, but, to be honest, I was trying to stop time. I love my family and everyone at home and am excited to be back for awhile, but I don't think I was ready for my semester to be over. This is something that they don't really tell you enough at the study abroad meetings and articles...how hard it is to leave your new "home". Of course, everyone's experiences are different and there are people that want nothing more than to go back home. And, like I said, I am excited for that part, too, but I also want to be able to go back to my family at 1/777 great king street. We will visit and see each other again, but it won't ever be the same. That's the hardest part of studying abroad. From now on, I will always have pieces of me in other places of the world and I think that's what makes me whole. I have the whole world on my back and I intend to leave my mark on the whole world. It's a symbiotic relationship really. Alright, I'll give you a skimm of what happened while I was MIA(sorta). I went to a couple more classes to finish out my semester in the middle of October. I took a final exam before heading up the islands with sister Kat and Erin. We rented a campervan and traveled for about 10 days. Our first stop was Queenstown for a chilly, wet, jet boat ride. We left out mark on Wanaka(or the other way around) and made our way up through Haast Pass and to Franz Josef and met up with Greta. Our night in the campervan in Wanaka was a bit cold(I had my entire face covered in a blanket. I never cover my face. Never.) so we decided to stay in a hostel in Franz for the night. We took a helicopter up to the glacier the next day and kept driving. The driving is absolutely incredible. I never get bored of the scenery. I think Katie left a permanent mark on the "oh sh*t" handle but otherwise we made it unscathed. A rainy ferry took us to Wellington and then we went up the north island. Cards were played. Rivers were rafted. Driving was done. And sooner than we would've liked, we were coasting into Auckland. A massage and delicious meal to end a glorious trip, then back down to Dunedin for me. It was time to lock in on the whole school thing. (In other words, I learned a semester's worth of material in a couple days for two classes.) Finally, I took the tests, and my strenuous semester of homework was over. A last hoorah at the beer fest, and the next day the rents and bro showed up. They brought an earthquake to make sure everyone knew they arrived. I toured them through Dunedin and then the final night at Strügl Stret was upon us. Bittersweet goodbyes were said by some. I don't do goodbyes so I stuck to my "see you sometime" and cleared out my room. The amazing people who I knew in Dunedin will never know how much I'll miss them for the rest of my life. At least I got a couple promises for North Dakota visitors. And I didn't get to Stewart island, so I have to go back to NZ sometime. The Fischer "awed" our way through Milford Sound on an overnight cruise full of waterfalls, seals, penguins, and an absurd amount of disgusting sand flies(I still have the bite marks). For the second time in a month, I was driving Haast past and almost the entire length of both islands. And guess what?? I still wasn't sick of it. I could do it hundreds of more times. Maybe. We stopped and said hello to Greta in Franz, hello to the glow worms in Hokitika, and up to Golden Bay. A relaxing(when jax wasn't being a brat) kayak trip through the ocean to see birds and seals and beaches, and we were on our way to the ferry. It was actually sunny this time with a cool sunset. I decided it was the South Island telling me "see you sometime". A night in Wellington and then across the north to Taraunga. Three great nights full of sunshine, surf lessons, salt, farms for some, dinner with Sam and Veronica, and all too soon, we were back in Auckland. Jax and I decided to jump off the Skytower for a little adrenaline rush. 3 planes later and here I sit. Those two months literally felt like 2 days. I got back from Australia and then my parents were there. Everything went so quickly. I am still excited to get to go home and see my friends and family and of course, dogs.(did I tell you I'm getting a King Charles spaniel sometime? It's happening.) Leaving home I knew that I would get to come back to it in 5 months. That's not the case when leaving New Zealand. Some of the people I left behind really will be a goodbye and I'll never see them again but for the others, the special ones, I'll see you sometime. ❤️

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Just Keep Swimming

To fully get my solo Australian travel experience, I decided to do more of a journal than a blog. I guess it's both. I also decided that this blog is going to be the place where I say the things that I would normally want to say to someone I'm traveling with. Maybe I'll even throw in a couple responses to my own thoughts in parentheses. ☺️😂 (Ok, Maddie, let's be honest, no one has time to the amount of talking you do in a week.) -warning: this could be the longest blog ever written. (Probably be more like a short novel) I'd apologize but half the reason I write these are for myself anyway.😁Enjoy!

September 21, 2016

I am currently on a plane that just ascended into the air. I've been awake since 2:30am and am running on about 3 hours of sleep. Yesterday, at about 1pm, I got on a 6 hour bus ride from Dunedin to Christchurch. Side note: don't skip the 6:15 flights because they're too early, everyone should experience a sunrise from above the clouds at least once in their lives. (Plus they're cheaper) This is so cool. Bonus points to anyone who has mountains poking out and about over the marshmallow fluff. Sorry mom, no picture could capture it like I wanted. Just something that everyone will have to experience themselves :) so I got to Christchurch at about 7, checked into my hostel and headed to the little Asian restaurant next door. Sweet and sour lamb with vegetables rice and a cider later, and I was ready for bed. A terrible night's sleep of constantly thinking I would miss my flight later, and here I am. (didn't miss the flight) this scenery is really amazing right now so I'll journal later when there's more exciting things happening.

*This would be so awesome to skydive from.* (probably not now that we're flying over the ocean)

*"There is a colonial woman on the wing. There is something they’re not telling us. She was out there churning butter. She was churning butter!"* (Bridesmaids reference for those of you unfortunates that have never seen the movie)

*Would it be rude to lean back my chair?* (Pretty sure he has 3 seats to himself, he'll be fine.)

Upon landing: *Brr that water would be cold if we crash landed...at least I'd get a new phone since this one would be in the ocean.* (If you survive back to shore.)

*"Sydney, Sydney, Sydney. You were right, Dory! We made it! Woohoooo. Thaaaaankkkk yooouuuu sirrr." ("Wow. I wish I could speak whale.") -if you don't know that movie, that's really too bad cuz I'm not explaining it.

I arrived at my hostel! I realized I was starving and walked up to the harbor bridge and am currently sitting at "Pancakes on the Rocks". I also realized that I've been awake since 12:30am Australian time, it's only 10:30, and it's probably going to be an early for this one.

*Aww kids are so cute. Maybe some day I'll have one. I can't wait for Kristine and Sean's child(ren) ;).*.....(3 minutes later and the child is crying. Rethink that point, Maddie)

*These pancakes look so good. Where are mine? Like how much longer do you think it'll be?*

I've never had so much joy watching a stack of buttermilk pancakes topped with strawberries, sauce, and ice cream (yes I said ice cream), a side of bacon, and a mimosa making its way towards my table.

Those were probably the best pancakes I've ever had in my life. Highly recommend.

To paint a picture in your mind: here's Maddie, walking through Sydney, running on no sleep, hair in a messy bun, glasses on, wearing the same clothes that I wore on the bus yesterday: black running pants, tennis shoes, and a flannel. I didn't really think about it until I hit the hubbub center of Sydney. Think of any high end clothing, makeup, perfume, purse, or shoe youve ever bought...the brand was there. Chanel, Dior, Prada, Louis Vuitton, literally everything. So I saw these stores, then I noticed that people were wearing it. I'm not kidding when I say Sydney collectively has the best dressed men I've even seen. I'd say roughly 60% of every guy I saw on my 15 mile walk today, had a suit on. 30% of the ones that weren't in suits, were still in polos and designer clothes. The other 10% were either homeless or were in casual clothes. Now the women were dressed well, too, but I didn't notice that as much. So naturally, when it started raining and I was in the shopping district, I went shopping. Ok ok most of it was window shopping but I got a thing or two from H&M and Forever21. No Coach or Chanel for me.

September 22, 2016

I'm tired. Sydney is awesome but I'm tired. I don't even remember where I left off writing yesterday. Anyway, it's Thursday. Woke up at 9:15, got on a train, got on a ferry, and got on a cable car/gondola up a hill of zoo animals. I was at the Taronga Sydney Zoo. I wondered around the Australian walk first. There was one part where you walk in a fenced door, and you're surrounded by kangaroos and wallabies. Like no fence between you and the animals.

*I feel like this would never be allowed in the US.* (You're probably right. Like always 😜)

Up next was my koala encounter. Now I thought I was going to get to hold it, but I didn't. I just got to get up close and get a picture. And given how close you normally get to the koalas, I was still alright with it. She looked so peaceful sleeping anyway. I wondered up the farm side and saw more interesting animals...like chickens, pigs, goats, and sheep😱 crazy stuff. I actually only even went by the farm animals because the quokkas were up behind the farm animals. Now i don't know how well you know me, but I've always loved quokkas. However, I've never even thought of the possibility of seeing one in real life. It's the happiest animal in the world (or so they say) and I did get some smiles but no pictures. Most of the time it had its head in the ground. I guess I would too if people tried to stare and take pictures of me all day. Really that's the main reason I didn't become a model. Now in the past couple years, I've mostly stayed away from zoos. The thought of so many animals in enclosures and not being free, makes me sad. However, I think my views have somewhat changed. After a recent new purchase of elephant pants, I read about how many elephants have been killed in the last decade alone. On top of that, there's been murder of thousands of rangers that make it their duty to protect those elephants. It's disgusting. At the Sydney zoo, and I'm sure many other zoos, they have breeding programs to try to help increase the population. It'd be great if the poachers could instead be poached but that probably won't happen either. So, as much as I hate seeing animals being caged up, it's a necessary evil to ensure the animals don't go extinct. Some of the animals, such as the bongo, only have 100 of their kind left. It's a sad truth. Alright, enough animal rights talk. After the zoo, I took another ferry to Watson's Bay. I explored the National park, the gap, and down to the harbor. There was another splurge of rain so I stopped in the boutique hotel for some fish and chips.

*how many of these people are tourists do you think?* (well since I haven't even heard much English for awhile, I would say most of them)

Walking in downtown Sydney: *gosh these buildings make me feel small. Like think about how each of those rooms has something going on it it and then think about how many rooms you can see just from right here.* (huh, guess I never thought of it that way)

*Ive never seen so many suits in my life.* (Their shoes are so shiny, too.)

Also nobody drives a bad car. It's all range rovers, bmws, Mercedes.... Even the Hondas and Toyota are shiny and new. I'm getting the hint that not many poor people live in Sydney.

Made it back to the hostel. Relaxed for awhile and am now sitting outside Forrester's hotel eating a Mejico pizza. Delicious 👌🏼

Side note: don't forget to wash your hands before taking out contacts if you touch jalapeños and chili pepper. That is all. Goodnight from me ☺️

September 23

Started the day off at 5am. No it's not because my alarm went off, that was supposed to happen at 6:30. At 5, I was awoken by someone turning on their light and crawling down a bed. I thought that would be it, but then he got back into bed and starting praying in a different language, like out loud. I tried to sleep again but to no avail. I decided to get changed and go sit in a cafe until the bus came. We drove across the Sydney Harbour Bridge which I learned was opened in 1932. They haven't added anything since then, the original designers put 8 lanes of traffic over the bridge at a time when there were only 16 cars registered in Sydney. They were futuristic. The first stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park. I saw a bunch of Australian animals, more koalas, and pet some kangaroos and wallabies. Fun fact: a kangaroo is always pregnant. When the Joey finally is able to come out of the pouch, another is born within 24 hours. A kangaroo mother can have around 500 to 600 children in their lifetime. What a life. We stopped at a couple lookouts along the way through the blue mountains. The mountains aren't actually blue, their green, but they look blue because of the dense eucalyptus trees that have oil evaporating from them and the haze you see is the light refracting on these particles. Your eyes are just playing tricks. We ate lunch in the little boutique town of Leura. I had one of the best pies ever: chicken, potato, and leek. Up next was the main feature of Scenic World. We rode the skyway cable car with a view of The Three Sisters. The Three Sisters story is that the three daughters of the elder of a tribe were secretly participating in extracurricular activities with the three sons of a different tribe. This started a battle. The witch doctor turned the sisters into stone to protect them in the battle. However, the witch doctor was killed in battle and was never able to turn them human again. It is said that late at night, you can hear the screams of the Elder begging for his Three daughters to become human again. Anyway, we took another cable car to the bottom of a rain forest valley. After walking through the rain forest, we took the steepest railway back up to the top. Now we are back on the bus. I can only elaborate so much as my brain is only functioning at half speed at the moment. I did meet a guy that grew up in Fargo! He lives in Minneapolis now and is here on business for a week. First North Dakotan I've met since being in New Zealand. Anyone else I've met that's remotely close is maybe Colorado? Oregon? Alberta? Yeah apparently there aren't many of us here....we are headed back to Sydney now. To skip the peak traffic, we will be taking a ferry back to Circular Quay and then we are free to do what we want. (Hopefully sleep early) Tomorrow is a day full of markets and afternoon sailing!

September 26, 2016

Currently sitting on the rooftop of my hostel actually enjoying the 63 degree sun.

So let's backtrack: Saturday the 25...walked down and explored Darling Harbor. I found breakfast first...there was different Pancake on the Rocks so obviously I had to try it out again. This time I got the Bananarama pancakes which had grilled bananas and a homemade toffee syrup with ice cream in the middle. I can't decide which ones were better honestly. Spent time window shopping and getting a pedicure before boarding the sailing yacht. It was the perfect day for it. Warm but not too hot. Got on the boat with an Australian family of 5, a couple from Sydney, and the guy who actually knew what he was doing. The next couple hours were spent sailing the harbor and occasionally helping the sails keep sailing. So much fun! The hours of sailing in the sun had me tired so I walked back to the hostel. I found a Vietnamese place, Mum's Cafe,around the corner for a late dinner and then crashed in bed. Sunday morning I woke up and headed down to the popular beaches. I decided to do a coastal walk that connects most of the beaches. I got most of it done before hitting a hard wall of rain. I was drenched. I ran up to the cafes of Bronte to find a place for lunch that wasn't in the rain. I landed on La Plage by chance, and it was probably one of my favorite restaurants so far. I'll be honest in that I haven't had any bad food since I've been here. Like my dad said, I've been eating well. A hamburger and massive milkshake later, and I decided to head back to the hostel. Took a quick nap before getting talked into going out for the night. We ended up exploring two gay clubs of Sydney. It was actually pretty fun. Even saw a little drag queen show. I can't say I've ever had a night like that before. I just got breakfast at the cafe next door and am now planning to head down to the Botanical Gardens with a friend.

One of thee best things that I have ever been to. A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Sydney Opera House. My attention was thoroughly captivated for a solid 3 hours. It's not like I had low expectations for this, but all expectations were exceeded x10. I loved it. There were some modern takes thrown into the old Shakespeare play, and I think I laughed more than I have at any movie I've been to. It was great. And a quiet, peaceful night while coming back to the hostel. I had grabbed dinner at the Opera Kitchen before the play so I came straight back and am now ready for bed. I fly out tomorrow night! Crazy.

*I thought the whole Pyramus and Thisby actors were hilarious the entire time. Particularly Nick Bottom." (Or during the actual Pyramus and Thisby play when Pyramus (Bottom) dramatically stabs himself with a saw probably 13 times, all while getting sprayed by red paint in a paint sprayer. Then Thisby walks up to the body and says "Are you sleeping, Pyramus?")

*Or when the crew wants to know if it'll be a full moon but can't figure out how to know, so one of them pulls out his iPhone to ask Siri."

*Puck was probably the most fun to watch, but everyone was so into their parts it was incredible.* (We definitely should have come to this instead of watching the weird little video in Ms Nasset's senior English class.) *Yeah, a quick little field trip.*

*I thought it was crazy how captivating and fun it was to watch even thought it was literally all just white and black walls.* (Hardly any props were used but it was always clear what scene they were in.) *Do you think it'd be harder to follow if we didn't study the play in high school?* (I would say only if you have problems with the accents. They were going for English accents but their Australian accents came up too. Add that to Shakespearean language and it could become confusing for some.)

* 10/10

September 27, 2016

*Oh, wow, that was hot.* Referring to my hot chai tea latte that's in a glass. I'll never understand why they insist to put them in glasses rather than mugs. Some cafes do use mugs but City Extra on the Circular Quay Harbor in Sydney definitely puts it in glass. I will say that it's one of the best chais that I've ever had. And who knows if I'll ever leave this outside table that has so many people watching opportunities. I mean I don't HAVE to leave until about 4 to get to the airport. And I have my phone packed of classical music, Adele, twenty one pilots, and anything else imaginable so I'm set.

Got to the airport a bit early so I decided I could upload this now. Not actually back home yet but the rest of it would just be pointless conversations I'm having with myself so I figured you all could skip that. Sydney: I recommend it.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Rhonderosion

I am alive! I just realized that it's been 17 days since my last post. I'm sorry...time flies when you're having fun! :) A lot has happened in those 17 days so please prepare yourself....On the 19th of August, Caitlin, Fin, and I headed up north to Timaru for Caitlin's birthday weekend with her family. It was actually a pretty cute little town(still 45,000 people so not that little.) We explored Timaru on Saturday and then had a party with everyone on Saturday night. We got to meet a lot of the fam and of course Rosie and Oscar, the dog and cat. We came home on Sunday night and that's when I realized I had a big test coming up on Thursday. The days between Sunday and Thursday night blended together as I studied and studied and then studied a little more. I guess I forget sometimes that studying is what I'm meant to be doing here ;) Finally, the test was over and Friday was another adventure. At noon on Friday, Fin, Molly, Thomas, and I got on a 6 hour bus ride to Christchurch. From Christchurch, we went to the airport only to learn that our 9pm flight to Auckland was cancelled. Jetstar gave us free accommodation and food as they couldn't get us on another flight until 9am on Saturday. We woke up feeling fresh and headed to Auckland to find our camper van. Back to driving on the left side of the road! We drove up north of Auckland to Manakana, stopped at Goat island, a couple of beaches, and ended up in a little holiday park. We decide to make some food in the kitchen and this is where I almost cut off the tip of my thumb while chopping onions. Oops. We figured out how to set up our beds and crashed. On Sunday morning, we headed back through Auckland and then around the Coromandel Peninsula. It was such an amazing view the entire way. We stopped multiple times on the side of the road and had lunch on one of the beaches. We made it to our destination-Cathedral Cove- just as the sun was setting. It was a stunning sight to see. However, the best part of the night was the stars. Imagine this: you walk out onto a wooden deck that looks over the Pacific ocean filled with little tiny islands dotted around the water. You aren't even sure where the water ends and the sky begins. The moon is nowhere to be found but the stars are so clear and vivid that it still doesn't feel dark. There's only a tiny breeze that you can feel tickle across your toes since you're wearing flip flops. The only thing you can hear are the waves sweeping across the shore below and the birds off in the distance. You know that your friends are out there with you, too, but none of you say a word in this mesmerized state. You only open your mouth to point out that you can see Mars and Saturn with your naked eye. That's how my Sunday night was. On Monday, we woke up early to walk to Cathedral Cove. It was raining pretty hard but I needed a shower by this point anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and the cove was still stunning. We started the day off driving in the rain. We stopped to get coffee and the best eggs benedict I've ever had in a cafe on Waihi Beach. That's where we discovered our water pump didn't work to do dishes. We made due for the week with our college brain skills. We kept driving to Taraunga where we walked through an art gallery, explored the city centre, and found a place to stay for the night. The next day was much nicer as we hiked up Mount Maunganui. The views(as well as some of the hike) were breathtaking. After the volcano hike, we headed down to the beach to make some lunch. This is where Thomas cut his thumb on a tuna can. He got to join the club. We wandered the beach for shells, then headed to the beachfront stores in search of some ice cream. We decided we wanted to stay another night in Taraunga and found a new places that overlooked the bay. We got to see an incredible sunset and showers! What a life. On Wednesday morning, we stopped by Rotorua lake, and then to geothermal activity comparable to Yellowstone. We drove down to Kerosene creek which is a hot sulphur river. Wednesday night, we stayed on the waterfront of Lake Taupo. Thursday morning was really warm as we drove up to Huka Falls and walked along the river and down a trail into a forest. We stopped by to see Dam open up to let the water flow down the rocks. The next stop was a huge bee/honey shop because honey is actually a really popular thing in New Zealand. Who woulda thought? We found a cute cafe to eat lunch and then headed south towards Wellington. We stayed in the middle of nowhere and did not feel any part of the earthquake that took place a couple hundred miles north of where we were. Friday morning was rainy again as we made the last leg of our trip to Wellington. We dropped off Rhonda (the name of our camper van....it's a long story) and explored Wellington for the remainder of the day. We saw art, water fountains, cafes, waterfronts, walked the plank, and embraced the wind and rain. We ended with a Friday night market that was in the centre of town, ate Chinese crepes, and listened to a pantam(the newest acoustic instrument that resembles a steel drum). All was well until we got a message saying our 6:50 flight from Wellington to Christchurch was cancelled. We couldn't get ahold of Air New Zealand all night. I woke up at 6 and called to explain the situation. I ended up talking them into letting us fly directly to Dunedin instead of having to take the 6 hour bus ride after getting to Christchurch. We made it back home at about 3 in the afternoon. Now I've just been catching up with everyone since getting back. Back to schoolwork for awhile :( but only 18 days left of classes for this one! Crazy how fast this time is flying...before you know it, I'll be back in ND. Not sure if I'm ready for that yet! Haha! I hope everyone is enjoying getting back to school at home. :D Have a great week! Also-I'm uploading my pictures to Facebook, the blog isn't letting me.

Friday, August 19, 2016

QT with a qt

"A balloon is holding us up 6,000 feet over the ground in a glorified picnic basket."

"Oh look! That house has a tennis court in the front yard.....oh..they all have tennis courts in their yards..."

"Yeah, I know his name started with a D and ended with an N, but it wasn't Dan."
"I'm going to sh*t my pants."

"We just crash landed a hot air balloon."

"I was getting kinda nervous being in that tiny plane until I realized we had parachutes strapped to our backs already."

"I can feel my stomach expanding after this past week."

"Hey Maddie, you're on the wrong side of the road."

"Sh*t, I just turned on the windshield wipers again instead of the blinker."

"You'll be jumping out of an airplane from a height that's three times that mountain."

"You're going to start walking and then you have to run off the cliff, don't jump."

"I'm not going to be able to eat any food except ramen for the next month, but it was totally worth it."

"Dang! I can't call you North Dakota this week since there's two of you now."

"Justyce...that's an interesting name. Is your dad a judge or something?"

Just a couple quotes that were said in the past week of my life. My best friend showed up at the airport on Friday right after I picked up our rental car...to say the least I was kinda freaking out by the time I picked her up. If you didn't already know, they drive on the left side of the road here and the driver's seat is on the right side of the car. We didn't die, only came close a time or two ;) I know I didn't post a blog this past Sunday, but I was in the middle of 5 of the best days of my life so I decided to wait. Nothing too blog-worthy happened last week before Justyce showed up, so you didn't miss much. All studying of course. So now...Queenstown. What an amazing little town. I miss it already. We drove the 3 to 4 hour drive on Friday afternoon and arrived at our apartment I rented through AirBnB. It was such a lovely home with some amazing hosts :) Right out the front door we had a spectacular view of mountains and the lake. Friday night we strolled along the half mile walk into the city center and found My Thai Lounge to have a bite to eat. This is where Justyce discovered that she thoroughly enjoys Thai food. We headed back to the apartment and Justyce was out for the next 12 hours. Saturday morning we went up the Skyline Gondola to the top of a big hill/mountain. We obviously had to try luging down the hill...we weren't even quite sure what that even meant. We took a little ski lift further up the mountain, got on carts with wheels and a handle? and luged our way down the track. Then as we were about to go back down the gondola, something caught our eye. It was fate. It was destiny. It was a paragliding stand. We walked up to the counter with an inquiry and 30 minutes later we were running off cliffs. It was a gorgeous day, hardly any clouds, we were on top of a mountain in the most beautiful town in the world, and we were gently gliding above it all. It was such an amazing feeling. I would say quite relaxing. We landed safely at the bottom and went to find something to eat at a pub called Surreal before we headed up another mountain. Once we ate, we rented gear, grabbed our passes, got in the car, and drove up to Coronet Peak, a ski resort, for "night skiing". I honestly could have stayed up there forever. The skiing was pretty good, a little icy since it was getting colder into the night. But the view of the mountains with the sun setting upon them....it was absolutely surreal. Justyce fell a number of times, but I really didn't mind having to wait and stare at the view. We eventually had to pack up our things and head back to town. We had a good chat with our hosts, Cale and Renae, and they suggested eating Fat Badger's pizza for dinner. We ate a delicious pizza and then headed into town to see what Queenstown is like on a Saturday=FUN. We headed into a pizza bar/club called Winnie's and danced like no one was watching for the rest of the night. We woke up bushy tailed and ready to go on Sunday morning (ok, it was noon) and decided to drive "the best drive on the south island" to Glenorchy. I will admit that I kept having to pull over partially for pictures, but also because I couldn't keep focused on the road very well with the extraordinary scenery surrounding me. We got to Glenorchy and found a place called "The Lodge" to have some lunch. The drive back was just as great, although the weather was starting to get a little chilly and Glenorchy was getting rain. We sat and talked with Cale and Renae before getting "At Thai" food for dinner. We crashed in bed as we knew we had a big day on Monday. We got to town at 7:30 am to catch a bus out to the Nevis Bungy. It's the highest bunny jump in New Zealand at 134m high. I absolutely loved it. Probably my favorite activity we did the entire trip, but that's pretty debatable. I definitely was ready to do it again straight away, but we had to get the bus back in so we could make it in time for our afternoon activities. We found food at a cozy restaurant called Coalfire. Delicious. We got on a different bus and drove to the Shotover River for some white water rafting. The water is pretty cold at this time of year so we put on layer after layer of wetsuits and jackets. Justyce and I were sweating just from changing! We took a bus up to a point near Coronet Peak where we waited for the helicopter to take us to the rafts. We rafted through rocks and rapids for about an hour until we ended up back to where we had gotten changed. So. much. fun. We decided to meet up as a boat later that evening for some drinks and socializing. We ate food at the Ballarat and then went down to World Bar to meet up with a bunch of Aussies. Tuesday morning we got up and went to Onsen Hot Pools. They are private rooms with hot tubs in them that can open up to the outside overlooking the Shotover River and canyon. We got server some wine and ice cream and relaxed before we jumped out of an airplane. Skydiving. What a time. We just couldn't get enough of the adrenaline rushes I guess. We got changed, prepped, and thrown on a plane that we would soon be jumping out of. You don't really have a choice after that. They strap your back to their front and then fall out of the plane. I was a little worried about landing, but it turns out you just lift up your legs and land on your butt. Super gentle actually. We were starving after skydiving so we went back to Winnie's to get pizza. Wednesday morning we woke up nice and early to catch our next flight...in a hot air balloon. For once we were actually going up rather than falling. However, it was probably the scariest of them all. When you hit 6,000 feet and you look down and realizing a balloon is holding you up in a little basket...it's a bit jaw dropping. The views were incredible. They had told us the whole time that the landing is nice and easy, you just crouch down and hang on and it sets on the ground. That was not the case. We came in hot. Bounced across the ground 3 times and ended it with tipping on our side. It was both terrifying and hilarious. After that rough landing, we needed massages. Our last stop around Queenstown was at the Milbrook Resort for a couple's massage haha! That was definitely one of the best massages of my lifetime. We drove back and changed as soon as we got home to get ready for Caitlin's 21st birthday. It's still a big deal here even though they can drink at 18 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We all had fun! Today, Justyce and I drove up Baldwin Street (steepest street in the world), stopped by Signal Hill, and went to Long Beach. It was a dreary looking day but we still had fun. Last night already. So many things done in such a short amount of time, but I'm not ready for her to leave yet! She's already sleeping now and I take her to the airport in the morning :( Then off to Timaru for the weekend! Oh yeah, I guess I should probably be thinking of some school too. ;P Have a wonderful week everyone! Here's a link to a video of the adventures of the week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-upload_owner&v=dDkV670NDZ4&app=desktop

I apologize that these pictures aren't in order...I just wanted them uploaded :)