ND to NZ: August 2016

"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 :)