Day 18- Last Day

So we all woke up this morning to beautiful sunny weather! We went and had breakfast by the beach. And then we all went out to tan. Not too long after that, we all wanted to go and kayak for a little bit. It was fun kayaking, until we ended up far away from the shore, so we started paddling back immediately. Then we all went right back to tanning for a little bit longer, and had some grape virgin daquries that were really good :) After we had tanned long enough, we got up to go eat lunch. I got the fish and chips, thinking that it would be fried fish again, and it turned out to be grilled fish. I only like fried fish, so I tried to eat some of my grilled fish, but I couldn't finish it because I didn't like it at all. So instead I got a banana split and ate all of that to fill me up :) After lunch it was time to pack up and leave. We had to drive three hours until we got to the airport. It was bumpy on the way back as well. Once we got to the airport, we were able to sit down and have dinner with each other one last time after they had all checked there bags in. After dinner it was time to say goodbye to everyone. Everyone else was heading back to Houston, me and Aunt Cathy were going to stay one more night in Fiji, and then head to Australia. It was sad saying bye to everyone. I really made a lot of good friendships on this trip, and I hope we all have a reunion as soon as I get back to the states! But for now, I can't wait to go to Australia and see Becca and her family :)

Day 16 & 17- Off to Fiji

We are finally heading out to Fiji today! Our flight was not cancelled thank goodness. However once we got on our flight, we had to wait about an hour for the ash cloud to move a little more before we could take off. But after that hour, we were on our way. The flight was about four hours , and it was not the best flight either. That was probably the worst flight I've ever had. It didn't bother me that much, but it bothered other people. It felt like we were on a rolled coaster or some kind of ride. But we made it to Fiji, so nothing else really mattered. We got there around eight o'clock, and none of the food courts were open, they were all closing. The only thing we found to eat was a bunch of junk food, and then theses gross leftovers from this Indian food place. So we didn't really have that much for dinner because we didn't want to get sick from the nasty food. After we ate our bus arrived to take us to our hotel that was three hours away. It was a really bumpy ride, but we finally got there at one in the morning. When we got up the next morning, it was pouring rain. That wasn't a good sign. It ended up raining the whole day. Later in the day, since it was still raining, we went into town. It was really cool to see there culture in Fiji. It looked like an African town kind of. We went by this sugar cane farm, and got to try sugar cane before it had been made into sugar. Fiji is well known for their sugar cane farms. After our tour, we went back to our hotel and had our last dinner together. And then we tried this stuff called Cover. It's part of the Fijian culture, but it tasted like mudd water. It was so disgusting! Then they taught us one of there line dances. Once we were done having our fun for the night, we went down to the beach to have our last pow wow. All you could see in the sky were millions and millions of stars. It was beautiful to look at. Today was fun, but I really hope that the sun comes out tomorrow for our half day in Fiji before we leave.

Day 15- Another Day in Christchurch

Today we are going down to the park. I had gotten a cold a couple days ago, and I still wasn't quite over it. There was also three other girls that weren't feeling so well either. So while everyone else played Rugby, me and a few others sat and watched. I would have really liked to play, but I didn't want to run around in the cold and make my cold worse than it already was. It was fun watching them play Rugby though because a lot of them didn't know what they were doing. After they had finished their game of Rugby, we were all going to go down to watch a Netball game. It's kinda like Basketball. They gave me and the three of the other girls the option of going to watch the game, or going back to the hotel to sleep. We all decided to go back to the hotel and rest so that we would be completely healthy for Fiji. It really made a difference too. When everyone got back home, I was ready to go out again because I felt a whole lot better. We went out and ordered pizza, and then went bowling. It was a good end to our for sure last night in New Zealand :) 

Day 14- Flight Canceled

So today was a not so good day. We got up at five this morning to head down to the airport so that we can get to Fiji. Well we find out that morning that our flight has been canceled due to the ash cloud. We were at the airport all morning trying to figure out how we were going to get to Fiji. After we had been at the airport all morning, we find out that the soonest we could get to Fiji was Sunday, so we had to spend two more nights in Christchurch, and we now only had a day and a half left for Fiji. So we all weren't to happy about that, but we tried to stay positive. We didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day, so we all went to Antartic World. That was exciting, we all wanted to go there anyways. They had a lot of cool things inside Antartic World. There was this 4D movie about Antartica, it had a lot of cool things that they showed. Then we went down to this room that showed us what a real blizzard might be like in Antartica. It was freezing! I don't think I could ever survive in Antartica for real. Then we went up to see the penguins. They were so cute! I wanted to take one home with me. There was one without a foot that was putting on a show for us, he was very entertaining. Then we got to go on this ride that showed us what it would be like to drive in Antartica. It was crazy! It took us up and down on all of these hills, and it swung us side to side. It was a lot of fun, we were laughing the whole time on it. That was our last thing to do at Antartic World, so once we were done, we went on back to our hotel. I'm still sad that we weren't able to make it to Fiji today, but Antartic World was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got to go :)

Day 13- Earthquake in Christchurch

We made our way down to Christchurch today. As soon as we got there, we left to go down and see what the city looked like after the devastating earthquake. The whole city looked like it had been hit by bombs. We stopped by some empty cafes that hadn't been touched since February. This one cafe still had a newspaper in it that had the date of the last earthquake written on it. Further down in the city was this really big Catholic Church, it was completely destroyed. They said that there use to be a statue of the Virgin Mary on top of the church that was looking inside at all of the people in the church, and then when the earthquake happened the statue had spun all the way around to where it was facing the city of Christchurch, like she was looking over everyone in the city. I thought that was really amazing. After we saw the church, we went down to this neighborhood. This neighborhood is so torn up, that they have decided to tear the whole neighborhood down, so everyone in the neighborhood is going to lose their house. In the middle of the neighborhood was a creek that had a bridge going over it. This bridge was turned in every angle, there was no way that anyone would be able to walk or drive on it again. Once we were done seeing all of Christchurch, it was time to go out for dinner on our last night in New Zealand. We got the option of eating Italian, Thai food again. I went with the Italian food group. I had pepperoni pizza, and some gilato ice cream. It was one of the best meals, probably because I love Italian food so much. I really enjoyed seeing Christchurch today, but I'm ready for Fiji tomorrow!

Day 12- Horse Back Riding

So we are in Hanmer today. We weren't able to go to Mt. Cook and ski, because there is no snow on the mountain. :( So instead, today we are going to go horse back riding! The people owned a bunch of land, and right in the middle of the land was the stables. They had so many horses! Over twenty I think. And along with the horses was four cats, two dogs, sheep, and a whole lot of chickens! The horse that they gave me was Darcy. He was an all white horse, and they said that he was the perfect unicorn for their winter parade they had in town. Once we got started on our trail, I got the hang of it pretty easily. My horse did not want to go slow, he kept on trying to pass other horses, and wanted to go faster. It was my first time to try trotting today, and it was pretty easy, until we were going up or down the hill. When we started going down the hill, mine and Sarah's horses got a little too close to eachother, and they were trying to fight. That was a little scary, I was really afraid that I was going to fall off. But after that, there was no more problems. We made it back to the stables, and while we were waiting for the other group to get back, I made friends with the cats inside the house. :) The year old kitten was my favorite. She was all black, and her name was Sparky. She was the friendliest out of all of them. There was another one that had long black and white fur, that wanted you to pet it, but then she would try to bite at your fingers, it was like a game she was trying to play. Once the other group got back, it was time to leave. We got to our cabins to change really quickly into our bathing suits. We were gonna go to another hot springs pool today! These hot pools had water slides :) They were a lot of fun, we kept on getting in and out of the water to go ride all of the rides. We stayed there for about two hours. Once we were done, we went back to the cabin again to get ready for dinner. It's our last night with Ulla. :( She gave us her last presentation while we were waiting for our food. Once she was done eating, she had to leave so that she could catch her flight in the morning. We all got to take pictures with her. It was sad to see her go, but she said we could all add her on facebook! Even though we didn't get to go skiing, I still enjoyed today :)

Day 10 & 11- Pancake Rocks and Castle Hill

These past two days have been very tiring. The first day we went to Pancake rock, it was beautiful out there. The pancake rocks are rocks that look like stacks of pancakes out on the sides of the ocean. Once we were done taking pictures at pancake rock, we went down to this restaurant called Pancake Rock Cafe, it was really really good! I got a panini, and then had some cookies and cream ice cream ;) Later we went on another nature walk in this forest, and it lead out into the ocean. There was some awesome waves out there, I have never seen waves that big. And they were also really loud when ever they crashed against the rocks. That night Ulla gave us another presentation. I love hearing her stories about where she has been, and just learning things that I never knew about places she has been. The next day was a super long travel day. More than five hours. And we weren't aloud to use our ipods, so you can just imagine how bored we all were, especially when it was pitch dark outside. Our first stop was pretty cool. But our second stop was amazing. It was called Castle Hill, and it was just beautiful up there. Later I found out that Castle Hill was where the fighting scene in Narnia was shot. I thought that was really cool, because I love that movie :) So yeah it's been really long these past two days, but I saw some amazing things :)

Day 9- Hokitika

Today we are making our way to Hokitka. It's not that long of a drive, only an hour and a half. Once we got to our new home, we met up with an actual National Geographic photographer. Her name is Ulla, and she is really cool and and has a bunch of energy. While we were waiting for our room assignments, we saw this black and white kitty, and her name is Brandy! So she looks like Mandy, and her name is pretty close to being the exact same name. I thought that was pretty funny. After we got all set up, we were off again to go take some more pictures! It was at this place called the Gorge, and Ulla was giving us a lot of good advice which was really cool. Once we got back to our lodge we had a little bit of time to sit and edit pictures. After about an hour, it was time for dinner. Then after dinner we were inviting to this lady's house for Ulla's presentation. I really liked being able to learn more about Ulla. During the presentation, the cat Brandy came inside(because it's their cat). She was rubbing all over us, and distracting everyone by how cute she was. Today was a really nice day :)

Day 8- Just Chillin'

So today was just a chill day. We didn't have to get up that early, which was really nice :) And we just caught up on our work, and hung out at the lodge all day. One thing that I really liked, was that I was able to take a nice long hot shower this morning :) I wore really relaxing clothes all day, which I also liked. For lunch we just made sandwiches, because the town we are in has no places to eat at. Later that night we watched this slide show that had a bunch of silly photos of all of us in it. It was hilarious! After the slide show, we ate home made pasta that Ms. Carter had made. It was sooooooo gooooddd!!! Then we got to watch the movie Anchor Man. It has Will Ferrell in it, but it wasn't that great. It laughed a lot, but it's kind of dumb. It was still really nice to get to watch a movie though :) So yeah today was just a nice and easy day that we really needed ;)

Day 7- Glacier Hike

So today is the day, I hiked up the glacier today! It was quite an experience. Makenna, Kelsey, Lindsey, Aunt Cathy and me, all decided to go in the slow group. It was a good choice, because the climb up to the mountain was very difficult. We had a slight problem on the way up though. In our small little group we had this Indian family that were going extremely slow, so before we even got up there we had to stop a million times for them. But we finally made it to the top of the mountain. It was all worth it, the glacierwas really amazing. Late that day we went into this spa that had hot pools. It really helped our sore muscles from hiking all day, so my muscles didn't hurt at all afterwards :) It was a really successful day today :)

Day 6- Bruce Beach

We headed off to Franz Josef today. It was a four hour drive with a bunch of stops on the way there, so it turned out to be six and a half hours. Our first stop was for lunch in this deserted town. Lunch was pretty good, the mini egg rolls were my favorite. Then after lunch we got back on the road again. We made a couple more stops, which were places where we got to stretch and take pics. But we had a major problem, we had these little bity bugs attacking us called Sand Flies. They weren't so fun. Luckily I only got bit once, right behind my ear. It still itches like crazy though. Our last stop of the day was at this gorgeous beach. You could just an on going view of the ocean, which was amazing. But the really cool part about it was this rock pile that had a bunch of white rocks in it, and you could write things in black marker on top of the rocks. It was so cool. I signed that we all did, and then I also made my own to out in the pile. People from all around the world had rocks in the pile, and I think that's pretty amazing. Then we found this dead shark on the sea shore that I got to take a picture of since my assignment is animal portraits, I got a lot of good shots. After the ocean, we finally made it to Franz Josef, home of the glacier. Tomorrow we will be hiking on the glacier, which I'm pretty scared of, but still excited to go on. So I will let everyone know how it goes tomorrow :)

Day 5-Puzzling World

Today was our first and only day in Wanaka. Before anything we got up nice and early to go take pictures of the sun rising. I got some nice shots, but I was freezing the whole time. I had to de-thaw for like two hours becasue my body was so frozen. Then we got to go to this place called Puzzling World, which was pretty awesome. That morning we found two cats wondering outside of the place that we were staying at. They were the sweetest cats, one of them would follow you wherever you would go. They made me think of Mandy, but I like having them there to comfort me because I love cats and I haven't seen them in a while, so it was a really nice visit that I spent with them :) They had this really cool maze, but my group didn't succeed at this part very well, even when we tried to cheat...haha. Inside of Puzzling World there was a lot of cool stuff like a sideways room that was really hard to walk in. Then there was this other room that half of it was really tall, and the other half was really short, so if two people went in to take a picture, on e would look like a giant, and the other would look like a midget. It was hilarious. After Puzzling World, we drove up to this place where we would hike the Mountain. I had no idea how bad this hike would be, but it was extremely difficult. Makenna, Kelsey, and me were definitely the weakest links. But once we finally got to the top, it was an amazing view, just breathtaking. We got to just sit there quietly for like 15 minutes to take it all in, and it was just so peaceful out there, I loved it. Walking back down the Mountain was a peace of cake. After our hike we went back home and made sandwiches for lunch, and then we all went and washed our clothes finally. Later that night we did this thing called light painting that is so awesome, I don't even know how to explain how cool it is. But we had to go to bed quickly after that. All in all it was a peaceful day.

Day 4-Off to Wanaka

Today was probably one of the best days, it's second to Milford Sounds. We got to go out into Queenstown to explore and shop for gifts. We split up into groups and got to go off by ourselves, which was good because we all got to experience new things, and take different pictures around town. I also got to talk to this guy that was from Hong Kong. He has only lived in New Zealand for two years, but he loves it here because of how gorgeous it is. Then we went inside this Rugby store, because New Zealand is really into Rugby. One of the workers inside the store was talking to us about the World Cup and just informing us about Rugby.  I also learned that they do the Haka in New Zealand Rugby, so I guess that's where Trinity got it from....>:(. But I will have to see for myself if it's exactly the same, hopefully not haha. After we finished up our shopping in Queenstown, we headed off to Wanaka. It's a really small town in New Zealand. When we first got here we got to see a little bit of Rugby practice that some High Schoolers were playing. That night we ate Indian food....it was very interesting, especially since we weren't in India. The bread they had was really good, and I got this really mild chicken that was okay. I'm glad I finally tried Indian food, but I don't think it will ever be one of my favorites. Overall it was a really great day here in New Zealand.

Day 2 and 3- Birds and Farms

So yesterday we took a walk around the town that we are staying in, which was Flordland. We got to walk around the lake, and see a lot of cool birds. We also got to watch two documentary's on New Zealand, specifically about the town that we were staying in. The second documentary was my favorite because it had a lot of cool views from some of the mountains in New Zealand. Then today we packed up to head to Queenstown. We did make a few stops on the way though. We stopped at a farm, and got to see sheep sheered. It was a really cool experience to see how the farm worked, and what went on there. We finally made it to Queenstown, and checked into where we are staying, and finally found internet service so that we could post our blogs, which is what we are doing now. Hopefully this won't be the only time that we can post our blogs, but keep checking to find out more :)

Day 1- Milford Sounds

6/11/11

 So today was amazing. We went down to this place called Real Journeys, where we took a boat ride for two hours. We saw so many cool things like mountains, dolphins, seals, and waterfalls. I got a lot of cool pictures. Even though we were freezing cold, and stumbled around on the boat to get the perfect shot, it was still an amazing experience, and a really awesome way to start off the trip. My favorite part was the dolphins by far. They are such cool animals, and I got a couple good shots of them as well.  

After our boat ride, we got back on the bus, and on the way back to our lodge we made a couple stops and got to walk around Chasm Rainforest. It was my first time in a rainforest, and it was really cool to see all of the different things that it has. 

Later that night we went out at this Pizza place, that had some really good food. I'm really loving all of the native people, and their accents. It would be so cool if I could have their accent, we'll see if I have one by the end of the trip! Some things the Kiwi's say a lot is "No worries" and "For yourself?" which means no problem and for you? 

So yeah, I'm loving this trip already, can't wait to see more :)

New Zealand

This is my blog for my trip to New Zealand and Fiji. We will be posting the things that we do on our blog as often as possible. We leave in two days and everyone is really excited!