Queenstown!

It is our second day in Queenstown and I am absolutely in love with it. I can't even really explain to you what it's like here...but I will try my best! There are mountains surrounding the town in 360 degrees, a big lake in the center, so many shops you cant even imagine, tons of outdoor activities (most of them adrenaline filled and crazy), so many people out and about and the sun is shining. Basically, it is the perfect day to be in Queenstown. The high today was a nice 77 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Ruth and I drove up to The Remarkables ski area to check it out -- obviously it is not open this time of year but there was some remaining snow-- and i had a snowball fight and made a snow angel in my shorts. There are pictures to prove it if you do not believe me. It was great! Sooo good to see snow this time of year.. even if it was just little patches at the top of mountains. It's almost december... it just eased my mind a little bit to see some. We actually made an adventure out of the ski area and climbed up one of the mountains and we got a vew of the whole mountain range, including the mountains that are in the Milford Sound so that was realllyyy spectacular. However, the drive up to the ski field was TERRIFYING and.. i dont honestly know how people drive there in winter when there is snow on the roads. It was a super narrow road and barely any of it had guard rails on the side and just gravel road. Oh my god. Ruth's driving about had me peeing my pants.  But we made it. I honestly have to say that going down was probably more scary. It looked like you could just fly right off the cliffs! Sooo nerve wrecking. The experience was really great though, we found some streams that were gushing water from the melting snow and drank some.. bet its the cleanest water in the world! Mmm! And there was a little lake hidden up at the top between two of the peaks which had gorgeous blue water.

We are staying here for another night at the same campground as last night which was really beautiful and by a lake so hopefully we'll get some time to go swimming tonight! Then tomorrow we might start to make our way towards the Milford Sound... cant wait for that. I really want to go kayaking there.. it is supposed to be one of the best places to go in New Zealand. The south island just has sooo much to see. It's really cool to experience. However, this sun is going to destroy me.. I think I got sunburned AGAIN today. Ever planning to travel to New Zealand?? Bring a shit ton of sun block. You were warned.

Peace, Love, & Sunblock,

--BreezyDownUnder

On the Move!

Today we are heading for Franz Joesph, which is on the west coast of the south island, just further south of where we are right now. Closer to Queenstown. One of my friends that I met while living in Hamilton is working there right now with her boyfriend at a restaurant so we are hopefully going to get a few days to hang out with them! As always, the situation with my student permit is up in the air again.. so I will probably have to get myself to a larger town some point soon so I can work on getting a visitors permit before school gets mad at me and kicks me out of the country. No, just kidding. That won't actually happen... but I do need to make some things happen in the next few weeks. Other than that, today is a not-so-beautiful day in the land of the long white cloud so I guess it's a good thing that we are going to be driving for most of the day. We should make it to the glaciers today which according to Ruth is absolutely incredible ( I think I will take her word for it, it sounds pretty spectacular...just the word glacier is pretty suave, aye?)

Anyway, just wanted to check in while I still have use of this free internet... yesss. Don't have time to get pictures up yet again today... (one day it will happen.. i promise) but there are a wholeeeee ton up on facebook if you are feeling extra curious :). Peanut butter & banana TOAST (hostels allow you to have that luxury) and English breakfast tea is the perfect start to this chilly morning in Greymouth, New Zealand.

Peace, Love & flannel tshirts,
(I bought a new flannel shirt yesterday..i forgot to mention that... but im pretty excited about it.)

--BreezyDownUnder

Hi From the Road!

Kia Ora!

I have just had my first experience with high speed internet for the first time in two weeks... it feels very odd. Our adventure that was Mahana Lodge is now over... we stayed for two weeks at a Luxury Accomodation lodge in the Marlborough Sounds working for the owners, Ann & John, cleaning the lodge and working on small projects. In return we received food and accommodation as a form of pay. It was such a great experience and really tough to say goodbye to them this morning. 

Now we are sitting in Nelson, it is on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand, at an internet cafe trying to get some things taken care of. We will be staying at a campground for the night with Ruth and then taking  Brittany to the airport in the morning so that she can begin her journey back to the states. Her grandfather passed away while we were working at Mahana Lodge so we have been trying to work out a way for her to get home on Ann & Johns dial-up internet connection for the past few days. It may have consumed a few (a lot) of hours of our days but at least we got it sorted. It is sad to see her go earlier than expected as we have been having such a great time travelling together for the past few weeks and on top of that we have been inseparable for the past month or so... it's going to be a little tough. However, I now have her friendship to return to once I get back to Duluth after I finish my travels so that's actually pretty neat.

My plan is now changing to spending the next month or so travelling the south island, most likely with Ruth. We have plans to go on a surfing adventure for awhile and just see where the waves take us so that should be a lot of fun. After that, I will head back North to meet up with my friend Katie in Hamilton and then go to Rhythm and Vines with her for 5 days during the New Year. After that, my parents should hopefully be nearly arriving in New Zealand (as long as they decide on some dates and book a trip!) around that time so I will show them around for a few weeks. Then, off to Australia? Who knows! Time is going by so quickly, its really crazy....

Well, I wish I had pictures to share today but unfortunately they are all on my computer and I am using a public computer to give you the 411 on my where abouts! So, they will have to wait. 

Also, I went bungy jumping. Yes, I'm dead serious. Brittany and I did it in Taupo and it was one of the most exciting things I've ever done. It was soooo much fun! Basically, I loved it so much that I need to do it again before I leave this country :)

Other things that have been accomplished, 

1) saw baby Orca whales. (thought they were dolphins at first so not really sure if that counts)

2) saw jellyfish

3) touched a jelly fish

4) saw dolphins multiple times (3 different kinds, 5 times)

(all in the wild, might I add because at this stage-- the zoo doesn't count!)

5) got my tan on / horrible sunburn for one day

6) got destroyed by sandflies

7) went fishing on the ocean (4 times!) and caught my own dinner (Kahawai)

8) got an insane tan line from my barbie bracelet (this one is for you Angela)

And now.. my sea legs are kicking in and the screen is starting to rock back and forth so.. I think I'm going to get off of this computer and find myself some food. oh dear lord...

Peace, Love & Relaxation

--BreezyDownUnder

Taupo

It’s officially SUMMER for us in beautiful New Zealand—well, the locals don’t consider it summer yet but by my standards it is definitely here. Plus, we are finished with school, so that’s automatically celebration for ringing in summer. It is the start of Brit & Bri’s Backpacking Adventure and we are enjoying our time so far. It is night number 2 in the beautiful town of Taupo on the North Island. We arrived here yesterday and it just so happens that Ruth was also in Taupo with her parents who are here visiting until the end of the week so we went out to dinner with them. They don’t speak very fluent English so it was an interesting experience but they were such wonderful people and full of great stories. Oh, ALSO—minor mishap with my cellular device—Ruth smashed it in the trunk of her van... whoops! My fault for setting in it the prime spot to be smashed I guess L So. Had to invest in a new cell phone today... boo. It’s a piece of crap but it was cheap so whatever.

Hm, you know.. I guess that’s about all the excitement that we’ve had today.. Other than that I bought new running shoes since my other ones have become a muddy mess from hiking Pirongia Forest Park. Oh, totally slipped my mind.... We went BUNGY JUMPING today. Haha, ok just kidding it didn’t actually slip my mind. It was incredible. Brit and I did a tandem jump where you go together, at the same time. We were hoping to get dunked in the water but didn’t make it..which is all right I guess. It was such an adrenaline rush and not as scary as I had anticipated. We are pretty sure that is because we were together though, so it was inevitable that we were going to go through the same thing. I bought a package of the pictures and video so that will be up at some point hopefully.

Tomorrow we head to Wellington at 10am and reach our destination at 4:45pm. Long day ahead on the bus! We are just staying up late tonight on purpose so maybe we can get in a few hours of sleep on our trip. Veryyy excited to see Wellington! Have heard a lot of great stuff about it and it’s our last stop on the North Island before taking the ferry to Picton! Yayyy!! It feels good to be on the road! We’ve just got our backpacks and a messenger bag each which holds our whole lives. Quite an odd feeling but really liberating at the same time, it felt pretty great to leave stuff behind. Said our goodbyes to Hamilton yesterday... It was fun to think back on all the memories I’ve had there and all the great people I’ve meet but I know that it is not goodbye. Honestly, I’m happy to be out of that town but so grateful for the amazing people I’ve become friends with there. A lot of my friends from uni (who are also international students) are headed to the South Island soon or are already there so it should just be one big party down there for the next month or so! Can’t wait!

Peace, Love & Adrenaline,

--BreezyDownUnder