Dear blog...
I am so sorry that I have completely neglected you the past ...month...of my life. Please forgive me?
Love Your faithful owner,
Bri
Okay this is no laughing matter.. SO many things have gone unsaid! Where to begin... Good thing I keep this helpful travel journal as my constant companion..aye? So when the internet can't be there for me.. this little red notebook is.
After Queenstown we went to the Milford Sound and camped next to Lake Gunn for two nights. We kind of just waited around for good weather because that part of New Zealand gets a lot of rain ALL the time. Woke up around 9 AM and drove to the main tourist area of the sound and waited around until 3 in the afternoon when the sun finally decided to come out. I got a lot of reading done, and basically finished the book What is the What by Dave Eggers. Really good book and I would recommend it even though that has nothing to do with travelling in New Zealand. It is a true account of a Sudanese boy (one of The Lost Boys) that escaped the civil war in Africa and his journey to America. Really really interesting. Okay, back to what I really came here to talk about. We went Sea Kayaking in the Milford Sound and it was I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E! It was only us, our guide, and these two other girls from Australia (who complained the whole time)... Not really sure why they thought they would enjoy sea kayaking honestly. We went in two person kayaks, Ruth in the front and I was in the back, and the back person has pedals by their feet to control where the kayak goes. I had NO idea! It was really cool and we got a great arm work out ;) we were on the ocean for 4 and a half hours and during that time we got to paddle under a waterfall....really scary...and we got a little bit wet. Then the wind picked up and the two girls that we were with decided that they couldn't do it anymore and got their kayak leased the guides (I'm pretty sure they normally only use that on little kids). Well, Ruth and I definitely stuck it out and braved the HUGE waves. Overall, the experience was incredible. Sitting in a small kayak surrounded by the gigantic mountains of the Milford Sound really lets you understand how small you are compared to the rest of the nature.
After that, on the 1st of December (see how far behind I am??) we left the Milford Sound and Te Anau and drove to Invercargill for a pitstop on our way to The Catlins. Went to see a movie there and that was about it... All of the cities have their christmas decorations up now and it is really awkward. The sun is shining, I'm wearing shots and a t-shirt and there's CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS. The Holidays will definitely not feel very .....festive...this year.
Once we got to the Catlins we decided to spend a weekend there.. hoping for good weather and instead got a cold front from antarctica. I'm sure I don't have to describe to you what that felt like. Just imagine polar bears or something. we drove to the most southern part of the south island (i cant say that ive been to the most souther part of new zealand because of the islands..lame) and that was pretty....COLD. haha. just a sign pointing to the south pole and the equator basically. Aroud sunset we went to Curio Bay and got to see the Yellow Eyed Penguins coming on shore... That was really cool. I've never seen penguins in the wild before and these one are really anti-social and don't huddle in a group like you are used to seeing on national geographic and all of that.
After Dunedin we went to Christchurch and I really really like that city. It just has a really great feel to it and has an awesome center where its pedestrians only and theres a bunch of street performers everywhere and just a lot of stuff going on. While we were there we went to go see the musical production of the Rocky Horror Show and it was actually narrated by Richard O'Brien who wrote the original. It was SO funny and soo much fun. At the end everyone in the audience stood up and did the Time Warp dance. Hahhaa, I loved it sooooo much. I wish everyone could see it that way. And the performers all had such great voices. In Love with it. The next day we met up with my friend tom in town (who actually also goes to UMD) and went to the gardens and out to lunch with him. Then left christchurch later that day.
Next on our trip was Kaikoura where we went swimming with dolphins. And, this was not swimming with dolphins... like orlando type of stuff... this was like swimming with dolphins in the middle of the ocean. Wild Dusky Dolphins. The boat would find a pod of dolphins, (consistently around 100 dolphins in these pods) and we would jump off the boat in our snorkling gear and try to entertain them enough to swim with us. Hahaha, it was a funny sight to say the least. But such a great experience. They would seirously swim in circles with you...and just stare at you. haha, lots and lots of fun. Ruth and I had a good time.
In other news my parents finally booked their tickets to new zealand and I am SO excited I can barely take it. It will be a lot of fun to see my favorite places again and then get to show them around as well. CANT WAIT! :)
what else..
ooh yes. we also went to Abel Tasman National Park (insanely beautiful...wow!) and went for a 2 day hike on the coastal track. Ummm, yeah, i don't think we could have pushed our bodies any harder on that walk to be honest. We got a water taxit to take us 12 hours out on the boat and then we were going to walk back over the course of two days. Don't know what we were thinking when planning that one? I mean, compared to our Mount Pirongia hike it was easy peasy but ...I couldn't feel my feet for the next 3 days. Ouch.
Other than that... It's been raining for the past 5 days. Except two days ago there was an afternoon of sunshine which ruth and I celebrated by tanning on the beach. Unfortunately, I forgot to put sunscreen anywhere other than my face and fell asleep in the sun for 2 hours.
I have a really impressive sunburn to say the least.
When will I learn my lesson????
--BreezyDownUnder
