Oops.

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

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

UPDATE!

Well... fabulous news: I'm typing to you from MY computer! It decided to start working again... not entirely sure how that works.. but I don't ask questions. I'm just happy to see it turn on every day. Any-who, Dad assures me it will break down again so I gotta get myself to call the Dell guys at some point this week to come and fix it. Just another thing to add to my longgggg To-Do list for the week.

I had another run in with a cockroach the other day... YUCK! It was terrifying. They just love me! I don't know why... it's not cool. Well, either that or just the simple fact that New Zealand does not believe in putting screens on their windows.. So I occasionally get some stray bugs and miscellaneous objects floating into my bedroom. This cockroach was seriously menacing though. I was laying on my bed just typing away on my computer to see someone move out of the corner of my eye. ...What the?? Low and behold there is a nasty, nasty cockroach walking along my computer cord right up to my bed... AHHHHHH!!! Yeah, I ran for the hills. I can't even type about it. I have shivers going down my spine. Ew. From now on my windows are on a strict hour-open schedule and NEVER, EVER after dark. (I've rigged the system...see if any of these buggers get in to my abode ever again..hehe).

On a more interesting (sorry, someone's gotta hear about my bug adventures) and happy note: I just got back from a trip 'up north' (to the very tippy top of New Zealand) a few days ago. It was a lot of fun! I have previously traveled up there during spring break with Ruth so it was great to see some of my favorite places again (aka Piahia) and then we also ventured new terrain. Complete with a trip to the most northern part of New Zealand to Cape Reinga where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet! So, I think that trip about finished off my area of the Northland! I traveled with Brittany (my fellow UMDer and new roommate) and Keith (also a UMDer) and needless to say there were lots of good times, laughs, and beers that were consumed. I will now provide you with a visual representation of some of our journey:

All day excursion on the cape

Cape Reinga-- Tasman Sea

Cape Reinga-- waves to the left is where the oceans meet

Sunset in Mangonui Bay

We had a really great time! Also, in Mangonui (the picture directly above this) we went to a fish shop that was created on top of a dock (you could literally see the water below you, very cool) which is known to have amazing seafood because of how fresh it is soooo Brit and I tried mussels for the first time. I'm not talking about ohh, mussels in seafood chowder or ohh fried mussels (is that a real thing?) -- We had raw mussels that were marinated and holyyyy smokes! They were so so so delicious! I was pretty skeptical.. as I am with most cold seafood but Wow! Quite the experience. So, I've just realized that I am going completely backwards in travel time here but eh... oh well! I run this blog so I guess at the end of the day it's my choice, right? 

The weekend before this epic trip that we took up north was in fact my birthday weekend. Now, my birthday fell on a tuesday this year so obviously that gives me reason to celebrate for basically a whole week straight without anyone being able to argue about it. Therefore, after a week of working hard in school (it was our last week of classes) and having a final exam on that Friday... We decided to head to Auckland for a weekend of fun! I had Brit, Keith, and Katie in tow with me as we ventured the city. (4th largest in New Zealand) and we had a blast. Celebrated my birthday by going to Minus 5 bar on Friday night. It's an ice bar... where everything is exactly as it sounds--- ALL made out of ice. It was very, very cool and pretty classy might I add. We enjoyed our time there and the staff was really great. They all came out to the bars with us after they got off work to celebrate with us which was really sweet of them. Saturday night Katie and I went to a concert at The Powerhouse in Auckland -- we saw Kids of 88 and The Naked and Famous (both New Zealand bands) and it was a sold out crowed. I bought a t-shirt to add to my non-existent collection of suveniors. Gotta start somewhere right? ;) Here's some pictures from the Auckland trip!:

Ready to celebrate my 21st

@ The Ice Bar 

Auckland Waterfront

BEFORE all of this great, fantastic, incredible stuff happened, it was ACTUALLY my birthday. (This backwards thing is kinda funny.. it adds some mystery). My birthday consisted of... studying in the morning. AND THEN, I enjoyed a stroll to the Hamilton Gardens with my iPod (its not really an iPod but no one knows what I'm talking about if I say 'zune') and walked around enjoying all the flowers in bloom and taking some artsy fartsy pictures on a gorgeous New Zealand day. Also, spent some time sitting by a lake in the gardens writing in my journal. It was great to catch up on my writing --- which, now that i think about it, I am falling behind on AGAIN. Oops! After the gardens, Brit and I went shopping and I purchased the outfit I wore out in Auckland *above* and a new black dress with seagulls on it!! It's so awesome (and I'm pretty sure they're actually sparrows...but seagulls is the reason I tried it on.. so we're sticking with that). Then anyone that wasnt studying furiously for exams joined for dinner at Gengy's (my makeshift Benihana for the evening) which is a Mongolian BBQ. It was so delicious.. and everyone ate a lot. Plus, they have pancakes for dessert... what more could you ask for ;) It was a great time and Ruth made me a photo album of our journey so far which was so thoughtful. It definitely will be the thing that I look back on once I am back in Minnesota and makes me tear up haha.

Hamilton Gardens

Artsy on my walk home

Shopping extravaganza!

!!Gengy's Mongolian BBQ!!
(left to right: Ruth, Keith, Denise, Angelica, Brittany, me, Katie)

Seagull dress + Pancakes + birthday cocktail = excellence!!

WoW! I was pretty behind on my adventures! I wonder if anyone still reads this blog.. there's spider webs growing all over it! Now that it is summer I should have ample more time to update. However, no promises because I'm not sure what the internet situation will be over the summer slash if my computer will decide to crap out on me again. But! I'm feeling a weight off my shoulders and much more accomplished. Now, to study for my test on friday a little bit more, enjoy some Chai Tea (I'm obsessed now) and then hit the hay for another intense day of studying tomorrow! Oh! One last thing. I also got my hair done today at the beauty school in town. Brit and I went this morning and were models for two of the students there. We got body waves (aka: a really loose perm that puts some curl slash wave in your hair). Well, Britt's hair was already pretty wavy so hers looks incredible.. and I'm a little nervous for mine to be honest. I put it up in a ponytail so I can't see it at the moment... I think I'll wait until I'm allowed to shower tomorrow to decide whether I should start freaking out or not haha! It was free though.. so I can't be too angry either way. If it just helps my hair from looking like a wet dog after getting out of the ocean this summer then that will be enough to satisfy me!

Until next time,

Peace, Love & Seagulls!

--BreezyDownUnder

Disaster Strikes...

Hard drive cannot be detected.

Yeah, thank you computer for crapping out on me a week before finals start. Awesomeeeeeeeeeeee. I'm so pissed and it really sucks... and blah blah blah. whatever. nothing I can do about it. It's still under warranty so at least thats good.

Just wanted to update you guys on my current situation because it looks like I wont be update my blog as much for the time being. Sweet sweet sweet.

But oooooohhhhhhh do i have stories to tell :) I'll wait til I have more time to do so though-- instead of at 2am on Sunday morning when I have to catch a bus to Kerikeri at 8am. Ahh. So, looks like I'll have to hold out on you guys for awhile longer.

Peace, Love & techno beats (bumping outside the hostel)

--BreezyDownUnder