The Ultimate Adventure

For the most part, life in Brisbane has been fairly normal after coming back from Cairns.  If you can even consider life here normal.  The week after returning from Cairns was spent catching up on sleep and uni work.  It was actually very relieving to know that I would be spending the upcoming weekend in Brisbane, especially after all the adventuresome travelling I have been doing.

On Saturday, Jess and I met up with a friend and went to check out the popular West End markets.  West End is an awesome area right across the Brisbane River from where we live and is a hippie/hipster/quirky place full of awesome shops, cafés, and pubs.  At the markets you can find heaps of cheap fruits and veggies, locally made jewelry and accessories, hot food for takeaway, and basically anything else you could ever want.  This weekend I hit the jackpot though.  I had just paid for some bananas (to make my new favorite food that my roommates got me hooked on- grilled peanut butter and naner sammiches) when I turned around and found a long time favorite sitting randomly on the table—chestnuts!  Yep, as in “chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” Never would I have guessed I would find these in Australia.  As I sit and crack them open for post-dinner snacks, none of my roommates think that they are worth the effort…oh well, more for me!

To continue our celebration of a weekend in Brisbane, Jess and I decided to have a roomie fun day and go to the seafood and wine festival on Sunday.  It was great fun!  Caxton Street, a main road near the city, was shut down and lined with booths selling seafood and beverages.  The seafood part of the festival lived up to expectations—I got some prawns and chips that were absolutely delicious (think British…chips are American fries).  As for the wine aspect…let’s just say the Australian love of beer took over.  There were many more types of beer available and only about two tents selling wine.  That combined with the fact that beer was half the price made our beverage choice for the day an easy one.  The icing on the cake was sitting in front of the stage, people watching, and listening to some great Aussie bands.  One of the bands, Taxiride, is even on iTunes.  Check them out, they are pretty solid and some of their songs have already made it onto my iPod’s “Frequently Played” playlist.

Not that Brisbane needs an excuse to have some sort of celebration, but that weekend was also Buddha’s birthday so of course there was a week-long festival.  Sunday night was the last night, so what better way to celebrate than with fireworks!  We decided to festival hop so we made our way down to the Brisbane River to watch the fireworks.  Sitting on the riverbank with a perfect view of the city skyline as fireworks lit up the sky was a great end to our Brisbane weekend.

My task for the upcoming week was to prepare myself for my next adventure and yet another first.  I was actually a bit nervous for this because I didn’t really know what to expect and everyone else I was traveling with had already participated in an adventure of this sort.  Okay, so no pressure for the American traveling with a bunch of Europeans.  This may or may not have been me during the week leading up to this:

I am a notorious overpacker (my dad will more than vouch for that) so I was all over the place trying to pack.  I was convinced that I was shoving all the wrong things in my backpack and would end up being the laughing stock of the trip.  So believe me when I say I was more than relieved when I met up with my friends and realized that I in fact packed the LEAST amount of things.  Yes you heard me right.  Everyone else had more stuff than me.  This might have been a once in a lifetime occurrence and no, that is not the first I am supposed to be telling you about.  But it is monumental nonetheless.

As with most of my other travel, I was up before the sun on Friday to start my adventure.  I must have been running on adrenaline because I didn’t even need an overpriced coffee to be able to interact with people at such an early hour.  Armed with a weekend’s supply of food and water, I met up with my European friends and we made our way to the MICAT ferry that would take us two hours across the bay to our weekend destination.  And what better way to be welcomed onto the ferry than with some rain.  Yes, we are supposed to be in the Sunshine State that boasts 300 days of sunshine each year.  Good joke.  But as we looked back to the mainland we saw this which we hoped would be a token of good luck:

Yep, that's a double rainbow.

Before we knew it the ferry made it across Moreton Bay and landed on none other than Moreton Island.  And when I say landed, I literally mean we hit land.  The giant ferry drove straight up onto the beach with only a little sign stuck in sand to mark the fact that this was the ferry landing site.   

I wish I could tell you that warm air and sunshine greeted us on the world’s third largest sand island.  Well I could, but it would be a lie and I am not one to lie.  But we did not let the rain stop us and we proceeded to trek through the sand with all our supplies until we came to the place we would call home for the next three days.  Luckily the rain stopped and the sun came out and we were able to create this:

Yep, we were camping!  Bring it on Mother Nature!

That was probably not the best thing to say because Mother Nature really did bring it.  Between rain, wind, and mosquitoes who I swear hadn’t eaten in weeks, it made for an…umm…interesting first camping experience for me.  In all seriousness I really did have an awesome time and this all made for some great stories and solid blog material.  You all are the lucky ones who get to reap the benefits, congratulations.

Okay, so a little bit about Moreton Island.  As I mentioned, it is the third largest sand island in the world.  Pretty cool!  One of the most iconic features of Moreton is The Wrecks.  Fifteen ships were deliberately sunk off the coast of the island in order to create a breakwall for smaller ships.  Our campsite was a two minute walk from The Wrecks, so this was our view for breakfast every morning:

No complaints there!  The first day we spent swimming around The Wrecks and playing beach volleyball since the rain managed to stay away.  Then that night was the night that forever changed my life.  For those of you who don’t know me, I absolutely love dolphins.  Freakishly so.  So when I found out that I could feed wild dolphins while at Moreton Island I made it my mission to do so.  And guess what.  That mission was a big, giant success!  After watching one of the most beautiful sunsets, I made my way to the dock at the nearby Tangalooma Resort that sponsors the dolphin feeding.  Before I knew it, there were at least ten dolphins swimming right up to the shore.  Guys, words cannot even describe my happiness and pure joy at this moment.  I even teared up a little.  No shame, I’ll admit it.  In complete awe, I sat and watched the dolphins swim around and play with each other.  The awesome thing is that these were all wild dolphins, so everything they were doing was completely natural; they had not been taught tricks or anything.  These feedings have been going on for quite some time, so the dolphins know to come to the shore because they will be fed.  What a wonderful motivation food is!

Finally it was time. Time for my wildest dreams to come true.  Hardly able to contain myself, I went down to the beach, picked up a little dead fish with its beady eyes staring at me, and made my way into the water with the resort’s dolphin expert.  I could barely believe this was real life as a huge dolphin swam up to me and took the fish right out of my hand.  Pure joy.  After I exited the water from feeding #1, the joy must have been apparent on my face because the lady in charge told me to get in line again to give it another go.  Of course I ran back to the water and got to do it all again!  Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of me feeding the dolphins, but this is probably what my face looked like:

Yes, I love Despicable Me.... 

Saturday we decided to take on the task of hiking across the island to the Eastern Beach.  It drizzled on and off all morning, but we finally got tired of waiting around and had no desire to sit in the damp, steamy tents all day, so we decided to begin the hike and deal with whatever Mother Nature threw at us.  For the first hour we walked through a pretty assertive rainfall.  Finally we could catch glimpses of blue skies and heard the sound of ocean waves crashing on the Eastern Beach.  We were so close!  By the time we got to the beach it was pretty overcast, windy, and cold, but I can imagine the coastline would be even more beautiful on a bright sunny day.  We ate lunch (which for me consisted of a peanut butter sandwich…just like every breakfast, lunch, and dinner that weekend) and turned around to hike back to our Western Beach.  When it was all said and done, the hike took about four hours and we covered 18 kilometers of sandy paths.  We were pretty impressed with ourselves to say the least.

We made it to the Eastern Beach!

Mother Nature was significantly nicer to us on Sunday.  There were a few showers in the morning, but the afternoon was bright, warm, and sunny and made for the perfect day to lay out on the beach.  By this point in the weekend I was perfectly content to lay in the sand, listen to the waves crash on the shore, and just relax.  I’m pretty sure I dozed off for a while because at one point in the afternoon I swore I had actually taken a real shower.  Nope, that was definitely a dream.  Before we knew it, it was time to pack up the tents, board the MICAT ferry, and head back to Brisbane.  Once I made it back to my apartment I sprinted for the shower and let me tell you, it was one of the hottest and best showers ever. 

Now, after reading all of this you may be wondering what I actually thought about my first ever camping experience.  This is what my European friends were asking me all weekend.  I actually did have a wonderful time and would definitely camp again!  Maybe with warmer temperatures, less rain, and less bloodthirsty mosquitoes though, but hey, a girl can only ask for so much.  This ultimate camping adventure would not have been nearly as great if it wasn’t for the company, so here’s a shout out to all my friends who were there!  You all are great!

Moral of the story: a rainy camping experience gives you a newfound appreciation for your warm, cozy bed.

Cheers!

Time to Fly North

When I think of must-see destinations in Australia, there are several that come to mind.  But there is one place in particular that I knew I had to experience in order to be able to return to the United States in good conscience.  And that place is the Great Barrier Reef.

Last Thursday on ANZAC Day we made yet another trip to the Brisbane Airport, this time to head north to the tropical city of Cairns, home of the Great Barrier Reef.  Once again, we booked the ridiculously early flight in order to maximize time for exploration and adventure.  And when I say early, I mean we were settled in our hotel in Cairns in time to grab breakfast before it ended at 10:30.  With a two hour flight, you do the math.  It was an early morning.  But no worries, because after breakfast we planted our butts in the sand at the Palm Cove beach to relax for the afternoon and soak up some sun.  Beautiful!  You can pretend these are your legs:

 Thanks to Jess’s dad being a Hilton Gold Member, we scored a great deal on the executive floor of the fabulous Hilton hotel.  Thanks Mr. Neal!!  So after returning from the beach we enjoyed complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drinks (which were really just pre-paid, so we made sure to get our money’s worth!).  Compared to the other people in the executive lounge, which consisted mainly of middle aged couples on romantic getaways, the four of us uni girls stuck out like a sore thumb.  But did that bother us?  Not in the slightest.

While enjoying our dinner and drinks each evening, we witnessed one of the strangest things.  Every day at 5:30 PM sharp swarms of bats appeared in the skies, squawking and flying around everywhere.  They were so loud that if you were outside you had to yell to the person next to you just to be heard.  To top it off, this continued for a solid half hour, with the swarms getting bigger by the minute.  Never have I seen so many bats in my life, let alone at one time.  Crazy right?  

 

The next morning was another early one in order to make it to our first real adventure in Cairns.  After talking to many Australians, it became clear that I could not leave Cairns without doing this one thing.  Considering the world’s most magnificent reef was only kilometers away, you should be able to guess.  Think about it.

We boarded the boat equipped with plenty of sunscreen and motion sickness tablets (there would be no puking for us on this adventure at sea) and headed off to…(drumroll please)…SCUBA DIVE!  Due to an unfortunate booking fiasco and reluctance of my other friends to participate, I would be diving solo.  Which I thought I was fine with.  Until I actually got in the water.  If you know anything about me or have been following my blog, you know I am a pretty fearless person when it comes to adventure.  But never in my life have I experienced anything like scuba diving.  While I do have ribbons and certificates from completing swim lessons back in the day, this didn’t exactly prepare me to handle myself underwater for an extended period of time.  In Australia you can do introductory dives without having SCUBA certification, so before you can go down to any real depth there are a couple safety tests you have to master.  On the first go every bit of advice that had just been drilled into my head became a crazy mess and forgotten completely as the fear of not being able to breathe took over my mind.  Survival instinct I guess.  After a couple attempts I worked myself into a panicked mess and insisted on returning to the safety of the boat.  I sat on the upper deck, trying to function as a normal person again, and suddenly became filled with disappointment for not completing the dive. 

You know how when you were a kid and did something wrong, disappointment from your parents was a million times worse than them screaming at you for the whole neighborhood to hear?  Well I guess that works on a personal level.  I was so upset I didn’t dive!  Figuring snorkeling was the next best option, I went back to the lower deck, donned my snorkel and flippers, and jumped in the water.  One plus of this situation—seeing reef sharks swimming below me!  Too cool!

After a while it was time to head off to our second location on the reef, which was promised to be more beautiful and packed with marine life.  Aka—perfect place to give diving another go.  I was bound and determined.  Lucky for me, one of the more patient dive instructors led a “second chance” dive, so another girl and I suited up and hopped in the water again with the hopes of completing the dive.  And guess what.  I DID IT!  Constantly reminding myself to stay calm, breathe slowly, and equalize my ears, the dive was an epic success.  I saw some amazing things, most notably fluorescent colored parrotfish, a meter long sea clam that I was able to touch, and two squid that actually changed color to camouflage as they swam past us!  Once I returned to the surface and breathed fresh air again, I was filled with the greatest sense of accomplishment (just a bit more than the Nevis bungy, which made me feel pretty darn accomplished so this is saying a lot).  I felt like I just returned from a whole new world, which I actually kind of had!

 

The icing on the cake was when the instructors said that I had paid for two dives and since that technically counted as dive number one, they asked if I wanted to go right back down for dive number two.  Of course I was all over that.  So they refilled my oxygen tank and tossed me back in the water (well, not literally), this time with a camera, to do it all over again.  The first thing I saw once going underwater was a sea turtle, which I couldn’t get a good photo of, but was still awesome.  This time, instead of linking arms with the instructor the whole time, we were able to swim around on our own, which let me explore more things and control the depth at which I was swimming.  Guys, despite the rocky start, it was awesome and I would dive again in a heartbeat!

 

Another big attraction in Cairns is the rainforest, so guess what we did Saturday... We went to check it out!  We took a train through the mountains overlooking the rainforest until we reached the town of Kuranda, which is a quaint village full of Aboriginal markets and shops.  To all you Big Bang Theory fans out there, all I could think about the whole train ride was Sheldon and his love of trains…no shame.  Anyway, Kuranda was a great town to explore and purchase some Aboriginal products.  After that, we took the skyrail down the mountain, stopping along the way to walk through the forest for a bit.  The skyrail provided great aerial views of the rainforest, especially when we got one with a glass bottom.

The next day, some people wanted to bungy jump and do other activities that involved jumping from heights.  Deciding that I had my fair share of that kind of thrill for a bit, I decided to explore the Botanical Gardens.  There were so many beautiful tropical plants and flowers, especially palm trees which are one of my favorite things.  Seriously, I think my mood improves instantly once I am around palm trees.  So needless to say, it was a very happy day for me.  Look at this beauty!

I was in luck because that Sunday was the one Sunday out of the month that the markets came to the Botanical Gardens.  A girl’s day isn’t complete until she has done a bit of shopping, so of course I got my fix of browsing and made a few purchases.  After that, I did some hiking which not even Pitt’s cardiac hill prepared me for, but at least I was surrounded by nature and fresh air instead of ambulance sirens and car exhaust.  The hard work paid off because at the top of the hill was a beautiful view of Cairns and the International Airport, where I saw a few planes take off.  Unfortunately my camera died before I got there, so you will just have to take my word that the views were stunning.  The return trip was luckily all downhill, so I made my way back to the gardens and caught the bus back to the city in time to get to the airport and head back home to Brisbane.  All in all, it was another successful trip!

Until later, cheers!

Time to Fly South

As after any week-long trip, it was difficult to adjust back to “normal” life…even when that life is here in Australia.  Rough, right?  The week after New Zealand was spent catching up on a variety of things like sleep, other friends’ travel, and last but not least (drumroll please): uni work.  Yes, I am actually studying on my study abroad, despite all the adventures and travels.  UQ decided to bombard its students with assignments and mid-semester exams right after the break, so many people spent hours in the library playing catch-up— and I was one of those people.  It all paid off because I completed my exams fairly smoothly and they are now behind me!

Amongst all that chaos, my three roommates and I decided to go where we never had before and undertake a task that could either be an epic success or epic failure.  I will tell you now that it was an epic success.  Any guesses?  We hosted our first dinner party! 

Throughout the semester I have promised many people American dinners so along with the help of my roommates I decided to follow through on these promises and cook for my Austrian friends (yes Austrian, not Australian).  For those of you who know me, you know I love to cook and bake and have developed a motherly instinct from years of babysitting, so I suited up in the kitchen.  Armed with meat, cheese, peanut butter, chocolate, and sugar I set out to cook my first dinner for non-Americans (come on, what else do you need in life besides those ingredients?!).  In all the excitement, I forgot to take a before picture of the homemade burgers, green beans, and baked potatoes, but the after picture says it all.  Success.

I was shocked to hear that my other American roommates had never had buckeyes before, or even heard of them, so of course I had to whip up some of those for dessert.  I guess buckeyes are one of life’s simple pleasures that didn’t make it far out of Ohio.  Needless to say they didn’t last very long.

 

If you don’t know what buckeyes are, you are missing out.  Check it out and even make some if you are feeling adventurous.  It is really quite simple.  While I cannot reveal my top-secret recipe, this one isn’t too far off:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buckeye-balls-ii/

It was then time to start preparing for my next adventure down south to Melbourne!  I had been hearing great things about Melbourne from friends who travelled there, so I was very excited to finally be able to check out the city.  And I absolutely loved it!  Melbourne is one of Australia’s most cultural cities and has a very trendy and European vibe.  There are heaps of cafes and shops on every street and the alleys are full of even more shops and cafes.  Fun fact- Melbourne is home to the world’s oldest China town outside of China! 

We arrived on Friday and spent the day exploring the city.  It is completely different from the relaxed atmosphere of Brisbane, partly because at four million people it has twice the population of Brisbane.  We were lucky to be there for the last weekend of Melbourne’s comedy festival, so Friday night we went to see Wil Anderson who is absolutely hilarious.  I’m pretty sure I shed a few tears I was laughing so hard.  I have come to realize that Australians at comedy shows can pick out foreigners quite easily because we are the ones who don’t laugh at the jokes that reference local culture.  Basically you are the one looking frantically at the people around you trying desperately to have some sort of epiphany and understand the joke, all while trying to hide your ignorance and muster up your most realistic laugh.  Despite your efforts it is usually a fail, so you just have to hope the comedian doesn’t realize this, pick you out of the crowd, and peg you as the tourist.  No, this fortunately did not happen to me…but it did happen to a friend.  It’s funny when it isn’t you!  If you are interested look him up on YouTube or check out his website: http://www.wilanderson.com.au/index.html

Saturday was an early morning as we rolled out of bed and boarded the bus that would take us down Melbourne’s iconic Great Ocean Road.  As its name suggests, it is a road right on the ocean and it is pretty great!  Short history lesson here, but I’ll keep it brief.  This road was built by soldiers returning from World War I who could not find work.  It has been redone a couple times since the project was first completed in 1932 and now spans 243 km (150 miles for all your Americans reading this) across the southern coast of Victoria.   So we spent the day on this road, taking in the beautiful views of the ocean, and stopping at towns and attractions along the way.  I think the builders of the road were trying to mess with everyone who would drive the road in the future because it is one of the windiest roads I have been on in Australia, sometimes unnecessarily so.  Luckily no one got sick but I think there may have been some close calls.

First views of the ocean from the Great Ocean Road

 

We did not drive the entire road, but luckily were able to drive along the most scenic part until we reached our destination—The Twelve Apostles.  It was beautiful and once again pictures don’t do it justice:

Time for another short history lesson!  The Twelve Apostles are giant rock pillars that were formed from years of erosion as water pummeled the rock along the coastline.  This resulted in arches which after more erosion collapsed and formed two standing pillars.  As you might guess from the name, there were originally 12 pillars, but only seven or so are still standing today.  So we stopped for a while to take everything in, snap a million pictures, and get some fresh air to combat any lingering car sickness.  All in all, it was beautiful and definitely worth the trip!

That night we had dinner at a trendy restaurant/bar, which was delicious, and went to a variety show that was part of Melbourne’s comedy festival.  Once again, we saw some great comedians and performers that had us close to tears.  What you should take from this is that if you ever come to Australia, be sure to see come comedy shows!

In a city as trendy as Melbourne, we had to fit in some shopping before heading back to Brisbane so we spent the morning checking out the shops along Chapel Street.  Though we could have shopped all day, we made our way to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds to attend our first Aussie Rules football game (also known as the Australian Football League, or AFL).  Australians love their footy and there are three major football codes in Australia: rugby league, rugby union, and AFL.  Rugby is most popular in Queensland (where Brisbane is located) and New South Whales (where Sydney is located), while AFL is most popular in all other states, especially Victoria (where Melbourne is located).  Soccer is a distant fourth of the football codes, but is starting to become a bit more popular.  It is somewhat confusing to understand, but I think I am finally getting the hang of it.  Anyway, being in Melbourne I knew I had to see an AFL game.  We watched the Melbourne Demons take on the Greater Western Sydney Giants.  As if wearing completely neutral and non-sporty clothes wasn’t enough, we made our way to our seats carrying shopping bags and proceeded to get our rules sheet out to try to figure out what was going on in the game.  All I can say is that if I was a fan at that game I would have made fun of us.  In our defense, we did catch on and by the end were able to cheer for the Demons without relying on the other fans around us.  Despite several lead changes throughout the match, we were able to witness a victory for the home team.  Go Demons!

After the game we booked it to the airport to head back to Brisbane and attempt to recover from the weekend’s activities.  A bonus for us is the fact that this Thursday, April 25^th is ANZAC Day which is a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand.  Bear with me because here is one more history lesson.  ANZAC Day (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) marks the anniversary of the first military battle fought by Australian and New Zealand forces in World War I.  Unfortunately, this battle at Gallipoli, which was an attempt to take over Constantinople, was an epic failure in a military sense.  Despite this, it has been remembered ever since as ANZAC day because the soldiers that fought in the battle were referred to as ANZACs.  All over Australia ceremonies called Dawn Services are held in the morning to commemorate the exact time ANZACs landed at Gallipoli.  After the Dawn Service many people throw parties and drink beer (it is similar to Memorial Day in the United States).  There are even ANZAC biscuits which most all Australians have come to love.  Yes, I have tried them and they are quite tasty!

Of course, we are taking advantage of the extra long weekend and travelling to an iconic city up north.  Check back later to find out where we are going!  Cheers!

New Zealand: Adventure Capital of the World!

By making these travel plans I set myself up for failure.  There is no way any future spring break will top the one I just had.  Because New Zealand is one of the most amazing places I have experienced in my life, hands down. 

Remember how I am documenting all my firsts throughout my semester abroad?  Well there were quite a few that happened this past week—the first and most obvious, going to New Zealand for mid-semester break.  So hold on to your hats as I attempt to recount all these adventures to you.  Bear with me, this is a long post.  Please get up now, grab a snack, make a hot beverage, and use the restroom before reading further.

Day 1- Friday, March 29

This day was fairly uneventful, minus my misplaced luggage fiasco which I won’t get in to, but was all kinds of terrible.  Anyways, we woke up at the lovely hour of 5am to catch our 6:45 am flight from Brisbane to Christchurch.  We made it to New Zealand unscathed, but very tired, jetlagged, and hungry.  In a city as well-known as Christchurch, we figured we could find at least a fast food joint for dinner.  But that was not the case.  You see, Christchurch suffered a terrible earthquake in February 2011, still experiences aftershocks, and is anticipating another quake to occur in the near future.  Because of all of this, the majority of the one million people who used to live there up and left so there is still a long road to recovery.  On our scenic hour long tour of the city in search for food we discovered remaining piles of rubble, half destroyed buildings, and roads closed off due to danger of falling debris.  Between this and the fact that it was Good Friday, Christchurch was a ghost town.  We ended up ordering pizza and tried to rest up for the next day when the real adventure would begin.

Day 2- Saturday, March 30

It was time to hit the road!  Saturday marked the beginning of our trek across New Zealand’s South Island.  The 16 of us American study abroad students that comprised the tour group met up with Sandfly, our guide for the week, and boarded the Stray bus that we would call home for the next several days.  

 As we set off on our journey to Franz Josef, a small town where we would spend the next two nights, I was not prepared for what New Zealand had in store for me.  Everywhere I looked was beautiful mountains, bright blue skies, and lakes with the clearest and bluest sparkling water I have ever seen.  Not bad scenery to look at for the hours of upcoming travel ahead of us!  We stopped for lunch in Wanaka where Sandfly highly suggested we try whitebait sandwiches and chips.  As adventuresome tourists, we decided to trust the kiwi.  And this is what we got:

After getting past the fact that the little whitebait fishes were staring back at me as I raised the sandwich to my mouth, I managed to eat it then try and forget about what I just ingested.  At least the chips more than made up for it, they were delicious. **Fun fact: fries are called chips in this part of the world.  And ketchup is tomato sauce** Don’t worry, the whitebait was fully cooked.  It just managed to retain its facial features.

We then continued on our journey and after a few other stops arrived in Franz Josef, which is a small town made famous by the Franz Josef Glacier situated between the mountains.  Of course, it was a beautiful place.  After dropping off our bags in the hostel, we set off to explore the town.  When I said it was small, I wasn’t kidding; it took us about 20 minutes to walk the length of the town.  The biggest highlight was stumbling upon a pastry shop that was about to close, so we got our choice of pastries for only $1 each.  Win!

Day 3- Sunday March 31 (aka Easter Sunday)

This was supposed to be the most adventuresome Easter in my 21 years of life, and while it still was, it was not as adventuresome as planned.  We woke up bright-eyed and excited to embark on our helicopter ride to Franz Josef Glacier where we would hike across it only to find rain and thick fog.  Needless to say, all glacier heli tours were cancelled that day.  It was quite a bummer, but we didn’t let the rain stop us.  We suited up in rain gear and hiked the 16K path to and from the glacier.  The cold and rainy hike was completely worth it.  The sun came out when we got there and we could see the blue glistening of the glacier.  At least we were still able to see the glacier and get some exercise at the same time!

Day 4- Monday April 1

As our luck would have it, we woke up that morning to clear blue skies…basically the perfect day for a heli glacier hike.  Thanks Mother Nature.  Unfortunately we couldn’t rearrange the itinerary, so we packed our bags, boarded the bus, and set off on our next adventure. 

Our first stop was at a town called Fox, which is home to Fox Glacier (quite original right?), Mount Cook, and Lake Matheson.  While part of the group skydived, the rest of us who had either already jumped out of a plane, planned to later, or were just straight up chicken (just to clarify, I am NOT in that last group. Check out my earlier blog post if you doubt me) embarked on a hike around Lake Matheson.  This lake is one of the stillest lakes in New Zealand and has a perfect reflection of Fox Glacier, Mount Cook, and the rest of the Southern Alps.  Lake Matheson is also known as Mirror Lake because on most days it is hard to distinguish between the actual mountains and their reflection in the lake.  You decide, is this picture right side up or upside down??

After this cool brisk walk to wake us all up and combat any hangover from the night before, we boarded the bus again and continued on to Wanaka, a town made famous by none other than Lake Wanaka. Especially stunning was laying on the shore at night, mesmerized by all the stars that lit up the sky.  This was actually one of my favorite moments of the trip, made complete when my newfound friend Brad and I stumbled upon a shopping cart on the way back to the hostel.  Naturally I hopped in and after a short photo shoot, Brad pushed the cart with me still in it back to the hostel.  Fun fact- in Australia and New Zealand they are called shopping trolleys.  It sounds much fancier doesn’t it?

Day 5- Tuesday April 2

First thing on the agenda was a stop at Puzzle World, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.  If you are curious, check out their website: http://www.puzzlingworld.co.nz/

We were told that the bacon breakfast sandwiches were delicious, so between that, the amazing smell of sizzling bacon, and the fact that we were all bacon deprived since leaving the U.S., we forked over $3 for a sandwich.  What we got was a piece of warmed ham between two slices of cold, white sandwich bread.  So much a hot, greasy, crispy bacon breakfast sandwich.  Pretty much every time you order bacon in Australia and NZ, you end up with ham.  We were all hoping for an exception to this, but no luck.  I guess the employees thought we would need energy to complete The Great Maze or thought it would be funny to see it regurgitated after experiencing countless optical illusions. Seriously, check out their website to see what we were subjected to first thing in the morning: http://www.puzzlingworld.co.nz/attractions.html

The next stop was far more pleasant and satisfying for the taste buds.  After a couple hours’ drive we made it to the town of Cromwell, which is known for its delicious fruits and is what inspired the giant sculpture that beckons visitors to the town:

 We all stocked up on fruits, which were delicious, and indulged in some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted.  I have tried a plethora of ice creams, so I consider myself to be a credible ice cream critic.  I ordered hokey pokey ice cream with kiwi fruit mixed in with it.  Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.  In case you don’t know (and I didn’t before by Australian/NZ adventure began, so don’t fret if you are wondering what in the world it could be), hokey pokey is honey flavored ice cream with bits of honeycomb in it…it is very popular in Australia and New Zealand and I will miss it dearly when I return to the U.S. 

Next stop: Queenstown, aka adventure capital of the world!!  But before we got there, the gods of New Zealand had other plans for us (yet again) and we made an impromptu stop…in the middle of the highway.  Why?  We happened upon a blasting zone.  In order to prevent rock slides, parts of the mountains near the road need to be blasted away periodically.  As a result, the road was closed for an hour and there was no convenience of a detour.  So we channeled our inner junior high camp activity knowledge and started games of ninja, human pretzel, etc. in the middle of the highway.  Hey, it made the hour pass quickly!  We even have a group photo to prove it:

 

As if we didn’t already have enough adventure for one day, we made our entrance to Queenstown an eventful one.  After checking in to the hostel, we took a gondola ride up a mountain to feast our eyes upon amazing views of the most beautiful city I have seen in my life.  Queenstown sits right on a crystal blue lake and is surrounded by mountains, some of which are called The Remarkables because they are, well, remarkable.  It is impossible to capture the magnificence of Q-town, but here’s a shot!

This is where our first adventure in Q-town occurred.  The purpose of the gondola ride was to take us to the luge track where we would ride down part of the mountain.  Don’t picture an ice track, this luge was more like a wheeled cart that we steered down a twisted, paved path.  Everyone was excited to race down the hill except our friend Brad, who was confident that he was going to crash and fall off the luge.  We told him that small children survive unscathed and assured him he wouldn’t fall.  Well shame on us, because guess what.  Brad crashed his luge and dislocated his shoulder.  So Brad, Sandfly, two friends, and I spent the evening in the ER.  It was quite the bonding experience.  Our friend Evan and I bought Brad a shot glass from the luge gift shop as a get-well gift and managed to pick the worst one possible…it had the luge logo and said “because once just isn’t enough.”  Well, for Brad once was more than enough.  Poor kid, but he was a trooper!  Especially with putting up with our jokes the rest of the week.  Needless to say, this was one of the longest and most eventful days of the trip!

Day 6- Wednesday April 3

Wednesday was our first full day in Queenstown and we took advantage of being in the adventure capital of the world by going white water rafting!  The bus ride to the river was arguably scarier than the rafting itself because we had to drive on one of the world’s top 10 most dangerous roads to get there.  Imagine driving on a gravel road on the side of a mountain in a 16 person van with rafts attached to the back, only feet away from falling into the valleys with no guard rail to give any sort of protection.  But hey, when in Rome… Anyway, we survived the bus ride, suited up in wetsuits, and entered the 9⁰C water.  The rapids were great and luckily no one fell in!

After we returned and indulged in a hot shower, it was time to explore the town and do some shopping.  We found an awesome store called Cookie Time just in time for happy hour—half price cookies!  Needless to say, we stopped back many times over the next couple days.  It was then time for the dinner we had been waiting for for days—the world famous Fergberger.  It was huge…almost the size of my face.  Delicious!

Later that night we hit up some Q-town night life, which was a great time.  On our way home we heard American country music blaring from a bar so of course we detoured to check it out.   They were even offering free drink vouchers at the door.  Sold!  Once we walked in and realized the four of us tripled the population of the bar, we realized why we were bribed with free drinks.  But hey, no complaints about enjoying a free drink with friends!  After that it was time to head home for real to rest up for the most thrilling, adventuresome, terrifying, adrenaline pumping activity that was to take place the next moring.

Day 7- Thursday April 4

This was the day.  The day I was going to do the scariest thing I have ever done.  Scarier than skydiving.  Even scarier than sitting in the Pitt student section wearing a West Virginia jersey.  I was going to do the Nevis Bungy. 

For those of you not familiar with the Nevis Bungy, at 134 meters it is the highest bungy in New Zealand.  Some wacko thought it would be a good idea to create a business out of harnessing people by their feet and having them throw themselves off an itty bitty ledge into a canyon upwards of 300 meters deep.  Well, that wacko is now a very rich person. 

Full of nerves, we took a gondola ride out to the ledge where we would jump.  This ledge is basically a small room suspended by cables in the middle of a canyon.  As the wind blew everything would sway.  Terrifying, right?  I got all my harnesses situated and the worker guy walked me out to the ledge.  I can’t tell you how I jumped, I just knew that if I hesitated or looked down I never would.  So as the guy counted down 3-2-1-BUNGY next thing I knew I was plummeting towards the ground.  I couldn’t wrap my mind around what was happening, but finally pulled myself together, realized what was going on, let out a loud scream, and was able to take in the beautiful surroundings.  Within a few minutes I was pulled back up to safety with the biggest sense of accomplishment I have felt in my entire life!

As if that wasn’t enough thrill for one day, we raced off to go canyoning after getting back from the Nevis.  Canyoning was a great adventure that involved rock climbing, abseiling, ziplining, cliff jumping, swimming, and hiking through a canyon with 37⁰F water.  Having done the Nevis that morning made the cliff jumps seem like cake!

Day 8- Friday April 5

Today was spent making the seven hour drive back to Christchurch where we would catch our flight back to Brisbane early Saturday morning.  It was fairly uneventful as the week of adventure, little sleep, and hangover from the previous night’s pub crawl caught up with us.  We did stop at Lake Pukaki which the has brightest blue shining water I have ever seen.  It looked as though there were lights illuminating it from beneath the surface…it was unreal.  Right on the shore was the Church of the Good Shepherd, which is a small chapel built from stones from Lake Pukaki.  Pretty cool!

 View of Lake Pukaki from inside the Church of the Good Shepherd

 Lake Pukaki

Day 9- Saturday April 6

Unfortunately, this is the day our New Zealand adventure came to an end.  We were on the road by 4am to get to the airport to catch our flight, still in a daze from being up at such an early hour.  We made it back to Brisbane safe and sound and proceeded to sleep for the rest of the weekend to try and prepare for upcoming exams and assignments.  This basically consisted of countless hours in the library staring at the gibberish that is my notes, reminiscing about the activities of the week before and wishing I could be back.

If you made it through this whole blog post, give yourself a pat on the back!  Thanks for bearing with me, I know it was a long one.  Until next time, cheers!