To start off, let’s rewind back to September 19th. That was the day I left on one of the best trips of my life, all over the south island of New Zealand. On the morning of the 19th I flew with 5 of my friends to Christchurch, NZ. We left campus by about 6am and arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our flight. We arrived in NZ later that afternoon and wandered around for a little bit and then went to bed early to get plenty of sleep before starting our tour the next morning. We were signed up for a tour, so the next morning we got up and met the bus and all of the people who were on the tour with us. Once we checked in with our guide, we had a couple hours to look around Christchurch before we left the city to go to a sheep farm for the night! The sheep farm was amazing! We saw the inside of a barn with all of the sheep wool before it gets sent out to factories and went on a walk around the farm, during which we ran around in a field of sheep, haha so fun!! On Monday, the group left for Fox Glacier. We rode on the bus for a super long time and then once we checked in at the place we were staying, we left on a hike up to the glacier. It took a couple hours to hike to the top and it was all uphill, lots of stairs. It was very difficult, but so worth it once we got up to the glacier. Then on Tuesday we left for Queenstown, NZ. It was a BEAUTIFUL ski town and is one place I really want to visit again. We all wanted to go skiing, but ended up having other activities that were more important to do while we were there since we can ski back in the states. One of these activities was canyon swinging, aka the scariest thing I have EVER done in my life. It was very similar to bungy jumping, we had to fall/jump off of a platform, free falling before we started swinging. I was so scared thinking about it and once I got to the platform I was terrified. The men working there were leaning me over the platform and my legs were literally shaking so much! Haha also my face was even more pale than usual, I couldn’t smile, and I kept repeating myself to the guys working there when they tried leaning me over the platform. I have a video of the whole thing, that you all should see J Once it was time for me to jump I just took a few deep breaths and fell before I had more time to think about it! I really enjoyed it and was so happy once the fall was over and I was just hanging in the canyon! It was an unbelievable experience and I am so glad I did it! Moving on to the next day, in the morning I went on a Lord of the Rings tour which was super awesome! There were 5 of us, plus our guide driving us in a land rover through the countryside. We stopped periodically to take pics while our guide told us about the scene that had been filmed where we were stopped. We also saw some of the places where the movie Wolverine was filmed! After we got back, I went on a jetboat ride that I had signed up for! It was called the Shotover Jet and it was super exilerating with lots of 360 spins. It was super fun although I felt the most seasick I have ever been. Haha no worries though I did not get sick and I was fine after! That night we went to one of the best burger places I’ve ever been, called Fergburger, and then went to bed early to be ready to head out the next morning. Friday morning, we drove out of Queenstown, heading to a lodge on Lake Ohau for the night. That night we had a bin bag party complete with a competition for best costume. We had to make costumes out of garbage bags! It was really fun, I was Pocahontas and my friends were a ninja, nun, mc hammer, a gansta, and a spade (like the card) :) The next day we drove back to Christchurch, stopping to take photos of some beautiful lakes and of Mt. Cook. Before we flew home the next day, we went shopping for some NZ souvenirs and went to to church at Christ Church in Christchurch, which I thought was cool! It was a great prayer service. I then had the night in Sydney before leaving on the second half of spring break the next day. Ok, since I still have a lot to write about I am going to be a little more general, so ask me to tell you more sometime :) The next day we flew to Cairns, where we went white water rafting, and spent a night at a cool place in the oldest rainforest in Australia. From there we went out to the Great Barrier reef to go snorkeling for a day!! It was amazing!! After snorkeling, we made our way back to Cairns and later that night I hopped on an overnight bus with my friend Vanessa that went from Cairns down to Arlie beach, where we met a couple other friends who had not come to Cairns with us. Once we were at Arlie Beach we hopped on a sailboat and sailed for a couple days around the Whitsunday Islands! It was a great couple days, we saw the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, see the pic in my last post! There were 12 people on the boat, plus our skipper and the deckhand. Once we made it back to land, we spent another night in Arlie beach and the next day we flew back to Sydney! I loved traveling all over Australia and New Zealand in my two week break, but I was tired and felt very happy to be back in my apartment in Sydney. Plus I had my parents and baby bro coming in a couple days to look forward to! I was back in Sydney on Monday and on Friday morning my parents and Griffin arrived!! I was so excited to see them and surprised them at the airport instead of meeting them at the hotel, like I had said I was going to. It was soo much fun to show them Sydney and have them meet all of my friends here!! They loved the city! I also got to do a few things I hadn’t done yet, like go to the Sydney aquarium and to the blue mountains. They left on the following Sunday and after they were gone I literally sat in my room for 3 days straight finishing up a research paper and a project I had procrastinated on! Haha some things never change J
Since then the time has been flying by!! Some highlights include going to Mamma Mia, one of my favorite musicals (I sang along with every song) and to a Britney Spears concert (that I almost didn’t make it to). Ask me about it sometime. I also went on a weekend trip to Melbourne, where I finally got to meet up with my friend Sarah from UR!! It was such a great coincidence, we both spontaneously (like days before) planned trips to Melbourne on the same weekend! It was so great to get to see a familiar face!! I was so glad we got to see each other! I went to a casino for the first time that weekend too! I gambled a total of about $4, it was very exhilarating! Also, last week my Uncle Pat had business in Australia and came to see me in Sydney! It was so great to see him! He lives in the Philippines so we don't see him that often. Another highlight was going to see New Moon last Thursday. We saw it at 11am, so it wasn’t too crowded, which was nice! Haha I also loved the fact that I saw it earlier than everyone back home!
Finally, last night was one of the best nights I've had here in Australia and maybe in my whole life! Haha I went to the Australian Idol Finale live outside the Sydney Opera House!! We only have a couple of tv channels here and I started watching Australian Idol in my first weeks here when the auditions were being shown. We have run into a couple of the final contestants around the city, so my friends and I have gotten very connected to the show! I am biased now, but I think it is much better than American Idol! I had applied online f0r tickets to the final a couple weeks ago, they were free but we had to write 25 words on why we wanted to go! Then this week got the tickets in the mail! I was so excited when the tickets showed up in the mailbox!! Anyway, it was an amazing night! Michael Buble performed with the final two contestants and then again by himself. I am a huge Michael Buble fan and was probably more excited to see him than the top 12 contestants! Mika and Guy Sebastian, who has a new duet with Jordin Sparks, also performed. What was really surreal were the fireworks over the Opera House at 3 different times during the show! It was one of those moments when it really hit me that I am in Australia, and how lucky I am to be here. We also stood right next to the stage and had amazing views of everyone singing! I was soo happy!! The only downside to the night was that my camera battery died at the beginning of the show! To some people it might not have been a huge deal but the photographer in me was devastated. Haha it did not detract from the night though and I will just have to get copies of all the pics my friends took! They all took some amazing photos of the fireworks over the Opera House!
Well, that is all I can say for now, this post is already long enough! I hope you all are doing well and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! I have two weeks left here and will keep you all updated on my final days in Australia!! Miss you all soo much!!
Words of the week: singlet (tank-top) and lollie (any kind of candy).
ffffiiiinnnnnally ;) enjoyed reading about your life..enjoy these last 2 weeks! <3
ReplyDelete