...And she flew out of her chair... Day 115 cont'd

Well... today was absolutely insane. I arrived in Detroit around 9:30 and Coop & Cat told me that they would be circling the airport to pick me up. Funny. I'm going down the escalator and all the sudden, I see my two best friends. I was overjoyed, I pretty much bowled them over giving them the biggest hug ever. It felt really good to see them again. Anyways, we attempted to handle my lost luggage fiasco, but it really didn't do any good at the airport, so we left. I called Jill to see what was up, since she was in on the scheme to surprise my parents. My mom was actually at Jill & Jen's house, so we made a beeline for it. Coop & Cat walked up because Coop had to do an interview... which was a lie. But yeah, they went out back to start this interview with my mom and now Jill & Jen. I was hidden in the back seat of Coop's truck. A few minutes into it, Coop texted me that it was time for business, so I scrambled out of her car, setting off the alarm, by the way. I made my way to the back porch and at first my mom didn't even see or realize that it was me. Then she lost it. She jumped up with such force that her chair flew about a yard behind her. It was good. All in all, it was a great day, it turned into a little barbecue, Jason & Becky came over, soon followed by my father, who also didn't know I was flying in today. He was just as shocked as my mom, if not quite as loud about it. But yeah... I'm home!

Chicago to Detroit... Day 115

Arizona came and went quickly enough, since there was free Internet. We left the airport at exactly midnight, as there were some difficulties including a flight attendant. As soon as I got on the plane, I put my mp3 player on and fell asleep. I woke up when we were taxi-ing down the runway at O’Hare International in Chicago. I am in my 37^th hour of travel right now. I’m starting to feel it, especially since my body is somewhere near NZ time still, which would make it about 11pm. (Current Local Time: 6:00am June 10) So far I have been to 6 major cities and 7 different time zones, including the International Date Line, in 36 hours. That’s pretty impressive. Just one left and I board that flight in an hour. Then I’m home free. I wonder what mom will think…

This day has 37 hours... Day 114

Today I woke up and took all of my trash out, did any extra cleaning that I needed to do and then I called a cab and went to the airport. I was sad for a minute there and my eyes started to tear up, but I got over it. I got through the ChCh airport just fine. In the next 45 hours or so, I will have been (or seen in some cases) in 3 countries (New Zealand --> Fiji --> USA), 6 airports (ChCh --> Auckland --> Nadi, Fiji --> LAX --> Phoenix, AZ --> Chicago --> Detroit), 8 time zones (NZ/Fiji --> Nuku'alofa --> International Date Line West --> Samoa --> Hawaii --> Alaska --> Pacific --> Mountain), 3 sun rises (NZ, Date Line - ish, Chicago), 2 sunsets (Fiji, Phoenix) and the most confusing part... three days... but two of them I had twice. I went over the international date line just after at about 2am on June 10, so then it was June 9 again... then I flew for a million more hours and it was June 10 again. Yeah. Sweet as.

So I started June 9 at midnight at +12 Greenwich Standard Time (GST). I ended June 9 at 11:59 -7 GST. That means that my day was approximately 37 hours long. Let me tell you, it was a wicked dodgy day. I'm going to post a series of entries that I typed onto my computer at a few of the four airports I was at on June 9:

~I’m sitting in the airport to fly to Auckland. I have a crazy journey ahead of me, lasting 40 or so hours. I fly from Chch to Auckland, Auckland to Fiji, Fiji to LAX, LAX to Phoenix, Phoenix to Chicago and finally Chicago to Detroit. I’m kind of excited to get home, but at the same time, it’s quite sad. Oh, and I just saw a guy with a Central Michigan University shirt on… so I asked him about it. Turns out he’s a Kiwi with a friend at CMU. Sweet as. (Current Local Time: 11:06am June 9)

~Here I am, reporting live-ish from Nadi International Airport. I have approximately 3 hours until I board my flight to LAX, where I intend to sleep for as long as possible, since this flight is ludicrous. I had a horrible experience at Auckland International, as our flight landed late and I had a connecting flight with only 40 minutes to make it through the departure customs. I forgot those existed. Anyways, I made it to my flight, which was also running late, with a few minutes to spare, but there were a few minutes where I thought I was going to completely miss everything. Which would have been bad. Anyways, I’m just going to sit here for a few hours, try and hold off on eating dinner, since I’m sure I’ll get something on the plane. (Current Local Time: 7:23pm June 9)

~I’m currently at LAX, talking to Catherine Trombly on my cell phone. There was a fiasco involving my baggage, one of my bags came through on the wrong plane and one is still unaccounted for, so if you don’t get a souvenir, don’t fret, it will arrive in the next year or so. (Current Local Time: 5:45pm June 9)

The Last Hurrah... Day 113

So this is kind of out of nowhere to about half of the people reading this blog, but today was my last full day in New Zealand. I really had a great one though. I had my last two classes, which were alright, then at 2pm, Margaret (one of my CDO professors) had me come in to class so that they could officially say goodbye to myself and Heather, since we were the only exchanged students and, because I won't be at the final exam (I'm taking it here at home). It was really nice, but I was sad at the same time, especially saying goodbye to Gia & Margaret. After class, Heather and I got some Dim Sum, then I did some more packing. Later that day, around 4pm, she came over and we ordered pizza and watched movies while I packed up the rest of my stuff. It was a really great last day though, especially adding the Hell Pizza. Around 11pm I was finished and we were both ridiculously tired, so we said goodbye. It was sad, but at the same time, we clicked enough that I'm sure we'll be friends for a long time. And now I have a reason to go to Massachusetts. Sweet as.

Akaroa, like whoa... Day 112

So, today was one of the best days that I've had since coming to this hemisphere. Heather and I got on a shuttle to Akaroa, which is about 90 km away, at about 8:00am. We had a sweet as bus driver named Dallas (a woman, by the way). The ride there was a little ridiculous, since the road to Akaroa is super mountainous... and I'm quite apt to get motion sickness anymore. Yes, I'm an old person now. Either way, we got to Akaroa in one piece. It is an adorable little town on the Banks Peninsula, which was formed by a wicked dodgy volcano millions of years ago. Sweet as. Anyways, this town was originally a French settlement, traces of which you can see everywhere. We walked around the town for quite a while, ended up inside the museum, as well as a few other places, but mainly we just walked around and had a good time. On the way back, we stopped at a cheese factory. On a normal day, this would have been slightly interesting, but the aforementioned motion sickness made my stomach jump when I went inside the building. Apparently the smell of dairy doesn't agree with me, so I waited outside. We had a crazy fun time on the ride home though, we pretty much took a million photos of ourselves, because honestly, what else do you do on a boring bus ride? When we got back to the city, we stopped at a souvenir shop because I wanted to pick up something. Long story short, I didn't get charged full price, so that was exciting. We ended up at Starbucks, since Heather owed me a few dollars, so she bought me some hot cocoa. It was delicious. And can I just say that we are sneaky. There, I said it. Not going to tell the story here, but if anyone wants to know, send me an email and I'll explain. After that, we went to McDonald's, since mom won't rest until I eat a Kiwi Burger. Let me remind you all what is included: a beef patty, lettuce, tomato, cheese, tomato sauce (not ketchup), an egg and beats. Not tasty. But I got one. And I ate... some of it. But that's all that really counts, right? My taste buds will never forgive me. I could almost handle the beets, but the egg made it horrible. Oh! I forgot to mention that we had an excellent sunset today. It was before the Kiwi Burger fiasco, when we were still on the shuttle from Akaroa. Anyways, then we finally made it back to the flats and had a proper dinner. One more thing, I'm not going to have access to the internet starting tomorrow night and ending on Sunday (hopefully), since there is some sort of upgrade being done on the internet ports in all of the flats. So don't be shocked if I don't post for a few days, I'll catch up after the weekend is over.

B-E-X-L-E-Y... Days 110-111

These last two days have been pretty lazy, if I do say so myself. Yesterday I did a lot of sitting around, but I did get an essay written, so there's some productivity. Today, I finally had class after four glorious days of nothing. I had an exam at 9:00am, which wasn't too bad, then at 2:00pm I started my last Anatomy & Physiology class ever. It was as boring as always, but there was a little glimmer of hope at the end, knowing I wouldn't have to endure it anymore. After class, Heather and I went to a place called Bexley Reserve, mainly because we passed it on the way to Southshore the other day and it kind of became a ridiculous joke. Either way, we just went to take a picture or two, then we boarded the bus back to the city exchange. We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to school so we could grab something to make for dinner, then we watched a movie or two. I love that you can totally get away with that in the winter and no one thinks you're lazy. Or at least most people don't think you're lazy. On a sad note, my camera is toying with my emotions. It will not decided if it is working or not and I am getting upset with it. I hope its just the quality (or lack there of) of the batteries that I am using.

Oh, and I just want to say that Gia, my surrogate mom, is amazing. Since it is nearing the end of term, and I'm probably not going to see her again, minus the final exams, she brought me a gift today. She got me the most amazing jade necklace, it's carving means "new beginnings" and she also brought me the new Maroon 5 cd. I am so grateful that I met someone like her here, not just because she bought me things, but because she took me under her wing right away. She's such a sweetheart. I will post a picture of her and I after I get it from Heather. Alright, I am off to sleep, it's a long day tomorrow and it starts early, we are going to Akaroa (90 minutes away) early in the morning on a wicked dodgy shuttle. Should be a good time.

God Save The Queen... Day 109

Today was amazing... why you might ask? Because I didn't have to do anything. Not even go to classes. All because it was the Queen's (of England) Birthday. I actually don't have class again until Wednesday morning... Sometimes a four day weekend is in order. Good stuff. I really didn't get anything accomplished today, besides rearranging my music collection, since I downloaded a little bit this weekend. Other than that, Heather and I just pretty much hung out all day, it was good times.

Sumner via Southshore?... Day 108

Well... this morning was going to start a lot differently, but it turns out that no one was playing rugby, so it went a little bit like this. I wake up too early, send an instant message to Heather after I've taken some time to wake up, so now I have to actually get up, since I'm making someone else wait. We walked from here to Riccarton Bush, which is a place that looks quite a bit like Jurassic Park. We walked around there for a while and took silly photos. Then we continued our walk up to Riccarton Road, where we grabbed some Starbuck's for brekkie (read: breakfast) and caught a bus towards Hagley Park to see if anyone was playing rugby that we could watch. Turns out that they weren't, so we continued on the bus that we were on all the way to Southshore, which is a little further south than New Brighton, but we could still see the pier. We walked all the way down the shore until we saw some vaguely familiar markers. First was the headland of Sumner, closely followed by the beach cave and huge rocks. We continued on, realizing first, that we were very near Sumner and second, that we were on the strip of land that only a few days previous, I said that I wanted to find, because it just looked cool. After taking numerous ridiculous photos and all the while, laughing like it was going out of style, we ended up at the point of the strip of land. Sadly, even at low tide, you cannot walk from Southshore to Sumner. We wanted to though. We walked around the point and eventually found our way back to the road that seemed to be nestled nicely inland. After seeing Sumner, we knew what was had to do. Minutes later, we were on a bus, our destination? Red Snapper Fish & Chips in Sumner. They have the best fish and chips, but what really sets them apart is a certain other fried delicacy. Fried pineapple rings. It sounds so simple and yet is so wonderful. We finished up our dinner, then found a bus to bring us back to school. After driving along Ferry Rd. for a bit, we realized that we had to get off the bus, as the sun was setting and it looked amazing. We did end up catching the next bus back to school, but not before getting some wicked good photos. We got back to school and hung out for a while, watching stupid television, then watching slightly better television. It was good times.

Mt. Vernon? Negative... Days 106-107

Well... yesterday wasn't all that exciting, so I'm not going to bother describing every detail. Went to class, went downtown, then watched some telly. The only redeeming part of the day was the sunset, which was extraordinary. Again, my photo does no justice.

Today was a little more lively. First, I woke up at the crack of 7:30... which was unpleasant. So I called my mummy and talked to her for a bit. Eventually I poured myself out of bed and took a shower so I could go on a mini adventure. Much like our last one, this one didn't pan out. We went to a place called Mt. Vernon, which was supposed to be really cool. It turned out to be a good photo opportunity of the city, but that is about it. We ended up in Hornby for a bit, then we went back to Ilam to make a fruit salad, as Gia was having a party. Not going to lie here, the fruit salad may be the best fruit salad ever made. The party was a pretty good time, I ended up talking politics with someone from the communication disorders class's mum. It was all good though. I also got to talk to Gia's husband, who recommended a book called State of Denial. It sounds interesting, it's about our government. After the party we went back to Heather's flat and watched Shrek with Jeff & Jia. Good times.

Guess where we ended up... Days 104-105

Yesterday was another day of classes, I only had two though, and one was just a quick practical. I think I went downtown yesterday as well, but I don't remember why.

Today started off wonderfully, Heather and I went to this place that we keep passing on the bus, but never go to, called the Daily Bagel. It's supposed to be a New York bagel shop... since I've not been to a NY bagel shop... I can't judge, but it was delicious. Not as good as Elaine's... but really, what is? If you haven't had Elaine's Bagels... well you haven't lived. Anyways, we wound up down town for a little bit, just walking around the open air market and heading to a few shops. We went to a place called Centennial Park, which we expected to be amazing. It wasn't bad, but I've been to better parks, let me tell you. They did have an abundance of ducks though... and apparently they all thought that I was their mother. It was slightly cute. After that park, we went back downtown and had souvlaki for lunch, then went out to Queen Elizabeth II Park (QEII). Turns out it was a "golf park". Guess where we ended up? New Brighton. I know, what a shocker. We probably walked about 30 minutes from this park to downtown New Brighton, but it was fun, so that's something. I would like to mention, at this juncture, that NZ spells the word "tires" WRONG. Okay, that was judgmental. Anyways, it is spelled tyres here. I don't understand this, but alas, I must accept it. After hanging out a bit in New Brighton (I could call it NB from now on... but I won't), we caught the bus back to school. It turned out to be the most drawn out bus ride on the face of the earth. And it seems as thought it is getting darker out much faster here, it was dark by 5:30. I did manage to get a shot of the sky right before the sun went down. I was too late for sunset though. Alrighty, I'm off to sleep. Big day of... one class... tomorrow.

Taylor's Mistake?... Days 102-103

Yesterday was by far the easiest day of classes, I woke up bright and early at 9:30 and had Margaret's class (Acoustic Phonetics) from 11 to 12, then I was done for the day. I ended up getting my Audiology report done in about 20 minutes, and then decided to go in search of a thrift store. Good times.

This morning I woke up bright and early, which is no longer shocking, now it just makes me sad. There was a time when I could sleep as late as I want. That time has left me. Anyways, Heather and I headed out around 9:30 to find Taylor's Mistake, which is supposed to be a really nice beach, and then move on to Boulder Bay, which is an hour past Taylor's Mistake, walking. Turns out Taylor's Mistake was not in our cards for today. We walked from Sumner Beach to the headland that juts out to the water. Then we began our ascent. We walked up the steep and windy path to the top of the headland, which took about 20 minutes and included some very sketchy stairs. Then we though we had won. Turns out we hadn't. We started walking down hill, continuing along Scarborough Trail. Then we started walking uphill again. This continued for a while. Finally, looking ahead and seeing no sign of Taylor's Mistake for quite a while, we decided to turn back. We walked back to the top of the first hill that we climbed and crashed on the grass for a bit, then started our descent. Even though we didn't get to Taylor's Mistake, we did have a good time and we saw some excellent views. We ended up getting fish & chips for lunch (and an excellent fried pineapple ring), as we had been talking about Sumner fish & chips since the last time we were there. From there, we went out to the beach again and climbed up to the top of the cave, which was pretty cool. After that, we just walked along Sumner Beach. We stopped a few times to take pictures and steal sea shells, but we also saw something kind of scary. As we were walking, I looked to my right and saw a shark. No joke. Granted it was a dead baby shark, but it was still a shark. We continued walking and saw another. Luckily we didn't see a third, but we were beginning to wonder if the apocalypse was coming or something equally as unnerving. We ended up walking to a small town called Redcliffs, which has some pretty sweet caves. It also has a horrible park. For some reason, still unknown, we decided that it would be a good idea to play on one of those merry go rounds that you push yourself. Bad idea, now we were just nauseous. We walked a little further down the road to where the caves were. The falling rock deterred us momentarily, but we ran into the cave in turn, to get photos. Then we escaped. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, although when we were riding the bus back, there was a young boy making strange faces at the people behind us, which was entertaining. What was not entertaining is when he decided to get his flute out and practice on the bus. I fell asleep as soon as I got back to my flat. Luckily, I woke up about two hours later, after having the most bizarre dream. I'll sum it up quickly. In the first part, Jason was lost in the woods for days and it made international news... then he came to NZ. Then I had a dream that Heather and I were on another adventure and we wound up on this escalator that throws people off at the end. Then George Bush punched her in the face. Now I'm going to sleep.

Lazy Weekend... Day 101

If you didn't catch it from the title, this weekend was very lazy. There was a lot of sitting around watching movies with friends involved. I did go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie though, since Jeff paid for most of my ticket. It wasn't bad, I wound up slightly confused, but I'm really not one of those pirate addicts either, so I didn't hold on to every last word that was said. One of the reasons that I didn't do much at all this weekend was because it is getting to be that time of the seasons when everyone is kinda sick. It's strange, really, because it's that beginning of fall sniffles and such, even though it should be going into summer. I know I've been drinking way more tea than is recommended, but it makes my throat feel nice. These last two weeks of class are going to be the easiest on record, by far. This week I have three classes canceled, so I only have one on Monday, two on Wednesday and one on Friday. Then I don't have class again until the following Wednesday, as we in NZ observe the Queen's birthday (June 4) and do not seem to do anything productive. So from now until the end of classes, I have 8 classes to go to. That seems quite exciting. Now all I really have to look forward to is my final exams. Woohoo.

I would walk 8760 miles... Day 100

So I looked up exactly how far I am from home right now... turns out that I am 8760 miles away. Interesting.

Don't stand between me and the flowers... Day 99

I had one class and one practical today, it was a painfully easy day of classes. The practical consisted of me testing 4 fellow students' ears. I was done by noon, as usual on Fridays, so I went back to my flat and hung around for a bit, then decided to cook up some food for the next few days... so I wouldn't have to do it later. Then I stepped outside to chill on my balcony... and look at this guy's horrible haircut. Anyways, Heather walked up & we talked for a minute, culminating in deciding to go to the Botanical Garden, since it would look pretty cool in the fall. Well, we got there, walked around for a bit, then before we knew it, we were lost. Not too lost, just a little disoriented. But the leaves were changing colors nicely, so it was all worth it. Oh and the rose garden was still slightly in bloom. At one point, I had to use the restroom, but when I got in there I couldn't help but take a picture of the toilet... which is equal parts disgusting and funny. But seriously, there isn't a seat, its just these two black things. I can't imagine a little kid trying to use it, they'd just fall in. I didn't do much else honestly, went back and watched some TV w/ Jeff, Jia (pronounced: Ja) & Heather, then I wound up back in my flat, very sleepy.

All Adventures Lead to New Brighton... Days 97-98

This morning I did the same thing I have the last few mornings... I woke up early, then went back to bed. It's almost like I have the will power to wake up, but then I lose that and fall back into my slumber. Yesterday was just another normal day of classes, nothing special, except that I didn't have to go to Audiology. Today, as with every other Tuesday and Thursday, Heather and I went on an adventure to a destination unknown. Eventually we decided to go to Queens Park/Waimairi Beach. We took the bus down there, then the bus driver made us get off, because we were at the last stop. Turns out we went a little bit out of our way, but we ended up walking through a subdivision that looked eerily like Florida. Then we made our way to the beach. First we stopped off at this park and it had a Flying Fox (read: zip line). Let me tell you, we tried it out. It was copious amounts of fun. Then we continued on to the beach. It looked quite similar to New Brighton Beach. Then we looked south and guess what we saw. New Brighton Pier. So naturally we walked towards it, because New Brighton was proving to be cooler than Waimairi. We got there about 1/2 hour later, as we stopped to take ridiculous photos. Upon our arrival, we went out into town for a bit to grab some lunch... more fish and chips. I figure I have to ingest as much fish as possible here. Then we walked around town for a bit more, before going back to the pier. When we got there, we looked down and there was a man making a really amazing drawing in the sand. Turns out what he does is called "Sand Dancing". Anyways, it looks really neat. He made me want to make my own art. We stuck around for a while and watched him. We actually stayed in New Brighton until the sun started to go down, since the sky was looking absolutely gorgeous.

Lyttelton... Day 96

Today I woke up early... again. Then I slept some more. I'm sensing a pattern. Anyways, after I woke up for a little bit, Heather and I went on another adventure, we seem to have a pattern going, since neither of us have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We decided to go to Lyttelton today, which is a cute little port town. I've been there before, it is where I went to get to Quail Island at the beginning of the semester. Anyways, we walked around Lyttelton for a bit, then we decided to catch a ferry to Diamond Harbour. On the ride there, the captain was intent on splashing us. When we got there, we found a walking path that led us to a cute park and a whole bunch of really good views of the town. We ended up taking a bunch of photos, before heading further up the trail, which led to a really small town. I've never seen a town this small, there is a post office, cafe/general store and a hall. Cute though. We had a little break and got some ginger beer from the cafe, it was pretty good. We hopped back on a ferry and got outta town. Lyttelton is nice, but it's really small and full of pubs, as any port town should be.

Sometimes photos don't do justice... Day 95

Today was fairly ordinary for a school day, although I did wake up an entire hour and a half before my class was due to start, which is unheard of. I usually will wait until I cannot possibly wait any longer to wake up. My classes were alright today, Anatomy & Physiology was boring, but that's nothing new. The weather today was absolutely gorgeous, the wind was blowing, but it wasn't cold at all, just cool and breezy. I love days like today, it smells like a nice fall day, a lot like the beginning of October. While walking across campus, I looked up at the top of the library, as there were people staring and pointing. I did not expect what I saw, there were people abseiling (read: rappelling) down the side of the building. That's something you don't see every day. But I always see things here that you don't see every day. I realized something else kind of cool today, NZ has a very high tolerance for skateboarding. Everyone seems to do it and they don't get a bad rep like they do at home, where there are signs everywhere against skateboarding. Here people do it all over the place and no one bats an eyelash. After classes today, I ran up to Countdown to grab a few items for dinner. When I got back to my flat (read: apartment), the sunset was absolutely amazing. I really wish I had taken better photos, because mine really do not do it justice, but I'll put up what I've got.

In search of Courtenay... Day 94

Today started off very early... 6:46am to be precise. It was a horrible time to wake up, but I had been having a very involved dream involving airports and such. It felt as though I had not gotten to sleep at all, which is not conducive to actually waking up. I fell right back asleep and woke up about once an hour after that, until 10:30, when I finally willed myself out of bed. I moped around for a bit, since I still did not want to be awake, but eventually I got it together and Heather and I went on a small adventure, west of the city. We were looking for Courtenay, NZ. As some of you may know, one of my best friends is Coop... also known as Courtenay Cooper. I bet a few of you didn't realize she had a name besides Coop. Either way, you may have noticed that it looks like I spelled her name wrong... nope, that's how it is supposed to be, although we don't hold that against her. Anyways, I found out that there was a town in NZ (which I should tell you is pronounced N-Zed, not NZ) with the same name. Upon reaching it, we found that it was in fact a bunch of farms all lined up next to each other. Anyways, we drove on Old West Coast Road for about 25 miles after we found Courtenay, as we decided to go on a road sign hunting trip. It turned out to be super, since the road was pretty deserted... we could stop the car whenever we wanted to and get out and take pictures. We may or may not have abused that power. You decide. We also found copious amounts of sheep... And of course, when you see sheep on the side of the road, you need to stop and take photos with them. Who knew sheep scared so easily?

In other news, I would just like to reiterate the fact that even though I am a world away, doing things I never saw myself doing in a million years, I miss everyone so much! I guess the whole thing about taking your life for granted is really true, you don't know what you have until it's gone... or until you temporarily abandon it to pursue your education in a foreign land.

The Abel Tasman Adventure... Days 92-93

I didn't do much on Friday, we had an Audiology test that I am actually quite confident about, so that's a change. Saturday, on the other hand, was fabulous. Jeff, Heather and I went on a road trip to Abel Tasman National Park, which is on the top of the south island. The drive there was a lot of fun, we had a quick stop in Kaikoura to take photos, then we continued on through the craziness that is Highway 1. This is the absolute hilliest, curviest road I've ever been on. You are never driving in a straight line for more than a few minutes. Oh, and did I mention that we left around 7:20am. Yeah, that's early. About halfway into our journey, we stopped at a McDonalds and Heather tried the Kiwi Burger. Ewww. It looked so unappetizing... but it was fun to watch. Anyways, we got to Nelson, the nearest city to Abel Tasman, so that we could get a hostel for the night, then continue on our way to the park. We got slightly lost, due to my poor sense of direction, but moments later, all was well. We continued on to Abel Tasman, only to find that there wasn't much more than a really humongous beach, unless you wanted to tramp (read: hike) far into the woods. Nah. So we ended up walking the beach for an hour, which was pretty nice in itself. We wound up taking some slightly ridiculous photos, I'm not going to lie about it. After Abel Tasman, which took loads less time than we expected, we drove back to Nelson to turn our room key in and drive back to Chch, so we didn't have to spend the money on a room if we didn't need to. It worked out nicely, we drove for a bit, then we found an electronics store so that we could get a converter for the radio, so we could listen to someone's Ipod. The trip became loads more fun then, since we actually had music to sing along to, instead of having to make our own. Sidenote: Riding in the back seat is horrible on these mountain roads, you get thrown around like nobodies business. On a slightly better note, my camera worked for part of this trip! Anyways, we arrived back in Chch around 11pm and I promptly went to sleep. Oh and this is what it looks like when you eat a Kiwi Burger. You have to put all of it in your mouth at once to get the full effect.

Sumner in the Winter... Days 90-91

Yesterday was quite a bore, I didn't do that much other than going to class. I did get some great news though, I was speaking with Gia (pronounced with a hard 'G'), previously noted surrogate mother, and told her of our upcoming road trip. She offered up her spare car like it was nothing! I am so excited, this is saving Heather and I at least $100, as car rentals aren't that cheap. Gia is such a sweet heart. Anyways, I didn't do much else, save studying a little bit for my upcoming Audiology exam.

Today I was quite burnt out on studying, so Heather and I went to Sumner Beach to hang out, since she had not been there thus far. It was a lot of fun, although I realized that my camera might be completely tits up (read: broken beyond repair). Every time that I go to take a picture, I press the button, then the camera shuts off. It's not so good. I've changed the batteries too, but I'll do it one more time before I completely disregard it. I felt slightly bad, but Heather's camera had to perform double duty. We walked around the town for a while, which was pretty cool, we went to a store that reminded me of Archie McPhee's, in Seattle, on a much smaller scale. We ended up getting some fish and chips (pronounced by some Kiwis as: fush 'n' chups), then walking down to this huge rock that's just sitting in the middle of the ocean. I don't think we got a picture of it, I'm going to have to go back before I leave and take one, it looks so bizarre. Anyways, I may have purchased a small souvenir for myself... I couldn't help it, I bought a purse. I know, I know, I have enough purses to last me a lifetime. I really couldn't help myself. It's just so pretty. I'll take a picture when I have a working camera.

Look at this cool picture: We're shadow people. I've never thought to take a picture like this. Although next time I'll make sure that there are no awkwardly placed sea shells, like there is in this one. Yeah, I know you're going to look for it now, I'm sorry. I'm on the right, by the way.

Okay, I have one more observation, then I'm off to sleep. I've noticed, whilst traveling, that you kind of make friends really fast. You pretty much skip all the normal friend making experiences and just dive right in to hanging out in a new city, like I did in Kaikoura, or going on road trips, like I'm doing now. While doing the crazy stuff you sort of fit in the normal sort of stuff, like having actual conversations. Everywhere I've gone, I've done this and it is pretty cool, I have good friends that I've made in a lot of new places.

The Great and Mysterious Kiwi Burger... Day 89

Today started off early... for me anyways, I was awake no later than 8:30. Well... then I went back to sleep, but really, it wasn't for that long. I had to go to an Anatomy & Physiology lab today, which proved to be extremely boring. Later on, I decided that I needed to go on an adventure to the thrift store. I ended up getting Heather to go with me and we walked around the thrift store for a bit, I got a few shirts and that. Then we went down to the pier, which was super cold, since it's only about 10 degrees Celsius, so that's somewhere around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, plus the wind off the ocean was freezing. My right eye was crying the entire time... stupid wind. We were ridiculous... I now have a photo of myself posing with a giant fake whale. There's another item off of my list of things to do before I die. We got back to the flats about an hour later... but not before seeing a sign (on the back of a bus) for the famed Kiwi Burger. The Kiwi Burger is an iconic NZ food... though I am thoroughly afraid to try it. It consists of a regular burger (and no, it's not the highly endangered kiwi bird) with lettuce, tomato and cheese... then come the bizarre contents... beetroot (read: beets), pineapple and a fried egg. I can deal with the pineapple... I think I could even deal with the beetroot on a good day... but fried egg? There is no way I could get that down. I don't think I will be trying one of these... I will go so far as to watch one of my friends eat it... maybe. McDonald's is even selling a version of this burger, minus the pineapple. So take the level of disgusting that the original Kiwi Burger is at and compound it infinitely.

Looks like the destination for the upcoming road trip has been changed from Dunedin to Abel Tasman National Park. It seems a lot nicer there and as a bonus, it is still relatively warm, since it is quite a bit closer to the equator than we are now. I'm excited... we might be going this weekend. Woohoo!