We left….. we left New Zealand. I am really sad. I wasn’t ready to leave. Boo Australia!!
Haha.. definitely wasn’t saying that 3 weeks ago. I didn’t even want to go to New Zealand because I loved Australia so much! But New Zealand was honestly one of the most Amazing places in the world!! It was nice coming back to ChristChurch again. It was nice coming back to somewhere familiar.
Wednesday- left our beautiful apartments in Queenstown. It was a sad time. I just wish I hadn’t been so rushed in the morning so I would have been able to relax and enjoy my last moments there. But with finals and a paper to finish writing, that wasn’t the case. I felt like there was so much I still had, wanted, NEEDED to do. Mark my words: my time is not done in the marvelous place.
Mt Cook was really cool though. The bus ride was beautiful; on our way we saw the bluest water (glacier water) that you EVER did see! It was awesome. We then arrived at Mt Cook, and can I tell you, the view was AMAZING! With all the snow on top of the mountains, and the sun shining down on them; it looked like a painted picture. Once we got there we got settled in our little chalets and headed back to the main hotel for dinner. From our table we were able to look out of huge windows on to the mountains. After dinner we watched three 30min shows, one was in 3D and the others we watched across a dome shaped screen on the ceiling. One was about hiking in the mountains, another about black holes and the other I think I fell asleep during it; whoops. After the movie, for me, it was time for bed! It was probably about 930 but our whole suite was tired. I was in bed and asleep by 11 I’d say, but we had to wake up fairly early the next morning for breakfast before we went on the glacier tour.
Thursday- woke up and ate some breaky (breakfast) and loaded all of our bags on our bus before we left onto another bus for the lake. It was raining, of course, and we were handed raincoats if we weren’t already wearing one ( I came prepared.) Before we reached the lake we had to walk a good half a mile or so to get there from where the bus dropped us off…. in the rain, although, the rain had let up a little by this point. One we got to the lake about 30 of us loaded into three 12-man boats. The water was pretty choppy so they took up out and gave us a little talk on what should happen if someone falls overboard. They then followed up with letting us see how cold the water was. (I do not remember how cold the water was, but I couldn’t even keep my fingers in it for more than ten seconds!) This was glacier water after all. They sped us around in the boats looking at different glaciers here and there. We even got to pick up pieces of tiny glaciers and hold them! (You will see a picture of me holding a nice chunk of ice on facebook, HOPEFULLY, sometime soon!) We were also taken to the oldest iceberg they had still that had broken off of the main chunk, it was about two years old. They also showed us the largest iceberg they had, and they showed us the most massive iceberg ever. This huge iceberg had emerged only the day before we had gotten there, and it was the biggest one there! It was just really cool to see all of the iceburgs and to hear how the lake and land around the area was formed. It was also cool because the glacier itself and the air bubbles inside the glacier and inside the icebergs were 300+ years old! Also the lake itself (apart from the glacier) has only been formed within the last 30 years, beforehand it was all still just a big glacier.
So after our glacier tour we headed back to the hotel, got on our bus and headed for Christchurch. We stopped and had lunch somewhere on the way, and by the time we arrived it was almost time for dinner. After dinner I walked around with some of the girls to a couple stores. I bought some shampoo and conditioner! Wahoo.. I also bought a scratch ticket (second one ever) and won SQUAT! Oh well, I am still UP six dollars… go me! lol. Later Rachel, Michelle, and I went to a café/bar/billiards that had free internet. I was able to email my completed application for a library job on campus, for next semester. I guess we will see how that goes. I also was able to load up more pictures! Mainly we just internet searched until it was time for bed. We went back to the hostel and went to bed.
FRIDAY- Last day in New Zealand. After we had breakfast, Rachel and I ran to a few souvenir shops. We then had to run back to load out bags on the bus and leave for the Antarctic center. On our way there I learned that Hillary Clinton was in town, and that we would actually be within a hundred feet of her most likely, although we wouldn’t see her. Haha. Anyways.. We still had about an hour until our actual tour started so we went into a room where a lady came out and gave us the run down on Antarctica and how their Antarctic center worked, etc. The lady had personally worked in Antarctica (for an unsaid amount of time) She told us about life there and visitors/tourists (you can tour there! Who knew?) She also told us about the “Polar Plunge.” The will dig a hole in the ice until they reach the water and then the person who is participating in the plunge will strip down to their birthday suit and jump into the water, jump out, then run around with their head cut off because they don’t know what’s going on anymore. Talk about brain freeze! Also, believe it or not, but Antarctica is actually a desert! This doesn’t seem exactly plausible since it is covered in snow. But the reason the entire continent is covered in snow is because strong winds carry it all over Australia. There are places and pieces of land that are not entirely covered in snow and you can obviously tell how they would be considered a desert land. After learning a little more about Antarctica we got to MEET a penguin! He/she was so cute; I forget its name though. It waddled around and we took pictures, etc. Afterwards we went into a synthetic chamber, so we could see what it is like to be in the middle of a blizzard. Then we just toured the rest of the exhibits, and watched a short film (which was optional). I liked going though; it was a lot of fun, and really interesting! We also got to see the feds come in and order food for a hiding Hilary Clinton.
After the Antarctic center we ventured to the airport, and said all of our goodbyes to New Zealand. It was then off to Brisbane for the night. We arrived at our hostel, ate pizza, chilled, and got ready to board our cruise the following morning.
I would love to write all about the cruise right now, but I am paying for internet and don't have the time at the moment.. Will post it as soon as I can!!
Peace to All, and to All a Goodnight <3
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