I'm getting back in shape :)

Okay so I haven’t had internet for the past couple of days while we were in Te Anau, a small town right outside of the Fiordland National Park where the infamous Milford Sound, as well as the Doubtful Sound are. These Sounds were carved out by glaciers and are now a waterway surrounded by mountains, with dolphins, seals and penguins within them. We arrived in Te Anau on Thursday, the 4th and just hung out there for the night. We got some dinner and went to bed fairly early because we had to get up at 7 a.m. to go on our tour with “Trips and Trams”.
So, we woke up, ate some muffins and got picked up by Steve, our guide, along with 5 other tourists. 1 woman was from L.A., two women were from Germany, and a couple was from England. We had a great mix of people in our van and it was a really personal tour. We got on the road towards Milford Sound, which is deep within the national park, stopping at certain points to take pictures on the road. There was a lot of fog and clouds in the morning, which was kind of neat because it added something to the mountains and the pictures. The first part of our tour was to go on a Nature Cruise on the water to take a look at the sound. It was fairly cloudy when we first were going out, but the sun was peaking through so we were hopeful the sun would heat up the ground and lift the clouds and fog. It did for some of the clouds at the beginning and we got to see the peaks of some mountains but as we progressed the clouds were covering the tops of the mountains, which was kind of disappointing. There was a naturalist who was telling us all sorts of information along the way about the sound, how it was created, the animals, etc. (There are actually only two native mammals of New Zealand (bats), the rest are birds! They have introduced possums and rats which has partly caused the extinction of over 250 species of New Zealand birds and they are continuing to put their present birds in danger.) We turned around and as we were coming back the sun was out over half the sound and I got some great pictures! We stopped along side a waterfall and got completed sprayed with water, which was actually pretty cool! We got back to the shore where Steve picked us up and dropped four of us off (the other three were at this underwater observatory…it was more money so we nixed that ha) and we took this walk along the shore where cicadas were SO LOUD. It was crazy. We could also hear the songs of different birds. We couldn’t see them but a lot of them sounded like a human whistling a pretty tune. It was really cool.
After that we picked up the rest of the group and headed towards “The Divide” where we would hike! My mom and I decided to go on a self-guided, longer one that was more challenging. It was definitely challenging! With me being out of shape and the trek being constantly uphill, I got a work out! Even though I was tired, I guess I’m competitive because I really wanted to beat the two German women in our group (who were quite fast) to the top. I’m not gonna lie, I was hauling up that hill/mountain. My adrenaline I guess kept me going. I just kept going and hiking… I was going to get to the top. It was tough but I really had a lot of fun. The views were gorgeous and stunning. I still can’t really believe that I’m here in New Zealand, hiking and seeing all the beauty this country has to offer.
So we got back, met up with the other people of the group who went on an easier, shorter hike and had some biscuits (cookies) and tea/coffee. I was in need of some food and energy. We drove home on the bus, said goodbye to our new friends and headed towards Queenstown. I had heard a lot about this town and how awesome it is so I was excited :) We got here (I'm here now) last night and just chilled in our hotel because I was exhausted from the day. It was really busy. Our stay has been interesting so far...we got to our room and I was about to take a shower and it had no shower curtain...odd. Then we ordered room service and got a burger...without the actual meat patty....odd. It was all really random haha
Now for today's activities. We para-glided today. It was awesome! We took off at about 3800 feet and floated down. I was with a professional named Shi or something..he was from Isreal! It was a perfect day, sunny and clear. We could see everything and it was perfect for me because it wasn't scary :) Until he asked if I wanted to do robotics. He said there are sharp turns and a lot of g force. I decided to live a little for once haha It felt like a rollercoaster (which I hate) and we were like spiraling downward really fast with a ton of force on me. It was pretty scary but I actually liked it! Imagine that. It was so much fun. We also walked around Queenstown a little bit and through the gardens. It is really pretty here...it's right on a lake which always adds something special to a place. Now we're just hanging out. I'll hopefully post pictures soon, but I have so many and I need a lot of time to post them and most of the places we go we have to pay for the internet. I'll get on that though!