The Past Three Weeks...

Hey everyone!
I'm sorry I haven't been updating. Once you get behind, it's really hard to catch up! I'll just do a quick recap because I've been doing a lot these past few weekends!!!

Two weekends ago I went up to the Marlborough Sounds area and went on a bicycle wine tour for my flatmate's birthday! We went to five different wineries, riding on bikes in between each. It was actually a lot of fun! I feel so knowledgeable about wine now. I know the difference between a Riesling and a Late Harvest wine.It's kind of fun since I won't be able to do anything like that back in the states at least for another year and half! The area was gorgeous and we had good weather. were eight of us that ended up going so it was a lot of fun! We stayed in a hostel in Picton and then did the start of the Queen Charlotte track and just checked out some views.It was gorgeous...imagine that haha

The next weekend the two Chris', Ali and I went to do Avalanche Peak, near Arthur's Pass, a really pretty area. We decided to hitch-hike which was an experience! It's amazing how easy and acceptable it is here.
Ali and I got picked up quite quickly by a hunter who was going through right where we needed to get dropped off. It was really easy. The boys had to have three different rides to get there but eventually arrived. Even though the woman at the front told us it was too late to start the track and that it would get dark, the boys decided we would go for it. It was a tough track, but of course the view from the top was beautiful!But, we were racing the sun and at the end we had to go down a scree (spelling?) slope, which was just a really steep slope that was all loose rock. It was actually really dangerous and it took us an hour and a half to get down it...which by that time it was dark! We still had to find the hut and we were wandering around in the dark for awhile trying to find this hut. I was exhausted and a little worried we wouldn't find it to be honest. Of course we eventually did and we had the hut all to ourselves! The next morning was rainy and gross and we had to walk back through the valley to the road in order to get picked up to go back to Christchurch. We had to go through waist deep rivers that was FREEZING but it was definitely an experience. Once again we were racing the sun and luckily we got picked up by this nice older couple heading back the ChCh before it got too late. All in all, it was a crazy and adventurous trip haha

THIS weekend we went to Abel Tasman National Park on the north part of the south island. My flatmate had been wanting to go all semester and this weekend was supposed to be great weather so we went for it. It was a girls weekend! We headed out Thursday night and started kayaking Friday morning, staying overnight at a campsite Friday night and then kayaking till 3 pm on Saturday.We kayaked 25 km!! We basically just followed along the coastline, looked at beaches, rocks and wildlife. It's a very pretty area for sure!
We actually got to get really close to a bunch of baby seals who were so playful and would bite at our paddles and jump all around us! It was amazing. It was a really fun weekend and we got to see something that we've been wanting to see for awhile.
Okay, that was a really short and sweet version of what I've been up to this month. It's been amazing and I can't believe I have less than a month till I come back to the states! It all seems very surreal and I know I'll miss this place A LOT. It truly is paradise.

Tramping like a champ!

Hey all!
This weekend was supposed to be a pretty relaxed one, with my flat mates and I just hanging around Ilam and watching movies but of course that didn't end up being the case. We're in New Zealand after all! Why wouldn't we go on an adventure? So, we did! Ali and I decided to go on a tramping trip (at 2 in the morning) to Mt. Cook National Park with our other flat mate Alyssa, and two guys that we know...Chris and Chris haha We had heard it was a pretty intense tramp so Ali and I were keen on sticking together and going slow. I'm definitely not a tramper so I was a little bit nervous.
We left at 8 am on Saturday and jammed out to NSYNC and BSB for a lot of the road trip. I'm sure the boys loved it. It took us about 4 hours to get there and we started up the track at 1 o'clock or so. There was no room in Mueller's Hut, the hut we were hiking too, so we brought along a tent. We knew there was going to be snow up there so we were unsure of how it was going to all turn out. The lady described the hike as "going up a stair master for 5 hours straight". Turns out that is exactly what it was like. whole track was only 5k's but it took us a little over four hours to do it all! We had to stop quite a bit to catch our breath. The first half was basically going up stairs, with the last half going up the side of a mountain covered in snow and ice...perfect combination for slipping and falling. Which I almost did multiple times. I felt so intense! haha I had never done anything like this in my life. We were going up so high and the views were amazing! It was honestly the best weather we could ask for. Not a cloud in the sky and clear as all get out. Apparently it's the best weather they've had in a while. We got extremely lucky. The national park is so beautiful!
We got up to the hut at around 5 o'clock, which by the way is just surrounded by mountains and is the fifth one they've built there because avalanches have knocked the other ones down! Fighting the sun going down, the guys went out to set up the tent while the girls cooked dinner, consisting of chicken, veggies and pasta. We were actually quite proud of how well it turned out! We played cards for as long as possible in the hut before we ventured out in the cold to sleep in our tent. I had a 12 degree (celsius) sleeping back which was not warm enough at all for this weather so I layered up and slept in the way middle of everybody. There were five of us in a 3 person tent, which was fine by us! I'm not sure how much I slept but I survived the night without getting hypothermia so I'd call the night a success. We got up, made oatmeal for breakfast and went to go the summit of Mount Olivia. It was a little tricky getting up because we were climbing over rocks with a bunch of snow and ice but once we got up there the view was well worth the trek! was a gorgeous view and we took multiple photo shoots haha I was so happy I went because I would've been so bummed to see the pictures afterwards. Unfortunately, Alyssa busted up her MCL...she tore it awhile ago and so she re-injured it. She was a trooper though and hiked down the mountain while her knee was super swollen. This guy that we met who has climbed Mt. Cook (he tore his achilles in the process) and Mt. Kilimanjaro gave her some super good pain killers which helped. For some reason I had this burst of energy and booked it down the mountain and we left at around 5:30 or so and headed home!It was a quick trip but I had a blast! We lucked out on weather, the group was a blast and we saw some amazing views. New Zealand has been good to me:)