BULA FIJI! Day 3

Alright so continuing on with my Fiji adventures! The next morning I got up to watch the sunrise and sat in a hammock by the beach reading until everyone else got up and we went to breakfast. Let me tell you, there is nothing more relaxing and beautiful than an amazing Fijian sunrise. Its already warm in the morning and there is a light sea breeze coming off the ocean, it is one of a kind! After breakfast, Catherine, Ludwig (Guy we met from germany on the ferry) and I all grabbed our snorkeling gear and hopped into the boat to go on a snorkeling safari! We were shuttled around to 3 different locations around the islands to see some of the most amazing snorkeling, including a stop in the Blue Lagoon! The first stop it was sad because my goggles broke, so the driver dropped everyone else off and rushed me back to the resort so I could switch to a new pair. I finally got back and jumped right in the water. Diving down into the coral and swimming with fishes. I was so distracted by the reef that I didn't notice everyone else had swim off into another direction and were already on the boat. I didn't even see them until the boat was racing in my direction to pick me up. We then went to the two other spots and spent a good 2 hours in the water snorkeling. We then headed back to the resort for some lunch and a quick break before we were back on the boat and off to another location in the Blue Lagoon to do a fish feeding and snorkeling trip! When we jumped into the water the boat driver threw pieces of bread into the water and the fish swarmed!!! I don't think I have ever been immersed in that many fish! And they were quite aggressive. They would bump into you and nibble your feet not even caring what you were doing! It was pretty cool! We then went to another location in the Blue Lagoon to snorkel a little more and sit on the white sandy beach and sand bar. We then drove back to the resort. That night all gathered at the volleyball courts to play a few games against some of the locals from the village on the other side of the island.... The kicked our asses. But thats ok cause I had a blast. We then all went to the dining hall for another great meal, great drinks and great company! That night it was low tide and Amanda and I went wading out into the ocean to sit and look at the stars. The night was so clear and there were tons of stars! You could see the milky way and the southern cross along with the occasional shooting star! What a truly amazing day!!! More to come from Fiji! Cheers!

BULA FIJI! Day 1 & 2

Alright, let me start to tell you a little about my amazing experiences in Fiji. So let me start off with a disclaimer, Fiji is the most beautiful tropical paradise ever... hands down. So I will have nothing but a lot of positives to say! So, three friends and I took a week off of school in the middle of the semester to take this trip to Fiji. It was a lot of work to do before leaving but it was so worth it. We flew into Auckland and had a 4 hour layover where we met up with some of Adele's family, had lunch and bought some things duty free then boarded the plane and flew into Nadi. It was dark when we arrived so I had no idea what was in store for me the next day. But that night we stayed at Smugglers cove, which was a nice back packers  hostel. We had an amazing meal and relaxed outside. After being in cold Dunedin it was awesome to be able to sit outside at night in a tank and shorts. Ahhhh, Paradise. There was also some entertainment from the duo called the Kavaholics. They were really fun to listen to and it was awesome because we were invited to sit with them and drink kava! Lots and lots of kava. They just kept offering it! So we kept drinking it! Needless to say I slept very well that night. We had an early morning so we went to bed early. When I got up that morning and went outside I was stunned. The water was so blue, and clear. It honestly took my breath away. We left smugglers cove and went to the port where we boarded the ferry that was going to take us up into the Yasawa Islands where we were spending the rest of our trip. The ferry was a long 4 hour trip but the views of the islands, the sun and the occasional dolphins that would show up to play in our wake made the trip incredible regardless! We finally got to our stop way up at the top of the island chain, where we hopped onto a little boat that took us across the Blue Lagoon (Yeah the real Blue lagoon, from the movie!) and to our first resort, Coralview! The resorts are all small but thats what makes them so charming. The staff was all out on the beach waiting for us and singing and playing the ukelele and whisked us away to check in and feed us! We were so hungry by that point. We also had met some pretty cool internationals on the ferry that were staying at the same resort so we had them put us all in the same room. It was a cool room that slept 12 and had a bathroom in the room! So we felt luxurious. After dumping our stuff in the room we wasted no time running over to the dive shop, renting snorkeling gear and setting up our chairs and towels on the beach. Catherine and I immediately took to the water, about two feet out to sea there was an amazing coral reef. There were corals of the most vibrant colors, and of all shapes and sizes. And the water is so clear the visibility was unreal. There were also tons of tropical fishes, sea stars, sea cucumbers and giant clams!! We spent hours out there snorkeling. The water is so warm (Beth warm everyone, so you know thats warm) that you can just keep going because you don't get cold! We finally dragged ourselves out of the water, exhausted but happy and content. I mean, I just spent two hours snorkeling on some of the best reefs in the world! I then went and showered and we gathered everyone up and hiked to the top of the island to watch the sun set. Holy crap was that an amazing sunset. I have never seen anything like it! We then climbed down in the dark and went to the dining hall for a wonderful buffet dinner. When everyone was settled after dinner, drinking and playing games all of the sudden on of the workers came running into the hall and told us all to hurry because they had just spotted a sea turtle on the beach laying eggs. After giving us a long speech about being quiet and not disturbing it we finally went over to it. They said ok you guys have 30 seconds to take pictures with flash and then your done. So for the next thirty seconds everyone was frantically snapping away. Then all of the sudden right after the thirty seconds were up the turtle burst from the sand, like it had exploded. In reality, we had been the victims of a prank. One of the workers was buried under a turtle shell and popped up out of it to scare us all. I may have shit my pants a little... O well. It was pretty funny. Everyone then went back to the dining room for the rest of the night for drinking and drinking games (Give me a break I was on vacation!). So that was the end of day 2 in Fiji, and what an eventful day it was!!!!!!!! More Fiji posts to come!

Hump Ridge Track!

Hello all, sorry its been so long since I have posted! So about a week before I went to Fiji I did the Hump Ridge track in southern Fiordland! It was a three day hike of 55 km! The first day started off early in the morning. The sun was up and there was a rainbow over the mountains and it seemed like the day would be amazing! We hiked through the forest and down a steep set of stairs to the beach, hiked along the beach for a few kilometers and then turned into the bush to start our ascent up the mountain. After walking for a long time in the sand my legs were pretty tired by the time we had to go "uphill" (I use quotes because up hill is an understatement...). To be honest... I WAS DYING! In a span of about 4 km we ascended around 1,200 meters!!!! Needless to say I was having mental conversations with myself about how it would be over soon and how I am a rockstar that can do anything. So after what felt like ages we finally got to the top. So I thought I would feel like superman once I got to the top.... But actually not... the temperature had dropped a significant amount, high winds came ripping over the top of the mountain, AND........ It was raining.... Hard. YIPPEE!!! Just what I wanted at that point in time. But I sucked it up and kept going, there was about a one hour ridge walk until we got to the hut so I knew I could do it. When I finally had the hut insight I actually ran down to it doing the Rocky run with my fists up in the air over my head. Thats how excited I was to see the hut.  How amazing it was to put on dry clothes. It was cold inside but I didn't care because I wasn't dripping wet anymore! And that was all I could ask and hope for. We spent that night huddled in the kitchen cooking, playing cards, chatting and trying to keep warm. It was well below freezing outside, we were exposed on the top of the mountain and there was no stove... So that night I put on all of my dry clothes, hat and mittens, and like 4 pairs of socks and crawled into my sleeping bag, it was freezing, but I was so exhausted I passed out quite quickly and was dead to the world for a good 9 hours. The next morning we got an early start, and summitted a near by ridge that gave amazing views of fiordland to the north and stuart island to the south. It was incredible!!! There were even a few rainbows! But we did have another 17 km day ahead of us so we started off. We had to hike along the ridge, going up and down summiting all of the peaks along the ridge, then descend down like a million stairs (my knees were not happy), keep going down through a beautiful woodland area and then hike for three hours on a flat set of train tracks to get to the hut. So we started off along the ridge, I immediately regretted not starting early because through the mountain to the north I could see a nice storm heading right for us, and it was moving fast. Up on top of the mountain, it was like being hit by a train. Cold temperatures, high wind, and rain/snow. I was again, soaked, and freezing, and at one point I think I almost plummeted to my death when a huge gust of wind came up and knocked me over. But we finally made it down off the ridge and into the forest where we were protected from the elements. The forest walk was incredible. Its a strange thing, Fiordland national park is just as beautiful when its raining as when its clear and sunny, but in a different way. Its almost as if the trees, grasses and ferns emit a glow when its raining, It really is quite a magical thing to experience. After a few hours in the forest though the storm passed and the sun came out, and all that was left was 3 hours walking along a flat path! Or so I thought.... Firstly walking on train tracks suck.... The beams are spaced just close enough that you can't just simply walk on them, you have to mentally look at every step you take and calculate it or you will trip or twist your ankle... And there was nowhere else to walk because they carved the track down into a gully that had 3m high walls on either side. That was fun for 3 hours. And not only were we walking on horribly annoying train tracks but since it had just poored for a few days the gully was filled with huge lakes of water and mud... tons and tons of mud. Some of it was navigable and you could avoid it but there were a few mud pools that spanned the entire width of the track and would go on forever... So I got to walk in ankle high mud  for three hours...... The mud was honestly the worst part... As much as it sucks, I can handle being cold, I can even handle being soaking wet for three days.... I could not handle the mud. It was so mentally exhausting to trek through that by the time we were nearing the end of the "mud monster" as I like to refer to it, I was looking down at the mud, physically flicking it off with both hands and yelling "F U!!!!" over and over again (I think its safe to assume at this point, I was a little frustrated). The previous day I had thought that seeing the hut finally was the happiest moment of my life..... no. The amount of happiness I felt when I saw the hut on the second day after defeating the mud monster was like if I was 6 again and the north pole and disney world teamed up and I got to visit and meet santa and disney characters, go on rides, open presents, and I got to eat ice cream and candy for every meal. That was how happy I was to not be walking in that mud anymore. So we got to the hut, and I took off my muddy boots and again put on dry clothes, which was amazing and my mood immediately began to elevate. Because lets be honest, as shitty as things can get I am still in New Zealand and hiking in the most beautiful places on earth so I couldn't stay irritated for long. We spent the night in an awesome hut with a 4 story bunk bed that slept around 25 people! And there was a wood burning stove, so I was nice and warm :). The next day was not quite as intense. A leisurely 15km hike through the bush and on the beach, and there was no rain and it was sunny and quite warm. Things could for sure be worse. I may have been battling a few large blisters at that point but I powered through and made it back to the car in record time!!!! Then we had a 3 hour drive home and I was sleeping in my own bed :). This may have sounded like a terrible experience but it wasn't. There may have been some tough aspects but it was an amazing place and a great hike and I wouldn't trade it! I also made some pretty unforgettable memories.. I mean, I will never forget that mud monster... Ever.

North Island, Fall Break!

Hi everyone, I know its been awhile so let me catch you up! So Last I had a week long break for mid semester (holy crap the time is flying!) and I took an 8 day trip to the North Island. I flew out of Dunedin with 3 friends to Wellington, We rented a car there, looked around the city for a few hours and then started our way north. We drove to the Snowy waters lodge just outside of Togariro National park. The lodge was a cute little ski lodge with a beautiful view of the mountains. The next morning we woke up at 5am so we could start our day early. We did the Tongariro alpine crossing, a 19 km hike up the devils staricase, past mount doom and the red crater and then to the blue lakes. It was a tough but amazing hike. Mount doom from lord of the rings was so awesome to see. The entire Tongariro national park is a volcanically active area, and was where all scenes from mordor were filmed (I was totally geeking out about that). Once we finished the hike we were totally beat and had an early night. The next day we drove up to Taupo. We were supposed to go sky diving that day but the weather was terrible so we had to cancel. Don't worry I will be skydiving sometime before I leave, I am determined! Instead we walked around the town and the lake, had coffee, and did the craters of the moon walking trail. The next day we drove out to Waiatomo. There is an amazing cave system there that has the famous glow worms! I did the Haggas Honking Holes caving adventure. We drove out into the middle of nowhere to some rolling sheep pastures, stopped off at a shed, put on our wetsuits, helmets and head lamps and filed outside. The caving trip we did required us to know how to absail so we had to do a little training before because most of the people including myself had never done it before! Once we had all perfected (not really we all did it once) absailing it was time to begin out caving adventure. Somehow I ended up going first and so I marched on fearlessly after our guide, watched him disappear into a black hole in the ground, prayed to the cave gods and jumped in after him. I squeezed into small tunnels and around corners until all the light had disappeared behind me. I finally caught up to the guide  and he was waiting to hook me up to the ropes for my first ever absail! After I was strapped in I was looking down a huge cave shaft It was pitch black down there so I had no idea where the bottom was, then he said alright swing out over the hole and start absailing down. I gave him a "you are actually psycho if you think I am swinging out into nothingness" took a deep breath and took the plunge! It was incredible! I slowly came into a huge cavern with glow worms on the walls and huge stalactites on either side of me! And I was absailing down a waterfall! In a cave!!!! Once I got to the bottom the other guide asked me how it was and I was speechless. Incredible was the only word I think I got out. I waited at the bottom of the cave for the rest of the group, occasionally wandering off to explore and then hearing the guide call to me to not wander so far away or I might get lost... Opps, it was just so awesome! We then moved on to the next absail. I lowered down into a huge pool of water that came up to my waist. This time at the bottom there was no one there to direct me. All I hear was the guy up above me yelling "Follow the direction of the water" all I saw was cave walls and water disappearing down a small chute. I yelled back up that I didn't understand where I was supposed to go so he told me to sit on my butt and go down this little chute like a slide. Alright I was gonna do it, but I did inform him that if I died it was his fault. Eventually I emerged from this little water slide and had one more absail to do. Once everyone gathered we went off. We had just come down 100m under ground and had some exploring to do. It was so amazing. We laid on the floor of the cave looking up at what looked like a clear sky full of stars. We were so close to the glow worms I could get my face right up next to them. We then squeezed through a small squeeze that I had to get down and army crawl through because it was so small. We then all had to do some major rock climbing up cave walls and expertly positioned ladders to climb back out. All in all that was one of the most exciting 2 hours of my life! The next day we drove to Rotorua and walked by the lake and looked at the many geothermal vents and pools they have there. It was a really cute town except for the rotting egg smell from all of the geothermal activity. The next day we then took a bus to the Coromandel to stay at my friend Adele's house. There were beautiful beaches there. We spent our day riding bikes, sitting at the beach, getting a ride on the party barge and having a few barbaques. I did eat mussels for the first time ever so I was quite proud that day. The next day we took a trip up the coast to see hot water beach, which is a beach that has a hot spring so at low tide you can dig a hole and sit in it and wait for the hot water to seep in. We also took a trip to cathedral cove, where scenes from the Chronicles of Narnia were filmed. We then stopped off at sting ray bay to go snorkeling. The water was a bit cloudy due to high surf but I did see a bunch of sting rays and the water was warm for swimming. The next day was the day we flew home. We drove to Auckland and went to Adele's Dad's house which is on the bay and took a few sea kayaks out for a spin and had an amazing view of the Auckland skyline. After a quick flight home I was back in Dunedin. The North Island was amazing and I had such a good time there! Cheers!

Queenstown round two!

So my trip to Queenstown this second time was very different than my first. When I went with my mom it was quite relaxing and we would wander the streets, shop, eat amazing meals and sight see. This time it was all about the adventure! there was a huge group of us that went, around 20! The group I traveled with rented a 12 passenger van, which was really awesome, we left early saturday morning and got to Queenstown around 12:30. We had a quick lunch and then I was off to my first adventure. RIVERBOARDING! We were all given a wetsuit (the river was a glacial river and very cold), helmet and small boogie bard. We then were ushered down to the river where we received about 2 minutes of training and then were off! I was swimming down a river tackling class 3 rapids with no experience with white water and only a little boogie board to hold on to! It was incredible! Such a rush! There were some rapids that were so big that as I came up to them I basically closed my eyes, held my breath and held on for dear life! We got to run a 6 km stretch of river twice, so the second time was so much fun because I felt like an old pro! Crazy stuff.. That night we all went to a BYO (bring your own) at an amazing thai place and then hit the bars to experience Queenstown's night life, It was so much fun to be there with all of my friends! The next morning we woke up and checked out of our hostel, (I was staying in an 8 person co ed dorm style, I felt bad for the two random people in the room with all of us rowdy kids!), and then went out for an amazing breakfast. After breakfast I then had my next action adventure. The Nevis Bungy. The second tallest in the world sitting on a high wire between two cliffs at 134m high! I was surprisingly calm for most of the time leading up to it. I was just so excited I don't think I had time to be nervous. It was nuts sitting out in the little pod on the high wire looking through the glass floor below me and seeing one by one the people before me leap into thin air and about 3 seconds later be 134m below! They looked smaller than ants! Finally it was my turn to go. I sat down in the chair so they could strap me into the harness and to the bungee cord and by heart started racing. I stood up to walk over to the platform and bam, it hit me. I was looking down into a canyon and realized I was about to jump into nothingness. I took three deep breaths, put my toes over the ledge, the guy behind me said three, two one, and I leapt forward into a huge swan dive (I was screaming bloody murder before my feet even left the platform), and was falling, and falling, and I kept falling. I felt like I was in free fall forever and the ground was starting to get closer and closer, just then the bungy caught me and yanked me back up,  then my screams turn to pure joy and excitement! I was having the time of my life! I couldn't believe I had just done that! As I was hauled back up to the jump pod I had the biggest smile on my face! Pure joy is an amazing thing! I just cant wait to do it again!!! :D I eventually made it back to queenstown, got a Fergburger (best hamburger in the world) and we all piled into the 12 passenger van and drove home. Wow what an amazing weekend.

Livingston ridge

Hello all, so two weekends ago I took an amazing trip to Fiordland national park! I went with the university of Otago's tramping (hiking) club. I went on the livingston ridge trip. It was a completely off trail bush bashing hike that took around 11 hours to complete! It was stunning. by far the most amazing hike I have ever done. We were hiking up on a mountain ridge with two river valleys down below on either side and even larger mountain to the left and right! There were also a bunch of alpine lakes that we would wonder past on our trip. This was a really tough hike. It was uphill most of the way, sometimes climbing up huge peaks that would go straight up, all the while carrying a 50 lb pack on my back! It was insane! There was one point when we were starting our descent where we were climbing straight down with no path and barely any mountain to get a good hold for my feet and I slipped, both of my feet were in the air and I was sliding down the mountain very quickly. My mind was racing as I was trying to find a way out of this! Thankfully there was another person below me that saw all of this happening and stopped me before I went plummeting into thin air! That was a close call! We finally made it all the way down the mountain and slept the night in the Mckeller back country hut on the greenstone track. It was so nice to have a nice bed to sleep on (unlike the night before when I slept on he concrete in the divide shelter). We made a nice meal of some curry and lentils and I slept like a rock. The next morning I had a 5 hour easy hike along the greenstone and then the Routeburn to get back to the divide where we were picked up by the bus and started the long trip back. It was truly an amazing weekend!