Start of the bus...

Last night I went to the hostel bar with one of my dorm mates, where I saw a guy on a 15 foot unicycle juggle. Then my mate won a rock paper scissors championship (I got like 6th place) and got free drinks, which he spent on me, so I got a lot of free drinks last night. He also offered to buy my dinner, but I politely declined.

The bus left at 8 this morning, so I got up and ready to go at like 7:30, but I didn't sleep well last night, so it feels like I've been up for days. Which I kind of have been. The bus ride went well. The bus driver tells stories and gives lots of info, and drives to lots of fun areas. I saw a bunch of newborn lambs, which have to be the cutest thing you could imagine!

There are horrible storms in the area (don't worry, i'm safe!) and lots of roads are washed out or have been hit by landslides, so hopefully this doesn't cause any problems for me.

I am in a little town called Kaikoura, which usually has great seal, dolphin, and whale watching, and sea kayaking amoung them, but since the weather is horrendous, I only got to see a few seals and nothing else. Just more of a reason to come back during the summer months!

Anyways, I just enjoyed a big hunk of fresh fish and chips, which really hit the spot after walking in the torrential rain for a half hour. Fresh fish is now my favorite thing I could ever imagine.

I realized I lost a pair of pants (my comfy yoga ones) so I'm kinda disappointed, but that's okay, because I can always buy more!

I came to the conclusion on the bus today that I need to do something more influential with my life (yeah, I've been saying that for almost forever, but I really mean it). I am pretty sure I am going to try to go to somewhere in Africa or India. We'll see where life takes me...

In Christchurch

So I arrived at my hostel in Christchurch at about 10:30 last night and was exhausted. So I went to bed.

When I woke up, I found 5 guys in my dorm with me, so, being me, the first thing I hoped for was that they were all cute guys, but I was slightly disappointed. Oh well. There's hope for me yet (maybe in Wellington hehe).

I walked around Christchurch this morning for an hour or so, and it is a gorgeous city. My hostel is right outside of a beautiful cathedral.

I also found out yesterday that one of my best friends is engaged, so that was very exciting news! I have another wedding to help plan and pick out dresses for! yay! I'm glad I had a year off of weddings so that I can be excited about this one!

I hear that my Mirah Belle has 2 teeth now and I am so excited to see her and spend time with her. I think about her "like all the time. It's absolutely ridiculous" :)

Anyways, I'm gonna find some stuff to do around here and then venture out some more.

More Planning!

I slept all day and all night yesterday. I think I needed the 16 hours of sleep I got. I'm still sick, so it felt pretty good to catch up on some good sleep.

I've spent all of today either on the phone or internet planning the rest of my trip. So far, this is what I have planned:

Fly to Christchurch at 8 pm, stay the night.
Stay in Christchurch for the day
Leave Christchurch on Wednesday and head to Kaikoura
Leave Kaikoura on Thursday and head back to Wellington
Leave Wellington on Saturday for Nelson
Stay in Nelson then leave for Greymouth on Sunday
Stay in Greymouth then head to Franz Joseph (hike the glacier!!).
Stay in Franz Joseph on Monday and head to Queenstown.
On the 6th and 7th I will go to Milford sound and Catlins, then make my way to Dunedin.
Stay in Dunedin on the 8th and head to Lake Tekapo
Leave Lake Tekapo on the 9th for Christchurch, then head back up to Auckland/Bay of Islands to hopefully visit with Angela (a relative) for the 9/10 or something, then stay in Auckland until I leave on the 13th.

Ahhhhh! I have a full rest of my trip! I am so excited!

I am hoping my visit to Wellington is worthwhile. I am excited to spend time with someone I met there (Chatta and Sara - I want to talk to you so bad to tell you of this new adventure!). I am to the point where I feel if I don't go back, I might be asking myself later why I didn't... after all, I have nothing to lose by going there, but everything to gain!

I hope I will still be able to visit Angela, as there was a storm that hit the Bay of Islands (where she lives) that was the biggest in the past 15 years, and I hear that it's flooded. I hope her and her family are safe, and that I will be able to meet this part of my family.

Anyways, I have more reservations to make and hostels to book, so I better get to that. I hope to call Sara soon so we can chit chat (I spend too much money on the phone, hehe) and I don't really know what time it is/have Chatta's number in Sweden, so I'll save my chit chat with her for later...

Caving and Driving

We sat in a cafe all day and read a romance novel to eachother, which at times was awkward (for me) because there were youngins around. Oh well.

At 3 pm we went caving. OMFGOMGMOMGOMGOMGOMG. It was beyond epic.
First we had to stand in our already wet wet suits and learn how to abseil while frozen. We then walked down to the cave. We climbed down a small ladder, and then next thing you knew, we were abseiling down 3 waterfalls, crawling through very small holes, learning about/seeing glowworms that looked like stars, rock climbing up waterfalls and being just over 70 meters below the ground. It was beyond amazing.
The climb back up to the shed was the longest climb ever, being that we had just climbed up 3 rock walls and various ladders to get out with our wet suits weighing about 500 pounds and our boots full of water, weighing another 500 pounds.

After we got back into town (Waitomo) we were told that the All Blacks rugby game was on, so we were excited to sit with a few locals and have a cold brew while watching the game, but we were lied to. It didn't start until like 2 hours later, and we had to drive to Auckland (about 3 hours) that night. So we set off and went to KFC where there were NO BISCUITS. I just about died. I've been craving a biscuit for so long. So we went to McDonalds to get a Coke and a chocolate shake, only to be disappointed yet again. The coke tasted like there was rum in in, and the chocolate shake tasted like strawberry, even though it was brown.

We got a little lost in Auckland, but we finally found our hostel at midnight and passed out. We woke up this morning and dropped of el cheapo (our beloved car) after a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts (SWEET AS). We're gonna hang out in the afternoon, walking around Auckland until Bridget leaves at 2:30. Then I'm gonna sit in the hostel and plan my trip a little better, maybe.

Mount Doom

We had a long drive yesterday. Left early in the morning and drove back up north. We saw so many cute little towns on our way up, and loved it.

We also drove by mount doom, which was fabulous/gorgeous.

We went for a drive last night up to Raglan, which took about 2 hours longer than expected because we took the back roads for a more scenic route. It was pitch black and there were possums running around all over. We scared ourselves silly.

We stayed in Waitomo and are going on an adventure today, which should be good and cold. Hopefully everything works out.

Both days that we have been driving all day it's been beautiful, but whenever we settle down the rain catches up with us :)

I bought a bus and plane ticket today for the South Island, which should be fun, although I'm a bit nervous still about traveling alone. Bridget leaves tomorrow, then I have a day or so in Auckland before I fly south. I hope everything goes okay as I am a freak about this stuff. Luckily I've met a lot of people traveling alone, so I'm sure I'll meet more.

I'm considering stopping back in Wellington to meet up with someone I met from there... We'll see what comes of that.

Epic

Start with batman because we can't think about anything else. We just saw batman, the dark knight, and just died. We are speechless.

We went to bed early a few nights ago because we were tired. Yesterday we went to the wineries in Martinborough, which was great (sampling $125/half bottle wine was amazing). We drove back to Wellington and took a very long nap. We then went grocery shopping and cooked dinner and finished the last of our specialty cheese. We then watched the end of Rules of Engagement before going down to the Basement Bar to meet with our British friend Sonia, who I might travel with on the South Island when Bridget leaves. She's so cute.

We met a few guys and bar/club hopped all night. Bridget met some guys from Kazakhstan (spelling?) and her life was complete. I met a bunch of Kiwi's. And we were caught in the middle of a throwdown because a guy with a girlfriend was flirting with a girl we didn't know, but we knew and were dancing, but she was protective.

I got two phone numbers. Haha. We couldn't sleep all night because our window is broken and was banging and we just about broke it. again.

We woke up late, at some toast, walked around the city and got kinda lost, but not at the same time (Wellington is like the cutest place ever!!!!) Then we went to the dark knight (please refer to top).

We leave tomorrow (so sad!!!!!!) to head back up to Auckland, with a stop at the Waitomo Caves (if they're not flooded) for a 7 hour epic adventure, and maybe stopping in Hamilton to see the rugby game at a pub.

In Wellington

So back to two nights ago.
Bridget and I watched Constantine and went in the hottub for an hour or so before going to bed. The next day was gorgeous so we went for a little hike to Huka Falls (There is a LOT of water there).

Then we drove to Wellington. We saw a Celtic winery and tried to stop by, but it was closed, which saddened us. Our drive to Wellington had the most beautiful weather alongside some beautiful rolling hills, sheep, and mountains/volcanoes in the distance. We stopped in a random town (they are all so cute here!) and shopped for a few hours. We bought some sweet gold jewelry to look cute in.

We got completely lost in Wellington. It's a pretty small city, but the drivers are crazy and the maps not so correct. The hostel we are at in Wellington is pretty hoppin. There are tons of people here. Once we arrived we talked to one of our roommates (and Englishman) and then went grocery shopping and bought some "Specialty cheese" also known as parmesan ($8 for a little bag, but we found some on sale for $5!!!). We then made (the stoves were impossible to use, so it took like an hour to boil water)/ate supper, headed down to the bar in the basement of the hostel where it was happy hour.

We ended up playing some intense games with these four guys from England for the entire night. And ended the night laughing in the hallway at the fact that someone left a bowl of rice in front of our door.

We woke up this morning to bright sunshine and a beautiful day so we were excited to walk around town, but as soon as we stepped out the door it started pouring torrentially. We bought tickets to see The Dark Knight for the 24th! yayayayayaya! We went to a museum that was very talked up, but it sucked, which was disappointing since we were soaking wet from the rain. Oh well. Now we are planning for a our night ahead, which will probably be with more cute English boys in the basement bar. Also planning on going back to old times and going for a late night Mickey D's hamburger or nuggets.

We are really enjoying our time together and I am mad that Bridget is leaving me, but I will cope. And she's completely broke. I'm not yet, thankfully. I found a good way to get around called the Kiwi Experience bus, so I'll probably end up doing that.

Lots of love.
AK

p.s. Bridget army crawled down a set of stairs and I took pictures.
p.p.s. We are suckers for accents
p.p.p.s. We had to physically hold our umbrella on the sides for it to be effective, which made it compelete ineffective as our arms got completely soaked.

YAY FOR VOLCANOES!.... and sheep (they wear what's natural).

Rain, Rain, you can stay!

After I updated last, Bridget and I went out to the lava bar, which was filled with attractive, gay men. oh well. in the morning it was raining pretty hard so we decided to wait to zorb until today. We went to a place called Hell's Gate where we had a mud bath and sulphur spa. it was excellent to soothe our still aching muscles from horseback riding. It rained the entire time, but that was okay since it was flipping hot in them!

We carved some cool little wood things as memorobilia. yay.

Then we ate and saw Prince Caspian (we gotta get some movies in there!!!)

Then we went home and slept for like 12 hours.

Today we woke up, and went zorbing, which we could have done all day. it was beyond amazing.

We then drove to taupo where it's been pouring the entire day, except for right now. We went to the bungy jump place, and got a little intimidated (and it was closed for a few hours) because darth vader's face was reflected on the lake. Not because of the 17 story drop. So we took a walk in the rain towards the huge waterfall, but the path was flooded, so we just went for a bit and turned around.

I am getting a sore throat and might die. so we stopped at a chemist (pharmacist) and i'm gonna be better by tomorrow.

We would like to eat, but everything is closed in the middle of the day, so we'll starve for a few hours more.

That is all.
Mom, I love it when you call. hehe.

The Hobbits are Coming to Isengaard

Bridget and I went out last night and had a mighty swell time. We then woke up, tried to go to Vodafone to buy more minutes for the phone I have, but they just looked at us and made us wait 20 minutes. Boo. Then we drove in the rain to Matamata aka Hobbiton. We were worried we wouldn't find it, but the sign was ridiculously huge. It was on some random farm and we happened to be the only ones on the tour at that time, so we got our own private tour. I WALKED THE SAME STEPS AS GANDALF, FRODO, AND FRIENDS. I also found out you can have a party by the party tree.
Destination wedding? maybe yes, maybe don't. most likely definitely. yes.

We saw a sheep sheared by some crazy shearer. It was a male. both of them were. We then bottle fed to orphan lambs. they were hungry and cute.

WE then started our drive to Rotorua. We are staying in a cactus. actually, it's cactus jack's. which is a pretty good place to be, albeit a little creepy with the mexican theme. the beds are so soft, they might as well not exist. bridget and i haven't stopped laughing for the past 8 hours.

WE just went to a hangi meal (traditional maori under the ground made meal) and they did a sweet performance. Maori men are extremely attractive and intense, which we realized first last night when we went out, but it was exemplified tonight when they were warrior-ed up. Some 15 year old girls called us annoying, so I told them that was very inconsiderate.

I've had horrible stomach problems today that resulted in a large group of people surrounding me and an older woman loudly saying "whoever smelled it dealt it" Must of been her haha.

The bathroom in the hostel has a timed light, and bridget and i were chatting when the light just turned off, which was a bit of an issue because I couldn't find the end of the tp. oh well.

Tomorrow we are going zorbing and spending the entire day in the mud baths and in the spa. Rotorua smells like sulfer, but I don't mind.

Many posts in one

I haven't had internet for a while, and Bridget and I just got our new phone number today, but still have to buy some time for it.

Anyways, here's a little update on the past few days!

Monday, July 14th, 6:41 PM
Flight to LA went well. I met some nice people in the airport from Canada and Australia. I read a book with somewhat inappropriate chapter titles. There were like 5 Catholic friars on the plane, which made me feel even more awkward.

Monday, July 14, 8:20 PM
My flight to Fiji has 10 seats across. The people greet you in a touristy way when you get on board. It even has a second floor! I have 10 hours on this flight. Hopefully I'll sleep. This still isn't real!

Tuesday, July 15, 5:15 PM
Still en route to Fiji. Sitting next to Tom, a guy from San Francisco. Pretty much a hippie but a nice guy to visit with.. Weirdest flight I"ve ever been on. Got face towels before bed and in the morning. Also got socks, eye covering, toothbrush, and toothpaste, besides 2 meals. I'm loving it. I could stay on this plane for a long time. I"ve never met nicer flight attendents than the Fijians. I'm watching Flight of the Conchords on the plane.

Tuesday, July 15, 8:00 AM
Made it to Fiji and can sense it in the air. The airport here is quite annoyhing. I am so excited I am almost to New Zealand, albeit exhausted.

Wednesday, July 16, 10 AM
Bridget arrived and we got a ride to our hostel by a Samoan dude I met at the airport. WE sat around a gossiped for a few hours then went to go find some food (Fruit Loops), then planned our trip. Yay! We were asleep by 10 last night!

Thursday, July 17, 10 AM
Woke up. Rented "el cheapo" and had some problems at first. Drove north to Pakiri and rode horse in the ocean (yay!!!!). Rapheal (the dog) took care of us as we walked and rode. We galloped around corners and had a smashing time. Stayed at Pahiri. GORGEOUS. Stayed in a co-ed dorm and the girl in the bunk below me slept naked, which was somewhat awkward.

Thursday, July 17, 11:30 pm
Went on a dolphin safari. got seasick and barfed. ended up not seeing any dolphins, but got a voucher to come back any time for the rest of my life. It was beautiful. Drove far and am now in Hamilton and going to explore the night life! Pahiri was beautiful and I wish I could have stayed forever (Bridget and I found a house for sale that would make the perfect bakery! oh no!) Tomorrow we see HOBBITTON! our lives are crazy busy.

I love you all and know I am safe and I will call my family soon!

I'm here

I have arrived! Just have to wait for bridget for 4 hours!

One last time before I leave...

So I thought I'd update one last time.

I just dropped my mom off at the train station. It was so great that she came and we walked around Lake of the Isles and Minnehaha Falls so that calmed my nerves a lot. I have such a great family :)

It was Nick's birthday today, so I was thinking about him a lot. He e-mailed me a really cute video of Mirah with a party hat and balloon. It was adorable.

I was hoping for a really good night of sleep tonight, but it seems that life has other plans for me: the person in the apartment under mine is playing music RIDICULOUSLY loud. This hasn't happened in like 8 or 9 months. So right now I'm not too happy about that.

Chuck is giving me a ride to the airport tomorrow, which is really nice of him. I will have my phone on until I leave from LA, which is about 9:00 pm Pacific time. I'll probably be calling my mom/family a lot!

Anyways, I'm going to try to fall asleep after I stomp around a bit. Next time you hear from me, I'll be in NEW ZEALAND!!!!!

To Do & To Pack

So, I leave in 5 days.

I had to change a flight today. I called the airline that I'm flying from LA to Auckland with, and I found out that during my two hour layover in LA, I have to leave the secure area, check in, then go through security again, in the 5th busiest airport in the world. Hmmm. I don't think two hours is quite enough time. So I changed my flight so that I would have four hours, just in case something happens.

I made a list of things to do before I leave and things to pack and where to pack them. So here it goes, and if I forget something, make sure to leave a comment or write an e-mail!

To Do:

• Laundry
• Take out the trash/recycling
• Unplug all electrical except fridge
• Take out perishable items from fridge
• Leave a window partway open
• Make sure stove/oven is off
• Dishes
• PACK!!!!
• Send an e-mail to my mother with various phone numbers in case of emergency
• GET ADDRESSES FOR POSTCARDS!!!

To Pack (Purse):

• Wallet
• Camera
• iPod
• Keys
• Itinerary/Boarding Pass
• Passport
• Book(s)

To Pack (Backpack):

• Toiletries (razor, facewash, toothpaste/brush, shampoo/conditioner, bodywash, deodorant)
• Brush
• Ponytails
• Shirts
• Pants
• Socks
• Undies
• Camera Charger
• iPod charger
• Converter
• PJ's
• Dress(es)
• Bra
• Towel
• Jacket (w/ hood)
• Sweatshirt(s)
• Dress shoes
• Sandals
• Hiking shoes

I think that I have just about everything down.

I might start packing the little toiletries now, just so I don't have to think about them, along with some of the other things that I won't need until I leave.

My mother might come and visit right before I leave, so that might alleviate some of the stress she has about me going, and it'd be really nice to have someone be here to make sure I haven't completely lost my mind.

I am going to see Wolf Parade (a band) tomorrow, and I am super excited. I am probably more excited to see them right now, mostly because it still doesn't seem that this dream that I've had to go to New Zealand is actually coming true, let alone just a few days away!

*****Note that I have now added the current time and weather in New Zealand and a currency converter, located at the bottom of the page. There is an interactive map on the right hand side if you would like to see where I am. Also, the time of my posting is in New Zealand time, so it's not quite accurate until I leave*****

Less than two weeks to go!

I leave in less than two weeks now, and it doesn't even seem real. I keep telling myself that I have so much to do to get ready, but I really can't think of anything. In other words, I'm getting really anxious!

I got an e-mail from Bridget, the friend that I will be traveling with for the first 12 days, and we have planned some stuff to do!

• Zorb in Rotorua
• Polynesian spa in Rotorua
• The Dark Knight in Wellington
• Black Water Rafting in the Waitomo Caves
• Wine tours
• The Shire (we are LOTR geeks, ya know)
• Meet my future husband (oh my, where did that come from?)

So those are our only plans, besides our plan to just let the unexpected happen and experience life to the fullest! There will probably be more pre-trip updates as I get more and more anxious and the fact that I'm actually doing this becomes more real.