From the West to the East!

So we left Queenstown and headed to Christchurch for two nights - A fun city with small town feel the whole town is situated around a gorgeous cathedral! They have a tram system, a central park and lots of unique/artsy stuff! We went to the art center where you can chat with artists and watch them at work in their studios and hung around the park and a few funky, trendy bars down some decorated alleys.

Then we headed to Kaikoura - awesome! It's the East Coast with snow-capped mountains pretty much running right up to the coast line. I went swimming with dolphins in the ocean and it was one of the neatest experiences! We take a boat out and all became dolphin spotters - in the end we swam with 3 different pods! One of the pods had a couple hundred dolphins - there were dorsal fins all over the surface plus they like to show off so they were jumping and doing flips and somersaults. Sometimes the dolphins would zip past you and other times they were curious and you could swim circles with them or dive down together - it was so neat to be with an animal in their complete natural habitat.

Now we are in Wellington! The country's capital! A funky place it has been a gorgeous sunny day and we enjoyed a festival in the park, the huge free museum and just got done from listening to Christmas carols in teh park - it didn't feel right to be listening to Christmas carols on a picnic blanket in jeans and a t-shirt! haha

Tomorrow we head to Taupo and I'm just about home - weird! And exciting! Talk (and see) you all soon!!

And then I threw my body into a canyon :)

Greetings from Queenstown! It has been so much fun here! A quaint city on the lake surrounded by more of those darn mountains!!

As promised I did a bungy!! The second highest in the world (go big or go home, right?) It was probably the most terrifying thing I've ever done and the coolest most surreal thing ever too! I did the Nevis High Wire - it was a small wire between two peaks with a launching station hanging in the middle - you take a little pod the station and then wait to jump out of it 134 meters (440 feet) towards the rocky river bottom! The freefall is 8.5 seconds and absolutely mad! The scariest thing was waiting the pod and watching all the other jumpers but it was a rush and if anyone wants a good laugh I had to purchase the DVD and would love to laugh at myself with you :)

I just got back a few hours ago from the Milford Sound. This sounds sort of dweeby but it was so beautiful and vast that it was quite powerful. The Fiordland National Park is the size of New Jersey and is layer after layer of mountains reaching 4,000-6,000 feet with cascading waterfalls around all sides of them. The rivers are incredibly blue, the trees deep green and little penguins and seals swim around! We went on a boat cruise, a hike and a kayak in this phenomenal place! We also went to the one little pub in the town of 250 people (the staff that run the outlet) and it was a Movember party so we enjoyed chatting and laughing with the locals who all had grown mustaches throw November as a fundraiser for men's health.

Now tomorrow we are headed to Christchurch and making our way over the next few days back to Auckland before I grab a plane back home - it's crazy to think this chapter in my adventure of life is coming to an end but I'm so excited to share pictures and details and hear about everyone's adventures that I've missed out on!