Cold but Beautiful: Mishaps in the South

The south of the South Island of New Zealand is cold. Really cold. I am so thankful for my Raven -7 sleeping bag from MEC. Even though it is losing down quite fast, it still keeps my nice and warm. Marit is not so lucky. I think her temperature rating on her sleeping bag is +14. That's unfortunate considering it comes close to freezing over night and we sleep in tents. Last night Marit thought that she would be warmer if she snuggled up right next to me. And she was right. She was warmer. But I could literally feel her sucking the warmth out of the areas of my sleeping bag that she was touching. But on the bright side, we won't be heading any farther south. We are on our way back towards the North, and the warmth.

I think that it was on Tuesday that we left Queenstown. We picked up my shoes from the bungy jumping place and set off on the next leg of our adventure. We drove Southward-ish to Te Anau, stopped in for some information on camping, and headed West toward the Milford Sound. The Milford Sound is a Fiord. There are a bunch of Fiords on the south western coast of the south Island in NZ. I think that Milford is the only one that you can get to via roads with cars. I think there are hikes and canoe trips and such that you can do to see other Fiords, though. Anyways, we headed for the closest campsite to Milford, which was about 1 hour away from Milford. It was a pretty nice camp ground, considering it was one of the DOC sites.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) sets up little camp sites all over the place, and it costs only $6 per person, but it is not much of a campsite. Some of them have outhouses, but that is all. So this camp site was much like the others. It was on a beautiful clear mountain lake with rocky shores. We pitched our tent in the trees, and as the sun went down, it got COLD. We ate some supper and were sitting on the beach chilling (literally), when a guy walked by and said "Hey, come 'Yoin' us" and gestured towards a place where some other guys were sitting. I was intrigued by his accent, so I went over and asked where they were from. They were from Sweden. Cool! I haven't met anyone from Sweden here yet, mostly just Germans, so this was a nice change.

I sat in one of their lawn chairs (which was awesome since we always sit on the ground), and some of the Swedish guys lit a somewhat pitiful fire. But it was better than nothing. It even gave off a bit of heat once in a while, along with all of the smoke. I literally cried from all of the smoke. They had Swedish names. One guy was named Linus, when he introduced himself, though, I thought he said Lioness. Awkward. Then there was and Eric and and Isaac and Eimel or something like that. I couldn't really understand.

But the most embarrassing thing ever happened. Elisa and I had the bright idea to go star tipping. The stars were so beautiful that night, so it seemed like a fun idea. The only problem was that we were on a beach beside a freezing cold body of water. I volunteered to go first. Star tipping involves choosing a star to focus on, and spinning until you are dizzy, and then someone holds a flashlight and you try to run towards it. Generally this results in something hilarious. So I started to spin a good distance from the lake, just to be sure. Marit was the flashlight holder and insisted that I keep spinning for a ridiculously long time, until suddenly I see one of the Swedish guys jump in front of me and try to grab me. And then my feet were in the water and I was too dizzy to stop spinning so I pulled/pushed him into the water. We did an awkward little dance in the shallow water and then I landed on my but on the shore. It was SO EMBARRASSING. He was trying to save me like a gentleman and I got him all wet. Oh My. I wanted to stick my head in the sand. But instead I just laughed at myself.

Then Marit went and after she spun for a bit, I flashed the light at her and she just froze and tipped over to the side and landed on a rock. Bahahaha. And she was too embarrassed to come back to the Swedish guys, so I had to awkwardly make conversation. I was still mortaphied about getting that guy wet (he was the cutest one too). But I managed to get them to teach me a sentence in Swedish. I learned: Hej mitt namn as Steph. That is my name is steph. Swedish is pretty sweet. Anyways, eventually Marit and I made it back to the tent, and I just laughed and laughed for probably 30 minutes at the ridiculous star spinning fiasco. Oh man. So funny.

In the morning we got up nice and early and drove to Milford sound. It was a really pretty drive, through lots of mountains covered in rainforest. Then I took a ferry ride around the sound, no one else would go with me because they were too cheap. Their loss. I saw baby seals. It was so beautiful too.

Then we headed back down the road towards Te Anau, and on further towards Invercargill. And we found a really cheap (free) campsite. But the downside was that it was about 20 minutes drive off of the highway on a gravel road. But Marit had fun drifting around the corners. I think she really misses snow. The campground had minimal amenities. There was an outhouse, but no toilet paper. That is literally all that was there. It was basically a random field in the middle of nowhere. But the grass was nice and cushy so we had a good sleep.

Then we continued on our journey through Invercargill and on to Porpoise cove. Porpoise cove was so beautiful. The campground was literally right on the beach. And it was only $6.50 per person. A steal of a deal. And in the water, dolphins come and swim with you. So we got to see dolphins! But I didn't go in the water. It was SO COLD there, and SO WINDY.

And after a night there, we continued on our road trip. And we went to see the petrified forest that was just down the road from the camp site. It is basically just a bunch of rocks, but some of them have imprints from logs and such. Apparently, millions of years ago there was a big forest there and then a mudslide came and buried the forest, and now it is fossilized. Pretty neat. But the neatest part was that penguins live on the rocks there. And we got to see one! Awe yeah! But I actually felt really bad for the poor penguin. Because people go there every day and get their big cameras out and take pictures of the penguins. And that is the penguins' home. I would be so annoyed if people came to my house every day and started pointing and taking pictures.

And then we also stopped at Nugget point along our journey. It is a beautiful little peninsula (maybe?) with a light house and a bunch of nuggety rocks out in the water. So beautiful. And there were seals basking on the rocks way down below where we were standing. So much wildlife. New Zealand is perfect for animals like seals, dolphins and penguins to nest and have babies because there are no predators on NZ at all, so the babies can be safe!

And finally after Nugget point we made it to Dunedin, which is one of the bigger cities in New Zealand. It is so beautiful here. So many old buildings from the 1800's. I thought that Queenstown was my favorite place so far, but I think that Dunedin wins now. I would totally live here, except its kinda cold... says the Canadian... hahaha.

This morning we went to the Tunnel beach which is just outside of Dunedin. There is a steady downhill walk towards this beach, and near the bottom you have to walk through a tunnel to get onto the beach. It is so beautiful! We hung out there and took lotsa pictures! The beauty in New Zealand continues to blow me away every place we go! And this afternoon we are going to take Ol' Sunny for a drive on the steepest street in the world! Hopefully the poor little crap-mobile will make it...

Bungy Bungy AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So I think I wrote my last blog on Saturday… But I can’t really remember. I remember that we left Wanaka on Saturday in the late morning, looked for the Lord of the Rings river in Arrowtown. Failed. Came to Queenstown, went to the i-site. It was really busy. Marit and I wanted to shower. Marit and I were really annoyed at everyone. We had showers, which was glorious. Then I think I must have written my blog, and then we asked camp-ground-Joe which bars in town were good to check out. He mapped out a pub crawl for us.

So we got a $4 beer at the first bar in a big old building. But we didn’t realize that it was a big old building at that time. We noticed in the morning. Awkward. Then we walked to McDonalds. Of course. I don’t think we have gone more than a day without going to McDonalds. Anyways. Schnegg got some sort of barbecue bacon cheese burger thing. Apparently it is the best thing ever. I hate being gluten-dairy-egg-free.

Then we walked past this place called the ‘skybar’ and Marit liked the music, so we gave our IDs to the bouncers. We thought it a bit strange that there were bouncers at a bar… Then we got upstairs and realized that it was a club. Bahaha. But we were there pretty early, we are losers. But Schnegg and Elisa are the biggest losers because then they went home. Just kidding… I love them. Marit and I are the big time ‘partiers’ we stayed and danced for a bit. And then all of the people in the ‘club’ left. We realized that they were on a pub crawl. So we were really creepy and followed them. We followed them a few places, did some serious dancing, got bored of them and went to McDonalds. Surprise, surprise. Then we went back to the Skybar to dance more.

We met an Irish girl who was so hilarious. She was so sassy and was flipping off all of the boys. We just thought she was funny so we hung out with her for a while. Marit tried to tell her about Jesus, but she didn’t understand. And then we found out that she was a bisexual, and she thought we were lesbians. Awkward. Probably because we were the only girls in the skybar that were not showing their boobz and butts. Oh well. At least the boys left us alone.

Except for this one guy. He was super scrawny and super drunk and he looked like he must have been about 17. And he was just flail-dancing all over, and he danced with us. He was funny.

We eventually went home and crawled into the tent. It was late, but I will not reveal how late it was…

Let’s just say that on Sunday we were REALLY TIRED. But we still got up and went to church. We went to the City Impact church in Frankton. It was super fancy in there. And everyone was SO FRIENDLY. I was impressed. I think 3 people came up and said hi and welcomed us right when we got there, and then we got free coffees and chatted with another guy from the church. It was cool.

The preacher was really awesome, and I was sad because I was too tired to stay awake, so I sort of missed most of the message. I am so sorry Jesus!

After church we grabbed Rebekah at the airport. She was in Wellington for a while and now is finishing off our South island tour with us. Luckily she packed very light, or else she would have been strapped to the roof.

Then we went to the beach and I slept. It was awesome. The weather is amazing here in Queenstown. And the beach is beautiful. I just listened to some Will Reagan and tried to make it up to Jesus for sleeping in church. We spent most of the day at the beach, and then we came back to our tents and I showered and watched Community on my ipod, and then I went to bed early. It was great.

This morning I forced everyone to go walk around all of the art galleries in town. I don’t know if anyone else really enjoyed it. Rebekah and Schnegg stuck around for the whole tour, Marit and Elisa couldn’t manage it. Then we sat on the beach and contemplated our impending doom – the bungy jump.

Oh man. The bungy. Hm. Let’s talk about something else first.

I met the first Canadian in New Zealand on the South island. I thought that Canadians loved New Zealand. But I have seen barely any. And there are Germans EVERYWHERE. Literally we run into SO MANY Germans every day. Anyways, this was a guy from Canada… and guess who he was!!! The crazy scrawny super drunk kid from the club the other night!!!! He totally didn’t recognize us though. And he isn’t 17, he’s probably 19. He went to U of A! Sweet as bro.

So the bungy. It was 134 m. You take a little wire transporter car (sort of like a horizontal gondola) out to a little hut thing hangning on a wire, over the middle of a big valley. I was really scared. I was so scared that I couldn’t even manage to walk to the ledge. The guy pushed me along and told me to hold on to his arm. So I tried to reach for his arm with my hand, but since I was so scared, my motor skills were impaired and instead of grabbing him, I just awkwardly flapped my left arm at his arm. Then he listed off various Canadian stereo types (Bacon, Touque, Igloo… ) and then he pushed me off the edge. I screamed the whole way down, and then my body reverted into shock mode and I don’t really remember much. But when I got back up my facial expression must have been pretty funny. Everyone thought I was crying. I wasn’t. But I felt like crying. It was so scary. I was shaking so much that I couldn’t even stand up when I got back to the platform. And then I shook for a few hours after that.

And then there was the swing. It was the world’s largest swing. It was a 300 m wide swing. I don’t remember how high it is. Anyways, Marit and Elisa went together and Schnegg and Rebekah went together, and I went alone. I was still freaking out about the bungy, and I for some reason gave in to peer pressure to do the swing upside down and backwards. Oh Steph. I was pretty scared. But it wasn’t as bad as the bungy. I have had enough adrenaline to last me a lifetime. I can say with complete certainty that I like sky diving 1000000000000…. times better than bungy.

I also had to borrow a pair of close-toed shoes for the bungy because I was really smart and wore my orange Burkenstocks that Miranda gave me at the end of DTS. So I borrowed a black pair of Keds-ish shoes, which aren’t actually too horrible, except that they have a big 9 written in white on the toes. So half way back to town on the bus I realized that I was still wearing the black borrow shoes. Awkward. So I have to go back tomorrow and get my shoes. But they were kind and let me wear their shoes until I get mine back. Oh man.

And on our walk back to the campsite guess who we ran into! Miranda and Tasia. That is the second time in Queenstown. I think they are stalking us. But not really because we are having a sleepover with them tonight at our hilarious camp ground. It is sort of in town, but a camp ground. It’s really small, and there are little gravel slips for vehicles. And then tiny little patches of grass that are half of the size of the car parks. And we have two tents pitched on the tiny patch of grass. They JUST fit, but barely. It’s hilarious. But there are free showers and it’s cheap. Score!

And tomorrow, once we pick up my shoes, we are going to leave Queenstown (sadly) and travel to Milford Sound. I am so pumped, it’s supposed to be beautiful. I’m so pumped.

Nalgene Heaven

I don’t think I wrote about the death of my Nalgene bottle back in January in Kaitaia. I couldn’t face the fact that my dearest water bottle had bit the dust, so I have been living in denial for about a month and a half. Nalgenes are virtually indestructible. But leave it to Steph to crack it in half. So my beloved transparent green water bottle went to Nalgene heaven and joined my orange bottle from high school that mysteriously went missing, and my red one that got lost in the dish washer a few years ago. I hope that Nalgene heaven is nice. And I hope Ol’ Green knows that I will never forget him, even though I bought a new Nalgene today.

We were walking along the street in Wanaka and there was a Nalgene on display in the window. I have been living off of crappy plastic water bottles. They just aren’t the same as a Nalgene. I always accidentally throw them away or else someone else mistakes them for garbage and throws them away. So I saw my shiny new Nalgene in the window and I knew that my name was already on it. I ran inside and checked the tag. It didn’t say ‘Steph’ but it did say the price… close enough for me! So now I have a pretty new Nalgene to carry proudly with me wherever I go. It is kind of pearlescent and opaque. Super cool. It’s bright green with a purple lid. Awesome. I also love getting new Nalgenes because the mL measurements are not warn away yet. Yesssssssssssss. So happy.

I am in Queenstown now. It is so beautiful here. And so different from Hokitika. Last I wrote we were in Hokitika, and we saw some glow worms. It was pretty sweet. They look like blue/green ish stars in the forest. Just another one of God’s amazing creations, I guess. It looks pretty from afar, anyways. Actually glow worms are maggots or larva or something of some sort of flying insect. And they hang in dark places, and a string of mucus hangs from their butt. And their butt glows. And the glowing attracts poor unsuspecting insects that are just buzzing along minding their own business. And then they eat the poor little buggies. Oh nature.

After Hokitika, we drove down to Franz Joseph. The area around Hokitika and Franz Joseph is very much a rainforest. Franz Joseph was especially interesting because there is the coast, with the Tasman sea, and then rainforest-covered hills, and then rocky mountains covered in snow. So cool. In Franz Joseph, we did two super cool things. We went to hot pools on the first evening. It cost a fortune, but it was pretty neat. There were 3 pools. One was 36 degrees C, one was 38 and one was 40. And the pools were built amongst the rain forest, and the trees weren’t cut down or anything, so it was like swimming in a fancy hot tub in the middle of a rain forest. I guess that’s probably because we did swim in fancy hot tubs in the middle of the rain forest. We stayed there for many many hours and it was glorious. Marit was in love with one of the guys that was at the pool also. We think he was from South Africa, but she wouldn’t let me introduce her to him. Too bad. Maybe they would have fallen in love and gotten married. Now we will never know.

And on Friday morning… Bum bum bummmmmmmm… Schnegg, Elisa and I went skydiving over the Franz Joseph glacier. We got up super early… I think it was 6. It was still dark out and I couldn’t see anything when I got dressed, so I put my jean shirt on inside out. And we got to the skydive place by 7:30 and signed our lives away. But it was so worth it. We got taken into the air in a tiny little plane, and we lucked out and got to all go on the plane at the same time. As we flew I could see the Tasman sea, the rainforest, the mountains and the glacier. It was AMAZING. The sky was perfectly clear and the sun was shining. (It was actually a miracle from Jesus that the sky was clear because it was rainy and foggy for days and days, and right before and after our jump).

I was a bit nervous and really excited. I realized that the last time I was that excited was when I went to Disney world. No, not when I was a small child. It was about 2 years ago. Don’t be judgin’, I met Mickey Mouse.

It was kind of awkward. I got strapped to this guy, I think his name was Rhys. And I basically sat on his knee the whole time. So funny. Getting out of the plane was the most awkward part, I sat/hung out of the plane while he jumped. Oh man. So. Awkward. But totally worth it.

I think the scariest part was jumping from the plane. And I didn’t really get an option in jumping, just kind of hung there. And then we freefell for I think 45 seconds or something like that. It was so amazing. It wasn’t really scary, just fun. And then when the parachute was out I just glided around, and he let me steer a bit. It was so peaceful way up in the sky with the beautiful scenery below me. I kept saying ‘Weeeeeeeeee!’ the whole time, like a small child on the Dumbo ride, and I didn’t even realize it until the instructor said ‘Weeeeeeeeeee… HAHA!’ and made fun of me. Oh man. I’m weird. 

But I have decided that one of my career options is to be a skydive instructor. Or a skydive photographer. That would be the funnest job in the world. And I would make lotsa money… But we asked one of the instructors and he said that the minimum amount of jumps to become an instructor is 1000. How would anyone ever get the opportunity to do 1000 jumps?

After the skydive we got some brunch. Did I mention that I have been eating meat recently? Woah. It is like a whole new world of food out there. I decided that since I can’t have gluten, dairy, eggs or meat life is pretty boring and really difficult while travelling. And if I want to do any more missions in the future, it would be very much better if I could eat SOMETHING. So I am trying out meat, after 4.5 years without. It is quite liberating looking at a menu and seeing things that I CAN eat. The first day I ate meat was in Picton when we got off the ferry and went to Subway. For a person who can’t eat gluten, dairy, eggs or meat to eat at Subway it ubersucks. Because all you can have is a salad, and with no cheese or meat on it, it doesn’t fill you up at all. So I got chicken teriyaki. And I didn’t even get overly sick. I had a bit of constipation and a bit of diarrhea for a few days, but all in all it wasn’t too bad. So at brunch, I got a BLT. Crazy! Bacon is really salty. I can’t decide if I like it. It made me drink SO MUCH water.

Then we drove to Wanaka. It was a long, but eventful drive. We almost left Franz Joseph without our tents. Because we had gotten up so early, we couldn’t pack them up because they were really wet, so we left them at the campground and went skydiving. In the excitement of skydiving we completely forgot that the tents existed. But in town we ran into ‘the French guy’. ‘The French guy’ is a guy who camped at the same camp ground as us in Hokitika, and in Franz Joseph. We were pretty sure he was following us in his big yellow van with underwear for curtains. Anyways, we stopped and chatted with him, and he reminded us that our tents were still at the campsite.

So we got in the car to drive back to the campground. Part way there we heard a clunk on the roof and then on the trunk. It reminded me oddly of the many times that I left coffee mugs on the roof of my car and forgot about them, and then they fell off as I drove. “What was that!?!?” everyone asked. I said, “It sounded like something fell off the roof”. And Schnegg put is face in his hands and started saying “Crap, crap, crap, crap…”

We pulled the car over, and Schnegg confessed that he set his fancy Cannon SLR camera on the roof. Yikes. We went hunting for it in the forest at the side of the road. We found remnants of the camera scattered here and there. There was a lens on the dotted line in the middle of the road. His lens cap was in the middle of one of the lanes… But then, it was a miracle, I found the rest of the camera in tact. How the camera survived falling off of the roof of the car at 100 km/hr can only be explained by Jesus. And the camera still works - minus the broken lense. Praise Jesus. So Schnegg didn’t cry. I don’t know how, but he didn’t. How manly of him.

We drove for many hours on our way to Wanaka. We stopped at some little town to see if there was a grocery store because Schnegg wanted juice. There was no super market, so we continued on. We drove past a hitchhiker and noticed that he was laughing. Weird. Why was he laughing at us. Schnegg thought to himself ‘I didn’t know this car had a spoiler’. Ha! The trunk was open. Apparently Marit had opened it while we were stopped. Oh man. And then we drove back past the hitchhiker and found bananas and oat meal in the middle of the road. Awkward. But like I said, the ride was not boring.

Finally we made it to Wanaka and found a camp site. We were tired. We had Subway and slept. And there was no sign of ‘the French guy’.

And now we are in Queenstown. It is so beautiful here. And so different from the rainforested mountains near Franz Joseph. Here it is dry. And the mountains are rugged and rocky like the Rocky mountains in Alberta. It really reminds me of home. There are no more palm trees, just a lot of dry grass and pretty lakes. I am excited to stay here for a couple of days! And after a few nights at the cheapest of cheap camping spots, I am excited to have a shower! And the sun is out and it is HOT. Finally. Marit and I can get our tan on.

Overnight bus rides, Ferries and our new friend Sunny

I don't remember what day it was when we left Aukland... Saturday perhaps? We waited around at the Kings Kids base in Auckland why everyone left for their flights. The first to leave were Matt and Brent, my Canadian buddies. We had to wake up at 5 am to say good bye to them. They were lucky that I managed to get myself out of bed... I almost talked myself out of getting up. So we said goodbye, Brent in his suit and Matt in his sweatpants. Somehow it was perfect.

Then the next day we just sat and waited while more people left... Tiff, Sarah and Leish later in the morning. Then Dan and Kyle. Then Van, Jacob and Anne. And finally at 6 ish, Elisa, Marit, Schnegg, Henk, Noemi and I had our turn. But instead of the airport we got dropped off at the bus station. Elisa, Marit, Schnegg and my bus was earlier than Henk and Noemi's and was also at a different station. We got dropped off first. As we drove up to the station, a bus pulled in in front of the building and it said 'Wellington' on it. And Noemi said "YES! Wellington! That's your bus! YES!" And she was so unbelievably excited. But no one else was excited to see the bus we were supposed to take at the bus station where it was supposed to be. Oh Nomes...

So we said goodbye to Nomes and Henk (and Johanna who dropped us off), and we were off. We officially started our travels. And we went to the bus and Schnegg carried our massive shared bag. And I got a coffee before the bus left at 7:50 PM. It was a double decker bus. I have never seen one of those, let alone been on one. It was intense. We sat on the top floor. So cool. And we drove off into the sunset. Literally. Awe. And proceeded to have a very restless night on the bus with stops every now and again for pee breaks. And finally we got off the bus in Wellington at 6:45 AM.

I wonder if that is actually what happens in the movies when the people walk off into the sunset. They would have to sleep sometime... why would you start a journey at sunset? Weird.

Anyways, then we went to McDonalds. Guess who met us there!!! Kiwi Hannah, Hannah D and Rebekah. Long time no see... like maybe two sleeps apart. One for us. And we had a coffee. And then guess who showed up... Henk and Noemi! Long time no see again! Like 12 hours maybe! Hahaha!

Eventually, though, we had to part ways again. And it was for real this time saying goodbye to Hannah D. It was sad, but I know that I will see all of the others again... so that made it not so bad! And Elisa, Schnegg, Marit and I got on the ferry to Picton. It was pretty awesome! The ride was about 3 hours long, and the view was pretty crazy beautiful! But we didn't see any dophins :(

Chillin on the Ferry. But no WiFi :(

When we got on the ferry and found our seats, I sat down and decided that I would relax and read my kobo (Canadian Kindle). I opened my backpack to get it out, and it wasn't there. Crap. The last place I had it was on the bus. I had put it in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me. Crap. I checked my bag again. And again. And again. And I checked my purse. But it wasn't there. I started to panic. My stomach did that weird dropping thing that you get on a roller coaster, or when you realize that you are doomed. I frantically ran around looking for a pay phone to call the bus company, but - just my luck... they weren't working. Awesome. So I went back to sit down and cry. And on the way I prayed to Jesus that I would find my kobo. And when I got back to my seat it was sitting in plain sight on my bag. Praise Jesus.

When we got off of the ferry, we waited in line for ages at the car rental place and eventually got our car. I think the guy thinks that I am an idiot blonde and that I will crash the car. Which could be right. But he doesn't know my secret... I have Jesus. So Ha!

Our car's name is Sunny. He is a Nissan. I don't know what kind of Nissan. I don't know what year. But he is gold and looks like a grandpa would drive him. Perfect. He will match my grandpa sweaters and granny skirts. He is a four door car with a trunk that is barely big enough to fit all of our stuff. It won't be fun when Rebekah comes. I hope she brings nothing. Because that is all that will fit in the car.

The first day we lounged in the sun in Picton, found a camp site, ate some subway and drank a beer on a 100 year old ship. What a life. We even got to shower. Awe yeah.

The next day, we got up and drove to Nelson. The drive was intense. The road was through the mountains and really really curvy. I almost felt car sick and I was driving. In Nelson, we found an information site and got a bunch of brochures. We asked where to cheapest campsite was and where the McDonalds was. The campsite was 6 dollars per person. Awesome! But we spent most of our day in McDonalds using the free wifi to plan out our trip, and in Warehouse and New World shopping for food and supplies. So we really didn't see much of Nelson, but I can say that the lady working at McDonalds was super nice.

In the morning we got up early for a long drive to Hokitika. We left at about 9:30 ish and finally arrived at Hokitika at around 8 PM haha! But man, the day was AWESOME! The drive from Nelson south along the West coast is AMAZING! We drove through the mountains for a while on more curvy roads until we finally reached the coast and then we drove along the curves of the mountains with the rainforest covered mountains to our left and the crashing ocean to our right. Every time we came around a bend we saw a more breathtaking landscape. The waves were huge crashing against rocky shores. And the shorelines were dotted with rock islands that have been carved out by the waves for the entirety of their existence. It was so beautiful. There were even signs marking out penguin crossings. I think every one of us was completely blown away by the beauty of God's creation! I think this is the perfect place to experience God's beauty.

We stopped in Punakaiki to see the pancake rocks and blow holes. It was beautiful. And the best part was that it was free!!! Just kidding. It was a short walk along the cliffs of the rocky coast. The rocks had horizontal lines covering their surfaces that made the cliffs look like stacks of pancakes, and there were blow holes in the rocks where the waves crashed. It was so cool.

We drove to Greymouth after that. Visited McDonalds for our daily fix on free WiFi, got some food and carried on our way to Hokitika. It was getting kind of late when we were in Greymouth, and we weren't sure if we should stay there or if we should go on to Hokitika. So we prayed to God, and Marit heard that it would be expensive if we stayed in Greymouth and that we would find cheap camping in Hokitika. So we carried on, and along the highway, just outside of Hokitika we saw a sign for camping, so we went to check it out. And we came to the awesome place that we are now. It is 10 dollars per person and you don't have to pay for showers and there is unlimited internet included. There is a little relaxation room with couches and a TV and a kitchen. And laundry. What more could we ask for? Praise Jesus.

So we stayed the night here. We put an extra cover on our tent because we heard that it might rain, and there are a few holes in the top of our tent. But Schnegg wanted to sleep outside for some reason. Men. But lucky for him it didn't rain until the early morning. The rest of us slept in. We decided to stay here one more night. So we explored a bit around Hokitika. We searched out things that are free.

By the way, there is SO MUCH stuff to do here... if you are rich. Holy. I am going to have to save up and come back to NZ someday. So much cool stuff everywhere. Including sky diving and bungee jumping. Teehee. We have booked ourselves to go sky diving on the Franz Joseph glacier on Friday... only two more sleeps! It should be amazing! We will be able to see the ocean, the rainforest, the mountains and the glacier as we fall. I am super excited! We also booked ourselves in for bungee jumping in Queenstown in a few days. So jacked! So needless to say, we don't have much more of a budget to do other things...

So we asked around about things we should do today. We ended up going out to Hokitika Gorge just out of town. It is BEAUTIFUL! It was about a 15 minute walk down to a rock gorge filled with turquoise water. And BONUS: there was a swing bridge. And we didn't have to pay. Awe yeah.

Then we went to check out a lake. Lake Kaniere. We drove towards it and found a sign that said "Lake Kaniere walk", we tried to drive further to find beach access, but we failed and decided to try the walk. The path entrance wasn't very far from the lake... One hour later (or more, I don't actually know), we had climbed quite far up the side of a mountain and were about to turn back when we found a lookout point. It was so beautiful. It literally took my breath away. We sat there for who knows how long. In silence. It was amazing. So serene. The lake was basically untouched. There were no cabins on it's edges and no beaches that we could see. No boats or anything around. That is how God created the world to be. Amazing. I think we all could feel God's presence there. And after a long time in silence, we reluctantly left, but only because we were getting really cold.

It's amazing. God has been blessing us so much on our trip already! I think it's because Elisa is on to it and has us doing worship and prayer every morning, and sometimes in the evening! It's pretty awesome!

And tonight we are planning on going to see some glow worms! Ooooooh. More free nature. Love it!

And I am so glad to be back with my European friends. Before we left, Miranda named our group "Steph and the Europeans" Hahah! And it's always entertaining. This morning as we ate our oatmeal for breakfast, I got quite the laugh. I was talking about the oatmeal, and Marit asked "What is this 'oatmeal'?" Elisa and I were confused because we have been eating oatmeal for every breakfast for the past 6 months. Oh Marit. I love her. Haha!

Packing, Bus Rides, Mexican Food, Gluten and Downtown Auckland Nightlife

What a week. I was reunited with my cottage 5 girls for a short week, and now we are all parting ways. This week was a good week. It was nice to have things back to 'normal', if only for a short time. However, I did not particularly miss the food at the base. Rick does an awesome job with what he can, when he can. But sometimes I wish for something other than tuna, and maybe some dressing for my salad. Woe is me. But today at lunch I had my last meal there. It was glorious. A few slices of peppers and some potatoes that were left over from graduation night. Mmmmm.

This week was pretty packed. My mind is still unpacking itself after outreach and after this week. When I first got back to the base after outreach, I was feeling pretty low. I got really tired of everything in the last month of outreach. I just felt like I was sitting around doing nothing at all. In the last couple of weeks I was able to read a LOT of the old testament, ALL of the Lord of the Rings and another book because there was SO MUCH free time. And I did not have my beloved computer with me, so I was unable to just sit on the internet for hours at the library like the others on my team. It was really unfortunate. And somehow, the only music that could be played on the speakers in the complex was Taylor Swift. Any time I put some good music on, it somehow got unplugged and Taylor got put on. It was a miserable existence. And if Taylor wasn't on the ipod, Hannah and Van were singing her loudly with the guitar. I never thought that I would be so thankful for Beats by Dr. Dre. So I was just ready to be done by the time we got back. And if I EVER hear any songs on Taylor Swift's RED album, I will punch the person that plays it in the face.

I felt really trapped during outreach because I was not allowed to post in my blogs unless they were censored by staff. And any time I expressed my frustration with the amount of time that we spent doing nothing during the beginning of outreach, I got in big trouble. And I got threatened to be sent home if I didn't 'smarten up' and 'tame my tongue'. So, I started to retreat inside of myself because I wasn't allowed to use my blog as an outlet and I wasn't even allowed to speak out how I was feeling. So I got really really down and angry about outreach because I just felt so suffocated. I actually could not wait to get the heck out of there and go home. It was really hard. And I ended up getting really home sick because the only person I could speak honestly with was my mom.

But this week was so nice. I got reunited with my cottage 5 family, and I was able to talk to them about all of the frustrations that I was not allowed to express for the past 2 months. It was pretty hard at first though, because the India and China teams had such awesome stories and it sounded like they all had such an amazing time. I was so jealous. I had fun in Fiji and met AMAZING people who effected me in huge ways, but it was more of a vacation than a mission trip. Drunk Fest at Paihia was SUPER AWESOME. And I would have probably enjoyed Kaitaia more if I liked children's programming, and if we were busier for the whole time. But again, there were awesome people who were so amazing and hospitable and I will never forget them, but most of the time I felt like I was a tourist and on vacation. I was really disappointed in the amount of ministry that we did. I was hoping to be pushed out of my comfort zone and have to pray in ways that I was scared of or to preach or to lead worship or something, but those opportunities were not available to me on this outreach. And when I heard about the other outreaches and how they got to do all of that stuff, I felt really insignificant and pathetic and started being even more disappointed in my outreach.

But once I was able to let all of my frustrations out, and just hang out with my friends that I hadn't seen in 2 months, I started to feel a bit happier. I guess that I just need to let go of all of my frustrations and disappointments with the outreach, and let go of the fact that the majority of my time was spent sleeping and reading and not ministering to people. I have been trying to think about what God was trying to teach me through this outreach. Maybe I will have the revelation later in life. I think that I learned how to live with a group of people that drive me crazy. I don't think I grew much spiritually, which is what I had been hoping for.

Despite my annoyance with all of that, since I had so much free time, I was able to write lots of songs, and to practice singing. Hannah gave me a few tips which have helped out my voice a lot. And of course there were the Sumasafu's. Living with them was definitely a highlight of my DTS. I think I learned the most from them and they impacted me more than anyone else on this DTS. They just knew how to love. They opened up their home to 7.5 crazy white people (Jacob is half asian, so he can have a .5), and they just loved us from the minute we got there to the minute we left. And I actually miss them so much. And as much as I disliked my outreach, I think that they made it worth it.

And I was allowed to graduate DTS on Wednesday evening, which surprised me after all of the 'talks' I had to endure. And now I am free! And now I can blog about poop if I want, and I can blog about my real feelings. Praise Jesus. Because my blog will not impact anyone if all I write about is rainbows and daisies. People need to see the struggles and the triumphs that come after the struggles. So expect some more blogs about DTS in the upcoming weeks as I reflect further.

But as for now, this morning was a sad morning. It was the last time that cottage 5 will all be in one place at one time. Kiwi Hannah left with her 'rentals this morning to head back to Wellington, and then Kat went off with her 'rentals to sight see. And the rest of us hopped on a bus to Auckland where we are now awaiting impending flights and buses that await everyone.

The highlight of my life right now, though, is beer. I have not had any beer in over 5 months. That is a long time for a Canadian girl such as myself. Especially when the weather is so nice. There is something about sunshine and heat that just makes me want to have a nice cold beer in the sun. Just one though. No one needs to go crazy here. Don't even think about that. So anyways, I had beer. And unfortunately for my intestines, gluten free beer was not available, and I am sick of not having delicious things because they contain gluten. So I apologize to my insides and what they will have to endure for the next few days. And I also apologize to everyone that has to go to the bathroom after me in the next few days. And I have a stamp on my hand from the pub we went to, so I hope that I don't have a Never Been Kissed moment tomorrow morning!

P.S. Auckland is beautiful!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

My mom used to always say "Home again, home again, jiggity jog" whenever we arrived home after a trip. Is that even a saying? I don't think I have ever heard anyone else say that, and whenever it slips out of my mouth when I am with friends, they look at me really strange...

On Thursday, my team drove back to Matamata from Kaitaia. We left at 8:30 AM and got to the base at about 4:00 PM, I think. It was a long drive, but it went surprisingly fast. When we got here, we were reunited with Fiji 2, who had arrived just before us. Then India came and China came last. It was like we had never left, and like the past two months were just a dream. We spent the evening catching up and telling stories.

Yesterday (Friday) was pretty uneventful. I actually can't even remember what we did. I am pretty sure we did nothing all day, except hang out and enjoy each other's company, of course. I especially missed my cottage 5 girls! It is so awesome to be reunited! It feels like I am home. In the morning, Hannah D asked me if it was weird to wake up and not hear her yelling/being loud. It really wasn't weird at all. It just felt like things had gone back to normal. I woke up in my room with Kat in the bunk above me and Anne in her bed across the room. Normal.

It is so awesome to be back. I was getting really home-sick in Kaitaia. I think in Fiji it was easy to not be homesick because we were living in a house with a family that we were basically a part of, with a mommy and a daddy. But in Kaitaia we were staying in a hall, all sleeping on foamies on the floor. It was just so much less homey for whatever reason. Even though we had grandma Sarah and daddy Dave (and auntie Leish). I just really missed my family a lot. But now that I'm back in Matamata I don't miss them so much. It's good. This week I will get my mind back together and will be all ready for traveling New Zealand for the next month. I'm so excited!

Schnegg, Elisa, Marit and I booked a bus to take us from Aukland to Wellington on Saturday, where we plan to take the ferry to the South Island and rent a car. I think we are planning for 3 weeks on the south island and one on the north, since we have already seen so much of the north island.

Today (Saturday) was really nice. We had a lazy morning and then left for Mount Maunganui at about 11. During the drive to the beach, we came up beside this other big white 10 passenger van. It was filled with 30ish year old men. They were just packed in there like sardines. They were looking at us and kind of giving us funny looks. They they sped by us, and one of the guys was hanging his bum out of the window. But this was not a normal moon. He was wearing women's lingerie. We almost died. Hilarious. There may or may not have been more moons during the drive, but that was the most surprising one, I must say.

We just hung out on the beach for the day. It was awesome. We haven't been to the Mount during summer yet. It is like a completely different place. There were people everywhere. The surf was really big. There were surfers and beach volley ballers and farmers markets. So much stuff happening. And so much SKIN! I am still in outreach mode and am not quite used to seeing so many bikini's and shirtless men. It was shocking. And we all looked like such prudes swimming in our tank tops and shorts.

The water was AMAZING. It was not too cold, and the sun was nice and HOT, with a nice breeze. Marit, Schnegg, Brent and I swam out into the waves. Brent and I left Schnegg and Marit in the dust. I think they couldn't get past the place where the waves were breaking, but since Brent and I are basically off of Bay Watch (we both look and swim like them) we made it out to the surfers. But then we realized that we were probably going to get run over so we went back in. It was a really rigorous swim. I was exhausted after. I am such a fatty after 2 months of outreach.

Then Jacob and I got coffee. Surprise, surprise. And then I sat on the beach and read for the entire afternoon. It was so nice. And now all of the girls have really attractive tans. I am really dark on my arms, chest and upper back, and on my legs. The rest of me is SO WHITE. Awkward. It's gonna be really funny when Marit and I bring out our bikinis while we are traveling!