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This past week was "study week", the week before finals; and as it has become pretty evident that school has not exactly been my first prority in New Zealand, we went on a road trip rather than studying. They make it easy for us to make these decisions because even though it is now the two weeks of finals, I only have four exams spread out amongst 14 days, which I can justify as plent of time to study.
Anyways, our road trip began in Christchurch heading north towards Kaikoura, through the Marlbourough Sounds, and landing in Takaka. Takaka is the town right outside of Abel Tasman National Park, which is on the Tasman Bay. This area is stunningly tropical and colorful. It reminded me of something out of Pirate of the Caribbean. We went on a coastal hike through the jungle and out to the bay at low tide so we could walk on the sand that is usually underwater and scale the rocks that are normally under crashing waves. So cool. Afterwards, we went on a more inland hike up to a waterfall with the clearest natural water I have ever seen and it just so happened to be reflecting rainbows. Pretty magical. Our third and last hike of the day was up to Rawhiti Cave. Mind you that we were expecting a medium sized whole in the side of a hill that we could crawl into. When we got up to the cave (after an incredibly steep and winding hike) we were astounded by a monsterous splitting between two land masses that went so far into the earth that we couldn't see the bottom. The top of the cave was covered with dark gray spiral formations that we learned are formed by thousands of years of moss dripping and hardening. This cave is likely the most absurdly incredible natural formations I have ever seen. (I will post pictures). We ended our day driving towards the west coast and staying the night in Westport.
The next day, we drove down the coast towards Greymouth. This drive was right on the waters edge with waves crashing close enough to splash the road. We stoped at the Punakaiki Rocks, aka that pancake rocks for their thin, layered formation. This entrance looked a bit touristy and I wasn't expecting anything too exciting, as nothing can compare to the monstrosity of the Rawhiti Cave, but I was pleasently surprised. We learned that the formations of these rocks are of on the last lingering geological mysteries that scientists are unable to solve, and what is left of the rocks is slowly deteriorating from weathering and the ocean. Because of the odd shapes and maze-like layout of these rocks, blowholes and whirlpools have formed within them. It was really cool to see and definitely worth the pit-stop. We continued our way to Greymouth and upon our arrival it began to storm with no site of stopping, so naturally, we found a brewery and signed up for the tour. The rest of our afternoon was spent tasting beers.
The next morning we made our way to Fox Glacier, adding to the list of most incredible natural landscapes I have ever seen. To get to the glacier we had to hike through a valley that was encased by granite cliffs on one side and dense forests with snow cap peaks on the other. In the valley there were endless streams and rivers of turquoise blue waters from glacier run off. The glacier itself was magical. You could see its long history in the shapes of the ice and I was saddened to think of how quickly it is melting. As someone who is concerned (possibly overly concerned) about the environment, seeing this glacier really reinforced my beliefs and emphasized how much I truly do care about what is happening to the planet.
We made our way back to Lincoln through Arthur's Pass and got home around 11pm. It was an incredible week, to say the least. I really lucked out with meeting such great people and even more lucky that they all go to CSU. It is coming to an end for the majority of people on campus but I am grateful to still have two months of exploring ahead of me.
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