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Last weekend I stayed in Christchurch... I was still recovering from 2 weeks of nonstop adventuring! By the end of last week I was certainly ready to get back in the car and head out on the next read trip though. On Friday, my friends Karin, Wes, Sean, and I headed directly west about an hour and a half to Arthur's Pass. It is a pass encaved by the surrounding Southern Apls and connects the east and west coasts. It is absolutely beautiful with hiking trails galore. Because of how high up it is compared to the coasts, we ended up getting snowed on when we made our way to the summits of the peaks we climbed.
On Saturday, we hiked one of the most intensely steep trails I have ever hiked. For a large portion of the trail we were rockclimbing or inching our way on our hands and knees. It was a blast. It took us about 3 hours to get to the top, where we enjoyed lunch before making our way back down. Getting down was actually more difficult because of how much snow there was. It was slippery and we had to move extremely slow. Afterwards we cozied up in a small hotel with a restaurant and a fire place before heading out to make camp. Karin and I got to sleep in the car while we made the boys sleep in the tent. (Funny how sleeping in a car has become a privilege!)
On Sunday we went to Castle Hill. The movie Narnia was filmed there! It is a limestone rock formation that was once under the ocean but has risen to land with the formation of the Southern Alps. It was really awesome to sit on those rocks and think where they have been in the past! When we got back to campus that night we voted to watch Lord of The Rings instead of doing our school work, naturally. I had never seen Lord of The Rings, and honestly have never cared to. But now that I am in New Zealand, where it is all filmed, I must say it is incredible to watch. What looks like fake scenes and computer effects is real landscapes, many of which I have now been to!
I have now covered almost all of the south island except for the North West and North coast, which we plan to cover in October. November is when we plan to take on the north island then Dad and Charlie come and I get to revisit my favorite places in the south island.
My friend Karin and I have officially booked our three week backpack excursion through Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand!!! We had our travel agent book our flights to Bali, then to Kuala Lumpar, then home from Bangkok, and we get to figure out everything inbetween. We are doing a lot of research and following blogs to find out culturaly vibrant (yet safe) places that we need to visit and how long to spend in each place. I am truly more excited than nervous and am glad that my friend Karin is the one that will be joining me. I am confident in our combined ability to navigate SE Asia like champs!
That's the big update for now. Mom is coming next weekend and I am excited to be apart of her first true excperience abroad! Love you and miss you all!!
- comments
DN or...Dad Glad I got the details about the hike on Skype, even more dramatic in the written word when it is written by you. Hope you are having a ball in Queenstown with Mom, hope you won't mind going a 3rd time in November. We love and miss you, Dad and Char