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...

As if 9 days in Samoa wasn't enough, when we got home we did a quick turnaround and headed south to Queenstown. We spent only two days there, but I have to say that is is hands down my favorite place in New Zealand so far. It captures everything I love about both a town and a landscape. It is bursting with the character of a cozy, lakeside mountain town, yet filled with high energy and young adventurers. There are restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops galore, and a...

We made it home from Samoa! Such an incredible week relaxing on the beach, adventuring through the jungles, and figuring out how to navigate a 3rd world country with a bunch of 20-some-year-olds from all over the world. I'm pretty confident it would have been easier to herd cats to Alaska, but we still made it out alive. The flights alone are a story enough. To start out the trip, we took a flight to Auckland that landed at 9pm then had a 12 hour lay over until ...

It's been a while since my last post because school work has started to become reality... well, whatever reality means in New Zealand. The library here closes at 5pm, while the library at CSU closes at 10pm during a normal week. I've learned rather quickly how much more laid back the attidude about essentailly everything is here... it's not just a rumor afterall! This weekend we made up for the lack of excitement from last weekend. We went to Kaikoura, whi...

We got a car! Three girls from CSU and I decided that it was the best and cheapest way to explore the island, and how could I live in New Zealand for six months without learning how to drive on the other side of the road? It is a big, bright red, 1996 Ford station wagon. It is the furthest thing from nice or new, but it fits the road trip criteria perfectly. This weekend, we drove it to Mt. Cook, the highest peak in NZ, and camped for two nights. We folded down a...