What a Day to Wake Up To!! :)

Alright, here we go. I haven’t blogged after our long four-day trip because there is so much to talk about and I am being lazy ;).

After we got settled into our place on Wednesday and Thursday, we took off for the mountains of the South Island of New Zealand. We left about one and headed ‘up the middle’ as they say. We took the scenic route up to Christchurch where, as you know, there was a disastrous earthquake a while back and then down the coastline to Dunedin for the World Cup J. We left on Thursday and didn’t need to be back until Monday afternoon. We decided that we were going to stop whenever we saw something that any of us would want to see, and it was really cool. None of us had ever just hoped into the car and drove not knowing where we were going to stay for the night, what we were going to do, or even what was on the menu. We left with the hunger for adventure and adventure was up ahead.

Day 1:

We pack three girls into one suitcase, the boy into a backpack, and a few odds and ends into our minivan, and head for the hills.

            Stop 1: Alexandra. Been traveling for 5 minutes. Stopped for probably 30 minutes. We were barely out of town when we spotted a wee quaint picnic area with a walk down the river by Alex and some cool rock figures. We took some pictures on the rocks, walked down to the water front, enjoyed the scenery, hiked back up (whew out of shape!) and piled back into the van.

Throughout the trip, we documented our trip with a ‘Captains Log’. This log contains times that interesting things happened (i.e. first U-turn/passing a car or decisions to take Zumba classes or paint fingers yellow). They are wildly hilarious. We also have been using my flip camera (thanks Tyler J) to document our trip with testimonials and sneak attacks on the roomies.

            Stop 2: Middle of Nowhere. Been traveling for ________ minutes. Stopped for a few minutes. At this point we are in total AWE of this beautiful country that we get to call our home for the next few months. We are driving through the mountains and literally every hill that we ascend brings an entirely new environment and scene. This stop was just a look-out (there will be a few of them) with some green hills, sheep farms, and mountains in the background.

            Stop 3: Entering Waitaki District. Traveling for ______ hours. Stopped for a few minutes. This stop was high enough in the mountains that there was still snow, but strangely atop of greenery. The mountainous view is still gorgeous and we stop for some snow fighting pictures and to stand on the monument. ;) And we hope back in the venture-mobile.

            Stop 4: Lake Pukaki. Traveling for ___________ minutes. We were there for probably 45 minutes this time! WOW! I have never seen water this color. The water was light blue and murky, but also bright. Weird right? I kind of relate it to maybe the color of light blue Gatorade/Powerade. It-was-breath-taking!!!! I just couldn’t believe it. We took some pictures of us individually and also got a few group pictures. Michelle and I built a few rock towers and hiked down to the water bank to touch the water. Rumor has it that the water gets its color from the glacial runoff and the white rocks underneath. You can see the white rocks in these pictures!

            Stop 5: Lake. Traveling for _____________. Stopped for 10-15 minutes. This was again just breathtaking. The lake was beautiful with the mountains behind it. It was a little cute town and we stopped for just a few pictures, a quick off-roading adventure, and back on the road towards our destination.

            Stop 6: ___________________. Traveling for _______________ minutes. Stopped for 10-15 minutes. We stopped at this quaint look out at the gorgeous rolling green hills littered with sheep farms. It was bout dusk and the lighting was just simply gorgeous. We took a wee bit of pictures and jumped back in. There was a cool compass monument that had all of the names of the peaks and their elevations here and we took a few pictures of that too. And Of course, Michelle needed a jumping picture J.

            Stop 7: Ashburton! Traveling for ______________ hours. Stayed the night. When darkness hit, we stopped in Ashburton for the night. We paid $140 (35/person) to stay in a little motel with two beds and a pull out in the living room for Alex. It had a nice bathroom and a kitchen! All of these places give you milk for free to drink in the morning! The people are SO hospitable and encourage us to go out and “rustle up the locals a bit”. Haha. It is just so awesome so far! We went to a small pub for a drink and then walked back and went to bed. Six stops made us tired we found J. ( Oh ya, weve been introducing NZ to planking :) there will be a planking blog eventually!!)

The next blog will fill you in on our trip to Christchurch and then to Dunedin J. Go ALL BLACKS!! Here is a little sneak peak of what's to come! And also our first few days of school in this beautiful land :)