Skipping town

View from partway up Castle Rock, photo creds=Timo

 Hello friends! 

(As always, photos don't correlate with text. Only captions. Please stay focused :))

Near Castle Rock somewhere... photo by Timo

I'm quite shocked that it's been more than two weeks since I blogged last. While I didn't make any formal commitment to blog every week, that was the goal I made for myself, so that's a bit disappointing. But I'll work on maintaining it for the future I suppose and stop whinging long enough to actually blog about what I've been up to over the past week.

Halswell Quarry, photo cred to Timo

Which was running away to Christchurch for the weekend! It's an extraordinarily short flight—around forty five minutes. Just long enough to get in the air, be allowed to turn on electronic devices, and then be instructed to turn them back off. For someone like me, familiar with 12 and 16 hour flights, this was quite laughable.

The wind at the top of Castle Rock was seriously intense.

I flew to Christchurch on Jet Star, which is New Zealand's budget airline. No drinks, no movies (or five minute music video), but for the hatred that many kiwis display towards it because of its unreliability and lack of caring for the passengers, it was fine with me. The fact that the flight was less than 1/3 full however, that was the cause of a bit of concern. Nevertheless, the flight was fine, and I had a lovely chat with a middle aged kiwi who'd never been to Christchurch and was deathly afraid of flying by herself.

View of the country from walking up to Halswell Quarry

I flew home on Air New Zealand, New Zealand's slightly classier airline. There was an adorable and entertaining animated instructional video at the beginning of the flight, and we got water and snacks and mints. So exciting! The flight was full to capacity, and full of well dressed business people who were much more interested in highlighting than talking to me.

Someone should tell them that studies show that highlighting doesn't actually help you retain the information that you're reading.

View towards the ocean from Castle Rock

The one real meal every day for me :]] Note the bakery sign
as if it were a street sign. That's why I love NZ.

Regardless, I didn't spend that much time in downtown Christchurch this time. I spent heaps of money on buses though. Welly is nice because it's so compact that I can walk anywhere I want to get to. Christchurch is really spread out, so that's impossible. 

Facing Halswell Quarry, epic photo by Timo

Plus I was staying in Lincoln, which is a teeny town ten or twelve kilometers outside of Christchurch. It's a tiny little town, and a tiny little farm school. Not much to say about that town, other than it's cute and has amazing pie. It also has an art gallery that's the size of my flat's living room, and exactly one bar.

I had a thing about barbed wire that day. Halswell Quarry.

We did lots of hiking though. The first day I was there we went to the beach. Basically, I made a beeline. It was called Sumner beach and I didn't take any pictures there because my camera was buried in my bag. There wasn't heaps of beach though, because most of it was covered in rocks.

Me at Halswell Quarry, photo by Timo

Gorgeous flowers and view from Halswell Quarry

We also went to a place called Castle Rock. We hiked to the top of this hill, and it was really rocky at the top. Had really beautiful views of Christchurch and the ocean though. Technically it's closed off because of the earthquake, but we ran into heaps of locals there (and not just other crazy teens), so I didn't worry about it. The wind was sick at the top; really intense. And I'm from the windy city! You'd think I'd be used to it.

It's spring here. There were these flowers EVERYWHERE. It was beautiful.

Totes presh little lamb!

We hiked up and around an old quarry called Halswell Quarry. It was really cool, and there was barbed wire everywhere. I guess they really didn't want us going anywhere and falling down and dying. So everyone can take heart that I didn't fall down and die because they had barbed wire to stop me! ...little joke.

Birdlings Flat. "Black sand" beach? It was beautiful though.

We also went to place called Birdlings Flat. I have no clue why on earth it's called that, but it was a beach, covered in rocks. I guess they call it “black sand” but really it isn't sand... it's just rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. I kept my shoes on. It was gorgeous though. Beautiful weather, and only 45 minutes or so outside of Christchurch.

Beautiful view of my cute feet, and how big the rocks were. So many pretty beaches here...

And we went to one more beach too. What can I say? It's magnetic really. It was pouring down rain, but we went anyway. They have a pier there. A really strong concrete one though. The ones I've been on are usually wooden... and in North Carolina... but this one was cool. There were guys surfing even though it was cold and raining and the waves didn't look all that exciting. The beach was called New Brighton, and I wish it had been slightly warmer, though I didn't mind the rain. Overall, it was a pretty great trip, and I was sad to get back to Welly and have to face all of the homework. (Which I have to do as soon as I post this. While it's nice procrastinating, I really do have to do it, but I felt so bad for not posting, so there it is...)

Cold and wet, but still getting out and doing things! Always. Photo by Timo

Anyway! Great weekend, a few beaches and some fun hiking. Lots of cute small town pie. Pie rant! I had... chili con carne, which is basically a fancy way of saying “chili,” chicken, asparagus and cream cheese, and chicken, cranberry and brie. Also venison, which I realized I don't really like. Not a fan, so Bambi—you're safe. From me at least.

Lovely beach, lovely water, lovely weather... New Brighton Beach

Thanks for reading. If you haven't gotten a postcard and you're interested, email me, or comment. But I think I'm sending them to lots of you... so love! I miss you. I miss home. But this is an amazing place, so I'm trying to put that aside.

Pretty lights turned on while we were walking out to the end of the pier. Cool, no?

One last image from Christchurch. Wish I could say it's changed heaps since I was there last, but I think probably there were just as many cranes as last time. And the fact that they'd planted heaps of flowers was the only difference I noticed. It was pretty, but... is that an effective use of their time and resources and money? I don't know. But... it's pretty anyways. We only walked around one evening when we were waiting for the bus to go back to Lincoln.

Happily digging into some fabulous pie... (photo credit to Timo)

I'll leave you now with one of my favorite photos of me from the trip. There were so many pretty purple flowers there. And everywhere. And as we all know, I have a thing for purple. So of course, I went nuts. Yay flowers in my favorite color everywhere :]]]

Photo by Timo! Pretty pretty blurred out face by me! :3

Thanks for reading. You're cool.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 

Roads go ever on and on...

Greetings loved ones...

Just to start things off... this tree was on Mount Manganui

If the first few sentences of this blog are all you make it though, here's what I'd like you to retain. Here in Zealand (I'm in New Zealand, did you know that??), if there is pretty water, I'll get in it. If there's a pretty (suitable) tree, I'll climb in it. That was my spirit of the last ten days.

I believe this is Mount Ruapehu in the distance....

This past week has been mesmerizing, and I want to share everything. This post will be littered with photographs and I hope by the time you reach the end, if you aren't sobbing in awe of the beauty here, you are booking a flight here so you can witness it yourself.

So much beautiful coastline...

As I write this, I'm surfing SAT and writing websites for new words. I'm positive that there are $50 and $100 words out there that grasp at describing the beauty here more than the words that currently live in my vocabulary. Probably a smattering of $5 and $10 words, with a only a few $20 words. I attempted to express my frustration at a lack of appropriate words with my road trip buddies. I proceeded to make up words in order to put together my feelings and emotions. Silly concoctions I made included “fantasticalistic” “beautifulnessful” and “epicallybreathtakingly.” Witsie, if you're reading this, please let me know if I used any words wrong. Tonight, this blog is my paper and words are my crayons. I will play.

Another view of Mount Ruapehu; active volcanoes for the win! 

Ten days ago, I embarked on a journey with four people. Three with an association with Asheville, two connected to Atlanta, three of the feminine variety, and two with family in Europe. Three Americans and one German. Esha, Franzi, and Timo. We rented a car in Wellington, and drove up to Tuarangi where we spent two nights. Then we drove up to the beach and traced the coastline up to Cape Reinga, the Northernmost tip of New Zealand, where the Pacific Ocean meets with the Tasman Sea. From there, we made our way back down to Wellington on the West Coast for Timo to catch his flight back to Christchurch.

One last incredible view of Mount Ruapehu, taken while driving. 

Driving, quite successfully, on the left side of the road.

The first day, we spent mostly driving. Anytime anyone wanted to stop and take pictures, we did it. We pulled off at every “scenic lookout” and then some. We all did pretty impressive driving on the left side of the road actually. I think all of turned on the windshield wipers while looking for the turn signal, and there were at least a couple moments when someone turned into the right lane and we casually reminded them that we'd be facing oncoming traffic soon enough.

Favorite group photo: L to R: Timo, Tina, Steffie,
Melanie/Judith, Sarah, Esha, Franzi, Jelle, Toni

On the second day, we went for a hike in Tongariro National park. We met heaps of Germans at a hostel, and went with them actually. Most of them were pretty friendly—a few years younger than us—but we had a good time. It was raining almost the entire time, and many of the spectacular views we were hoping for we couldn't see. I guess that means I have words for them, because for certain, my breath was not taken from me.

It was so foggy that day. My camera got little drops on the lens, but I think it looks cool here. 

On the third day, we drove North until we hit ocean at a place called Papamoa beach. I was overcome with serenity within myself and found myself enrapture. While the ocean was radiant and rhapsodic, the weather around us was a cataclysm of rain and menacing clouds. Overcome with emotion, I proceeded to begin bawling, and walked straight into the ocean. When the water hit my shorts, I remembered all of my things in my pockets, and returned to shallow water to pass these items off so I could stop worrying. Then I proceeded into the water, which was somewhat choppy in fact.

Photo cred-Timo. I love this picture. Possibly my favorite of me from the trip.

Over the course of the next few days, we proceeded to myriad beaches upon beaches, and did a few hikes here and there. We drove through Auckland, but we didn't stop—didn't even slow down. Took a few photos from the car, and concluded that we'd seen enough.

Eating ice cream, on 90 Mile beach, on my birthday. Yes.

I can't explain the crystalline waters that I have seen. I took more than 800 photos in an attempt to confine the beauty to memory card, but it couldn't be done. These places are sublime. They are serene and tranquil, effervescent and resplendent.

View from Mount Manganui. Timo and I climbed out on the rocks on that peninsula.

This is Timo. His feet are included because I was completely ecstatic to have him traveling with us because we both wanted to do so much. I'd suggest doing something, he'd say yes and get excited, or he'd suggests something and I'd say yes and then get excited. He came with me to climb trees, rocks, swimming, and to see the sunrise more than four times. I'd never seen the sun rise in New Zealand before, and I was pretty thrilled that the first one I saw was on the ocean. He was a great travel buddy. I got so lucky.

View of Mount Manganui from the peninsula! So much pretty water...

One of the coolest places we saw was hot water beach. It's on the Eastern coast of New Zealand near Whitianga. Basically, there is an underground hot springs that surfaces on the beach. During low tide, you can dig into the sand to get to the spring, and build holes to sit in the water like a sauna. What was really cool about going in spring was that outside it was bloody cold. There were people walking by with scarves and hats and mittens on, clutching their jackets together, while we were soaking wet in swimsuits. The water reaches temperatures around 64° C or 147° F. In fact, after I got really hot, I just went swimming in the ocean, then warmed up again before going to the car. 

 I guess from now on, I'll just show pictures, because there isn't much else to say. So... enter the world of beautiful pictures of New Zealand! And a few thoughts if I happen to have any while the photo train is on the way...

 This is a little waterfall somewhere in Tongariro National Park. It was only a few meters high, but it was still very cute, and quite lovely.

Franzi, Esha and me next to the cute waterfall. I took pictures near the edge and Franzi got nervous. That's why she's holding on to me :]]]
It happened a lot on the trip. I did crazy things, and people got concerned.

Timo and me climbing all over some rocks to take cool pictures of the waterfall. 

This is Jelle! (pronounced Yella). He's Dutch, which is sort of why he made it into our group. Timo speaks Dutch. But he had adorable dimples, which I proceeded to tell him as we were starting our hike. He was THRILLED to pieces, which was equally adorable. He's going to study in Thailand in a few weeks, which is pretty sweet.

Photo credit to Timo. Love this one because it looks like I'm on top of a waterfall, which is pretty sweet as. Felt like being on top of the world, even though it wasn't actually all that high.

Another favorite feet picture with the waterfall in between our feet. We found the best spots climbing on everything and having fun.

 While driving away from Papamoa beach, we saw this beautiful rainbow. None of us got any severely beautiful photos because we were driving.

L to R: Sarah, Esha, me, Timo. This was taken just off the road on the way to Lake Taupo, which is what you can see in the distance. We were all amused by the little hill in the middle of the photo. That's why I love driving. When there's a scenic overlook, you can stop! Although we did skip the sign for "Tourist Drive." Photo by Franzi.

We took far too many epic photos on that peninsula near Mount Manganui. This is one of my favorites of the two of us, taken by a rock.

Favorite photo of me taken on the rocks possibly. I love how blue the ocean looks. It's such a lovely color. Photo credit to Timo, of course.



Taken at Cathedral Cove, where a scene from the second Narnia movie, Prince Caspian was filmed. A truly spectacular place with so much incredibly beautiful blue and teal water. Photo by Timo; expression inspired by Timo.

Taken at Cathedral Cove, photo credit to Timo. I love this one too, even though you can't really see anything of me!

Another one from Cathedral Cove. There was a sign for falling rocks. Not sure why we all found it so amusing. But nevertheless, I think it's hilarious. That dude's just standing there while basically a hunk of cliff is breaking off... They had some pretty cute signs here. Photo cred to Timo.

Another obscenely cute sign. And another reason I love road trips. We could not have stopped to pull over and take pictures with the sign had we been on the bus. Also, while we were doing this, a bizarre experience occurred. A bus drove by. We didn't think anything of it, but we all received texts in a few minutes that friends who go to school with us in Wellington were on the bus and saw us taking pictures! How hysterical that we saw each other like that! Or... they saw us anyways. Photo taken by Sarah.

Taken at Cape Reinga, the Northernmost point of New Zealand. To my left is where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It's filled with whirlpools and other fun things apparently! Exciting! Photo taken by Timo. 

Another one taken at the lighthouse. L to R: me, Timo, Franzi. Something like 3,000 miles from Los Angeles.   Home felt very far away looking at that sign. Photo credit to some random nice lady we met.

Another photo I really like. Also taken by Timo, you can see the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean mingling on the left. I was taking pictures of my feet with the sign.

Feet on Cape Reinga! L to R: Timo, me, and Franzi. I love that Timo doesn't have any shoes on. He walked the whole path down to the lighthouse without shoes. I was quite impressed.













Not my favorite taken at the Giant Sand Dunes in Northland, but it shows the dunes much better than the one I actually like, which is below. They were incredible, huge, and boy they made me feel so small. Completely mesmerizing. Photo by Franzi.

Favorite picture of my taken on the Giant Sand Dunes. Photo by Timo. We took so many epic photos there, I'm pretty sure no one could handle it if we posted all of them.
But what's really cool about these sand dunes is that in places they are so steep that you can boogie board down them. Typically not into the ocean, but sometimes into tidal streams. Although we didn't find the place to rent them, we did find some nice French guys who lent us their toboggans. Though I have to say I quite prefer sledding. At the end of the ride there was sand in my ears, in my nose, in my mouth... you name it, it had sand in it.

First sunrise seen in New Zealand. Photo by Timo. So happy to have a buddy to get up with me at 6 am, an hour I haven't seen in ages. 

One of the few photos taken with all four of us. Taken after hiking down to Cathedral Cove. We only took one because we were all so starving. Photo by the tripod Daddy bought for me. I love you.

One of my favorite sunrise shots. Photo by rock. That's Timo on the left. Mostly it amuses me because it looks like I'm decking him pretty hard core. :]]

 No big deal, just making a snow angel in NEW ZEALAND. I feel as though everything I do here is just ten times cooler because I'm doing it in New Zealand. Not only am I swimming, but I'm swimming IN NEW ZEALAND. Sure, I'm just eating chocolate, but I'm doing it in NEW ZEALAND!!!

Taken in a place called Gemstone Bay, I can only assume because the rocks are all so pretty.

Cute seal a lady directed us to on my birthday! We met her walking back to the hostel at around 9 after hiking up a hill to see the sunrise. I casually said good morning to her and I guess the accent tipped her off that we weren't natives, so she mentioned it. Great tip! He was adorbs. <3

Favorite waterfall in New Zealand that I've seen so far. The water was incredible and it made me completely ecstatic. I want to go back and go swimming in it because it's so beautiful.

The other cool place we went to was a hot spring! We got advice from the guy at our hostel to go to a place outside of Rotorua so that we didn't have to pay, and he ended up being spot on, though we were slightly skeptical. It smelled horrid, and when we left we smelled horrid, but it was awesome. So cold outside and so warm inside. What was cool is that at this spot, two little creeks meet. One is warm water, and one is cold. So when you get warm, you can just shift a little bit into the warmer areas. Timo and I went exploring up the hot creek, and it gets pretty unbearably hot. We also ran into two large tough looking Maori guys, which made me slightly nervous. However we exchanged polite chatter about the temperature of the water and moved on. Awesome place!

Photo by Timo. These are the glow worms we saw. We went on a hike at night, and they were just everywhere. It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. They were all up in the banks and it was incredible. This photo does not do it justice and I can't describe it. But if you ever have a chance to see any kind of glow worms, check them out. It's worth it, I promise. And if you can go at some time when there's moon, it's even better, so that you don't have to use flashlights.

These are real starfish. How sweet as is that?!

One of the few pictures taken in Auckland. Credit to Franzi. That's my forehead in the rear view mirror. Thought this bridge was SO great, and I was thrilled to drive over it.

So if you ever want to see any more pictures, let me know when I get home. If 800 pictures over a 10 day period is any indication of how many pictures I'll have when I'm finished with this trip, I'm certain that I'll have hours to show anyone who wants to see. 












Thanks for reading. 
You are the cat's meow. :3