I think I'm in America?

 Pretty much all of the new international students have arrived now; it's brought back good memories of my arrival as I watch them excitedly running around as they try to see and do everything! The vast majority of internationals this trimester are American, including two of my four flat mates (Drew and Andrea); my other two flat mates are Dutch (Klaas) and Kiwi (Liam). They're all really nice and we had a good home made Mexican dinner and butterscotch kisses together last night to get to know each other.

 I warn you now that a lot of this past week has been spent eating very good food as Liam loves to bake and Mealiny (French) has had me round for really good French food a few times. (In the above photo Juliette, Claire, Mealiny and I have just had gratin and tarte de pomme before my first taste of poker.) I've also had hardly any opportunities to cook for myself as there are constant potluck dinners or BBQs going on.
Because I'm one of the few internationals that's been here for a while I've been playing the role of tour guide for  my new flat mate and loads of other Americans. I've shown them plenty of good places to eat and drink coffee, with samples along the way!

Above is a photo from our tramp along the Skyline walk from Johnsonville to Wellington. I felt very outnumbered amongst 10 Americans and one Canadian.
To the left is a photo of my new flat mates. (from left to right - Klaas, Liam, Drew and Andrea).
I'm hoping to meet even more new people over the next couple of days, hopefully some non-americans, as it's international orientation and there are some buddy events. My buddy this trimester is called Maria and is from East Timor; it's really interesting hearing about her culture as it's so different to anything I'm used to.
I'm both relieved, and very happy, to have all my flat mates hear and know that they're all great people and it's certainly nice to have permanent friends again after my months of travelling. 

Back in good old Wellington

After three and a half absolutely incredible months, which I will never forget, I'm finally back in Wellington with a permanent bed and an address again.
 My final week of travelling was filled with more exciting adventures; the highlight though was definitely swimming with dolphins.
My last couple of days wwoofing for Kerry and Tim were spent weeding, cleaning, picking up cow muck and eating wonderful food.
On Wednesday Kerry dropped me off in Blenheim and I said my goodbyes before catching the bus to Kaikoura; a town half way between Picton and Christchurch which is famous for whale watching. Here I spent 3 nights at Dolphin Lodge, a nice, small backpackers.

 The next morning I walked down to 'Encounter Kaikoura' for 8.15am where the group of us going to swim were each kitted out with a wet suit, a hood, fins and a snorkel and mask.
We were extremely lucky as about 30 minutes in to the boat ride we came across a pod of orcas (killer whales); these are the largest dolphin in the world and a pod passes through Kaikoura every six - nine weeks.

 The orcas came right up to us and due to the unusually clear water we could see them as they appeared from under the boat. We spent a while watching two of the orcas circling a small shark whilst albatross' swooped over head. (This is pictured to the left - you can just make out the small shark to the right of the orca.)
After about twenty minutes we moved on to find the pod of dusky dolphins which had been spotted about 10 minutes away.

 Once in the middle of the pod we plopped off the back of the boat into the water, hoping the killer whales didn't decide to come this way. In order to attract the dolphin's attention we had to squeak. Mostly the dolphins would whiz past but sometimes they would take an interest and swim in circles, staring right into my eyes; such an amazing experience. We were able to go in four times; about 5 minutes for each swim. On the final swim we were joined by some Hector dolphins (the smallest dolphins in the world); apparently these are only seen on about 5 five percent of trips.

 Once dry, and warmed up with hot chocolate, we watched the dolphins for a bit, leaping and doing flips out of the water, before heading back to land. I would thoroughly recommend this trip to anyone heading that way.
The rest of my time in Kaikoura was spent going for walks and drinking coffee. The walk around Kaikoura peninsular was lovely and there was a large seal colony which I stumbled across, nearly stepping on one of the hidden seals as I crossed the bay!

 On Saturday I took the bus to Christchurch where I spent half a night before heading to the airport at 4.30am to catch my flight to Wellington.
I've had the most fantastic time over the past 3 and a half months and really can't believe how quickly it's all gone. Just four and a half months left now! I'll have to make sure I make the most of them and pack them full of more adventures.

Turning twenty whilst wwoofing.

I'm no longer a teenager! I started the week as a nineteen year old in Picton where I went for a few sunny day walks and munched my way through many free cheese scones provided by my backpackers.
On Tuesday I took a bus to Spring Creek, just North of Blenheim, where I was met by Kerry, one of my wwoofing hosts. She took me up to the house which is surrounded by beautiful, mature gardens; full of fruit and vegetables and a few chickens and cows. Here I met Tim, Kerry's husband, and Misty the dog.

 The photo above shows my room here; I have a little holiday cottage to myself, complete with a bathroom and a kitchen which I don't need to use as Kerry cooks me lovely meals.
Each morning I work in the garden on a variety of jobs, including bonfire building, stringing up onions and garlics, compost heap turning, weeding, manure spreading, vegetable picking and mulch spreading. This is broken up with tea, coffee and cake breaks. I then have the afternoons to myself so I can take one of their bikes out for a cycle ride down to the beach, walk through the vineyards or swim in the river. As an afternoon snack I just pick whichever fruit I want from the trees. To the right is a lemonade; it tastes like a lemon but is less sour so eaten like an orange :)

 In the evenings Kerry cooks us delicious meals, mainly comprised of food from the garden. After a very nice beef casserole she informed me that they were running out of beef in the freezer so their highland cow (pictured to the right) would soon have to go :( After dinner, most evenings, the three of us watch a film, generally French, before I head back to my little cottage.

 On Saturday it was my 20th birthday so I spent a lot of time skyping home and replying to messages on facebook. It wasn't quite your usual 20th birthday; I spent the morning trimming the hedge, turning one of the compost heaps and stringing up garlics (all pictured above). In the evening they had some friends round for a 3 course dinner with roast pork, some very nice wine and a lovely chocolate and hazelnut birthday cake. All four friends were well over 70 so much of the time was spent discussing hearing aids and eye sight and how the youth of today has gone wild and Kerry and I were the only ones able to eat the toffees she had laid out. It was certainly a memorable birthday meal and it was very sweet of Kerry to bake a cake for me.

I've really enjoyed my time here with Tim and Kerry and I've been taught so much about organic gardening. I definitely hope that I will have space to grow my own fruit and vegetables when I'm older as the flavours are amazing and it makes eating much more rewarding.
I'm now reaching the end of my travelling time as I'll be heading back to Wellington on Sunday ready to get back to what I'm meant to be doing out here... studying.

Lazing by lakes

 Over the past weeks I've sat reading my book by the side of three different lakes; Lake Wakatipu, Lake Wanaka and Lake Tekapo. I'm now in Picton for a few days before starting my next wwoofing just north of Blenheim.
It's been a very relaxing week; I've mostly been going for day walks and soaking up the sun whilst paddling along the lake shores.

 I started in Queenstown where I got everything sorted after the Routeburn, climbed Queenstown hill and failed to do a bungee swing.
The walk up Queenstown hill was magical; it started through the trees with white spotted toad stools littering the ground, then opened out on to the grassy hill side with fox gloves lining the path and spectacular views of Queenstown and across to the top of the gondola.

On the Sunday I was meant to be doing a bungee swing, which my friend Mealiny had given me as she couldn't make it. I was all ready to go with a girl from my room, just waiting for the bus, then they called our number and told us it was too windy and all we could do was reschedule but I was leaving for Wanaka the next day so couldn't do it. As consolation, and because it was raining, I went to vudu cafe for a hot chocolate instead.

Next morning I caught the 8am bus to Wanaka, possibly my favourite town in New Zealand. Once checked in to the YHA where there was a kitchen in my 6 bed room(!) I went next door to the cinema which had been recommended to me. Here I watched the Book Thief from the back seat of an old car; others were sat on old sofas.
The next day I walked to puzzling world, a place full of optical illusions; I ended up just looking around the entrance area as it was too nice a day to spend inside. Instead I took a walk up Mount Iron to take a view across Wanaka (seen below) then had one of the best Mochas I've had in New Zealand (pictured above) before going for a paddle in the cool water.

Next day I was on the move again, north to Lake Tekapo. I was hoping to do some star gazing here but unfortunately, although there were clear skies both days, the clouds rolled in at night.
During the two days I had there I went for some short walks, including one up to the Mt John Observatory. From the top of Mt. John I was able to see for miles across parched flat land with mountains in the distance (pictured to the right and below). It was a lovely walk which I ended with another, colder, paddle. On the first evening the clouds had their use as they created a beautiful sunset; a lovely backdrop to the Church of Good Shepherd; I definitely took far too many photos of this (one of these is below). I attempted some star gazing on my last night and managed to see Orion framed by cloud; I gave up when a Chinese family shone their headlights in my eyes and questioned why I was sat alone, on the ground, in the middle of the golf course, in my pyjamas,in the dark.

My final days of the past week took me to Christchurch for one night then on to Picton. The bus to Christchurch was only 4 hours but seemed to stretch on for an eternity due to the very loud and very drunk Irish girls in the back.
It's now February meaning I'm in the final month of my travels; just two weeks left. I hope they continue to astonish and inspire me and that I meet yet more friendly people.

The Routeburn track

 After my last post I took a 9 hour bus to Queenstown where I spent a couple of days relaxing, walking up to the top of the gondola, watching magnificent sunsets and getting everything ready for my three day trek of the Routeburn.
The Routeburn track is one of New Zealand's great walks and it winds its way through the Mt. Aspiring and Fiordland national parks.

 In order to start the walk I took a bus from Queenstown to the Routeburn car park, then I was on my way. The first day was mostly through the trees with the bright turquoise river below and frequent swing bridges. When I reached clearings the views were spectacular as I was blessed with a very rare weather type for this region: sun. It was a nice simple walk which took much less time than expected meaning I had arrived at the hut by 1pm so had plenty of time to meet new people and bask in the sun. (To the right is the view from the Routeburn falls hut, where I spent my first night.) In the evening the hut warden set us a challenge of naming 20 languages on his flag; our team managed 19 but he gave us the chocolate bar anyway.

 Overnight the temperature plummeted from 27C to 6C. I set off around 7am as I had seen that rain was on its way in the afternoon. The day started with fantastic views down the valley and after a couple of hours I was enjoying myself so much I decided to do one of the side trips up Conical hill. This involved a steep scramble for about 30 minutes; unfortunately when I was about 50 meters from the top the cloud came down so my view from the top was a white out. For the next couple of hours I was walking along the side of a mountain and I'm sure there were incredible views beyond the cloud. I finally dropped down below the tree line into 'Fairy woods'; I can see why it got its name; you can just imagine nymphs and pixies flitting between the moss and lichen covered trees and boulder, just magical.

I made it to the Mackenzie hut at midday and was lucky that I was the third to arrive as it meant I got my own bed rather than having to be one in a long line.
We sat huddled around the fire feeling quite grateful for our early arrival as other trampers arrived soaked to the skin, by around 4pm it had even started to snow on the tops.
I had a nice relaxed afternoon and evening chatting to Peter (German), Kim and Kiara (Australian) and Bailey and Becka (American).

On the third and final day I set off in drizzle, meaning there was barely any view. I was having a lovely time walking through the trees taking photos of the many different types of moss and lichen and marvelling at the vast array of ferns. At one point I came to a particularly nice waterfall and was just admiring it when I noticed it had got slightly lighter. I turned around and was confronted by a jaw dropping view. The clouds had parted slightly and the snow capped mountains were poking through in the circle of blue, with the moon just above them. To add to the moment a few flurries of snow began to drift around me; this coupled with the sound of the gushing waterfall had me standing alone in the middle of the path with a huge grin on my face.
I continued with a spring in my step past numerous amazing waterfall, including the 174m Earland falls which was even more spectacular due to the rain. Around 10am I reached the Howden hut where I waited for the rain to die down for around 3 hours. Whilst waiting I was joined by Peter, Kim, Kiara, Becka and Bailey.
Once the rain had finally turned to a light drizzle we continued on to the end!
 After the 4 hour bus journey back to Queenstown I had a nice long shower then the 6 of us met up for celebratory pizzas. I had such an amazing time on the Routeburn and met some lovely people. I hope I can do more tramping both here and back in the UK.

Goodbye Mum and Dad!

 So much has happened in the past week I don't even know where to start! I think by the end of my last post we were in Franz Josef, just about to head down to Queenstown on the most beautiful drive of my life. We drove from mountains with glaciers, down alongside the pebble beaches which were covered in drift wood (Mum's heaven), through the Haast pass and past a few clear, blue lakes then finally were blessed with a fantastic view down to Queenstown (shown at the top). Along the way we stooped for a very nice coffee overlooking the lake in Wanaka (a place I will definitely be returning to) and we took a look in a few sweet little shops in the historic Arrowtown.
Our accommodation in Queenstown was quite a step up from the YHAs; we were staying at Nugget Point Boutique which had the most amazing views over the Shotover river (shown below), a very swish bathroom with a jacuzzi bath and free use of the spa facilities. We decided it was much too appealing after the long day of driving so we stayed there for a very nice meal and dip in the hot tub and sauna.

I was quickly reminded why I had loved Queenstown so much on my previous visit. After a morning wandering around the town and eating a rather good lunch, at Vudu Cafe on the waterfront, we hopped on the bus for white water rafting. 
The first task was putting on the thick wetsuits, jackets, boots and buoyancy aids. A bus then took us down skippers creek road; a pretty scary, narrow route down into the valley, right along the cliff edge.

The rafting itself was great fun; whizzing down rapids and even jumping out from time to time to cool down in the water. My favourite part was the last couple of minutes; after a long dark tunnel we reached the most extreme of the rapids where we were told to turn sideways so we wouldn't hit our noses. We hit the rapid at a strange angle meaning we were thrown sideways so that Dad and 2 others fell out. (this is pictured at the top).
All this rafting worked up quite an appetite so we went to Queenstown's famous Fergburger restaurant for a huge, but very good burger. 
After another night at Nugget Point then patisseries by the lake front we head South for Manapouri.

Manapouri is a small place where we were staying in a cute, cosy little bach. The weather there wasn't so chipper so we had a slow morning then went into Te Anau for a coffee before a short walk along part of the Kepler track (another of the great walks). That evening we snuggled up inside, as the temperatures had dropped to around 4C, and started a tricky puzzle. (such party animals!)

  The main reason for staying in Manapouri was to visit Doubtful Sound; a stunning area which is actually a fiord, not a sound.

In order to reach the sound you have to take a boat trip then a coach journey meaning it is very remote; there was only one other boat out there. The scenery there was absolutely breathtaking. Steep sided mountains rose out of the deep blue water (fresh on top and salt below) with clouds pouring over their peaks and through the valleys but also sun leading to awesome rainbows. A bonus was the large pod of dolphins which played along side the boat, flipping and jumping high out the water.

On the way back, as part of the coach trip, we wound our way down a long tunnel underground to the hydroelectric power station (pictured to the left); here Dad was in storyboard heaven. We finally arrived back to our little bach around 3.30, very cold but having had a fantastic day, with hundreds of photos to show it.

 On Tuesday we had a long drive up from Manapouri to Lake Tekapo, over the Lindis pass and through yet more amazing scenery. We were blessed with perfect blue skies for the drive up meaning that when we stopped in Twizel to check details for a our helicopter flight the next day they said they had a slot at 5pm that day. We decided to make the most of the amazing weather and go for it.

 We drove up the side of Lake Pukaki admiring the views of Mount Cook as we went then with in the hour we were in the helicopter, headsets on, ready to fly over Mount Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand). The flight was breathtaking. It was a physical geographers paradise, flying over glaciers, glacial rivers, towering mountains, exceedingly blue lakes with icebergs in them, a tectonic boundary and many amazing rock formations. 

A few minutes in we stopped off on a snow field so take in the view of Mount Cook and take countless photographs; just in case we hadn't got enough from the helicopter. The 45 minute flight flew by (excuse the pun); I could barely concentrate on what the pilot was saying as I gawped at the breath taking views whilst we zipped between the peaks and along the valleys. It was a truely memorable experience and the best birthday present I could have asked for.
The flight all seemed very surreal by 8pm as we sat in the retro bach eating our chilli con carne then went through the mammoth task of sorting through the photos. This next bach was just North of Lake Tekapo and fitted out in retro 1970s decor; again very cosy.

We had a nice relaxing day on Wednesday, went for a stroll by Lake Tekapo and a coffee but the 30C was too much for us brits so we spent the afternoon in the shade. After trying to finish off the last of the food with our pork we watched yet another great sunset before watching the King's speech.
Next morning we drove to Christchurch where we were staying in a nice 'motel' with a lovely bathroom (2 showers)!
It was 32C so we took it slow and went for a stroll into town through the Botanical gardens.

The gardens were lovely but Christchurch's centre still bares the scar of the earthquake in 2011, making it like one large building site.

As it was our last evening together we went out for a Japanese meal; we were able to sit at the teppanyaki table, it was great fun watching our food be cooked and the chef set the table on fire for us. It was my first taste of Japanese food, other than sushi, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Today my parents left me in Christchurch so I am now a lone traveller again. I was going to meet up with two of my French friends in Queenstown but unfortunately their car broke down so they've returned to Wellington, so now I'm planning my month ahead.

I've had the most amazing time travelling with my parents over the past few weeks; thank you so much for so many fantastic experiences.

It was a shame Tom couldn't join us, I look forward to being reunited in just over 5 months.

Onwards to the next stage of my adventure!