On the first day, we traveled from Dunedin to Invercargill. Our first few stops included stopping to view some beautiful scenery at Nugget Point Lighthouse and a short hike to a Catlins waterfall. One of the coolest parts of the day was our stop at Cathedral Caves. After a short walk, we were on the beach and making our way to the caves. The caves were so cool, but you had to make sure that you were watching the waves or you would be knee deep in water before you knew it. Along the way we stopped at Slope Point, which is the Southernmost point of New Zealand. By this point we were all really cold because it had been raining on and off all day. Only five of us decided to make the walk through all the sheep shit to get to the point. On our way to the point Stas slipped and after that we all pretty much lost our minds. We could not stop laughing the entire way out there. We were so miserable from the cold and the rain that we could not stop smiling out of misery =) It actually turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of the trip and it lasted for all of 20 minutes. That night we met up with one of Shaffer's friends from Otago and had a BBQ at his house. We made a feast of kabobs and devoured them =)
The second day we traveled from Invercargill to Te Anau. We got ourselves situated at our hostel and walked around before our glow worms tour. However, when we went to check in for the glow worms, we found that the tour had been cancelled because the cave had flooded. Luckily, we were able to get on a tour that night, but now had the rest of the day free. So we were happy when Shaffer ran into his friend (Richard) from the night before, who offered to take us out on his boat at Lake Manapouri. It was a beautiful day and we had an amazing time!!! Two people (Megan and Pete) even got into the FREEZING water to water ski. After we returned we went to the glow warm caves in Te Anau. We got to go out on a board ride on the Te Anau Lake in order to get to the caves then got a brief introduction to what we would be doing. We were guided into the caves where the water was vigorously flowing from the rain the previous day. There was also a large waterfall that was being pushed through the cave by the strong current. We then sat in a raft in the pitch dark where our tour guide pulled us through the cave to see the glow worms. All you could see were these small spots of light lining the top and sides of the cave. Great day!!!
The following day we drove to Milford Sound. This was probably one of my favorite moments of the entire trip. The view at Milford Sound was absolutely amazing!! We got to go on about an hour long boat tour around the Sound where we were surrounded by spectacular scenery. At one point, we even got to stand almost directly under a waterfall! On our way back from Milford Sound we realized that the car was not functioning correctly, so decided to skip the side walks we had planned and head straight back to Te Anau. While the car was being looked at, we decided to do a short walk at Te Anau to the beginning of the Keplar Track. When we returned we found out that due to the car troubles, we would be spending an extra day in Te Anau rather than leave for Queenstown and Wanaka the following day.
On our third day in Te Anau, we decided to do a longer hike along the Keplar Track. We ended up doing a 25 km. hike that day. While the scenery was beautiful, it was the first track I had done since being in New Zealand where the scenery didn't really change much. Usually while hiking in New Zealand, I am surrounded be a multitude of changing scenery. However, this hike primarily took us through the forest so we saw similar scenery the entire way. That night we had Chinese food for dinner and went back to our hostel to drink Speights, play bananagrams (a game we've become obsessed with!!) and cribbage. For a day that was completely unplanned, we definitely did enjoy ourselves.
On the 5th day we had a very long drive ahead of us due to the day we lost. We started the day off in Te Anau and drove to Wanaka. Here we stopped for a lunch break at a burger place that Victoria told us had the best burgers in New Zealand...and she was right!!! The were huge and so delicious! We then continued our drive to the Glaciers. We stopped a couple of times along the way to enjoy the amazing scenery and take pictures.
The next day we were able to spend the entire day at the Glaciers and went on a half day tour at Franz Josef Glaciers. Here we actually got to walk on the glaciers and learn a little about them. It was one more spectacular thing to add to the list of things we'd already done. After the tour, we went to Fox Glaciers to make a stop at Lake Matheson. It's suppose to be a reflective lake where you can see Mt. Cook, however, due to the weather we didn't really get the full affect. That night we played some more bananagrams =) and made a list of the 50 things to do butt naked in New Zealand (based on our trip). Making the list had us rolling on the ground laughing.
On the 7th day we drove our final stretch back to Christchurch. It was another long drive, so other than a few stops we spent most of the time in the car. My favorite stop of the day was at Castle Hill, where there a these huge rocks. We were able to climb up to the top of them and had beautiful views all around us. The rocks were also the site of one of the scenes in Lord of the Rings!!! We ended the day in Christchurch where we made a Mexican feast!!! It tasted so good and was something we had all been wanting to eat due to the lack of Mexican food in New Zealand. Did I mention that after dinner we played bananagrams?!?!
The next morning the Otago Students left to make there final trip back down to Dunedin. While we saw many amazing things on the trip, one of the best things about the trip was that I was able to get to know seven people that I hardly knew. Willamette is a small school, but it's still remarkable how we tend to keep to our same group of friends. We all have our own bubbles within the larger Willamette bubble. However, this trip gave me the chance to really get to know some of my classmates and Stas as well. Overall, it was probably the best week I've had in New Zealand so far. And it was only the first week of my break!!!! 2 more weeks to go!
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