wow, so much to do so little time

So I'm currently in the small lakeside town of Wanaka where I stopped to enjoy some of the amazing views and hikes. This afternoon I even went for a run along the lake (its 30 miles long so I barely saw any of it) but I am still hoping to run a half marathon when I get back :)

Since Queenstown I have jumped on the Stray tour bus which has taken me north to Makarora (meal of crayfish in Maori) where we enjoyed a bit of the east coast and saw seals and dolphins (in the distance). Then it was over to Nelson on the north coast where I hopped off for a night to enjoy a sweet little town with great views and also known as the geographic center of New Zealand. From Nelson we headed to Abel Tasman National Park for two nights. During my one day there I went for a water taxi ride quite a ways along the coastline and past two seal colonies before getting off with Steve and Sara for a nice day hike. We enjoyed great views of the coast and even had lunch on the beach where we were joined by the most curious black ducks. Steve and I even went for a bit of a swim in the cold water! At the end of our hike we were picked up by the water taxi again. Oh, and get this, they use tractors to put the taxi boats into the water...and you get on the boat while its hitched to a tractor! So strange...

From Abel Tasman we headed south to a small town of Barrytown, going past a seal colony and pancake rocks on the way. Now Barrytown is a place where the livestock definitely outnumber people and we just stop there to break up our drive...but the coast was beautiful and I was able to fit in a nice run along the beach :) The next stop was the town of Franz Joseph, home to the Franz Joseph Glacier....so guess what our big activity was there??? Hiking the glacier! They provided the gear and guides and we hauled our butts up through the rocks then ice to experience one the fastest glaciers in the world. It was a blast and I continually thought of Kim who would have loved it, even if it's not Rainer ;-) It was a long and exhausting day but it felt like such a great accomplishment! The next stop was a small town called Kaikoura where we took a nice nature walk and rested our bus weary souls.

Here I am in a crooked squeeze...the picture really was taken vertically to the ground :)

Today I hopped off the bus in Wanaka and while I was sad to leave a great group behind it is a beautiful place to stay for a night. It's a little like Lake Chelan but the mountains are even more extreme and the water even more blue :)

Tomorrow I will head to Queenstown and can't wait for more fun there!

New Zealand!

Holy Poo! I'm in New Zealand :) I had to go through customs and everything. It's strange how used to Australia I was and now a new country....

Anyways, I'm in Christchurch on the South Island and about to start my adventure around the island. Christchurch is a beautiful city with an amazing cathedral in the center and a beautiful park to the west. I arrived late Saturday night and Sunday I took most of my day to explore their weekend market and the Art Center along with the Botanic Gardens. While the market can't compare with the ones in Seattle, the Art Center had a lot to offer in the form of galleries to browse and even a piano concert. It was quite a cool day so it was nice to just relax and enjoy the city. The Art Gallery was also on my agenda and it was really nice. There was an exhibit of a New Zealand artist who did a trip through Italy painting water colors of the architecture and it reminded me of all the great things that Josh and I saw on our trip years ago. Then there was an exhibit called Blue Planet, it was all blue pieces with a focus on environment and teaching children about the planet...very fun!

Today, I must admit, I started with a run followed by the Purdue game at Holy Grail (a HUGE sports bar here) where I almost had a heart attack while cheering on my Boilermakers to their overtime win! I followed that up with a visit to the Canterbury Museum which is a history & culture museum for the region. It had beautiful Maori artifacts as well as interesting bits from throughout history. There was also an exhibit on the Antarctic since this is where many people stop on their way down to the outposts there. In fact, while I was in Australia I met a number of Americans on their way home from the Antarctic! I went back to the gardens since my camera died and I wanted to grab a few more pictures, especially of the Begonia display...they were amazing and HUGE! The rose garden and darhlias were also some of my favorites. I could smell the roses for hours :) There's so much to see and enjoy there, I highly recommend it for anyone who comes this way. I then proceeded to wander around the city shopping and browsing to end my afternoon.

Me with the pretty begonias :)

Tomorrow I start making my way around the island going north to Kaikoura on the west coast then continuing to Nelson on the north coast.

Hugs & Kisses to all!

Rainy Whitsunday Islands

Well its the wet season in the Whitsundays and to make life even better there is a cyclone headed towards Australia to help the winds. I say this all as a statement of fact, in reality we still had a fair share of sunshine and beautiful times.

While I was at the Whitsundays I took a three day sailboat trip out to the islands. Due to the winds we weren't able to make it to the outer reef, but we did have a beautiful sunny day at Whitehaven beach :) Our three days included snorkeling, diving and sunning when it was out. I was on the Pacific Star a 65 foot catamaran with about 20 passengers and a crew of four. We had a great time getting to know each other, playing cards, braving the waves, drinking and enjoying the Whitsundays! I taught a couple of British girls Speed the card game and we had a blast playing that with four players at one point. They in turn taught us Strips (no not strip poker) but another card game. And then Greg, our host, taught us Golf to round out our card game knowledge :) On Betty's Beach (north part of Whitehaven) myself, Amanda and Leon had a digging contest in the white silica sand...we tried to dig ourselves down into the sand up to our knees, but never quite got there. At night we had some excellent viewings of the southern stars out away from all the lights :) The downside was some rough waves in the mornings as we moved to our daily destinations. But there were even some amusing sides to that as Judy braved the very bow of the boat and ended up completely soaked!

Here's the surviving crew as we returned back to Airlie Beach :)

Now I'm making one last quick stop in Melbourne before heading to New Zealand!! I can't wait to see what awaits me there!

Brisbane fun

Hey y'all!

So while it hasn't been super crazy, I have had an excellent time here in Brisbane. I have been hanging out with my sorority sister and relaxing at her apartment.

Yesterday I got some sun at Streets Beach, did some shopping at Queen Street Mall and even went to the cruise ship terminal (happens to be close to where I'm staying). Seeing the Dawn Princess (Princess Cruiselines) reminded me of when Nicole and I would keep track of the ships coming in and out of Seattle from our apartment. Last night, Maggie & I went to see Precious with a friend of hers, wow what a movie...I understand why it was nominated for so many awards.

Today I visited the XXXX Brewery (yep 4 Xs not 3 like at Purdue) for a tour, but I was late so I just sampled the beer (best part anyways, right :) ). Then I made my way back to the South Bank to visit the Gallery of Modern Art. Right now the exhibition is focused on Asian art and it was amazing! There were some amazing Buddahs that were decorated with stickers, remember the puffy ones we used to play with when we were young, and you could add one to it, so fun! There was also an installation that had mushrooms of all shapes and sizes, but when you looked closer the artist had so carefully drawn Chinese characters all of each mushrooms! Another favorite was a drawing of Buddah standing but it was actually only standing out from a background of Chinese characters. There were too many other great pieces to write about here... And then I went to the Queensland Art Museum to find more classic forms of art, and some not so classic. An amazing dresser handcrafted from Australian woods with fantastic geometric patterns was one of my favorites. Oh, and in the same complex (Cultural Center) was their state library and while I didn't go in, I was fascinated by the bookshop inside and found some great titles including This is Not a Book, Can Kissing Make You Live Longer (man, I hope it can!) and The Art of Travel (now why didn't I come up with that).

Tomorrow I am heading to the Whitsunday Islands to take a three day, three night sailing trip to part of the Great Barrier Reef. I can't wait to tell you all about that!

Hugs & Kisses!

Surf Camp

I can stand up on a surf board!!!! It took a lot of work and I still fall off more than I stand up but I can stand up :) And I did stand up every day at surf camp, most days even more than once.

At first it was a shock to leave the Pink House and all my friends in Sydney, but it has been good to change up things a bit and get back into travel mode.

I had an excellent group for the four day camp, there were seven of us with four girls (two Germans, a Swiss and myself) and three guys (all the boys from Sweden). On our first day we drove up the coast a bit to surf camp where we were outfitted with wet suits and surf boards and hit the water after lunch. It was a quick lesson but with the help of Steve we all stood up on at least one wave :) Then it was back to camp for 'party night'...ok every night at surf camp was party night for some of the crew, but we had a delicious dinner and a good time with the whole surf camp crew. The next three days were a blur of surfing both at surf camp the second day then at a few other spots up the coast on our way to Byron Bay. The last day we had a surfing competition for all us new surfers. It was a lot of fun to test out our skills in the water and compete with each other. In the end Barbara, our favorite Swisse, won!!! She rocked out a number of waves doing turns, a few jumps and other craziness! Here's a picture of her on the left doing a fabulous move!

Once we got settled in at our Byron Bay homes we met up again for one last party night at Cheeky Monkeys. We definitely had the most awesome group at the bar (and probably the biggest as well) and we had a great night of dancing and all around fun! Then the next day I spent the morning recovering with extra sleep and a relaxing breaky before meeting up with Barbara and the girls to hit up the beach. Of course, that didn't last long as Mother Nature decided it was time for some rain :( but we did enjoy each others company throughout the afternoon.

Now I have moved myself a little bit further up the coast to Brisbane where I am very happy to be visiting my sorority sister Maggie!