Narnia and the Cave!!

Our last full day in Christchurch was spent outside of the town, because the earthquakes left none of the regular activities for us to do (like the BYU girls have done in the past). It was good though because we got to do some of my most favorite activities from the whole trip so far!

First we went to Castle Rock to visit where the first Chronicle of Narnia final battle scene was filmed. It looked JUST like it did in the movie. We got to go right on the rocks and climb all around them. All of us kept like posing, charging, and yelling "FOR NARNIA" like they do in the movie. Good times :)

Then after that we went and hiked in a cave haha. There was a big cave full of FREEZING cold water that was pitch black. We each had our own flashlights and trekked through the cold, dark, but beautiful cave for over an hour. There were crystals on the ceiling, waterfalls, and calf-deep cold water throughout the cave. At the very beginning, we had to trek through the water as it went up to our chests. It was the COLDEST water I have ever been in. I remember it being like hard to even breath because it was so cold. But once we got out of that cold water it wasn't ever that high again. 

Throughout the hike we would tell everyone to turn off their flashlights, and it would get COMPLETELY black. We all would scream and then turn them back on haha. It was funny. I am claustrophobic and so I was getting a little freaked out being in the cave. I had to keep telling myself that we were close to the end (so I wouldn't panic) and I had to constantly be moving forward. If we ever stopped I would think of happy thoughts and walk around in circles or something haha. But it was totally worth it. When I saw the light coming in on the top of the water, at the end, I was happy! And at the very end we had to hike up this little man-made staircase, crawl along this slippery edge, and finally get out. We thought Ramona was for sure going to fall off the edge because she wasn't crawling, but like scooting, and not very carefully. It freaked all of us out (because she was one of the last ones out), but luckily she made it. The cave was BY FAR at the top of my list of activities we did. I LOVED IT! Awesome experience. 

Castle Rock. Used in the Chronicle of Narnia final battle scenes.

It looked just like it did in the movie

Yeah I'm cool

"FOR NARNIA!!!"

We climbed to the backside and it looked even more like the movie

The cave adventure!

Walking to the cave

Here we go

So dark and cold

But so much fun

I know the outfit is great huh lol

My feet were FREEZING so I tried to get on the driest ground possible.
This rock in the middle did the trick.

Shoes in cold water

The end is near!

wahoo

Crawling out under that rock, right up against the
edge.  We almost lost Ramona during this part.

We made it! 

Our cave hiking group....success! And SO MUCH FUN!

These are BYU boys who were Ramona's husbands former students. They
raised all this money to come to NZ to go try and get into the movie
the Hobbit. We'll see if they end up making it and get famous or not lol.

Bye Christchurch. Bye South Island. 

All Blacks Ruby team is all over the airport. 

Funny story. My row on the airplane was me, Margo,
and Stacey. Our stewardess was a guy and Stacey
made the mistake of telling him she liked his tie.
After that he kept talking to us, gave us extra treats
when they were passed out, gave Stacey his tie
so that he could take a picture of her with it on,
showed us pictures of him flexing his ABS on his phone,
and then ended with having another worker give us his
NUMBER if we ever wanted to do something on the
North Island (in Auckland where he lives).

WE WERE DYING laughing. hahaha oh man oh
man! Thank you Nick for showing us your abs,
giving us extra treats, and giving us your number.
.....OH....BOY.....