South Island Recap

I am BACK in Auckland on the North Island. Can I just say that I had an AMAZING week and a half. Holy cow it was so much fun. We did a lot of things and had many adventures.....I literally don't even know where to begin. I thought I would catch everyone up and help myself remember the order of everything by doing a quick recap of the entire South Island trip. There are going to be A LOT more posts coming up that will go in more detail for each experience. But until then. . . . 

Here it is in a nutshell. 

In the South Island we. . . .

first flew to Queenstown

and were amazed at the beautiful, green, HUGE mountains

drove everywhere in three different vans

ate at Fergburger 3 times. (definitely top 3 favorite
things about my South Island trip)

screamed our heads off on the Shotover Jet

ate ice cream in Arrowtown, but missed fresh fruit ice cream

stood where Frodo stood (this spot is the "if you want him, come and claim
him" place)

stayed at a hostel in rooms with girls from different countries (WHAT AN
EXPERIENCE, let me tell you)

ate Chinese food all together

went to a dance party in our Hostel's club...yes they checked for i.d.'s at
the door. (again it was quite the experience)

drove on little roads with James!!! (He is from NZ and is sort of like a
tour guide for our BYU program every year. This was his 13th year doing it!)

saw beauty everywhere we went

saw and stood where Lord of the Rings was filmed

thought to myself, "who's Frodo?" because that's what my mom asked
me and Jeremy after we watched the first movie haha

went on a hike up a very steep mountain to see this BEAUTIFUL view
of Queenstown

got this pizza for $5.00 for going on that hike :) (and yes I ate it all)

drove for like 9 hours total to get to Milford Sound

went through the longest tunnel of my life, it was fun
singing our heads off in there

went on the Milford Sound cruise

saw some of the most beautiful mountains, ocean, and
glaciers on the cruise (as my hair blew uncontrollably)

thought to myself, these pictures will NEVER show how
tall, green, and beautiful this scenery really is

sat on the deck with Margo trying to take it all in

saw SEALS!!! it was way cool

got misted from the ship going right under that waterfall

couldn't believe my eyes

ate Patagonia ice cream and almost cried :)

became Katniss from The Hunger Games, shooting
arrows at targets. (I almost got it on the center black target)

went to Lake Wanaka and did not think it was possible to see something
so pretty

watched Pascal use spray paint to make amazing pictures (he was amazing)

went out on the town with the girls at night :)

got ready to go on the World's Highest/Largest Swing

was so excited when I finally saw it

could not wait to get on it

wanted to go AGAIN! (I should have gone backwards)

got a the World's UGLIEST free hat for doing the swing

took a picture right before we left our Hostel to
drive for 6 hours, to get to Christchurch (we had to
get a picture of this for our memories...there were
just too many experiences there)

saw this color of blue water and again didn't believe it was real!

got an AMAZING room and roommate for our stay at Christchurch
(talk about an upgrade from our Hostel...I thought we were back in America)

saw the after effects from the earthquakes at Christchurch.
it was really sad to see everything just in pieces

finished the three books from The Hunger Games series and was mad
that there was a depressing ending

went to a classical concert on the lawn with some of the girls

tried to entertain ourselves while we waited for the firework show

finally got our star to work!

watched fireworks as the orchestra played "The Ride of the Valkyries"
classical piece

went to the Cantebury Museum at Christchurch and saw a lot of cool stuff 

. . .including a room full of Paua shells :)

. . .and fake KIWI birds!

saw the efforts that were being done to help rebuild the parts of Christchurch
that were destroyed by the earthquakes

went and froze on the beach....again....

but. . . I got to walk on the cool pier 

tried to stay entertained as we drove for more hours and hours

went to the land of Narnia

thought it was the coolest thing seeing where the battle of Narnia was filmed

shouted "FOR NARNIA" on the rocks

went hiking through a cave, full of freezing water, with flashlights

finally saw the end of the cave after over an hour of walking through
cold water in the dark

enjoyed this adventure A LOT (definitely top 3)

As you can see I have a lot to catch up on (550 photos worth), but for now 

I am going to go to bed. 

WHAT A FUNNNNNNN TOURING EXPERIENCE. 

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!