The End is in Sight

Not only is in the end in sight for my semester (only exams remain), but for my trip as well. Which I basically can't believe. It blows my mind that it has already been close to 6 months since I left. I can't believe how time has FLOWN! Anyways, let's just cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, around the end of classes I did a couple hikes close to town since I actually had to get some homework done on the weekends - classic last week of classes. Everything was due. Did a day hike about 2 hours from Christchurch in the Peel forest (mountain was also called Mt Peel) where we got a fantastic view of the Canterbury plains out the Pacific ocean to the East, and over the Alps to the West. Turned out the be a perfect day too - sunny and great. After finishing the last week of assignments/essays, I took off to Queenstown for a few days to hang out down there and to see Milford Sound (because I figured it is something I MUST see before it is time to leave!) The first day in Queenstown we decided to go out at night - in the freezing temperatures - which was great. Until we tried to leave and I discovered that the 2 layers I had worn were both missing. The coat racks at the front had about 30 coats on them (including NICE ones), and I had smartly separated my 2 layers just in case someone decided to 'borrow' from the coat rack. This did not help. Everyone found their coats except me. And BOTH of mine were gone. I searched for about 20 minutes in every pile of coats I could find and decided to come back the next day to check if they had turned up (no dice). SO awesome. I was beyond mad, and still am. So now I am down one sweatshirt + one raincoat. Perfect, let me replace those with my overflowing bank account (NOT). The next day we headed out bright and early as 2 of the girls had a bungee appointment and one was doing the Shotover canyon swing. I did not go for this. Maybe MAYBE before I leave but it is a pricy 3 seconds.... and slightly terrifying. The 3 of us who did not jump were the camera crew for the jumpers. I thoroughly enjoyed watching haha :) Following the morning activity, we returned to town to grab some Fergburger (necessary) and this time I went for falafel which was the BOMB. There was 6 of us and everyone got a different type of burger - you can't go wrong. In the afternoon we did some shopping around and ate a cheap hostel-made meal and watched star wars. Solid. ALSO a highlight of this trip was the serious amount of Thai restaurants in Queenstown - definitely indulged in some green curry and it was awesome. Another activity one night, we decided to check out a self-serve wine tasting place; essentially, you get a little scan card (kinda like a credit card I guess) and at every station there is a slot for your card, and you can choose what amount of wine you'd like to try (75ml, 150ml or full glass I think it was), all of which are designated a different price. So, whichever amount you choose, the price adds onto your card and then at the end you just pay the balance on your card. PRETTY cool. I discovered I think I like white wine a lot more than red wine? BUT who know cause I really don't know anything about wine.... It was a great time regardless. As the others headed to Dunedin, it was my time to head out to Milford Sound!! WAY easier to book things now, not nearly the same amount of tourists hanging around! But this also means less tours running. I ended up booking a cruise as the kayaking runs pretty infrequently in the winter. I thought it was ok since I got the chance to kayak in Abel Tasman! The drive out to the actual sound was beautiful - we had many photo op stops along the way and were lucky enough to have a SUNNY cloudless day! Perfect! It was quite chilly though. I think I have become a baby when it comes to colder temperatures. I've skipped out on too many Calgary winters recently. I also blame the fact that my wardrobe is basically for temperatures above 10. Anyway, we arrived at the Sound around noon and hopped onto our small (compared to the other giant boats) cruiser where I parked myself upstairs for some outdoor viewing. We went all the way out to where Milford Sound opens up to the Tasman Sea - if we kept sailing we would've arrived in Australia after about 5 days! Another tidbit - Milford SOUND is not actually a sound (a ocean-flooded river valley) it is a FJORD (valley carved by glaciers, filled in by the ocean as the glaciers retreated). In fact, all the 'sounds' in Fiordland National Park are fjords; they got the name of the national park right, except for using an 'i' instead of a 'j'. They're named sounds because that is what the Europeans first named them when they were discovered + the name just stuck. Regardless of what they're called, they were AWESOME. The boat was able to sail SUPER close to the water's edge because even that close to the edge the water is over 100m deep. There is some serious vertical going on. The fact that it had rained the day before was perfect - we got to see a few more waterfalls than normal, and a few of the permanent waterfalls in full force. I took about a million photos basically. After Milford time, I journeyed back to Queenstown for one more day, did some hiking and adventuring around the lake (basically avoided buying anything unnecessary) and headed back to Christchurch at the end of the week. The best thing - the whole time we were getting sunny, cloudless sky weather in Queenstown/Milford, the rest of the country was getting the worst weather, and Chirstchruch had a snow day! Well on the day it snowed school was closed down at noon, and remained closed the next day because it was so icy!! I realized how seriously icy it was when I got back from Queenstown and it was going on day 3 of school closure - walking to my place from the bus was a TASK - sidewalks COVERED with patchy, uneven ice (no 'shovel your walk' rule here) and the roads were essentially paved with a thin layer of ice. Super safe. The snow is pretty much gone now though, as the sun has returned! I am back in Christchurch now, studying away, first final in 2 days! Probably will be hanging out here till I head to Auckland at the end of the month, with the exception of some day trips :)