...throws the planets out of line, a star sign out of whack, a fraudulent zodiac. Third Eye Blind rocks my world.
Catching The Sunrise In Dunedin, Chasing The Sunset In Queenstown (Saturday, June 5th)
So classes/lectures are over, final papers for Intro to NZ Society, Social Power, and Advanced Theory are COMPLETE and turned in, it's officially wintertime in the Southern Hemisphere = the South Island is quite chilly (but overall, no big deal), and Tim, Paul, Alan, Mike, Liz, and I decided to journey up to Queenstown to meet up with Jamie and her brother Tyler (Jamie is from the States but did study abroad up in Wellington on the North Island). First though, we stopped at Portmouth/the Otago Harbour for a terrific sunrise. After that and after a terrible period of carsickness, we finally made it to Queenstown and found some Werthers candy (for me) and muffins (for Paul, Mike, and Alan). After that, we all went to the tiny Queenstown airport to pick up Jamie and Tyler. But that really just turned into playing ball in the parking lot, being secret undercover spies, and flipping through touristy brochures. After Jamie and Tyler joined us, we wandered around town, found some yummy kebabs, and then OF COURSE we had to stop and play on the playground by the lake (...I think this ALWAYS happens because Paul has a Very Serious Addiction to playgrounds). After that, we went to find the sunset... we hiked up to top of the gondola, checked out the Skyline complex that overlooked Queenstown, decided that The Higher Up We Could Get = The Better, and so we hiked higher and higher to the top of a snowy ridge better mountaintop views could be found, hiked up higher and higher until we reached the top of a snowy ridge. Although the sun had already set behind the mountains, we had some pretty spectacular views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. Queenstown is honestly one of the coolest little towns I've ever been to... so you if ever get the chance, you've got to go. MOST DEFINITELY. After hiking down, we went to Fergburger (SO FREAKING DELICIOUS) and met up with some of our other friends who were also in Queenstown that day. After that, it was just grocery shopping and then some serious sleepytime at The Secret Campsite on Lake Wakatipu.
Roy's Peak: The Mountain Of Snow And Death (Sunday, June 6th)
So This Got Nuts. We woke up and it was raining a bit. We drove to Wanaka (a town up by Mount Aspiring National Park). It was still raining. Parked at the bottom of Mount Roy. Still raining. So we're like, Okay, Let's Just Start Hiking And We'll Just See How It Goes. Good plan. So basically, raindrops turned into snowflakes and BAM, We Are In A Blizzard At The Top Of A Mountain. THIS WAS SWEET. Yes, it was totally cold and windy and freezing... But It Was Still Awesome. Basically, we abandoned/ignored/disregarded every possible form of logic or reasoning or basic commonsense (because Let's Be Real, NO ONE in their right mind would EVEN CONSIDER doing whatever the hell it was we were doing) and had a magnificently ridiculous time. So yeah, we made it to the peak, made some snow angels, and started to descend down the mountain. This got a little tricky... so since we were hiking down a snowy grassy mountain (slash since I'm naturally clumsy slash I don't own hiking boots), I ended up slipping and falling on the trail NO JOKE every minute and a half. I am seriously Not Exaggerating/it was out of control/there was nothing I could really do about it. So snowy grassy mountain turned back into muddy grassy mountain... and I just kept on falling. After a while, this got really really really tiring, and I was cold. But alas, we all eventually returned to Serena safe and sound, changed into dry clothes, got victory snacks at a nearby New World, and drove to Mount Cook to camp for the night.
Taking A Break From Sun Chasing: Mount Cook National Park... Well, Kinda (Monday, June 7th)
Our general plan was to camp by Lake Pukaki (we had camped there on our first Mount Cook trip way back in the day), wake up Monday morning, hike the Hooker Valley Trail, and then peace on back to Dunedin. But Really This Is What Happened... I'm sleeping in the van and Monday morning rolls around and it's cold/snowy/rainy outside. So we all just stayed in our respective shelters of choice (eg. in the tents or in the van), snacked, napped, and just basically hung out (someone in the tents was playing guitar, so that was really nice too). Six Hours Later.... I mean, we weren't really in any kind of rush... The rain finally stops and we slowly get our lives together, pack up the van, and head over to Mount Cook. We find out that the road to Hooker Valley (slash the road to our desired trailhead) is all snowed in. Bummer, but really No Big Deal. We ended up having a snowball fight on the side of the road... Well, what happened was this... For some reason or another (probably to take a picture), Tim got out of the van. Then Tim ended up throwing a snowball at Paul. Paul runs out of the van WITHOUT SHOES to chase Tim down, but Timothy is quite speedy. More snowballs are thrown. Paul gets back in the van, and we drive off without Tim for quite a ways. Van stops and Tim eventually catches up to us, and then we all play in the snow for a bit/have a snowball fight! The End! Eventually, we make it back to Dunedin alive, so that was good. That night, I had a kebab wrap for dinner and then ice cream. It was all very delicious.
To Nugget Point: Oceans and Friends, Rainbows and Sunsets (Tuesday, June 8th)
Tuesday morning, I wake up in my nice bed, email Mom to assure her that I'm alive, shower, and then start my laundry... And As Soon As I Put All My (Relatively) Cold Weather Clothes In The Laundry, I get a text basically saying, Come To Nugget Point! Meet At Tim's In Two Hours! ...Oh shoot, laundry takes a while... Possible Dilemma. But Itsssss Cool, because exactly two hours later, LAUNDRY IS FINISHED! So I pack real quick and head over to Tim's YAY! This time, it was Tim, Mike, Alan, Liz, Jamie, Tyler, and I. No Paul = no playgrounds, but Tim always seems to find the good rainbows. So we wandered along the coast (by the way, I love the Pacific Ocean) to the Caitlins, chasing rainbows and sunsets, and basically doing some picture hunting and stopping at any random cool place we came across. It Was Good. We had wanted to catch the sunrise at Nugget Point the next day, so we found a place to camp nearby, met up with Greg and Anne (both of whom have been studying at Wellington), ate some dinner, listened to Tim sing and play guitar, and then bedtime.
Nugget Point Sunrise (Wednesday, June 9th)
So Wednesday morning, we all woke SUPER SUPER SUPER early, drove out to Nugget Point, walked/ran along the trail, and hiked up the side of the mountain for a good view of the sunrise. And damn, it was good. Sunrise Over The Pacific Ocean + Nugget Point/New Zealand Awesomeness + Great People = SO GOOD. After sunrise, we stopped by Lake Waihola for a bit, but we had to head back to Dunedin pretty quick because Timothy had a final at 2:30pm (no pressure, yeah?). Overall, roadtripping/camping was awesome. Rainbows/sunrises/sunsets are awesome. Ocean/clouds (duh)/mountains are awesome. And of course, friends are awesome. Good times with good people.
The rest of the week consisted of some Tunnel Beach action, hanging out, feeding my running addiction (I found the reservoir today, and IT WAS AWESOME), planning my Fiji trip, and studying for my exam. So yup, that's my life. Basically, I've got about twelve more days of New Zealand. This Is Kinda Crazy. After that, I'll be in Fiji for a few days. And then, back to the Golden State for summertime :) :)
PS. "God of Wine" by Third Eye Blind = Sweet Stuff
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