Lecture recess is essentially the same thing as spring break, accept for the fact it couldn't be called spring break because it is actually the fall here!
So on April 16th I left Townsville and landed in Christchurch, New Zealand! the largest city on the south island. My two friends, Jessica and Jessica, stayed in my hotel room with me on Friday night, and let me tell you after traveling as a backpacker the whole time I've been here, this place was nice!!! I mean starting out with our own bathroom, double beds, a patio, it was nice :) Saturday morning the three of us caught a bus into the city and had fun exploring. There was a small market going on right in front of the Cathedral where we were able to look around and meet some Kiwi's (aka new zealanders) then we had brunch at this amazing little cafe on the plaza called Yellow Rocket that had delicious breakfast sandwiches. However, the best decision of the day was definitely going into the cathedral where we met a man Don Donaldson (I'm pretty sure that's right), this 70-yr-old new zealand dude who showed us all around the Cathedral (he was a tour guide) then he volunteered to drive us around Christchurch when his shift ended! So there the 3 of us were in the mercedes of a New Zealander who drove us to these gardens called Mona Vale and bought us morning "tea" then took us to the University of Christchurch to see the Rugby Club and campus- AWESOME! Then he dropped us off at the arts market, another great venue to spend money. At about 3pm I walked back to the plaza and arrived at the hotel I was supposed to meet mom and dad at right as they were getting there- perfect timing. And so we explored Christchurch together the rest of the night.
Sunday was a day for adventures. Morning= more Christchurch. Then we drove to Pegasus Bay vineyard for a gourmet lunch and wine tasting- seriously so good. We had fig salad that I wish I could eat all the time. We then headed up to Kaikora where we were able to see a seal colony, yes a real live wild seal colony. It blew my mind. I feel like that is one animal that you forget seriously exist in the wild, but there they were right in front of us swimming in the water and lounging on the rocks.
Monday we drove down to Oamaru via Timaru. In Timaru we had lunch at the cutest little cafe and again delicious bagel sandwiches. Once in Oamaru we found this little cottage on a side street to stay in for the night and headed out for our adventures. First we went to these cliffs where you could see the yellow eyed penguin colony. We were up at the top of the cliffs and you could look down and watch as the penguins came in for the night. They seriously did look like they were surfing; they would bob around in the water and then when it suited them they would hop out onto the sand. Then the would climb the cliffs and find a place to sleep in the bush for the night. Prior to that I had no idea that penguins came onto the terrestrial environment. It was really cool we met this couple from Scotland and there was also a guide there who was helping to point out the penguins and tell us about them. He is part of a conservation group dedicated to protecting the penguins and their habitat. Next we went back down to the harbour to see the blue penguin colony come in for the night. These guys are the world's smallest penguin. The first ones that came up waited on the rocks until the others came home then as a group they all walked up the little ramp and into the woods for the night. There were heaps of them! Dinner we ate at the cafe adjacent to our cottage and it was amazing :) of course it was accompanied by local wine.
Tuesday morning we got an early start so that we could drive to get a view of Mt. Cook. Along the way we went to see the Moeraki Boulders, stopped at another winery, ate a delicious lunch at Poppies, fed farm raised salmon, and saw Maori rock art (Indigenous New Zealanders). Mt. Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand and it is really rare to get a good view because it is usually too cloudy. However we were really lucky and it was a crystal clear day. We got to the glacier lake, Tekapo the water is so blue you can't even describe it and then above it loomed this huge snow capped peak- gorgeous! Then we had to start the drive back to Christchurch. We made it back in time for a late dinner that we ate at the Honey Pot Cafe, a great local place with lots of character. Dad and I spent quite a while that night walking off our dinner and peaking in tourist trap shops :)
Wednesday was another early morning as it was the last bit of time we had in New Zealand. We mostly went to the Christchurch Cathedral, this time climbing to the top, and shopped for our souvenirs. We then flew to Cairns via Sydney, arriving in Sydney with not quite enough time to leave the airport but just long enough of a layover to go crazy.
Thursday we went up to Kuranda a village in the rainforest outside of Cairns. We took the skyrail to get up there- this gondala that goes over the rainforest. In Kuranda I went to the Butterfly Sanctuary while mom and dad went to the Bird Sanctuary and then we met up at the Koala park. Apparently all kinds of birds were landing on mom because they liked her red hat! We had such a delicious lunch of pumpkin pizza and a salad with pumpkin and fish. On the way back down the skyrail we stopped at the rainforest stations and we were lucky enough at the last one to be able to get there right as one of the park rangers was starting a tour so we got a mini-introduction to the rainforest. Delicious dinner in Cairns of Thai food and gelato with a long walk about.
Friday up early (noticing a trend) to head up through Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation to see the Daintree Rainforest. We were on a tour that took us to the Mossman Gorge, on a river crew along the Daintree River where we got to see estuarine crocs in the wild, a walk through the rainforest, a tropical lunch, 4WD to a secluded beach and tropical fruit ice cream.
Saturday was our big day out on the reef! Dad even did two introductory scuba dives and when he came up all he could say was "oh man! that was great!!!" I got to do 3 dives that day- so blessed- I saw a whitetip reef shark, stingrays, sea turtle, lionfish, you name it! The best part was doing a drift dive, we just jumped in the water and the current carried us along the reef- we barely had to kick our fins! Mom snorkeled and saw amazing things as well.
Sunday we headed down to Townsville via Josephine Falls and Murdering Point Winery (named that b/c people actually did get murdered near there, original hey) and I took mom and dad to church with me at Calvary. Monday we went to a museum together downtown and then I got to show them around JCU. After that they had to head back up to Mission Beach and onto Sydney the next day while I had to hit the books again!
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