Bali

After hiking and adventuring in New Zealand I flew to Sydney to see all my friends and of course the babies (that aren't so babie-ish any more). It was a really fun week of catching up with friends and hanging out with Taylor and Ripley, who just got new kittens. Can you imagine anything better than babies and kittens? Neither can I.

Whanganui River Trip

An America, a Canadian and a Swed go on a river trip. That's not the beginning of a bad joke, I actually went on Canoe/Kayak trip with my friends Dan Harrison (Canadian) and Johnny(Swedish) on the Whanganui river in New Zealand. It is one of the "Great Walks" even though it is a river journey. And if you haven't already guessed, it's pretty awesome. 

Lake Waikermoana

Here is yet another blog about a hike a did in New Zealand. If you are sick of my hiking stories and beautiful pictures then please stop reading. However if you are not sick of hiking stories read on....

Tongariro Northern Circuit

The Tongariro Northern Circuit was the first Great Walk I did on the North Island and my first glimpse into what the nature on the North Island is like.

The Copeland Track and Hot Pools

On my way back to Queenstown after I finished the Heaphy and Abel Tasman I did a quick over night hike. It is 17.5 kilometers (10.8 miles) up The Welcome-Flat Hut along the Copeland Track which has natural hot pools right next to it. If you are never in New Zealand it is a MUST.

Swimming With Dolphins!!

From Queenstown I hitch hiked up Akaroa (because I left the car with my friend who I own it with so she could sell it) to see my friend Timmy that I did my yoga teacher training with.

The Heaphy and Abel Tasman Track

My time in New Zealand is winding down, finishing up, coming to a close... However you want to say it. And I've decided that I'd like to spend most of the rest of the time I have here hiking.

Liftie Life

 

After three months of working as a liftie, I am off to the next adventure. I'm officially unemployed and its feels goooood. The Remarkables closed on Sunday. It was a great day of skiing and partying.

TWO YEARS!

First off this is a hard blog to write... How do I condense everything that has happen and all the amazing people I have met and how I have grown and changed and everything that I have learned over the past two years into a readable blog post?! I am really not sure, so I am going to keep it short and sweet.

WINTER CAMP

My job as a liftie started a couple weeks ago and since I have been immersed in ski bum reality or Winter Camp as I like to call it. It is like summer camp only its during the winter and its attended by immature adults instead of children. It is really fun, I'm meeting a lot of really cool people and I am definitely spending my winter in Queenstown the right way.

Living Room Yoga

One of the best things about being a liftie and living in Winter Camp reality is the group of people I work with. Almost everyone is traveling and is just here for the winter so everyone is really open to new friends and having an good time. It's fun to have so many down to earth people with similar interests all working and getting to know each other.

How To Share A Bathroom With 10 People

View from bathroom

I currently share a bathroom with 10 people (and a house with 15 people). This is not a joke or an exaggeration.

South Island Adventure

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Last week I was able to take a three days off work and go on an adventure with my friend Jenaka. Jenaka and I went to high school together. She is living in Sydney right now and was an au pair as well. It's really great to hang out with an old friend when we are both so far away from home.

Winter Is Coming!!

Things are going well! Everything is falling into place before winter. 

About My Blog

Hey y'all. Thanks so much for reading my blog. It means a lot to me and its great to keep it touch with you. Did you know I don't a have a computer and its all done on my phone? Not that I'm bragging or anything.... Or can you tell?

The Routeburn Track

Last weekend I hiked the Routeburn Track on a date. The Routeburn Track is one of the Great Walks in New Zealand. There are eight of them and the Kepler Track I did with my dad is one as well. The most popular is probably the Milford Track.

Road Trip To The Catlins!!

Manon and I were lucky enough to get the same days off work last week so we decided to go on a adventure! We took a road trip down to the Catlins which is about 3 hours from Queenstown. The Catlins is a region on the south-eastern bottom corner of the south island of New Zealand.We had great weather for the trip which was so nice because its been raining a lot lately. The first day we started at the eastern edge of the Catlins and moved west towards the hostel we booked the night before. There is a lot to see in the catlins and it can be pretty spread out. We drove on a lot dirt roads but they are very well maintained.

The first place we went was Nugget Point Lighthouse.

Nugget point lighthouse 

Nuggets. View from the lighthouse

We are quite  good at talking sexy windy selfies 

Next we went a beach to see some sea lions. Sea lions are big and weird looking. They can walk on all fours and have creepy powerful necks. I thought they were creepy and Manon decided a sea lion is her spirit animal.

Sea lions

Lake Wilkie 

Next we stopped at Lake Wilkie. A sign said it was a 30 return walk to the lake. Turns out it was only a 5 minute walk. This became a pattern, every sign would over estimate the time of the walk about at least 20 minutes.
We got to our hostel just in time to for the sunset. Our hostel was right on the beach so we were able to go for a quick walk on the beach before we made dinner.

View from our hostel

We are great at taking selfies

The beach :)

The next morning we woke up early to head to the McLean Falls. The falls were so beautiful and we were there early so we were able to enjoy them alone. A Canadian girl was also staying at our hostel. She has been traveling in New Zealand  mostly be hitch hiking. She tagged along with us to the falls. 

McLean Falls

Falls 

After the falls we killed some time by seeing a couple other sights while we waiting for low tide to see the Catherdal Caves. 

Killing time

Marsh... All those little dots are snails! 

The Catherdal Caves are only open at low tide because the water is too high. 

The caves

Afterwards we ate lunch and our Canadian friend hitched a ride to nugget point with some people that were going in that direction. We headed off in the other direction toward home and Slope Point, which is the most southernly point in New Zealand. 

Manon--loving it

A-mazing 

Look at that view 

It was pretty cloudy and foggy at the Slope Point and we couldn't really see much. We had to walk through a weird farm to get there and drive on a dirt road for 20 minutes. It was underwhelming. It wasn't an especially beautiful.

Milford Sound

The day after my dad, Donna, my uncle and I finished the Kepler Track we drove to Milford Sound. Before the hike we booked a cruise and kayaking. The drive from Te Anau to Milford is about two hours. It rained most of the drive and we could see snow on most of the high peaks. Since it was raining the waterfalls were really flowing which was amazing to see. The drive was really beautiful with all the waterfalls and snow capped peaks. 

I Moved!!

Manon and I moved! I may regret this but I moved into a house with 18 other people....It wasn't going to work for Manon and I to stay in my old tiny room, with only a single bed, so we have been looking at new places to live. And let me tell you we looked at some amazingly terrible places. I am regretting not taking pictures of them so much! But honestly I wasn't thinking of taking picture I was just thinking "No. No. No. No. No. No." as I backed away. 

The Kepler Track

My dad, his girlfriend Donna and my uncle came to visit for the last two weeks. It's been amazing to see my dad again. A year and half is too long! 

My Dad is in New Zealand

My dad is finally here!! He got here on Sunday. The place he is staying is really nice. It's a little cabin right in the water about a 15 minute drive from my house and 20 minutes from Queenstown. 

View from my dad's cabin

Flatmates

The flatmates... minus the boys

It's pretty common knowledge that living in a shared house with people can be frustrating but it can also be weird and funny. 

I'm currently sharing a house with two English girls who share and room, a guy from Colombia and a guy from Mexico who also share a room. And I share a room with my friend Manon.

The house... complete with boys collection of bottles

House from the side

My most common complaint is the dishes. Obviously no one ever does them. The sink always looks like this.

Barf.

It seems impossible for the kitchen to stay clean for longer than half the day. The fridge is gnarly and occasionally leaks fridge juice on the floor.

Dont step in the fridge juice....

Right now I'm currently sharing a tiny room with Manon. I hang my towels in the bathroom because there isn't room for them in my tiny room. For the last couple of days my towels have been the only ones in the bathrooms and it really worries what everyone is doing with my towels. One day I came home and one of my towels was on the floor like a bathmat, and there are like 5 real bathmats under the sink. (One of my roommates is a cleaner at a hotel and brought home a bunch of bath mats from work). But really, what else are they doing to my towels if they are using them as bathmats.... So gross. 

The best though was last week when I had to apologize to one of my guy flatmates because he wasn't able to have sex in my living room. On a couch that I sit on all the time. What happened was the boys who camped in my yard during their hike a couple weeks came back to Queenstown for a few nights. They asked to camp in the yard again and told them yes. We went out for a few beers and when we came home I assumed they would set up their tents but they actually just slept in the living room. One of my boy flatmates came home at four in the morning with a nice lady friend he met at the bars. Since he shares a bed with the other guy in the room I guess he was planning on 'hanging out' with her in the living room but my friends were sleeping in there. He was super drunk and  became pretty angry when he discovered my friends on the couch. I woke up to some loud voices but didn't really understand what was going on. The next day my friends sleeping in the living room explained to me the situation. I felt bad because the guy doesn't bring home ladies that often so I sent him a message apologizing for my friends sleeping in the living room. Turns out he was drunk enough that he didn't remember it and wasn't mad at all. 

The infamous living room

I Have A Friend!

My friend Manon arrived in Queenstown on Saturday from Canada. We met in Sydney when we were both working as au pairs. She is looking for a job now and we are looking for places to live together. It's great to have her around, she laughs at my jokes and is really funny. It's so fun to have someone to plan travels and adventures with.

Thanks everyone who emailed and messaged me after my last post. Your kind words and encouragement helped a lot. Lorraine (my au pair mom in Sydney) sent me these pictures to cheer me up ... And they totally did. 

I love Ripleys face in this picture. She such a baddie.

We took this on my last day in Sydney

Here are some pictures from hikes and other fun things I've done. 

Hike with Emmeli

Another hike I did with a work friend

I went for a jog one morning and this was the sunrise :)

The Charlottes, Manon and I.