more updates

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Monday 28th

Today we went rock climbing at an indoor climbing gym called Clip and Climb they had over 3 routes to climb most being on artificial rock but the other part was a all unique routes. They had a racing wall, a pitch-black cave lit up by black lights, a ladder wall, and tons of other variations. Kim and I both hold the record for the speed wall against our group. She holds the womans title with a time 12.2 and I hold the guys at 6.7 seconds. After our group went climbing we just hung out the rest of the day. Dave, Parker and my self went to see if we could get some money off for the mountain biking. We spoke with the owner and got him to knock off some of the original price but there was a lot of miscommunication between our group and his company and that’s why it ended up being so lame. Tomorrow were leaving for Franz Josef.

Tuesday 1st

It took us four and half-hours to get to Franz Josef but that was extremely fast considering the drive was supposed to take us six hours. I was driving one of the vans because one of our leaders from Australia had to go back to get ready for school to start. So I got designated driver for the rest of the trip in New Zealand, which made me happy because I love driving! Especially when I’m driving on the opposite side of the car and road. I also think it made the other group members happy too because no offense to our leader but she was a pretty bad driver. Once we checked into the hostel everyone just ate supper and hung out for then night tomorrow were going to see the famous Fox Glacier.

Wednesday 2nd

Today we woke up and hiked to Fox Glacier. The glacier was massive it was crazy to see how it has carved its way down the mountain and through the valley. We spoke with some of the trail workers and they said since Christmas 7 tourist had died on the glacier because they didn’t follow the rules. There are signs and ropes up clearly designating the safe and unsafe zone and they crossed them. The glacier is very active it moves 3 meters a day one of the most active glaciers on the planet. Being at the foot of the rushing river along the base of the glacier really made you feel quite small though.

Thursday 3rd

We left Franz Josef for Arthurs Pass today we were told our vehicles might not make it up because the grade was so steep. We stopped in a small town before we got to the pass for lunch. Kim and I went and got pasta and pizza from a little café. The pasta was absolutely delicious. After lunch we hung out on the beach for a bit, the waves were pretty intense most of the signs posted no swimming and we could see why. We left the little town for the pass probably not the best idea we all filled our bellies before the steep climb but we did it anyways. We got to the base of the climb Jim was driving one van I was driving the other. We put the vehicles in the lowest gear and started the climb. Not even a third of the way up Jim’s vehicle stalled out because of how steep it was. I yelled out the window that I would try and finish and if I got to the top I would drop everyone off along with the trailer and return for his. Well the old red rocket made it to the top! We dropped of all the stuff and I returned back down to fetch everyone. On my way down I passed Jim who was flying up the hill he yelled meet ya at the top pick everyone up. I continued down to find everyone hiking the pass haha. I honked the horn and yelled show me some skin for a ride. Fortunately everyone knew I was joking because I seriously wouldn’t want to see some of them naked. We got to the top re arranged everything and continued another couple miles to our hostel.

Friday 4th

Arthurs Pass is a very quaint little town. Not much here at all, a couple pubs, little cafes, 1 hostel and tons of hiking trails. Most of us just hung out, relaxed in our cabin because it rained most of the time. We did however have a group fashion show. Earlier we discussed we were going to do a secret santa game where everyone went shopping for each other for an outfit that they would have to wear on the plane ride to Sydney. The rules were whatever you bought had to be reasonable no thongs, or underwear just funny outfits. In the fashion show everyone picked a song to walk out on the runway to and you wore the outfit that you bought for another person and at the end of the runway you would point or toss a piece of the outfit to the person wearing it. Some of the people in the group were super entertaining to watch on the runway it definitely was a great show. I ended up having to wear a red cowboy hat a tube top shirt and shorts.

Saturday 5th

We headed back towards Christchurch to fly out that next day. We weren’t allowed to stay in the hostel we had booked because they were using it for volunteers that were helping with the earthquake. We drove into town to see how close we could get to the city center where most of the damage was done. We saw quite a few damaged houses, businesses, churches but we couldn’t get very close. Military was blocking the roads off allowing no one in. Just driving around things felt a bit weird a very eerie feeling was in the air. We stayed at a RV park just outside of town, which was conveniently located 5 minutes from the airport. Our flight departed for Sydney at 6:30am so it worked out kind of well that we camped. Unfortunately it rained then entire time so most of us just slept in the TV room, a couple of us slept in the van and I slept in the trailer with all the gear it was actually quite comfortable.

Sunday 6th

AUSTRALIA !!!!!! So good to finally be here, our leader informed us we were staying in a surf club right on the beach! We arrived at our place and it is AMAZING. Right now I’m literally typing this sitting at the bar in our place on the second floor right in front of huge open windows with the breeze blowing in my face and watching the local surfers catch waves and jamming to Bob Marley. Life is good the only thing I’m missing is a drink…. (timeout to go make one) yum screwdriver completes the picture. We are here for 3 days then back off to the mountains.

Monday 7th

Woke up went walked downstairs on to the beach and went swimming in the ocean. Hung out on the beach all day. Pretty much sums up my day!

Tuesday 8th

We spent the last day exploring Manly Beach where we would be staying at the end of our trip in a couple weeks. While in town we rented some surfboards and hit the beach. Coming from Minnesota surfing should come natural right? Well its much harder then it looks. The hardest part is getting past the break to actually catch a wave. It is 100% exhausting, but once past the break it is so peaceful to sit on your board and watch out towards the ocean for the next big wave that is until you spot six sharks under your board. Which is exactly what happened to me. I looked around at the local surfers who all seemed to careless. Needless to say I caught the next wave in. The rest of the day consisted of hanging out on the beach and chilling in our beach side surf club.

Wednesday 9th

Today we headed out to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The mountains get their nickname from the haze that’s constantly over the valley making the mountains appear blue. We went rock climbing that evening and that night we stayed in a Boy Scout hut. Not a good follow up from the beach side hut lets just say that. Good thing we were only staying for one night.

Thursday 10th

Today we repelled into a canyon and walked through the canyon for a couple hours. To navigate through the canyon we had to swim through dark cold water in some parts and in others we had to traverse the canyon walls to try to stay dry, it was a blast! After the adventure we had a 3-hour drive to a campground out in the outback. Once we got our tents set up we went into the only pub in this tiny little town and celebrated Tanner’s birthday.

Friday 11th

Today we had an excruciating 9-hour drive to our next destination the Cascades. We got there late at night and just hit the hay right of way.

Saturday 12th

In the Cascades we stayed at an environmentalist school in the middle of the rain forest. The place was so remote there were only two houses left in the old logging town. During the afternoon we had a special guest who led us out on a walk into the forest. He pointed out native floral to avoid and also floral to eat. He also pointed out that we all already had leaches on us which were everywhere in the rainforest. Now these leaches aren’t big like the ones were used to in Minnesota that we use for fishing these are pretty small most only a inch long and about the size standard nail wide, but once they latch on they start sucking and man do they fill up fast. We had a competition to see who could get the biggest one by the end of the walk and it was a disgusting finish. Some got as wide as sharpie markers and the one thing we didn’t know is that once you pulled them off they had injected an anticoagulant into the spot they were sucking from, which made us all look like we were straight out of a horror film with blood dripping everywhere it was quite the sight. Back to the hike though we did get to go jump off a waterfall into a platypus pool we searched for the platypus but the guide informed us they mainly only our out at dawn and dusk. After the bush walk we had a home made bush tucker meal. We stuffed our faces in crocodile, emu ( a native bird much like our ostrich), Kangaroo tenderloin wrapped in bacon, ice cream with a native lemon type nut mixed in with it, and some delicious fruit cake. It was all DELICIOUS! After dinner everyone went into food comas.


Sunday 13th

We departed the rainforest for some much needed beach again. Byron Bay was our next stop. Thankfully only a three and half hour drive this time. We checked into our beach side bungalows and rested up for the next couple days. Tomorrow were going scuba diving!!!!!

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