Colleen in NZ

Well I finally made it to Melbourne and arrived on the girls front door step at 1:30am. (3 flights later) Kendra came running out to greet me and we stayed up chatting till the wee morning hours. It was an exhausting day but the disaster at the airport due to the intense fog in Queenstown was all worth it. Friday Kendra took the day off and we went to the CBD (central business district) and hopped on the free visitor tour bus that goes around Melbourne. Population is about 4 million here and the city is absolutely massive so I experienced a bit of culture shock coming over from the small town of Queenstown. That night Alicia and Lindsey met us at the footy game where we attempted to learn the new game. The crowds were ... read more

Adventures Queenstown has been our home for the past 3 weeks. Hard to believe we have been here for that long already time has been flying by. The scenery is absolutely stunning - 360 degree view of mountains, our hostel has a view of the lake and the sun has been shinning! The town is slowing transferring into a ski town all the bike stores are become ski rental shops and its cooling down a bit here. The crew at the hostel has been incredible. We are in a 6 bed dorm with great roommates! I feel like I am back in first year university in Queenstown. Everyday of the week there is something different to do in town. Lots of people singing in the streets and comedy shows on the pier. There is a Saturday ... read more

The final days in Raglan were absolutely beautiful. We spent the days down at the beach and continued the surfing adventure. I finally rode my first wave and it was amazing definitely worth being tossed around by the Tasman Sea. We switched hostels and moved up further into the mountains near Manu Bay for the last two nights. (Manu Bay is where the experienced surfers ride the waves – so we just watched from the top of the hill) This hostel was made up of old train carriages and the bunk beds were inside the cabooses. The main kitchen and lounge area was made to look like a train station. The pictures don’t really do it justice but just try to picture the most beautiful mountain overlooking the Tasman Sea beach at sunset… unreal! We ... read more

Rotorura – or “Rotten”rura was the next stop of the kiwi bus. It is rotten because it smells like rotting eggs due to the sulphur in the air. This area is full of geothermal activity (Jon’s family – he was pretty excited like a kid on Christmas) some of the highlights were seeing geysers go off and active mud pools as well as the kiwi bird sighting. Our entire bus had the chance to go luging and we all raced down the hills and there were some serious wipe outs it was at the top of the gondola so the view would have been beautiful if it wasn’t pouring rain! At night I went to a Maori Culture evening. It was a dinner show one of my favourite activities I have done in NZ. There ... read more

Well we attended our first rugby game ever in Nelson. It was the Christchurch team because they have been temporarily located and they are apparently the best team to watch. A few of their players will be in the World Cup in September including the rugby version of our Sydney Crosby. The game was great it was a mini Superbowl the way that it felt. A great opening show with horses and helicopters. We mostly understood the game thanks to our roommate Allister who taught us about the game. So we can check that off the must do list in NZ. On Saturday we did a two night road trip up to Abel Tasman to stay at the barn one more time. Our room this time had a view of the ocean and there were ... read more