Summertime and the livin's Easy

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Hello from NZ, a country of about 4 million people and 40 million sheep! Although I have only been here a week I am already loving it-Amazing landscapes, laidback attitudes, and a slightly better rate for the dollar-whats not to love?? Ashley and I spent the first few days in Christchurch, which is one of the larger cities in the South Island. Christchurch is small but super cute, with a real "Old English" feel to it, and a cute little river with bridges that snakes around the town. We stayed in the Base Backpackers, which was located right in the center of town, in Cathedral Square. On New Years Eve the city put on a big event in the square, with a live event, and fireworks which was super fun. We took a day trip to a little town outside of Christchurch called Akaroa, which was this adorable little sailing town on a bay surrounded by mountains. We went on a hike up to the top of one of the hill/humungous mountains, where there was an awesome view of the whole bay. The thing that I am rapidly realizing is that scenery like this is a dime a dozen in NZ, its everywhere you look!
After about 3 days in Christchurch we hopped on the Kiwi Experience, the backpacker bus tour that we will be doing in the South Island. I can already tell its going to be an interesting experience. The bus holds up to 50 people at a time, and its a "hop on, hop off" bus, so the way that it works is you buy a certain route, but buses are always circling so you can stay in one spot as long as you want, and just hop on the next but whenever you are ready to leave a city. It's nice and flexible, and everyone on the bus is super friendly, and from a million different countries, its quite a melting pot! It's a little like kindergarden, with the bus drivers having to explain places a million times, and drop us right at our hostel doors, but its nice to have someone else travel plan for a little while!

The first day on the bus, we stopped at a small coastal town called Kiakoura. This town is known for all the seals that live right off of the beaches, and we saw a bunch, they are so cute! That night Ash + I went out to see a movie at the local theater, you know you are in small town NZ when the manager of the cinema pulls up, and parks her car in front to let us into the theater about 2 minutes before the movie is about to start. The next day the bus drove to Nelson, which is a city in the North part of the South Island. On the way we took a short detour to go to this swimming hole off the main road. We walked down off the road, and there was the most gorgeous swimming hole, with big cliffs on either side, out of nowhere! I think that will be one of the benefits of being on the Kiwi Experience, we get to stop at random spots the guidebooks would never mention. In Nelson, we checked into our hostel, which is this huge old building that used to be an orphanage. After checking into our 20 bed, mixed-gender dorm room, (I mean come on, thats about what you learn to expect for 18$ NZ a night 😊 ) we cooked dinner and drank outside with some brits that we had met on the bus.
Attempting to cook healthy food that does not need to be refridgerated is getting trickier and trickier-any suggestions? Last night I had pasta mixed with tomato sauce and tuna, and thats dinner again tonight-there's got to be something better you guys can come up with !
Hope everyone's well. Loving the comments, keep it up!

~A

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Photos

Kaikoura
Pretty mountains in the distance

Downtown Christchurch
Cathedral Square

New Years Eve!
With our friend Dan from Alabama

New Years Aftermath
With my old faithful friend

Akaroa
from the top of our massive hike!

Ashley in Akaroa
Smiling after the hike

Seals
Hard to see, but he's there!

Kaikoura
Coastal shot from our hike

Swimming Hole
So Pretty!

Jump!
Girls from the Kiwi Experience at the swimming hole

20 Bed Sketchy Dorm
Our room was in the old dance studio...creepy much?

Comments

[Andrea Raymond]

Happy New Year!
Ashley just told me about this blog and I just read them all. Sounds like you are having so much fun!!!! I am really jealous and I am amazed that you know so many people! I am glad that you are enjoying your trip and that I can read all about it :) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! I look forward to your next blog! You better be careful...sharks, birds, what's next?

[Anya]

Oh man that looks super gorgeous. It's awesome that you're out jumping into springs and waterfalls while I can't' be bothered to switch out of my pj's most days.

[meaghy]

2008! woooo
i just asked loff if he could think of any good recipes that dont need to be refrigerated. he suggested trail mix. haha. i'll think of some better ones and get back to you. guess what?! the thirsty turtle finally opened up and we went the other night and met two australians and hung out with them all night. they were super fun and it made me EVEN MORE jealous of you. who thought that could be possible?? LOVE YOU and MISS YOU!!

[Kate Bonk]

Happy New Year!
Hey Alissa, I finally caught up with your blog, I'm pretty jealous, you're having so much more fun than I am. I should have come with you. Oh well, too late now although I'm trying to figure out when I can plan my own trip there. I miss you lots, hope you're doing well!!