Lincoln Ball, Soccer, and Basketball

About a week later we had our school Ball. Of course, I hadn't brought any good dresses with me which meant I had to go shopping. Not that I was complaining, I missed going dress shopping with a group of girls. So we got a bunch of us together and went to see what we could find. There were a couple that caught my eye but I decided to try going into town first. I found a great tie die bustier dress that I figured I could wear back at home as well. Elyse found an incredible teal dress that I loved as well and we were all set!

We all got dressed up and pregamed before arriving at the Ball. It was Academy Award themed and faintly reminded me of an even crappier version of our prom. They had a picture station but fortunately at this version of prom, there was a free drink with your ticket.

There was a live band that played a lot of rock music which was different to dance to. Going to dances at Poly pretty much equaled rap the entire time. In New Zealand, its usually this thing called Dub Step, or kinda like reggae. We ended up spending a lot of time by the food table. Put out free food and I'm bound to be nearby.

My little Kiwi freshmen

It was fun just to hang out with everyone, especially when I realized its becoming closer and closer to the end. And to get dressed up! I really love dressing up nice and having somewhere fun to go and wish I had more opportunities for it. While the decorations were kinda lame, it was definitely a memorable night!

The crazy boys!

Another exciting thing happening in my life was the chance to play soccer again. I'm currently playing for the nearby University of Canterbury and am loving it! It's so much fun to get to participate in a competitive team sport again. We don't win much, actually we don't ever win, but its still a lot of fun. I'm currently playing defense and miss taking the ball up the sideline as a midfielder but I'm used to taking one for the team. I missed soccer so bad, I'm even willing to play with 2 sizes too big cleats and borrowed shin guards. But its all worth it as soon as I get on the field. Plus I'm getting some incredible bruises, which are my favorite battle scars.

I've also been playing basketball for my hall. Theres currently a interhall basketball competition and each team was supposed to have girls on it so I got recruited, despite never really playing basketball. I found that I'm still really competitive even when I suck at something and that being a girl playing against guys gives you no sympathy. Also, that interhall sports competitions don't encourage interhall kindness or bonding in any way, shape or form.

I booked a ticket for Australia from June 13 to the 17 to hangout in Sydney. I never would have imagined myself going to Australia. I really wish I had an opportunity to go visit the couple of people I know in Australia but I guess Sydney will be amazing nonetheless. I'm going with my friend Sam because we both finish our finals early. I'm really excited to experience Australia and see the Opera House. Hopefully it will make finals a bit more tolerable to know I'm going after they are all over. Other than that, not much is happening in the land of Lincoln. However, this weekend is the epic Weta Workshop trip so expect some severe LOTR nerdness happening.

Emergency Rooms and Cinco de Mayo

So I'm trying really hard to get caught up on my blogs. I'm now at least in the same month that I'm writing about. I also want to be caught up to write about this coming weekend where I am going to the Weta Workshop and getting a tour with the man who started it, Richard Taylor. If you don't know about the Weta Workshop, it's the company that Peter Jackson part owns and is responsible for the costume, props, miniatures, and everything else that made LOTR amazing. So it's going to be a good weekend! But first, more catch up time.

Once back from break, the first thing everyone wanted to do was have a welcome back party! So one of the houses near campus threw a BBQ and we were all excited to go. Everyone was there so it was really chill to hang out with everyone and not worry about being told we were too loud. Emma and I signed up to play beer pong and after an extremely intense game, we de-throned the 9 game champs. However, we had run out of the beer we brought with us. So we decided to run back to our dorms to get some more beer. Unfortunately this upset our friend Sam greatly.

She was mad we had left her at the party and followed us home and as Elyse tried to comfort her, Sam slammed her door...right on Elyse's thumb. Elyse started freaking out when she realized the door was shut and her thumb was still in the door. Sam screamed and we immediately drove to the ER. They got Elyse on happy gas ASAP and then got her an xray. Her thumb was barely attached still and there was a possibility she would lose the tip. They only allowed one person with her so I stayed to watch all the goriness of cleaning it and sewing it back on. Not to laugh at her pain, which I know was extreme, but watching someone on happy gas is pretty entertaining.

The nurse kept yelling at her to stop cussing because there was a baby nearby. Personally, I think she had a right to say what she wanted when her finger is pretty much no longer attached. Being the typical smartass she is though, the nurse asked her if she was allergic to anything and her response was "Just Religion" (she went to Catholic School). We then went through her talking to people who weren't there and a surgeon with absolutely no sense of humor. He also lacked sensitivity and tack and just told her over and over again, she was most likely going to lose the tip.

We had spent 4 hours at the ER that night and got home around 4 in the morning. The following day we went and got her meds and a week later she had her stitches out. Fortunately, everything reattached and there was no infection. And I got to play nurse for a while. So thanks Mom for teaching me how to keep my cool in emergency situations and being fascinated by really disgusting medical messes. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures (much to Elyse's dismay) but apparently her doctor sketched everything so maybe I can get my hands on those :) jk.

So being a bit homesick at this point (about 2 months before coming home) we decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! The kiwis didn't know what it was and neither did a lot of other countries, so we decided to enlighten them. Because actual Cinco de Mayo was on a Wednesday and we usually don't drink or party till Thursday, we postponed it to the American Cinco de Mayo. We decided to make it a fiesta between our side of the hall and the girls that lived in the hall next door. Most of them are Norwegian so they had never heard of Cinco de Mayo or ever had tacos.

For some reason, mustaches and tacos go well together.

We made a bunch of hard shell and soft tacos, homemade guacamole, beans, Mexican rice, bell peppers, and chips and salsa. Overall, one of the best dinners here! And it was so much fun being with a big group and having a family like dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get my hands on a Corona, but it was still a perfect way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
We then went to the local pub, the Grouse, where all the Americans were celebrating Cinco de Mayo. We made sure we told every Kiwi about Cinco de Mayo. We somehow walked home where we discovered a hedge hog and decided to jump into bushes.

HEDGE HOG! NZ doesn't really have many mammals so we get kinda excited about finding some.
There's this really bouncy one outside of Centennial 2 dorm and is known as the trampoline bush. FYI made that decision completely sober, and it was soooo much fun! It was really exhilarating if maybe a bit on the stupid side.

It was definitely a typical night in Lincoln and a perfect way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. It also made me think about how badly I miss Mexican food. I definitely will be eating at Taco Surf like every other day when I get home!

My Mad Action Photography skills!

You only turn 21 once...

So after break, I only had one week before there was another exciting event, MY 21ST BIRTHDAY! So technically my birthday was on a Friday in New Zealand, but the night to go out is Thursday night. So my group of girls got all dressed up to go into town on Thursday night. Sam let me borrow her tiara and boa from her birthday and after taking forever to get ready and pregaming a bit, we left for town.

The girls! Emma, Sam, Me, Elyse and Lannette

The first stop on the birthday circuit was the Mad Cow. They are the bar that usually sends a party bus to campus so the rest of our friends had taken the bus into town from the boonies known as Lincoln. We added our friends Kevin, Jared, and Nick to our group and moved on to the next bar.

We ended up at the Billiard Bar which has these drink mixes in teapots. Jared bought me a tequila shot as a pre birthday shot. It was 11:45 so we decided to stay there till my birthday at midnight. Jared ordered a teapot and as soon as it was midnight, everyone had a shot for my 21st with me. We then moved to the upstairs area where they had live music and had fun dancing around. I also had another shot...

Apparently staying at one place was not an option, so we moved on to the next spot; a place called My Bar. I really like My Bar since it looks like the clubs in Auckland and has the best setup for dancing. We spent a while there just dancing and attempting to avoid creepy boys. Then it was on to Sol Square. This happens to be one of my favorite places to just chill so it was perfect for the end of the night. We went to the Yellow Cross where I had my last drink of the night and hung out a bit before everyone began getting sleepy. They also wouldn't let me in anywhere else (they have this no intoxicated people rule at the bars, its weird).

My birthday crew

The following day was the hangover from hell, which I guess is a requirement for the day after your birthday. Unfortunately, it was my actual birthday and I spent the whole day sick, hungry, and horizontal. Finally by 4:30 I was able to drink a smoothie and skype with my parents. The first thing my dad says to me, "Malia, you look hungover." "Thats cuz I am Dad." By 5 I was finally vertical, and completely fine. I had awesome mexican tacos for dinner and then the best birthday cake that Elyse and Lannette made me. It was chocolate with chocolate pieces and oreos on top. I took my birthday night easy by watching movies in the lounge, ignoring everyone hassling me for not drinking on my birthday.

The following day was Saturday and meant it was actually my birthday back home. In an attempt to salvage my birthday plans, I chose to celebrate on my American birthday by going into town to have delicious sushi for dinner. Sophia came from Canterbury, as well as Cody and his entire apartment.

Elyse, Lannette, Emma, Me, Cody and in the back from left, Sam and Sophia at an awesome Sushi restaurant

I got birthday ice cream before my dinner which was odd, but good nonetheless. We took Sophia home with us to Lincoln and went to the Grouse for a couple of birthday drinks. Then we hung out at Farm Road for a bit before going home.

The next morning, I woke up early to drive to Akaroa with Lannette. We had signed up to swim with the world's smallest and rarest dolphin. Its equivalent with seeing a panda in china. We got outfitted in our wetsuits and took our spot at the front of the boat. I became the dolphin spotter and even got to see one jump out of the water (they aren't known for their acrobats). We saw a bunch of different pods of about 2 or 3 dolphins. We even saw some penguins which had been on my New Zealand checklist. We were waiting for the dolphins that stuck around even when the boat was turned off. Finally, one single dolphin was swimming around and the guide told us to get in the water.

So excited to finally be swimming with dolphins!

I jumped in and was given rocks to bang underwater to interest them in coming over. The water was fairly cold because it was so overcast. I knew these dolphins were small but once you are in the water with them you really can see how tiny they are. They are about the length of my arm span. Right as I got in, one was circling the group and darting in between everyone. Next thing I know, there is a new group of 2 and another new group of 3. One went zooming by so close I think he was inches away from my body. I of course screamed.

It was incredible to be surrounded by these tiny dolphins. The fact that they were endangered and extremely rare made it that much better. I had wanted to go swimming with dolphins my entire life and was never really comfortable with the thought of paying an absurd amount of money to sit in a pool with dolphins in a life jacket and doing kissing poses with them. While I wasn't allowed to touch these, to know they were wild animals and had chosen to spend some time with us really made it special. Unfortunately, they only stuck around for a bit and they were off to eating once more and it was time for me to get out of the freezing water.

Aren't they adorable! The babies are said to look like rugby balls with flippers.

Overall it was an incredible birthday weekend. Despite being in a country where the drinking age is 18, it still felt like my 21st was an important birthday. I got to experience with my new friends here, and while I missed celebrating with friends at home, it was still incredible. I also got to have great food (a nice change from the dining hall) and got to do one of my life goals by swimming with dolphins. It was definitely a weekend I will never forget!

Dunedin and The End of A Journey

We drove through exhaustion to arrive in Dunedin around 10 where we were quickly ushered into Marguerite's queen size bed. She very persistently insisted that us three should sleep in a bed after the Stewart Island adventure. I kinda love her and immediately was asleep. At Otago University, they had only had one week off for break so they were already back at school. Unfortunately that meant Marguerite (from the first road trip) had an essay due. Once she turned it in, we were able to grab a quick lunch with her before she had to head off the class.

This is one of the buildings at the University of Otago

Dunedin is known for being a Scottish town and is considered a crazy college town. It was a nice day and so we decided to go explore. We walked to the town square and saw the beautiful architecture of the bus station as well as their many churches. Mostly we were just relaxing and exploring. It was a nice change to have good weather and not rushing off to go do anything in particular. We also walked by the Cadbury factory and it smelled fantastic.

I really like chocolate, unfortunately we didn't go in.

We wandered back to Marguerite's really cool apartment and made dinner with her housemates. This included tiny Brittany (she's 4'8 with enough energy for someone 7 ft tall) and Taryn, her kiwi host. Turns out Brittany loved Lord of the Rings and Taryn was as well and had worked as a LOTR tour guide in Queenstown. So that left us with one thing to do; watch The Two Towers. It was great because Taryn and I kept turning to each other about trivia and found that the other already knew it.

The following morning we got up to go to the farmers market in town. It reminded me a lot of Santa Cruz with fresh produce and great bread products. I got this great Lemon loaf, a bag of the best apples ever, free pasta, CHEESE! and chocolate truffle tea. Overall a good start to the final day of our road trip. We also ran into a couple of people from Lincoln and got to see Joanna from our road trip at the beginning of the year. It was really nice to have a large group of us EAP kids togeter again.

Once we got back to the house, it was really hard to get moving out. It was hard to leave the comfort of Dunedin and Marguerite's house. I've said it before and I will say it again, she is by far the nicest person I've ever met. We finally packed up Bluebird and set out from her apartment. We made a short stop at the World's Steepest Street Baldwin Street. It didn't look too bad until you started walking up it. Apparently it has a grade of 35%.

We had one more stop in mind on the way home. It's called the Moeraki Boulders. They are these perfectly round giant boulders on a beach. It was an incredibly beautiful and warm day and I definitely wished I had a bathing suit on. We hung out by the boulders just messing around for a while. I just enjoyed being at the beach, Elyse was jumping from boulder to boulder, and Lannette found a good boulder to meditate on. It perfectly described each of us.

The journey was so close to the end; we were 2 hours from home when as Elyse was driving there was a popping sound. We got outside and found the spare tire we had put on to replace the one with wire poking out of it had popped. We pulled the wire tire out again, and I changed my first tire! It was actually a lot easier than I expected and not too bad when there's 3 girls working on it. I then took over driving to the nearest town to find a replacement.

Unfortunately we stopped in a town where almost every place was closed and we were going to have to pay a special call out fee. At the last moment, the lady at the gas station rememebered Firestone closed at 5 (it was 4:45). We rushed over to find 5 mechanics having beers and watching Nascar on the big screen. As they changed our tire, they offered us beer from a bathtub in the garage. We had coffee instead. It was highly entertaining though watching them try really hard to get us to hang out for a bit. However, we were tired and just wanted to get home.

We got into Lincoln around 7:30, made our RA Paul let us into our rooms. And the journey had ended. We had traveled everywhere south of Christchurch: Lake Tekapo, Lake Puakaki, Wanaka, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Stewart Island, Dunedin, then back to Christchurch once more. I had seen the most beautiful aqua lake, seen more glaciers than I can count, jumped off a cliff, found a new favorite place on horseback, experienced a waterfall up close and personal, and hiked in the worst weather imaginable. And I wouldn't take any of it back! It was an incredible journey, and while it had its up and downs, was something I will remember forever.

Heres the link to the last photo album of the road trip.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173974&id=665896295&l=2bf6c86e68

Stewart Island

First off, I'm dedicating this blog entry to Kelli so she will get off my back about my picture choices. Personally, I think she has should take advantage of being my fb friend and look at the albums, but thats just me. Also, this specific entry goes to her, because she definitely could/would never do what I did.


So we awoke on the morning of the 12th to a beautiful double rainbow as we drove out of the Fiordland National park. We stopped to book our tickets for a ferry later that day to Stewart Island. That was also when I checked my email and found that Richard Taylor, of Weta Workshop fame and five time academy award winner(the man that made LOTR seem real) had replied to my email saying that yes, he would be available to give me a tour of the Weta Workshop. Of course, I freaked out just a bit. Then it was on to Invercargill, our stocking up point before catching the ferry.

Once at Invercargill, we loaded up on groceries and drove to Bluff where we had to catch the ferry. We had a ticket for 5 meaning we would arrive at 6. We packed up our bags with our food and clothes and I was really excited to use my backpacking backpack for the first time. Then we hopped aboard. The water between New Zealand and Stewart Island at the southern tip of the south island is notorious for being rough water. I settled down with my complementary tea and prepared for the worse. It wasn't actually that bad at all.

Once we arrived on the island, we went and found the only campground in town, and paid an absurd amount of money to sleep on a lawn. Our tent had to be covered with a tarp due to the fact that it was a 2 person, children's summer tent. Basically the cheapest thing we could find. We then had fantastic fish and chips before hanging out in the lounge and going to bed.

We started out early the next morning by heading to the DOC office to book the huts on the Raikoura Track. This was the southern most Great Walk (easy, beautiful recommended walks) in New Zealand. Stewart Island was known for two things: being super wet (rain 260 days a year) and being extremely beautiful. We were really excited for this hike and started around noon. Once we actually hit the path, we realized it was going to be an adventure. There were puddles and mud everywhere! And guess who didn't have waterproof hiking boots? That's right, me. Fortunately, it wasn't raining very hard and we took a nice easy pace before arriving at the hut at 5. The hike had been through a beautiful forest that reminded me of hawaii a lot, mostly due to the big ferns covering the floor.

Despite the beauty, I was extremely happy to reach the hut. I wanted my wet socks and shoes off and I was starving! We had hot dogs before we did a group massage session in the hut. Then we entertained ourselve with card games, MASH, and sticking various shoes into the fire place to dry them off.

The next morning we woke up to see our worst nightmare; horizontal wind and trees whipping around in the wind. Our original plan to get up early and start on the longest and hardest part of the track was postponed. We considered various options for an hour and in that time, the weather got slightly better. I put on my rain pants, my slightly dried socks and shoes, and headed out. It was worst than the day before on the mud and two minutes in, my feet we drenched and I had mud to my shins.

It got worse as we reached the incline part of the track. All the dirt had been washed away leaving slippery roots as stairs to climb up at a 45 degree angle. I struggled with my giant backpack on as I slipped everywhere, fell into a tree, and banged my knees. I hated my life for the first 4 hours of that part. I either was slipping somewhere, falling into puddles, banging into this and that, overall MISERABLE!

Then we started going downhill, wooden steps appeared, the rain ceased, and the sun came out. Magically it made all the difference. I was by myself at this point; we found that Elyse likes her alone time and goes really fast, while Lannette likes to go slowly and take it all in leaving me in the middle zone. I was singing every musical song I could think of because I think I was losing my mind.

I finally saw a sign saying 30 minutes to our campsite. We had decided that we wanted to do the hut one night and then camp the second night. I emerged from the forest to see a perfect beach and sunshine. I found some perfectly intact spiral shells the size of baseballs and the famous Paua shell of NZ. And of course, Elyse. The first thing I did was get out of my wet clothes and then set up the tent to get in before it started raining again. I had a dinner of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before preparing for bed. This is when things got interesting.

The wind picked up again and we had the tarp on over the tent. We each had our mats, but only 2 sleeping bags for 3 people. We zipped them together before spooning each other for warmth. The wind whipped around, as the tarp made thundering sounds, making each of us jump everytime. I think we said "OMG WE ARE GOING TO DIE!!!" about 20 times that night. The water started to come in and we had to keep rotating to stop our hips from hurting too much on one side. Overall, we got little amounts of sleep but definitely were closer than ever before (literally).

Typical NZ weather, we woke up to perfect blue skies and sun, just in time for the easy 2 hour hike part of the track. This part followed the coast and we could look out and see the pretty ocean. After a short amount of hiking time, we emerged out of the forest once more and onto the street. At this point we had 5k (3 miles or so) on the street back to town...and it was hilly. I wasn't having it, so first chance I got, my thumb went out and we jumped into the back of a construction truck and rode into town.

We walked into the DOC office straight for the bathroom. I was so happy to see a real toilet and to wash my face. Camping makes you appreciate the small things in your life. I changed into dry clothes again and immediately wanted hot food. I found this really cool cafe owned by this awesome American lady and had a chicken pesto panini and a brownie. Then we chilled in the warm DOC office before our ferry back to the mainland.

While the way to Stewart Island had been fairly easy, the way back was awful. I went straight to sleep to avoid getting sick and woke up to find myself back on the mainland. Then it was on to Dunedain.

I took so many pictures from this place. PLEASE GO LOOK AT THEM!!! words cant do them justice. and I'm talking to you kelli!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173974&id=665896295&l=2bf6c86e68

Also, according to my mother, theres a lot of people out there reading this. I would love to know who my audience is (so I can stop talking about alcohol all the time) so please leave me a comment!

Milford Sound

We arrived around dusk in Milford Sound National Park. We had talked to Sophia who had just come from there and had been told there was somewhere we could sleep for free. The DOC sites were only $5 which was much improved than other campsites we had seen but tried for the Hollyford campsite area instead. We stopped at this museum before the Hollyford hike to get an idea of where we were. The campsites there were $10 bucks and we just wanted to sleep in our car. We found out that at the end of the road there was a carpark where you technically aren't supposed to camp, but really who was going to go out there. While in the museum I saw a kid wearing a University of Hawaii shirt. Being my father's daughter, I started talking to him and found out he had "studied abroad" there for a semester. The group of guys were actually from the east coast and were studying abroad at Victoria University in Wellington. Then we left for the carpark.

I don't think I have ever been somewhere so dark and creepy in my entire life. We drove in passing dead man's creek and hangman's drop and it was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I never considered myself scared of the dark but that was really scary. We were also concerned about getting caught sleeping where we weren't supposed to so in the early morning when we saw headlights, I tensed up. But we awoke with no problems and the sun shining. We decided to finally use the stove we bought and made eggs on toast. We then decided to do the short hike to see the waterfalls before doing part of the Hollyford track. Arriving at the waterfall, we saw the same group of guys from the night before and hung out with them a bit before we headed back down.

From there we did 2 hours into the Hollyford Track. It's normally a 6 day in and out track but we didn't have that amount of time. It was a nice easy flat trail following a river with glaciers in site the whole time.

Once back at the car, we drove into Milford Sound to see about kayaking the sound the next day. We signed up for the afternoon kayak trip at the Milford Sound Lodge when they told us there was no where for us to sleep for free or cheap in the area. We then went back out of Milford, through this giant tunnel in the mountain before going to the nearest DOC campsite. While searching for the toilet, guess who we run into? The boys from the hike earlier had set up a campfire. We hung out with them for a while before going to sleep preparing for 4 hours of kayaking the next day.

The morning of the 11th, we drove 45 minutes back into Milford Sound, used the Lodge's kitchen for eggs on toast before finding out they canceled our kayaking trip because of bad weather. Lannette was really upset because this had been the part she was looking forward to the most. We decided to do an afternoon trip on the Ferry showing the Sound. While I think it would have been really cool to see the sound up close from the kayak, it was still amazing from the ferry. We saw the entire sound, all the way to the Tasman Sea and got up close and personal when he backed us into a waterfall. I even got to see dolphins. All the while, the rain was pouring down which meant we got drenched but also that there were trickling waterfalls down the lush mountain sides everywhere.

Once back on land again, we dried off in the only pub around and had a delicious dinner of tortelloni. Then we found the jenga blocks and played multiple rounds while the pub filled with grizzled boating types that looked at us like we were crazy sitting in a corner on the floor playing with blocks.

We then ran into the group of guys from the campsite again! I told them they were stalking us, then we headed for the lodge to use the internet, which convienantly was also where they were staying. Then it was time to find a campsite to sleep at for the night.

Here's a video of the waterfall the boat backed me in to. No zooming required.

The Longest and Craziest Day Ever

So when last I left you, I was about to start the longest and craziest day of my life. We woke up early on the 8th, sometime around 7, which for me, is already not a good start. We then walked to the Shotover Canyon Swing office Dowtown and a bit after 8, they loaded us up in a van and drove us 10 minutes to the canyon. On the way there, we watched a video showing the different jumping styles we could do. Sitting there watching people jump off the ledge was getting me so incredibly nervous, I thought I was going to have a break down and cry. Then when we arrived and walked through the main office I finally looked down at the canyon, which of course was a very bad idea.

I chose to go last and therefore was the last one to get in my harness once we got to the ledge. Elyse went first in our group and just jumped off forward, Lannette did the same next. Then it was my turn. I chose to do the cutaway, which meant they were supposed to cut a string and I fell in a sitting position. They chose to torture me instead and do the 7 string cutaway where they cut each string individually. Let's just say they aren't very nice there. You get a good sense of their personalities by watching the video.

I tried so hard to not focus on what was happening, so when he started pushing down on my shoulder, I freaked out. Then as the rope snapped, I screamed as I dropped from 109 meters high, did a 60 meter freefall, before swinging 200 meters at 150 Kph. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. Once back at the top, I was still uncomfortable and it took me a while to get myself collected again. Elyse chose to do another jump, the Gimp Boy goes to Hollywood, where she hangs upside down and they drop her. Lannette also did another one, which consisted of her sitting in a plastic chair and leaning backwards off the edge and doing flips the whole way down. They tortured her so much that she had a panic attack and cried. Of course once she back up, they were joyous tears.
"Yay I survived!"

In general, it was something I got to say I've done, and will never have to do ever again. I'm not an adrenaline junkie and that was a bit more than I could handle, but I do get to say "yes, I have jumped off a cliff before" which sounds pretty badass if I do say so myself.

Once we were back in town, I found an awesome japanese lunch special and spoiled myself with a great bento box for lunch. Then we did some shopping before the Horseback riding tour. This resulted in me buying my first ever backpacking backpack! I was extremely excited about it, especially since it was on sale. Then it was time to head over to the Dart Stable town office. There we were picked up by a bus that took us an hour along the lake to Glenorchy. We stopped on the way and saw this incredible view.

Once at the Dart Stable, they asked us our experience level. Usually I'm around the middle because of all the horse camps I went to as a kid. This time, Elyse and I were the 2nd and 3rd most experienced. We had a bunch of girls with us who had never ridden. We then climbed back on a bus, drove past a couple of scenes from the movie Wolverine before arriving in Paradise. No really, its called Paradise. I then was given Merlin, described as "moderately ornery." Elyse was given Harry, who really didn't like other horses, but had been one of the opening horses in the beginning of Prince Caspian. Then it was time to hit the trail.

We rode out from the stable, into the forest. Instantly I knew where we were. The lighting and everything was exactly like Amon Hen (the end of the first LOTR). To the left Aragorn was fighting Lurtz, to the right, Merry and Pippin were attempting to flee. A bit further into the forest, the trees became larger, and I was transferred to Lothlorien. Once we rode out of the forest, we overlooked Dart River surrounded in the background by tree covered hills, seen when the Uruks leave for Helms Deep from Isengard. We also saw areas used in Prince Caspian and more sites used for Wolverine.

It was an incredible ride in the most beautiful place on earth. I would love to go again and do their longer advanced ride, including river fording. They were knowledgable and the horses had great personalities. I had a great ride even though Merlin tried to pull me over the top when I tried to stop him from eating. I realized how much I missed horseback riding. Maybe when I get back and I'm not completely and utterly broke, I will go more often.

Once back in town, we made dinner before heading out to do a pub crawl. The pub crawl was an epic fail considering you pay for it, to get "free" drinks at each bar. However, you stay at the bar for 30-45 minutes and then your buzz is gone. We ditched it towards the middle to go meet up with my fellow EAP kid and love Sophia who goes to Canterbury. Then we ended up running into a bunch of Lincoln kids before we called it a night and went back to the hostel.

The following morning we got to a slow start. We packed up the car before getting another Fergburger and heading out for Milford sound.

Heres a link to pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173718&id=665896295&l=a737a7161e