I'm Home!

Hey guys,

Sorry it has taken me such a long time to finish this blog. Once I got home on July 13th, I was just swept up by school, moving back to Austin, and all that stuff.

Coming home was definitely a lot weirder than going to Australia, I don't really know why. I was weird driving again and not being overwhelmed by people everywhere I went. I do miss Sydney and the city, but I'm glad to back and start my final year at college.

My aunt and her friend came to visit me during my last two weeks in Australia. We traveled up the east coast and ended up in the beautiful Cairns. I will post pictures of our adventures soon!

Love,

Karen

NZ posting

I have tried posting several times but they are not coming out in the right order. Just find Day 1 and start from there.

Thanks,

Karen

NZ Day 3 - Greymouth to Franz Josef

where the gold mines used to be...

driving down the West Coast was very interesting. lots of rainforest type plants and tropical landscapes

the Southwestlands is a great area to drive through and most of it is a World Heritage Site

About 5 seconds after we arrived in Franz Josef, we had to go on our Glacier Walk so there wasn't much time for the craziness of what we were about to do to sink in...

This is my glacier hike outfit... I think ready to conquer the Franz Josef Glacier!

To get to the glacier we had to walk through some rainforest and over a river basin.

First sighting of the glacier!

love being surrounded by waterfalls...

but first before we could even get to the glacier, we had to climb up this huge and very steep hill. It was really tough, well at least for me :P

yep, those are the steps we used to get over the glacier...pretty cool

I kind of felt super cool doing this :)

a lot of the areas were a mix of stone and ice so it looked really interesting...

yay! I climbed in an ice cave! 

makes me think of the White Witch from Narnia and her castle...

the top of the glacier, finally get to see it since it was cloudy and rainy all day.

the climbing crew... it was challenging but fun. I'm glad I did it!

NZ Day 4 & 5 - Franz Josef to Queenstown

After Franz Josef, we headed to Queenstown which is very far south. It was definitely a long day on the bus.

Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand looked pretty awesome on our mid-morning rest stop.

Lake Matheson, known for it beautiful reflections of the mountains, Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman

literally what I get to see out of my window. I could live with this :)

leaving the Southwestlands and entering the Otago Region...

part of the huge Lake Hawea... probably the prettiest thing I saw in NZ

all the pictures above were still of Lake Hawea...

now onto Wanaka (which is right next to Lake Hawea)

made a stop here to pick up more people but didn't stay long

Lake Wanaka

 We arrived in Queenstown around 6pm so it was already dark...but we found an awesome place to eat

my awesome salmon steak

me with a kiwi!

view from my hostel room's window

walking along the water in Queenstown

my breakfast... are you jealous? It was delicious!!!

views of the water and mountains from the Queenstown Gardens

The Remarkables, 

named because they are one of two mountain ranges that run directly north to south

St. Peter's Anglican Church

can't forget about NZ rugby :P

look what I found! a restaurant that made me miss home :P

I was on my way to ride the Skyview, where you get to see all of Queenstown but I saw the Kiwi Park and wanted to see a REAL KIWI!!!

sadly, you cannot take pictures of the kiwis because they are nocturnal and scare easily :(

Keas are another bird from NZ. They are very smart and pretty mischievous...

Then I went to a Conversation Show because I was kind of right nearby whenever they started

omg! That is how big the kiwi egg is! It takes up the whole body

Queenstown was by far the best city I went to in NZ. I wish I had spent more time there.