February 27th- Day 20

Today I decided not to go into the city. After a long eventful week I figured it would be nice to relax a bit. The starting date of school has been postponed. It was supposed to be the 28th, however it is now March 14th. The university has offered to take us on a 10 day bus trip through the south island. They will pay for all transportation and breakfast. And we will only have to pay $150.00 for all of our accommodation. The whole trip is a huge discount from what you would normally have to pay. The bus will leave Tuesday morning at 8:30 where we will travel to Kaikoura, Nelson, Hokitika, Wanaka, Queenstown, Denedin, and Lake Tekapo. We will be traveling all along the coast for a majority of the trip. Half the time we will be camping and the other half we will be staying in hostels. I'm very excited about going south. Wanaka is supposed to be where the Kiwi's go for vacation. And of course I've already had my adventures in Queenstown with bungy jumping so I'm going to try to do a day trip over to Milford Sound. Milford Sound has some of the most gorgeous landscapes within the country. It has been on my list for some time. So since I'll have free transport down there I will try to make my way over that direction. I will need to accumulate myself a sleeping bag and some roman noodles of course. I mean who can travel without roman noodles. There practically the livelihood of any college student. However, along my journey I don't plan to take my computer. As a consequence I will be behind on my blog, but don't worry I'll come back and catch you up on my journey. I even told my Dad I might take up some sky diving while on the trip. But I won't tell him until after I do it. That way he won't be pacing the room that day.
Today our CSU advisor took some of us out for a drive and a walk down on the beach. We drove into Ashburton where we all had a delicious Tip Top ice cream and stretched our legs. We continued on to go see the famous Salmon World fish statue. I must say it was quite impressive, probably even the biggest I've ever laid eyes on. Too bad it wasn't real haha. We made our way down to the river mouth where we sat and watched the South Pacific Ocean. Now, many of you may know I can't really smell. Well I must tell you, when I stepped out of the car I could smell the sultry air of the ocean. It was heavy and thick, but still great. I've never smelt that before so it was interesting to notice the difference between the west coast of the Tasman Sea and the east coast of the Ocean.

 Along our way we had made a stop by a river to see the clearness of the water. There is such a difference when compared to those back home. We even caught sight of some fish.

 This is one of the sights in the Ashburton district.

 On our drive out to the South Pacific Ocean we came across this peculiar statue in someones lawn. I'm not really sure how to interpret this piece of art.

 This is the infamous attraction to Salmon World. Pictured here is Jesse and Mara, also from CSU.

 The coast of the South Pacific Ocean. Here I did not find any Iron Sand. Instead there were rocks and pebbles all along the coast. Among the pebbles we found Jade.

The tide coming in was quite impressive compared to the Tasman Sea. Of course I didn't go in. Seeing as how I can't swim, that made the decision pretty easy.

This isn't the Jade that I found but it gives you an idea of what was all along the coast. If you want some let me know I pretty much robbed the beach of it today.

After our day getaway we drove back to the university just in time for dinner. Today I met some new people from Denmark, Michigan, Norway and Austria. There are soo many students that come from different cultures here at Lincoln. It is a great experience. After dinner the gentleman I met from Denmark had suggested an evening walk. I got together with my pod mates and we ended up getting a tour from a Kiwi of the universities orchards, vineyards and red deer farm. He told us all about the programs offered at the university and what the students have to complete to grow the produce and grapes for the wine. He told us that the university will take the felt of the red deer and sell it for quite a price. It is used in research and also in joint medication. The "farm" also grows lucerne, which we know as alfalfa. New Zealand has some of the best climates to grow the plant and the school often puts sheep on it as part of their grazing program.
It was nice to take a break today from all of the hectic events that have been going on in the area. Last night we had another aftershock of 3.9. It was centered in Hornby, which is much closer to the university. The death toll in the city is now 165 with 200+ still missing. There are still workers from the school that go out each day to help the recovery effort. Guards are standing at the campus entrances and police men are now living on campus. Things are really starting to change just in the environment on campus. We continue to pray for those loved ones who are still missing and for those who are recovering. The heart of Christchurch will never be the same after the 22nd of February. But we can move forward.
And for my avid readers....guess what!? ......I finally found that huge, gigantic, monstorous, spider that I woke up to in my bed! And just to give you an idea of how big this sucker was, he could encompass a kiwi fruit ahhhh! Oh yes and you have no idea how happy I was to find him out in the open. He was completely vulnerable and trapped. But guess what....he was by my bed. Yes he as waiting for me, wait till I fell asleep then he would attack! Too bad I have the eyes like a hawk. Mooohahaha (evil laugh) haha I quickly grabbed my shoe and smack I had the pleasure of watching the little bastard die. It was the happiest I've been all week, but now I can say I have defended my fort!!! Right now I'm on cloud nine so it is a great way to end my epic day.

February 25th- Day 18

This morning started out a little rougher than I would have liked. I woke up to my alarm at 7:00am only to feel something crawling on my hand. I sit up, turn the light on ......and yes my bed had been invaded by not one, not two but three giant spiders!!!!! Ahh I tried swatting them away and then jerked the covers back only to find some centipede things down at my feet. Yes this is a problem! I already hate bugs to begin with, but to wake up with them in your bed is another. And to only make maters worse, I didn't get a single one killed...figures. Well I was already up so I showered and started the days activities. The clean up group was meeting at 10:00am today in the dinning hall and I wasn't going to let a gang of spiders ruin my day. It was already raining when we all got together. We signed our names and split into groups to ride into town. Since my day started off fabulous anyways, I got the pleasure of riding with two other Americans (hippies really) and two other guys. We didn't know how to get to the address but we brought out the Garmin, or in this persons case it was Homer Simpson. We drove into town and when we got to our address we waited for the equipment to arrive. As people started pouring out of vehicles standing in the rain, we got word that the university had not cleared this particular street with the city. So basically if we even thought about touching a shovel and using it, we were in deep shit.
After a while we were able to get clearance to go around to other streets and help start the clean up of silt. Those of us who didn't have any equipment settled for more door knocking. The community was thrilled to see us. They practically through the shovels at us and came around giving us food. They handed out anything from apples, cookies, pizza, and yes I was offered a case of beer. Well I was offered to take four cases to be exact, but who keeps track really? My group decided to join forces with another and head down another street. We worked straight through lunch until 3:00pm. We helped a family who had there entire yard submerged in silt. We spent about two hours there until we were able to get a Caterpillar in. We went across the street and helped an elderly lady who had a mother who was confined to a wheel chair. She was unable to use the ramp due to the silt on and around it. Every time we started one job, we had other members of the community come and ask us for help. One family had offered to pay us, but in all honesty there was no way we could have taken it. We were there to help and enjoyed doing it.
As we worked our way back to the main base area the other workers had already and lunch and were working hard. There were piles and piles of silt on the pavement. As my group sat and had our lunch, there was an elderly lady who came out and gave a speech. She called us heroes and legends. There were hundreds of us who had put all of our things to the side and helped out an innocent community. It was so rewarding to see the joy on these peoples faces.
Today was much different than yesterday. The streets weren't as bad as the one we has worked on previously. But it was still in very bad shape. We cleaned out peoples yards, garages and even gutters. Later that afternoon we all headed down to another street. This site was quite different as well. It was so interesting to see that one persons yard was completely trashed by the silt, but there neighbor didn't have a single trace of it.
Being that my luck for the day was working out quite well, my group had found a yard that had an abandoned pool in the back yard. And you can guess that the entire pool was completely filled with liquefaction. Ahh how lovely. So we pretty much said every word in the book and started digging. We had a total of four wheel barrows and 30 people working on this one site. Through the process the had to say goodbye to two wheelbarrows and half of the people who had come lost their desire. We shoveled and filled one wheelbarrow after another it was a constant flow of work until 5:30pm. We were still no where close to being done. However, the dining halls close at 7 and we still had to pack up our equipment and head back. We had called it a day and headed back to campus.
After we had dinner, the school announced that classes would not resume until March 14th! We still had basically two weeks to kick back. But of course they had a plan. The school and offered to take us on a two week tour of the south island. They would pay for the buses but we had to fit the cost of accommodation and food plus the cost of the activities we wanted to do. I'm thinking I might take them up on this great offer. They are not going to lengthen the semester or shorten our Easter break, but the classes are supposed to be very condensed. It may be my last opportunity to really travel. The school will be housing embalmers and crematory's on campus tonight. On Sunday they plan to bring in about 150 police officers to put up. It will be an eventful weekend.
Overall it was another proactive day. We accomplished a great deal and touched soo many lives. We had all been called "living legends" from everyone in the community. I can say that I feel soo proud to help out in the effort of this earthquake. Many people don't truly realize the severity of it or the damage it has caused thousands. People may see it on the news and say, "oh how horrible". But the irony of it all, is that they go right back to what they were doing before....nothing. Thousands of people need an extra set of hands to help them ease the sweat of their brow. Let us unite and make a difference. Even if you are across the world you can lend a hand, you just have to ask how. But will you? Please do not be too proud to make a difference in your community. There are numerous helpless people who need a lending hand.

 This is the group gathering up to learn our new destination for the rest of the day.

Its hard to find humor nowadays, but the locals try their hardest.

This is just some of the damage that we have seen and delt with along our journey to recovery.

The liquefaction will come out from the ground at a central point and will flow out on the surrounding ground.

Looking back on today, I have to say it was a huge success. We had hundreds of students out in the rain helping innocent families restore their lives and their faith. There is no doubt in my mind that I would be willing to take home a handful of blisters and calluses just to help lift the burden these people face. Homes are having to boil water to drink, they cannot shower or even flush a toilet. They are out there everyday breaking a sweat to restore their lives, but cant even go inside and wash up after a hard days work. So please, the next time you are able to have access to water, think of the hundreds of thousands of people who cannot have that luxury.

"Today can be a healthy unusual day for you -- and for others -- if you take time to give someone a smile . . . to express a word of kindness . . . to lend a helping hand to someone in need . . . to write a note of gratitude . . . to give a word of encouragement to someone who is temporarily overcome with problems . . . to share a portion of your material possessions with others.”

February 24th- Day 17

Today was a great day. I woke up and there were no longer spiders hanging by my head ( my room was invaded by large spiders). We had a good sized shock this morning about 9:30. I cleaned my room and handed in my housing deposit. It was around 10:45 that the university had called a meeting. The school had organized a "help team" to go into the city and help start with clean up. There was about 100 of us that went in. When we got there we had parked our vehicles in a petrol station and walked the rest of the distance. We walked down the streets and it was filled with liquefaction. Liquefaction is a soft silvery clay/dirt compound. When the earthquake took place this liquefaction had rose out of the ground like lava and poured into the streets and surrounded homes. It was our job to clear the clay so the water from it can drain properly. We all got our shovels and wheel barrows and started scooping. Those of u who didn't have proper equipment went door knocking and the residents were more than welling to let us barrow their things.
Children were out in their boots and shoveling right along side their parents. The elderly were telling us how, and where they would like us to help. All along the street you could see hundreds of people coming together to lend a hand. It was truly inspiring. The clay was a non stop job. Every time you cleared out an area there was just more around the corner. You could see the heartbreak on the faces of the homeowners and the stress of not being able to have proper water or sewage. There were road signs blocking areas that the liquefaction had created wholes in the ground. People were constantly piling the clay into the wheel barrows and dumping it on their front lawns just to get their cars out.
Finally around 1:30 we all took a quick lunch break. We sat in the park and looked out on the street. There was just so much to do and there was no way these members of the community could do it by themselves.
As the sun beat down upon us, we began to wear blisters in our hands. We all take turn shoveling and unloading the wheel barrow. After  a while we all split into groups by our housing. My hall, Centennial, was in charge of door knocking. We went around the neighborhood and asked people if there was anything we could do to help them specifically. We dug out flower beds, car ports, mail boxes, cars, trampolines, and even kids bicycles. Along the way I helped a man who was currently handicapped. he had had two heart attacks very recently and they had left him disabled. It was heart wrenching to hear his story, but at the same time it felt so good to help these people.

 Parents and children come together to help the cleanup of their home to start the reconstruction.

 This car was burried over a foot deep of the liquefaction. Soil liquefaction describes a phenomenon whereby a soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress, usually earthquake shaking or other rapid loading (force), causing it to behave like a liquid.

 This is just one photos that displays the hours of labor put into cleaning the streets and homes.

This was our last job of the day, The sidewalk was caked with 10 inches of liquefaction.

Sister and brother work together to help there mother. I had visited this family earlier that day. The mother spoke very little English and she had her neighbor ask us for help to clear out her garage that had been flooded.

Today the residents wore various colored t-shirts. Our t-shirts represented which residents hall we live in. All along the streets you could see the university's students hard at work helping the neighborhood.

Tomorrow morning I plan on going into the city again. It was hard backbreaking work, but it was honest work. It was great to see the relief being lifted off of a persons shoulders who are not capable of doing it. The more I'm here, the more rewarding I feel this experience is. There is now talk that our classes will be delay another week due to the recovery effort that has been put in place. The university is a "safe haven" for my people and it is open for anyone to turn to. We have established a hot-line for those who do need out help. Wether we are out shoveling or placing beds down at the school we are beginning to make a difference....and see a difference.
It was a huge relief that the school was able to locate all of the students. Everyone from here is now safe and I must say it is a huge relief. It is hard when you hear and experience such a tragedy, but still don't know where your loved ones are. But with everyones continued efforts and kindness we can all come together for the greater good. I have never felt so good to help out another person, a complete stranger no less. Today was such a rewarding day, may tomorrow be filled with more progress.

"The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all".  ~Leo Rosten

February 23rd -Day 16

Throughout the night I was awoken by aftershocks. The rumble made my closets clatter, my water bottle fall over, and even moved my bed from the wall. As the rain pounded at my window pane it was a constant reminder of a day that I will never forget. I woke up and started my daily routine. As I was blow drying my hair I felt the ground shake, it was another aftershock. I'm starting to wonder when things will get back to normal. Between the hours of midnight and 7:00am we had 32 aftershocks. And as of midnight my friend Felix, from Germany, was still missing. He had gone into town for a pair of shoes. But no one from the university heard from him. I have a lot of things on my mind, everything just seems so surreal at this point.
This morning I worked on my blog and kept reading articles about the tragedy. I fell so over whelmed and yet I feel like I'm living a dream. I didn't actually experience an earthquake....or did I? Liza knocked on my door and we decided to head for the super market. When we got there, there was a line out the door just to get inside the store. We waited about ten minutes before we got in. Once we did, people were running around like headless chickens filling up their grocery carts. There was no bread, little milk, and carts were piled miles high. I felt like they knew something I didn't. Was I supposed to stock up after such as tragedy? I stood in front of the milk case. People running past me grabbing everything they could. Grabbing things from one another...I just stood there, wondering what milk to even buy. The clerks were running around busing carts of food to stack on the shelves. It was an experience I wont forget. At the time it just seemed like a small earthquake...but yet the scale was a 6.3. I'm still trying to fathom the destruction this had caused.
I get back to the dorm and unload my milk and dish soap. There was a meeting at noon to discuss the earthquake and the halls of residents. People slowly pile in and fill the room. They first start off by telling us the housing rules and policies, I'm starting to get nervous. I can't help but wonder why they are stalling the news about the quake. Then they tell us that campus will be closed the rest of the week. We will have registration and orientation starting on Monday. Classes are not a definite yet. Then, they say that Christchurch wants to use the schools rugby field to put up tents to house 400+ police officers. I'm not really sure what to think, the whole island is in shock and it feels as though there is soo much other people could do to help. It's really starting to hit me that this is happening and it's not a  movie, nor a dream.
After the meeting I go have lunch in my dorm and start "skypeing" my family. Before I talked to Dad and Mom I couldn't help but think about Felix. He is still out there, and no one knows where he is, or even if he is alright. Then I can't help but remember that I was supposed to have gone with him. I start to feel guilty that I didn't go. That I should have done something, that if something did happen to him I'd blame myself. I keep reading all of these articles about how many are still missing. I have a break down...its finally hitting me that everything in a mater of a few seconds can simply be destroyed. I was able to get in contact with my parents. We talked for an hour, which is our longest talk thus far. I told them all about the things that are happening and that I'm still in one piece. It was good to talk to them. I really needed to see them, and actually see them smile.
Then suddenly.....there is a pounding on my door....I opened my door....and it was Felix!!! He had made it! I felt so relieved and happy. He told me all about his experience. He had been off the bus for a minute when the ground shook and he was eventually able to find a mother and daughter who were trying to get to the university. They let him stay in their hotel and he ended up catching a taxi to Lincoln. He showed me the pictures he took of all of the aftermath, it was soo heart wrenching it seemed like the pictures couldn't possibly be real.
Its now 8:00pm, I've felt one aftershock since this morning. Things are starting to calm down. I want to get tho the city as soon as they allow. The army is now in place and have evacuated the square of Christchurch. People can't use water for at least a week. They encourage people to leave the city until everything is calmer. There are 75 fatalities and over 300 that are still missing. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the island. Please keep them in yours.

This is just one of many lines to enter the super market.

 One of the buses that was destroyed.

Listening for any sign of life....

As the day comes to a close I'm starting to learn the importance of family, community, religion, and the value of a human life. The sounds of an innocent scream are so powerful, and yet so silent in the face of danger it is numbing. May we come together and help the innocent who can't or can no longer be heard.

February 22nd- Day 15

Today was my first earthquake experience. The day started out as a typical rainy day in New Zealand. That morning everything seemed perfectly fine. It was colder than usual but I didn't let it stop me from my normal activities. That afternoon Liza came and knocked on my door to go send stuff home to our families. I grabbed my things and we headed across campus. When we got to the doors of the book shop I saw a sign posted on the door "EARTHQUAKES" and I remember thinking "I don't think I'll ever experience any".We got to the book shop and I sent my mail off to the United States. We were on our way out the door when we heard the roof rattle. I looked up and I see the ceiling shifting and I hear screams....at first I just thought there were people running around upstairs. But then I felt the ground move. Liza and I grabbed each other. We just realized it was an earthquake. We looked around and everything was moving. Then all of a sudden it stopped.
We go outside and there are people flooding out of the buildings. Students were coming out of the library, staff were running around asking if everyone was ok. We eased our way across campus and we went to the student union to post on facebook there had been an earthquake. As we were heading back to our dorm rooms we had been stopped by some R.A.'s and talked with them about proper earthquake protocol and what your supposed to do if you ever experience one. They told us to lay down against your bed, so if anything falls it will create a triangle to protect you. But it wasn't over yet.......again, I felt the ground move. I look up and I can see the trees moving, the buildings swaying and my feet were feeling movement beneath them.
It was an aftershock. It almost felt bigger than the actual earthquake itself. People just stood still, quietly, and there eyes got big until it ended. I quickly made my way back to my dorm. I knew I had to send home a message telling them what was happening and that I was okay. I quickly emailed Dad, hoping he would get it before he heard the news. Then...there was a knock on my door.....they were evacuation us form our halls and flats. The school was scanning the buildings and areas for any structural damage. They made it sound like it would only take ten minutes. As we waited out in the rain for the inspection the air got colder. It was more bitter and sharp. They finally told us to move over to the gym in the recreation center. We waited another 40minutes until they told us to move to the cafeteria. The cafeteria was a "safe building", it was "structurally sound" as they said.
Then we waited....and waited. And suddenly i felt my chair move, I see the lights sway from the ceiling and the room get dead silent. I could hear the building squeak and shake. A few seconds later it was over. However, every time we had a shock they started the building inspections all over again. We waited four hours and in that time our group of students from CSU played scrabble and tried to make the most of the situation. It wasn't until 5:10 that we were released and could go back to our dorms.
However, during holding we heard that the Cathedral had collapsed. It felt heartbreaking. I was there just a week ago and I kept seeing all of the images on the T.V. It all just seemed so surreal. Among all of this chaos, my German friend Felix, had gone to the city that day to get shoes. He had asked me to join, but I didn't want to spend any more money so I said maybe later. Well...we had no word if he was okay or not. I start feeling guilty, I should have gone. I'm seeing images of crushed buses, toppled buildings, screaming people and I couldn't do a thing about it.
I hustled back to my dorm to grab my computer. I had emails out the waazooo. I first emailed Dad and Mom saying I'm ok and I'll talk to them soon. After diner I was able to calm everyone down and talk to my parents. However, during our talk we had aftershocks...Dad was able to see it over my web cam. I then Skyped Karla, ans she saw me go through two more aftershocks. I made my way back to my dorm room where I decided to relax and the shocks just kept coming. One after another, they were relentless. While I slept I felt my bed shake and move from the wall, all through the night they continued.
This morning I felt another while I was blow drying my hair. Its been an hour since then so we will see how the rest of the day turns out. Please pray for those who were hurt yesterday.

February 19th & 20th- Day 12 & Day 13

February 19th:
Today we were headed back to Lincoln. By the time our adventures of bungy jumping and benge eating came to a hault we were ready to get back to our dorm rooms. This morning we set our alarms for 6:00am. We wanted to get up early and walk down to the bakery to get day old bread for $3. Afterwards we came back to the hostel and showered and packed our things up. We said goodbye to our roommates and hit hte streets walking to the bus stop. It was raining today and it felt really good and refreshing after two weeks of non stop traveling. Our bus showed up at 9:00am and we loaded our things and took our seats, however unlike our ride down this bus was packed full of people.
Every seat was taken and I ended up sitting next to a nice older couple from England who were biking across New Zealand. Liza and I even met a group of students on the bus who were from Michigan that had been in Australia going to school. The bus trip was long and stuffy. We finally took a lunch break at Lake Tekapo and had the pleasure of endulging in a Crunchie Bar.

Cadbury Crunchie is a milk chocolate bar with a "honeycombed" sugar center. The honey comb center is also known as Hokey Pokey. It is one of the most liked and famous candies in New Zealand. 

This is a photo of Lake Tekapo, which is near Mt. Cook.

Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, reaching a height of 3,754 metres (12,316 ft). It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. 
After our long journey to Christchurch we got on another bus to take us to Lincoln. Where we arrived about 7:00pm. The rest of the night I relaxed and enjoyed the comforts of my new "home". 




February 20th- Day 13
Today I decided to sleep in until 8 and then headed my way towards the student union to use the free internet. I worked on my blog for an hour or so and then figured out I didn't have my bungy photos. So I headed back to my dorm and uploaded them on my computer.
Later on i ran into Liza and she was on her way out to go on a grand adventure with Felix ( our neighbor upstairs from Germany). However, during this conversation I just so happened to leave my keys inside my room. Ahh yes I was locked out of my building....fabulous. So I turned around and went to the accommodation office where Aileen gave me a key to get in. Once I got in I gathered my things to go to New World super market and dropped off the key to Aileen. When I was in the store I found the one and only...Dr. Pepper! Yes!!! I was soo excited to find my favorite drink in my grocery store. I did have to buy it by the can for $2.00 so I got a couple and will ration myself. The $2.00 price was more of a good shock to me, because earlier in Queenstown it was selling for $4.00/ can. 
After I got my shopping done I walked back to my dorm and had decided to fix some lunch...and of course I already had bread....but of course it was molded! But I was able to find two good slices to make me a delicious pastrami sandwich. I spent the afternoon organizing, cleaning and napping. 
That evening Liza, Felix, Hayden and I all went to dinner together. Tonight was a "barbie" for all of the student and parents that had arrived in the past week. We had bratwurts, potatoes, salad and bread. But to top it all off we had ice cream. New Zealand has some of the best ice cream I have ever encountered. How good you ask?....so good it puts dryers, bluebunny, and cold-stone in the dust. 
The rest of the night Im planning on watching a movie and emailing my family. The past few weeks have been hard with Dad, Mom, Karla and of course my sheep and corgis! Dad is supposed to vaccinate tomorrow so we'll see how that goes for him. 

February 18th- Day 11

Today I woke up with no fears or anxiety. I was well rested from a good nights sleep and was ready to experience the day. We didn't have anything planned for today. So we just walked around to the various little shops throughout Queenstown. New Zealand has some of the most beautiful jewelry I have seen. A lot of it is made with the native Paua shell.
Along our walk we ran into an art display out on the grass near the pier. He was a gentleman who used to live in the United States and had once played soccer. He showed us his numerous paintings of the Milford Sound area. Which is not too far from Queenstown. When I get a chance that is one of my destinations in the future. After we talked a while he had pointed us in the direction of the best fish n chips. And I must say, New Zealand has some of the best fish n chips I could ever dream of.

 This is just one of the various sculptures around the area. This is called the Moa.

 Just a picture explaining the history of the Moa.

 On our walk down on the warf I ran into my first ever anchor! It was absolutely huge!

 One of the many benches on the warf that overlook the lake.

Here is a picture from the bench where you can look out onto the lake and watch numerous sail boats/ cruises come into dock and part for their journey.

Birds are not hard to come by when your close to the warf in Queenstown. 

After our "tea" (New Zealand calls dinner...tea) we continued our stroll through the streets where we ran across The Remarkable Sweet Shop. This candy store handmade all of its fudge. They would give you samples of each if you asked. They have flavors ranging from Irish Cream, Hokey Pokey, Passion Fruit, to Cream Brule. And of course I walked out with four flavors...but some is for me to send home of course.

We finally got back to our hostel where we stayed up most of the night eating hokey pokey ice cream and talking with our roommates. All along our stay we met girls from Ireland, Malaysia, Korea and even Germany. They are amazing people and it was fun for all of us to share our stories.

February 17th- Day 10

This morning I woke up absolutely frightened! I was nervous and had " butterflies" in my stomach.  Our jump was scheduled to be at 9:20, that's when we had to report to the store and load the buses to go to the Nevis jump. Liza and I had gone to the store at 8, they had this policy that if you do a jump with them they would supply you free Internet. Well seeing how we didn't want to pay $3/hr at other places we went to the bungy store. And of course all throughout the place there were t.v.'s showing all of the jumps and styles that you can do. To be quite honest, the t.v.'s only made me more nervous! This was a 134 meter jump, which is longer than the length of a football field. Finally 9:20 rolled around and we loaded the buses. It was about a 30minute drive up the mountain and when we got to the top Liza and I both looked at each other and said "what were we thinking"!! The building we were to jump out of was suspended by wires! We could see the river below! And we were terrified. I don't think I have ever been this intimidated by height.  Once we had gotten over to the jump building by cart, we stepped inside and it was rocking back and forth. Right before they suited us up with anklets Liza and I said a prayer to get us through this jump. 

 This photo was taken right before I took my leap of faith. The yellow hanger down at my feet was actually quite heavy and the weight of it pulled you down. At this moment I was really starting to wonder why in the heck I signed up for this. I thought I was completely out of my mind.

 This is right after I jumped. Honestly...I was scared to death and screaming my head off at this point.

 This is taken on my way down, I end up falling way past the white ropes you can see at the skyline.

 This is my "fake" smile as I wait my turn to jump. They had me strapped into this chair while they connected all of the bungy cords to my harness. The green anklets is what was holding me to the bungy cord. Once I finished my jump I wasn't able to pull a cord out to release me from hanging upside down. So as a consequence I was pulled back up by my feet.

 Another picture of me descending. The crew told us right before we jumped that if we happen to touch the water below, something went wrong. I must say, that was not very comforting. The building we jumped out of was only suspended by wires that were drew from one side of the canyon to the other. And inside the building the floors were clear so you could see the other jumpers on the way down.

For each jump you do the crew made you fill out a toe tag. Not very comforting really, but this is one of my toe tags I had the pleasure of filling out throughout the whole bungy experience. 

Liza went first, I was next. When she jumped she screamed her lungs out and suddenly she had reached the bottom. As they hoisted her up they made me go over to the chair and tied ropes to my harness. With the anklets around my feet I couldn't really move so I had to ease my way to the ledge with the weight of the harness and ropes pulling at my feet. At first the crew counted down to 1, and I couldn't do it. Then i said "SH**" under my breath and jumped! It was an 8 second free fall. The whole way down I kept expecting to be bounced back up by the cord, but it never came. Until finally I was pulled back up and was swung from side to side by my feet. Ahhh! Pull me up is all I could think about. On my way back up the ropes at my feet at shifter and I fell about a foot, that's when I said to myself, "oh great I'll be the first ever tragedy of the bungy jump". But I got to the building and thanked God I had made it.
Once I made it over to solid ground I wanted to kneel down and kiss it! I was so blessed to be on the ground. It was an amazing unforgettable experience. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think I could do it for another 21 years. I have never felt soo relieved that something was over that quickly.
That afternoon I went back to town and got another Fergburger to absorb all of my fear anxiety. Later that night I even found my first Dr. Pepper since I've been in New Zealand...that made the day totally worth it.

February 16th- Day 9

Today was our first full day in Queenstown and we planned on experiencing our first ever bungy jump! To get to the jump we had to go up the gondola mountain. So early morning we set our path for the mountain. Once we go to the base we had an option of taking a gondola ride up or doing a 50 minute hike. Well i was more interested in seeing the amazing views from the gondola and getting great pictures of the Queenstown valley so I took the gondola and Liza did the hike. Once we got to the top, the view was breathtaking!

 This is just on of many photos I took at the top of the gondola ride. The mountain view overlooked the town of Queenstown and all of the surrounding lake.

Here is a picture of Queenstown from the top of the hill. 

Once we got to the ledge bungy we had the option of doing the jump up to three times, i did it twice. This is a photo of my second jump, they call it the pendulum. They make you stand with your heels off the edge of the platform and they hold onto your harness while you lean back and hold your arms out. Once you get in your position they let go of your harness and you fall backwards! It was absolutely crazy for  a 43 meter jump. 

 This is me getting ready to do the pendulum jump. One of the guys has hold of my harness while i spread out of arms and hold my breath!

 This is a photo of me after I was let go by one of the crew men. I was terrified. Liza was going to do the jump but she chickened out. Instead she laid down on the platform and two of the crew guys picked her up by the harness and threw her out over the ledge.

 This is my first jump. This was the Ledge Bungy approximately 43 meters.

On my way down from my first jump.

After our eventful morning of bungy jumping we decided to walk around the town and go down by the warf. Throughout the lake there were numerous water activities that you could do. A cruise was just one out many. 

After my first day of bungy jumping I was really starting to get nervous for tomorrows. I mean its only 134 meters down no big deal right?! Well I'm glad I started off with the smaller one, but Ill still pray I make it through the next!

February 15th- Day 8

This morning we traveled to Christchurch to catch the Naked Bus to take us to Queenstown. The bus ride is approximately 9 hours! All along the way we stopped at various little towns to have a ten minute break and had lunch at 1:30. Along our journey we actually met a  girl who was originally form Los Angeles and here mother was a Kiwi. She had moved to New Zealand and she absolutely loves it here. Natalie had given us numerous tips and ideas through out our travels.

 This is one of many photos from Lake Tekapo. However, the color of the water that is captured in the back is the whole color of the lake! It's a beautiful light pale blue.

 This is the Church of the Good Shepherd. The Church of the Good Shepherd was built in 1935 to the glory of God as a memorial to the pioneers of the Mackenzie Country. Congregations of the three main faiths worship regularly in the Church, which offers awe inspiring views of the lake and mountains through the altar window.

 Along our bus ride to Queenstown we stopped in Wanaka. This is one place I would really like to go back and visit. Wanaka is a town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated at the southern end of Lake Wanaka, adjacent to the outflow of the lake to the Clutha River. It is the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park. Wanaka is primarily a resort town but has both summer and winter seasons and is based around the many outdoor opportunities.

 As we got closer to Queenstown we were surrounded more by wine/ fruit trees. Numerous places like this one had a large white netting over the entire field, holding the trees inside of it.

 This is our first sight of Queenstown. Surrounded by majestic mountains and nestled on the shores of crystal clear Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown is New Zealand’s premier four season lake and alpine retreat.

 Of course during our journey was saw numerous sheep herds. On our bus ride we got the opportunity to see a herd being worked by numerous dogs and an older gentleman on foot.

After we got settled into our hostel we had asked around for a great place to eat. Well the local hot spot was Fergburger. This was the largest, most amazing burger I have probably ever had the pleasure of eating. And I will admit I had three in four days .

After all of our traveling and eating for the day we had made arrangements to go bungy jumping for the next two days. Tomorrow we would be jumping off of the Ledge Bungy. The Ledge is 43 meters in length. And as for Thursday we will be doing the Nevis Bungy, a total of 134 meters!!
The Queenstown area is absolutely beautiful, it reminds me a lot of home and the surrounding mountains. There is very little humidity and that is just a bonus.