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.