New Zealand!
so here I am in amazing New Zealand. I went whale watching a couple days ago and saw three sperm whales and a huge pod of jumping dolpins. we also spent a day hiking in abel tasman national park, which is right on the beach with clear green water, and mountains all around. we hiked through crazy different vegetatation zones. one minute we were in a temperate rainforest with moss and cycads everywhere and then we came out onto a sheer, exposed cliff face that seemed like the scrub desert. there were also patches with this eerie black fungi all over everything. it was pretty rainy, though and of course i slipped in mud and fell right on my ass.
then we spent a day driving and making stops. we stopped at these "pancake rocks", which are indescibale. they're these huge rock spires in the ocean with the waves crashing and they're mysteriously layered looking like stacks of pancakes.
yesterday we drove to franz joseph glacier and went glacier hiking. it was spectacular. we hiked up these carved ice steps and peered into all the icy crags. took a TON of pictures of blue ice, mountains, waterfalls.
today we drove all day to the adrenaline capital of NZ, Queenstown. we stopped at Matheson Lake on the way, which is a mirror lake and reflects Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in NZ. tomorrow i'm going to Milford sound. it will be a long drive, but i think it will be worth it for the amazing views.
in the meantime, i enjoy looking out the bus windows at the amazing sea and mountains and glacial streams, which are usually grey or green. and playing games with my mates on the trip. we had a rousing game of scrabble last night. guess it's out to the bars tonight.
then we spent a day driving and making stops. we stopped at these "pancake rocks", which are indescibale. they're these huge rock spires in the ocean with the waves crashing and they're mysteriously layered looking like stacks of pancakes.
yesterday we drove to franz joseph glacier and went glacier hiking. it was spectacular. we hiked up these carved ice steps and peered into all the icy crags. took a TON of pictures of blue ice, mountains, waterfalls.
today we drove all day to the adrenaline capital of NZ, Queenstown. we stopped at Matheson Lake on the way, which is a mirror lake and reflects Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in NZ. tomorrow i'm going to Milford sound. it will be a long drive, but i think it will be worth it for the amazing views.
in the meantime, i enjoy looking out the bus windows at the amazing sea and mountains and glacial streams, which are usually grey or green. and playing games with my mates on the trip. we had a rousing game of scrabble last night. guess it's out to the bars tonight.