I have returned to the mainland! Yes, it has already been three months since I left... time flies when you're having fun! To finish my mini-summaries that I've been doing at the top of my archived posts, from Queenstown, Juli and I headed out to one of my other favourite places in New Zealand, Aoraki (Mount Cook). After doing a couple hikes, we ( Read more... )

Yesterday I ran and jumped off of a mountain into an air current with my arm around a Swedish man -- also known as hang gliding, and it was a BLAST! They say you feel like you're flying when you go skydiving, and when I went in Australia, I will say that I felt "lift" when I outstretched my arms at 200km/h, but hang gliding... wow... it's really ( Read more... )

Ice climbing was fantastic, even though we did it in the rain -- a severe weather warning, in fact! What an experience to climb a vertical wall of ice with just ice picks and spikes on my feet! We are now in Queenstown -- adventure capital of the world. We're booked in for an adrenaline activity tomorrow, but I'm keeping it a secret til later ( Read more... )

We are in Hokitika, which we like to call "Hockey-tika" just to Canuck it up a bit. :p We have been doing lots of hiking and also went river kayaking a few days ago, plus caving yesterday -- unguided except by the light of our phones! Tomorrow is going to be epic: we are going ice climbing on the Franz Joseph glacier ( Read more... )

The hike I alluded to in my last post was to a place called Cathedral Cove. It's a very popular and well-known hike, and while I usually I prefer trails that every other visitor hasn't already been on, this wasn't one to miss. Crystal clear blue water, lush vegetation, and striking rock formations... what more could a girl want? I had mentioned ( Read more... )

Sorry for the slow-coming updates. I have been very lazy so far while in Masterton ( Read more... )

When I woke up on March 29th, I was surprised to see that I was camped next to a lovely river... ah, the things you miss when you arrive in the dark! The morning sunshine was sifting through the trees, and its beauty motivated me to get up and tackle the 2km track down to the beach to see where the river met the ocean.


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*I've been busy with the horses and packing since I got home, and not so eager to update on the dial-up internet... but I am in Lethbridge for the weekend on the high-speed internet aaaand I just found out I will have access to faster satellite internet in the Crowsnest Pass now, so more updates should be forthcoming ( Read more... )

Note: I am on dial-up internet for the next week (yes, it still exists!), so I will not be able to reply to comments very easily -- but I will try! Don't feel like you have to comment for the sake of commenting though. :) I will let you know when I am back in high speed internet-land and then you guys can spam me with comments again! Comments ( Read more... )

On March 24th, the tour of White Island was finally a go, and it was so worth waiting for! Not only was the weather absolutely perfect on both the mainland and the island, but the tour was great AND we saw more dolphins on the way out and the way back! As you might predict, I went photo-mad, and even though I have tried to whittle the number down ( Read more... )