updating...south island trip.
So quite a lot has happened since the last time I posted... I have a little time, so this may be a long blog.
I left off in Queenstown on a cold, cold day...
In spite of the cold, I decided I still wanted to go on the hike I planned to go on earlier. So I left, for the mountain, bundled up in about four layers, wearing my pack and camera. It was a beautiful hike. I saw mountains and waterfalls and thouroughly enjoyed myself... at least for the first half an hour. At about that point, I realized I wasn't on the trial I was supposed to be on. I had ended up on some dirt bike trails, and had no idea how to get back to the trail I needed to be on. I was lost. I started to pray, "God, how do I get out of here? What trail do I need to be on?" His responce was, "Right. Take the trail to the right." This path was quite grown over. Obviously, this path was rarely used. It was not my first path of choice, but who am I to argue with God. I pushed my way through the brush on the path to the right. About ten steps down the path, I encountered another traveller, also lost. But she had a key item, that I did not posess... a map. We were in opposite pridicaments (I'm jet lagged... and I can't spell anyway...) she knew what trail we needed to be on, but not where we were. I knew where we were, but not how to get to where we needed to be. We worked together... and found our way to the gondola at the top of the mountain. Praise God for leading me to Rosie, my hiking buddy.
That evening, Ryan, Emma,and I met up at Starbucks and drove towards the Remarkables (a beautiful mountain range.) We hiked down a little trail to a lake. There, we sat on a dock, admiring the beauty of the sunset over the mountains. Amazing.
A few days later, we backtracked a little to Hokitika (We travelled, to Greymouth, then Blenhiem, earlier. Saw Aly in Blenhiem!). In Hokitika, we saw a driftwood beach (it was more fun than it sounds). From there went to this place with blowholes and pancake rocks, where we watched the sunset. From there we went to Punakaiki We stayed in a beachfront lodge. I think I saw a wild Kiwi bird.
The next day was a bit rough, we spent most of it driving up to Nelson. But, just before we got to a little town called Wakefield, we had an accident. As we came around a curve, our car hit a patch of damp grass. We swerved in the lane and then our car tumbled down a steep embankment. It rolled twice. All of our gear flew everywhere. When we landed, our car was upside down, everyone hanging by their seatbelts. All three of us walked away from the car. As I looked at the damage, I reilized how lucky we were. The car was totalled, glass everywhere, the tires twisted, the trunk and hood smashed. We should have needed an ambulance, but all three of us just walked away with a few cuts and brusies. Praise God for his protection.
Because of the car accident, we stayed a day longer on the south island. We drove down to Christchurch and then retraced our steps to picton where we took the ferry to Wellington. (We saw seals and dolphins and some point or another during those two days.)
By the time we left Auckland, I only had one day before I left for the states. Late that night, Wendy drove me and a few others up to Mt. Eden. It was beautiful, standing on mountain, under a starry sky, overlooking the lights of Auckland city. I couldn't think of a better way to end my last night in NZ.
I left off in Queenstown on a cold, cold day...
In spite of the cold, I decided I still wanted to go on the hike I planned to go on earlier. So I left, for the mountain, bundled up in about four layers, wearing my pack and camera. It was a beautiful hike. I saw mountains and waterfalls and thouroughly enjoyed myself... at least for the first half an hour. At about that point, I realized I wasn't on the trial I was supposed to be on. I had ended up on some dirt bike trails, and had no idea how to get back to the trail I needed to be on. I was lost. I started to pray, "God, how do I get out of here? What trail do I need to be on?" His responce was, "Right. Take the trail to the right." This path was quite grown over. Obviously, this path was rarely used. It was not my first path of choice, but who am I to argue with God. I pushed my way through the brush on the path to the right. About ten steps down the path, I encountered another traveller, also lost. But she had a key item, that I did not posess... a map. We were in opposite pridicaments (I'm jet lagged... and I can't spell anyway...) she knew what trail we needed to be on, but not where we were. I knew where we were, but not how to get to where we needed to be. We worked together... and found our way to the gondola at the top of the mountain. Praise God for leading me to Rosie, my hiking buddy.
That evening, Ryan, Emma,and I met up at Starbucks and drove towards the Remarkables (a beautiful mountain range.) We hiked down a little trail to a lake. There, we sat on a dock, admiring the beauty of the sunset over the mountains. Amazing.
A few days later, we backtracked a little to Hokitika (We travelled, to Greymouth, then Blenhiem, earlier. Saw Aly in Blenhiem!). In Hokitika, we saw a driftwood beach (it was more fun than it sounds). From there went to this place with blowholes and pancake rocks, where we watched the sunset. From there we went to Punakaiki We stayed in a beachfront lodge. I think I saw a wild Kiwi bird.
The next day was a bit rough, we spent most of it driving up to Nelson. But, just before we got to a little town called Wakefield, we had an accident. As we came around a curve, our car hit a patch of damp grass. We swerved in the lane and then our car tumbled down a steep embankment. It rolled twice. All of our gear flew everywhere. When we landed, our car was upside down, everyone hanging by their seatbelts. All three of us walked away from the car. As I looked at the damage, I reilized how lucky we were. The car was totalled, glass everywhere, the tires twisted, the trunk and hood smashed. We should have needed an ambulance, but all three of us just walked away with a few cuts and brusies. Praise God for his protection.
Because of the car accident, we stayed a day longer on the south island. We drove down to Christchurch and then retraced our steps to picton where we took the ferry to Wellington. (We saw seals and dolphins and some point or another during those two days.)
By the time we left Auckland, I only had one day before I left for the states. Late that night, Wendy drove me and a few others up to Mt. Eden. It was beautiful, standing on mountain, under a starry sky, overlooking the lights of Auckland city. I couldn't think of a better way to end my last night in NZ.