Itinerary!

Well it is April 5th and strangely enough winter is quickly approaching. Today's weather kind of solidified the fact that shorts season is over... Pretty unfortunate seeing as how just a few weeks ago I ripped my very favorite pair of pants, leaving myself with only two pairs of jeans. I also didn't pack a winter coat...

It only gets down to about 40 here, but that's still pretty chilly, especially with the Welly wind! I've been told winter here is still beautiful though. Plus a huge upside for me is that the leaves stay on the trees! I love a good New England fall, but when winter comes and everything is gray and bare, it gets pretty depressing.

So yeah. I guess the tables are finally turning and I will continue to become increasingly jealous of the warm weather at home. I can't really be that jealous though, come on, I'm in New Zealand for god sakes!

Easter Break approaches! I already booked some flights and buses! I haven't got all the details figured out yet, but here is a little itinerary:

April 16th - Get on a plane for Queenstown on the South Island
-7 hour layover in Christchurch in order to wander around there for awhile
-Make it to Queenstown and stay in a hostel or couch surf
(I'm sending out some requests tonight for couch surfing. It's free and pretty legit. You just look people up on www.couchsurfing.org and a lot of them have open beds, couches and tents they're willing to let you use while you travel! I'm going to be with a couple friends, and New Zealand is a really safe place, so we're hoping we can find some couches. I think we'll get a lot of good stories out of it at least)

April 17th - BUNGEE JUMPING
My mom obviously tried to advise me against doing this.. but I want to do something crazy while I'm here, and I'm going to be in Queenstown, the bungee jumping capital of the world, so I figured I gotta. Ahhhhh!!!! I debated between bungee jumping and sky diving for awhile. It's kind of one of those dumb questions you start out with when you're playing "would you rather" with your friends. Would you rather sky dive or bungee jump? I always answered that question with sky dive, but when it comes down to it, I think bungee jumping would be a lot more challenging and rewarding because you have to get yourself to jump off that ledge. When you go sky diving you're tandem with an instructor, and if you don't jump, the guy you're attached to will! I'm guessing those few moments take a lot more will power when bungee jumping than when sky diving.
I'm doing the tallest bungee jump in New Zealand! Go big or go home! Click here to get info and see a clip of the exact jump I'm gonna do!!!!! (Mimie, you might not want to click that until I'm done and have survived. WHICH I WILL)

April 18th - Wandering around beautiful Queenstown and seeing what it has to offer (for free), and couch surfing again that night.

April 19th - Catching a bus from Queenstown to Franz Josef. Again, couch surfing in Franz Josef.

April 20th - Hiking and seeing some Glaciers!!! Then once again, (hopefully) couch surfing.

April 21st - Taking a bus to the top of the South Island, Nelson, where one of my friends will go her separate way to meet her sister back in Wellington, and Tim and I will catch another bus to absolutely breathtakingly beautiful Abel Tasman National park to hike and camp!!!
We still have not exactly figured out what date we'll be catching the bus back to Picton and hopping on the ferry back to Wellington, but that's what will happen next after a few days in Abel Tasman.

The next week of break (yes I have two) Alexis and I are flying up to Auckland and exploring up there for a few days!! I won't have much money to spend, so I'm just probably going to be wandering around the city for most of the time and checkin' out the scene. Oh yeah, and watching Alexis bungee jump off a bridge. I'm almost as excited to watch her as I am do to it myself!

The Auckland Zoo is only $16 so I think I might splurge on that one activity, but only because we would be guaranteed to see the elusive Kiwi bird! I must see one before I leave!!!


So that is that! Just a few more buses to book and hopefully we'll find a few couches to surf. I can't wait until all this gets under way! Planning (and shellin' out so much cash in the process) is overwhelming! I tried my damnedest to plan the cheapest trip possible, and even though it was all still a pretty penny I did a pretty good job. I can't wait until I'm out there doing these things and realizing how it's all worth it.

Oh, and just for old times sake, here's a picture of what I made for dinner:Zuccini Korma with penne pasta!!! It was delicious.
I wish it didn't look so sloppy in the picture....

I hate to say it, but cooking has been loosing its luster over the past few weeks. I think it's because we only have a stove and no oven, and I feel like frying things up and making stir-fry is getting old. Not enough variety. I need to be challenged!!! If anyone has any suggestions for stove-top-only-and-perhaps-microwave dinners send 'em my way!


edit:
I was just reading some old posts and I can't believe I forgot to post THIS picture back when I posted the pictures from LUSH! I'm so disappointed! Well here it is! Better late than never.

These are the face-masks!! It takes so much self control not to buy them all!!!