Queen Street Lovin' and Up to the North!

The last two weeks have brought about the reality of saying our goodbyes.  After Holly's birthday party and attending final lectures, friends have started to leave.  We went out for one last time with everyone on Queen Street last Thursday, then had a huge potluck for Derrick on Friday.  We made so much food and I was really proud of our cooking capabilities (even the guys)!!  I'm two flatmates down and there are just the North Americans left.  I've also had some dinners with Rachel, Ellen and Katie...including a Mexican fiesta =)  Funny how get-togethers always revolve around some sort of food or beverage.  I also took exam number one and it was fine.  They're really hard-out on tests here.  You get a number and sit at the appropriate desk in a room of at least 250 people and have like 30 proctors or something ridiculous like that.  I felt like I couldn't breathe in that room.  Anyways, two more to go...one Monday and one Tuesday.  Maybe I should start studying...

In other news I took a day trip by myself (via bus) to Port Chalmers.  It's a cute town on the coast that exports timber and has tons of resale shops.  And a house with seashells instead of grass.  It was a nice day to walk and think about stuff and I drank one of the best chai lattes ever.  I also listened to or watched the entire Wings series with my Michigan friend, Jarrett.  We were very disappointed in our boys but we figure that we should share the Cup once in a while...annnd speaking of sports I also attended an ALL BLACKS game =)  For those of you who don't know, it's NZed's national rugby team and according to a bartender, "These games make the city alive with rugby".

The next day I headed out on a very last minute trip to the top of the South Island ("Ann we're leaving in 10 minutes.  You're not packed?  Well get packed and let's go!")  Sam, a Kiwi friend, has a sister who lives in Motueka, which is the closest town to the Abel Tasman National Park so we were able to stay with her for free (and even watch some television.  I was like a zombie in front of that thing.)   We drove the 10 hours up on Sunday and had all day Monday to look around the area.  The weather was absolutely perfect!!  Sam showed us some really cool spots that we would have never found on our own...Kaiteriteri Beach (it's so cool that even Shania has a house there)

Abel Tasman Coastal Track, Harwood's Hole.  There was a lot of water and sand and blue sky with mountains in the background.  Wonnnnderful.  Oh, and the hole is sweet.  It's a 176 metre drop that leads down into a cave system.  

It's like that one episode of "Planet Earth" when the guy parachutes into that huge hole in the ground....anyone know what I'm talking about?  Okay, well it was cool.  Have you ever eaten a Braeburn apple?  We passed their orchards on our way as well =)  yumm

Tuesday we stopped for lunch at Nelson Lakes National Park and realized that the good weather was probably over.  The frost line on the hills was almost to the road...and as we continued driving it got closer!  Through Lewis Pass there were a couple of inches on the ground and it was the same as we got near Dunedin!  I can't believe I'm seeing snow in June.  This is my second to last update.  I'll be home very very soon.

Cramped in an 11 Person Van

The past 2 weeks:

-Katie got into the bar using my passport, right after I walked in

-Flatmate, Ditte, did the soundboard for a play about quantum physics, murder, and love

-lots of rain...22 out of 24 days were wet ones

-learned how to make amazing vegetarian chili

-Capping Show, a sketch comedy about life in Dunedin and at the University.  Highlights include men in thongs, songs about drunken teens (instead of dancing queen), and lots of nudity.  Hope College would not let that go on, that's for sure!!

-Kiwi friend, Jack's choir concert

-explored the art museum finally

-wine at the park with Holly when the sun decided to finally shine

-"The Office" drinking game...everyone should try this

Last weekend was a long one thanks to the Queen's birthday, so we rented a van and piled eleven of us in!!  It, um, definitely wasn't a new van, you could say that...someone had ripped the speakers out so Alex brought his laptop to play music from, which of course didn't last that long.  Ha!  We stopped at the boulders in Moeraki, and a few random look-outs on the side of the road.  It was a long drive, but we got to Arthur's Pass in the evening and checked into the hostel for a night.  The next morning we hiked to the Devil's Punchbowl, which is this really big waterfall.  We had fun climbing on the rocks and got up close to it, which of course soaked us.  After that little jaunt we went to Temple Basin which we found out is a mini ski resort!!  The mountains have snow now and we played in it for a bit before eating our lunches.  There were people we met that were planning to sleep in the lodge and ski the next morning...although I think they are pushing it since the snow isn't that deep and what's there seems to be ice.  Either way, the views were great and we took sooo many pictures (mostly because of Marta, the Spaniard, who's a bit over-obsessive).  The weather was absolutely perfect.

We continued driving toward the west coast and stopped off at a beach to watch the sunset over the Tasman Sea.  Eventually we made it to Franz Josef Village where we stayed for the night at a really great hostel that had a sauna.  Sunday, part of the group did a guided day-hike on the Fox Glacier and the rest of us hiked to the base of the Franz Josef Glacier.  There were markers to tell us where the glacier was 150 years ago and it's crazy how much it's retreated since then!  We walked past the barriers to climb on the ice and had time to take a few photos before we heard some crumbling and decided it was a good idea to avoid avalanches.  There were waterfalls there also and sweet moss-covered rocks that I had fun photographing.  After that little jaunt we checked out the Fox Glacier and picked the others up to get back in Peggy Sue once again.

Then we headed down to Queenstown, even though we've all been there, because they have Derrick's favorite burger joint there and this is his last week in NZ already.  10 of us stuffed into a 6 person room for the night and we just walked around and shopped most of the day Monday.  The Remarkables (mountains overlooking Qtown) are still remarkable.  No photos this time, but they will be worth the wait =)

The Wings are still on fire......LET'S GO DETROIT!!!!!!!!!!!!