On the beach

Today is a VERY lazy day. All we've done today is sit either by the pool or on the beach. Knowing me I probably have some ridiculous burn that I will realize and feel in a couple of hours.

Tonight we're dressing up a bit and going to this fancy restaurant. I get to wear the new summer dress that I bought though and I think I look pretty good in it lol.

Crap...my knee is starting to hurt...only I would burn a knee...

Relaxing

So today in Hawaii we woke up late, had breakfast basically on the beach. Then we went shopping again lol. I bought 2 new books to read though and Roz and Meiling I think you'll like this new author I found. Her name is jane green. The book I just bought is a chick book and totally hilarious so you guys should go and check it out.

This afternoon and evening we went to a la'au which was really cool. There was a show, some crafts, some houla dancing, a fire dance, and of course a lot of food.

Plan for tomorrow = all day beach. Hey I need a tan.

We have saturday and Sunday here and then we fly back Sunday night to Toronto. No idea what we're going to do Sunday but I'll let you know lol.

Here in Hawaii

Let me get on thing straight right from the get go - I do not enjoy flying in any way shape or form OR by any stretch of the imagination. I can endure flight and I like where it takes me but I don't actually like flying.

So I endured the flight. And now I'm in Hawaii - with free Internet no less.

Today we went shopping and I got some things that look good on me I must say. And then my mom and I went to the beach (the hotel is literally on the beach) and sun tanned for a bit. Then we went for dinner and took a night time stroll along the beach.

Tomorrow we're going to a lu'au which my mom wants to do. Nana wanted to go see another island but you have to fly and it's not cheap. So we decided not to do that.

Starbucks is also attached to our hotel so I think I will end this hear and go drink my starbucks drink.

Christchurch

So this morning started off rough - as it at 12:30 am last night I got a panic attack which was just lovely. And then I woke up about 4 more times that night. And this morning when i actually woke up at 6 am my cough was back at fully force. OTHER than that, today has been pretty sweet. We're in Christchurch today so we got to explore the city a bit. It's such a beautiful city. There are massive amounts of parks and green space too. It's just a really cool city to wander around in.

Our flight leave Christchurch tomorrow morning at 6:55 am to Auckland, then from Auckland to Hawaii at 11 am. We get into Hawaii at 11 pm on Wednesday (it's Wednesday right now for me) so I get to repeat Thursday basically. cool for living a day twice lol.

I really like NZ. It's a really cool place. I hope I can come back some time again. My tour guide Laurel told me that if I ever needed a place to stay that i could just email her and tell her that I'm coming and she would give me a bed in her house. I thought that was wicked.

So yeah, that's it from NZ I guess. Next post will be from Hawaii.

Dunedin

Well I'm in Dunedin today. It's a Scottish city actually, and it's also very hilly. Still cold here but that's alright. Only 2 more days and then I'm flying out of here. But in all honest NZ is really beautiful and the people are awesome. I like it. Today we went on a tour of this house from a very prominent family from back in the day who did a lot of charity work and such. It's a beautiful old house and has all of the modern conveniences of its time. The other options were a castle and a brewery that we could have gone to but I got outvoted on this one. Mind you my mom and nana came with me on the 4WD LOTR tour so I can't complain lol.

Tomorrow were going to Mt. Cook and then the next day it's Christchurch and then we're flying to Hawaii. I only have like a week left of this trip and 2 weeks until I'm back in K-town. I'm excited to get back to K-town I have to say. I have plans for this summer that I'm excited for.

Christian I think you'll like Dunedin if you come. It's cold here - but it's a damp wet cold not the cold like in Canada. But it is really beautiful and the university here was voted best in the country so if you're going to come to NZ for school here is the place to come.

Some Random Town

ok, I honestly don't know how to spell the name of the town that I'm in at the moment. And this is going to be a short blog because I'm exhausted. So we woke up at 5 am this morning, had breakfast at 6 and left at 7. We then drove to Milford Sound which is a world heritage park and we stopped off at different little scenic sights along the way which were beautiful of course. And then we took a boa of the ford/fyord whatever you call it - land on either side, river/sea in the middle. Beautiful waterfalls, mountains, trees growing on mountains. Have you ever heard of a tree avalanche? I saw the remains of one today. It's when a tree or two on the mountain is too top heavy and because there isn't a lot of soil on a mountain it gives way and then takes out the rest of the trees near which take out trees near them etc etc. because they're all holding onto the mountain rather loosely.

After the boat, we drove back to the hotel (cause all of that took all day) and we're eating dinner in an hour. I am currently wearing 2 sweaters because NZ does not have central heating - including in this hotel and so our room as 1 space heater in it and the room is a suite and so it's bloody cold. It wasn't until this trip that I realized how much I love central heating.

Tomorrow we're going to Dunedin (DUN-E-DIN) for the night, and then Mt Cook, and then Christchurch which we fly out of the next day to Auckland and then Hawaii. I'm in NZ until Thursday (which is Wednesday for Canada people). And once I get to Hawaii and it's the same day again cause I'm going backwards in time so I relive May 28th.

LOTR Site Tour

So this morning I went on an amazing 4 wheel drive tour of some of the
LOTR sites. It was completly awesome and the best thing that has
happened to me on this trip. I totally loved it. I had tea this
morning on the location where they shot of the scene of the 9
Ringwraiths on one side of the river and Arwen on the other when she
says to them about Frodo "if you want him come and claim him". I also
saw a mountain range where they shot a lot of stuff. The river that
the 9 paddle down in Elvish boats, the river where Aarogorn (yeah I
spelt that wrong, I'm too tired to think at the moment) before he
climbs onto his horse's back. I also saw the mountain where they
filmed the wargu (those hyenas on steroids) attack, and where Aargorn
falls off the cliff. I saw the path that Isludor travels down when
Gladerial is explaining the beginning of the movie as a voice over.

Since it was 4 wheel drive, we drove up a river and down a river. We
drove up crazy mountains paths with 200 foot drops on one side. It was
awesome.

My Nana was terrified for most of the trip but she kept up her own
sassy remarks and made everyone laugh while she had my mother's arm in
a death grip, and in general we all had a really good time. Our
driver's name was Niki.

When we got back, we relaxed in the hotel room for a bit, and then
walked around town and had some lunch. And now we're back at the hotel
and going to chill until dinner. Tomorrow we have to our bags packed
and ready to go at 6 am and we're leaving at 7.

Not including today we have 5 more days here and then we're on to Hawaii.

I'm having a good time but I'm tossing between whether the trip feels
really long or really shot - sometimes it's one and sometimes it the
other lol.

Some food that I'm dying to have though is: frosted flakes (the best
cereal in the world), jasmine tea and honey, subway or quizzinos,
mcdonalds (sadly lol) and perogies.