I think I canyon

I mean, my closest near death experience in New Zealand so far has been crossing the street, due to the fact that I'm still confused about which way the cars are coming from.

You'd think after that experience I'd think twice about cliff jumping and zip-lining through a canyon but I fared quite a bit better.

It's this thing called canyoning, which I credit Christine for getting us all into. I didn't know anything about it and when she brought up the idea I actually wasn't that excited about it, but it was one of the funnest (don't care if that's not a word) things I've done in my entire life. Basically you sign your life away on a waiver, squeeze your body into a tiny little elastic wetsuit, strap on about 30 pounds of gear, take a short hike through the woods and then make it down the canyon via 4 or 5 ziplines, repelling down a few walls, jumping off a few cliffs and swimming down the river.
One of the most difficult cliff jumps was about halfway through. I, being so enthusiastic about adventure (or something), was near the front of the group as we approached it and found myself standing on the top of a 25 foot waterfall being directed to jump and aim just left of the stream of water into a small round green spot of water. Ok. Most of you know that my aim is nothing to brag about. Joe and Brenna can attest to the fact that I spent a good ten minutes yesterday trying to make my trash into the garbage can from like 5 feet away. So when he said, "Don't jump right on the place where the fall meets the water because there's a big rock there", my stomach took a hike. Pfft, I don't really know what happened after that but I'm alive right now so I believe it was successful.

(Patti Leimer, I think I'm gonna call it my good luck bracelet 1) because I didn't die ^ and 2) because it legitimately won't come off.)

So yeah! We made some Aussie friends too, who we're planning on hanging out with tonight (#nolongerbeingoutcasts). I think they liked us, but I've never been called a Yank before. Term of endearment? Probs.

Okay well I'm gonna go put on makeup for the first time since I've been here. Cheerio!

Well actually, just so you all know, tomorrow we're hiking to the top of the mountain, eating out for our one and only night tomorrow or Sunday, then getting up bright and early on Sunday to go kayaking on the lake, maybeeee exploring the city more after that and the using Monday to map out our campervan road trip and having a celebratory mini golf. (ILOVEROADTRIPSSSS)

Ok love you Mom and Dad. And Joe.