This post is really long

The adventure continues!

This is all unbelievable. In 4 days I've had more amazing experiences than I have in a semester home at school. I can't get over how incredibly blessed I am to be here, and this is all just the beginning. 

Before I get too far, I must also say that I"m so lucky to be with the group I'm with. Each of us five adds such an interesting dynamic to the whole group. Kaylee is the group planner and our trip would not have gotten past (or through for that matter) the airport without her, Christine definitely adds a pinch or two of crazy, Brenna makes sure none of us do anything stupid, and Joe adds…..testosterone (sounds insignificant, but trust me, it's vital. I feel a little sorry for him though). 

That out of the way, last night was one of the funnest nights I've had in a long time. I mentioned before how we met some people on our canyoning trip and were planning to hang out with them later…while conversing with them in the bus on the way back, we found out that they had signed up for what is called the Kiwi Bar Crawl and since were planning on doing something similar (yet more expensive…) they convinced us to sign up with them. 

Ok so….I'm not the kind of person to have crazy drunken nights and definitely not the kind of person to put records of them on the internet, so just to be clear, that's not what it was. 

Basically you paid a down fee and got taken, as a group, to six of the most popular bars in town and got served a free drink at each. As the drinks were small and the trips quite spaced out, it was a relatively calm but incredibly fun night. Well I mean, it was loud, but what bar isn't. Also, one of our stops was an ice bar. In case you don't know what that is, it means everything in the bar was made out of solid water. Coolest ever! 

After that, a few more bars, some chin-ups, some bad attempts at an Australian accent, some rambunctious walks down the beach til early hours of the morning, and a small and uneventful encounter with the authorities, we retired for the night. As we left, we made plans to meet with them for supper at 6 the next day. 

Next day's plans - get up early the next morning and hike up the mountain. No big deal. However, last nights adventures and a bit of leftover jet lag got the best of us and we woke up late and very sore. About two hills up the mountain, we were panting and asking passers-by how much longer it was to the top. Typical response - "Quite a ways, mate". So an hour and a half and about 3 liters of water later (heckz yes, I'm using the metric system), we arrived at the top of the mountain quite winded but feeling really accomplished. It's really not every day you can say you climbed a mountain. I feel like I will be saying this a lot, but with every new view I encounter, every new landscape I come across, I'm left astonished with not a single word to describe what I'm saying. Except maybe "wow", "holy @%$%!" or something to that extent. How do you put into an English word a combination of extreme awe, gratitude, and amazement at the work of an extraordinary Creator? 

It's ok, the Aussies probably have better words in their vocabulary. 

All right, go ahead, stretch your legs, grab some coffee and a bagel, I'll wait. This got a lot longer than I planned.

*Ahem*

I've decided…our new friends? Coolest people ever. Remind me of a lot of friends I have at home. Except my friends at home don't laugh at me when I say "fries" instead of "chips". 

Conversation snippets from the last few days:

-"Why do you call it fall? Because that's what the leaves do?"

-"Excuse me, did you drop your thong on the beach?"

-"Why do all you Americans get rid of the U in all your words? That poor U must feel awful" "Well you guys never say your R, how do you think it feels?"

-"Where did John and Amanda run off to?" …."You mean Joe and Brenna?"  "James, do you ever just stop and think before you say things?" 

-"Here's a little tip for you - in Australia, don't sit under the trees." "Why, the snakes?" "No, the drop bears. They sit in the trees and then drop down and steal all your food. They might maul you too" ….."You're such a liar"

-"Come on now, we're all mates!"

When we met them for supper, we decided on having our first legitimate Australian-type meal. Fish 'n chips. Tastes a lot like…fish sticks and french fries, although I did comment on how nice the fries, uh, chips were, because they were nice and crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. 

Where is the ketchup?"

"Ketchup? You mean tomato sauce?"

"No, ketchup"

Yeah, that's tomato sauce"

"No it's different, trust me"

We each grabbed a platter and went and ate it under a tree (no drop bears) on the beach. Ha, so one time, I bought this amazing white eyelet dress and then my travel buddies convinced me to wear it to supper, which we ended up eating on an New Zealand beach. No worries though, my butt came out smudge free. 

Seagulls are not friends, especially when you have food, but the sparrows can be quite amiable. You just have to be careful that you choose which ones to feed and be tricky about it so you don't toss a fry to a sparrow only to have him end up in the seagull's mouth. 

After dinner, a drink at a bar by the beach, watching passers-by, talking about politics, beer, and music for a good two hours. James cashed in the two beers that Kaylee and I owed him from the night before. We also took up their invitation to hang out with them at their apartment at the top of the hill, so we stopped quick at the hostel, changed into pajamas and met them outside the hostel. I love conversation, and I love doing nothing with great people. We spent the night sharing pictures from the night before, sharing a bottle of special edition champagne (I guess there were a total of 100 ever made), and listening to some classic hits from Vengaboys and Destiny's Child. Nice to know we can relate to each other via outdated pop music, if nothing else. 

I hope we see them again sometime. I promised them that if they ever made it to Minnesota, they'd have a place to stay.

As for today, Joe adequately summed up our experience into a nice little sentence:

"Guys, we just got a private tour of a secret waterfall from a guy who was in Lord Of The Rings." 

True story. Well ok, we went kayaking early this morning at the base of a bunch of snow-capped mountains. Which, by the way, happened to be the scene of Isengard. If you don't know what that is, I don't know you. Oh and we also passed by a beach that was used for the Riders of Rohan. Can a person die of satisfaction?

I can't really say anything about this experience because it was too magnificent to put into words. I'll try to post some pictures on Facebook for you to check out, but I can't describe to you the scenery and how overwhelmed I was to be kayaking in that place. 

And it's not just that. I also love that everything we're doing makes me feel so alive. Friday I had adrenaline coursing through my body as I sped over a canyon on a zipline and jumped into a small pool of water from a cliff. Saturday I exerted my legs and my lungs to the fullest extent and today…today I used my upper body to kayak beneath the mountains. Oh, and later this afternoon jumped into a frigid lake for a short swim. It's just a great feeling to be using so much of my body for such amazing things. 

Enough talking about my feelings. I apologize for the length of this blog, but every minute is the new best minute of my life and I feel obligated to share some of it. And don't worry, soon I'll be at school and my life won't be quite so extravagant, but right now I'm on vacation so leave me alone. 

Halfway through our kayak we stopped at a beach to get out and stretch our legs and have some cake and "hot orange" (I didn't question, just drank). We had a nice little episode of rock skipping, but the rocks were just asking for it. If you special ordered a million smooth, flat round rocks and dumped them all on a little beach on a private island, you couldn't have gotten better rock-skipping rocks than the ones that were on this beach, let me tell you. 

I did think I remembered being better at skipping rocks…

We finished up the 4 hour long trip and on our way out in the van, the tour guide says, 

"Hey, do you guys wanna see a waterfa…"

"YES"

I mean, why would you even ask?

We pulled over into the gravel on the side of the road and piled out of the van, then followed the man with dreads into a non-existent path in the woods, through a lot of brush and trees (a few massive boulders), and came out into this deep green clearing with moss everywhere and leaves hanging down and a sparkling WATERFALL. I know I keep saying this, but it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, STRAIGHT out of Tuck Everlasting or…(dare I say it) Lord of the Rings. Like I half expected a buff Hugh Jackman to come slowly rising out of the pool and do a slow motion Justin Bieber hair shake, right before proposing to me. 

…Nevertheless, it was an unforgettable experience. Oh did I mention that our tour guide was an extra in Lord Of the Rings, and he told us a whole buttload of great stories on the set? Oh I didn't mention that? 

O.o

(^Ross Hodapp)

So that ended, much to my dismay, and we got back, changed clothes, suncreamed ourselves up (Australian term, keep up guys) and headed to the beach for a midday nap/tan. Don't be jealous, you'll only make yourself unhappy. After that (and the invigorating lake swim as I mentioned before), we headed back to the hostel to grab our money and trot on down the road to the nearest ice cream shop, also home of the…(drum roll please…) FREE WIFI. That's right ladies and gentlemen, after days of searching we did what any logical person would have done a long time ago and asked a local where we could find free internet. And the ice cream was much needed. So that's all I have for now. I might update tomorrow, but if I don't, I'll be in a camper van for the next week, so don't look forward to hearing too much from me then. 

Love you all and miss you. Don't tell anyone but I go through definite bouts of homesickness and I would love to hear from everyone… :/

Cheerio.

Oh good grief, I almost forgot! I tried vegemite and soothed all my fears because it's delicious! A little salty, but I had seconds and thirds. I think I'm gonna manage fine here.

(Also, I forgot to put my pictures on my computer, so I'll try to do that tomorrow)

Manders

This is our canyoning group. From left to right,

Cam, James, Dave (stranger), Me, Kaylee, Christine, Brenna, Joe, Stuart, and Chris

In the super cool cave behind the super cool waterfall 

OOHH MMYY GGOOSSHH