The Countdown Begins!

So here goes, as of today:

-2 more days of school

-15 more days till my first final

-21 more days till finals are over and I leave Dunedin for Auckland

-23 more days until I leave for Fiji

AND

-28 days until I'm back in the USA

WOW. There goes my 5 months in New Zealand. I know I keep mentioning how fast time flies but honestly, I mean it. I now believe all the people that told me it would be the greatest, faster months of my life.

Last week I finished up the final assignments and papers for my classes and felt a few bricks fall off my shoulders in the process. It's probably bad to say but I'm being 100% honest: the semester is pretty much over and I feel like I barely did any schoolwork. I blame the fact that I'm used to the quarter system where they pack in a bunch of midterms and papers versus the semester where they can stretch it out more. Plus, my workload was MUCH easier than what I'm used to back home. So, way less work for the same amount of credit back home while getting to travel and experience the beautiful country of New Zealand? WIN.

This past weekend a group of my friends and I went back to Queenstown for one last celebration before we all start heading home. Some of my really close friends leave in 16-17 days! I will definitely miss a lot of people here but we're already planning reunions and visits to one another. The Dreamweaver came back for round two on this trip and bussed nine of us there. In case you forgot, this is the Dreamweaver:

It was pretty much our party bus for the weekend. We arrived in Queenstown around dinner time on Friday and got another Fergburger (The legendary burgers that are bigger than your head and the most delicious I have had in my life, see previous post about Q-town). However I was smarter this time and split it! That night we headed out and celebrated our first night back in the fabulous town. Saturday morning we woke up and drove to a small town about 20 minutes away called Arrowtown. We explored the cute town and went on a hike that overlooked a few lakes and the town as well. It was beautiful but pretty cold! Snow was beginning to fall on the upper mountains making the scenery even more spectacular. I wish I could go back to Queenstown mid July to see it covered in snow! The mountains were that much pretty when sprinkled with white snow. Saturday night we decided to splurge and treat ourselves to the one and only Mexican restaurant in Queenstown. We definitely got a kick out of the place and realized that New Zealand really knows next to nothing about Mexico. Coming from California, it was surreal thought for me. The food was pretty good, definitely not up to California standards but it worked for us. We split a litre of Sangria and laughed at the menu because the back of it had a dictionary for people who didn't know terms like: taco, burrito, enchilada, quesadilla, pollo, carne, etc. We toasted to our last night and had another great time out. Sunday we took some time to souvenir shop and headed home in the afternoon. It was definitely another fabulous weekend trip that I wanted to last forever.

Views from the drive, filming location for Lord of the Rings!

Views from our hike:

 Arrowtown looking pretty small below!

 We loved the view :)

 Phew, made it to the top! Check out that view.

 There were benches at the top where we ate lunch

Some of the menu from the Mexican restaurant that made us laugh...

This week I have my last few classes and plan to start doing a little studying for my finals. This coming weekend my flatmates and I are headed to the last place on our checklist, Wellington! I'm really looking forward to this trip since everyone says it's a great city that must be visited. Then when we return it's more studying, take some finals and head off to Fiji.

Weekend trip to the Catlins

Weelll hi everyone! I think it's been awhile since I last updated this thing. Since I returned home from my Easter break trip I've just been busy with school. I think it's unfair that study abroad students have to write papers and study for tests...haha. Today is May 16th which means I only have 45 days left in this beautiful country. I cannot believe how time flies. My friends and I are already talking about all the things we are going to miss! But with the small amount of time left here I'm trying to fit in as much as possible. Just about every weekend from now till I come home I've planned a trip to go somewhere. I don't know when I'll be able to come back and visit so I want to make sure I don't miss anything.

So this past weekend I went to an area called The Catlins, which is located on the bottom East side of the South Island. My friends and I who went decided it was basically a theme park full of natural beauty and wonders. It was amazing! We lucked out with the weather since this area is known for high rain. We saw the sun everyday and loved every minute of it. Since this place is easier to describe through pictures, I'm going to take you on a picture tour through my weekend. My friend Carla did this on her blog and I think it might be more enjoyable for you all rather than reading a novel-like blog post. So here goes!

We left early Saturday morning and made it to our first stop called Nugget Point:

 A cool poem about Nugget Bay

 View from the walk up the hill

 I loved the blue skies!

 The nuggets and the lighthouse

 There they are!

 Suzanne and I with the nuggets, photo proof we were there!

After that first breathtaking stop we got back in the car and drove a little ways to our next stop, Surat Bay. We decided to find a nice sandy spot and eat lunch. Unfortunately it wasn't the right time in the day to see any sea lions but we still loved our beachside picnic:

 Our view for lunch

 No sea lions :(

After that we headed to Slope Point, which is the most southern point of New Zealand!

 One of the lookout points on our drive

 These are the famous wind blown trees at the point

 The sheep field we had to walk across, they're so cute!

The sign explains that this is the southern most point of the South Island, pretty neat I think

Next we headed to Curio and Porpoise Bay to see more beautiful ocean and a petrified forest:

 Here's the petrified forest. It's hard to see but there were actually logs in the ground from millions of years ago!

 Pretty cool to think there once was a Jurassic forest here

 Porpoise Bay where you can see dolphins in the summer

Next stop: Mclean Falls

 View of our walk to the falls

 A tree I liked

The Mclean Falls, so pretty!

That night we headed to our hostel and made some dinner. We crowded around a tiny TV and were entertained for a few hours. We don't have a TV in our flat back home so it was strange to finally watch one after a few months. Even the commercials were interesting! Haha.

The next morning we got up early and went to see the Purakaunui Falls:

 Amazing!

 Carla and I in front of the falls

A river that flowed through the forest

Next stop: Jack's Blowhole

 Another spectacular view from the hike to the blowhole

 Carla and I being artsy

 so much green!

 the sign warns about Jack's Blowhole: 55m deep and 114m long, 68m wide

 It's hard to tell, but it was basically a giant hole in the middle of nowhere, where the ocean comes through the bottom to create a blowhole. It was actually kind of scary standing around the hole..

Me walking back down the hill, such a great view!

After that we decided to head home to Dunedin. Since we had a car for the day we went to see Tunnel Beach which was a beautiful place right in Dunedin that we had never been able to get to because we had no car. It was amazing!

We walked all the way to the point on the left

That's it for now. There's more pictures on Facebook so check them out if you can! Bye! :)