Chelsea's Semester in New Zealand: Back From Break!

Hello!

I just got back from my two week trip to the South Island. It was amazing! There were five of us that road-tripped all the way from the northern tip of the island down the west coast to the southernmost tip, and then back up the east coast. We camped outside every night except 2 and got to wake up to some of the most beautiful scenery in New Zealand.

We took the ferry from Wellington to Picton on the South Island. It was a three hour trip but we were all so excited and the view from the boat was so beautiful that it seemed really quick. Once we got to Picton we picked up our rental car and began our road trip. We did a lot of driving every day but we got to stop and see some amazing things and had a lot of fun. Some of the things we saw were the Golden Beaches of Abel Tasman, seal colonies at Cape Foulwind, the Pancake rocks in Punakaiki at sunset, Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, Milford Sound (which is technically a fjord), and the Moeraki boulders at sunrise. Besides sight-seeing, we also did a lot. We cliffjumped at the Pelorus River on the way to Nelson, kayaked and did a day hike in Abel Tasman, did the third tallest bungy in the world in Queenstown, and coasted down the steepest street in the world in Dunedin (Baldwin St., 19 degrees), which was actually kind of fun. It was a great trip and we're all still talking to each other despite the 5 of us being crammed into a 5 seat station wagon with all of our stuff for 14 days.

The North Island is a great place to live and go to school, but I think the South Island had the best scenery in New Zealand. It's hard to choose, but I think my favorite view was the one in Cape Foulwind. Although we were drawn there for the seal colonies, I was more interested in the massive waves crashing against huge, jagged rocks. It was really entertaining to just sit there and watch the waves. I felt bad for the baby seals learning to swim in that water though. We also got to watch the sunset at the Pancake Rocks which were also amazing. Unfortunately my camera was dead the day we went to both the seal colony and Pancake Rocks! I'm going to make sure I get pictures from everyone else though. Milford Sound was great too...There's too much to choose from, I loved all of it! I'm going to try and convince everyone I know to make a trip.

Now that I'm back in Wellington I'm back to studying. School sucks anywhere. I can't wait for my finals to be over so I can travel around some more. A bunch of us realized the other day that we only have 2 and a half months left here. I'm going to be sad to leave but I'm also really excited to come home for summer. It got pretty cold sleeping in the tents some of the nights, and it's definitely fall here in Wellington. The day we got back it was pouring rain and the weather is getting cooler and windier. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone this summer in Alaska!

Road Trip