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Traveling! Our journey commenced Wednesday in Houston, and ending Friday in Queenstown, almost 35 hours later. However, there were several interesting happenings along the way. First thing, babies should not be allowed aboard trans-pacific flights. This comes in response to only sleeping for 4 hours on a 14-hour flight due to the seemingly perpetual crying and sobbing that this formidable baby had echoed for the ENTIRE flight. It got to the point where the Qantas flight attendants had to bring us earplugs to attempt to drown out the noise… Yikes! Needless to say landing in Auckland was a welcomed relief for the entire group; we all seemed to have unfavorable opinions of that baby to put nicely! Upon arriving in Auckland we headed through customs and immigration, which are extremely stringent in New Zealand to keep it’s pristine nature intact. From there we headed to our next flight on Qantas’ partner, Jet Star. So this ended up being the low point of the trip thus far. With this being a student expedition flights are booked in bulk, which usually means you’re in the back of the bus. Unbenounced to me this also entails that you don’t have a window, which is not the most favorable situation to be in while flying over the famed Southern Alps! Luckily the flight attendants were unbelievably friendly… Not! Haha I don’t know what was going on with those women, but they seemed to have something against the world! My fellow sufferers in Row 30, Brianna and Carson, were also turned into nemesis against these wonderful ladies. As we craned and contorted our bodies into seemingly unthinkable positions in a futile attempt to see the amazing scenery everywhere around us, the pleasant Jet Star flight attendants rebuked us for “not having our seatbelts done up tight”. Finally when we reached our destination I disembarked the plane to see one of the most fantastically amazing landscapes I have ever witnessed. Imagine mountains that seem to explode from the ground in every direction, combined with luscious greenery to create an unbelievable seen of pure majesty. I really can’t even describe what the landscape is like here… I don’t think I ever want to leave! After another 2-hour bus ride, driven by our beasto-driver Carl, we arrived at our final destination, the small town of Te Anau, New Zealand, a welcomed sight after 35 hours of traveling! Going back to Carl, he’s freaking awesome. Carl is like 65 years old, extremely healthy looking, with long gray hair tied back onto a ponytail under his Crocodile Dundie-esk hat, with a killer mustache that should receive some kind of recognition for just pure awesomeness. After we unpacked, and showered (ahhh thank god), we headed out to dinner at, ironically, a Texas themed restaurant named The Ranch. While there I ordered some surprisingly good calamari, while most of the group ordered cheeseburgers, which apparently tasted like meatloaf (must be a kiwi thing). Needless to say everyone got much happier when we weren’t starving. Following this we packed up and headed to bed, which was probably one of the most amazing feelings I’ve ever had after 35 hours of traveling, and only 4 hours of sleep thanks to demonbaby.

DAY 1 MILFORD SOUND

WOW! I’m truly going to struggle encompassing today in words. Milford Sound was the most amazing, magical destination I have ever been to. Words cannot adequately depict the raw, unadulterated beauty throughout this area. I’ll try to start from the beginning. We arose from our long awaited slumber at 6 am (woof) and got ready to begin our travels. We had a breakfast of bananas and cereal (Mom guess what?! They have that Nutri-Grain cereal here that I was obsessed with in Australia that you can’t buy in the States! No worries I’ve already bought a box to bring home). We then headed out at about 7:20 well before sunrise for another 2-hour bus ride to Milford Sound. We were all somewhat skeptical of the weather because it was extremely cloudy and fogging when we departed. We winded our way through the New Zealand countryside and finally arrived at Milford Sound. When I walked through the lobby of the visitor’s center and gazed out upon the scenery I literally almost fell over, it was absolutely amazing. I can’t describe it to you, I really can’t. I don’t even think my pictures can do due justice to the majesty surrounding us. I got some good shots from the dock and then headed our aboard our boat to see the rest of the Sound. The next two hours seem like a blur to me, but I’ll try to point out the highlights! One of the most memorable sights for me was the dolphins. A pod of about 10 dolphins swam along with our boat for 5 or 10 minutes, absolutely amazing. I was on the bow of the boat, and directly underneath me were these absolutely massive dolphins, I can’t describe it. I really can’t. Another amazing feature was the waterfalls. I have NEVER seen so many waterfalls, like literally it you were to throw a stick in the air here in New Zealand there’s a 99% chance that it’s either going to hit a sheep or land in a waterfall, it’s unbelievable! I’m really struggling to find words to describe Milford Sound, but hey I’ve got lots and lots of pictures! After finishing our tour we headed back to Te Anau, but with a few scenic stops along the way. Upon arriving in Te Anau, we all started grumbling about not having eaten lunch, and that we hadn’t eaten for nearly 11 hours. I was STARVING. Gummy bears can only hold you over for so long.. We finally headed out and made a stop at an ATM where I picked up $40 in New Zealand currency, which is really cool looking to say the least. Then we went to an Italian kinda restaurant with pizza and pasta and such. I ate so much that I thought I might explode, and then I was still hungry. Hahaha! But after that we all went to the grocery store and I got some goodies for myself. Thank Goodness!

DAY 2 TE ANAU

So today was a much more chill day, we didn’t do too much. Most of the morning was spent hammering out stuff for our pictures and organizing them too. After that we headed out to town and went to lunch at a little café like thing where I ate Asian Stir Fry (please note the differentiation between lunch in New Zealand juxtaposed with that of Africa). Following lunch we went on a hike on a mile long trial that culminated at a bird sanctuary. At the sanctuary we saw tons and tons of native New Zealander birds, but unfortunately we have yet to see a kiwi! I have lots of pictures of the menagerie of ducks and other assortments of birdies, including Canada Geese! I was shocked to see those hanging out in New Zealand! After the mini hike we headed out to see a movie about New Zealand, it was probably the most amazing 32 minutes of my life. To see the diversity and majesty of the landscape was truly fantastic. After the movie we went to dinner, where I had a lamb roast and then snacked on other people’s left overs, such as filot minon and an assortment of breakfast items (again note the difference between New Zealand and Africa). After dinner we headed back to our Lodge and sorted through pictures before heading to bed.

DAY 3 LEAVING TE ANAU, SHEEP FARM, QUEENSTOWN

Today as of now has been pretty legit! We woke up around 7 to finish packing our gear to head out from Te Anau to Queenstown. Miles and I both helped Carl to pack up the bags into the trailer behind the bus. Then we headed out for the Sheep Farm in Cattle Flats. It was a truly great trip! I learned a lot about how sheeping works, as well as the complexities of sheering sheep from the farmer himself, Andy. I got to hold a sheep after it was sheered and was absolutely shocked to feel how warm it was. While there I grabbed some artsy shots of Sarah, Kelsey, Brianna, and of course Lauren. One thing that’s really awesome about this trip is that we’ve all bonded really really really well considering it’s only day 3, we’ve already devised several reunions and refer to ourselves as a family! It’s a lot of fun. Today I was bus buddies with Brianna, we’re legit. Which reminds me… while she was holding the sheep I went in for a close up of her, and the sheep kicked at me and was like literally half an inch from kicking me in the face, it was a little too close for me! Apparently I made Gemina’s heart stop at that moment. Haha I also made her heart stop at the playground in a small town we stopped in. Miles and I were on a see-saw and he like pushed down really hard and I like went FLYINGGG I have no idea how a held on and controlled my fall but It was probably pretty cool looking! After that headed out to Queenstown, with a few a stops along the way of course! Right now I’m laying in bed typing as fast as possible trying to get this all done before we head out to check out Queenstown! Tomorrow we leave Queenstown to go to ___________ (I really have no idea where we’re going but it’s probably absolutely amazing).