Fiji was awesome! But let’s start back with the end of New Zealand. Finals went well enough, I think I did good, I just don’t know if it was good enough…guess we’ll see when my transcript comes across. If worse comes to worse I’ll be retaking a class back at WMU. My last few days in New Zealand were a riot. A few nights out on the town and a bit of ultimate Frisbee, but those days passed far too quickly. The last night I hadn’t planned on drinking so I could be feeling good to travel in the morning and to feel good when I got to Fiji. Well those plans pretty quickly got thrown out the window. I ended up going out and having an absolute blast. It was definitely one of my top night during my semester. The end of the night was a bit hazy but I’m pretty darn sure I saw the sun starting to come up when I was walking back. The next day I was woken up still a bit under the influence, said a few goodbyes and lugged my heavy ass bags to the bus stop. Upon arriving at the airport and checking in I quickly passed out and took one of three naps of the day. Luckily enough I woke up to board my plane to Auckland which I quickly feel asleep on again. After waking up and transferring to my international flight I quickly passed out open mouthed, seat in the upright position and probably snoring up a storm. I woke up hung over and feeling absolutely terrible. It didn't help that when i stepped off the plane i was hit by a wave of pure heat and humidity, causing me to sweat and become further dehydrated. I made it through the line and even after waiting for my shuttle for a good 15 minutes made it to my resort, where i met up with a friend. The resort was absolutely gorgeous right on the beach, which was awesome, but also had a shady pool that had cooler water when you needed to get out of the heat, since the ocean water didn't really offer any relief. The first day i applied suntan lotion a bit unevenly and ended up with a messed up tan I'm still sporting today, haha. The local Fijians, if that's what they're called, were a bit shady so i spent most of my time at the resort, shoot and darn, but the country was really pretty. I also was able to ride my first horse, it was awesome we took them up the beach, i dug it. I mean that's basically fiji, sat around read a fair amount, got a sweet tan and had a few drinks, one which most certainly had a little umbrella in it :D
Leaving was soooo hard but i tried my best to keep a positive attitude about coming home to my family and all my great friends. My flight from Fiji was incredible, i flew united in by far the most comfortable economy seat I've ever been in. The seat had a outfolding footrest that extended for the length of your feet and the seat reclined back almost to horizontal which was perfectly fine with the people behind you cause they were like 10 feet away from you. It was truly incredible!My flight from la to detroit was pretty uneventful, i sat next to a guy who just spent two weeks in new zealand fishing, coincidentally, so it was cool to talk to him about his trip and what i saw and all that. when i got to the airport i was so damn impatient i almost yelled at the guy sitting next to me to get up and move so i could go see my mommy! But nope he took forever. But no worries i got to my mom and to my surprise my brother eventually.It was great i was so happy to see them!
Here are the links to all my recent adventures:
Abel Tasman
Fiordland
FIJI
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
8 days and i'll be home, 10 and i'll be in Kalamazoo
Hey everyone!
Well it's official I'm done with my classes and finals!
I finished yesterday afternoon, and i'm certainly feeling relieved. This was probably my worst semester as far as grades go since being in college, luckily my grades don't transfer except for one class and I think that may be pretty darn close to an A anyways so no worries.
To back track a bit i went on an absolutely awesome trip to fiordland to do some hiking a few days ago. It was quite the trip. It got delayed a few days to start, but then we ended up leaving christchurch late on the day we were finally supposed to go too. We left the ChCh at around 6 pm and didn't get to fiordland til something like 5am we started hiking immediately on something like 2 hours of sleep. It was exhausting, and snow covered. The weather was nuts the entire time we were there. After a five hour healthy track covered in snow we broke the tree line where we saw just how crazy the weather was. The winds were terrible and we were completely grayed out in every direction we looked, you couldn't see anything and we ended up hiking in snow that drifter in spots to the point where if you stepped off in the wrong spot you ended up close to up to your waste in snow. When we made it to the hut we were staying in we found the rest of the track had been closed off due to the poor weather conditions, so it looked like we were stuck. The hut was a bit of a better experience than the last rat infested one but the room we stayed in was quite a bit colder.The snow we tracked in didn't melt if that tells you anything. The next day after one of the coldest but most refreshing sleeps we talked with the hut manager who said they weren't sure if they would open the rest of the track or not, so instead of worrying about it we headed over to some awesome caves where we spent three hours spelunking. The caves were amazing and we had an absolute blast. We were also finally able to see out on the lake and see the surrounding area which was absolutely dazzling, one of the most beautiful places I've been in New Zealand. The next day we simply hiked back the way we came took a quick bath in the freezing lake then headed to queenstown for a bit of a side trip. From there i drove us home the 8 more hours we had to go then passed out at 3am in my own bed.
The next day i studied for the entirety followed by the next day of two finals, and a few beers before bed. And now it's today!
I've already had to say goodbye to two of my friends...it's pretty tough, i hoped it wouldn't but i can't say i didn't see it coming. Luckily I'm one of the first people to go so i wont have to watch everyone else take off, whew. I leave november 14th from here which is just three short days from now, then head to Fiji which i leave the night of the 17th and i'll be home just 2 hours later november 18th at 12:30 am (that is with all the time changes etc.) So yeah that's the story now. I'll update everyone with Fiji and do a final wrap up write I'm sure, plus i'll post links to all my pictures from recent adventures.
Cheers
Well it's official I'm done with my classes and finals!
I finished yesterday afternoon, and i'm certainly feeling relieved. This was probably my worst semester as far as grades go since being in college, luckily my grades don't transfer except for one class and I think that may be pretty darn close to an A anyways so no worries.
To back track a bit i went on an absolutely awesome trip to fiordland to do some hiking a few days ago. It was quite the trip. It got delayed a few days to start, but then we ended up leaving christchurch late on the day we were finally supposed to go too. We left the ChCh at around 6 pm and didn't get to fiordland til something like 5am we started hiking immediately on something like 2 hours of sleep. It was exhausting, and snow covered. The weather was nuts the entire time we were there. After a five hour healthy track covered in snow we broke the tree line where we saw just how crazy the weather was. The winds were terrible and we were completely grayed out in every direction we looked, you couldn't see anything and we ended up hiking in snow that drifter in spots to the point where if you stepped off in the wrong spot you ended up close to up to your waste in snow. When we made it to the hut we were staying in we found the rest of the track had been closed off due to the poor weather conditions, so it looked like we were stuck. The hut was a bit of a better experience than the last rat infested one but the room we stayed in was quite a bit colder.The snow we tracked in didn't melt if that tells you anything. The next day after one of the coldest but most refreshing sleeps we talked with the hut manager who said they weren't sure if they would open the rest of the track or not, so instead of worrying about it we headed over to some awesome caves where we spent three hours spelunking. The caves were amazing and we had an absolute blast. We were also finally able to see out on the lake and see the surrounding area which was absolutely dazzling, one of the most beautiful places I've been in New Zealand. The next day we simply hiked back the way we came took a quick bath in the freezing lake then headed to queenstown for a bit of a side trip. From there i drove us home the 8 more hours we had to go then passed out at 3am in my own bed.
The next day i studied for the entirety followed by the next day of two finals, and a few beers before bed. And now it's today!
I've already had to say goodbye to two of my friends...it's pretty tough, i hoped it wouldn't but i can't say i didn't see it coming. Luckily I'm one of the first people to go so i wont have to watch everyone else take off, whew. I leave november 14th from here which is just three short days from now, then head to Fiji which i leave the night of the 17th and i'll be home just 2 hours later november 18th at 12:30 am (that is with all the time changes etc.) So yeah that's the story now. I'll update everyone with Fiji and do a final wrap up write I'm sure, plus i'll post links to all my pictures from recent adventures.
Cheers
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