i'm home! got home thursday night. My flights were good... had an empty seat next to me on all of them so I could stretch out & sleep. plane got delayed an hour or two in San Fransico but not a big deal.
it's nice being home; easier than i thought it would be. it's not weird at all really, almost like i haven't left which is nice in a way. and it's nice that everyone's interested in all of my stories. even the car inspection man wanted to know about australia when i told him why the car was over due inspection.
the weirdest thing about being home is that it gets dark at 4:30. In New Zealand it didn't get dark until 9:30 at night. Also, I keep using the wiper instead of the blinker in the car.
Thanks everyone for reading the blog while i was away!! it was really nice to know I had so many people who cared and followed along. Hopefully I can travel again soon and update everyone about that!
<3<3<3Niki
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
weird!!
Ah!!! It's so weird to be going back to Australia tomorrow and even weirder to be going to the US in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We handed in our van today. It was sad but today has been a good last day for the 4 of us. We're back in Christchurch to fly out tomorrow. Hopefully I can get an earlier flight otherwise I'll have to be in the airport for 8 hours by myself, but oh well... my ipod's charged.
Today was so weird because Steph said "want to go to NYC Sunday?"... and I realised I'll be home before THIS WEEKEND. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today was so weird because Steph said "want to go to NYC Sunday?"... and I realised I'll be home before THIS WEEKEND. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
South Island
Happy december!! Happy thanksgiving too! We cooked turkey day dinner in a hostel kitchen. it was fun, but SO weird not having american football on... or any tv for that matter. we played cards & had apple crumble pie after. That was in Christchurch. I loved Christchurch. Really nice city. Then we went to Mt. Cook & then Dunedin (Cadbury Factory, Cheese factory & good fun). Today we arrived in Queenstown. Went Jetboating and tomorrow we're going bungy jumping on the 3rd highest jump in the world. It's called the Nevis jump. 135 meters or something like that. (400 something feet.)
I can't believe I'll be home so soon!!! We listened to Christmas music yesterday in the van cause it was the 1st of December.
I can't believe I'll be home so soon!!! We listened to Christmas music yesterday in the van cause it was the 1st of December.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
7 days in NZ
we've been in NZ for 7 days. it's beautiful here. we did zorbing (rolling down a hill in a huge plastic ball that has water in it), sky diving which wasnt as cool as i thought it'd be but i'm glad i did it, walks & hikes (i did a 7 or so hour one yesterday & my legs HURT), geothermal pools, tons of sight seeing. we're crossing from north to south island tonight at 3am with our van. pretty crazy idea to spend 3 weeks with 4 girls in one mini van. the back converts to a bed and then there's this white contraption on top of the van that rolls up and becomes a bed/sleeper thing. there's not really enough room for everything but we've figured out a system and it's our home. we're having fun but looking forward to Christchurch which is on the 25th or somewhere around there (we're spending Thanksgiving there) because Sarah & Lucy are staying with Sarah's friend and Nish & I are going to stay in a hostel for at least 1 or 2 of the nights. Space! we're really having fun though and seeing amazing things. i'm glad i came but i'll also be glad to leave. i miss australia and i miss home but i'm not looking forward to going back to australia for a day and definitely not looking forward to going on 15 + 6 hour flights to get back home. oh well...
we bought advent calendars today. they were only $3 for the chocolate kind... i feel like they're so much more expensive at home and NZ dollars are pretty much half US dollars. it's weird being away from home during holiday season. it's even weirder being in the southern hemisphere because it's summer (although NZ is pretty cold compared to Australia) and there's been Christmas decorations everywhere for weeks. There were candy canes in the super markets before halloween even happened. makes sense though cause they dont really celebrate halloween and don't celebrate thanksgiving. (i dont know if i wrote this here already.)
anyway, i just feel like rambling. i'm in a weird mood about leaving and home and other stuff but i think it's just cause i'm really tired right now.
we bought advent calendars today. they were only $3 for the chocolate kind... i feel like they're so much more expensive at home and NZ dollars are pretty much half US dollars. it's weird being away from home during holiday season. it's even weirder being in the southern hemisphere because it's summer (although NZ is pretty cold compared to Australia) and there's been Christmas decorations everywhere for weeks. There were candy canes in the super markets before halloween even happened. makes sense though cause they dont really celebrate halloween and don't celebrate thanksgiving. (i dont know if i wrote this here already.)
anyway, i just feel like rambling. i'm in a weird mood about leaving and home and other stuff but i think it's just cause i'm really tired right now.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
SAD!
Tomorrow's New Zealand. We're doing the north island the first week and then the south island for the last 2 and a half weeks. we're renting a 4 person camper van which is going to be interesting but good. it's going to be a really amazing trip but i can't even be excited about it right now because i have to say good bye to everyone. :( hopefully i can update every once in a while but if not i'll be home December 11th!!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
So long!
Sorry it's been so long! I've had very few non-traveling days and those days have just been sleeping and hanging out with everyone before I say goodbye (sad!!).
I just got back from Alice Springs today. It was amazing!!! Sarah and I flew in Thursday, stayed the night at Alice Springs, got up at 6 am for our tour, rode camels, saw King's Canyon which was amazing, but it was POURING (crazy in the desert!!) so we didn't get to take many pictures of that. Camped in swags that night. Swags are these roll up mats that zip up and have a head flap to cover you in the cold desert nights. Basically like a cocoon. Got up at 6 Saturday to go to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) which is a cool rock formation. We hiked that and then went to Uluru (Ayer's Rock) and watched the sun set. It was amazing. We camped again that night but slept on a sand dune so we could see the amazing stars that weren't blocked by any city lights. So beautiful. Then we woke up at 4:30 to see the sunrise on Uluru. The rock was HUGE. so much more impressive than i ever thought it could be. We couldn't climb it because most of the time it's closed because it's really dangerous and it's also offensive to the Aboriginal tribe there. It's probable that I wouldnt have climbed it anyway because of culture stuff, but luckily i didnt have to make the decision. We walked around Uluru though. It took about 2 hours to get around all of it. After that we went back to Alice Springs and spent 2 more nights there just hanging out with people we met on the tour (fun people!) and sleeping by the hostel pool.
Before Alice Springs was my trip to Tasmania and before that was my road trip around Brisbane/Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast.
The road trip was Oct 21-28th. It was my friends Sarah, Chris and I living in a "Wicked Campervan" which is a painted van that has 3 seats in the front, drawers & a table that turns into a bed, and in the back is a tiny sink/kitchen. It was a really good week. The three of us got along really well. Much better than i thought we would. The first day we stayed at my friend's apartment who goes to school in Brisbane. The second day we picked up the van after hanging out in a park in the morning. Drove down to Nimbin which is this crazy hippie town and then Byron Bay which is a cool beach town. We tried to get a camp site but got there too late at night so a cop knocked on the van that morning. We hung out at the beach that day and then went up and saw the light house. Walked out to the most easterly point in Australia. That night we camped at a site, made fajitas. The next day we drove up to Tweed's Head & Surfer's Paradise which are on the Gold Coast. The Indy 300 was goin on in Surfer's Paradise so it was SO crowded, not even any place to park in the city. We drove a long time that day looking for a place to stay and ended up staying at another camp site. On the way to going out that night we found this really cool play ground that had these crazy contraptions that are more fun for adults than for children, really high sea-saw like things that bounced and spun around. The next day we drove up to Brisbane and parked next to a golf course where we slept for the last three nights. One day we went up to Caloundra on the sunshine coast and spent hours body surfing, the next day we went to the XXXX brewery which was a really cool tour, very interactive and then we got free beer after. Then we went to an art museum and drove around the city trying to find a pizza hut (which we finally did). The last day we hung out in the park and played cards & ate lunch before dropping off the van and taking the bus & train back to the airport. You would think that 2 girls and a guy in a van for a week spending every minute together would be disastrous, but it was actually a really really good trip.
Tasmania was SO beautiful. We hiked up Cradle Mountain. So indescribably beautiful. It was a 7 hour hike up steep rocks. We were actually climbing boulders. Everyone's legs hurt so much the next day but it was SO worth it. It was really nice to see the people studying through Arcadia who i met at orientation but haven't seen since then.
I'll post pictures. Have to go get ready for going out tonight!!
I just got back from Alice Springs today. It was amazing!!! Sarah and I flew in Thursday, stayed the night at Alice Springs, got up at 6 am for our tour, rode camels, saw King's Canyon which was amazing, but it was POURING (crazy in the desert!!) so we didn't get to take many pictures of that. Camped in swags that night. Swags are these roll up mats that zip up and have a head flap to cover you in the cold desert nights. Basically like a cocoon. Got up at 6 Saturday to go to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) which is a cool rock formation. We hiked that and then went to Uluru (Ayer's Rock) and watched the sun set. It was amazing. We camped again that night but slept on a sand dune so we could see the amazing stars that weren't blocked by any city lights. So beautiful. Then we woke up at 4:30 to see the sunrise on Uluru. The rock was HUGE. so much more impressive than i ever thought it could be. We couldn't climb it because most of the time it's closed because it's really dangerous and it's also offensive to the Aboriginal tribe there. It's probable that I wouldnt have climbed it anyway because of culture stuff, but luckily i didnt have to make the decision. We walked around Uluru though. It took about 2 hours to get around all of it. After that we went back to Alice Springs and spent 2 more nights there just hanging out with people we met on the tour (fun people!) and sleeping by the hostel pool.
Before Alice Springs was my trip to Tasmania and before that was my road trip around Brisbane/Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast.
The road trip was Oct 21-28th. It was my friends Sarah, Chris and I living in a "Wicked Campervan" which is a painted van that has 3 seats in the front, drawers & a table that turns into a bed, and in the back is a tiny sink/kitchen. It was a really good week. The three of us got along really well. Much better than i thought we would. The first day we stayed at my friend's apartment who goes to school in Brisbane. The second day we picked up the van after hanging out in a park in the morning. Drove down to Nimbin which is this crazy hippie town and then Byron Bay which is a cool beach town. We tried to get a camp site but got there too late at night so a cop knocked on the van that morning. We hung out at the beach that day and then went up and saw the light house. Walked out to the most easterly point in Australia. That night we camped at a site, made fajitas. The next day we drove up to Tweed's Head & Surfer's Paradise which are on the Gold Coast. The Indy 300 was goin on in Surfer's Paradise so it was SO crowded, not even any place to park in the city. We drove a long time that day looking for a place to stay and ended up staying at another camp site. On the way to going out that night we found this really cool play ground that had these crazy contraptions that are more fun for adults than for children, really high sea-saw like things that bounced and spun around. The next day we drove up to Brisbane and parked next to a golf course where we slept for the last three nights. One day we went up to Caloundra on the sunshine coast and spent hours body surfing, the next day we went to the XXXX brewery which was a really cool tour, very interactive and then we got free beer after. Then we went to an art museum and drove around the city trying to find a pizza hut (which we finally did). The last day we hung out in the park and played cards & ate lunch before dropping off the van and taking the bus & train back to the airport. You would think that 2 girls and a guy in a van for a week spending every minute together would be disastrous, but it was actually a really really good trip.
Tasmania was SO beautiful. We hiked up Cradle Mountain. So indescribably beautiful. It was a 7 hour hike up steep rocks. We were actually climbing boulders. Everyone's legs hurt so much the next day but it was SO worth it. It was really nice to see the people studying through Arcadia who i met at orientation but haven't seen since then.
I'll post pictures. Have to go get ready for going out tonight!!
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