Hello all! Sorry this post is so late, I’ve had a lot of assignments due this week. This post may be a bit shorter than normal (I may or may not be procrastinating on my remaining work for this week while I’m writing this…).
Honestly, there wasn’t much that was too exciting happening during the week. We had our third swing dancing session, which as usual was a good time. I spent a lot of time with my group mates working on the robot, and we made some really good progress. Also, the flowers next door were blooming and smelled amazing… It’s the little things.
Thursday evening, I attended the vigil for the lives lost in the mass shooting at Christchurch. They were saying 18,000 showed up for this event. It was pretty long, but well worth going to; glad I got to show support. Below is a video of everyone closing out the ceremony with the New Zealand national anthem. Heads up, the first verse is in Maori.
Lyrics:
E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa
God of Nations at Thy feet,
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our free land.
Guard Pacific’s triple star
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand.
Men of every creed and race,
Gather here before Thy face,
Asking Thee to bless this place,
God defend our free land.
From dissension, envy, hate,
And corruption guard our state,
Make our country good and great,
God defend New Zealand.
May God defend New Zealand.
Friday the four of us (Jessica, Megan, Margaret, and myself) packed up and went to Wanaka for the weekend! It’s only about a half hour away from Queenstown, so we saw a lot of the same scenery on the way there. Still beautiful!
After we got there, we checked in our hostel, then went to a burger place for dinner. First time ever having a chicken burger! It was real good: bacon and pineapple and cheese, mhmmhmm…
Afterwards we went and sat by the lake for a while until the sun set… so pretty.
Of course we stopped for ice cream in there too!
Next stop: the Mint Bar, underneath our hostel.
It just so happened to be karaoke night. And your girl had never done karaoke before. So therefore…
Yes I have videos. No I’m not going to share them here. Nice try.
I will tell you that “Dancing Queen” may have been on the stage here. And “Shadows of the Night” may have been on later.
And of course these were involved. How else would anybody have the guts to do karaoke? (Just kidding!)
We had a great time if you can’t tell. We didn’t stay out too late, though, because we had to be up early the next morning. At 1:30 am, we were kind of regretting the proximity of the bar (remember karaoke?). Oh well!
The next day was one of the most difficult but rewarding days I’ve had in a long while. Our mission? Tackle Roy’s Peak.
And we did! Took a little under three hours for Margaret and I to reach the summit, and Megan and Jessica not too much longer. Several days later, I think I’m still recovering… But it was SO worth it. These are probably my favorite views I’ve gotten since coming to New Zealand!
From a practical standpoint, it was also good because we got to practice for our backpacking trip coming up and work out some of the kinks early. Definitely going to bring more water and Moleskin and have my boots more broken in!
Oh yeah, and here’s the stats from the hike, courtesy of Margaret… Dang!
The hike took up most of the day and left us wiped. After rehydrating some, we went for a quick dip in the lake, walked around downtown visiting some gift stores, and then ended up eating a picnic dinner by lake. Spotted this old beaut, which I thought was pretty cool!
I crashed pretty early that evening… No loud bar music was going to keep me up that night!
The next morning, it was up early again, this time to see the Wanaka tree!
This tree is one of the most famous trees in the world. Rumor has it, it grew out of a fence post over a hundred years ago. I don’t know if that’s even possible, but it’s so magical I won’t question it.
Afterwards we came and got breakfast (or second breakfast!) here. You guys, I think I discovered my new favorite breakfast place, maybe ever…
Crepes filled with lemon curd… Sign me up! And in such an adorable place! They were right next door to our hostel, and I had been drooling over them since we arrived, so I was very satisfied.
Sadly, we had to get the rental car back, so we packed up and headed out not too long afterwards. I had so much fun this weekend with these amazing ladies; honestly, it really competed with the time I had at Queenstown! I’m so excited to be heading off to (sneak preview) Wellington with them real soon! Until then!
Ray of Sunshine Travel 