Well, I have officially left Australia. Sorry I didn't get a chance to add pictures or write one last post before leaving - like the rest of my Australian adventure, my last few days were incredibly busy.
I'm posting now from a hostel in New Zealand right by the Franz Joseph Glacier. I'm not sure if I really mentioned it before, but Becca and I had decided to rent a car and spend a few weeks traveling around the south island of New Zealand. Tomorrow, we're spending the day hiking on Fox Glacier, just a short drive down the road.
As I said, my last few days in Sydney were incredibly busy, filled mostly with running errands, packing and saying goodbyes. Thursday (19th) I spent the day in the city running errands and again visiting some of my favorite spots. I did a little shopping, determined to come home with some fun Australian clothes. In the evening, I hung out with Becca and hammered out an itinerary for our New Zealand adventure.
Friday, Becca and I were up early to take pictures with the Opera House and the bridge. We figured that we couldn't study in Sydney for a semester without having at least one good picture of us and the Opera House. Afterwards, I still had some more errands to run and business to wrap up. The day wrapped up with a nighttime walk around the Quay.
Saturday was spent packing which took MUCH longer than I anticipated. I figured that since I would need to take everything home, there would be no thought involved - just throwing everything into my bags. Coming to New Zealand added a challenge because I had to pack a bag for New Zealand within everything else. I also had to go through the ridiculous amount of paper and junk I accumulated and decide what was worth keeping.
The New Zealand trip wasn't (and still isn't) completely planned, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure that out. A tip for anyone starting the study abroad experience: try to get packing/wrapping up done as far as advance as possible ... you'll want to do something exciting on your last day!
The goodbyes that evening were tough, but not quite as tough as I imagined - probably because the whole leaving thing didn't (and still doesn't) seem real.
Becca and I were up and at the airport at some unreasonable hour. I was reminded how large and cumbersome my bags are, though they were easier to deal with than when I came to Australia. I was nervous about being over the weight limits since I hadn't been able to weigh my bags before coming to the airport. Fortunately, I was just under - one bag was 31.5 kg and the limit is 32 kg ... I was impressed.
Our flight to Christchurch was delayed due to the plane's late arrival and then due to mechanical issues, so we arrived later than we had planned. There were some hiccups to our plans in Christchurch, so we weren't able to get out of the city until after dark. We made the two-ish-hour drive to Arthur's Pass in rainy darkness and didn't get there until late.
This morning we awoke in a misty mountain wonderland and went on a walk to the Devil's Punchbowl waterfall. The forests were moist and bright green and there were mountains all around us. The landscape reminded me a lot of south east Alaska. Next it was time for me to take my first turn driving as we headed to the town of Hokitika.
Now, I was very worried about driving on the other side of the road, but really, there was nothing to worry about. You just think "left" and everything is ok. The only thing that did give me some trouble was the position of the windshield wiper lever and the turning signal lever - they were on opposite sides of the steering wheel compared to what I'm used to. Every time I wanted to turn, the windshield wipers would go on.
Before long, we were at the west coast of the island and made a stop to check out the beach. There was a field of caribou (we think) penned up that kept watching us as we walked around. The countryside is dripping with farm animals, mostly sheep and cows. After a quick stroll around Hokitika, we jetted down to Franz Josef, making several stops at lakes, pretty views, and random "largest ball of twine"-esque attractions. I really enjoy having the freedom to stop and enjoy a view or follow signs and see where they lead.
So far we haven't run into any snow (don't forget that it's winter in the southern hemisphere!) but that might change, as we keep hearing that the weather is going to be turning colder in the next few days. We'll obviously get to have some fun with the white stuff tomorrow on our glacier hike. We also plan on going skiing in Queenstown in a few days, but we keep hearing that they are having problems not getting enough snow and it being too warm. We'll see how it goes!
