The Journey Begins!

Monday Jan. 30, 2012

Today we left for our amazing adventure to the South Island! You have no idea how excited I am to take a break in the middle of the semester. I think that everyone should do this! The taxi came and picked us up at our house at 5 am! That is so stinking early. No one in their right mind should be up that early. We loaded into the van with 5 other girls and our backpacks packed as tightly as possible (that is all we get to take on this trip 1 backpack filled with 10 days worth of clothes, shoes and everything else we need). We got to the airport about 2 hours before we needed to. That was okay though because security was the easiest thing ever to get through. We didn’t have to take our shoes off or pull out our liquids! We seriously just walked right through! Now, why can’t the US do that?! 

We got on our plane and took off for beautiful Queenstown. I had no idea what to expect while we were there, but let me tell you it is beautiful. We landed in this adorable little airport, got our three vans and loaded up. We drove right to the middle of the city and found the place we were staying, X Base, a hostel! Yep, that’s right! I got to stay in a hostel. Because we got there early we couldn’t check in yet, so we unloaded our stuff and stored in the bar right below the hostel! We then got to walk around Queenstown a little bit. It reminds me of a mix between Park City, Utah and Jackson Hole Wyoming. It is so BEAUTIFUL! There are so many souvenir shops and I can’t wait to go through them all and find what I want to buy. 

After we walked around we loaded the vans and headed to the Shotover Jet! Coolest thing EVER! Basically you get in this boat that goes crazy fast through the canyon. You come super close to hitting a bunch of rocks and do awesome 360’s! Just watch the video and you will understand! It is GREAT! 

After we got done with that we drove a short distance to Arrowtown. This is a cute little mining town that had a ton of different shops. I didn’t go to very many because I was too busy looking for the Lord of the Rings site that was there! Yep that is right! The Lord of the Rings! It was at the part in the first movie where Arwen is riding to save Frodo! Look at the video and then look at my pics! Legit right! 

Can you see the resemblance from the Video? 

Best Candy Store EVER! Their Irish Creme Fudge and Green Apple Bon Bons were so Good! 

After that adventure we came back and checked into the hostel and took a nap. We were exhausted and ready for a break! We all took a nap and then headed out to eat Chinese Food! It was either really really good or I was really hungry, or maybe both! 

We got back from Chinese food and a bunch of us decided to go down to the bar and go dancing. Okay now don’t get the wrong idea. You know us, a bunch of BYU girls! We just wanted to have that culture shock! It was fun! We all stuck together and hung out and danced and then called it a night! I hope those people take from our example that you don’t have to be drunk to have a good time!