michanna

On Saturday, C, R and R came to pick me up in Christchurch. From there, we drove through the mountains down to Wanaka where R’s dad lives. The trip was really interesting. We saw glacier fed lakes and Mt. Cook and mountain passes. The area we were travelling through was crazy flat for an area in a mountain range, but it used to be an inland sea, so in that way it makes sense. The mountains are covered in low-lying scrub and tufts rather then trees like I’m used to and most of them have very little snow on them. The lakes were gorgeous but I don’t know how I feel about the elaborate aqueduct system they had for hydro power. On one hand, beautiful and renewable power. On the other hand, I know there are less invasive ways to create hydropower.

We were early arriving to Wanaka, so we decided to check out the agriculture fair that was happening. There was gratuitous horse jumping and rides and fun stalls full of carnival food, which was maddening because we were hungry but didn’t want to spoil dinner.

Then we stopped briefly at the side of the lake to skip some rocks and ogle the view before continuing to the house where we were treated to dinner and chocolate cake. R’s dad has a lot of knowledge about the area and was telling us about the geological formations and the native trees. Also, there cat is the prettiest.

We slept well and woke to a view of lake and mountains in the fall. I can’t remember the last time I had such a good view of the mountains when it wasn’t winter time. We got fed pancakes before we left around 10.

From there we drove back to Christchurch. The day was warmer and the car’s AC was smelly, so it wasn’t as comfortable as the drive there, but we managed. The views of Mt. Cook were really good and I hope some of the pictures turned out (we took enough of them).

The others were going to a Cobra Starship concert. I wanted to go, so I waited to see if there was a spare ticket, only to find out at the end, when I was all disappointed, that the show wasn’t sold out and tickets were still being sold at the box office. Doh. So I went and it was a good decision because it rocked.

Now I’m in the Christchurch library. The others left about an hour ago after a brief tour of Christchurch (which I led since I’ve been here the most lol). It sucks that they’re gone because R’s going home to Calgary and I might not get to see other R again if I’m not able to go to Wellington Armageddon and I don’t know when I’ll see C again either. At least we’re all parting on a high note as this weekend was amazing.

Since they left though, I have made myself feel better by setting up an NZ bank account to get paid into and booking all my trips between here and Taiwan. I’m a little nervous about working 12 hour shifts and living in a hostel for 7 weeks, but I’m pumped to be earning some money and it’s not really very long.

I don’t know how much I’ll be posting from Ashburton since I doubt there will be internet readily available to me, but I’ll try and stay in touch. See y’all on the flip side.

Originally published at Teri's NZ Adventures.
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