the next morning we had time to sleep in and relax, eat a good meal at the cafe and walk around town a little bit before heading back to Queenstown. but before we went back up north, we were headed further south. our first stop along the way was the Catlins. the "rugged" coast of new zealand. here there is a cute little light house placed on a hill with large rocks everywhere below. we could walk down onto the rocks and get pretty close to the ocean, et said that it was one of the calmest days he had seen. i guess usually there is a lot of wave action hitting the coast line. here we also saw two sea lions! they were huge, and kinda gross looking but cool to see all the same. especially in the wild.
from the Catlins we headed down to Bluff, which is where the southern most point of new zealand is located. et drove us up to the top of the mountain where we were able to get out and see a cool lookout of stewart island (the island right off the southern coast of new zealand) then we set off on an hour 15 min walk down to sterlings point. this was great because we really didn't have to walk up hill. and the view was guess it, breath taking. it was cool to get closer and closer to the water as we went, and to have the sun setting along our walk. it was a very refreshing walk, felt good to be out moving and working my legs a little bit. we got all the photo opps with the sign that tells the distance to certain countries from this point.
we came across a rock right next to the "chain" that connects sterlings point to stewart island (you'll see a photo its a sculpture there for symbolic reasons), that had a plaque with Psalm 93:4 written on it: "mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea. the Lord on high is might!" followed by "God is always greater than our troubles" it was standing there with the rocks and the ocean with some rough waves behind it and it was a much needed reminder to step back and look around and take in this beautiful earth that God has created. and on another note that verse was extremely moving, i think you had to be in that moment to really feel it but it sent a sense of humility through me another reminder of how small i am and how powerful He is, and no matter what He has an amazing plan for me. i was thankful for that moment i think it was definitely something i needed.
we had a long drive back. turned on my playlist with ray lamontagne, patty griffin and norah jones and watched the sun set, while the moon rose. actually as we were driving the flat sound with sailboats scattered along the way was to our right and the mountains were to our left, and at one moment the sun and the moon were directly across from one another. it was one of the coolest things i have ever seen.
made it into queenstown around dinner time. split a huge pizza between the five of us in "team america" headed home to rest and then headed out. our room at the base was much nicer this time because we were staying with stray so we were all really excited, and Tom stayed with us so we had a great group of six! going out was fun, and we made our way to a western themed bar when we realized it was officially the 4th of july which was cool. most exciting part of the evening though was finding a mexican truck stand right by the hostel called burrito bros. if you know me you know i literally cannot live without mexican and while it was no la parilla or el rodeo it was delicious. i was about to cry i was so happy eating it!
the Catlins.
our mexican treat.
sharing a post here because while our fourth of july was wonderful we really only went skiing. ah it was awesome though! we were rushed to catch a bus up to the slopes because we didn't realize there was a time schedule to meet, but the people at the ski rental place were super helpful and we got a little workout running while carrying all our gear.
it was the most beautiful day to go skiing, i mean absolutely perfect. the sun was shining off the slopes and warming us up so really i was never cold until the sun went down. i had a great time skiing, i realized i haven't really been since high school but its pretty easy to have a practice run and get back into it. we stuck to green and blue all day but at the end of the day we rode the lifts to the very very top of the mountain (which we should've done earlier) and rode the blue all the way down. these slopes were definitely more challenging/steep but it was so much fun!! i only fell once all day, and i'm totally blaming the patch of ice i hit on this slope. haha. needless to say i really did miss being at camp/at the beach for the fourth but i had a great day and was so happy to have the opportunity to go skiing in new zealand!
it was a wonderful fourth. made me miss America and made me grateful for everything that my country has to offer. i know we complain a lot because well there are a lot of problems at home (and in every country) but being here makes me realize how many opportunities there are in America and how much i love my country! so God Bless the USA.
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