yuuuhoooo!

tuesday:
wasnt such a pleasant day cos i had to drive corinne (the awesome dutch girl i had been traveling with) to the airport... so after a tearful goodbye (from my part of course =)i got back to the hostel and basically started packing since i would be leaving the next day.

wednesday:
i got to this beautiful hostel called halfmoon cottage near akarao, which part of the banks peninsula (on the half island near christchurch). at first i was a bit disappointed, though, cos when i got there there werent any other guests and it was a bit remote so i thought like 'nice, where did i get myself! theres nothing to do round here!!!' but once i just lay in the sun all afternoon, read my book for some time and dozed off for a bit i actually really enjoyed it... =) that evening was real fun: it was 4 germans and me and we talked and laughed for ages until we finally went to bed completely exhausted. i actually came to dislike germans in the past few weeks cos theyre just swarming the place, seriously, there are too many of them!!! anyways, it was lovely evening nonetheless... =)

thursday:
there was a family staying at the cottage as well and they were from the uk. 3 girls at the age of 9, 6 and 6 months. they are traveling round the world for 5 months so it was pretty interesting talking to them. they were all really lovely people! later on that day i went for a two hour walk and the view was just brilliant: i stood on this hill, overlooked the sea and all the surrounding bays... the hills kinda looked like the shire too... =) on thursday night i basically just played chess with the father from the uk. chess really is like maths - youre just pondering all the time - god, i love it! =)

friday:
i actually wanted to stay one more night at the halfmoon cottage but i couldnt since they were fully booked - shame. anyways, on the drive to geraldine (where im staying at right now) i decided to pop into darfield where i know an exchange student i chaperoned last june (into switzerland, my exchange organisation) was staying. got to his house and he just came along the drive way with a pretty puzzled look. but when he finally realised who i was he was positively surprised. so had a drink and some food with him, but after 4 hours i really had to get going to get to my hostel in time. after a tiresome drive i finally got here. basically just went to a supermarket, got some food and got back to cook. but when i sat down to have my tea there was an elderly french woman who didnt want me to sit alone so she offered me a seat at her table and some red wine. she also gathered everybody else so it ended up being her, her brother in law, two people from israel, a guy from the uk and me. it was a really entertaining evening, drinking wine, having a few laughs and just enjoying everything.

today (saturday):
last night the english bloke gave me this map so i could find the location on my own: i drove for about 1,5 hours to a very remote place; mt sunday - or in other words edoras. =) this next bit is optional to read if youre not really interested in hearing anything about lotr (lord of the rings). half of the track was actually just a gravel road - so finally some adventure, aye?! =) after the drive i still had to walk some distance and cross a river. i didnt really have any other choice than just walking through it. it wasnt that deep, though; just reached me thighs. however, it was really cold! anyways, when i finally reached the top i could just gape at the view. the weather wasnt too good but i think that just made the difference: the athmosphere was perfect - like rohan would feel. =) when i was at the top i was lucky cos a lotr tour came by. there was a guide with just 4 other people. the guide asked me if i wanted to join in - of course!!! so he just gave us some information and at the end we could make some photos. i stood at exactly the same spot miranda otto (eowyn) stood where she storms out of the golden hall and you see her in that white dress. plus the giuide had replicas of theodens sword, gimlis axe and the flag of rohan. of course i made some pictures of them!!!
so, yeah, that was the excitement of the day. =) but there was also some drama today (for me at least): when i got home i couldnt find my wallet. i mean, i looked several times everywhere, but5 you still kinda panick. i tried to stay calm though and already thought about everything id have to do (call the visa people, police, insurance... heaps)... but after TWO HOURS i finally found it.thank god! so now ive updated you guys on almost everything i can think of. just tell me, though, if theres too much detail (probably =)and ill make it briefer next time...


p.s. gotta set the record straight for any misunderstanding the last post might have caused: i didnt go bungy jumping! the canyon swing is somthing different (i think i explained how it worked?!)