Highlights from New Zealand in pictures!

Before I begin, anyone who reads this needs to understand one thing first. I LOVE NEW ZEALAND! I dated a guy after my freshman year at BYU (7 years ago...man I'm gettin' old) who had just returned home from serving a mission in New Zealand and Kiribi (a small Pacific Island). He told me stories about the places and people he met and I fell in love with the country and have since then wanted to go and see for myself. I can't quite describe the excitement I felt when we started to fly over the east side of the South Island on our way to Christchurch on the west side. But I was like a kid in the toy store (wait...I'm still kinda like that now...) It was my dream coming true and I wanted to take in and experience every second of it! We were only there for 4 days and I'm already plotting for my next trip over there, because there NEEDS to be another one. :)

Ok so here we go...

I took these pics from the plane as we flew over the South Island. First you start with the majestic, snow covered mountains, that diminish into green farmland, and end in the Pacific Ocean.

Our first night there we went and learned about the Maori culture and watched a performance of traditional Maori dance...including the Haka (go Cougars!). We got to try the women's dance with the Poi balls...its a lot harder than it looks! I bought some Poi balls so I could get my groove on back here in the states. :)

Eve kept whackin' me with her poi balls.
After our Maori experience we went on a gondola ride up to a really fancy restuarant for dinner. This was on the way down...I was freezing!

The next morning Brooke and I went on a "running tour of Christchurch" as we tried to find a grocery store to buy some cereal and milk for breakfast. I'm sure we ran about 3 miles trying to find the store...but again, it was a great time!

This is a piece of the Twin Towers from 9-11. New Zealand was the first country to come to the aid of the US and President Bush thanked them by giving them these remains. That's pretty cool. Oh my gosh!!! Fruit Loops in New Zealand! I was one happy girl! :)

Later that day we went swimming with dolphins in the Pacific Ocean off the coast. The country side on the way to Akaroa was incredible! It was a little gloomy (and really cold) but it was still amazing!

Here we are in our wet suits! I loved that dang thing...If I could wear black neoprene everyday I would. :)

On the bus on our way to church. It was pretty cold so we had to bundle up under our church clothes. So ya know...just changin' on the bus on the way there. :)

We met a family in the ward that was from Oregon and they invited us over to dinner Sunday night. They invited us all back to visit sometime and I am definitely planning on taking them up on that offer!

So I started to feel sick Sunday night and had to stay home all day Monday with the flu. Wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except that the freakin' swine flu scare was in full effect in New Zealand and Australia. I missed out on the ATV adventure on the coast so I could stay home and sleep all day, trying to bring my fever down. I went down to the front desk and asked what a good fever reducer was that I could go buy at the store and the lady working started to freak out and told me to go to the quarentine office immediately. Are you kidding me? I just walked away shaking my head. The Sydney Airport had body temperature sensors in customs and if I had any sign of a fever, I would have been quarentined in Australia until they ran tests to determine if I had the swine flu or not. That was NOT going to happen since I was going to graduate on Friday! So...home I stayed. :(

Anyway, I LOVED my time in New Zealand and just got a taste of what that country has to offer and I can't wait to go back!

Here's a little highlight from my trip to Sydney, Australia...in pictures

DAY 1

Brooke and I on the gondola ride that took us to the top of the Taranga Zoo in Sydney. Behind us is the Sydney Harbor. What an incredible view! Anyways, Brooke is the whole reason I finally got to go to Australia in the first place. I talked her into doing her last physical therapy internship there so that I could come visit after. Worked like a charm : )
And PS...I LOVE the Zoo!!

Kangaroos like to roll over and scratch their bellies...just like me!
Wanna be a wallaby?
All of us girls and some chimps. Chelsea (Brooke's old roommate), Me, Brooke, Hannah (grew up with Brooke in Brawley, CA), and Eve (Hannah's roommate). We are quite the good lookin' bunch.
We took a little harbor cruise to get to the zoo and this was on the way back in front of the Sydney Opera House. Way cool!
We went to they Sydney Aquarium too!
This is a Dugong. Brooke likes them "big and chunky" HAHAHAHAHAHA!! And I like to randomly make dugong faces...
Me just bein' me :)
And I thought my mouth was big! (the boys don't seem to mind...hahaha. j/k)
DAY 2

So in true, Brooke-like fashion, she and I went on a literal "running tour of Sydney" and these are some of my favorite pics from that. And I have to admit...I love'd every second of it. It was a great way to see the city.

We started from our downtown hotel and ran across the harbor bridge. This pic must have been taken on the way back across...check out that sweat!

So that's the bridge we ran across and back, then we went around part of the harbor on our way to the Opera House. And of course, I had to work it with the pole ;)
It's a good thing I had been taking the stairs at my internship (all 24 flights) so I could rock the Sydney Opera House stairs!
And we ran through the Botannical Gardens. Beautiful.
Haha. Look what I found (Brooke did not appreciate this moment like I did...)
Takin' a break for a quick game of chess in Hyde Park
And the physiotherapy (that's what the rest of the world calls physical therapists) clinic that Brooke interned at.
So after our morning fun run of 4-5 miles through the city of Sydney, we went to the beach for a 2.5 mile hike along the coast. We went from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach and the view was absolutely incredible the entire way! Here is just a taste of what we saw

How cool is this!! I wanted to take that sign home sooo bad! But I'm sure they would have stopped me in customs...
Sydney seriously had some of the best signs in the world! Just tryin' to do my part...

Hooray! We made it to Bondi Beach!
We did a little shopping along the beach...

Then jumped in the water! It was sooo windy and cold! But we are hard core girls. No messin' around :) And unfortunately, we didn't get any snorkeling in this trip...but that didn't stop us from havin' fun!
Later that night we went to the Sydney temple and did 50 of Chelsea's family names. We were there the same time as a Samoan group of youth. There was this one girl who kept asking us to talk so that she could hear our "American Accents" and thought that we were the coolest things next to bread and butter (or bread and veggiemite in this case...). What a great experience!

DAY 3

We took a 2 hour train ride out to Katoomba and went and saw the Blue Mountains. The mountains are covered in Eucalyptus trees that give off a blue gas into the air and that's what gives the blue hue to the mountains and their name. I thought that was pretty interesting

This range is called the "Three Sisters". Apparently these sisters were a bit promiscuous and their dad turned them into rocks for their own good...
And another fabulous sign in Australia. If you can't read the sign it says."Please take your rubbish out with you". Brooke just tryin' to do her part...

We hurried home from the mountains and went and saw The Nutcracker at the Sydney Opera House. It was pretty amazing being in the Opera House. Me, being the band geek that I am, absolutely loved the music from the orchestra and the acoustics of the building. Incredible. I also was pretty spent by this time. 3 days of non-stop action was starting to take its toll on me and I was ready for bed! (Brooke, Chelsea, and I shared the king size bed...that was an experience all in itself...good times)
And that's pretty much the run down of our adventures in Sydney, Australia. I've always wanted to go to Australia and I'm so glad I took advantage of this opportunity to go. Even though a good number of my witty one-liners went unappreciated and I had to share a bed with 2 other girls...I had the time of my life! :)