The South Island!

This is going to be a short one, I am currently in the internet cafe in our hostel in Christchurch, I fell in love with this city and the south island in general. It took us a very long time to get down here, a good two days straight of travelling. The ferry in itself was three hours long. But it was HUGE and there was a polynesian high school group singing maori songs, which kept me entertained. The south island really is beautiful. The first place we stayed was Kaikoura, it is right on the ocean and bordered by mountains. It is one of the most visited places in New Zealand because there is a ton of marine mammal tourism, which is what we spent the weekend learning about. We were supposed to swim with the dolphins but the weather was too shitty. Hanna and I are planning to go back after the program is over because the man at the Marae that we were staying at said he could hook us up with a free whale watching tour.

Staying at the Marae was unexplainably amazing. Everything about it was a new cultural experinence. We learned a lot about the maori culture and all the things that they find the most important. We slept in the Wharanui, which is the ancestors house and it had the most beautiful intricate designs on it. We weren't allowed to take pictures of it, so I will just have to remember and try and tell you all about it when I get home. I think that by far it was the best place we have stayed. We had a talent show at the end, and I most definitely did some interpretive dancing (good ol' rick would have been so proud)

we had the weekend off and spent it in Christchurch. We went to a beautiful art market, where of course I spent too much money... and I drank and ate me life away. I really will return a fatty. We got to go to the Auckland/Canterbury rugby game which was awesome, and I actually got to learn how rugby works. And that night the All Blacks were playing, so a bunch of us went out to a bar got a little shwasted and proceeded to dance until 4 am at an irish pub... oh good times.

we are off today to cragieburn, and I don't know what we are doing there. All I know is we might be snowed in at a cabin in the middle of nowhere. LOVE IT. (the south island is still a bit nippy).

Well, that was longer than I thought.

so tight.

miss you
love you
write somewhat in the near future.