ABCs of the south island: Adrenaline, Beauty, rugby world Cup

It has been a crazy fun adventure to backpack around the south island for a few weeks.  Adrenaline, yes. Beauty, everywhere I turn. Rugby World Cup, watching it most nights. Go all blacks! Currently im at a hostel and therefore have limited internet access but here are a couple highlights via pictures...

To kick off my trip, Mel, Amy, Shi ern, and I took a road trip to Tauranga for a night two days before I flew out of Auckland (North Island) to Christchurch (South Island)

There was a huge rainbow just after we finished our hike up Mt Mongonui and were wondering on the beach.

The Silver Fern-  an icon of new zealand. i found one on a hike on the boardwalk outside tauranga

In the antarctic center in Christchurch where I waited for the Kiwi Experience bus to pick me up.

first stop: Kaikoura. an amazing little town nestled between the Kaikoura mountain range and the pacific ocean. Oh and I love coffee so I took this picture to show 2 things i love: coffee and mountains :)

I went for a walk on the bech the next morning.

Found this bench on the same beach. Sat down with my bible, journl and coffee. had an amazing time with God.

On the bus again after Kaikoura, stopped for lunch at this river. Made a PB&J which everyone seems to think is a crazy idea for a sandwich here.

USA all the  way. found this knitted flag on a tree in Nelson (hosted the US for one of the world cup games)

This is a very common phrase here. it basically means "good" or "cool"

Just outside of Nelson, is the incredible Abel Tasman national park. I went for a 2 day trip (day one we kayaked, camped, day 2 we hiked out along the coast)

Do you see the seals??

Can you read it? some friends helped mel and I spell out UVA with our shadows! Go  Hoos!

Jumping into a freezing glacier lake!

View from my kayak on a mirror lake in franz josef (small town with BIG glaciers)

Enjoying the sunset after a tiring kayak ride.

my glacier guide axing away at ice to create steps for us to climb. Franz Josef glacier is a dangerous place without a guide. there were death warnings with newspaper clipping of people who had died before when we crossed the barrier to begin the full day hike.

I  climbed through lots of ice tunnels!

My crampons that I attached to my boots to help me not slip while I hiked on ice all day.

a view of the West Coast of NZ- a stop off during the bus drive down the coast from Westport to Lake Mahinapua.

another picturesque stop off along our bus trip. this was during the ride from franz josef to Wanaka.

I'll never forget Wanaka. Its the place I jumped out of that little orange plane in the background. this picture was taken after safely landing from a SKYDIVE over incredible snow covered mountains (see my facebook profile pic)

Another bus stop off at a waterfall between Wanaka and Queenstown

Oops this is out of order. this was in a cave during the hike in abel tasman national park.

a fern leaf statue in the park in Queenstown.

In that same park, i  played my first game of frisbee golf. Im quite terrible but its  fun way to spend a couple of hours on a nice day in Queenstown.

Do I need to explain why i love queenstown?

oh yea and i did my first bungy jump here. this was right after when they gave me a free shirt. that was a terrifying but awesome 47m jump 300m over Queenstown (proof to come later)

A view from the water tower in Invercargill- the south island's  southermost city.

the path i walked on today in stewart island (even further south... I am quite close to antarctica actually).

some sheep i ran into during my walk today.

a paua shell I found on the beach. I love this new zealand shell- its sooooo pretty!

oops out of order again. this is in Queenstown. sitting on the rocky beach of lake wakatipu

Went for a twilight kayak this evening. it was a beautiful sunset and I saw 2 cute little blue penguis swimming! i also heard them chirping to eachother! It was a beautiful end to an amazing day. Now its bed time!