I keep writing this post, but they end up with too many words, and not enough photos, and I feel I’m too tired to really put into words the last two days. The last two days that have felt like five. The days are long-long-long here - the sun sets around 9:40pm, and hostel-living (again) means we are up early from someone else rising before they should. So before I ramble on (yet again) these are the things I’d like to share

• I was at work on Wednesday at 3:30pm. I was on a flight from Melbourne to Christchurch at 6:35pm. NEVER AGAIN. Oh the stress! But I made it (athankyouverymuch Matt) and suddenly I was seated in 24C; an isle seat! I despise aisle seats. Window seats FTW! And by God’s good grace since I left Toronto, Sept 2011, I have never once got an aisle seat… until now. Shudder. (Tagged Under: First World Problem)
• It took me ages to get through New Zealand customs. Why? Oh, I don’t know, perhaps because my hiking boots had been to Nepal. And yadda, yadda, yadda – my hiking boots are now soooooo clean (thanks to the NZ government).  And then blurry eyed and dazed I stumbled through those glass sliding doors at “Arrivals” and met up with the ever so lovely Natalie.
• Natalie is my travel companion for New Zealand. Her dirty deets: 24 | female | Sydney-born/living | and she was my roomy when I hiked to Base Camp, Mt. Everest. She is also hilarious <— why I keep her around.
• Ohhhh, and this happened: We rocked up to our hostel at 2am on the first night in NZ, and the recpetion was closed and no key was left for us. Awful. We ended up couch surfing on the hostels’ (super short and uncomfy) couches, but as it was FREE (obvs), we’re considering this a win.
• Day One: We drove from Christchurch to Lake Tepako. I’ll skip all the jazz hands, and cartwheels, and sparklers about how stunning New Zealand is, so just know the rumours are true, and hopefully my photos will show you a glimpse of that.
• After arriving at our hostel for the 2nd night, we decided to head to the grocery store to get things for lunch/dinner, and then somehow ended up on a FIVE HOUR (pretty serious) hike. Oh my goodness, it was the worst, and the best all at once.
• I went star gazing! And saw Orion, the Southern Cross (of Australian & NZ fame), Jupiter, a billion and one stars, a shooting star.
• I’m writing this to you from a tiny town called Te Anau, and tomorrow we’re heading to Milford Sound - sooooo excited. We’ve driven 265km (424.9 mi) or done 8 hr and 17 min of driving
• The Internet is useless here. Ummm, New Zealanders, the Internet is supposed to be faster than this. Actually. I’ve written this post in sentence form 3 times, but gave up. Slow computer + useless Internet + tired eyes = awful blogging.
• No makeup for 14 days. Nak-id!
• I am really-really-really debating bungee jumping in Queenstown. It’s on my bucket list, and I’ve always really thought I’d do it - but now that I’m THIS CLOSE to actually doing it, I’m not sure I can…
• THERE ARE NO SNAKES IN NEW ZEALAND <— the most glorious thing about this country
• Too many words? I totally agree - so let’s get to some photos!

Photo: Bing.com/images