I recently returned back to Australia from a 10 day trip to New Zealand. It was great being back to Kiwi Land! I was able to catch up with my cousin, Sarah, along with some good friends. I started my trip off being picked up by Sarah and our friend Kimmie at Christchurch airport heading straight out to Akaroa. I never made it out to this former volcano but it was beautiful. A cute small town located about and hour and a half outside Christchurch. The girls and I had a great time drinking some wine, catching up on what was new and laughing about what was old.
The next morning we headed Southwest to Twizel, near Mt. Cook, where Sarah has been working since September. I was greeted by her new kitten, Jerry Can, who was more anxious to play outside than to meet me but, hey...it's cool. Cooking dinner and an intense game of Scrabble was on the agenda. I am not a big fan of the game as it became very apparent as I gave up when I was about 60 points behind everyone. Never-the-less it was fun watching all the funny words going down on the board. After spending three and a half days with Sarah and Greg in Twizel, Kimmie and I made our way over to Franz Josef to see some old friends. It was an adventure getting up there but well worth it ;). Being back in Franz was an assortment of emotions. I miss Franz and all the great times that I had there as it will always have a special place in my heart. Walking into the Helicopter Line/Glacier Guides building I was greeted by my good friend Zoe. After dropping our bags off at the office Kimmie, Sharyn and I went to Cheeky Kea for some lunch and a coffee. Sitting at this Cafe on the main street of Franz Josef is a place where I knew I would see a lot of friends. As friends stopped by plans were formed for the evening festivities. The plan: the Landing for dinner and then the rest of the night was up for "whatever." After about three hours at the Cafe visiting with people Kimmie and I went to the Heli-line house, my old place, to drop off our stuff and freshen up for the night. It was weird being back in the house as a flood of great memories came back to me and put a HUGE smile on my face.
Note:I could go on for ages telling you about all the craziness that happened at that house but I would just take up a whole lot of your time, ha.
Dinner at the Landing was the same as always, social! Lots of people came out for dinner and some drinks. Once 11pm rolled around a smaller group of us, Zoe, Pip, Kimmie, Johnny, Greg, Katherine, Heath, and myself headed down to the Rain forest for some dancing and what ended up being a "foliage" photo shoot, thanks Pip. The night ended late, around 3am. The next morning was pretty scrambled as Kimmie and I gathered our belongings, said our goodbyes, had some breakfast, and quickly e-mailed my friend Amy (who was meeting us in Nelson that evening) we caught our ride to Nelson and again said goodbye to Franz Josef. *tear*
Arriving in Nelson around 8:30pm we ended up on a search for Amy. It wasn't as hard finding Amy as it was trying to find a place to stay. As Kimmie and I were on "no plan, plan" we didn't book any accommodation for which almost bit us in the bum. After briefly reuniting with Amy at her hostel and updating her on the next days events, Kimmie and I headed to ours about 15minutes out of town. The whole reason why we were meeting in Nelson was to do one of the many "Great Walks" in New Zealand, The Abel Tasman Coastal Walk....
