Well, I’m back from New Zealand and it was amazing. Spent a week there, half in Christchurch and the other half in Auckland. I flew first from Brisbane to Christchurch, which was an experience. They should really tell you on your itinerary that if you have a foreign passport then you need your itinerary for your return flight before you can board the plane. That caused lots of drama. Fortunately I was there with plenty of time so I still made my flight. The flight there is a little over three hours, which isn’t that bad. I landed and got to my hotel, which was a bed and a bathroom in a closet like room with no window. But it was very nice, and I knew when I made the reservation that that would be what it was. They had this thing that you could set an alarm and five minutes before it went off a light above the bed would start to glow like a "morning sunrise" so you could slowly wake up to that. I did not take advantage of this. Instead I woke up to a pitch black room and blasted my eyes with a halogen lamp.

Christchurch is beautiful. For a city it was very unpopulated and it is situated right around the mountains of the canterbury region, near the southern alps. My first full day there I went on a Lord of the Rings tour where they took us into the mountains to see where they filmed a lot of the second movie. I was there really for the scenery, which was amazing, but it was a little cool to learn all about the movie.

We drove through a lot of the mountains and then walked up the hill where they filmed it, the town of Edorus. The hill is in the center of the valley surrounded 360 degrees by snow covered mountains. And if that isn’t enough there is a little stream at the bottom, which is actually a class 5 rapid, but since we couldn’t get high enough it just looks like a dried out river bed. I got a taste of real New Zealand farm land on the drive out there. We got in two traffic jams, one caused by sheep and the other by cows. Certainly an experience.

My second day in Christchurch I went and saw the Ron Mueck exhibit at the Christchurch Art Gallery. Amazingly enough the all glass building withstood the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the city two months ago, and none of the pieces were damaged. Unfortunately though, the earthquake damaged a lot of the old buildings, many of which were still under construction when I was there. After the quake Christchurch has already had over 1800 aftershocks, one of which occurred my first night there, it was 3.1 magnitude. But apparently no one gets out of bed for less than 5. Well then. Luckily enough no one was killed and only one person hospitalized, but they have since been released.

Later that day I took a bus about a half hour outside the city to Sumner Beach. It was pretty nice, reminded me a bit of Colorado, with the small town right next to the mountains.

After Christchurch I flew into Auckland, which was not nearly as impressive, although still very cool. It was just like any other city in any other part of the world really. Lots of people, tall buildings, and the like. The first day there I met up with Meaghan and we walked around the city and went to One Tree Hill. The tree that sat up on the hill is no longer there due to protestors, but it is still a beautiful walk around the domain and is a great lookout place. There were tons of sheep roaming about, which was also a nice touch.

Our second day in auckland we went bungy jumping off the auckland bridge! It was terrifying and awesome. The feeling of free falling is completely foreign and was terrifying, but after the initial drop it is more enjoyable. They dunked me in the water, which was also a new experience. It’s the only bungy that can do that. Then we took a ferry over to Waiheke island and explored a bit. Lots of small towns and beaches.

Our last day we went to a dormant volcano, Rangitoto Island. We hiked up it, about an hour and a half and got awesome views of the city and the water. I had never been to a volcano before, so it was a new experience. It's the youngest volcano in New Zealand, having only erupted 600-800 years ago.

New Zealand is hosting the Rugby World Cup next spring (for them) so everywhere we went was an advertisement for it, or a place selling clothing. They have countdowns everywhere and it's still a little less than a year away. Crazy. They take their rugby seriously.

Now it’s back to life on the Gold Coast for five more days before I depart for America. 13 hours to LA, 5 hours in LA, and 5 1/2 hours to Boston and I'll be home. Crazy how fast this went by. It was certainly a life changing experience and I recommend that anyone who can study abroad definitely should.