SEASONS!!! :)

On the Gold Coast, I miss seasons. Not that I have ever really experienced them in my years growing up in LA but I miss seasons. New Zealand has seasons and right now the land is slowly transforming into the red, gold and brown colored pallet of fall. I love visiting the east coast and experiencing the change and I loved the subtle changes in my four years at Berkeley. This is the first time in four years when I have felt that summer is NEVER going to end and the sun is going to blaze forever. If you can’t tell already, I am not a huge fan of the constant heat. I love getting bundled up in layers in order to experience the crisp, fresh air that greats you outside. In New Zealand, I am a bundled up marshmallow and I love it! Becky and I often walk down the street arm in arm in order to keep our heat recirculating between us :)

We arrived in Christchurch on Sunday afternoon and took a shuttle to our hotel that was located 30 min from the center of town. After taking a significant amount of pictures of our gorgeous room, Becky and I jumped into a bus and got off at the center of town that is located near a beautiful stone cathedral. We were supposed to meet Kate and Deb back at the hotel in an hour and a half for dinner so we knew that we only had a small amount of time before we had to catch the next bus back. Consequently, we walked in a small 4 block radius away from the bus stop because we were both timid and nervous about missing dinner… we love to eat! Honestly, I would say that our trip so far has rotated around our meals and I am not complaining AT ALL because the meals have been incredible! That night for dinner Becky and I shared a Morrocan lamb pizza which was delicious (and our breakfast the next morning) and Deb ordered a curried carrot soup that I can not wait to try and reproduce at home. We crashed hard after a short adventure into the sauna where we met a couple headed out to Queenstown on the same 8:35am flight that we were on. Becky and I set my alarm for 5am fully intending to go for a walk in the hotel gardens but when we awoke we realized that the sun was not yet up and fell back to sleep only to awake at the time when we were supposed to be downstairs… oops… We quickly flew into action and were downstairs only 10 minutes late without leaving one item behind (at least nothing we have noticed so far!)

I slept for the entire flight to Queenstown and when we arrived we were greeted by the crisp fall air. I happily put on my fleece sweatshirt and crammed into a cab for the spectacular drive along the Queenstown Bay to our accommodations: the Glebe Hotel. I write this blog sitting next to the fire in a huge and beautifully decorated living room with the mountains and lights of the town clearly visible through the enormous glass doors surrounding me. We are staying on the 5^th floor in the penthouse courtesy of one of Deb’s friends from home. He owns a vineyard that we went to visit today called Gibbston Valley which was located in a beautiful tree lined valley. Look it up :) The apartment is incredible but the views and the mountains around Queenstown are breathtaking and ever changing. Becky and I keep dashing outside onto the deck in order to capture some different light on the lake or the cloud rimmed mountains. The silhouettes are very unique due to the sharp jagged mountains that seem to drop off into the sky. I think Cradle Mtn in Tasmania had the same jagged appearance and this association has me itching to climb these mountains. The slightly rainy weather and my lack of preparedness means that I will not be putting my head in the clouds but Todd, you and I are coming back and climbing some of the big ones! It is a must!! ;)