DAY EIGHT: North Island to South Island

Woke up to rain, showered (yay), ate breakfast, was cleanup for breakfast, went to a free museum that was so cool, saw a giant squid there, hopped on the ferry and explored for a while, then had more than a barrel of monkeys. It was so windy on the ferry that if you opened up your rain jacket on deck, it would nearly blow you over! So of course half a dozen BYU students were making fools of themselves for a good two hours up on deck. It was memorable, to say the least.

Journal entry from the time we stopped playing on deck to getting into the harbor:

“The air blowing toward us was warm for a minute and then became cooler as we headed on. The air smells like pine trees and I’ve never seen Alaska but this is what I imagine it would look like. It’s so beautiful.  It looks like a country full to the brim with adventures! Haha Just made a bunch of British guys laugh really hard. We’re pulling in, and the fact that I’m in New Zealand has never felt so real. I’ve never felt so far from my family or so a part of New Zealand as I do on the ferry right now, but I’m not afraid or sad. I’m really here. I’m really doing this!”

We arrived at the top ten park in Picton. I went to the store for a few more things for dinner then slaved over a grill making like a bajillion hamburgers and grilled corn on the cob. It was a hit, and I felt pretty cool :) Ok, the hamburgers were questionable but the corn was delicious.

Jeff and I hoped in the pool and played with a couple of kiwi kids named Kyle and Shaquille…like Shaquille O’Neal. Literally. His dad was sitting right there. Jeff was in there first and when I hoped in Kyle said, “Me and Shaquille are on a team and you and your wife are on a team” haha. After killing at noodle basketball in the pool, Jeff and I were on our way out and I fell back into the pool by accident. Kyle yelled from over the fence, “Oy! Christina, there’s a pool there!” But with the accent it was more like, “Oy! Christaina, days a pooo deh!”

Finally broke down and bought one hour of Internet. It was 10 p.m. my time which meant it was 2 a.m. in Utah. Luckily my dad was out of town so of course mom was online, and we skyped for 6 minutes! It was heaven.