Winter in July!

Once again it has been way too long since my last update!!! I am so sorry that I have not updated regularly and thanks to those who have been patient with me!!! I cant believe that I have been away for over 10 months already!!! Time has really flown by!! The time for me to leave NZ is drawing near and I am getting very sad to leave!

For the last two months, I have been living in Arrowtown, a small town located about three quarters of the way down the south island. It is a really small town that reminds me a little of Durango (the town in which I lived in CO) so naturally, I love it!!! I origionally came here because they have an annual autumn festival. Arrowtown is supposed to be the most colorful town in NZ during autumn so of course I wanted to check it out! When I was here I ended up falling in love with it and decided to come back to live here when I finished working on the dairy farm. It is a really cute town where people don’t lock their houses or cars, you stop to chat on the street and surrounded by mountains and absolutely stunning scenery!!! It is about 10 min away from the nearest skifield! When I first arrived in June, we got our first snow! It was awesome building a snowman on my front lawn for the first time in my life, let alone in June!! The houses here are not very warm, so it has definitely been the coldest winter of my life…every morning there is a layer of ice covering the INSIDE of my window and I can usually see my breath in my house! I think I will come out a lot tougher after this winter…and I will be an expert fire lighter!! (most homes here are heated by a wood stove…imagine something pretty old fashioned…

I have been working at a bar, which is nothing special but can be a lot of fun. I am about a 2 hour drive from Te Anau, so I fre3quently have friends from down there come to visit me and I have also made it down a few times to visit them!

On my 25^th birthday I had some friends come and visit and we went bungee jumping!! It was very scary, surprisingly much more scary than skydiving!! It was a good rush though and something I have been meaning to do since I arrived in NZ. Then I went out for drinks and dinner with some friends and had a night out on the town! It was a good way to bring in my 25^th year, but I wish I could have seen my family and friends from home!!! I missed you all J

Most recently, I have been doing some winter hiking, which has been absolutely amazing!!! I went on one three day hike, which was really beautiful..there was lots of ice and snow on the track so that was really cool…it was also very cold at night!! I am lucky to have a very warm sleeping bag! The last hike I did was to the top of Mt. Luxmore, which was absolutely COVERED in snow!! It was so stunning from the top, surrounded by snow covered mountains everywhere!!! I think it was the favorite hike of my life!!

I also had the opportunity to go skiing, which was absolutely the most scenic skiing of my life! It was so beautiful from the top! I am lucky to have a roommate who let me borrow all her ski gear, including jacket, pants, skis poles boots and everything!! It is great to have friends the same size as you!!

Now I have less than a month left in New Zealand! I will leave on the 7^th of September and then travel around Thailand and then decide weather to do more of south east asia or head over to India before heading home at the end of November! I am meeting my good friends Jimmy, Mandy and Stephanie in Thailand and we will travel for a month together and then I will travel for the last part either by myself or with Adam, who is trying to save some money to do some travelling with me!

My last few weeks in NZ I will finish up work here in Arrowtown and travel up both islands, making stops along the way to visit various friends I have made along my journey! I am also hoping to get another day of hiking and another day of skiing in!

I am really looking forward to seeing everyone and cant wait to catch up!!

I miss and love you all J