the past few weeks

well...since I last posted a few weeks ago quite a bit has happened! I turned 21 on April 29 and spent my birthday and the few days before on the beautiful island of Perhentian off the coast of Malaysia, close to Thailand. Dad and I did lots of scuba diving and we all enjoyed the water, sand, and lots of sun!

It was back to Christchurch on April 30 and my flight from Singapore was supposed to land at 10:30am on Monday morning, leaving me lots of time to make my three lectures of the day. As we were about to land in Christchurch we suddenly took off again and found out about 10 minutes later that it was too foggy to land and that we had to head to Auckland to refuel and wait for the fog to lift. Several hours later we were back in Christchurch...I missed all my lectures!

I spent most of the week studying for my midterm in physiology, trying to get as much done before my boyfriend Lou arrived from Birmingham on Friday May 5! We spent part of the first weekend he was here in Hamner Springs relaxing in the hot springs. We also took a day trip to Akaroa and got to see the Canterbury Crusaders rugby game with Rebecca, her parents and her host family! Neither of us fully understood the game, but it was fun to watch...rugby is a tough sport!

On the weekend we headed west, through Arthur's Pass and then south to glacier country. We arrived at Fox Glacier around noon on Saturday and decided that since the weather was good (it can change so quickly there) that we would take a helicopter ride up to the top of the glacier. I have to say that it was probably one of the best things I've ever done. I had never been on a helicopter before- it was like being in a little glass bubble that got soo close to the mountains beofre quickly dipping down to the massive glacier below. We landed at the top of the glacier and had some incredible views- including Mt. Cook the highest mountain in New Zealand!

Looking up massive Fox Glacier

The glacier area in New Zealand is quite unique; it's relatively close to the Tasman sea, and there is temperate rainforest that reaches to the bottom of the glaciers. They are some of the most dynamic glaciers in the world, they can change up to 1m per day! Over 50m of snow falls near the top of the glaciers each year which then gets compressed down and made into the ice that creates the glacier.

Anyway...in the afternoon we took a guided glacier hike on the bottom part of Fox Glacier. Our guide, Tony was great- he was really laid back but still very informed and had a great sense of humour!

We spent the night up the road in the village of Franz Josef and tried to walk to the terminal face of the Franz Josef glacier on Sunday morning but the weather wasn't great and the pathway was closed. We did however see a spectacular rainbow!

From there we headed north and ate lunch in Greymouth before driving (through the pouring rain and even hail at one point) to the Punakaiki blowholes. Also known as the pancake rocks, these huge limestone rocks have been scuplted by the sea and are continuously changing. Although we weren't there at high tide when the blowhole are really impressive, we still got some great pictures!

I'm back in Christchurch now, Lou flew home this afternoon so now I have no excuse not to study!

cheers-

s.