Wednesday, August 26, 2009

I'm pretty tired... I think I'll go home now

The time has come to pack my bags and head home. It's been an amazing 267 days of my life. There's no need for teary goodbyes. Anything I'm feeling right now I most likely said in my Six Months Post.

It dawned on me as I was writing this that in all my travels, be it the college years, Up with People or cruising with Carnival, I've never been away from home for this long. I can feel it in my heart that it's time to go home, at least for a little while.

A friend of mine sent me this quote, that I believe in the next few weeks, I will discover the true meaning of...

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time." - T.S. Eliot

So goodbye Australia, you've been good to me. Keene, NH, here I come...

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

New Zealand Photos

Here are some of the better photos I took in New Zealand. Enjoy.
This is on the way to Queenstown from Christchurch. We pulled over to take in one of the many amazing views.

Another stop for a picture. It started getting chilly the further we ventured into the mountains.

My rental skis. Watterson misspelled once again

The first day was a Sunday. Packed! But what a day for skiing.

First day of skiing at Coronet Peak.

Picking up the fundamentals

From the conveyor belt on the bunny trail at Coronet Peak

Up the conveyor belt on the bunny trail. I learned to ski on this hill. Getting up after falling down was challenging at first, but I got the hang of it eventually.

After day one of skiing at Coronet Peak. Feeling good about the day

The Remarkables

The start of one of my favorite trails. Was scary at first

The Calypso. I made sure not to venture towards "The Highway"

The Remarkables had many trails...

Many that weren't on the map. The advanced skiers did the hiking. I tried to stay on my skis all day.

This is the view I liked, when my skis weren't buried in snow or in the air.

Most of our group would split up for the day, so it left me taking a lot of my own photos as you can tell! It was so peaceful being out there by myself.

I believe this was taken on skiing day two at Remarkables. It was the advanced hill I stumbled upon. It was challenging getting down, but I made it and went back to try it again later on in the trip.

This is the only photo from day three of skiing at Coronet Peak. It was hard to see. That's Lockey on the right. I was exhausted after two and a half hours of pushing myself to the limit.

Day four at Remarkables. This is part of my favorite trail. I had a freaky fall near here on my second day, but walked away unhurt.

Another shot at the top of my favorite trail. The view never got old.

Coming down the dirt road from Remarkables

View from Remarkables. Above the clouds. Unreal.

The trail at Remarkables I mentioned where it would be easy to fall off to the left.

It was exciting to get close to the edge and look over.

The blue signs are where I roamed mostly. I ventured a couple times into a black trail, but found my way back to blue as soon as possible.

Listening to my 90's rock playlist on the last day at Remarkables

The Remarkables jump park. I stopped a few times to watch the snowboarders do their tricks.

Another view of the steep hill at Remarkables I took on.

View from the chairlift at Remarkables. I wish I knew how fast I got going down that hill. Maybe I don't want to know.

Another chair lift photo

Ryan and Lockey

On my way up the gondola to the luge park

The view was spectacular

The luge course

It was another beautiful day. We really lucked out with the weather that week

The luge

The speeds were fast going down hills. It was possible to crash as both my roommates did.

I wore the blue helmet meaning "medium size head"

Steve and Lockey on the luge chair lift

We were fairly high up you could say

The only picture I have of my two roommates and me. That's Jeff on the left and Steve in the middle.

A few of the guys I went on the trip with

Getting closer to New York

A Czech Republic Budweiser, I still look forward to an American Bud

We went to many bars. This particular one would light the bar on fire. It lasted about 15 or 20 seconds then went out.

Watties! The official ketchup of New Zealand!

The view from our rented apartment each morning. Well, some mornings. When it was cloudy, the mountains were not visible.


My last New Zealand meal. Those hot cakes were made in New Zealand, thank you.

Another stop on the way back to Christchurch of a beautiful view

The very classy Emirates airlines. The meal was amazing also.

Shrimp cocktail on a plane. You should have seen what first class looked like

A very large stuffed and animated kiwi bird

Thanks, hope you enjoyed! Check back in again soon...