San Francisco

OK, leaving New Zealand was one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life, but luckily I planned a summer jam-packed with travel and activities to help me keep it together and have fun. First stop was San Francisco and I am so glad I included visiting it before coming back to VA to visit old friends.

I met up with a friend from VA there and spent 7 days exploring the city, meeting awesome people and staying out way too late every other night (so worth it).We stayed at the green tortoise hostel which was amazing, I'd say even best hostel I have ever stayed at so if you're ever in San Fran check it out, will not be disappointed. They had free breakfast, free dinner on some nights, night events and organized trips oh and a bunch of other super duper awesome thingamajigs.

So the first full day after arriving we stuffed ourselves with free breakfast bagels and made our way to the Golden gate bridge. Just our luck though we picked the only foggy day to do this... which led to taking this masterpiece of a selfie:

After tha,t we took a walk down the park and found this amazingly beautiful landmark (Palace of Fine Arts) which I hadn't actually known about... We then made our way to Fisherman's Wharf- the must see tourist attraction although somehow ended up missing the sea lions which still baffles us as we later came back to find how incredibly loud and obvious they are... Also, hit up Musee Mecanique, a museum of old arcade fortune telling and puppet machines that cost 25 cents to run. Loads of random fortunes and creepy laughing ladies later we were off to our hostel for a free dinner and an event that seemed promising- beer Olympics :D

Yup, I ended up buying That hoodie :P

Beer Olympics went well, our team won 2 out of 4 rounds and we met some cool people that we then continued the night by hitting a random Chinese bar for karaoke and climbing a hill for a panoramic view of the city at night. We took a cab back that was called for us by our new friends using a taxi app (this is San Francisco after all) which had a whole selection of snacks and water for passengers to make use off and of course we did.

The next day after only about 3 hours of sleep we were off on a day trip where we saw the giant redwood trees, pt Reyes and had complimentary oysters and fish tacos after seeing the marine rescue center where they nurse the animals back to health. 

On our third day, we decided to hit Haight Ashbury famous for the hippy scene in the 60's. However, we took a free walking tour that also taught us a lot about San Francisco's architecture and history. Had this song stuck in my head for most of the day too:

Good example of three distinct 19th-century styles of houses

Painted ladies

Painted lady victorian

That night the hostel had organized a dinner crawl that people from everywhere could take part in and where we met a couple of great friends to hang out with. Since one was a local we proceeded to go back to his place and ended up singing for half the night as he played the piano (he was a pianist/ electric engineer- a man of many talents). Definitely better than having joined the rest of the people who went on to do karaoke.

Yet again we got back to the hostel in the early hours of the morning this time there was no time for sleep as we had to rush to our tour that took us to Yosemite national park (the look on the guys face at the front desk as we rushed to our room and back down and out at 5 am). The park was incredible and I hope to come back there in the future and camp for a few nights, do more walks. We only did one that took us to the waterfalls, which was awesome as you had to climb all of these boulders to get up close to them.

The last couple of days consisted of fitting all the things we hadn't seen yet like the famous touristy things such as riding the cable car, winding Lombard street, Golden Gate Park, Coit tower etc. We also met up with some of the friends we met a few days back and had dim sum (our hostel was right by China Town) We actually had 3 ladies fight over which restaurant we will go to, there were four of us and each woman was making rounds between us to convince us that their restaurant was better and the other more expensive and theirs is 'yummy'. After 7 minutes of that we had enough and just went with the first one offered, but man was that a crazy situation. Had another late night and had a very slow day our last day, don't get me wrong though it was still packed with things to see, just how I roll.

Size discrimination

Also, the day we went to Golden Gate park as we were stopping to take a photo of this mole that was digging up the ground this guy  who was doing the same started up some small talk, but instead of parting ways with us he proceeded to follow us our whole time there... Kind of awkward. We did keep up some light conversation despite it being hard as he didn't speak much English, but truth be told just wanted to think of a polite way to say goodbye. Anyway, he ended up taking the bus back to town with us and added my friend on facebook. So, a few days later she logs in, goes to his fb page and guess who is featuring on his cover photo? Well, it's a picture of us taken from behind when we were walking in front of him. Creepy as, right? Anywho, safe to say she won't be friending him back.

Milford sound and around

Last few weeks in New Zealand, time to check off some tourist destinations I have been avoiding my whole time here. The top of my list was Milford Sound - a must see destination in NZ. So, not being able to find people who could come with me (ok, I did decide to go the day before...) I set of on my own. 

Only having weekends for travel due to my internship being prolonged I couldn't travel for too long which meant I would be spending most of the 3 days I dedicated to this trip on a bus. No worries though, long journeys mean lots of chances to meet new people and everyone likes that, right?

Upon reaching the first bus stop I was not regretting setting off on this incredibly long ride. We had our lunch brake at Lake Tekapo, which was the nicest I have seen it yet. With the mountains lightly dusted with snow and the pastel yellow and red trees surrounding it, it was simply postcard pretty.

After admiring the views from the bus window and engaging in some light conversation with a new bus buddy for the rest of the ride I arrived in Queenstown when it was already getting dark. Was very glad with the hostel I booked for my stay. Since I chose to stay in an all girls dorm I had the luxury of having a bathroom in the room and all shower toiletries provided. This pink walled girly room even had a large vanity mirror and a hair straightener! However, I was disappointed to not find anyone there when I arrived. No worries, went to get a bite to eat at the famous Fergburger where I met 2 travelling girls one of which is now staying with me in Chch (What are the chances right?) , gotta love bonding over food and travel :)

The next day was my Milford Sound trip. We made several scenic stops in Fiordland National Park where I fell in love with it all over again. Had many great photo opportunities which is good because as soon as I reached Milford Sound my camera ran out of battery... Not exactly what you want, when you've travelled so far, but what can you do. Luckily I had made another acquaintance on the ride down who offered to email me some photos (really hoping she will). Not that it was the best weather for them as it was a bit cloudy and rainy as we ventured through the clouds with the boat. However, the benefit of that was that due to the rain, many temporary waterfalls were forming on the mountains which was stunning to see. And a couple large waterfalls made this experience unforgettable. Maybe some day I will return to see it in the sunshine as well :)

That evening I met up with a couple girls I met on this trip and we went out to a few bars including an Ice bar which I had booked in advance as I caught a cheap deal (score!). In the bar it was -8 degrees so they provided you with winter coats and gloves with improved grip as you had to drink your cocktail from an ice glass (which you got to smash once you were done with your drink!). It was a small place, but filled with awesome ice sculptures including an ice air hockey table you could play on.

In the morning, I set back to Christchurch meeting another awesome traveller on the bus :) With loads more travel ahead of me as I spend my last days here and then set off to the US, UK and Lithuania for the summer. Was a great warm up for the days ahead.

Walking on the hills

Since I've been going all around the South Island, but not actually exploring the areas close by, I spend the last few days going on day trips near Christchurch. The first was last Monday to Porters Pass and the second yesterday to the Port Hills.

Lyttelton harbour 

After weeks of rain and gloomy weather, it has been great to get out of the house and enjoy nature. It's supposed to be autumn here, but when the sun comes out I could be fooled into believing it's spring. Hoping for more sunny days as it's my last month here and I want to make the most of it :)

Yes they are.

Dancy song

I haven't done a song post for a while so thought it would be a good way to get into writing here again. This song is another that makes me want to get up and dance (gotta love those). I enjoy both the original and a remix version so if you like it I suggest you listen to to whichever I end up not posting as well. Enjoy!

Planning the future?

Who knows what the future will bring. I don't want to have it all figured out because setting and following a strict path stops you from wandering off it and finding amazing discoveries in unexpected places and limits what you experience. I want to be open and take in life as it comes. Not that goals shouldn't be set, but just have to be open to new possibilities so that when good opportunities come calling you don't say 'sorry, wrong number, I'm following a plan'... I want to find something that I am passionate about and work towards it, but not shut myself to all that life has to offer away from that because there is so much to learn and you never know how random wisdom gained will help you on any life project be it that one or ones to come.

Welcome Flat

A week ago I ventured to the West Coast with 22 enthusiastic trampers to do the Copland track and stay at the welcome flat hut with it's very own natural hot pools. This involved driving for 7 hours and then walking 20km each way and I enjoyed every moment of this lengthy adventure.

We knew this would be an eventful trip after the drive up included one of our drivers/organisers getting pulled over by the police for forgetting to turn lights on. We were fortunate that instead of a fine he got a suggestion of where to go for hiking (Travel advice by your friendly neighbourhood policeman). 

This happened when we stopped in this small town to grab a quick bite to eat or a drink. We ended up going to this pub since it was past 10pm and not much was open. There we somehow got roped into singing Karaoke much to the excitement of the locals. After singing our third song it was time to leave, I imagine they would have probably had us singing all night if that wasn't the case. But we followed our last songs advice and walked with our boots onward.

We got to our campsite at 1am noisily set up our tents (got asked the next day if we heard the rude people come in the middle of the night and being very loud...oops). Had an early wake-up call by a couple of very loud birds (still need to find out what they're called...).

The walk was great, many sights all appearing as the foggy clouds retreated opening up the wonderful views. Had to stop every few minutes for photos or to listen to (and speak with) the birds. Didn't even need princess powers to call them over, there were plenty, Tui, Fantails, Weka... Some followed us to eat up the bugs from the disturbed soil that resulted from us treading the path.

Had to cross some memorable footbridges on this track, nothing better to cross a very high wobbly bridge above river rapids to get that adrenalin pumping (booth for it being kinda scary when you look down and being so incredibly beautiful when you look to the sides).

After a long walk, we finally reached the hut...and hot pools! Was great, we all sat in one (the first arrivals had tested to find that the others were too hot or cold and settled in the one that was just right). We were there for 2-3 hours before coming back to the hut where the others had started preparing an amazing dinner for all :) Yum, yum.

The next day was a bit different. The benefit of going back the same way is that you can safely leave the camera alone and just enjoy the views without the urge to take photos (kinda regret not getting any of the birds though...). We also stayed in a bigger group instead of splitting up as the day before. This was nice as it gave a chance to talk to more people all of which on this trip were awesome and I hope to see on future trips.

We got greeted at the car park with the soundtrack of pitch perfect played by the people who had walked the track faster. I'm sure I wasn't the only one with songs from that CD in my head the whole ride back :P