In Which I Post Part of an E-Mail

Kia ora!

This is part of an e-mail I sent to my mom concerning the roadtrip I am currently on. My Internet time is limited right now, so I will expand on it later, but enjoy!

"Driving on the wrong side was very interesting - I only had one mistake, and that was pulling out of the parking lot of the YHA hostel. Other than that, it just takes getting used to, and there's good motivation not to screw up on the main roads! Unfortunately, the car we have is not that great. It doesn't go above 65 km/h on hills, and the brake and gas are not sensitive at all - you have to pound on both. You'd easily get sick with your motion sickness!

Gas is $1.61 a litre, I think. So it's expensive to fill up here! Our car cost aroud $60 to fill up on an almost empty tank. We have a silver Toyota Spacio (we named her Izzy), and it's pretty roomy and fits all our stuff, which we're pleased about! It even has enough room to fit a fifth person and their stuff, hence why we were able to give a Tawainese guy at the hostel in Mt. Cook a ride to Queenstown so he could catch a bus.

I'm jealous of the warm weather! I just bought a light fleece jacket here that is easily layered with because I know I'm going to get cold. I'm wondering if I'll need another one... Right now we're in Queenstown, and it was cold enough to hail yesterday! It was bad weather for bungy jumping, so I'm off to do that today, when the weather is only overcast and cold instead of overcast, rainy, and cold. :) The weather is good enough for the paragliders to be out over Queenstown, and Olivia is going sky diving from 15,000ft, and as I type this the sun peeked out, so I'm hoping the weather holds as we drive to Milford Sound along the mountain roads today!

I do wish you could have seen Lake Tekapo though. It was the most blue-green I've ever seen water, and that kind of colour is only seen on lakes that have deposits from glaciers! And would you believe I saw said glaciers??? I stood not even fifty feet away from them as they floated on Hooker Lake at Mt. Cook! We had to cross two large swing bridges to see said glaciers. It was truly an awe-inspiring sight, and despite the three hour return on Hooker Trail, through cold, wind, and rain, to see Hooker Lake, it was absolutely worth it. I was disappointed that we couldn't see Mt. Cook through the fog, but we did see some beautiful waterfalls because of the rain run-off, and that in itself is something just as special.

Today is our last day in Queenstown, as we all do our "extreme activity" before piling in the car off to Milford Sound, a solid five hour drive. We will have to fill up, as there is no gas station between Te Anu and Milford Sound, and the road is said to be on cliff edges at point, so wish us all luck! We're all pretty good drivers, so I'm confident we'll be fine.

The road trip has been action packed, and I'm thankful for the people I'm getting to know better! I've had some good talks with some of the girls, and I'm inspired to be more like one of them, as she's always bright, cheerful, and praising/thanking God for everything that comes our way, good or bad. She's truly an inspiration, and I'm pleased to be able to travel with her and learn from her!"

Hope you are all well, and I will post again soon!


Cheers,
Nicole

Psalm 118:22-24