Welcome to the South Island!

Alarms went off around 5:15am and we slowly started stirring. I was the first one to bed around 9 last night but I still felt exhausted. At least it was only another day in the car so I could fall asleep whenever. Everything was packed and ready to go by 6:30. The family we stayed with had laid out breakfast for us and then they had left a bunch of snacks and giant water bottles for us to take as well. They were so very kind to open up their home like that. I really hope that's what my house is like when I grow up :).

It was only a half hour drive to where we had to catch the ferry. I thought of you dad when we drove up! It was the biggest ferry I have ever seen! It was more like a mini cruse liner! Huge freight cars and trucks were being loaded in while we waited our turn to board. Because of the loads they were running behind schedule but I didn't complain because we got an extra hour of sleep in the car while we waited. We woke up just in time to start the car (we were riding with Erika again) and board. Lucky for us they packed us in towards the front so we were able to leave pretty quickly once we got to the South Island.

It was a perfect day for a 3 hour ferry! We waved good bye to the city (I can't wait to explore Wellington on our way back) and immediately were taken aback by the scenery that was in front of us. Giant green mountains surrounded us on all sides and with the sharp contrast of the blue green water it was a sight to behold! We wanted to stay up top for the whole 3 hours so that we wouldn't miss anything but pretty soon we were hitting more open sea and the wind and sea spray brought us inside. Our mini cruse ship was equipped with a cafe, two movie rooms with plasma tvs (the rooms were surrounded by glass on all sides so you could still see out through the windows to the outside), and lots of comfy places to sit. We went into the movie room for a bit and watched some of over the hedge and nim's island. Surprise surprise I fell asleep... And I woke up to James telling us to go up on deck and watch us make our way through cook's straight.

It was the most perfect day with hardly any clouds! The high mountain walls rose up like a sea of green with a house dotted here and there (if I ever become a millionaire I know where I am building my summer home!). The sea was so calm and barely rippled as we made our way trough the water. With so many people up on deck I had the chance to make a few new friends. It is surprising to me how many kiwis have never been to the South Island. Most of the ysa we hang out with have never travelled there and some of the kiwis I chatted with on the boat were going over for the first time.

Our boat made it I to port about 45 minutes later. It was kind of funny because the port was nothing more than a small town with a few giant unloading cranes. After about 20 minutes we were on the road again heading down to Christchurch. It was so strange because it felt like the moment we left the coast we were back in Utah with giant mountains in the background and brown grass covered hills. Oh and sheep lots and lots of sheep!!
You would almost feel like the brown was not going to end and then random pockets would reveal the blue-green sea water just letting us know that it was still present. At one point we found ourselves winding through the curves of a road with the sea to the left and giant cliffs to the right that had changed from brown back to their tropical green.

James made a stop along this particular road and told us to look down. There we discovered a whole group of seal mums with their pups just sunning themselves on some rocks! It was incredible! There was a little footpath down where you could get a closer look and so some of us took it just to see better. There was this group of pups playing with each other in a small protected inlet. They were so funny to watch as they tumbled and chased each other all over the place. We were busy taking pictures of them playing when I just happened to look down and see a little head staring at us from under the rock we were standing on. Upon further discovery we realized that our rock was a mother's den and that she was inside nursing her pup when the baby heard us above them and wanted to check it out. It was the cutest thing. We backed away of course and we found another rock with no previous inhabitants to continue watching the seals play. It was so very cool!!

Our trip continued without much else that happened. Except for a random stop a gas station for the bathroom when some very attractive boys pulled up in their truck and boat alongside us. One of them hopped out and approached me saying that they had been out diving and that they had an extra crayfish to give away if we wanted. We said yes and i got a plastic bag to put it in. They thought they would scare me by telling me its alive but i had no problem picking it up and sticking it in the bag :) We made it to Christchurch and we're staying until Monday morning with some of James' family. As you can probably see he knows everyone some by relation and others well just because. We have a pretty nice setup with some girls sleeping in the house and others in tents out back (that's where I am). After dropping off our stuff James had us pile back in the car and he drove us around town.

Some of you might already know this but a few years ago Christchurch had a series of terrible earthquakes that nearly destroyed the town. The house where we are staying has a huge crack down one wall and the patio out back is all cracked. Even though it has been a few years the roads are still terrible and very bumpy. As we drove around you can still see damage all over the place with houses hanging off of cliffs and giant rubbish bins (the size of train cars) lining the streets. We stopped for some dinner just us girls and James. Erika's cousin flew in be with us during our trip and so Erika went to go get her. We had a super interesting experience as we stopped for food. James pulled up we got out to get some food. When we got back two guys had pulled up next to him and like he usually does he was making friends. We didn't have to look at the guys to know they were drunk all we had to so was listen to them say how hot they thought we were in loud voices. You have to be pretty drunk to think a bunch of girls without makeup on, who haven't properly showered, and who have been stuck in a car for two days are attractive. James told the guys not to waste their time since we were Mormons and then he drove us away.

We stopped at a pier along the coast and it was beautiful. For most of our trip today I seriously felt like we'd been driving through middle earth all day because of the overcast sky and also the smoke covering the mountains from a wildfire down south. The overcast sky made the ocean a beautiful dark grey green color. Just like James does he made friends with some of the fishermen along the pier and they let us hold some of the crabs and little sharks they had caught. We also met up with the missionaries by chance and one of them was from the states. He had been out for a year and a half and kept saying that he hasn't seen so many Americans in once place at one time in so long.

We got home at sunset and got ready for bed. We'll be going to church here at 1 tomorrow (thankfully we can sleep in) and I hope we go to our roommate Camilla's ward since she is from Christchurch. We'll just have to wait and see. Well sleep is calling!!