fourteen and a half

akaroa is a french settlement about an hour and a half away from christchurch. it’s a small town with restaurants, homes, and tourist shops, but it borders on an amazing lake. it’s really quite beautiful and was so lovely to spend a day exploring! (the previous photoset is akaroa!)

christchurch was very different than we expected. the entire city centre was damaged by the earthquake in february 2011, and even now people are not allowed access because of its danger. it was pretty disheartening to see; it felt like the earthquakes had broken the city and its heart.

lake tekapo (the previous photoset!) is located exactly halfway between queenstown and christchurch. my friend and i took a bus to lake tekapo and stayed for two nights. it’s a very small town (there isn’t even an atm there!) and so there isn’t much to do, but it’s very beautiful! we went to the hot springs and had dinner out and basically relaxed. it was kinda nice to not be running around like we had been in queenstown and auckland. some people were swimming in the lake, but from what we saw (and heard) it was freezing cold!!

the franz josef glacier is a 5 hour drive from queenstown. my friend and i rented a car and drove 5 hours each way in one day (on the wrong side of the road and in the wrong side of the car!!) to see and climb this glacier. i had a terrible cold but i did it anyway and it was definitely a good choice. we were soaked to the skin (it was raining all day) but we got to wear crampons and climb on and learn about a gigantic chunk of ice that doesn’t melt! next set of photos will also be of the glacier!

those previous photos are from queenstown new zealand! it’s small and homey but has tons of exciting things to do including skydiving and hang-gliding. it’s also got the most amazing views of a massive lake that it borders. ate the biggest and arguably the best burger ever there. huge line but definitely worth the wait!