Romping in Paradise

“Hey Hannah, where did you go this weekend?” “Oh, you know, to Paradise.” Legit. I went to a place called Paradise… and it was pretty close to just that. It was the first official trip with the tramping club, where the hike lasted more than a half hour march up a hill. There were about 65 people on the trip total, but we split up into smaller groups for each hike.
***PAUSE. Wagon Wheel is playing. Shout out to SLU!***
Ok, so on my hike was my roommate and another friend Jackie, and then a guy from North Carolina, a girl from the Netherlands, a girl from Ohio, and TWO Kiwis, plus our Kiwi leader. Oh yeah, 80% of the tramping club is international students. So much for trying to branch out and meet the locals. But, since Julia and I were conveniently some of the last to get to the meeting place, we hopped in a van rather than the coach bus and rode with some of the trip leaders… real, live, Kiwis through and through. On the way there, Joe announced to the van “Have you ever seen a road cone on top of a mountain?” After we all answered no, he immediately pulled the van over, told Kate to grab a cone on the side of the road and announced that he would carry it up tomorrow, and place it on top of the mountain.
So we got to the site, and it was already about midnight. Much to our dismay, there was a group of rowdy campers that had clearly been there for a quite some time, judging from the music, singing, dancing, empty bottles, and use of a headlamp on SOS for a strobe light. YES. So we went to another site after turning the bus around, and finally set up camp and got to bed around 1:00. Julia and I slept in my brand new tent (2 person bearing the name Hubba Hubba, I kid you not), which I am in love with. I’m that geek that is just is so excited to use all of my new camping gear. The next morning when I was getting all of my bowls/cup/spork out, Krystal looked at me (as I was giddy), laughed, and said “You are so in your element right now.” (Couldn’t help but think of you Berg!!) But yeah, so we woke up that morning, again, surrounded by the Southern Alp beauty. Everything here seems straight out of a postcard… it’s absolutely breathtaking, and it’s moments like those when I realize that I am really, finally in New Zealand. It’s awesome.

So our hike was lead by Paula, who Julia and I met earlier in the week, and she sort of gave us the impression that she hated us. But I guess she was having a bad day, cause she is awesome, and ended up having a great time. Our group hiked to the Scott Basin, which gave quite a variety of terrain. We started climbing up a steep, steep hill in a paddock for sheep, and quickly entered what seemed like a jungle, bringing us to a waterfall straight out of a Disney movie. Soo beautiful.

It was then pretty normal hiking though the woods for about 2 hours, brining us to the river, where we stopped to eat lunch. At this point, a girl who clearly was nowhere near in shape (DON’T sign up for a medium+ hike if you know you can’t handle it! You’re in New Zealand; they take this tramping thing kind of seriously). So we left a few people at our lunch spot, and hiked up to the top of a peak about 45 minutes fast hiking up. And it was spectacular! The bush-whacking that we did to get there (and my legs are scabbed to prove it) was totally worth it.

The grass may look soft, but it is very deceiving. I have so many cuts on my legs now.

We then turned around and went back down to the other girls, and hiked down to where we met the van to pick us up. On the way back, we had something that stereotypically would happen here. As we were driving along, we turned a corner and had to slam on the breaks in order not to run into a flock of about 100 sheep being herded along the side of the road by a farmer and his daughter on horses, and about 7 sheep dogs.


So great. We then got back to the campsite, went swimming in the river (so cold, but soo refreshing), and started to make dinner. This is where the $80 that we paid for our trip came in. Each group was in a competition to win the best meal, so we each had entrees (what they call hors d'oeuvre here) of bread, Brie and Camembert cheese (couldn’t help but think of you LG), and spreads for our bread. Then the main course was steak/onion/pepper kababs, and desert was lime-coconut tart with yogurt, chocolate sauce, and raspberries. Soooo goooood. Needless to say, we won dessert. Then came the best part of the night: WORM WRESTELING. Basically by the headlights of the car, 2 people got in a sleeping bag each, got on their knees, and entered the ring. They then fought (without the use of hands), until one was pushed out of the ring, or a round 2 was called for. So of course Krystal challenged me, and we both could stop laughing. But I did hear someone say that we both pulled the best moves they had seen all night. It was a good fight, but in the end Krystal ended up pushing me out of the ring. My fellow slu-goers we warned: worm wrestling WILL happen in townhouse 303 next year. Get psyched.

WORM WRESTLING!!

Krystal is in the Army, so I guess it's okay she beat me. Plus, I was nearly peeing my pants laughing as you can see.

So the next morning we got all packed up and then went swimming in a gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains about a 20 minute walk from our site, came back, packed the vans and buses and left.

Swimming in the lake in Paradise

Julia and I decided to van it again, which was SUCH a good decision. Taking an alternate route, we went through the mountains that were pure NZ farmland. It was a 1-lane dirt road that we had to open gates at (sheep were some of the only signs of civilization seen). We were driving with a cliff face straight up to one side, and a drop off of, well, a long way, to the other. It was so cool! It was a great way to see a new part of the country and we got to know our Kiwi guides a lot better than if we had been on the bus.
(See the other van behind us? ->)

So that is Paradise in a wrap. And by wrap I mean extensively long post. But my Mom and Nana are here this week, and I head off to Queenstown with them for the weekend leaving tomorrow morning. Yesterday we went to the Otago Peninsula and saw Hooker Sea Lions (rarest in the world), Fur Seals, Royal Albatross, and saw where Julia and I will return to see the yellow eyed and blue penguins. They come up at dusk (which is about 8:30 now), so we didn’t want to stay that long and drive back in the dark. But Julia and I will return!