After the long week of work, it was time for another amazing weekend! On Friday, I went into the city and met with our friend Hillary for some food. She then came back to our house and we planned our trip that we were taking to Dunedin in early June. After that, Hillary and I realized that we have very similar final schedules so we decided on some more traveling that we want to do after finals and before our sad departure at the end of June. It was then off to bed because I had to be up @ 7am for the day trip with the girls!
Colleen had some friends coming into town so she wanted to show them an amazing time. She and Danielle, along with their two flatmates, two friends and I loaded into the Silver Bullet (our amazing minivan) and headed outside of Wellington towards the Puntangirua Pinnacles. (A Lord of the Rings site, I was told) It was ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING. Not only was the drive amazing (although I have yet to find a drive here in NZ that does not leave me in awe...) but once we arrived, I could not believe what was before my eyes... these tall rock formations that looked like an exponentially larger version of sand-drip castles you make at the beach.
Trekking away.
We started our trek on the path that led us to the base of the pinnacles. Using stepping stones to cross rivers and sifting through rocks and rubble, I felt like a kid on a mission to explore the unknown. Upon reaching the base of the pinnacles, I stopped to look around at the views. Remarkable and all of its synonyms were the only words that came to mind. I was actually speechless- I had never seen anything like it. Avoiding the "Caution, falling rocks" signs, the girls and I decided to march right up to the pinnacles for a photo op- no amount of mud or sweat would stop us.
Magnificent.
Up-close and personal w/ the Pinnacles.
Next, we decided to do the long trek up to the lookout. What an adventure; after walking (and sweating) up at a consistently steep incline for a long time, we made it up to the lookout and boy, was it worth it. After persuading the lovely Germans (there are TONS of them here!) to take our photo, we decided to plop down and have lunch on the lookout platform. SO fun. After taking a long break, we decided to head back down the mountain. Talking with the girls about everything from the future and our aspirations to babies (may I point out that Colleen and Danielle were two of the first people here to love and accept the fact that I love babies and everything to do with them? True friendship.) to our experiences here, and GLEE- we were down the mountain and back to our car in no time.
On the way up to the Lookout.
Our view from our Lunch spot :)
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