Hello!
Sorry for my lack of blog posts, I have been on school holiday and doing lots of traveling! School holiday is when the students (and teachers) get a two-week break from school before the next school term starts. Mckenna, another student teacher from the US, and I decided to take advantage of this and spent the whole time traveling! Mckenna has cousins in Sydney, Australia who were gracious enough to let us stay with them for the first week of the holiday. Our first day there, her cousins, Kathy and Vic, took us to Hunter Valley Area, which has 200+ wine vineyards.
 |
| Mckenna and I at a vineyard |
 |
| Cathy, Mckenna, and I |
On our second day, we went to The Reptile Park, which was similar to a zoo. When you walk into the park, you are greeted by kangaroos that are running around freely. It was intimidating to go up to them at first, but they like having people pet them. We did end up seeing a kangaroo try to box a little girl, which was extremely scary! While at the park, I also got to pet a dingo puppy and get my photo taken with a baby Koala!
On our third day, we took a train into the city and finally got to see the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge! They were so amazing to see in person and they were HUGE. We ended up wandering the city and seeing everything Sydney has to offer. We got lunch at the Queen Victoria Building and walked around the shops inside. After that, we went to Darling Harbour, rode a Ferris wheel, and went into a lighthouse. We ended up taking a ferry back, at sunset, and we went under the Harbour Bridge and passed the Opera House.
On the fourth day, we went back to the city and stayed the night at a hostel. We explored china town and a cool mall that is filled with souvenirs and other things to buy.
*Sorry I have no pictures for this :(
The second half of my holiday was spent in Queenstown, New Zealand. Queenstown is a small town on the south island, which is completely surrounded by mountains. This town was absolutely gorgeous! On our first day there, Mckenna and I took a gondola ride to the top of a hill, which had a building with a bar/restaurant, bungee jumping, a luge, and stores. While we were up there, Mckenna and I talked ourselves into Bungee Jumping because it was created in Queenstown, so how could we not? It was completely terrifying, but amazing at the same time. I would definitely recommend doing it if you ever have the chance.
The next day we took a road trip to Oamaru, which is known for PENGUINS. I finally got to see penguins in the wild and it was amazing. We waited at this one beach hoping to see Yellow-Eyed penguins, but we, unfortunately, didn't find any. The next beach we went to had a colony of Little Blue penguins and we saw about 50! They were so adorable. As we were preparing to leave the penguins, we saw a shooting star! It was huge and it was my first one I have ever seen!
The rest of our time in Queenstown consisted of exploring the area with some people we met during our trip. We walked around the city center and even went into the botanical gardens! Through these trips, I have been able to meet so many different people that are traveling the world and it really inspires me to see more of the world. I couldn't be here and doing these things if it wasn't for all of you supporting me and helping me get here. I can't thank you enough and I will be back in the states in 22 days!
