Janessa's Adventures Abroad: No Pants, No Problem! South Island Trip Part 3

The last two days have definitely been an adventure to say the least. Yesterday we got up and went to get briefed about our kayaking trip! I was really nervous. I have never gone kayaking before because I’ve always been too scared of flipping over and drowning. So when we were talking about what to do if we flip over, I got really scared and was reconsidering my choice to go kayaking. But I did it anyways. We drug our kayak out to the water and me and Brook hopped in our kayak. It was a little rough at first but then we got the hang of it. It was so fun! I was glad I did it but I don’t know how keen I am to do it again. We kayaked for hours and I’m so sore! To pass the time we sang just about every song we know. We made it all the way through 99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall for the first time in both of our lives. About half way through I got bored and started singing in different voices. Hahaha, it was pretty great. We stopped for lunch and then went on a little further. When we stopped the second time, half of us walked the rest of the way to our camp and the others kayaked some more. I was so tired and my shoulders were so sore so I decided to walk. We were totally in the wild, in the middle of nowhere. It was absolutely beautiful though. The path took us up a hill so we got a great view of the bay. The water in the park is so blue! It is so beautiful. When we got to our hut we claimed our beds for our group and then went looking for the rest of our bags. The kayak company said they would shuttle our bags to our hut and they would be there when we got there. However, apparently our bags had gotten sent to the wrong place. So we had to wait another hour for our stuff to get there. But it all worked out. The hut we stayed in had two rooms and a kitchen type place. The rooms had like a giant bunk bed with 6 sleeping mats on the top and 6 on the bottom. We took up almost a whole room by ourselves but a nice couple ended up sharing it with us. Once the other girls made it to the hut we all had dinner and then drank milo on the beach while we watched the sunset. It was so much fun! We all sat around and talked and told funny stories. Then we all went to bed. I was terrified that I was going to be attacked by bugs the whole night so I didn’t sleep very well. It also got really hot in our room which made it hard for me to sleep, too. So morning came way too quickly but we all got up and got ready for our day of hiking. First we hiked to a place called Cleopatra’s pool. It’s a fresh water pool with lots of smooth rocks and a natural water slide. The water was freezing but it felt good after hiking for an hour. It was so much fun going down the slide, too! It’s carved into the rocks by the water and it’s covered in moss so it’s soft and smooth. It was awesome! Then we hiked for another 45 minutes or so to a beach and had lunch. Then we hiked for another two hours. At one point we came to a really high suspension bridge and it was so scary to cross. I waited and went across last and I closed my eyes the whole time. But I made it! When we finally made it to the end of the hike we were all so exhausted and hot. It came out on a beach so we all jumped in the water. I can’t even describe how beautiful the beach was. The water was nice and cool and clear and the sand was white. It was so great. We sat there for a while and then we took a water taxi back to our hostel right outside the park. We all just showered (the best shower of my life!), James made us a delicious dinner, and now we are watching The Hunger Games and just hanging out. We’re all super sore and tired so we’ll probably fall asleep really early as well. I’m also sorry if there are a ton of spelling or grammar errors in this post… Hahaha, I feel so hardcore though! I did so many things that I never thought I would ever do in my life. It’s been so crazy and so fun!