Janessa's Adventures Abroad: No Pants, No Problem! South Island Trip Part 4

Our last few days on the South Island were pretty chill. From Abel Tasman we drove out to Picton and stayed the night there. Our hostel was really cute and they had free dessert at 8pm which was delicious! We watched The Help and just chilled and ate Tim Tam slams. It was awesome. The next day was really rough for me because I found out my dear friend Carmody Sagers passed away. She had been in the hospital for a week with acute liver failure and we were all praying for her. The doctors were just waiting for her body to be strong enough for a transplant but God had other plans. She passed away on Sunday February 17^th but I didn’t find out until Wednesday because we didn’t have internet access until then. It’s been really hard for me to be so far away while all of this was going on but my old roommates from Freshman year kept me updated and went to the funeral for me. I miss her a lot and it’s still kind of weird to think that she’s gone. We took the ferry back to Wellington that day and I found a comfy area on the boat to sit and watch movies. They had internet access too so I was able to post a few pictures of us that I found on my computer. I also found a poem written by Gordon B. Hinckley that helped me feel better about everything.

"What is this thing that men call death?

This quiet passing in the night?

‘Tis not the end but genesis

Of better worlds and greater light

O God, touch Thou my aching heart

And calm my troubled, haunting fears

Let hope and faith, transcendent, pure

Give strength and peace beyond my tears.

There is no death, but only change

With recompense for vict’ry won

The gift of Him who loved all men

The Son of God, the Holy One."

So with that on my mind I pushed through the last few days of our trip. We spent the rest of the afternoon in Wellington. We went to the museum there which was amazing! It had a ton of stuff to see and almost every exhibit has a discovery center for kids. So cool! Then I ran around with Sara and Elise trying to find all the Lord of the Rings stuff. Apparently our book was a little out of date because it said there was a film museum but they actually got rid of it a few years ago. Bummer. But we did find the theater where they have all the movie premiers and the film archive where they keep all the footage. That was pretty sweet. Then we drove out to WETA cave and looked around the gift shop. They had some props and costumes from the movies which was amazing! But they also had a movie about the history of WETA and a tour of the workshop that we didn’t get to do! I was so sad! Apparently we didn’t have time for it. I still get upset just thinking about the fact that we were RIGHT THERE and we didn’t get to do it! Lame. We also drove out and saw the red rocks which is where they filmed part of the second LOTR movie. Then we spent the night in Wellington and got up the next morning and drove to Taupo. We were going to camp there but then some cabins opened up so we got to stay in them instead! Hallelujah! They were super nice, too. We went down to the little hot pools and spent the afternoon there. They had a really sweet water slide, too! It was super fun. Then we all pooled our money together and went to the grocery store to get food for that night. We made spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and had ice cream, popcorn, tim tams, and milo. It was awesome! We watched two movies and had a dance party. Hahaha, it was sooooooo much fun! The next day we drove back to Auckland. We all were pretty sad about having to go back to our separate houses after being together for two weeks. However, now me, Rachel, and Andrea are a lot closer to Brooke and Kylie which is great! We moved to a new host family the day we got back from our trip and it has been awesome! Our host mom is so nice and her kids are so funny. She has four kids, Jarom is 14, Kaylie is 13, Evan is 8, and Sariah is 7. They are so cute and seriously, the funniest kids ever! We stay up talking to them every night. The other day they danced for us and then Kaylie taught us part of one of her routines for Polyfest. So cool! They also have a pet bunny named Carrots. He is the cutest bunny ever! So our new host family is the best!

New Address:

47 Garelja Road

Henderson

Auckland, New Zealand 0612