Travel Bug!

So the past month and a half have been so incredible. I have seen the east side of Austrlia, staying in Sydney, Callaroy Beach, and Brisbane. We walked all over Sydney, saw the Harbor Bridge, Opera House, the Gardens and some of the city. Callaroy Beach was just awesome because it was a giant beach and we just layed out for a couple days, like some beached whales. Brisbane was by far my favorite, the city was beautiful. We took the local farry down the river, celebrated Jake's birthday at the festival, went to the Brisbane museum and went to a club one of the nights which was so much fun. Brisbane reminded me of Chicago so much and the people were so nice there.

New Zealand was probably the best memories of this entire trip. we did just about everything you could do in less than 3 weeks. Stayed in Christichurch, Kaikoura, Greymouth, Franz Joseph, Wanaka, Queenstown, Te Anau, Akaora and then back to Christchurch.
~Kaikoura was a cute, little, old fashioned town with a couple attractions, hotels and local bars. We did an all day hike and got to see all the sea lions and the east coast of Zew Zealand. We went sea kayaking....which was not as much fun for me...sea sickness :( and we played triva at the local bar.
~We took the tranz alpine across new zeland to Greymouth, where we rented a car. AHHHH!!! Jake drove the entire time, which was because Brad and i weren't of age and Nicole didn't feel like it. In Greymouth we went north a bit to see the pancake rocks, which was also amazing. We drove the car south then to Franz joseph, stopping at a few spots along the way, which were just fun.
~Franz Joseph was so much fun we climbed a glacier and slept on a beach....CRAZY!
~From Franz Joseph we went to Wanaka, which was ok...I did not like Puzzling World but the guys did. We did go to this awesome movie theater that had couches everywhere instead of movie seats.
~From Wanaka we went to Queenstown and enjoyed the city for the night. The next day we visited Milford Sound which was just gorgeous. We took a cruize through the sound and had some lunch. On the way back we hiked a bit.
~We did not make it all the way back to Queenstown so we stayed in Te Anau that night. This is where the Kepler trek would leave from. That night we had some awesome pizza and just chilled in our car for the last time. hahahahaha :)
~We drove back to Queenstown that day to return the car. In Queenstown we went up the Gondola and did the Luge, which was just a giant slide. Nicole and I saw a cultural performance that we got to take part in and we had Margaritas at the top of the MT. looking over the entire city.
~We then returned the car and tooka bus back to Te Anau, where we began the Kepler Trek. The Kepler Trek was insane, beautiful, incredible, a workout.....every positive adjective out there. We spent 3 days walking through lands that you would only normally see on discovery channel, or in pictures on google. I got a chance to get to know the group very well and have alot of fun with them.
~We made it back to Te Anau just in time to watch the superbowl...how cool, to watch the American Superbowl in New Zealand. Took a bus back to Queenstown the next day to get some adrenaline rushes.
~Queenstown, we did some shopping, went out to eat a couple times and saw the city. We also did the insane things, like sky diving, bungy jumping, whitewater rafting, and Jake took me Mt. Biking....which was alot harder than I thought it would be. We met up with some of our friends and did a pub crawl which was fun but man not worth the 20 bucks.
~We had to head back to christchurch and Tony was nice enough to give us a ride back. We stopped at Mt. Cook on the way and climbed one of the Mt. Holy cow that was the hardest climb I have ever done in my life, but the view was breathtaking. I slept so well that night, even though we were in a tent in this wind storm....hahaah.
~We also went to Akaora which was just funny. It was kinda a crapy day but we made the most of it, by taking a walk and trying to see as much of the town as we could. Drove back to Christchurch the next day and got everything reday for our flight to Perth.
~Christchurch was fun, we went to the wildlife center and a pub that night to watch the olympics. It also happened to be Valentines day, which was funny because it was Jake, Tony, Nicoel and I, with all these couples hanging out.
~The last day in New Zealand we spent in Christchurch and it was just relazing, had coffee and headed to the airport. Bye New Zealand...Hello Fremantle Australia!!!