New Zealand is amazing. Every where you looked was a beautiful sight of flat land then these huge mountains in the background with a very blue lake in some spots. I took some many pics that all could be used for post cards and I'm not even that good at taking pics.. its that pretty there. I did so many different things went, hiking, on a cruise, kayaking, on a shot over the canyon swing, horse back riding, luging, walked on a glacier, went to an ice bar, and stayed at a sheep farm. I am sure i missed a few things too.

some highlights were the canyon swing for sure which is you leap off a platform 109 meters above the canyon, and free fall for 60 meters then you swing through the canyon.. amazing rush!! and of course the horse ride was so pretty and fun. We got to ride through many of the scenes of Lord of the Rings movies (all of the movies were filmed through out the Country) and also got to see a few spots were they filmed the new Narnia and X-men movie. My horse was 7 years old a standard bred and his name was Harry (coincidence.. i think not) we got to go thru the mountains and woods we only got to walk but the scenery made up for the lack of trotting and cantering. It was still nice to be around horses again.

The tour was alot of fun cuz we got to meet some many different people from different countries. Everyone was around our age which was nice. The tour guides were also alot of fun. Every morning they would blast the song "Livin on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi to get us excited it was fun the first couple of times but i think know the whole thing now, haha. Also we went on this glow warm walk. We all went into the woods and only Chelsea our leader had a torch (flashlight) so it was very dark. We saw so many glow warms which are maggots that glow cuz the way they digest their food chemically causes them to glow or something like that. they were very cool to see but weren't able to take pics of them just have to believe me that they exist. Oh and to make the walk scarier Scott the tour guide was running ahead of us and growling and jumping out of trees at us.. fun stuff. he also scared us with a possum. He had a possum puppet and told us it was real and as we went to pet it grabbed us with it.. it was hilarious guess u had to be there..

It was fun learning about other countries culture through the stories everyone would tell. people came from all over, england, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, new Zealand, Australia, Korea, and of course other Americans. So yeah the trip was amazing i took so many pics but unfortunately the place we are staying in Melbourne only lets us upload/download so much and we haven't gotten our user names to use the internet at school yet but hopefully soon i can put them up. But till then just imagine how nice it was.

So far Melbourne is pretty nice, we started class today which seems interesting our teacher is older and Dutch but funny. Our first class is on Australian Literature and then at the end of May we start Australian History. the school is huge but nice so far. where we are staying is interesting. we all have singles that are very tiny. our toilet and shower are in the same little stall so you get to shower with ur toilet basically and we only have a microwave and fridge so i will be eating alot of ramen and pb and j. it does have a gym which i have been to twice so far and we've only been here three days.. need to work off some of the aussie 15 ( jk didn't really gain that much) and it has a pool and restaurant. but if u want anything extra u have to pay or live with out it like another pillow to make two or another blanket or to use the treadmill you have to pay a $20 deposit.. so stupid but there is this huge cheap liquor store down the road. Haven't been to the main city yet but heard its nice and has this Huge market with like 1000 different vendors that should be fun.

Some things i am hoping to do before leaving Australia.. the time has gone so fast can't believe we are more than halfway done. I am hoping to go to Sydney soon on our 3 day weekend and go to the Great Barrier Reef on our 4 day break between blocks. Also go visit my friend Amanda from the barn who is 2 hours from the city for a weekend. Hoping i can get all this done and more..

Hope everyone else is doing good: Mom you had a great time in Ireland, Dad you are having fun with the house to urself, Jared ur job search goes well, Ash that you are continuing to have fun at school, and that the Horse show went well.

Miss and love you all xoxox

cheers mates :) :)