Mountains and Miracles

With one 10 page research paper done and one written submission to go, I am off to Australia for mid-semester break! In about an hour we are going to drive to Christchurch, stay the night, and then catch a flight out to Sydney early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately I’ll have a little bit of work to get done while I’m there, but I am looking forward to an exciting and relaxing week away from Dunedin.

In other news, I went on a ski trip to Mt. Hutt last weekend, about 4 and a half hours north of Dunedin. It was a trip through the University so we didn’t have to worry about accommodations, food, directions, which was really nice! The group on the trip ended up just being a group of my friends. I was kind of looking forward to meeting new people, but it was fun having a different travel group and already being comfortable with everyone. We stayed in a hostel in the town, which was about 45 minutes from the slopes.IMG_5154

Saturday morning we loaded up all our gear, bundled up and then made our way up the mountain. Since there is only snow at top of the range, you have to drive up the mountain far above the tree line to get to the slopes. We had great weather, great fun, and only a couple minor bumps and bruises. Plus some great views of the mountain ranges!IMG_5098

 

It is now 5am. I’m writing from the Christchurch airport after a dramatic night and about an hour of sleep. My travel companions are fast asleep on the couches next to me. We kept pushing back our departure time from Dunedin since we all had so much to get done before leaving so we ended up getting in the car to leave at 6:45pm. We got gas and then stopped at the library to print out a list of things Meg wanted to see and do while in Sydney. When we tried to leave the library, the car wouldn’t start. The engine wouldn’t even turn. We frantically researched buses and other car options to get us to Christchurch, but it soon became apparent that we were much too late and there was no possible way to make our flight. We called a tow-truck, all hope lost, and low and behold a miracle happened! He fixed something and we were back on track in total shock. We made it to the Christchurch airport at around midnight. Who knows what surprises will await us with our car when we get back, but by some miracle we made it to the airport in plenty of time for our flights.

We ran into a couple other international students who directed us to a $5 lounge we could hang out in for a couple hours until checking in. We sat/laid on the hard floor in the cold, bright, loud room for about 3 hours and now here we are. We’re about to board a flight we thought was impossible just a few hours ago. Australia, here we come!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *