Sweet As!

So this past weekend was extremely eventful. I didn't have any classes on Friday so a bunch of us decided to go back to Taylor's Mistake and scope out a few rocks to jump off of :-\ Ok, it sounded all fine and dandy until we got there... Eep. Anway, so we did the usual hike to Taylor's Mistake, no biggie, and then the boys were like, "Oh yeah! Down here!" Oh you mean that rock face that leads into a bunch of bushes? Of course you do...So following the leader, we tramped down these sketch rocks but the view was definitely worth it. It was beautiful. The water was so blue and the cliffs and hills around us were just unbelievable. It was nuts. Anyway, so the week before, a bunch of boys had found this little nook and said, "Hey! I think I can jump off of this!" So they got into the water and dove around for a bit to see if they could reach the bottom and they deduced it was a perfect place to jump off of. Ever since then, adrenaline seekers/curious people were hounding these guys about where it was. Thus, the trip back to Taylor's Mistake.
Anyway, so there were about 15 of us on this particular trip and I was starting to chicken out a bit, but I just said to myself, "Gracie, grow a pair. You can do it!" So Kelsey and I followed the boys (after they had jumped a handful of times). We shakily made our way up the side of the rock and looked over and saw how far down it was...20-30 feet? Yuck. Anyway. So the boys said to us, "if you walk out to the edge, you can't come back!" I didn't take that as a "You can do this!" instead of a warning... Oh well. So I forgot all my logic and said, "You can doooo this!" I stepped off the ledge and did it. I jumped! It was one of the scariest things I've ever done, honestly. It took so long to hit the water and my body was reacting so strangely. I knew I should keep a perfect pin jump, but my poor fight/flight reaction decided against that. Which led to this beautiful bruise I have on my thigh now. I think I tucked my leg underneath me when I reached the water? I dont actually know. But in this picture (courtesy of Kelsey) you can see my little lean. Yuck, again.
When I hit the water, I immediately lost my bikini top, of course. So I had to fumble under the water for a bit and situate myself before climbing onto the rocks back to the group. People told me that I looked LIVID when I was in the water. Damn straight I did. I had NO idea why I had just done that! YUUUCK! Anyway I got onto the rocks and oh joy, the barnacles cut up my legs/feet. Awesome. It was kind of funny though. Every single girl that jumped got torn up by the rocks on the way out, but the boys? Totally unscathed.
So the moral of my story? I did it. I'm proud of myself for doing it. I'm not sure I have to do it again, but there's a little part of me that's intrigued. I'll definitely do a smaller jump, but this particular one? Eh...not so sure. But seriously, totally proud of myself for doing something completely out of character :) But also seriously, doubt I'll do it again.....

The next day we were all scheduled to go to Hanmer Springs and Kaikoura to have a little hiking/camping excursion. We were planning on leaving at 9:30 but oh that didn't happen at all. We left around 12, I think. Awesome. Once in the car, the ten of us trampers, played the best car games. Big Booty, anyone? Awwww Yeah, Big Booty. Don't worry family, just you wait till we take a road trip out here...I'll teach ya :-P Also, "HEY COW!" You shoult "Hey Cow!" at cows, if they look, you get a point, if a horse looks at you when you scream "HEY COW!" you get two points. Sheep? Well they're too busy chomping on grass to care :)


It took us a few hours to get to Hanmer Springs. Henry had heard of a great tramp up to a waterfall halfway up the mountain so we definitely wanted to go there. The hike was intense. It was beautiful, but exhausting. I think I might have developed a touch of asthma from the stupid flu I had before I came here, b/c I swear I was breathing through a straw. I felt kinda bad b/c people were trying to get me to keep walking and I was stubborn and not having it. I should probably bring an inhaler next time I go on a hike :-\ Whooooops. Oh well, I wont dwell on my unpreparedness. We reached the waterfall and it was spectacular! Just a skinny little waterfall in the middle of nowhere. It was awesome. The day was beautiful and super hot, so we all wanted to cool off--it was f-f-f-f-freezing.

We continued up the rest of the tramp up to the top of the mountain. It was fantastic. A little bit of climbing rocks, and hurtling tree roots. It was gorgeous. So we reached the top and I SWEAR that Peter Jackson filmed some bits of LOTR here. It was exactly Rohan (NERD ALERT), but seriously, totes cool. PS. It was Mount Isobel--not as cool as if it was Mt. Isabelle, but phonetically, basc. the same thing :)

After munching on some snackies at the top we decided to make our way down. Since we had gotten a late start, it was 4:30 by the time we got to the top so it was about time to start heading down. We took a different way, which, ended up to the be a completely WRONG way...but did we care? Nah, not really. It was beautiful, nbd :) We got to a completely unfamiliar place and just decided to walk back to the touristy Hanmer. Once in the middle of town Stephen and Jon decided to just run the 5K back to the car and bring it back to us. How they could run 5K after hiking? No idea, but more power to them. They made it in like 30 mins. Sheesh.

We debated for a while about what to do next. Go to the thermal springs? Eat dinner? Drive to Kaikoura? All three. We went to the thermal springs and snuck onto a water slide :) Ask Geoff about the G.S. (green slide) I didn't get a chance to appreciate it, but apparently it was life changing. Then we got some fish and chips, or in Kelsey and my case, awful sausage burgers with beets. Yuck. Then we drove to Kaikoura to find what turned out to be a prime camping site.

In Kaikoura, about an hour plus away from Hanmer, we found a great camping site right on the beach. It was fantastic. Cold, but fantastic. The three girls got a tent to themselves and some of the boys slept in the giant van. After setting up our tents and getting ready for bed, we all ventured to the beach for a little bit and saw these prime rocks that just begged to be climbed. All 10 of us made our way up these rocks and watched the beautiful stars and picturesque moon. It was perfection. Perfect summer night.

The next morning, the girls were woken up to, "Get up girls! There's a tsunami coming!" Uh, what? Yep. Tsunami. As you all know by now there was a horrible earthquake off the coast of Chile and a tsunami warning was issued for the entire coast of NZ. So we got up and packed lickity split and got into the van. We made our way into the city to see what civilization was saying. Then we got kicked out of every single beachy spot we got to. No one in Kaikoura was freaking out. They were saying that they get tsunami warnings all the time...still, I was nervous. Luckily, nothing happened and we spent the day inland. So Kaikoura? Gorgeous! The beaches were amazing. They dont have sand, its just little pebbles that mold to your body when you lay down and you dont even have to worry about getting sandy. It was amazing. Then we got kicked out, so yeah, not so fun. But I'll definitely go back there when it's not so...oh, tsunami-rific?

Then we made our way back home! Everyone else was going to the cricket game so Kelsey and I tried to get tickets but were unsuccessful. Then I passed out :) Haha, oh eventful weekend! Here are some of my favorite pics of the trip!

xoxo