once again it is monday.

and once again i am in michigan... it's time for the last blog! (until my next adventure.) lets make this a keeper. .. ... what to SAY?! right now all i'm doing is prepping my mind for coming back to calgary. (i mean aside from the obvious mass hangouts that go on here mixed with frisbee and bible study and painting my house and pulling out my hair (literally, because it is long and it comes out so easily.. its actually kind of disgusting because its turning into a habit way to quickly and leaving trails of hair everywhere isn't attractive to me. yucky.)) but i mean... michigan is michigan. this isn't my re-entry, because i only come here a few times a year so its always fully on to do stuff while i'm here because i won't be here long. but going back to calgary where i LIVE will be the challenge. going back into normal life outside my sheltered bubble. i loved the bubble and i will miss the bubble, but i'm ready and stoked to see if i've actually changed, even though my world has not. but i feel like i have, so we'll have to see. its good to be home. (the other day i realized i'm the opposite of homeless.. i'm homefull, because i can't say specifically which one place is my 'home' because pretty much everywhere i go i can consider 'home'. its nice being adaptable. i'm easy.)

the last few days of travel were probably the best.. after queenstown we headed up the west coast towards greymouth. we stopped along a beautiful lake that night and in the morning we had such an amazing view of the mountains and the lake and the sunshine and the bunnies an rainbows an fluffy clouds OH it was glorious. we headed up to the fox glacier and got as close as we could without stepping over the boundaries (those stupid STUPID constricting boundaries.. we could guide ourselves.. c'mon! all it takes to be a guide is a pick axe, a backpack, and a beard.) but we had a good time. then we went to the franz josef glacier about half hour away and didn't go nearly as close but trekked through the forest for awhile only to come upon a path that winds up the hill we were going to the top of to look at the glacier from. if we had only travelled 20 feet more before crossing the creek... humility rules. (the glaciers were pretty ... pretty. i was kinda shocked i'd never seen a glacier before. isn't the rockies riddled with them? obviously i have some exploring to do.) that night we went just north of greymouth (after some late night mcdonalds (to charge our camera's an stuff! what! (i DID happen upon some french fries... and a sunday.. and i will not regret it.))) and found this really sweet camp spot just off the road in the trees.. problem was it was super muddy and i was really nervous we were gonna get stuck. the crew said screw it, let it harden over night an we'll just peel out in the morning. BUT it rained all night and when we woke up the whole area was sopping wet... i had lost sleep over this fact and knowing that we'd be stuck.. but rest comes and goes y'know? (at least i wasn't losing sleep over thinking about girls (high five!! me!! good on I)) so before we had breakfast we tried to get out an got stuck (of course). it was a good battle going back and forth and back and forth doing a 37-point turn with a motor home trying not to get even more stuck but eventually we turned fully around and blasted through the mud in first gear and then we celebrated with porridge. we went to the pancake rocks/blowholes that morning and it was probably the coolest place we'd been yet... west coast? thumbs way up. like not even crooked, just amazing.

then where did we go... we went up. and up and up and up to the northern most point on the southern island. joanna was looking for a specific beach but.. we never found it. but we had a good time wandering the sandy beaches in the dark. surprisingly good pictures too! me an nik tried to scare silvia but she is a master straight face.. no frights for her. we drove all the way back to greymouth and spent the night outside of arthurs pass.. the first spot we pulled into had a cowskin with a decapitated cow head a few feet away and it smelled like death... we agreed this was unsuitable and creepy as hell to sleep next too so we just parked at the next picnic area and slept for a few hours.... thhhhhhhhhhhen arthurs pass happened an it was a most beautiful moment. i thought it was gonna be all windy and horrible but it turned out to be super fast and easy and we got through it to christchurch really stinkin fast... but we stopped along the way at a caving area called cave stream and thought we were gonna have a cool hike along the cave but it was a legit caving area so we couldn't even get near the mouth of the cave.. we tried, and tried, and eventually got 'near' the mouth of the cave, but couldn't go inside. next time cave.. next time. i thought i was a claustrophobic person but i wanted to go in soooo badly... me'n nik walked along the stream for a bit and had some good picture moments but once we finally discovered the exit of the cave we felt satisfied. it'd be a good experience one day... so then we packed up, did what you do when you return a motorhome, then slept at the airport one last night. they had their flights at 5 in the morning to australia so i had to say bye and that SUUCKED but it wasn't as hard as it should have been because they were stressed (late, heavy luggage, visa issues... suckfest) but yep... that is how we ended.

the flight home was pretty much the easiest flight i've ever done... it was only 12 hours this time and for some reason it was the quickest 12 hours of my life. i watched 4 1/2 movies and i think at one point i must have passed out unknowingly because 4 1/2 movies is not 12 hours. but i did not complain! same with the four hours from LA to detroit... just passed out and arrived somehow. SO ended my journey... i have a bundle of thank you letters to write because i truly am thankful for everyone with any part they played in my trip. money, prayers, it all made it happen. i learned... so much. SO stinkin much. i can't wait to look back on all this... it'll be amazing and hopefully spiritually boosting... i've got danger ahead and i need to be protected during it. WHELP. you'll probably get a letter. i love you, thank you for reading.