Winter Break

For winter break me and some friends did the Abel Tasman track in the north of the south island.  We spent three nights in huts.  Overall it was a great trip, weather  was good, and we even took a day off of hiking to just hang out on the beach.  The tides were really crazy, the water moved over a hundred yards inland during high tide at certain places!  We also saw some crazy glow in the dark bugs while hiking in the dark.  I went swimming for a second but as it is still winter, it was pretty cold.  Anyways, it was nice to get out in the wilderness for a couple days.

A cool wood tepee during the first couple minuets of our hike:
Just some cool stream:

One of the huts we stayed in:
My great hiking crew:
During high tide the water would probably cover all this beach:

Also during the break my roommate Greg and his parents had us in for a night at their house, they were very nice and hospitable... cooking us a great meal.  We spent two nights in Kaikoura which is on the east cost.  Overall it was a great trip.

The Catlins

So, a couple weekends ago I went to this place on the south-west coast of the south island of New Zealand called the Catlins.  A lot of it was like a rain-forest and there were tons of waterfalls.  I went with some friends... Liza, Alex, and Duncan.  Anyways it was a bunch of short hikes and some cool views, here are some pics...

Nugget Point:

The World's Rarest Penguin:
A Seal, or Sea Lion, or something:
A cool waterfall:
This waterfall was huge! We ended up hiking to the top: