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Last year, I had one of the best road trips I've ever had in my life doing and seeing things I had always dreamt of in a land so breathtakingly beautiful and magical - New Zealand, land of the hobbits! We started off from the country's capital - wellington, flying all the way to Christchurch which was on the South Island. Debora - a French speaking girl from Switzerland, and Martha - one of my bestfriends from college joined me on this adventure. Martha, sadly, could only stay during the weekend in Christchurch, so Debs and I traveled the South Island together after Martha left. It was nonetheless a fun weekend getaway for Martha and I as we hadn't seen each other for more than 5 years!!! Martha was one of those rare-find friends who stuck by my side as I fought cancer, and the spirit breaking treatments. I could always count on her for encouragements, and a shoulder to cry on. So, this trip was double special for both of us as it was a trip that none of us would have imagined possible at all! =)

Martha had to fly all the way from Auckland to meet up with us at the airport in Wellington, and together we flew to Christchurch. Of course considering that Debs and I were penniless missionaries, we had arranged to stay in backpackers! I wouldn't change it for anything else! It was worth every single penny, fun, and we made a lot of new fun fearless people! Oh..and the backpackers we stayed in were clean, the staff in every single backpacker were friendly and helpful, it was truly well worth it! Anyways, in Christchurch we stayed at Base backpackers which was very centrally located - right by the Cathedral square! We checked in pretty late so we went straight to bed. We were awoken in the middle of the night when a few people came in the room (I think they were pretty wasted!), and went on whispering very loudly for about half an hour before they finally retired to bed. We did have a good sleep after that though. =)

Next morning, we woke up very early - before Mr. Sun rose! We had booked a trip on a bus to Mt. Hutt - a snow capped mountain (it was winter!Both Martha and I were excited about the possibility of seeing our very first snow(!!), and of hanging out for a few hours, while Debbie was excited about skiing again (she'd been skiing since she was 4 years old!).

So..here goes..pictures from the weekend in Christchurch.

Base Backpackers - where we stayed

There was only one very old lift in the building. I was very amused!

Waiting in the wee hours of the morning for the bus that would take us up to Mt. Hutt

The bus =)

Of course it wouldn't be New Zealand without sheep!

Getting there...

Getting closer..Can't you feel the excitement!

Here we go!

The three chicks =)

On the way up..

Top of the world! We actually walked all the way up here from the lift stop. It was majestic. No one else was here but us, so we did some pretty silly stuff.

After a thousand takes..haha!

Martha covered in snow...

Of course we had to make snow angel! Several of them actually!!

Oh and Debs taught us how to ski!

Of course in the end, she ended up dragging me around..hahahha

The next morning, Martha flew back Auckland, while Debs and I lingered for a bit in Christchurch. This is the famous Christchurch cathedral right across where we stayed.

From Christchurch, we traveled to Antartica..Stay tuned for pictures!

to be continued....