Hi everyone!
Torti family: I know Ella was supposed to do this post and the next but we have to be checked out of our hostel soon so I'm gonna do it real quick. Don't you worry, she will write the best blog EVER next time :)
Ok so last time we wrote, we were in Hokitika. We successfully hitched to Nelson with an awesome artist who lives in London, Christian. He was able to fit all 3 of us in his car and it was awesome to meet him. We stopped by the Pancake Rocks which were amazing and had some ice cream along the way. When we got to Nelson we checked into a hostel called Accents on the Park which has been our home since we got here. Our first night at Accents, Ella gave me a little haircut and we had a great dinner. Since we got here we've been to the beach and spent a lot of time at the library.
For Christmas Eve Ella, Hugh and I went out for a nice dinner and it was delicious. After we had our amazing steak and potatoes we had a traditional New Zealand dessert called Pavlova. It's kind of like a meringue cake with fruit and whipped cream, very tasty. Yesterday was Christmas and we celebrated by making french toast and swapping jade that we bought for each other in Hokitika. Then Ella bought her plane ticket to Thailand (yeah girl!) and we spent the rest of the day on the beach with a box of wine. Not such a bad day but definitely a bad head ache this morning.
Today Ella and I are starting another 3 day, 3 night hike called the Abel Tasman Track. It's going to be 3 days of walking on white sand beaches and sleeping under the stars so it will be awesome. We have no real plans for new years yet but that's always kind of a disappointing holiday so we'll figure it out when it rolls around.
I got really homesick yesterday after talking to my family on Skype, it was awesome to see everyone though! I hope everyone's christmas was great and we love you!
xoxo lilly
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Hokitika
Hi guys!
I don't remember when I last blogged so I'll do my best to get caught up. I think the last time I blogged, Ella and I had just gotten off the Routeburn Track.
The day after we left Queenstown we hitched to Franz Josef. We did a 9 hour glacier hike in Franz Josef and it was awesome! We made some delicious food at the hostel and then I finally satisfied my Lord of the Rings craving and watched the first movie. It was just as amazing as I remember :)
Yesterday we hitched from Franz Josef to Hokitika, the Jade center of New Zealand. It was pouring rain in Franz Josef but we were finally picked up by a great North Island couple, Grant and Jen. Thanks again you guys! Today Ella and I bought some jade for each other, it's bad luck to buy it for yourself so we got it for each other and are going to swap it for christmas. Tomorrow we hitch to Nelson and will be there for Christmas.
Ok that's all right now. I'm too tired to make this an interesting blog today.
We love and miss you guys a lot!
xoxo Lilly and Ella
I don't remember when I last blogged so I'll do my best to get caught up. I think the last time I blogged, Ella and I had just gotten off the Routeburn Track.
The day after we left Queenstown we hitched to Franz Josef. We did a 9 hour glacier hike in Franz Josef and it was awesome! We made some delicious food at the hostel and then I finally satisfied my Lord of the Rings craving and watched the first movie. It was just as amazing as I remember :)
Yesterday we hitched from Franz Josef to Hokitika, the Jade center of New Zealand. It was pouring rain in Franz Josef but we were finally picked up by a great North Island couple, Grant and Jen. Thanks again you guys! Today Ella and I bought some jade for each other, it's bad luck to buy it for yourself so we got it for each other and are going to swap it for christmas. Tomorrow we hitch to Nelson and will be there for Christmas.
Ok that's all right now. I'm too tired to make this an interesting blog today.
We love and miss you guys a lot!
xoxo Lilly and Ella
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
2 girls, 2 backpacks, and 20 miles of up hill
Hi everyone!
Once again, I apologize for the long wait on our post. We've been busy little bees over here. Currently listening to bagpipers outside our window (side note but i thought you might like to know).
The last we posted we were in Queenstown. We are back in Queenstown after a crazy adventure with our friend Hugh from Missoula. We met Hugh here on the 9th and headed to a little town called Wanaka the next day. We spent 2 nights there doing hikes and camping, playing on playgrounds and stealing showers from a hostel there. The next day we drove to Milford Sound, a gorgeous (but very rainy) place surrounded by mountains. We planned on camping the night we got there but it was pouring rain and had the worst sand flies (new zealand's version of a mosquito; way worse because you can't hear them coming), so we stayed the night in a hostel there. The next morning we went on a cruise through the sound with a couple cool British boys we met in the hostel; we saw a dolphin, seals, and stole enough free breakfast to last us a couple days. After the cruise, Hugh dropped Ella and me off at the start of the Routeburn Track and headed back to Queenstown. The Routeburn Track is a 4 day, 3 night hike and it was amazing! We slept on the hardest campsites I think either one of us has ever slept on, hiked for 7 hours in the sun up a mountain and had a blast doing it. We got off the track today and are staying in Queenstown tonight to catch up on sleep and rest our sore bodies, then are hitching to Franz Josef tomorrow to go glacier hiking! We will have internet there for the next 2 days so we will be in touch if anyone needs anything.
We both got a bit homesick on the hike, there's a lot of time to think when you're too winded to talk. We'll be missing home, family and friends with the holidays coming up so keep the comments coming :)
We love you guys!
xoxo Lilly and Ella
Once again, I apologize for the long wait on our post. We've been busy little bees over here. Currently listening to bagpipers outside our window (side note but i thought you might like to know).
The last we posted we were in Queenstown. We are back in Queenstown after a crazy adventure with our friend Hugh from Missoula. We met Hugh here on the 9th and headed to a little town called Wanaka the next day. We spent 2 nights there doing hikes and camping, playing on playgrounds and stealing showers from a hostel there. The next day we drove to Milford Sound, a gorgeous (but very rainy) place surrounded by mountains. We planned on camping the night we got there but it was pouring rain and had the worst sand flies (new zealand's version of a mosquito; way worse because you can't hear them coming), so we stayed the night in a hostel there. The next morning we went on a cruise through the sound with a couple cool British boys we met in the hostel; we saw a dolphin, seals, and stole enough free breakfast to last us a couple days. After the cruise, Hugh dropped Ella and me off at the start of the Routeburn Track and headed back to Queenstown. The Routeburn Track is a 4 day, 3 night hike and it was amazing! We slept on the hardest campsites I think either one of us has ever slept on, hiked for 7 hours in the sun up a mountain and had a blast doing it. We got off the track today and are staying in Queenstown tonight to catch up on sleep and rest our sore bodies, then are hitching to Franz Josef tomorrow to go glacier hiking! We will have internet there for the next 2 days so we will be in touch if anyone needs anything.
We both got a bit homesick on the hike, there's a lot of time to think when you're too winded to talk. We'll be missing home, family and friends with the holidays coming up so keep the comments coming :)
We love you guys!
xoxo Lilly and Ella
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Weird isn't necessarily bad....
Hi guys!
Ok, once again, a lot has happened since our last post. It's kind of inevitable I guess when you're moving as fast as Ella and I are though. We arrived in Queenstown yesterday; it is a gorgeous little town, right on a beautiful lake and sandwiched between the most gorgeous, tree covered mountains. It is very touristy and very expensive so our time in the actual town will be short. Today is Ella's birthday and to celebrate she is doing the tallest bungey jump in New Zealand! It's something like 440 meters or some shit I can't convert because I don't know the metric system but it is real high. I would have gone with her but I have no desire to throw myself off a cliff and fall through the air for 10 seconds so I'm holding down the fort til she gets back. We are going to meet with our friend Hugh from University tomorrow and go camping for a few days then we have another farm set up on the 14th.
Alright, so last we posted we were in Dunedin. We are far from there now. We hitched from Dunedin to a tiny town called Balclutha and had a hell of a time getting picked up because it was so small. We finally got picked up by a wonderful woman named Tracey and her daughter Tess. Tess is going to the olympics for rowing one day! She was so bad ass and it was wonderful to meet them. Tracey gave us a ride all the way to Colac Bay where we helped out at a restaurant for a few days. We were supposed to be there for about a week but they had us washing cars and scraping bird shit off buildings and picking cigarette butts off the parking lot.... needless to say we left early. I didn't fly across the damn world to pick up other people's trash. Anyway, we hitched from Colac Bay to an old student of my dad's in Balfour and stayed with her family for a couple days. Zoe, Maisey, Ethan, Hayden, John and Kim you guys were awesome and so funny, it was great to get to hang out with you! After we left Balfour we hitched a ride to Queenstown, had the best seafood chowder of our lives (seriously, there were like 6 whole mussels in each of our bowls!), and now we are here :)
Anyway, I love you guys. I got homesick for the first time the other night and I have red wine to blame for it. We think about you all all the time but are still having a blast. We love you!
xoxo Lilly and Ella
Ok, once again, a lot has happened since our last post. It's kind of inevitable I guess when you're moving as fast as Ella and I are though. We arrived in Queenstown yesterday; it is a gorgeous little town, right on a beautiful lake and sandwiched between the most gorgeous, tree covered mountains. It is very touristy and very expensive so our time in the actual town will be short. Today is Ella's birthday and to celebrate she is doing the tallest bungey jump in New Zealand! It's something like 440 meters or some shit I can't convert because I don't know the metric system but it is real high. I would have gone with her but I have no desire to throw myself off a cliff and fall through the air for 10 seconds so I'm holding down the fort til she gets back. We are going to meet with our friend Hugh from University tomorrow and go camping for a few days then we have another farm set up on the 14th.
Alright, so last we posted we were in Dunedin. We are far from there now. We hitched from Dunedin to a tiny town called Balclutha and had a hell of a time getting picked up because it was so small. We finally got picked up by a wonderful woman named Tracey and her daughter Tess. Tess is going to the olympics for rowing one day! She was so bad ass and it was wonderful to meet them. Tracey gave us a ride all the way to Colac Bay where we helped out at a restaurant for a few days. We were supposed to be there for about a week but they had us washing cars and scraping bird shit off buildings and picking cigarette butts off the parking lot.... needless to say we left early. I didn't fly across the damn world to pick up other people's trash. Anyway, we hitched from Colac Bay to an old student of my dad's in Balfour and stayed with her family for a couple days. Zoe, Maisey, Ethan, Hayden, John and Kim you guys were awesome and so funny, it was great to get to hang out with you! After we left Balfour we hitched a ride to Queenstown, had the best seafood chowder of our lives (seriously, there were like 6 whole mussels in each of our bowls!), and now we are here :)
Anyway, I love you guys. I got homesick for the first time the other night and I have red wine to blame for it. We think about you all all the time but are still having a blast. We love you!
xoxo Lilly and Ella
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