Eye Opening Adventure

Having never flown over an ocean, my flight from LAX to Wellington was very nerve racking, but once I got there, saw the city and the people I'd be spending the next 2 1/2 months with, the nerves died down and I knew my adventure was just beginning. The New Zealand and Australia Semester took us around all of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia, taking in the gorgeous serenity and the bustling cities. We climbed mountains, canoed rivers, helped make the national parks cleaner and better for hikers, we jumped off bridges and out of planes and had an amazing time. It was great being able to give back to the national parks by helping tidy up the paths, because we would've never made it if our trails were cleared and well marked (who knows, we could still be out there...I wouldn't mind!)

The leadership days were really helpful and beneficial to growing leadership skills. Each week or weekend, a new person would be our leader, would assign tasks or "get to know each other" experiences, would have to organize all the housing or gathering of people...I feel like I can now lead a group of individuals who are close to my age but still be looked at as a friend and a leader.

I was pushed on several occasions both physically, mentally and emotionally. I think the biggest example was when we were in the Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park hiking up a mountain. No one saw the first stair, but me, and it said something like 3,000 stairs to go. I thought it was a joke. One of the girls, Nikki, myself and our leader Dan, were going full speed up these stairs build into the side of the mountain. About an hour later, we weren't there yet and my legs were on fire. I told them to go ahead without me and I would continue my journey up the mountain. Every 15 steps I would stop and take a breath, turn around and take a photo. I ran into really nice couples along the way and chatted about their experiences, which helped take my mind off the pain of my legs. Dan, our leader, had told us awhile back that all the negatives can easily be turned into positives, just by flipping a brain switch. So although I was in so many physical pain, I turned that negative into a positive, and thought that I was going to have a great butt and legs after this hike! I kept pushing through and was so happy when I saw Nikki and Dan standing at the top...however that was false Summit #1. The next section of the hike was bouldering over massive rocks and boulders (duh!). I lost them once again and it was back to my mental climb. I thought so many times, "I can just turn around and go back to the hostel," but I couldn't let myself do that. I needed to finish this hike by myself to prove that I could. I made it to false summit #2, took a deep breath and looked at the mountain next to me. I was sweating bullets and the mountain one over was covered in snow and there were occasional avalanches that you could hear. All I wanted was to roll in that snow! I continued following the path and stumbling over boulders and came around a corner and saw, maybe half a mile away, this red hut in the distance, and I knew I had made it. I was so proud of myself, being an athlete I thought this hike would be easy...it definitely proved me wrong. Nikki, Dan and I ate lunch at the top and took some breathtaking pictures, then went back down. We even ran back to the hostel, even though our knees were killer and our legs jell-o. We took a nice rewarding break in the hostels sauna. I know that this hike in particular will always be with me and when I think something is too hard for me to complete or push through, I can look back and say "I pushed through then, what's holding me back now?"

Overall, I walked away from the experience being a better person, an adventurer who wants to now travel the world and will always be grateful for this trip, the leader and the people that were involved, as well. I thank Pacific Discovery for the opportunity and I wish others like me will have similar discoveries and adventures!