January 29, 2015 (Sydney, Australia)

As soon as we finished the Aboriginal tour we quickly caught a taxi and drove to a restaurant where we meet our friends Sammi and Jenna. We met Sammi and Jenna in Tanzania during our service project. After lunch we walked right next door to a divine ice cream shop named Gelato Messina. Next we headed to the Harbour Bridge, to climb it with Sammi and Jenna. After a walk up to the top it was pleasant to feel the cool breeze strike against me and to see Sydney from a high view.

After saying goodbye to both of the girls we walked over to the Opera House to meet my Uncle Ben. When we arrived we found him and he talked about his cruise. The cruise that he is on is an around the world cruise but I he was only on it for about three and a half weeks.

As soon as we finished we walked a little ways to an outdoor movie theater where we are dinner and watched a movie with our friends the Palmerlees. The movie screen was really cool. The screen was on the water and would slowly slide up before the movie started playing. While I was watching the movie I could see fruit bats in the air and a great view of the Sydney Opera House. Once we got back to the hotel we did a few of our nightly duty's then went to bed.

January 28, 2015 (Sydney, Australia)

Sleeping in a little and waking up to pouring rain outside the window was more pleasant than waking up to freezing cold and walking 13 miles in the wilderness like last week. Because of the rain we were able to postpone our Bridge Climb to tomorrow and during that time we saw 2 IMAX movies and traveled to the Wildlife Park. The first movie we saw was D-Day. The movie was about World War II  and the tactics that the Allied Forces used to invade Western Europe. D- Day was significant because it was a turning point of World War II and hundreds of thousands of people died throughout that battle. 

The next film we saw was Unseen World. It was about things that are too slow, too fast or too small to see. The movie showed us about how other creatures and how we can’t see everything, or see all light. We can only see the rainbow light but other animals can see infrared like the mosquito. The movie said the more things we can see now will help us discover new things that will improve our lives. 

After a long series of transportation we finally made it to the Wildlife Park where we were able to interact with indigenous Australian animals such as the koala and the kangaroo. My favorite thing that we saw at the wildlife park was the Koala Bear. The Koala Bear is unique to Australia and is an herbivore, and a marsupial . Feeding the kangaroos was pretty scary. When it started to rain the kangaroos started jumping all over the place. One of the animals we also saw was the Wombat. It is related to the Koala but it bigger and lives on the ground. 

After a short transition at the hotel we walked over to the Sydney Opera House and saw the Magic Flute. It was a 2 hour production written by Mozart and was about a land between the moon and the sun and a prince and a princess falling in love. This was my first Opera I have ever been to. My favorite part was the male singer who had low bass voice. 

When the Magic Flute was finished it ws night time and we had dinner right outside the Sydney Opera house. During dinner we had a view of the Bridge, Harbor, the city and the Opera House. After a long day in Australia we were able to go home, do our blogs and crash!

January 27, 2015 (Queenstown, NZ to Sydney, Australia)

It was our last day in Queenstown NZ. We were not able to do much but we did make it into town. In town we first parked by Lake Wakitipu and found our way to Ivy and Lola’s where we had breakfast. For breakfast I had a great BLT Sesame seed bagel that was toasted. Later, after breakfast, we just walked around, looked for socks for mom, and stopped by the candy shop. At the candy store I got some Cola Rollers, which were cola flavored gobstoppers that were delicious. 

After returning the rental car at the airport we shuttled over to the airport where we caught a flight to Sydney, Australia. I listened and read Single Shard on the plane to Sydney. When we landed after our 2:45 min flight we were picked up by the hotel and brought to the Sydney Harbor Marriott. On the drive over to the hotel they gave me and my mom both travel journals to write in. The cover on mine said, “The World Seen By Sam”! 

We had a quick turnaround at the hotel room. We then drove to the LDS Temple, outside of Sydney. At the temple we did baptisms and I was even able to do a baptism for one lady’s father. The lady who I did the baptism for was a new convert and her father had passed away several years before. I am glad I was able to do the baptism for her dad. 

When we got back to the hotel, we both ordered room service and after dinner I ate  hokey pokey ice cream with carmel.

Ready to go into the Sydney LDS Temple

Outside The Station, where we signed up for all our activities

Outside Ivy and Lola's for breakfast 

January 26, 2015 (Queenstown, New Zealand)

Today I was able to sleep in. It was a pretty relaxed day. When we got out of the hotel we rode bikes into town on the bike path down by the lake, Lake Wakitipu. Along the way we came across a Korean lady that was on our Melford Track. Once we got to town we biked to The Station where we quickly booked our Shotover Jet boatride. Once we got a breakfast recommendation from the the lady Shotever Jet stand,  we soon found Vudu Cafe where we ate. Vudu Cafe had the best Orange Juice I have ever had and they had tasty pancakes.

Once we were back at The Station we hopped on a bus which took us to the Shotover River. At the river we had a Shotever Jetboat ride, which was exciting! While we were on it our driver did 360 spins and was inches away from the rocks through the river while going VERY fast! As soon as that was all finished we bike backed to our hotel and grabbed our rental car and drove to near Cornwall tot eh Heritage Motorsports Park. On the way we stopped by the bungy bridge, and watched people jump off the first commercial bungy jump. Another thing we did on the way, I listened and read the book, Single Shard. Once we got to the Motorsport Park, we had  quick look through their museum and then went to the cart track. Racing go karts was loads of fun. I was only racing against two other people, but still loads of fun.

After go karting we went back to the car museum because we didn't want it to close before we left. At the museum they had brand new cars to old cars to race only cars,...

For dinner back in Queenstown we ate with Ketan, w ho was a friend of ours on the Melford Track. For dinner we went to Blue Kanu. Once we were home we chilled, wrote my blog,  and went to bed.

January 25, 2015 (Queenstown, New Zealand)

Today was Sunday, which meant we were going to church. Church today was busy since it was the Branch's Conference. The message today was prayer and scripture study. In our next class after Sacrament we were joined by 3 members of Team Supertramp which is a group that creates action videos that are a YouTube session. All three members there are members of the LDS Church and visiting New Zealand to film, and we saw them at the Milford Sound yesterday before they filmed. 

After church, whose church I liked because of the natural light and the good lessons and people, there was a lunch held by the church  as well. As soon as we were finished with lunch we went home and did some homework. Afterwards we did home school. After an hour and a half session of homeschool we walked down to the Lake Wakatipu and dipped our feet in the water. 

In the evening we went to go hear a fireside held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints which had Team Supertramp with Devin Graham speaking. Their message was about how to follow your passions and be true to yourself. After the fireside we were able to meet and talk to all of Team Supertramp. After we were finished with the fireside we ate dinner at a pub right next door. Back home we wrote our blog and went to bed. 

Milford Track January 20-24, 2015 (Milford Sound, New Zealand)

When I was woken up in the morning of the Milford Track we took our time on getting to the Ultimate Hikes store. The Milford Track is a big backpacking hike in a valley and over a mountain with spectacular views. When we arrived we made sure everything was ready, then we hopped on the coach and fled from ultimate hikes and progressed to the Milford Track.

As soon as we departed from the coach we took a beautiful ferry ride to Milford Track. On the way there we were able to see Enormous mountains coming straight out of the fiord. Once we arrived at the Milford Track we had a short walk to our first lodge, the Glade House. Once we arrived we had a ten minute break then took a big group photo. After the photo we did a gentle optional nature walk up to a river. On the hike we learned about the mosses, fungus, bushes, trees, water, and animals. One of the things we learned about were the stoats. The Stoats were introduced to New Zealand because there were to many rabbits in NZ, which they also introduced to NZ because the settlers wanted it to feel more like England and used for meat. The only mammals in NZ originally were 2 different kinds of bats.

Day 2 of the Milford Track was our first real hiking day. When I woke up I was freezing cold because  we didn't have a heater or we weren't wearing many layers. Once we were up and ready we headed out the door and had 10 miles in front of us. One of the most spectacular views were when we came out of the rain forest and opened up into a big valley surrounded by huge mountains and some waterfalls. 

After 10 miles arriving at the next lodge, the Pompolona lodge we chilled played some games, got cleaned up, and ate dinner.

Day 3 was our huge hill climb! Todays stage wasn't just a hill climb it was also 9.5 miles through the stage. The beginning of the hike wasn't too bad but once you get to the switch backs, thats when it gets tiring. Once we finally got to the top and hiked a little to the lunch spot we had the most fantastic view, even from the loo. After a tortuous hike up we now had to hike down even steeper terrain than going up before!

Arriving at Quintin Lodge from a long grueling hike down felt great! When we arrived we were taken to our room, then Mom decided to hike the optional hike even though both of our feet were killing.

Day 4 was our final day hike! But it still wasn't an easy one. It was our longest day with us having to walk a half marathon with a backpack that weighs at least 20 pounds!

The first part of our hike at least went quickly with not much scenery to see. Once we were hiking again we then stopped to watch some of the people in our group jump off a bridge into freezing cold water that was some where around 30 feet. 

Our lunch spot was beautiful. At our lunch spot there was a little gray beach, river running beside us, and a big waterfall right in front of us.

After lunch we had only a few more miles togo until Sandfly Point where we would finish our hike. On the last moments of our hike we had our last fresh breath, and one of the last looks of the Milford Track.

When we finished 33.5 miles of the Milford Track we felt accomplishment and took the ferry over to a small town, Milford Sound,then to a hotel where we slept for the night.

Day 5 we were leaving and taking a quick flight to Queenstown, but first we took a boat around the Milford Fiord and to the Tasman Sea. On the ferry we could see seals, dolphins, and great views.

When we were dropped off at the hotel, we first said good bye to all our friends. Then Mom and I slowly made our way over to the airport where we would fly to Queenstown. On the flight we were able to see the Milford Track, from Sandfly Point to the first lodge, the Glade House.

As soon as we made it off of the airport in Queenstown we rented a car and went skydiving! The company we were skydiving at was named Nzone. Our skydive had almost no safety instruction. Once we were suited up, in the plane, and flying to altitude that is when I got really scared. And when we were at altitude my tandem instructor ripped the sliding door open and we both flung out the plane doing a backflip at around 12,000 feet! As soon as I was stable thousands of feet in the air it felt  better. When we pulled the shoot we had a slight jerk then glided smoothly in the air.

When we checked back into the Rees Hotel we did our blogs then headed into Queenstown for dinner, ice cream, and to pick up our skydiving videos and pictures. After dinner we walked over to Patagonia's, where we got our ice cream.

As soon as we got back to the hotel I looked at our footage, finished our blogs, and watched a movie.

Me Sky Diving over Queenstown

 Mom Skydiving 

Me dropping out of the plane from 12,000 feet!