Another Epic Hike - Milford Sound

While we were in Queenstown, after staff conference was finished, Ryan and I decided to try out some South Island tramping. The Milford Track is a pretty famous hike (even voted one of the best in the world!), so why not give it a go! We actually had to book the hike back in July because it sells out so fast, and they only let 40 people go a day.

Unfortunately, our first day started in the middle of a storm. I was thinking, why in the world did we decide to do this...

But, we woke up the next morning and the sun was shining! We hiked for about 6 hours to the next hut.
There was a nice lake next to the hut, and it felt good to take out packs off for the day!

The 3rd day was the big day. Up and over the mountain pass. Unfortunately, it was the worst weather...wet, cold, and windy. But, we made it to the top, to see the McKinnon Memorial.
And here I am at the highest point!

On our way down the other side, there were beautiful waterfalls! I guess that's the catch, rain = waterfalls, no rain = no waterfalls. So, yay rain? :)
Sutherland Falls was also on our way down, which is New Zealand's tallest waterfall, and the 4th largest in the world in case you were wondering.

And a few more waterfalls...yes, I look lovely.


And we've reached the fourth, and final day! The track started to flatten out as we approached Milford Sound.
Oh wait, one more waterfall...


And, beautiful Milford Sound!

We made it!
All 33.5 miles.
Next up, Amazing Race?

It felt so good to take off my hiking boots on that last day and just sit on the boat headed back to the city. It was such a beautiful hike, and I'm so grateful we were able to do it!

Queenstown - Staff Conference

Soon after returning from Thailand, we were headed off again...to Queenstown! Our annual staff conference was held on the South Island, and this year, it included a Theology Class. We spent 5 hours a day listening to Ray walk us through the fundamentals of the Christian faith. And, we actually had to study and pass an exam at the end!

We had a break one afternoon and took a team trip to a nearby winery for desserts. The lavender was beautiful.

And the mountains aren't so bad either...

The sunsets over Queenstown were gorgeous every night. What an amazing place to be learning about our God!

And we played a lot of ping pong.

Unfortunately, it even rains in Queenstown...

The guys played rugby.
And on our last day in Queenstown we went up the gondola, and it was a beautiful day!

Ryan had been wanting to do some sort of adventure activity. Queenstown is known to be the 'adventure capital' of NZ...so the pressure was on. He decided paragliding would be pretty cool:

And, one final shot of the lake.

We were definitely sad to leave. Everyone says how they love Queenstown, and I think I would have to agree!

Falls - Tongariro park

On our last day in Turangi, we took a hike to Taranaki Falls. It took us right past Mt Ruapehu:


And to the falls!

On to Wellington next!

the Tongariro Crossing

Warning, this post could get long! One of the highlights of our trip up to Taupo was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It is considered one of the best one-day walks in New Zealand, so we had to check it out!

We started bright and early, around 7am...yikes.
The sun was beautiful in the morning against the mountains. It was one of the first days of spring that casual hikers were allowed to go out, so the trail wasn't packed. (we soon found out there was still plenty of snow on the ground)

The terrain was so different from what we've seen in other parts of New Zealand. Very dry and desert like. Almost like the moon?

Like I said, there was still plenty of snow on the trail. Some of the trail markers were buried several feet down in the snow with only the tips sticking out. It wasn't until we were home and I was looking at pictures online that I realized how much snow there really was. Fortunately the sun kept us pretty warm despite the breeze coming across the snow.

Above, we are walking through a large crater, and below is on the other side. Check out the people in the bottom left corner for some perspective.

And after that climb it was time for lunch :) We were surrounded by three active volcanoes at this point, which is crazy.

Then we decided to add a little detour...climbing to the peak of Mt. Tongariro.

Along the way... I just think the colors are beautiful.

And we made it to the top to a great view of Mt Ngauruhoe (in the background).

Then we decided to take the "shortcut" back to the main trail. Only our "shortcut" turned into a "longcut" because it was a sheet of ice. We ended up with a few cuts and scrapes, but finally made it across!
Just in time for some fog to set it. But we were able to see the red crater, below...

And the emerald lakes, which were unfortunately still frozen over.


Then we started our trek down...

Which took much longer than these pictures give credit, but it wasn't as interesting as the first half :) We did end up by a nice stream and waterfall! Very different from the desert as the beginning of the walk.


And we survived! 8.5 hours, and 19.4kms later :)

Autumn Advance

This weekend was Autumn Advance! Our spring retreat to start planning for next fall. It's seems to crazy to be planning for fall when we haven't even enjoyed summer, but we've found that this is the best time to gather students' ideas before they break for the year. We had about 15 of our students come to talk about leadership and what we are all about with Student Life. We shared our vision of winning students to Christ, building them up in the foundations of the Christian faith, and seeing them sent into the world to fulfill the calling God has for each one of them.

Of course we had to play a little rugby...in the church auditorium...

Lovely girls.
And boys.
:)