Christchurch, New Zealand - Polarsteps

Day 1: Today was officially my last day at uni melb. Took my food for a healthy planet exam at the Royal exhibition building, it's essentially a giant fancy ass building down the street from unilodge that the school uses for exams. They pack thousands of desks in there and students from all different classes come in with a seat number and time to take a test. Loud speakers to tell you when to begin and exam leaders walking up and down isles. Very different exam experience to say the least. Ending today was so so bittersweet. I had a weird week. Barely slept from a combo of studying and headaches. Finishing was such a relief but once I was out of the building I had only a few hours to get ready for NEW ZEALAND!!! Packed all my shit up. And hopped on an airplane with Pete and Ben. So at this point I'm feeling great considering all my school work is done and submitted. Peter... Not in the same boat. That essay that he was supposed to finish before take off was still not done. Due tomorrow at 5 pm.... Safe to say he was a little bit stressed. More on this later. Touched down in Christchurch, NZ at 5:35 AM. Picked up our DOPE Jucy campervan. I mean this thing is just freakin perfect. It was two beds (one loft and the back seats turn into full bed) and a full kitchen in the back. Which is tall enough that both boys can stand up in it, pretty impressive. I took the first shift behind the wheel. Sooo driving on the left side happens to not be as tricky as I though it would be! Def takes a bit more concentration, especially at first. After a quick grocery store stop at 7 AM we headed across the island towards the west coast. Stopped at Castle hill, supposedly one of the most spiritual places in the world. It was a beautiful rock scheme spread across a hill with amazing snow covered mountains all around. Complete with very well behaved sheep and wind that practically knocked even the Burkey over. At this point the lack of sleep caught up for sure and I passed out in the back seat. I awoke to a v cranky front seat crew in Greymouth. Apparently they were having trouble keeping each other awake and we needed a group cat nap. Cat nap turned full nap on the side of the street. I jumped out of my loft to drive the sleepyheads around the area but hmmmmm the van WOULD NOT START. Peter the perfect left the lights on and the poor Juce mobile was D E A D as can be. Thanks to a kind ol kiwi tradie we were sparked back up and ready to go. Stop 1: McDonalds... So Peter could write his final paper.. He switched between Maccas and KFC in order to take advantage of wifi and charging capabilities. Ben and I checked out a beach and ended up in an extreme storm situation on the shore. This lead us to seek out cheap beer which was thankfully found and cheerfully consumed while we waited for our favorite procrastinator to finish and submit his paper. I'm telling ya we picked up a new Peter from KFC, no longer held back by the stress of a submission deadline. Checked into a camper park and cooked up an aggressive amount of pasta before heading to bed in the Juce. Highlights of today: - JUCY VAN. Fer sure in love with this babe. - The excitement of left side driving - Nicknames so far include "the Juce" and "Lucy" - Peter is grumpy turned stressed turned classic Pete..