In September of 2013, I made a fabulous friend over instagram; a 16 year old kiwi gal called Jaime. We instantly clicked and shared our lives with eachother despite being so far away. We confided in eachother and helped eachother along through hard times, and then we started skyping on a regular basis. By January, I had begun thinking about what I wanted to do for my 18th birthday (despite it still being 9 months away but ya know), and I decided to take a trip to New Zealand and stay with her in outer Christchurch for her school break and my university break. The next three-four months flew by and the next thing I knew I was boarding my first flight ALONE. ALONE means without friends or teachers, and it was actually a great experience. When I was picked up by Jaime and her boyfriend at the airport ealry Easter Sunday, it felt as if we had known eachother our whole lives. Anyway, she took me to all the touristy parts of Christchurch (which is now mainly made up of earthquake damage, sadly), but it was very interesting! The weekend of our arrival, we drove 2 and a half hours north to Kaikoura and camped on the beach in a tent and caravan below the mountain ranges with Tim's (Jaime's boyfriend's) family. It was so beautiful but I had never experienced that kind of cold before and was being insulted about being an Aussie left right and centre :P Jaime and I also roadtripped for a three day getaway north to the amazing Hanmer Springs, where we bathed for two days in the natural hot water water springs and stayed in a cute, two storey timber backpackers hostel, which was also a new and fun experience for us. One Sunday while Jaime was working, her family took me for another roadtrip to see places such as Alansdale, Lyttleton and Sumner.
Overall, I had an amazing two weeks and wish it could've lasted longer. (Or that we lived closer!)
Safe travels,
Jaz xoxo
