Where in the world is Ashley Churchill?

I'm in the last few weeks of my journey through the South Pacific. I know have my ticket to Japan. My ticket to Beijing will arrive soon, and I will be ordering my ticket back to Canada soon. Its always bittersweet at this point in the trip. In the spirit of things coming to and end, I found out what my epitaph will say:

See ya.

AC

I arrived in Mt. Cook this afternoon. Its a pretty small village in the middle of nowhere. One peice of advice I have for anyone heading here, bring lots of cash. There are absolutely no ATMs here. I'm so happy I paid my mastercard bill before coming. I had only had 10 bucks arriving. And one more thing, whereever you go in NZ, bundle up BIG TIME. Tuque, scarf, mittens, the whole deal. They're pretty stingy with the heat out here and it gets damn cold sometimes.
Weather permitting, I'm going to head off for some of the hiking trails out here before heading back to Chirstchurch.

Peace Out.

AC

I can do that all on my own. I went on whats called a 'canyon swing'. Yeah, I just keep looking for ways to nearly kill myself. It was pretty exilerating.

About to jump off...

Jumping off...

Near the bottom...

There was another Canadian girl jumping, Julie from Vancouver.
We're the Official Canadian Canyon Jumping Team.

I saw this, and I was like "Did you have a bad experience with a Canadian or something? But they said its because we can laugh at stuff like that and not take it seriously. Thats why they did it.

In other news, it looks like its starting to clear up here. It was pretty miserable in the morning, but it cleared up for the afternoon. We saw a rainbow today.

Not much else is new. I'm heading off at 7 tomorrow morning for Mount Cook. Then back to Christchurch and then Japan! I bought my ticket to Beijing. But I haven't even had my visa application dropped off yet, so I everyone cross your fingers for me! I'm looking at tickets from Beijing to Toronto (The one in Canada, for those of who are thinking of the one in NSW). Sigh... Its all coming to a close. But that only means I'm closer to my next overseas adventure. Which will be New Zealand in the summer (November).

Oh, and EMAIL ME. I like knowing what the rest of the world is up to.

See ya.

AC

There are a ton of things to do in Queenstown. I've decided on a Canyon Swing. Its similar to bunji jumping, but you swing off a cliff. Looks like fun. I you guys think I'm just a little bit crazy for doing stuff like this. Well; I think smoking is crazy, and I know SEVERAL people who do it many times a day. Anyway, thats what I'm up to tomorrow. I'll post pics once I get them.

I went out drinking with a few people from my hostel last night.

And yes, I'm wearing a scarf. Its pretty cold here, especially at night. But its not too bad. One girl at my hostel is really upset that its not snowing. I explained to her that snow in May is simply unnatural.
In other news, I've booked my beds for Tokyo and Beijing. Holy crap! China is cheap. I booked a private room for 11 dollars a night. Dorms are 4 dollars, but I decided to splurge.

All of my GTA (Greater Toronto Area) concert buddlies, take note. I bought a ticket to see Cary Brothers on July 29. Its been far too long since I last saw him play.

Peace out.

AC

So I just arrived in Queenstown yesterday. Not at all like anywhere in Australia. The accent of the locals is vaguely similar, but the landscape is more reminiscent of British Columbia (minus the extreme abundance of weed, but then again, I only arrived yesterday) or Switzerland (minus the language barrier).

It is their winter here right now. So its a bit chilly. I was waiting for the bus in Christchurch in the early hours of the morning yesterday and I saw something that truly troubled me. I SAW MY OWN BREATH! Something that I'm a little too familiar with.

As some of you know, I have an excess of stuff. Mostly clothes. I have developed a small shopping addiction over the past few years. So in order to bring the things that I do want to bring home, I have to let go of the things I'm only partially attached to. So that meant a clothing liquidation/giveaway in Christchurch.
There may be more in the future. We'll see.

Anyway, now that I'm in Queenstown, I'm starting to look into the different activities they have to offer. I went skydiving last year when I was in Switzerland. So I'm deffinately looking into that. Back at the hostel, some people showed their videos of their Canyon Swings. I'll look into that as well.

Anway, I'm still alive for those that had their doubts.

AC