Day Thirteen January 24, 2008 Thursday

Today we woke up super early and packed and grabbed breakfast on the run. We piled into the vans and headed across the island to Greymouth. The drive seemed to take about a hundred years, but I can’t say it wasn’t beautiful. We drove through Arthur’s Pass, which was breathtaking. Also, after we had lunch we did a short hike called the Devil’s Punchbowl up to a gorgeous waterfall! It was a beautiful hike, and a wonderful finish. After our hike we all got back in again and started driving for another few hours. All told we probably drove about six hours today. When we finally arrived in Greymouth everyone got really excited because we are literally on the beach. Not joking I am probably a hundred yards from the Tasman Sea at this moment separated only by a couple of bushes. When we got here we all went out to the beach and fell asleep and talked in the sun. We would have played games, but it is a rocky beach, not a sandy one. We eventually had dinner and then went to the grocery store to by supplies for tomorrow’s van ride. When we came back we all went out to the beach again to watch the sunset, which was absolutely breathtaking. Now I am ready for bed. We have an insanely long van ride tomorrow, at the very least ten hours, because we are driving from Greymouth to Cromwell. We will get in really late and then arrive in Invercargill Saturday morning. Man am I ready to have a home and a bed, I can’t wait to meet my new family!