Results tagged “Hiking”

Hi everybody! In this blog, I am going to tell you about our last week in the camper van. In case you didn't know yet, we named the camper van "Tourtelvis" because it has been taking us on "tour" of New Zealand and it has a bed that sits over the main cab that looks like a big pompadour (a hairstyle where the hair is combed back to form a mound above the forehead, kind of like Elvis Presley's hair).

Anyway, one of the places we visited this week was Queenstown. They have tons of adventurous activities there. We went on a thing called a luge. A luge is a cart/sled that you sit on with a bicycle handle in the front that you steer with. We got to ride on a track that went down a big hill. We steered our way down, going through tunnels and big slopes.  It was so much fun! Stefan and I could have done it all day.

We just finished our last week in the camper van (Tourtelvis) and I'm going to fill you in on what we did. We went on a jet boat ride on the Dart River.  We were going so fast, it felt like we were going over 100 miles per hour with super sharp turns and even full 360 degree spins in the water. It was so much fun, I loved it.

Hi everybody! In this blog, I am going to tell you about our last week in the camper van. In case you didn't know yet, we named the camper van "Tourtelvis" because it has been taking us on "tour" of New Zealand and it has a bed that sits over the main cab that looks like a big pompadour (a hairstyle where the hair is combed back to form a mound above the forehead, kind of like Elvis Presley's hair).
 
Anyway, one of the places we visited this week was Queenstown. They have tons of adventurous activities there. We went on a thing called a luge. A luge is a cart/sled that you sit on with a bicycle handle in the front that you steer with. We got to ride on a track that went down a big hill. We steered our way down, going through tunnels and big slopes.  It was so much fun! Stefan and I could have done it all day.
 
The other really cool thing we did in Queenstown was go to the Kiwi Conservation Center. We got to see the rare kiwi bird, which is one of the many flightless birds that live in New Zealand. The reason they're flightless is because New Zealand didn't have any mammals on it before settlers brought them over, so the birds didn't have any need for wings. Over time, the kiwi lost its wings and now all they have are tiny little things that are buried under their hair-like feathers. The kiwi is also famous for its long beak, which they use for getting things, like worms, under the soil. Unlike most birds, kiwis have nostrils on the tip of their beak instead of at the top by the head. Its eggs are also really huge, almost one-third the size of its body!

Hello, nice people. This is our first week in a campervan that we named Tourtelvis. My family and I have been waiting so long for this and now that we finally got it, we are so excited. Tourtelvis is a campervan that can sleep six people, or in our case, four people and all of our luggage for a year! It has a kitchen, three beds, and a bathroom. One of the three beds is up above where the driver sits. We call it the pompadour because it looks all puffy from the outside. Tyler and I love it up there. It is fun to hang out there. Tourtelvis also has a TV and DVD player, so Tyler and I can watch movies. At night it is cold in Tourtelvis, but we have warm blankets, so it's okay.

Happy Birthday to me! I spent my ninth birthday in Tourtelvis. Tyler's birthday present to me was to decorate the campervan, so I woke up with streamers and balloons everywhere. One of my birthday presents was a Camelback, a backpack that holds water which you can drink from out of an attached hose. I love my Camelback and I wore it when we hiked to a waterfall on my birthday.

We also went to a petrified forest that day, which was cool because the old trees looked like rocks. We encountered a surprise there, when we saw an endangered yellow-eyed penguin really close up. He was just standing there in front of a bush and Tyler and I walked right by him as we were exploring the forest. I loved seeing it so close and I had a great birthday.

Another big day we'll be celebrating in Tourtelvis is Thanksgiving. We won't be cooking a big feast because the kitchen is really small, but we have lots to be thankful for, even if we won't be eating a turkey (we're planning to eat chicken). I'm thankful that nobody got sick in Asia. I'm thankful for going on this trip and learning a lot of cool new stuff. I'm thankful that all my friends and family at home still remember me and miss me so much. I'm thankful that I get to spend this whole year with my family--the only time we're not together is when we're in the bathroom, haha.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!