Aramoana, Queenstown and the St. Kilda

This last week I had the opportunity to take some fun trips with my flatmates. On Friday afternoon Josh, Dave and myself drove to Aramoana just because it was so beautiful outside. We had fun running, jumping, sliding, flipping and falling on the steep sand dunes. We also enjoyed climbing some of the cool rock features that were around us, including a well known one called the "Key Hole", that I climbed up in to.

Friday night right after work I took off for Queenstown with Dave and his friend Matt where we stayed with one of their old church buddies, JP. We were supposed to do one of Central Otago's finer tramps called, the "Route Burn", but that got cancelled due to avalanche warnings. Next option was to do a shorter tramp which was in lower altitude but when we woke up Saturday morning it was raining and the weather changed our plans. Amy, Mel, Kate, and my flatmate Trudy were about 2 hours outside Queenstown. This group of girls were supposed to start the tramp on the opposite end and meet us in the middle so we could swap keys and have transportation when we reached our destination. Since we no longer were doing the tramp the girls decided to come to Queenstown to hang out with us. This was great because I got to catch up on some much needed sleep while we waited for the girls to arrive. What was supposed to be a very strenuous, physically challenging day, turned into a relaxing and refreshing tour around Queenstown involving a lot of food. JP makes a living by jumping out of planes with people attached, aka skydiving. Due to the weather, JP had the day off and was able to hang out with us and showed us a really good time. First we hit up an internet cafe to get a breakfast burrito, it was no Robertito's but not bad concerning NZ's deprivation of Mexican food. We were still pretty set on doing some tramping so we decided to hike to the top of the gondolla's for a good look around at Queenstown. After taking a few pics and soaking up the view we took the gondolla's down where we proceded to continue our feed fest. Padagonia was our first stop. MMmm chocolate icecream goodness. Followed by the "Bath House Cafe", where I enjoyed the best hot chocolate I have ever had in my life. The girls called it quits after the Bath House and took off back home. Dave, Matt and myself, however, decided that a trip to Queenstown wouldn't be complete without a stop at "Fergburger". Seriously, this burger was GINORMOUS, like a "Chilli's" burger on steroids. After eating our burgers outside on the patio and soaking in the sun that eventually made it through the clouds, we made our way back home to Dunedin. Sunday was another beautiful day! After church I went to St. Kilda with Dave and Josh. Some of my friends from DCBC met us out there and we had a great time throwing the football and frisby around. All in all another great week full of fun, fellowship, and God's blessings. This Friday my old flatmate Mary and her fiance Ben, my surf buddy, are getting married. About a month ago they asked me if I would like to lead worship for the wedding. I am really excited for the opportunity to play such a significant role in my very first wedding here in NZ.

Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.