My neighbors, Katya and Andy, invited me to go to Brewster Hut for the weekend. I didn't realize when I said yes, that it meant climbing a mountain for 3 hours. The trail was straight up vertical, no switch backs, just up. The last third of the hike was in snow. The views were amazing on the way up and especially at the top. The hike was very hands on so there aren't any pictures of the alpine hike but trust me when I say the way up was just at beautiful as the view at the top.
My pack that I didn't carry up the mountain
Started off the hike with a river crossing. Kat and Andy were demonstrating the proper technique... or something
My favorite Russian/Canadian
Katia and Ash (shout out to Ash for carrying my pack up the mountain! She's a badass!)
Here are some pictures of my life in Franz. Not a lot of explanation. Just my day to day life.
I guess working at 7am ain't too bad
Road trip to Hoki
Rainforest rainbow
yin and yang hot coco
We really work hard... sometimes.
More free coco
UNR had live streaming of graduation, so you know I woke up at 3am to watch Emma graduate!! Congrats Em!
Chicken Broccoli and Kumara Mash
My Swedish friend, Jess, made Flygande Jakob (it means Flying Jacob) for us! It's banana chicken and it was delicious!
Night out with Katia and Jess
Woke up the roomie
Met up with Flo and Sean at KT
Winter is here and frost in the morning is becoming all too normal. I'm praying to wake up one morning to a snowy jungle, but apparently that is super rare. Even some life long west coasters haven't seen snow in Franz.
Kiki visited one more time before flying home to Canada! Can't wait to see where this friendship leads us. We already want to travel Thailand together in September.
Lake Mapourika
Okarito
So sad to see my American "ally" Ally leave! But it was a great excuse for the whole staff to crack open the Rezzie beers we'd been saving up!
It was also our favorite ageless Asian's birthday. Happy Day Katie Girl!
The view from the porch of Glacier Base
The view from my desk... seriously
Goodnight moon!
Home made pizza night with the girls!
The walk to the compound
Alpine amazingness
Franz's front yard
Fresh snow!
The difference between a fly day and a no fly day...
Good helicopter weather
Bad helicopter weather
I made breakfast kabobs for knitting night!
Thank you Mom, Bren, and Ty, for sending the perfect care package!!
Philosopher's Stone... false
NZ frost
Kiwi Center with Sadhana
This is an idea of how much rain Franz Josef gets. It's a CRAZY amount of rain. This chart says 5100 mm of rain a year, that's 16.7 feet of rain a year!!!
My boss is a control freak, we have to check the bathrooms every half hour and report to him our findings at the end of the day.
But luckily I get to wear this super awesome jacket while checking the toilets
