I also go to the pound sometimes to pet kittens.

Oh, hi. How are you? I'm perfectly fine and healthy, if not generally happy, but often bored. I'm studying for the bar exam, which is an awful and overwhelming task that frequently makes me feel like being mean. I'm also trying to get a job, which is an exhausting process fraught with waiting and chinks in the old self esteem. BUT! I've recently found the perfect apartment for when my current lease ends, which is a very good thing since the lease ends on August 6th. It's certainly nothing fancy or architecturally interesting, but it's an enormous east-facing spot and has a dishwasher, washer/dryer, tons of windows, and a big shade tree. It's going to be great. Aside from the misery of bar study/job hunting/apartment finding, there have been some sweet bits to the last couple of months for sure. Let's look.

I got to see The Black Keys with some of my favorites.

Took the nephew grocery shopping.

Oh yeah, there was a whole graduation-type thing.

Went morel hunting for the first time.

Went to the Taste of Bloomington.

And spent quite a bit of time with a very nice man. Shit he's cute.

I'll see you next time, hopefully after I do some more stuff. Like take the bar exam and have a job. Smooch.

South Island Day 9 & 10

Waking up in Hokitika was not a treat. Saving money is awesome, but freedom camping has its drawbacks. I guess that no bathroom/running water and fear of being rousted in the middle of the night are the big two, especially when it's raining so all three of you are sardining it in the back of the campervan instead of two in the van and one in the tent. Occasionally we managed to find a freedom campsite near a public toilet, but usually we focused on finding a spot where we could be inconspicuous.

Hokitika is nothing special. We did a little obligatory souvenir shopping: Brent was counting on his fingers how many people were in his office that required tchotchkes. But we drove on quickly, eager to get to our next destination, Franz Josef. We settled in to one of the cooler campsites we'd seen, threw the frisbee, cooked dinner, and visited the backpacker bar on site. But all of that was after we enjoyed a couple of happy hour drinks on a nearby bar patio. The view was pretty okay.

Crappy liquor is still popular at bars down under.

Franz Josef is a very small city with one purpose: get to the glacier. There are a couple of famous glaciers on the south island, and we decided to hike the Franz Josef glacier. Gluttons for punishment, we naturally chose the full-day hike. I wrote down that the day lasted from 8:15am to 4:40pm, although sense of time feels sort of skewed after you strap on crampons and zig zag your way up a glacier. It's the coolest thing.

First view of the glacier

Feeling pretty badass

Our guide actually was a badass

Just the absolute coolest thing.

Back down from the mountain, we headed out to Queenstown to hopefully find another freedom site and get some rest before Brent's last day with us. As always, even snapping photos from the moving van was breathtaking.