Two weeks of April were dedicated to a mid-semester break, so me and my friends decided to make the most of it! First, we went to Queenstown, New Zealand. It was one of the most beautiful locations I’ve seen in my life. Queenstown is a town of only around 20,000 people, and it’s situated on the edge of a lake, surrounded by massive mountain ranges. Parts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies were filmed here, and it’s not hard to see why! We did about an hour long hike up a smaller mountain and could see all of Queenstown and the opposite mountain range. Then, we ziplined through the woods for about an hour, and hiked back down the mountain. There was also this amazing chocolate shop and ice creamery called “Patagonia,” and you could essentially create your own Magnum ice cream bar! We didn’t, but I can say that the hot chocolate was some of the best I’ve ever had.

After Queenstown, we went to Hobart, Tasmania. While the mountains weren’t quite as remarkable as in New Zealand, I think I preferred Hobart. Maybe it’s because I want to root for the underdog of our trip, who knows. Here, we went on a day-long bus trip to different sights around the area. We saw a small town called Richmond, which had beautiful architecture, art shops, cafes, ice cream shops, and even a store completely dedicated to lavender! But what really took the cake was Mount Wellington. At the top, you could see all of Hobart, some neighboring towns, and nearly all the islands off the coast of southern Tasmania! I didn’t realize just how tall the mountain was going up, but it made all the others surrounding it look like rolling hills. I’m so glad we decided to go, because it was an amazing week that I may not be able to ever experience again. Hopefully, in the future, I’ll get to spend more time in both of these amazing locations!

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: IES Abroad: Macquarie University