If I’d thought walking around Christchurch was trippy, driving through Invercargill was even more so. Seeing the world I had inhabited for the first ten years of my life–driving by my old house, visiting my elementary school–was all so very trippy.

Airport security in Christchurch was nonexistent, and I could have been anyone boarding the tiny two-to-a-row jet, clutching a beloved CookieTime. The view was absolutely astounding from above.

I stayed in Otautau and didn’t make it back into Invercargill again, but got to hang out with my family instead. One afternoon included two aunts, a cousin, and me running/walking a race through muddy paddocks.

Most of these pictures come from the stunning drive from Otautau to Queenstown, where I flew from. Honestly, if I hadn’t known that in a little over two days of straight travelling I’d be arriving in Big Sky Country Montana, I’m not sure how I would have left. And honestly, Glacier National Park might have been a little more impressive had I not just driven through gorgeous Queenstown.