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Hey everyone!
Sorry it's been a while without a blog but we've been on the move so much and haven't had a lot of chance to get on the internet. So what have we been up to in the last 2 weeks?!
From Christchurch we boarded the Kiwi experience and our first drive was up the east coast to Kaikoura. Before being dropped at our hostel we went to go and look at the seals in the seal colony on the outskirts of Kaikoura. After which we were dropped at our hostel. We had originally put our names down to go wale watching that afternoon as this area was renound for seeing loads of whales and dolphins. Unfortuately the weather was awful and drizzly and had been cancelled that morning so we took our names off the list. We have to go back there for another night before going to the north island anyway so hopefully it will be nicer weather this time! We did try to make the mopst of it and went for a walk down the pebbled beach, and Amy spotted some dolphins! But it really was miserable and definately wasn't a good start to new zealand. We were even thinking that if it stayed like that we would have to move our flights forward because we don't have many warm clothes!
The next day we left quite early to go to our next stop on the west coast, Nelson. Luckily the weather was gorgeous!! So we didn't stay down for long. We checked in to our hostel at about 3pm, dumped our stuff and went for a walk (yes parents you read it correctly-another walk!!). We walked up to the centre point of New Zealand where we could get great views of the mountains. We stayed up there for a while but we made sure we were back for the free beer tasting put on at the hostel! The next morning we were on the move again! We drove down the west coast to Westport, stopping at Lake Rotoiti for a short walk before lunch and then at Buller Gorge for those who signed up for activities that afternoon. Arrived in Westport wuite late so had some dinner and went to the local with a few of the guys we had met that day on the kiwi experience. The problem with new zealand is that everywhere is tiny! So there isn't a lot to do in the evenings apart from watch films so it was a nice break to go out!
The next day we were up bright and early again to move on to Lake Mahinapau. On the way we stopped to go and look at some blowholes and pancake rocks and a fur seal colony. That night we had a fancy dress party with the theme plastic. So in the afternoon we stopped at a big warehouse to go and buy our binbags etc! We spent the rest of the afternoon in the hostel making our costumes! Me and Amy went as the Ace of clubs and Ace of spades and made dresses out of white and black binliners! We actually looked good considering we had a massive panic when we realised the bages we had bought were tiny! But we pinned them all together and made something of it! We will try and put some pics on here if we get a chace. Everyone made such an effort with there costumes and it was good to have the chance to get to know everyone on the bus.
Unfortunately it was another early start the morning after the party, but the bus driver stopped at a place which did cooked breakfasts to keep everyone going! That afternoon we arrived in Franz Josef, and it was nice that this was our first place where we had more than one night! When we arrived at the hostel Amy dumped her bags and quickly got ready before being whisked off to do a sky dive over the glacier!! She did a 12,000ft Sky dive with a 45 sec freefall at 120 miles per hour! I've just seen her dvd and the views looked stunning and she has a massive grin on her face all the way down!! Next time she will be upping it to 15,000ft! Meanwhile me and an English guy called Dean went for a walk to see the glacier, as everyone else seemed to be doing activities!
Our second day in franz josef was brilliant. It was yet another early start as we had booked ourselves in to do an 8hour glacier hike. I was a bit worried as I thought i would def be too unfit to do it! But it was the same price as the shorter walk, and i'm my father's daughter in that i like to get my moneys worth! We were kitted out in boots, crampons, coats, gloves and hats! We were put in groups of 11 and we spent the morning walking through the valley and up the face of the glacier. It was a slow morning as unfortunately a guy in an early group had had a seizure and so we had to wait while he was airlifted off. After lunch we moved away from the premade routes and went to make our own routes, where the guide had to cut out steps in the side of the glacier, and we walked through amzing cravases. It was so pretty, especially in the areas it was really blue. But it got sooooooooo clod when we had to wait around for our guide to carve out steps in the steep bits! I think walking down later in the day was harder than the walk up, as we were tired and it was very steep in areas! Although it was a very tiring day it wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be but it was definately a great experience, and we rewarded ourselves with a couple of drinks with everyone that evening (any excuse!).
From Franz Josef we left at 7.30am to our next stop, Lake Wanaka. The reason we left so early was to go and see Lake Matheson (the mirror lake ) where the lake is so still early on that you can see a perfect reflection of the mountains and Mount Cook. It was beautiful! It did look better on the poscards with snow topped mountains but we can't have everything! In Wanaka we stayed at a hotel! It was still dorm rooms but they were only 4 beds with a TV, fridge and ensuite with a bath (it may not sound like much but it was luxury for us)! As we hadn'e relaxed at all since being in New Zealand me and Amy decided to stop here for 2 nights. It was a lovely little town with quite a few shops, bars etc. It was definately geared up to be a ski town as there were hire shops everywhere. We had a really nice couple of days, we chilled out in the evening and went for a nice walk up mount iron for the grewat views of the lakes and surrounding mountains in the day. Unfortunately as we stayed an extra night here we split up with our bus which we had been on for the whole of the West Coast. So we missed out on the group photo they had in Queenstown! But we did see everyone again when we arrived in Queenstown the next day.
On our way into Queenstown we stopped at a bridge bungy jump to see those who had booked into it jump. It was a great way to get other people to do it as so many people signed up when we were there! Our bus driver for this drive was brilliant and he syked everyone up on the bus with songs about jumping, and he even did one when we got there. It was also a much better mix of people on this bus as we only had about 6 guys on our bus and the average age had been about 18. After watching everyone jump we went for a group photo in Queenstown and then checked into our hostel.
This is now our last day in Queenstown, we've been here for a week and we've loved it! We've had lie ins everyday which have been great! We had a couple of great nights out with the people from our bus but unfortunately a lot of them moved on after about 3 days and we won't be catching up with them anywhere on our way up. On the Monday we decided to go luging as it was most peoples last day. We got the gondola up the mountain and then a chairlift and had 6 luge rides down to the bottom of the chairlift. (Luging is bascially a tray with wheels and a steering wheel!) We had a great time although there were a few scraps and bruises after from people falling out!
On the Tuesday we had a really long day tip to Milford Sound. It took us 4 hours to get there, we hed 3 hours there and then 4 hours back! It was a beautiful place and we took a boat trip through the fiords out to the Tasmen sea, but I think we're taking mountains for granted now and we will only really appreciate it when we see the pics when we get home! We did get a hot buffet lunch on the boast though and we saw loads of dolphins on our way back! We had loads jumping through and playing in the wake of the boat.
On Wednesday i was awake really early as i was so nervous! I was doing the canyon swing at 11am (www.canyonswing.co.nz). This is basically a giant swing through a canyon. It starts 109m up, with a 60m freefall and then out over the canyon. I got there and they asked me which way I wanted to jump as there were loads of options. So I asked to do the scariest one which was whwre they putthe harness round my waist and I had to lean back over the cliff and step off! It took me a while to do it as the guys up there mess around with you. Just before I was about to jump they loosened my harness and said they wanted me to feel like I was going to fall out! The guy before me had got to the edge and decided not to do it, which scared me even more! But I leaned back and went for it. It was the scariest thing I've done in my life and it still scares me thinking about it! I was shaking for at least half an hour after but it was brilliant and I'm so glad I did it. Who knows maybe it will be a bungy next! But I'm quite glad I did this as most people say it is scarier than a bungy. We had a great night out that night!
Our last activity was the shotover jet on the friday. This was a jet boat down a canyon. It was so so fast and I couldn't belive how close we got to the rocks. Every so often the driver would do a hand signal and do a 360 in the middle of the canyon. Amy couldn't help but scream when he did the hand signal before he'd even started to turn the boat! I couldn't even talk when I got off the boat as it was so cold, I couldn't even move my face! We had a good night out that evening as well. We went to World bar where they served the cocktails in teapots!
We are having a great time in New Zealand but it has definately been a drain on the funds! Although the food and accom is a lot cheaper then Australia there is so much to do here and its hard not to do things when you here people talking about them!
We move onto Christchurch again tomorrow and then up to the North Island!
Looking forward to seeing everyone when we get back, can't believe we only have 5 and half wks left!
Love you all loads, and I'm proud you made it to this part of the blog as it was a long one this time! Bec and Ames xxxxx
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