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11/5 - After watching the bungy jumpers we just made the last 20 mins of our journey into the centre of Queenstown and got settled into the hostel. It was strange, because I kept bumping into people that I had met in various places during my time in NZ, because everyone stays in Queenstown for ages!! That night Tim and Liz, who were two Americans travelling together, treated four of us to a really nice dinner!! The six of us had been together for about a week travelling down the west coast. Tim and Liz were only holidaying in NZ, so weren't your usual backpackers! It was a really nice meal, it was just so nice to eat real food, and in a really nice restaurant!!
12/5 - We didn't do much in the day today, we were all in desperate need of a lie in!! When we did get up, we headed to this little sweet shop that we had been told about way before we arrived in Queenstown!! It was this little shop that sold quite a few old british favourite sweets, and more importantly the best fudge in the world! and they do free tastings! This was the first of many visits to this shop!! After our visit to the fudge shop, a couple of us walked around the lake, and through the queenstown gardens, keeping an eye out for stray frisbies from the fisbee golf course!! The lake is stunning, and the weather was beautiful for it, but maybe a bit chilly! That night we decided we would go and experience the famous queenstown nightlife! So we pooled together and got ourselves a box of wine for the room (we couldn't afford to buy drinks out) and then headed off to the bar at our hostel. Tonight was Karoake night, which was hilarious, we decided that four of us (zoe, emily and rachael) would sing "living on a prayer". We were awful!!! but I don't think anyone noticed :) After karaoke we headed to the world bar, where the famous teapots are sold! The teapots are just cocktails that are served in teapots, they'r quite fun and taste really good! After the world bar we had to try the even more famous Fergburger! This is a burger that I first heard about from fellow backpackers when I was in China, and everyone in NZ knows about them!! And they certainly live up to the reputation!!! I have never tasted anything so good! I could go on for ages just talking about fergs, but you really have to try one to really understand!
13/5 - I had to struggle out of bed in time to get our 8:45 bus to the bungy bridge. So me and Zoe rather nervously trudged down the road and onto the bus so we could go throw ourselves off a bridge :) We managed to make it out onto the bridge pretty much first, and Zoe volunteered to go first. I was really nervous, but nowhere near as nervous as I was before my first skydive! The jump is only about 45m high, and when your on the bridge the water below doesn't seem that far away :) I watched Zoe jump, then they started to strap me up, this is when it did start getting a little bit scarier! I just managed to hear Zoe shouting about how good it was before I got to the edge :p They strap your legs together, then tell you to walk out to the edge of the ledge, which is a lot easier said than done, I have never had less balance in my life, I really didnt want to let go of the bar!! I just about made it to the edge, trying not to look down, then they asked me to smile for the camera, that photo didnt look good! Then they started the countdown, and i knew how important it was to jump first time, otherwise it just gets harder! So I put my arms out and as soon as they got to zero i attempted to dive off the edge, tho after watching th DVD it became apparent that I very much fell off the ledge :p Even tho my dive looked it awful, it was so much fun!!!! It was the best feeling ever, and I really wanted to get straight back up and jump again!! The jump itself was so much more fun than I thought it would be, and the feeling of accomplishment after can't be beat! It is such a strange feeling when you'r falling, and you don't even notice when you are bouncing back up! I did ask the guy at the top to dip me in the water, which is an option, but apparently they can't always guarantee they will get it right, and unfortunately nither me or Zoe reached the water :( once you have fnished bouncing it is a really strange feeling when you are just hanging upside down by your feet, and you have to try and grab ahold of this pole that someone is holding in the boat on the water. Which is a lot harder than you might think! Once you have grabbed the pole they ask you to look up at your feet, and I think this was the first time I really realised what I had just jumped off of :P so, to sum up, bungy jump was awesome!! and I recommend you all do one!! After the jump we just did nothing for the rest of the day, just bought some more fudge, celebratory fudge!
14/5 - Today was Emily's turn to do a bungy jump, and she had chosen to do the ledge bungy, as she said the bridge wasnt scary enough :p The ledge bungy is about 48m falling, similar to the bridge, but the ledge itself is 400m above queenstown. We had to get the Gondola up to the skyline centre place, where the ledge is. Her bungy wasn't til 3, so we did some luging before. It was the same as the luge up in Rotorua, still fun, and had some amazing views. After luging we still had some time to kill, so we went up a little walk above the skyline centre to where the paragliders take off from, luckily they hadn't started yet, so we were the only people up there and it was so quiet! The views from up there were fantastic, as we had mountains on 3 sides, and a view of queenstown and the lake in front of us! We waited up there for a bit, had a little picnic back at the gondola centre and then it was time for Emily's bungy! on this bungy you can take a run up before jumping as you are harnessed by your waist not your ankles. So she took a bit of a run up and leaped off the ledge, it was a very good jump and resulted in her bouncing alot more than most! After she jumped we headed back to the fudge shop again and then to world bar to celebrate with teapots!
15/5 - As you may have noticed, I am rather behind on my blog updates, in fact I am writing this from about a month and a half after it happened, so details might be a bit hazy :P we decided we would treat our hangovers in the best way possible, with a big fry up!! So we gathered all our supplies together and made the best fry up ever, we used 12eggs for the scrambled egg :P and even had tea pots (with tea in), it looked so professional! not much else happened in the day, just the usual chill out by the lake followed by the usual fudge and fergburger!
16/5 - Rachel left us today :( and not much else happended really, we just did some stuff that needed to be done, postcards, shopping etc. It was also the last night for Zoe + Emily that night we just had a quiet night in as they were meant to be getting up early. However, our new roomates (mostly 25-30 yr old lager lout types, one was even selling drugs when we first met him :P) made that a bit difficult! not because they were being loud or drunk or anything that bad, but everyone one of them snored louder than I have ever heard before, whilst one of them was attempting to have sex (unsuccesfully from what i heard :P) anyway, none of us got to sleep until about five, and as a result Zoe + Emily missed they'r bus in the morning! the perks of sleeping in dorm rooms!
17/5 - I just hung around with Zoe + Emily until they could get on a public bus up to christchurch, and didn't do much else after seeing them off.
18/5 - I decided I had been a bit too lazy in queenstown so decided I would do one of the walks in the area. So I walked up queenstown hill, its a fairly steep walk but is only really 2 hours return max. But I took up a picnic and made almost a whole day out of it. The views over queenstown were amazing as usual, being able to see the lake and the surrounding mountains with the town nestled in the land between. That night I took part in one of the biggest games of ring of fire ever, in the corridor of the hostel! was a lot of fun :)
19/5 - Today was an early start, the first I had had in quite a while, as I was heading off to Milford Sound. The day started with a very scenic 4 hour bus ride to the sound, passing through numerous valleys, and rounding many lakes. The ride was broken up with many photo stops, so wasn't too bad. I think we went over something called the milford pass, not too sure anymore but it was a long winding journey in which we eventually had to get through to the other side of these mountains. At one stage, we went through this very famous tunnel. It's called the homer tunnel, and is about 1 mile long, the tunnel goes through this mountain peak and we were told by our guide that it was made by only five people! I think he said five people started the construction, but only one finished. The tunnel was apperently made by these five people with no more than their own tools and has no supports inside ( a bit scary) . The tunnel is also only wide enough for one vehicle so if any one skips the red light they will probly find themselves reversing about a mile through this almost pitch black tunnel! It was very cool! We then eventually made it to the sound, which I think is like a fiord, possibly made from the melting of a glacier, and leads out to the tasman sea. We got on a 2 hour cruise ( with free buffet :) ) and the views were spectacular! you are floating on this pristine water surrounded by these towering peaks, and the sound is also home to a waterfall that is actually larger than niagra falls! during the tour they dropped us at an underwater observatory, which was this little box thing floating partially submerged in the water, but to be honest you could see a lot less than you would see in any aquarium, but really depends on your luck, apparently you can sometimes see dolphins. Then we headed back to Queenstown, another 4 hour journey, without the photostops this time.
20/5 - Today I did another walk, this time i walked the Frankton arm, which takes you alongside the lake to the nearby township of frankton. In the eve, I took part in this killer pool comp, which had crazy rounds, like having to play a shot from behind your back, or with a friend on your back!
21/5 - I ventured up the walkway to the top of the gondola today, which is a very steep walk and takes a lot longer than they tell you its going to :P but was a nice walk anyway. Then that night we had a big room night out to the usual places in Queenstown.
22/5 - Did nothing of interest today, was just making plans to go to dunedin for a few days, so was just booking transport and accomodation etc.
23/5 - I left Queenstown today to head to dunedin, the journey takes about 5 hours and I didn't arrive in dunedin til late in the eve. found my hostel with a little help from some very friendly locals and settled in.
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