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We are now on the north island which is notably busier and more populated (and warmer) but there are still endless stretches of beautiful countryside (if not quite as varied as in the south).
For our last day in Queenstown money meant we had to choose between doing the worlds 3rd highest bungee jump (8.5 secs of freefall, 118ish metres) or what is know as a canyon swing, we opted for the canyon swing. This involves starting at the edge of a cliff 109 meters up (15 mtrs higher than the statue of liberty) and choosing various ways to jump off, before freefalling for 60 meters then swinging back and forth through a canyon over jagged rocks reaching about 150kmph. We unfortunatly only had time to do two swings each (the second swing is dirt cheap) i first went for the 'pin drop' where you jump off sideways with your hads behind your back, i did this just to conquor my fear of jumping, the second jump i was straped to a garden chair where you have to rock backwards on it until you reach the point of no return and gravity just takes you over the cliff resulting in a back flip and far too much adreneline.
After this and one last blow out night in queenstown we headed back up to christchurch to start our journey up north and because of bus delays we were once again stuck here for 2 nights but decided to make the most of it this time having heard of mountain biking tracks just out of town so we hired some bikes and headed for the mountins. After getting slightly lost and relying on helpful kiwis we found the enterance to a track but decided to take another path into a private farm and got slightly lost again, so by the time we finally got to the right place we were ready!! Just one minor problem.......cycling uphill is damn hard work. After after half cycling and half pushing half cycling only about a third of the way up the track (while being passed by kids half our age flying back down the hill past us) we turned the bikes around and tore off, i went first and despite the fact that i only had a standard road helmet (the kids had full head helmets elbow pads and gloves and clothes they could mess up) i thought i'd give it a go and yep you guessed it, its not as easy as it looked and after about 150/200 mtrs i messed up a corner and flew off landing in a small clay patch covering my jeans and jumper to the amusment of chris arriving a minute later. Oh well no damage done the clay washed out and i loved every second of it and im sure with the full body gear it'd be even better.
The next day we started up towards the north and stopped for a day at a really nice town called kaikoura famous for its native dolphins and whales. Chris went swimming with the dolphins, i went to sleep, he said it was awsome.....i'll do it one day.
Next was the ferry crossing to wellington and the north island, despite wellington not being the biggest city in nz its definitly got the feeling of being the capital. We stayed there two nights and on the second day went to Te Papa museum which is absolutly huge and although really interesting after about 2 hours my brain was hurting and so we left and went and watched iron man at the cinema......it was pretty good......its wierd to think that im half way round the world and doing some of the same things i'd be doing at home.
next was Taupo, where chris did a skydive, and although i refuse to accept that it was as cool as mine he loved it and he got to see a lake that you can fit the whole of singapore into and he fell through a cloud which im kinda annoyed i didnt do ah well.
Up next was Rotoura, which is one of the main tourist (tourist not backpacker) locations in new zealand with rich maori heritage and near by to fishing, but because its also a site with lots of thermal activitie the sulpher does make parts of the town stink of rotton eggs, but apart from that it was a really nice. We arrived in rotorua quite early about 11 and so had the whole day to do things. First of all we went to the mountains nearby and took a cablecar up the mountain with some stunning views of the city, but the main reason we were there was to luge back down. This involves sitting in a primitive go-cart with three wheels and steers like a bike, after doing the obligitory scenic route once we went onto the advanced track which is 1km long and the record for it is 1min 1sec.....we probabbly did it in about 1 min 40ish. Overall we luged 7 times (after some nice old people gave us their luge tickets deciding it wasn't for them), one time getting stuck on the chair lift back up for 20 mins, earning our selves a free coke.
Next we went to see the gysers, but not willing to pay the enterance fee we spoke to the security guard and he told us that if we went the the hotel carpark 300 mtrs away that we could climb the fence and see it for free........kiwi people are so friendly. Having had a busy day we started to walk back to town, on the way we walked past a hotel with a minigolf course in the front and trying to capture the randomness of asia again we asked in the reception if we could have a go and after convincing her we wernt going to steel her clubs we gave it a go.........chris won.
That evening was our maori experience, in a replica village from pre european times, we got to see their war dances (very scary) and welcoming songs etc......i asked a bit about thier tatooing and everything was really cool and i learnt alot, it was clearly fake and the same thing is done every day but the 'actor' maoris all had really good humour and answered any questions. Then the most important thing followed......the feast buffet.....it was tasty to say the least and i finally got to have roast lamb and gravy.
anyway next is auckland and soon we'll be back to beach life in the island paradise of fiji.
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