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So after the poo pub we drove to the most politically incorrect place in New Zealand- The Bushmans Centre. Bobski strolled off into the museum and paid for himself and took the wallet so I was left standing outside until our friend Caz said to him 'Where's Laura?' and he suddenly realised and came back out to get me! Nice! We watched a DVD about killing deer and NZ and then got to have a look around some animals- possums in cages mostly- it was seriously strange! From there it was onto Franz Josef Glacier Village which is utterly gorgeous! They are like 50 years overdue for an earthquake that would wipe out the West Coast so that was settling news lol!! We checked into a lovely hostel called Rainforest retreat before we went kayaking for 4 hours on Lake Mapourika with crazy instructor Wayne. We went to the other side of the lake, around some streams and then watched the sunset which was beatuiful. The day after was probably one of the toughest EVER. We opted in to do an 8 hour glacier hike up the Franz Josef glacier. We arrived at the office about 90 of us and were suited and booted for the day- very attract clothing :-) From there it was a short bus ride to the valley where it was a 2 mile crossing to get to the bottom of the glacier. We put on our crampons and headed up the biggest hill in the world!! I knew this was a bad idea lol. The first bit was step steps of ice and the top bit was rock (not easy I tell you with the bloody spikes on the bottom of your feet!) I was like Bambi legs all day long. Before we knew it we were climbing ice steps, trying to fit in small spaces, loosing legs and visiting waterfalls! I turned around on one bit and said to Bobski 'get a picture of me' and with that I lost my whole leg down an icey/water puddle and was not amused! We stopped for a 10 minute lunch break to make sure we didn't get cold and we picked up on ice axe and carried on!! It was another 5 hours walking up and down ice hills before we reached the top and we were exhausted!!! Bobski was in a mood because he was bored and we had our first fight on top of a glacier ha ha!! Had to happen sometime! It was then another 2 hours back down which was awful- I was tired and my feet kept falling inwards so the guide made me stick behind her because I think she thought I was going to fall off the cliff face! When we eventually made it to the bottom I burst out crying- pure relief and pain was over- well after the 2 mile trip back to the bus! We stumbled into the room in agony and didn't move all night!Really hard but really worth it- amazing place. More to come soon.......
After we got the feeling back in our legs we continued to enjoy the wonders of NZ. We stayed for 2 days in Queenstown which started with a big night out for 'Nancys Bus' in the Base bar. We had a really fun night with everyone and ladies got free champagne which was a bonus!! Everyone kept saying 'You two arent like a couple- you actually talk to people' i dont know if thats good or bad lol. Quuenstown is the home of bungy jumping- they have one called 'THe nevice' which is honestly a total monster!!! Its actually how our bus driver got his name Nancy Boy because he looked over, and over again and then ran in the opposite direction because he was too scared!! You wouldnt get us on it- Bobski was white just looking at it!!! After exploring a bit, having a Fergburger (the bigget in the world) I had a Southern Swine bobski had Mr Big Stuff, doing some washing and mooching around we moved onto Christchurch. Our last bus journey! There was a tsunami watch there because of the earthquake in Chile so as our bus driver kept telling us 'it could all be under water when we arrive'- great!!! We stopped at Mt Cook or a picnic on the way (biggest in NZ). The water was aqua blue from the glaciers bringing the erosion down the mountains it was gorgeous. We said bye to everyone from the bus and checked into our hostel. Its so funny every time we walk into a new room your thinking 'plese be ok, please'! We stayed here until our flight back up to Auckland. Enterig our 'third month' travelling we were starting to miss a few things- the fridge, orange squash, our bed and beingable to walk around bare foot but we were soon over it!! Christchurch was a little strange- we got the tram around and went to the museum (it was free!!!) and there wasnt really much more to do. We have seen much better places.
We flew back to Auckland for our last week in NZ to head up North to the Bay of Islands again and mainly to go to Zion Wildlife Gardens (home of the Lion Man). We arrived and had absolutely no plan so we searched around and finally found a car to hire. We picked up our Toyota , a map, threw our bags in and we were off- free! The only problem was that I was map reading and it didnt take clever clogs long to realise 'Yes we are on the Number 16 darling but heading in the wrong direction'!!! O dear. How was I to know? After a long days drive we checked into the Mousetrap. We spent the next couple of days driving to THE very top of NZ where the 2 seas meet- only it was raining and we couldnt see a bloody thing. We also lazed on beaches, built sand castles, got a bit sick of driving and eventually visited Zion. O the excitment!!!! I know most of you wont know what the hell it is but me and Bobski love the TV prog 'THe Lion Man' on Sky and this is obviously where its filmed. We got a private tour around and it was very sad because we knew all of ther names already haha!!!The guide kept saying 'Well in the series when bla bla hapens ' and i was like 'O yea I already know that'- what a geek!!!What they do there is fantastic and unfortunatley because the series have ended (believe it or not one of the keepers got killed when in went in alone) they are struggling to fund the park- a real shame. It was back to Auckland for our final 2 days where we stayed in our worst hostel yet. For both nights we got 2 hours sleep because the walls where so thin you could hear a mouse fart and the guys next to us liked the sound of their own voices A LOT!!!!!!People say women are bad but this guy was a lot worse- muttering on about nothing and trying their hardest to annoy us. I'ma little ashamed to say this but we were up for a flight at 4am and we were that mad that i put the dryer on through the wall and bobski celotaped 3 drawing pins to their handle hahahaha!!!That will teach them. We spent our last couple of days explorng Auckland, visiting the Skytower and drinking Magners!! It was time to leave NZ after a really enjoyabe month here!We have seen and done so much here- its really opened our eyes- we are already planning to come back at some point in our trip. If you can then come here its beautiful!!
We flew over the great barrier reef and into Cairns on the 7th March- time to explore somewhere new! Again the heat was verging on unbearable but we were starting to get used to it- sort of. Its really strange arriving somewhere knowing our next flight is a long way off. We spent a lovely week here relaxing in the pool, swimming in the lagoon and deciding what an earth to do next. We also went to see Alice in Wonderland 3D in our swimming stuff- wouldnt do that at home!!! We caught up with everyone on Skype- including Unlce Andy showing us Ramsey street and Bex showing us the ferrets haha. There was quite a bit of rain towards the end of the week because of the cyclone due to hit Queensland which fitted in well with our plan to hire our campervan and head down to Melbourne in 15 days to find some work.
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