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Kia Ora!!!
Wow this is probably the longest I've gone without blogging. New Zealand has been a lot of fun! I will attempt to update you on my time out here so far!
So we were still in Auckland last time I emailed. Kyri made me that tea and me, Kyri, Elaine and Emilie went to play pool and watched the film Salt. I watched half hour before falling asleep anyway! On the 8th of August we awoke for a 7:10 pickup with Kiwi Experience. We headed north to Paihia (aka the Bay of Islands) where we checked in and as there was nothing to do me and Emilie went for a 13-14k walk!!!! Crazy s***! We had dinner then headed to the bar for Stephen's birthday.
On the 9th of August we left Paihia at 3pm and headed back to Auckland where we went for a walk with Kyri and Elaine to the supermarket. After they came to our hostel and watched The Karate Kid on Kyri's laptop. We took our photos off of the memory card in the camera and onto Kyri's laptop too. Said bye to Kyri too which was sad :(
On the 10th we got picked up at 8:20 and drove to Mount Eden for 360 degree views of Auckland. We went to take a photo but the camera said internal memory full; we realised we'd left the memory card in Kyri's laptop! We drove to Cathedral Cove where we had a walk before heading to Whitianga where we played chess (I beat everyone) and watched films.
11th we drove to Waitomo Caves where most of the group went Black Water Rafting through caves. WOW. We wetsuited/helmeted up, got our rings, jumped off rocks into waterfalls, floated in the dark looking up at glowworms on the rock ceiling and froze our asses off! It was just incredible and highly recommended to anyone! We got out, had the best shower, soup and bagels and came back to our hostel.
Ont the 12th we got a lie in and left Waitomo at 10 heading to Rotorua. This place stank and was full of geysers! Very sulphurous smell around the town! We went for a walk around the town and got soaked when it started raining. That night we bought a litre of Vodka and me and Emilie played drinking games with Stephen and his girlfriend Sarah. Emilie got so drunk that she didn't get into the bar but such was her hangover the next day, it was probably a good thing!
We woke up on the 13th and headed to Taupo via Huka Falls which is the most viewed tourist attraction (apparently) in NZ. We checked in in Taupo and chilled.
14th I awoke early and a few of us headed to the Taupo Bungy. For some bizarre reason I decided it would be a good idea to do a jump and once I'd parted with my $105 there was no turning back! This girl from our bus, Julia, was first and then while I was waiting s***ting myself they decided to change the bungy cord so of course they had to get a member of staff to do a test jump before my turn! I was strapped up and so nervous! I slowly hobbled over to the edge like a prisoner with a ball chain and looked down. f***! 47 metres is a f***ing long way! The woman said look up into the camera, smile and go for it! I looked up, didn't smile and looked back down contemplating what I was about to do: throw myself off a ledge towards the ground. She begins her countdown, "3,2,1...BUNGY!!!" I thought I would have been stuck and needed pushing off but to my surprise I found myself leaning forward...no turning back now! The feeling was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. The feeling of just simply falling was scary and it really felt like I wasn't attached to anything! I swung up and down for a bit and couldn't stop screaming and shouting "OH SHIIIIIT!" It was such a rush and I was so proud once it was over. Me and Julia went back up to the office to huge congratulations from everybody! I checked the video and just had to get it (check it out on facebook if you haven't already). Walked back to the hostel buzzing and remeniscing about what had just happened! Later that day pretty much the whole group headed to Spa Park Thermal Springs where we swam in hot pools all afternoon. We jumped off this bridge into the cold adjacent river which was such a contrast but when we got cold we simply went back into the hot pools! We walked back and had "free" BBQ at the bar, had drinks, played killer pool, participated in the quiz and actually got to speak about football!
On the 15th we got up ready to head to River Valley only to look out and see it was snowing! In the middle of August!!! They announced on the tannoy that we couldn't get to River Valley so we were stuck in Taupo with nothing to do!
On the 16th we got up and loads of the roads southbound were still closed so we had to skip River Valley and drive a long way round roads that were actually open straight to Wellington. We arrived 9 hours later. We had a few drinks and 9 of us got into a room built for 8 and thought it was a good idea to drunkenly jump until the lift got stuck and we had to wait 20 minutes for the lift engineer!
17th we got up and headed to NZ's national museum, Te Papa. We stayed until it shut at 6pm and it was so interesting to learn about the history of the country and the Maori culture etc.
On the 18th we shopped down Cuba Street and walked to the Beehive which is the government house. We were allowed in to view some parliamentary action in progress. I had no idea what they were talking about but the Ayes seemed to win everything! We organised a group piss up and got drunk!
We left Welly on the 19th and headed for the ferry. I was a bit hungover and the ferry was rough!!! I thought I was gonna be sick so I lied down on the floor and fell asleep for 3 hours only waking up when the ferry was pulling into the south island. We drove from Picton to Nelson where we had some beer tasting and watched the Simpson's Movie.
On the 20th we got up and headed to Nelson Lakes whch is a beautiful lake with mountains in the background. Famous for photos of people jumping into the lake. There was snow on the floor but it wasn't stopping me! Me and Stephen stripped off into our swimmers and got people ready with cameras. We ran up to the end of the jetty and front flipped into the lake. As soon as we hit the water it hit me like a sharp bit and I couldn't breathe. I struggled to clamber out onto the pier and was soooooo cold! It was an amazing, totally surreal backdrop and totally worth it for the photos of us in the air upside down. We headed to Westport where we spend the night and just chilled and watched Wedding Crashers and LOTR2.
The 21st we had breakfast and headed to a walk to see some seals. Another walk was at Pancake Rocks before we drove to Lake Mahinapua. There was nothing there except for the bar and a few cabins. The lads all headed down to the lake for a much needed game of soccer and I have to say it was the most amazing place I have ever played football (I've yet to play at White Hart Lane) where we played next to the lake with a backdrop of snowcapped mountains reflecting in the water until the sunset casting beautiful pink/purple tinges over the peaks. Lush. A few of us dressed ip for the fancy dress party Kiwi organise and had to be something beginning with "P". I was a parcel and the other participants were Pink, Plastic bag, Parrot, Pope, Pencil. There was a prize for the winner apparently. We got drunk on $16 bottles of wine and wrapped loads of rope from my parcel around each other fumbling and stumbling drunkenly.
On the 22nd on the bus, the driver announced that the prize for the most original costume was the Shotover Canyon Swing in Queenstown. Basically like a bungy but you swing. 60m freefall, 200m canyon, 150km/h worth $199. We had to write down who we thought should win and the driver announced the winner as Costas!!! YAY! s***ting myself already! You can choose different styles: get dropped off sitting down, backwards, upside down etc. but the one I'm thinking of doing is where they strap you into a chair and you lean back off the chair into the canyon!!!! Not sure if I'm brave enough! We'll see! We drove down to this weird possom museum and watched this video of these guys catching deer. Walking around, I took my phone out of my pocket and it slipped, went rolling on the floor and plopped into a pond. s***!!! I stuck my arm straight in and fished it out! Everybody saw and didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Some did both. It was only when I was taking it apart to dry that someone told me the pond was full of eels!!! COOL! I had the phone drying all day and it's fine amazingly. We arrived at Franz Josef glacier, did a walk and went to some heated pools for the afternoon. We played some killer pool and got into bed.
On the 23rd, I got up at 6:30am to watch the Spurs game (for some reason) before we went to check in for our full day glacier hike. We got kitted up in coats and stuff and got given our crampons. We walked 2km to the glacier and put our crampons on. It was f***ing huge! So amazing! We walked all day through ice, snow, rivers, crevasses and made it to the top for lucnh! We took loads of photos when we were near the cloudline and took in the amazing scenery ignoring the cold. It took 4 hours to climb and only an hour to descend! We got back to the hostel and headed into the hot tub for a bit. That night they had another Canyon Swing up for grabs this time for taking part in a Rock, Paper, Scissors competition. Best of 1. 32 entrants, 1 winner. Final best of 5. No catch. There were about 20 in our party involved so we fancied our chances that somebody we knew would win. I won my first round and celebrated. I got into the last 16 and the girl I was drawn against knocked the previous guy out by doing Scissors but showing 2 fingers. We drew the same hand twice in a row and the third go I did scissors and she had paper. I celebrated by turning my scissors into 2 fingers and giving them to her celebrating lapping in the applause!!! I to the quarter finals and lost instantly to this girl. Head in hands. By the semi's only one person from our group remained and he got knocked out so we lost interest after that. The girl who knocked me out lost 3-0 in the final. I've still got my canyon swing to do anyway!
This morning we got up early and headed down to a lake for some more mirror lake views and then drove to Wanaka where we're at now! Off to Queenstown tomorrow for 3 nights and the holiday is slowly coming to an end! It's been a blast though and there are still a few days to go yet!
Love you loads.
xxx
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