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We arrived in Queenstown at teatime and were very excited as this is where we've been told is the party place of New Zealand! Because of this we decided to book all our activities for the following day so we wouldnt have to get up early another day. After picking a place to park for the night we went to bed, resisting going out and ready for our 6.45am start. Well, when we woke up we were freezing!! So, all wrapped up we set off to the shop to sign up for our activities. Dani was doing the Nevis Bungee whilst Aimee and Sam were doing the Shotover Jet and White Water Rafting.
At 134m, Nevis is the most popular and highest bungee in New Zealand and Dani has been looking forward to it since the beginning of the trip. She was the only girl in a group of 8 and after doing the (and quote) "Best Bungee EVER" she was talked into doing the Nevis Arc Swing too. Although there wasnt much persuading! All the boys had done it upside down, meaning that Dani had to do the same. Apart from the video looking terrifying, Dani said it was awesome and even better than the Bungee. God knows what she's going to do next!
Sam and Aimee on the other hand aren't into throwing themselves off bridges so with Dani not into the idea of White Water Rafting, they decided to go while she was doing the Bungee. They started off on the Shotover Jet which is award winning and takes you down the Shotover River dodging and diving between the rock faces causing you to hold your breath as you get so close. They also throw in some 360 .ExternalClass p.ecxMsoNormal, .ExternalClass li.ecxMsoNormal, .ExternalClass div.ecxMsoNormal {margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:115%;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif';} .ExternalClass .ecxMsoChpDefault {;} .ExternalClass .ecxMsoPapDefault {margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt;} .ExternalClass div.ecxSection1 {page:Section1;} ° turns that have everyone hanging on for life. Wearing as many layers as possible and the waterproof jacket they gave, they were screaming at every opportunity unlike the rest of the group who had no emotion (boring!)
After the Shotover they had to get suited and booted for White Water Rafting, so wearing the attractive wetsuits, jacket and helmets etc they jumped on a bus and drove the narrow and winding roads to the start. After being allocated their group they were abit worried that it only had one guy and four girls. It ended up ok though as the guide was male and one of the more experienced. On Aimee's first stroke she managed to break the ore and in the first rapid everyone had to run to one side of the raft to stop it tipping as someone didnt paddle when they should of. But it wasnt long before they got the hang of it and were handling the rapids like pros! The river was grade four and the rapids all had names like toilet flush, ping pong and jaws, but their favourite had to be the last one which is man made due to the mineers tunneling throught the rock face. Because Sam was put at the front, she was nominated to help steer through the dark tunnel. So while everyone else was told to take the "crouch down and hold on" position, she had to perch on the front of the raft and paddle!
The photo of them dropping down at the end is awesome. All you can see is Aimee's petrified face and half of Sam's head as the waves cover the rest making it look like she was submerged! Unfortunately you will just have to imagine this as we are on a budget and cant afford to buy professional photos =(
After our morning adventures, we all met up and took the Gondola up to the Skyline Restaurant where we had booked a buffet lunch as part of our luge package. We thought it would just be a simple lunch but it was really nice with lots of choice and loads of desserts. The views overlooking Queenstown were just amazing! Once we had eaten our weight in food (got to make to most of free food when on a budget) we headed of to the luge where you race the zig zag course downhill in a little kart. We had 2 rides each included in our package but after experiencing the advanced course, we payed for a third go.
That night we caught up with Crouch, one of the lads we met in Vietnam and went round to his hostel for some drinks before we went out. We ended up in Base Bar for a few drinks (where we tried and failed to steel a table and an adapter) before hitting World Bar. On the way back home, Dani and Aimee were hungry so took the opportunity to experience the famous Fergburger that we have been told so much about. The burgers are huge and after growing from a small business to a must have when in Queenstown, it is now packed day and night!
With having a late night and a busy day of activities, the following morning we were extremely tired so a lie in was well on the cards...not! At 8am we were woken up by a bang on the door and a parking man telling us that if we didn't move in 5 minutes he would call the police and fine us $100. Now, we had been told you cant camp on residential streets but because we hadn't got caught the previous morning, thought we would risk it again! Dani earned herself a point in the game of life by driving to a different street while Sam and Aimee carried on sleeping!
The next couple of days were spent mooching around, sneaking into campsites to use showers and make food. We were completely wrong thinking it would be easy living without water, having to find sinks everywhere to wash up was a right pain!
We caught up with Dave, a lad we met in Australia who is living in Queenstown for a while and parked outside his house for the next few nights. Not the best place as it was on a steep hill but it was free!
Nights were spent going out (surprise surprise) with drinking games before to drink our 5L of Vodka. Later that night we got chatting to two local policemen who after initially refusing to give us a lift home eventually ended up giving in. Sam challanged them to guess what disaster we had in the camper and if they couldnt guess, they would have to give us a lift. When we got back to the camper we asked if we could get in the back of their van for photos and they surprisingly said yes. That sums up queenstown, fun and games! Only wish we'd had longer!
On our last night we met up with a couple who Mickey had told us to get in touch with, Sheena and Malcome. They visited the Isle of Man a couple of months back and after meeting Mickey offered to show us around. Unfortunately, Sheena had been really busy at work so we didn't get to meet her until the last night when she took us all out for tea. We had no intention of letting her pay for all three of us, however she was very persistent and we were overruled. It was so nice of her and really unexpected so when we went for a few drinks afterward, we insisted on buying a few rounds to say thank you. Even more unexpected was the gift they had brought for Sam. Fiona, Sheenas sister who had also come along, had asked her friend to carve a Koru
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