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Hello!
Well I have been in New Zealand for three weeks now and it already seems like a life time since SA. Had a really nice last night in Santiago, nice meal and lots of wine in the hostel... with Sara and an insane irish girl... really insane. My flight was ok but i checked in too early so was bored for hours! when will?I learn?!??I wanted to get snacks for the plane but they didnt even sell crisps! So for the entire filght i starved! My bloody veggie meal?consisted of a plie of spinich, a pile of swead and a pile of carrot...followed by an apple! And some soya bread with NO butter!!! WHY? Im veggie not veagn! It really annoys me when the woman next to me had an egg omlette and salad, bread roll with butter and a chocolate bun?, no meat!!! goodness.I watched?The Queen though which was good and played Millionaire again!
So I arrived in NZ very hungrey and tired but looking forward to seeing kirsty, got a connecting flight to ChristChurch and waited an hour for Miss Bailey to arrive! It was lovely to see her!
I was so excited to be in an english?speaking country and went abit mad actually! I went straight away to Subway, then had a fallafel wrap! went shopping (finally) So sick of my clothes! Been practically been wearing 3 pairs of trousers for 2 months!?I was just impressed by the?smallest thing! Oh i had homous too! And a curry! All in a day! plus loads of cadburys which my mum sent over!?We were in bed by 7 though coz we were so tired...and full!
We had vegemite for breakfast today which also pleased me! Then we joined the stray bus. Basically this is a backpackers bus network, you pay for a certain route and then at various points you can hop off for as long as you want then back on to continue. our driver was called catwalk and i took an instant dislike to him... which obviously means i ended up loving him! Im so so so bad at first impressions! We got the bus from CC to Kaikoura, got a lovely twin room, with balcony, sea view and ensuite!?Then after a walk around the town we went to whale watch. This isnt?certain you will get a sight?but on our two hour boat ride we got four viewings! Which was amazing! We were scared though as the sea is only twenty metres deep until a certain point when?it drops down to over a mile deep! And the next bit of land is?the antartic!
They put a mic down in the sea?to listen for the whales sonar, the mic?is a directional one?that can pick up to 5 miles away! (imagine that Malook!) then they say oh we cant here it that means its on its way up, oh yes its dirctly under the?boat! bear in mind that the Whale at 18 mtrs long was bigger than our boat! It was a Sperm whale we were watching!
Here are some facts if you are interested... otherwise just scroll...
* for every minute they spend on the surface they can go for 5 mins under water. normal dive time is 40 mins and they go around 3000 mtrs down.
* teeth are like trees and if you cut then you can count their age.
* Only the ypung males are in these waters, making themselves bigger to go back and win females hearts!
* they have the biggest heads in the animal kingdom!
theres more but wont bore you!
On the way back we stopped and looked at the dolphins who were showing off and swimming around the boat! they were amazing! they are so happy! I wanna be reincarnated as a dolphin! they seem to have so much fun, they do everything on the move, sleep, eat, have sex... and its true they have sex for fun, the only other mammal apart from humans! And they have sex with a different dolphin each time! On average nine times a day!
It was so cool.
The next day we left for Abel Tasman, stopping at a winery on the way! About 2 quid for wine and shots and bread and dips! Yum! Sampling wine from around the world!?We swopped drivers on the way and picked up and dropped off a few more people. Ricky was?our new driver. Abel Tasman was really nice?we stayed on Old Macdonalds farm in what could be described as huts! And the toilets were so far away and when it get dark it was abit of a pain! We had a really nice BBQ and drank more wine, we got to know some of the group.
The next day Kirsty and myself decided to go sea Kayaking. Neither of us had been before and decided to do a full day. We were joined by Alister (Devon)?and Martin (Dutch). We had a lesson for an hour about what to do and got kitted out in some gear. Kirsty and I were in a Kayak together. It was quite strenuous really esp when we were against the waves! We stopped a couple of times on secluded beaches for coffee and biscuits. We also went on a mini hike through the rain forest during lunch, still in?our wet?gear and our booties! We both actually want some booties now as they are the?most comfy things either of us?have ever worn!
It was a great day, we were far out in the sea too, going around islands and stuff. We only had one hairy moment when we were too busy looking at seals and had a close shave with some rocks and rough waves! But we did manage not to capsize our kayak, there is more skill involved than you think too! The last hour I did want to die though my arms were killing and I had blisters on my thumbs! Infact its nearly two weeks later now and I still have them.And Kirsty is still covered in bruises!?But we both really enjoyed the day and would def do it again.
We left Abel Tasman for BarryTown or Baz Vegas, I was expecting a really lively small town with casinos considering the nickname Baz Vegas but no. It was a village with one pub (where we stayed) a 12 houses. That is it. Its on the wild windy west of NZ and very remote indeed. The only thing to do here is get drunk, so we did. If the men dress as women and the women dress in black bags the happy hour gets extended! So we did and looked stupid. One of the guys Dominic (actually spelt Dominque! His parents spelt it wrong when he was born, from Berlin) Well he certainly was Dominque tonight as he even shaved his legs...just to the knee! Anyway the night was a bit tame really, played pool with Lee (scarboro), Sophia and Mia (swedan) and one game lasted ages! Had about 6 double vodkas and didnt even feel tipsy so I think it was really just water!
The next day everyone slept in, which i have the inability to do now so I went for a walk down to the beach, a wild beach with massive waves! There was even a tree washed up on it. Then we left for Franz Joseph.
Stayed in a really nice place here and we were here for two nights, I got accidently drunk on the first night as i hadnt eaten and was sick and in bed before 11! Kirsty got up early the next day to do a heli hike to the Franz Joseph glacier. I had decided not to do this as I had done the Glacier in Arg and couldnt afford both! Lucky really as I was hungover and decided to have a lazy day, I had a double bed too so what a perfect day to do it. Just read, slept and ate all day, a proper lazy sunday! It was well deserved too as I know you all think im on some big holiday but its hard too, up by 7:30 everyday even weekends!
I also had an early night that night while the others went out.
The next day we drove up to Fox glacier, which I was really unimpressed by, looked like a dirty stone! And then we stopped at Lake Matheson, which is cool as the whole view is reflected in the lake and when you take a pic you cannot tell which way round it is! Then we arrived in Makarura?which was another small town. Me Kirsty Selena and Lee ( who seem to have become a little group) shared a chalet. Again in the middle of nowhere but?nothing to do, you get to these places at usk and leave first thing the next day so you have no time to go and explore yourself which is making me slightly?suffocated! That night everyone went to the only bar again,?this was worse though as it was Karaoke! Which i detest! It actually makes my skin crawl! but i survived?and a few cocktails helped me through.
Today we at last arrived in Queenstown! I was so glad to be in a bigger places with people other than the group. Although the people on the bus?are nice, after?travelling alone and doing my own thing it can get annoying!?the bus picks you up outside hostels, drops you off and books you in, which was a nice relief at first but is dull after a while.
The day after arriving me and Selena got up early and went hand gliding! It was absolutly amazing! high up on a mountain, we got straped up?along with a guide and just ran off the cliff! if I could have a super power it would be to fly so i found this amazing! i was abit nervous but no half as much as i thoughti would be! The running off bit was?the best bit!?My guide was a crazy Columbian guy so that made it more fun, he started doing acrobatics which were scary and made your stomach go so i asked him to stop, maybe next time! but i was just happy to be up there and the view was fantastic! The landing was cool, you just skid along on your stomach! I will def do this again! nd i have loads of Videos and photos of it too! Will be on my blog soon.
Then i went straight to meet Kirsty and we did white water rafting which was cool! Only grade 3 but we could?handle grade 4 we think! And neither of us fell out which was lucky! It was really good fun! it was down a river used in lord of the rings (which?I hate) but others were impressed.
The next day we went on a side trip to milford Sounds, which is actually Fjords. Very impressive and gorgeous. A bus then a boat. The size of?it is very impressive, the boats which are pretty big look?very small in comparison. We had a great driver who told us loads of facts about NZ. The most interesting been that when NZ was discovered both by the Maori and Europeans, it had no mammals at all, just birds! All the animals here today were all introduced (including the possoms which cause problems). The only animals were bats and seals but apart from that all birds! Amazing.?One Bird which is now extinct called the Moa, was over 3 feet tall and weighed 250kg! Anyway...
That night we said goodbye to the group and the next day we got on the express bus to Christchurch.?Stayed for the night, went out for a meal with Dom from our bus then?the next morning went to Kaikoura again. This was the place where we Whale watched. This time though we were to swim with dolphins. All kitted out in Wetsuits,hoods and snorkels,off we went into the sea. It was fairly cold and very deep! (i was hoping not to see a whale!) We had to jump off the back of the boat and the dolphins were all around us! It was amazing! i panicked abit at first coz soon as you jumped off you were very far from the boat, also my mask was leaking so i couldnt breath!?We had to keep getting back on?the boat and finding another group of dolphins as they dont like to intrude so much on one group. Once i had changed my ask I really loved it! It was so amazing, 15 dophins were swimming around me and under me it was great! We had an under water camera but not sure we got any good ones! We did about seven dives and saw so many dolphins, so worth the money!
We left kaikoura the next day and indeed the South Island heading on the 4 hour ferry ride across the?Cook Strait to the North island. Where I have been for 5 days but will bore you later...as normal I am so behind on this blog. Written it so fast I have prob forgot so much and made many mistakes... all my grammar skills have gone out of the window with an I dont realy care mood.
Take Care Love Emma.xxx.
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