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Well its been a few days since my last blog, and what a few days its been! The weather finally decided to brighten up and I have had a week of fantastic weather, perfect timing for some beautiful scenery.
Queenstown started off with a bad day's weather so we stayed tucked up warm in the hostel with some takeaway pizza and some really bad films to entertain us for the evening. The following morning the rest of the guys from the bus (except 2) were up and off to Wanaka. It was sad to see them go, but it was nice to still have Sean and Dan around for a bit longer. The weather was stunning, not a cloud in the sky so we decided to head out for a walk around town and the lake. The views were just unbelievable, so beautiful. As we were walking I made a jump for a rock about 1/2 metre from the waters edge which turned out to be very slippy and it could have ended badly (and with a rather amusing photo) but thankfully I got my footing just in time and have an altogether more sensible photo! That evening we headed out for dinner with the intention of a nice meal.....and ended up at devil burger (arch enemy of the famous fergburger). As I was yet to have a fergburger, I went for a straightforward burger, so that when I had the fergburger, I could do a direct comparison...healthy few days that was, pizza, burger 1, burger 2. Must admit the Ferg is better!
Anyways, back to the story, that evening ended in a quiet drink at a lovely little bar on the waterfront, where we ran into some guys who Dan and Sean knew from the bus and spent the evening chatting with them.
Day 2 started early with a trip to Milford Sound. We had a rather talkative bus driver who felt it necessary to give us a running commentary, intermixed with personal stories the entire 4 hours...yes 4 hours to Milford Sound. I was rather tired and had hoped that could have been an opportunity for a few hours kip but no, 4 hours for continuous talk about New Zealand, what we were seeing (yes I did appreciate those bits) but not the rest about his childhood memories, his grandchildren...he was cleaely very proud, and every bit of geography he last learned in the im guessing, 70 years he has been on the planet.
The journey was (thankfully) broken by a stop at a coffee shop...i was in much need of the caffine. We stopped again at some amazing mirror lakes. I was so glad to see some in good weather as the one in Franz Joesph was a bit of a let down due to the low cloud. We stopped at third time to collect some drinking water from the stream.....it really did taste amazing, and once more at a chasm to see a rather vicious waterfall raging through the rocks and carving out some pretty interesting shapes in the rock as it went. Milford Sound itself was lovely, we had a nice cruise around and I got a free muffin and a cup of tea which was nice. The views were beautiful, but we were a bit miffed not to have seen any penguins or dolphins, but we did get a couple of seals for good measure.
Im glad to say the bus driver had run out of steam on the way back and so I had a peaceful journey back to Queenstown. That night the next Stray bus got in so a few of the guys I left in Wanaka had arrived. I headed out to see them in a few bars, although it was by no means a heavy drinking sesh as I had (rather stupidly) booked my bungee for 10am the next morning and did not want to be doing that with a hangover. All the same it was a nice evening which ended in a late night trip to Fergburger. Yum.
So after a very good night sleep (the few wines obviously had a good effect on calming my nerves!) I headed to the bungee store, got weighed and marked on my hands ready to head up to the gorge on the bus. After a short wait we were off and I was pleased to see 2 friends of Dan's that I had met 2 days before who happened to be doing it as well. The bus journey was uneventful and we were soon togged up in our harnesses and taken out to the little hut suspended over the gorge. We went in weight order, heaviest first, so I had 3 guys jumping before me. It was weird to watch the first one disappear over the edge, but the crew werent particularly excitable....clearly been in the job for way to long and were just plain bored. The next 2 guys went and hadnt managed to release their feet so came up looking something like fish caught on a hook and dangling upside down! I was rather relieved that they didnt manage as I would have been embarrassed to be the first one not to manage! I was next up so carefully made my way through the gate, into the chair of doom to get my feet strapped up and then out on to the platform. After a few seconds delay waiting for them to do something and start my countdown, it was 3....2....1....JUMP! It was AMAZING! loved it and thankfully managed to release my feet so returned up to the platform the right way up! The rest of the morning just involved a trip back to the hostel and some lunch.
That afternoon I met up with Sarah and Colin (from the bus) and we headed up the mountain for some Luging fun. We had a great afternoon zooming around the track and the views of Queenstown and the Remarkables mountains were stunning from the top. After a quick shopping trip and some dinner we headed out to listen to Ben (I think I mentioned him in the Franz Joseph entry) as he was playing again in a new bar that had just opened. It was a nice evening, chatting with people as that was the last time id see many of them. This morning we are up early and on to Mount Cook. Only 3 more days in NZ!
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