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Round the World 2006
Hello Everyone once again!!
It has been a while, and i hope life if still good over in sunny England!! I think you have better weather than me at the moment!!!
The last time i emailed i was in Queenstown New Zealand, It is a great place, full of backpackers and extreme sports. The perfect place to have an amazing time!! We went up the gondola, overlooking the town and the surrounding lake, we went luging down the hill. If you dont know what it is, it is a sledge on wheels with sod all control!! So dangerous, oli rolled out of his, i crashed full on into a crash barrier, bit like schumachers crash at silverstone!!! Luckily no broken legs. The follwoing day steve and I had an early start, a small drive up the Remarkable ski mountains took us to our launch point. This mornings activity was to me hand gliding, we strapped in, and ran off the cliff, it really was so weird!! But once the ground has gone you are floating, with the birds, complete silence, looking at the splendid views. I took control for about 5 minutes, what fun, my instructor taught me how to nose dive and then swoop up to experience weightlessness. An nice gentle activity that i would recommend to anyone! Then straight after lunch it was onto the second activity of the day, the mighty 134m nevis bungy jump! We checked in at midday and had a 45 minute drive over the mountains into a secluded valley. As you arrive your jaw drops as you look how hight the cable car is, fear sets in!! When people say its not good to me large, they are wrong, i was the heaviest on our bus and therefore had to jump first, get it out the way and look hard!! But really i was a wreck in the corner thinnking about death!! I was harnessed it, given a full briefing and that was it, into the cable car, a short ride over to the jump pod. This is it! No going back, ankle straps on, safety cord etc.. And 5--4--3--2--1--BUNGY - i had gone, jumped like a good old boy. My eyes were open, i was flying toward the ground so quickly, the river was getting closer and closer - the best ground rush EVER! It was the best personal achievement ever, making yourself mentally stable to be able to jump!! Oh yes, and as you can imagine the night out after was again one of the best ever!!!
The following day was river boarding, the water was freezing, just me my helemet and my bodyboard, floating down the river with absolutely no control what so ever!! Very hard work, but great fun. Got pulled along by a jet ski at one point and got really bad cramp!! Then we did a rope swing and a big rock jump into the river!! A good day and it sorted out the headache from the previous night!! Sunday 23rd Arpil was our last day of extreme sports in Queenstown, we finished it witht the largest canyon swing in the world!! Two jumps of the cliff, one dancing john travolta jump and one pin drop straight off the edge, both were awesome - but the adrenaline high didnt quite compare to the nevis'!
We then hired out a car for 4 days on monday, we decided to go on a road trip, anyone seen the film?? Well it wasn't quite the same and grandparents its really not worth watching!!!! We had a great time, drove to Milford Sound to go on a cruise around the natural sound. The area is beautiful, we stayed at a little lodge before the early morning cruise the following day. We saw some amazing waterfalls and we had a dolphin experience that touched everyone of us. Standing on the front of the boat with about 10 doplhins riding along with us, looking at us, spinning and blowing us bubbles. A trully awesome experience!! We then drove to Invercargill, an industrial town with not a lot in it!! Good to see though! We left the following morning to go to the southern tip, Bluff, a rundown fishing port. Then we headed back up to near queenstown, I drove along the beautifully scenic road that appears in the BMW advert! We went to Kinloch, a very small hamlet right on the top of the lake, stayed at a beautiful hostel surrounded by snow capped mountains. We had a nice rest there before returning to queenstown the following day.
We left Queenstown on saturday 29th april on the kiwi experience bus with our driver Buzz, we headed up into the mountains and along the Lindis Pass and into Mackenzie Farming country. Stopped at Lake Pukaki, a beautiful blue lake, formed by the glaciers. Then we continued accross the Canterbury plains into Christchurch, had pizza for dinner. Went out with josh in christchurch for his last night, a good laugh as per usual. Spent sunday at the craft markets in christchurch before leaving on our Kiwi bus up to Kaikora on Monday, may day! Josh flew back to australia so we were dwon to a group of three. We arrived in Kaikoura at midday for a dolphin swim, but it was cancalled as the dolphins had gone too far away. So instead we jumped on a whale watching cruise and saw 4 awesome sperm whales, they are huge and their dive as the tail flips up is awesome, agains another aweosme natural experience. Fish and chips for dinner, huge portions!!!!
The following day we left with the same driver, Lobby LuLu! Up to Picton, where we caught our ferrry accross to the North island. We said out farewell to the south island, or in local maori, Te Wai Pounamu. We arrived in Wellington after a very boring 3 hour crossing, went out as a group to a pub quiz, we came about half way!! We had a few days in wellington, we went up the Cable car train, for great views over the city, we went round the Lord of The Rings Exhibition - it was great it had all the special affects and orignial costumes it in!! Also we went around the national museum, Te Papa.
We left Wellington on Saturday may 6th, to head up to Taupo, that afternoon all 3 of us did a skydive, my second, from 12 000ft. Yet again it was awesome!! This section at of a magazine sums it up!!
"Your body is charged with adrenalin and your heart racing with anticipation. Now the time has come to look fear in the eyes and jump. As you step into thousands of feet of emptiness and freefall at speeds of up to 200km/h you realise that nothing could have prepared you for this indescibable sensation. Enjoy the total sense of freedom, when the parachute is deployed the silence is amazing, the views sensastional - simply awesome." At let me tell you a agree!!!
We spent a day in Taupo, we went to the natural hot springs, where the volcanically hot water meets the colder river water, great from swimming. We then headed up to Rotorua, the suplhur city, it absolutely stank of rotten eggs!! It was a good place to visit, it has a huge amount of geothermic activity, with geisers, mud pools etc.. But it stank! Whilst we were there we went to a great Maori evening, had a huge traditioanl Hangi Supper and a great show was put on for us by the local Maori people.
The following day we got back on the bus and headed straight up to Auckland, had a look round then on up to the Bay of Islands we went. Arriving in Pahia, we gave dolphin swimming another go, but this time there were babys about so swimming is against the law. But again got so close to them and they trully are amazing creatures!! The following day i went on an awesome adventures trip up to the top of New Zealand, at Cape Reinga. I saw where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean met, and you can actually see the waves colliding - awesome!! Then we took the bus down a stream, drove onto the beach and stopped. We stopped for a spot of sand boarding on the biggest sand dunes in new zealand!! Awesome and extreme! Then continued down 90 mile beach, we saw some wild horses, stopped for a swim and ate raw shell fish out the sea. Before heading to a Kauri forest and back to Pahia. It was a wicked day, that we ended in the nice hot tub back at our hostel! The following day we hired out some kayaks and just casually paddled to a couple of the islands close to the bay. Then got back on the bus and headed back into Auckland. Spent saturday in auckland looking round, saw the sky tower and had a great night out for oli and steve's birthday in the evening. We slept in a lot the follwoing day before flying out of auckland at 6pm back to Sydney, as we flew i sat there and realised how lucky i was to be seeing so many amazing places. We have had a couple of days now here in sydney just relaxing and getting a few jobs out the way. We went up the amazing Sky Tower Revolving restaurant yesterday, for a great meal with awesome views, Sydney by night is beautiful!!
Tonight i am meeting up with some friends i met in India and then tommorrow we fly onto hong kong for a week before onto the paradise of Thailand.
A bit of maori to finish: "Ki mai koe ki a au, he aha te mea nui tenei ao: He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
In English: "If you should ask me what is the greatest thing it the world, the answer would be: It is people, it is people, it is people"
The people i am meeting on this trip are making my times travelling so memorable and enjoyable.
I hope all is well with you, i look forward to some responses!!!
Luv Rob
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