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sat: so I now have to do a more detailed, informative blog because mam has read naomi's blog and its so much more better than mine. Mother, I have been travelling for almost 10months!! its hard to write a journal everyday! You can tell when I actually right for the day im on as it is more detailed. Like now, im writing a week behind. Kinda hard to remember everything! But I will give it a go..... so I got up and cleaned my teeth with my green toothbruch and colgate white toothpaste. I did this for 2 mins and went for a ...today I went for a walk to the snout. A 6hr round trip to the end of the nearby peninsula in the queen charlotte sound. Iwalked over the top, at the end of the peninsula there was a really nice lookout point, looking north into the sound. I then walked back around the beach side track. It was really really hot today and even though I was cover in suncream I could still feel myself catching the sun. After lunch I saw the town xmas parade, which, even if it did feel slightly festive and snowy /cold, the parade would have still been s***. It was just cars and kids. After the 20min parade I went to the promenade and sat and read my book on the green and then went for a swim. The beach wasnt that great and a bit stoney but the green field a few metres up the bank was really nice. The water wasnt that cold but on times there were some cold patches that were absolutely freezing. In the evening just sat around the log burner chatting with some english people.
Sun: managed to see danielle before I left and kat. Today I caught the bus to nelson. They stopped off at a wine tasting but I didnt do it as it was like $10. We then drove onwards to nelson where I got off. Stayed at a place called the bug. It has free internet. Its a little out of town but they have free bikes. So after lunch I went on the bike and had a ride to the centre of nz (the actually geographical point) . Then walked up the hill to the actual 'centre point' which offered nice views over nelson. After that I rode through the town centre. It was sunday so the place was dead and all shops were closed. But it had a big town centre with 2 or 3 main high streets which is at least 2 more than other previous towns ive been to. I then rode down to the harbour and back to the hostel. About 3 hours in total which past the time nicely. In the evening just chilled there and played fussball with steve an american guy. And in the night just chatted and went on the internet.
Monday: the bus today is at 3 and ive got a free shuttle to the bus stop at 2:30. was thinking of going to the beach but it was a bit far and by the time id get there I would have only 20mins and then have to come back. Anyway all the bikes had been taken so had to spend the day at the hostel. The guy forgot to pick me up at 2:30. he came back at 2:50 with some new backpackers and had to get one of the staff to take me. I got there bang on 3. after hanging around for 30mins not knowing whether the stray bus had come and gone I asked a bus driver and he said that they hadnt come and they're always late (we were early though) sure enough 10mins later they turned up. The bus is pretty empty, with only around 20 people. The battery died so we had to push start, which was pretty easy. We got into marahau (abel tasman NP) around 7pm. Booked into a dorm tent. Basically a big family camping tent which had 6 beds in it. It is actually a campsite that has cabins and a hostel. The campsite, the barn is located right on the foothills of the abel tasman national park. Made food and chilled out on the decking. Got friendly with a few of the people off the bus and we sat and drank. Mainly got on well a girl called lene from norway. She was sitting in front of me on the bus and got chatting to her on there, so to get into the rest of the group I went up and sat next to her and soon got talking to others.The stars in the night sky was absolutely fantastic. On par or possibly better than fraser island. Me and a few girls decided to go down the beach to watch the stars. But we couldnt find the path to the beach and the the girls started spooking themselves out. So we went back to the log fire. I was last up and went back to the tent. However I couldnt open the door. The zip at the bottom was broken and someone had pulled the zip down to far. After trying for a while I gave up. I went to the tent next to us and realised there was noone there and the beds were all made up. So I decided to stay there. After flicking the cockroach off the sheet and grabbing an extra blanket off the other bed I went to sleep. Apart from waking up sweating buckets I had a great night sleep.
tuesday: up early today as we were going sailing at 9. the weather however was very cloudy and as we were getting ready it rained. It rained constantly till we were on the boat and had been sailing for 10mins. The weather then brightened slightly and the rain, when it did, just picked. We were on a catamaran, the waves were pretty big but the catamaran sailed through them slowly and broke over the top of them so it wasnt too bad. There were around 8 people on the boat. 5 from stray, a couple and a norwegian girl who worked nearby. We had tea and coffee and some cookies and I managed to chip the front of my tooth on the cookie. So now I have to chipped front teeth, but they arnt too bad. I had a go at sailing for a few minutes, but it was open water so really just had to make sure the boat didnt do a 360 degree spin and I was doing ok. The skipper chucked a line over the back and caught two fish. The second one was quite big and a bit of a riggler. So he picked up the wrench and started clobbing the fish over the head. There was a lot of blood and the fish was spasming on the deck. It was so in humane and cruel ive completely gone off fishing. As the weather was poor and visibility of the hills was reduced I decided to do the ½ day sail and walked back with pretty much everyone else. It was a 4hr walk and we stopped off on some beaches and lookouts to take some photos. One of the girls thought she saw a penguin. And she came back to us saying that there was a penguin on the beach but we missed it as it flew away!! We got back about around 5. in the evening we had a bbq. And stayed under the shelter as it rained throughout the evening. The steaks off the bbq were huge and I also tried muscles, I think. They were bigger than normal muscle shells but when I opened them up they looked like giant cockles. Afer the group bbq we just stayed around drinking casually and chatting. Went to bed around 12 and managed to get into the tent this time.
Wednesday 8th: up early as I was hoping to go microlighting. But the weather was aweful. So it was cancelled. I then stayed around as the stray bus was moving on. I was the only one staying. After they went I went back to bed to catch up on some sleep. I woke up feeling a bit iffy. I then got considerably worse throughout the day. Lucky enough it pissed down all the day so wouldnt have been able to do anything anyway. Towards the evening I started getting cabin fever and forced myself out for a walk along the beachfront. Took the opportunity of an empty tent and went to bed at 9.
thursday 9th: woke up feeling like absolute crap. My piss is like an aweful brown colour and my s*** is green. So something tells me something aint right inside. Really dont feel like food today either. Hopefully this is just a cold thing and I will feel better tomorro. Completely drained off energy and slept like 16hrs today. Weather was still shocking, so good time to be ill I guess.
friday 10th: feeling more energetic today. Managed a sandwich for breakfast. It was a nice day so went microlighting. Met 3 other people from the new stray bus that I will be catching later on today. We got to the airstrip around 8:30. the 3 other people are doing hang gliding. They all went up first. They got towed up by a microlight to 2500ft and then disconnected and just flew back down to the airfield. They didnt go anwhere and it was just about 20mins if that. So I was worried that I might get a little ripped off. Got dressed up in my jumpsuit and helmet and jumped into the 'cockpit'. The speed on the runway seemed quite fast and I dont think we made 100m before we shot up into the air. Right away we started heading over to the national park. We ascended to 2600ft and flew to a couple of bays over from anchorage. The views were magnificent, the water was so blue, the trees so lucious green. We could see loads of kayakers and could see a couple of stingrays (when we dropped to around 1000ft) we could also see the mountain located in the north island. I managed to take a heap of photos. It was such a graceful way of flying (even though the motor was right behind me the helmet drowned out a lot of the sound) you also feel extremely secure and safe in the little cockpit. The journey took I think around 40mins (supposed to be 30 and I got $5 off). Then caught the bus to barrytown. The bus seems pretty full. Got a seat next to a girl. We got talking and found out she has family living in glyneath. Her mother is welsh, father english and she's lived in oz for 15 or so years. So we instantly got friendly and I also got friendly with her two friends behind me, who were two sisters from luton. I also saw steve the american sitting a few rows up. So right away I made friends and knew that it was going to be a good group. On the way we stopped in this random town for lunch. I took the opportunity and ran to the hospital to see about my possible bladder infection (I have been pissing blood since last night). It was pretty stupid cos after I ran back to the bus (they couldnt see me in the given time I had) I felt extremely s*** and sweating and had pins and needles down both hands. Ceclia next to me went up to the driver and told him the next time we stop off in a town they gotta allow time for me to go to the hospital. So at westpoint I went to the hospital, I explained I was on a tour group and the bus was leaving shortly (the driver was there to back me up) so I pretty much saw a doctor straight away. He asked me a few questions and gave a poke around. He gave me some antibiotics and I took a pee sample. I took the antibiotic shortly after and within an hour I started feeling a lot better. We stopped at a place alled pancake rocks, which wasnt that great, just a rocks that looked like stacked pancakes. We then headed onwards to barrytown. Barrytown is apparently the party night. As there is nothing to do in the town (its tiny) then everyone gets dressed up (fancydress) and gets drunk and plays games. When we got there I went to sleep and slept for 2hrs. I woke up at 9 and went to the pub where everyone was dressed up and a few games had already been played. i actually got involved in one game where you had to jump over and under a few tables. The rest of the night I pretty much just sat on the sofa and watched everyone else. But the girls (celia, katie and zoe) and steve came over and chatted with me for a while now and again. I went to bed around 1ish. It was actually a good night watching the guys get drunk and dance about. The pub had a huge welsh flag there next to the new zealand flag. But I didnt find out why they had one.
saturday 11th:today was a drive to franz josef. We stopped at a lake (pukuaki or something - will need to find this out) we got to franz about 4ish. We went to the main activity place and paid for our activities. I decided to do the ice climb (basically rock climbing but in ice and u need two ice claw things) im staying in the rainforest and in a wood cabin with the three girls and a german lady. In the evening we sat around waiting to use the kitchen and chilled out. And in the night we went to the monsoon bar but only for a couple.
sunday 12th: up early for the ice climb and the weather is s***. Its really cloudy and with light rain. We went to the main building and got all our gear sized up; trousers and jackets and hats and then went across the road to get our ice boots, packs, helmets and clipons sorted. We then jumped onto the bus and took the 4km drive up to the car park for the glacier. It was then a further 2km walk along the land where the glacier had retreated from. We climbed up the glacier for 20mins or so and then stopped to put all our gear on. Whilst we were doing this one of the guides went off and prepared the climbing gear for our trial runs. The weather also drastically improved and we could see that it was going to be a cloudy but rain free day. We had a demonstration and then had a go ourselves. There are 5 of us climbing and two guides. There were two practice walls. One was about 7m high and vertical, the other was over 20m and started very gradual and went up to an almost vertical point. I did ok but didnt get the technique quite right as I was using my arms too much. We also learned to belay, which I could surprisingly still remember from when I did rock climbing a couple of years ago. The next climb we did we actually got abseiled down and then dropped into a crevass. The crevass actually dropped a further few metres, until it went to small so we couldnt actually see the bottom. We got dropped down till we couldnt fit any further and then ice climbed up. The start was a little difficult as u didnt have free movement of ur arms and legs but once u got out of the small part of the crevass it was pretty easy. We did this twice, the second time we were allowed to take our cameras down and take a few shots. We then walked another ½ hr or so along the glacier to another point. This location again we had to be abseiled into. But this crevass was tiny, just wide enough for us to fit in. we got dropped to the bottom and then climbed up, for this one we werent allowed to put our butts on the back wall. This wall had a slight overhang and so was difficult when getting over the overhang at the top. I slipped a couple of times and bruised my knees pretty good. We then ran out of time so I couldnt do the last climb. So as they were packing up the equipment I decided to have a coffee. When I was putting the flask back my thumb decided to pop out of the socket and subsequently locked itself. I couldnt do a thing with it. The guy came over and massaged my thumb/hand and it popped back it but then as soon as I moved it it popped back out. I tried shaking it and pulling it back into place, but it kept popping back out a few times more. It seemed once I got a bit of heat into it it seemed ok but didnt feel right for the rest of the day. We got back down the mountain around 4:30. so we did have a full day up the glacier. We didnt however go up as far as the day hikers but looking at what they were doing, it didnt seem anywhere as fun. They had to stop a lot for the guide to carve some steps into the ice and wait for the stragglers to catch up.
In the evening after a nice long shower, we had food, did some laundry went to the monsson bar and then chilled in the tv lounge.
monday 13th: as the weather was forcasted to be s*** for the next few days and the group was leaving I decided to jump on the bus with them. I really liked this group and we all got on really well together. We left franz josef at 9 and the weather was horrendous. We were supposed to stop at lake matheson, but weather was to bad and then at fox glacier but the driver missed the turning. The next stop was along the beach front on one of the beaches. This beach had a load of drift wood and people had made all weird sculptures and collected these stones and painted them and put them around the sculptures. There were also millions of big really white stones. We then stopped at a lookout point over the tasman sea and then we entered the haast pass. This pass is known for its drive along the valley floor engulfed by steep mountains either sides and waterfalls and rapids. We stopped at the haast gate, which were some rapids and took a couple of pics. The ride through was pretty poor though because the weather was really muggy and cloudy and the bus was all misted up so you couldnt really see outside either. We then stopped at the blue pools but because of the rainfall the river was surged and all brown from runoff, so it was nothing brown about it. But still a nice walk through the forest and over a couple of suspension bridges. In makarora there is nothing. A pub/ restaurant, petrol station, information centre and our campsite. We are staying in a hut, 10 bed. There was nothing to do in the night so we stayed in the kitchen, the 5 of us (me steve and the 3 girls) and played cards (spoons) and I tried to teach them how to hoot. We went back around 1 but me and celia stayed out star gazing for like another hr. we saw 4 or 5 shooting stars. But then it got pretty cold so we went to bed.
tues 14th: bus left makarora at 9. it was a 2 hr drive to wanaka. The drive on the way down was breathtaking as we were driving alongside lake wanaka and hawea. We stopped for a few photos and had a group photo as well. The guys only had like an hr in wanaka but they came with me and steve to check into wanaka backpacka and then we went and walked along the riverside, grabbed some food and sat on the grass overlooking the lake and the mountains behind. After the goodbyes me and steve walked around the town. Its not very big but I noticed that its very clean and tide and the shops are all very neat and tidy and everything is perfectly in place. Then went back and slept for a couple of hours. In the night steve taught me how to play chess and we had a poker night with 2 other guys in the hostel. The scenery surrounding lake wanaka is breathtaking. The lake is huge and a lovely blue, on either side u have steep green mountains and in the distance you have snow capped mountains from mt aspiring national park.
wed 15th: today me and steve decided to go to puzzling world. It was a pretty hot day and it turned out that puzzling world was a lot further than we thought. So we tried hitchhiking. But no luck so we ended up walking the 4km to get there. We sat down and played a few puzzles, these little ones that u do in your hands that involve moving a few pieces of wood and whatever and trying to make a shape of some sort. After getting significantly frustrated we went into the maze. We got completely lost for 45mins trying to find the first corner. Byt the time we found it we had pretty much walked the whole maze and so knew where to go for the other 3 corners and completed it in an hour and 15. we then went into the illusion room, and had a go at a couple of things but it was mainy looking at photos and pictures on the wall. We then tried to hitch hike back but with no luck. It doesnt look promising for tomorrow! When we got back I was to knackered to rent a mountain bike and slept at the dinner table immediately after having food. In the afternoon I went for a swim in the lake as it was another hot day and read a book and fell asleep on the beach. After a couple of hours I went back to the hostel. In the night we had another poker night. I came second out of 5 of us.
thurs 16th: got up relatively early so I could have a go at hitch hiking. Im looking at going back up to franz josef. I have time to kill so hoping to do some hiking and a skydive over fox glacier (voted the 2nd best jump site in the world). Phil will also be there so it will be good to see him again as we have a great laugh all the time. Apparently it will take around 5-6hrs to get up to franz josef. I walked a km to the edge of town and started hitching. The first car stopped within 10mins but wasnt going the same direction. I waited there for around 1/2hr. 4 cars stopped in total but none were going the same route as me. So I decided to walk to the road turnoff for highway 6, the road for the west coast, so I knew everyone that passed was at least going in that direction. It was a 3 ½ km walk. So I started hitching again when I got to thar road and within 5 mins I had another car, but he was only going 4km up the road so didnt bother as the spot I was in was pretty good. A car slowed down but carried ongoing but immediately after that a car stopped, also only going to lake hawea 4km up the road. The car that slowed down then did a u-turn and came back to me. They said they were going to franz josef so I jumped in with them. They were a middle aged couple from melbourne out here on holiday. Very nice friendly couple. They only stopped as the guy used to live over here and used to hitch around all the time, so when they saw me they kinda felt bad, ha. It was a beautiful day and as they were tourists they wanted to stop off at all the nice places, which suited me cos on the way down the weather wasnt great and I missed out on a lot of sights. We stopped at lake hawea and at some falls, some rapids and the blue pools which were an amazingly emerald blue. Ive never seen a river that blue. We stopped at haast for lunch and they insisted on buying me lunch and a pint. Which I was obviously very grateful of.hada steak sannie with chips. The steak was pretty big and didnt fit into the sannie. We then stopped off at a couple more sights and got up to fox around 4. we drove up to the glacier car park and walked along the path up to the foot of the glacier. There was a river that came out of the bottom of the glacier and you could see huge chunks of ice being carried by the river. The glacier I dont think is as impressive as franz josef and its certainly more dirtier looking. After fo it was another 40min drive to franz josef. We got there at 6:30. I tried to give them money towards the petrol / food but they werent having it. After a couple of handshakes I headed off. They were a really nice couple and they talked to me about all their famile and the pets etc. on leaving the lady, linda (& gordon) wished me all the best and said I was a lovely guy, bless her. In the night after food I went looking for phil, hoping he stuck to his word and was in franz josef. The first hostel I went to I saw hm in the kitchen. Sat chatting to him and his friends, paul and andre who were hilarious and then phil, paul and I went to the monsoon bar and had a couple of pints.
friday 17th: had to get up a couple of times in the night, so bladder still not fully recovered. Woke up to torrential rain. But I got ready and went to the supermarket for breakfast food. Saw phil on the way back all kitted out for the glacier hike. So I thought if they were going up they must know the weather is improving. It didnt. It pissed down all day, and I mean pissed down. I eneded up going out and looking through the shops to kill time. Turned out to be a bad idea as I spent a bit of money. I bought a watch and a maori bone carved neck pendant. The rain didnt ease off at all so spent rest of the day on the internet or in the hostel common room. In the evening metup with phil, andre and a guy called alex. Andre went to bed early but the 3 of us went down to the monsson bar. Met these cool girls from scotland and had a laugh with them.they are going to try and meet up with us in queenstown, the boys may see them but I think I will probably miss them. Shame as they were insanely fit. We played hand pool. The pool cues were all broke so we used our hands. Some of the shots were hilarious. After the girls went we headed off to the ice bar. The place was dead apart from a few locals. We had a game of pool and I pulled off the break of the century. The cue ball jumped over the balls, hit the top of the cush and bounced back into the d and then off the table. Two local guys asked us for a game, as we were playing them a strange vibe started happening. We then had an issue with the rules and phil went over to try and understand and get it all confirmed. They took it the wrong way I think and then one of their mates just came over and said to one of them oh just knock them out, referring to us boys. It kinda calmed down but the vibe was really bad. So we finished our game and drinks and went. It was like 1:30 anyway. Im guessing they were a bit angry as it was a friday night and the best looking people in the place were me, phil and al. On the way back I said bye to phil as I probably will never see him again. And im looking at catching up with al in wanaka in a few days time.
sat 18th: today again greeted me with downpours. The bus was postponed for an hour due to the weather but no one notified me, so I was standing outside for an hour. The bus driver I have today is called python. Stray have a thing about calling their drivers weird nicknames. Python, I can only imagine has got his name for something that must resemble a python, enough said. Previous drivers I have had are seagull, caash, and a couple of new drivers who havent been initiated yet. So today was a repeat of the route I did previously, but luckily coming into fox glacier township the weather held off so we stopped at lake matheson. Lake matheson is probably the most famous lake in new zealand and is often referred to as the mirrored lake. Its almost impossible not to see a photo of lake matheson on a calendar or tourist brochure. I believe it was ranked in the top 10 best lakes in the world. On a clear day, unlike today you have clear views of mount tasman and mount cook and these are just as clearly mirrored onto the lake surface. We had time to do the 1hr circular walk, which was a path through the native forest with 5 or 6 stops for viewpoints over the lake. We then journeyed on and stopped at a couple of lookouts, but the weather wasnt great. There was a brief stop at bruce bay, a driftwood strewn beach (we also stopped here on the way down previously) the final stop was at the blue pools again, just a few kilometres north of makarora. The pools weren't as blue because of the previous nights rain but the water had calmed down a lot so us men had about half an hour of stone skipping. I did pretty well and got 9 skims off one stone. We then stopped at makarora. As there were only 11 of us on the bus we had a choice of 20 beds. So I had a section to myself with joy. I met joy on the bus on the way down with another girl called kat. In the evening we just went to the pub. Had a couple of games of pool and I sucked.they had karaoke. I didnt drink much tonight compared to anyone else. The adventure tours bus was also there the same time as us. We all had a game of king mau. The rules of the game are simple, you cant tell anyone the rules. So I had to figure out the rules as we went. You can put any card higher than the previous but only one lower. Ace must be followed by a 2. if you put the same card down you have to tap twice. 7 you say have a nice day, queen 'oh im a queen' and king 'its good to be king'. About 1 am kat & joy wanted to go for a swim in the pool so I went with them. It was pretty cold and python joined us. We were in there for 10-15mins and then legged it to the hut and jumped into bed to get some heat.
Makarora is a hamlet, well a pub, petrol station, info site and a campsite. Its situated in mount aspiring national park. The place is only used for tramping (hiking) the gillespie pass.
sun 19th: drive to wanaka was a wet one. We didnt stop. Met alex walking from the hostel and went for a coffee with joy and kat. We then walked around the town and stopped at a little craft market. We then said bye to the girls and me and al went for a walk around the right hand side of the river. We walked for around 2hrs. I then went back for a nap and met alex down in the base bar later on. We had a game of killer pool, a competition and I came third. We met andrew, canadian guy from my room. We went into town but the place was dead. The bars were really nice but just empty. We then went back to the base bar and had a few more drinks. There were a lot of kiwi experience guys there. In another words english dickheads. Called it a night around 12ish. woke up at 2am with this guy freaking out in the room. after jumping into bed with this girl she decided she didnt want anything more and he flipped out. shouting and being butt naked. anyway they managed to get him out of the room. somehow he ended up thinking that us guys were to blame and so wanted to beat us all up ha. so i fell back to sleep and woke up 5 mins later to a big ruckus outside. one of the boys had gone out to clean his teeth and bumped into this guy and he had a pop at him. i got up to go toilet and found the guy from my room and the freaking out guys friend in the toilet crapping themselves. so i go back to the room and as im trying to get in the guy comes bounding down the corridor, shouting and balling. so i could see he was going to have a go and like 2:30 in the morning feeling pretty knackered i wasnt in the mood. cheeky s*** comes up and starts pushing me. so i push him back and im like dude, thats twice uve pissed me off. im not the guy ur after so stop being a idiot and do one, he pushes me again and then this girl he was with comes down and clarifies im not the guy and the idiot apologies, all nicely and really sincere and walks off haha. he was english by the way. then the girls in the room had a balmy calling the girl a slag and everything so didnt get to sleep till like 3:30. but i thought it was all pretty funny so i didnt mind.
mon 20th: today the weather wasnt great. I postoned my plans for an hour. The weather was cloudy and a bit of rain, but I thought it would be a nice cool day to do the walk. I did the roys peak walk. Its the huge mountain on the left of lake wanaka. The track is 16km, with a further 7km walk from the centre of town. The mountain is 1578m high with a 1100m ascent. The views were breathtaking with postcard views of lake wanaka, the township and surrounding mountains and glaciers and also mount aspiring. The walk was about 80% walking on my toes as it was so steep. So in total it tool 1hr and a half to walk from town to the foot of the mountain where the path began. Then around 3hrs to reach the peak and about 2hrs to reach the bottom of the mountain. On my way down there was this lunatic riding up on his full suspension mtb. I told him he was crazy but fairplay to him, and he agreed and said its worth it for the downhill. That would have been awesome!! when I reached the bottom I was blooming knackered and had ran out of water around 1/2hr ago. So I hitched a ride back into town. I was pretty zonked when I got back and spent the rest of the evening in the room. Had a really early night.
tues 21st: bus picked me up at 12. this bus was pretty much full with only 3 or 4 spare seats. Today was the journey to queenstown. The views although breathtaking werent as nice as previous days. The area is again known to resemble back home and is known for its sheep farming. So there are nice rolling hills. But the area has seen some very hot dry days and the grass has all dried out and is starting to turn a yellowy brown colour. The first stop was at the 45th parallel. The 45th parallel is a line of longitude on earth. And the monument is located next to lake dunstan. Once we passed this 'line we were closer to the south pole than we were to the equator. We then had a quick stop at mrs jones veg shop. I bought a big bag full of grapes. Some people had ice cream and it was cheap and tasted wonderful. Got talking to a couple of english girls here while waiting to leave. They seemed pretty friendly but kept to their own group. Our final stop was just outside queenstown at the aj hackett bungy site at kawarau gorge. They have a viewing platform there so we watched a couple of people from our bus do jumps and then we went to queenstown. Checked into nomads, put my bags into my room and went to put my food into the kitchen and bumped into ross there. He's the chef for the free evening meals. Im in a 6 bed dorm with all people from my bus. Also I went out onto the balcony and joy was there. We have a connecting balcony. So all the hostels and all the rooms she's in the room next to me. Unfortunately she had decided to stay a few days extra to stay with me and alex but she had caught strep throat. So she was pretty rough. Had a quick walk around town, but it started to drizzle a bit. Changed and went to revolver as we had a free bbq. Joy came and alex also came and met us. Joy went after food but me and alex. Stray had put on a free bbq for us at revolver. Nice bar, small but it had a small skateboard ramp at the back which made it a bit different. Alex came over and we stayed there and drank till pretty much everyone left. Got chatting to a few people off the bus which was good. Me and alex then headed over to world bar but it was dead, so we went to buffalo bar but that was even quieter. We stayed for one drink and then went to world bar again. It was pretty quiet but then around 12:30 the place started filling up and by 1 it was really busy. Morven and jen were there so we were chatting to them and then the 4 english girls off our bus turned up. So we stayed with them. Alex walked morven and jenni back and I walked the english girls back.
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wed 22nd: had a walk around queenstown this morning. The town sits on the shore of lake wakatipu and is surrounded by mountains, one snow capped range being known as the remarkables,the name speaks for itself. The town has 4 main streets, shotoverst, camp st, queenstown mall and beach st. there is a lovely green area off camp st and also along the lake side. To the south is queenstown gardens which is home to a pond and surrounding greenery, frisbee golf and the bowls club. This is where the lakeside walk to frankton commences. To the north is the steep bobs peak on which is the gondola, chair lift and luge track. I arranged yesterday to do the nevis bungy and arc with a guy off the bus (we planned to use each others cameras to film videos of each other so that we wouldnt have to buy the aj hackett videos). The drive up to the bungy site was about 40mins. The weather was really bad, not windy but just lashing down with rain. It was way out of town and into the mountains. We had to climb up a very steep and narrow dirt track on the side of the mountain and at the top of that was the bungy site. We got harnessed up and then went to the jump site. If you havent seen the pictures, the actual bungy platform is in a little metal 'shack' which is suspended over the gorge. To get there you need to take a cage car over, similar to a cable car, but you're standing, it has a waist bar around and everything else is open. Even the floor is grated so you can see below you. Some of the guys (there were 6 of us jumping) started feelng a bit jiddery. We got into the shack and there was a glass floor so we could watch everyone fall. The jumpers went in weight order, so I was 4th. When the first guy came up after his jump he was smiling like a cheshire cat but his hands were shaking really badly from the adrenalin. They attached my ankle restraints to me and they were a little loose, so I asked if he could do it a little tighter and he said there wasnt any need. I then got ushered into the dentist chair, which sits right next to the jump off point so again you can see down.i then got up, they attached the bungy and everything to me and then I had to hop/hobble over to the edge of the plank. At this point it was the only time I had a few jitters. But when I got right to the edge and looked down, I was actually looking forward to it as I knew I wasnt going to wimp out. The weather turned to drizzle which was good. And after the count down, I dived off. It was a pretty cool feeling, 134m drop. Because you dive off like on a diving board at a swimming pool, theres a moment where your almost horizontal before you start heading head first. During this time you get the feeling that your just floating, then when your body starts angling down you start feeling the wind rush up and you get that free falling sensation. The free fall lasts for around 7secs. It was hard to tell when I had reached the bottom, but then you get that whiplash effect, which is really minor and you start flying up. After the 2nd reflex back up you're supposed to pull a cord attached to your ankles, but I was enjoying it too much so I pulled it on the 3rd. This then flips you around and makes you sit up. Once this is done they pull you up. It was then time to do the arc swing, the worlds highest swing. So after the bungy I was feeling pretty pschyched and asked to do the craziest thing I could do on the swing to get the biggest adrenalin rush. They recommended upside and backwards. So after they had harnessed me up and clipped me to the swing, they swung me out over the gorge and then I had to get myself into position. Once I was in position they were asking me to turn for the photos, once the photos were done they started asking me if everything was good. During the middle of it all they pulled the switch and off I dropped. You'll have to see the video, its hilarious. After the adrenalin packed couple of hours I went back to the hostel and had an afternoon nap. In the evening alex, joy and myself did a pub quiz in the irish bar with 2 people off the stray bus. We did quite well. In the evening alex and myself went to frasers down on the wharf which had $2.50 mugs all night. Met a crazy kiwi girl there who was studying pornography at uni, something different I guess. Alex and I then headed off to world bar. Ended up at a random club with a random polish/english girl. Was pretty drunk.
thurs 23rd: Woke up at 10 and popped into town to book jet boating. Theres three different types, the lake, shotover canyon and another canyon one. I decided to go for the shotover canyon as it was the middle priced one and the cheaper one didnt go into the canyons it just stayed out on the lake. It was a 20min drive (free shuttle with company) up to the jet boat pier. The actually activity was only 30mins and was down a stretch of the canyon, some parts which were repeated 3 times. It was a fun activity, amazing how they could go through water that shallow and how close they could get to the rocks. They also did 360 degree spins at a high speed which was also exciting. In the afternoon I met alex and we went to play frisbee golf over in the gardens. It was free and is very similar to golf, you have tee off sites and the hole is actually a basket that you throw the frisbee into. I started off ok but the wind picked up (this somehow didnt effect alexs throwing in the slightest) and I spent around 9 holes just chasing the frisbee. Some holes were unbelieveable where I would throw the frisbee and the wind would pick it and blow it back past me. One hole I had to go over 100m to retrieve the damn thing, another it landed on top of a pile of horse manure. So hopefully you can get the picture of the patheticness of my ability in the wind. Alex won by over 20 odd shots. But it was funny and alex was in stitches for most of it. In the evening we thought we'd sample a few bars. Nicklas from my room came out with us as his friends had left today. The first place we stopped was opposite nomads at a lively bar called montys. Turns out they had $3 mugs all night, well till 12. and there was quite a bit of scenary there so we decided to stay there the whole time. They also had a live band there which played recent rock songs. We got pretty drunk there and I actually went up to these girls and started chatting to them as we thought they were eyeing us up. Turns out they were!! two american girls. So we stayed with them chatting till around 12:15 and they came with us to buffalo bar. Unfortunately the one that alex was getting on with was pretty hammered and went miserable, so the other girl meryl, took her home and said she would come back. About 20 mins later she comes back. Happy days, I was in!! so we all stayed there for a couple of hours, we lost nicklas and alex decided to leave. I walked meryl back but it was pissing down so we grabbed a taxi. Meryl is 24 and from portland, oregon. Very cute, extremely polite and just generally scrumptious. Yes I used the word scrumptious. Shes pretty cool.
fri 24th: checked out of nomads and moved to southern laughter. Bit anoying as nomads seemed to have roo but I had already paid for southern laughter. Southern laughter is up by the gondola, so about a minute outside of the centre. The room is nice, it has an en-suite and a kitchen along with a little sitting area. The room mates seem really nice, 3 irish girls and a korean guy. As I hadnt really had an indepth look around town I decided to do that today and check out some activity stores to see what else is available to do here in queenstown. Weather got pretty rubbish, rained so couldnt do much so went back to my room and wrote my xmas emails. Met ross at 6 for food at his and then drinks in his room. Got to know a lot of his workmates here at nomads.Went to world bar and a few others. Was another amazing night. The town has so many bars and cheap nights out are possible if you know where to go.
sat 25th: christmas day!! merry christmas everyone! Today I met the 4 english girls, steph, anna, jo and annabel and jo's boyfriend steve and we went up the gondola which is pretty expensive, like $25 and we were going to go lugeing. It was so far the clearest day we have had in queenstown. You could see all the surrounding mountains and their snow capped peaks and the remarkables were in full definition. The luge was exactly like the the tobogan run but on a tarmac wide path. There were two courses and we had one go at each. They only lastest 2-3minutes. On the advanced course me and steve had a race. Right at the end the path narrows to single file and a shicaine (spelling??) I got there first, just but was going to fast and hit the first corner, with that steve came up behind me and slammed me from behind and the both momentums knocked me off the luge. I grazed/burned the forearm of my right arm. Its pretty bad, stinging like hell and bleeding. I also ripped a hole in my trousers. So after that adventure I then had to straight away jump into the gondola and run down to the lakeside to meet my xmas day date, meryl. We had a walk around the town. I stopped for a thai meal (oh how I miss the cheap thai food) and then we went for a walk through the gardens. We then went for a game of mini golf, which was quite fun and I was actually quite good at it for a change. I won by 6 shots but meryl had two hole in ones. In the evening we were invited to a house party with ross' friends, but the party was pretty lame, we were there for maybe an hour or 2 and then everyone headed down to the altitude bar. Walked meryl back home, well to her juicy camper and had a run in at 4am with a resident who told us we couldnt park the van there. It had been there all day, he must have heard us get there at 4am and gotten out of bed to tell us. He told us that if we didnt move it he would call the police. We told him we couldnt and there was nothing wrong with it parked where it was. In the end we had to move it. But because we had been drinking we just moved it 100m down the road. What a t*** that guy was. What the hell was the point in it all?
sun 26th: woke up a little late so the morning had already gone before I got outside. The weather wasnt great, very windy and cloudy. I decided to do the Million dollar cruise at 2pm.it was 1hr and a half cruise around lake wakatipu and only cost $25. the weather continued to get worse and when I got to the boat the waves were rocking the boat a fair bit. After we got out of the main harbour area and went around the gardens the wind died down and the cruise was calm. The cruise took us down to kelvin heights where all the million dollar houses are (hence name of the cruise) some famous celebrities who own properties here are shania twain, brad pitt and tom cruise. Met meryl in evening, it was really windy so we just walked in and out of shops, having our last chats together as she is leaving in the morning. Bought her a little mouri necklace. We did mention about her coming to san fran to see me but we'll see how it goes. In the evening I did a pub quiz with steve and the girls. It was a christmas quiz (which we were unaware off before the start) and me, anna and steph formed a team. We thought we didnt do very well and didnt anwser all the questions, but we came third! After that we went to the buffalo bar. Everyone went earlier than me and annabel so we stayed out for a while. In the end I walked her home as she was still on crutches, giving her a piggyback for most of the way.
mon 27th: kept phyllis up most of the night with my awesomeness (phyllis' words). Weather was aweful so had the morning in with my room mates, phyllis and the 3 irish girls. Welded from charm, beauty and elegance. Rained constantly all day with heavy downpours. Met the girls for a couple of hours in nomads and played scrabble but rest of the time stayed in my room. In the evening went over to ross' for the free food and went back and did some laundry and chatted with the girls in my room. Actually had an earlyish night in, well, I didnt go out.
tues 28th: weather was again s***. Couldnt do much. In the morning just chilled out. In the afternoon it brightened up so walked around town then went to nomads. Chilled with steph and annabel, played some more scrabble and other games and then went back to my hostel. In the evening went over to nomads and played some more games and bagged some more free food and watched a couple of films. Left there about 1 am.
Wed 29th: booked hang gliding in the morning and went for a walk around the gardens as the weather was again bright and sunny. Bumped into the girls in the gardens and sat and chatted with them for a while. Then went for a walk around the gardens but was only like 1/2hr just on the queenstown to francton lakeside walk. My hang gliding was at 6pm so got a pick up at 5:30. the weather was warm and the skies were clear. We were taking off from coronet peak, quite a drive from town centre and was actually on the ski slopes. The drive out to coronet peak actually took longer than setting up and flying. The actual training for me was around 1 minute. He showed me where to hold, how to put my legs up and how to run off the mountain. So once I was clipped in all I had to do was hold onto him and run off with him. We walked two steps and then ran three and off we went. The glider lifted up really easy and was really relaxing while I was up there, just suspending under this big kite. It looked so unbelievebly easy to fly. I asked him all about lessons and prices and he said 10 lessons and I can fly solo and the glider costs around 7k and lessons around 2k in total. So, sounds like a new hobby. Well paragliding. Watching the paragliders they seemed to have a lot more fun, could go higher and could do more things with the kite. In the evening went to frasers as they had the special offer on and met a lot of the nomads crew and the english girls. After that went over to world bar, but after a while everyone seemed to be hooking up and I was just getting a little annoyed, maybe a bit too drunk, so took myself home around 1ish.
Thurs 30th: was up early today, partly because I had to checkout but also I wanted to go out and see arrowtown. The buses to arrowtown are very infrequent, like every 3-4hrs. So caught the 10am bus, there was a stop at frankton so had 10mins there to look around. But didnt even need that. Frankton is a tiny tiny town, well a suberb really of queenstown. It has a main street which is on the main road to queenstown. Its not even 100m long. There was a 20min further bus journey to arrowtown. Arrowtown has a feel of an old gold town. The main street, apart from the tarmac road looks something straight out of an american western cowboy town. At the end of the high street are some of the tiny miners homes. The mainstreet houses a lot of cafes, the post office, museum, souvenir shops. The rest of the town, which is surprisingly large has more recent up to date house so its mainly the main street that draws the tourists and the arrow river that may still contain gold. The town is surrounded by high, steep hills. In the afternoon I was walking around town and again bumped into steph and anna and later on annabel. Spent the afternoon with them and then went to ross' for free food. Then ran home and changed and went out with the nomads boys. But just wasnt feeling it tonight, they were doing the kiwi bar crawl, ross and dave running the others doing it and I just wasnt up for it so I stayed with them till 12 and then went home.
Fri 31st: today I decided to rent a bike $29 for half a day and check out the mountain biking in the area. I rode to an area about 45mins away from the town centre called 7mile park. The track on the way there was partly road and off road. The off road part was quite good with a little downhill single track in places. It also ran right alongside the lake so at times I stopped and took photos. Once I got to 7 mile the main track that took you through to the courses was incredibly difficult and steep with rugged terrain, so for the majority I had to push my way to the courses. This was pretty demoralising and at that point wasnt enjoying the ride. But then I got to the courses. I did the grin&holler and onto the grin&holler2. I then went back around and did kachoong and IB55. My favourite were the grin & hollers as they had good downhill sections and also log bridges which I managed to stay on. I then decided to go back the road way as the path was just too technical for me. So after riding to wilson bay I then headed back onto the road back to queenstown. It took around an hour ½ to get back, as it was all uphill followed by about 1min of downhill. I was quite tired by this point but had an hour left of the rental so decided to ride around the gardens and try and get to frankton. On my way there I got a txt off ross saying that they wanted me to work on the bar crawl this evening and they had a meeting in an hour. So I cut my journey short, took the bike back, went and got some rest and a bite to eat and went to the meeting. It was a quick run down of the plan and procedures for tonight, it lasted an hour. I had enough time to go back, shower, change, eat and then headed over to ross'. The crawl started at 7:30. my role was to check Ids as everyone queued up and to explain to them the process tonight. And then when moving around to the bars I had to stay at the back and make sure we had no stragglers and keep everyone moving. When queing I had to make sure it was in an orderly fashion etc. the rest of the time I had to make sure everyone was having a good time, go around chatting with them all and notifying them how much time we had left in each bar. The bonus to doing this crawl was free entry everywhere, free drink,meeting people and partying with a lot of them. We ended up in world bar for 12 and ross, dave and the other workers managed to slip away and get here to. We then headed to buffalo bar and met the english girls. We stayed there for the rest of the evening. Think I left around 3:30.
sat 1st: went to ross' at 11 and they had been up drinking since 9am. So his room mates were pretty hammered, ross was the worst. I joined them for a beer and then we went over to the cafe for breakfast and a few coronas. So I was tipsy at 12:30. I then went to grab lunch and met the girls on the lake. Its my last day today so went to say goodbye to them. I then soted my backpack out and had food etc and then met ross and his mates at nomads. Heavy heavy drinking. Had loads of different drinks. Went to buffalos, chatting to the staff there for a while and with the boys and then cant remember much else. Remember leaving and struggling to walk upright. So went to ross' hostel as it was closer to get water and toilet etc. next thing I knew I woke up on the toilet floor at 3am. Drank a s***load of water and then started the mammoth task of getting home. Next thing I know im waking up on the toilet floor at 5am. Was sick a few times, drunk a s***load of water and went to bed.
Sun 2nd: woke up feeling not so great. But managed to pack and walk to the bus. Felt like death when I got to the bus stop, dropped my stuff and just laid on the pavement. Actually fell asleep there and got woken up by the stray bus that had pulled up right up to me and made me move off the pavement so he could pull in. pretty much slept the whole way on the bus to Te Anau. Te Anau is again another small place with one main high street. Its located on a lake te anau. We had an hour here so just had a quick walk up the main street, went into a few shops and went and booked my milford sound trip for this afternoon. Managed to grab a couple of sandwiches and started feeling a lot better. We then set off for Milford. There is just one road to milford from te anau, 120km. We drove through the eglinton valley, where the road enters into the steep bush covered mountains to the steep bared rock mountains up to the head of the hollyford river. We then entered the homer tunnel which cuts through the mountain. Its around a km long and is narrow and dark and traffic is dictated byt traffic signals that change every 15mins. On the other side of the tunnel the mountains are so steep and dramatic and every mountain has at least 3 waterfalls of a significant height dropping down onto the sides or valley floors. We then continued down the windy roads through the cleddau valley to milford. During the 3hrs the weather just continued to get worse and when we got to milford the weather was raining quite badly. Apparently they have rain 325 days a year and an annual rainfall of 5m-9m. The return journey back to te anau was hampered by rain. We stayed at a campsite and had our individual rooms. The rooms were exactly like my room in uni, except without a wardrobe. The kitchen was chaotic so didnt manage to make food till 10pm. We were up at 5 the next morning so bang went the early night.
mon 3rd: today was a straight drive to bluff (the furthest south town in the south island. Had my photo next to the 'signpost' that has the cities and distances. So ive now been to the furthest northern and southern points of new zealand (not including stewart island). We only stopped in bluff to drop off some passengers for the ferry to stewart island. We arrived at invercargill around 10am. I had a quick walk around the town and have never been to a more quieter place. It was a bank holiday so nearly all the shops were closed but there wasnt a single person walking down the streets. There were a couple of cars driving by but apart from that no life forms of any kind. Weird. The stray team then went to the museum. It was ok, had some cool photos of fjiordland and had this section on burt munro -the worlds fastest indian. Got to see his bike that he broke the landspeed record with. After lunch I went for a walk to the water tower and met a girl, ruth, off my bus so she came with me. I managed to get to the top of the water tower for free and it was just as well as the view was pretty rubbish. There are no high rise buidlings over 3 floors in inver so the town just looked like a flat grid. We then walked to the botanical gardens and I was actually pretty impressed with them. The gardens were quite large and housed an aviary and an animal farm, deers, sheep, pigs, other farm animals and little pets like rabbits etc. we then went to see the rose garden and the tropical plants. We then had a walk around the grass areas and the ponds and headed back to the backpackers. Had an afternoon nap. Just chilled out in the evening. The sunset here, well im writing this at 9:45pm and the sun is just about to set.
Tues 4th: today we were driving through the catlins on to dunedin. This was a very pretty journey as the majority was along the coastline overlooking the pacific. Our first stop was at curio bay. A renowned bay for spotting dolphins and penguins. After a quick walk around the headland and a walk down to porpoise bay and dipped our feet in the freezing water. Unfortunately we didnt see either animals. We then drove to the other end of curio bay and where we stopped there was a lonely yellow-eyed penguin (the rarest penguin in the world) and a new zealand fur seal. This is also the site of a petrified forest. And there were some areas that still looked like they were actually wood. Another quick stop at a place called florence hill. Just a view point over the coast. No sign of seals, dolphins or penguins. The next stop, although pretty poor in terms of waterfalls was purakaunui falls. Nice 10min walk but the falls were less impressive than swallow falls near betwys y coed. We then went to the lighthouse at nugget point, again another nice walk along the cliffside to the lighthouse. Down below there were colonies of seals, but they were too far below to take any good photos. The view out from the lighthouse over the pacific was pretty impressive with jagged rock jutting out of the sea. We then headed to dunedin. Travelling through dunedin, again it was really noticeable how dead the place was. Like 90% of the population are students and seeing that its summer hols there were no students, also the fact it was bank holiday meant the remainder of the population were off somewhere else. So ghost town number 2. our first stop was to Baldwin Street, also known as the worlds steepest street. I started walking up it with everyone else but then had a stupid idea to try and run up it. Well, I did and boy I have never felt worse after any sort of run. I got to the top and my ribs were hurting from my lungs expanding so much. My heart was beating like keith moons drum kit and I felt light headed and had spots in my vision. Well after having food and recovering I went out for a walk around the town. An hr later I meant some of the stray people at a bar, metro, in the centre. Over the next couple of hours the whole of dunedin seemed to come out and the town seemed to fill up a bit. Stayed in the one bar all night and went back around 12. dunedin was first settled by scottish immigrants and is known as the edinburgh of the south and the architecture of the town represents this. The city centre is known as the octagon and is encased with churches, cathedral and old hotels, government buildings. Its very pretty and impressive and the evening sky was beautiful.
Wed 5th: dunedin to mt cook. First stop was to kaihinaki and the moeraki boulders. These boulders are almost perfectly round and there are just a few of them on this one beach. Some have been broken and eroded but the majority are in very good condition. They remind me of round dinosaur eggs. We then stopped at lake pukaki. But the weather wasnt great so it was all a bit misty but the view of the lake was still impressive. When we got to mount cook the weather was hideous, everywhere was misty and we couldnt even see mount cook. Me caroline and rachel went for a walk to kea point as soon as the weather eased off. It was about an hour each way to the foot of the mountains and the glacier river and we had close views of the glaciers. In the evening we did a pub quiz, it went on for 3hrs and was very professionally done. Im in a dorm room with three girls, which will make a change from the snoring older men.
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