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On Sunday Morning I left Queenstown on the bottom bus. This like the 'East As' trip was an optional extra and the group was a lot smaller than usual which is always nice. We had a good group and I couldn't help but laugh when our driver introduced himself 'Hello my name is Andy and I love my job!' The reason I found this so amusing is because I had been told about this driver and his reputation whilst in the North Island. This is the spiel he gives at the beginning of each day and each trip he does he chooses which girl he wants to get with and is usually very successful!!
En route to the breakfast stop we had to pull over so Morag could be sick on the side of the road!! And unfortunately for her she was the butt of the jokes for the remainder of the trip!! Anyway, we travelled towards the east coast via the massive Clyde hydro dam and the Central Otago fruit growing basin and arrived in Dunedin in the afternoon. Dunedin is home to the Cadbury chocolate factory and 20,000 students at Otago University!! Unfortunately Sunday is more of a day for hangovers in Dunedin than drinking so we had a very quiet night in at the hostel. We did get to walk up Baldwin Street though which is the world's steepest street and boy did my legs know about it the next day!!
An early start but well worth it. The following day we travelled through awesome native forest and sandy beaches. Seeing the NZ sea-lion (NZ's largest mammal) was a real highlight. Although saying that Andy neglected to tell us that they can infact be dangerous and to stay 20 metres away. So off we went trotting along the beach and we're about 3 metres from this giant sea-lion when he starts shouting 'get back get back'!! Just as he did the sea-lion snapped at a guy with a giant camera!! We all shat ourselves and ran back to a safe distance!! We were all on our guard throughout the rest of the walk as we had to walk past several more!! But by far the most frightening thing was a baby vicious seal which every time we attempted to walk past the rock pool it was in came out of the water and attacked us!! I cut my foot whilst running over rocks trying to escape!!! Quite funny now looking back but at the time I was petrified!!
In the afternoon we saw a 180 million year-old fossilised forest. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any Yellow-eyed penguins but it was still beautiful. In the evening we arrived in Intercargill and Catherine and I had a dominos for tea and an early night!
The next morning we followed the Southern Scenic Route via the classic fishing village of Riverton. It was a really miserable day and no one felt in the mood for sheep shagging....oppps I mean shearing so we made our way to Te Anau which has New Zealand's second largest lake. We also passed Lake Manapouri said by many to be New Zealand's most beautiful lake. Even though it was pissing it down Andy still insisted on getting his kit off and going for a swim!!
In the evening, Dan, Mary, Laura, Morag and myself put money in a kitty for chicken fajitas and the lovely Dan cooked!! I've been spoiled on the South Island having dinner cooked for me by guys!! Anyway, after dinner we all piled into the TV room and watched everyone's skydive/bungee/canyon swing DVDs! It was really funny and a good bonding experience!
The next day we joined the day trippers bus which had travelled from Queentown and it took a further two hours to travel to Milford Sound. The scenery was just amazing, we travelled through the Homer tunnel saw gigantic waterfalls and amazing fiords
In the afternoon we jumped on a boat, enjoyed an eat as much as you can hot buffet lunch and cruised through Milford Sound. On the way back we went in the underwater observatory and then had a very long and painful journey back to Queenstown. We were all roasting on the bus and feeling sick from the windy roads and then all of a sudden the driver pulled over…it seems there wasn't enough diesel in the coach to get us back to Queenstown! We had to wait half an hour for another coach to come but eventually made it back.
As I walked into the hostel I saw Sophie and the two of us went crazy!! Kissing, hugging, jumping about, seeing her again was great. Callum and Charlotte were also in the same room so its all good. Sophie and I celebrated our reunion with a famous fergburger! Unfortunately it's a short lived reunion as Charlotte and I leave for Christchurch in the morning but I'm looking forward to a great last night with everyone this evening.
Lots of love peeps xxx
Ps. I think I must have broken the world record today for the most amount of blog entries written in one day!! ;-) Hope you've enjoyed!x
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