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Kate,Jo and Bronagh Get Around
Well Hello There!
So we've crossed the Tasman Sea and we're now in the South Island of New Zealand.
We arrived in Christchurch last thursday and ended up staying there for about five days, which were very.... relaxing. We watched nearly every DVD in the hostel, and got introduced to the joys of massage chairs. Christchurch didn't have much to do in it so we just had a bit of a rest after the madness of Neighbours. We made really good friends with the hostel staff and got a good few free drinks out of that, and a free night! They also took us up a hill one night to see the best view of all around Christchurch. It was really beautiful. On our last day these English girls who keep following us turned up at our hostel. Nah only joking, we'd arranged to meet them, and the four of us hired a car to travel about for a bit. Claire and Laura arrived with the car we're going to be in for the next week and a half. A Nissan Micra. Which was just great at fitting our four rucksacks plus about 10 other bags on top of that. It was very funny, you can see the photos for yourselves. Anyways, we got on the road..... for about an hour. All of a sudden the car stank and strted revving really loudly. Then it just stopped moving. Apparently it didn't agree with the weight of our bags. So we treated ourselves to a pub lunch while we waited for the rental people to bring us another car. It actually worked out quite well because this car was much bigger and we didn't have to pay anything extra.
Everyone had told us about this beautiful drive to Queenstown, going through Mountains and past huge lakes. Not so beautiful in the dark. Rubbish! But we got there anyway, and the next day got to see the beautiful views anyway. We went up the Gondola, which is like cable cars on a mountain. At the top you could see all around. There was also these wee cars that you could drive along a track down the side of the mountain. The funniest bit was the chair lift that brought you up to the cars though. We had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get on and off them. Jo was standing there one minute trying to work it out, when next thing she was gone. All we heard was "ooooohhh" and she was away. Then Bronagh nearly got knocked out cos she didn't get off fast enough. On seeing this, Claire panicked and tried to get out too soon, without lifting the bar. She was just sat there flapping about.
Anyways, it was all very lovely. The next day, we went White Water Rafting down Shotover River. We thought it'd be hilarious to go on the very front. Which led to us very nearly drowning. They took photos of us doing it, and theres one where everyone is laughing, except Jo who has a face of pure terror, mouth and eyes wide open. Theres postcards of it and everything! At one point we went under a tunnel, and when we came out we just saw up ahead the water ended, next thing we were flying down a waterfall. The man yelled "hold on", and Claire thought he yelled "Jump Out", with hilarious consequences. Jo also became completely evil, as she screamed at Bronagh "Just Get Away From Me!" pointing a huge oar threateningly in Bronaghs face. Bronagh had a habit of hurtling towards Jo in the rapids and ending up on her knee.
So after that we decided to head to Wanaka. We went to Puzzle World, which was so funny. There was this room that was completely tilted, you can't even describe it. But there was a pool table in it that looked like it was pointed uphill, bt when you put the ball on, it rolled upwards. It was so confusing. All the rooms were full of optical illusions that messed with your head. There was also a big two storey maze that was supposed to take about half an hour to complete. Two and a half hours later we came out the emergency exit. Then we went to The Best Cinema In The World. It had sofas and cars and reclining chairs to sit in. There was homemade ice-cream and freshly baked warm cookies. Bronagh was in heaven. Claire and Laura even had a full on meal (and plenty of wine) during it.
So today we set of early to Te Anau, in our wee car. It wa s quite an adventure. The scenery was lovely, but nearly killed us. We were driving along, when Claire went "oooo look at the lovely mountains, lets reverse back and get photos". Next thing we were in a massive ditch with the whole back of the car in the air! We had to all jump out the passenger door, but luckily a nice French man stopped and towed us out. And we're all fine! So we're in Te Anau now, and its absolutely freezing. Its a really small town surrounded by snow covered mountains, and we're staying in a wee cabin. Tomorrow we're heading to Milford Sounds, which is supposed to be gorgeous. Hopefully we'll survive the 2hour car journey there. Claires still driving.....
Talk to you soon
Jo and Bro
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