Vacation Villas Queenstown

... un barco para apreciar mejor la grandiosidad del
fiordo. Las grandes montanhas, algunas de ellas manchadas de nieve, caen
directamente hacia el mar, y forman un ancho canal que recorremos sin
dejar de sorprendernos a cada momento. Pasamos al lado de cascadas de
160 metros, y nos estremecemos al pensar que tenemos unos 400 metros de
agua debajo de nosotros. Un dia de ...

... flying to Australia on October 2 and not spending any time in Auckland at the end of the trip. The logic behind this is that I have less days therefore more money to spend per day. And it's just as well because there is so much to do here and it all comes at a hefty price.

It was also a good thing I decided to stay longer because after signing up for a skydive the weather yet again turned, meaning I had to wait three long days to throw myself 12 ...

... vineyard in the valley just 15 minutes from town, with great view and lovely wines. We bought a couple of bottles for the road and headed for Arrowtown, a small gold mining village used in the Lord of the Rings films. It only has two main streets but is very nice and we took a walk up Tobins track which had great views of the surrounding valley. Checked out a local campsite but was a bit pricey so headed for Te Anau.

... of the ones Dom won). Afterward we took the gondola back down.

The next day we did the other big activity we chose to do in Queenstown: the Shotover Canyon Swing. This was brilliant. It combines bungee jumping and what it sounds like, a ridiculously huge swing. You get harnessed up and then fall/jump/tumble off the platform into a 60 meter free fall, then instead of slowing down and bouncing up like in a bungee jump, you actually accelerate into a 200 meter swing, going ...

... of Km down the mountain a huge traffic jam had built up beacause a bus had slid and crashed blocking the road!!! glad it wasn't our bus! anyway there was nowt to do but sit a nd wait for help... which arrived as a huge digger! but by now it was 6pm and freezing which turned the road to ice.... our driver was awesome, strapped on the snow chains and got us down sfaely but we didn't arrive home until 7pm!!! looong day! went straight out for food and a couple of drinks (well ...

... the last one up - making my way through the chalet site back to the cabin and there is some in bed, Steph getting into bed - so I hop into my bed and do as we always do with Arianne and Kay Marie - have a right old gossip. About half hour later - Stpeh pops her head in and asks " if we could keep it down a tad" also iterating she does not want to come across like an old granny. Awww - the pet - of course she doesn't come across like an old granny - she ...

Hello everybody, I last left you in Wellington and from there it was on to the ferry to head for the South Island. We arrived in Nelson where quite frankly there is nothing to do apart from a very steep climb to reach the geographical centre of New Zealand. Unfortunately it is not that spectacular......!Then it is on to Westport where we spent the night in a very cosy and homely hostel playing cards and watching dvd's! Then the next day to Lake Mahinapua, where ...

... to find a likely number then we found another hotel with internet access and looked up the actual number. Yvette gave them a ring and they promissed to look after them. We had a beer to celebrate. Yvette: Today we went on the gondola up the mountains which has amazing views of Queenstown - you don't realise till you get up there how awesome the landscape is and the town bit is just this incy little thing with some ok views of the lake! Then the luge which is ...

... amazing here! Another big lake and some snowy mountains, I think I'll take some pictures quicker this time though!

Well its the end of the night now and I can honestly say that I have done nothing today I haven't even left the hostel! I'm so bad, I'm meant to be experiencing a new country, its just not working today though.

All I have done is watch films, I've watched Jersey Girl, Shall We ...

... and Deb, Jenny and Martin, Laura and Wes. It was a great week of fun with a ridiculously crazy game of 21 as the definitive culmination point of madness. The snow was varied from concrete ice to deep snow. A lot of time was spent getting big air on the fun park jumps, I improved on my snowboarding, but was mostly skiing. Sadly I sprained a ligament on my right thumb skiing (the UCL or "skiers' thumb" for the initiated) and had to come back for an embarrassing, but none ...