Queenstown
Trip Start
Jan 17, 2008
1
22
29
Trip End
Sep 02, 2008
Queenstown,
South Island,
New Zealand
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Again, sorry it has been so long. Since I last updated I have just been having so much fun - and like Stray promises it took us so far off the beaten track that I have had very little internet or mobile reception.
Wellington was awesome :) It was the last time that the original bus would all be together as some had time to only do the North Island so it was full of crazy shenaigans day and night.
It was really sad to say goodbye to some of the group but we will definately all keep in touch which is great.
The ferry ride over to the South Island was fairly uneventful made only slightly more interesting with everyone having badddd hangovers!
Our 1st stop was the Abel Tasman National Park where we spent 2 nights at Old McDonald's Farm. It was a beautiful area and Mona and I went for another 7 hour (20km) walk which was really nice - so good to get some exercise after so long!
Barrytown was a crazy mess - it is a very small place where we stayed in a pub and had a fancy dress party - the only rules were that guys had to dress as girls and girls had to dress as guys - needless to say it was an awesome night and much fun was had by all.
After Barrytown we moved onto Fraz Josef for 2 nights - here we did a walk over the glacier which was amazing. It was a full day walk but really good fun and we had awesome views. Being the crazy person that I am, Harriet and I jumped into a pool of water 1/2 way back down (the max temp was estimated at about 3 degrees =/ - I did get a free drink out of it though!) The glacier that we walked over is one of the few that is still advancing as they get more rain at the top than melt at the bottom. At the top, the amount of rain they can get in a day is more than England gets in a year!!! (We had perfect weather though)
The next morning I had to be up early for my 2nd skydive which was over Fox Glacier. It was beautiful although the adrenaline rush wasn't as great as from Taupo where it was 3000ft higher and was also my 1st one.
Makaroura wasfairly uneventful -- we had a Karaoke night and Kerry cut my hair (it is awesome travelling with a hairdresser!) but everyone was pretty worn out from partying so hard for the last 3 weeks so it wasn't such a big night.
Just over 1/2 the bus got off in Wanaka for 2 nights but the rest of us carried straight on to Queenstown where I still am a week later. I love this place - I think that it is probably one of favorite places of my whole trip so far. It is so pretty situated in the mountains and most of them have snow on (which is a good thing as Charlotte and I are going skiing for 3 days from tomorrow which will be ace!)
You can't come to Queenstown and not have a Fergburger - probably one of the best burgers in the world - my favorites are the codfather and the cockadoodle oink! (the best time to eat them though has to be at 4 in the morning :) )
Have done the Nevis bungy jump which was so so so scarey (I looked down which was a big mistake.) You jump off a pod suspended 134m above a gorge by 2 wires. It was AMAZING! probably even better than my skydives. Hopefully I will have some money soon to do the canyon swing but I am not sure as funds are running very low at the moment.
Really looking forward to skiing this week - will keep you updated :)
hope you are all well
lots of love
x x x x
