More bruises!
Trip Start
May 06, 2006
1
71
81
Trip End
Mar 23, 2009
Queenstown,
New Zealand
Friday, April 11, 2008
The bus picked me up nice and early and I moved on to Wanaka via Lake Matheson (covered in cloud so the views weren't so great!) and some other beautiful sights along the way. I was pleasantly surprised with how gorgeous Wanaka actually was (especially considering my initial reasons for wanting to go there were very childish!) and I just enjoyed soaking up some sun on the huge field outside the hostel, made some really nice earrings in a bead shop and the next day took a walk to Waterfall Creek (which, confusingly, had no waterfalls in sight!) which had some amazing views - clear blue skys, snow capped mountains way in the distance and other mountains reflecting in the lake. Stunning. I just relaxed there getting ready to move on to the party town that is Queenstown.
A nice sleep in for a late pick up and I was on my way to Queenstown. We stopped at a bungy bridge on the way and one of the group made a quick jump before we moved on... I was tempted but it's just never been something that interested me (Glenn will love that comment!) and while I'm into my adrenalin packed activity that just didn't have an appeal! I arrived around 6pm, had a quick catch up with a guy I was at uni with in my first year before heading out to meet Ian and Glenn - I was so excited! We went and had dinner (Mexican - yum!) and then experience our first night on the town. The bars were okay but a little disappointing so while we drank a lot, we weren't out too late!
We wanted to head out to see the Nevis bungy the next day and so we jumped in Glenn and Ian's campervan and drove on out... we'd been driving almost an hour when we decided we'd probably gone a little too far. We stopped and asked at a random roadside place to find that not only had we gone past it ages ago but that you could only get there by transport put on by the company which of course you would have to pay for. Oh well, back to the town! We went up the scarily almost vertical gondola that afternoon to look over Queenstown and get in some luging - it was similar to the one in Rotorua that I did with the Irish boys but these went on for a little bit longer which was fun! We all looked 'special' in our helmets! Dinner was yummy Indian followed by an early night as I was still recovering from the night before!
Then it was canyoning! Another one of those activities I'm not sure why I participate in when I arrive there but am glad I survived it at the end! I was, once again, the only girl on the trip which always makes me worry slightly! We were given 7mm wet suits (I had 3 layers!), socks and boot things and a head thing. We could barely move! I was just about okay on the walk on part of the famous Routeburn track to get to the 'river', I was fine talking about what were going to do... but then we had to actually do it! We started with a cool 'slide' which is actually just a bunch of rocks that are naturally shaped to create a waterfall you can slide down. The instructor held us backwards and just let us go! Oh my god, the water was literally ice cold - the only places that really got affected were the face and hands but maaaan it was cold! That was fun though and then came the scary part... we had to jump off a ledge about 5 metres high into a small pool surrounded by rocks. I honestly thought they were kidding... they weren't! We all managed it and continued down the canyon. We were met by abseils over rocks, more slides, a zip wire (which you were released from by being dropped into the water from a height!) and some even more scary jumps, gradually getting narrower as we went down. I was good with them all until the very last jump. They had told us at the beginning that if we weren't comfortable doing something we had to tell them and they'd find us a way down. I wasn't comfortable with this one. Something about it made me uneasy but of course this was pretty much the only one that didn't have another way down! The instructor just laughed at me and told me I had no choice! So, I jumped! Of course I'm fine but man my heart was pumping! We walked back over some more beautiful landscapes back to the van to eat and warm up! A hot shower has possibly never felt that good!
My last evening with my boys and what a nice evening it was! They had said they wanted to take me for cocktails at a posh place they'd found so, bruised and scratched, we went there! We had some yummy cocktails and then they splashed out on a bottle of champagne! Yum! Love those boys (thanks again!)! We then headed for dinner at a place called Fergburger - they are seriously huge and we over ordered and were totally full! After that it was on to the Dux De Lux - I had to check out the one here. They had one beer we didn't so I tried that. Wasn't too keen on it and no staff discount so not overly impressed! I was sitting enjoying it when the owner of the bars walked in! He was totally drunk and stopped to talked to us for a while before realising who I was! Quite funny 'cos he's normally so sensible! He was on the phone to my old manager as I left so I passed on a message! We were all pretty exhausted from the day and quite drunk so went on home! No big partying while I've been here but I'm actually okay with that after all that bar work!
This morning it was brunch before saying bye to the boys and then it was planning time! I've been procrastinating (second dollar worldering for some!) for days now 'cos I couldn't quite decide what to do so I sorted it all out today! Tomorrow I'm going horse riding through the rivers (as you do!) and then Saturday I'm heading to Te Anau for a cruise around Milford Sound and then maybe a kayak around the following day (still not quite decided on that one yet!) before heading up the east coast through the Catlins, Dunedin, Lake Tekapo and back to Christchurch and then the New Zealand chapter is over... for now at least! I've tried to add photos but for some reason I can't from here so if you're on facebook then look there - I'll try to add them here in the next few days!
