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Published: December 17th 2011
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I had an absolutely amazing time in Queenstown, partying by night and chilling by day. I had some great friends by this point and it was so good to dance the nights away with them and explore the beautiful town during the day. Queenstown really is stunning - it's surrounded by mountains and has a huge lake which seems to have tides and waves. The Maori have a lovely story about it containing the heart of a girl who fell in love but it all went wrong, and the waves are her beating heart. I have to admit I wasn't entirely listening to the story at this point as I was too distracted by the scenery so I'm afraid that's all I can remember of that story! Queenstown is known as the party capital of NZ and the adventure capital of the world, and these claims to fame are definitely true. It has 74 bars, pubs and clubs, which considering it's a town of only 40,000 is a pretty good number. Apparently of the 40,000 who live there, only 10,000 are Kiwis, and the rest are made up of backpackers who've got addicted to it and stayed, and other travellers and workers who have come for the amazing lifestyle. During the winter, Queenstown is a big ski resort, and in the summer months everyone enjoys the gorgeous sunshine and scenery. There was no limit on things to do there, particularly if you like your big adrenaline activities. I wasn't interested in bunjys or canyon swings, but I was perfectly happy to watch other people throw themselves off bridges! I really do admire anyone who can do it, as it really takes guts and personal motivation to chuck yourself off a ledge 134 metres up, only attached to a rope. That, and a bit of insanity always helps...
On Monday I did a day trip to Milford Sound, which is one of those must-dos in NZ (not that I've found anything that isn't a must-do!). Unfortunately it was raining for pretty much the whole day, but that almost made it better, as the mountains were wrapped in mist which made it quite spooky. Milford Sound is actually a fiord, and was discovered by a Welshman about 200 years ago. I think the difference is that a fiord is created by a glacier and lots of water, whereas a sound is created by rivers and sea water. Basically, both are huge amounts of water, often surrounded by beautiful mountains - stunning, whatever they are. We drove through Fiordland National Park and saw some beautiful scenery, and some that we could appreciate would be beautiful in the sun! Some of these included the Mirror Lakes, which apparently give a perfect reflection of the mountains around, but it was a little too misty to see these reflections when we were there. Once we'd got to Milford Sound we got off the bus and onto a boat, which did a tour around the sound. It really was breathtaking, and impossible to explain with words or pictures - you've just got to go there yourself! We got off the boat and went to an underwater observatory, which took us 10metres underwater so we could see all the fish. The mountains around Milford Sound have no soil on the top of them, and so any rain water runs straight off them and into the sound, creating lots of gorgeous waterfalls in the rain. This freshwater sits on top of the sea water and changes the light filter, and so you get creatures that would normally live really deep in the ocean living at only 10 metres down. The observatory had also created a platform which black coral grew off, something that is extremely rare to see as it normally grows so deep. Black coral is confusingly white, but is beautiful.
Tuesday was the epic journey from Queenstown to Kaikoura, which is quite a lot further north on the East Coast of the South Island. It took about 12 hours and was pretty boring scenery compared to other parts of NZ. Kaikoura is a lovely little seaside town which has an amazing marine population due to very deep water just off shore. Lots of towns in NZ have Maori names, and Kaikoura is one of them - it means good meal of crayfish, as there are huge amounts of crayfish in sea of Kaikoura. On Wednesday I had the absolutely amazing experience of swimming with wild dusky dolphins - something I have wanted to do since I was tiny, and it didn't fail to live up to expectations. There was none of the holding on to their fins or getting kisses that you would get in SeaWorld, but it was almost more special because of this; the dolphins were wild and swimming with us because they wanted to. We had to make lots of noise through our snorkle and be 'as dolphin-like' as possible, and they circled us, made eye contact and were so playful. I couldn't believe how fast they could swim and really struggled to keep up with them! We went in the water five times with the 200-strong pod, and at one point I had 4 or 5 of them continuously circling me and I could even hear them making noises. Incredible experience, and such a good way to spend my last full day in NZ.
That afternoon I got the bus back down to Christchurch; a city that I found to be very sad and eerie. The centre, known as the Red Zone, has been completely closed off and so it is a very spread out city now that the two earthquakes have destroyed much of it. Apparently the first earthquake in September 2010 didn't do too much damage and I don't think any lives were lost, but it weakened many of the buildings. When the second quake struck in February 2011, it did a lot of damage as the buildings were weaker. Driving through the city I could see lots of buildings that almost looked like they'd been bombed, and there were lots of gaps where damaged buildings had been completely torn down. I think the plan is to almost completely tear down the whole city and start again as so many buildings are structually unsound. I didn't much like Christchurch and was ready to leave the next afternoon when I flew to Sydney.
The last two weeks in Sydney have seen some terrible weather for the time of year; my plan of lying on Bondi beach for two weeks has not gone so well due to huge amounts of rain, but it's been nice to be back somewhere I know and see the kids again. I had a lovely few days with Izzy, who flew in from Singapore for a holiday, and it was so good to see someone from home. I've been able to experience a different side of Sydney as I've been staying in the city centre rather than the Northern Beaches, and it's been good to experience the night life here. There are lots of Christmas decorations up all over the city and I'm finding it very strange to think that it's nearly Christmas as it's been spring or summer weather for me since April!
I spent my last weekend in Sydney back with the Parks and had a really lovely time with them. Saying goodbye was not so nice, but I know it's not forever.
I'm now safely back home after spending my last few days in Sydney partying with the friends I'd made over the past few weeks. Leaving Sydney was heartbreaking and I really struggled to actually get on the plane, but seeing Mum, Dad and Matt at the airport made it all worth it. I've seen some amazing things and had some incredible times over the past few months but I know that the important things in my life are the people and I'm so glad to be back around the ones I love again. I can safely say that there is definitely no place like home.
Love to you all, xx
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