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Published: June 25th 2007
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Dunedin was a bit of a non-event really, didn't see much of it as I'd developed a bit of a cold somewhere along the line. Sat around in the hostel watching lost, me and another guy got a pretty mean fire going and sat around getting hasseled by the hostel cat.
After Dunedin we headed up to Lake Tekapo, stopping by the world's steepest street on the way. The drive doesn't usually take that long but about half way there it started snowing a bit and about twenty minutes later we had to stop as it started coming down hard. We eventually made it to Tekapo, but were unable to see anything because of the snow. A couple of us from the bus went on a mission to the local pub, what should have been a ten minute walk took about half an hour of trudging through the snow. By the morning the snow had stopped and the view over the lake was pretty spectacular. Back on the bus it was a slow trip back up to Christchurch, some parts taking up to three times longer than normal because of the snow. In Christchurch as I was checking in
World's Steepest Street
Not actually as steep as I expected they told me it was only $2 more to stay in "the penthouse", so I ended up in there. It was basically a little apartment stuck on the top of the hostel, loads nicer than the normal dorms.
On Saturday I was up early to get back on the bus and head up to Kaikoura. I'd already done this at the start of my trip round the south island, but planned to do some whale watching that I'd skipped on my first time round. When I got there I found out that it had been cancelled because it was so windy, and I decided to move on instead of hanging around. Got the ferry across from Picton to Wellington, you could fly across for eight dollars more but I thought I'd take in the scenery of the Cook Strait. Didn't quite go to plan though as I fell asleep for the whole three hours! Soon after landing in Wellington I found out why it's nicknamed 'the windy city' (though it is a bit warmer). My first impression of the hostel was really positive, it was really cheap and you get a free meal every night. The only downside was
the dorm, I ended up with a bed that had on one side a really loud snorer and on the other a window that had a note saying "do not close unless it's raining". This combo really isn't what you need for a good nights sleep! On the second night three people were snoring in sync, so that it sounded like one continuous snore.
Went and had a look at the Te Papa museum which was pretty good. Also met a girl in the hostel who I'd seen previously in Kaikoura and it turned out she was from Norwich and knew loads of people I went to college with! That was a bit weird, especially since I've met noone else from Norfolk so far.
Yesterday I made the trip from Wellington to Napier. A lot of the town was destroyed in an earthquake in the thirties, and it was all rennovated in an art-deco style. I'd been recommended a good hostel in town but I found that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to stay in the prison! The town prison has been converted into a hostel, though it doesn't look like it's changed that much, you enter
The Picton Ferry
Don't be fooled by the photo, it was still freezing there! through a gate in a wall covered in barbed-wire and sleep in a cell. Though it was quite cool the novelty had well and truly worn off as I lay shivering at 3am this morning!
Today I got the bus up to Taupo. Lake Taupo is the largest crater lake in the world and is so big you could fit Singapore inside it. Here was where I planned to do the skydiving, though I had heard that the weather was a bit temperamental and you sometimes have to wait days to get the right conditions. That wasn't the case for me, our bus driver booked a couple of us on for the 11.40 jump, and within an hour of arriving at the hostel we were picked up by the skydive bus. The preparation was really quick, after we were jumpsuited up I made the mistake of telling my skydiver Brad that I wasn't that nervous. He then spent the rest of the time trying to make me nervous! (telling me stuff like that he'd only done five or six jumps when he's really done 11000). We gradually climbed up to 15000ft, the air gets so thin that there is
an oxygen supply you can use. Our plane had about eight pairs of skydivers, I went about sixth. After a photo I stuck my legs out under the plane and waited for Brad to jump us out. The start of the freefall was brilliant, a bit similar to the initial bungy feeling, then you put your arms out and have over a minute of freefall before the parachute is opened. It was amazing, even after the chute was opened Brad did some loops and turns as we neared the landing. This was all only about an hour ago, It was defininately the best thing I've done so far on my travels (and maybe ever!) and I'd love to do it again. As I hadn't expected to get on to the skydive so quickly I'm booked in for a couple of days here, so today I'm going to check out the lake and maybe do the tongariro crossing tomorrow.
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