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Published: April 21st 2011
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The Kiwi Experience
Well then. Three weeks into New Zealand now, and we LAAAV it. Me and Matt flew into Christchurch about five hours after Jamie, Charlie and Dan. The plan was for them to find a nice hostel, let us know where it was and meet us there. Instead we landed with a text from Charlie reading; ''inates, and your there. See you there. City on lockdown''. This message combined with no one picking up their phones was most helpful. We got the bus into the city center; it can’t go all the way in anymore because the whole center is closed off for about a 2 mile radius by the army. All the buildings are still a mess, was pretty bad. As we got off the bus I realised the last word was probably terminates, so we found the nearest hostel to the stop, and found them in the Garden. Had a cool first night out, even though there are only a few bars open in the city now. James met us that morning, so the six of us were together. Left Christchurch the day after, they get everyone out pretty sharpish because its not really
safe, still aftershocks and tremors all the time.
The bus headed north and our first good stop was Nelson. The first day in nelson the six of us hired out 2 man kayaks on the coast there. We booked a day without a guide, which was recommended only for people with Kayaking experience. Almost half of us had been Kayaking before, which we decided was sufficient. The day started with an hour safety briefing at the boat center. We nodded through various talks about tides, wind directions, slack water, navigation, and safety. We were about a mile away from the coast, yet all six of us were already way out of our depth. We paddled off in all our gear, looking like the muts. The highlight was when paddling near to an island, Matt and Dan floated a big rock. They nudged into it slightly, and somehow the tide then dropped about a meter. Matt in the front was then somehow way out of the water with Dan in the back; it looked like the boat in Shallow Hall. The Kayak started to crack a bit where it was pivoting so much out of the water. It's hard to
help when your laughing so much, so they managed to get themselves down, and float back to the beach. Matt did the paddling, whilst Dan pumped the constant flow of water out of the Kayak. Video to come.
The blow holes and pancake rocks in Punakaiki are so cool; we stopped off on the way to Lake Mahinapua. The lake is in the middle of nowhere, and the whole bus stayed in the only building for miles. The local pub, owned by New Zealand’s oldest landlord (Les - 78) and the world’s coolest man. That night everyone eats a big steak dinner, then goes to the 'Pu party' which always has a theme. Les has about 6 buses a week turning up for Pu parties, and has been doing it for around 30 years. The photos from every party are covering the walls of the bar, and now overflow into albums, it’s pretty cool. Our theme was Erotica. Matt and Dan were Male and female porn stars respectively. After browsing and window shopping for hours, Jamie and Charlie managed to put together their women outfits, complete with Matching handbags, shoes and makeup. It was disgusting. James went as a
Punakaiki
Pancake rocks and blow holes. oiii. dirty old man, and I was the Human Condom. Wrapped head to to in cling film it wasn’t the most practical outfit, but I believe it sent a good message. Luckily my phone was kept in Dan's handbag, which he reluctantly gave up in the morning. The whole Night was a mess, but the best mess we have ever had.
Next stop down the west coast was Franz Josef, a small tourism driven town, famous for its Glacier. The day after we got there we all did a day’s hike on the glacier. It was massive and pretty amazing. It’s so big you lose all perspective, when walking there the guide asked us how far we thought we were away when we could see it. We thought about 10 minutes, but he told us it was over an hour. Its famous for being the world’s fastest moving glacier, it moves backwards at around 5 meters per day. Interestingly, on an empty stomach and a raging hangover we were hiking through at a speed of about 5 meters per day. Effectively making it the world’s largest natural treadmill. All routes have to be re-dug as we go, because it melts
away and re-freezes so fast. Got some pretty amazing pictures and videos. We found it hard not to hack away at the ice continuously as we walked without super cool ice axes, which apparently ''wasn't necessary'' or something.
Next stop was Lake Wanaka which was awesome. It is here that two guys from our bus were decided they would hold a fake wedding service. The hostel set us up an alter, invitations and everything. Everyone got smart clothes from the Salvation Army, and we celebrated a beautiful marriage between Patrick and Barny. The evening included speeches from best man Matt, Ring exchange, an interruption from an ex girlfriend, and the couple’s first Karaoke' song. It was beautiful. Karaoke was brilliant. Matt and Dan sung mustang Sally. I sung Nelly- ride with me, solo. Jamie and another girl sung 'gin and juice'. Jamie mumbled through this song like a deaf person, only knowing two words. Gin and Juice.
Loads more to come but haven’t got time yet. Dressups have included; Erotica, The Wedding, Anything but Clothes, Gangsters, 3 legged and some others. That should explain some of the facebook photos for now. I am still sporting two double slit
eyebrows from Gangster night; they grow back a lot slower than I had hoped.
Watch this space....
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Love it and miss you.. Cindy C xxx