Advertisement
Published: June 20th 2006
It's been a few days since I've had a chance to sit down and do this, but I wanted to give an update on the past few days so that I hopefully won't forget anything.
The past few days have been awesome, although it's quickly becoming obvious that I sure could use some more time here (as some of you warned me). We've worked our way all the way down the west coast of the south island - the most awesome scenery I've ever seen - and I'm now sitting in an internet cafe in Christchurch (on the east coast), my last stop before flying back to Auckland on Thursday (it's now Tuesday afternoon here) to catch my flight back to the states.
I think my last entry was from Greymouth, where I very much enjoyed the brewery tour. We left Greymouth and headed to Franz Josef. On the way, we stopped in a little town called Hokitika, famous for its greenstone (jade) and an old gold mining town called Ross. The weather all the way to Franz was perfect...of course, it started to get cloudy as soon as we got there. We were afraid that our heli-hike wouldn't go forward. But, the clouds cleared enough for the helicopter to take us up on the glacier. The ride was awesome - never been in a helicopter before. The pilot took us all the way up near the top of the glacier before swooping back down to our landing site about halfway up the glacier (not good on the stomach, especially after the brewery tour the night before). We got out and proceeded to put on cramp-ons, grab an ice axe, and take off with a guide up the glacier. It was VERY cold, and a sleet storm rolled in while we were up there (cutting visibility way down). The guide kept us going. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. The guide literally made our trail with his ice axe as we went. We went through all kinds of ice caves and crevasses. Yeah...at one point, I didn't exactly fit through one of the cracks and had to go over the crevasse instead. I'm sure it was all of the extra clothes that I had on. Seriously...the openings were VERY tight. Anyway, we were up there for over two hours hiking on the glacier (the Franz Josef glacier). It was awesome. The clouds finally cleared, and we were able to fly back down to the valley. I was talking to a girl from Ireland yesterday who did a full day hike on the glacier several days ago. They got caught in a severe thunderstorm during their hike and were pretty freaked out about getting back down. She said that several of the girls were in tears, etc. Glad that the worst thing that happened to me was getting stuck in a crevasse. One thing about all of these activities in New Zealand - they just assume you can handle it and let you go.
Went out that night to a little pub (not much in Franz Josef) - drank beer, ate pizza, watched soccer, and played pool. We've had a really great group on our bus - people from all over the world. It's been very fun. Most recently, we were joined by a young German hottie (who locked herself out of her room at our hostel last night and came running into the common area in her towel). Not tons to look at in the backpacking scene, but there have been some very good exceptions. I digress...
We left Franz and headed on to Queenstown - the longest Magic Bus day in New Zealand. The weather wasn't great, but it was still a good ride. I spent most of it working up the nerve to throw myself off a bridge when we got to Queenstown. We arrived at the Kawarau Bridge late in the afternoon. As I may have said in a previous entry, this bridge was the original bungy site back in the 1980s. The jump is from about 43 meters over the Kawarau River...that translates to about 142 feet. That's pretty dang high, and, I assure you, it feels higher when you're about to jump into mid-air from that height. There's a boat waiting in the river at the bottom to retrieve you when you're done. Three of us off the bus jumped...me and my two friends from Virginia (Amanda and Cana). Cana went first...and Amanda followed. She had jumped once before in Australia, so the guide convinced her to go off backwards. I brought up the rear - it didn't help that I had to wait on them to jump, giving me more time to get freaked out. It gave me some consolation that this operation really is safe. This is one of the jumps you can do run by AJ Hackett, who was the original "bungyer." That said, it was still pretty damn scary to jump, after having watched how little they attach to your ankles. The guy who threw me off actually threw Tiger Woods off another bungy site here in New Zealand a few weeks ago. I was pretty impressed with my very athletic-looking jump, which is memorialized on the DVD that I got. Not sure if I'll ever do it again, but very glad I did it once and here. It was an awesome rush. By the way, there are other sites near Queenstown where you can jump that are over three times higher than the Kawarau Bridge - insane.
Queenstown is a great town. It feels like a little ski town like we have out west in the states...lots of restaurants and bars and shops, etc. It started snowing (more) as soon as we got there on Friday night. Went and rented skis, etc., and headed out on the town. Ate dinner at a very cool burger joint (Fergburger), where they put all kinds of weird things on a burger (not exactly sure what was on mine). The whole group from our bus went to a bar called Red Rock and then out to The World Bar. We were quite blitzed by the time we got to The World Bar, where they make all kinds of concoctions that you drink out of a teapot. (You're supposed to pour from the teapot into shotglasses, but it doesn't seem to turn out that way). The atmosphere was late-night - much like Bellbottoms. Very fun music and dance floor...lots of making out going on out on the dance floor. We were out very late but had a very good time.
Got up Saturday morning and got on a bus to Coronet Peak, right outside Queenstown, to ski. The slopes in New Zealand aren't really organized around a resort like we have in the states, I would guess because of ease of access. Our bus had to stop and put on tire chains even to get to the drop off point at the base of the slopes. It had snowed a good bit on Friday night, so there was A LOT of fresh powder on the runs. It was a great time, and the scenery from the top of that mountain was absolutely unbelievable. I met some interesting people on the lifts from all over the world. I only busted my arse a few times, mostly due to prick snowboarders.
Headed back mid-afternoon into town and decided to go jet boating through the Shotover River Canyons. It was a blast...the boats were VERY fast, and the driver's speciality was to do complete 360s in the center of the river. I seriously almost fell out of the boat. He also came so close to the canyon walls that you were convinced you were going to hit them. Great time.
Went out for Thai food that night with some folks (lots of very good Asian food here), went back out for a little while, and called it a night. We were all pretty tired from the previous couple of days.
On Sunday, we headed to Dunedin, down on the east coast of the south island. Being a Sunday, it was pretty slow, but we did take a tour of the Cadbury factory there (not the highlight of my trip) and then went to see "The Breakup," which I thought was terrible. Anyway, it was a nice slow day to recover from Queeny.
Yesterday was a perfect weather day (although it was bitterly cold). Before leaving Dunedin, we took a stroll up the world's steepest street. (I've had more exercise on this trip than I have in the past three years.) We drove from Dunedin up into the mountains around Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman to Lake Tekapo. On the way, we drove along the coast and stopped at the Moeraki Boulders, which are these perfectly rounded boulders right on the beach in this one spot on the coast, and several of New Zealand's hydroelectric dams (which all had very good views). From there, the terrain got very rugged. This is in the area that was hardest hit by the snowstorms from last week...many areas are still without power. We got to Lake Tekapo late in the afternoon...there's not much to do there. (Thank goodness for the German girl in her towel.) The lodge we stayed at was on the lakefront, and despite the lack of crazy activities, it was really beautiful there...tons of snow everywhere. I hope my pictures do it justice. We visited the Church of the Good Sheperd and a famous statue of a colley dog (they use these dogs to herd sheep - the sheep business is huge here). Watched movies and played drinking games last night. Woke up this morning to no running water (all of the pipes were frozen). It was very "fresh," as our driver would say.
Today, had my last leg on the Magic Bus into Christchurch, a pretty big city (third largest in New Zealand). It's a cool place, although the highlights of this trip have definitely been the tiny little towns and places along the way. It's been neat to drive all over the country...seen a lot of stuff. Planning to bum around here tomorrow some...there are some things to see and do. Flying back to Auckland on Thursday morning to start the journey home.
So, it looks like my holiday is coming to an end. Not sure if I'll have a chance to add another entry, but I will if anything significant happens. I'll be home probably on Thursday, although I'm considering stopping in L.A. for a couple of nights to visit a friend from Auburn to break up the trip a little. It really has been an awesome trip...really looking forward, though, to returning to the 95 degree heat later this week (right). Sweaty returns.
Heading to dinner soon with my Magic Bus friends. Who knew I could become a hosteller?
Who's logging in and sending me messages as "Baller?" The types of information you're requesting can't be disclosed.
Cheers.
ASN
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0413s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Japanese Midget
non-member comment
More stories
I agree with Baller re: low ratio of fingerblasting escapades. Sunsets, trees and feelings--while nice--belong on the card you send your grandmother on her birthday. What happened? If you are using this blog to prove to the towel clad German girl that you are a sensitive guy then Bravo. Remember, there isn't much that a shot of penicillin can't fix.