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Published: April 11th 2007
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It is exactly one month until I return home. What a pain. Only kidding... ish. It has been an absolutely fantastic few weeks, and have seen the majority of what the South Island has to offer. I am just about to complete a giant figure of eight that has taken me all around the Island. I started in Christchurch, on the East Coast, worked my way up the coast, through Kaikoura to the Northen city of Nelson. I then headed down the West Coast for about a week before ending up in the adrenaline/party capital of New Zealand, Queenstown. From here, I headed back out to the East Coast to Dunedin, swept back round the South Coast to the West Coast, and now back to Queenstown.
Well back to the beginning. I did not stay long in Christchurch (only one night), and set off on my Kiwi adventure the next day. First stop was Kaikoura, the best whale & dolphin watching spot in New Zealand. This time round, I did not do any of the activities on offer, but in a couple of days I pass back through, so I hope to do a whale watching trip. Instead, I
climbed a 1600m high mountain with Action Man... well the Dutch version. The mountain was called Mt. Fyffe, and "Action Man" was a Dutch guy I met in my hostel. I call him Action Man because he was just fittness crazy and could easily have been him (take a look at the picture and decide for yourself. Once we got to the top, he started doing push-ups!). The expected return trip to the summit was 8 hours... we did it in 5. I was so exhausted. But really worth the effort, it felt like I was on top of the world.
Our next stop was Nelson, argued to be both the Capital of NZ and home to the actual geographical centre of NZ. The big point of Nelson is that it is the main link to the Abel Tasman National Park, one of many stunning National Parks I have either visited or driven through. Kerry and myself spent a whole day walking through the Park, and saw some breath-taking views.
The Kiwi Experience drivers tell you that the West Coast is the best part of any Kiwi Experience trip you do, and I can see why. The
big reason why is that as soon as you leave Nelson, you are with the same group of people for at least a week (unless people stay longer in places, which doesn't often happen). So I was on a full bus (50 people) for a whole week, and as a result made some amazing friends. After about 2-3 days, there was a group of 9 of us that spent every moment with each other, and had such a great time. The highlights of the West Coast were obviously the views and scenery, spending time with the gang, and of course the fancy dress competion. This was possibly the best, and most embarrassing, night of my life. It may have been slipped to a few readers by now that I did in fact win the fancy dress competion, with what can only be described as a 'bold' costume. Now i must apologise (once again) because I did promise that by the time I was writing this I would have obtained a picture of myself in my costume. I have obtained a picture of myself, however the program that this site uses to upload pictures will not except the format the picture
is in. So I am terribly sorry, but as soon as I am able to get one on I will. One thing that I guess you can all do (if it will permit you) is visit this weblink:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=36088&op=1&o=all&view=all&subj=503558329&id=504564031
I have a feeling however, that it will require you to enter a password, which I am not at a position to give out I am afraid. You will have to wait until I return home or find a method of uploading it. It is worth the wait. There was of course a prize for the two winners, and it was a toss-up between a canyon swing or a river board. I completely understand that these two things will not be very familiar to many of you. I shall explain...
A canyon swing consists of being suspended in a harness above a canyon (approx. 150m high), being released, freefalling 60m, and then swinging through the canyon on a 200m arc at speeds of about 140kmph (not for the faint hearted). River boarding is effectively white water rafting, but itstead of sitting in a raft, you are given a body board, and have to make your own way through
the rapids (equally as adrenaline filled). Both activities cost in the region of 50 pounds to do, and I got one for free. To my mother's relief, the girl that won the other prize was desperate to do the canyon swing, and as I was not bothered, I let her do that and it was up to me to brave the rapids.
Queenstown was possibly one of the best highlights of my trip (my whole trip has been a highlight, so I have to choose best highlights). It was here that I did my river boarding, but it is also the party capital of New Zealand. What made it so special was being with the friends I had met up the West Coast. Just being out (or in) with them made the whole experience so much better. Oh, and the Fergburger!
Unfortunately, I had to part with most of the group when I left Queenstown, but I am still travelling with two of the girls. The three of us left Queenstown in search of the deep south. Our first stop was Dunedin, apparently based on the city of Edinburgh, but I could not see much resemblance. From there,
we headed down the coast, stopping at Invercargill and Te Anau, whilst passing some amazing costal scenery (and a waterfall?!). Most importantly, we stopped at a famous land mark on the South Coast... 'McCracken's Rest'. Before ending up back in Queenstown, we took a trip out to the famous Milford Sound, one of the most impressive pieces of scenery in New Zealand. I will leave it up to the pictures to do the explaining.
I am afraid I have been quite brief in my adventures through "Middle-Earth" (still havn't seen much of it), but I guess you can all look forward to me explaining it to you in person when I get back.
'Get amongst it!"
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