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Published: August 6th 2007
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Milford sound
I think this was from the gorge. Yesterday was, perhaps, the longest day of my life. This is probably because I didn't get to bed until 3 am the night before and we all were awake by 5 am. At 6 we left Queenstown for Milford Sound. The scenery was beautiful, but it was such a long bus ride-4 hours.
When we got to the sound we all got on a large sight seeing ship. The cruise through the sound was beautiful. It took us down towards the waterfall and back. We were able to see dolphins and seals. Sadly our visit only lasted an hour and then it was back to the bus we went.
The view home was great, of course. It seemed so much longer though. We stopped at a gorge, but I was feeling a bit gross to make the hike down there to see it. I was so happy when we made it back to town. I really did like the seeing the sound, but it felt like the day was a waste. We spent almost 9 hours on the bus for and hour long bus ride. I felt so sick towards the end of the ride from the constant
twisting of the roads through the mountains. A couple of poor kids did get sick.
Last night was fun though. Ashley, Jaci, Rob, and his family, and I went to the ice bar. It was so much fun. We bumped into a crazy group of Americans dressed up for fun coming out of the bar. They said it was awesome and they were right. We were given a coat and gloves before being let in. I wish we could have stayed in there for longer than 20 minutes. The bar is made entirely out of ice, even the glasses our drinks were poured in. There were benches and sculptures. It was one of those really fun experiences I'm glad I had. Next I have to stay at one of those Ice hotels.
Today was our free day until dinner. Everyone could go off and do their own thing. The sibs and some others went skiing. Mom, Dad and the other rents went to tour a winery. Ashley and I went bungy jumping. I had been planning to do this from the moment I got to New Zealand. I am so glad I did. We went down to the
AJ Hackett bungy store to fill out some paper work. While there we watched a video of a girl doing the Nevis jump. I wasn't nervous about doing the Kawarau Bridge jump, but watching the Nevis gave my stomach serious butterflies. Once we got to the bridge we were given our pass paper and sent in line. In less than 15 minutes I was harnessed up and ready to jump. It was crazy. I had so much fun. I thought that the snap back up would be really sharp, but it wasn't; it was very gradual. I can't wait to do it again. What is a bit funny is that our bus backed into a huge boulder in the middle of the parking lot. The jump didn't kill me, but the bus ride almost did. Not really, but I did leave the whole experience with a bit of a sore neck.
So tonight we went to a Maori culture show and dinner. We all gathered in a main meeting room. There Mr M, the leader of our group was instructed that he was to be invited in by a village warrior. The greeting was really cool and very intimidating.
Once we were invited in the family put on a show with traditional song and dance. Several people were asked to the stage to learn a dance. It was pretty funny. During the dinner the men learned a dance as did the women. For the men it involved making intimidating faces and movements. Let's just say that there is a reason why American men don't do that. They'd be laughed at. They just don't look as cool as the Maori men do. I learned how to do the other dance. We had to twirl a pompom type thing around. I was ok at it, but I'm certain it still looked awkward. Probably because Kat and I kept accidentally hitting each other.
The Maori experience was one of the most amazing things I saw in New Zealand. To learn about their culture was great. The songs were beautiful. Everything they showed us told me so much about their past. It made me sad to think that cultures like that are being lost in today's society.
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