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Published: April 4th 2008
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Glaicer
climbing up the ice wall! KIA ORA!!
I know i'ts been a while since I last updated but I've been so busy in and out of harnesses,wet suits, helmets and bars that it's hard to find time to write it all down! Holly and I are having such an amazing holiday, I'm just so happy right now!
OK... to fill you all in on what we;ve been up to...
From wellington we took the ferry across to Picton and watched the sun rise as we departed. we've seen a lot of sun rises lately, there is something really special about the first licks of light hitting a city. Just beautiful! We started our South Island adventures with a free wine tasting session in the arvo followed by a free beer tasting sesh in the eve. Good way to start! Hols and I decided to hop-off-the-bus in Nelson which is where most people got for a long walk in one of the National parks around there but we decided a lie in a beach mission was a better option. We set off to find the beach, not realising that it was a public holiday so no busses which meant we ended up walking for
hours up and over Hills to finally reach the golden shores, exhausted and in desperate need of ice cream!! we entertained a small child witht the uke and the parents came up to us speaking in very slow english asking where we were from- they didn't believe we were english becuase we're not pink and white!!
After our relaxing time in Nelson, we set off to Westport, stopping off for a spot of jet boating which would have been fun but the guide kept stopping and telling us horror stories about people who have seriously injured themselves doing extreem things. DOWNER! Anyway, that night our new driver took the whole bus down to the beach and we had a massive bon fire, complete with ukulele, singing, drinking games, and laughs untill the tide came in. We headed back to our supposedley haunted hostel and got in trouble for making too much noise!! I blame the ghost!
Next up was Poo Pob, this 83year old farmer has a bus of travellers stay at his ranch every night where he personally cooks each one of you a steak and his only rule is that you have to dress up! the
theme for our night was bin bags, basically you have to make your entire outfit out of bin bags. Holly decided to make a pretty outfit and was gutted when I told her the next day that No I didnt think she should keep the outfit! I made a cheer leading outfit, complete with pom poms! such a laugh.
I'm really sorry this is so long, take a break and come back if you like, there is still so much to get down!! Ok plodding on, the next exciting part was FRANZ JOSPEH we went ice climbing on the glacier!! I got way too over excited about using crampons (the cool spikey things that attach to your feet) and Holly managed to shut her finger in them but appart from that we came out unscathed. Ice climbing was immense, it's nothing you imagine it to be, the techniques are really counter intuative and it's so challenging but very rewardaing. You have to whack your ice pics in and kick your toes in and hope that you have hit in hard enough for it to hold your weight. This seems like a strange thing to say but the Glacier was
no like i had expected it to be, I think the ICE AGE movies have given me a false idea of what It would be like!! haha
After Franz we went to Wanaka where Holly and I went shooting. It was quite funny because it wasn't offically part of the trip but the driver took a handful of select people with him to the ranch and we were not allowed to tell the others!! I felt like a naughty child!! haha. Shooting proper gun is another tick box ticked off! I was distrubingly good and Hols shot the peg that was holding her target so between us we had a lot of laughs!
After that it was into QUEENSTOWN!!! WOO HOO!! party town and adventure capital of the world. this is where the fun is stepped up a notch and you run flat out buzzing on adrenilin!!! awesome! Starting with a gondola ride to the top of QT and Luging down. luging for those of u in the dark is where you sit of a plastic tray with wheels and a tricycle handle kind of thing and use the gradient of the hill to race down trying not
to take out any small kiddies on the way! much more fun than expected, a little bit like Super Mario in real life! Air time + screems + two wheel cornering! ACE
Now, the moment Holly had been dreading for most of the trip...THE NEVIS... it's a 134m bungy where you jump from a cable cart suspended between 2 sides of a canyon. Holly was amazing, she came out buzzing and I was realyl proud of her (except she didnt manage to release the harness so that you are in a sitting position and came back upside down - much to the amusement of all of us!!! hahah) I just love the adrenilin buzz, the Nevis is the highest comercial Bungy in NZ, one of the highest in the world with an 8 second free fall!!! amazing! (Dad there is a higher one in SA, maybe you can go?)
Next day was Canyoning... This is basically where you make your way down a canyon by jumping, abseiling, sliding zip lining and drowning all the way down. The weather was crazy that day, bucketing it down with rain and the river was so full. The guides said that it
was at it's maximum level opf safety, any higher and we wouldn't have been able to go. This was so exhillerating. I find these things much more scary than bungy's or sky dives becuase there is a real risk attached to them. Holly and I are scared by completly different things which is good becuase it means we both push ourselves.
The next day, we decided to do something not adrenilin buzzing but cultural. we went to Milford Sound (actually wrongly named it's a fiord not a sound, meaning it's glacial carved) one word... WOW!!! this place was apparently supposed to be the 8th wonder of the world but it wasn;t discovered in time. It's the most breathtaking scenery we've seen yet. wow!!
Nearly up to date.. yesterday we went on the canyon Swing, which is a giant 109m swing that you can jump off in various fashions. I think this was my favourite of all the extreme activities, this def got your adrenilin pumping!! I did 3 jumps, couldnt get enough! the last one was a back flip where i managed a staggering 6 rotations!! I was pretty dizzy in the end but loved every minute of
before we went canyoning
we've the two muppets at the end! it. SOOOOOO COOL@!!!!
today we had sore heads in the morning but cured the hang overs by going river surfing. this is where you take a bogie board (body board) into the rapids and try to stay alive!! You get to surf behind a jet ski and do some rock jumps/slides and swings too!!! I nearly chickend out of a 12m rock jump then Ic ame to my senses and jumped!!! woo hioooo
I had so much adrenilin pumping through my system right now, can you run out (medic friends?) does it take a while for your body to produce more? hmmm
ANYWAY... we're supposed to be heading to Christchurch tomorrow but Hols and I are not ready to leave NZ yet. We met a guy with a massive van who is going south to Stewart Island (the most south most of us will ever go) so he's said we can hop on board. ROAD TRIPPING!!! fun fun fun
anyway, I really must let you get back to work/studying and I've got to go to Fergburger...ledgendary Burgers...
miss you all loads but as you can probably tell, i'm having a blast...
till next time
Zip lining
weeeeeeeeeeee xxxxx
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josh Phillips
non-member comment
wow again
Emma and Hols, you guys are continuing to amaze me, I so wish when I was younger I had done a trip like this. I have seen much of the world but you guys are doing it in style! The NZ pictures so remind me of Norway, the mountains and Fjiords are so similar, if you go north Hemisphere you should try and see N/WAY too. keep it up Girls, fantastic. Josh xxx