Been there, Done that...GOT THE T-SHIRT

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Our trip to New Zealand didnt start the smoothest as our flight had changed to the following day without the travel agent telling us! We stayed in the airport hotel for one night before setting off to Christchurch!

The flight over the mountains of New Zealand were spectacular and we both have started to enjoy flights a lot more now. We checked into our hostel after no sleep for 30 hours and had a look around Christchurch city. Due to the earthquake from last February the city was a deserted town that reminded us of ‘I am Legend’. The city centre was barriered off completely which left us with very little to do here. We did manage to see the Botanic Gardens which were really nice, especially as it was a very hot day. We had lunch at a cafe in the park to celebrate four years of us putting up with each other!

During our first week we decided that it would be a good idea to shorten the time we had planned in New Zealand down by two weeks. This way we would have more money to spend on activities, increase the chances of us having more money for Fiji and mainly because we were both getting home sick and missed our comfy beds back home.

From Christchurch we were bracing ourselves for the adrenaline pumped town of Queenstown, where we would take the leap of faith and throw ourselves 134m above the ground...Bungee!!!!

We booked the bungee jump for the next day so that we werent waiting around and also so that we didnt persuade ourselves out of doing it! The day of the jump was full of emotions, Chris thought Natalie may have been sick before she stepped onto the bus and Chris made his Mum sick by calling her on Skype half an hour before just so she would stay up until the early hours worrying! The bus up to the Nevis point was enough to get the blood pumping as the dirt track up the mountain was a car widths wide and either side was a 100m drop to the farmyard below!

We got geared up in our harnesses and hopped into a transfer pod to the main cable car. Chris went first as he was the heaviest (just to test the rope for Natalie) and that was it, it was time 3...2...1...BUNGEE!!!!

A huge scream was let out BUT not from Chris, Natalie had screamed for him all the way down! The jump was amazing, the feeling of falling and having no way of stopping it was incredible! The strangest part is the point where you’ve bounced once and you reach the higest point before you fall again and the wind stops rushing past you and it all goes silent. Its like the cartoon moment where for a brief second you are neither going up or down! Natalie has to wait a while for her jump but when it was her turn, after letting go of the instructor with no hesitation she flung her body off the ledge! It was a great jump and she managed to pull the cord so she didn’t stay hung upside down (unlike Chris!) We both would do it all again, and we recommend it to anyone!

This apprentley was enough for one day as we had booked to do the highest swing in the world...together...backwards! Natalie thought it was scarier than the jump she has just done due to the surprise factor! Great fun! We then got all the merchandise such as the pictures and videos, which we had a lot of fun with putting on Facebook, making sure the parents got to see it! Chris’s mum was still awake 3 hours later, around 12:30am English time waiting for a text until she noticed on Facebook that we had survived! We got a jump T-shirt and cap as added proof and set off back to the hostel!

Queenstown is a beautiful place and sums up New Zealand as a whole. Beautiful snow capped mountains and blue lakes all around, a simply stunning country! Our dorm room was equipped with these views every morning.

We went to the pub the following day, enjoyed some live music and a few glasses of wine! Queenstown is famous for its adrenaline activities but close by is a famous burger that is a must if your visiting. It goes by the name of a Ferg Burger and its the largest burger we have ever seen! People cue for hours to take a bite of one and it’s defintely worth every minute!

Franz Josef was the next stop of our trip. Our bus journey there was an adventure in itself as a Spanish guy who was a cross between David Silva, Roberto Mancini and David Guetta asked the driver to stop at every picturesque spot on the way! Which in New Zealand is a lot of stops! He would also strike a different pose for each photo, Hilarious! We stayed at Glow Worm Cottages and we booked a trip to see the Franz Josef Glacier! It was very interesting to see but we were a little disappointed of the lack of height we got for the price. We did however get free entry to the glacier hot pools which was nice to relax in the following day.

Our next destination was Nelson, we checked in to Accents on the Park and booked a kayaking trip to the Abel Tasman National Park! This trip was the most exercise we had done in a while but we got to see some amazing islands with secluded beaches and some very cute seal pups. We had a relaxing afternoon, sunbathing a little on the beach where we accidentally had an afternoon siesta! Chris realised that night that he must’ve fallen asleep with his hand on his chest and now has a perfect hand print across his chest! There wasn’t a great deal to do in Nelson which was a good excuse to go to the cinema to watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which in a word was a bit dark!

We are now in Kaikoura which has more animals that Noahs Arc! We are staying at the Fish Tank Lodge where our first night was spent in the man cave, a back wall full of ‘the finest selection’ (his words) of naked ladies much to Chris’s delight but not so much for Nat! We were moved for the second night as he realised the inappropriateness of it! The following day we became trampers for the afternoon and walked 3 hours around the Kaikoura peninsula walkway. Unfortunately we did discover a huge injured seal lying just of the beach with a bite wound on its back! We did report it to the animal rescue and they said they would ‘come and deal with it’ which we couldn’t decide was a good thing or a bullet to the head thing!

Today we have been whale watching, we saw two giant sperm whales, it was amazing to see such a huge animal that close up but Natalie spent more time looking at the bottom of a sick bag asking for ‘Ralph’?!?. We are heading to north island tomorrow to Wellington and in two weeks time we will be in Fiji!



4 WEEKS TO GO!

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