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Published: October 23rd 2006
Hello All!
I am spending my last night in New Zealand (South Island) and it was a remarkable three weeks here. I have met some wonderful people on my travels that I will truly miss. It was such a blessing to spend time learning about other people around the world. I made friends from Scotland, England, Whales, Sweden, Switzerland, S. Korea, and of course New Zealand! Some folks I have met are traveling for a few weeks, and others for years around the world. I also met many people who were traveling around the world, fell in love with New Zealand, and never left!
After leaving Abel Tasman National Park, I had an adventurous day trekking on Franz Josef Glacier with a hired guide. Franz Josef Glacier is unique in the fact that it descends from the Southern Alps almost to sea level and is surrounded by the greenery and lushness of a temperate rainforest. It is also one of the few glaciers in the world that is actually advancing, in spite of global warming, and at a rate of over 2 ft/ day!
I spent a few days in the town of Wanaka surrounded by Mt. Aspiring
National Park. This remarkable park is located within the Southern Alps and is home to over 100 glaciers. I rented a car with two of my British friends and hiked through some stunning alpine scenery to the Rob Roy Glacier. I asked my Brit friend (Paul) to drive because I was really worried about having an accident while learning to drive on the left. When we were finished with the car, we decided I would return the car because it was only
ONE block away...and what could possibly happen? It just happened that the police had a road block and I was of course stopped and fined for not wearing my seatbelt!
Between Wanaka and Queenstown is the sight of the 1st commercial bungee jumping site...and of course, I couldn’t resist! I jumped 140 ft off the top of a bridge into a river canyon and it was awesome!!!
My last destination was Queenstown, also coined the "adrenaline capital of the world." Here you can sky dive, bungee jump, white-water raft, swing across canyons, mountain bike, speed up rivers on jet boats, co-pilot stunt planes, and just about anything else that makes your stomach turn and your eyes
pop out of your head. I kept it simple and hired a mountain bike for the day to enjoy some nice views of the lake and The Remarkables mountain chain.
Tomorrow, I will travel to South America and begin my journeys in Santiago, Chile. I miss you all dearly and can’t wait to see you soon.
Billy-
"The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can."
-Robert Cushing
Check out the bungee videos!
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The Remarkables
gerry
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BILLY, wow you are truly an adventure traveller!!! swimming with elephants and bungee jumping!!! i'm so happy you are having a blast!!! i leave for thailand november 24th... too bad i missed you!!!Hey you got a ticket in N.Z. huh? dont pay the fine then you'll have a warrant there for your arrest... then you'll have a bit of a dark criminal past lke me... hahaha